Tech Industry

Remember those super-fast WebKit specs we told you about a few weeks ago?  Remember how it was going to help Safari 3.1 become a much faster browser?  What about all of the other goodies?   Now you can get them in a final version of Safari.  Apple today unleashed Safari 3.1 using much more recent version of the WebKit engine.  Preliminary results (meaning going to all of our favorite sites) are quite good. 

It remains to be seen if speed increases like this (and iPhone/iPod touch) help Apple’s browser gain marketshare. 

Review from Computerworld:

Apple released Safari 3.1

on March 18 with an updated rendering engine that makes the fastest Internet browser even faster.

On top of that, Apple’s new browser includes some features that reflect the future of the HTML 5 specification: offline storage, media support, and CSS animations and Web fonts. It also adds some needed compatibility and bug fixes, as well as some other new features that really make it a great everyday browser.

For the uninitiated, Apple provides a great PDF overview of Safari. You can get the upgrade/installer from apple.com/safari/download/ (it’s about a 16MB download for both Mac and PC) or simply update from Software Update. The installation is easy but strangely requires a restart on Macs but not on Windows. By the way, Safari 3.1 is the first Windows version not to carry the "beta" tag.

The interface and the user experience are largely unchanged from those in Safari 3.0. Under the hood, however, Apple has

made some significant changes

that it has pulled from the latest builds of the open-source

WebKit

engine.

WebKit is the framework version of the engine that’s used by Safari. It is also the basis of the Web browsing engine in iPhone’s Mobile Safari, Symbian’s browser, the Google Android platform and Adobe’s new AIR platform.

Testing

To check out how well Safari 3.1 handles Web sites, I ran it through some popular standards testing — and found that it leads the pack. In the Acid3 Tests, which were created by the Web Standards Project to test dynamic browser capabilities, Safari 3.1 scored 75 out of 100, significantly higher than the previous version of Safari and other shipping browsers (Firefox 3 Beta 4 scored 68, while the most recent WebKit scored 92).

However, the big news is how fast the new version of Safari is. How fast? I tested Safari 3.1 on my first-generation 2-GHz MacBook Pro with 2GB of RAM. In MooTools’ SlickSpeed speed/validity test, Safari came out on top in almost every category on both Mac and PC.

It also did significantly better than any shipping browser on the SunSpider JavaScript speed tests (although since these tests are hosted at WebKit.org, they are perhaps biased). For example, on the Mac, Safari scored 4430ms, compared with 5048ms for Firefox 3 Beta 4.

While I spend 90% of my time on a Macintosh, I also installed Safari on my Windows XP box to see how it stacked up against Internet Explorer, Opera and Firefox. In short, it worked extremely well for everyday browsing, offering speed and efficiency, especially on a four- or five-year-old machine. It also performed really well with lots of tabs open.

Although Safari 3.1 does perform much better than the shipping version of Firefox, the speed improvements in Firefox 3 Beta 4 are catching up with Safari 3.1 — though Firefox 3 did consume more CPU cycles during my tests.

One of the drawbacks of Safari has been the perceived "over-smoothing" or softening of fonts on the PC. While this hasn’t been completely fixed, Apple’s Safari 3.1 allows Web sites to specify fonts outside the seven Web-safe font families; these new fonts can be downloaded by the browser as needed.

Unfortunately, there are still prominent features that are part of rival browsers that Safari simply can’t match. For example, Safari doesn’t have all of the add-ons that Firefox enjoys, such as the Google toolbar.

Furthermore, if you need to use a site that employs Microsoft‘s proprietary DirectX technology — like Microsoft Exchange’s Outlook Web Access, for example — you’ll find that the experience on Safari leaves much to be desired. In this case, you’re better off using Internet Explorer.

Finally, Opera offers features, such as direct BitTorrent downloads, that aren’t offered in Safari.

With the 3.1 release, Safari has become the fastest browser you can use. If that isn’t enough reason to make a switch, its strong adherence to Web standards and rapid adoption of new technologies might make you think again.

The Financial Times is reporting that Apple is in negotiations with the big record companies to offer an unlimited subscription model.   The deal would give customers access to the entire iTunes music Library in exchang efor a premium price put on Apple devices (iPod, iPhone, etc).

