Strategy Analytics reported its tablet figures for 2013 and unsurprisingly, iPad remains in first place with 33.9% marketshare. Marketshare growth has dipped slightly, however, year-on-year as iPad accounted for 35.7% of tablet sales in Q4 2012.
In terms of unit growth, Apple rose 14% compared with the year-ago quarter. The second-place position goes to Samsung, with 17.7% marketshare (although this means annual growth was more than 80%). Apple sold just under double Samsung’s shipments for the period, so even though Apple’s growth has slowed, there is still a significant gap between first and second place.
Amazon’s share of the market remained pretty much constant with 6% of sales in last quarter, compared with 7% in Q4 2012. Lenovo and Acer both experienced triple-digit growth but sales are almost negligible in the context of the market, shipping just 4 million tablets between them.
“2013 was another extremely healthy year for the tablet market,” Matt Wilkins, director of tablets and wearables at Strategy Analytics, said in a statement. “While it may not be a three-figure growth rate like we have witnessed previously, it is still significant considering the market is now delivering in excess of 200 million units on an annual global basis.”
The firm said that, over the year, worldwide tablet shipments rose 33 percent to 227 million units, with 76.8 million of those sales coming from the holiday quarter alone.
Last year, Apple and GT Advanced struck a deal to open and operate a manufacturing facility in Mesa, Arizona related to sapphire crystal components.
Earlier this year, we learned that Apple is “aggressively” pushing to make the facility operational by February 2014 and that the building would produce a “critical” and “new” sub-component for future Apple devices. Due to the vagueness and secrecy surrounding Apple and GT Advanced’s plans, there has been little to no confirmation regarding what exactly the partnership will yield for future Apple products.
But, thanks to new documents and information that we have uncovered with help of analyst Matt Margolis, we have a clearer picture of Apple’s plans…
As we speculated in a previous article, it appears that Apple is planning to build sapphire-crystal displays for future iPhones. This is opposed to this facility building sapphire components for future Apple Touch ID fingerprint readers and caps for camera sensors. The proof that GT Advanced is preparing to manufacture sapphire for displays comes from import/export records. As can be seen in the image above, GT Advanced has ordered Intego Sirius Sapphire Display Inspection Tool components.
Documents detailing those inspection tool components explain their purpose:
The machines will allow GT Advanced to ensure that the sapphire crystal displays meet high-quality standards. These machines are specific for display-grade components, not small pieces of sapphire that could be used for Home buttons or cameras.
The machines are large and can process several slabs of sapphire crystal screen covers simultaneously. Above is a drawing of the equipment.
Because GT Advanced is not owned by Apple, it may be unclear if every component purchase by GT Advanced is for Apple-related purposes. Of course, GT Advanced has had several partners in the past. However, information from a recent GT Advanced SEC filing seems to point to all current work being exclusive for Apple-related uses:
Based on the above details from the SEC filing, Apple and GT Advanced are currently in an exclusive partnership in relation to “Consumer Electronics Products,” and this makes it unlikely that the new sapphire crystal display work could be for any other technology company’s products.
Both pieces work together to transform sapphire crystal material into “boules” that look like large hockey pucks. Those “boules” are then re-processed, polished, and sliced into the shapes of displays.
As of now, according to shipping documents and other data from Margolis, GT Advanced has received 518 of the pictured units, with another 420 machines on order (that have yet to be assembled). The first 518 units, according to Margolis, could build between 103 million and 116 million ~5-inch displays per year. The additional machines would nearly double that annual output with an additional 84 million to 94 million screen covers. GT Advanced has also ordered over 100 tons of graphite material to heat the furnaces.
Apple has been developing a sensor-laden, fitness- and medical-focused wearable computer as indicated by several notable recent hires and information we have received from sources.
New Apple hires on both the senior executive and standard engineering levels have expertise in fashion, wearable product industrial design, retail, blood-reading sensors, medical device product management, hardware engineering, software vision, and fitness.
