Apple Computer News - SVDaily.com

The iPod Touch has become Apple's top-selling iPod and now offers many features found in the iPhone 4. The new Touch features the Retina display, FaceTime video calling, HD video recording, Apple's A4 chip, 3-axis gyro, iOS 4.1 and Game Center -- all combined in the thinnest and lightest iPod touch ever. The new iPod touch features up to 40 hours of music playback and seven hours of video playback on a single battery charge.

"We've put our most advanced technology inside the new iPod touch," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Whether you're listening to music, playing games, making FaceTime video calls, browsing the web, capturing HD video or watching TV shows and movies, the new iPod touch with its Retina display, A4 chip and 3-axis gyro is more fun than ever."

The Retina display equals the screen found on the iPhone 4 and makes everything on iPod touch look sharper, whether playing games, watching video, browsing the web or flicking through photos. The Retina display has 960 x 640 pixels -- four times as many pixels than before. The resulting 326 pixels per inch is so dense that the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels when iPod touch is held at a normal distance, making text, images and video look sharper, smoother and more realistic.

Apple's new holiday lineup includes a brand new iPod shuffle for just $49; the new iPod nano with Multi-Touch starting at $149. The new iPod touch will be available next week for a suggested price of $229 for the 8GB model, $299 for the 32GB model and $399 for the 64GB model.

Apple TV users can choose from the largest online selection of HD movies to rent, including first run movies for just $4.99, and the largest online selection of HD TV show episodes to rent from ABC, ABC Family, Fox, Disney Channel and BBC America for just 99 cents. Rentals are only available in the U.S.

Apple TV also streams content from Netflix, YouTube, Flickr and MobileMe, as well as music, photos and videos from PCs and Macs to your HD TV. Enjoy slideshows of your photos on your HD TV using Apple TV's selection of built-in slideshows. Apple TV has built-in HDMI, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and an internal power supply for easy set-up, and features silent, cool, very low power operation in an enclosure that s less than four inches square -- 80 percent smaller than the previous generation.

"The new Apple TV, paired with the largest selection of online HD movie and TV show rentals, lets users watch Hollywood content on their HD TV whenever they want, " said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "This tiny, silent box costing just $99 lets users watch thousands of HD movies and TV shows, and makes all of their music, photos and videos effortlessly available on their home entertainment system.."

Apple TV users can now rent thousands of commercial free, HD TV episodes on iTunes for just 99 cents, with up to 30 days to start watching and then 48 hours to finish -- or watch multiple times. Users can also rent over 7,000 movies with over 3,400 available in HD, with most new releases available the same day they are released on DVD. Apple TV also gives access to the Netflix streaming catalog for Netflix subscribers, and the ability to browse and search, rate content, add to or remove from your queue, or instantly stream straight to your HD TV.

"iTunes U makes it easy for people to discover and learn with content from many of the world's top institutions," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of Internet Services. "With such a wide selection of educational material, we're providing iTunes users with an incredible way to learn on their computer, iPhone, iPod or iPad."

Created in collaboration with colleges and universities, iTunes U makes it easy to extend learning, explore interests or learn more about a school. A dedicated area within the iTunes Store, iTunes U offers users public access to content from world class institutions such as Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford, University of Melbourne and Université de Montréal. iTunes U gives anyone the chance to experience university courses, lab demonstrations, sports highlights, campus tours and special lectures. All iTunes U content is free and can be enjoyed on a Mac or PC, or wirelessly downloaded directly onto an iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Devine and Andrew Ang of Singapore were named in a 23-count federal indictment for wire fraud, money laundering and kickbacks. Ang's whereabouts are unkown.

The two allegedly used confidential information from Apple about contracts and provided this info to manufacturers and suppliers in Asia to receive better terms in negotiations with Apple. The pair received over $1 million over several years wired directly to foreign bank accounts.

"We took the world's best all-in-one and made it even better," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "With the latest processors, high-performance graphics and signature aluminum and glass design, customers are going to love the latest iMac."

Apple also updated its high-end Mac Pro line with up to 12 processing cores available. These are the first new versions of the Mac Pro in over a year. Models start from $2,499 to $3,499 with additional customizations available.

Apple also introduced the Magic Trackpad, a wireless version of the trackpad found on its laptops. The Magic Trackpad brings the intuitive Multi-Touch gestures of Mac notebook trackpads to the desktop. With its glass surface, the wireless Magic Trackpad allows users to scroll smoothly up and down a page with inertial scrolling, pinch to zoom in and out, rotate an image with their fingertips and swipe three fingers to flip through a collection of web pages or photos. The Magic Trackpad can be configured to support single button or two button commands and supports tap-to-click as well as a physical click. Magic Trackpad is available for $69.

