Ed Sutherland - page 97

Apple is in talks with three major music studios that have held out selling songs on iTunes free of copy protection, according to a report Thursday. If successful, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony BMG titles could be part of Apple’s iTunes Plus.

Although CNET described discussions as “still preliminary,” an agreement would expand Apple’s iTunes Plus option to include music from all major studios. When the program was launched about a year ago, only EMI signed onto selling tunes free of restrictions that tied iTunes purchases to an Apple device.

With its iTunes and iPod dynasty, Apple has dominated digital music sales. However, a growing number of rivals — Amazon, Microsoft and MySpace among them — have used DRM-free MP3 music to loosen the stranglehold.

Apple Wednesday released a software update permitting the Apple TV device to operate more as a hub for digital content. At the top of the list of enhanced features included in the 2.3 software: AirTunes streaming.

The new ability opens possibilities for Apple TV owners to listen or view content from either another Apple TV or Airport Express speakers.

Additionally, the update expands access to your iTunes playlists, permitting videos, podcasts or music to be accessed via Apple TV. In October, Apple released an update that included the latest features in iTunes 8.0, including support for the new Genius playlist function.

The update also adds support for third-part remote controls besides Apple’s and music volume control.

Users of the streaming-media service boxee are advised to not install this latest upgrade. Apple TV users are reporting the 2.3 upgrade disables boxee.

New reports suggest discount retail giant Wal-Mart will begin selling the iPhone Dec. 28, a move raising some eyebrows while also expanding Apple’s retail strategy, according to other experts.

An AT&T memo obtained by the Boy Genius Report outlined plans to offer the iPhone first in select Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club locations, followed by nationwide availability to more than 3,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores.

“We are pleased to announce that Wal-Mart has reached agreement with Apple to offer iPhone 3G in Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart managed Sam’s Club Connection Centers nationwide beginning December 28, 2008,” according to the memo.

Snow Leopard, Apple’s code name for its upcoming Mac OS X 10.6, is slated for release early next year, according to Cupertino inside data accidently made public last week.

In a slide presentation before the Large Installation System Administration (LISA) conference, Jordan Hubbard, head of Apple’s Unix Technology Group, let slip Leopard will be released during the first quarter of 2009.

Although the offending slide was removed, the information spread far and wide, providing both Mac fans and rivals a clearer window into Apple’s schedule. In July Apple had said only that the new operating system would be available “in about a year.”

The information leak comes as both Apple and Microsoft ready launches of operating systems. Windows 7, the successor to Redmond’s much-criticized Vista, will be unveiled around the middle of next year.

A California judge Tuesday preliminarily dismissed Psystar’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple. Judge William Alsup rejected the Mac clone-maker’s counterclaim, writing Apple’s computers and Mac OS X software “are not wholly lacking in competition.”

Alsup gave Psystar until Dec. 8 to amend its countersuit to bolster its argument that Apple was preventing third parties from selling computers based on its Mac OS X operating system.

In a 19-page opinion siding with Apple’s motion to dismiss Pystar’s August countersuit, the judge ruled that Pystar’s legal team failed to support the “counterintuitive claim that Apple’s operating system is so unique that it suffers no actual or potential competitors,” according to AppleInsider, which first reported the decision.

In August, Psystar filed the countersuit following Apple’s July lawsuit alleging the Florida company infringed its copyrights and patents by selling computers with a modified version of the Mac OS capable of running on PCs.

Apple reportedly is readying the January launch of new quad-core iMacs powered by upcoming Intel chips, reports said Wednesday. The upgrade would allow Apple to offer lower-cost iMacs while increasing the performance of current dual-core processors supplied by the California chip giant.

The chips, the 2.33GHz Core 2 Quad Q8200, 2.66GHZ Core 2 Quad Q9400 and 2.83GHz Core 2 Quad Q9550 were designed for all-in-one desktop computers and generate less heat. The new CPUs would drop iMac power requirements from 95W to 65W, according to Taiwan-based Digitimes.

