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Apple News Links Other Steve Jobs Commencement Speech at Stanford |
July 2, 2008 AT&T has announced iPhone 3G pricing for new and existing AT&T customers. The iPhone 3G goes on sale at AT&T retail stores at 8 a.m. local time on Friday, July 11. "We can't wait to offer iPhone 3G to our customers, and we want to make sure the buying process is as easy as possible," said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T's wireless unit. "Considering all the great new features of iPhone 3G, we think our pricing and monthly plans present a tremendous value for consumers and businesses alike." The iPhone 3G will be available for $199 for the 8GB model and $299 for the 16GB model. These prices require two-year contracts and are available to the following customers: * iPhone customers who purchased before July 11 Existing AT&T customers who are not currently eligible for an upgrade discount can purchase iPhone 3G for $399 for the 8GB model or $499 for the 16GB model. Both options require a new two-year service agreement. In the future, AT&T will offer a no-contract-required option for $599 (8GB) or $699 (16GB). Current customers may also choose to wait until they become eligible for an upgrade discount. Eligibility is generally determined by amount of time remaining on a current contract and payment history. Current AT&T customers who are upgrading to iPhone 3G will pay an $18 upgrade fee and new AT&T customers will pay the standard $36 activation fee. Here are the calling plans being offered by AT&T. - AT&T NationSM Unlimited: Includes unlimited Anytime
Minutes for $129.99 a month. June 20, 2008 Apple announced that customers have purchased and downloaded over five billion songs from the iTunes Store. iTunes is the number one music retailer in the US and features the largest music catalog with over eight million songs. Also, iTunes customers are now renting and purchasing over 50,000 movies every day, making iTunes the world's most popular online movie store. iTunes features movies from all of the major movie studios including 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate and New Line Cinema. Users can rent movies and watch them on their Macs or PCs, all current generation iPods, iPhone and on a widescreen TV with Apple TV. iTunes Store customers can also purchase new movie releases from major film studios and premier independent studios on the same day as their DVD release. The iTunes Store is the world's most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over eight million songs, over 20,000 TV episodes and over 2,000 films including over 350 in high definition video. June 11, 2008 While Apple is lowering the price of its new 3G iPhone next month to $199, users will have to pay more with their AT&T bills. In addition to calling plans starting at $39.99, users will have to pay $30 per month for unlimited data access with the iPhone, up from the current $20 per month. Business users will pay $45 per month since they tend to use more data. There is also no guarantee of access to the AT&T 3G network which offers higher speeds. AT&T says it has 3G availability in 275 markets and will increase this to 350 markets by the end of the year. AT&T says it can offer 3G roaming in 60 countries, including Japan and South Korea, and voice calling in more than 200 countries. The company has spent $20 billion to upgrade to 3G networks since 2005. Also, Apple is reportedly changing the sign-up process to prevent phones from being unlocked and sent to other countries. iPhone buyers will no longer be able to purchase online and will have to go directly to an Apple or AT&T store to buy the iPhone and must activate it immediately upon purchase. With the previous model, users could buy the iPhone and activate it on their home computer using iTunes. This new method will supposedly thwart the huge market of buyers who have taken the iPhone and sold them in numerous foreign countries without signing up for authorized service. The iPhone has only been on sale in six countries but is being used in nations worldwide. Apple said it has sold over 6 million iPhones to date and anywhere from 30-50% have been unlocked. June 9, 2008 Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that the new version of the iPhone will run on faster 3G networks and go on sale in the U.S. and 21 other countries on July 11. The new iPhone will also be priced 50% cheaper than the current model that runs on AT&T's slower Edge Network. The 8GB iPhone 3G will sell for $199 and a 16GB model will sell for $299. The 8GB model will be available only in black while the 16GB version will have both black and white models. In addition to offering 3G access which will be almost as fast as Wi-Fi, the new iPhone will have GPS built-in as well as Microsoft Exchange for secure business e-mail. Apple promises iPhone will have 5 hours of battery life for talk time and web browsing. iPhone 3G supports Wi-Fi, 3G and EDGE networks and automatically switches between them to ensure the fastest possible download speeds. Jobs gave the keynote address at Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference in San Francisco. Apple said a total of 70 countries will have the iPhone for sale this year but China and Russia are two of the largest countries where the company has yet to strike a deal. Apple is also introducing a new Apps store with custom-made applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch that will also debut in early July. Over 250,000 developers have downloaded the iPhone software development kit to build new applications. June 6, 2008 Apple is kicking off its program for college students