Here are your Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) news items and rumors for Tuesday: three models of iPad 2 to come early 2011, Verizon (NYSE:VZ) and Apple evolve their iPad partnership, and a CDMA iPhone will represent a significant portion of first-quarter shipments.
3 iPad 2s Due in 2011: In addition to reports recently published by Taiwanese news outlet DigiTimes, including word that the second-generation iPad 2 tablet will include a larger, vented speaker at its base as well as dual forward and backward facing cameras, the Taiwanese news outlet said Tuesday that it will come in three distinct models.
In addition to the current two-model stable, which includes a version with only Wi-Fi wireless communication technology and another with both WiFi and UMTS 3G wireless tech, a third version will incorporate CDMA-standard support. This would allow current WiFi iPad supporters, like telecoms Verizon and Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S), to offer iPad 2s on their respective 3G networks without asking customers to buy portable WiFi routers.
DigiTimes reported that about about 60%-65% of current iPad shipments are 3G models, showing consumers prefer models that are able to connect to the Internet all the time. Apple is therefore aiming to work even more closely with telecom carriers by offering more wireless options for iPad 2 to satisfy market demand.
Job Posting Shows iPad Business Push: Apple has ended the year by bringing the iPad to 3G wireless carriers outside of AT&T (NYSE:T), partnering with Verizon to target consumers with sales of WiFi-only iPads alongside MiFi mobile hotspots. A Monday report from Apple Insider highlights evidence that Apple and Verizon are now strengthening their partnership with an initiative to drive iPad sales to business customers. A new job listing at Apple is seeking for a “Verizon iPad system engineer,” and describes the ideal candidate as having “enterprise sales experience,” as well as familiarity with “enterprise messaging and collaboration, VPN, WiFi and enterprise security technologies.”
Many analysts have pointed to tablet PCs, particularly Apple’s iPad, as the driving factor in eroding sales of notebook PCs to business buyers. Mobile software firm BoxTone conducted a survey last November that found that 73% of 1,200 surveyed IT professionals in the U.S. planned to introduce the iPad to their businesses in 2011.
iPhone Shipments Raised: A Monday report in DigiTimes says Apple has changed plans to ship 19 million iPhones during the first quarter of 2011 — and is now expecting to ship as many as 21 million iPhones. The report goes on to say that 14 million-15 million of those phones shipped will be of the current WCDMA (more commonly labeled UMTS) iPhones while the remaining 5 million-6 million would be the the long-rumored CDMA standard iPhone. This supports rumors from late this year that Apple would, despite numerous denials, be shipping a CDMA iPhone in early 2011.
As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
