Corning has had much success in getting its Gorilla Glass adopted by smartphone and tablet makers. Now it’s aiming for laptops. …read more
Tag Archives: Gorilla Glass
Scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass NBT displays coming for touchscreen laptops
Mashing mobile technology together with traditional PC designs has a hit-and-miss track record—cough, cough—but Monday, Corning announced that one of the more practical smartphone innovations out there is coming to touchscreen PCs, in the form of Gorilla Glass NBT.
Gorilla Glass has become a mainstay on top-shelf smartphone releases thanks to its enhanced scratch resistance—a killer property when you’re poking and prodding your device all day long. While manufacturers have dabbled with putting Gorilla Glass coatings on laptops in the past—witness the Gorilla Glass-drenched HP Envy Spectre line, or numerous high-end Dell offerings—Corning hasn’t made a concerted effort to crack the laptop arena until now.
With touchscreens regularly appearing on PCs these days, Corning is trying to transfer its mobile success to the x86 crowd.
Corning says Gorilla Glass NBT offers eight- to ten-times more scratch resistance than the soda lime glass traditionally used on laptops. And if your screen does get scraped, the company claims that Gorilla Glass NBT boasts both reduced scratch visibility and “better retained strength once a scratch occurs to help protect notebook displays from breakage.”
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld
Go Ahead. Fold Your Tablet In Half.
By Robert Passikoff, Contributor Corning – the ‘glass company’ that came up the telescope mirror for the Palomar Observatory, lighter and tougher windshields, and with Gorilla Glass for the first iPhone (GG now in its 3rd generation) – has showcased their new, ultra-thin, 100-micron thick, flexible glass. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
2 Tech Companies Warren Buffett Could Love
By Andrew Tonner, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
In this video, Andrew Tonner looks at Intel and Corning from a Buffett perspective. Intel sells at a mere 10 times earnings, pays a dividend of 4.1%, and has a dividend growth rate of 14%. However, its chips are primarily for PCs, and the PC market is declining. Corning, on the other hand, sells at 11 times earnings, pays a 2.2% dividend, and has a dividend growth rate of 25.8%. Corning sells Gorilla Glass, which is actually a small player in its overall business. However, the rollout of smart watches and smart TVs could provide Corning with significant growth opportunities. For more on which company Warren Buffett could love, check out the video.
With the explosive growth of smartphones worldwide, many investors thought they would ride Corning’s dominant cover glass to massive investment returns. That hasn’t played out yet, as mobile growth has failed to offset declines in the company’s core business. In this brand-new premium research report on Corning, our analyst walks through the business, as well as the key opportunities and risks facing it today. Click here to claim your copy.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Make Money in Recovering Solar Stocks — the Easy Way
By Selena Maranjian, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Exchange-traded funds offer a convenient way to invest in sectors or niches that interest you. If you’d like to add some solar-energy-related stocks to your portfolio, the Guggenheim Solar ETF could save you a lot of trouble. Instead of trying to figure out which companies will perform best, you can use this ETF to invest in lots of them simultaneously.
The basics
ETFs often sport lower expense ratios than their mutual fund cousins. The Guggenheim ETF‘s expense ratio — its annual fee — is 0.70%. The fund is fairly small, too, so if you’re thinking of buying, beware of possibly large spreads between its bid and ask prices. Consider using a limit order if you want to buy in.
This ETF has performed poorly, losing to the world market over the past three years. These have been some hard years for solar companies, though, and as with most investments, of course, we can’t expect outstanding performances in every quarter or year. Investors with conviction need to wait for their holdings to deliver.
Why solar?
Interest in alternative energies has been around for a long time, but it seems to finally be gaining some traction. The solar energy industry has taken a beating lately, though, but that just leaves some investors finding it more attractive than it was before.
Relatively few solar-energy-related companies had strong performances over the past year.
