Wall Street impressed by 'evolutionary' improvement in Apple's iPad 2

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014
Wall Street analysts reacted positively to Apple's unveiling of the iPad 2 on Wednesday and remained optimistic about the company's continued ability to lead the tablet market, though they viewed the refresh as mostly "evolutionary."



As expected, Apple revealed a faster, thinner and lighter second-generation iPad, officially dubbed iPad 2, to the media at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on Wednesday. The touchscreen tablet, which sports front- and rear-facing cameras, an upgraded A5 CPU and improved graphics processing, goes on sale on March 11.



Though Wall Street analysts admitted that Wednesday's event contained few surprises, they remained confident that several key "evolutionary" upgrades and the addition of new content production apps to the iPad would continue to drive growth for Apple.



Boosted by investor confidence in both the iPad 2 and a surprise onstage appearance by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, shares of Apple closed the day up .80 percent at $352.12.



RBC Capital Markets



For analyst Mike Abramsky with RBC Capital Markets, the slimmer form factor and 'Smart Covers' magnetic cases demonstrate the design innovation that Apple needs to sustain leadership in the tablet market, while evolutionary improvements like FaceTime cameras, an HDMI-out accessory and a dual-core processor will keep the pressure on Apple's competitors.



Abramsky viewed Jobs' appearance as a "welcome surprise to the event," while noting that the other announcements and iPad 2 features were "largely inline" with expectations. According to the analyst, Apple's milestone of 100 million iPhones sold matches sales forecasts for the quarter.



The iPad 2 will likely "drive a 'mini' product cycle" for Apple similar to the MacBook Air, Abramsky said in his note to investors. The March 25 international launch of the iPad 2 will also precede most "next-generation competitive tablets" to several key international markets.



"iPad 2 raises the bar and sustains pressure on competitors, and continues to target media-centric tablet consumers seeking a premium experience," Abramsky wrote. However, according to Abramsky, the refreshed tablet from Apple doesn't "alter competitive landscape for pending Android tablets or PlayBook, which may appeal to different market segments (like Android/Google fans, productivity-centric or enterprise segments)."



Morgan Stanley



Katy Huberty with Morgan Stanley views the iPad 2 as "an important evolutionary step in the product's short history" that will likely serve to widen Apple's lead in the tablet market by building on the original iPad's "overall system, ecosystem and pricing advantage."



The analyst noted that there were "no big surprises" at the event, though she did notice "dramatic performance improvements," especially with webpage loading speeds, and an improved user experience during a hands on demo with the new device.



Huberty predicts a high adoption rate of the "Smart Covers," which could partially offset the second-generation tablet's presumably higher bill of materials.



According to the analyst, the March 11 ship date for the iPad 2 was "faster than expected" and could help Apple to continue widening its lead on competitors.



JP Morgan



In a note to investors, JP Morgan's Mark Moskowitz suggested that the firm's forecast of Apple holding 68 percent of the tablet market in 2011 "may be conservative" in light of Wednesday's iPad 2 rollout.



The analyst found it "suitably impressive" that Apple is already launching a second-generation iPad "just as the competition is rolling out or prototyping their first-generation tablets." The analyst also sees new interactive applications, such as iMovie, GarageBand and FaceTime, as likely drivers of growth among younger consumers.



Moskowitz called Apple's technical and form factor improvements "more than good enough," given that competing companies are viewed as bringing tablets with "higher price points or clumsier form factor/technical specs" to market.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 47
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Shortly after Apple unveiled the iPad 2 on Wednesday, Wall Street analysts chimed in, expressing optimism about Apple's continued ability to lead the tablet market.



    As expected,

    Apple's technical and form factor improvements are "more than good enough" for Moskowitz, especially as the competition brings tablets with "higher price points or clumsier form factor/technical specs" to market.



    really ?
  • Reply 2 of 47
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by brucep View Post


    really ?



    I agree. Steve Jobs said it right when he noted that other companies are looking at it like the next PC market. They're pushing specs, specs, specs and lagging behind in user interface, design, and integration - Apple's specialties. OK, webOS has great multitasking and notifications. Android has customization. I've used the Xoom in person and it's pretty bad - one of those things that looks great on paper or in a demo but feels half-baked in your hands. iPad/iOS is imperfect but it's got the best overall package.



    When will these companies realize that 90 percent of consumers don't care about specs! They care about experience! A droid commercial says, "It'll turn you into a texting machine! It's got a 1.2 GHz processor and a 7 megapixel camera!!".



    An iPhone commercial says, "Look at all these apps we've got. The screen is the sharpest ever, so your photos will look great and reading is a lot easier."



