Apple (AAPL) Could Receive Huge Military Order for iPad 2s
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) shares flying higher once again Friday...figuratively and literally.
According to reports from Bloomberg, the U.S. Air Force may order up to 18,000 iPad 2 devices from Apple, amounting to one of the largest orders put in by the military for tablet computers. At a minimum retail price of $499 (we're not sure if they'll get a bulk discount), that amounts to total cost of about $9 million dollars.
In terms of overall impact, the number isn't very large; last quarter Apple reported overall revs of $46.33 billion. The important part is yet another flow from Apple's device from the consumer's hand to government and corporate entities.
Expected for use by the USAF Air Mobility Command, iPad's will replace about 40 pounds of manuals and navigation charts used by pilots and navigators.
This could be bad news for Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM). The company's BlackBerry PlayBook is currently the only tablet certified for U.S. government-agency use. RIM has 1 million governmental customers in North America.
Last month, the iPad was cleared by the FAA for use in the cockpit of airlines to replace manuals and charts.
Other devices the USAF said it might consider range from Motorola's (NYSE: MMI) XOOM, Samsung's Galaxy Tab, and Barnes & Noble's (NYSE: BKS) NOOK...all which run on Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android platform.
Apple is up just 0.3 percent on the session, following a 3.4 percent gain Thursday.
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According to reports from Bloomberg, the U.S. Air Force may order up to 18,000 iPad 2 devices from Apple, amounting to one of the largest orders put in by the military for tablet computers. At a minimum retail price of $499 (we're not sure if they'll get a bulk discount), that amounts to total cost of about $9 million dollars.
In terms of overall impact, the number isn't very large; last quarter Apple reported overall revs of $46.33 billion. The important part is yet another flow from Apple's device from the consumer's hand to government and corporate entities.
Expected for use by the USAF Air Mobility Command, iPad's will replace about 40 pounds of manuals and navigation charts used by pilots and navigators.
This could be bad news for Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM). The company's BlackBerry PlayBook is currently the only tablet certified for U.S. government-agency use. RIM has 1 million governmental customers in North America.
Last month, the iPad was cleared by the FAA for use in the cockpit of airlines to replace manuals and charts.
Other devices the USAF said it might consider range from Motorola's (NYSE: MMI) XOOM, Samsung's Galaxy Tab, and Barnes & Noble's (NYSE: BKS) NOOK...all which run on Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android platform.
Apple is up just 0.3 percent on the session, following a 3.4 percent gain Thursday.
Get immediate access to market moving news and alerts with StreetInsider.com Premium - FREE TRIAL!
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