iPod iTunes Zone

Shipments of touchscreen panels may indicate the timing of Apple’s planned 3G iPhone. The Taiwanese newspaper Economic Daily News cites unspecified sources in the display industry, who say that local company Innolux will begin shipping touchscreens to Apple in the second quarter of 2008. If true, this would be just in time to build new iPhones for a mid-summer launch; the first phones were released on June 29th of this year, and have so far relied mainly on panels from Wintek. Apple has yet to set a formal schedule for the 3G iPhone’s debut other than 2008, a timeframe which was first put forward by AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson. Some people and publications have speculated that the first word of a new iPhone could come at next month’s Macworld Expo, similarly to the original product, but it is expected that no devices will ship until several months later. EDN also mentions that Innolux will officially start shipping LCDs for Nokia in the first quarter of the year, while yet more anonymous sources say that handset panels will go out to Samsung “soon.”

source: electronista.com

Amazon today landed a coup by announcing the availability of Warner Music Group albums on Amazon MP3. The store becomes the first to offer music from the label in a universal format withoutdigital rights management (DRM), permitting buyers to copy tracks an unlimited number of times and to play them on most any device, including those with limited access to online music stores such as the iPod and Zune lines. The addition brings Amazon’s library up to 2.9 million songs, all without restrictions and at a relatively high quality 256Kbps bitrate, according to the company. The online retailer does not say how much of the Warner catalog is in place but explains that the store will carry album bundles with exclusive tracks. Amazon does not elaborate on whether these bundles will require shoppers to buy whole albums or can be broken up into individual song purchases.

The decision marks a significant turnaround for Warner, which has often been regarded as one of the staunchest opponents of freeing music from copy protection. Its chief executive Edgar Bronfman earned notoriety from a segment of the online community by attacking Apple head Steve Jobs for suggesting that removing copy protection was the only true solution to interoperability between music stores. The decision to sell through Amazon MP3 is a reflection of public demand, Warner claims.

“Consumers want flexibility with respect to what they can do with music once they purchase it, and we want them to have that flexibility,” says the label’s Senior VP of Digital Strategy, Michael Nash. “We believe that giving consumers the assurance that the music they purchase can be played on any device they own will only encourage more sales of music.”

No word has been received of similar offerings from eMusic, iTunes, or other stores that offer some or all of its collection in unprotected formats. However, the move echoes a similar approach by rival Universal Music, which has consciously excluded Apple from its non-DRM music trial. The experiment is formally designed to use Apple as a controlling factor to gauge response but is unofficially believed to be an attempt to undermine Apple’s dominance of online music sales and obtain greater flexibility in pricing.

source: electronista.com

Apple’s holiday customer satisfaction through its online and brick-and-mortar stores remains high this year, leading both sales categories, while experiencing a slight dip since last year. According to a recent study by ForeSee Results, Apple received a 79-percent overall satisfaction rating out of the top 40 companies in the report, showing no loss or gain from last year’s numbers. In terms of of satisfaction by sales channel, Apple netted 75-percent satisfaction in the “Manufacturer Direct” sales and 73-percent with its physical retail locations. These numbers are down 1.3-percent and 1.4-percent from last year, respectively, but were still high enough to earn Apple the top spot on the ForeSee study.Apple was also a top performer in the Computers and Electronics category, achieving 73-percent overall satisfaction, the same score that Amazon received in the “Mass Merchant” category. Apple’s comprehensive score of 79-percent was only three points behind Amazon, with the international virtual big-box store coming in at 82-percent.

Apple managed to edge out HP (75%), Dell (74%), Gateway (71%), and Sony (70%) in terms of overall customer satisfaction, with the four latter companies experiencing drops ranging from 1.4- to 4.1-percent.

With customers warming up to the idea of placing orders online, rather than fighting traffic and long lines, internet retail is becoming increasingly popular with shoppers. Satisfaction with online experiences, and overall volume of sales, are outpacing those of brick-and-mortar retail locations, with 72-percent of customers saying that they were likely to do most of their shopping online, and 62-percent saying they will get the majority of their shopping done in physical retail locations.

source: macnn.com

Apple’s iPhone is helping its UK wireless carrier partner to lure customers from competitors, according to FT.com. O2 CEO Matthew Key says about 60 percent of UK iPhone customers are new to his company, and expressed confidence in the prospect of landing an exclusive deal for Apple’s second-generation iPhone with faster 3G wireless service when it ships in late 2008. Key also said he expects 200,000 iPhones to sell in the UK by early January, a number that some analysts are calling conservative.Key insists that the iPhone is a profitable venture for O2 despite Apple’s unusually high revenue-sharing agreement, and is excited about the amount of data services iPhone customers demand from his firm.