MEMC Electronic Materials , the second-largest U.S. polysilicon maker, bucked the trend, rising 12%. It recently announced plans to change its name to SunEdison, and warned of price weakness in 2013, sending its shares down sharply. The company will also focus on financing.
Power-One sank by 18%, as some see its inverters becoming commoditized, despite being quite efficient. Its net income has fallen recently, but it’s free-cash-flow positive and is expanding globally, poised to benefit as the industry heats up. It looks like a bargain to some, with improved market share, financial results, and demand.
GT Advanced Technologies plunged 63%, hurt by oversupply in the industry. Its emerging HiCz technology is promising, though, and may make solar even more efficient and cost effective. To some, the long-term prospects for GT Advanced are solid and the stock seems undervalued. Meanwhile, the company is also diversifying into sapphire technology, which might supplant Corning’s Gorilla Glass in mobile devices..
New to market is SolarCity , which had its IPO late last year. Bulls are intrigued by its disruptive possibilities, helping consumers bypass traditional utility companies with its solar offerings, and also partnering with major entities such carmakers and Wal-Mart to provide solar technology. However, it’s not profitable, and its expenses are high.
The big picture
Demand for solar energy is likely to grow. A well-chosen ETF can grant you instant diversification across any industry or group of companies — and make investing in and profiting …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Should Corning Be Scared of Sapphire?
By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool
Sapphire camera lens covers used in the iPhone 5. Source: Apple.
Some analysts believe that 2013 will be the year that some smartphone OEMs begin using sapphire in their flagship devices. Apple is an obvious possibility as the biggest company that’s publicly marketing its use of the material, but Google is also rumored to use sapphire in the upcoming Motorola “X Phone.”
Talk of this possibility began last year, with Sterne Agee supply checks finding prototype smartphones with sapphire displays in the works. Most of the sapphire industry sells into the LED industry, and incremental opportunities in smartphones could be enormous. Sterne Agee estimated that the smartphone industry translated into 9 billion square inches of material in 2012, which towers over the 150 million square inches used by the LED industry over the same time. If sapphire were able to penetrate just 2% of the smartphone market, the industry’s addressable market would double.
Crystalline winners
Sapphire suppliers like Rubicon Technology and GT Advanced Technologies could benefit in the same way that Corning did years ago.
Cover and touchscreen applications of sapphire. Source: GT Advanced Technologies.
Rubicon is a vertically integrated supplier that uses a proprietary technology for growing the crystals that it calls
Filed under: Investing
The story of Corning‘s Gorilla Glass dates back over six decades. The glass maker accidentally made a product that no one was interested in using, and for years it was known as Chemcor and simply had no addressable market. In the early ’70s, Corning gave up trying to sell the stuff and the formula gathered dust for 40 years.
That was until Steve Jobs came around and wanted to cover Apple‘s iPhone with the material, since most smartphone displays predating Apple’s device were covered in plastic that was easily scratched. In the years since, Gorilla Glass has grown to become one of Corning’s most important growth businesses, thanks in large part to smartphone adoption and Apple effectively standardizing the material’s use in high-end mobile devices.
Source: SEC filings. “Other” segment not shown due to negligible sales.
Gorilla Glass is included in Corning’s specialty materials segment and is the primary reason why that operating segment has grown from just 6% of sales in 2009 to an impressive 17% of revenue in 2012.
In November, Corning guided the Gorilla Glass business to $1 billion in annual revenue, a target that it subsequently hit. That was up 44% from 2011, and the majority of the $1.3 billion in revenue that specialty materials generated in 2012. Gorilla Glass also carries gross margins that are much higher than the corporate average.
It turns out that there may be a threat on the horizon to Gorilla Glass, and one that Apple may be catalyzing. Should Corning be scared of sapphire?
Monkey business
Last week, MIT Technology Review published a report on the possible future use of sapphire in smartphone screens, which could potentially replace Gorilla Glass eventually. This threat isn’t at all imminent, as the cost differential remains very high, so most smartphone vendors wouldn’t yet consider adopting it.