Beginning this Friday, July 30, customers can purchase iPhone 4 in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. iPhone 4 will be available for purchase through Apple's retail and online stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

The iPhone 4 has been one of the company's fastest-selling products of all time and also the most controversial with problems reported when touching part of the antenna built-in to the phone. Apple is offering free cases to customers through September 30.

South Korea was supposed to get the iPhone 4 on Friday but problems with regulatory approval and carrier agreements have delayed the launch.

Apple sold 3.47 million Macs during the quarter, representing a new quarterly record and a 33 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 8.4 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 61 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.41 million iPods during the quarter, representing an eight percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company began selling iPads during the quarter, with total sales of 3.27 million.

Apple's retail stores generated $2.57 billion and were responsible for sales of 677,000 Macintosh computers. Apple laptops outsold desktop computers with 2.46 million to 1 million.

"It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple's history with iPhone 4," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year."

"We're really pleased to have generated over $4 billion of cash during the quarter," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue of about $18 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $3.44."

Consumer Reports says its engineers purchased three different iPhone 4 devices at retail locations in the New York metro area. All found reception problems in lab testing when held or touched on its lower left side which could lead to poor signals and loss of connection altogether.

The iPhone 3GS and Palm Pre were also tested on the AT&T network and no signal-loss problems were found.

The problems on the iPhone 4 were alleviated when a piece of duct tape was placed where the antenna has a gap. Consumer Reports won't recommend the iPhone 4 but does recommend the iPhone 3GS.

The letter said the formula for determining bars and signal strength in the iPhone has been flawed and was showing more bars than was actually available.

"Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.

To fix this, we are adopting AT&T's recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhone's bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area. We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see."

Apple plans to issue a free software update soon which it says will correct these problems. The iPhone 4 has been the company's most successful product launch ever.

Customers not satisified with the iPhone can return the product within 30 days for a full refund.

Apple had reported over 600,000 pre-orders on June 16 and demand was so high that AT&T servers could not handle the order load.

The new iPhone 4 features FaceTime, which makes video calling as easy as one tap, and Apple's new Retina display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone, resulting in stunning text, images and video.

"This is the most successful product launch in Apple's history," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Even so, we apologize to those customers who were turned away because we did not have enough supply."

iPhone 4 is available in the US for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model and $299 (US) for the 32GB model in both Apple and AT&T's retail and online stores, Best Buy, Radio Shack and Wal-Mart stores. iPhone 4 is also available in the UK, France, Germany and Japan and will be available in an additional 18 countries by the end of July: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

"People are loving iPad as it becomes a part of their daily lives," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more people around the world, including those in nine more countries next month."

The company began selling the iPad last month in the following countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.

The iPad will be available in July in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore.

Apple and AT&T saw their websites overwhelmed by pre-orders for the new iPhone which doesn't go on sale until June 24. The iPhone will begin selling that day in the US, UK, France, Germany and Japan.

AT&T's site says it no longer is accepting pre-orders and Apple's site says orders now will not be filled until July 2.

The new iPhone is priced at $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model.

iAd will kick off with mobile ad campaigns from major companies including AT&T, Best Buy, Campbell Soup Company, Chanel, Citi, DirecTV, GEICO, GE, JCPenney, Liberty Mutual Group, Nissan, Sears, State Farm, Target, Turner Broadcasting System, Unilever and The Walt Disney Studios. Apple has iAd commitments for 2010 totaling over $60 million, which represents almost 50 percent of the total forecasted US mobile ad spending for the second half of 2010.

"iAd offers advertisers the emotion of TV with the interactivity of the web, and offers users a new way to explore ads without being hijacked out of their favorite apps," said Steve Jobs, Apple"s CEO. "iAds will reach millions of iPhone and iPod touch users -- a highly desirable demographic for advertisers -- and provide developers a new way to earn money so they can continue developing free and low cost applications."

