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| Thursday, September 23, 2004 |
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Apple vs. Apple: Perfect harmony?
As eager Macintosh developers waited for Steve Jobs to speak, the familiar strains of "Magical Mystery Tour" filled the darkened hall at an Apple Computer conference in June.
A buzz arose in the San Francisco hall. Did it mean Apple Computer had finally settled its trademark litigation with Apple Corps, the company founded by the Beatles? Was Apple's CEO about to announce a historic alliance between his iTunes music store and the surviving members of the Fab Four?
The answer was no, and music industry sources say recent rumors of an incipient settlement are equally unfounded. But Apple watchers eager to see such a pact remain hopeful.
Music industry sources have said representatives of the surviving Beatles are at last discussing ideas for digital distribution with online companies but are asking for as much as $15 million for six months of exclusive rights to the music. That high price has some observers betting that Apple Computer might be the only company ready to pay, particularly if the payment comes attached to a legal settlement in which millions of dollars are already changing hands.
"In a market where differentiation is hard to come by, any means of differentiation is going to help," said Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg. "It would not surprise me if, as a part of a (legal) arrangement, they would come up with some kind of deal for the store."
Attorneys for both sides declined to comment on the status of the case. Apple Computer reiterated its previous statement on the issue, saying the two companies "have differing interpretations of this agreement and will need to ask a court to resolve this dispute."
The latest round of speculation stems from a report in Hollywood trade magazine Daily Variety last week that a deal between Apple Computer and Apple Corps might be near and that one legal source expected it to be the "biggest settlement anywhere in legal history."
However, music industry sources call that report baseless.
Legal experts separately question whether the settlement would really be among the largest non-class-action settlements, as Variety reported.
"I would take that proposition with a big grain of salt," said Lee Bromberg, an intellectual-property lawyer and founding partner at Boston-based law firm Bromberg & Sunstein. "I can't imagine it is going to be the biggest settlement we've ever heard of."
The trademark litigation between Apple Computer and Apple Corps could conceivably stretch on for many more months, or even years, legal experts said.
The Beatles' business operation sued Jobs' company a year ago, more than a decade after the computer company paid more than $26 million to settle the first trademark lawsuit with Beatles representatives. That settlement included an agreement that laid out the respective ways each company could use the Apple name. The release of iTunes had violated that agreement, Apple Corps contends.
According to a recent court decision quoting the 1991 settlement agreement, the Beatles were given the right to use the Apple name wherever their songs were involved and on "any current or future creative works whose principal content is music." However, Apple Computer was allowed to use its brand on "goods or services...used to reproduce, run, play or otherwise deliver such content," as long as it was not on physical media such as a CD.
The idea that Apple might pair any settlement with a deal to bring the Beatles to iTunes is seen as a natural for Jobs, who is an avowed Beatles fan. Jobs has been known to feature the band's music when demonstrating Apple products, and the company included songs from two Beatles CDs on the iPod devices it gave to reporters when the music player debuted in 2001.
But money could be a sticking point no matter what the size of a settlement in the trademark lawsuit.
According to sources in the online music business, representatives of the Beatles have talked to a handful of digital music companies about exclusive rights to the Fab Four's music, for a limited time period. One idea floated has been to create an online ministore for the band, where song downloads might share digital shelf space with DVDs, videos and interviews.
Apple does not create separate Web-based stores, but it has created a separate category for Disney works inside the iTunes store. Some industry insiders have speculated that if the Beatles want "premium" treatment, Apple could similarly create a separate, high-profile category for the band. And although the computer company doesn't yet sell videos or DVDs, it does offer spoken word content, such as interviews, through a partnership with Audible.
Preliminary discussions across the online music industry have not gone far, however. Companies from Microsoft down have decided that the price on such a Beatles deal--which some have said has ranged as high as $25 million--was too steep.
Even a $15 million payment to Apple Corps would be difficult for a digital music company to recoup quickly. Songs that sell for 99 cents online typically require about 75 cents in payments to the associated music labels and music publishers. Nearly 15 cents typically goes for overhead, leaving online song stores with a margin of about 10 cents per song at best.
