iPad partners profit as Apple dominates touchscreen supplies
Companies who make touch panels for Apple's iPad are expected to see revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2010 -- a typically slow season that will be bolstered by red hot sales of the touchscreen tablet.
According to DigiTimes, companies like Wintek and TPK Touch Solutions are expected to experience continued revenue growth in the fourth quarter of calendar 2010, thanks to strong consumer demand for the iPad. However, other touch panel makers who concentrate on smartphones, like Young Fast Optoelectronics and J Touch, are anticipated to see the traditional end-of-year seasonal decline in business.
"With Apple currently dominating the touch screen tablet PC market, almost every touch panel maker with mass production ability has received orders from Apple," the Taiwanese industry publication wrote Wednesday.
iPad touch panel suppliers are expected to have increased capacity in the fourth quarter, which could lead to an even greater supply of devices for the holiday season. The increased supplies come as Apple has expanded the retail availability of the iPad to new outlets like Target, Amazon.com, and all Best Buy locations in the U.S.
The report also indicated that orders for touchscreen tablets other than the iPad are not expected to have a major impact for suppliers in the fourth quarter. Actual shipments for rival companies' iPad competitors are not expected to take place until 2011.
This week an analyst concluded that the iPad, introduced in April, has had the fastest adoption rate of any new electronics product ever. Apple announced in July that the iPad had sold 3.27 million units in its first three months of availability.
According to DigiTimes, companies like Wintek and TPK Touch Solutions are expected to experience continued revenue growth in the fourth quarter of calendar 2010, thanks to strong consumer demand for the iPad. However, other touch panel makers who concentrate on smartphones, like Young Fast Optoelectronics and J Touch, are anticipated to see the traditional end-of-year seasonal decline in business.
"With Apple currently dominating the touch screen tablet PC market, almost every touch panel maker with mass production ability has received orders from Apple," the Taiwanese industry publication wrote Wednesday.
iPad touch panel suppliers are expected to have increased capacity in the fourth quarter, which could lead to an even greater supply of devices for the holiday season. The increased supplies come as Apple has expanded the retail availability of the iPad to new outlets like Target, Amazon.com, and all Best Buy locations in the U.S.
The report also indicated that orders for touchscreen tablets other than the iPad are not expected to have a major impact for suppliers in the fourth quarter. Actual shipments for rival companies' iPad competitors are not expected to take place until 2011.
This week an analyst concluded that the iPad, introduced in April, has had the fastest adoption rate of any new electronics product ever. Apple announced in July that the iPad had sold 3.27 million units in its first three months of availability.
Comments
http://www.wintek.com.tw/
http://www.tpk-solutions.com/
Therein lies our ruin.....
According to DigiTimes, companies like Wintek and TPK Touch Solutions are expected to experience continued revenue growth in the fourth quarter of calendar 2010, thanks to strong consumer demand for the iPad.
Too bad the halo doesn't extend to American workers.
I wish these gigantic transnational conglomerates would build at least a few factories here at home. Didn't Apple used to build their own stuff, in the US?
Oh well, at least Apple's stockholders are getting rich, and many of them are probably Americans.
Too bad the halo doesn't extend to American workers.
I wish these gigantic transnational conglomerates would build at least a few factories here at home. Didn't Apple used to build their own stuff, in the US?
Oh well, at least Apple's stockholders are getting rich, and many of them are probably Americans.
Yes, the rich get richer, and the rest of us watch them do it, on someone else's back.
Yes, the rich get richer, and the rest of us watch them do it, on someone else's back.
Capitalism at its finest
Too bad the halo doesn't extend to American workers.
I wish these gigantic transnational conglomerates would build at least a few factories here at home. Didn't Apple used to build their own stuff, in the US?
This is a very serious question: Forget about the cost for a moment; do you think that we can match the quality in consumer electronics today? If so, can you name an example?
Capitalism at its finest
Free trade should have also been coupled with free flow of labor to work properly.
This is a very serious question: Forget about the cost for a moment; do you think that we can match the quality in consumer electronics today? If so, can you name an example?
Yes, apple did produce in the US at one time. Check out YouTube.
Yes, Americans can compete in industrial electronics, medical, automotive, weapons systems, but I know of no major consumer electronics produced today in US only.
Now on the other hand, having been to some of these factories, I don't see many Americans being able any longer to sit shoulder to shoulder cranking out iphones for 8 to 10 hours. There is also a problem with the chemical waste that these factories generate and the US laws that control them.
Automation would be the solution here, but those videos of CNC manufacture and glass being bent on the Apple sites is unlikely done here in the US. The first real step would be to adopt Canadian style health care. They still have a domestic industrial base, and that is because the companies can afford workers. Hate to open that can of worms, but check into it before you throw mud at me.
Too bad the halo doesn't extend to American workers.
I wish these gigantic transnational conglomerates would build at least a few factories here at home. Didn't Apple used to build their own stuff, in the US?
Oh well, at least Apple's stockholders are getting rich, and many of them are probably Americans.
The way the lifestyle goes here in the US, I don't think Americans (the majority) will last working on factories. Working in factories ain't a picnic in the park.
The only people here with the balls to work in CE factories are the people that work in factories in the Automative industry, those type of people.
The RED 1 was/is made in Singapore.
But not much trickle down into the US economy:
http://www.wintek.com.tw/
http://www.tpk-solutions.com/
Therein lies our ruin.....
Well... I don't know about that. The people working in the genius bars at apple stores and the folks who answer the phone for AppleCare make a lot more money than the workers who assemble apple products in China and elsewhere. Also, the components for the iPad come from a lot of different companies (I think Intel makes the flash, for example). And if assembly were to take place in the US, it would be at a highly automated factory that probably wouldn't create many jobs (same story for making the screens)
Having said all that, I certainly agree with the sentiment that American workers are generally getting screwed, but it's a broader issue than where iPad screens are made. Currency revaluation combined with more investment in the US (either by government or industry) would go a long way towards improving employment and earnings for American workers.
