Most iPhone application developers are not making a profit

The majority of iPhone application developers are not making large amounts of money, and should not enter the industry with the anticipation of creating a lucrative business, a new survey warns.
##CONTINUE##
Apple's App Store has gained considerable attention for its incredible success stories, with some application developers quitting day jobs and earning hundreds of thousands of dollars for a few weeks' work.

One example is US developer Ethan Nicholas, who developed an artillery game called iShoot that earned him $37,000 in a single day.

But the new survey, undertaken by Britain-based game consultant Adam Martin, finds that over half of the 85 development teams surveyed have earned less than $15,000 for their work, and 33% have earned less than $250.

Only 1% earned between $500,000 and $2 million, 1% earned $100,000-$250,000 and only 2% made between $15,000-$50,000.

Application developer Keith Ahern, whose development studio MoGeneration has released some of the most popular iPhone apps, says developing apps can be a lucrative business but it must be approached like any other industry.

"When you get a return on investment that sees profit in six months, that's a good arc in every other industry. The App Store is not even one year old, and when you have a solid business proposition and you're prepared to wait six months then there are a lot of profitable businesses out there."

"How many industries have there been where you can make $10,000 in two months for doing one week's work? It's exceptional. If you step back, pick your niche, do your work in marketing and everything else, then you can make it work."

Martin said there were two outstanding elements in his survey. Firstly, most developers had not made games or applications before and secondly, several of the businesses had low business costs.

He warned other developers to immerse themselves in the practice of software development to gain experience, and to keep costs "absurdly low".

"The current tactic - relying on 'getting a hit game' - is one of the riskiest and most foolish business plans in the world; they need to learn to make a profit without that one-in-a-million chance," he said.

-----------------------------
BY Patrick Stafford
Source：smartcompany

Copyright © 2009
SmartCompany.com.au P/L
All rights reserved.

New ARM chips headed for iPhone, Palm Pre?

ARM, the company that designs chips for the world's smartphones, said handset makers will deliver the first models using more than one processor core next year, as high-end mobile phones begin to mimic the hardware attributes of PCs.
##CONTINUE##
And that means top smartphone suppliers such as Apple and Palm, which both use ARM-based processors, will likely deliver models packing at least two cores inside the main processor--referred to as an application (or applications) processor.

This is a natural progression for high-end smartphones like the iPhone and Palm Pre as the software those phones run gets increasingly sophisticated.

"You'll definitely see handsets shipping with a dual-core A9 in 2010," James Bruce, wireless segment manager for ARM, said in a phone interview earlier this week, referring to the next-generation Cortex-A9 processor from ARM.

The Palm Pre uses a processor based on the current-generation Cortex A8. The iPhone also uses an Apple-branded chip that is based on an ARM design.

"The A8 is just a single core while the A9 will be dual-core, all the way up to quad-core to give smartphones an even bigger performance boost," Bruce said.

He said the move to dual-core phones should happen relatively quickly. "It's very aggressive. It's only going to be in a year's time that you're going to get these phones," he said.

And what about power consumption, a critical concern for smartphones looking to deliver all-day battery life? "What we've done on the A9 is actually make it more power efficient than the A8. The dual-core A9 will be coming out on 45-nanometer rather than the (current) 65-nanometer process," Bruce said. Generally, the smaller the geometries, the faster and more power-efficient the processor is.

Bruce continued. "With the dual-core running at maximum load there's probably going to be an increase of about 10 to 20 percent in power consumption but in general day to day use you're actually going to see better battery life."

Manufacturers are very strict about power-consumption caps, he said. "The manufacturers lay down the law that maximum power consumption of the processor is 300 milliwatts. In the mobile space, this is one of those golden rules that we have to live within," he said, speaking about the upcoming Cortex A9 processor.

An ARM diagram showing a quad-core Cortex-A9 processor

(Credit: ARM)

By comparison, Intel's power-sipping Atom processor--used widely in Netbooks--is generally rated at more than 2 watts (2,000 milliwatts), though Intel is expected to get this down to smartphone territory with the future "Moorestown" processor.

Bruce also spoke about the speed of the current Cortex-A8 versus the previous ARM design. The principal reason for the performance boost is the A8's superscalar design, which means the processor can execute two separate instructions per clock cycle.

"You're getting a 2X increase (over the previous ARM design). "And actually the A9 takes that even further, It's a superscalar design but it's also an out-of-order design as well. There is some out-of-order aspects with the A8 but the A9 is a very aggressive out-of-order processor," he said. The ability to process instructions using an advanced out-of-order architecture typically results in better performance.

And graphics will follow suit. The upcoming multi-core OMAP 4 processor from Texas Instruments (the OMAP 3 is used in the Palm Pre) is based on the ARM Cortex-9 and will boast graphics that support 1080p video and high-definition record and playback, larger screen resolutions, and "digital SLR-like performance with 20 MP (megapixel) imaging," according to TI documentation.

-----------------------------
BY Brooke Crothers
Source：cnet

Brooke Crothers is a former editor at large at CNET News.com, and has been an editor for the Asian weekly version of the Wall Street Journal. He writes for the CNET Blog Network, and is not a current employee of CNET. Contact him at mbcrothers@gmail.com. Disclosure.

©2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

苹果iPhone入华难 普及更难

苹果iPhone手机入华难有目共睹，但即使成功打入中国市场，iPhone的普及程度也未必能达到美国的水平。
##CONTINUE##
经过长期谈判，相继与两家运营商接触，时至今日苹果iPhone手机仍未顺利进军中国市场，由此可见这并不是一件容易的事情。

苹果首席运营官提姆·库克(Tim Cook)近期曾表示，希望能于明年打进中国市场。即便如此，iPhone在中国的发展也未必一帆风顺。

iPhone在中国市场的潜力不言而喻，几乎没有几个国家能够与之匹敌。但中国消费者也不会为了苹果的产品而付出额外的高昂成本，因为苹果的品牌知名度在中国并没有像在美国和日本那么高。

当前，iPod播放器在中国的市场份额不到8%，Mac计算机的市场份额更是不到1%。中国的相关法规和文化差异也将在一定程度上限制iPhone在中国的发展。例如，手机的Wi-Fi功能要受到限制。

由于担心版权问题，苹果尚未在中国推出音乐和视频下载服务iTunes，这也将影响iPhone在中国市场的普及。

另外，没有中国移动或中国联通这样的合作伙伴，iPhone很难达到用户手中。但是，与本地运营商合作又不是一件容易的事情，因为苹果向来不向合作伙伴做出妥协。

Gartner分析师肯·杜兰尼(Ken Dulaney)称：“如果中国对苹果做出某些强制要求，那么苹果很可能走开。”

-----------------------------
文章出处：赛迪网
作者：N/A

* Windows 7 vs. Snow Leopard: Why 7 Is More Substantial

With Snow Leopard finally been given a release date and a price, the comparisons with Windows 7 are starting to pop up all over the place, especially focussing on the price aspect of things. While Apple's move to price Snow Leopard at 29 USD for Leopard owners is a very welcome one, the move doesn't mean that Microsoft is getting a price beating from Apple.
##CONTINUE##
No soup for you!
There are a few very important aspects to this whole pricing issue that many seem to overlook. The most important one is that the 29 USD will get you an upgrade copy. Not a full version. If Apple's past behaviour with its Up-to-Date program is anything to go by, this means that you will need Leopard installed before you can install your copy of Snow Leopard, and that if you want to perform a clean install, you'll need to install Leopard first, and Snow Leopard second.

In addition, Apple still hasn't made anything known about a possible full retail version of Snow Leopard, and its possible price tag. This is an issue for users for Mac OS X Tiger, since they will not be able to buy Snow Leopard for 29 USD; instead, Apple suggests Tiger users buy a box set which includes iWork and iLife, which comes in at 169 USD.

While this 169 gives you some good value for your money, this price is actually not lowered at all - previous box sets, with Leopard and Tiger as the operating system, also went for 169 USD. This means that Tiger users will not benefit at all from the 29 USD price tag for Leopard. On top of that, what if you don't want or need newer versions of iLife and iWork? What if you already have them? What if you don't care about them at all? Apple is punishing Tiger users for not having upgraded to Leopard.

On the Windows 7 side, things look much, much brighter. Windows XP users are also eligible for the Windows 7 upgrade sets, so that people who bought their operating system in 2001 (!) are still eligible for the upgrade; that means 8 years of Windows purchases covered, versus only 2 (!) years of Mac OS X purchases covered.

Then there's the issue of hardware cut-off points. Both Snow Leopard and Windows 7 went on a diet compared to their predecessors, and will see performance improvements on the same hardware. However, Windows 7 has a major advantage in that it can run on hardware that's even as old as 7 years - my Pentium 4 2.8Ghz with 2GB of RAM from 2002 does its job as a Windows 7 media centre outstandingly, inlcudig instant sleep/hibernate/wake cycles, full HD playback, and all the bells and whistles.

