iPhone’s Carrier Competitors: Verizon

In this post, I will look at Verizon with respect to the iPhone and AT&T. An earlier related post on Verizon is available here.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) is one of the world’s leading providers of communications services with operating revenue of $88.14 billion in 2006. Its business is organized into two segments: Wireline and Domestic Wireless. The wireless business, operating as Verizon Wireless, is a joint venture formed in April 2000 between Verizon and Vodafone Group Plc with Verizon owning a controlling 55% interest.

For Q2 2007, for its Domestic Wireless segment, Verizon reported revenues of $10.8 billion. Its customer base increased to approximately 62.1 million, a 13.2% increase over last year. Verizon is the largest US wireless carrier in terms of revenue and in terms of customers, it is No.2 after AT&T which has 63.7 million customers. In the quarter, Verizon added 1.3 million wireless customers, less than AT&T’s 1.5 million. The main reason behind this is that Verizon lost about 300,000 wholesale subscribers due to the bankruptcy of its reseller Amp’d Mobile. This is the first time since early 2006 that AT&T has outpaced Verizon. >>>

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iPhone and AT&T: How Goes?

Starting with this post on AT&T, I will analyze the US carriers and how the launch of iPhone has affected them. Earlier posts on AT&T available here and here can make for interesting reading. AT&T is the exclusive US carrier partner for the iPhone. To get the iPhone, subscribers need to sign up for a 2-year contract with price plans ranging from $60 to $100 dollars per month.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is one of the world’s largest telecommunications holding companies with operating revenue of 63.05 billion in 2006. AT&T companies are leading providers of IP-based communications services, high-speed DSL Internet, local and long distance voice, and directory publishing and advertising services. Its business is organized into four segments: (1) wireline; (2) wireless; (3) advertising & publishing; and (4) others. In December, 2006, AT&T acquired BellSouth. With the BellSouth acquisition, the Company acquired BellSouth’s 40% interest in AT&T Mobility, formerly Cingular Wireless LLC, resulting in 100% ownership of AT&T Mobility. >>>

iPhone Competitors: Motorola

In my earlier post on Motorola, I had mentioned their need for a better product mix and a better position in the SmartPhone / Convergence Device segment. There were not many changes in Motorola’s product mix in the second quarter with just upgradings to the RAZR model. This over-dependence on its RAZR model has proved detrimental to the company and it has slipped to the third position in the mobile phone market behind Nokia and Samsung.

Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) has three business segments: Mobile Devices, Home and Networks Mobility, and Enterprise Mobility Solutions. For the second quarter of 2007, the company reported net sales of $8.7 billion, a 19% decline from $10.8 billion in the year ago period. Net sales were down 40% in the Mobile Devices segment, up 9% in the Home and Networks Mobility segment, and up 42% in the Enterprise Mobility Solutions segment primarily due to the acquisition of Symbol for $3.5 billion in January this year (smart acquisition). >>>

iPhone Competitors: Palm

In my previous posts, I have talked extensively about Palm’s future in the face of competition from iPhone. In a nutshell, I’ve maintained that Palm either needs to come up with something impressive in the enterprise space, or go for a lower-priced emerging market killer app strategy.

Post iPhone launch, Foleo still remains Palm’s only response so far. >>>

iPhone Competitors: Nokia

It won’t be too far fetched to say that today, Nokia is the Microsoft of the mobile devices industry. This Finnish giant is the one company that Apple would definitely need to bite at if it wants to create its place in the mobile devices market.

On the other hand, Nokia has proven to be resilient and the experience of 2004 when it lost ground to Motorola’s Razr will help it address the iPhone challenge better. It’ll be interesting to see how Nokia reacts to the anticipated paradigm shift in the mobile devices market, post the launch of the iPhone. Here is my prior analysis of Nokia wrt the convergence device movement.

Finland based Nokia Corp(NYSE: NOK) is the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile devices. In Q2 2007, the company shipped over 100 million units worldwide accounting for 37% of total units shipped. Nokia’s dominance in the market can be judged by the fact that it was a shade under about 3 times clear of the nearest rival Samsung, which shipped 37.3 million units in Q2 2007. >>>

iPhone Competitors: RIM

Starting with this post on RIM, I will look at some major players that the iPhone will be competing with. An earlier post on RIM can provide good background for this post. In it, I have suggested that RIM does not directly compete with the iPhone, because of its prosumer focus, whereas the iPhone is a consumer media phone.

