Tech Industry

We’ve fielded a couple of tips (some more sketchy than others) about EVDO iPhones floating around Cupertino in the past, but today’s tipster seems a little bit more sure of himself.  Besides having some Verizon insider credentials, he seems to know way too much about Verizon-Apple politics.  According to him, Apple will be announcing iPhones for Verizon Wireless in 2009, perhaps as early Macworld 2009.  Negotiations between Apple and Verizon are ongoing but they expect to hammer out agreements by the end of the year. 

This isn’t a huge surprise for a number of reasons:

1. Apple has been scouting out EVDO and CDMA Engineers for months in their online iPhone job postings (here, here, here and here).  Yes, some of these skills overlap with UTMS and CDMA can also refer to the broad swath of 3G Technologies…but come on…don’t put "EVDO" on the job description if it ain’t true.. (BTW, WiMax is also littered throughout Apple’s Job postings…interesting/digress)
2. No matter how big AT&T is and how much range they cover, leaving out Verizon and to a lesser extent Sprint, will be eliminating a broad swath of the US wireless market.  If Apple is serious about competing with Blackberry, Symbian and Android, they will have to broaden their carrier footprint.  One carrier does not a platform make.  Apple will need a way to grow its market after AT&T is saturated.
3. LTE technology won’t be mature until well into 2010.  Apple can’t afford to wait that long to broaden its carrier footprint
4. Who is happy with Rogers in Canada (*crickets*)?  EVDO opens up to new carriers there as well.
5. Verizon wireless is a partnership between Verizon communications and Vodafone.  Vodafone, you’ll recall, has contracts with Apple for iPhones in around 15 markets around the world.  Apple has a working relationship with Vodafone (and Tmobile obviously).
6. Apple has just started going "Open" in a few markets, including Hong Kong. This will likely increase the number of unlocked 3G iPhones on the world market (South Africa is also open).  While this won’t benefit Verizon directly, it certainly shows that Apple is considering being more "carrier agnostic."
7. Tim Cook, famously said that Apple wasn’t married to the one carrier/country model.  As Apple expands, it is going more and more open.
8. Verizon’s iPhone Cheat sheet was weak and their arguments about Stevo getting old were silly.  They’d rather play ball with Apple than try to defend itself against it.
9. Apple originally wanted to go with Verizon for the iPhone.  Some of the original disagreements included "not carrying the iPhone at Best Buy and hardware reliability" – see quote below.  AT&T was a second choice.  When Verizon balked, Apple went to AT&T…Think Verizon is happy about that decision (no) or willing to reconsider Apple’s overtures (yes)?

According to Verizon, Apple CEO Steve Jobs insisted that he have hard control over iPhone distribution.

The problem? While Apple and Verizon stores would have it, Wal-Mart, Best Buy and other Verizon distributors could have been left out. "That would have put our own distribution partners at a disadvantage" to Apple and Verizon stores, Gerace said.

Customer care was another hitch: If an iPhone went haywire, Apple wanted sole discretion over whether to replace or repair the phone. "They would have been stepping in between us and our customers to the point where we would have almost had to take a back seat … on hardware and service support," Gerace says.

The number one reason people think AT&T is the only US carrier that Apple will visit is because a couple of falsely reported rumors by USA Today that "revealed" Apple has signed exclusivity deals with AT&T.  Depending on whether you trust the original article which said it would be five years or the latest article which says two years, or any of the other speculation out there (CNN says 2009), nothing public has ever been uncovered that has specified the length of AT&T-Apple exclusivity deals.  At the original iPhone announcement at Macworld 2007, Cingular’s CEO Stan Sigmund indicated that Apple and Cingular had signed a multi(2?)-year deal.  A Macworld 2009 launch would put the AT&T-Apple exclusivity at 18 months from mid 2007 launch, WWDC 2009 would be 2 years from launch.  Add 6 months for time since the announcement.

