Tablet personal computer launch to take on Kindle
Province
Apple Inc. is preparing to launch a tablet personal computer in late March or April, with manufacturer partners poised to roll out as many as one million units per month, according to an Oppenheimer research note.
The highly anticipated tablet is expected to pitch Apple into the digital-book market popularized by Amazon.com’s Kindle e-reader. Apple declined to comment.
Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner said the new tablet could boost Apple’s earnings per share by 25 cents to 38 cents per quarter, assuming that it sells one million to 1.5 million units each quarter at an average price of $1,000 US and a corporate average net income margin of 22 per cent.
“Our checks into Apple’s supply chain indicate that the manufacturing cogs for the tablet are creaking into action and should begin to hit a mass-market stride in February,” Reiner wrote.
“The February ramp schedule suggests a late March or April commercial release, since Apple will need to build at least five-to-six weeks of inventory before going live.”
He said the tablet will have a 25-centimetre multi touch LCD screen similar to that of Apple’s iPhone.
Apple has also approached book publishers to distribute their content electronically, and has offered them a revenue cut of 70 per cent without requiring exclusivity, Reiner said.
He said that compares favour-ably to the Kindle’s 50-per-cent deal, and that Kindle only offers a 70-per-cent cut to publishers that give Amazon exclusive rights.
“As innovative as it is, we believe the Kindle has disgruntled the publishing industry [book, newspaper, and magazine] by demanding exclusivity, disallowing advertising, and demanding a wolfish cut of revenue,” Reiner wrote.
“The tablet is set to change that.”
Reiner forecast Apple’s fiscal2010 profit at $8.39 per share, compared with $6.29 in fiscal 2009, saying his estimate has not yet factored in the new device.
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