News for Thursday, 15 May 2008

Quite some time after the French and UK carriers, respectively Orange and O2 , T-Mobile announced to have shipped its 100,000th iPhone. This figure is for sure below expectation, as well as in some extend sales recorded in France. However, as the iPhone Rev1 was not a 3G mobile phone, competitors' models might have been more attractive for European customers.
This hypothesis will be seen challenged when the iPhone Rev2 will be launched, and one will see if 3G and potentially the GPS function can really give the iPhone the same success as in the USA.

It it seems to be almost official, and rumors have been preading so much on the web, some executives have problems to keept it secret anymore further, even the little they know about the subject.
While yesterday Intel Executive's story was official denied, a representative from O2 confirmed today that they will launch the new iPhone model together with Apple in the coming weeks.
For O2 the iPhone has been a good deal, as the carrier has successfully added 206,000 new contract customers in the first three months of 2008, an excellent result strongly driven by the iPhone sales.
So are those iPhones available from Orange already the iPhone version 2?

Probably the best way to show the amazing growing interest buzzing around the Mac and the iPhone, registration at the WWDC is closed as there is no more seats free. This is excellent news for Apple, as it shows the interest of developers for the iPhone/Mac platform; and also sends a clear message to competition.
One can even think different, and see in the recent move to extend the registration discount from April 25th till May 12th, a way to push developers and attendees to quickly register and get all seats sold out one month before the WWDC keynote to be delivered by Steve Jobs.

As part of an Intel-Events in Munich, Germany, Intel Germany executive, Hannes Schwaderer, reported that a nuclear-chip type, meaning Intel's Atom processor, in the future iPhone. Cnet blogger Tom Krazit is rather expecting a Tablet-type Mac which could be powered by the ATOM CPU, rather than the iPhone as the ATOM reference platform and heat release and consumption makes the CPU not really compatible for being used in a mobile phone.
Of course such news will fuel the rumor mill of a potential iPhone 3G and/or a compact Mac-tablet to be announced at the WWDC. For sure the Intel Germany executive will most likely have a hard time to explain himself about such comment if such report is indeed true.

Deezer, the now well-known free online music platform, has recorded a big success in its young and short business life as they finally convinced Universal to enter into a partnership and open up its entire catalog to the music website.
So, one will be able to listen to all Universal's music artists for free, if you have a broadband internet connection. If Deezer can secure enough revenue via the advertising banners displayed on its music platform, it could for sure compete with subscription-based music websites and become the reference for free online music portal.

Let's go back a bit in the Mac mini history. A rumor indicates that the Mac mini was developed following a request from some shareholders for a true entry-level desktop computer, while Apple had no real plan for such hardware.
Of course, we do not know if it is true or not, but the past Mac mini history and the lack of interest from Cupertino to upgrade it regularly, tends to confirm such hypothesis. Even recently, instead of upgrading its CPU/GPU/HD or other features, Apple decided to simply cut the price.
Of course, one can see such a move as a sign for a product to be soon declared "End-of-Life", not only to be upgraded but to be entirely dropped as a hardware model.
This is particularly true with the recent announcement of Intel's ATOM CPU. Of course Apple knows about such CPU way before Intel even started talking about during the last IDF. The ATOM CPU is targeting entry level computer as well as mobile computing/internet handheld. For sure it is not as powerful as the Core 2 Duo, even the ULV models, but it cost much, much less, and would make it possible to develop desktop computer for 200 to 300 USD. In such conditions, the interest of the Mac mini will be reduced, as it will remain more expensive while not being loaded with all features required to be consider as a mid-range desktop model.
In addition, Apple is more looking into the online video store, and might well be merging the current Apple TV and the Mac mini into a more unified model serving its interest for the online movie market. So, at the end, Apple might have two solution, either ATOMising the Mac mini to potentially re-branding it as the "Mac micro" and compete with entry-level PC models (unlikely as margin will be small), or drop the Mac mini and come up with a new Apple TV which will be a merger between the current model and the Mac mini.

Apple in end has decided to lower the price of the refurbished Mac mini. The model Core 2 Duo 1,83 GHz is proposed at 409€ while the 2 GHz is 589€. At this price, the Mac mini is certainly the best existing media center and will easily find its place under a television set.
Le Refurb Store

Not unexpectedly, Samsung and LG who started to manufacture of the readers/engravers able to read HD-DVD disks, as well as Blu-ray announced their intention abandon these products.
These two manufacturers have also been victim of the withdrawal of Toshiba from the HD-DVD/Blu-ray race. These combo products could have been a big success if the race had lasted a few years more.
In passing, it could be interesting to pick-up one of these living-room units on sale. It would make it possible to benefit from HD-DVD titles being sold off now while preserving compatibility with what will come out in the future.

The site http://www.apple.com/investor/, makes it possible to study the details of the quarterly results announced by Apple at the end of April; they conceals some worthy information of interest.
In first place, one learns that the MacBook Air largely contributed to the total rise in sales of the Mac (+ 51% compared to the previous year) recorded for the last quarter. Of general interest, the segment of the " high-end " portable machines post an important progression: MacBook Air, MacBook Pro… But these very encouraging results seem to confirm that Apple made a sucess with MacBook Air, in terms of positioning.
The upward trend touches also the sales of office machines(+ 37%), is due to the success of the aluminium iMac. The recent update of this machine should confirm this tendency.
The good health of Apple is now on an undeniable fact. Consequently in terms of ongoing growth, we can ask which sector Apple will choose to advertise at the time of the WWDC? At the moment all the indicators (sales of machines, of software with the success of Leopard, musical products…) show a green light.