.......
Investors shorting GT Advanced Technologies should evaluate their position. ...
On July 22, 2014 the website appleinsider noted:
As published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple's U.S. Patent No. 8,787,006 for a "Wrist-worn electronic device and methods therefor" describes a device (dubbed "iTime" in one illustration) that fits squarely with speculation regarding a so-called "iWatch" smartwatch.
....Would Apple release a smartwatch without a sapphire cover? Whatever form of wearable Apple would produce can reasonably be expected to include a sapphire cover if it is expected to compete in the mid and luxury wearable category. So much of the Apple sapphire production could be expected to be used for its wearables....
Investors should be aware of a recently published article by noted technology industry consultant Tim Bajarin. Bajarin's PC Magazine bio states:...In his July, 21, 2014 column on PC Mag titled "How Apple Could Afford an iPhone With a Sapphire Display" Bajarin notes:
This is just speculation, but I believe that Apple could be working on a program where it offers the sapphire screen on an iPhone and perhaps even an iPad as an option.
... a highly durable, completely scratch-proof sapphire display could be attractive to clumsy people and businesses where durability is critical to their work.... if Apple gave its users the option of ordering one with the sapphire screen on it and charged an additional $100 to $125? For customers who need ultra durables this would still come in cheaper than most competitors who specialize in smartphones or tablets for this market.I would bet that a high percentage of Apple's mainstream business customers would opt for sapphire too since these products are used for work and get manhandled much more than they do than in the hands of a typical consumer.....
Another speculative possibility is for Apple to offer enterprise versions of the iPhone and iPad, clad in durable sapphire at a premium, through its new business agreement with IBM.
. An article in MIT Technology Review, "Your Next Smartphone Screen May Be Made of Sapphire" by Kevin Bullis, March 20, 2013 cites Eric Virey, an analyst for the market research firm Yole Développement as stating "a sapphire display would cost about $30. But that could fall below $20 in a couple of years thanks to increased competition and improving technology". However, Kevin Bullis notes:
GT is more optimistic about prices than Virey, estimating that sapphire displays might cost only three to four times as much as those made from Gorilla Glass. People at the company say prices will fall further as GT improves its furnaces, and as the manufacturers that buy those furnaces streamline their operations.
As of July 25, 2014 Kevin Bullis has published an updated article on the manufacturing process for sapphire screen covers, "Cheap and Nearly Unbreakable Sapphire Screens Come into View" - MIT Technology Review. GT Advanced Technologies showed him "a new manufacturing process that produces inexpensive sheets of sapphire roughly half as thick as a human hair, making it possible to add a tough layer of sapphire to just about any smartphone or tablet screen relatively cheaply."....The new process from GT Advanced Technologies uses a device called a Hyperion ion implanter to create layers of sapphire thinner than a human hair without requiring sawing and grinding.....
seekingalpha.com/article/...stment-in-gt-advanced-technologies
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