Ed Sutherland - page 89

More than a quarter of iPhones in the U.S. do not use AT&T, further clouding the importance of AT&T’s ‘exclusive’ distribution of Apple’s popular touchscreen cell phone, according to a Monday report.

Of 1.45 million iPhones has described as “missing in action,” around 480,000 are thought to be part of AT&T’s inventory. However, 1 million unaccounted iPhones — or 27 percent — are “unlocked” and being used on other mobile networks, Bernstein Research Toni Sacconaghi said.

Sacconoghi called the figure “stunning,” a step up from Apple’s previous talk of “significant” numbers of unlocked iPhones, according to a Reuters report.

A new study highlights what could be the iPhone version of attention-deficit disorder. A day after a free iPhone app is downloaded, there’s only a 20 percent chance it will used.

Possibly more disconcerting for Apple and iPhone developers: just 5 percent of free apps are used one month after downloaded – and nearly no free app is used after three months , according to data compiled by Pinch Media.

The tracking data was announced at an iPhone Developers Meetup in New York by Pinch Media CEO Greg Yardley.

Another photo of a supposed Apple Mac Mini prototype has surfaced online. The image could give a glimpse into Cupertino’s as-yet unannounced refresh of the popular desktop computer.

The photo shows Apple may be considering beefing up the ports, including adding a fifth USB connection, retaining its mini DVI port as well as its recently-introduced Mini DisplayPort and swapping out a FireWire 400 port for the newer FireWire 400 connection.

“This is the second picture of a Mac mini seen by AppleInsider with such a port makeup, the first of which we were asked not to publish,” the news site told readers Friday. The first photo was described as a prototype from late 2008.

A Spanish pickpocket may be among the first to beta test Microsoft’s answer to the iPhone and Google’s open-source Android mobile software. An Australian telecom chief reported the theft during the Mobile World Conference wrapping up today in Barcelona, Spain.

The prototype phone and a copy of the yet-unreleased Windows Mobile 6.5 was taken from the pocket of a Telstar executive. Microsoft lent the prototype to Telstar’s CEO soon after announcing Windows Mobile 6.5 at the Mobile World Conference.

“One of our product executives was given the phone to test the system. He had it with him at an organized evening event and it was stolen from him,” a Telstar spokesperson told the London Telegraph.

Now there are two. Apple Thursday told service agents it will no longer support the 20-inch Cinema Display, leaving its new 24-inch LED Cinema Display and older 30-inch version as the only external display options.

In a bulletin, Apple said the 20-inch Cinema Display had reached its End of Life. As a result, the Cupertino, Calif. company would cancel any pending orders.

The news prompted speculation Apple may soon end support of the 30-inch display, leaving just the new 24-inch LED display designed for Apple laptops.

More consumers are satisfied with Apple computers than products from PC makers, indicates a new survey. The Cupertino, Calif. company registered 81 percent consumer satisfaction compared to 67 percent for its nearest PC competitor.

The survey by ChangeWave Research asked customers who had purchased a computer in the past 90 days whether they were very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with their choice.

Apple garnered an 81 percent “very satisfied” rating, while PC maker ASUS earned a 67 percent “very satisfied” ranking. Acer received a 61 percent satisfaction rating while 56 percent of Sony customers were very satisfied.

Taiwan-based cell phone maker HTC Wednesday was credited as the source of 80 percent of mobile phones running Microsoft’s Windows Mobile software.

“We have sold more than 40 million HTC Windows mobile phones around the world,” HTC CEO Peter Chou reportedly told a Mobile World Conference audience.

HTC, along with producing phones carrying its own brand, makes handsets for carriers AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, Vodafone and Orange.

Owners of Apple’s iPhone should not hold their breath waiting for a version of Flash for the favorite handset. Adobe is now reticent to talk about whether it was working with the Cupertino, Calif.-based company.

“Adobe needs more from Apple to succeed than Apple ordinarily makes available to iPhone software developers,” Dow Jones wrote Tuesday after talking with an Adobe spokeswoman.