In addition to lower power consumption, the new quad core chips would mark a switch by Apple from mobile processors, which were picked for their lower power demands and ability to stay with the iMac’s slim appearance.

Along with Apple, the new Intel chips could appear in all-in-one desktops sold by HP, Dell and Acer.

Earlier this month, Apple announced it wouldn’t announce more hardware updates until January. The word from Cupertino followed repeated rumors that the computer maker would unveil new iMacs in November.

Mac users are being warned to beware of a new scam by hackers to plant a Trojan horse. RS.Plug.D is a more flexible update of the RS.Plug.A threat discovered in 2007, a security software vendor claimed Tuesday.

Like the original, the new version relies on Mac users to visit malicious porn sites, according to Intego. Unlike RS.Plug.A, this trojan software opens a security hole enabling hackers to repeatedly download files to your system.

When on a suspect porn site, visits will be shown an error message: “Video ActiveX Object Error,” followed by a message that the browser is unable to view the video file and a request to start a download.

MacBook fans are in an uproar after discovering the new laptops contain hardware-based copyright protection that prevents the viewing of iTunes movies on some external displays, such as a second monitor or a projector.

“This movie cannot be played because a display that is not authorized to play protected movies is connected,” is the warning MacBook users receive when using an external display that doesn’t support the High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) protocol.

The HDCP technology is part of Apple’s Mini DisplayPort Content Protection built into MacBooks. Hollywood studios looking to protect their movies appreciate the 128-bit copy protection measures included in DisplayPort, according to reports.

As we enter the critical holiday shopping period, the future of Apple’s iPod hangs in the balance as two courts consider a patent lawsuit over memory chips. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Spansion Inc. Monday named Apple, along with other customers of Samsung in a dispute over alleged abuse of flash memory patents.

While the Delaware lawsuit, covering six patents, asks for damages and an injunction against Samsung, Spansion’s case before the International Trade Commission could result in blocking imports of Apple and other makers of devices containing flash memory chips, according to the Wall Street Journal.

A wide range of gadgets, from MP3 players to cell phones and digital cameras, use flash memory. The ITC could forego an import ban if it views the blockage would impose undue harm on a company.

China Mobile’s CEO Tuesday gave the latest hint Apple may still get its iPhone into the world’s largest marketplace by the end of 2008.

“China Mobile is still interested in [bringing the ] iPhone into China Mobile markets,” Marketwatch quoted Wang Jianzhou when addressing the GSMA Mobile Asia Conference. The carrier’s head didn’t provide details, citing a non-disclosure agreement with Apple.

China, with over 600 million mobile users, remains a highly-prized target for Apple. CEO Steve Jobs has said he expects to sell the iPhone in the Asian country by the end of the year.

For the second time this month, Barclays Capital’s Ben Reitzes reduced his target price for Apple shares. Citing lower handset expectation and increased pressure on higher priced products, Reitzes

On Nov. 7, Reitzes trimmed his target price for Cupertino shares to $121 from $125.

The Barclays analyst told investors he expects a two percent drop in first quarter 2009 earnings to $9.4 billion, down from $9.6 billion. Apple may earn $34.4 billion for 2009, a drop from $35.7 billion previously expected. In fiscal 2010, Apple earnings could rise 18 percent to $40.55 billion, a drop from $42.8 billion early estimated.

The battle to bring the iPhone to Taiwan became a bit more crowded as that Asian nation’s top carrier announced it will start selling iPhone service “before the end of the year.”

December is the tentative launch date for exclusive sales deal, Digitimes reported Monday.

In a brief statement released over the weekend, Chunghwa Telecom said it “has signed a contract with Apple, and it will provide third-generation iPhone services in Taiwan before the end of the year,” according to the Dow Jones News service.

Apple is now Steve Jobs has said he wants to enter by the end of 2008. However, there may be several snags delaying the iPhone getting into the hands of the world’s largest cell phone market.

The new Apple employee would “focus on international releases of our iPhone and iPod touch products for Beijing,” the post reads.