this year by offering a free iPod Touch or Nano with purchase of Mac laptop or desktop computer. College students, faculty or staff members can get a free 8GB iPod Touch or 8GB iPod Nano when they purchase a MacBook, MacBook Air, Macbook Pro laptop or iMac computer. Apple will rebate the price of the iPod Touch or Nano when purchased together with the same receipt up to $299. The iPod Nano retails for $199 and the iPod Touch costs $299. College buyers also get an educational discount of as much as 10% when purchasing computers and other Apple products. The free iPod offer is good only from June 3 to September 15, 2008. Softbank announced it will sell the iPhone in Japan later this year. The deal opens up one of the last major countries not selling the iPhone. China remains the lone holdout. Japan is one of the most competitive electronic markets in the world and home to many version of cellphones and smartphones. Spain's largest phone company, Telefonica S.A., also announced this week it will start selling the iPhone later this year. May 29, 2008 Apple continues to strike distribution deals with telecom companies around the world for the new version of the iPhone. TeliaSonera announced it has signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia later this year. No official announcement of the iPhone has been made by Apple, but the new model is expected in June which will run on faster 3G networks. Just a few weeks ago, SingTel, Bharti Airtel, Globe and Optus said it will bring the iPhone to Singapore, India, the Philippines and Australia. A total of 67 countries will have the iPhone for sale in 2008 but still missing are China, Japan, Russia and Korea. May 16, 2008 May 12, 2008 Apple has completely sold out of the iPhone at its online stores in the U.S. and the U.K. However, there might still be phones available at Apple retail stores and AT&T stores. There has been no explanation about why no more iPhones are available but a new model is likely coming soon -- the question is when. Reports guess that Apple will announce a 3G iPhone at its Worldwide Developers' Conference next month and the new iPhone could go on sale on June 30, exactly the same day it launched one year ago. May 9, 2008 More countries around the world will be getting access to Apple's iPhone through a string of recent deals announced by telecom companies, however no specific dates have been announced. Rogers Communications will be offering the iPhone in Canada. Vodafone announced it will sell the iPhone in 10 countries -- Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey. America Movil said it has signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to its Latin American operations later this year. America Movil has 159.2 million wireless subscribers in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Chile. May 6, 2008 iPhone users have a new resource for news directly from the nation's leading wire service -- The Associated Press. The AP service is called Mobile News Network and can be accessed from iPhones at www.apnews.com. Visitors can browse top AP news stories including entertainment and sports as well as local news right from their iPhone. While this is great for Apple users, this could be another blow to newspapers who often run AP articles on their pages, giving them less incentive to read print papers. May 1, 2008 Apple announced that new movie releases from major film studios and premier independent studios are available for purchase on the iTunes Store on the same day as their DVD release. It's a big move for Apple since retailers like Wal-Mart and Target had opposed the sale of new movies on iTunes for fear of losses from DVD sales. New releases and catalog titles will be available from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios. Movies purchased from iTunes can be viewed on an iPod with video, iPhone, Mac or PC or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV, with new releases priced at $14.99 and most catalog titles at $9.99. "We're thrilled to bring iTunes Store customers new films for purchase day-and-date with the DVD release," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "We think movie fans will love being able to buy their favorites from major and independent studios." New releases available for purchase on the iTunes Store this week, concurrent with their DVD release, include "American Gangster" and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." Other popular titles now available for purchase include "Juno," "Cloverfield," "I Am Legend," "There Will Be Blood," "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." April 24, 2008 Apple has updated its all-in-one iMac line with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors and the most powerful graphics ever available in an iMac. With prices starting at just $1,199, iMac includes faster processors with 6MB L2 cache and a faster 1066 MHz front-side bus across the entire line, and 2GB of memory standard in most models. The 24-inch iMac now offers a 3.06 GHz Intel processor and the high-performance NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS graphics as options, extending iMac's lead as the ultimate all-in-one desktop computer for both consumers and professionals. "The iMac's gorgeous aluminum and glass all-in-one design has been an incredible hit with our customers and is just one of the reasons Mac sales are growing three and a half times faster than PC sales," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "With the latest Intel processors, a faster new graphics option and more memory, customers now have even more reasons to love the iMac." The 20-inch model is available in two speeds at $1,199 and $1,499 and the 24-inch iMac is priced at $1,799 and $2,199. All versions include the Apple Remote. April 24, 2008 Apple has announced financial results for its fiscal 2008 second quarter ended March 29, 2008. The Company posted revenue of $7.51 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.05 billion. These results compare to revenue of $5.26 billion and net quarterly profit of $770 million, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 32.9 percent, down from 35.1 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 44 percent of the quarter's revenue. Apple shipped 2,289,000 Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing 51 percent unit growth and 54 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 10,644,000 iPods during the quarter, representing one percent unit growth and eight percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone sales were 1,703,000. The company has sold over 5 million iPhones to date but an unknown percentage have been shipped to countries where they have been unlocked and not authorized yet for sale. "We're delighted to report 43 percent revenue growth ad the strongest March quarter revenue and earnings in Apple's history," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "With over $17 billion in revenue for the first half of our fiscal year, we have strong momentum to launch some terrific new products in the coming quarters."
Apple has purchased chip designer P.A. Semi for $278 million in cash according to Forbes magazine. P.A. Semi, was founded in 2003 by Dan Dobberpuhl, a lead designer for the Alpha and StrongARM microprocessors developed by Digital Equipment in the 1990s. The company employs 150 and is based in Santa Clara. The move could lead to Apple designing its own chips for future versions of the iPod and iPhone as well as Macs. April 16, 2008 Juno, the movie that won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, has now been released by Twentieth Century Fox for sale on Apple's iTunes for $14.99 on the same day that it also is released on DVD. If you buy the DVD version of the movie, a special digital copy is provided that can be viewed with iTunes and on iPods and iPhones. Both Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount studios are now selling some of their new movies directly on iTunes. April 3, 2008 Apple's iTunes is now the leading retailer of music according to a new report by NPD Research. Based on the latest data, iTunes surpassed Wal-Mart to become the number one music retailer in the nation. With over 50 million customers, iTunes has sold over four billion songs and features the world's largest music catalog of over six million songs. "We launched iTunes less than five years ago, and it has now become the number one music retailer in the world," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "We are thrilled, and would like to thank all of our customers for helping us reach this incredible milestone." Sales info is based on data from market research firm the NPD Group's MusicWatch survey that captures consumer reported past week unit purchases and counts one CD representing 12 tracks, excluding wireless transactions. The iTunes Store became the largest music retailer in the US based on the amount of music sold during January and February 2008. While this is good news for Apple, it is bad news for the music industry which had generated huge revenues from sales of CDs which are in decline in favor of digital tracks which sell for only 99 cents. April 1, 2008 A research report by Morgan Stanley estimates that 40% of college students are looking to buy Macs. This is much greater than the 15% current rate of usage among college-age students and could lead to much higher sales for Apple over the next several years. A percentage growth in increased market share could generate billions of dollars in revenues for Apple. March 10, 2008 Apple last week previewed its iPhone 2.0 software, scheduled for release this June, and announced the immediate availability of a beta release of the software to selected developers and enterprise customers. The iPhone 2.0 beta release includes both the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) as well as new enterprise features such as support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide secure, over-the-air push email, contacts and calendars as well as remote wipe, and the addition of Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to private corporate networks. "We're excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community with potentially thousands of native applications for iPhone and iPod touch," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "iPhone's enterprise features combined with its revolutionary Multi-Touch user interface and advanced software architecture provide the best user experience and the most advanced software platform ever for a mobile device." The iPhone SDK provides developers with a rich set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and tools to create innovative applications for iPhone and iPod® touch. Anyone can download the beta iPhone SDK for free and run the iPhone Simulator on their Mac. Apple also introduced its new iPhone Developer Program, giving developers everything they need to create native applications, and the new App Store, a breakthrough way for developers to wirelessly deliver their applications to iPhone and iPod touch users. Jobs said the App Store will let developers sell software to iPhone and iTouch users and retain 70% of revenues with no extra fees for hosting or credit card charges. Apple also previewed new games for the iPhone and iTouch that will take advantage of