There is no reason why Apple wouldn’t also be chatting with Sprint and T-mobile about possible deals as well.  We welcome some carrier competition in the US iPhone field. 

The sooner the better.

[blip.tv http://blip.tv/play/AdCNL46hQQ]

The weekend Apple rumour machine has clipped across to the Apple TV, with venerable website TUAW reporting insider sources who claim existing versions of that product are set to be removed from sale by September 30.

The report adds "Additionally, the e-mail says that there will be a webcast "kick off" on September 30". A Tuesday. Is this an Apple-Tuesday?

Naturally, the report then speculates the move could see the introduction of a new model Apple TV, perhaps even a combined machine expressing elements of both the Mac mini and Apple’s "in your den" ‘hobby’ product.

Is this related to the brick?

Updated to add: Some reports now indicate that the retailers are simply being asked to remove their point of sale display material for the product, suggesting the Apple TV will be unchanged, just in receipt of new advertising. Ah well..

 Yet more claims as to what to expect from Apple’s future MacBook range….

This new set of claims tally with those we’ve been picking up, but news of the brick remains small. (Image here is not of the new device, by the way)

– New MacBook Pro won’t have the tapered edges of the MacBook Air, but will keep the current basic shape.

– MacBook Pro will be thinner and "as much as a half-inch narrower than the current model with less bezel around the screen".

– Glossy screens. 

– New black keyboard keys as used in MacBook Air.

– Glass trackpad will offer MultiTouch

– Split trackpad? (Good for contextual menus and Windows virtualisation).

– Some claim FireWire 800 as standard.

Via: Jason O’Grady.

 Nokia will launch its very own iPhone-killer next week, a touchscreen device until now called the ‘Tube’.

The new handset will be introduced at a special event in London next week on October 2. 

Nokia will also launch its Comes With Music in the UK next week, along with another new Xpress handset, to be sold at Carphone Warehouse from October 17.

Speaking at an industry event this week, Nokia’s Comes With Music’s go-to-market head Tom Erskine promised an aggressive turf war with Apple for the consumer markets, "We’re going to put a very major marketing investment behind it indeed this Christmas," he said. "We’re going to bring some investment and focus. Nokia is a big and powerful company – music is right at the top of our agenda at the moment. We’ll be looking to make the market bigger in the next couple of years."

Nokia has made some major investment in the space, acquiring the rest of Symbian earlier this year and promising to license out its new touch-based OS.

A demo of what to expect from earlier this year.

Via: Distorted-Loop

 In a positive step , Apple has reached a deal with leading groups to make iTunes, the iTunes Store and iTunes U more accessible to the blind.

The move follows the release of iTunes 8 this month, which contains significant accessibility improvements – but these are to be extended under the new deal Apple’s reached with The National Federation of the Blind and Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley.

Apple will now make iTunes fully accessible by December 31, 2008, and will ensure the full accessibility of the iTunes software and the rest of the iTunes Store to blind people using both Mac and Windows operating systems by June 30, 2009. Over the next three years, Apple will continue to work with officials in the office of the Massachusetts Attorney General and the National Federation of the Blind to ensure that the iTunes services remain accessible to the blind and that accessibility issues are resolved. Apple has also agreed to contribute $250,000 to the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind to assist the agency in providing adaptive technology to blind residents of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “Computer technology is a critical means of access to business, education, information, and entertainment in the twenty-first century, and the blind must have equal access if we are to be equal participants in society. By making its extremely popular iTunes service fully accessible to the blind, Apple is setting an example that should be followed by the entire information technology industry. The National Federation of the Blind is pleased to have worked with Attorney General Coakley and her staff to reach this important agreement with Apple, and we will continue to work tirelessly until the blind have equal access to the full range of products and services available to the public through the Internet and other information technologies.”

