Ed Sutherland - page 65

HP and ARM are ganging-up on Apple’s iPad, introducing new videos highlighting the tablet’s lack of Flash support and warning the Cupertino, Calif. company may not have the stage to itself much longer. Indeed, the chipmaker says there could be at least 50 iPad-like tablets introduced just this year.

HP’s “slate” device, with Windows 7, will be able to display the “complete Internet — including Flash,” the PC maker announced this week. The company also introduced a number of videos highlighting its device’s compatibility with Adobe’s Flash.

Apple has told its Taiwan suppliers to produce around 5 million iPads by mid-year, one analyst said Tuesday, citing unnamed sources. FBR Capital Markets analyst Craig Berger called talk of production delays “just false alarms” after Apple recently announced an April 3 U.S. availability date for the first iPads.

If correct, Berger’s projection would be a bit higher than previous expectations of between 4 million to 5 million of the tablet devices. Late last month, China-based Foxconn Electronics, Apple’s chief supplier in the region, denied reports of a “manufacturing bottleneck” and estimated 1 million iPads would ship in April.

Verizon sees a way to cash-in on the iPad, despite AT&T having the exclusive data contract for the Apple tablet device. In a memo, the rival wireless carrier sees the new Apple gadget as “an opportunity for VZW” and urges employees to promote its MiFi wireless router as a stop-gap connection method until a 3G iPad is available in late April.

The memo, obtained by Engadget, notes the 3G iPad will cost $130 more than the Wi-Fi version to be released in April. However, that advantage could be reversed when the 3G iPad goes on sale, potentially making an iPad and MiFi combo more costly for subscribers. (Unlimited data will cost $29.99 from AT&T.)

We start off with another deal on MacBook Pros. This one, from Expercom, features a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo with 8GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive for $1,573. Next up is a new passle of App Store price drops, including “Screen Heater,” a collection of warming apps. Our top trio is rounded out with Lockngo for Mac, a USB flash drive and hard disk security utility.

Along the way, we check out storage options, printers and more items. As always details on these deals (and many others) are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Is global warming finally reaching the icy tones of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer? Probably not, but some observers see a possible thaw in the relationship between the Seattle software giant and Apple. The latest sign comes from comments by Ballmer praising the App Store.

“Apple’s done a very nice job that allows people to monetize and commercialize their intellectual property,” the head of Microsoft reportedly said in a speech at the University of Washington.

Will the iPad do something iTunes and the App Store so far haven’t: become significant money-makers for Apple? Nearly a third of the iPad’s revenue will come from content sales, one analyst said Tuesday.

The lawsuit Apple filed against HTC last week was just a public ‘warning shot’ across the bow of handset makers in an effort begun early last year to thwart the rise of potential iPhone killers, an analyst told investors Tuesday. Apple’s intimidation seems to be working. Rivals are returning to the drawing board to find work-arounds and a better response to the Apple smartphone.

“Lawyers are redoubling efforts to gauge potential defensive and offensive responses,” said Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner. Apple’s warnings “are meaningfully disrupting the development roadmaps for would-be iPhone killers,” he adds.

We start the week with a deal on the iPod touch, starting at $139 for an 8GB first-generation MP3 player.Also on tap today is a new batch of App Store freebies, including “Big Brain on Fire,” which is described as a rhythm-based puzzle. Last on your top trio is Text Soap 6, a Mac application that transforms your text.

As always, details on these and other bargains are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Apple has begun cracking down on App Store developers hawking ‘cook-cutter’ applications with little or no advantage over similar Web-based apps, according to a Monday report. The tighter requirements are likely designed to ensure App Store offerings are unique to competitors.

“Last month or so [Apple] has started cracking down on basic applications that are little more than RSS feeds or glorified business cards,” TechCrunch writes.

Along with a glimpse of Apple CEO Steve Jobs attending Sunday’s Oscars, viewers may also have seen the first public shots fired in the ebook pricing wars between the Cupertino, Calif. company and online retail goliath Amazon. The 30-second commercial included several best-sellers appearing on the iPad’s iBookstore and at prices spanning $7.99 to $14.99.