the accelerometer in the device to control game play without using buttons. March 1, 2008 Apple Stores are known for being wi-fi hotspots but according to Cosmopolitan magazine, they are also a hot spot for meeting single men. Cosmopolitan is one of the nation's largest magazines for young women. The magazine gives women the following advice: "Most guys are natural gadget lovers, and with sales of iPods and MacBooks skyrocketing, more men than ever are stopping by Apple boutiques. The vibe at the stores is conducive to man meeting too: You can check your email among cuties, take a free workshop on anything from Photoshop to podcasting (a great opportunity to strike up a conversation), or just survey the, ahem, good-looking merchandise." February 26, 2008 NPD Research reports that Apple's iTunes Music Store became the second-largest music retailer in the U.S. after Wal-Mart, based on the amount of music sold during 2007 (based on a 12-track CD equivalency for music track downloads). Legal music downloads now account for 10 percent of the music acquired in the U.S. according to NPD. But music downloads haven't been good news for the music industry as CD purchases continue to drop and online music sales are typically 99 cents per song. NPD estimates that one million consumers dropped out of the CD buyer market in 2007, a flight led by younger consumers. In fact, 48 percent of U.S. teens did not purchase a single CD in 2007, compared to 38 percent in 2006. The percent of the Internet population in the U.S. who engaged in peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing reached a plateau of 19 percent last year; however the number of files each user downloaded increased, and P2P music sharing continued to grow aggressively among teens. Twenty-nine million consumers acquired digital music legally, via pay-to-download sites last year, which is an increase of 5 million over the previous year. Sales growth was largely driven by consumers age 36 to 50 a segment that was aggressively acquiring digital music-players in 2007. February 19, 2008 Apple announced that the iPod shuffle, its tiniest music player, will now sell for $49 after a $30 price drop. It is also introducing a new 2GB model of the iPod shuffle for $69. The popular iPod shuffle is just half a cubic inch in volume, weighs just half an ounce, features an aluminum design with a built-in clip and comes in five colors - silver, blue, green, purple and a (PRODUCT) RED special edition. "At just $49, the iPod shuffle is the most affordable iPod ever," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of Worldwide iPod Product Marketing. "The new 2GB model lets music lovers bring even more songs everywhere they go in the impossibly small iPod shuffle." The Shuffle has no screen like the more expensive iPod models and randomly plays music that is uploaded to the device. A built-in clip lets the user attach the Shuffle to a shirt or other clothing. February 18, 2008 Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Interactive Media, 19 Entertainment, FremantleMedia and Apple, for the first time, have partnered to bring music fans all of the contestant performances from Season Seven of television's most popular show exclusively on the iTunes Store. Kicking off with the "American Idol" Top 24 semifinalists this week, customers can purchase music performances for 99 cents per song, and viewers will be able to purchase the full video of Top 12 finalist performances for $1.99, starting March 11. In addition, beginning today, fans can pre-order performances of their favorite contestants from the iTunes Store, which will be automatically downloaded the day after the show airs. "We have some truly outstanding talent this year, and by working with Apple and iTunes, we're giving viewers another great way to enjoy America's brightest new stars from 'Idol,'" said Simon Fuller, creator of "American Idol" and Founder of 19 Entertainment. "I'm sure there will be many memorable performances that viewers will want to relive from this 2008 season." "We've created a special section on the iTunes Store for 'Idol' fans with an incredible array of music and video performances from television's most popular show," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "We think 'American Idol' viewers are going to love the ability to purchase and download 'Idol' performances from iTunes." February 5, 2008 Apple has introduced new models with more memory for the iPhone and iPod Touch but at higher prices. Apple added new models of the iPhone and iPod touch which have double the memory, doubling the amount of music, photos and videos that customers can carry with them wherever they go. The iPhone now comes in a new 16GB model for $499, joining the 8GB model for $399. iPod touch now comes in a 32GB model for $499, joining the 16GB model for $399 and the 8GB model for $299. "For some users, there's never enough memory," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of Worldwide iPod and iPhone Product Marketing. "Now people can enjoy even more of their music, photos and videos on the most revolutionary mobile phone and best Wi-Fi mobile device in the world." January 31, 2008 Apple said it is now shipping the new MacBook Air superthin laptop just two weeks after the MacWorld Expo as promised. The MacBook Air is just 0.16 inches at its thinnest point, has a 13.3-inch screen and full keyboard. However, it lacks a CD-DVD drive and a firewire port like other Apple laptops. The MacBook Air is priced at $1,799 to start with a 1.6Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 80GB hard drive. Apple also said that the new Apple TV software update, which allows users to rent high definition movies directly from their widescreen TVs, is not quite finished. Apple now plans to make the free software download available to existing Apple TV customers in another week or two. January 25, 2008 Apple announced record results for its fiscal 2008 first quarter ended December 29, 2007. The Company posted revenue of $9.