"iAd will allow Citi to reach millions of people on their iPhone and iPod touch," said Lisa Caputo, executive vice president and CMO, Citigroup. "iAd gives us a remarkable level of creativity for creating ads to connect with our current and future customers in a more interactive style than ever before."

iAd, which is built into iOS 4, allows users to stay within their app while engaging with the ad, even while watching a video, playing a game or using in-ad purchase to download an app or buy iTunes content. Developers who join the iAd Network can easily incorporate a variety of advertising formats into their apps. Apple will sell and serve the ads, and developers will receive an industry-standard 60 percent of the iAd Network revenue, which is paid via iTunes Connect.

iAds require iOS 4, which will be a free software update via iTunes 9.2 or later for iPhone and iPod touch customers. iOS 4 will work with iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and second and third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB).

The iPhone features what Apple calls the Retina display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone, resulting in super crisp text, images and video. In addition, iPhone 4 features a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, HD video recording, Apple's A4 processor, a 3-axis gyro and up to 40 percent longer talk time in an all-new design of glass and stainless steel that is the thinnest smartphone in the world.

iPhone 4 will be available in the US, UK, France, Germany and Japan on June 24, starting in the US at just $199 for qualified buyers with a two year contract.

"iPhone 4 is the biggest leap since the original iPhone," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "FaceTime video calling sets a new standard for mobile communication, and our new Retina display is the highest resolution display ever in a phone, with text looking like it does on a fine printed page. We have been dreaming about both of these breakthroughs for decades.:

The new iPhone's 3.5 inch Retina display has 960 x 640 pixels -- four times as many pixels as the iPhone 3GS and 78 percent of the pixels on an iPad. The resulting 326 pixels per inch is so dense that the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels when the phone is held at a normal distance, making text, images and video look sharper, smoother and more realistic than ever before on an electronic display.

The front and back cameras allow for video chat with other iPhone users using Wi-Fi through new Apple software called FaceTime.

"Customers around the world are experiencing the magic of iPad, and seem to be loving it as much as we do," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We appreciate their patience, and are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone. "

There are more than 5,000 apps that have been developed for the iPad according to the company and the device can also run more than 200,000 apps built for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Amazon gained three percentage points to tie Walmart for second position at 12 percent. Based on NPD’s latest music industry research, sales of digital tracks and albums accounted for 40 percent of overall music market share in the first quarter (Q1) of 2010, which is a 5 percentage point gain since Q1 2009. NPD’s data is based on a combined music-retailer ranking that reflects the combined sales of CDs and digital music downloads (i.e., 12 digital music track downloads are equivalent to one CD).

In NPD’s review of CD retailers, Walmart led U.S. CD purchases in Q1 2010 with 17 percent share of retail market. Best Buy followed Walmart with 14 percent, Amazon’s 11 percent share positioned them in third place.

“Unfortunately the decline in U.S. CD sales means that selection and merchandising of the physical CDs is suffering, which is one of the primary reasons consumers say they purchased CDs less frequently,” said Crupnick. “Online shopping offers consumers who still want CDs more variety than they would get in a brick-and-mortar store; plus, recommendations, and other interactive features that raise the overall value proposition for music buyers. ”

Apple plans to release iPad in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore in July. Apple will announce availability, local pricing and pre-order plans for these nine additional countries at a later date.

In the US, Apple has already sold over one million iPads and customers have downloaded over 12 million apps from the App Store, as well as over 1.5 million ebooks from the new iBookstore.

Just 28 days after its introduction on April 3, iPad users have already downloaded over 12 million apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from the new iBookstore.

"One million iPads in 28 days -- that's less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Demand continues to exceed supply and we're working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers."

Apple has generated at least $500 million in revenue from the iPads which start at $499 for the 16GB model. The 3G models start at $629 with monthly data plans from $14.99 to $29.99 with AT&T.

It will be the eighth AllThingsD Conference. Jobs last appeared at the conference in 2007 with Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Jobs has been ill since then but seems to have fully recovered from a liver transplant in 2009 that nearly took his life.

Steve Jobs will be this year's opening-night speaker, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will make his fourth appearance and Avatar director James Cameron will appear onstage at D for the first time on the annual event's second night.

Founded by co-producers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher in 2003, the D conference is a gathering of the most influential figures in media and technology.

D8 will also showcase leading executives from the mobile, digital, media, automotive and political arenas including: " Steve Burke, COO of Comcast " Steve Case, Chairman and CEO of Revolution " Peter Chou, CEO of HTC " John Donahoe, President and CEO of eBay " Carly Fiorina, Candidate for U.S. Senate, California " Julius Genachowski, Chairman of the FCC " Paul Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm " Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation SKG " Ted Leonsis, Vice Chairman Emeritus of AOL, Chairman of Revolution Money and Owner of Washington Capitals " Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford " Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect of Microsoft " Richard Rosenblatt, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Demand Media " Vivian Schiller, President and CEO of National Public Radio " Paul Steiger, Editor-in-Chief, President and CEO of ProPublica " Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Facebook.