Sen. Edward Kennedy’s “True Compass: A Memoir” had a $14.99 iBookstore price, lower than the $19.25 Amazon charges Kindle e-book readers. However, both the $12.99 price for the iBookstore version of James Patterson’s “I, Alex Cross” and $7.99 iBookstore version of “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Journey to Change the World…One Child at a Time” by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin were higher than Amazon: $9.99 and $7.19, respectively.

If you are diminutive in stature, the best way to boost your ego is to stand next to an even shorter person. In the world of finance, you compare a not-so bad quarter against a real stinker. Such sleight-of-hand translates into exceeding Wall Street comparisons. That is what’s happening with Mac sales for February 2010 compared to February 2009, when sales dropped 16 percent.

“We expect the strong (year-over-year) growth in NPD data that we saw (in January) to continue in the month of (February),” analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray said Monday.

Have you ever been in this predicament: you’re on the road with your laptop and you want to listen to some tunes, but don’t want to haul out the external speakers that will give justice to your music? Or, maybe you are traveling and all you have is the laptop’s built-in speakers? Why compromise between between good sound and convenience? Logitech has introduced the perfect middle-ground: laptop speakers that easily attach to the screen of your laptop or netbook.

The Laptop Speaker z205 (pictured) is just 1.35 inches thick and 2.5 inches tall. But good things come in small packages. The $39.99 unit includes two high-performance drivers, built-in amp and an acoustically-tuned enclosure for “superior audio quality,” Logitech claims.

We close out another week with a trio of hardware deals. In the spotlight is a deal on 3.06GHz 22-inch iMacs from ExperCom. The desktop computers are outfitted with 8GB of RAM and AppleCare for $1,399. (There are other iMacs available in today’s deals.) Also on tap: MacBook Pro laptops, starting at $849. We round out our top trio with deals on Mac Pro Xeon workstations starting at $2,149 for a 2.66GHz model.

Along the way, we check out a new crop of App Store freebies, including the game “Scoops – Ice Cream Fun for Everyone.” In addition, we take a look at some storage options and new bargains on Mac software.

As always, details on these and many other items, are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Speculation over whether or not Verizon will get a contract to sell the iPhone is pointless. But no matter the outcome, Apple is on track to sell at least 35 million of the iconic handsets in 2011, an analyst told investors Friday.

Merrill Lynch analyst Scott Craig said selling 33 million iPhones this year is “basically achievable” this year, no matter if Verizon becomes the second handset carrier this year or AT&T remains Apple’s exclusive carrier throughout the remainder of 2010.

Word that Apple will ship the iPad April 3 and accept pre-orders Mar. 12 comes on the heels of the second analyst to talk delays. Thursday, an analyst said a ‘minor hiccup’ in production means Apple will need to wait until at least April before manufacturing ramps-up to 1 million iPads a month.

Temporary production issues resulted in just 200,000 to 250,000 iPads produced in March after an unexpected slowdown in February for Taiwanese manufacturers, according to Vijay Rakesh, analyst with Think Equity.

The potential for Apple’s iPad to be wildly successful is a concern for more than direct rivals of the Cupertino, Calif. company. If the iPad becomes yet another hot product, expect flash memory to be even more expensive and don’t hold your breath for solid state drives to replace traditional hard drives on PCs, warns a Friday report.

“With the iPad likely to grab most memory supplies, prices may increase causing higher prices for SSDs,” writes industry publication Digitimes, citing an unnamed source. Apple currently consumes nearly one-third of the total flash (or NAND) memory supplies, the report says.

Apple’s iPhone, which has steadily risen in marketshare against most competitors, hit a bump in February, losing 3.2 percent of its marketshare, according to a Web analysis firm. By comparison, the marketshare of Android-based phones rose 8.3 percent in February.

The problem isn’t a falling interest in the iPhone, says Quantcast. At 63 percent, the iPhone has the largest piece of the Mobile Web Consumption pie, the firm said. Rather, Android phones are taking off at a much faster pace. Android’s marketshare grew 44 percent during the past quarter and almost 100 percent the past year. This is while the iPhone’s marketshare fell 4.5 percent and 10.2 percent during the same periods.

