Apple talking to China Mobile; Adobe chief resigns; Apple in Japan
Apple is chatting with China's largest mobile carrier about a deal to bring iPhone to the country sometime next year. Meanwhile, Adobe chief executive Bruce Chizen will step down at the end of this month. And Apple during the month of October was treated to some welcomed news out of Japan.
iPhone for China
China Mobile, China's largest cell-phone carrier, is in talks with Apple about bringing the iPhone to China, but no agreement has been reached yet, the telecom's chief executive said Tuesday.
The companies still need to iron out their differences over revenue sharing, Wang Jianzhou told reporters on the sidelines of the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress in the Chinese territory of Macau.
Apple has said it plans to launch iPhone in Asia in 2008 and is in talks with various operators in the region.
Chizen steps down
Adobe said Monday that its Board of Directors has appointed current president and chief operating officer Shantanu Narayen as its president and chief executive officer, effective December 1, 2007. Narayen will also join Adobe’s Board of Directors at that time.
Narayen replaces Adobe chief executive Bruce Chizen, who will serve the remainder of his term on Adobe’s Board of Directors through the Spring of 2008 and continue in a strategic advisory capacity through the end of fiscal year 2008.
“Bruce Chizen’s vision has helped transform Adobe from a company that was known mainly for its popular design products into one of the largest and most diversified software companies in the world,” said Chuck Geschke and John Warnock, Adobe’s chairmen of the Board of Directors, in the press release. “We thank him for his outstanding leadership and contributions to Adobe’s success during his entire 14 years at Adobe and the past seven as CEO.”
Sales of Mac OS X surge in Japan
Microsoft's has taken a bruising in the Japanese marketplace just as Apple's Mac OS X Leopard was released, according to a new report by the country's Business Computer News translated by Electronista.
It notes that while sales of Mac OS X increased dramatically between September and October, climbing from a rate of 15.5 percent year-over-year to 60.5 percent, Microsoft suffered from the reverse effect. Sales growth of Windows plummeted from 75.3 percent to 28.7 percent. The sudden switch provided Apple with about 53.9 percent of the total OS-only marketshare in Japan during October -- a breakthrough for the company, BCN says.
Although the results are expected to cool in the wake of Leopard's release, the report notes that the sharp increase is more than 10 points stronger than the growth in Mac OS X sales triggered by the release of Tiger in April 2005.
Japan has frequently been cited as one of the most difficult markets to breach in the world today, with a rapid decline in overall computer sales forcing Hitachi out of the market entirely and numerous other PC vendors turning to alternate computer designs such as Sharp's Internet AQUOS.
iPhone for China
China Mobile, China's largest cell-phone carrier, is in talks with Apple about bringing the iPhone to China, but no agreement has been reached yet, the telecom's chief executive said Tuesday.
The companies still need to iron out their differences over revenue sharing, Wang Jianzhou told reporters on the sidelines of the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress in the Chinese territory of Macau.
Apple has said it plans to launch iPhone in Asia in 2008 and is in talks with various operators in the region.
Chizen steps down
Adobe said Monday that its Board of Directors has appointed current president and chief operating officer Shantanu Narayen as its president and chief executive officer, effective December 1, 2007. Narayen will also join Adobe’s Board of Directors at that time.
Narayen replaces Adobe chief executive Bruce Chizen, who will serve the remainder of his term on Adobe’s Board of Directors through the Spring of 2008 and continue in a strategic advisory capacity through the end of fiscal year 2008.
“Bruce Chizen’s vision has helped transform Adobe from a company that was known mainly for its popular design products into one of the largest and most diversified software companies in the world,” said Chuck Geschke and John Warnock, Adobe’s chairmen of the Board of Directors, in the press release. “We thank him for his outstanding leadership and contributions to Adobe’s success during his entire 14 years at Adobe and the past seven as CEO.”
Sales of Mac OS X surge in Japan
Microsoft's has taken a bruising in the Japanese marketplace just as Apple's Mac OS X Leopard was released, according to a new report by the country's Business Computer News translated by Electronista.
It notes that while sales of Mac OS X increased dramatically between September and October, climbing from a rate of 15.5 percent year-over-year to 60.5 percent, Microsoft suffered from the reverse effect. Sales growth of Windows plummeted from 75.3 percent to 28.7 percent. The sudden switch provided Apple with about 53.9 percent of the total OS-only marketshare in Japan during October -- a breakthrough for the company, BCN says.
Although the results are expected to cool in the wake of Leopard's release, the report notes that the sharp increase is more than 10 points stronger than the growth in Mac OS X sales triggered by the release of Tiger in April 2005.
Japan has frequently been cited as one of the most difficult markets to breach in the world today, with a rapid decline in overall computer sales forcing Hitachi out of the market entirely and numerous other PC vendors turning to alternate computer designs such as Sharp's Internet AQUOS.
Comments
Another way to put this is to look at iPod sales in China versus generic MP3. Extrapolate to the iPhone. iPod sales are close to 1%, if not lower, of global sales for Apple, despite China having a population which is over 1.3 billion people.
Unfortunately, China Mobile caters to a vast consumer base which does not have the resources to buy such an expensive phone. Probably in the higher end of the population, those people would reasonably be able to afford it, but the vast, vast majority would not. I could see an open, cheaper platform being viable there. As it is now, most handsets are Asia-local designed and manufactured, with a tilt towards the ultra-cheap basic phones, with web browsing.