“Our office is committed to providing equal opportunity to all citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” said Attorney General Martha Coakley. “This agreement will benefit blind Commonwealth citizens and all blind Americans by making one of the most widely used computer applications accessible to them. I applaud Apple for its commitment to accessibility and look forward to continuing to work with the National Federation of the Blind to ensure that rapid progress is made in making the iTunes software and services usable by everyone.”

Microsoft’s suave CEO Steve Ballmer thinks Apple’s iPhone will fail in the next five years, he said, speaking at a dinner at the Churchill Club.

You got to give him credit for optimism – Ballmer also thinks Nokia and Research In Motion will feel the crunch in the next five years, saying all three companies will suffer because they design their own proprietary hardware which they tie to their software. He reckons Windows Mobile is the ring to rule them all, or something (is that from the wrong movie?)

Ballmer thinks the same strategy that helped Microsoft become the leader on the desktop will let it win out on smartphones. Long term, he said, the battle will be between the Symbian OS, mobile versions of Linux and Windows Mobile. We don’t think so….but he’s the boss of the world’s largest software company, so he gets to say what he wants, we suppose – even when it flies in the face of the evidence.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5oGaZIKYvo&hl=en&fs=1]

Take his next point – that Apple won’t boost its slice of the PC market in the consumer or the enterprise space because it won’t license its software to other PC manufacturers. We say that  other than to point to endless surveys and oodles of analyst reports which show Apple to be expanding its slice of the PC market in both, erm, the enterprise and consumer markets, Ballmer has probably just offered Apple an alternative strategy should its continued market growth grind to a halt.

Oh, but Ballmer’s equivocal…"Apple’s a good company, I won’t take anything away from them, but they have a certain kind of strategy. They believe in putting the hardware and software together, they don’t believe in letting other people make it."

And it gets better, "I’m not saying there isn’t a threat" from Apple, he said. But if Microsoft and its PC partners "do our jobs right, there’s really no reason Apple should get any footprint in the enterprise." 

Oh yeah, Microsoft also committed to a five year strategy to "reinvent search" in its attempt to compete with Google. Sure…

Via: Industry Standard

"The alleged MacBook Pro (pictured at right) appears to have the characteristics described in early speculation with aluminum casing, glass track pad and rounded edges. The addition of the black trim around the screen looks amazing,” writes iPhone Saviour.

The new designed Mac laptops are expected to have a black surround to the screen, a la iMac – but given that this image appeared shortly after a speculative report exploring the new specs, we think the presence of an Apple logo-T-shirt-wearing element to the image actually suggests this is a Photoshop job. Well, we should know soon enough, come October, – and we’re curious about the ‘brick’…

 Apple’s notebook market share continues to grow at a remarkable rate – outpacing competitors across the industry – and the company seems set to maintain its success on news that Dell and HP have elected to slash their laptop research and development budgets.

DigiTimes has the story, reporting, "Notebook research and development personnel working at Dell and HP are assigned mainly to test the performance and reliability of new parts and components. This work overlaps that performed by R&D staff at ODM makers and so is an area vendors can afford to cut back on without impacting new product development, the sources noted," Wu and Shen report.

This news also means both Dell and HP (in common with most in the industry, bar Apple) are happy to pass on much of the development of new product across to their OEM manufacturers. Apple, converseley, likes to stamp its products with the slogan "designed in Cupertino". That’s possibly why it continues to innovate while other imitate, or fail to imitate. And there’s going to be more of the same in future.

Despite a down market, Apple’s share of the laptop sector is increasing. In the United States Apple’s share grew by 60 per cent, year over year, rising from 6.6 per cent to 10.6 per cent in the second quarter of this year. 

Apple is solidly in fourth place, behind Dell (21.9%), HP (21.4%) and Acer (14.4%, including its recently acquired Gateway and Packard-Bell brands).

During this period, Apple overtook Toshiba for the No. 4 position. In 2Q 2007, Toshiba had 11.4% of notebook shipments; in 2Q 2008, that fell to 9.0%.