    90% of consumers don't care if a tablet has USB ports, how many MB of RAM it has, or how fast its clock speed is. They wanna know, is it fun to use? Is it comfortable? Does it look cool? Does it have good apps? I'm a techie, and those are my concerns too.
  • Reply 3 of 47
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by acslater017 View Post


    I agree. Steve Jobs said it right when he noted that other companies are looking at it like the next PC market. They're pushing specs, specs, specs and lagging behind in user interface, design, and integration - Apple's specialties. OK, webOS has great multitasking and notifications. Android has customization. I've used the Xoom in person and it's pretty bad - one of those things that looks great on paper or in a demo but feels half-baked in your hands. iPad/iOS is imperfect but it's got the best overall package.



    When will these companies realize that 90 percent of consumers don't care about specs! They care about experience! A droid commercial says, "It'll turn you into a texting machine! It's got a 1.2 GHz processor and a 7 megapixel camera!!".



    An iPhone commercial says, "Look at all these apps we've got. The screen is the sharpest ever, so your photos will look great and reading is a lot easier."



    90% of consumers don't care if a tablet has USB ports, how many MB of RAM it has, or how fast its clock speed is. They wanna know, is it fun to use? Is it comfortable? Does it look cool? Does it have good apps? I'm a techie, and those are my concerns too.



    Well said.
  • Reply 4 of 47
    bushman4bushman4 Posts: 858member
    Needless to say the 'user experience' of the Ipad2 will once again take Wall Street & the consumer. While the improvements were nice the new IOS 4.3 is even nicer. New user experience is a great wow factor.
  • Reply 5 of 47
    dbhdbh Posts: 41member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by acslater017 View Post


    I agree. Steve Jobs said it right when he noted that other companies are looking at it like the next PC market. They're pushing specs, specs, specs and lagging behind in user interface, design, and integration - Apple's specialties. OK, webOS has great multitasking and notifications. Android has customization. I've used the Xoom in person and it's pretty bad - one of those things that looks great on paper or in a demo but feels half-baked in your hands. iPad/iOS is imperfect but it's got the best overall package.



    When will these companies realize that 90 percent of consumers don't care about specs! They care about experience! A droid commercial says, "It'll turn you into a texting machine! It's got a 1.2 GHz processor and a 7 megapixel camera!!".



    An iPhone commercial says, "Look at all these apps we've got. The screen is the sharpest ever, so your photos will look great and reading is a lot easier."



    90% of consumers don't care if a tablet has USB ports, how many MB of RAM it has, or how fast its clock speed is. They wanna know, is it fun to use? Is it comfortable? Does it look cool? Does it have good apps? I'm a techie, and those are my concerns too.



    couldn't agree more..
  • Reply 6 of 47
    The tech-heads appear to be very unhappy with the latest iPad incarnation. It's claimed that the specs are too weak and too many missing features such as no USB port or Retina display and lower spec'ed cameras and core RAM than what Android tablets have. I doubt consumers will feel the same way. I honestly believe they'll be very pleased with the iPad 2. Tech-heads really don't have a clue about consumers' needs at all. From what I've seen in video, the iPad 2 runs blazingly fast and the display is very good. I think Apple did a good job. Good enough to keep customers buying iPads over rival tablet vendors. The $100 price drop in price of last year's iPad model will also help to slow down Android tablet sales.
  • Reply 7 of 47
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,090member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Constable Odo View Post


    The tech-heads appear to be very unhappy with the latest iPad incarnation. It's claimed that the specs are too weak and too many missing features such as no USB port or Retina display and lower spec'ed cameras and core RAM than what Android tablets have.



    One thing the fandroids and tech-heads aren't discussing is why this so-called, high-horsepower, dual-core, NVidia "iPad-Killer" XOOM tablet had the same performance as the original iPad.



    That's actually pretty sad and does not bode well to Motorola's future. With the iPad being a couple hundred dollars less too, they are probably waiting to get their hands on an iPad so they can fire up the copy machines again.
  • Reply 8 of 47
    mactelmactel Posts: 1,275member
    Looks nice and the specs are very impressive no matter what the tech reviewers say. When it comes time for me to retire my MacBook I'll be buying an iPad 2 or 3.
  • Reply 9 of 47
    maccherrymaccherry Posts: 924member
    Man, the smart cover demo on the Apple site is absolutely, effing awesome! That alone will drive 5 million sales. Apple has the whole the package. Touchpad, Xoom, Tab screw them. They are a step way back. Back to the days when The Shack was Radio Shack.

    I'm seling my 16 gig wifi/3G ipad 1 ASAP!!! I'll get the 32 gig wifi/3G and the Orange smart cover.

    Boy oh boy everything had changed now, again. And Apple went light weight on the a**.