That would require a store to sell 150 million songs to break even on a $15 million payment to Apple Corps--a steep goal, even if the deal was ultimately responsible for a blitz of publicity.
But of course, it may all depend on how big a Beatles fan Jobs really is.
"That may, in fact, be a big driver to a settlement in this case," Bromberg said, but he cautioned that Jobs may want to curb his enthusiasm. "If he looks too eager on that score, it's going to cost him."
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| posted by Perimbean @ 6:00 PM |
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| Saturday, September 18, 2004 |
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Apple’s GenNext iMac here to stay
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 17: Welcome to ‘‘Name That Apple!’’ For 100 points — It’s a compact rectangular slab that plays great-sounding music from a built-in hard drive. The front is shiny white acrylic with a screen at the top. The corners and edges of the back panel are gently rounded. Name that Apple!
Bzzzzzt! No, I’m sorry, ‘‘iPod’’ is not the answer we were looking for. The correct answer is: ‘‘the new iMac G5’’.
Jonathan Ive, Apple’s chief designer, has made the new iMac look a lot like his iPod design. The new desktop computer was clearly designed to send a message to the world’s four million iPod fans: ‘‘If you think our music player is great, you should check out our computers’’.
The most striking aspect of the new iMac, which is trickling into stores this week, is that its guts are completely concealed inside the tilting 17- or 20-inch flat screen. Only a thin anodized aluminium foot touches your desk. The overall effect is very attractive.
Nonetheless, the new design isn’t nearly as radical a breakthrough as the first iMac (that translucent, colorful, all-in-one egg) or the second one (floating screen, white dome-shaped base).
Apple’s chief, Steve Jobs, has gone on record as loathing the noise made by computer fans. Considering the heat generated by its 1.6- or 1.8-gigahertz G5 processor, the iMac’s silence is quite an achievement.
Truth is, Apple really muffed only one detail: even the top-of-the-line model comes with only 256 megabytes of memory. That’s typical for consumer computers these days, but on a creative powerhouse like the Macintosh, it’s not enough.
Programmes like Apple’s creative suite (iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, GarageBand and so on, all included) and Adobe Photoshop can run in 256 megs, but only barely; programmes like Microsoft’s new Virtual PC 7, which lets most Windows programs run on the Mac, don’t open at all. In all cases, you’re missing out on the speed potential of the iMac’s G5 chip.
If you intend to buy this computer, therefore, consider an upgrade to at least 512 megabytes a nonnegotiable extra ($75 installed by Apple, $50 to do it yourself).
If Apple succeeds in luring iPod fans into the cult of Mac, the feature that will ultimately make them happiest has nothing to do with quiet fans or thin power cords. In the long run, they’ll benefit most from the iMac’s stealth feature: Mac OS X. Not only is this operating system rock-solid and, for a first-timer, much easier to understand than Windows, so far it’s also 100 per cent free from viruses, spyware and all the grief that comes with them.
Apple’s slogan for the new iMac is ‘‘From the creators of the iPod’’. From a certain perspective, it’s a little depressing that this is how Apple chooses to bill itself, but on the other hand, the marketers have a valid point — anyone who’s captivated by the iPod should try a Macintosh.
The iMac models’ prices range from $1,300 (17-inch screen, 80-gigabyte hard drive) to $1,900 (20-inch screen, DVD burner, faster chip, 160-gig drive). That’s less expensive than comparably equipped guts-behind-screen PC’s like the Gateway Profile 5 (which costs $125 more). Sony’s V310P costs $50 less than the G5, but has only a 15-inch screen.
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| posted by Perimbean @ 7:00 AM |
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| Friday, September 17, 2004 |
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Apple updates Apple Store Hot Deals, more
Apple's Hot Deals Web site links to Mac hardware and software retailers including Apple's own online Apple Store. That store has offers on reconditioned Apple products including iPods, iBooks and more. What's more, catalog retailer ClubMac is offering Canon's PowerShot A400 Digital Camera, Sceptre's X20G-NAGA II 20-inch flat panel display and more. Electronics superstore J&R lists Aspyr Media's Battlefield 1942 Deluxe Edition, Epson Stylus CX5400 all-in-one device and more, while CompUSA advertises Sony's H373/BT 17-inch flat panel display with $50 rebate, Adobe Photoshop Elements with $30 rebate and more.