Another way to put this is to look at iPod sales in China versus generic MP3. Extrapolate to the iPhone. iPod sales are close to 1%, if not lower, of global sales for Apple, despite China having a population which is over 1.3 billion people.
China has over 150 million people in the middle class. That is larger than the entire population Of Russia. While it's true that China's middle class is , on average, not as wealthy as that in Europe, and much less wealthy as that in the USA, it's still able to spend on items such as smartphones, and digital music players. Those sales have been increasing a a high rate, from about nothing two years ago. But, phones are desired more by the chinese than music players are.
If the iPhone comes out in China, it will, at once, become an object of desire for a very large number of people. Good sales would be assured.
Curious to know why Chizen stepped down. Is there a story behind the story?
No. He's been talking about this for some time. Adobe is doing better than ever.
Curious to know why every other country in the entire world is getting the iPhone while Canada does not. Chizen probably stepped down in disgust.
Canada is screwed up.
Chizen never liked being a CEO. He was almost forced into the post. Adobe is doing great.
Wow, so basically HALF of Japan now runs Mac OS X? Did I read it right?
No, and no.
Wow, so basically HALF of Japan now runs Mac OS X? Did I read it right?
I think they must be talking about sales of the OS separate from any computer. Mostly upgrades? I have to imagine that there is still a huge advantage to MS installed base relative to OS X. It is a promising trend though, and the rumored micro notebook (and hopefully SOMEDAY iPhone) should help it to continue.
And guess which country will not be initiating lawsuits about lock-in.
Nah... But we'd still figure out how to sue somebody because certain phones are GSM-exclusive and certain networks are CDMA.
As soon as the iPhone hits the Chinese market, you can bet that copycats will have their own iPhone-like knockoffs available there. China only pays lip service to enforcing copyrights and patents from other countries. They will take the iPhone apart, figure out the multitouch technology and other Apple patented stuff, implement them in their phones and dare Apple to try and block them in Chinese courts.
They already have.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_8wuVEYMZ8
Sales of Mac OS X surge in Japan
Microsoft's has taken a bruising in the Japanese marketplace just as Apple's Mac OS X Leopard was released, according to a new report by the country's Business Computer News translated by Electronista.
It notes that while sales of Mac OS X increased dramatically between September and October, climbing from a rate of 15.5 percent year-over-year to 60.5 percent, Microsoft suffered from the reverse effect. Sales growth of Windows plummeted from 75.3 percent to 28.7 percent. The sudden switch provided Apple with about 53.9 percent of the total OS-only marketshare in Japan during October -- a breakthrough for the company, BCN says.
Although the results are expected to cool in the wake of Leopard's release, the report notes that the sharp increase is more than 10 points stronger than the growth in Mac OS X sales triggered by the release of Tiger in April 2005.
Japan has frequently been cited as one of the most difficult markets to breach in the world today, with a rapid decline in overall computer sales forcing Hitachi out of the market entirely and numerous other PC vendors turning to alternate computer designs such as Sharp's Internet AQUOS.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Apple's problem in Japan is not it's OS sales - it's computing hardware. The lack of a truly portable laptop in a nation relies mainly on public transportation is pathetic. Japan is the 2nd or 3rd largest consumer market in the world, and the fact that only Windoze laptop makers produce laptops under 4lbs (many 3lb or less) really hamstrings Apple. This has been a problem even in the days of the 4lb 12" G4 PB, because its performance lagged far behind it's Wintel counterparts. The situation was made worse when Apple switched its portables to Intel chips, with no product weights at 5lbs or more.
I have heard rumour though that it is supposed to be available in January or February. I have no idea what price they have agreed to though. But knowing Rogers... get out your wallets.
It's not Apple's fault that there is no iPhone up in Canada yet. You should be whining to Rogers Wireless. The way they have structured their data plans it would cost you $210/month to get the same service you get in the US. That's what Apple has been fighting with them about. If they want to carry it (and they are the only company up there capable of carrying it), then they need to get in line with more reasonable rates.
I have heard rumour though that it is supposed to be available in January or February. I have no idea what price they have agreed to though. But knowing Rogers... get out your wallets.
You're right. The story I've heard is that the blame lies squarely with Rogers.
Curious to know why every other country in the entire world is getting the iPhone while Canada does not. Chizen probably stepped down in disgust.
HAHAHA!!!
Thanks for making me laugh!
Cheers!
It's not Apple's fault that there is no iPhone up in Canada yet. You should be whining to Rogers Wireless. The way they have structured their data plans it would cost you $210/month to get the same service you get in the US. That's what Apple has been fighting with them about. If they want to carry it (and they are the only company up there capable of carrying it), then they need to get in line with more reasonable rates.
I have heard rumour though that it is supposed to be available in January or February. I have no idea what price they have agreed to though. But knowing Rogers... get out your wallets.
The federal government is supposed to be auctioning off more wireless spectrum next year, and the talk is that there will be some new companies in the market. Maybe Apple is waiting to see if they can cut a better deal with a new wireless company next year. Or at least holding out with that threat to Rogers. There has only been one company offering GSM in Canada since Rogers bought out Fido. It would be great to see a new competitor, and you can bet we will get better prices if there is one.