"With the planned cuts, Dell and HP will no longer overwhelmingly control the procurement of parts and components needed for the production of their notebooks and instead will delegate purchasing power to manufacturers allowing the contract makers to purchase needed parts from the suppliers they chose," DigiTimes explains.

Apple is widely expected to imminently introduce a new generation of notebook Mac – perhaps they’ll look like this? Whatever the situation, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has frequently said his company’s strategy when facing economic gloom is to invest heavily in new technology research in order to be ready to innovate itself out of recession, just as the company did at the turn of the current century following the Y2K blip and dotcom bust.

Apple has begun testing iPhone Software 2.2, releasing new beta software to its developers.Software packages for the iPhone SDK, first and second-generation iPhones and the iPod touch have been made available, as illustrated in this image from GearLive.

Apple is expected to introduce something closer to true ‘Push" email in this latest release, a sync feature the company declared the device offered for months before launch, backtracking only when users noticed the claim wasn’t completely true.

The wish list for other features within this release still includes must-have facilities such as copy-&-paste, tethering to get your Mac online and the capacity to send MMS messages. Many users would like to see Apple enable its device to capture video – a function the CCD inside the camera is perfectly well capable of.  But we ain’t holding out breath..What features would you like to see in iPhone 2.2?

New Apple product rumours fly thick and fast today with news of six placeholder entries within a retailer’s inventory management system.

Better still, Future Shop’s placeholder text is evidently there to represent product that will ship internationally, judging by the inclusion of French and English builds. That international models will be made available hints at inclusion of keyboards within the product(s).

We think its nearing time for Apple to reveal a series of new laptops, and it seems to be closing in on such a release.

Somewhat disappointingly, though, MacRumors later claimed these new listings were created by the retailer on the expectation of new product, not at the behest of Apple.

 As everyone knows, Apple CEO Steve Jobs spent a little time working at/with Atari after leaving college, working with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to design games for the company.

Jobs got Wozniak to design a circuit board for the game, Breakout, infamously giving his friend less than half of what Atari paid for the result….

Indirectly, Jobs has begun working with Atari once again...

Flash forward to today and Atari has introduced the ancestor to that game, SuperBreakout, as a title available through the iPhone App Store – that and Missile Command, and is promising to make more titles available to the iPhone/iPod touch platform in the "near future"..

Atari says the games are "true evolutions of the original hits, with completely revamped visuals taking advantage of the hi spec screen, and innovative gameplay mechanics making full use of the unique MultiTouch interface and features of iPhone and iPod touch for immersive arcade action".

It gets better – Atari management (like everybody else involved in iPhone game development) seem blown-away by the features of the device.

Atari president Phil Harrison says Apple’s devices are: "Leading the global charge in innovative handheld technology and changing the way we consume and interact with media. This is the first step in bringing Atari’s wonderful heritage of games right up to date for the iPhone generation."

It’s not all good, though, Atari has been forcing the removal of unauthorised Breakout clones from the App Store. Meanwhile Apple’s treatment of iPhone developers is today’s topic-du-jour…

Finally, here’s an old (1982) Atari Super Breakout ad we found lying around:

 Quark fought back against Adobe’s announcement of Creative Suite 4 this morning, introducing not one but three applications designed to complement XPress 8: Quark Publishing System 8, QuarkCopyDesk8, and QuarkXPress Server 8. The company is demonstrating its solutions at Europe’s giant IFRA and Graph Expo and will ship them before the end of the year.

Built on an open standards-based architecture, QPS 8 provides a “flexible framework for marketing departments, agencies, and magazine and newspaper publishers to manage their publishing workflows,” the company expplained. “Through compatibility with QuarkXPress 8, QPS 8 delivers greater design capability for the delivery of print, Web, and Flash output, and – through the universal file format of QuarkXPress 8 and QuarkCopyDesk 8 – allows publishers to preview, edit, and output high-fidelity documents created anywhere in the world.”