The company said it posted revenue of $13.50 billion for the second quarter and net quarterly profit of $3.07 billion.

Apple sold 2.94 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing a 33 percent unit increase over a year-ago. The Company sold 8.75 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 131 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 10.89 million iPods during the quarter, representing a one percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

"We're thrilled to report our best non-holiday quarter ever, with revenues up 49 percent and profits up 90 percent," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We've launched our revolutionary new iPad and users are loving it, and we have several more extraordinary products in the pipeline for this year."

The company said it sold over 500,000 iPads in the first week of its debut with a large number of pre-orders for the 3G version that will go on sale at the end of this month. The demand has been higher than Apple predicted.

Apple said it will announce international pricing and accept pre-orders beginning on Monday, March 10.

The new 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models feature Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and Apple's new automatic graphics switching technology that toggles seamlessly between powerful NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M and energy efficient Intel HD Graphics processors.

"The new MacBook Pro is as advanced on the inside as it is stunning on the outside," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "With faster processors, amazing graphics and up to three more hours of battery life, the new MacBook Pro delivers both performance and efficiency."

All 13-inch MacBook Pro models now include faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 4GB RAM, a 10-hour built-in battery and the new NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor. With 48 processing cores, the new NVIDIA GeForce 320M is the fastest integrated graphics processor on the market, ideal for graphics intensive applications or high performance games. The 13-inch MacBook Pro is available in two configurations: one with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 250GB hard drive priced at $1,199; and one with a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 320GB hard drive priced at $1,499.

The new 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models are up to 50 percent faster than the previous systems according to Apple. Using Intel's state-of-the-art 32 nanometer process, Intel Core i5 and i7 processors integrate the memory controller and Level 3 cache for faster access to system memory. Hyper-Threading technology improves data throughput by creating virtual processing cores, while Turbo Boost optimizes performance between the two processor cores, accelerating the system from 2.66 GHz to 3.06 GHz for intensive dual core tasks, and up to 3.33 GHz for single core tasks. All 15-inch and 17-inch models include two graphics processors, the new NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M for peak performance and Intel HD Graphics for energy efficient operation. More than twice as fast as the GeForce 320M, the powerful new GeForce GT 330M provides incredibly smooth, crisp on-screen graphics for the most demanding 3D games, creative software and technical applications.

Apple's automatic graphics switching determines which graphics processor an application needs and switches instantly between processors to deliver peak performance and long battery life. Tightly integrated hardware and software allow the new 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro to deliver 8 to 9 hours on a single charge.

The new 15-inch MacBook Pro is available in three models: one with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M and 320GB hard drive at $1,799; one with a 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M and 500GB hard drive at $1,999; and one with a 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M and 500GB hard drive at $2,199. The new 17-inch MacBook Pro features a 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M and 500GB hard drive for $2,299.

The iPhone OS 4 beta release includes an updated Software Development Kit (SDK) with over 1,500 new Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and over 100 new features that will be available to iPhone and iPod touch users this summer. New features include Multitasking for third party apps; Folders to better organize and access apps; improved Mail with a unified inbox, fast inbox switching and threaded messages; enhanced Enterprise support with even better data protection, mobile device management, wireless app distribution and more; Apple's new iAd mobile advertising platform; and iBooks, the delightful new ebook reader and online bookstore recently debuted on the iPad!".

"iPhone OS 4 is the fourth major release of the world's most advanced mobile operating system," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We're delivering over 100 new features, including multitasking, folders, a unified inbox, deeper Enterprise support, and an iPhone version of our iBooks reader and online iBookstore."

iPhone OS 4's new multitasking offers users a new way to quickly move between apps, and provides developers seven new multitasking services to easily add multitasking features to their apps. These services include background audio, so apps like Pandora can play music in the background, and VoIP, so apps like Skype can receive a VoIP call even when the iPhone is asleep or the user is running other apps. iPhone OS 4 provides multitasking to third party apps while preserving battery life and foreground app performance, which has until now proved elusive on mobile devices.

The iPhone OS 4 update will include multitasking but can only be used in iPhone 3GS and third-generation iPod touch devices due to hardware limitations.

