The figures are in and they confirm that iTunes remains the biggest US digital music retailer, with Amazon failing to grab too much of Apple’s digital music heartland.
NPD tells us AAPL’s iTunes took 66.2% of the digital music market in the third quarter of this year – that’s up from 63.2% in Q3 2009. Easy still beats free.
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Google is about to change the music economy, preparing to hand over huge amounts of cash to win rights to offer the music locker service it has been trying to build for Google Music. However, confused internal politics and music licensing complexity mean Google, just like Spotify and Apple, isn’t set to launch its service before the end of the year.
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Here’s an iPad clone from China, a full 9.7-inch affair based on the Freescale iMX515 hardware. It is powered by a 800MHz ARM Cortex A8 processor, 512MB DDRII memory and 4GB Flash. Oh yes, and it is Android-powred with 3G, Wi-Fi and a camera. Cost? Around $277 (in China). See? Same Same
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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4yApx5zyCk&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3]
OK, we’re excited to see this, even if it is just an ad. Adage says that it is the only iAd we’ll see on iPad this year. Next year we’ll see plenty more. On iAds, digital agencies are gushing about the quality even if it takes a lot of time and effort to bring the ads to fruition.
“I think as a media format it has the potential to surpass anything that has come before,” said Carrie Frolich, digital director at WPP unit MEC Global, which bought iAd inventory for Citi, AT&T, Chanel and Campbell Soup. “It delivers all the emotive qualities of television or video advertising with the interactivity of a website, plus the functionality of location and all the bells and whistles of Apple devices like the accelerometer.”
More from Adage:
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I can’t wait until my iPod touch/Mifi is my only phone. This is another step in that direction.
Google today announced Google Voice for iPad and iPod touch as well as some significant updates. No VoIP gateway yet, but you know it is coming.
What’s New in Version 1.1.0.636
* Support for iPod Touch
* iPod Touch and iPhone can now make calls using Click2Call
* Do Not Disturb setting
* Text forwarding is automatically disabled when registering for Push notifications
* Added Text forwarding setting to the app
* Easier to make calls from the phone Address Book
* Removed annoying OK dialog every time you send an SMS
* Fixed crashes caused by text messages that begin with a space character
* Fixed bug that caused the entire Inbox to load
* Fixed bug that caused Contact pictures to get mixed up
* Improved access to Contact groups
* Improved speed of Contact search
The Google Voice app is available to download from the Apple App Store today. You’ll need an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch with iOS 3.1 or later and a valid Google Voice account to use the app. At this time, Google Voice is available in the U.S. only.
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COMPUTERWORLD: If you thought Apple had a busy year in 2010, expect even more in 2011, when at least one analyst is expecting significant acquisitions, a move into 3D, the introduction of its connected TV set and the emergence of multi-core processors in the iPhone and other mobile devices.
Look, we want the most awesome iPhone available to be on Verizon’s network ASAP. But the rumor today about the 4G iPhone waiting in stockpiles isn’t realistic at all.
Remember how Apple’s original iPhone was EDGE at a time when most new phones were coming out with the new 3G technology? The reasons: Cost, complexity, size, battery life and benefit to the user.
Every single one of those factors also applies to 4G. The chips aren’t mature, the network is just being rolled out, and the battery life will take a hit. Have you seen how long an EVO 4G battery lasts with 4G on? How big it is?
Besides, one of the big benefits of 4G is use as a hotspot, something no un-jailbroken iPhone can do yet.
So iPhone 4G? Yes! January? No.
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Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s patent trolling lawsuit filed against Apple, Facebook, Google, YouTube and others has been dismissed by the courts.
“Plaintiff has failed to identify the infringing products or devices with any specificity,” wrote U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman in her order to dismiss. “The Court and Defendants are left to guess what devices infringe on the four patents.
Allen was claiming that the companies had violated four patents developed by Internal Research (a research firm he funded).
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Apple has been looking for CDMA engineers since 2008 (not since yesterday!) but Apple has just started looking for Verizon iPad engineers in New York this week. Aren’t Verizon iPads just Wifi iPads with Mifis – there isn’t any special skills that are required by Verizon are there? Why is there a need for a special ‘Verizon version’?
Certainly Verizon’s business customers need SE help with the iPad that Verizon sells now. However, Apple is likely engineering up for April as well.
Apple is building a version of the iPad 2 that will work on Verizon’s wireless network either in conjunction with GSM networks with a Gobi-like Chip (just like the Google ChomeOS CR-48) or as a seperate product/version.
It looks like Google is activating 300,000 Androids a day…at least according to Andy Rubin. That puts Android on par with iOS overall, including AppleTVs, iPads, iPod touches and of course, iPhones.
http://online.wsj.com/media/swf/VideoMicroPlayer.swf
According to the WSJ, Apple’s about face on 3rd party app development may have been due to pressure from the FCC:
The concession comes after the Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry around June to determine whether Apple had violated antitrust laws with the earlier policy. It isn’t clear if Apple’s move Thursday was in response to the FTC’s investigation, but it will likely be carefully scrutinized by the regulatory agency, said people familiar with the situation.
They also speculate that other platforms may have been a factor:
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As expectation of the Google Music service grows, the search giant has despatched invitations to a September 8 press event to sundry US journos, reports claim. The event will be held at the SF Moma.
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Computerworld: The BBC confirms iPhone users watch TV on their devices, while Android users don’t. Is Google’s decision to support the Apple-rejected Adobe Flash video standard on Android phones going to limit the evolution of that company’s mobile OS? Is the implementation anti-‘choice’?
Computerworld: The smartphone wars are a battle for the future of computing. And with computers central to the experience of most people across most industries worldwide, you could argue that the importance of this battle could affect the future of the world itself.
Facebook app developer, Joe Hewitt, famously lambasted Apple for being too controlling with its App Store review process — now he’s dissing Google, calling Android dev tools “hideous”.
In a series of hyper-critical Tweets he says, “Android tools are horrendous, OS is hideous…”
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