The refusal by Adobe to comment on its relationship with Apple caused one Apple fan site to pour cold water on previous suggestions the two companies were working closely on an iPhone version of Flash.

Although the economy has caused it to curtail opening more retail locations in 2009, Apple Wednesday officially added France and Germany to its list of European stores.

Two locations appear to be vying for the spot as Apple’s first storefront in Paris. The most well-known is one slated in the Carrousel du Louvre, a mall nearby the famous Louvre museum. However, a store is also on the drawing board situated close to the Paris-based Garnier operahouse, according to reports.

Following its Paris premiere, Apple is expected to launched another French store in Montpellier.

During bleak economic times, companies need to welcome the faintest rays of sunshine. That appears to be the word from one analyst forecasting lower sales for Apple’s upcoming March quarter.

“We believe this data will be perceived as a neutral or a slight positive given the uncertainty surrounding the Mar-09 quarter,” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster told clients Tuesday.

Sifting through numbers from NPD and internally, Munster expects -6 percent growth for Mac sales, compared to the second quarter of 2008.

Cell phone maker Samsung Tuesday added its name to the growing list of manufacturers joining the Android bandwagon. The company said it would unveil at least three handsets based on the open-source Google mobile phone platform in 2009.

In a Reuters interview, Samsung’s product strategy chief, Won-Pyo Hong, said ‘at least three’ Android phones would be produced, the first appearing in the later half of this year. Previously, the No. 2 cell phone maker had said its Android phones would appear in the Spring.

Although the company released few details, talk has surrounded Sprint and T-Mobile as the handset’s U.S. carriers.

AT&T announced Monday its next-generation 4G network will be commercially available in 2011. The carrier had previously said the new network would begin trials in 2010.

The 2011 timeframe would put the exclusive iPhone carrier a year behind rival Verizon Wireless, which has said its trials of a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network would begin this year.

For AT&T, the shift in timing for introducing LTE differs from previous statements by the carrier suggesting it intended to use its 3G HSPA, or HSPA+, technology until 2012.

Apple’s planned refresh of iPhones is putting increased pressure on flash memory manufacturers managing dwindling inventory, according to one analyst Tuesday.

“Our checks indicate that Apple has started ordering for its iPhone refresh (iPhone and iPhone Nano), stifling the supply chain,” ThinkEquity analyst Vijay Rakesh told clients in a note.

In the case of memory maker Samsung, Apple has allocated its inventory until April, according to Rakesh.

HTC Monday unveiled its Magic handset, the second smartphone powered by Google’s Android software. The phone also is the first Google phone to sport a virtual keyboard, striking closer to home for the Apple iPhone.

Although the model does away with a physical keyboard, the Magic retains its 3.2-inch touchscreen, 3.2 megapixel camera, as well as 3G, Wi-Fi and GPS for access options.

Vodafone will be the first carrier to offer the Magic. The carrier won an exclusive deal in the UK, Germany and Spain and a non-exclusive pact in Italy. France’s SFR will also sell the phone.

Palm continues to be a thorn in Apple’s iPhone as the handset maker announced its touch-screen phone will include Adobe’s new mobile Flash version.

After engaging in saber-rattling over the Pre, the two companies face-off on a nagging problem for the iPhone: lack of a suitable version of Flash. Until recently, smartphone makers were forced to choose either Flash lite or the bulkier Flash version meant for desktop computers. Recently, Adobe said it was still committed to developing a version of its graphics software that met the requirements of Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

As part of its announcement, Palm also said it would join Adobe’s Open Screen Project, an industry-wide initiative.

HyperMegaNet UG, the maker of Germany’s PearPC Mac clone, voiced confidence it would win a copyright infringement case against Apple in European courts.

“We are not afraid of going to court with Apple,” a HyperMegaNet spokesman told Computerworld. The German company said they “are awaiting” contact from Apple’s legal eagles over its PC towers that come with Mac OS X pre-installed.

