9to5 Staff

As Apple prepares for its iPhone announcement this week, the company appears close to inking deals to introduce its product across many additional European territories.

iPhone is presently only available in the UK, France and Germany; now the company is nearing deals to offer it in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland (done), Italy and Spain – even the Nordics might get some love.  Lithuania and Denmark? sure!

Fresh reports claim the iPhone will launch in Switzerland on April 4. The Apple device will be made available exclusively from Swisscom.  Keep in mind, Hardmac had a very similar (actually much better) fake last time.

Benoit Scheen, chief of Belgian’s second-largest mobile network Mobistar, last month said he hoped to reach a distribution deal with Apple for iPhone distribution this year. Next door in the Netherlands, KPN has recently been identified as Apple’s likely network partner.

iPhone is expected to be made available through T-Mobile in Austria and O2 in Ireland, with the Irish launch scheduled for March 14. Italy (with Telecom Italia) and Spain (with Telefonica) are reportedly also close to launch.

Apple has also been in talks with DoCoMo, KDDI and Softbank and Softbank to agree a Japanese launch of the product, though it remains unclear which of the three operators has won the prize.

The company’s chief operating office Tim Cook last week said Apple “is not wedded” to an exclusive arrangement in order to launch the product in every territory it wants to penetrate.

Apple continues to experiment with its business model. France’s LeFigaro claims electronics retailer FNAC is in discussion to distribute the iPhone through its network of French shops. That’s similar to Apple’s UK deal with Carphone Warehouse to widen availability of the device..

All these tidbits may go some way to explaining Apple CEO Steve Jobs’s seeming public absence since Macworld Expo. He’s instrumental to any final deal with mobile phone networks.

(yes we know the image is faaake – even more fake than their last one!!)

Silicon allley is reporting that that Citigroup analyst Richard Gardner went to Taiwan and got the scoop on the 3G iPhones and their delivery date.  Nevermind that iPhones are assembled in the mainland … he works for a bank people!

Even so, we think he is right.  I’ve been saying 3G iPhone in May since 1983.

In a major digital music announcement, Warner Music last night made its music available free of DRM in Europe – but not on iTunes.  We reported on this possibility yesterday.

Warner and other major labels continue to drum up interest in legal digital music service other than iTunes in an attempt to boost their hand in convincing Apple to move away from its fixed price format for music.

This industry in-fighting has been good news for UK digital music service, 7 Digital, (www.7digital.com) which is now the first European service to offer Warner Music’s catalogue DRM-free through its stores in the UK, Ireland, Spain, France and Germany. Warner already offers DRM-free content to US audiences through Amazon’s MP3 store.

iPod users needn’t worry – they can take advantage of 7 Digital’s launch offer, in which selected Warner Music albums are being sold in MP3 format for £5 each.

The race is now on in the UK, with 7 Digital now edging ahead of Apple’s iTunes Plus service in offering tracks free of DRM. Unlike iTunes, which boasts content from EMI and most indie labels, the rival service now boast 80 per cent of its 3.5 million tracks are now sold DRM-free.

Remember when we reported on Myspace doing a deal with Amazon in the music area and you were like SFW?  Well, the two more elite brands in music (iTunes)  and social networking (Facebook) have now paired off for a new joint venture.  We know, SFW.

FWIW…According to Facebook, 100 artists have already set-up up profiles  These types of economies of scales deals are usually pretty good for everyone’s bottom line.  Hopefully Apple can slang some more iTunes and Facebook can keep people from defecting. 

Update: Looks like Myspace is building a iPhone Native app with the SDK so the lines are a bit blurry.

Meh.

According to the site:

Music is now on Facebook.

Join thousands of bands and music artists all over the world who are using Facebook to connect with fans and spread their music.

If you are a musician or in a band, create your own free Page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

Products:   

A Facebook Page is a free, flexible, easy-to-build presence that lets your band interact with our users in new ways:
– Send updates about tours and concerts
– Showcase new releases and post your discography
– Add Facebook Music Player to stream your music and post buy links
– Sell tickets and merchandise
– Engage fans with rich media and streaming video
-Import photos from concerts anywhere in the world
– Let your content spread virally through user interactions with your Page, and be discovered

Become a fan of this Page and get updates about all the new features we’re adding to Music on Facebook.