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.58 billion. These results compare to revenue of $7.1 billion and net quarterly profit of $1 billion in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 34.7 percent, up from 31.2 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 45 percent of the quarter's revenue. Apple shipped 2,319,000 Macintosh computers, representing 44 percent unit growth and 47 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 22,121,000 iPods during the quarter, representing five percent unit growth and 17 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone sales were 2,315,000. "We're thrilled to report our best quarter ever, with the highest revenue and earnings in Apple's history," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We have an incredibly strong new product pipeline for 2008, starting with MacBook Air, Mac Pro and iTunes Movie Rentals in the first two weeks." "Apple's revenue grew 35 percent year-over-year to $9.6 billion, an increase of almost $2.5 billion over the previous December quarter's record-breaking results," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. Apple's 200+ retail stores generated $1.7 billion in the holiday quarter and were responsible for sales of 504,000 desktop and laptop computers. January 22, 2008 Why not introduce a new color to boost sales? Apple announced that it is adding a pink iPod nano to its lineup. The much-requested pink iPod nano is available immediately in an 8GB model for $199. iPod nano features a two-inch display which lets users watch movies and videos. iPod nano is also available in silver, black, blue, green and a (PRODUCT) RED special edition. "Customers are going to love the gorgeous new pink iPod nano," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of Worldwide iPod Product Marketing. "The pink iPod nano is perfect for people who want a great new color this spring, or who are searching for a special Valentine's Day gift." January 18, 2008 Steve Jobs announced at Macworld Expo in San Francisco that Apple has sold over 4 million iPhones 200 days since it first launched or roughly 20,000 per day. The iPhone first went on sale in the U.S. on June 29, 2007 and also available in France, Germany and the U.K. Apple has been negotiating to get the iPhone in China but no deal with a telecom company has been announced. Apple has set a sales goal of 10 million iPhones in its first year. Jobs also introduced a new software update for the iPhone that allows users to customize their homepage and add web clips. A new feature on the Maps service provided by Google lets users find their location by triangulating their position via Wi-Fi and cell towers. January 9, 2008 Apple didn't let the Consumer Electronics Show get all the attentiion this week and made its own announcement of new products including faster Mac Pro computers and Xserve servers. The updated Mac Pro has eight processor cores and a new system architecture that delivers up to twice the performance of its predecessor. The new towers combine two of Intel's new 45 nanometer Quad-Core Xeon processors running up to 3.2 GHz, powerful new graphics and up to 4TB of internal storage to offer the ideal system for creative professionals, 3D digital content creators and scientists. The standard 8-core configuration starts at just $2,799. "The new Mac Pro is the fastest Mac we've ever made," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "With 3.2 GHz 8-core Xeon processing, a 1600 MHz front side bus and 800 MHz memory, the new Mac Pro uses the fastest Intel Xeon architecture on the market." The new Mac Pros are shipping immediately. The new Xserve is a 1U rack-optimized server that is up to twice as fast as its predecessor and includes an unlimited client license for Mac OS X Server Leopard. Starting at $2,999, the new Xserve has up to two Quad-Core 3.0 GHz Intel Xeon processors for 8-core performance, a new server architecture, faster front side buses, faster memory, up to 3TB of internal storage and two PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots for greater performance and flexibility. Xserve is configurable with up to two Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 series processors running up to 3.0 GHz with 12MB of L2 cache per processor and features a new high-bandwidth hardware architecture, dual-independent 1600 MHz front side buses and up to 32GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM memory for a 64 percent increase in memory throughput. Two PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots provide up to four times the I/O bandwidth of the previous Xserve to support the latest high-bandwidth expansion cards including multi-channel 4Gb Fibre channel and 10Gb Ethernet cards. January 7, 2008 Apple Inc. announced that Andrea Jung, chairman and chief executive officer of Avon Products, was elected to Apple's board of directors. Andrea also serves on the board of directors of the General Electric Company and is a member of the New York Presbyterian Hospital board of trustees and the Catalyst board of directors. "Andrea is a strong CEO and marketer and we look forward to benefiting from her insights and experience as a member of Apple's board," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Andrea will be our eighth board member, and I think she will add a new dimension to