|
| Friday, July 30, 2004 |
|
TechBrief: Competitor draws ire of Apple
Friday, July 30, 2004
Apple Computer said Thursday it was investigating whether RealNetworks violated the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act or other laws with new software that circumvents controls on the iPod music player to allow music downloads from sources other than Apple.
The iPod is designed to restrict music downloads to Apple's Web-based iTunes Music Store, the most popular legal music-download service, with more than 100 million songs sold.
The Harmony software of RealNetworks, available in a test version, enables customers to download songs from its Rhapsody service to many portable music devices, including the iPod.
Apple, said it was stunned that RealNetworks "adopted the tactics and ethics of a hacker to break into" the iPod. A telephone call to a RealNetworks spokeswoman was not immediately returned. (Bloomberg)
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 8:00 AM |
|
|
|
| Thursday, July 29, 2004 |
|
Motorola Deal with Apple Could Widen iPod Lead
Wed Jul 28, 2004 06:18 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc.'s (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) plans to put a version of its iTunes jukebox on Motorola Inc.'s (MOT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) cellular phones helps the computer maker extend its lead in digital music, analysts said.
The Motorola deal makes it harder for rivals such as Napster to make inroads on Apple in the nascent field, Merrill Lynch technology analyst Steve Milunovich said. He said Apple is emerging as the kingpin of digital music, likening its dominance to Microsoft's in computer operating software.
"We believe Apple is beginning to establish itself as the de facto standard in digital music," Milunovich wrote in a note to clients this week. "Apple could become the 'Microsoft' of music."
The agreement with Motorola, the No. 2 maker of mobile phones after Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research) (NOK.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , will also let users store and play a limited number of their favorite songs on Motorola phones, the companies announced on Monday.
Since Apple, based in Cupertino, California, introduced the iPod in October 2001, it has sold more than 4 million of the sleek digital music players. Its iTunes online music store, which is integrated into its market-leading digital jukebox software, has sold more than 100 million tracks since it launched in April 2003.
Yet even while Apple has more than 50 percent of the market for mobile digital music players and claims to account for more than 70 percent of music purchased legally on line, the young industry is still in its early days.
"We've got some major players out there who have yet to show any of us their wares," said Michael McGuire, an analyst with GartnerG2 who tracks digital music, referring to Microsoft, the Virgin record label and others. "The vast majority of music lovers are still buying music CDs."
The mobile version of iTunes software will be available on all of Motorola's mass-market music phones in the first half of 2005, the two companies said.
"iPods are the leading portable music player, iTunes is the leading on-line music seller, and it appears Apple understands it has to work with others to dominate the space," Milunovich wrote.
"Although we expect Motorola music phones to have 0.5 (gigabytes) of memory for songs by the end of the year, this is a different market from the 4/20/40 (gigabyte) iPods," the analyst wrote. "Getting users to try iTunes on their cell phone introduces them to portable music the Apple way."
Earlier this month, Apple posted quarterly net income that more than tripled, fueled by surging sales of the iPod as shipments of its signature Macintosh computers rose 14 percent from a year ago.
Also this week, RealNetworks Inc. (RNWK.O: Quote, Profile, Research) took the wraps off of new software, which it calls Harmony, that will make downloads from its online music store compatible with any portable player, including the iPod.
Real said that Harmony will make commercial songs from its RealPlayer Music Store compatible with FairPlay, the digital rights management standard Apple uses to protect purchased songs from unauthorized copying and playback.
Even as rivals abound Apple continues to plug away.
"They didn't just put out a couple of versions of iPod and iTunes and said, 'we're done,"' McGuire said. "They've continually working to update the product and the store."
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 10:43 AM |
|
|
|
| Wednesday, July 28, 2004 |
|
Apple to give Pepsi iTunes promo another try at upcoming Super Bowl?
Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - 09:17 AM EDT
"Five months after BBDO launched the Pepsi iTunes promotion on the Super Bowl, TBWA\Chiat\Day's Southern California office is getting a crack at the assignment, landing the estimated $15-20 million business without a review, sources said last week," Kathleen Sampey reports for AdWeek. "The effort, slated to break during the game next year, will run through the spring."
"Sources said the reason for the switch to Omnicom Group's TBWA\C\D in Playa del Rey, Calif., was that Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs wanted the Apple agency to do the work so he could have more of a say in its creation... BBDO has handled the Pepsi brand since 1964.," Sampey reports. Full article here.
The first Pepsi iTunes promotion was, how shall we say, less than a rousing success with about 5 million free songs have been given away through a Pepsi promotion, far fewer than the 100 million tracks that could have been redeemed. It did not help that Pepsi bottles with the winning promotions took longer to get into stores than expected.
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 10:45 PM |
|
|
|
| Monday, July 26, 2004 |
|
Apple's Cue to speak at music conference
Monday - July 26, 2004
Apple vice president of Applications and Internet Services Eddy Cue is to deliver a keynote speech at the Jupiter Plug.IN Conference & Expo, taking place in New York today (July 26).
The event brings together key music industry players to discuss and debate the issues impacting the digital-music industry, including legislation and digital rights, distribution and retailing, online radio and programming strategies, label/artist relationships, and the latest file-sharing technologies.
Panels will assess and define the challenges transforming today's music business, and offer insight into current industry trends. Issues to be discussed include: the current status of file sharing; how content owners can get paid; what music services consumers find compelling; how industry visionaries are approaching the Internet; how digital music should be priced; and whether paid downloads will save the music industry.
Cue oversees Apple's iLife applications, .Mac and the online Apple Store. He received a bachelors degree in Computer Science and Economics from Duke University – which has recently revealed plans to give every freshman an iPod. |
| posted by Perimbean @ 7:54 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
Apple faces challenge from rival's software
RealNetworks will make its music service compatible with iPod
Monday, July 26, 2004
Earlier this year, Apple Computer Inc. turned a deaf ear to RealNetworks Inc.'s proposal to make its rival online music service compatible with the Cupertino company's iPod player.
Now, RealNetworks is going forward with its plans without Apple, a move that analysts say represents a future threat to Apple's current dominance in online music and portable music players.
Starting Tuesday, Seattle's RealNetworks will offer a beta version of its latest media player, RealPlayer 10.5, which will include a technology called Harmony. That feature will for the first time give consumers the ability to directly transfer songs purchased on the RealPlayer Music Store service to Apple's iPod, without using Apple's own music management program.
Although Harmony will be limited for now to RealPlayer Music Store customers, analysts say the program could open the door for Apple competitors to either license Harmony or concoct their own programs that bypass Apple's software.
Apple tightly integrates its jukebox program and the online iTunes Music Store with the iPod -- in fact, songs downloaded from iTunes are protected with technology called FairPlay and can only be transferred directly to an iPod.
Apple has sold more than 3 million iPods, which are now a major revenue producer for the computer-maker.
Also, the iTunes Music Store has sold more than 100 million songs and has 70 percent of the online music market, said Josh Bernoff, principal analyst with Forrester Research Inc.
"I call this market 'iTunes and the seven dwarfs,' '' Bernoff said. Harmony, he added, becomes "a threat to (Apple's) nice little ecosystem, and they are going to be unhappy.''
Apple representatives were not available for immediate comment last week.
According to RealNetworks representatives, Chief Executive Officer Rob Glaser on Friday made a phone call to his Apple counterpart, Steve Jobs, to tell him Harmony would be unveiled today at the annual Jupiter Plug In music conference in New York. But Glaser learned that Jobs was out of town and unavailable.
In April, Glaser e-mailed Jobs suggesting they meet to discuss making the iPod compatible with RealNetwork's music store, an alliance that would help fend off digital music advances by their shared rival, software giant Microsoft. Instead, RealNetworks said Apple officials did not respond and accused Apple sources of leaking the private e-mail to reporters.
Sales of iPods helped Apple post its strongest third quarter in eight years, with net income of $46 million. Meanwhile, RealNetwork is trying to reverse a $10.4 million first-quarter net loss.
RealNetwork's program also improves its store's compatibility with several other portable music players, including devices from Creative Technology, IRiver, Digital Networks and PalmOne. It will not yet support Sony's new line of iPod-style Walkman players.
"This is about letting consumers choose which hardware they want,'' said Richard Wolpert, RealNetworks chief strategy officer. "They're not going to be tied to a specific device now or later.''
Other companies have shown interest in licensing Harmony, but Wolpert declined to name them or detail RealNetwork's plans for the program.
"Interoperability of devices and jukebox software is one of the biggest challenges for today's music consumer," said Thomas Hesse, chief strategic officer and head of Global Digital Business for record giant BMG, in a news release.
Analyst Bernoff said Harmony alone doesn't make Real Music an iTunes beater. But he said other music stores could also adopt Harmony. "I expect Microsoft to copy this,'' he said.
That could pit Apple's iTunes-iPod combination against the interoperable RealNetworks and Microsoft-based competitors.
"What happens a year and a half from now when RCA or Rio or someone like that comes out with a really hip, supercool device and you want to move over to that?'' Bernoff said. "If you bought all your stuff on the Apple site, you're stuck.'' |
| posted by Perimbean @ 7:53 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
Apple launches iPod Mini in Tokyo
www.chinaview.cn 2004-07-25 16:54:25
(Photo: Apple.com)
BEIJING, July 25 (Xinhuanet) -- The Apple iPod Mini has been launched in Tokyo. Over 1,500 people in a half a mile long queue were waiting when the store finally opened on Saturday morning.
Costing about 240 US dollars, the iPod Mini is the smaller brother to the popular iPod, but can still hold around 1,000 songs in its memory, reported Sunday's CRI online.
Weighing 3.6 ounces and smaller than any cell phone, iPod Mini features music downloads, games, notes, and books etc.