The news no one at Apple wants to hear?  The new entry level MacBook might be slower than the old one.  According to Primate Labs Blog, that might be true.  The low power Penryn, was more or less forced on Apple by Intel but does offer significant benefits in terms of power consumption and heat dispacement.

The real culprit, according to the blog (and common sense) is the lowering of the level 2 cache on the entry level Penryn processors from 4mb to 3mb.  While the higher end processor also got 1Mb of level 2 cache lopped off, the processor speed makes up the difference.:

Despite having a slightly faster processor, the smaller L2 cache of the Penryn processors means the base MacBook (Early 2008) is slower than the base MacBook (Late 2007). If you’re considering buying a base MacBook, you might want to shop around and see if you can snag an old one rather than a new one.

Of course, the high-end MacBook (Early 2008) is faster than the high-end MacBook (Late 2007); it seems the increase in processor frequency is enough to overcome the smaller L2 cache in this case.

Overall the new MacBooks, like the new MacBook Pros, don’t feel like an incredibly compelling upgrade. Sure, the MacBook Pro has a multi-touch trackpad, but the MacBooks don’t and sure, the new Penryn processors are cooler and use less power, but at an apparent hit in performance.

If you do want to buy an "old" one, Amazon has them for a limited time and they are marked down considerably ($919!).

One of the big news items today is that the MacBook Air is selling out at Apple Stores, at Best Buys and online.  The natural tendancy of the Mac community is to be elated that the devices are selling out and hard to find.

Not to be party poopers, but there are two sides to the supply and demand model here, and no where in any of the reports does anyone do any investigation into parts shortages, logistics issues or other factors that would be holding Apple back from delivering its products to customers that want them.  Just a few weeks ago, many were saying (ironically Ars is also today saying it is selling well – I guess you CAN have your cake and eat it too!) that the MacBook Air was selling poorly.

Another device that is having similar "success"…

The Amazon Kindle, a great product in its own right, but by no means a blockbuster, is also "selling out".  Amazon is able to keep up with demand but only ever so closely.  And speaking of Amazon, they’ve discounted the Air by $55

Look, we hope the MacBook Air is selling way beyond everyone’s wildest expectations.  But, to be able to quantify that, we’ll need to see some real numbers. 

Who would’ve thunk it?  Even with the 1.8 inch hard drive and supersmall processor, the MacBook Air swiftly kicked the backsides of the three closest competitors in C|Net’s Lenovo ThinkPad X300 review.  In the tests, the Lenovo Thinkpad X300 with 1.2 Ghz processor went up against the Apple MacBook Air (1.6GHz), Toshiba Portege R500-S5003(1.2GHz) and the HP Compaq 2710p(1.2GHz).

Lenovo smartly shipped their demo units with Windows XP.  One has to wonder how horribly clunky this thing runs with Vista.  Ouchy.

Speed test results:

Warner Music plans to invigorate its deals with European online music stores, extending DRM-free downloads to additional store fronts in an emulation of its existing deal with Amazon in the US.

While the truth’s murky, industry sources warn that a "major announcement" involving Warner Music’s plans to offer DRM-free downloads in Europe is likely to emerge early this week, perhaps Tuesday.

That the music label seems set to reveal its plans on Apple’s traditional Tuesday news refresh date suggests that Warner may introduce DRM-free downloads through the iTunes Plus service.

However, such speculation carries risk: Warner has deliberately only permitted DRM-free downloads through Amazon in the US, reflecting major label attempts to promote online music services alternative to iTunes.

Apple last week revealed iTunes has become the second-largest US music retailer, with analysts expecting the company will overtake current incumbent, Wal-Mart, this year.

Warner’s strategy for DRM-free downloads may yet see the label offer up songs through local European music services other than iTunes.

Update: Yep

Apple will introduce mobile Internet devices later this year based on the newly christened Intel Atom processors.

This follows Intel’s announcement of its new generation of small processors designed specifically for such devices, the Atom family (They’re creepy and they’re cooky). This is Intel’s new name for its Silverthorne and Diamondville processors. Intel’s Menlow ultramobile platform has been renamed the Centrino Atom.

