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A lot (15 million iPads sold) can happen in a year.
On the morning of the iPad 2 launch, it is interesting to remember just over one year ago, Eric Schmidt at Davos 2010 said of Apple's (AAPL) just-announced iPad and tablets in general:
His opinion of the iPad? He never commented on other companies. Though he couldn't quite resist a lateral jab: "You might want to tell me the difference between a large phone and a tablet."
Here we are a year later and Google (GOOG) already has a version of Android that is specifically designed for tablets. Two observations on this:
Even the "biggest minds" in tech didn't see this coming. Schmidt is always waxing poetic about the technology future yet at the time of the iPad launch, he didn't know if there was a difference between a big phone and a tablet.
Perhaps more importantly and impressive: Google's Android team did get the message at some point and conjured up a Tablet OS in much less than a year that by most accounts is at least the second best out there and improving rapidly. Contrast Google to Microsoft (MSFT) which has a decade of tablet work under its belt and can only say it will have an ARM version of Windows "in the next couple of years." Windows 7 tablets are mostly mocked by the press and reviewers.
Google did have a big initial presence in the original iOS device (the iPhone -- video below) and its Maps and YouTube power (at least at the moment) two of the iPads default applications.
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Remarks made in Davos suggest that Apple is building a model for China Mobile
Will the iPhone 5 be the one that finally cracks open the No. 1 carrier in the world's biggest cell phone market?
That's the thrust of a report out of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that cites remarks made by China Mobile (CHL) chairman Wang Jianzhou.
"We hope that when they develop the next-generation models, since Apple MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jan 26, 2011 12:39 PM ET
The World Economic Forum ended a week ago. That means the jet lag is gone, the expense reports are largely completed (if not yet reimbursed), and normal life has resumed.
Was it worth it? That's the question I posed at the outset, wondering if the substance could possibly outweigh the windbaggery. My unequivocal answer: Yes.
Adam Lashinsky, Sr. Editor at Large - Feb 8, 2010 8:34 PM ET
Cisco CEO John Chambers says he plans to hire as many as 3,000 workers soon – perhaps half in the U.S. Photo: Cisco.
John Chambers is often in a sunny mood, but on Wednesday he had some obvious reasons: Cisco posted financial results that blew past Wall Street's expectations, signaling that despite the rough economy businesses are spending on technology again.
I caught up with him after the earnings announcement to MORE
Jon Fortt - Feb 4, 2010 9:00 AM ET
Attendees of the World Economic Forum crave validation. Validation that they learned enough things or met enough people or conducted enough business to justify the time and expense of spending nearly a week in Switzerland. One form of validation, I've learned, is to confidently believe one understands the mood of the conference, which by inference is the mood of the world's elites regarding, well, the state of the world.
Candidates for MORE
Adam Lashinsky, Sr. Editor at Large - Feb 2, 2010 2:34 AM ET
On my first day at the World Economic Conference in Davos, Switzerland, I was checking email in a lounge at the main conference center when I spotted Benchmark Capital's Matt Cohler and Owen Van Natta of MySpace. I told them I wanted to say hello but that my overarching goal for the conference was to NOT spend too much time with Internet people. "How's that working out for you?" MORE
Adam Lashinsky, Sr. Editor at Large - Jan 30, 2010 11:28 AM ET
The CEO of Saudi Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arabia, lashed out at the Obama administration Thursday, lamenting the oversupply of "rhetoric" from major oil-consuming nations regarding energy independence. Without naming the U.S. president directly, Khalid Al Falih couldn't have been clearer who he was referring to. He called pervasive talk from nations that want to wean themselves from an addiction to foreign oil, a common MORE
Adam Lashinsky, Sr. Editor at Large - Jan 28, 2010 8:05 AM ET
The preferred exercise at Davos so far is hand-wringing.
Rajan: The finance prof frets about the U.S. economy. Photo: University of Chicago.
Concern over the future of the economy and finger pointing over what went wrong have dominated the first day's discussions. There's even an emerging buzz expression to capture the fears of the financierati. It is "10 and 10," and refers to the unhealthy combination of 10% unemployment in the MORE
Adam Lashinsky, Sr. Editor at Large - Jan 27, 2010 9:50 AM ET
Liza Minnelli once sang a song about a gal who traveled around the world to meet the guy next door. Two of the more interesting presentations I heard Tuesday at the DLD tech conference in Munich were about California companies I know well. (DLD, one of whose organizers is the Israeli entrepreneur Yossi Vardi, is for many a warmup to the World Economic Forum in Davos, where I'm headed next.)
Why Facebook Won't MORE
Adam Lashinsky, Sr. Editor at Large - Jan 26, 2010 9:27 AM ET
A "Davos virgin" speculates about the World Economic Forum.
I head to Europe this week to attend the World Economic Forum annual meeting, better known by the name of Swiss town in which it is held, Davos. I am a Davos virgin, so I intend to see the conference through the eyes of the newcomer that I am and to drink up its global celebrities, big thinkers and attendant hangers on MORE
Adam Lashinsky, Sr. Editor at Large - Jan 24, 2010 7:15 PM ETEvery morning, discover the companies, deals and trends in tech that are moving markets and making headlines. SUBSCRIBE
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| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 7.95 | -0.16 | -1.97% |
| Microsoft Corp | 31.27 | -0.17 | -0.54% |
| Ford Motor Co | 12.28 | -0.25 | -2.00% |
| General Electric Co | 19.39 | 0.17 | 0.88% |
| Citigroup Inc | 32.36 | -1.00 | -3.00% |
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 12,938.67 | -27.02 | -0.21% |
| Nasdaq | 2,933.17 | -15.40 | -0.52% |
| S&P 500 | 1,357.66 | -4.55 | -0.33% |
| Treasuries | 2.00 | -0.04 | -1.96% |
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