Ed Sutherland - page 57

We start the day with three MacBook deals: first is a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook with three years of AppleCare for $1,499. Next is a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook with fifteen-inch screen for $1,499. Finally, there is a 2.66GHz i7 MacBook Pro with 17-inch screen and three years of AppleCare for $2,749.

Also on tap is the latest iPad freebies, including “InsanityX,” a puzzle game. We’ll also check out the latest crop of App Store price cuts, including “Sqrl Shooter, a squirrel hunting game.

Along the way, we’ll also take a look at bargains on Mac software, gadgets and other items. Details on these and many more items are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Apple now sells 70 percent of digital music in the U.S., a retail market research firm announced Wednesday. Additionally, Internet retailer Amazon now ties with Walmart as the second most-common source for music purchases nationally, just the latest sign of declining demand for physical CDs bought in brick-and-mortar stores.

Earlier this month, Billboard announced Apple sells 28 percent of all music, with Walmart a distant second at 12.5 percent of music sales.

NPD also announced Apple’s rate of growth is slowing, picking up one percentage point over the previous year, perhaps indicating the Cupertino, Calif. company is maxing-out at seven of every 10 digital music purchases in the United States. By comparison, Amazon gained four points for 12 percent, a level shared by Walmart.

Digital sales now comprise 40 percent of total music purchases, a five percent increase over last year, according to NPD. “Online shopping offers consumers who still want CDs more variety than they would get in a brick-and-mortar store; plus recommendations, and other interactive features that raise the overall value proposition for music buyers,” Russ Crupnick, NPD vice president of industry analysis, said.

Unclear is how much market Google might capture after a recent report the Mountain View, Calif. Internet giant is planning a service converting iTunes downloads for Android users.

[via AppleInsider]

China Telecom, the nation’s largest fixed-line carrier, has up until now, stood on the sidelines as Apple’s iPhone entered the Asian marketplace. Now comes word the carrier will enter the fray, joining China Mobile in expressing interest in offering the iPad.

“If there’s a demand from customers, we welcome any creative new device,” China Telecom CEO Wang Xiaochu said Tuesday. Wang said his company and Apple are evaluating customer interest in the device, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Both of us have to evaluate the market situation in China to see how large the market demand would be,” he said. “It will determine whether we have any interest in any cooperation.” The telecom is also working with Research In Motion and Palm. As in the U.S., Chinese carriers are eying smart phones as a way to gain more revenue.

Apple, long an irksome thorn in the backside of software giant Microsoft, Wednesday overtook the Redmond, Wash.-based company as the most valuable technology firm. The Cupertino, Calif. company was worth $223 billion at the end of yesterday’s trading, compared to $219 billion for Microsoft.

Key to Apple’s rising fortunes are the iPod and iPhone, turning the desktop computer company into a global consumer electronics giant focused on entertainment and mobility. Apple’s share prices have skyrocketed in the past year, doubling its price to over $244. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s shares have remained relatively steady, inching up to $25, compared to $20 a year ago.

We start off with a deal on a 16GB fourth-generation iPod nano for $135. Next up is a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook from the Apple Store for $759. We round out our top picks with a number of MacBook Pros, starting at $1,099 for a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo and 13.3-inch screen.

Along the way, we check out the latest App Store price drops and freebies, deals on AppleCare plans for 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pros, and software for your Mac. As always, details on these and many other items are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

Apple said it was “saddened and upset” by a recent spate of suicides at Foxconn, a China-based electronics manufacturer believed to be making Apple’s upcoming next-generation iPhone. The Cupertino, Calif. consumer electronics designer also announced it would launch an independent evaluation of the plant where 10 workers have committed suicide in the past year.

Earlier this month, a call for investigations was spurred by the death of another worker.

Wired has released a version of their magazine for the iPad. The new version costs $4.99 and is available from iTunes. Ironically, the video used to demonstrate the iPad version, can’t be viewed on an iPad due to its use of Adobe Flash.

The iPad version was released ahead of the scheduled June premiere by publisher Condé Nast. “Wired Magazine will be digital from now on, designed from the start as a compelling interactive experience, in parallel with our print edition,” editor-in-chief Chris Anderson told readers. Earlier this year, Anderson called the iPad a “game changer.”

