Production of Apple's iPad 2 to begin in February, iPhone 5 in May - report

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  • Reply 21 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nvidia2008 View Post


    Huh? The iPhone 4 was released in June last year. This report and consensus says that iPhone 5 will be released in June this year. Nothing unexpected.



    I see why Apple had the quick hardware releases of the earlier iPhones because the platform was new, features were added and hardware needed to be updated too. The 3G/3GS is the same phone basically hardware wise, but the 3GS needed a few hardware extras for the new software. Looking at the 3G/3GS, you could never tell the difference. The IP4 has all the hardware specs needed for any new software updates in the near future. Plus, Apple has been busy with the Verizon phone. I just don't see an IP5 until next year when LTE is more established.
  • Reply 22 of 61
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    I hope they don't screw over Canada like last year and only release it up here when they have enough for Croatia and Outer Mongolia as well.



    Waiting those extra three/four months is painful when everyone else already has one and is using it. I don't understand why they dropped us off the initial release list (for the first time), last year.



    Pro: That new Foxconn factory pumping out 200k units per month should be in full swing by May.



    Con: The growth in iPhone intest could outstrip the supply chain yet again resulting in even fewer countries for the initial release, especially if they want both the GSM and CDMA iPhone 5s to be released at the same time in the US.



    Note: The US was the single biggest iPhone buying country before the Verizon iPhone. The 3GS was released in 17 countries, while the iPhone 4 in just 5 for the initial release.
  • Reply 23 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    That is when it was released last year. They have kept the iDevice releases pretty consistent over the years. If they can release both the WiFi and Wifi+3G model types in April that will be an improvement over last year.



    Good point.
  • Reply 24 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Carmissimo View Post


    If production kicks off in a few weeks, why an April launch and not March?



    Being as the launch of the iPad was a rather drawn out affair taking months to unfold (the original announcement took place in January), I don't think that an April launch date is cast in stone.



    Apple hates it when leaks blunt the wow factor that comes from unveiling a significant update. If you start building the new iPad in early February and wait for two months to launch the device, you have to know that the official announcement will be merely a formality with no significant PR value. On the other hand if you kick off production and then unveil the device let's say a month later, you have a chance to keep leaks from messing up the reveal. It also helps to prevent competition from being a month closer to catching up to you.



    Perhaps I'm being naive. Maybe a month is not enough time to get production going in volumes adequate to meet initial demand. Yet it seems to me that volume production within a month of launching production seems like a reasonable goal. As long as you have enough units built within that month to not be regarded as having lied about it being available, if there is an initial delay for customers in the early stages, that's considered business as usual.



    Then again, this is all based on a best-case scenario. If it turns out there is a production issue that surfaces in that first few weeks, no doubt Apple would hate to have it thought that a March or late February public unveiling was in the cards only to have that announcement delayed by several weeks to work out the problem. Better to have it thought that April was the target all along.



    Don't forget the PR and PoweR of the PRe-order
  • Reply 25 of 61
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nvidia2008 View Post


    "FAR EAST".... Jeezus... Just say China



    Right, but I was hoping for an early shipping date for sending iLiver to the Far East.
  • Reply 26 of 61
    iliveriliver Posts: 299member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nvidia2008 View Post


    Huh? The iPhone 4 was released in June last year. This report and consensus says that iPhone 5 will be released in June this year. Nothing unexpected.



    Unless it's white.
  • Reply 27 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    I hope they don't screw over Canada like last year and only release it up here when they have enough for Croatia and Outer Mongolia as well.



    Waiting those extra three/four months is painful when everyone else already has one and is using it. I don't understand why they dropped us off the initial release list (for the first time), last year.



    I have a tongue in cheek response to this post but I don't want the thread to slide off into political rants...



    I was actually happy for the wait last year... it gave me the time needed to ensure the iPad was going to be reviewed favourably by the end users.
  • Reply 28 of 61
    iliveriliver Posts: 299member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by island hermit View Post


    Please add me to your ignore list... I will do likewise with you.



