Linked List: October 30, 2012

Tuesday, 30 October 2012

iPad Sales Grew 44 Percent in Q3 

Interesting catch by Horace Dediu from last week’s Apple earnings call:

The iPad grew shipments at 26% y/y but “sales” as measured by sell-through were up 44%.

With competing tablets, “shipment” numbers often make sales look better than they actually are. But here, Apple was in a situation where shipment numbers made iPad demand look weaker than it actually was.

Om Malik on the Mood at Apple 

Om Malik, after talking to sources within Apple:

Forstall’s firing was met with a sense of quiet jubilation, especially among people who worked in the engineering groups. Or as one of my sources quipped: there are a lot of people going for celebratory drinks, even if there is a little bit of doubt about their roles in the future.

I’ve heard some of this too. But there were many people on Forstall’s team who liked him and were loyal to him. It was people on other teams that disliked Forstall. Forstall was divisive, polarizing — not universally disliked. That’s what made this move surprising, and what made it difficult.

Liveblog Data: Apple vs. Microsoft 

Evan Hansen, at Wired Gadget Lab:

About 11,000 people read our Microsoft liveblog coverage Monday morning in just over an hour. By contrast, our liveblog coverage of Apple’s iPhone 5 launch in September brought in nearly 360,000 visits in a hour, and an Apple gathering last week to announce the new iPad mini and other products (an event that Apple also livestreamed) drew just over 75,000 readers.

Interesting numbers. A few factors work against Microsoft here. People don’t expect surprises at events like Monday’s Windows Phone 8 announcement. That’s the nature of Microsoft’s business model — we already know what Windows Phone 8 is because they’ve had to share it to get handset partners on board. Plus, the truth is simply that Windows Phone hasn’t caught on.

As for the difference in the numbers for the two Apple events, I wonder how much of the drop-off was because Apple offered a live video stream for the iPad Mini event, and did not for the iPhone 5 one.

Regime Change 

Matt Drance:

If this was only about Forstall being a problem, though, Apple would replace him. They clearly aren’t: the same press release explicitly states a search is underway to replace Browett. Not only is this a profound increase in responsibility for all three of these top executives, it’s a profound change in Apple’s organization going as far back as I can remember. There’s a long-standing pattern of separating watershed products important to the company’s future. The Mac and Apple teams. Mac OS X and Classic. The iPod division. iOS and Mac OS X. Suddenly, Tim Cook has pulled the reins in. Federighi owns software. Ive owns design. Cue owns services. Period.

Smart Thread on iPad Mini Pricing 

Branch continues to impress me.

iTunes 11 Delayed Into ‘End of November’ 

Not done yet:

“The new iTunes is taking longer than expected and we wanted to take a little extra time to get it right,” Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told CNET. “We look forward to releasing this new version of iTunes with its dramatically simpler and cleaner interface, and seamless integration with iCloud before the end of November.”

How fast should Siri be? This fast. Eddy Cue and the Siri team have a target.

Disney to Acquire Lucasfilm; ‘Star Wars Episode 7’ Set for 2015 

And I thought yesterday was a “Holy shit!” news day:

“For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next,” said George Lucas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lucasfilm. “It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime. […]

Kathleen Kennedy, current Co-Chairman of Lucasfilm, will become President of Lucasfilm, reporting to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. Additionally she will serve as the brand manager for Star Wars, working directly with Disney’s global lines of business to build, further integrate, and maximize the value of this global franchise. Ms. Kennedy will serve as executive producer on new Star Wars feature films, with George Lucas serving as creative consultant. Star Wars Episode 7 is targeted for release in 2015, with more feature films expected to continue the Star Wars saga and grow the franchise well into the future.

Exciting news. But it’s hard to imagine a Star Wars film opening without the 20th Century Fox fanfare.