The iPod Mini only debut in Japan Saturday because demand for the device when it was launched in the U.S. back in January far exceeded expectations and the supply was far from sufficient. |
| posted by Perimbean @ 7:52 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
Duke gives Apple iPods to incoming freshmen
July 26, 2004
By Usa Today
In a move demonstrating the growing popularity of digital music players over PDAs, Duke University is giving free Apple iPods to its 1,650 incoming freshmen.
Since the iPod's 2001 debut, consumers have snapped up nearly 4 million units for listening to music on the go. Duke, however, bought iPods as tiny computers for educational uses, such as listening to lectures, practicing foreign languages and studying dialects.
"There's nothing the student can do with an iPod that he or she couldn't do with a laptop,'' says Duke Vice President Tracy Futhey.
"But the mobility and power in that small package means they'll most likely take it with them everywhere.''
Duke is creating a special Web site for students that will offer downloads of lessons and sales of digital music.
PDAs, or personal digital assistants — small, portable and able to play music and show video — were once touted as the ultimate miniature information device. Now, digital music players are rapidly displacing them. |
| posted by Perimbean @ 7:51 PM |
|
|
|
| Tuesday, July 20, 2004 |
|
Apple Launches Cheaper iPods
19th July 2004
Apple Computer debuted its next-generation iPod music player Monday, cutting the price in the process.
The new iPod increases the music player's battery life from eight to twelve hours. Apple also lowered the price on the 20-Gbyte model to $299, trimming the price of the 40-Gbyte model to $399 in the process.
Although the Macintosh still remains Apple's bread and butter, the iPod is quickly closing in on the computer in terms of units sold. Last week, Apple reported it sold 860,000 iPods during the quarter compared to 876,000 Macs, representing a 183 percent increase in iPods over the year-ago quarter compared to a 14 percent increase in computer shipments.
The new models use the scroll wheel of the iPod mini, Apple said. In addition, the new models include a "shuffle" feature that's accessible from the main menu. The new iPods weigh just 5.6 ounces, Apple said.
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 1:15 AM |
|
|
|
| Monday, July 19, 2004 |
|
 |
| posted by Perimbean @ 1:59 AM |
|
|
|
|
|
Apple hatches fourth-generation iPod
Last modified: July 18, 2004, 9:34 AM PDT
Apple Computer has created a fourth-generation iPod that offers a slimmer case, click-wheel navigation and significantly improved battery life.
According to Newsweek magazine, the two new models will offer greater capacity for the same price as the current lineup. A 20GB iPod will sell for $299, while the top-of-the-line 40GB model will retail for $399. Currently Apple sells a 15GB version for $299, a 20GB version for $399 and a 40GB model for $499.
Newsweek did not say when the new iPods would be available, and an Apple representative was not available for comment. The new iPods were not featured on Apple's Web site Sunday morning.
The details were revealed as part of a cover story on the iPod and its impact. Apple CEO Steve Jobs holding one of the new, still-white models. In January 2002, the new iMac was featured on the cover of Time.
The battery in the new iPod is said to offer 12 hours of battery life, up from an 8-hour rating for the current models. According to Newsweek, the jump comes form better power-management features, rather than a higher capacity battery. The click-wheel interface is similar to the one Apple introduced in January with its iPod mini.
There are also software advances, including the ability to listen to audio books at a faster or slower rate, as well as ways to create and edit more than one playlist from the iPod itself. Previously, only one playlist could be made and songs could be added, but not removed.
The iPod has been a boon to Apple's sales and profits, with the company now selling roughly as many iPods as Mac computers.
The new models represent the fourth generation of the portable players. The first 5GB iPod debuted in October 2001, selling for $399 and featuring a mechanical wheel that spun to navigate through a library of songs. The iPod has kept its basic design since, though the wheel has become touch sensitive, rather than mechanical, and the device has also slimmed down from its original size.
Meanwhile, competitors including Sony and Dell have introduced new hard-drive based models, though none has yet to approach the iPod in terms of market share or cultural icon status. |
| posted by Perimbean @ 1:55 AM |
|
|
|
| Thursday, July 15, 2004 |
|
Apple iTunes near indie label deal
London, United States, Jul. 13 (UPI) -- Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store is close to a deal with independent British record labels that would add indie European groups to music downloads.
The Times of London said Apple was near to signing independent labels in the United Kingdom, France and Germany that were not included when iTunes launched in Europe earlier this year.
Apple Monday said music fans had downloaded more than 100 million songs from the iTunes Music Store worldwide. More than 800,000 songs were downloaded in the first week iTunes was available in Europe, making iTunes the most successful and popular online music service.
Independent labels account for nearly 25 percent of European music sales.
The 20-year-old Kansas youth who downloaded the 100 millionth song won a 17-inch Apple Powerbook laptop computer, a 40 gigabite iPod music player and a gift certificate good for 10,000 iTunes downloads.
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 5:02 AM |
|
|
|
|
|
Apple Computer qtrly profit surges on iPod sales
Updated: 4:33 p.m. ET July 14, 2004
July 14, 2004 - Apple Computer Inc. on Wednesday posted quarterly net income that more than tripled, fueled by surging sales of its market-leading iPod digital music players.
For its third quarter ended June 26, Cupertino, California-based Apple said it had net income of $61 million, or 16 cents a share, up from $19 million, or 5 cents a share, in the year-ago period. |
| posted by Perimbean @ 4:58 AM |
|
|
|
|
|
Macworld Boston: Show Goes On Sans Core Player
By TechWeb
1:46 PM EDT Wed. Jul. 14, 2004
A somewhat anemic Macworld is drawing less than 10,000 attendees in Boston this week, as the event attempts to put on a happy face in the absence of some main attractions--like Apple Computer and its leader, Steve Jobs.
Even so, Jobs, in particular, was a subject of discussion, as the Apple team that originally developed the Macintosh appeared at the conference and finally had the opportunity to critique Jobs, who had critiqued the team 20 years ago. They discussed Jobs' often-onerous management style--some team members seemed scarred by the experience, even two decades later--but there was some agreement that Jobs was, indeed, the driving force behind the Macintosh, according to press reports.
Apple and Jobs are boycotting the Boston event, but it's yet to be determined if the move away from New York to Boston or the lack of Apple's participation are the cause of the drop in attendance and number of exhibitors. Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft were last-minute entries; Microsoft was said to be participating chiefly as an observer.
While the show has been relatively light on IT and enterprise offerings, there was a strong play to Apple's strengths in media and graphics. Some interesting products were on display, including a 3-D animation studio product from Hash Inc.; an Internet library of a broad range of sound effects, called SoundShuttle from PowerFX Systems; and digital picture frames from PhotoVu LLC.
The event helped launch Boston's new $800 million convention center. At the same time in the same convention center--but segregated from Macworld--a corporate meeting was being conducted by SAP AG. The irony is that the SAP meeting, which is a private affair, boasted more attendees than Macworld--about 11,000 SAP people convened at the site.
Macworld West, which is scheduled to be held in January in San Francisco, is expected to be attended by both Apple and Jobs.
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 4:45 AM |
|
|
|
| Monday, July 12, 2004 |
|
Intel, IBM, Apple Among Companies to Report Earnings This Week
July 12 (Bloomberg) -- Intel Corp., International Business Machines Corp. and Apple Computer Inc. will lead the 48 companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index scheduled to release earnings this week.
Technology stocks dropped last week after more than a dozen software companies, including PeopleSoft Inc. and Veritas Software Corp., said sales declined in the final weeks of the period and failed to meet expectations. Shares of Yahoo! Inc. dropped 7.7 percent Thursday after its second-quarter profit was below analysts' estimates.
``The expectations the market had that we were going to be off to the races again -- perhaps not to the bubble years but nevertheless a strong recovery, strong liftoff -- is not coming to fruition,'' Gabriel Lowy, technology research director at Blaylock & Partners LP, said in an interview. ``As a result, we could see estimates coming down this year and for next.''
Profit at U.S. companies in the S&P 500 probably rose about 20 percent in the second quarter, based on the average estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
The S&P 500 Information Technology Index, which includes Intel, IBM and Apple, has declined 5.3 percent this year.
Lowy said investors who don't need to invest in technology stocks should avoid them during earnings seasons, and recommends that those who must invest in them stick with larger companies.
Intel, IBM, Apple
Intel, the world's largest semiconductor company, may report its highest second-quarter profit in four years on Tuesday after the market closes as demand for laptop computers improved. The company is expected to say net income rose to 27 cents a share from 14 cents a year ago, the average estimate of 32 analysts polled by Thomson.
IBM, the world's largest computer maker, is expected to report second-quarter net income of $1.12 a share, according to the average of 21 analysts surveyed by Thomson, up from 97 cents a year earlier. IBM will release results Thursday after the market closes.
Apple, the maker of Macintosh personal computers and the iPod music player, is expected to say on Wednesday that fiscal third-quarter net income rose to 15 cents a share on revenue of $1.95 billion, according to analysts polled by Thomson. Apple earned 5 cents a share a year earlier.
The following is a list of selected U.S. companies that are scheduled to release earnings results this week. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names.
Bank of America Corp. (BAC): The third-biggest U.S. bank is likely to report a 28 percent rise in second-quarter profit because of an increase in consumer lending.
Citigroup Inc. (C): The world's largest financial-services company is expected to report its lowest quarterly profit in almost six years after setting aside almost $5 billion to pay for escalating legal costs. Citigroup is expected to report second- quarter net income of 97 cents a share, the average estimate of 15 analysts, up from 83 cents a year earlier.
Gannett Co. (GCI): The largest publisher of U.S. newspapers is scheduled to report earnings Tuesday before the market opens. Gannett is expected to say second-quarter net income rose to $1.30 a share, the average estimate of 18 analysts polled by Thomson. The company had net income of $1.20 a year earlier.