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| posted by Perimbean @ 8:00 PM |
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| Tuesday, September 07, 2004 |
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Jobs offered to let Sony into iTunes, report says
To counter Microsoft's planned entry into the digital-music market, Apple Computer offered to sign a strategic agreement with Sony, according to a Sept. 2 report in Japanese daily Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun, which quotes sources from Sony.
According to the sources, Apple CEO Steve Jobs made his offer to Nobuyuki Idei, head of Sony, in January during a golf tournament organized by the Japanese company in Hawaii. Apple, it seems, was ready to open up its iTunes Music Store and make the song downloads there compatible with Sony's digital-music players.
Apple and Sony representatives declined to comment.
Apple has been reluctant to provide licenses to companies seeking compatibility between their digital-music products and iPod, much to the chagrin of other players in the sector. In July, RealNetworks drew strong protests from Apple on the launch of its Harmony software, which allows people to play songs bought from its store on the iPod and other players. The technology, which effectively recreates Apple's proprietary copy protection technology, was released without Apple's permission.
However, Apple has signed up Hewlett-Packard, which released an HP-branded clone of the iPod in August. And in the mobile space, Apple licensed its technology to phone maker Motorola to enable some handsets to play iTunes downloads.
Microsoft's music downloads, on the other hand, can be read by a far larger number of music players. Last week, Microsoft released a beta version of its online music download service, MSN Music, which lets people download tracks onto PC hard drives and onto portable devices that support the Windows Media digital audio format.
Sony has launched its own download service, Sony Connect, hoping to repeat the success of the iPod and iTunes by pairing the service with its digital music player, the Network Walkman NW-HD1. But the Walkman-branded music player and the service both depend on Sony's proprietary Atrac technology, and Sony is unlikely to want to loosen its grip. It also has a tool called Sonic Stage that lets users convert nonprotected MP3, WMA and WAV files into the Atrac format.
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| posted by Perimbean @ 9:00 PM |
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| Saturday, September 04, 2004 |
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Apple Expo - Attendees Mixed if iMac G5 is The Complete Solution
PARIS, FRANCE - Attendees at Apple Expo in Paris are impressed at the look of the new iMac G5, but mixed on whether it's the right solution for their needs. An unscientific sampling of people mainly from Europe showed the wide variety of needs and desires of Mac users.
"I like it's look," said Edmond Berkeley of Germany. "Now I have to figure out if it's got the features I want for the price." Mr. Berkeley echoed many sentiments about the new iMac, that features such as hard drive size, amount of memory and other additional options will be a deciding factor in which model they buy, or if they buy the iMac at all.
"I'm disappointed AirPort isn't standard," commented Frenchman Jean Pierre Dumon. "They are such big proponents of wireless access, but then they don't make it standard equipment. I'll add it on, but I think it should become a standard feature."
Many people The Mac Observer spoke with in the Apple booth agreed with Mr. Dumon. The majority of people thought it should be included in the price and that the additional US$79 for an AirPort Extreme Card was a reasonable price, but not something they should have to add.
"I'm concerned I've got to add so much to equal a Windows PC or make it even equal to my existing, older iMac," said Kevin Ackart of France. "I've got to add more RAM because it only has 256MB. I've got to add a bigger hard drive. I've got to Add AirPort for Wi-Fi. That's going to tack a lot on to my price. That doesn't make me too happy. But i like the look, for sure."
But Anne-Laure Alvord of Spain thought the 20-inch, 1.8GHz iMac G5 was perfect for her with no additions. "I like it just the way it is," she said. "It's just what I'd expect a Mac to look like with its clean lines." When asked if the applications she normally uses might need or work better with more than 256MB of RAM, she said, "Well maybe, but I feel comfortable enough to add my own memory if it comes down to that."
