Apple to Release Q2 2010 Financial Results on April 20th

"Apple today issued a media alert announcing details for the April 20th release of its financial results for the second fiscal quarter and first calendar quarter of 2010. The results will be released after the close of trading on Tuesday at approximately 4:30 PM Eastern / 1:30 PM Pacific. Apple's conference call discussing the results will follow at 2:00 PM Pacific and will be available via a live audio webcast.MacRumors will provide running coverage of the conference call highlights.

Apple offered no major product releases during the quarter, as most of the company's attention was focused on the iPad. The tablet device was introduced in late January, but did not launch until April 3rd, just after the end of the quarter. And even so, the launch was limited to Wi-Fi models in the United States. Availability of 3G-capable models in the United States is expected later this month, while Apple this week announced that availability of all models in its initial set of international markets has been delayed until late May due to high demand in the U.S.

For the quarter, analysts are predicting net earnings of $2.43 per share on revenue of $12.03 billion, above Apple's guidance of $2.06-$2.18 profit on $11.0-$11.4 billion of revenue. Apple'syear-ago results for the second fiscal quarter of 2009 initially included net earnings of $1.33 per share on revenue of $8.16 billion. Those calculations were based, however, on earlier accounting methods that utilized "subscription accounting" for iPhone and Apple TV revenue. Apple adopted revised accounting standards at the beginning of fiscal 2010, and afterretrospective application (PDF) of the new standards, the year-ago quarter yielded net earnings of $1.79 per share on revenue of $9.08 billion."

Written by Eric Slivka

AT&T Block on Employee Vacations for June Hints at iPhone Launch

"Boy Genius Report claims that AT&T has instituted a block on all employee vacations for the month of June, signaling a possible iPhone release sometime during the month. In the past, such policies have been reliable indicators of iPhone launches.

Same story as last year and the year before, but we've confirmed with multiple AT&T sources that the carrier has now put a block on employees taking vacations in June. The only time AT&T does a straight block like this is for iPhone launches.

Apple has typically launched its new iPhone models in June of each year, although the iPhone 3G did not launch until July 11th, 2008, just inside the window predicted by AT&T's vacation block that year.

For the past two iPhone releases, Apple has introduced the new iPhone hardware at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco and launched sales of the new models 32 days (3G in 2008) and 11 days (3GS in 2009) later. Despite the fact that Apple has yet to announce dates for this year's WWDC, a number of hints and rumors have pointed to alate June timeframe for the event. Such scheduling would make for a short interval between the next-generation iPhone's presumed introduction at WWDC and its launch by the end of the month."

Written by Eric Slivka

Steve Jobs Confirms Lack of Future Support for Original iPhone

"iPhone OS 4 Compatibility
Just in case there was any doubt regarding Apple's plans to not support the original iPhone with iPhone OS 4, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has now weighed in on the matter with one of his typically terse emails. MacStories reports that a Twitter user sent an email to Jobs asking about future support for the original iPhone, to which Jobs responded "Sorry, no."

Apple's preview page for iPhone OS 4 also omits compatibility for the first-generation iPod touch. The iPhone 3G and second-generation iPod touch (which includes the 8 GB model still available for sale today) will be compatible with iPhone OS 4, but will lack support for certain features such as multitasking. Only the iPhone 3GS and third-generation iPod touch (and future hardware) will support all of the features of iPhone OS 4."

Written by Eric Slivka

iPhone HD??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nDd7A4BAYc

What do you think?

App Store Download Statistics Suggest Strong iPod Touch Holiday Sales

"MobileCrunch reports on data from mobile analytics firm Flurry showing very strong App Store download performance coming from iPod touch devices, suggesting a strong holiday season for Apple's premier iPod line. On Christmas Day, Flurry's data saw download volume from iPod touches increase nearly 1,000% from pre-Christmas levels, spiking well above comparable iPhone downloads, which typically lead iPod touch sales by a considerable margin.


Overall, Flurry's data reveals 51% month-to-month growth in App Store downloads for December using forecast data for the remaining days of the month. Google's Android Market also experienced strong month-to-month growth of 22%, but was unable to match Apple's performance, at least in application downloads.

The apparent tremendous boost in iPod touch-based App Store downloads was not unexpected, as similar indicators of strong iPod touch sales were seen last year."

Written by Eric Slivka

Apple Acquires Streaming Music Service Lala Media

"It appears the last minute reports of Apple's interest in streaming music company Lala media were true. Both the New York Timesand Wall Street Journal are reporting that Apple has indeed acquired Lala Media.

Lala is a four year old startup company that offers customers streaming music not unlike the popular Pandora music service.

Lala's engineers have built a service that music enthusiasts say is very easy to use. Lala scans the hard drives of its users and creates an online music library that matches the user's collection, making it painless (and free) for people to get their music in the cloud.

Like Pandora, Lala's music is streamed from the internet rather than stored locally. This allowed users to listen to a catalog of over 7 million songs for free as a stream over the web -- much like internet radio. If you wanted to buy the right to listen to a particular song on demand an unlimited amount of times from the web, it would cost $.10. In order to permanently download the song to your hard drive or device, however, it would cost the more traditional $.79-$.89 per song.

Of the acquisition, Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not comment on our purpose or plan."

Apple's interest in Lala sparks a number of possibilities for the direction of the company. Pandora's iPhone app, in particular, has been enormously successful by allowing individually tailored music to be streamed over cellular and Wi-Fi connections. It's natural to believe that Apple may offer a competing service for the iPhone based on this acquisition or Apple could also use the technology to bolster their iTunes Genius recommendations with personalized streaming music."