The principle is simple – where Adobe touts its integrated CS4 suite as offering new features for collaboration or publish anywhere workflows, Quark is answering back by pointing out that its family of solutions already have years of development behind them that match – and, Quark suggests, exceeds the capabilities of Adobe’s publishing products (with the possible exception of Photoshop).

In addition to compatibility with QuarkCopyDesk 8, QuarkXPress Server 8, and QuarkXPress 8, Quark Publishing System 8 introduces:

– A ready-made adapter for Alfresco Enterprise 2, the leading open source content management system, allowing users to store assets in a single repository and view and update content in real-time

– User interface support for 13 languages including Japanese, as well as hyphenation and spell checking for more than 30 languages, enabling advanced international collaboration

– Improved asset management through QPS Connect Client, including multi-page preview, multiple asset check-in, metadata tagging, custom grouping, and full text search functionality

– QPS Web Hub support for East Asian languages, including the support for Rubi and Group Characters

– Support for native Adobe Illustrator file formats, which eliminates the need to switch back and forth between QuarkXPress and Illustrator for editing

Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page discuss the T-Mobile G1 at the launch event in NYC.  

Apple has officially launched its iPhone Universtiy development program.  While they aren’t going to be challenging USC at football anytime soon(fight-on!), they are going to be partnering with many universities throughout the country to bring the iPhone development process into the hands of many of the world’s best students.  If you represent an accredited university, you can apply here.

From Apple:

The iPhone Developer University Program is a free program designed for higher education institutions looking to introduce curriculum for developing iPhone or iPod touch applications. The University Program provides a wealth of development resources, sophisticated tools for testing and debugging, and the ability to share applications within the same development team. Institutions can also submit applications for distribution in the App Store.

American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu has chimed in with his musings following Apple’s announcement of a recall of the ultra compact USB power adapter for its 3G iPhone.  

The good news is that analyst doesn’t seem a whole lot worried – Apple is a stock to buy with a $205 price target, Wu writes. And the recall is just a minor bump, a "non-event" he cautions clients. Take a look for yourself as we’ve repeated his assertions within this post. 

Oh – and Wu expects new Macs to take a bow at an Apple special event this autumn – in the next few weeks, perhaps? And what is the ‘brick’?

"Late Friday (09/19/08), AAPL announced an exchange program for its ultra compact USB power adapter for its 3G iPhone after reports that its metal prongs could break off and remain in a power outlet, causing risk of an electric shock. We checked in with our supply chain sources and we have the following analysis points:

Doing The Right Thing Even Though Impacting Small Number of Users. While we view this as negative with headline risk, this appears to be impacting only a small number of users. Nonetheless, we believe AAPL is doing the right thing in offering a free product exchange and maintaining a high level of customer service.

Little to No Disruption; 8 GB Models Sold Out. 

We have found little to no disruption of iPhone shipments (in fact we found several stores that were sold out of 8 GB models). What AT&T and AAPL stores are doing is removing the power adapter and selling the 3G iPhone without it. They are telling users that new adapters will be ready starting October 10.

Most Use USB Cable To Charge Anyway. 

The reason why we don’t view this as a big deal is that most users charge their iPhones using the USB cable connected to their PC and/or Mac as they sync content with iTunes software.

Doesn’t Seem To Be A Chip Issue. 

With the super small form factor, it appears it is not as durable as the previous adapter. This doesn’t appear to be a semiconductor issue, but rather that the metal prongs were not set in strong enough.

New iPhone 2.1 Software Appears To Have Reduced Problems. 

On a side note, AAPL’s new iPhone 2.1 software/firmware update that was released about 10 days ago appears to have reduced the issues a small number of 3G iPhone users have had, including dropped phone calls.

Conclusion: Maintain Buy rating as we believe that AAPL remains one of the best positioned large-cap technology companies. We see upside to $205 based on 31.5x our CY09 EPS of $6.52.