Harley-Davidson Inc. (HDI): The largest U.S. motorcycle maker is expected to report Wednesday that second-quarter earnings rose to 75 cents a share, the average estimate of 16 analysts polled by Thomson, amid demand for its cruiser models that can sell for as much as $25,000. Net income in the same period last year was 66 cents.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): The world's largest maker of medical devices will report on Tuesday before the market opens that second-quarter profit rose at least 10 percent, helped by sales of its Risperdal schizophrenia drug. Johnson & Johnson is expected to earn 79 cents a share, the average estimate of 18 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, up from 40 cents a year earlier.
Marriott International Inc. (MAR): The largest U.S. hotel company will report second-quarter earnings rose to 61 cents a share from 51 cents a year earlier, boosted by an increase in business travel. Marriott is scheduled to release earnings Thursday before the market opens.
Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER): The world's biggest securities firm by capital will likely report second-quarter net income rose to $1.09 a share, the average estimate of 19 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. It earned $1.05 a year earlier. Merrill, which will report Tuesday before the market opens, said it had the smallest rise in a year as customers traded fewer stocks.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX): The biggest mail-order video rental service is expected to report Thursday that second-quarter net income rose to 13 cents a share, the average estimate of nine analysts polled by Thomson. It earned 6 cents a year earlier.
PepsiCo Inc. (PEP): The world's No. 2 soft-drink maker is expected to report second-quarter net income rose to 61 cents a share, the average estimate of 18 analysts polled by Thomson, because of higher sales of new products. The company had net income of 54 cents a year earlier.
Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV): The largest low-fare carrier is expected to report Thursday that second-quarter net income fell to 16 cents a share, after government aid in the same period last year increased profit to 30 cents. Excluding the aid, Southwest earned $103 million, or 13 cents a share.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH): The biggest U.S. health insurer is expected to report that second-quarter net income rose to 92 cents a share, the average estimate of 20 analysts, from 71 cents a year earlier. The results will be announced Thursday before the market opens.
Last Updated: July 12, 2004 00:01 EDT
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 10:24 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
Apple a no-show at Macworld in Boston
Computer firm said it would pull out if show not in N.Y.
Macintosh fans looking for Apple's latest wares at this week's Macworld Conference & Expo in Boston will surely be disappointed.
That's because for the first time, the Cupertino firm is not participating in the East Coast's biggest Macintosh trade show.
Although Apple doesn't put on the show, it has consistently used Macworld's stage to unveil its newest computers and gadgets. At January's gathering in San Francisco, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs showed off the colorful iPod Mini portable music player.
But this summer, Apple is making good on its promise that it would not be present if IDG World Expo, the trade show's organizer, moved the weeklong event from New York to Boston.
The company reiterated its point in a written statement: "When IDG initially announced its plans to move summer Macworld to Boston in 2004, we were very clear that we didn't think it was a good move. Our position stands and Apple will not be participating in Macworld Boston."
However, Apple added that the firm is "100 percent committed to Macworld San Francisco," which occurs in January and is also organized by IDG.
Warwick Davies, IDG's group vice president in charge of Macworld Expo, said the move to Boston was a business decision.
"To do a show in Boston is easier than New York," he said, adding that the show originally started in Boston in 1985 before it moved to New York in 1998.
Davies noted exhibitors will pay less to show off their products in Boston than in New York
The IDG executive said he expects about 10,000 attendees, much smaller than the nearly 15,000 people who attended last year's event in New York. He said he expects the number of exhibitors to shrink from more than 130 last year to fewer than 80 this year.
Apple's absence "hurts the image of that show," said Jason Snell, editor in chief of Macworld magazine, a monthly that's published by IDG.
Snell noted that historically, the East Coast trade show had always played second fiddle to San Francisco's Macworld.
Davies agreed the San Francisco show attracts a bigger crowd -- more than 32,000 in January -- but about 80 percent of the attendees were from California.
"You can almost classify that as a regional event," he said.
Despite Apple's absence, this week's trade show should still be worth it for the attendees, Davies said.
"The way I look at the show, the event is for the Macintosh community," he said. "Of course, our arms are wide open to Apple if they want to be at any of our events. I've made that clear to them. However, their decision is their decision."
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 10:23 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
Apple targets Microsoft NT4 users
Why not ride a Tiger
By Nick Farrell: Monday 12 July 2004, 08:14
APPLE'S MARKETING machine has decided to target NT4 users who didn’t upgrade and those who are miffed at Microsoft for not letting Longhorn out to play for a long time.
Microsoft wants to phase out NT Server 4 at the end of the year and Apple PRs have announced that the firm is releasing an NT migration tool as part of the Mac OS X Server 10.4 Tiger release.
Built into the server OS, the tool also will enable users to migrate from Windows Server 2000 to Tiger, if they were so minded to do so.
Windows Watch quoted Tom Goguen, Apple's director of server software as saying that the company did not believe that many of Microsoft’s NT4 users were ready for Windows 2003. Many are spurning active directory as if it were a rabid dog.
Instead they are hoping that such users will be drawn to Apple’s plain-vanilla Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory as an alternative.
The downside is of course that for Apple to actually woo such customers from The Vole, it will have to drop the price and the product will not be the very beautiful but reassuringly expensive product its users currently know and love.
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 10:21 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
iTunes Music Store Hits 100 Million Download Mark
by Staff, 7:20 AM CDT, July 12th, 2004
Apple's iTunes Music Store sold its 100 millionth song late Sunday, marking a milestone in the company's history as it continues to dominate much of the online music industry.
The 100 millionth song was sold Sunday. The company publicly announced the news early Monday morning on its Web site.
To mark the milestone, Apple awarded a special gift package to Kevin Britten, age 20, of Hays, Kansas, who bought and downloaded the 100 millionth song. Mr. Britten downloaded Somersault (Dangermouse remix) by Zero7 and won a 17-inch PowerBook, a 40GB iPod, a gift certificate for 10,000 iTunes songs and the opportunity to create his own custom playlist to be published on the iTMS.
Apple first announced at the beginning of July a countdown contest, offering a giveaway to users in the US, UK, France and Germany where the iTunes Music Store is available. Apple offered 50 special 20GB iPods to purchasers of each 100,000th song sold in addition to the grand prize package.
When first introduced in October 2003, Apple CEO Steve Jobs vowed that iTMS would sell 100 million songs in its first year, ending April 28 of this year. Jobs and Apple fell short of that goal by some 30 million songs.
"As we cross this historic milestone, we want to thank our customers, the artists and the music labels who have embraced our dream for iTunes," Mr. Jobs said in a prepared statement. "iTunes quickly outpaced the competition and is far and away the world's number one online music service.
Apple Computer said in June that it controls more than a 70% market share of legal downloads for singles and albums worldwide. In actual fact, Apple is calculating it's own market share based on its knowledge of downloads from its iTunes Music Store and subtracting from the total number of online music service downloads reported by Nielsen/SoundScan each week, Apple confirmed to The Mac Observer. Neither Nielsen/SoundScan nor any other company calculates an overall online music industry market share or ranking.
According to the Yankee Group, a Boston-based research firm, the iPod brand has a 50% to 60% share of the U.S. market for hard-drive-based audio players.
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 10:20 PM |
|
|
|
| Sunday, July 11, 2004 |
|
I started painting my room...
hmm...when will i finish painting it..
okie..now I'll start with one plane of the wall first...
slow and steady... |
| posted by Perimbean @ 11:09 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
iPod could be a security hazard
By MATTHEW FORDAHL
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Companies beware: Critical corporate data might be dancing out of the office with workers who bring their iPods to work.
The research firm Gartner Inc. warns of security risks posed by the popular music player and other portable storage devices that plug into a PC's USB or FireWire ports. The iPod, like the rest, can hold data in addition to tunes.
"Businesses are increasingly putting themselves at risk by allowing the unauthorized and uncontrolled use of portable storage devices," Gartner analyst Ruggero Contu wrote.
The problem, he says, is twofold. In one scenario, employees could simplly drag and drop sensitive files into the devices, which often come with gigabytes of storage capacity. In the other, the devices could carry a virus, Trojan horse or other malware.
The solution?
"Companies should forbid the use of uncontrolled, privately owned devices with corporate PCs," Contu said.
Prohibition isn't the only way to mitigate risk, however.
Bosses also can educate employees, create policies and protect data with encryption. There are also programs available, including an offering from SecureWave, that limit use of a PC's USB ports to authorized devices.
Contu, who is based in the United Kingdom, did not compare the risk from portable storage with those from floppy disks, CD burners, e-mail and printers.
Apple Computer Inc., which makes the iPod, declined to comment on the research. |
| posted by Perimbean @ 11:07 PM |
|
|
|
| Friday, July 09, 2004 |
|
Apple's Reinvention Transforms Stock's Valuation
Thu Jul 8, 2004 11:12 AM ET
By Duncan Martell
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The more than 50 percent rise in Apple Computer Inc.'s stock price this year has mirrored the brisk sales of its market-leading iPod digital music player and growth at its retail stores.
In the view of some analysts, the share price's ascent also reflects a transformation in the way investors are willing to value the Cupertino, California-based company, innovator of the first operating system to make personal computers friendly to everyday users.
Once seen as a value play that traded at little above its cash value, Apple's stock is now attracting long-term and momentum investors sold on Chief Executive Steve Jobs' vision of the company as a high-margin style-setter at the hub of an emerging "digital lifestyle."
Momentum investors typically look at trading patterns of stocks and the amount of money flowing into and out of them, while value investors tend to look for companies that are undervalued relative to their competitors.
Apple has sold more than 3 million of its market-leading iPod digital music players since their introduction in October 2001, and the company is approaching the 100 million mark on the number of tracks purchased on its iTunes online music store at 99 cents each.