    Jon Rubinstein is probably getting bit**** slap, by the 10th CEO of HP in the past hour,by not seeing this coming. Wasn't Jon a major manager at Apple? LOL!

    Now HP has to spend that precious, more expensive than Saudi crude, ink money sending Jon and his merry band of Palm engineers back to the basement for tweeking.

    Good luck!
  • Reply 10 of 47
    rabbit_coachrabbit_coach Posts: 1,114member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by acslater017 View Post


    I agree. Steve Jobs said it right when he noted that other companies are looking at it like the next PC market. They're pushing specs, specs, specs and lagging behind in user interface, design, and integration - Apple's specialties. OK, webOS has great multitasking and notifications. Android has customization. I've used the Xoom in person and it's pretty bad - one of those things that looks great on paper or in a demo but feels half-baked in your hands. iPad/iOS is imperfect but it's got the best overall package.



    When will these companies realize that 90 percent of consumers don't care about specs! They care about experience! A droid commercial says, "It'll turn you into a texting machine! It's got a 1.2 GHz processor and a 7 megapixel camera!!".



    An iPhone commercial says, "Look at all these apps we've got. The screen is the sharpest ever, so your photos will look great and reading is a lot easier."



    90% of consumers don't care if a tablet has USB ports, how many MB of RAM it has, or how fast its clock speed is. They wanna know, is it fun to use? Is it comfortable? Does it look cool? Does it have good apps? I'm a techie, and those are my concerns too.



    Well, where you are right you are right. Your arguments summs it pretty much up.
  • Reply 11 of 47
    rabbit_coachrabbit_coach Posts: 1,114member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Constable Odo View Post


    The tech-heads appear to be very unhappy with the latest iPad incarnation. It's claimed that the specs are too weak and too many missing features such as no USB port or Retina display and lower spec'ed cameras and core RAM than what Android tablets have. I doubt consumers will feel the same way. I honestly believe they'll be very pleased with the iPad 2. Tech-heads really don't have a clue about consumers' needs at all. From what I've seen in video, the iPad 2 runs blazingly fast and the display is very good. I think Apple did a good job. Good enough to keep customers buying iPads over rival tablet vendors. The $100 price drop in price of last year's iPad model will also help to slow down Android tablet sales.



    If the 100$ price drop is valid for all existing models we will still see a lot of iPad 1 sales in the time to come. so the entry iPad model would be just 399$. Huh this will spur the upward spiral of the iPad success additionally.
  • Reply 12 of 47
    I really think the 2nd generation iPad is a home run. Of course a retina display would have been better and an sd card slot for this kind of computing is a must in the future but overall this renewal is absolutely top. I like the style, the thinness, how light its gotten, there is no competition really. Expect them to double their sales over 30 million this year if not more. Oh and it's cheap!!! DAUUUUMMM
  • Reply 13 of 47
    thepixeldocthepixeldoc Posts: 2,257member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lav1daloca View Post


    I really think the 2nd generation iPad is a home run. Of course a retina display would have been better and an sd card slot for this kind of computing is a must in the future but overall this renewal is absolutely top. I like the style, the thinness, how light its gotten, there is no competition really. Expect them to double their sales over 30 million this year if not more. Oh and it's cheap!!! DAUUUUMMM



    Even before the iPad 1 launched, I predicted here at AI 10 mil devices sold in 2010. I was too conservative.



    This time around, the safe money is 40 million... the blow out is 60, which wouldn't surprise me in the least.
  • Reply 14 of 47
    leiweileiwei Posts: 1member
    Heh. I registered because I had to make this one comment about Apple products.



    I work retail and I see Apple consumers having a swell time browsing through the accessories department and getting what they want. So I see the new cover for the iPad 2 and I'm thinking that our store will likely get a whole slew of iPad 2-ready accessories. Great stuff. Really.



    Consumers with Apple products can customize their device with these accessories. The way they want it.



    Now, I get Android customers too and usually they're the ones that leave with a \ face. They'll come in, search around, and ask if we have any cases for their phone or for their Galaxy Tab. For that, I shake my head and they start looking .



    So what do I tell them? I tell them it's easier to find an accessory for Apple products because accessory companies know they can make bulk and expect a profit in return. Android on the other hand? Would you as a company create a case for a Company X Android device that will probably be replaced by yet another Company X Android device a few months down the line? Probably not worth the trouble.



    So when I see the iPad 2 and Apple's new case solution for it. I knowing that Apple still thinks of accessories in mind for the consumers. Because consumers like to dress up their purchases. Not because they have to but because they want to.
  • Reply 15 of 47
    ivan.rnn01ivan.rnn01 Posts: 1,822member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Huberty predicts a high adoption rate of the "Smart Covers," which could partially offset the second-generation tablet's presumably higher bill of materials.