"I really like the 20-inch model, " said Cedric Maole of Italy. "It looks cool and is big enough in terms of hard drive space and display size. I'll be buying one, but increasing the memory."
Of the 21 people TMO spoke with visiting the Apple booth, all agreed the new iMac G5 should come with 512MB of memory as standard. "How come Windows PCs can include 512MB of RAM, but a Mac can't?" said Mr. Dumon. "Everyone knows the more memory you have, the better things run."
But for the most part, all attendees thought the iMac G5 was a pleasant and powerful successor to the first flat-panel iMac that will be a consumer hit with most.
"This isn't going to be the next 'Mac Cube'," commented Ms. Alvord, referring to the consumer Mac that was not a popular iMac alternative a number of years ago.
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| posted by Perimbean @ 8:00 PM |
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| Wednesday, September 01, 2004 |
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Apple's iMac is no longer flagship product
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
The last time Apple Computer Inc. introduced an all-new iMac computer, back in January 2002, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs was featured smiling with the desktop on the cover of Time magazine. In order to give the iMac maximum exposure, Mr. Jobs even changed the date of the computer's unveiling to coincide with the publication of the Time story.
But Tuesday, when Apple revealed its first new iMac in more than two years, there were no splashy magazine covers. Mr. Jobs, who is recovering from cancer surgery, wasn't there to promote the new flat-panel desktop. While Apple heralded the machine as a "breakthrough," the company didn't bother to have a live Webcast of the event, which took place in Paris at an Apple Expo conference.
The low-key unveiling highlights how much Apple has now moved beyond what was once its flagship product. After Mr. Jobs returned to head up Apple in 1997, he worked to revive the then-floundering company by revamping its computer lineup. The first fruit of his efforts was the iMac, an all-in-one desktop computer that made its debut in 1998. The machine quickly caught the public's imagination with its ease of use and distinctive candy-colored designs, helping to rebuild the Cupertino, Calif., company's reputation as a maker of user-friendly computers and innovative technology designs.
Computers still remain Apple's key revenue source, but the company's business and product strategy has since evolved away from the iMac. Indeed, sales of the computer peaked in the quarter ended in late December 1999.
Apple now relies heavily on its portable laptops, such as the iBook and PowerBook, which formed more than 50 percent of the company's computer revenue in its last quarter. Graphic designers and other professionals favor high-end models, such as the Power Mac G5, which are easy to upgrade with accessory hardware.
What's more, Apple is increasingly focused on its faster growing business of digital music, which includes the white-hot iPod music player and the online iTunes Music Store.
Still, the iMac makes a statement for Apple. Apple designers spend years finessing the shape and style of the machine. Greg Joswiak, an Apple vice president of hardware product marketing, says the iMac remains "very important" for the company because the desktop "fulfills the brand promise of Apple, which is elegance and simplicity."
Mr. Joswiak also acknowledges Apple is "obviously a very different company" today than at the iMac's inception. At the height of the iMac's popularity in 1999, more than 700,000 units of the computer were sold a quarter, but sales have since leveled off at around 250,000 units a quarter. In the last quarter, the iMac was just 11 percent of Apple's revenue, making it the smallest sales contributor out of the company's computer portfolio.
Indeed, in a sign of how little Apple now relies on the iMac, the company was barely affected recently after it botched the computer's latest introduction. In July, Apple announced that it had to delay shipping the new iMac until this month, two months later than originally planned and well after it expected to run out of existing iMacs.
The setback, attributed primarily to manufacturing problems at International Business Machines Corp., which supplies Apple with the PowerPC G5 microprocessors used inside the iMac, meant Apple had no new low-end desktop during most of the crucial back-to-school shopping season. Despite the slip-up, Apple forecast strong earnings for the quarter.