"Longer-term investors are looking at it right now and saying Apple's got these great products out there and more coming and we trust them," said analyst Shannon Cross at Cross Research, while noting that there are now likely a sizable number of momentum investors in Apple.
The stock took a hit last week when the company announced plans for a next-generation iMac desktop computer, but said that it would miss its own internal schedule and won't ship the new one until September. The resulting sell-off took the shares down from their highest levels since 1999 and analysts reiterated their "buy" ratings, urging clients to take advantage of the price dip.
Even though the company's share of the PC market has been declining steadily in recent years and is now at about 2 percent worldwide, the company has built two sizable businesses in the past three years: the iPod franchise and its retail stores.
"It's a different kind of company you're buying today than you were four years ago when you were buying this PC company that you hoped would be able to reverse their losses in PC market share," said Dan Niles, chief executive of Neuberger Berman Technology Management, who owns Apple shares.
Niles said that Apple's 80 stores now account for $1 out of every $7 the company generates, and the stores boast gross margins of 40 percent. "It could be one of the biggest profit generators in the future," Niles said.
The maker of the Macintosh computer and iPod digital music players in its most recent quarter reported net income that more than tripled and gave a forecast that was above even the most optimistic expectations at the time.
Also, for the first time, the company sold more iPods in a quarter than its signature Mac computers, and iPod sales for that quarter even surpassed sales during the quarter that included the holiday shopping season.
Shares of Apple now trade at a lofty 50 times the fiscal 2004 per-share estimates of 61 cents a share calculated by analysts polled by Reuters Estimates. The stock trades at 37 times estimated fiscal 2005 per-share profit estimates and 34 times fiscal 2006 estimates.
Apple's stock is trading at about $30.25, down from a high above $32 in late June but still up sharply from a low near $19.70 in December.
"Part of it is betting on Steve Jobs," said technology analyst Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies, of the stock's rise. "Even though the Mac size of the business has not grown rapidly, he keeps pulling interesting rabbits out of his hat."
While the stock may appear overvalued given its strong performance this year, some investors believe the shares are likely to end the year still higher.
"You can make the argument that the valuation looks like it's getting stretched, but there are some very large upside possibilities in the third and fourth quarters," Niles said.
Since the introduction in January of the iPod mini, Apple hasn't been able to keep up with demand, but Niles said production will ramp later this summer as supplies of the tiny 1-inch drives the mini uses increase.
"The stock's had a nice run but we haven't taken our buy off the stock because we think there are still legs to the Apple story," Cross said.
Jobs agrees.
"We think that strategy still has a lot of legs," Jobs said in a recent interview, referring to the digital lifestyle. "If investors are catching up with us, that's terrific and hopefully they'll continue to follow us."
© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 9:32 PM |
|
|
|
| Thursday, July 08, 2004 |
|
Apple announces global iPod mini launch
£179 for the Brits
By Tamlin Magee: Thursday 08 July 2004, 15:18
APPLE HAS ANNOUNCED that its anticipated iPod mini will get a global launch on the 24th of July, according to dvd-recordable.org, and will be on sale for £179 in good old Blighty.
The global launch of the 4GB mp3 player had been delayed from earlier this year, because Hitachi couldn't manufacture the hard drives fast enough. The iPod mini had already experienced success across the pond, with it being all over eBay, and many shops out of stock.
Apple exec Greg Joswiak reckons there could still be a shortfall, and recommends "people get in line early" – but he would say that, wouldn't he? He told the BBC "supply will keep up with demand by September."
Of course, the iPod mini is in for some competition – Sony and iRiver are now big players in the market, with Sony launching a new-generation 20GB mp3 walkman, selling for £55 cheaper then the 40GB iPod.
However, Joswiak is confident that the iPod is still a leader and will remain so. He said Sony's boasting of holding 3,000 more mp3s than the best iPods was unfair, since Sony were considering mp3s ripped in a much lower bitrate.
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 10:49 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
Apple Blasts Sony on Claims for New Walkman
07-07-04 02:55 PM EST Staff Writer of The Wall Street Journal
SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL), aiming to protect the lead of its iPod digital music player, launched a verbal strike against rival Sony Corp.'s ( SNE) new Network Walkman music player, which is designed to be an iPod killer.
In a prepared statement, Apple said Sony isn't accurately depicting the song capacity of its new 20-gigabyte Network Walkman. While Sony says the device can hold 13,000 tracks, Apple alleges that the Japanese electronics giant, in calculating the storage capacity of the Network Walkman, is using songs that are compressed into digital files of inferior fidelity to those that Apple uses to calculate how many songs the iPod can hold. (Digital music of lower quality takes up less storage but delivers poorer sound than high-quality songs.)
As a result, Apple said, Sony's Walkman actually holds only 4,800 songs that have been compressed into a higher quality format.
"We're disappointed that Sony, which is new to this market, has decided to make their first impression by attempting to mislead the press and customers," Apple said in a statement.
Apple's statement comes in response to the big marketing splash that Sony made last week when it unveiled its $399 20-gigabyte Network Walkman. During its announcement, Sony showed how its new Walkman is smaller than Apple's iPod and it also said that the device, using its ATRAC data-compression technology, could hold 13,000 songs. In contrast, Apple's 20-gigabyte iPod holds just 5,000 songs and its 40-gigabyte iPod holds 10,000 songs.
That Apple, which is normally tight-lipped about its products, will now engage in a war of words with Sony shows how far the Cupertino, Calif., company will go to protect the market share lead that its iPod digital music player has gained over the past few years.
The iPod has been a source of new growth for Apple, forming about 15% of the company's overall revenue. The device has rejuvenated interest in Apple even as sales of its core Macintosh computer models have slowed. According to the Yankee Group, the iPod brand has a 50% to 60% share of the U.S. market for hard-drive- based audio players.
"Sony chose to play marketing games so we wanted to set things right so that people could compare the devices apples to apples," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of hardware product marketing.
Sony reacted angrily to Apple's statement. Todd Schrader, Sony Electronics' vice president of portable audio products, said the "Walkman has always been about choice."
He said consumers can play songs on the Walkman in either a high-quality or low-quality format. He noted the new music player also has 30 hours of battery life, which is "three times more than the competition."
Mr. Schrader also took issue with Apple's characterization that Sony is new to the digital music market. He said Sony has been in the market since 1999 and currently has several music player products priced from $59 to $399 that can play digital music downloaded from a personal computer.
"Sony isn't a one-trick pony," he said.
-Pui-Wing Tam, The Wall Street Journal
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 10:48 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
Apple to launch mini iPod globally
By Sheila Jones in New York
Published: July 7 2004 15:45 | Last Updated: July 7 2004 15:45
Apple said on Wednesday it would launch its mini iPod, the digital portable music player, internationally on July 24, with a price tag of $249.
Apple said in March it was delaying the launch of the mini iPod, already on sale in the US, because of surging US demand and a lack of supplies of a vital component. It had intended to launch the product in April.
"The iPod mini has been a smash hit in the US, and we're thrilled to finally be able to offer it to music lovers the world over," said Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive.
This month, Sony launched a rival to the iPod mini, increasing the pressure on Apple to launch globally and to come up with further innovations in consumer electronics. Philips and Samsung, are expected to launch handheld music and video players later this year.
Apple's core computers business has seen stagnating sales and the company's share price suffered recently after it said it would postpone the launch date for its new iMac computer, missing the crucial back-to- school sales season. |
| posted by Perimbean @ 12:25 AM |
|
|
|
| Wednesday, July 07, 2004 |
|
Ban iPods at work
p2pnet.net News:- If you're running a company and you see someone walk in with an iPod, beware because the apple of Steve Jobs' eye, and devices like it, are more than just music players, says a UK report.
Portable storage devices are ideal for anyone planning on stealing sensitive data and should be banned from corporate environments, states Britain's Gartner.
And the vulnerability has existed since Microsoft Windows 2000, "the first widely deployed operating system able to mount a USB storage device automatically," was released, it says.
"Businesses are increasingly putting themselves at risk by allowing the unauthorised and uncontrolled use of portable storage devices," says a Gartner press release here, going on:
"The use of unauthorised portable storage devices poses many dangers, not least for the malicious code that they can introduce. High data capacity and transfer rates, and broad platform support mean that a Universal Serial Bus (USB) or FireWire (IEEE 1394) device has the capacity to quickly download much valuable corporate information, which can be easily leaked to the outside world.
"Portable devices include any kind of pocket-sized portable FireWire hard drive, like those from LaCie or Toshiba, or USB hard drive or keychain drive, such as M-Systems' DiskOnKey. They also include disk-based MP3 players, such as Apple's iPod, and digital cameras with smart media cards, memory sticks, compact flash and other memory media."
Users can intentionally or unintentionally bypass "perimeter defences" such as firewalls and antivirus at mailserver, and introduce malware such as Trojan horses or viruses that, if not discovered, can cause serious damage, says Gartner.
"Companies should forbid the use of uncontrolled, privately owned devices with corporate PCs," declares the release. "The prohibition should extend to employees, and external contractors with direct access to corporate networks."
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 1:52 AM |
|
|
|
|
|
Software Makes a Tiger of Panther
By Chris Oakes
Last week, Apple CEO Steve Jobs wowed programmers at the company's annual developer conference with a demo of Tiger, the next major version of OS X, due out next year.
But to users of some third-party Mac utilities, not all the nifty data-hunting features demonstrated in Tiger were wholly new.
Existing utilities stir some Tiger-like features into current versions of OS X, and they provide some of the potency of next-generation search well before Tiger makes it official.
In the better-search future, users will find themselves fingertip-surfing over an ever-expanding universe of personal text and media. This universe will include files, previously visited websites, songs, e-mail addresses, messages, word-processing files and Adobe Acrobat documents. It will also encompass Web bookmarks and favorites, address book names and strings of text buried in sometimes long-forgotten documents.