our already lively board discussions." "Apple is clearly one of the most innovative companies in the world today," said Andrea Jung, chairman and chief executive officer of Avon Products. "I feel privileged to join this exciting and dynamic team and look forward to working closely with Steve and the board during the next phase of Apple's growth." At Avon, Andrea is responsible for developing and executing all of the company's long-term growth strategies, launching new brand initiatives, developing earnings opportunities for women worldwide, and defining Avon as the premier direct seller of beauty products. She was elected president of global marketing in 1996, an executive vice president in 1997, president and a director of the company in 1998, chief operating officer from 1998 to 1999, chief executive officer in 1999 and chairman of the board in 2001. Previously, she was executive vice president of Neiman Marcus and a senior vice president for I. Magnin. Andrea is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University, is fluent in Mandarin and was the first woman elected chair of the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association in March 2001, a role she held until early 2005. December 28, 2007 Research firm NPD Group found in a study that consumers who own Apple Mac computers are much more likely than PC users to pay to download music. According to NPD's quarterly Digital Music Monitor, in the third quarter of 2007 half of all Mac users had paid to download music tracks from sites like iTunes, but just 16 percent of PC owners had done so. And while Mac users were more likely to pay to download digital music than their PC-using counterparts, they were also more likely to purchase CDs. "There's still a cultural divide between Apple consumers and the rest of the computing world, and that's especially apparent when it comes to the way they interact with music," according to Russ Crupnick, vice president and entertainment industry analyst, The NPD Group. "Mac users are not only more active in digital music, they are also more likely to buy CDs, which helps debunk the myth that digital music consumers stop buying music in CD format." According to NPD's consumer panel data, unit-volume sales share for Apple computers increased from nearly 6 percent in 2006 to almost 9 percent this year (January through October). "Apple's growing share in the personal computing environment -- and continued success with iPod sales -- is a potential harbinger for the continued growth of digital music," Crupnick said. Overall, more than 32 percent of Mac users report purchasing CDs in the third quarter of 2007, compared to just 28 percent of PC users. In addition to purchasing CDs and downloading music, Mac users are also more likely to listen to music and watch videos on their MP3-players and computers. While 34 percent of Mac users had uploaded music to their MP3 players, just 16 percent of PC users had done the same. Mac users are also much more likely to listen to music files on their computers (56 percent) than are PC users (31 percent). December 26, 2007 Think Secret, a website devoted to inside news about Apple Inc., has shut down as of last week following an agreement with Apple to settle a lawsuit. Founded by Harvard student Nick Ciarelli, Think Secret was sued by Apple in 2005 after news was leaked about the Mac Mini computer. Apple and Think Secret have settled their lawsuit, reaching an agreement that results in a positive solution for both sides according to the site. As part of the confidential settlement, no sources were revealed and Think Secret will no longer be published. Nick Ciarelli, Think Secret's publisher, said "I'm pleased to have reached this amicable settlement, and will now be able to move forward with my college studies and broader journalistic pursuits." No terms were announced but the NY Times speculates that Apple paid Ciarelli a fee to stop publishing his site. December 5, 2007 Google has launched a new application just for Apple's iPhone users. The new Google iPhone application integrates its multiple services into a single interface, making it easy for iPhone users to find, use and switch between Google search, Gmail, Calendar, Reader, and other Google resources including Blogger, Photos, Docs, News and Notebook. To use the application, iPhone users simply point their web browser to http://www.google.com and will be sent directly to the new feature. The new application offers a simpler interface and easier-to-read words to search the Internet as well as images and news articles. To accomplish this, Google is taking advantage of browser technologies (like AJAX) that made Gmail and Google Maps possible on the desktop. In supporting these advances in web technology, the iPhone's Safari browser not only delivers an excellent mobile Internet experience; it allowed Google product and engineering teams to create a user-friendly experience on a mobile device. December 4, 2007 NBC Universal has removed all of its videos for sale from Apple's iTunes following the end of its contract in December. Just months after Apple announced publicly that it would drop NBC shows due to pricing disputes, iTunes has been left with a notable void since NBC Universal also includes Sci-Fi Channel, USA Network, Bravo as well as NBC. Popular shows like the Office from NBC and Battlestar Galactica from Sci-Fi are gone and had been among the top-selling TV shows on iTunes. Jeff Zucker, President of NBC Universal, admitted that NBC would lose about $15 million in profit from the loss of the iTunes deal but was not willing to continue with the current pricing. Apple would only allow NBC to sell shows for $1.99 