Snow Leopard, on the other hand, will only run on Intel Macs, meaning that high-end machines still sold in August 2006 (PowerMac G5), with pretty hefty price tags, are now left in the cold. In other words, it is much more likely that Windows users will be able to run Windows 7 without having to invest in new hardware than Mac users do with Snow Leopard.

On top of all this comes the fact that the 29 USD price for Snow Leopard doesn't even compete with Windows 7's prices. As said, the 29 USD is for Leopard owners only, meaning that the price is utterly irrelevant when talking about switchers; they simply don't benefit one bit from this pricing.

All in all, the 29 USD price is nothing but a (very welcome) gift to loyal Apple users who diligently emptied their wallets every time Apple asked them to, while the Windows 7 upgrade prices benefit even the most non-loyal Microsoft customers, even those who punished Microsoft for the abysmal Vista fiasco by, well, not buying into Vista. Seen in this light, Microsoft's upgrade prices - which are still not confirmed, but will probably be round and about 50-70 for Windows 7 Home Premium, and 100-120 for Professional, seem a lot more useful to a lot more people.

Which is the better upgrade?
This is a really intriguing question. Which of the two operating system upgrades provide more value for your money? The problem with this one is that it includes a comparison to their predecessors, making it a little bit more complicated.

Snow Leopard is truly a release where the under-the-hood stuff is more important than user-visible changes. OpenCL, Grand Central, removal of PowerPC code, fully 64bit, they all aid in making Snow Leopard faster and leaner. There are also some interface tweaks, but they are small (but useful!), and certinaly don't draw that much attention.

Windows 7 is a completely different story. Microsoft has made the operating system perform better than Windows Vista (and every report confirms that), with some even claiming performance on par with Windows XP, especially on more recent hardware. It could very well be that Snow Leopard gives a more substantial improvement in this area, but Snow Leopard has it easy; only very recent and powerful 64bit machines will see this benefit. Windows 7's (possibly) more modest performance gains over Vista will benefit machines that are much older and/or much less powerful. For instance, both that old Pentium 4 box as well as my low-spec Acer Aspire One perform better with Windows 7 than with Vista. Similarly aged and/or specced Macs can't even run Snow Leopard at all!

However, where the difference really becomes obvious is the interface changes Windows 7 introduces, and all the pulling-together of frameworks and features introduced with Windows Vista, and exposing them to users in much more useful ways than Vista did. The best example of this is Homegroup, which pulls together various technologies and features introduced with Windows Vista, and presents them in a way that makes managing your network and shared files (especially in combination with the Libraries feature) completely painless. Another example is that various driver upgrades no longer require a restart, such as graphics drivers.

The interface of Windows itself has also been massively cleaned up compared to Vista. It really takes some intensive usage to reveal just how much of the interface has been cleaned up, made more consistent, and overall prettified without losing functionality. My personal favourite is Windows 7's Explorer file manager, which is such joy to use now, while the Vista one was a busy and clumsy mess. Of course, there are still trouble spots, such as the overly crowded Control Panel.

Snow Leopard simply doesn't bring these kinds of massive interface improvements.

Conclusion
Overall though, while Snow Leopard certainly is a nicely priced upgrade to Leopard, and I'm sure going to buy the Family Pack to upgrade my parents' iMac and my own Mac, it just doesn't compare very favouribly to Windows 7 as an upgrade, in a multitude of aspects: supported machines, previous releases still eligible, and the number of people who are actually able to benefit from the upgrade. On top of that, I believe Windows 7 is a far more substantial upgrade than Snow Leopard, but I'm sure many will disagree with me on that specific one.

-----------------------------
BY Thom Holwerda
Source：OSNews

© 1997-2009 OSNews LLC. All Rights Reserved.

苹果iPhone在内地获五年准入期限

就在苹果就iPhone(手机上网)进入内地与联通谈判胶着之际，昨天，国家无线电频谱监测和检验中心网站上的资料显示，苹果手机已经通过国家无线电发射设备型号核准，获得五年有效期的市场准入时间。这是否是iPhone入华销售的重大转折？对此，电信业专家付亮解释，iPhone进入国内市场还有重重障碍。
##CONTINUE##
根据国家无线电频谱监测和检验中心资料显示，在2009年5月7日，美国苹果公司的一款设备型号为A1324的WCDMA制式手机获得核准，标准证号为2009-1996；标准代码为CMIIT ID:2009CJ1996；值得注意的是，WCDMA正是联通应用的3G模式。

目前苹果正在就引入3G版iPhone与中国联通进行谈判。业内日前传出消息，由于苹果坚持分成模式，联通高层对于引入苹果态度已不再坚决。随着手机的不断更新换代，特别是联通加入谷歌开放手机联盟，计划推出自有开放操作平台手机，iPhone地位已经降低。

此外，获得工信部的入网检测也是一大难关。付亮介绍，iPhone目前采用的无线局域网WI-FI通过手机上网的标准目前在国内还未出台。目前在国内销售的各种品牌手机都屏蔽了这项功能。iPhone要进入中国市场，还必须关闭WI-FI功能。

-----------------------------
文章出处：新京报
作者：赵谨

The gap in Apple's MacBook lineup

Despite the litany of Apple announcements at the opening keynote speech of the company's developers' conference, what could turn out to be more interesting than the new products it named is what Apple didn't say Monday.
##CONTINUE##
The bumping up of the 13-inch laptop to MacBook Pro status, and the price cuts along the MacBook Pro line certainly grabbed headlines. They did something else: they left the little $999 white MacBook as the only true MacBook in the bunch. Gone now is the option to buy a silver unibody design version of a MacBook. The rest are all MacBook Pros now, which leaves buyers with little choice if they don't want a high-end notebook from Apple.

So what gives? Apple doesn't talk about products before it's ready to, but with that subtle change it may be signaling some tantalizing possibilities for upcoming products.

The white MacBook, at $999, is the cheapest notebook Apple offers right now. It also looks a bit out of place, compared to the clean, silver, cut-from-a-single-block-of-aluminum design of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models. More importantly, there is a big gap in Apple's product lineup between the $299 iPhone and iPod Touch and the $999 laptop.

Apple could bridge that with the much discussed touch-screen tablet, which, of course, Apple has never actually said is in the works. If it were, the tablet could certainly make sense with the MacBook name attached, especially if its primary purpose was as a portable device for reading e-books, reviewing documents, and viewing videos.

But there is also room for a lower-cost laptop, with fewer bells and whistles aimed specifically at the education market. It would be similar to what the rest of the computer world calls a Netbook, or a mini-notebook. If Apple did make one, it would seem to represent a change in attitude toward "junky" Netbooks. But here's the thing: Apple wouldn't have to make a poor-quality mini-notebook. Historically, in the tug between features and style, and affordability, Apple usually errs on the side of features. But the company can, in fact, aim for a broader Mac market from time to time. It did so with the eMac in 2002, which lasted until 2005. That Mac desktop was aimed at students, and no one would call that a junky version of an iMac. It was however available with fewer features and a corresponding (slightly) lower price.

Netbook sales are also getting harder to ignore: 20 million of them will ship by the end of the year, according to IDC. That's twice the number that shipped last year. Most of the models available from Asus, Acer, HP, and more recently, Dell, were also originally built for students. But the demand was such that those PC makers started selling them at retail.

With a wide price gap to fill, Apple could pursue something similar: sell a lower-priced notebook (at $700 or $800) with fewer features aimed at the education market that would also entice consumers. It's also what ended up happening with the eMac: it started out as a school-centric computer that Apple eventually made available for people to buy for their homes.

It was also hard to ignore a theme of some of the demonstrations during the WWDC keynote speech Monday: several of the companies that trooped up to the stage to show off their new applications had an educational bent to them: ScrollMotion's Josh Koppel talked about a new e-book reader and e-book store, and educational science equipment maker Pasco showed off how its app can be used to teach kids about science. As analyst Michael Gartenberg pointed out, the iPhone or iPod Touch--the only devices that are actually capable of running applications sold in the App Store--may not be the best devices to do so. How many schoolkids have iPhones, anyway?

Plus, now could be a good a time as ever to offer a lower-priced MacBook. After Monday, Apple has shown that it's more hip to the financial pressures on buyers today than we thought.

Of course, it's also entirely possible that Apple just felt like there was too much confusion associated with its laptop naming convention. The unibody MacBook and MacBook Pro had become almost identical--the basic differences could be summed up as a matter of price, a port, and a graphics card. Perhaps Apple was merely looking for a way to clear up the difference of the two models in the minds of less tech-savvy shoppers.

The Mac maker has been doing periodic events when it updates its hardware in a significant way. Last year it was in October, so we might have to wait until fall again to see what it has in store for the future of the MacBook line.

-----------------------------
BY Erica Ogg
Source：cnet

Erica Ogg is a CNET News reporter who covers Apple, HP, Dell, and other PC makers, as well as the consumer electronics industry. She's also one of the hosts of CNET News' Daily Podcast. In her non-work life, she's a history geek, a loyal Dodgers fan, and a mac-and-cheese connoisseur.