A Gorilla Glass display cover currently costs less than $3, which is much cheaper than the $30 that a similar sapphire display would set an OEM back. Eventually, the cost of sapphire could decline to below $20 due to competition and technological advances.
Such a pricey component would put a serious damper on margins. For example, the iPhone 5’s bill of materials excluding manufacturing was estimated at $199, so an extra $27 for the display’s cover material would be a 14% increase in component costs that would represent a gross margin reduction of 4%. While Apple is one of the few smartphone OEMs that could technically afford this type of hit, it certainly doesn’t want to.
Sapphire is much stronger and more scratch resistant than glass, which would make it an ideal candidate if costs permit. At the same time, Corning isn’t resting on its laurels and has now launched Gorilla Glass 3, which includes what the company calls Native Damage Resistance for improved durability. The first smartphone to be unveiled with Gorilla Glass 3 was Samsung’s Galaxy S4 that was shown off earlier this …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
What Will Googorola's iPhone Killer Look Like?
By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool
Sapphire camera lens covers used in the iPhone 5. Source: Apple.
Sapphire is three times stronger than Gorilla Glass but also costs up to 10 times as much. Those costs should come down in the future, which may spur adoption and potentially threaten one of Corning’s fastest-growing businesses. However, that cost discrepancy means that Corning has time to continue beefing up Gorilla Glass. The glass maker just unveiled Gorilla Glass 3, which debuted on Samsung’s Galaxy S4.
Apple was the first smartphone vendor to catalyze Gorilla Glass adoption, and it may be the same one to signal an eventual shift toward sapphire displays. Sapphire suppliers like Rubicon Technology and GT Advanced Technologies could potentially benefit from that transition if it materializes meaningfully over the next couple years.
All that and a bag of chips
Inside the X Phone should be one of Qualcomm‘s latest and greatest Snapdragon processors, potentially its high-end 800 Series that was just announced in January and is currently sampling for mid-year commercial launches. Specifically, phoneArena believes it may be a quad-core 2 GHz chip inside.
As with all rumors, none of the above may be true, especially since the rumbling directly contradicts another X Phone rumor from earlier this month. Android World had speculated that the device would carry a 4.7-inch display and notably a different processor — NVIDIA‘s quad-core
Filed under: Investing
Late last year, rumors surfaced that Google‘s Motorola subsidiary was working on a new high-end flagship smartphone to take on Apple‘s iPhone. The device was reportedly called the “X Phone” internally, and it wasn’t long until the device’s existence was inadvertently confirmed through a job listing for a senior director of product management that was promptly taken down.
Just last month at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference, Google CFO Patrick Pichette went and candidly bashed the product pipeline that Google inherited from Motorola, saying they wouldn’t live up to the search giant’s standards for “wow” products. “We’ve inherited 18 months of pipeline that we actually have to drain right now, while we’re actually building the next wave of innovation and product lines,” he said, adding, “We have to go through this transition. These are not easy transitions.”
Big G is clearly looking to flush out the mediocre devices that are already en route posthaste so that it can clear the way for a real “wow” smartphone. It’s now been 19 months since the acquisition was announced (and nearly 10 months since it closed). During that time, Apple has continued dominating the domestic smartphone market, comprising 65% of all smartphones activated on the three biggest domestic carriers during the fourth quarter.
Where is the X Phone when Google needs it?
Thankful for the X Phone?
According to a rumor out of phoneArena, Googorola is planning on launching the device in November ahead of the holiday shopping season. The anonymous source claims that the X Phone will sport a 4.8-inch display covered with sapphire glass instead of Corning‘s ubiquitous Gorilla Glass that almost all modern smartphones have. The device may also pack a substantially beefier battery.
The talk of sapphire comes just after the MIT Technology Review released a report last week discussing the use of manufactured sapphire in smartphones. Apple just started using sapphire crystal in the iPhone 5, but as the primary camera lens cover.