Earlier this year, Jobs told CNBC he thought iPhone launches in China and Russia would “happen later this year.” Although Russia announced in October, an agreement with China has been held up by technologic and political roadblocks.

Citing a “more conservative outlook for the PC industry,” Credit Suisse Thursday cut the target price for Apple shares to $120 from $135. Analyst Bill Shope also trimmed Apple’s 2009 revenue projection

In a note to investors, the analyst reversed his projection of PC shipments for next year. Shope believes shipments will fall 4.7 percent rather than increase 4.9 percent.

Overall, PC industry revenue is expected to fall 16.6 percent in 2009, according to the Credit Suisse note.

Shope said his estimate is in line with an outlook for a “severe recession” in the PC market with a 13.7 percent drop in desktop computers compared to a 4.2 percent previously projected.

With consumer buying in the tank and computer makers reportedly readying $299 holiday PCs, can Apple afford to repeat its usual $100 discounts on Macs? One analyst thinks its time for Steve Jobs to get ‘aggressive’ during the all-important ‘Black Friday’ after-Thanksgiving sales.

Barclay Capital’s Ben Reitzes told investors Wednesday Apple should offer discounts on iPhones and iPods, as well as Macs.

“We would like to see Apple get more price aggressive in every product, including the iPhone, given obvious weakness in the economy,” he wrote in a note to investors.

Apple faces “recessionary headwinds” through 2010, RBC Capital analyst Mike Abramsky told investors Wednesday. Abramsky now predicts 27.8 million iPhones will ship in 2010, down from 31.8 million. The analyst also believed Apple will report $46 billion in 2010, slipping slightly from the $46.6 billion previously expected.

Abramsky, however, still expects Apple will sell 21 million iPhones in 2009 and kept his target price for Apple at $125. Last month, the analyst cut his target price for Apple shares from $140.

Google’s Android-based G1 cell phone cost $143.89 to build, less than Apple’s iPhone 3G, according to iSuppli Corp.

A teardown of the 8GB iPhone 3G’s discovered the bill of materials for the Apple handset was $172, iSuppi analyst Tina Teng told Cult of Mac.

Nearly 20 percent ($28.49) of the G1 hardware costs are in the ARM processors used for multimedia and modem, iSuppli announced Tuesday. In October, Intel blamed the ARM for speed problems with the iPhone 3G.

Apple may report $11.29 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2009, more than $1 billion better than Wall Street experts are projecting, blogger-analyst Andy Zaky wrote Monday.

The blogger, who beat analysts in his prediction of Apple’s fourth quarter numbers, wrote experts have been “absurdly bearish” with revenue estimates that “no longer reflect even a scintilla of financial reality.”

“The analysts have been consistently wrong in predicting Apple’s earnings results and this time they’re going to get their ‘hats handed to them,'” Zaky wrote on his blog Bullish Cross.

In October, Apple’s Chief Financial Officer, Peter Oppenheimer forecast revenue of $9 billion to $10 billion for the December quarter. The Wall Street consensus is a slightly higher $10.08 billion.

The iPhone 3G became just the latest reason why Motorola is no longer king of U.S. cell phone sales. After losing its market lead Friday to South Korean Samsung, Moto Monday received more bad news: Apple’s iPhone 3G dethroned the slimline RAZR handset as the best-selling mobile phone in the United States.

The RAZR was the last big hit for the Schaumburg, Ill. handset manufacturer which has seen its market share slip away. Motorola slipped to second place behind Samsung, controlling 21.1 percent of the U.S. market, compared to the Korean’s 22.4 percent U.S. market share, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.

Apple’s iPhone 3G outsold the RAZR in the U.S. during the third quarter, according to consumer analysts at NPD Group. For three years, the RAZR was the top-ranked handset.

The drumbeat continues as Barclays Capital Friday became the latest analyst firm to trim its projection of iPhones sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2009. Citing the weak economy, analyst Ben Reitzes believes 5 million handsets will be sold during the quarter, down from the previously expected 6.2 million.