Nokia currently has this model and offers the music companies $80 per handset for the priveledge – to be split up based on the downloading habits of its users.  Apple, on the otherhand, is only offering $20/device.

According to FT:

One executive said the research had shown that consumers would pay a premium of up to $100 for unlimited access to music for the lifetime of the device, or a monthly fee of $7-$8 for a subscription model.

Apple, which is thought to make relatively little money from the iTunes store compared with its hardware sales, is also understood to be examining a subscription model.

Subscriptions would work only for its iPhone devices, where it has a monthly billing relationship with customers through the mobile phone operators offering the device, while the “comes with music” model would work with iPhones and with iPods.

The subscription models under discussion in the music industry include the provision for customers to keep up to 40 or 50 tracks a year, which they would retain even if they changed their device or their subscription lapses.
Other music groups are understood to be in talks with Nokia, which is keen to sign up as many of the major labels as possible before launching its first “comes with music” devices in the second half of this year.

At $20/device, it doesn’t seem likely that the record companies will bite – but there might be a sweet spot – perhaps based on storage space that both parties can agree on.  Also, Apple could offer the deal as an "option" for some customers only.  Apple is thought to make little on the sales of iTunes music and Amazon, lately, is offering music from all four big lables in DRM-free format at a cheaper price than Apple – who offers DRM free music only from EMI

digg_url = ‘http://9to5mac.com/iTunes-subscription-coming-34255342’;

 Microsoft has gone public on plans to compete with Apple’s iPod and iPhone – but we’ll be waiting until 2009 until the company gets it together.

 Microsoft France’s Francois Ruault has confirmed the company plan to ship Zune in Europe in 2009. The third generation of the device hasn’t yet been announced, but will be the model that ships in Europe, a report claims.

In a familiar note, the company also intends introducing a WiFi music store and (potentially) a Zune-cum-mobile phone iPhone competitor.

Apple’s Swiss store updated their specs (translated to English) on the Apple Airport Express to include 802.11N Wireless hardware over the weekend, according to MacGeneration.  Current Airport Express hardware uses 802.11G Wireless and hasn’t changed physically since its introduction in 2004. 

Other than the wireless, the images on the updated site have the hardware looking the same.  The Swiss Store page makes no mention of whether the new revs of the Airport Express will support USB hard drives for Time Machine backup or otherwise.  We’d guess not as it would pull people from Time Capsule purchases and isn’t really what the small portable device was made for.

In any case, if you are thinking of getting an Airport Express, you might want to wait until you see one with 802.11N on the package – which should be any minute now….

Apple may introduce a quad-core MacBook Pro this year, as Intel has confirmed plans to ship Core 2 Duo-based quad-core processors later in the year.

Intel has developed these processors for use in high-performance laptops, which it sees as portable replacements for powerful desktop systems.

We know Apple won’t comment on future products or speculation, but the new processors are expected to appear in the third quarter. The processor is manufactured using the 45-nanometer process. It’s likely the chips will feature on-board support for WiFi and WiMAX.

The new processors demand significantly more power than those used in current Apple laptops. This suggests Apple may delay the launch of the new products until battery life has been optimised.

Apple TV won’t be a hobby for much longer should Apple move to introduce support for digital video recording and a TV tuner, at least according to one analyst.

"While near-term trends look difficult with a looming recession and a slow-down in consumer spending, we continue to believe Apple is well-positioned to weather the storm better than most with its strong fundamentals," the analyst concludes. 

So you were wondering if Apple was going to spread an extra thick layer of security over the new version 2.0 of the iPhone software?  You know – to keep the 1,000,000 unlocked versions from being updated and from being customers at the App Store?

Yeah, we didn’t think so.  iPhone 2.0 is already hacked.  Version 3 and 4, though just twinkles in Apple’s eye?  Cracked too.

The whole "security" thing?  Kinda a joke at this point.  Apple must really need those unlocked iPhone sales to hit its goals.

The real issue for Apple is that they are getting a bad rep from a security standpoint – which will seriously hurt them in the enterprise.

Seriously, Apple.  Just open up the iPhone to all carriers already.