A sampling of some pre-Tiger, third-party products reveals this very kind of functionality is available today. Though Tiger's new file search and management are destined to be sewn into the OS as only developers inside Apple can, some small developers have advanced faster file access well ahead of Apple, repeating a well-worn pattern in the Mac and PC worlds.
Prominent examples that show next-generation file search in action today include Objective Development's LaunchBar, Blacktree's Quicksilver, Peter Maurer's Butler and Devon Technologies' Devonthink. Note: These are only examples, not an exhaustive list. Sites like MacUpdate and VersionTracker feature several more examples of such software.
During his demonstration of Tiger's Spotlight search engine, Jobs performed a systemwide search query that found text hiding away in a PDF map of Yosemite.
But the ability to find text lurking deep inside users' files is already possible using applications like Devonthink. Starting at $40, Devonthink is a multifaceted information manager that blends a notepad with an outliner, scrapbook, bookmark manager and database for storing and indexing all kinds of files.
"Put in whatever you want, organize it, let Devonthink search for it," the company website says. "Devonthink provides the main features of Finder, Sherlock, Safari, TextEdit, Stickies, Preview, iPhoto, Quicktime Player and Help Viewer with one consistent and easy-to-use interface."
When a file is imported, Devonthink builds a keyword index of the contents, like a local Google. The index allows the software to hunt out text hidden inside a swath of different file types, including text, Adobe PDF and HTML.
Devonthink can also display any locally indexed Web, Word, text or PDF file in its own application window.
Text can instantly be copied into a new document for editing, since Devonthink includes basic text editing and outlining abilities as well. This dual search and editing feature has found Devonthink an audience among journalists, researchers, students and academics who are attracted to its unique combination of document collection, searching and editing.
Jobs also showed off Dashboard, which blends OS X's Expose with a handful of mini applications called "Widgets" for displaying the date, weather, calendars and handy applications like sticky notes or calculator.
Bearing an uncanny resemblance to Dashboard is Konfabulator, a $25 utility for displaying small, at-a-glance applications in a glass-like layer where OS X's volume control and brightness icons appear. The creation of longtime Mac developers Arlo Rose and Perry Clarke, Konfabulator overlays the screen with handy functions and information in an appealing fashion.
As well as "Widgets" for weather or stock prices, Konfabulator users have brewed their own snazzy-looking webcam viewers, digital clocks and calculators, as well as windows for displaying unopened messages in Mail, iTunes controls and calendar items.
Konfabulator's functions, as well as its distinctive look and feel, are mirrored almost exactly in Apple's Dashboard. Some of Dashboard's Widgets (Konfabulator uses the same name) also feed off data from OS X's built-in applications, such as iTunes and iCal.
Objective Development's $20 LaunchBar comes close to at least part of Tiger's systemwide search function.
Simply hit Command-Spacebar and start typing. Immediately, LaunchBar pops into the foreground and produces an organically growing -- and shrinking -- list of candidate files matching the search term, or abbreviations for applications or tasks. Typing "g-o-o," for example, will open Google in a browser window.
LaunchBar makes quick work of navigating the hard drive, returning lists of iTunes songs, iPhoto albums and contacts in OS X's Address Book. With a few keystrokes, the utility can be used to almost instantaneously open pictures, create an e-mail or play iTunes.
Available from a menu in the desktop menu bar, the utility presents a small, icon-filled panel for commonly used search results, e-mail addresses, text clippings, address book contacts and myriad other Mac info objects. Type "Sound," for example, and LaunchBar's results include a listing that opens the Sound preference pane for tweaking the Mac's audio settings.
Better, LaunchBar learns as it goes. The utility gets smarter about frequently searched terms or popular items. The more often Google is launched, the higher it goes in the list of LaunchBar's search results.
Like LaunchBar, Blacktree's Quicksilver performs keyword searches and, with a few keystrokes, launches files, applications, website URLs and more. For example, Quicksilver also lets users launch Google searches directly from the utility's own control window.
But some users prefer Quicksilver for its additional capabilities, such as its ability to move files with a few keystrokes and a choice of interface options. Quicksilver's search field can be placed in the Mac menu bar in the same place as Tiger's upcoming Spotlight search function.
Quicksilver has the added appeal of being free.
Like Quicksilver and LaunchBar, Butler is a free utility that finds and opens applications, documents, bookmarks and other files as soon as keywords or letters are entered in its search field. Butler will also learn over time which files are used most. Common abbreviations are associated with frequently accessed items. For example, the software is capable of learning that "ab" is most often used to launch the Mac's Address Book.
Extra features include Butler's ability to move and copy files and control iTunes music playback. Its interface is accessed with menu or hot-key combinations, and like the other search utilities, it also allows users to initiate Web searches at sites like Google and Yahoo directly from Butler's interface.
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 1:43 AM |
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright bill poses threat to iPod's future
By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES — Is the iPod endangered?
Apple's sleek digital audio device is one of the most successful tech toys, selling more than 3 million units since November 2001.
But its future, with that of other new tech gadgets, could be in trouble if a controversial congressional bill passes. That's according to opponents of the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act in the Senate. It would make operators of media-swap networks such as Kazaa and Grokster liable for users' actions. It also would make it easier for entertainment companies to sue tech firms for copyright infringement.
Opponents say the language is so broad it could apply to makers of MP3 players, such as iPod, and CD and DVD recorders, as well as to media organizations that give consumers tips on using digital content.
The recording and movie industries support the bill to help curb piracy.
But the tech industry is worried. Internet search giants Google and Yahoo, chipmaker Intel, Internet service provider Verizon, auctioneer eBay, Web site operator Cnet Networks and phone company MCI are among 42 companies and groups who signed a letter that will be delivered Tuesday to bill author Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, requesting hearings on the issue.
Two copyright bills were passed by a voice vote in late June without hearings, which is why the tech industry is concerned.
Hundreds of bills are introduced every year, and many never make it to the Senate floor. What makes the Induce Act more viable are its high-profile co-sponsors. Besides Hatch and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., there's also Senate majority leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Senate minority leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. Other co-sponsors are Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Hatch has been a critic of file-sharing. Last year, when speaking of network users trading copyrighted material, he said: "I'm all for destroying their machines."
The bill follows an April 2003 court win by Grokster in the West Indies and StreamCast Networks of Tennessee that said users — rather than file-sharing networks — were to blame for infringing copyrights. That decision is being appealed.
Other bill supporters include the Business Software Alliance, whose members include Microsoft, Adobe and Intel. Computer-makers Apple and Hewlett-Packard have been silent.
BSA staff lawyer Emery Simon says he hasn't polled members to see how many other firms in his roster disagree with BSA's stance. BSA supports the bill because "we have a serious piracy problem online."
Hatch and Leahy were unavailable for comment. Their aides say they are trying to curb online piracy and add teeth to current law to prevent future court wins by file-sharing companies. They deny opponents' anti-new-technology claims.
Hatch can decide to schedule the bill for a committee vote as early as Tuesday, or at the end of the current congressional session. Hatch spokesman Margarita Tapia says there's no timetable. As for hearings, she says, "We may schedule a meeting if the chairman thinks it's necessary."
The word "induce" and the bill's implication have turned into a firestorm on the Web. Type it into any search engine and hundreds of links to blogs and articles organizing opposition pop up. A new site went up last week, SaveTheiPod.com, encouraging visitors to fax senators urging a "no" vote.
"The act could be used to challenge free speech, which would violate the First Amendment and is a significant concern to us as a media company," says Sharon LeDuy, general counsel of Cnet.
Cnet runs MP3.com, a guide to legitimate digital music sites. Cnet also offers links to both software-fighting spyware and adware and file-sharing services like Grokster and Kazaa at its Download.com.
"We feel this bill adds potential liability to any innovator," says Don Whiteside of Intel's Corporate Technology Group. "We view this as a very significant change in the copyright law, and we're very concerned."
Current laws suggest fines of $750 to $150,000 per song. Apple's top iPod holds 10,000 songs.
"At $150,000 per song, that would make Apple potentially liable for $1.5 billion per iPod," says Jason Schultz, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "That's the worst-case scenario. Even at $750 per song, a loss would completely bankrupt a company."
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 1:37 AM |
|
|
|
| Tuesday, July 06, 2004 |
|
Dear Steve Jobs
p2pnet.net Wishful Thinking:- Dear Steve:
You say whoever downloads the 100 millionth track from iTunes will get a 17" PowerBook, a 40GB iPod, a gift certificate for 10,000 iTunes "and the opportunity to create their own Celebrity Playlist to be published on the iTunes Music Store".
One hundred million. Gosh gee. That's a lot.
Does that mean you and Apple have pulled in $100 million from downloads? Or does it mean the Big Five record labels and/or their various subsidiaries and/or associates which supply you continue to score while they whine about being devastated by file sharing and file sharers?
An estimated 61 million people share files in the US alone and there are around four million people logged onto p2p file sharing networks at any given moment. At a conservative estimate, one BILLION files are downloaded every month.
Tap into this and watch the money roll in.
If you're short of a model, check out the EFF's Voluntary Collective Licensing plans. And there are plenty of other excellent ideas around.
Apple has acquired a tremendous amount of clout and goodwill and public memory being what it is, your truly awful failed collaboration with the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and Pepsi to promote iTunes, is all but forgotten.
You and Apple are now riding the crest so why not become truly innovative? Why not become the first major company to drop your currently unimpressive offerings which are, after all, the same as those Big Music sells to every other Big Music supported and supplied plastic music site?
You could then negotiate with the increasing numbers of major artists who have decided to do their own thing on- and offline, drop your prices, make deals with all the hungry indie producers and artists out there, make billions in sales, sell loads of iPods and iMacs. And so on.
It'd be hairy for starters, Steve, but think of all the headlines you'd generate immediately and over time?
