Office for iPad is 'Mild Positive'; New Products to Drive Apple (AAPL) Higher - Cowen (MSFT)
Analyst Timothy Arcuri issued the following commentary:
While iWork has been getting strong reviews, the decision to offer Office on iPad is, if anything, positive for hardware demand, but the impact is likely muted. At the very least, we do expect a substantial number of user experience “trial” Office downloads across the ~200MM unit iPad installed base over the coming weeks/months ... we think the entire tablet market landscape is about to undergo meaningful change as AAPL introduces both a larger screen phone (CQ3) and a larger (~13”) tablet (potentially CQ4) with all the functionality of a notebook (including Office, which has been available on Mac for some time). The keyboard and operating system have always been the key differentiators between the categories and we expect both barriers to come down as this new device should run iOS and OSX and also introduce a haptics-like keyboard that will take the place of the current static keyboard on iPad. At the end of the day, it is the design of this product and creation of a new PC/tablet paradigm that is what we expect will drive meaningful incremental hardware units rather than Office per se.
Bottom line: Office for iPad wil be a mild positive for units, but new products will provide the real excitement for Apple.
For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Apple click here. For more ratings news on Apple click here.
Apple closed at $537.46 yesterday.