Sensis, the search engine division of Telstra (Australia’s largest mobile carrier),  is hiring an iPhone developer to put its Australia-only search engine on the iPhone.  Why would a telecom put an Australia-only search engine on the iPhone?    Because the iPhone is coming to Australia.  When?  Soon.  You’ve been warned, mate – get out of that Optus plan ASAP…

Telstra has had a back and forth view on the iPhone – from  senior executives saying it was "Doomed" to complimenting it.

Original Job posting:

Design BA for iPhone search application
Contract Role

Description:

Are you a business analyst with experience gathering and documenting requirements for interactive web or mobile products? We’re looking for a BA with a technical front-end UI background to help us design cutting-edge search applications for the iPhone. This isn’t boring old specification-heavy BA work. This is exciting and agile BA work to help us envision mobile search applications that work great and look beautiful. Let us know if you think you’ve got the right combination of creative flair, geekiness, and detail orientation to get the job done.

Details:

• 2-3 month contract
• Melbourne CBD

Send a resume, cover letter, and salary requirements to brian.curtis@sensis.com.au

Update: I ‘fixed’ the problem by turning off the ability to view hidden files in the finder and restarting – or maybe it was just the restart?  Or maybe it will break again.    Does this work for any of you?

According to Apple’s support forums, a lot of people have been having some issues with Flash lately.  I know I am one of them.  Is anyone else out there with Intel Macs with updated browsers and Flash Plugins having issues with sites like www.espn.com?

Sorry if that crashed you bythe way.  There are lots of people out there having similar problems and lots of fixes suggested at the Apple forums.  However – no one has really pinpointed the problem yet. 

The conspiracy theorist in me wants to point the finger at Adobe and say that they are retaliating for Apple not including them on the iPhone.  Realistically, however, this is pretty unlikely.  It is probably some 3rd party stuff like Perian that I have running.

Or?

Apple’s US online store is out for lunch again this morning, with the customary "We’ll be back soon" sign showing on the front page.

Apple’s UK store and other European store fronts appear unaffected as the company seems set to bounce into another Apple Tuesday.

We call them Apple Tuesday because this is the day the company likes to introduce new products. However, merely because the store goes offline doesn’t always mean new product releases.

We’ll keep you posted. (UPDATED: The Store is now available once again, no immediate changes yet visible).

Ugh.  We’re as sick as anyone else about hearing "the Beatles are coming to iTunes!"  It seems like at least once a month the rumor pops up.  This month is no different.  Reportedly, there is a $800 million dollar deal in the works (this isn’t how iTunes works is it?)  The London-based Telegraph (a great source of information) is this month’s source saying,

Sir Paul McCartney is expected to release the Beatles back catalogue for download on the internet in a deal which could be worth up to £300 million.

Former hits from albums such as Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the White Album and Help will be available on the popular iTunes website and are expected to top the download charts for several months on release.

Although the exact value of the records are not known, some estimates have placed it at £300 million and Sir Paul, Ringo Starr and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison would all receive large sums of money as part of the contract.

Sir Paul, 65, is currently involved in a divorce settlement with his estranged wife Lady McCartney and the final hearing, expected in 10 days time, could see him paying her up to £30 million in a cash settlement.

A spokesman for Apple Corps, the Beatles record label, would not confirm when the records would be available online and said: "The date has not yet been set."

Release of the Beatles’ songs over the internet has earlier been prevented as the surviving band members were involved in legal disputes with their record label EMI and Apple Corps and the American company Apple Computers, who own iTunes. (more)

Beatles music appeals to new music lovers every day, but we have to believe that if you are a Beatles fan and a iPod lover, you’ve already ripped your Beatles music from CD (or otherwise). 

For those of you too young to remember, the G5 Powerbook was a similar monthy rumor a few years back that obviously never came to fruition.  We’ll see how this one does.

Research In Motion (RIM) isn’t taking Apple’s move into the enterprise market it dominates without a fight. The company has confirmed plans to push back with the introduction of social networking and entertainment features.

Right.

As part of the push, RIM has reached a deal with Black Eyed Peas’ artist, Will.i.am, to make that artist’s content and online community Dipdive available on the BlackBerry. (Will.i.am was also behind Barack Obama’s successful “Yes We Can” video.) The company introduced Facebook software for its smartphones last autumn.

