Cool sleuthing by ImportGenius:
Searching for shipments to Apple, Inc. (AAPL),
employees at the Scottsdale, Ariz., company reported on Friday that
they’ve spotted a “major spike” since mid March in ocean containers
marked with a mysterious new label: “electric computers”“They have never before reported this product on their customs
declarations,” says ImportGenius managing director Ryan Peterson, who
notes that there has been no corresponding falloff during this period
of shipments labeled “desktop computers” or any of the other labels
Apple usually uses.
ImportGenius is a search engine that gathers “competitive intelligence”
by monitoring U.S. Customs records of ocean containers entering
American ports.
>
Hat tip: Apple 2.0 blog by Fortune
Previously: Coming Soon: $200 Apple iPhone 3G
Source:
Mysterious Apple Product Arrives in North America. Could it be the iPhone?
Import Genius, May 23, 2008
http://www.importgenius.com/blog/iphone
Anything electronic could be labeled this way. This kind of speculation is what got us in trouble in the first place.
You are using the word speculation improperly.
This isn’t speculation, this is trying to extrapolate broader information from little tidbits of data.
Well. Let me be the first to call Bullshit then.
We all know, any product Apple ever annouces should cause the stock to spike because they can’t ever release a poor or unprofitable product…same with RIMM.
BTW, I personally only know one person who owns an iPhone or who will ever likely own one. I must be out of touch.
3G iPhone on June 9th is pretty much an open secret at this point.
http://gizmodo.com/391960/iphone-3g-launch-date-confirmed
Now wouldn’t it be funny if we got past June and nothing happened? Just to be clear I don’t have Apple short or long right now. People are just acting stupid again and not using common sense when it comes to forecasting profits.
Who’ll be buying them, Barry? Once all of the rich hedge fund managers pick up theirs, of course.
Consumers with no more HELOC and tapped out credit cards and $5 a gallon gas?
You could put a grey apple on a bag of crap and it would sell 1m. After that who knows but both john’s above have a better idea of what will happen.
I’m sure someone is being clever with the manifest(s)…on purpose… and are laughing there asses off at the attention it’s getting.
BTW both Felipe and Kimi should be ashamed of themselves for the ‘performance’ on Sunday.
Ciao
MS
Interesting the comments. Instead of commenting on the information you all go off on your own uninformed biases (that would be pointed at MS, John B)
Apple will be releasing new product in June at the WWDC show. We know this. This is not magical secret that a few elves have come up with to mess with people. The information is interesting because Apple is having additional containers shipped in than they normally do and they are labeling it differently. These decisions don’t get made by Fred in shipping.
Apple ships products that people want to buy and do it very well. Its one thing to not like the product or it doesn’t fit your needs but its quite another to act like a frak’n ass.
Tim-
coming from someone who doesn’t even understand what is happening with TIPS bonds but “likes them” for unknown reasons (you still have not answered why) but keep thinking you know it all.
And the phone’s name will be “black”
You see some of us know but don’t need to tell the rest of the world about it. You should stick to those TIPS bonds you like so much but can’t figure out why….
Ciao
MS
only 6 months ’til the start of the Xmas season!
Wonder when the analysts/pundits will start speculating on the strength of holiday spending.
My vagina is wet with anticipation…
Long apple to the moon…..
…they’ve spotted a “major spike” since mid March in ocean containers marked with a mysterious new label: “electric computers”
Which rules out Curta calculators, Babbage difference engines, slide rules, and the fire control computer that was on a Soviet hydrofoil I read about.
The main sticking point will be the amount of memory and the battery life. 3G sucks up a chunk of juice, and I don’t particularly want to deal with having to charge my phone every day. If those two items are satisfactory, I’ll probably get one within a month or two of launch. I think the bigger news though are the rumors that the iPhone will start being subsidized by the carrier. A potential profit hit for Apple, but when combined with Exchange Server support it could mean a huge increase in market share. Kind of sucks to be RIMM.
When I spoke to my Apple Sales Rep, I made a reference to the 3G iPhone, they did not deny it’s existence.
Iphone Shmyphone
…been streaming internet in my car on my 3g Sprint Touch for months.
There is enough expectation around that if Apple doesn’t release one soon, they and the Nasdaq 100 will take a big hit.
However, I have trouble buying the idea of a $299 3g iPhone unless there is a honking big price for the data plan. Part of the cachet of Apple products is having them priced much higher than competitive products to keep out the riff raff.
I agree with others that it will pump the stock for awhile, but many will be too scared to buy one.
We all suspected it, but now it is confirmed: someone very, very close to the 3G iPhone launch has told me that Apple will announce their new model at the WWDC Keynote on June 9th. The second-generation iPhone will be available worldwide right after the launch, and not at year’s end, as previously thought. The new model will also herald new sales policies in some countries.
In Spain, for example, the 3G iPhone will be available for sale at the June 18th grand opening of Telefonica’s megastore—an Apple Store-like shop located in the company’s historical building in Madrid’s Gran Vía— with nationwide availability the next day or after a few hours. The other European countries with iPhone availability will have similar launch schedules.
According to another source involved in the launch, the 3G iPhone will no longer be available at a fixed price point—at least in some countries, and its launch will also bring new sales policies, although these have not been completely specified yet.
The move is a logical step, since the iPhone has clearly solidified its position as the cellphone to beat during the last 12 months, and companies in the cutthroat European cellphone market need to use it as an incentive to capture clients aggressively.
This most probably means the new 3G iPhone will be integrated in the usual marketing systems of carriers, with point-based trade-ups, discounts for carrier switchers and other service-based subvention packages.
generally feeling down are we?
how about these factoids from
pdf download
47% of iphone users were new to AT&T
iphone users increased monthly phone bill by about 20$
3G has the potential to drive even bigger increases.
roll on june
Also, back in April there was a published rumor that Apple was going to release the new iPhone in May then follow it up with a new device at WWDC.
http://switchtoamac.com/site/3g-iphone-in-may-new-mobile-device-at-wwdc-2008.html
With it sold out at Apple for a few weeks now it seems plausible. I wonder if the “new device” as rumored by the above story are the “electric computers”