Apple’s upcoming 2010 Worldwide Developer Conference, starting June 7 in San Francisco, is a bit like celebrating Christmas Day after already knowing what will be under the tree. Yes, CEO Steve Jobs will deliver a keynote address, but otherwise, there is “little room for surprise,” a prominent Apple analyst said Wednesday.

With talk of the upcoming next-generation iPhone splashed across blogs and television newscasts like some messy Hollywood divorce, all that’s left for Apple to do is fill in the details. The handset will likely have a front-facing camera useful for video conferencing, longer battery life and thinner design, Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster told investors. Munster calls the WWDC a “non-event” for Apple stock.

We start off with two MacBooks for under $1,000: a 2.26GHz MacBook Core 2 Duo for $799 and a 2.26GHz Unibody MacBook Pro, starting at $929. Also on tap is a price cut on the 16GB iPhone 3Gs from Walmart.

Along the way, we also check out Apple’s back-to-school sale, new software for the iPhone and iPad and other Mac-related items. Details on these and many more bargains are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Another worker at China’s Foxconn Technology Group has died. While few details were released by the state-run Xinhua News Agency, the incident is the 10th death in the past year at the electronics maker. Ironically, the death followed an announcement Monday by Foxconn disputing reports of a sweatshop atmosphere.

“We are certainly not running a sweatshop. We are confident we’ll be able to stabilize the situation soon,” the AP quotes Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou.

Microsoft is expected to overhaul its entertainment and devices group as the desktop software giant finds itself out-muscled in a bruising battle between Apple and Google. The division – responsible for the Windows Phone, Zune and Xbox – will likely lose its chief technology officer, reports say.

Although the division made $1.67 billion in sales for the first quarter of this year, Microsoft is being outmaneuvered as technology increasingly goes mobile. J. Allard, the division’s chief experience officer and chief technology officer, is expected to leave the company in the wake of Microsoft’s decision to kill his dual-screen Courier tablet.

Although AT&T leaders have responded with bravado to questions of how Verizon might upset the carrier’s exclusive iPhone apple cart, Wall Street apparently isn’t so care-free. AT&T could lose up to 40 percent of iPhone subscribers when Verizon starts selling the handset, one analyst warned Monday.

Up to 6 million of AT&T’s 15 million iPhone customers could leave for Verizon, Davenport & Co. analyst F. Drake Johnstone told investors. Attempts to bar the door – such as hiking the early termination fee for smart phone owners from $175 to $325 – is the first signal “AT&T is clearly worried that it will lose customers once a competing carrier such as Verizon begins carrying the iPhone,” Johnstone said.

Apple apparently has gotten the message over repeated reports of iPad shortages. The Cupertino, Calif. company may double production for its tablet device to 2.5 million units per month by September, up from 1 million to 1.5 million expected for next month, one analyst said Tuesday.

In a note to investors, Sterne Agee analyst Vija Rakesh writes checks with memory suppliers indicates Apple is preparing for a wider international launch and the upcoming back-to-school markets.

We start off another week with a deal on an iBook G4 machine running at 1.33Mhz for $300. Also on tap: a number of iMacs, starting with a 3.06GHz 22″ model for $999. We round out or top trio with the latest batch of App Store freebies, including “LightWriter – Photography Effects.”

Along the way, we’ll also check out other bargains, including an iPhone/iPod external battery and software for your Mac. As always, details on these and many other items are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Along with speculation that Verizon may sell the new iPhone expected to be announced at next month’s WWDC, comes rumors of the most tenuous nature that Sprint might also be part of Apple’s widening use of American carriers. Adding the iPhone to its stable of cell phones would certainly boost Sprint’s stature, but is it more than just chatter? Now comes “rumblings” that Sprint may have an iPhone ready later this year.

This is where readers should put their trays in the upright position and obey the flashing “rumor alert” signs.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs will deliver the keynote address at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference June 7 in San Francisco. The announcement by the Cupertino, Calif. company unleashed further speculation Jobs will unveil a new version of Apple’s iPhone. At the 2009 WWDC, Apple introduced the iPhone 3GS.

The consumer electronics giant noted the 2010 WWDC sold out just eight days after tickets became available. The conference, running through June 11, will focus on Application Frameworks, Internet & Web, Graphics & Media, Developer Tools and Core OS. But many onlookers instead are looking to a potential dust-up between Jobs and his well-known ire for Google’s Android and Adobe Flash.

“Watch out Android, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is preparing Apple’s response, and we suspect things could get pretty personal,” predicted 9to5Mac.

Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty Monday morning raised her target price on Apple to $310 a share, up from $275, and also increased her prediction for iPhone sales in 2011 to 61.5 million device, a 25 percent premium on Wall Street consensus.

Huberty told investors her more bullish predictions are based on the following insights: The iPhone continues to gain market share, while the Cupertino, Calif. company continues to experience greater-that-expected demand for its new iPad. Also contributing factors: there is still room to grow in China and the once reluctant corporate market is beginning to open up to the iPhone.

We close out the week with a trio of software deals. A new crop of App Store freebies were released, including “Message in a Bottle Pro,” a random messaging application. Also on tap is the iPhone/iPod touch game “JetBall,” a brick breaker. Finally, whether you want to work or just handle life’s daily tasks, there is a deal on the appropriate Apple application package. Either iWorks ’09 or iLife ’09 are $41.

As always, details on these and many other items (such as an iPhone/iPod dock extender) are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Is Apple the IBM of 1984? That seems to be the implication Google wants mobile consumers to draw through a new ad and comments made at the Internet giant’s I/O conference. In a slap at Apple and the iPhone, a Google executive said his company saved consumers from a ‘Draconian future.’

“If Google did not act, we faced a Draconian future where one man, one company, one device, one carrier would be our only choice,” Google vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra told the crowd. The words were eerily like another anti-Apple message made last week by Adobe’s founders.

The drumbeat continues as Google takes on Apple in yet another realm Cupertino once thought secure. The Internet giant plans to take on iTunes, adding music downloads to its Android Marketplace.

At first, owners of Android devices will need to visit Google’s Web shop to purchase and download tunes to their cell phones (and later tablets, potentially). Unclear is when the music download service will become directly available through Android-based handsets, according to TechCrunch.

Two new surveys released bear good news for both Apple and the beleaguered publishing industry: More than 90 percent of consumers love their iPad. The surveys by ChangeWave found demand for the tablet device is increasing after the product’s introduction and that iPad owners are three-times as likely to read newspapers and magazines compared to owners of other e-readers.

In a survey conducted this month, 7 percent of people said they would “very likely” purchase an iPad with 13 percent saying they were “somewhat likely.” What’s intriguing is that a similar survey, conducted in February prior to the iPad’s release, found 4 percent “very likely” would buy the Apple device and another 9 percent saying they were “somewhat likely” to purchase the highly-hyped gadget. The numbers indicate a positive word-of-mouth for the iPad, even after the device moved from rumor to reality.

There have been hints of heavy iPad demand, ranging from out-of-stock reports and Apple’s own admission of trouble keeping up, but now comes some hard numbers: the iPad is outselling the Mac by nearly two-to-one. The Cupertino, Calif. company is selling more than 200,000 iPads per week in the U.S. while selling about 110,000 Macs per week nationally, an analyst said Thursday. The iPad is selling almost as fast as the iPhone 3GS during its first three months.

“Checks indicate that U.S. iPad sales remain strong post-launch, driven by rising consumer visibility to iPad’s user experience, sustained PR/word-of-mouth marketing, 3G iPad launch, and broadening iPad apps/content,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky told clients this morning.

Despite Apple’s public pronouncements of success in China, a survey finds 90 percent of consumers don’t use – and don’t like China Unicom, the No. 2 carrier the Cupertino, Calif. company picked to exclusively sell the iPhone.

Fewer than 10 percent of China residents between the age of 22 and 32 use China Unicom, and of that group, most said they disliked the service, according to China Market Research Group, which asked 2,000 mobile phone owners. More than 9 out of 10 people questioned pointed to rival China Mobile as having better coverage and service.

Apple’s iTunes has widened its lead over traditional music sellers, capturing 26.6 percent of digital music sales in 2009, up from 21.4 percent in 2008 – the year Apple became the No. 1 destination for music sales.

Walmart, which had held the title of top digital music store, fell further behind iTunes with 12.5 percent of the 2009 market, down from 14.9 percent in 2008, according to a May 22 Billboard survey. Other bricks-and-mortar music vendors, such as Best Buy and Target, also lost ground.

We start with a walk down memory lane with a deal on used Macs, including a PowerMac G4/450Mhz for $99. Next is the latest batch of App Store freebies, including “Crossword Pro.” Wrapping up our top deals is a wood grain case for your iPhone 3G or 3Gs.

As always, details on these and many more items (such as a silicon case for your iPad) are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.