©2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

Apple's latest MacBook Pro range comes with a price cut

APPLE has confirmed its new notebooks are cheaper, greener, have longer battery life and smarter features.
##CONTINUE##
The new range comprises 13-inch, 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models and a revamped MacBook Air.

Apple has endowed the three MacBook Pro models with LED display screens, glass multi-touch trackpad, backlit keyboard, SD or ExpressCard slots, FireWire 800 port and upmarket NVIDIA graphics.

The MacBook Pro models use Apple's swish one-piece aluminium unibody chassis.

But Apple's approach to battery design is sure to get a mixed reception.

Each has a non user-replacable inbuilt battery said to last seven hours on a single charge in the 13 and 15 -inch models and up to eight-hours in the 17-inch model.

Great in theory but when a batter glitch arises the notebook could disappear into an Apple service centre for a couple of weeks.

And if you haven't backed up to an external hard drive ...?

Apple also says the inbuilt batteries have a lifespan three times longer than conventional batteries.

The MacBook Air which is available in two models gets a price cut and more grunt.

The $1899 entry level 13-inch MacBook Pro has a 2.26 GHz Intel Core Duo system and comes 2GB of RAM and a 180GB hard drive.

An extra $500 boosts this to 4GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive and a 2.53GHz processor.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro is available in three models and each has 4GB of RAM.

The cheapest is $2699 and offers a 2.53GHz Intel Core Duo processor with a 250GB hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400m graphics.

The upgrade to a 2.66 GHz and a 320GB hard drive and 9600M GT graphics costs $3199.

Dearest of the trio is the $3699 2.8GHz model which has a 500GB hard drive.

Apple's 17-inch MacBook has been revamped and now features a faster 2.8GHz Intel Core Duop 2 processor and a 500GB hard drive, ExpressCard slot, NVIDIA 9400M and 9600M GT graphics.

The MacBook Air which weighs 1.36 kilograms costs $2399 for a model with a 1.86 GHz Intel Core Duo system with 120GB hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics. Spend $2799 and you get a 2.13GHz processor and a 128GB solid state hard drive.

Every Mac notebook runs the Leopard operating system.

-----------------------------
BY Peter Familari
Source：news.com.au

© Herald and Weekly Times. All times AEST (GMT +10).

苹果降价举措具有战略性

根据苹果公布的消息，这个消费电子产品巨头将推出一款仅售99美元的iPhone(手机上网)以及价格更为低廉的MacBook Pro系列笔记本，与此同时，苹果还宣布新款iPhone 3G S也将走低价路线。分析师指出，苹果的降价策略和低价路线能够在很大程度上提高产品的市场份额，而借助于零部件供应商更理想的报价以及从应用软件身上赚取更高利润，降价举措和低价做法并不会对利润率产生太大影响。
##CONTINUE##
降价举措大幅提高销量
令苹果观察家们感到好奇的是，在经济不景气这种不利形势下，苹果这个消费电子产品巨头能否推出价格更为低廉的产品，以吸引当下提倡节约的消费者。根据经验，在其他公司的很多产品销售处于不景气时，苹果只需采取降价策略，便可让包括Mac、iPod以及iPhone在内的所有旗下产品抢占巨大的市场份额。

在6月8日针对软件开发人员举行的一场公司活动上，苹果最终终结了外界的种种猜测，宣布降低最新版iPhone以及MacBook Pro系列笔记本部分版本的价格。但这种降价并不是出于强迫而是目标明确的一种战略，可以帮助苹果迅速抢占市场份额同时又不会以牺牲收益为代价。自1月中旬以来，苹果股价已经上涨了80%，达到140美元。

苹果最富有戏剧性的降价举动当属将3G版iPhone售价降半至99美元。根据美国投资银行Piper Jaffray分析师吉恩·蒙斯特(Gene Munster)的预测，如此高的降幅将让3G版iPhone的需求量提高一倍。在2008年6月将3G版iPhone售价从399美元降至199美元之后，这款手机的销量也增加了一倍。

不给对手喘息机会
在苹果采取最新降价行动前两天，竞争对手Palm 推出了其大力宣传的智能手机Pre，售价为199美元。蒙斯特说：“我当时认为，苹果最后的定价应该接近149美元。他们显然对抢占市场份额充满渴望，不希望留给Palm Pre任何喘息的空间。”

即便在抢占市场过程中，苹果也不太可能以牺牲大量利润为代价。分析师指出，虽然售价降至99美元，但利润率应该与过去大致持平。由于显示器、记忆芯片、硬盘以及其它零部件需求减少，零部件价格不断下滑，苹果自然而然地成为这种下滑的受益者，从而为降价打下一个良好基础。

由于相信自己有能力开发受消费者欢迎的产品，苹果一直花大力气游说供应商，使其给出一个更为理想的报价，获得理想报价的条件自然是承诺未来从供应商手中大量购买零部件。一名不愿透露姓名的合作伙伴表示：“他们从我们手上拿下一份非常诱人的协议，因为我们希望成为他们未来产品零部件的供应商。”此外，iPhone销量的快速增长也可以让苹果通过更高的营收有效分摊一些固定成本，例如软件开发和广告宣传费用。

分析师指出，iPhone美国独家运营商AT&T将在一定程度上为100美元的降幅“买单”，为此，他们需要采取措施让消费者签署获利丰厚的两年期服务合约。AT&T发言人马克·西格尔(Mark Siegel)表示，达到AT&T底线的补贴所能产生的影响将极其微小。接受采访时，这位发言人拒绝透露具体细节。

不会对毛利率产生太大影响
毫无疑问的是，一件商品以99美元价格售出所能带来的利润要远远低于以两倍价格售出。但苹果表示，一款速度更快且价格更为低廉的新产品能够帮助弥补这种差异，这个新产品就是iPhone 3G S(“S”代表速度)。苹果营销负责人菲尔·希勒(Phil Schiller)在旧金山莫斯康展览中心中心当众宣布，容量16个G 的iPhone 3G S每部售价将为199美元，32G版售价将为299美元。科技业顾问公司Portelligent分析师大卫·凯里(David Carey)表示，考虑到额外的16个G大约需支付24美元左右这个事实，苹果显然可以通过多收取100美元保证较大的利润空间。

除此之外，苹果也可以利用应用软件业务提高利润。据统计，在其应用软件商店的软件销售额中，有30%最后流入苹果腰包。6月16日，苹果将发布一款iPhone软件升级版，开发人员不仅可以因这款软件向消费者收取费用，同时也可因升级版或者额外版——提高软件品质，让玩家对所使用的iPhone应用软件忠贞不二——进行收费。很多开发人员表示，这种新方式将帮助他们从每位消费者身上获得更高收入。

蒙斯特表示，在2007年和2008财政年度，苹果的整体毛利率为34%，整体毛利率在2009年财政年度有望维持在35%左右。“如果降价策略导致毛利润下滑，我会感到非常震惊。”根据苹果的预测，当前季度的利润率将达到33%，下一季度将达到30%。

笔记本降幅达300美元
除了手机外，苹果也下调了笔记本电脑的售价，但降幅并没有手机那么富有戏剧性。尽管使用微软Windows操作系统并且价格低廉(最低售价仅为200美元)的上网本越来越受到消费者青睐，但苹果并未推出一款价格更低的入门级版本。取而代之的是，苹果下调了几款高端MacBook Pro笔记本的售价，降幅为300美元。与此同时，他们还提高了可承受度更高的笔记本——13英寸显示屏MacBook Pro的性能。

凭借更大的存储空间、品质更高的显示屏以及更长的电池寿命，这款笔记本已经被重新定位为最顶级MacBook Pro系列的一个低端产品。Gartner分析师范·贝克(Van Baker)说：“昨天的时候，购买一款MacBook Pro还需2000美元，今天就下降到1199美元。这是苹果一贯采取的做法，即追逐更高端的消费者。”

新款iPhone革新语音识别技术使用方式
通常情况下，一家公司拒绝跟随竞争对手脚步，对一些确定产品采取幅度相当的降价策略，可能导致其市场份额下降。但苹果显然是个例外，由于继续在革新之路上迈进，分析师认为苹果有能力继续吸引消费者目光。新款iPhone 3G S配备一个清晰度更高的摄像头，所运行的软件能够提供一系列功能，例如用户只需简单地轻敲屏幕便可锁定目标。此外，它也是第一款能够录制视频的iPhone。

借助于iPhone 3G S，苹果有望成为利用语音操作手机这一领域的领导者。虽然其它手机可以让用户通过说出好友名字向其拨打电话，但iPhone用户除了可以享受这项功能外，还可让手机播放其iTunes音乐库中一名既定歌手所有的歌曲，甚至可以要求手机创建一个歌曲播放清单，并在任何既定时候播放。

语音识别技术开发公司Nuance高管史蒂夫·钱伯斯(Steve Chambers)表示：“真的是太奇妙了。在基本功能方面，苹果可能落后于竞争对手，但在通过其它方式利用语音识别技术方面，苹果显然是业内的先驱。”钱伯斯并未透露iPhone 3G S是否采用Nuance的技术，但他表示苹果已经获得许可，“在他们的产品中使用我们的多项语音识别技术”。