Sapphire camera lens covers used in the iPhone 5. Source: Apple.
Sapphire is three times stronger than Gorilla Glass but also costs up to 10 times as much. Those costs should come down in the future, which may spur adoption and potentially threaten one of Corning’s fastest-growing businesses. However, that cost discrepancy means that Corning has time to continue beefing up Gorilla Glass. The glass maker just unveiled Gorilla Glass 3, which debuted on Samsung’s Galaxy S4.
Apple was the first smartphone vendor to catalyze Gorilla Glass adoption, and it may be the same one to signal an eventual shift toward sapphire displays. Sapphire suppliers like Rubicon Technology and GT Advanced Technologies could potentially benefit from that transition if it materializes meaningfully over the next couple years.
All that and a bag of chips
Inside the X Phone should be one of Qualcomm‘s latest and greatest Snapdragon processors, potentially its high-end 800 Series that was just announced in January and is …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Everything You Need to Know About the Samsung Galaxy S4
A week after Samsung Unpacked, the buzz about the new Galaxy S4 is still going strong and we’ve decided to consolidate the facts in one easy, convenient location. Here’s everything we know about the Samsung Galaxy S4 so far, from hardware specs to cool new features.
The S4 handset is a lighter, sleeker upgrade from Samsung’s Galaxy S3, coming it at 0.31-inches thick, compared to the 0.34 inches on the S3. And while isn’t a major difference, the S4 is a whole 0.1 ounces lighter than its predecessor. With a 5-inch screen, the S4 boasts one of the prettiest, clearest displays on the market, with a 441ppi Super AMOLED HD display, completed with exceptionally sturdy Gorilla Glass 3. While the S4 still has a plastic body, it feels sturdier and slightly more expensive in hand than the S3.
…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Tech
Is Corning Still a Great Investment?
By Rich Duprey, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
It looks like one of those leaps in technology that puts you right in the middle of Tom Cruise’s “Minority Report” movie: glass so flexible you can roll it up and tuck it in your shirt pocket.
Corning unveiled the next-generation development last June and many believed it would drive innovation in completely new directions. A new Apple iWatch, for example, with a glass face that matched the curvature of your wrist, would be a perfect complement to the technology. Unfortunately, the glassmaker doused the enthusiasm with cold water last month, saying it might be as long as three years before consumer product manufacturers really adopted it as their own. There might still be a wristband in the works, but it’s not likely to feature the new flexible Willow glass.
The 800-pound gorilla
Up until now, investor focus has primarily been on Corning’s Gorilla Glass, the tough-as-nails glass that is featured on some 1.2 billion devices from 33 brands across 900 different products. And it will still be the centerpiece of the glassmaker’s immediate future as its third iteration proves to be the strongest yet. However, as the Fool’s tech guru Eric Bleeker notes, despite the incredible achievements Gorilla Glass has already delivered, because smartphones have such a small footprint, relatively speaking, even large-volume sales tend not to move the needle as much as you’d expect.
Were those billion GG devices all big screen, flat-panel TVs, Corning would likely have banked a heckuva lot more than the $1 billion in segment revenues it did in 2012. As it was, the LCD division saw revenues tumble 7.5%. Fortunately, that was offset by double-digit growth in Gorilla Glass as the specialty materials division’s revenues surged 25% over the year-ago period.
Hemlock society
What many investors might not realize is the collapse in polysilicon pricing that’s wreaking havoc in the solar industry is also taking its toll on Corning. The glassmaker’s Hemlock Semiconductor subsidiary produces polysilicon through a 50% joint venture with Dow Chemical and revenues at Dow Corning fell 5% last year. Worse, gross profits plunged 30% and net income lost three-quarters of its value.
As a result, its biggest moneymaker is failing to gain traction and its supplemental businesses are seeing profits plummet, leading Corning’s shares to essentially flatline over the past year.
