Computer chip makers saw worldwide demand for microprocessors fall 17 percent during the fourth quarter – a dive that is expected to continue in 2009, a market research firm said Wednesday.
“After hinting at a decline last September, the market fell off a cliff in October and November,” IDC research director Shane Rau told Macworld.
Rau said microprocessor shipments fell 17 percent during the quarter and more than 11 percent compared to the same quarter in 2007.
Although much has been made about Apple’s decision to drop copy-protection from iTunes Plus, the option still keeps music lovers tethered to a limit range of media players, according to a Wednesday report.
Unlike unprotected MP3 files, iTunes Plus creates songs that won’t work on devices requiring Microsoft’s Windows Media Player, the Chicago Tribune reported.
In a survey of compatibility of iTunes Plus purchases with a number of non-iPod music players, Chicago Tribune’s Eric Benderoff found iTunes Plus songs use the AAC file format.
“The problem is that Apple’s ‘unprotected files’ are in AAC format, which Windows Media player does not support,” Benderoff wrote.
Speculation that Apple will unveil an inexpensive iPhone was revived Tuesday. RBC analyst Mark Abramsky expects Cupertino will unveil a $99 iPhone sometime this summer.
Abramsky, citing “checks”, told clients the handset is likely to eschew 3G, GPS and include a $15 data plan. A low-end iPhone could hike Apple’s share of the smartphone market to nearly 20 percent, according to one report.
While a $99 iPhone could mean handset sales for Apple, it could also cannibalize iPhone and iPod sales. The downshift might force Apple to sell triple the number of iPhones to take up the slack, according to Abramsky.
Walking that tight-rope is Kaufman Brothers’ analyst Shaw Wu. Wu told clients Apple hasn’t fallen victim to the economy like PC makers because of the Cupertino, Calif.-based company’s well-maintained elitist image.
A number of technologies, ranging from PCs to cell phones enjoy a commodity status. In a poor economy, companies fear being “commoditized.”
Amid a plethora of suggestions how Apple can make better use of its Apple TV box, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company has turned to its users for possible directions.
As part of an online survey, Apple is asking how owners use their Apple TV boxes, including the preferred source for content and their hardware configuration.
The survey’s purpose is seen as a way to determine the company’s next step in turning what initially was viewed as a “hobby” device into the third leg of Apple’s sales strategy.
Apple succeeded in persuading Internet giant Google to not include multi-touch features in Android, the open source cell phone platform, a report suggested Tuesday.
Multi-touch, which gives a handset the ability to convert multiple finger touches into instructions, was apparently bypassed by Google in an attempt to avoid legal entanglements, VentureBeat reported, citing an unnamed member of the Android development team.
In late January, Apple was awarded an omnibus patent covering its multi-touch technology used by the iPhone and the iPod touch. Apple has also threatened companies that might infringe the patent. The comment was seen as a not-so-subtle jab at Palm, which recently unveiled it’s iPhone rival touch-screen Pre.
Although Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos wants it to “disappear,” the just released Kindle 2 e-book reader is drawing quite a bit of attention for its Apple-like design.
Among the new features drawing comparison with the iPod and iPhone are Amazon’s decision to adopt an aluminum back and a sleeker size – 25 percent thinner than the iPhone, reports said.
Although Amazon Monday mentioned only that the new version of its e-reader “will also sync with a range of mobile devices in the future,” the iPhone could be among those devices.
Control over the popular App Store has become the latest stumbling block to Apple introducing the iPhone in China, reports said Monday.
The head of China Mobile sees direct sales of iPhone applications to consumers as a “threat” to its control over 72 percent of the nation’s mobile users, according to news agency Interfax, citing a source with knowledge of negotiations between interim Apple CEO Tim Cook and China Mobile president Wang Jianzhou.
China Mobile views direct credit card sales as interfering with its normal payment method, where it is the middleman between customers and payments. For the App Store to get the carrier’s okay, China Mobile would reportedly need to play a part.
Might your next television carry the familiar Apple logo? That’s the suggestion of one analyst who sees a Cupertino-branded TV as the next likely move beyond the iPod and iPhone.
“Apple’s fantastic abilility to create exceptionally user-friendly products could revolutionize TVs just like the iPhone changed the mobile phone market,” argued Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.