In a note to investors, Reitzes cited a “continued weakness in the economy” and an inventory already flush with 2 million iPhones.

Barclays also cut its target price for Apple shares to $121 from $125, however retained the Cupertino, Calif. company stock as overweight.

Apple will report $9.6 billion in revenue for the December quarter and $35.7 billion for fiscal 2009, down from $36.1 billion, the note predicted Friday. Apple reported $7.8 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 31.

Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple is finding a warmer reception in Europe than at home, two new surveys indicate. The iPhone, which sold 6.9 million units during the third quarter, now owns 17.5 percent of the smart phone market, beating RIM for second place among European mobile phone users.

Analysts at Canalys reported Thursday Apple experienced 523 percent growth during the quarter, outpacing RIM, which registered an 83 percent increase to 15.2 percent market share compared to 2007.

Apple’s rise trimmed Nokia’s market leadership, the Finish handset giant slipping to 38 percent of European cell phone sales, down from 51 percent a year ago.

The business market, long desired by Apple, picked the iPhone to top a J.D. Power and Associates survey for smartphone customer satisfaction. Ease of operation and the Mac OSX operating system were named the two biggest reasons, according to the survey released Thursday.

The iPhone garnered 778 points out of a 1,000 total possible score. RIM’s BlackBerry scored 703 and Samsung received 701 points. Palm’s Treo took its place in the cellar, getting 644 votes.

Software problems accounted for a quarter of the complaints by corporate users regarding smartphones. Of that group, 44 percent said they were forced to reboot their phone at least once a week during the year.

Is the meteoric rise in demand for Apple’s iPhone cooling off? BMO Capital is the latest to issue a projection of slower production of the handset for the first fiscal quarter of 2009.

BMO’s Keith Bachman Thursday reduced his estimate for first quarter iPhone sales to 5.6 million from 6.6 million. At the heart of the prediction is 2 million of the 6.9 million units sold in September went into inventory.The analyst said due to that “channel fill” it will be difficult for the December quarter to compare to the 6.9 million handsets sold in the quarter ended September 30.

The analyst said the December quarter will bring 5.6 million iPhones sold, down from 6.6 million previously projected. Still the number is expected to be a 15 percent increase in end-user sales over the 4.9 million sold in September.

Nearly 25 percent of Japan’s music fans use Apple’s iTunes software, compared to 19 percent of the U.S. online population, a media measurement firm announced Tuesday.

The iTunes application, used by iPod and iPhone owners to purchase and organize digital music, found 23.7 percent penetration of the nation’s Internet users, according to comScore. Globally, 11.2 percent of the world’s Internet users prefer iTunes, the study found.

The UK had the second largest percentage of iTunes fans with 23.4 percent penetration coming a close second to the gadget-hungry island nation.

The U.S. was ranked third with 19.6 percent reach of iTunes. France and Germany completed the top five iTunes countries, the company reported.

Is the exit of Tony Fadell, labeled the “Father of the iPod,” a signal Apple has larger plans for the device now partially eclipsed by the iPhone? Yes, say Apple experts.

“We believe this is the second major indication of the future of the iPod as a mobile computing platform,” Andrew Murphy, analyst at Piper Jaffray, told Cult of Mac Tuesday.

The introduction of the iPod Touch was the first tip Apple was moving toward greater mobile computing, Murphy added.

Fadell, who joined Cupertino in 2001, was a senior vice president in the iPod division. He’ll become an advisor to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The decision, made with his Apple Human Resources executive wife Danielle Lambert, was to “devote more time to their young family,” Apple announced.

Former IBM vice president Mark Papermaster will take Fadell’s position, a move Murphy believes means more emphasis on hardware.

“Papermaster’s experience in chip design and his replacement of Tony Fadell shows Apple focusing on mobile devices and possibly doing their own chips for the devices (iPods and iPhones),” the Piper Jaffray analyst wrote in an e-mail to Cult of Mac.