 New Macs Likely At A Later Event: 

We continue to believe that MacBook Pro and MacBook are due for refreshes with more radical redesigns, likely at a special event later this fall. In addition, we are picking up that MacBook Air could see a minor refresh and potential price cut to increase its value proposition as build plans have slowed from earlier robust levels as customers have opted for MacBook or MacBook Pro instead.

Competitive Advantages Intact: 

We believe AAPL’s key competitive advantages remain its 1) strong brand loyal customer base; 2) vertically and horizontally integrated hardware, software and service model (iPod + iTunes, Mac, Apple TV, and iPhone); 3) proprietary interface technologies (clickwheel and multi-touch); and 4) unique and pleasant customer experience with its Apple stores.

Macro headwinds are becoming more apparent: 

We continue to see AAPL as the best play on digital media in the home and a large beneficiary of the shift to mobile computing. In two of its three big franchises, Mac and iPhone, penetration is very low and starting in the higher-income demographics. The disturbance in the macroeconomic environment is within lower-income demographics and financial institutions with exposure to and impact on overall liquidity. This could certainly spread, but we believe AAPL’s business will remain strong in the near- to medium-term. Enough high-end consumers are still buying tech, though commodities inflation could pressure future margins.

Apple shares fell this morning on strength of a downgraded price target announcement from Morgan Stanley as global financial markets continue to bleed.

Shares stand at $139.06 this morning after Morgan Stanley lopped $14 off the target price for Apple, offering revised guidance of $178 – but current share price could be a buying opportunity, as there’s still a c.$40 margin even at the new target price. 

It’s not all doom and gloom on Apple stock, with CNN’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt predicting Apple will sell 5 million iPhones in the current quarter, citing Piper Jaffray analyst, Gene Munster.

Munster made his predictions today, and countered the Morgan Stanley target price cut with an increase in his own predictions for the firm – he says he’s “incrementally more confident” in Apple’s unit sales.

2.8 million Macs and 11 million iPod sales complete the triptych of his predictions for Apple’s Q4 sales success, the analyst said.

Munster maintained his existing $250 price target on the stock, reinforcing the notion that Apple shares at current price could represent a profit-making chance.

This joke is getting old and no less scary/embarrassing/painful to watch.

He even has the same outfit (sans the armpit swamp)!  OK, OK more monkeyboy- just for old times sake:

This joke is getting old and no less scary/embarrassing/painful to watch.

He even has the same outfit (sans the armpit swamp)!  OK, OK more monkeyboy- just for old times sake:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&fs=1]

"What does Coldplay and Juicy Fruit and Doublemint have in common? A serious case of Apple art direction envy? Have a look for yourself."

Three ads here to contrast and compare, two from Wrigleys, one from Apple. Your thoughts?

Via: Adland

 Gail Zappa, the widow of Frank Zappa, is furious with iTunes and other digital music services, complaining the service offers music that is far too compressed – more so than the artist himself ever intended.

"It was Frank’s concept to limit to a format so that it was accurately represented, that being 16-bit technology – CDs. He didn’t want it compressed. So we’re currently in a lawsuit over this issue," she said.

What Zappa’s widow is stressing is that the music her husband made was meant to be heard at a certain quality – compressed, it’s just not the same. "iTunes has been from the get-go massively compressed," she said, "That’s fine perhaps if you’re Britney Spears… but it’s not fine for Frank Zappa’s music, and he was interested in protecting that," she told the LA Times.

Musician Toby Marks (Banco De Gaia) has made similar complaints, saying on digital music compression rates: "I have literally spent my recording career trying to make things sound better. I recently got into 5:1 surround. I absolutely hate the fact that it’s possible to release music at the same quality it was created, yet the market has moved backward to something that’s little better than cassettes."

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYoAwfh4QOU&hl=en&fs=1]

Kevin Rose has some ideas for iTunes 9….iTunes 9 Ideashttp://seesmic.com/embeds/wrapper.swf