Although Apple expressed its usual reticence about the comment, Munster said such a product would be the “only logical next step” for the company.
Mac clone maker Psystar won a rare legal victory as a court allowed the Florida-based company to resubmit an amended counterclaim to Apple. The ruling could also fuel similar defenses by other companies.
“Psystar may well have a legitimate interest in establishing misuse independent of Apple’s claims against it – for example, to clarify the risks it confronts by marketing the products at issue in this case or others it wishes to develop,” U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup ruled Friday.
The decision was a defeat for Apple, which contended Psystar’s request to resubmit the argument “attempts to repackage” counterclaims dismissed in November of last year.
Apple plans to offer all Safari users something already available to iPhone and iPod touch owners: animation. The new CSS Animation feature is part of the WebKit Apple may use to provide an alternative to Adobe’s Flash player, a report suggested Friday.
A development version of the Mac OS X Safari includes animated effects such as falling leaves and a box in motion, reports said.
For some time, programmers have used CSS Animation for the mobile version of Safari. The routines allow Web developers to present animated graphics and 3D effects, removing the need for complex JavaScript, according to MacRumors.
If Apple TV supported cable television, as well as iTunes, the move could generate $1 billion for the media box long considered a “hobby” by Cupertino, one analyst recently suggested.
Providing cable box support could also boost Apple TV ownership six times over, potentially creating 6.5 million sales of the media unit, according to Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi.
Sacconaghi suggested Apple TV could become an alternative to the cable DVR or TiVo with the help of additional software. Firms, such as Tru2Way allows cable customers to avoid renting a box in order to receive pay-per-view or other services.
The percent of people that intend to buy a Mac within the next three months declined to its lowest point since 2007, a consumer research firm said Wednesday.
ChangWave Research said of those people it contact planning to purchase a desktop or laptop computer within the next 90 days, 27 percent of that group expect to buy a Mac. The figure reflects a six percent drop from January 2008 and the lowest since 2007’s 29 percent demand, researchers said.
The new results found new MacBooks introduced by Apple in October “didn’t explode out of the box,” according to ChangeWave research director Paul Carton.
Demand for Mac laptops continues to outpace desktops. The research found of computer buyers, 22 percent said they purchased a Mac laptop versus 17 percent that chose a desktop.
Along with the poor economy, Apple may suffer from its decision not to offer a low-cost netbook to compete with PC makers.
Dell and HP are among PC manufacturers helped by what Carton called a “long-term secular transformation in how the U.S. consumer spends.” That shift is reflected in nearly 20 percent of laptop buyers reporting they had bought a netbook in the previous three months.
If there is a silver lining in the survey for Apple, it may be that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company is doing better than the overall PC industry.
ChangeWave said only 11 percent of respondents reported plans to buy a computer within the next 90 days. Just five percent of those purchases will be desktops with six percent picking laptops. The figures represent “record lows,” researchers said.
Norway, which had threatened to take Apple to court over its copy-protection of songs purchased through iTunes, announced Wednesday it was dropping its complaint.
“We have no reason to pursue them anymore,” Norway mediator Bjorn Erik Thon told AFP.
Norway had threatened to haul Cupertino into court over restrictions that blocked songs purchased through iTunes being copied to portable music devices other than Apple’s iPod.
Apple’s upcoming OS X software, codenamed Snow Leopard, will include support for multi-touch technology heavily used by Cupertino’s popular iPhone handset, according to a report Thursday.
Location technology is also part of Apple’s new operating system, Apple Insider reported, citing “people familiar” with a test version of Leopard. Developers just received the latest “build” of 10.6, according to MacRumors.
The new version of Apple’s operating system makes use of the iPhone software developers kit to integrate multi-touch features already available to new MacBook and MacBook Pro owners.
If Apple dropped the costly iPhone data plan, the move could earn Cupertino $7 billion and create a bridge between the iPod and iPhone market, an analyst suggested Wednesday.
“Apple’s more than 100 million iPod users give the company a huge opportunity to capture significant market share in the mobile device market,” Sanford Berstein’s Toni Sacconaghi told clients.
By dropping the required $70 per month data plan, Apple would break out of the limited smartphone segment and open the doors to an iPod touch userbase worth $7 billion in income and $4 billion in profit each year.