在相当大程度上，投资者对苹果当天宣布的消息持一种坦然和愿意接受的态度。由于CEO史蒂夫·乔布斯(Steve Jobs)未能出席，苹果股价下滑了不到1%。乔布斯的缺席致使一些博客作者对其行踪进行这样或那样的推测。自1月以来，乔布斯便因胰腺癌引发的并发症请了病假，传闻网站和投资者对他能否出席一直议论纷纷。

对于外界的各种猜测，苹果可能不会发表任何评论。咨询公司Creative Strategies总裁蒂姆·巴贾林(Tim Bajarin)表示：“苹果曾经表示乔布斯将于6月底重返工作岗位，对于他的工作问题，苹果将采取分阶段的解决方式。我们没有理由相信，重新回到工作岗位的乔布斯还会每周工作40小时。”

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文章出处：新浪科技
作者：杨琳

iPhone软件销售火爆催生新盈利模式

苹果iPhone(手机上网)手机应用程序开发人员在家中或车库中卖出了大量游戏，日子过得有滋有味。如今又悄然出现了一种靠为iPhone手机编写软件赚钱的新模式——先是销售应用程序软件，接着将公司也卖出去。
##CONTINUE##
开拓新市场的重要途径
2007年以来，苹果应用程序商店的软件下载次数超过10亿，而iPhone和iPod Touch的销量亦超过4000万部，所以，越来越多的企业将手机行业看作是稳定的营收来源。近来，由巴里•迪勒(Barry Diller)创建的互联网巨头InterActiveCorp(简称IAC)和亚马逊都收购了应用软件开发商。而小企业则开始开发新的功能，欲从中分得一杯羹。

由于苹果的经验表明新的应用程序可以推动手机销售，应用程序市场正在快速发展。Palm、RIM、诺基亚和微软都针对运行于各自操作系统上的手机建立自己的应用程序商店。另外，一些企业还在为运行于谷歌Android的手机开发应用程序。但是，大多数开发努力仍集中于iPhone手机应用程序上，这使得本周在旧金山召开的苹果全球开发者大会备受开发人员和潜在投资者的关注。

开发人员将在这次大会上展示专门为苹果最新软件打造的新产品。苹果的最新软件可以让用户订阅应用程序服务，轻松购买附件软件(add-ons)，如达到更高游戏水平的捷径或额外的城市导航。营收增加的潜力可能会让买家寻求收购软件开发商的兴趣大增。

移动分析公司Pinch Media联合创始人格雷格•亚德利(Greg Yardley)说：“在升级以后，用户对iPhone应用程序的兴趣将更加浓厚。因为现在可以销售虚拟商品，我们会看到一些围绕iPhone手机的商业模式出现。”由于很多企业寻求为其产品和服务开发手机应用程序，所以，开发人员对应用程序的兴趣日趋浓厚。他们将此视为在互联网之外开拓新市场的一个途径。

比网站更可靠的营收来源
尽管很多应用程序是免费的，但用户有时愿意花99美分或更多钱去购买软件，企业由此认为，应用程序或许是比网站更可靠的营收来源。风险投资公司Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers合伙人马特•墨菲(Matt Murphy)说：“一些企业心想，‘我们怎么才能与iPhone手机沾上边呢？’”该公司管理着一个总额1亿美元的基金，专门用于向开发iPhone手机应用程序的初创企业投资。

墨菲说：“这些企业并非全力开发自己的产品，而是将目光瞄准前景光明的应用程序。”一款不错的iPhone专业应用程序的开发成本一般在5万美元左右。据墨菲介绍，如果在围绕iPhone平台的市场上站稳了脚跟，企业便可利用大批稳定而忠诚的用户资源。他说，对于一家试图迅速进军移动市场的大企业来说，“百万用户其实比iPhone本身更重要。”

这便是InterActiveCorp采取的策略。InterActiveCorp旗下拥有35家互联网企业，包括Ask.com、CollegeHumor和Evite。上个月，该公司收购了西雅图的初创企业UrbanSpoon，收购数额不详。UrbanSpoon提供全美众多城市的餐饮指南服务，拥有一款iPhone应用程序软件，这款软件是苹果应用程序商店上最受欢迎的产品之一，迄今下载次数已接近500万。

移动战略重要组成
IAC发言人莱斯利•卡弗蒂(Leslie Cafferty)表示：“iPhone是我们移动战略的重要组成部分。开发一款应用软件需要投入很多，选择一款现有软件自然更具吸引力。”IAC旗下城市导航网站Citysearch率先与UrbanSpoon合作进行联合投资，同时对这家创业公司的网站进行评估。卡弗蒂说，去年7月，这款iPhone应用软件首次登台亮相，那时的它“就是蛋糕上的糖衣”。

UrbanSpoon其中一位创始人伊桑•劳里(Ethan Lowry)表示，对于UrbanSpoon的3位创始人而言，UrbanSpoon被一家规模更大的公司收购在一定程度上是一种机会主义行为。他说：“它让我们考虑所能提供的更多类型的服务以及服务的稳定性。一家规模更大的公司的安全性体现在能够在一定程度上缓解财务压力。”

Amazon 及其Kindle电子书阅读器也将手机应用软件作为拓展其销售的电子书市场的一种途径。4月晚些时候，Amazon收购了Stanza。Stanza是一种软件服务，允许用户通过手机浏览一个拥有10万部图书的图书馆并从中购买自己喜欢的图书。

创业公司参与其中
时至今日，iPhone已经变得越来越普及，对手机应用软件的需求也不断提高。意识到这一趋势的绝不仅仅是规模更大的公司，创业公司也是如此，例如位于加利福尼亚州帕洛•阿尔托的Tapulous。7月，Tapulous从开发商Nate True手里收购了游戏《Tap Tap Revenge》。这款游戏与《吉他英雄》等视频游戏类似，挑战玩家与流行音乐的节奏保持步调一致。

根据市场研究公司comScore提供的数据，iTunes应用软件商店的每3名买家中便有1人购买《Tap Tap Revenge》。Tapulous CEO安德鲁•莱西(Andrew Lacy)表示：“能够与W.W.D.C。(世界开发者大会)的人建立纽带，我们都感到非常兴奋。在音乐游戏领域，他们能够提出有趣的想法并开发有趣的软件。”

其它公司正开展一项业务，具体做法是：获取原始程序并进行重新设计和打磨，而后向应用软件商店发布。位于旧金山的视频游戏创业公司Ngmoco专注于发行可在iPhone 和 iPod Touch上运行的游戏。最近，这家游戏公司收购了由英国开发人员西蒙•奥利弗(Simon Oliver)设计的益智游戏《Rolando》。

Ngmoco CEO尼尔•杨(Neil Young)表示：“创建公司时，我们便认定最理想的商业模式就是充分利用开发人员的力量，并将他们开发的游戏产品投向市场。”Ngmoco也进行游戏的内部开发，但通常采取的方式还是锁定外部开发人员，了解他们的下一步动向。从目前的形势来说，Ngmoco借助外力的方式收到了良好效果，他们的很多游戏在应用软件商店的最受欢迎游戏排行榜中获得较高排名。未来两个月，Ngmoco将发布4款游戏，另有15款新游戏正在开发之中，其中包括《Rolando》的几个续集。

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文章出处：新浪科技
作者：杨琳

What Processor is the iPhone 3G S Running?

From a chip standpoint, this is one of the key questions of the iPhone 3G S launch. And one which Apple doesn't seem too inclined to answer, at least at the moment.
##CONTINUE##
Which processor is in the iPhone 3G S? Odds are that it's an ARM chip, as the Samsung ARM 11 was the chip used by the previous iPhone 3G. But the real question is whether or not it's a chip from the PA Semi team that Apple acquired for $278 million in 2008.

The issue is the instruction set. Apple's iPhone OS is written for the ARM architecture, will be available for the iPhone 3G and the new 3G S; if Apple planned to move to a new processor architecture, the iPhone OS 3.0 would not straddle both phones. So we can assume that the 3G S is an ARM phone.

Unfortunately, Apple wasn't talking. I interviewed Bob Borchers, senior director of iPhone worldwide product marketing, who declined to comment on the chip's speeds, architecture, which company designed it, or even if it was an ARM architecture. "Within the mobile space we're mainly talking about what you can do with it," Borchers said.

Linley Gwennap, principal analyst at The Linley Group, which covers the embedded processor market, said he doubts Apple and its PA Semi team had had enough time to develop a chip for the iPhone. "I would think it's a safe assumption that it's another ARM processor they're working with," he said.

But, Gwennap added, it's impossible to say with certainty which processor is inside the new iPhone, or which vendor it was purchased from. "I would guess it's another Samsung processor with a faster CPU," he said. "It's possible that they switched [vendors], however."

What we don't know, as phone analyst Sascha Segan points out, is what particular flavor of ARM chip it is. Is it a Freescale Cortex chip? A more prosaic ARM derivative, merely clocked higher? To my knowledge, PA Semi was never an ARM licensee.