Intel has created the Atom processor family for deployment in low-cost, Internet-ready mobile computing devices. They are also anticipated to appear in new ‘thin-client" computers, designed to exploit the growing trend among major developers Adobe and Microsoft to introduce new applications based on software as a service models.

Atom processors are based on an entirely new microarchitecture designed for small. low-powered devices. This processor family also keeps the Intel Core 2 Duo instruction set. The low power, 25mm, multi-thread supporting chips are manufactured using 45-nanometer processes and run at up to 1.8GHz.

"This is our smallest processor built with the world’s smallest transistors," said Intel Executive Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Sean Maloney. "This small wonder is a fundamental new shift in design, small yet powerful enough to enable a big Internet experience on these new devices. We believe it will unleash new innovation across the industry."

It’s believed Apple will use the new Atom family of processors in devices it intends introducing in late 2008.

Apple’s next generation iMacs might not just be Penryn updates as speculated earlier.  If they are one of the first  computers to recieve the  Intel Eaglelake motherboard (which support Penryns), they could also have some Blu Ray configurations as well.  Some of the specs of this board, set to be released Q2 of 2008:

• Yorkfield & Wolfdale Support
• FSB 1333
• DDR3 1333 or DDR2 800
• Intel® Clear Video technology
• HD-DVD/Blu-Ray support
• Integrated HDMI/DVI /DisplayPort
• ICH10 Family

When will we see these possible iMac udates?  Eaglelake is expected in Q2 2008.  Apple, however is known to get some Intel technology before it is widely deployed.

Apple’s iMac hasn’t been updated since the Aluminum enclosure made its debut on August 7th 2007.

Hidden in among Apple’s chief operating officer Tim Cook’s speech to the Goldman Sachs Technology Investment Symposium was a critical barometer of Apple’s success – Apple beat Dell in laptop sales in the US higher education market.
While most reports focused on Cook’s optimism as regards iPhone sales this year, the executive also told analysts: "We just received word on Monday that Apple surpassed Dell as the number one supplier of portables to US higher education for 2007," Cook claimed.

"The ceiling for the Macs is nowhere in sight. Even if the market itself isn’t growing, for us, switching Windows users is an enormous opportunity," Cook also added.

This is a critical metric for Apple, which once dominated computing on college campuses.

In October 2007, analyst Toni Sacconaghi Jr. of Bernstein Research noted Apple to hold 29 per cent of the US market for notebooks in the most expensive fifth of the market, up from 8 per cent three years before that. In education, Apple took 46 per cent in the top tier slice of the market, the analyst explained.

In Europe, Apple seized the top spot in the education market in 2006, grabbing 15.2 per cent market share (desktop and laptop sales). In the last third quarter of 2007, Apple’s director of EMEA education markets, Herve Marchet, confirmed it took 19.6 per cent marketshare in Europe’s education sector.

Cook’s claims remain anecdotal at this point, as neither Garner nor IDC have yet publically released figures detailing Apple’s slice of the US education market, but it’s unlikely the Apple executive would deliberately mislead Goldman Sachs.

Is Apple going to upgrade the processors and hard drives on the Aluminum iMac in the coming weeks? 

Clues:

• Apple is currently offereing up to $400 off of the refurbished Aluminum iMacs.  
• MacNotes.de, a German site thinks it will be this week
• Intel is trying to phase out the Merom procssors that the current iMacs have (see MacBook Updates) for Penryns
• iMacs use the same class of processors as the MacBook/Pros.
• Apple is on an update tear lately with something, howver small, every week.  The SDK might be next weeks goodie but how long can they go without throwing a processor update at the iMac?

So if you can wait a bit (and resist the $400 off refurb) on purchasing an iMac, you might be rewarded with some better specs.

Changewave’s latest report gives some very interesting numbers for the iPhone in the business market:

1. Apple is the number two manufacturer in the planned purchases category (ahead of Nokia (this must be US-centric), Palm, Samsung and Motorola) and already has 5% of the business market. 
2. Apple leads (59%) the very satisfied category in their survey by double digit numbers and kills Palm and Windows Mobile devices (10-30% very satisfied).
3. While RIM currently is the market leader by huge numbers, its recent outages and declining satisfaction ratings are leaving a big question mark in the business landscape – one that Apple is hoping to exploit.

