Tech Industry

Ballmer being Ballmer. Can’t make it up.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycnA16CHNdM&w=640&h=505]

Update: The sometimes reliable New York Post says that Apple is currently in negotiations with the labels to do this very thing.

Spotify has been a pretty unmitigated success in Europe as our European readers can probably attest.  The subscription model it has built is pretty compelling.  For a (~$10) subscription fee, you have access to most of the popular music on earth through streaming channel.  What’s more is that you can download playlists for offline listening.  This all fits under a monthly fee model.  But that’s not why Spotify is a success.

You might be saying that Napster has been trying this for a few years (the legit version) so what gives Spotify an edge?

Spotify’s success also hinges on a great interface and more importantly an ad-supported mode which people basically have access to the world’s music for free if they listen to a few ads.

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With all the buzz surrounding the CMDA iPhone for Verizon rumors in the United States,the South China Morning Post chimes in with a new rumor about a possible CDMA iPhone for China. The newspaper claims a Deutsche Bank analyst noted that the exclusive iPhone carrier in China, China Unicom, will be losing exclusivity soon and also notes that China Telecom is in talks with Apple along with chip suppliers for this CDMA iPhone.

Although China Telecom management in a recent lunch meeting refused to confirm whether the company would also begin selling a CDMA iPhone in China next quarter, our own channel checks suggest that the company has been in intensive talks with chipset supplier Qualcomm and Apple to ensure that this (development) indeed happens,” the paper quoted the note as saying.

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Some interesting patents out of Apple HQ have been surfacing lately including 3D user-interfaces and touch-screen iMacs, and today a patent for iOS devices with MagSafe connectors has surfaced.

The patent originally brought to light by Patently Apple takes the technology from MagSafe connectors for Apple notebooks and brings it to iOS products like  the iPad and iPhone. That will be helpful when Apple gets around to wireless synching of iOS devices and doesn’t need USB anymore.

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The NYTimes reports that Microsft CEO Steve Ballmer took a trip down to Adobe’s offices and talked with Adobe for an hour on how to disrupt Apple’s ascent.  One of the options on the table was an acquisition by Microsoft of Adobe.

The meeting, which lasted over an hour, covered a number of topics, but one of the main thrusts of the discussion was Apple and its control of the mobile phone market and how the two companies could partner in the battle against Apple. A possible acquisition of Adobe by Microsoft were among the options.

WTF.  I mean Windows Mobile 7 won’t even support Flash.  Silverlight and Flash are enemies.  Seems a little nuts, not to mention the software monopoly stuff.  Specifics below.
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It looks like Apple’s exclusive on that Retina display wasn’t too exclusive.  Engadget profiles a Sharp Android phone being sold in Japan with a display remarkably similar to the LG-made Retina Display that adorns the iPhone (and to a lesser extent) the iPod touch.  Is the onslaught of Retina displays afoot?

Also news in the Retina world, Hitachi is showing off a 6.6-inch display with 300+ ppi resolution that would make a nice Apple product, wouldn’t you say?

A closer look, below:

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Recall those Verizon claims yesterday, and the carrier’s previous dismissal of anticipated move to carry iPhone on its network, saying this wouldn’t happen until it launches its 4G LTE network? Well, good news rouind the water fountain — Verizon will launch its 4G LTE network in 38 major metropolitan cities by the end of the year.
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Hidden by the excitement of news of a Verizon iPhone yesterday was some more words from the analysts — and they’re predicting monster iPad sales in 2011, particularly as Apple preps iPad 2.0.

Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White reports that Apple is developing a smaller version of its uber-popular iPad and suggests that sales numbers of the original iPad could reach 45 million in 2011.
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http://online.wsj.com/media/swf/VideoPlayerMain.swf

Talk to the WSJ about Flash
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Image from Design Language of Guardian data via DF

Hey Motorola doesn’t have any arrows up there pointing at Apple.  Not for long:

Overall, Motorola Mobility’s three complaints include 18 patents, which relate to early-stage innovations developed by Motorola in key technology areas found on many of Apple’s core products and associated services, including MobileMe and the App Store. The Motorola patents include wireless communication technologies, such as WCDMA (3G), GPRS, 802.11 and antenna design, and key smartphone technologies including wireless email, proximity sensing, software application management, location-based services and multi-device synchronization.

18?  That’s a new record.