This is a very serious question: Forget about the cost for a moment; do you think that we can match the quality in consumer electronics today? If so, can you name an example?
Here's some American stuff which is drool-worthy:
http://www.snellacoustics.com/Produc...omSpeakers.asp
http://www.neuhauslabs.com/amplifiers/
The second problem is that you don't recognize the huge delta in wages and benefits between China and the USA. This is something that is changing rapidly but the difference is not debatable. The simple fact is your iPad is as cheap as it is and Apples profits are as high as they are because the labor expense is so low.
Yes, apple did produce in the US at one time. Check out YouTube.
Yes, Americans can compete in industrial electronics, medical, automotive, weapons systems, but I know of no major consumer electronics produced today in US only.
This has been the case since the late 60's. You know back when TVs and FM radios started to move off shore. Back then it wasn't to China either. The motivation was the same though to meet the American demand for ever lower cost goods.
By the way you can buy US made consumer electronics today. The problem is the price you have to pay for those goods. The high end audio market is served by US made hardware to a large extent. The problem is you need to pull your a$$ out of the local best buy to buy the stuff.
Now on the other hand, having been to some of these factories, I don't see many Americans being able any longer to sit shoulder to shoulder cranking out iphones for 8 to 10 hours. There is also a problem with the chemical waste that these factories generate and the US laws that control them.
Funny but I work in a US plant that mass produces product every day. It is highly automated so people are not sitting side by side. However that the Chinese plants can have people doing that is an indication of just how cheap the labor is there.
Automation would be the solution here, but those videos of CNC manufacture and glass being bent on the Apple sites is unlikely done here in the US. The first real step would be to adopt Canadian style health care. They still have a domestic industrial base, and that is because the companies can afford workers. Hate to open that can of worms, but check into it before you throw mud at me.
Beyound the stupidity of your health care statement automation doesn't answer every problem with domestic manufacture. Even a highly automated plant needs people to run it, in fact better people, so labor costs are still significant
So yeah we are going to throw mud at you. Heaping piles of it in fact because you don't seem to grasp a key issue here, labor in the US is very expensive. Even if you cut out health care, social security and retirement benefits it is still expensive.
The question then becomes how much are you willing to pay for a US made iPad? Think hard about this one as several generations of Americans have now opted for the lower cost imports over US made goods. Remember this is a trend that started way back in the kate 1960's. Your comments about the lack of American made goods highlights my point, you don't even bother to look. Instead Americans run to the local so called discount chain and pay very high prices for what is nothing more than cheap crap. Even worst people think they are getting a good deal when they pay their $30 at Walmart or Best Buy for that Chinese made cable. We are our own worst enemys becausewe feed the beasts that drove the markets to low prices and low quality. Tell someone that they should look at BK (an American manufacture) for stereo equipment and they will say they can afford it; as they turn around and spend hundreds on worthless cables for their cheap imported hardware. In a marketplace where stupity like this is supreme, do you really think Apple can afford to make iPads in the USA?
The problem unfortunately is far more involved than you seem to believe. The one good thing is that manufactures are running out of places to run to for cheap labor. Running out of labor though is a slow process and even when it happens will not change peoples buying habits.
Dave
I know what you are saying, but, bottom line, how come all these jobs are gone?
Look, Apple components are built in China right? They have universal health care.
Components from Korea, they have it too.
Taiwan, ditto
Mexico , ditto
Intel ( international construction hard to tell where from, but name a county, but i would guess mainly china)
So what country do they not manufacture in? Here.
I am not advocating universal health care, but I do see a pattern as to where economy's are growing and where they are not.
So kick me down. Name a growing economy ( not one based on narcotics) that does not have universal health care.
Germany - no
Isreal - no
Russia - No
PS I sort of need this argument for a paper I have to write, so my only ax to grind is academic.
But I do respect your opinion.
Dave,
I know what you are saying, but, bottom line, how come all these jobs are gone?
Look, Apple components are built in China right? They have universal health care.
Components from Korea, they have it too.
Taiwan, ditto
Mexico , ditto
Intel ( international construction hard to tell where from, but name a county, but i would guess mainly china)
So what country do they not manufacture in? Here.
I am not advocating universal health care, but I do see a pattern as to where economy's are growing and where they are not.
So kick me down. Name a growing economy ( not one based on narcotics) that does not have universal health care.
Germany - no
Isreal - no
Russia - No
PS I sort of need this argument for a paper I have to write, so my only ax to grind is academic.
But I do respect your opinion.
You can't. The only two countries that come to mind are Turkey and Mexico, but those countries don't seem to be booming.
The sad fact is we don't have universal healthcare because we are run by corporations. Corporate communists more like it. They lobby for regulation that actually stifles competition, undermining the capitalistic system that got them to the top in the first place, like some sort of Oedipus complex.
There's actually two answers to the health insurance issue: The single payer nationalized system, and a deregulated capitalistic system. The single payer system would be a lot like our military. We all pay for protection of the homeland, and with healthcare it would be no different. We all pay for our own protection.
This is America, however, and we won't be seeing such a thing. Our real answer is unfettered capitalism. Let competition spur innovation, and drive price down. Company A won't cover you because they think being beat by your husband is a pre-existing condition? Well here comes Company B ready to scoop you up. Company A's prices are high because of the cost of doing business? Well here comes Company B, powering their offices with green energy and saving money with paperless record keeping...
What was this news article about again?