RIM’s in a fix. Apple’s introduction of Exchange support means core Blackberry customers have a choice of devices, and with the iPhone offering extra value in terms of screen real estate, iPod and other sexy features, the Blackberry maker must struggle to preserve its market.

Two-thirds of RIM’s 12 million Blackberry users are government or corporate clients. In order to widen its business and resist the Apple-driven iPhone assault, RIM has little choice but to extend its product’s versatility.

RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie told Reuters, "The two hottest trends in wireless are social networking and multimedia, which is principally portable music."

While the company continues to insist iPhone poses no competition, with economic downturn threatening sales in its key business sectors and the debut of iPhone, which threatens to clean up in the consumer market, things appear grim.

Apple has already seized the number two slot in the US smartphone market, grabbing 28 percent share. Blackberry continues to dominate this sector with 41 percent, Canalsys claimed last month.

In the consumer markets, a January ChangeWave survey showed a move toward smartphones, with iPhone and Blackberry competing for dominance. That survey of 4,182 consumers declared the iPhone to be the leading choice, with 17 percent of consumers planning to buy a smartphone planning an iPhone. That compares with 15 percent planning to pick Blackberry.

Customer satisfaction may be key to victory. 72 percent of those surveyed who already own an iPhone said they were "very satisfied" with the product, while just 55 percent were equally satisfied with their Blackberry.

The game’s afoot. Apple, which sells iPhone in just four countries and has confirmed four million sales of the device so far already holds 0.6 percent of the world’s cell phone market, according toGartner.

This compares to RIM’s 1.2 percent.

With Apple planning to sell 10 million iPhones this year, its overall market share seems set for steep growth, pushing ahead of RIM.

Investors are watching closely. Apple shares seem to have begun reclaiming a little lost ground on strength of last night’s iPhone SDK announcements (up a few pennies to $121.36). Beleaguered RIM has lost $1.72 per share to hit $96.20 on pre-market trading this morning.

Battle, it seems, is joined.

We’re just hours away from Apple’s bells-and-whistles meeting where it will reveal the real deal on iPhone application development, and new information’s beginning to trickle through.

Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s chief financial officer, last night told those at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference that the company will talk about the iPhone in the enterprise.

Oppenheimer also noted that the frequency of iPhone unlocking reflects demand for the device, and echoed chief operating officer Tim Cook’s comments last week in which Apple revealed it isn’t "wedded" to its existing revenue-sharing deal with mobile operators.

"We’re off to a great start, but we’re learning and we’re not wedded to any one particular way to go to market. Our objective is to drive scale and take market share," said Oppenheimer.

MacRumors warns that the iPhone SDK will be available for Mac OS X only and that the software will be made available as an extension of the capabilities of the Xcode development tools shipped with Mac OS X 10.5. This makes sense on account of the OS X system that runs iPhone.

Analysts are beginning to get categorical, too, with many now anticipating Apple will announce support for Microsoft’s Active Synch technologies for the iPhone, meaning Entourage support, and the long-expected support for Lotus Notes, may appear.

Finally, whispers reaching 9to5 Mac from various closely-connected sources suggest iPhone users can look forward to "a few more" applications for their devices, perhaps as soon as today, but no word yet on what these may be.

That’s despite recent conjecture claiming the iPhone SDK announced will be available as beta software only.

King of Prussia based InterDigital this week posted its earnings call to the web and had some semi-interesting things to say about Apple and 3G technologies.

Remember InterDigital signed a 7 year, $56 million agreement to supply technology licenses to Apple in September.

"The deal covers various 2G and 3G cellular technologies encompassing bandwidth allocation, roaming and power efficiency controls, and most likely also includes some type of packet data coding and delivery,"

InterDigital stated for the first time, though widely speculated, that they were licensing 3G technology to Apple (and RIM)…

As to our market share for 3G, while we did not achieve the 50% target, we did add some very high-quality licensees including Apple, Giant, and RIM….

RIM is a very strong IPR company and same thing with Apple. And so, the fact that those companies take licenses with us reflects very well, I think, on the portfolio of the company.

It is widely thought that InterDigital’s SlimChip architecture might see its way into future versions of Apple products.

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.

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.

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.