My notes show that Apple's characterizations of the iPhone 3G S performance focused on four key"benchmarks": the ability to lauch messages (2.1 times faster than the 3G), loading SimCity (2.4 times faster), viewing an Excel attachment (3.6 times faster) and loading the The New York Times.

According to Borchers, those metrics indicate "real-world things that make a difference". The software's new voice control options and the ability to edit video on the fly are two other indications of the software's performance, Borchers said.

On the plus side, the new iPhone 3G S also includes substantially more battery life, as Sascha Segan captured with his camera in our liveblog story: nine hours of Wi-Fi time for the iPhone 3G S versus six hours for the iPhone 3G; thirty hours of audio versus twenty-four for the iPhne 3G; and twelve hours of 2G talk time for the 3G S versus ten for the older 3G. That seems to indicate a process shrink, or shrinks, as well as some improved power management capabilities.

One other bit of news: there is no 802.11n in the iPhone 3G S, according to Borchers.

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BY Mark Hachman
Source：PCMAG.COM

Copyright © 1996-2009 Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. All Rights Reserved.

iPhone 3.0 Software Will Be Available June 17. Free for iPhone Users, $9.95 for iPod Touch

Today Apple recapped the highlights of its new iPhone 3.0 software and revealed a few new features, including the ability to download TV and movies over Wi-Fi and a faster Safari browser. There’s also a clever new Find my iPhone feature that will locate your device via GPS, but you will need to be a Mobile Me customer ($99) per year.
##CONTINUE##
iPhone 3.0 will be available starting June 17 for iPhone users and for iPod touch. It will $9.95 for that device.

Apple also showed some cool new apps that tap into iPhone 3.0’s SDK. These include Asphalt 5 (a racing game), Iceberg Reader (for downloading text books and magazines, in addition to regular books), and TomTom (for turn-by-turn GPS).

Cut and paste works across all applications and has undo support. It will also be developer friendly. Users can now type in landscape mode in Mail, Notes, and Messages. MMS allows you to send and receive photos, audio files, and locations over the cell network in real time, all in the same app. AT&T support is coming later this summer for MMS. Why not today? Maybe the network needs to be updated to handle all those media messages.

Spotlight search can find a message you’re looking for. You can use it to find not only e-mail but also Apps. With iTunes, there are some enhancements. You can rent and purchase movies now right from your phone. It also includes TV shows and audio books. Support for iTunes U is right on the phone for education.

Parental controls now gets new features. These include movie shows, TV shows, and apps based on age. Moving on to tethering. This allows you to share your iPhone’s Internet connection with your computer. Works over wired USB or Bluetooth. Apple promises seamless experience on Mac and PC. Apple has announced multiple carriers but not AT&T!

Apple promises 3x faster Javascript support on Safari browser. New HTTP streaming audio and video that automatically picks the best connection. Uses contact info on your phone to fill out Web forms. Auto-fill. iPhone 3.0 also sports HTML 5 support.

With new Find my iPhone feature it will let you locate your device online and send a message that will be audible even if it’s in mute mode. You can also erase all the data remotely. All smart phones should have this feature.

Scott Forstall now going over in-app purchases. Nothing new here but it’s good to know that free apps will remain free. With new peer-to-peer support you can find other devices and connect the two without pairing. Should be good for games. Accessories can talk to the iPhone and share information in new ways. Companion apps can talk over dock connector or Bluetooth.

So what about Maps? Easy for developers to embed Google map service in any application. Will allow devs to do turn-by-turn directions. Push notifications also recapped, which will deliver text and audio alerts and work with apps like instant messaging and ESPN for sports scores.

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BY Mark Spoonauer
Source：LAPTOP

Copyright © 2000-2008 Bedford Communications, Inc.

iPhone 3G S first take

iPhone fans got everything they were waiting for June 8 when the third-generation of Apple's made its debut during the WWDC 2009 keynote. The iPhone 3G S, which will hit stores June 19, promises a faster iPhone with an extended battery, more memory and improved features. It looks exactly the same the previous model, but both the 16GB ($199) and new 32GB ($299) models come in white and black versions.
##CONTINUE##
Though the jump from the iPhone 3G to the 3G S isn't quite as big as the jump from the first to second generation models, this latest handset still adds enough new features to make it a compelling upgrade for some users. And when you add in all the new features that will come with the iPhone OS 3.0, we finally get an iPhone that can run thousands of snazzy applications and and do something as basic as send a multimedia message.

Yet, we still have some reservations. A faster AT&T 3G network isn't going to happen overnight and some features, like the aforementioned multimedia messaging, won't happen right away. We also came away without any mention of call quality, which, as any iPhone owner can tell you, remains far from perfect. But most importantly, the iPhone 3G S's price will vary widely depending on your eligibility. If you can get it at the lowest prices, it's worth your while. But if you're not yet eligible for a discounted upgrade, we suggest that you wait.

Speed
Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, promised that iPhone 3G S (the "S" stand for speed) will be faster in a number of ways. Not only will a faster processor enable it to load apps faster, but also it will utilize a faster AT&T 3G network for speedier Web browsing. We've been expecting both of these improvements so we're not surprised they'll be the new model's prime selling points. I'll start with the processor.

Schiller didn't provide any hard metrics on the new processor, but he said that the 3G S would open applications two times faster than previous models. Honestly, this isn't something that we've been pinning for--we would much prefer to get Palm Pre-style multitasking--but we'll welcome any it just the same. We'll have to wait for a review model to see how much faster the 3G S is.

On the other hand, we've eagerly been awaiting zippier 3G speeds, so we're glad to hear that they're on their way. Here too Schiller was short on specifics outside of mentioning AT&T's forthcoming HSPA network upgrade to 7.2Mbps. That is an important qualifier considering AT&T won't start rolling out the faster network until later this year. What's more, full deployment is scheduled for 2011. Though we expect that urban areas will be first, coverage will vary widely for the next year at least. As such, we don't expect any miracles soon.

Battery life
Though battery life on the first iPhone was mostly satisfactory, the iPhone 3G sucks up juice rapidly. Indeed, you're lucky if your handset lasts longer than a day of heavy use. Luckily, the iPhone 3G S offers some hope. Schiller rattled off statistics that certainly sound promising. It should offer nine hours of Wi-Fi battery life, 10 hours on video playback, 30 hours on audio playback, 12 hours 2G talk time, and 5 hours 3G talk time. Like with the processor, we'll have to wait for our review unit to see if these ratings hold up, but we're we what we're hearing so far.

Camera
Up until now, the iPhone's camera has been good, but far from great. Though picture quality is decent, camera editing features on the first two iPhones are non-existent. The minimalist shooters bothered us so much that we began to worry that Apple was leading a new trend of "dumbing down" cell phone cameras.

The iPhone 3G S, however, has helped put some of those fears to rest. Apple boosted the camera's to three megapixels and it added an autofocus feature. In the future you'll also get settings for white balance, exposure, low-light sensitivity, and a macro mode for close-up photos. The autofocus feature appeared to work well during the keynote demo so we're looking forward to testing it ourselves.

Video recording
When we last asked about video recording at the OS 3.0 announcement last March, Apple wouldn't comment on whether it would come to the iPhone. So we have to admit that we weren't expecting it to happen anytime soon. But thanks to its improved camera, the iPhone 3G S will offer the ability to record VGA clips at 30 frames per second. It also promises a nifty editing feature that will let you trim clips to your liking. And once you're done, you can upload them to YouTube with just a couple of clicks. Again, it looked good on stage so we're excited to check it out.

Voice Control
We've long berated Apple for not including voice dialing and commands on the iPhone. So when we heard it would be on the iPhone 3G S, our initial reaction was a cynical "its about time." Yet, our hearts softened just the slightest bit when we saw that the new Voice Control feature will go far beyond just voice dialing and commands.

Sure, you'll be able to dial a contact using just your voice, but you'll also be able to activate the iPod player by asking for a particular music track or artist. What's more, you can use Voice Control to identify a song by name and you can ask to play related tracks (as they're associated in the iTunes Genius feature). Seeing those additional features almost makes us forgive Apple for taking so long to add something as basic as voice dialing, but not quite.

Compass
We were a little skeptical when we heard that the new iPhone might offer a digital compass, but today Schiller confirmed that the rumors were true. Like any other compasses it will automatically point to north, but it also will integrate with Google Maps to point you in the right direction. A nice touch, to be sure.

So should you buy it?
Like we said earlier, the iPhone 3G S offers some notable feature improvements, but it doesn't offer quite the same leap that the iPhone 3G offered over the first generation model. If you don't own an iPhone yet, and you've been waiting around to see what happens, now is the time to go for it. The same goes for iPhone Classic owners who never made the jump to iPhone 3G.

But if you're a current iPhone 3G owner, the answer isn't so clear. If you're eligible to upgrade at the cheaper prices ($199 or $199), then we suggest upgrading, as long as you remember that a new two-year contract is required. If you own an iPhone 3G, but are not eligible for the upgrade yet, then we recommend waiting. As much as the iPhone 3G S brings, it's not worth the extra $200 that both the 16GB and 32GB models will cost you. In the meantime, you will get everything that OS 3.0 brings when it's released on July 17 and you'll have extra money to spend on apps.

