Shares of Apple Computer, Inc. closed at an all time high last Tuesday, rising $2.13 or two percent to close at $88.60 per share.
Investors seemed responsive to recent analyst predictions that 14 million iPods will be sold within the current fiscal quarter. Speculation has also risen about an upcoming Apple cell phone, nicknamed the “iPhone”, which could be on the horizon.
Shaw Wu of American Technology research commented that while the “iPhone” is a favorite topic of analysts, bloggers and Apple fans alike, it would still be in the development phase. A clear release, or even an announcement date, would be impossible to predict, according to analytical firm MarketWatch.
Apple’s current stock price stands at $92.75 in Monday pre-market trading according to Yahoo Finance and can be easily tracked via Stimpsoft’s free AAPL Stock Dock program.

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Yesterday I took a shot at the iPhone for being long on compromises and short on utility and your comments were tremendous. Today I want to take a look at some of the positive aspects and potential of the iPhone.
No carrier baggage
One of the single best potential features of the iPhone is that won’t be tied to a specific mobile phone carrier. One of the commenters yesterday said it best:

Even the best and most popular phones on the US market are always a political compromise between makers and carriers. Everyone pulls in their direction; carriers want features that will squeeze more money (sending pictures and videos; text messaging, etc); makers want more and more features, so that they can charge more. Ordinary users are ignored.

Locked phones are heavily subsidized by the carrier so that they can be sold for almost nothing – with a two year contract and significant early termination fee. The best part of a carrier-free (also called “unlocked”) mobile phone is that Apple doesn’t have to cripple its features because the greedy carriers want to charge for every picture, text and ring tone.
A perfect example of this is how Verizon Wireless forces handset manufacturers to disable all but the Bluetooth headset profile. Another example of carrier compromise is the Motorola ROKR’s artificial 100 song limitation and inability to purchase and download tracks from iTunes Over The Air (OTA). Hopefully Apple’s carrier divorce will mean that the iPhone has features that users want, like BT syncing.
Read the rest of the story on my ZDNet Blog: The Apple Core.

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve been inundated with speculation and rumor about Apple’s iPhone. Am I the only one that doesn’t want one?
AppleInsider reports that Foxconn Electronics (a.k.a. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd.) has received an order from Apple for 12M iPhone handsets, that it will ship unlocked, equipped with a 2MP camera and even that iPhone could add 22% to Apple’s earnings for 2007.
My problem is that I don’t really want an iPod/phone hybrid because I’m more of a smartphone guy myself.
Read the rest of the story on my ZDNet Blog: The Apple Core.

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To counter Apple’s FairPlay DRM used in the iTunes Store, Microsoft worked with media producers to design a comprehensive DRM technology framework it named after the Roman god Janus. Here is why it failed.
Read More…
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM

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Microsoft is probably the greenest company in all of high tech. Not green in the environmental sense — green with envy.

Microsoft is so jealous of the iPod’s success that Tuesday it will unveil a new music system — pocket player, jukebox software and online music store — that’s an unabashed copy of Apple’s. It’s called Zune.

The amazing part is that it’s Microsoft’s second attempt to kill the iPod. The first was PlaysForSure — a gigantic multiyear operation involving dozens of manufacturers and online music stores. Microsoft went with its trusted Windows strategy: If you code it, the hardware makers will come (and pay licensing fees).

Trying Out the Zune: IPod It’s Not – New York Times

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The market for digital music was repressed for nearly a decade prior to the arrival of Apple’s iPod. Here’s why digital music languished for so long, how Apple was able to build a digital business, and why rivals are struggling to turn back the clock and return digital downloads into a legal black hole of onerous restrictions.
Read More…
Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM

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It’s no secret that Apple is clamping down on the term “Pod.” Lawyers from everyone’s favorite fruit company have gone after Web sites, products and magazines using the term “Pod” in their name. Who does Apple council have in their cross hairs next? Adult toy manufacturers.
You’ve probably been forwarded an email about the OhMiBod – who’s slogan is “A whole new way to Plug ‘N Play” – and snickered a bit. The iPod accessory’s Web site teases:
Simply plug OhMiBod into your iPod or any music player and it automatically vibrates to the rhythm and intensity of the music. Let your body feel the vibrations as you get down with your favorite tunes.
Ahem, right.
Read the rest of the story on my ZDNet Blog: The Apple Core.

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PortalPlayerIf you’ve ever scrolled deep into the Legal menu on an iPod you’ve probably seen the logo pictured at right. PortalPlayer is most popular for providing the audio chips for the Apple iPod.
Until April 2006 PortalPlayer sold 90 percent of their chips to Apple for use in iPods. Apple switch suppliers in April and dropped PortalPlayer, reportedly because of product delays, causing PortalPlayer stock to drop over nine dollars in one day.
Read the rest of the story on my ZDNet Blog: The Apple Core.

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Mitsunobu Tanake, PhD who runs the excellent Kodawarisan site, sent me a link to a Japanese site that has already disassembled the microscopic second-generation iPod shuffle.

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What looks like an iPod Mini nano… is nothing more then a bad copy. Upon taking a closer look the iPod letters look odd, the USB connector on the bottom is badly fitted, the User Interface (while in Color) still sucks compared to the real iPod. On the backside it says “Designs by Appls California.”

Click through for two more pictures.

» Fake iPods in chinese Electronic Stores

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