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Apple's $3.9 Billion Investment Was in LCD Displays?
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The iPad really only shipped for seven months in 2010.
Supplies are still constrained and the rollout to international markets is not done. They are releasing to 15 more countries in the next month.
Here is the thing- if the iPad moves to a 2048 by 1536 resolution display, it will reasonably never need to increase. The iPhone 4 has it's retina display and it reasonably never needs to have its resolution increased either.
Apple's iPad display is pretty unique- no one else uses their display. so increasing the resolution to double what it currently is would require a substantial investment in tools to make it.
I think that Apple insuring that its displays that will be standard on these two products for years. They have advanced the products to the level that they do not need to be advanced anymore- provided the iPad 2 will be increased as well...
It would make sense to insure that these components will be readily available.
Apple's iPad display is pretty unique- no one else uses their display. so increasing the resolution to double what it currently is would require a substantial investment in tools to make it.
I think that Apple insuring that its displays that will be standard on these two products for years. They have advanced the products to the level that they do not need to be advanced anymore- provided the iPad 2 will be increased as well...
It would make sense to insure that these components will be readily available.
Is it not more that the Japanese would be more highly skilled labour in this field. US labour would have to be trained and even at that the most highly skilled workers for the start at least would need to be brought in from Japan to fill the skill gap.
I think it would be cheeper to higher the highly skilled workers at the point of origin. Not forgetting that people are willing to pay extra for Japanese capacitors because there seen as highly reliable and trustworthy like buying German cars.
I would buy a Japanese manufactured display and be under the impression it was of high quality and for that i would be willing to pay more for peace of mind.
It's not just labor. Do you think you could get a new semiconductor plant past Obama's EPA? Why bother building anything in the US, where it would take years just to get the permits, when you can build a plant in the Far East to the same stringent environmental specifications but build immediately?
I knew it was LCDs for the iPhone and iPad the moment I heard Tim talking about it on the conference call. Seemed pretty obvious to me! This gives me hope for an iPad Retina Display 
And on top of that, raising all the iPad apps to a high resolution and therefore making them able to run in the Mac App Store makes a LOT of sense and would be a powerful move!
And on top of that, raising all the iPad apps to a high resolution and therefore making them able to run in the Mac App Store makes a LOT of sense and would be a powerful move! 
Near zero, like it always was for this release.
Not that he has any track record, but Kevin Rose has reversed his guess on this one:
http://www.9to5mac.com/48382/kevin-rose-joins-gruber-no-change-in-ipad-res
then why was the new display so expensive? and what about that high res ibooks image that won't fit on the current display?
this seems like pretty solid evidence to me
http://rafeed.me/2011/01/14/wood-tile2x-png-in-ibooks-1-2-hints-at-2x-ipad-2-resolution/
and lots of other tech analysts were saying there would be a higher resolution
and this https://www.macrumors.com/2011/01/16/ipad-2-lcd-for-sale-already-ipad-2-to-include-vibrating-motor/
the new display is $~218 where the old one is $63, thats a pretty big difference.
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The 15 million was in 9 months. The Christmas quarter always sells more, so I'd say if sales stay unchanged, then Apple would sell 5 + 5 + 5 + 7 million iPads = 22 million. I would think they will sell more than that, but 65 million would be an awful lot of iPads indeed.
Can Apple Afford to Wait
Information on the LG G Slate may give Apple the needed incentive to get a Retina Display out as soon as possible (i'm sure Apple already has this info). Some rumored spec's on the device show:
8.9″ display size allowing 3D content without glasses
3D recording capability
LG Tegra 2 dual-core CPU
USB port and HDMI connector
I know it sounds crazy, but an earlier report we did had a source indicating that an accessory list for the G-Slate listed a 3D glasses accessory coming at launch. Is it possible this device is really 3D capable? Is it going to require glasses or not require glasses if it does indeed launch with 3D capability? (quote from TMO News, link: http://www.tmonews.com/2011/01/lg-g-slate-specs-outed-by/ )
Other tablets will not be waiting to push the limits.
Information on the LG G Slate may give Apple the needed incentive to get a Retina Display out as soon as possible (i'm sure Apple already has this info). Some rumored spec's on the device show:
8.9″ display size allowing 3D content without glasses
3D recording capability
LG Tegra 2 dual-core CPU
USB port and HDMI connector
I know it sounds crazy, but an earlier report we did had a source indicating that an accessory list for the G-Slate listed a 3D glasses accessory coming at launch. Is it possible this device is really 3D capable? Is it going to require glasses or not require glasses if it does indeed launch with 3D capability? (quote from TMO News, link: http://www.tmonews.com/2011/01/lg-g-slate-specs-outed-by/ )
Other tablets will not be waiting to push the limits.
On top of the LCD investments, which I think are great, what about major SSD investments? Sandisk, or Toshiba again? I'm pretty sure the next update for Macbook Pro will have several options for SSD, even as the only option maybe?
I know the major growth markets are not desktops, not even notebooks anymore, but it is still a significant chunk of Apple's revenue, and growing at 20%+ every year. So ensuring supplies of SSDs for the next 2-3 years would be a very sensible investment also, especially considering everybody else will be scrambling for whatever production capacity is left in the industry.
I know the major growth markets are not desktops, not even notebooks anymore, but it is still a significant chunk of Apple's revenue, and growing at 20%+ every year. So ensuring supplies of SSDs for the next 2-3 years would be a very sensible investment also, especially considering everybody else will be scrambling for whatever production capacity is left in the industry.
Assuming some 65 million display units for iPad is even nearly correct, I just hope Apple will offer an antiglare option (ie. of course keep glossy screens for all those that love glossy) in future for those of us who can't stand glare or reflectivity from our displays.
Did you miss the part about 65 million iPads alone for 2011?!
I'm with you on that.
Like I said in a post recently, I expect an AppleTV integrated & App enabled 32"+ Apple HDTV. If not iOS based, then at least a standalone large screen Apple HDTV [why the hell not? - there's no reason for Apple not to do this!] to connect my current ATV v.2 or an upcoming 1080p capable AppleTV to.
[and no, I'm not going to jailbreak my current ATV to put XBMC on it].
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Yup. Even that current "old" one at $63 was only $144 at the time of launch last April.
That $218 price point has to be justified considering that Apple would also probably get premium pricing given the unprecedented runaway success of the iPad in only 9 months and the large bulk amount that they are pre-purchasing.
Never say never.
I won't be happy until I get native, glasses-free 3D, hologram multitouch capable iProducts and Macs.
Lets assume that they could get the required permits, build a plant and train workers. Soon after the unions would move in. Bye bye quality, reliability and delivery scheduling
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