Germany’s laws invalidate Apple’s end user licensing agreement (EULA), according to the spokesperson, Dirk Bloessi.

Despite the economic downturn, data plans are not among the items consumers can apparently do without, a new study indicates.

The survey found U.S. and European smartphone owners plan to increase their mobile phone data plan usage over the next two years, according to Reuters.

The question was posed in November at the height of the global economic mess.

The technology allowing iPhone users to skim through screens and Web sites is at the heart of a new lawsuit. Picsel Technologies, a mobile software developer, said Apple’s handset and iPod touch infringe its graphics acceleration technology.

The lawsuit, filed in Delaware U.S. District Court, asks Picsel Technologies be awarded treble damages based on the number of iPhones sold.

Unlike many patent trolls, the Picsel lawsuit includes a number of high-profile licensees. The company named iPhone rivals Palm and Motorola among the 250 companies using the graphics acceleration patent.

Zune software and hardware efforts are going separate paths, with Zune services expected to appear on non-Microsoft devices later this year, reports said Friday.

The Media Center/Mediaroom unit will take charge of the Zune services while Windows Mobile will direct Zune hardware.

Enrique Rodriguez, who heads the new Zune software efforts, told CNET his goal is to “make sure the service comes into every device.”

In a bid to attract PC “switchers,” Apple has begun redesigning its retail locations to focus more on Mac OS X and iPhone applications, according to a report Thursday.

The retail facelift is part of Apple’s “Why You’ll Love a Mac” theme, complete with images designed to highlight the differences between Macs and PCs, according to the IfoAppleStore site.

Among the changes will be greater concentration on Apple’s iLife and iWork software packages. Stores will offer iPhone 3Gs and iPod touchs loaded with applications available for customers to try.

After several rounds of fruitless talks with China’s largest carrier, Apple may ink an iPhone agreement with another carrier May 17, reports said Thursday.

China Unicom, the nation’s second-largest mobile carrier, confirmed it and Cupertino were discussing iPhone distribution.

“Yes, we are in talks with Apple Inc.,” a China Unicom executive told China Business News. The talks have been ongoing since October, according to the report.

Apple executives voiced confidence in iPhone sales for the second quarter ending in March, according to an analyst Thursday.

Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi told investors Apple’s top executives “appeared confident” after speaking with operations chief Tim Cook, chief finance officer Peter Oppenheimer and product head Phil Schiller earlier this week.

Apple’s confidence ahead of its second quarter guidance is bolstered by news Mac inventory is “below target level,” action that could increase Mac growth, according to Sacconaghi.

The iPhone was also a reason for Cupertino to be happy. The executives were “most bullish” about its handset business and the possibility of increasing market share.

After a round of saber rattling that left Palm and Apple hurling threats of patent infringement lawsuits, the Sunnyvale, Calif. company Wednesday attempted to smooth any ruffled feathers.

Palm had “no issues with Apple” patents and is “very respectful of other companies” patent portfolios, Palm chief Ed Colligan told an audience at the Thomas Weisel Technology & Telecom Conference.

The comments follow a week of verbal sparring between Palm and Apple over the upcoming introduction of the Pre, a touch-screen handset from the Treo maker.

Users of Apple’s online MobileMe service are once again the target of false e-mails sent by phishers attempting to persuade Mac users to divulge private information.

The e-mail purports to come from Apple, offering some friendly assistance with renewing MobileMe subscriptions; all that’s needed is your credit card information.

“Attempts to charge your credit card have failed,” the false e-mail mourns.

Apple’s App Store has reportedly crossed the 20,000 download mark, suggesting the popular site has added 5,000 iPhone and touch applications since mid-January.

Apple refused to comment on a report the figure was reached less than a month after the Cupertino, Calif.-based company announced 15,000 App Store entries. The update was reached Tuesday, according to the Apptism site.

As of Wednesday morning, the App Store held 20,410, according to Apptism.