Apple Thoughts - News & Reviews on all things Apple

"Ed Christman at Billboard contends that Apple is pressuring the record labels not to deal with Amazon and their Daily Deal, which allows users to purchase the album at a reduced price one day before it is generally released (on iTunes)."

According to the executive, "iTunes representatives have been urging labels to rethink their participation in the Amazon promotion and that they have backed up those warnings by withdrawing marketing support for certain releases featured as Daily Deals." I can't really blame them, and it appears some are listening to Apple as Capitol, Capitol Nashville and Jive all opted out of the Amazon Daily Deal promotion. Wonder how many more will opt out? I'm guessing most if not all, what are your thoughts?

"Well, that's certainly nice: in the span of a couple of months, Apple has been making a lot of progress bringing iTunes to the web browser, including letting users see item information and even preview tracks without launching iTunes."

And now you can preview from the comfort of your web browser. Just go to Apple and click on iTunes (or go directly there via www.apple.com/itunes) and start browsing. It also provides direct links to iTunes if you want to go there instead. Pretty nice interface.

"Developers can now submit apps for sale in 13 more App Stores, Apple has announced. Notable European countries in the expansion include Armenia, Bulgaria and Macedonia."

The rest of the added countries are Botswana, Kenya, Mali, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, Tunisia, Uganda and Jordan. To take advantage, developers have to alter the "iTunes Connect" setting or have the "Sell in New Territories" option selected. 

"Apple has quietly increased the limit for over-the-air downloads from the App Store and iTunes Store on the iPhone. Until recently only content under 10MB in size could be downloaded over an EDGE or 3G connection-downloading of larger apps and media content had to be done over Wi-Fi."

No one knows for sure, but speculation is that it is related to the pending iPad release. Whatever the reason, it is welcome news.

"Apple today unveiled a "Countdown to 10 Billion Songs" promotion via the iTunes Store, offering the contest winner a prize of a $10,000 iTunes gift card. A counter on the main iTunes Store page and Apple's home page currently displays in excess of 9.8 billion downloads."

You can check out the rules here, but basically you can make up to 25 entries per day by purchasing/downloading songs from the iTunes store, or by filling out an entry form on Apple's web site. The contest ends once the 10 billionth song has been purchased/downloaded. It was in 2006 that they held the One Billion Song contest and so in approximately four years to achieve this level is pretty amazing.

"Warner Music revealed on Tuesday something we've all long suspected: music sales have witnessed a growth slump on iTunes since the record labels pushed Apple to implement a variable or tiered pricing model."

Price goes up, demand goes down, not sure why they thought it would be any different with music than other goods in the mostly free market economy they operate under. Warner saw a 50% decline in revenue for their quarter ending in December 2009 so perhaps they will rethink their pricing. I have my doubts based on how they have done things in the past. I'm interested to see how this will work in the e-book field over the next year though.

"For some time, Apple has given the Designated Family Tech Support Personnel among us a small reprieve with its "Find out how" selection of tutorial videos. While they don't really tackle inevitable questions like "was deleting ~/Library/Keychains a bad idea?," they serve as succinct primers for The Way of the Mac and Apple's various apps and services."

You can still go direct to Apple and view the video series, or you can head on over to iTunes and download a podcast. Just search iTunes for "Apple find out how" and you will get the list of nine podcasts that include iWork '09, MobileMe and iTunes.

"On Monday, Apple released iTunes 9.0.3. According to the release notes, the update's numero uno bug fix is "iTunes no longer ignores your ‘Remember password for purchases' setting." In other words, if you enable this iTunes Store option, you will no longer have to continue to re-enter your password each time you make a purchase."

This really annoyed me so I'm glad they finally fixed it. You can get info and download from the update page at Apple, but this should update automatically for you from the software update feature.

"If the idea of setting up your networked Macs to share your iTunes libraries is just too much to bear, then these steps can help you to get sharing."

Not sure if any of you have tried this nifty feature with iTunes 9, but it works quite well. This article is a step-by-step on how to get it working so you can share iTunes items between multiple Macs.

"So you've just ripped some new CDs, bought some music on iTunes, or added songs you got from somewhere else to your iTunes library. But you're late for work, and you don't have time to put all your new music in a playlist."

Well no worries because you have read this article about the "On-The-Go-Playlist" feature for your iPod or iPhone (excluding the shuffle). Nice primer on how to do this on the fly, or "on-the-go" if you prefer. 

"The latest report from market research firm Gartner suggests that mobile apps are big business, and that business should only grow in the next few years."

Apple had almost every dollar of the 4.2 billion that were spent on mobile apps in 2009. In 2009 users downloaded 2.5 billion apps, but that is small change according to Gartner, who estimates that with other platforms (Android for one) out there the app business could grow to a $30 billion USD market by 2013. Of course Apple won't hang onto as many dollars as they did during 2008 and 2009 when they were basically the only game in town, but they should still keep a large percentage of the market with the jump they have had on it. Or will the Android and other platforms make a serious run at them? What are your thoughts? Don't forget about the tablet...