Motorola Mobility has requested that the ITC commence an investigation into Apple’s use of Motorola’s patents and, among other things, issue an Exclusion Order barring Apple’s importation of infringing products, prohibiting further sales of infringing products that have already been imported, and halting the marketing, advertising, demonstration and warehousing of inventory for distribution and use of such imported products in the United States. In the District Court actions, Motorola Mobility has requested that Apple cease using Motorola’s patented technology and provide compensation for Apple’s past infringement.

The ITC expedites patents quicker than the US courts so this will mean shit gets hot sooner.
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COMPUTERWORLD: A note to all the folk out there complaining that Apple isn’t paying any attention to Mac sales– you’re wrong. Just look at the data. Cast your mind back to 2007, perhaps call it up by attempting to remember what your cellphone did for you then. Think back to January that year when Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, introduced the iPhone, then take a look at this data:

READ MORE:

Apple will hold its Q4 financial results conference call on Monday, October 18, 2010 at 2pm, PT, the company has confirmed.

The event will likely see the company return new record numbers for iPad and iPhone sales, strong Mac sales buoyed by recent improvements in its portable range, and some hint as to how effective the new breed of iPod touch has been at continuing to shore up the companuy’s slowly declining iPod sales.
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If you’ve been wondering just how important Apple is within the consumer electronics industry, then you don’t need to look too much further than this latest Digitimes report, where I’d urge you to read between the lines.

The report tells us that revenues among Apple’s touch panel suppliers are expected to continue to grow in Q4. This may be childishly self-evident to most of us, but you need to consider a second strand of data in the report.
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Is Apple looking to create a corporate news and entertainment website populated by such things as short messages from chief blogger, Steve Jobs and maintained by more extensive announcements from a hired blogger?

It might be.
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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ohhf0p8CFM&fs=1&hl=en_GB]

Here’s an interesting video clip showing the potential power of iAds to create new and engaging dialogues with audiences. This time it is a combined print/iAd incarnation from giant insurance group, Axa.

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After taking a closer look at Apple’s latest iPhone 4 Retina Display ad, we noticed the scene about Twitter. We thought it would be interesting to plug the Twitter profile username from the ad into the actual Twitter to see if it was legit. Sure enough it is, and has a whole army of people with headshot-grade picture followers. Meet Apple’s fake Twitter army, full of perfect profile portraits, perfect names, and perfect tweets:

So, Apple, what do you plan on doing with these new toy soldiers of yours? Maybe @forstall can tell us?

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Here’s a little vector graph by Asymco plotting the change in profit and marketshare in the smartphone space from three years before.  Sure Apple started with almost no market and Nokia could go almost nowhere but down, but as profits go, Apple is killing it.

Is it any wonder that everyone at Nokia is abandoning ship?
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This one slipped under our radar.  It looks like John Lennon’s remastered music is now in the iTunes store as of this weekend.  We thought Yoko was against the iTunes?

“On John Lennon’s 70th birthday, we’re offering remastered catalogue titles and a free 2010 remix of the classic “(Just Like) Starting Over”. Additionally, two albums are available with iTunes LP, featuring extensive photos, videos, writings and more.”

So when are we going to see the umm…nevermind.

Full collection links below: (Thanks Thomas!)
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Businessweek quotes iSuppli as saying Apple’s little TV revolution only costs $64 to make.  That’s about a quarter of the production cost of the previous AppleTV ($237) back in 2007.

Since that one sold for $300, Apple is still making more as a percentage (minus marketing, R&D, etc,etc,) than they did before (35% new vs. 20% old).

The A4 chip and the 8GB of Flash are the most expensive bits in the new version but they only come in at $16.55 and $14 respectively.

Oh, and FUN FACT: Intel’s Pentium Chip ($40) plus the chipset ($28) on the previous model alone cost more than the whole new AppleTV today. Clearly, the present day equivalent of that chip is much more powerful and might be cheaper but Intel just doesn’t sell SoCs for $16.

Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why Apple is building its own chips these days, does it?  It also shows why the Intel-based  GoogleTV will be three times as expensive as the AppleTV.

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COMPUTERWORLD: Perhaps you were disappointed with the new look Apple TV when it was introduced one month ago; perhaps you expected more from Steve Jobs’ hobby; perhaps you think it seems a little puny in comparison to the Google TV solutions we’re hearing so much more about this week. Look a little deeper though and it seems pretty clear Apple’s quietly putting together the pieces it needs to outmaneuver its Android enemy. Here’s five clues:

READ MORE:

Have no doubt the iPhone will become an iWallet, with yet another patent poking out of Cupertino confirming plans to implement NFC-based systems and RFID readers on future iterations of the Apple smartphone.
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