Roughly 60 percent of iPhone owners are sending or receiving more than 25MB of data per month, compared to just 1.8 percent of O2’s other mobile customers on monthly contracts, according to the report. O2’s chief executive is hoping to have attracted 1 million customers by 2010, a goal that Apple’s iPhone could help the company to reach.

source: macnn.com

A combination of Apple’s seasonal sales and new manufacturing process are instigating a crisis in NAND flash memory, claim memory makers. As Apple typically ramps down its requests for the memory to reflect cooling demand after the holidays, the company has left the associated chipmakers with excess stock that will force them to drop prices to clear warehouses: immediate prices for 8-gigabit (2GB) and 16-gigabit (4GB) multi-level flash chips have dropped by as much as 25 percent in the second half of this month, the report says. Additionally, more densely-packed 50-nanometer flash memory has begun mass production at the same time, increasing the amount of overall memory on the market.Apple is likely to have exacerbated the supply this issue through increased demand for flash memory versus last year, having added both the iPhone and iPod touch to its demands for NAND storage while also shifting the iPod nano to increased amounts of flash storage. The company is the only of its kind believed to have escaped a sales drop during the holiday shopping season and so will have put greater pressure on its contractors than other jukebox designers.

The use of solid-state drives for impending ultraportables and other notebooks may help soak up some of the extra stock but is not expected to have a dramatic effect as most SSDs are still too expensive for the average user, the memory makers predict. The overall situation may clear by January but may cause a reverse crisis as companies that have cleared out their excess storage need to ramp up production once again.

source: electronista.com

Telestream has released a new update for its Flip4Mac WMV Components packages, bringing their version to 2.2. The software is used to play, import and/or convert Windows Media videos in a manner compatible with QuickTime; the upgraded edition is now fully compatible with Mac OS X Leopard, and should better support online streaming, whether through websites or directly from servers. The application now also has a JavaScript browser plug-in, which allows web developers to create interactive options for users such as playlists and custom buttons.Intel Macs encode substantially faster than in previous instances of the software, in some cases as much as five times faster. Video quality has been improved when encoding two-pass VBR, and Microsoft Silverlight apps can now be built for the web. Prices for the full version of Flip4Mac WMV range from $30 to $100; the basic player is free, however, as is the upgrade from earlier full editions.

source: macnn.com

Nokia has offered Apple a chance to join its Ovi Web portal, which would integrate the iTunes Store with the company’s own collection of services — including the Nokia music store, photo sharing, and access to services like Flickr. “In Finnish, Ovi means door. And our door is open. Of course, Apple can get into our portal. We even invite (Apple Inc chief executive) Steve Jobs to do so,” said board member Anssi Vanjoki. Vanjoki also said that Apple’s iTunes Store would be an enrichment for Nokia’s customers, according to Thomson Financial. Nokia announced its forthcoming Ovi internet services in late August at the Go Play event in London, and unveiled a plan earlier this month to release a public beta desktop version of the software as soon as internal tests are completed — likely some time in early 2008.

The Ovi service includes the Nokia Music Store, Nokia Maps, and the company’s N-Gage Arena gaming platform.

source: electronista.com

Phones using Google’s Android platform could make their first public appearance as early as February, according to the exhibitor listing for the Mobile World Congress show beginning that month. The search engine developer has booked two separate spaces at the event, giving the company an unusually large amount of space that is not believed to be connected strictly to promoting the software side of its platform.The California firm has not hinted at which manufacturers if any would use the Congress to showcase early devices but is believed to have worked with well-known smartphone maker HTC on one full QWERTY keyboard design, which has been seen both in the official announcement video as well as outside of Google’s campus in leaked photos. Google has previously explained that completed Android phones should be available from HTC and other manufacturers such as Motorola or Samsung in the second half of 2008.

Google’s presence contrasts sharply with that of Apple, which for a second year will be absent from the February trade show despite announcing its high-profile iPhone this past January. Apple has traditionally shunned major events such as the Consumer Electronics Show in favor of Macworld and other Apple-focused exhibitions, but is also known to regularly present and announce new products at industry-specific exhibitions such as the National Association of Broadcasters Expo or the NAMM music show.

source: electronista.com

The Airport Extreme base station has been temporarily removed from sale at Apple UK’s online storefront, checks show. While still listed under wireless accessories, the Extreme’s status has been changed to “not available,” and accordingly no price is mentioned either. The disappearance is also apparently unique to the UK, as the American, Canadian and French online stores still have the wireless router in stock. No official explanation has been issued.

The most likely reason may be a simple lack of inventory due to high sales, but others exist as well; among these may be problems with regional regulations, which forced a temporary removal of the Extreme nearly a year ago. It is highly unlikely that it is a sign of a forthcoming upgrade to the router, as products have traditionally been removed from the American storefront first in such cases.

source: macnn.com

#1. Apple iPhone:

The iPhone changed the way we think about how mobile media devices should look, feel and perform. The design is exceptional inside and out: It’s got a slick glass-and-stainless steel case and an elegant touch screen loaded with eye candy. It’s an iPod and a 2-megapixel camera. Images and video clips display vertically or horizontally — they reorient themselves depending on how you hold the thing. When the phone detects a wireless network within range — your own home wi-fi set up or somebody else’s — it lets you tap once to connect, and then proceed with your Web surfing, Google mapping, emailing and other activities that can otherwise be painfully slow over AT&T’s cellular network — the only one, unfortunately, that carries iPhone calls.