Apple would go down in history as the first large corporate entity to really make p2p work for it commercially. Ultimately, you'd win the entire p2p file sharing community over. Significant numbers would become buyers of your now competitively priced hardware and software. And think of all the cool, new advertising and PR possibilities !
You could also set up an Apple P2P Developer's Foundation to fund and encourage all those people out there with fantastic ideas. Then you'd truly be on the leading edge instead of pretending to be. AND - you'd be showing all the studios and labels how it should be done.
They'd eventually follow suit because they'd have to.
With just about everything developed and stored digitally and sold and distributed inexpensively online, there'd be very little physical product. There'd be a massive drop in overhead, distribution, manufacturing, and legal costs (Hollywood wouldn't have to sue anyone any more), illicit CD/ DVD operations would perforce dry up, and there'd be a concomitant reduction in the pirate problem - that's to say the real one involving true criminal counterfeiters and the like, not the fake one involving ordinary people who share online. There'd also be implications for the various administrations and enforcement agencies around the world which are at the moment constantly being pestered and bombarded by the entertainment industry.
In short, Jane and John Doe would be safe from Big Music, the entertainment industry would be redefined, the world would be a happier place - and Apple would have led the way.
Cheers! And all the best ...
p2pnet |
| posted by Perimbean @ 8:27 AM |
|
|
|
|
|
Thomas Hazlett: Google's message for regulators
By Thomas Hazlett
Published: July 5 2004 18:49 | Last Updated: July 5 2004 18:49
Being a subscriber to Yahoo Mail, I am accustomed to receiving friendly messages. One such snappy communiqué was delivered to my inbox on June 10: "You are near your quota, as you are currently using 99.1MB of your 100.0MB storage quota. If you do not take action soon, you will not be able to receive any more e-mail in your Yahoo Mail account."
This electronic nudge was the weekly cue to delete files in my web e-mail memory. How surprised was I to find, then, a much more upbeat capacity assessment transmitted on June 23: "Thanks for being a loyal Yahoo Mail user. To show our appreciation, we've expanded your Extra Storage service to include all the benefits of the improved Yahoo Mail Plus, at no additional cost to you." My 100 megabytes of memory was now 2 gigabytes. Teetering at the brink of overload, I felt fresh and relaxed at 4 per cent.
My loyalty to Yahoo has surely been rewarded, making me feel a bit sheepish: I had recently, in fact, been pondering a switch to the fabulous new Google program which also features oodles of storage and some really cool stuff. I shall resist wallowing in the guilt, however, by remembering that millions of others are equally despicable - including those Microsoft Network e-mail users who have just seen their 2 MB free storage quotas relaxed to 250 MB, a windfall of 12,400 per cent.
Economists and cynics will ascribe the magnanimous mood of e-mail operators to market forces. The gathering Google storm, gliding rapidly toward its initial public offering, is casting a large shadow. It is pushing a motivational cold front into the space occupied by incumbent service providers. The extraordinary improvements in service all around illustrate the power of innovative entrants to disrupt.
They also underscore the limits of government regulation. By offering 2 GB for the price of 100 MB, the competitive rivalry now on display highlights the implausibility of administratively determined efficiency. The e-mail market looked perfectly functional and workably competitive to antitrust analysts prior to the recent seismic shifts. Innovation by decentralised entrepreneurs has revealed a new competitive equilibrium some orders of magnitude north. And these volcanic eruptions were triggered by Google, a company not known to be in the e-mail business.
The insight produced is not that markets out-perform Soviets, or that market entry can be surprising and tumultuous - all of which is true, but not news. The remarkable aspect of this emerging war over e-mail service is that it is fought at the core of markets judged by many to be wracked by monopoly, resistant to change and immune to challenge.
The massive antitrust case launched against Microsoft on May 18 1998 ended last week with a whimper. A federal appeals court has endorsed a settlement reached between the software company and the US Department of Justice. Six years of legal dispute, including a government victory on some important charges, have ended. Microsoft, yet in one piece, continues to dominate market share with Internet Explorer (having vanquished its browser rival, Netscape), with its Windows PC operating system (even as Linux continues to generate buzz and Apple refuses to die) and with its now standard office software programs Word (word processing), Excel (spread sheets) and Power Point (3 million MBAs can’t be wrong). Robert Bork, representing anti-Microsoft interests challenging the settlement in court, was disgusted with the result: “It appears on first reading that Microsoft has been cleared to continue its campaign of predation…”
So this is where Google comes in. Despite the fact that Microsoft and Yahoo are both moving aggressively to attack this space, Google’s search engine has performed brilliantly. Without the leverage of incumbency, the outsider has offered consumers value. Consumers have flocked to the innovative application; Wall Street now rushes to fund expansion. While in the cross-hairs of Microsoft’s “campaign of predation”, Google has developed a business plan that will soon be capitalised at something like $25 billion.
Make no mistake: Google strives to dominate. It aims to offer technology so compelling that rivals do not just lose market share, they lose the market. The incentive to seize and occupy a position of monopoly is what drove Microsoft frantically to develop highly functional browserware, distributing it to millions of Windows users free of charge so as to fend off the tempestuous Netscape. It is what fuelled Google’s invention of a superior search engine, and it is what now drives it to offer a spectacularly more generous e-mail service. This is the productive violence of creative destruction, and its awesome power is only faintly hinted at by inbox notices announcing memory windfalls of 12,400 per cent.
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 8:26 AM |
|
|
|
| Monday, July 05, 2004 |
|
Walkman vs. iPod
Promotions heat up as rivals vie for slice of Apple's sales
Matthew Yi, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sony isn't the only one trying to grab sales away from Apple's iPod, the market leading portable digital music player. At least two other competitors are going on the offensive with new promotions to attract customers.
Dell hopes its sales pitch will have Apple fans ditching their iPods. The Round Rock, Texas, company began offering a $100 rebate last week on its 15- gigabyte Digital Jukebox player to customers who turn in their old iPod.
Napster, which offers a music subscription service, is willing to give away its 128-MB portable music player, the Rio Chiba Sport, to customers who sign up for a year. If they want a player with more capacity, they can opt to pay $80 for a 1.5- GB Rio Nitrus.
Not to be outdone, Apple's marketing department is giving away 50 20- GB iPods as it approaches a significant milestone: 100 million song downloads from its iTunes Music Store. Apple will award a portable player to each purchaser of a 100,000th song between 95 million and 100 million downloads.
The person who downloads the 100 millionth song will win a 17- inch PowerBook ($2,799), a 40- GB iPod ($499) and a gift certificate for 10,000 iTunes songs.
"We're starting to see some heated competition," said Michael McGuire, an analyst at Gartner. "Consumers should expect a lot of this."
Dell's rebate only applies to its 15- GB model, which is regularly priced at $199. However, Dell is currently offering a 20 percent discount until Wednesday on its 20- GB version, which costs $279. The world's largest PC maker claims batteries in both models last up to 20 hours.
Apple has four models, including a smaller 4- GB iPod Mini that sells for $249. The regular white iPods come in 15- GB, 20- GB and 40- GB flavors priced at $299, $399 and $499 respectively. Apple says each battery charge will last up to eight hours of play.
Apple has sold more than 2 million iPods since their premiere in October 2001. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs says Apple has 50 percent of the market in portable digital audio players.
McGuire is skeptical whether iPod users will trade in their players for Dell's machine.
"It just seems kind of counterintuitive," McGuire said about Dell's iPod trade-in program. "I don't know why I should take an old iPod and get a discount (on their player). Why don't they just give me a new one?"
However, he says there's always the risk of Apple losing market share in the portable music player sector as more competitors join in the fray. While competition will surely heat up, promotional deals to lure customers are necessary to gain new users, he said.
"We need to see more awareness of these devices (and related online music services) beyond just hardcore PC users," McGuire said.
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 10:08 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
Walkman vs. iPod
Sony takes aim at Apple with new music players
Benny Evangelista, Chronicle Staff Writer
The first Sony Walkman went on sale in Japan on July 1, 1979, introducing both a new concept in music and a device that would become an icon of modern pop culture -- a personal, portable stereo.
Twenty-five years later, Sony Corp. finds itself in the unaccustomed position of playing catch-up against the hottest thing in portable music and digital pop culture -- the iPod from Cupertino's Apple Computer Inc.
Sony celebrated the Walkman's birthday last week by introducing two new portable music players, a Walkman with a 20-GB hard drive, and the Vaio Pocket music player with a 40-GB hard drive, both designed to compete against the now dominant iPod.
Moreover, Sony is fighting fire with fire, employing some of the same marketing tactics that have served Apple well, including opening retail stores to showcase Sony products and starting an online music service called Sony Connect that ties in closely to the new generation of Walkmans.
Analysts say Sony poses the biggest challenge yet to the iPod, although they add that Apple should still be up to the challenge of defending a market that has become a key part of the company's overall success.
"We think this is the year Sony starts breathing down Apple's neck in music,'' said technology analyst Richard Doherty of the Envisioneering Group. "Customers who look to the iPod as the only advanced styling and fashion statement out there are going to take more than a second look at the Walkman.''
In a broader sense, Sony's new Walkman devices signal the latest escalation in a battle between the traditional consumer electronics-makers and the newcomer computer-makers, which are all chasing after a growing consumer appetite for digital media and entertainment.
"We're approaching this with a broader and long-term view, not just looking at the next iPod version for the world,'' said Phil Wiser, chief technology officer for Sony Corp. of America. "We're not just a PC and a single device. We are looking at this as an overall strategic push for all of our products.''
'Multiyear battle'
"This is not a three- or four-month struggle. We see this as a multiyear battle,'' Wiser said.
Sony said it has sold more than 330 million Walkmans worldwide, nearly 150 million of them in the United States, since introducing the first, a $200 personal cassette initially called Soundabout.