    Thank you.



    - ih



    Obvuiously you can't answer the question so you need to resort to some sort of lame sarcasm.

    Wish not granted.



    Looking forward to the new iPadHD though.
  • Reply 29 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    I hope they don't screw over Canada like last year and only release it up here when they have enough for Croatia and Outer Mongolia as well.



    Waiting those extra three/four months is painful when everyone else already has one and is using it. I don't understand why they dropped us off the initial release list (for the first time), last year.



    What? Are you anti-Croatian? Croatians need ljuba too!



    Zvi za Ljubav!



    Next, you'll be dissing Bosnia-Herzegovinians... or even Magyars!
  • Reply 30 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    That is when it was released last year. They have kept the iDevice releases pretty consistent over the years. If they can release both the WiFi and Wifi+3G model types in April that will be an improvement over last year.



    PS: anecdotally speaking, I have noticed more and more people who I wouldn't co sider technical or followers of tech news have a general idea of the next assumed iDevice releases. Is the media at large relaying this info to people?



    What would be consistent with how Apple does things would be to retain the current version of the iPad for a lower price in Wi-Fi-only form. For example, drop the price from $499 to $429, with the memory remaining 16GB.



    So then you release the iPad 2 in three 3G versions with a 32GB version, a 64GB version and a 128GB model. The current 32GB 3G model retails for $729 and the 16GB 3G model sells for $629.



    Imagine the problems Apple would cause for the competition if the pricing for the 3G versions were $599, $699, $799. In other words, you could have an iPad with 16GB, Wi-Fi only for $429 or step up to the $599 starting point for a model with an enhanced display (not Retina but upgraded), 32GB memory and 3G. No matter how you looked at it, it would represent a significant price drop for a product that is already way ahead of the competition in terms of pricing.



    The $599 3G 32GB version would be the most popular configuration and it would be easy to convince most consumers to pay the extra $170 for double the memory, better screen and 3G. As we've seen even the $629 price point for the current 16GB 3G model is not stopping consumers from buying them by the millions.



    It could end the tablet war before it hardly started in that it would take the competition at least another two years to approach where Apple would be now and by then who knows were the iPad technology will be. Being able to do this while making a huge profit seems just too amazing to be possible but it does appear that it could happen.
  • Reply 31 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    I find the leaks from China to be fairly reliable. It was reports from China that convinced me the iPhone 4 CDMA was finally upon us.



    As Apple grows such leaks will be harder to contain without spending an exponently higher amount of resources to contain it. Probably to a point tha it's simply not financially viable. China is the future in so many ways.



    ... Runs to sign up for local class in Mandarin.



    Too true. Apple is going to run out of manufacturing partners in China if they start punishing them for not preventing all leaks, which is impossible anyway. I remember how furious Apple was years ago when one of the video card manufacturers (IIRC, nvidea) accidentally publicized one of their new cards for the Mac before Steve got to speak the words at a MacWorld keynote. That company paid a steep price for their slip by not getting any business from Apple for some time afterwards.



    Not possible with the Chinese. That's one of the downsides of off-shoring manufacturing, especially to a country where workers are paid so little and often treated like cattle. If China truly is the future, I worry about the future. I didn't want to change the subject of this thread, but it's probably too late now.
  • Reply 32 of 61
    OT, but interesting:



    "Target will have 1,450 Radio Shack-run mobile phone shops in its stores by the end of June."