#2. Nikon Coolpix S51C :

Have you ever maxed out your digital camera’s memory card midway through a vacation? The 8-megapixel Nikon Coolpix S51c point-and-shoot is tricked out with built-in wireless capability, so you can email your images or beam them directly from the camera to your Flickr account or to Nikon’s own online photo bank. It’s also got a 3x zoom and a roomy 3-in. LCD screen — and it comes in black.

#3. Netgear SPH200W Wi-Fi Skype Phone :

This cordless wi-fi phone comes with Skype software already built in, so you can log in to an existing account and start making cheap Internet calls immediately. If you’ve never used Skype before, do not fear: It takes a few moments to create a new account and you can do it right from the phone’s keypad. (The first 10 minutes are free; after that, you’ll want to visit Skype.com from your computer to sign up for a service plan with a credit card.) The phone will also work at most public hotspots (including T-Mobile’s) so if you have lots of friends overseas, you may not want to leave home without it.

#4. Palm Centro :

Do you secretly covet your friend’s smart phone while dismissing it as way overpriced? The new Palm Centro provides an opportunity to get all the essential smart-phone features without breaking the bank. This light and bright device supports Web surfing, emailing, instant messaging and text messaging, and sports a 1.3-megapixel camera and a touch screen that works best with a stylus. A mobile version of Google Maps comes preloaded. The qwerty keypad is seriously small, but the bubble-like tactile design of the individual keys makes them easier targets.

#5. Sony HandyCam HDR-CX7 :

The CX7 records rich high-definition footage straight to a flash memory card (Sony’s Memory Stick PRO Duo), so it feels light and compact in your palm, and the 2.7-in. LCD screen features touch controls for set up and playback. Should you get the shakes while shooting, the CX7 has the ability to stabilize the image (using optics, which is more effective than a digital correction) and smooth out the action. A built-in HDMI port lets you connect the camera to an HDTV and watch your home movies in all their high-def glory.

#6. Samsung P2 :

The slim and sexy P2 sounds terrific and plays a variety of music file formats: MP3, WMA and songs from subscription services like Rhapsody and Yahoo Music. The pretty 3-in. screen has touch controls for viewing photos and watching videos, which are displayed at a DVD-quality rate of 30 frames per second. The device also works with BlueTooth headsets and speakers, and soon you will be able to receive forwarded calls from a BlueTooth cell phone. (You’ll have to download what’s called a firmware upgrade from the Samsung website, but don’t worry, it’s not as difficult as it sounds.) Comes with 4 GB of memory for $200, or 8 GB for $250.

#7. Toshiba Protege R500-S5004 :

This ultra thin-and-light notebook is a dream machine for road warriors. It runs on an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and offers 2 GB of RAM, an integrated DVD burner and graphics card and built-in wireless capability (both wi-fi and Bluetooth). The 12.1-in. widescreen LED-backlit display is super slim and displays in high-definition (1280 x 820 pixels). With the S5004 model you get a solid-state hard drive, which means no fragile spinning parts, so the machine is less likely to suffer damage if dropped or bumped. Total weight: 2.4 lbs.

#8. Flytech Dragonfly :

WowWee’s flying insect soars, dive-bombs, hovers and glides using authentic flapping-wing action, which makes it the first commercially available toy ornithopter. It’s lightweight (about 1 oz.) yet sturdy, and sports a 16-in. wingspan. The two-channel radio remote lets you control wing speed and tail rotor speed and doubles as a charging base (a 20-min. recharge gives you about 6 min. of flying time). The kids will love it — if you can bear to let them have it for a while.

#9. Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drive :

Who knew file storage could be so chic? The 160 GB eGo has enough room to hold up to 640,000 digital photos, 2,900 hours of music or 240 hours of video (depending, of course, on the compression rate). A new dual-interface version works over USB or FireWire and comes with both types of cords. If you accidentally knock the eGo off your desk, the shock-absorbing case will protect the important documents and precious media stored inside.

#10. Belkin N1 Vision Wi-Fi Router :

Though the new “N” wi-fi standard, which carries data signals faster and farther than its predecessor “G,” isn’t expected to be officially ratified until next year, it’s far enough along that you can buy certified N products with confidence that they will work with your computers and other hardware. Belkin’s audaciously designed N1 Vision router stands vertical and reports on network activity in your house so you can see if your kid is downloading video games when he should be doing his homework. It is designed to configure itself the first time you connect it to your cable modem or DSL, and computers still using older “G” adapters will still be able to connect.

source: time.com