parislemon:

Speaking of Android being a nice little business for companies not named Google, it’s only fair to point out that the iPhone is also a nice business for companies beyond Apple. In fact, as Charles Arthur writes for The Guardian:

The figures also suggest that Apple devices such as the iPhone, which use products such as its Maps as well as Google Search in its Safari browser, generated more than four times as much revenue for Google as its own handsets in the same period.

So while Android may have only made $550 million in revenue for Google in the past three years combined, at least they’ve been able to squeeze over $2 billion out of Apple’s devices in the same span.

Of course, Apple has squeezed well over $100 billion in revenues just on the sale of those products alone over the same span.

parislemon:

Devin Coldewey on DisplayMate’s tests of the new iPad screen:

The new display is sharper than any screen its size and has better color representation than most home displays and HDTVs.

This is a screen that you old in your hands and touch. It comes with a computer attached. This is the future but it’s here today. For $500, no less.

parislemon:

The obvious answer is that they’re going to do a dividend. But remember that Apple doesn’t always do what’s obvious. Also remember that the majority of their cash (and cash equivalents) is overseas. If they try to bring that money stateside, it’s going to be taxed accordingly. 

I’d still bet on dividend, but I wouldn’t bet against something else. Maybe building more of their own facilities overseas? Committing money towards something that allows them to control even more of their build process would make sense.

To that end, maybe crazy, but what about buying Samsung? It would both harm Google (Samsung is by far the most successful Android partner) and help Apple (which still heavily relies on Samsung chips and screens, etc). They don’t have quite enough cash to do that (but almost!), but the cash they do have could surely sweeten a deal.

But would they be allowed to do that? And would they want to? The Google/Motorola deal looks to be a nightmare, why would Apple want to take on something similar? Unless, of course, they’re about to get into the television business…

Anyway, I’m just dreaming out loud here. It will probably just be a boring old dividend. 

Update: A number of folks have pointed out how odd it would be for Apple to have a press conference just for a dividend. Agreed, that would be weird — but there has been an abnormal amount of interest in this topic due to Apple’s $100 billion stockpile.

Maybe a stock buyback is more likely? Or maybe it really will be something fairly crazy? 

It’s not a dividend. That’s a boring old press release, not an interactive conference call.

— Matt Drance (@drance) March 18, 2012

I like this idea a lot more than my totally crazy Samsung dream…

@parislemon Re: Apple’s cash. Maybe a controlling stake in the spun off Samsung display company? Beneficial to their products, for real.

— Dale (@faustshausuk) March 18, 2012

parislemon:

Based on six analysts with the best track records, Philip Elmer-DeWitt compiles his best guess for the Q1 (Apple’s holiday quarter) numbers Apple will announce tomorrow. These are analysts who typically update their numbers over time and, notably, aren’t necessarily Wall Street analysts (who generally blow at guessing about all things Apple-related).

If he’s close, my prediction from October 18 (the day Apple announced Q4 numbers) that this quarter would not only be Apple’s first $30 billion quarter, but first $40 billion quarter, looks very good. Elmer-DeWitt’s numbers have revenues coming in at a cool $42.76 billion.

Such a number would constitute a massive blow-out. Apple’s previous revenue record is $28.57 billion, hit in Q3 2011. Again, if the numbers hold, Apple could see a quarter almost exactly 50% better than their previous record quarter. That would be insane.

It would also further prove that last quarter’s miss was simply because analysts were lazy and failed to recognize the impact moving the iPhone launch a quarter later would have.  

It’s worth noting that Elmer-DeWitt’s whisper numbers were off last quarter as well. But again, all analysts were off, so it’s no surprise that an average of the best would be off as well. 

DeWitt’s craziest number has to be iPhone sales of 33 million. The previous record was 20.24 million iPhones sold (again, in Q3 2011). It would also be eerily close to the projection of 34 million iPhones sold if you extrapolated out Verizon’s stated numbers. And it would directly speak to the recent NPD and Nielsen numbers that iPhone has closed the gap with Android sales in the U.S.