Author archive: Ed Sutherland
An exhibitor at the upcoming Macworld Expo 2009 may have inadvertently lent credence to widespread rumors of an updated Apple Mac mini.
A press release from SeeFile software seems to say its digital media asset server will support “new Apple Mac Mini hardware,” according to Ars Technica.
The bit of PR may indicate the updated Mac mini will offer two optional internal hard drives. Previous minis sported only 160GB internal storage.
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A week after one survey found the Mac OS share nearing 10 percent, the gains appear to be increasing as Apple continues to make headway against Windows, an analyst said Monday.
Shaw Wu, analyst with Kaufman Bros., told clients he sees only accelerating advances by Apple. December’s 9.6 percent marketshare for Mac OS X was 0.75 percent ahead of November, which also saw a 0.65 percent jump, Wu said.
Last week, Web tracking firm Net Applications announced the percentage of visits by Mac OS-based browsers in December rose to 9.6 from 8.9 percent. The latest figure is more than two points above a year ago, when Apple share reached a historic high: 7.3 percent.
Windows again lost ground in December, dropping to 88.7 percent of the market in December, the second percentage loss since November, when Redmond fell below the magic 90 percent of the OS market.
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Palm will reportedly use the first day of CES to unveil a handset based on the long-awaited Nova operating system. The phone is seen as Palm’s best chance to recover from a disastrous 2008.
Citing a “trusted source,” CrunchGear says the handset to be released Thursday is described as “iPhone-like” with a potrait display and a slide-down QWERTY keyboard.
In December, Palm executive chairman Jon Rubinstein told BusinessWeek the device would bridge the gap between the BlackBerry and iPhone. Rubinstein, credited with helping develop the iMac and iPod, joined Palm in 2007 when private equity firm Elevation Partners provided $325 million for a stake in the company. Last month, Elevation gave Palm another $100 million.
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More than half of consumers say they plan to spend less on gadgets in 2009, according to a survey released Monday by a research firm.
Forrester Research announced 51 percent of consumers say they plan to spend less on gadgets this year with just five percent intending to spend more this year. The findings are part of an online survey of around 5,000 U.S. residents over the age of 18.
The news could interest exhibitors at Macworld Expo 2009 and CES hoping to lure buyers with the latest gadgets.
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Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced Monday doctors say he has an easily-treated hormonal imbalance, according to a statement designed to quiet rumors of his increasingly gaunt public appearances.
“A hormone imbalance…has been robbing me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy,” the Apple leader wrote in a letter released.
The diagnosis follows “sophisticated blood tests,” Jobs said.
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As many toasted 2009 with a bit of bubbly, a Florida man celebrated by launching a class-action lawsuit against Apple. The lawsuit claims Cupertino remained mum about vertical lines appearing in iMac displays.
“Apple remained silent knowing its iMac display screens would malfunction while consumers purchased iMacs, made warranty claims arising from the vertical lines on display screens, and made out of warranty repairs related to vertical lines,” alleges the lawsuit filed New Year’s Eve by Aram Hovsepian, who bought an iMac in October, 2006 and began noticing the display problem March of 2008.
The lawsuit alleges Apple violated California’s Unfair Business Practices Act and the state’s Consumers Legal Remedy Act.
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With expectations lowered for the upcoming Macworld Expo in San Francisco, talk has drifted from a new iPhone to sprucing up the little Mac mini. The mini is said to include support for dual displays, according to a Friday report.
The updated mini will sport both a Mini DVI connector and a Mini DisplayPort, which was recently introduced with new unibody MacBooks, according to unnamed sources “familiar with the company’s plans” quoted by Apple Insider.
The mini, introduced in 2005, has lacked dual display capability, something available in other Macs. The reason for the graphic refresh: the reported use of the more powerful GeForce 9400 chipset to replace the Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics.
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IDG, promoter of the Macworld Expo 2009 in San Francisco, Calif. next week, is asking Mac fans to help shape a future without Apple. A Town Hall event is set for Jan. 7.
The Town Hall is designed to help IDG “shape Macworld in 2010 and beyond,” according to a statement.
Acknowledging 2009 will be without Apple CEO Steve Jobs and the last year the Cupertino, Calif.-based company will participate, future Macworld’s will increase the focus on the “Mac community,” including users and product developers, IDC said.
Soon after Apple announced its plans to drop Macworld appearances, the event’s organizers vowed to continue. Analysts have scaled back their expectations for Macworld Expo.
The Town Hall will be held at 5 p.m. Pacific Time in Moscone Center’s Gateway Ballroom.
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Photo: Cishore/Flickr
Even before the January kick-off of Macworld 2009, analysts say we aren’t likely to see much news coming from the annual event now that Apple CEO Steve Jobs won’t be keynoting.
“Expectations are low given Steve Jobs will not speak at the conference,” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster told investors Tuesday. Earlier this month, Jobs announced he was handing the speaking reigns to Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller. The 2009 event will also be the last for Apple.
The introduction of Schiller at the key Apple gathering “suggests there will not be any revolutionary products this year,” Munster wrote. As a result, chances for a new iPhone being launched at Macworld are not as likely as once thought by the bullish Apple watcher.
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RIM is asking a court to permit it to hire former employees of hard-hit rival Motorola. The Canada-based handset maker claims Motorola is blocking its workers from joining the BlackBerry manufacturer.
The case revolves around a February agreement between RIM and Motorola which forbade the two companies poaching employees. RIM said the agreement expired in August and wants the court to invalidate the pact.
“RIM entities continue to grow and hire new employees within the United States and globally against a backdrop of recent public announcements by Motorola that it has and will continue to make massive layoffs,” according to the RIM lawsuit filed last week.
