Linked List: May 29, 2013

Wednesday, 29 May 2013

WSJ: ‘Apple Shifts Supply Chain Away From Foxconn to Pegatron’ 

Eva Dou, reporting for the WSJ:

Pegatron Corp. named after the flying horse Pegasus, will be the primary assembler of a low-cost iPhone expected to be offered later this year. Foxconn’s smaller rival across town became a minor producer of iPhones in 2011 and began making iPad Mini tablet computers last year.

Pegatron’s rise means an end to the monopoly that Foxconn Technology Group — the trade name for Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer — has held over the production of Apple’s mobile products.

Toshiba KIRAbook 

Good to see this kind of design innovation in the PC laptop world.

A few slides that caught my eye:

  • 28: Some really weird discrepancies regarding how much information people share about themselves online, between people in different countries around the world. Saudi Arabia is off the charts. (I also think many people underestimate how much they’re sharing when they use things like Facebook and Google.)

  • 42: Samsung’s incredible growth.

  • 44: iPad has grown three times faster than iPhone did. This might be the most overlooked/underestimated fact about Apple today.

Pit Pass: Tease Upcoming Apps Via Passbook 

Interesting idea from Second Gear.

WWDC Expectations 

Good piece from Jim Dalrymple on WWDC:

The important thing to remember about WWDC is that it is a developer conference. It’s not a place where Apple is going to show off the newest iPhone or iPad. These are Apple’s flagship products and they demand separate events.

Pretty sure Jim’s right that there aren’t going to be new iPads or iPhones announced. But Apple did announce new iPhone hardware for a few years at WWDC: the 3G, 3GS, and 4. It’s just that the schedule for the iPhone changed. So I think it’s not so much that they wouldn’t announce a new iPhone or iPad during the WWDC keynote, but simply that they don’t yet have new iPhones or iPads to announce.

Apple’s Conundrum: What to Do With Those Profits 

Matt Yglesias:

When you’re sitting on tens of billions of dollars, the sky is really the limit. But Apple CEO Tim Cook has mainly used the cash for dividends and share buybacks. That is a bit boring. And it’s especially disappointing because when they’re not in defensive mode, Apple fans are happy to acknowledge that not everything is perfect. Launching an independent mapping service was a necessary strategic move, for example, but Apple does not have the best mapping data in the world. Developers feel that iCloud has lots of problems. You can buy NBA League Pass Broadband to watch NBA games on your Apple TV, but the package doesn’t include playoff games because exclusive rights have been sold to TNT and ESPN. None of these are crippling flaws in the Apple ecosystem, but they are flaws. And as a customer, I’d rather see Apple address those flaws than give money to shareholders. What’s more, as a shareholder I’d rather see Apple address those flaws than give money to shareholders. Profits are great, but they should be used to do great things.

This is a much more interesting argument. What if they dropped a few billion to get the NFL Sunday Ticket on Apple TV? Why not outbid the TV networks so that they can show NBA and MLB postseason games?

Mariano Rivera Blows a Save 

Something poetic about it being against the Mets. Jayson Stark:

The Elias Sports Bureau tells us this was the first time in Rivera’s career he’d ever blown a save without retiring a hitter. Think about that. It only took him 700 save opportunities! You can make that 747 if you count the postseason, because it never happened there, either.