Written by arn

Apple's next-gen iPhone power amp; NASA chemical sensor app

"Apple has reportedly selected a new power amplifier supplier for a new, forthcoming model of the iPhone; and a NASA scientist has used the iPhone to create a chemical sensor.

New iPhone power amplifier

Skyworks has reportedly been tapped by Apple to supply the power amplifier for a new model of Apple's iPhone. According to Taiwanese trade publicationDigiTimes, the company orders its parts from Advanced Wireless Semiconductor Company.

AWSC expects its revenues to grow by 50 percent in 2010, when Skyworks reportedly becomes the power amplifier supplier for the next-generation iPhone. No further details on the new hardware were presented.

Recent reports have suggested a new hardware model of the iPhone compatible with the Verizon Wireless network in the U.S. could debut in the summer of 2010. The first three iPhone hardware iterations all saw an annual summer release.

NASA creates prototype chemical sensor

Jing Li, a physical scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center, has used the hardware connectivity made available in iPhone OS 3.0 to create a "compact, low-cost, low-power, high speed nanosensor-based chemical sensing" external attachment. The prototype device, which is said to be about the size of a postage stamp, connects to the iPhone through its 30-pin dock connector.

As first noted by Gizmodo, the device can detect chemicals such as ammonia, chlorine gas and methane. The accompanying application can automatically transfer data to other devices.

"The device senses chemicals in the air using a 'sample jet' and a multiple-channel silicon-based sensing chip, which consists of 16 nanosensors, and sends detection data to another phone or a computer via telephone communication network or Wi-Fi," NASA said.

At Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple highlighted a number of third-party applications that take advantage of iPhone OS 3.0 to connect with external hardware. The new software allows applications on the handset to communicate with external third-party hardware."

Written by Slash Lane

AT&T Publicly Responds to Verizon Ad Campaign

"AT&T today published a public response to a recent series of advertisements from rival Verizon attacking AT&T's 3G network coverage. The latest spat between the two companies began last monthwith Verizon ads using map-based representations of AT&T's and Verizon's 3G coverage areas, with Verizon's network being touted as covering five times the area of AT&T's.

Earlier this month, AT&T filed suit against Verizon for misleading advertising, claiming that the ads implied that AT&T offered no coverage outside of the highlighted 3G areas, when in fact the vast majority of those areas are covered by the company's EDGE network, which the company claims is virtually identical to its 3G coverage with the exception of data transfer speed.

Today's release from AT&T takes its argument directly to the public in an effort to "set the record straight" on what AT&T has to offer. While the release does not directly mention the iPhone, it is clear that the much of the dispute over AT&T's 3G coverage has centered on the popular device.

As the U.S. market leader in wireless data service, we typically don't respond to competitors' advertising. However, some recent ads from Verizon are so blatantly false and misleading, that we want to set the record straight about AT&T's wireless data coverage.

In the release, AT&T details the three types of technology used in its wireless networks (3G, EDGE, GPRS), the functionalities offered by each technology, and the respective coverage areas by population in the United States. The company also touts the breadth of popular smartphones available to customers and the availability of over 100,000 applications, both obvious references to the iPhone. Finally, AT&T notes that it has the "nation's fastest 3G network", which also offers the ability to handle voice and data simultaneously."

Written by Erica Slivka

Important Apple TV 3.0.1 to Prevent Temporarily Disappearing Content

"Apple has issued a 3.0.1 update to the Apple TV to address an issue that causes content to temporarily disappear from the device. They sent out this email notifying customers:

Dear Customer,
If you've installed the Apple TV 3.0 software update, you should immediately update to version 3.0.1. This prevents content from temporarily disappearing until it is resynced.

To update your Apple TV software:

1. Reboot your Apple TV (unplug the power cord and plug it back in)
2. Select Settings > General from the main menu
3. Select Update Software
4. Select Download and Install

Note: Your Apple TV will conduct a restart, which is followed by the Apple logo and a status bar.
For more information, please refer to this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3116

If you need further assistance with your Apple TV, contact AppleCare.
Sincerely,
Apple TV Team

Apple launched the 3.0 software update for Apple TV last week which overhauled the Apple TV interface and added compatibility for iTunes LPs and iTunes Extras."

Pizza Hut's US iPhone app generates $1 million in sales

"The application offers users the ability to zoom in on a virtual fridge for the latest deals

Macworld staff

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Pizza Hut's US application for iPhone and iPod touch has surpassed $1 million in sales, generating sizeable income for the company.

Pizza Hut claims that the application is approaching one million downloads, but has yet to debut in the UK iTunes App Store.

The application offers users the ability to zoom in on a virtual fridge for the latest deals, find a local location and save favourite orders. Bernard Acoca, senior director of digital marketing at Pizza Hut, Dallas, TX told Mobile Marketer: "We are extremely excited here about the explosive growth we’ve seen with our iPhone app since its launch 3 months ago, $1 million in sales is pretty substantial for an iPhone app." "From an income standpoint iPhone customers tend to be more affluent, and they’re in the tech-savvy 18-34-year-old demographic skewing slightly male that we tend to go after online,' he said. 'We always saw a steady level of growth with our mobile business via our WAP site, but to be candid it wasn’t the explosive level of growth we’ve seen with the iPhone app" Pizza Hut has more than 10,000 restaurants in more than 90 countries.

"