To combat lower handset sales, 3,000 Motorola workers were axed and the Schaumburg, Ill-based company recently announced it would cut pay and benefits.
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Photo: Uwe Hermann/Flickr
Intel Tuesday introduced the Q9000, a 2.53 GHz quad-core chip designed to offer a cheaper alternative for notebook manufacturers. Acer becomes the first to use the $350 chip to power a product, its $1,800 Aspire 8930G-7665 for gamers.
Unlike its bigger brothers, the Q9000 sports 6MB of cache memory - half that of Intel’s Q9100 and QX9300. Intel also offers the 2.53 GHZ P8700, 2.66 GHZ P9600 and T9550, as well as the 2.93 GHz T9800.
Apple is among a number of computer makers that will use new Intel Core 2 Quad chips created for mobile PCs. Cupertino reportedly will use the new chips for an expected refresh of its line of iMac desktops, reports suggested Monday.
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It didn’t take long for a French retailer to begin selling ‘unlocked’ iPhones, following a recent court ruling in that nation. FNAC Friday began selling the popular Apple handset without the usual carrier contract.
Despite the rather steep prices (an 8GB iPhone sells for the equivalent of $1,122), the FNAC offers seems to be the first to take advantage of a ruling by France’s Competition Council temporarily striking down the practice of requiring contracts tied to carriers.
Earlier this month, the competition board described Apple’s 2007 exclusive deal with France’s Orange carrier a “serious and immediate” threat to broader competition.
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Besides an all-in-one design, new iMacs expected in January could sport new cooling technology for chips developed by chip giant Intel, two Asian-language publications are reporting.
Foxconn will create a “magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis,” according to the Economic Daily News. The Chinese-language pblication also claimed Foxconn’s Precision Components and Auras Technology will produce the iMac’s “cooling module.”
The news may dovetail with a previous report from DigiTimes that Apple was among a group of PC makers opting to use new quad-core processors from Intel expected to alter computer power requirements. The Core 2 Quad chips, ranging in speeds from 2.33 GHz to 2.83 GHz, require 65W rather than 55W for current iMacs, according to AppleInsider.
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Apple’s iPhone now has 23 percent of the smartphone market, trimming RIM’s lead and showing signs of strong consumer demand even five months after the launch of the 3G, a new survey indicates.
The iPhone’s share of the smartphone market has more than doubled since June, when ChangeWave found the Apple handset held 11 percent of smartphone sales.
Although RIM’s BlackBerry remains leader, with 41 percent of the market between September to December, the Ontario company slipped by 1 percent.
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Although some are questioning how long Steve Jobs will continue to lead Apple, the Cupertino chief executive ranks No. 2 in a list of most-like company leaders.
Jobs had a 90 percent approval rating by participants in the first-ever survey by review site Glassdoor. Jobs garnered 290 reviews, far above the 50 needed to qualify.
Art Levinson, CEO of biotech firm Genentech, was ranked No. 1 most-liked boss with 93 percent approval.
Jobs beat Eric Schmidt, CEO of Internet Google, who had 88 percent approval.
Office Depot CEO Steve Odland ranked as the least-liked CEO, obtaining just 4 percent approval from reviewers.
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Add Garmin to the list of companies announcing plans to introduce Android-based handsets in 2009. Garmin said its nuvifone will link GPS features with Google Maps.
The handset is expected to be the first in a series from Garmin, according to the company’s head of Asia Pacific marketing, Tony An.
An said while the nuvifone will launch this Spring, a number of others based on Android will appear during the second half of 2009. The Garmin phones will be produced by another company, reports said Monday.
Friday, Samsung said it would launch its first Android phone in the U.S. sometime between April and June of 2009. Development of the handset has been accelerated to meet the “specific needs of local carriers,” an unnamed Samsung official told the South Korean ET News.
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Palm, the down-on-its-luck Treo maker, announced Monday $100 million in new funding amid talk it will unveil new products at the January CES trade show.
In addition to the $100 million lifeline, the deal allows Palm to sell shares worth $49 million — or a 31 percent premium before April 1.
The much-needed funding comes as Palm reportedly has just two years before cash is depleted and the company is set to unveil a new handset and a smartphone operating system.
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Samsung could join T-Mobile to offer the second Android phone in North America.
Samsung expects to launch its first Android-based touchscreen phone in the U.S. between April and June next year, reports said Friday.
An unnamed Samsung official said the company is “accelerating” development of the handset in order to meet “specific needs of local carriers,” according to South Korean ET News.
Although few details are known, the handset may include a design similar to Samsung’s Instinct and Omnia phones, according to one report.
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Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder and designer of the Apple I and Apple II computers, has joined the advisory board of Axiotron, maker of the Modbook Mac tablet.
Wozniak “brings a network of personal and professional contacts and offers his insight into market trends,” according to an Axiotron statement.
In 1976, Wozniak cofounded Apple with Steve Jobs, now CEO of the Cupertino, Calif.-based computer-maker.
Earlier this month, Axiotron updated the tablet-based Modbook, improving its screen and dropping to 5.3 pounds the weight of the unit priced at $2,249. MacBooks can also be converted to a Modbook, using Modbook Service for $1,299.
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RIM announced Thursday it sold 6.7 million BlackBerry handsets between September and November, a figure approaching Apple’s 6.9 million iPhone 3G sales.
The Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM referred to a “record” quarter that saw revenue climb 66 percent to $2.8 billion - despite an economic recession expected to slow handset demand.
RIM told analysts it is having trouble keeping pace with demand for the BlackBerry Storm, the company’s first touch-screen smart-phone.
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