an episode but NBC was looking to raise prices on popular shows to $3.99 an episode. November 26, 2007 Burst.com, Inc. announced last week that it has signed an agreement in principle to settle its case against Apple, Inc. ending almost 2 years of litigation. Apple agreed to pay Burst a one-time payment of $10 million cash in exchange for a non-exclusive license to Burst's patent portfolio, not including one issued U.S. patent and 3 pending U.S. patent applications related to new DVR technology. Burst agreed not to sue Apple for any future infringement of the DVR patent and any patents that might issue from the pending DVR-related applications. The $10 million patent license provides Apple with the right to use Burst's intellectual property in its own technology and products, without further consideration. Burst, however, retains the right to enforce its patent portfolio against others. Court costs, expenses and attorney's fees in connection with the settlement of the litigation with Apple will reduce proceeds to the Company to approximately $4.6 million. According to the agreement, payment to Burst is to be made promptly after signing of a definitive settlement agreement. Burst's Board of Directors has indicated that it will be considering a cash distribution to Burst's shareholders from the Apple license fee, in an amount to be determined. November 15, 2007 Apple has released Final Cut Express 4, a significant upgrade to its powerful video editing software based on Apple's award-winning Final Cut Pro 6, with a new low price of $199. Final Cut Express 4 adds support for the latest AVCHD cameras, allows mixing of standard and high definition content on a single timeline, includes the ability to import iMovie® '08 projects, and gives users access to hundreds of sophisticated FxPlug cinematic effects and filters. "Almost a million digital filmmakers have made Final Cut their editing application of choice," said Rob Schoeben, Apple's vice president of Applications Product Marketing. "With the introduction of Final Cut Express 4, Apple makes it easy for anyone to join the rapidly growing community of Final Cut editors worldwide." The new Open Format Timeline in Final Cut Express 4 allows users to mix and match DV, HDV and AVCHD material*, all in realtime using the same industry-leading editing and trimming tools found in Final Cut Pro. Supporting both 1080i and 720p HD resolutions, Final Cut Express 4 automatically performs the necessary scaling, cropping and frame rate adjustments. When starting projects from scratch, the new simplified setup automatically configures everything based on the first clip dropped on the Timeline. Final Cut Express 4 makes it easy to import iMovie '08 projects and enhance them with advanced editing capabilities such as multiple layers of video and graphics, picture in picture effects and animated titles. It includes over 50 new FxPlug filters, including Soft Focus, Vignette and Light Rays, with hundreds more available from a rapidly expanding FxPlug developer community. With enhanced audio controls, users can automatically raise any clip to its maximum level without distortion using the new Soft Normalize and Gain controls. Final Cut Express 4 also features LiveType 2, which provides an intuitive environment for creating dynamic and fun animated titles and includes an extensive library of animated fonts, textures, templates and effects. October 31, 2007 Apple said on Monday that it sold (or delivered in the case of maintenance agreements) over two million copies of Mac OS X Leopard since its release on Friday, far outpacing the first-weekend sales of Mac OS X Tiger, which was previously the most successful OS release in Apple's history. Sales included copies sold at Apple's retail stores, Apple Authorized Resellers, the online Apple Store®, under maintenance agreements and bundled with new Mac computers. Leopard is the sixth major release of Mac OS X (Version 10.5) and is packed with more than 300 new features. "Early indications are that Leopard will be a huge hit with customers," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Leopard's innovative features are getting great reviews and making more people than ever think about switching to the Mac." Leopard introduces Time Machine, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock; and major enhancements to Mail and iChat. Leopard is priced at $129 for individual users and $199 for a family pack of five. October 27, 2007 Apple has taking the unprecedented step to limit iPhone sales to two per person and requiring payment by either credit or debit card. According to the Associated Press, the move is intended to stop resellers who are trying to unlock the iPhones or sell them overseas. The change started Thursday when customers had been able to buy up to five iPhones each. Apple has reportedly sold over 1.4 million iPhones to date but as many as 250,000 haven't been activated with AT&T service and may be unlocked. AT&T is the exclusive carrier for the iPhone and Apple receives a payment for each phone activated and a percentage of the monthly service plan. Apple's latest operating system update -- Leopard or OSX 10.5 -- went on sale worldwide Friday night at 6 p.m. Leopard has 300 new features including Time Machine, which lets users backup system and computer features from a previous date and restore them at any time. The software upgrade is priced at $129 for individual use and $199 for a family package of up to five users. Leopard has received some glowing reviews so far. Walt Mossberg proclaimed it was better than Microsoft's recent Vista operating system for Windows. |
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