    I wonder if those SWASs will sell iPhones?



    http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/24/news...ce=yahoo_quote
  • Reply 33 of 61
    desarcdesarc Posts: 642member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by storneo View Post


    I see why Apple had the quick hardware releases of the earlier iPhones because the platform was new, features were added and hardware needed to be updated too. The 3G/3GS is the same phone basically hardware wise, but the 3GS needed a few hardware extras for the new software. Looking at the 3G/3GS, you could never tell the difference. The IP4 has all the hardware specs needed for any new software updates in the near future. Plus, Apple has been busy with the Verizon phone. I just don't see an IP5 until next year when LTE is more established.



    i see you point, but in order to remain competitive in the mobile market, apple needs to update their hardware VERY frequently - especially with only one model. Any slower than once a year, any the android armada starts to look more appealing to the masses. Even if it's just a bump to double the memory, upgrade a camera, release a new color, whatever. Nobody can't sit back in this market.



    i like the April iPad, July iPhone, September iPod refresh cycle.

    i just wish the Laptops and Desktops were as predictable - was looking forward to a spec bump in January before purchasing new hardware for my design department.
  • Reply 34 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Carmissimo View Post


    So then you release the iPad 2 in three 3G versions with a 32GB version, a 64GB version and a 128GB model. The current 32GB 3G model retails for $729 and the 16GB 3G model sells for $629.



    Imagine the problems Apple would cause for the competition if the pricing for the 3G versions were $599, $699, $799. In other words, you could have an iPad with 16GB, Wi-Fi only for $429 or step up to the $599 starting point for a model with an enhanced display (not Retina but upgraded), 32GB memory and 3G. No matter how you looked at it, it would represent a significant price drop for a product that is already way ahead of the competition in terms of pricing.



    It could end the tablet war before it hardly started in that it would take the competition at least another two years to approach where Apple would be now and by then who knows were the iPad technology will be. Being able to do this while making a huge profit seems just too amazing to be possible but it does appear that it could happen.



    I like you overall logic but would make a couple of comments.



    If the new display is not retina (and I don't believe it will be), and with anecdotal evidence of the fall in component prices on that current part alone (60% fall in the spare part cost since launch), they could easily blow out current iPad at $399 or lower and really end the war before it began (with MOTO Xooms at $800+). The issue for Apple is whether that would negatively impact iPad 2 sales at $499+? I don't know.



    As for the 3G model pricing - I don't think they have to reduce it. 3G buyers are typically more savvy and clearly have more demanding use cases (some degree of road warrior-ing) and I would guess are less price sensitive to the $30 you are suggesting here (given their likely ongoing (even on/off) data charges). I would be happy if they did since I would prefer the option of 3G with less of an upcharge but I doubt it does Apple any good to cut me a break on it.
  • Reply 35 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Carmissimo View Post


    If production kicks off in a few weeks, why an April launch and not March?



    Being as the launch of the iPad was a rather drawn out affair taking months to unfold (the original announcement took place in January), I don't think that an April launch date is cast in stone.



    Apple hates it when leaks blunt the wow factor that comes from unveiling a significant update. If you start building the new iPad in early February and wait for two months to launch the device, you have to know that the official announcement will be merely a formality with no significant PR value. On the other hand if you kick off production and then unveil the device let's say a month later, you have a chance to keep leaks from messing up the reveal. It also helps to prevent competition from being a month closer to catching up to you.



    Perhaps I'm being naive. Maybe a month is not enough time to get production going in volumes adequate to meet initial demand. Yet it seems to me that volume production within a month of launching production seems like a reasonable goal. As long as you have enough units built within that month to not be regarded as having lied about it being available, if there is an initial delay for customers in the early stages, that's considered business as usual.



    Then again, this is all based on a best-case scenario. If it turns out there is a production issue that surfaces in that first few weeks, no doubt Apple would hate to have it thought that a March or late February public unveiling was in the cards only to have that announcement delayed by several weeks to work out the problem. Better to have it thought that April was the target all along.



    Last year the iPad was unveiled january 27th and began shipping in april... No leaks because it was already unveiled Weren't there rumors for a february 9th unveiling of the iPad 2?
  • Reply 36 of 61
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jonatan View Post


    Well, that last statement says all about the crediability of the report.