Sprint reportedly will launch the Palm Pre in May, timing that could steal the thunder of an expected new version of Apple’s iPhone.
According to the Boy Genius Report Web site, Sprint documents suggest Palm could begin shipping its touch-screen phone in May, a month before many believe Cupertino will introduce its next-generation iPhone.
The Pre, a touch-screen smartphone widely viewed as a rival to Apple’s popular handset, essentially replaces the Treo 755p.
A Paris court has rejected an exclusive iPhone distribution agreement between France Telecom and Apple, reports said Wednesday.
Orange is the wireless subsidiary of France Telecom.
The court said the pact constituted a “restraint on freedom.” France Telecom told reporters it was “shocked” and planned to appeal the ruling.
The court’s action follows a December temporary ruling by a regulatory board opening the way for rival Bouygues and others to sell the iPhone to French customers.
iPhone 3G owners in Florida and New Jersey become the latest to sue Apple over what they charge are “false and misleading advertising” about the handset’s speed.
The latest court challenges were described as “more cookie-cutter lawsuits” against iPhone advertising. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company has been sued four times in two weeks over nearly identical claims, according to Apple Insider.
In Florida, residents Onel Gonzalez and Ron J. Brayteson are asking a district court to stop Apple’s advertising and require the company pay damages.
Confirmation came Tuesday from Fortune on just how popular games are to iPhone users. Games comprise about 21 percent of the almost 19,000 applications from Apple’s App Store.
“Six out of the top 10 paid apps on Apple’s App Store are currently games or entertainment programs,” Fortune’s Philip Elmer-Dewitt wrote.
The nugget of information comes from 148Apps, a site that tracks applications offered to iPhone and touch owners.
The report echos ComScore, which recently announced iPhone users outpace every other segment for game downloads: 32.4 percent versus 3.8 percent for most cell phone owners.
A hint about when Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple may unveil a new generation of iPhones came Monday from a far-away source: the sands of the United Arab Emirates. In an off-handed remark, a carrier said new iPhones could be released in June.
A new Apple handset “is due out in June,” Mark Davis, Program Director for UAE carrier Etisalat, told a local business newspaper.
The comment followed news Etisalat would offer the iPhone 3G February 15th in the UAE and later in Saudi Arabia.
Troubled cell phone maker Motorola Tuesday announced its shipments were cut in half during the fall, its marketshare falling to 6.5 percent.
The Schaumburg, Ill.-based company said it shipped 19.2 million phones during the December quarter, a 47 percent decline from nearly 41 million handsets sold during the same period in 2007.
As a result, the company posted a $3.6 billion quarterly loss highlighted by continued bleeding by its Mobile Devices group. Motorola said the group ended the December quarter down $595 million. The handset area lost $388 million during the same period a year ago.
In a sign of where power now rests in the music industry, music label heads “operated in fear” Apple might pull their albums from the dominant iTunes store, according to a Monday report.
In a behind-the-scenes post-mortem of the recent agreement creating a multi-tiered pricing arrangement for songs sold on iTunes, Apple was able to get labels to give up their piracy fears and sell their songs through the iPhone, the New York Times reported.
A breakthrough occurred after Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Sony’s chairman got into a Christmas Eve shouting match. Soon afterwards, the lone hold-out signed-onto the agreement, according to the report.
Apple is asking disgruntled iTunes customers to report incidents of overcharging when requesting copy-protection be removed using the new iTunes Plus upgrade.
“Customers with the Shopping Cart enabled have been experiencing issues with iTunes Plus upgrades of individual albums,” Apple e-mailed Macworld.
Some customers complain iTunes was charging the full price of an album (usually $10) instead of 30 percent to upgrade to iTunes Plus. The DRM removal service recently was modified, charging users per song they wanted upgraded, rather than requiring you pay for your entire library.
Apple now reaches a record 9.9 percent of Web users, according to an Internet monitoring firm. Net Applications reported a 0.3 percent jump in January of Macs surfing the Web.
A year ago, 7.57 percent of Internet access was Mac-based.
The number seems to run counter to fears the economy coupled with a post-holiday slowdown might hurt Apple’s online percentage.