Sony made wearing headphones in public fashionable and introduced the concept of a purely personal stereo system that could be enjoyed anywhere, from the street to libraries to public transit. The Walkman line broadened into several generations of products that played tapes, the radio and CDs.
"They defined portable music with the Walkman,'' Doherty said.
Apple, capitalizing on the growing popularity of the computer-based MP3 digital music movement, introduced the iPod in October 2001 as a way for consumers to take their entire music libraries with them wherever they went instead of having to lug a stack of cassettes or CDs.
Apple's marketing prowess pushed the iPod and the smaller iPod Mini past the Walkman to become pop culture's new slick, cool portable music device. Apple, which had been solely a computer-maker, is now known as much for music. Its online iTunes Music Store has sold 95 million songs, and Apple has sold more than 2 million iPods.
Meanwhile, Sony was slow to develop its own iPod style-player, partially because of the company's success in Japan and Europe with its digital MiniDisc player, said Doherty, Envisioneering Group's research director.
"They were fooling themselves into thinking that was going to be the market around the rest of the world,'' Doherty said.
Sony officials, meanwhile, say they were just taking time to make sure their new iPod competitors worked.
"We wanted to make sure Sony met the expectations of a Sony product," said Steve Haber, a Sony senior vice president, during a recent press briefing.
Doherty said that included Sony engineers dropping prototypes into water to see how many bubbles came out, an indication of wasted space inside the device.
"They took their time to make it feel as solid as the iPod Mini does,'' Doherty said.
Sony rolls out new products
Last week, Sony introduced a silver, 20-GB model called the Walkman NW- HD1. The player, due to hit store shelves in the United States and Japan in mid-August, will weigh about 4 ounces and cost about $400, the same price as the 5.6-ounce iPod with the same size hard drive. Sony officials also tout the NW-HD1's 30-hour battery life, compared with eight hours for the iPod.
Also, Sony introduced a $200, 1-inch-long Network Walkman, which stores songs on a 256 MB flash card.
While the Walkman NW-HD1 is aimed at Sony's more traditional customers, Sony's Vaio computer division geared the Vaio Pocket Player, a 40-GB device, for people who rely more on their computers.
The Vaio Pocket Player is expected to cost $500 and go on sale in September. Unlike the iPod, the Vaio Pocket has a 2.2-inch-color LCD screen, which can display a picture of an album cover in addition to artist and song names. Sony will also promote the Vaio Pocket's ability to store and display digital photos.
The Pocket Player won't play video. Although Sony has introduced a portable video player in Japan, the company has no plans to bring it to the United States.
The new Walkmans and Pocket Players will tie in to Sony's SonicStage music management program, which can play songs encoded in the popular MP3 and Windows Media formats on the computer. However, the program has to convert songs to Sony's proprietary Atrac3 format, the only file type the portable players will support.
Also, the portable players are designed to work with the Sony Connect online music store -- started in May to compete against the iTunes Music Store, Napster 2.0, Wal-Mart's Music Downloads and a host of new licensed Internet music services. Songs purchased from Sony Connect are encoded in Atrac3.
Similarly, Apple designed the iPods to work with both Windows and Macintosh computers, but songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store can be directly transferred only to an iPod. Apple earns only a few cents from each downloaded 99-cent song, but is using the store to draw more buyers for its revenue-generating iPod.
Sony could use its new players and Sony Connect in a similar vein.
"Are they going to kill Apple? Absolutely not,'' said Van Baker, a vice president at research firm GartnerG2. "If Sony Connect is compared to iTunes, there ain't no comparison. It's hard to argue with Apple's success. Right now, the business model is to use your music to sell your hardware.''
But the greater size of Sony's retail distribution network "will be a challenge to Apple,'' Baker said.
Sony has brand recognition
Also, "there's a lot of discussion now that Sony is no better than any other good consumer electronics manufacturer,'' Baker said. Still, Sony is the dominant player, as a Gartner survey of brand perceptions among teens showed.
"In consumer electronics, it was Sony, and the second-closest was not even a quarter of the size in brand recognition,'' he said.
Sony, however, has been hurt by price wars and weaker demand in the competitive consumer electronics industry. The Tokyo company announced restructuring plans that include reducing its worldwide workforce by about 20, 000.
Sony also is betting big on consumers' shift to digital entertainment, with music as one of the main attractions.
Sony's Phil Wiser said Sony Connect will reach non-computer users and be used to promote the breadth of Sony's portfolio, which includes record companies, movie studios and video games.
"The Apple approach is somewhat limited because it is a small portion of the potential market,'' Wiser said. "What Sony is going to do is broaden the market.''
Apple has opened about 80 retail stores worldwide to promote and sell its computer products. Sony is also opening a series of new Sony Style stores in the 10 top U.S. markets with a similar mission -- to showcase a select number of its newest products.
The newest Sony store opened Thursday at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. At 6,000 square feet, the Stanford outlet is smaller than two older, 20,000-square-foot Sony stores, one of them in San Francisco's Metreon Center.
As Apple has done with its stores, the new Sony Style outlet will host workshops to educate consumers about how to use its products, which range all the way up to $20,000 plasma TVs.
Some analysts question whether Sony will trip over itself as its content divisions -- which make movies and films -- insist on ways to control or limit technologies that deliver that content to consumers.
"The hardware itself is gorgeous,'' said technology analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group. "The problem is they are a company at war with itself. So because they want to own everything, they end up owning nothing.''
Apple officials weren't immediately available for comment on Sony's new iPod-style products.
But Doherty said he believes Apple and Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs have "several things in the fire'' to keep Sony's Walkman from outrunning the iPods.
"No one on the planet dares ignore Steve Jobs,'' Doherty said. Consumer electronics-makers like Sony and Panasonic have "a fear of what he sees that they've missed.''
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 10:07 PM |
|
|
|
| Sunday, July 04, 2004 |
|
Sun, July 4, 2004
Feel the heat from Hotmail
Bumps up storage to counter Gmail
By NOAH LOVE, Canadian Press
TORONTO -- Hotmail, the world's largest free e-mail server, may have saved itself from becoming the world's most obsolete e-mail server. With Google's hotly anticipated Gmail service set to arrive in the near future and offer users a free gigabyte of storage space, and Yahoo recently boosting its capacity to 100 megabytes, Microsoft's Hotmail has issued its own response. Starting this fall Hotmail users will get 250 megabytes of free storage -- up from two megabytes now -- and this summer they'll get virus scanning on incoming mail. Users will also be able to send and receive 10-megabyte attachments.
MARKET HAS CHANGED
Hotmail officials say the key was the virus scanning, but that they recognized storage was an issue.
"We're realistic that the market has changed," said Ruth D'Souza, director of marketing for MSN.ca.
"We don't want storage to be an issue, so we're offering users the kind of capacity they're coming to expect from the market."
In addition to the increased storage for free accounts, MSN will introduce Hotmail Plus. For $30 annually, customers will receive two gigabytes of space. Previously, if a Hotmail user wanted 100 megabytes of storage, it would have cost $60 a year.
With the latest move, MSN officials hope their customer base will stick to familiarity rather than switch to size and speed when Gmail hits the market later this year.
"We have over 170 million active (international) Hotmail users," said MSN marketing manager Lisa Daly. "We're the world's largest web-based free e-mail service. So we're constantly trying to listen to our customers to continue to innovate Hotmail."
Most of the innovations the company has offered in the last few years, like moderate storage upgrades and personalized e-mail addresses, have only been available with the minimum service upgrade that cost $19.95 a year.
But now, Gmail hype is sweeping through Internet message boards and news sites, and it's hard to find any criticism of the new service's interface among users getting an advance look.
"It absolutely destroys Hotmail in terms of speed and layout," said a Kingston, Ont.-based web designer on a message board.
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 11:00 PM |
|
|
|
| Saturday, July 03, 2004 |
|
Searching for the Perfect OS
By Leander Kahney
02:00 AM Jul. 02, 2004 PT
It may sound idiotically simple, but according to technology's leading seer, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, searching for information -- not sorting it -- is the wave of the future.
At Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco this week, Jobs declared that searching for information on a hard drive, rather than sorting into files and folders, is the future of computing.
"We all have a million file folders and you can't find anything," Jobs said during his keynote speech introducing Tiger, the next iteration of Mac OS X, due next year.
"It's easier to find something from among a billion Web pages with Google than it is to find something on your hard disk," he added.
The solution, Jobs said, is a system-wide search engine, Spotlight, which can find information across files and applications, whether it be an e-mail message or a copyright notice attached to a movie clip. "We think it's going to revolutionize the way you use your system," Jobs declared.
In Jobs' scheme, the hierarchy of files and folders is a dreary, outdated metaphor inspired by office filing. In today's communications era, categorized by the daily barrage of new e-mails, websites, pictures and movies, who wants to file when you can simply search? What does it matter where a file is stored, as long as you can find it?
Take for example, Rael Dornfest, who has stopped sorting his e-mail. Instead of cataloging e-mail messages into neat mailboxes, Dornfest allows his correspondence to accumulate into one giant, unsorted inbox. Whenever Dornfest, an editor at tech publisher O'Reilly and Associates, needs to find something, he simply searches for it.
Apple is applying the same reasoning not just to e-mail, but to all the files stored on a hard drive. Microsoft also is touting a similar system-wide search engine in Longhorn, the next major version of Windows.
Jobs demonstrated Spotlight by finding a place-name reference in a PDF map, which the system had indexed in the background seconds after it had been downloaded from the Net.
As well as indexing the content of files, Spotlight also parses metadata: information about a file's type, size, date and kind, as well as the author, creation date and dozens of other parameters.
To track information as it comes in, the system will enable users to create smart folders that automatically archive new material corresponding to specified search terms.