Jobs also unveiled iAd, a new advertising platform that developers can insert into their own apps. Apple will retain 40% of ad revenue sold and the rest will go to the ad publisher.

Jobs also reported Apple has sold over 50 million iPhones worldwide and an additional 35 million iPod touch devices. This combines for a total market of over 85 million iPhone/iPod Touch devices who can access more than 185,000 apps.

The Hyundai Equus, a new luxury car going on sale in September, will include an Apple iPad which will replace the printed car manual reports The NY Times.

"Who reads a 300-page manual anyway?" John Krafcik, the chief executive of Hyundai North America asked The NY Times. "Instead, they'll have a gorgeous color touchscreen loaded with the manual electronically, as well as photos of the whole Hyundai lineup."

The new Equus is the first high-end luxury model from the South Korean automaker and will sell for $50,000-60,000.

Equus owners will also be able to use the iPad to set up service appointments. No word on whether the iPad with the Equus will be the 3G version or wi-fi only.

Seton Hill, a college in Pennsylvania, said it will give students a new Apple iPad starting in the fall of 2010.

As part of a technology program, Seton Hill will give all first year undergraduate students a 13" MacBook laptop and an iPad. Students can use these for classes and also personal use. The school will replace the laptops after two years with new models.

Seton Hill is a Catholic University located in Greensburg, PA with an enrollment of over 2,100 students.

Apple's new iPad device goes on sale this Saturday at its own stores and Best Buy locations nationwide.

Jerome York, a member of Apple's Board of Directors, has died after being hospitalized in Michigan after suffering a brain aneurysm Wednesday at his Detroit home.

York, 71 years old, is a former Chief Financial Officer for Ford and Chrysler companies. He was also a former CEO of Micro Warehouse.

"Jerry joined Apple's Board in 1997 when most doubted the company's future. He has been a pillar of financial and business expertise and insight on our Board for over a dozen years, "said Steve Jobs, Apple CEO. "It's been a privilege to know and work with Jerry, and I'm going to miss him a lot."

Jerry York was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1938. He graduated from the United States Military Academy, and received an MS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Trained as an engineer, York worked his way up through Chrysler to become CFO.

Apple announced that its new iPad device will be available in the US on Saturday, April 3, for Wi-Fi models and in late April for Wi-Fi + 3G models. In addition, all models of iPad will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April.

Beginning on March 12, US customers can pre-order both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models from Apple’s online store or reserve a Wi-Fi model to pick up on Saturday, April 3, at an Apple retail store.

“iPad is something completely new,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re excited for customers to get their hands on this magical and revolutionary product and connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.”

Starting at just $499, iPad lets users browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more. iPad is just 0.5 inches thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds—thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook—and delivers battery life of up to 10 hours.

Shares in Apple stock reached an all-time high on the news for the highly-anticipated iPad.

“We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”

HTC, based in Taiwan, has made a variety of phones powered by Google's Android operating system including Droid Eris, HTC Hero, and Nexus One sold by Google.

iTunes has become the number one music retailer in the world and features the world's largest music catalog with over 12 million songs. It was first launched in 2001.

"We're grateful to all of our customers for helping us reach this amazing milestone, " said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of Internet Services. "We're proud that iTunes has become the number one music retailer in the world, and selling 10 billion songs is truly staggering."

The iTunes Store has a catalog of over 12 million songs, over 55,000 TV episodes and over 8,500 movies including over 2,500 in stunning high definition video.

The worldwide smartphone market reached a record level in a single quarter according to research firm IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. Vendors shipped a total of 54.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2009 (4Q09), up 39.0% from the same quarter a year ago. For the full year, vendors shipped a total of 174.2 million units in 2009, up 15.1% from the 151.4 million units in 2008. Converged mobile devices accounted for 15.4% of all mobile phones shipped in 2009, up slightly from 12.7% in 2008.

"Four of the top five vendors established new shipment records for a single quarter, indicating strong demand in the market," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team. "Increasingly, mobile phone users are seeking greater utility from their devices beyond telephony and messaging, and converged mobile devices fulfill that need. To help address demand, carriers took advantage of lower prices on many older devices, ordering additional units and, in turn, offering reduced prices to end users. It was the perfect set of conditions to push shipments to a record level."

Apple's iPhone nearly doubled its shipments from the same quarter a year ago. Demand for the Apple iPhone continued unabated during the holiday quarter, and agreements with multiple carriers within the same market enabled further distribution. The fourth quarter also saw the launch of the iPhone at one of the world's largest carriers: China Unicom.

