Thursday Apple Rumors: iPad Shipment Estimates Slashed

by Christopher Freeburn | March 7, 2013 1:54 pm

[1]Here are your Apple rumors[2] and AAPL news items for today:

Chopped: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[3]) has trimmed its internal shipment estimates for iPads this year[4], DigiTimes reports. The company had previously anticipated shipping about 60 million standard-sized iPads and 40 million iPad Minis this year. However, it has cut the forecast for the standard-sized iPad to 33 million units, while boosting projected iPad Mini shipments to 55 million units. At these estimates, the company expects to ship a total of 88 million iPads this year. DigiTimes as a mixed record of accuracy on Apple-related reports. However, a number of other recent reports have suggested weaker demand for the company’s iPads and iPhones this year. The iPad Mini is priced well below the standard-sized iPad and may be cannibalizing sales of its larger kin at a higher rate that previously anticipated.

Cheap: A new music streaming service from Apple may be delayed because of the company’s effort to reduce royalty payments to record labels[5], AppleInsider notes. In its first proposal to record labels, Apple offered to pay 6 cents per 100 songs streamed. By contrast, the established music streaming service Pandora (NYSE:P[6]) pays twice that rate. However, the record labels were apparently expecting Apple to pay even more — 21 cents per 100 songs streamed. That would be closer to the 36 cents per 100 songs paid by Spotify. While negotiations between Apple and the record labels continue, the rate the company will pay remains a hurdle to the service’s launch.

iSteal: Theft of Apple products has become so common in recent years[7] that police have dubbed the phenomena “apple picking,” the Huffington Post notes. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has observed that Apple thefts tend to spike shortly after the company unveils a new product. In the Big Apple, such thefts actually contributed to the city’s first rise in crime in two decades last year[8]. Thieves sell stolen iPads, iPhones and iPods in underground markets which send many of the devices overseas to emerging markets in Asia, Eastern Europe and South America. The underground trade in stolen mobile devices is worth a staggering $30 billion annually.

For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors[9] stories.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/03/thursday-apple-rumors-ipad-shipment-estimates-slashed/

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