Apple patents for: Wireless iPods and TVs, iChat whiteboard, more

Apple Computer has recently filed for patents on several interesting technologies that cover iPods wirelessly communicating with TVs, an online teleconferencing whiteboard, an integrated sensing display, and virtual keys of a touch-screen virtual keyboard.

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Apple comments from their shareholder meeting.

At Apple's sharholder meeting, when asked about a Media Center, Jobs replied with "we hear you loud and clear". Interesting notes of what went down at the meeting.

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Apple chooses Samsung chip for next-gen iPods

Samsung Electronics recently scored a major design win when Apple Computer selected its new MP3 media processor over one from PortalPlayer to power its next-generation of iPod digital music players. Samsungs integrated chips are based on the ARM processor which was used by Apple in its ill fated Newton.

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The iPod Observer - Now Playing - Microsoft's Steve Ballmer Sees Cell Phone as iPod Killer

Microsoft's CEO is hoping that something will unseat the iPod. It seems like they are hoping for the market to shift and for Apple to be unable to stay on top as opposed to someone actually making a better MP3 player. They do hint that in the next year it will release MP3 players, but that it expected Cell Phone Mp3 players to become the dominant form of portable music.

1000 song hack for iTunes phones.

A forum at MotoModders has the details and simple steps you can take to run a simple hack on any iTunes phone (except the v3i) to raise the song cap to 1000. Unfortunately, there's one catch: the little app you have to run is Windows-based, so you'll need a PC or Boot Camp to actually do this (sorry, Parallels doesn't support USB devices - yet).

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Apple Plans Major Overhaul for iPod Nano

Apple looks to be introducing its new iPod Nano this fall. This would give retailers enough time to order and stock up for the holiday season. The new Nano is most likely going to be reengineered internally, reports of a new exterior design are minimal. The new redesign may involve Apple using Intel Xscale chips (formerly ARM whose chips were used in the Newton).

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New redesigned iPod nano due this fall

Apple looks to be introducing its new iPod Nano this fall. This would give retailers enough time to order and stock up for the holiday season. The new Nano is most likely going to be reengineered internally, reports of a new exterior design are minimal. The new redesign may involve Apple using Intel Xscale chips (formerly ARM whose chips were used in the Newton).

AppleInsider | Labels may buckle in bid for variable iTunes pricing

Reports are circulating that iTunes will keep its $.99 pricing. The record labels were unsuccessful in persuading Jobs to go to variable song pricing (though album pricing is variable). Most likely they were hoping that the number of songs sold on iTunes would decrease and that they could use that against Apple by saying that they were the cause for holding the industry back. They recently tried to state this in that Apple was holding back subscription music sales, but were unable to say that Apple was holding back overall download sales.

Apple iMac – iMac g4 and g5 computers and accessories - MacMall

Apple retailers are selling Intel Macs with Windows preinstalled as a bundle!

Apple Debuts Two NEW iTunes Features!

Ever heard a song on TV that you loved but just couldn't figure out the song title or the artist? Well, Apple's two new features "Commercial Success" and "As Heard On" will help you find songs that have been played on various commercials and television shows.

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Apple to Release 8GB and 10GB Versions of the Popular iPod Nano this Summer

For all the iPod fans, summertime will see the release of two higher storage capacity Nanos. The rumored touch screen iPod is still in the works. Pictures of the new versions are available -- although it appears that there have been few if any cosmetic changes.

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Apple did not say they will cut iPod prices!!

As reported by iPodObserver Apple is not cutting prices on their iPod. Apple's CFO did not say they would lower iPod prices, merely that the average selling price of ALL iPods would be lower. This is because this is the first full quarter that the lower priced iPod Shuffle and 1GB Nano are available. The ASP will increase if more people buy 60GB iPods and it will decrease if more people buy iPod Shuffles, it does not mean the price of any individual iPod is increasing or decreasing.

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The iPod Observer - Now Playing - Research Firm Sees Apple Launching its 'iPhone' With MVNO Helios

A British research firm is predicting an Apple iPhone to be launched along with a new carrier Helio. The company gives an 85% chance that this will happen this year. The new carrier is an MVNO, in that they are leasing airtime and do not have their own network. Helio execs are looking to shake up the industry and bring handsets never before seen in the U.S.