As the rumored launch of the “iWatch” approaches, we have compiled an up-to-date list (into categories of leadership, fashion, fitness, and health) of all known and pertinent recent Apple hires to provide a clearer picture of what Apple’s future wearable technologies could offer to consumers…
Leadership:
While Apple has several rank-and-file hardware engineers and software developers working on all of the company’s various projects, Apple’s leadership team and engineering managers make many of the decisions regarding which products to ship, when to ship them, and which features should be included. Besides Apple CEO Tim Cook and his executive team (made up of the likes of Jony Ive, Craig Federighi, Phil Schiller, and Eddy Cue), Apple has several high-ranking managers and executives guiding the iWatch project, according to our own reporting and claims from various other publications.
Jeff Williams (Senior VP, Operations):
Now that Tim Cook leads Apple as CEO, most of the tasks relating to Apple’s supply chain, manufacturing, and operations have fallen in the hands of Jeff Williams. Instrumental in the launch of both the original iPhone and iPad, Williams is the most senior Apple executive directly managing Apple’s wearable computing projects.
As we noted last summer, Williams is in charge of Apple’s special projects groups. Prior to last summer, former Apple Hardware Engineering lead Bob Mansfield ran the iWatch group, but Williams took charge following Mansfield’s surprise role reduction last year.
William’s deep involvement in the project has also been confirmed on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) website, which indicated that Williams attended a meeting with FDA officials in regards to mobile medical applications.
Known as an “operations whiz,” Williams gained fame within Apple and on Wall Street for his ability to improve Apple’s shipment processes, foster relationships with oversees technology component manufacturers, tighten Apple’s supply chain, and improve Apple’s supplier responsibility initiatives.
But as Williams explains in his video about the development of the new Mac Pro, “manufacturing and design” are “inextricably linked” at Apple. Running operations for all of Apple’s products, Williams clearly has the know how for leading the manufacturing of many different types of technologies. Apple could create all the products in the world in its “black labs,” but that means nothing unless Apple can get the products into the hands of millions of consumers.
Bud Tribble (VP, Software Technology):
Bud Tribble (pictured right) is known as one of Apple’s first employees, having worked on the Mac since its earliest days. As iOS and OS X have become more closely linked, Tribble is responsible for many of the underlying technologies of both operating systems. Tribble joined Williams in last year’s Apple meeting with the FDA, and Tribble has also testified on Apple’s behalf in government proceedings related to Apple’s software. With his vast industry and software knowledge, Tribble is likely contributing immensely to the underlying software technologies found in Apple’s upcoming wearable device. Tribble also has degrees in medical fields, making his experience critical for the health-infused elements of future Apple devices.
Bob Mansfield (Special Projects):
Bob Mansfield worked on several Apple hardware projects over the past decade, including many versions of the iPad, MacBook Air, and iMac. He is known as being one of the best engineering managers in the world, and multiple sources and profiles have indicated that Mansfield had been wholly invested in the iWatch project before he surprisingly left Apple’s executive team last summer. It is not entirely clear if Mansfield is still working on the project, but the latest word from Apple is that Mansfield is working on “special projects” while reporting to Tim Cook.
James Foster: (Senior Director, Engineering):
James Foster (pictured left) is an experienced hardware project manager and one of the lead managers for the hardware of Apple’s upcoming wearable device. Foster’s leadership is evidenced by his experience as co-founder and former CEO of XMOS, a chip design firm. Foster’s experience in miniaturization is critical in the development of wearable computers.
Kevin Lynch: (VP, Technology):
Kevin Lynch is directing the software engineering group for wearable products. The former Adobe Chief Technology Officer manages a large team of former iPod and iOS software engineers. Lynch has vast experience in software design, engineering, and management, making him a seasoned leader likely capable of guiding the software for future Apple devices. It is highly likely that he is working closely with Apple’s iOS engineering team (led by Craig Federighi) and interface design teams (led by Greg Christie and Jony Ive).
Achim Pantfoerder: (Engineering Manager):
Pantfoerder’s name is certainly not as known as some of the aforementioned Apple employees, but his experience in wireless technologies and management are likely critical in the development of wearable devices. Pantfoerder’s involvement in the “iWatch” project was first reported by Bloomberg.
Fitness:
Indicating that Apple’s future wearable technologies will go head-to-head with the likes of offerings from Nike and Fitbit, Apple has hired a few world experts in fitness and behavior-tracking technologies.
Jay Blahnik:
Jay Blahnik is a world renown fitness expert who previously worked at Nike on the Fuel Band and several other fitness-oriented companies. Blahnik worked in the fitness industry as a motivational speaker and traveling trainer for multiple decades, but he left the industry last year to join Apple. His experience in the fitness world is invaluable to a company building a fitness and health-oriented wearable computer.
Roy Raymann (Scientist):
One of Apple’s most recent hires was sleep research expert Roy J.E.M Raymann, a scientist who officially left his role at Philips Research last month. With Apple focusing heavily on health and fitness features for iWatch, it’s no surprise that sleep quality appears to be a significant area of interest. There have already been a few hints that Apple has people researching sleep-related features for its upcoming iWatch—functionality that is at the heart of many fitness products like FitBit and a big trend for upcoming iOS-connected accessories.
We reported previously that Apple had hired a few employees for the iWatch team to analyze sleep patterns, but picking up Raymann shows just how serious the company is about the potential for sleep tracking-related features in a wearable. Notable experience on Raymann’s resume includes extensive research into non-pharmacological methods of altering sleep quality. Even more notable for the iWatch project is Raymann’s experience in wearable sensors and miniaturization of sensors related to tracking sleep and alertness activity.
Fashion:
While Apple is primed to pack in intense technologies and software into its future wearable devices, the company will need to ensure that the products are fashionable and able to be marketed to the masses. With the help of two fashion retail experts, Apple will likely be able to both produce attractive wearable devices and sell them in atmospheres perfect for allowing people to try on and experience the devices.
Paul Deneve (Special Projects):
Lending credibility to the idea that Apple’s iWatch product could attempt to blur the lines between fashion and function is the appointment of high-profile Yves Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve back in July (pictured on the left above, next to friend of Jony Ive, Marc Newson). Apple picked up Deneve to work under Tim Cook on special projects, although apparently not in retail, and the executive’s experience in selling high end goods could come in handy if Apple plans to market iWatch as just as much a piece of fashion as technology. With Apple’s reputation of building high end products that are concerned with beauty and design aesthetics just as much as user friendliness, it’s not a stretch to imagine the iWatch team would seek input from an executive from one of the world’s premier fashion brands.
Angela Ahrendts (Incoming Senior VP, Retail):
While not exactly confirmed to be working on the iWatch project directly, Apple’s new Head of Retail, expected to start this spring, is notable for a number of reasons. There have been a lot of question regarding whether or not a watch product from Apple would seek design inspiration from the high end fashion market, and Ahrendts, as former CEO of Burberry, is one of the world’s experts in both designing and selling fashion-related goods. Her expertise will be critical at the point of sale (both online and in-store) for future Apple wearable devices.
Ben Shaffer (Designer):
Speaking of fashion, another big hire from the fashion world this year came when Apple picked up top Nike design director Ben Shaffer. The designer has worked on the FuelBand wearable fitness device and other products that came out of Nike’s research lab. He was also the Studio Director of Nike’s R/D program, and his design experience could be key to the iWatch’s design. Nike’s research and development lab known as “Innovation Kitchen” also developed the Flyknit shoe technology under Shaffer’s leadership.
Health:
Health functionality will be key to the iWatch. According to sources familiar with iOS 8′s Healthbook function, Apple is preparing its device to be able to interpret hydration, blood pressure, glucose, pulse, and heart rate data. Indicating that Apple is fully invested in those plans, the company has hired several world-renowned scientists and medical device engineers over the past year.
Ueyn Block (Scientist):
Block was a key engineering director at his former employer C8 MediSensors. We profiled his company’s work last year:
The company’s technology provides a non-invasive way to measure substances in the human body such as glucose levels. The technology, as described in the above video, could be ideal for patients monitoring diabetes. For an Apple wearable device with sensors, this functionality would likely be a true game-changer for the many people across the world.
Block’s expertise in machine learning and interpreting data through skin is likely invaluable for Apple as it seeks to assist people in health-related ways and changing behavior with upcoming wearable devices.
Above is a video (featuring Block) about C8′s technology.
Nancy Dougherty (Hardware Engineer):
Nancy Dougherty, who joined Apple as a hardware engineer in late 2013, has worked with technology-based medical products since 2010 with Proteus Digital Health. Her work there included a health metric-reading wearable patch and ingestible, Bluetooth-connected smart pills for monitoring dosages and scheduling. Most recently, Dougherty worked as a hardware lead for Sano Intelligence, whose tagline reads ‘the API for the bloodstream,’ working on a wearable sensor system. Dougherty is also active in the Quantified Self community and has spoken out about the need for smarter sensors to create more robust and useful data.
Todd Whitehurst (Director, Hardware Development):
Dr. Todd Whitehurst joined Apple from Senseonics last summer. He was Senseonics’s Vice President of Hardware Engineering up until his departure. He ran the engineering team for a wireless, smartphone-connected body sensor. The company explains the technology:
The Senseonics Mobile Medical Application is designed to run on a smartphone to receive and display the sensor glucose data from the Senseonics Transmitter. It is intended to provide easy access of real-time glucose measurements without burdening the user with another dedicated device to carry. Besides the current glucose value, the smartphone running the Mobile Medical Application is also geared to display the rate and direction of glucose change, graphical trends, and alerts for impending hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia. The application is also intended to store past values for further analysis and reporting.
His experience in medical hardware engineering as well as in medical device-connected software is likely key to the development of both iWatch hardware and Healthbook software.
Michael O’Reilly (Scientist):
Dr. O’Reilly, before joining Apple last summer, served as Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer for nearly five years at a company called Masimo. O’Reilly has been involved in the FDA meetings regarding future health related technologies at Apple.
At his previous employer, he worked on an iPhone application and hardware for sensing a human pulse. A video of his work is above.
Ravi Narashamian (Research and Development):
Ravi Narasimhan, an expert in biosensors and wireless communications, joined Apple’s research and development team at the end of 2013. He previously worked on biosensor technology R&D for Vital Connect, Inc. During his time at the firm, Narasimhan focused heavily on sensors for measuring respiration and activity levels and wearable medical devices. Aside from working with sensors and wearables, Narasimhan interestingly has a scientific background in working with LTE base stations and 802.11 Wi-Fi chipsets, including contributing toward the 802.11n standard. The combination of medical sensor and wireless expertise are valuable for the company’s upcoming device.
In addition to the hundreds of skilled hardware and software engineers already at Apple, this group of recent hires shows that the company is planning to enter the wearable fitness and health device market in a major way. With Apple openly posting a job listing related to testing fitness and health devices (and since removing it following our post this morning), the question is no longer if Apple is building a smart watch, but it instead becomes when will Apple introduce the product?
Michael Steeber, Jordan Kahn, and Zac Hall contributed to this article.
After posting excerpts last night, in which Tim Cook announced Apple’s share buyback of $14 billion in the last two weeks, The Wall Street Journal has now published the full interview with Apple’s CEO.
The interview repeats many of the comments Cook has made to investors in the past, reaffirming that new product categories under development, but does contain some new, interesting tidbits. For instance, Wakabayashi asked Cook about Google’s disposal of Motorola. Cook says he “wasn’t surprised” that Google sold it off, saying that software and hardware integration is what makes Apple unique as a company.
WSJ: What did you think of Google selling Motorola to Lenovo?
Cook: I wasn’t surprised. It seems like a logical transaction. Google gets rid of something that’s losing money, something that they’re not committed to. I think it’s really hard to do hardware, software and services and to link all those things together. That’s what makes Apple so special. It’s really hard, so I’m not surprised that they are not going to do that.
The Journal also pressed Cook on the share buyback program. Although snippets of Cook’s reply were in the article from last night, the full response puts Cook’s answers in better context.
We recognize that we have more money than we need to run our business and invest for the future and invest in new products and acquire new companies and invest in capex, etc. We fully recognized that. We even said after we more than doubled it that we’re going to look at this thing every year. And each time we do this, we go back out to shareholders and listen to them. They’re owners of the company. We’re looking at tax policy. It’s a fairly complex set of things to consider. It’s not a simple thing.
But we also wanted a program that’s flexible. We wanted to take advantage of opportunities that came our way. Those opportunities may be acquisitions. In the last 15 months, we’ve acquired 21 companies. We’re doing it low-key. We’re not making big announcements about these. It shows that we’re looking a lot. I think we’ve made smart purchases.
On bigger iPhones, Cook did not dismiss the idea. As before, Cook says that all aspects of smartphone screens need to be considered, not just the physical size. Regarding Apple’s product pipeline in 2014, Cook said that new products are under development, but stressed that they have not hit the ‘ceiling’ on their current products yet either. Clearly, Cook wants to set expectations that he does not see Apple at the end of the road for the current products. He said Apple can grow with “great improvements and new products on its existing category of products”.
He also reiterated his comments on ‘making the best, not making the most’, but qualified this by saying that market share is still a significant factor for Apple’s business.
I don’t view that as being satisfied with being small or however you want to define it. It’s not saying that market share is irrelevant or not important. I’ve never said that. I just always tried to say that the macro thing for us is to make a great product and we must do that.
Tim Cook again confirms $AAPL will launch new products in new categories (plural) this year. Wall Street apparently still not listening.
Apple has created a dedicated channel for The Beatles in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first U.S. appearance of the 60s pop group on The Ed Sullivan Show. The show footage is available “for a limited time,” and you can listen to the U.S. albums which are also available on iTunes for the first time …
While Apple was able to secure iTunes deals with five major music labels when it launched in 2003, it was not able to reach agreement with The Beatles’ record company, Apple Records, because the two had been involved in a long-running dispute over ownership of the Apple brand.
The dispute was settled in 2007, but The Beatles catalog didn’t come to iTunes until late in 2010, when the launch was an immediate success, at one point making up a quarter of the top 200 songs on iTunes, and helping reverse a decade-long decline in music sales.
Apple used a clip from that first performance in its ad announcing the arrival of the group on iTunes.
Steve Jobs was a noted fan of The Beatles, even describing them as a model for Apple’s business.
My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each other’s negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts. Great things in business are never done by one person, they are done by a team of people.
It had initially looked like The Beatles wouldn’t feature on iTunes Radio, eventually being added just a few days before the launch of iOS 7.
Sony is positioned to dramatically increase its sales of CMOS cameras to Apple for use in an unreleased iPhone, Nikkei Asian Reviewreports. Sony already supplies most of the rear-facing iSight cameras shipping on iPhones today, and as the report suggests, negotiations between Sony and Apple to double the amount of CMOS sensors supplied points to Sony also providing the sensor for the front-facing iPhone camera…
The latest hardware offered on the iPhone 5s features an 8MP camera for taking still photos on the rear side, while the current front-facing camera captures 1MP. Opting for Sony to supply both sensors could suggest a focus on improving the quality of the FaceTime camera on future devices.
The report backs up its claim with information that says Sony has ramped up its infrastructure to support the increase in sensor production:
A request from Apple was the reason for its January decision to purchase a plant from Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics, according to a source involved in the negotiations. Sony plans to invest 35 billion yen in the facility to boost its monthly production capacity by 25%.
The report also notes Sony has provided batteries for Apple’s iPad Air marking an increase in components Sony provides for Apple’s hardware.
Previous reports have suggested Apple’s next-generation iPhone will retain the same 8MP rear-facing camera, instead focusing on further improving the optics at the current megapixel resolution.
Improving the front-facing sensor rating could help market the camera system if the next iPhone retains a similar rear-facing camera. What do you expect from Apple’s next iPhone camera system? Read our thoughts in the Community and let us know in the comments.
Apple is preparing to release not one, but two new versions of the iPhone in September, according to the South China Morning Post. Each version will ship with a larger display than the iPhone 5s, coming in at a whopping 4.7″ and 5.5″, respectively. The displays are said to have a pixel density of 441ppi, much higher than the current 326ppi found in the iPhone 5 and later.
The report also states that both displays will be made from sapphire crystal, which fits with recent reports that Apple is planning to have its latest sapphire plant in Mesa, AZ operational in February for a “critical” product component. The displays will also be flat, not curved, the Post says.
Finally, the report indicates that the iPhone 5c will be removed from the lineup when the iPhone 6 is released, while the 5s will stick around but be made from cheaper materials.
