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Jun 7, 2010

iPhone4 and iOS4 Updates from the WWDC

It's official. Apple has been on a roll and the momentum continues as they move to become the highest market cap company in the world.

Here are the latest announcements during the Worldwide Developer Conference in Cupertino, CA.

Four, New Billion-Dollar Businesses

We previously described four new billion-dollar businesses for Apple. 90 days later, how is each business doing?
  • iPad has shipped over 2 million in less than 90 days. Since most are sold through Apple stores, this is a billion per quarter business with minimal, marginal overhead where most of the revenue gains contribute directly to Apple's bottom line.
  • The AppStore has become a self-sustaining Billion dollar business, separate from the iTunes store that is a separate multi-billion business selling music. The new iBooks store has already seen millions of downloads, capturing 22% of the ebook sales from the top 5 book publishers in the world.
  • The iAds store is to set debut on July 1; and $60 million in business has been booked.
  • There was no announcement about the social network for subscription-based gaming revenues - which is still in beta test.
Apple has already passed Microsoft to become the second highest market cap company. What's required for Apple to pass Exxon/Mobile?

The iPhone4, iOS4

The theme of the latest iPhone is video.
  • 5 megapixel camera that also captures video.
  • 960x640 retina display for the highest resolution that can be seen by the naked eye
  • iMovie as an app for capturing, editing realtime movies on the iPhone. This app is likely to gain multi-millions in revenues.
  • Facetime as a free, open-source app for free, iOS4 to iOS4 video conferencing. The open-source aspect opens the door for development of more innovative apps based on video conferencing.
  • A gyroscope also adds an innovative catalyst for more cool games.
Does this add revenue growth for Apple?
  • As pointed out by Mr. Jobs, Google has attempted to confuse with overstated claims of Android market share. The iPhone will continue to gain share, unit shipments, and overwhelm in terms of hours of use - when compared to any other mobile platform. Our first-hand data collected from our mobile apps confirm the same.
  • The new iPhone adds heat to Apple's clear leadership of this category.
  • This move also targets Adobe as Apple seeks to take back leadership among the creative communities at ad agencies, advanced blogs, and Hollywood wannabees.
  • BTW, the developer community is already a billion dollar business for Apple as membership fees; Macintosh, iPod, iPad purchases; and WWDC conference fees contribute multiple billions to Apple. Google, Palm, Microsoft, and Nokia with different business models have not had the same measurable success.
Exxon on the Radar Screen

Exxon still leads by $47 billion in market cap, down from $63 billion difference when we first wrote about this subject. Exxon's quarterly earnings is $5 billion, but flat.

Apple reported $3 billion, but during a quarter when traditionally Apple reports seasonally lower figures. When the new businesses report another billion in quarterly earnings, and an expected trajectory that is clearly better than Exxon's outlook, Wall Street will value Apple higher than Exxon.

Is this outcome likely?

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