AppleInsider | Apple's flagship MacBook Pro to arrive at NAB

Rumors are that Apple will release a larger 17" MacBook Pro as well as 13" MacBook laptops at the National Association of Broadcasters conference next week. It does not appear that smaller 13" MacBook Pros will be announced.

Apple sued for patent infringement (iTunes, Quicktime, iPod, etc)

Burst.com which had previously sued Microsoft over patent infringement is now suing Apple Computer. Bob Cringely had covered the twists of the case against MS. In that case MS conveniently lost/deleted 8 weeks of email that were relevant to the case. Unfortunately for MS they did not delete the email from their offsite backup, once this was brought up they settled for $60m. Burst's patents cover streaming content over the internet. Rather than streaming video at a constant bitrate, they stream it in high speed "bursts." This way if there is a connection problem your streaming content can continue without interruption for short periods of time.

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iPodNN | iTunes, iPod stifling digital music?

More drumbeating that Apple needs to increase prices because the labels are losing money. Music labels of course are not losing money, they are making the same profit margin as with CDs. They may be selling slightly less since they can no longer force you to buy a "single" CD for $8. Even still if every 10 songs sold on iTunes were counted as an album, album sales would have been up last year. Thestreet.com is convinced though that Apple is holding back the subscription service market.

The World's Most Innovative Companies

Apple tops BusinessWeek list of innovative companies due to its iPod success. They point to their innovative agreements with the music industry regarding iTunes, business model (selling songs for $1), and branding (coolness).

As Apple retools new video iPod, the release rolls back

The roll-out of Apple's forthcoming video iPod has been delayed substantially after the company encountered problems with the display and touch-screen interface. They stress that since the video iPod wasn't ready, there was no need to push for digital movie download agreements. The latest release date is that the new iPods will be ready for Christmas, so perhaps in August/September to give the retailers some time to order and stock the product.

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The iPod Observer - Now Playing - Beatles May Be Planning Music Download Service

Apple Corps, the beatles label is creating new digital masters to eventually offer for download. It would seem wise for both Apple Computer and Apple Corp to settle out of court and have the Beatles exclusively available through iTunes. Steve Jobs offered to buy Apple Corp. for $1 million and considering he named the company in honor of the Beatles one would think that he would work to get an exclusive digital catalog of the new Beatles masters.

New 5GB and 10GB Nano on the way

Apple looks to be preparing a large increase in iPod Nano storage capacity. The planned sizes are 5GB and 10GB and are expected to be announced at the end of May. As the 6G video iPod has not been announced yet, perhaps Apple will announce both the iPods together. That is assuming they get some movies to sell for their iPod Videos.

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The iPod Observer - Now Playing - Coinstar Adds iTunes Gift Cards/eCertificates

Coinstar, the company which provides machines to count change and give cash, has added a new way to cash out. Previously you could either get cash minus an 8.9% fee or an Amazon gift card without any fee. The company has recently added iTunes and eCertificates as other fee free options.

AppleInsider | BofA sees new iPod mid-year, iPhone by early 2007

Bank of America cut its estimates for Apple computer. They reduced their estimates based on the transition to Intel CPU's reducing sales. They expect that the recent release of Boot Camp will likely reduce any lost sales due to the transition. They expect new notebooks this quarter, a new video iPod by next year and an iPhone in December/January.

Apple Corp. saw iTunes early, didn't complain - lawyer

FTA: "Apple Corp., was given an opportunity to object to Apple Comp.'s use of the apple logo in association with the iTunes Music Store. But it chose not to, the iPod maker's advocate claimed yesterday. Apple Corp. received an ITMS demo in January 2003 - four months before the service went live."

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Record Industry Pushes Apple to Raise iTunes Prices

Record labels make about 70 cents per download, and that's more profit than they make selling CDs, according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

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iPodNN | Retailer says Bluetooth iPod is near

Rumors are swirling that either a Bluetooth iPod or Bluetooth accessories are on the way. Bluetooth would allow car integrations without the need for FM transmittters.

Google launching iTunes competitor

While previous comments from Google indicated they would not get into downloadable music, they have recently stated they are looking to expand media downloads. Financial analysts suspect their recent music industry networking event is the prelude to an iTunes competitor launch.

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