"Just as 2009 was ending, Ford announced that they'll be offering a new option in their cars for 2010: the ability to "tag" any songs you happen to hear on the radio for later purchase in iTunes."

This doesn't really interest me as it requires you get the HD option, I prefer Sirius/XM, and besides, why would I pay extra to tag songs and buy them on iTunes when I can do that for free with Shazam on my iPhone? But I do like that Ford is really getting geeky, with this and the opening up of the interface to their SYNCcast system.

"‘Welcome to Macintosh', the independent documentary highlighting Apple Inc.'s history and following, is to make its exclusive North American television premiere on CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, on Monday, January 4 at 9:30PM ET."

You can also rent it from iTunes, or watch instantly on Netflix. It is worth watching if you are even the slightest bit interested in the history of Apple.

"Apple has introduced an all-new seasonally-sanctioned free app, iTunes 12 Days of Christmas. The app is available now in most territories and constitutes the official app of the company's hot 12 days promotion, during which iTunes users will be able to download fresh free content each day between December 26 and January 6."

This free app is only available so far in the UK iTunes Store, no word yet on when it will be released in the US or other countries. Direct from Apple, "'The official app of the iTunes 12 Days of Christmas promotion offers customers a free download every day from December 26 through January 6 (includes music, TV, apps and movies)," the company promises. For maximum benefit, sign up for Push Notifications to remind you when each new download is available and connect to Facebook to recommend the free download to friends. All this great new content is sure to while away the post-Christmas blues,' Apple has said in a statement."

"Apple and its partners were completely surprised by the huge success of the App Store - with the implication that others in the smartphone biz were similarly unprepared for the level of pent-up demand for customizable features on handheld devices."

I would guess they weren't too upset, and probably pleasantly surprised at just how much of a demand there turned out to be for something like the App Store. Granted, there have been and still are problems, but for the most part you can't argue with the success they have achieved. Especially when you see stories like this one about the success of the start-up Tapulous.

"A new holiday-themed iPhone advertisement presents a spin on the classic "Twelve Days of Christmas" with App Store software, and discounted movie bundles have come to iTunes."

First we have the 12 Apps of Christmas and now we have movie bundles from iTunes. The "Movie Bundles" page has several double features and triple features, ranging in price from $9.99 USD to $19.99 USD. One notable bundle is the first two Godfather movies, the best ones of the series in my opinion, for $14.99 USD, saving you $5.00 USD if you purchase them separately. You can even get some of them with the HD option such as the Jason Statham Action Pack that gives you Crank 2:High Voltage, Transporter 3 and The Bank Job, all of which are worth watching if you like action movies. This bundle is $24.99 USD standard definition and $34.99 USD if you want them in HD. And who wouldn't want to see Statham in action in HD??

"In a move to update the design and feel of the App Store's individual app pages in iTunes, Apple has made several key changes to the pages which are aimed at allowing for easier, more intuitive access."

By now pretty much all of the pages should have this new design, but it is still possible you may run into a few that haven't been fixed. I like the new look, very clean, and if you click on the arrow next to the "Buy Album" button, you can add things to your wish list, or notify friends via email. It also has the option to tell friends via Facebook or Twitter. What are your thoughts?

"Hard to believe anyone who does the Christmas thing would be lacking in basic music like Silent Night or We Wish You a Merry Christmas, but do you have Sarah McLachlan or Weezer singing your carols?"

If you don't, iTunes is making it easy for you by offering them, as well as 18 other artists, in their iTunes Holiday Sampler pack. In keeping with the Spirit of Christmas, they aren't even charging for the 20 songs. If you are curious, they have a website set up that lists all the songs in the pack, and it is available now for download in the iTunes Store. Sorry, this is only available for US and UK customers.

"Super Monkey Ball 2, the much-hyped sequel to SEGA's first monkey rolling effort, was released on the first of the month at the premium price of $9.99. This weekend, however, the premium title won't be carrying a premium price, as it will be 50% off for the entire weekend."

Not sure if any of you are surfing this weekend to catch this news item but thought I would post it just in case you are fans of Super Monkey Ball. The sequel is on sale this weekend for $4.99 USD.

"IAN LYNCH SMITH, a shaggy-haired ball of energy in his late 30s, beams as he ticks off some of the games that Freeverse, his little Brooklyn software company, has landed on the iPhone App Store's coveted (and ever-changing) list of best-selling downloads: Moto Chaser, Flick Fishing, Flick Bowling and Skee-ball."

Mr. Smith earned over $180,000.00 USD on his game Skee-Ball alone so he seems pretty happy with the opportunity that the App Store has given him. Can't say I blame him, there are all kinds of resources out there for anyone that wants to develop a program for the iPhone/iPod Touch and who knows, you could strike gold too. That seems to be the draw, for companies large and small, it kind of evens the playing field when it comes to app development. This is a 5 page (well 5 pages on the web) article, general overview of the iPhone and the App Store and what it all means to those involved. The author seems to say that this is the standard for mobile app development, Apple is leading the pack and it is their race to lose. What are your thoughts?