    Absolutely.

    The iPad 2 is worth buying just because of Apple's sense of humor. Frankly, no keynote in the world was as impressive as Steve's one... Supernatural.
  • Reply 16 of 47
    hentaiboyhentaiboy Posts: 1,252member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Huberty predicts a high adoption rate of the "Smart Covers,"



    I don't get it. If you need to cover your display, put it to sleep when you close it and prop it up for typing, why not just buy one of these?



  • Reply 17 of 47
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hentaiboy View Post


    I don't get it. If you need to cover your display, put it to sleep when you close it and prop it up for typing, why not just buy one of these?



    You might be in for a slight disappointment when you touch the Macbook Air display and you find out that nothing at all happens, besides maybe leaving some finger print marks on the screen.
  • Reply 18 of 47
    2 cents2 cents Posts: 307member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by acslater017 View Post


    I agree. Steve Jobs said it right when he noted that other companies are looking at it like the next PC market. They're pushing specs, specs, specs and lagging behind in user interface, design, and integration - Apple's specialties. OK, webOS has great multitasking and notifications. Android has customization. I've used the Xoom in person and it's pretty bad - one of those things that looks great on paper or in a demo but feels half-baked in your hands. iPad/iOS is imperfect but it's got the best overall package.



    When will these companies realize that 90 percent of consumers don't care about specs! They care about experience! A droid commercial says, "It'll turn you into a texting machine! It's got a 1.2 GHz processor and a 7 megapixel camera!!".



    An iPhone commercial says, "Look at all these apps we've got. The screen is the sharpest ever, so your photos will look great and reading is a lot easier."



    90% of consumers don't care if a tablet has USB ports, how many MB of RAM it has, or how fast its clock speed is. They wanna know, is it fun to use? Is it comfortable? Does it look cool? Does it have good apps? I'm a techie, and those are my concerns too.



    +1



    What we have here is a paradigm shift that Jobs saw and helped create. People are scrambling to catch up and most don't get it--including many here. Let me explain. Used to be, geeks bought computers. They'd examine specs and all sorts of stuff that "normal people" don't understand or care about. When normal people bought computers, they'd ask geeks what to get. Geeks gave them horrible advice and that's why aunt Martha is terrified of her email program to this day. That's why DOS won out over the Mac back in the 80s. That's why a 5 person company needs one of those employees to do full time tech support. That's why computers became something you "program" instead of a tool you just use like another tool. Geeks, there's your problem.



    Now, along comes Steve v2 and he cuts through all that. Anyone can buy a Mac and run their stuff with a minimum of tech assistance. But Steve went a step further. Hands on road testing and friendly tech assistance is as close as your nearest apple store. When you get there, you try out an iPhone or iPad and realize that it's not really a computer at all. You can pick it up and use it without knowing much of anything about computers. Now add the ecosystem (and believe me, MobileMe will end up being a HUGE factor here in the near future) and Steve's you uncle.



    Most geeks can't really understand what a revolution this is for regular folk. I see people I know using apple products that are deady afraid of computers and illiterate of all things tech. Apple has huge mind share among them and the young as well--because the young are unburdened by the history of the stuff. They are post-OS wars.



    No other tech company even has a clue at this point as to how to compete with this. The most often thought of competitor, google, is a clueless clown by comparison. Their offerings are disjointed and that's being kind. That's why google and MS geeks are so frustrated by apple. In the end, they think it's all marketing. Why else would people buy apple products? They must be dumb and succeptible to marketing. Yeah, that's it! (best Jon Lovitz voice)



    I look for apple to actually expand it's dominance in the foreseeable future. They can use their mind share, ecosystem, cash reserves, and buying power as formidable weapons. Now, what a turnaround that is for apple pre-2000! In my mind, this makes Jobs the most brilliant CEO of our time.



    PS. For anyone that brings up the android market share argument, think again. It's is very flawed. Hardware companies get a free spyware OS they have no control of and make cheap hardware to sell with it--with no tech support or ecosystem. Many will go broke, few will understand why. CEOs, prepare your golden parachutes.
  • Reply 19 of 47
    csuesscsuess Posts: 7member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by maccherry View Post


    Man, the smart cover demo on the Apple site is absolutely, effing awesome! That alone will drive 5 million sales.



    I am 100% with you. Just showed the cover movie to some (female) colleagues here and the were almost fainting That and the white version will drive A LOT customers into the shops.



    Great work. And like so many times before - it's also the details which makes APPLE to the most user oriented tech company in the word.



    Cheers



    csuess
  • Reply 20 of 47
    ^ That's hilarious! Didn't women used to faint and swoon over Elvis? How times have changed.



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