Patent infringement lawsuits filed by Apple and Nokia in Delaware were put on hold after a judge ruled Wednesday their outcome must wait for international trade complaints to be sorted out. In February, the International Trade Commission announced it would investigate Apple’s claims against Nokia, a move following a similar January pronouncement concerning Nokia’s allegations against Apple.

It is uncertain when the Washington, DC-based ITC will announce decisions in the two cases, although some say the probe could last about 15 months. The body can demand the halt of imports if a company is found guilty of infringing upon a competitor’s patents.

The chief supplier for Apple’s iPad tablet is denying there will be any delay to the previously announced March shipment date. Foxconn Electronics told a trade publication Wednesday supplies for the tablet device “are on schedule.”

The China-based company also told DigiTimes 600,000-700,000 iPads will be ready in March and 1 million of the devices will ship in April. The iPad’s launch is unlikely to be delayed, unnamed sources told the publication.

We have a hardware trio of deals today, starting off with a number of used Macs, including a 500Mhz iMac G3 with a 15-inch CRT for $40. Next up is a 16GB iPod nano for $160, followed by a 16GB iPhone 3GS for $149. (A 32GB version sells for $249.)

Also on tap is a number of software apps for the iPhone and iPod touch, including a new crop of App Store freebies. As usual, the details on these and many other bargains are available right after the jump.

Amazon had a brief breather from its fight with Apple over ebook pricing for a fight with Apple over digital music. Music labels featured in Amazon’s “Daily Deals” promotions are being pressured by Cupertino to cut it out, lest lose iTunes marketing muscle. The intimidation seems to be working, a report said.

“Sources say that iTunes representatives have been urging labels to rethink their participation in the Amazon promotion and that they have backed up those warnings by withdrawing marketing support for certain releases featured as Daily Deals,” writes Billboard.

The confrontation between Apple and Amazon stems from a requirement labels provide the Seattle-based company a one-day exclusive to sell MP3s before albums reach retailers or iTunes. In return, Amazon provides marketing, such as a banner ad on an artist’s MySpace page and promotions on other Web sites and social media.

Apple Store employees could be the first civilians to touch the mythical iPad tablet device. The iPad is set to arrive Mar. 10 in Apple Stores for employee training. Television commercials for the iPad should begin airing by mid-March with sales of the Wi-Fi iPad happening by the end of this month, a Tuesday report claims.

The Examiner cites a Southern California Apple Store manager who wanted to remain anonymous. A 3G version of the iPad will appear in late April or May, according to the report.

Tired of the iPod alarm clocks that wake you to the gentle morning light or a bit of soft Winton Marsalis? Yeah, just hit the ‘snooze’ bar and roll over for a few more minutes. What you need is an alarm clock that won’t take no; perhaps iLuv’s new Vibe Plus. This alarm clock will rock your world – literally.

Along with the usual technology, like integrated iPod dock, FM stereo and speakers, is the intriguing option described as “bed shaker.” The attachment, which rests under your pillow, can “shake the deepest of sleepers awake,” claims the maker. Combine the shaker with the buzzer (there are 10 options for getting your lazy behind out of bed) and the iLuv iMM178 Vibe Plus might be the best bit of technology since Mr. Coffee.

Are you looking for an inexpensive notebook for a child? This may be the perfect answer: a G4 iBook running at 1.33GHz for just $300. After you find that deal, you may want a congratulatory bit of gruesomeness while at the same time saving a few bucks. We suggest “Zombie Cannon Carnage,” just one of the iPhone and iPod touch apps included in the latest batch of App Store price drops. Finally, for students, what better way to study than with your Mac? We have a deal of “Cram for Mac,” study aid software befitting the Apple fan.

As always, details on those deals along with many other bargains, are available from CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the following jump.

Apple is again back in legal headlines, Tuesday suing handset maker HTC for allegedly infringing 20 unspecified iPhone patents. HTC has designed a number of smartphones powered by Google’s Android mobile operating system.

The lawsuit, filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission and in the U.S. District Court of Delaware, points to the iPhone patents covering user interface and associated architecture and hardware, reports said.