    They did say they used Google translate on the story. I can easily see how the meaning could get skewed. It may have been something like Apple users' conference but something was lost in translation.
  • Reply 37 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss View Post


    Too true. Apple is going to run out of manufacturing partners in China if they start punishing them for not preventing all leaks, which is impossible anyway. I remember how furious Apple was years ago when one of the video card manufacturers (IIRC, nvidea) accidentally publicized one of their new cards for the Mac before Steve got to speak the words at a MacWorld keynote. That company paid a steep price for their slip by not getting any business from Apple for some time afterwards.



    Not possible with the Chinese. That's one of the downsides of off-shoring manufacturing, especially to a country where workers are paid so little and often treated like cattle. If China truly is the future, I worry about the future. I didn't want to change the subject of this thread, but it's probably too late now.



    Can I ask that you avoid anthropomorphizing companies (ala "Apple was furious")? It seems a bit silly from someone who's input I weigh favorably here. Apple wasn't "furious", they have specific partner agreements that are entered into with suppliers, including reasonable confidentiality clauses which carry with them logical consequences or as you so pithily put "punish[ment]".



    In your second part, that was the case in US labor history as well - workers here were similarly paid a pittance and treated like cattle - some say they still are: being tied to a desk and fattened for layoffs. Just wait though, as China ascends to economic dominance, leveraging their new program of accelerated patenting/licensing of all thing technological, and becomes the major importer of energy resources, call in a few China-owned US debts, we can once again revel in being the poor country that all the developed countries like to ship manufacturing to...
  • Reply 38 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by fecklesstechguy View Post


    Can I ask that you avoid anthropomorphizing companies (ala "Apple was furious")? It seems a bit silly from someone who's input I weigh favorably here. Apple wasn't "furious", they have specific partner agreements that are entered into with suppliers, including reasonable confidentiality clauses which carry with them logical consequences or as you so pithily put "punish[ment]".



    In your second part, that was the case in US labor history as well - workers here were similarly paid a pittance and treated like cattle - some say they still are: being tied to a desk and fattened for layoffs. Just wait though, as China ascends to economic dominance, leveraging their new program of accelerated patenting/licensing of all thing technological, and becomes the major importer of energy resources, call in a few China-owned US debts, we can once again revel in being the poor country that all the developed countries like to ship manufacturing to...



    It was said at the time that Steve was furious, but since that was just the rumor and the response was institutional it makes sense to say that the company had the reaction. That's not "anthropomorphizing," it's simply being as accurate as the available information permits.



    The big difference between the industrializing US and industrializing China is the political system. The world has rarely seen economic powers with totalitarian political systems, and when it has, the results have not been pretty. If China is the future, the future isn't necessarily altogether rosy. Just something to ponder.
  • Reply 39 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nvidia2008 View Post


    "FAR EAST".... Jeezus... Just say China



    China is more to the West. Unless you want to pretend that the world is still flat.
  • Reply 40 of 61
    penchantedpenchanted Posts: 1,070member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nvidia2008 View Post


    I'm with you. For the iPad2 I expect a February announcement with shipping in March. I think towards the end of this month could have been the iPad2 announcement alongside the new publication app mechanism.



    But Steve's leave of absence... I'm sure things are going to be delayed somewhat.



    I have been expecting a March announcement and late March/early April delivery for the new iPad. I guess they could do a late February announcement.



    One thing to consider is that the Chinese New Year starts on Feb 3 which means nothing gets manufactured or shipped for two weeks. Even if the production lines are ready to produce at anything resembling mass production runs, there will be a delay to build inventory for the launch. I am guessing that they would need a minimum of 500,000 units at launch which, at a build rate of 25k/day, would take 20 days. In truth, I think they will require a larger number at launch - probably 800-900k.



    I don't think that Steve's absence is likely to affect the launch. If he is well enough, he will do the presentation; if not, Apple will take the opportunity to showcase their other executive leadership.
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