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BY Kent German
Source：cnet

Kent German is a senior editor for cell phone reviews at CNET. When he's not testing the newest handsets on the market, he's blogging about cell phone news for Crave. In his On Call column, he answers reader questions and gives his take on the rapidly changing mobile industry.

©2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

5 Reasons Why New Macs and iPhone are Lacking

Today at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference, many things were unveiled.
##CONTINUE##
The new MacBook specs and MacBook Pro, slashed prices, the new iPhone 3G S, and of course, Apple's next installment of OS X, Snow Leopard. Despite the fanfare however, Apple's announcements were largely non-exciting.

Yeah it's true. I do use Macs. But it's true too I have several custom built PCs at home. The announcements shown off today however, reveal that Apple is indeed not a hardware company. It's a software company at heart, and monetizes those products through its hardware sales. One of the most obvious proofs of this is the company's iPhone. Just about the only good nugget of today's presentation was Apple's talk about Snow Leopard. Indeed the next-generation of OS X with its BSD underpinnings has great features going for it. In fact, installing Snow Leopard will free up 6 GB of space if you upgrade from Leopard.

But anyway, let's move on to my top 5 reasons why Apple's hardware is really still lacking and behind the curve.

1. Hardware Support

Everyone knows this one on Tom's Hardware, and even Mac users know it. The confinement of major hardware components is a huge adoption block for many PC users. Gamers, enthusiasts, have long since complained about Apple's lack of hardware support. Granted, this limited pool of major hardware support also lends the Mac platform its overall stability. However, I have to point out here that Apple has been touting game support for the longest time, and its hardware support for games is extremely appalling.

Even with the recent Nehalem-based Mac Pros that can take an ATI Radeon HD 4870, you can't CrossFire. Yes, the Mac Pro can take more than one HD 4870, but the Mac Pro doesn't have enough power connectors--only enough for one card.

The Mac Pro is priced way out there for what it comes with, even by breaking the hardware down into individual components. The $2499 starting point for the Mac Pro should come with at least the HD 4870, not the paltry Nvidia GeForce GT 120. Apple doesn't have to have nearly as much hardware support as Windows, but it should have support for the upper end hardware and some limited support for mainstream options.

The Mac Pro: A powerhouse of a computer with the most ridiculous video options.

In today's keynote, Apple said "the majority of new Mac users pick a laptop over a desktop." Well... we'll refrain from using explicit words here, but when we spoke to a long time Apple enthusiast James S. about this, he said:

"I wonder if they've considered the possibility that their crap desktop line-up has some part in that..."

2. Price / Evolution Strategy

I have a Mac Book Pro that I bought about the time Apple moved over to Intel processors. Prior to that, I couldn't stand using Macs since they were so horrendously slow for what I wanted to do. But that all changed with Intel processors. But I am the one who wrote the big article on Apple prices last year. How can I possibly list "Price" as a bullet point in this list? Let me explain.

Apple tends not to reduce prices unless something revolutionary comes out, and even then, the company tries to maintain its price points. When Apple releases a new major product stepping, like the first Intel MacBook Pro, it's actually priced very fairly. At the time of the initial product line's release, the prices are fair. However, Apple doesn't lower its prices much or at all over time. Instead, it prefers to incrementally upgrade the hardware of the products over time. This is why Apple has the overpriced stigma--the prices don't change, only the hardware. Unfortunately, even these upgrades aren't nearly enticing enough for PC users that Apple wants to convert.

But Apple may be feeling the squeeze now. From PC makers? No. From Microsoft? Some. From the economy? Definitely. Apple's entire line of computers received price cuts today at WWDC. The MacBook Air for example took a big $700 cut. The MacBook Pros took only minor cuts, but all the notebook products received upgrades. What was left out? The Mac Pro.

While Apple did make price cuts today across the board for the most part, it's still not enough. Either cut prices more, or deliver better specs.

3. Odd Hardware Adoption

When the new unibody MacBook and MacBook Pros were unveiled, Mac users will up in arms over the disappearance of FireWire support. Well, they're back. Why Apple hasn't included HDMI in its notebook and desktops is an odd omission as well. In the unibody MacBook Pros, the exclusion of a mini-DVI port was a big bag of hurt for many people. DisplayPort, while a good step forward in terms of display carrier technology, isn't widespread at all.

But wait! I can buy the $99 dual-link adaptor! No thanks. This is one of a few reasons I'm not on the newer unibody MacBook Pros.

4. Small Steps Appear Big

Let's take the new iPhone 3G S. Nearly all of its features that people got excited about at WWDC, should have been on the previous phone anyway. In fact, may of the features were available on other phones long before today's announcement.

Cut and paste for example was held out for so long, that now when Apple unveils it at a big convention people go nuts over it. For me, it's more of a sigh of relief than something to clap about. Worst yet, the iPhone 3G S still won't support background applications like the Palm Pre. Background apps is a major feature, and sorely lacking on the iPhone platform.

5. Sometimes Removing Hardware Support

The FireWire port that was dropped back into the MacBook Pro was cheered. Why? Apple screwed FireWire users big time when it was removed. The new SD card reader slot on the notebooks are a welcome addition. But in all honesty, this was a toss in feature on every other PC notebook since man landed on the moon.

My current 15-inch non-unibody MacBook Pro has an ExpressCard reader--the newer 15-inch does not while the bigger 17-inch does. Appropriate to palm face now.

C'mon Apple, get caught up with the times hmm?

-----------------------------
BY Tuan Nguyen
Source：Tom's Hardware US

Copyright ©2009 Bestofmedia. All Rights Reserved.

Inside Apple's Geekfest

Reporters are cleared out of Apple's developers conference after Monday's keynote. Whoops.
##CONTINUE##
Reporters are supposed to be cleared out of Apple's developer conference after the keynote is over Monday morning. But they missed one.

After most of the press had been shooed off, Apple and a few thousand of its favorite geeks got down to business. The message: Apple software is part of the mainstream now. Between the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and its desktop and laptop computers, Apple tells developers they can now reach an audience of 80 million users.

"The Mac is a great deal that fits in anywhere, and by anywhere I mean the office environment," Guy "Bud" Tribble, vice president of software technology at Apple, told a hall packed with developers.

And although two of the third-party applications showed off to the press and public during Monday morning's keynote address were embarrassingly ridden with glitches, the demos shared with developers once the press had left were more enlightening.

One presentation showed how making better use of all a processor's cores--a technology Apple calls Grand Central--can turn a jerky simulation of 12,000 objects orbiting our planet into a smooth, stunning animation.

Not that Apple employees were eager to chat with absent-minded reporters who forgot to ask whether they were welcome to hang out or not. Rank-and-file Apple geeks roamed the halls, but they declined to comment. Many Apple partners were shy too. "I really shouldn't talk to you," one Intel employee said.

The consensus among those who would talk was that Apple had skipped going for a big "wow" to push what it already does very well to new levels. "I was hoping for a bigger surprise, but this is pretty much what I expected," said Eli Ben-Yakar of Worldmate, which makes mobile travel applications.

The surprise most geeks were hoping for: Steve Jobs. Apple's chief executive is out on medical leave through the end of June. Developers, however, were hoping he would make a cameo appearance at the conclusion of the morning's keynote. He didn't. "I was disappointed Steve did not show up at the very end," conceded Alex Horvitz, chief technology officer at the Brookside Group.

There were other appearances for the geeks to gossip about, however. One was the return to Apple of Craig Federighi, a long-time protégé of Apple senior vice president of software engineering Bertrand Serlet. Federighi left Apple in 1999 for Ariba, where he was chief technology officer. He made a brief appearance on stage Monday morning.

Developers took Federighi's return as vice president of Mac OS as a sign that Serlet can still draw top software development talent. And while the updates to Apple's OS X and iPhone OS X were even geekier than usual, developers say, for once, Apple is under-hyping where some of these technologies can go.

Kyle Kinkade of Black Pixel Software, for example, was thrilled to see Apple's new phone, the iPhone 3G S, will be able to tell you what direction it is pointing. He plans to take advantage of that capability for a game the company is working on called "Gunslinger" that can turn your iPhone into a virtual weapon for zapping other phone users. "We're not focusing on a character on the screen. We're focused on you as the character," Kinkade says.

Imagine that, a videogame you can play outside.