RIM(Nasdaq: RIMM) is a leading designer and manufacturer in mobile communications industry with revenue of $3.04 billion and 6,250 employees in fiscal 2007. RIM is the king of the converged mobile devices market for the enterprise or prosumers with over 9 million subscriber accounts. As per IDC, RIM is second behind Nokia in the converged mobile devices market for Q4 2006. >>>

Apple Since Launch of the iPhone

It has been a month since the launch of the iPhone and in this post we will see how Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has been doing since the launch.

Following the launch, estimates of the first weekend sales of iPhone took the figure to an over optimistic and ridiculous level of 700,000. The announcements from AT&T and Apple brought it down to 146,000 activations and 270,000 sales (including accessories, it appears). Though it looks modest in comparison to the earlier estimates, it is nevertheless a strong sale and Apple expects to sell 1 million iPhones in the first three months. May be more. The iPod took a bit of time to hit its stride, and there is no reason for the iPhone to not follow suite. >>>

iPhone’s Component Ecosystem: Infineon

This post on Infineon will be the last in the series of posts analyzing the major players in the iPhone’s component ecosystem. In the iPhone, Infineon provides the digital baseband through a PMB8876 S-Gold 2 multimedia engine with EDGE functionality, a radio-frequency transceiver and power-management devices. As per iSuppli, these parts account for $15.25 or a big fat 6.1% of the iPhone’s 8 Gb model’s cost.

Infineon Technologies (NYSE: IFX) is a leading German semiconductor company with revenue of €7.93 billion (including Qimonda sales of €3.8 billion) and 41,600 employees in 2006. Its business is organized in two main segments: 1) Automotive, Industrial & Multimarket, which provides automotive, industrial, and security applications and 2) Communication Solutions, which provides wireline and wireless communication applications. It used to have a Memory Products unit that spun off as a stand-alone subsidiary, Qimonda in May, 2006 and in August it went public on NYSE. >>>

iPhone’s Component Ecosystem: Balda

One of the most important features of the iPhone is its touch screen that is highly flexible and allows rotating, zooming, panning, scrolling and flipping using multi-finger gestures on the screen. The German company Balda is the supplier of this glass-surfaced touch screen that has sharper resolution, better resistance to scratches or smudges, and better sensitivity than the plastic displays. Estimated to cost around $27, the touch screen accounts for 10.8 % of the 8 GB iPhone model’s cost.

Balda AG (DE: BDGA) was earlier known to develop and manufacture plastic components for mobile telephones, mobile fixed line telephones, and base stations. In 2006, it acquired 50% of the shares in the TPK holding (TPK) in Xiamen in China for €59.5 million. TPK is a manufacturer of innovative touch screen solutions. In our components series, we look at Balda next. >>>

iPhone’s Component Ecosystem: Intel

In this post, we will be analyzing Intel as part of the series on the major players in the iPhone’s component ecosystem. In the iPhone, Intel provides a wireless flash with 32 Mbytes of NOR coupled with 16 Mbytes of SRAM for code execution.

Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) is the world’s largest chip manufacturer with revenues of $35.4 billion and 94,100 employees in 2006. Its core products include microprocessors, chip-sets, motherboards, flash memory, wired and wireless connectivity products, and communications infrastructure components. Its operations are organized into Digital Enterprise Group, Mobility Group, Flash Memory Group, Digital Home Group, Digital Health Group, and Channel Platforms Group.

Digital Enterprise Group accounted for 56% of its consolidated net revenue in 2006 and sales from microprocessors within the group accounted for 41% of its consolidated net revenue.

Mobility Group accounted for 35% of consolidated net revenue in 2006 and the sales of microprocessors within the Mobility Group made up 26% of consolidated net revenue. To focus on its core businesses, Intel sold its Xscale communications-chip division in the Mobility Group for $600 million to Marvell Technology Group, Ltd (MRVL) in Q4 2006. >>>