Top Five Smartphone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Q4 2009 (Units in Millions)

Vendor	4Q09 Unit Shipments	4Q09 Market Share	4Q08 Unit Shipments	4Q08 Market Share	4Q09/4Q08 Growth
1. Nokia	20.8	38.2%	15.1	38.5%	37.7%
2. Research In Motion	10.7	19.6%	7.6	19.4%	40.8%
3. Apple	8.7	16.0%	4.4	11.2%	97.7%
4. Motorola	2.5	4.6%	1.6	4.1%	56.3%
5. HTC	2.4	4.4%	2.2	5.6%	9.1%
Others	9.4	17.2%	8.3	21.2%	13.3%
Total	54.5	100.0%	39.2	100.0%	39.0%

Top Five Smartphone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, 2009 (Units in Millions)

Vendor	2009 Unit Shipments	2009 Market Share	2008 Unit Shipments	2008 Market Share	2009/2008 Change
1. Nokia	67.7	38.9%	60.5	40.0%	11.9%
2. Research In Motion	34.5	19.8%	23.6	15.6%	46.2%
3. Apple	25.1	14.4%	13.8	9.1%	81.9%
4. HTC	8.1	4.6%	7.5	5.0%	8.0%
5. Samsung	5.7	3.3%	5.4	3.6%	5.6%
Others	33.1	19.0%	40.6	26.8%	-18.5%
Total	174.2	100.0%	151.4	100.0%	15.1%

Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs unveiled his company's newest creation in San Francisco today -- the iPad.

Resembling a larger version of the iPhone and iPod Touch, the iPad features a 9.7-inch color screen and weighs 1.5 pounds. The device won't go on sale for another 60 days in the U.S.

Prices start at $499 for a 16GB model using wi-fi, $599 for a 32GB model and $699 for a 64GB version. The iPad with 3G access via AT&T costs an additional $130 for each model. Plans with AT&T are $14.99 per month for 250 MB of data and $29.99 per month unlimited. Apple continues its relationship with AT&T despite complaints of poor data reception primarily in the Bay Area and NYC.

ipad

Apple announced financial results for its fiscal 2010 first quarter ended December 26, 2009. The Company posted revenue of $15.68 billion and a net quarterly profit of $3.38 billion. These results compare to revenue of $11.88 billion and net quarterly profit of $2.26 billion in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 40.9 percent, up from 37.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 58 percent of the quarter's revenue.

Apple sold 3.36 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing a 33 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Laptops accounted for 2.1 million sold.

The company said it sold 8.7 million iPhones worldwide, representing 100 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 20.97 million iPods during the quarter, representing an eight percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

"If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it's surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we're really excited about."

"We are very pleased to have generated $5.8 billion in cash during the quarter, " said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue in the range of about $11.0 billion to $11.4 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $2.06 to $2.18. "

Apple's retail stores accounted for $1.97 billion in sales, up 13% from a year ago.

Steve Jobs continued to earn a salary of just $1 in 2009 according to just released proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The 54-year-old Jobs underwent a liver transplant in Tennessee last year and was out of action as CEO for much of the year.

There's no need to worry about Jobs' finances though since he owns 5,546,451 shares according to the proxy statement, worth about $1.1 billion. He hasn't sold any stock since returning to Apple in 1997. But Apple is not his only source of wealth since Jobs is the largest private shareholder of Disney Corp., received from the sale of Pixar to Disney in 2006. According to Disney's proxy statement, Jobs has 138,000,007 shares in Disney or 7% of total shares outstanding. The Disney shares are worth over $4.1 billion.

Apple Executives Relatively Young

Apple's executive staff remains relatively young according to the recently released company proxy statement, with no one over 51 years old.

Executive Officers
Name	Position With the Company	Age as of the Annual Meeting
Timothy D. Cook	Chief Operating Officer	49
Scott Forstall	Senior Vice President, iPhone Software Engineering & Platform Experience	41
Ronald B. Johnson	Senior Vice President, Retail	51
Robert Mansfield	Senior Vice President, Mac Hardware Engineering	49
Peter Oppenheimer	Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer	47
Mark Papermaster	Senior Vice President, Devices Hardware Engineering	48
Philip W. Schiller	Senior Vice President, Worldwide Product Marketing	49
Bertrand Serlet	Senior Vice President, Software Engineering	49
D. Bruce Sewell	Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary	51

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