Despite the challenges, though, Corning’s future still looks crystal clear. Yes, the solar industry is covered by storm clouds and Corning has taken some writedowns related to Hemlock — and may do so again this year — but the rest of the business is shaping up as a strong competitor. Even in the LCD glass division, “less bad” results really mean things are getting better.
Corning predicts LCD glass volume will grow in 2013; telecom sales of fiber optic cable are expected to advance; Gorilla Glass will swing from the trees as smartphones and tablets continue to fly off the shelves; heavy-duty diesel …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Dropping the Ball on Gorilla Glass
Filed under: Investing
If you ever wanted to know what it’s like watching a company like Corning demonstrate at a huge consumer electronics show, now’s your chance. But first, some backstory.
When Apple was developing the iPhone, Steve Jobs was disappointed that the keys in his pocket were scratching the plastic screen on the prototype. He then went to Corning, asked for a solution to the problem, and thus Gorilla Glass was born. On 33 brands and a billion devices worldwide, it’s probably covering your own smartphone or tablet.
In January, Corning unveiled the new Gorilla Glass 3 at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Our Rex Moore was there, and in this video shows you exactly how the company demonstrated the product’s strength.
What’s your bottom line?
With the explosive growth of smartphones worldwide, many investors thought they would ride Corning’s dominant cover glass to massive investment returns. That hasn’t played out yet, as mobile growth has failed to offset declines in the company’s core business. In this brand-new premium research report on Corning, our analyst walks through the business, as well as the key opportunities and risks facing it today. Click here to claim your copy, and receive a full year of updates as key events unfold.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
This Just In: Upgrades and Downgrades
By Rich Smith, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
At The Motley Fool, we poke plenty of fun at Wall Street analysts and their endless cycle of upgrades, downgrades, and “initiating coverage at neutral.” Today, we’ll show you whether those bigwigs actually know what they’re talking about. To help, we’ve enlisted Motley Fool CAPS to track the long-term performance of Wall Street‘s best and worst.
And speaking of the best …
Corning got a big boost Thursday, when ace stockpicker Bernstein announced it was initiating coverage of the LCD glassmaker at an outperform rating. Slapping a $15.20 price target on the stock, Bernstein promised investors at today’s prices the chance to earn a 21.4% profit on the shares themselves, and the practical guarantee of collecting Corning’s 2.9% dividend yield, as they wait for the shares to go up.
So, in total, a better than 24% profit in just 12 months of investing. Not a bad return … if Bernstein turns out to be correct. But is the analyst right about this one?
Let’s go to the tape
At first glance, indications look good. According to our CAPS stats, Bernstein is one of the better analysts out there today, ranking in the top 10% of investors we track, getting most of its stock picks right — and beating the market by an average of seven percentage points-per-pick.
Bernstein’s also got good reason to be recommending Corning. The company that invented the glass for Thomas Edison‘s light bulb, that dominates the market for glass used in LCD TVs and monitors, and whose “Gorilla Glass” product forms the screens of most of the world’s higher-end smartphones, recently announced a new flexible LCD glass that it’s calling “Willow” (because, you see, it bends).
According to Corning, no one in the industry has yet invented a product to take advantage of Willow Glass‘s unique property. But that’s the kind of thing that can change in a hurry in the tech world.
For example, manufacturers such as Samsung have encountered difficulties designing around Apple‘s “rounded rectangle” design patent for the iPad. Now, imagine if you will, a “tablet” computer that’s not a rectangular tablet at all — but, perhaps, a cylinder shaped more like a rolling pin. Instead of swiping to scroll the screen up or down, you simply rotate your cylinder clockwise or counterclockwise to move up or down the screen. That’s the kind of innovation that flexible Willow Glass might make possible. Similar innovations might come out of Google , now that it’s in the computer hardware-making biz. Its recent interest in wearable computers, for example, might lend itself to a portable device that slides over the wrist, like an armband — again, an innovation that Willow could make possible.