The new iMac is already causing ripples, however, with its unusual design. The computer -- a screen with the innards of the computer cleverly tucked behind it -- is less than two inches thick, with speakers mounted underneath the monitor to reflect sound off of the desktop, and a neat row of ports for cables at the back. It is more powerful than its predecessor -- using a G5 chip compared with the previous G4 chip -- and does away with the half-moon-shaped base that formed the foundation of the previous generation of iMacs. The machine was designed by Apple industrial designer Jonathan Ive and his team, who also created the look of the iPod. Indeed, the new iMac bears a striking resemblance to the iPod.
That similarity is no accident. Apple, which will start shipping three models of the new iMac in mid-September, is aiming to convert iPod buyers into purchasers of the iMac, which, like all Apple computers, uses the proprietary Macintosh operating system.
In the past, the company has anecdotally noted how owners of its iPod, which works with both Macintosh machines and computers that use rival Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software, have become more interested in acquiring Macintosh computers after using an iPod. The iMac is calculated to capitalize on that trend.
Apple also is hoping the iMac will convince its existing Macintosh users to upgrade from their current Apple computers to the new desktop, especially as the key end-of-year holiday shopping season approaches. To expedite that process, Apple has built in a migration tool for the first time into its computer, allowing a user to transfer data and information from an old Macintosh into the new iMac through a FireWire cable.
The price could be a hurdle for some consumers. Apple is pricing its new iMac line at between $1,299 and $1,899, compared with between $1,299 and $2,199 that it charged for the previous generation of machines. While buyers will now get more for their money -- the new iMac's $1,299 model comes with a 17-inch screen as well as the G5 chip, versus the older iMac's 15-inch screen and a G4 chip, for example -- the iMac is still priced far more expensively than some Windows-based machines, which can cost just $800.
"Once the new iMac gets through its first burst of interest, will it really sell? That's the big question," says Steve Baker, an analyst at NPD TechWorld.
Apple's Mr. Joswiak says the iMac has a lot of appeal, particularly because of its design elements, including its thinness and quietness. The machine's noise level is at 25 decibels, lower than the previous iMac's 28 decibels and quieter than a whisper, he says.
The computer is kept cool by three different cooling zones inside all of its machinery. Unlike one general cooling mechanism that is generally found inside most computers, the three zones inside the iMac are designed to cool certain portions of the machine, allowing the fans to run more slowly and quietly, Mr. Joswiak says.
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| posted by Perimbean @ 10:00 AM |
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The supercomputer that fits into a screen just two inches thin
By Charles Arthur
01 September 2004
They used to fill entire floors of buildings and were so costly only governments or large companies could afford them.
Yesterday, Apple Computer showed just how far technology has come when it unveiled the new version of its iMac computer, squeezing the machine behind a 2in-thick flat screen that appears to hover above the desktop.
The iMac G5, named for the chip powering it, will be available from the middle of this month, said Phil Schiller, Apple's head of marketing, who demonstrated the machine at a show in Paris. "With the entire system, including a 17in or 20in display, just two inches thin, a lot of people will be wondering, 'Where did the computer go?'" Mr Schiller said.
And the price has shrunk, too. Starting at £919, the new iMac is cheaper than its predecessor, which was phased out in July.
And in historical terms, it has as much processing power as a Cray-2 supercomputer of 1985, which could manage about a billion calculations per second ("gigaflops") but required a cooling tower, measured 1.3m across, and cost £6m apiece.
Apple expects that iMac G5 buyers will be the same household and small business buyers who made its blue gumdrop-shaped iMac a hit in 1997.
That turned the company's fortunes around and made its designer, the British-born Jonathan Ive, a star among his peers.
Side-on, the new iMac looks like a giant sibling to the company's iPod digital music players, floating above the desktop on a sturdy aluminium stand on which the screen can pivot. But it is also weighty: the machine weighs 18lbs (8.2kg), packing in a hard drive, up to two gigabytes of RAM, a DVD-burning drive, the power supply, and wireless networking.
But yesterday, Apple concentrated on its elegance. "If you use a wireless keyboard and mouse, you only have to plug one wire in, the power," Mr Schiller said.
* Five million tracks have been downloaded through Apple's online European iTunes music store in the 10 weeks since it opened on 15 June, the company said.
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| posted by Perimbean @ 7:27 AM |
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