-----------------------------
BY Brian Caulfield
Source：Forbes

2009 Forbes.com LLC™ All Rights Reserved.

苹果CEO迷局 库克执掌只是时间问题

重返苹果
苹果看上去要实践其诺言，正如该公司所再三宣称的那样让乔布斯于6月底重返苹果执掌帅印。
##CONTINUE##
随着上述日期的临近，以及苹果全球开发者大会将在6月8日召开，外界的注意力又重新回到乔布斯以及他的归来将给投资人、用户以及员工所造成的影响方面，其中受影响最大的就是库克。今年1月份，曾患有胰腺癌的乔布斯在今年1月份时宣布因病休假至6月份，病休期间库克一直在负责苹果的日常运营。

在过去半年，库克将公司管理得井井有条，引发了对其是否或将多久后接任乔布斯CEO职位的讨论。讨论的焦点在于，为什么不任命库克担任CEO，而让乔布斯担任董事长，或者再兼任类似首席创新官(CIO，Chief Innovation Officer)等职位？

提拨库克意味着正式承认他和乔布斯事实上已经在扮演的角色。乔布斯是苹果最主要的创新动力，一向以近乎偏执的关注微小的设计细节而闻名。而库克则擅长于对错综复杂的运营进行有力的管理，苹果去年销售额达320亿美元，在全球拥有近3.5万名员工。乔布斯仍可作为苹果公司的代言人，这也是他于1997年重返苹果后最为擅长的一个角色。而作为CEO，库克可以继续负责全公司的运营。

如果根据苹果的股价表现判断，6个月的库克时代让股东非常满意。乔布斯宣布病休的当天，苹果股价下跌超过2美元，报收于85.33美元，并在随后几天继续下跌了7美元后才有所反弹。此后，虽然经济衰退并未好转，但苹果股价已累计上涨85%，6月5日收盘价为144.67美元。

在乔布斯病休的这几个月间，苹果与IBM就聘请后者原高管马克·派普马斯特(Mark Papermaster)负责其iPhone(手机上网)和iPod技术团队违反同业竞止诉讼案达成和解，并推出了新版iPod Shuffle，发布了专业级和个人用台式机的升级产品，其iTunes商店也在推出仅9个月即达到了10亿次应用下载的记录。

惟一可算作例外的是，苹果Mac机的销量在当前财年第二季出现下滑，但这主要是由于今年初期的销售量过于集中，而不是因为乔布斯的离开。尽管经济衰退仍在持续，苹果在3月份仍公布了82亿美元的非假日季最佳营收记录。

管理团队
虽然库克的任期非常成功，但苹果并没有表明乔布斯将以CEO以外的身份重返公司。咨询公司Creative Strategies总裁提姆·本杰林(Tim Bajarin)认为，这不应该被看作要踢开库克，他表示：“在苹果内部，CEO和COO的定义相当模糊。在过去三年，苹果已经形成了由高管团队负责运营的模式，乔布斯只是被看作全面负责的高管。”

苹果的高管团队包括乔布斯、库克、CFO彼得·奥本海默(Peter Oppenheimer)和全球产品营销高级副总裁菲尔·席勒(Phil Schiller)。席勒计划在6月8日的开发者大会上发表高端演讲。高管团队的每个人都与乔布斯紧密合作至少10年，并适应了乔布斯的苛刻和敏感的性格。本杰林指出：“这些高管都知道如何向乔布斯说‘不’，但总体而言，他们配合得极为默契，除非大家意见一致，否则不会随意采取行动。”

除苹果外，也有许多公司在管理团队的率领下运营良好，这些管理团队通常包括一名远离日常运营但却富有远见的CEO，日常管理则由强有力的二号高管或管理团队负责。Comcast COO斯蒂芬·伯克(Stephen Burke)通常被视为该公司的日常运营管理者，而CEO布莱恩·罗伯茨(Brian Roberts)则重点关注战略问题。西南航空公司创始人兼CEO赫伯·凯勒赫(Herb Kelleher)在1999年披露正与前列腺癌抗争后，仍作为该公司代言人并担任CEO达两年之久。实际上，目前担任该公司CEO的加里·凯利(Gary Kelly)和公司原总裁科琳·巴莱特(Colleen Barrett)等多名高管才是西南航空真正的运营管理团队。

但这一切并不意味着乔布斯和董事会无法达成一致，甚至在不远的将来任命一名新CEO。本杰林认为：“此举将使乔布斯无需再纠缠于公司日常事务。如果他可以减少日常管理事务转而重点关注苹果的宏伟蓝图，我将不会感到惊奇。”

可能人选
有许多分析师认为，如果苹果近期内任命CEO，库克将是最可能的人选。Needham & Co分析师查尔斯·沃尔夫(Charles Wolf)称：“我认为库克将被任命为CEO，而乔布斯将担任董事长及其他的职位，例如首席创新官等。这应该是一种明智的做法。”

其他可能接替乔布斯职位的继任者还包括负责苹果零售业务的高级副总裁罗恩·约翰逊(Ron Johnson)，沃尔夫认为：“如果库克成为CEO，约翰逊可能会离职。”另外，负责iPhone软件部门的高级副总裁斯科特·福斯托尔(Scott Forstall)正在苹果的多项活动中扮演越来越多的公众角色，苹果资深高管、iPhone和iPod营销副总裁格雷格·乔斯维亚克(Greg Joswiak)的演讲颇得乔布斯神韵，这两名高管也是苹果CEO的可能人选。

但就目前而言，苹果仍是乔布斯的公司。在可以预见的未来，不管乔布斯担任什么职位，他都将是苹果的主要负责人。本杰林认为，乔布斯的表现将“令所有人惊奇”，重返苹果后也将“比以前更为抢眼”。

-----------------------------
文章出处：新浪科技
作者：肖恩

消息称联通暂时不引进苹果iPhone手机

苹果全球开发者大会于北京时间今日凌晨1点开幕，尽管业内预测苹果会推出中国版的iPhone(手机上网)手机，但是，有知情人士透露，中国联通目前没有继续与苹果公司谈判，因此，暂时还不会引入苹果iPhone手机。
##CONTINUE##
消息人士称，预计苹果将在WWDC上公布新一代iPhone——3GS版iPhone，配置更快的处理器、两倍的内存和存储容量。价格则与当前产品一样，16GB和32GB版本的价格分别为199美元和299美元。

与3G版iPhone一样，3GS版iPhone电池续航时间将延长15%-20%。3GS版iPhone外形尺寸将与3G版iPhone完全相同或非常相似。

苹果在财报电视电话会议上表示：“公司希望在下一年内将iPhone引入中国内地市场”。

虽然目前苹果方面并未透露任何与之相关细节信息，但联系到苹果与联通谈判的无果而终，以及6月苹果即将发布新款iPhone的背景来看，至少目前的iPhone 3G进入国内市场的希望将相当的渺茫。

尽管从现在的情况来看，苹果iPhone手机是否登陆国内同样存在诸多悬念，但似乎在新一代苹果手机之上则显得更为明朗一些。按照台湾媒体《工商时报》的说法，苹果将会为第三代产品推出三个不同版本。它们分别是EDGE版本、3G版本和中国大陆专用版本。同时由于联通将会在今年5月份商用WCDMA网络，所以预计国内版本仍将提供对3G网络的支持。

新一代iPhone可能会在今年6月8日至12日在旧金山莫斯克尼中心(Moscone)中心召开的苹果2009年全球开发者大会之上被正式发布。

-----------------------------
文章出处：新浪科技
作者：N/A

苹果6月19日起发售全新iPhone 3GS

苹果今天在洛杉矶举办2009年全球开发者大会，宣布推出全新的iPhone(手机上网) 3GS，将在6月19日正式发售，最低售价199美元。苹果称其打开短信的速度比旧款快一倍。
##CONTINUE##
iPhone 3GS支持7.2Mbps HSDPA协议，具有300万像素摄像头，支持自动对焦，支持视频录制。只需用手指点一下就能准确地获得对焦，此外微距模式最小支持10厘米距离。

iPhone 3GS在录制视频方面，提供VGA大小的分辨率，每秒30帧，同时支持同步录音、自动对焦和自动白平衡，还可以直接编辑刚刚录制的视频。如果运营商支持的话也可以通过彩信。对于开发者来说，最重要的是内置的程序接口，可以自行调用录像功能。

苹果称，可以通过语音控制来拨打iPhone 3GS，也可以播放iTunes中的音乐。还内置了Nike+支持，以及硬件加密功能。此外，电池也有所改进，现在可以支持长达5小时的3G通话，或者9小时的WiFi冲浪。

苹果表示，iPhone 3GS将会更加环保，包装体积缩小了23%。价格方面，iPhone 3GS将有两个版本，16GB版售价199美元，32GB版本售价299美元。为了争取更多的用户，苹果同时决定将iPhone 3G的价格继续下调，现在只要99美元，今天起生效。

iPhone 3GS将在6月19日起正式发售，过后，将向更多国家提供。在八月之前，全球超过80个国家将会提供iPhone 3GS。

-----------------------------
文章出处：新浪科技
作者：木木

And Moses asked God: Is Mac better than Windows?

I once was a God-fearing Windows user. But when an Apple shrine, uh, store opened in my area, I began to ask myself the age-old question that has confounded even the greatest biblical prophets: Is the Mac better?
##CONTINUE##
I avoided the Mac for years for the usual reason cited by the Windows faithful: a dearth of hardware and software. (The so-called Mac tax was never really an issue for me.) That said, I won't go into a broad platform critique because I risk rehashing Windows-versus-Mac religious arguments that have been repeated millions of times for (digital-age) eons. (Besides, I'll leave that faith-based debate to the digerati of the world.)