Faster than the speed of tech
How quickly might Willow catch on? Consider this: Back in 2009, when Corning was still “boasting” of having just seven manufacturers starting to experiment with its Gorilla Glass, management predicted that, within a few …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
The Smartwatch Market Is Not Advanced Enough For An Apple iWatch
The chatter online tonight seems to be around a potential Apple iWatch. Taking such diverse ideas as bendable glass from Corning (the name behind the strengthened Gorilla Glass used in the manufacture by many smartphones), the usual call back to Dick Tracy, popular peripherals such as the Nike FuelBand, a bundle of patents, and the regular ‘people familiar with the matter’, everyone has settled on the next big thing out of Cupertino being a watch that runs iOS. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
'Gorilla Glass' maker looks beyond smartphones
Corning, which played a key role in the smartphone revolution with its robust “Gorilla Glass,” is looking beyond the small screen with an upgraded version which promises to be even tougher.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
CES Day One wrap-up: High-tech fitness and indestructible smartphones (video)
LAS VEGAS—CES 2013 is underway, and we are roaming the show floor with an eye on the latest and greatest gadgets on display in Sin City. Unlike the days leading up to the show’s opening, formal press events are few and far between. Instead, it’s every tech writer for themselves when it comes to tracking down the gear that the world wants to hear about.
After strolling the aisles of the Las Vegas Convention Center on Tuesday, we’ve noticed a few trends worth keeping an eye on. Take fitness gear—it’s everywhere you can spot on the showfloor. A number of device makers are creating gadgets that monitor everything from the steps you take to your vital signs—often logging that data on your mobile device. In our wrap-up video, we talk briefly about Withings Smart Activity Tracker, but our health and fitness coverage at CES also includes Zensorium’s Tinke, new offerings from iHealth, and how health gadgets are turning to Bluetooth for connectivity.
You also can’t walk very far on the show floor without seeing someone trying to destroy a mobile device, if only to show you how they can make your smartphone or tablet more resistant to damage. We’ve already told you about the latest version of Gorilla Glass from Corning and Liquipel’s water-resistant coating for mobile devices. But even phone makers themselves are now touting their devices’ durability. Sony’s Xperia Z demo included dousing its new smartphone with water, while Huwaei also took its phones for a dip.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld
Gorilla Glass 3 promises 40 percent fewer scratches
Corning has developed a new version of its Gorilla Glass for smartphones and tablets that it says will result in 40 percent fewer scratches and appear in devices later this year.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Computerworld Latest
Gorilla Glass 3 promises 40% fewer scratches
Corning has developed a new version of its Gorilla Glass for smartphones and tablets that it says will result in 40% fewer scratches and appear in devices later this year.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Computerworld Latest
Klutzes rejoice: Gorilla Glass 3 promises durable smartphones
The smartphones of tomorrow will be more forgiving toward the clumsier users among us, with the promise of much better durability in Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3.
Gorilla Glass, which Corning says is used on more than 1 billion smartphones worldwide, will reportedly get triple the scratch resistance in its third iteration. The new technology should reduce the number of visible scratches by 40 percent, according to Engadget. Should the glass become visibly scratched, it’ll retain 50 percent more of its strength than previous versions.
Sturdier and skinnier
Those are big gains over Gorilla Glass 2, which sported a mere 20 percent durability boost over the original version. And that didn’t even necessarily translate to stronger products, because phone makers had the option to make their glass thinner at the original level of durability, rather than having thicker and stronger displays.
Corning chalks up the added strength in Gorilla Glass 3 to a proprietary technology called Native Damage Resistance, which helps prevent scratches from becoming visible.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld
CES: Corning To Unveil Gorilla Glass 3 Next Week
By Eric Savitz, Forbes Staff Corning this afternoon said it plans to introduce Gorilla Glass 3, the next generation of its high durability glass for mobile devices and other products, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week. The company also said it plans to launch Optical Cables by Corning,”fiber-based, device-to-device connectivity solutions that significantly […]
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest