Archive for the ‘2009’ tag
Apple’s tablet will be more than a niche product
From AppleInsider
A new financial analysis predicts that Apple’s yet-to-be-announced tablet will launch in early 2010 and sell about 2 million units in its first year — and at an estimated $600 each, that would be an additional $1.2 billion in revenue.
The report, from market research firm Piper Jaffray, states that potential revenue from such a device has not yet been included in forecast models for Apple on Wall Street. The firm predicts that the product would increase the company’s overall revenue by 3 percent in 2010.
‘While at first glance this may appear to address a niche market, we believe the addressable market is larger than that of the Apple TV, of which Apple sold about 1.2m in its first year,’ the report states.
Piper Jaffray analysts also shared inside information that further suggests that the tablet will launch in early 2010. That reaffirms claims made by AppleInsider’s own sources.
México caerá 8% en 2009 y crecerá 2.8% en 2010: OCDE
México, único país latinoamericano miembro de la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos, sufrirá este año una grave recesión de 8%, aunque se recuperará en 2010 con un crecimiento del 2.8%, según las previsiones de la OCDE.
El informe atribuye buena parte de la caída del Producto Interno Bruto (PIB) mexicano a la dependencia de la economía estadounidense, hundida en la recesión, y señala que ‘tras la fuerte caída en la primera mitad del año, exacerbada por el brote de gripe porcina, lo peor debería haber terminado’.
Por ello prevé que el crecimiento mexicano se recupere ‘a partir de finales de 2009, alcanzando tasas de crecimiento trimestrales por encima del 4% interanual durante 2010′.
Daring Fireball: WWDC 2009 Predictions
iPhone 3GS
Everything I wrote about last month in ‘The Next iPhone’ still stands. I expect Apple to announce updated iPhones with significantly faster processors, twice the RAM, and twice the storage. I expected prices to remain the same as the current lineup: $199/299 for 16/32 GB, respectively. The video camera is going to be a major selling point.
One additional tidbit I’ve heard is the new hardware’s code name: iPhone 3GS. I’m not certain that’s what it’ll be officially named, but my hunch is yes. I have no idea what the S stands for.1
The other new tidbit is battery life: 15-20 percent longer than the iPhone 3G.
As for form factor, I believe the 3GS will have the same or very similar dimensions as the 3G; the screen size is unchanged and existing cases might fit the 3GS. I assume that the new models must look different — newer, cooler — in some way, but I don’t know how.
Barcelona Style Triumphs Over Manchester United
Patience, flair and beauty dominated over force Wednesday night as Barcelona defeated Manchester United, 2-0, to win the Champions League, Europe’s most prestigious club soccer tournament, before 72,000 fans at Olympic Stadium.
Barcelona controlled possession with its relaxed and pinpoint passing and incessant attack, held tight with a patchwork defense and made a tactical switch at forward, placing Lionel Messi as a central striker and shifting Samuel Eto’o to the right wing. Each responded with a goal, and Barcelona won its third European title and second in four years.
It will be left to Barcelona’s supporters to decide whether this is the Catalans’ greatest team ever, now that the first-year Coach Pep Guardiola has guided his squad to the Spanish League title, the Spanish Cup and now the European Cup.
32GB high end iPhone and a low end version in works
Lazard Capital Markets analyst Daniel Amir believes that Apple is working on two new iPhones that will arrive in the coming months. These would include a high end 32GB iPhone with camera improvements as well as a lowe-end 3G version. Production for the devices would begin in April and ramp up in May, with a release in June 2009.
A 32GB iPhone has been long expected and has been dependent on the release of suitably dense memory chips that could fit within the current iPhone casing. A couple of vendors have announced possible memory chips that would be available this year. As a whole, analysts have been notoriously unreliable sources, and this particular group has no notable track record. Still, a June release of the new iPhone is certainly expected. Now with WWDC’s dates set for June, Apple has an appropriate venue to announce new products.
[Via MacRumors]
The new iPhone coming in June 2009
Last week some more details about the next iPhone revision continued leaking out.
First, there were spottings of new Apple device IDs found embedded within the iPhone 3.0 firmware. Silicon Alley Insider then claimed that the next iPhone would come with “much faster internet”. Finally, AppleInsider said that the new iPhone would indeed have a video camera, supporting evidence of video publishing screenshots also found in iPhone 3.0.
It’s not surprising that the number of leaks is increasing as Apple does have to keep their carrier partners at least somewhat informed heading into a new release. We’ve also continued to hear unconfirmed whispers and have specifically heard that the new iPhone with support a 7.2Mbit chipset.
Slumdog Millionaire
Last night we watched the movie Slumdog Millionaire, recipient of ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Danny Boyle), and Best Original Score (A.R. Rahman).
I was amazed of how well this movie was filmed. Filming on location is difficult, but this time they did it majestically. I’m sure filming in Dharavi, the second biggest slum in Asia, located in Mumbai, India, was not one of the easiest tasks.
The child actors (who happen to be real Dharavi inhabitants) were excellent. The plot was kind of cheesy, but again captured the essence of living in an underprivileged environment. Be sure to watch the movie–with subtitles though. Don’t get me wrong, Rahul, I only have trouble understanding Indian accents.
The music was electrifying. A.R. Rahman did a magnificent job with the original score. A very well deserved Oscar. I enjoyed it so much I already downloaded it from iTunes. Watch out, you may not like Indian music at first, but I find it particularly alive and catchy.
Slumdog Millionaire: an excellent movie. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk, Frost/Nixon, and The Reader were definitely weak competitors when compared to Danny Boyle’s film. Now that I think of it, I might even say it could rival Forrest Gump for its morality and romanticism. But in a noisy way.
That’s Mr George W Bush
Carta Abierta a Carlos Slim de Denise Dresser
Ésta es una carta que publicó Denise Dresser en la revista Proceso en relación a las declaraciones del Sr Carlos Slim de hace un par de semanas. La verdad es que me sorprende muchísimo que Slim no tenga asesores económicos que le asesoren por dónde van a venir los tiros. O tal vez los tiene y lo están haciendo andar en este camino. De una u otra forma, se está quemando solito.
Éste es el texto:
Carlos Slim: México se va a desplomar
Carlos Slim es el segundo hombre más rico del mundo, por lo que cuando dice algo, se escucha dondequiera. Cual George Soros, el Sr Slim afirmó que la actual recesión económica provocará el peor desempleo que se haya visto en México desde la década de los treinta.
Como es habitual, el Sr Slim habla a la ligera y, por lo general, de manera equivocada:
Se va a caer el desempleo como no habíamos tenido noticia en nuestra vida personal, solo en la historia de los años treinta [¿qué otro tipo de vida hay?... que el desempleo caiga es bueno, seguro quiso decir que subía el desempleo]… van a cerrar comercios, va a ver locales vacíos por todos lados, inmuebles vacíos y va a ser una situación delicada.
No quiero ser catastrofista, pero hay que prepararse para prever después y no estar sufriendo las consecuencias después. No cabe duda que el Producto Interno Bruto se va a desplomar; se va a caer; va a ser negativo, ya de por sí se empezó a ver desde el último trimestre del año pasado, y no sabemos cuánto dure pero será muy fuerte el efecto.
Debemos de retomar nuestras decisiones y salir de esta crisis creando capital humano y físico.
Siendo Carlos Slim, yo también sería catastrofista pesimista, dado que a mayor gravedad de la crisis, mayores oportunidades de compra, adquisición, inversión, entre otros. Por tanto, lo que dice el Sr Slim no es más que una bola de amarillismo económico.
Sí, es cierto, México sufrirá en 2009. El PIB caerá en torno al 1,5-2,0% y habrá mayor desempleo. Esto ya lo sabíamos! Pero tomar esta actitud catastrofista, y recurriendo al amarillismo económico, no es una sabia estrategia. Al contrario, pedir una política fiscal prudente y comprometida, además de una política monetaria efectiva y oportuna, es todo lo que uno pudiera hacer y desear para enfrentar esta crisis.