Suffice to say, I now use a MacBook full time. Though, in the spirit of complete disclosure, I do have a Vista-based HP tower that I still use when there's something I absolutely can't do on the Mac. And, no, I have not gone the Boot Camp or virtual machine route yet.

So, without getting into an unwieldy philosophical argument, there are some nuts-and-bolts things that make the transition a challenge (and it's different for everyone, as every user has different needs.)

And one more disclaimer: I'm writing this from the perspective of a Mac neophyte/new user. Not as a seasoned Macophile that can instantly troubleshoot issues as they pop up.

Docking stations (lack thereof): This is a biggie. I had grown attached to the convenience of Hewlett-Packard docking stations. Apple should have connectors for docking stations (or port-replicators) built into MacBooks. The ease of popping an HP business laptop--which I had been using for years--in and out of a docking station cannot be overstated.

Microsoft Entourage: This is not the Windows Outlook equivalent. In a word, it's slow. In two words, very slow. (Note: I can't use the OS X "Mail" client because it can't run the email programs that I use.)

Web compatibility: All things should be equal here. But they're not. Like many people, I use both Safari and FireFox. Last week, there was a live video stream that, while it loaded on my MacBook Air, wouldn't run. The applet was there but it wasn't streaming. I didn't have time to figure out why it wasn't streaming. I just needed it to work. Out of desperation, I tried it on the Vista-based HP tower. It streamed immediately. In my book, that's a problem. And generally, on many Web sites that I use, Windows Media Player (that is, WMP v.11) is more adept at streaming video than the applets that come standard on the Mac OS X platform.

OS X local search: OS X local search is great (e.g., Spotlight) but it won't let me exclusively search a folder full of JPEG files. This issue was validated by a Mac "Genius" at my local Apple Store who admitted it was "odd." Let me repeat, an Apple Genius verified that I could not do this. Of course, I can find these files a dozen other ways but there's an application I use everyday that would be a lot easier to use if I could search JPEG files exclusively in that folder.

(Update: After a second visit to my local Apple Store and a separate discussion about changing the user short name--which the Genius did, as this process is a little tricky--I can now do JPEG searches on one of my MacBooks. I do not know how this came to be fixed, however, as it was an unintended consequence.)

Hardware compatibility--in this case, camcorders: I found this out quite by accident. I was in my local Best Buy (Southern California) and overheard one of those illuminating matter-of-fact dialogs between a customer and a salesperson. "Are all of these camcorders Mac compatible?"--the customer asked. "No," the salesman said. "Only the Panasonic and Canon." After the salesman was done helping the customer, I followed up with more queries. The upshot: Most other brands are not Mac-compatible, according to the Best Buy sales force. Does a Best Buy salesperson always know the bottom-line, gospel truth about hardware compatibility? Probably not. But the larger point is that's what he is telling customers. And it's always an ugly reminder of that cliche that a lot hardware is not compatible with the Mac.

The Mac philosophy of how to use external displays: This, I suppose, is more a philosophical argument than a practical argument. But, to me, the way Windows handles external displays (with a laptop) using Fn-F4 is straightforward and extremely practical. And--returning to the lack-of-a-docking-station argument--inserting/removing a laptop into/from an HP dock is so well executed that it becomes second nature to the user: the internal laptop display shuts off, the external display goes on, and the external display automatically adjusts the resolution. Again, this may be partially a case of me simply being more accustomed to the Windows way of doing things--but not completely: Windows wins the ease-of-use award here.

No built-in 3G option: I've talked about this before in other posts. HP, Dell, and others offer integrated 3G connectivity. That said, I fully expect that this will become less of an issue when 4G hits, as I am confident that Apple is savvy enough to stay in front of this trend.

Of course, the list goes on (lack of development momentum from some software vendors on the Mac, being another minus often cited). But I would be remiss at this point to not preemptively answer the critics who will say, "Well, if you're going to whine all the time, go back to Windows you a#%*!#@." (And that's putting it charitably. Mac minions tend to be slightly more contemptuous.)

The reason I switched to Mac (if anyone really cares) was hardware, not software. I looked at all of the HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Sony laptops and saw nothing that came close to a MacBook Air. Not even remotely close. The Air is an incomparably well-balanced design that is light, fast, and aesthetically a knockout, to boot. The other unibody MacBooks inherit these attributes too.

Oh yeah, Mac OS X beats Windows in a lot of ways. You can run Windows, after all, if you choose, with Boot Camp or VMware Fusion. And all of the well-known virtues are true. You're not constantly on Virus/Worm/Malware alert, the interface is more intuitive in some ways, it's more streamlined than Vista, it boots faster, and the list goes on. I guess I can live without a docking station--for now.

So, as of summer 2009, which is better, Windows or Mac? Dare I ask?

-----------------------------
BY Brooke Crothers
Source：cnet

Brooke Crothers is a former editor at large at CNET News.com, and has been an editor for the Asian weekly version of the Wall Street Journal. He writes for the CNET Blog Network, and is not a current employee of CNET. Contact him at mbcrothers@gmail.com. Disclosure.

©2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

Adobe进攻智能手机惟iPhone不买帐

设计和文件软件公司Adobe野心勃勃，试图进军新领域─智能手机。
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然而，该公司耗费年逾开拓个人计算机的努力，因为公司内部政策改变，加上无法开发出同时适用iPhone(手机上网)与黑莓机的Flash版本，而遭受阻碍。

如今，Adobe重新研发软件，使Flash游戏和影视可以在不同的手机上运作，如同在计算机上运作一般，无须进行改机。

Adobe与芯片设计厂商和手机制造厂商联合，并提供数百万美元，犒赏愿意使用Adobe软件为手机开发程序的设计者。

Adobe技术部门主管Kevin Lynch表示：“智能手机是现在当红商品。我们的芯片已经蓄势待发，就赌这一把了。”

今年稍晚，Adobe将会推出一系列的Flash版本，适用的手机操作系统开发厂商包括：Palm、Google和诺基亚。

虽然如此，但至今尚未有Flash版本适用于苹果的iPhone和 RIM的黑莓机，就连开发时程也还未有定案。

Lynch 表示，Adobe的工程团队致力开发适用于各种主要智能手机的Flash版本，但以iPhone而言，必须考虑的层面不完全是技术方面，他指出：“在我们开发之前，必先须得到苹果的同意才行。”

苹果和 RIM 拒绝响应相关报道。

如同Adobe，许多向来专注在个人计算机市场的公司也开始发现，必须转攻增长快速的智能手机市场，例如全球电玩软件巨头Electronic Arts Inc。(艺电EA) 和商业软件开发公司 Salesforce.comInc。

此项转变来自于，全球个人计算机市场萎缩，但智能手机却异军突起。根据调研机构 Gartner 数据显示，全球智能手机第1季销售量年增13%至3600万部，而个人计算机销售量则年降 6.5%至6700万台。

Adobe遭经济衰退重创，第1季销售额年降12%。内嵌于Adobe多项产品的芯片，正是该公司最关键的营收来源，因此Adobe务必抢攻智能手机大饼。

Adobe之前推出适用于手机的软件，名为Flash Lite。2008财年，Flash Lite营收倍增，为该公司带来1.15亿美元的收入，但仍仅为该公司同财年36亿美元营收的一小部分。

然而，长期盟友苹果却开始对于内嵌Flash有所迟疑。苹果CEO乔布斯(Steve Jobs)去年曾表示，Flash因为技术问题，应用在iPhone的运作速度太慢，而Flash Lite 运作的程序不足也是一个问题。

Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen 表示，众多客户不断催促该公司开发出可应用于iPhone的Flash。

分析师认为，苹果不愿内嵌Flash的一项因素是，手机制造商藉由手机软件区别出与其他品牌手机的差异，举例而言，如果iPhone拥有独特的游戏，就能拉拢部分消费者。因此，苹果和RIM很有可能会为了保有手机独特性，而排除运用Flash。

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文章出处：赛迪网
作者：N/A

Is this the Next iPhone?

Forget E3 and WWDC, we're getting all the info we need straight from the source: China.
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Although struck by the typical blurriness we expect from leaked images from China, UMPC Fever, a Chinese technology blog, has posted what appear to be photos of the new iPhone using new, exclusive features expected in the next model, including autofocus and the built-in compass.

According to Apple Insider, the autofocus features works by tapping the screen to choose which part of the shot you want to be in focus. The focused area is outlined by a blue box (visible in images) and can also be used for shooting video.

The compass is large and fairly ridiculous: it takes up the entire screen, similar to the Voice Memo App function added in the 3.0 software.

It should be noted that these features are only rumors and that makes it more possible that the images are fabricated. That being said, the images look like Apple software and if the features exist they wouldn't run on existing iPhone models.

Although the forum appears to be down now, several sites have grabbed images and translations from Google pre-censorship.

An interesting note: Engadget noticed some differences in the actual hardware (which are compared at the top of the story), and is speculating that we could be seeing two of the rumored models that are expected to be announced at WWDC.

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BY Paul Suarez
Source：PCWorld

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