Jobs showed Spotlight working in Apple's Mail application; a smart "Paris" folder archived messages with any mention of the French capital, and new messages would be added as they arrive.
"It's very, very simple, and it's a really effective way to find anything ... it automatically finds stuff you'd never find by hand," he said.
David Karger, a Computer Science professor at MIT, said search engines capable of searching the entire contents of a hard drive are long overdue.
"It's about time," he said. "It's not an exciting new idea. It's something that's been needed for a long time.... I do think it's ridiculous it's taken this long."
Karger, the head of MIT's Haystack project, an information management tool with an emphasis on search, noted that users can perform brute-force searches of hard drives, but they are painfully slow. He had no explanation why it has taken Apple and Microsoft so long. "This is one of the mysteries for me," he said. "It's not that hard and so obviously useful."
Karger predicted search will become central to computer interaction, but implementation will be key. "The question is whether it can be done easily enough," he said. "The devil is in the user interface details."
Ken Bereskin, Apple's director of Mac OS X product marketing, said Spotlight has been a couple of years in development -- before Panther -- and incorporates several complex system technologies. Bereskin said the system was inspired by the speedy search engine in iTunes, which instantly returns results as soon as the user starts typing: whether the match is in the song's title, album, genre or artist fields.
"We noticed that people just search all the time," he said. "We asked if that could be applied to everything: contacts, calendar, e-mail and the contents of your hard drive."
"Having powerful, system-wide search capabilities available will definitely change the way people use their computer," said Norbert Heger, co-founder of Objective Development and author of LaunchBar, an information management tool. "This is the No. 1 feedback we receive from our users. However, it won't make (the OS X) Finder redundant. People won't stop categorizing their information. That's marketing speech."
"If it's implemented well, Spotlight may become an extremely interesting technology," Heger said. "It's obvious that with the growing amount of data that's stored on today's computers, it becomes more and more important to have the means to search this plethora of information in an efficient manner."
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 2:10 AM |
|
|
|
| Friday, July 02, 2004 |
|
July 1, 2004
An Apple Rendezvous with the Outside
By Michael Singer
Keeping in line with its so-called "digital hub" vision, Apple Computer (Quote, Chart) issued new software that will let Macs and PCs find each other wirelessly.
The computer maker released a batch of software development kits (SDK) to allow its Rendezvous networking technology to communicate better with other operating systems like Windows 2000 and XP, Linux, Solaris and FreeBSD.
Rendezvous currently lets only Mac users share files over 802.11g networks. Now, Windows and Java developers can add Rendezvous service discovery to their applications, thus allowing them to participate in cross-platform file sharing over a wireless network.
The Windows preview release includes full link-local support that lets the PC discover advertised HTTP and FTP servers using Internet Explorer. The software also includes a printer setup wizard that will let PCs print to other Rendezvous-networked printers, including USB-shared printers connected by Apple's AirPort Extreme and its soon-to-be-released AirPort Express Base Station.
For POSIX platforms, including Linux, Solaris and FreeBSD, Apple is pointing developers to its mDNSResponder project from Darwin CVS to get the new POSIX-compatible mDNS Responder daemon (mdnsd).
"[The daemon] provides the same DNSServiceDiscovery API available on Mac OS X and Windows. Darwin also contains new support for doing Rendezvous service discovery from Java," Apple said on its download site.
Apple has been working fastidiously to network its devices with others. For example, AirPort Express lets Mac and PC users share a single DSL or cable broadband account with up to 10 simultaneous users and a single USB printer with multiple users.
The new Rendezvous technology is expected to be further developed as part of Apple's next-generation operating system (10.4x, code-named Tiger), which the company expects to bring to market in the first half of 2005. The upgrade includes 150 new features on the desktop and 200 new upgrades on the Tiger Server version.
In addition to wireless file sharing, Apple is adding several technologies in Tiger that will help enterprises support and transfer files from Microsoft's Windows NT platform. The improvements include support for SMB performance, SMB home directories and bridging tools to bring NT users to Kerberos.
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 3:13 AM |
|
|
|
|
|
Apple offers iTunes goody bag
By CNET News.com Staff
CNET News.com
July 1, 2004, 10:14 AM PT
Apple Computer on Thursday announced plans to celebrate its iTunes Music Store by giving away songs and other prizes, as the service nears the 100 million download mark.
Apple will give away fifty 20GB iPods, one to the purchaser of each 100,000th song downloaded between 95 million and 100 million songs. The number of songs downloaded from the online music shop is expected to cross the 95 million mark this week.
The person who downloads the 100 millionth song will get a 17-inch PowerBook notebook, a 40GB iPod and a gift certificate for 10,000 iTunes songs.
The service, which launched about 14 months ago, clocked 70 million song downloads in one year. Though it did not bring in a lot of money for Apple, iTunes marked out a place for the Cupertino, Calif.-based company in the highly competitive music-download industry.
However, the road to success has not been without setbacks. For instance, Apple's music giveaway deal with Pepsi fell flat, dashing its hopes of covering 100 million music downloads within one year of the launch.
Meanwhile, Sony late Wednesday announced it will begin selling this fall two hard-drive music players that, combined with its new music-download service, are aimed at unseating Apple.
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 3:12 AM |
|
|
|
| Thursday, July 01, 2004 |
|
Ten O'Clock Tech
Apple's Tiger Has A Powerful Nose
Arik Hesseldahl, 06.30.04, 10:00 AM ET
NEW YORK - If it's possible to search the Internet with the kind of precision that search engines like Google and Teoma.com provide, why has it always been so difficult to accurately search for what's in our own hard drives?
It almost makes you want to slap your head and say "duh!" And anyone else who was paying attention to this week's speech by Apple Computer (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) Chief Executive Steve Jobs may be thinking the same thing.
As part of his demonstration of several upcoming new features in Apple's forthcoming operating system (OS) upgrade, codenamed Tiger, Jobs unveiled a feature called Spotlight that acts like Google for hard drives, only a little bit more organized. It will be positioned directly in the upper-right hand corner of the screen.
Like the search function in the current version of the OS, Panther, users will see search results that begin as they type the first letter of their query into the search field. We found this feature to be distracting as files that appear in the results field change by the split-second as more letters are typed. Files that pop up among the results will launch their relevant applications directly when selected.
However, a few other search parameters have been added to the mix this time. If you have a fair idea of when you saved the file you're looking for, you can tell Tiger to search only among files saved over the course of the preceding week or day, for example. It will also let you search among specific file types, like documents or images, and hopefully even for documents created by specific applications.
This would be a great boon to many disorganized writers to be able to search for documents created only in Microsoft's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) Word. Indeed anyone who spends a great deal of time using only a few applications will remember what program they were using to create the file they're looking for.
Power users of the old Macintosh OS may remember that every application had a little code attached to every file called a "creator code," that could be found using a geeky tool called ResEdit. If you knew the creator code, the search function could be tasked to search only for files bearing that creator code. But getting to that level of granularity, which is an obvious need, should have been easy enough for beginners from the very start. In the new search Apple should make it a cinch for even the most novice user to search for the most common types of files based on their computer's applications.
From what we've seen so far, Apple is getting pretty close to this. The core of its search technology is something called the Metadata Indexing Engine. If you're unfamiliar with the term, metadata is data about data that helps in searching. If you're old enough you'll remember searching for library books using a cabinet of drawers called a card catalog. Metadata is the digital equivalent of that card catalog.
As it happens many applications on the Mac, like Word, and Adobe Systems' (nasdaq: ADBE - news - people ) Photoshop produce a heap of searchable metadata with every file they create. Apple's new search function grabs this data transparently as new files are created and dumps it into an up-to-date index. This is a welcome change from previous indexing schemes.
Longtime Mac users may also remember a previous indexing effort that would get in the way. The old finder would have to more or less take control of the machine for several hours at a time to scan the contents of the hard drive and update its index. We remember on more than a few occasions actively starting the indexing function on a Friday night, going away for the weekend, only to see the indexer still running on Sunday.
One particularly good sign is that Apple has opened up the metadata search capabilities embedded within the OS to software developers so that they can use it to enhance their own applications, so even if Apple doesn't specifically put a search field in Spotlight that says "Search only for Microsoft Word files," then Microsoft itself can make build its own plug-in for Spotlight or somehow use the capability form within Word.
Tiger won't be available until sometime in the first half of 2005 and will sell for $129. We're betting it will be ready in time for Jobs' next big appearance at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco in January.
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 11:11 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
Oracle to offer 10g tools to Apple developers
By Matt Hines
CNET News.com
June 30, 2004, 9:45 AM PT
Oracle detailed plans to release new programming tools for Apple Computer's MacOS X operating system on Wednesday.
As expected, the company said it would release a version of its JDeveloper 10g and Database 10g programming tools designed to work with Apple's latest operating system later this year. The Redwood Shores, Calif., company says the tools will help Apple programmers better tap into Oracle's JDeveloper software framework and visual development systems, which are based on Sun Microsystems' J2EE technology.
Announced simultaneously at Apple's and Sun's developer conferences, both this week in San Francisco, Oracle cited the news as further proof of its commitment to Apple's technology. Executives at the company have also revealed plans to offer Apple developers access to similar programming tools for its Oracle Application Server 10G, before 2005.
Earlier this week, Apple revealed details about Tiger, the upcoming upgrade of Mac OS X, and its server version, both slated to arrive early next year. Apple also promised a new version of the company's Xcode developer tools.
The Tiger incarnation of Mac OS X Server will include the 1.0 version of Xgrid, Apple's clustering software, and broader support for 64-bit applications. Thus far, Apple developers have expressed little anxiety over the fact that Tiger won't be released until next year, since the company plans to release a software development kit to allow programmers to start working with the software's underlying code.
|
| posted by Perimbean @ 1:33 AM |
|
|
|
|
|