All of this makes the March 6th event, which promises some enterprise announcements, all that more exciting for Apple and its (future?) customers.

Amazon discounted the MacBook Air to $1744 (after $50 rebate) today.  The MacBook Air has been in Amazon’s Best selling electronics page since its release (it currently is at #17) so the markdown is obviously not because of slow sales.  It is the lowest price we could find anywhere.

Amazon is also offering large discounts on the last generation Apple MacBooks ($919 after $75 rebate) and Macbook Pros ($1544 after $150 rebate).  Since the latest changes were fairly minimal (in fact the older model Prros have MORE L2 Cache 4Mb vs 3Mb), it might be a good time to pick up a very slightly outdated machine at a very significant discount.  Rebates end March 11.

In other Amazon news, Time Capsule in both $299 500Gb  and 1Tb $499 models is now shipping.

Amazon.com is giving away free memory cards with purchase of their top-selling digital cameras. No digital SLRs, but some really nice point & shoots if you’re in the market.

The timing seems right for more iPhone countries to be announced at the iPhone SDK event next week.  Earlier we reported on Italy, Spain and Switzerland getting on board around the time of the SDK launch.  Recent rumors have also included Rogers in Canada, O2 in Ireland and Tmobile in Austria and possibly in the Netherlands.

Update: Ireland (O2) and Austria (Tmobile) by extension are officially on.

Adding fuel to the fire, Morgan Stanley is reporting that El Jobso has been getting some serious private jet time in over the past quarter – indicating he’s been doing some global traveling and possibly sealing some deals.

Interestingly, Tim Cook, COO of Apple, mentioned yesterday that Apple was open to exploring other models of iPhone distribution – rather than stick to their locked model.  This could lead the way to selling the iPhone unlocked in markets like China and India where the device has already proved itself popular amongst the 2+ billion consumers in those countries – even with out 3G.   He also mentiond the best way to fight unlockd iPhones is to opn up in the markets whre they are being unlocked.

It is turning out to be a very exciting week for th iPhone/iPod Touch platform…even without all of the new applications expectd to be announced.

Oh, and one last thing…it would be really nice to see Apple drop the prices on those iPhones and iPods right about now.  The price reduction – which would reflect the plummeting prices of Flash storage would really spur on device sales.

(Thanks to Roughly Drafted for the Photo)

AnandTech has taken a close look at the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros both inside and outside.  Their conclusion?  Not much to talk about.  The internals are almost exactly the same.  Same motherboards, same hardware save for new video chips and trackpad on the MacBook Pros and Penryns and RAM/HD configurations on both.

Alltogether kind of a small update from Apple.  In fact, the MacBook Pros haven’t been touched much over the past two years.  We expect much more from Apple at the WWDC 2008.  Perhaps even a *gasp* redesign. 

Table recreated below…

Apple today released information on the SDK event which was originally scheduled for February 26th. As predicted, the event will largely cover enterprise topics like Exchange and Lotus Notes synching.

We’ll also see some 3rd party goodness.  Our wishlist:

• Skype/SIP VoIP (fring?)
• Sling Client
• Some games durnit
• iChat (wtf)
• Emulators?  Apple II whynot?
• Official VNC Client
• etc etc etc

Finally!

Apple last night released the 1.1.4 iPhone firmware.  Early reports say that it is Jailbreakable via Zibri’s method but both Zibri and iJailbreak are telling people to hold off for a few days until they work out any bugs.

Us? Updated to 1.1.4 and trying out the different jailbreaks.  Zibri’s 2.4 works fine as far as we can tell.  We did get a weird error (pictured) but the iPhone works fine, upgrades, Installer.app, phone etc, all working…more to come…as we play with it.  We’re looking at the updated files of course.

UPDATE: Zibri 2.5 is out and supports iPhone 1.1.4 officially.

Also iNdependence 1.4Beta is out – which also supports 1.1.4