Apple Thoughts - News & Reviews on all things Apple

"Apple's iPad is already huge. In fact, after just its first quarter of sales, it's already the company's third-biggest business segment."

You can clearly see the pink showing through, and that is the iPad revenue as it goes past the iPod. The iPad did so well, at $2.2 billion USD in revenue, that it made more than the iPod at $1.5 billion USD, and almost half as much as the Mac revenue at $4.4 billion USD.

"Second-quarter Mac sales in the US are said to have increased by 24 percent to reach 1.7 million units, outpacing the industry average, according to a report published by Gartner Research."

Apple shipments jumped up .8% from Q109, ending at 9.8% market share, closing the gap with Acer, who dropped to 11.3% from 13.1% for the same period. These figures are also without taking into account iPad sales. So, is the iPad the cannibal or do you think something else is responsible?

"Valve Software has announced the public release of its new Mac version of the Steam gaming platform will happen May 12, slightly later than its initial goal of April."

I have used the Steam engine years ago, when I used to have a PC at home, to play some of the first person shooter games and it served it's purpose. However once I picked up an Xbox 360 those days were over. Well, that and the fact that my PC died and I never bought another one. Regardless, glad they are going to offer a Mac version. This will also be considered as a "tier-1 platform" so games will be released simultaneously for Mac/PC/Xbox 360 versions. The Mac and PC users will also be on the same servers and able to play games together as part of the same "multi-player universe." Could this be the first step in the peace process in the PC-Mac war?? Let's give peace a chance!

You can find more about it at the Steam site where they have posted the press release.

"So let's say you finally decided to let that strawberry iMac go into the great off position in the sky (probably because you bought an iPad, right?)."

They have come up with a list if it still works, and a list if it doesn't. Personally, I always liked the idea of an old Mac SE being turned into an aquarium. I wish I had kept mine because that is how I'd use it. But if you would like a new mailbox or a planter, they have some tips for you.

"Amazon announced Tuesday that it will be releasing a Kindle app for the Mac platform. Like its Windows cousin, Kindle for Mac will allow users to read Kindle content on their Macs. A standalone Kindle hardware device is not needed, but for those users with a Kindle reader can sync that content with their readers."

It is available now at Amazon. So far I'm pretty happy with it, it is very responsive and simple to use. They are also planning on having a version for the iPad so it looks like I will be selling my Kindle 2 after all.

"New retail sales data shows Apple has continued to have strong Mac and iPod sales at the start of 2010, with February's numbers showing significant year-over-year growth."

iPod sales were also up 5% in January and 10% in February from the same time last year. They are calling 2010 the "Year of the Mac" over at Piper Jaffray, estimating sales for the March quarter in the 2.8 to 2.9 million range, and list a target price of $284.00 USD for Apple Stock during the next 12 months.

"Though Apple carries just 5 percent of the total worldwide home PC market, the Mac commanded 10.5 percent of the market's dollar share during the holiday buying season."

So having a strict pricing structure appears to make sense. If you split the markets, in the US the market share is around 10 percent while the dollar share is about 20 percent, compared to Europe where Apple has 6.4 percent marke share but a 14.2 percent dollar share. Along with this news is that the educational market is also coming back after a decline. Last quarter Apple had 20 percent market share and a 40 percent dollar share of that market.

"Google released a new version of Chrome for Mac OS X on Thursday that restores a key feature, extensions, that had been missing for weeks."

According to Chrome programmer Mark Mentoval, "With this new version, you'll be able to install any of over 2,200 extensions (and counting!) currently available in Chrome's extensions gallery." This version also fixes some Adobe stability issues as well as including some new multitouch support. The new beta version should get some Firefox users to switch now that it has extensions I would imagine. You can download the latest beta version here, and if you currently are using Chrome, they expect an automatic update within the next few days. Still not sure? Check out the Macworld run through of the latest beta here.

"You've caught the buzz. You've been watching the weather, seeing how the wind blows. You've moved or you're moving to the Mac, because Windows blows. Where can you get the advice you need to help you with this transition?"

Several good choices, the best one being "Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual" by David Pogue in my opinion, mainly because it has the most up-to-date information and covers pretty much all you need to know when switching. Well, if you are switching to Snow Leopard. If you are switching to an older version of OS X, then try one of the other books listed.

"Although Guy Day is about as far away from the hard boozing, womanizing, red-meat-eating Don Draper type as a 70s-style pompadour will get you, he was one of the country's quintessential ad men for decades. Everyone reading this blog knows his work: as the president of the acclaimed Chiat / Day advertising agency, Day was responsible for bringing together the team that created the hyper-Orwellian 1984 Super Bowl Macintosh ad."

Sadly, this past Saturday Mr. Day passed away in Los Angeles of natural causes. I remember watching this commercial during that Super Bowl, and it really piqued my interest in what the heck this Mac thing was going to be, which I'm sure was the intent of it all. Here is a link to a modified version of the "1984 Mac ad that has the heroine wearing an iPod. 

"Despite all odds, the Mac has survived to its 26th birthday. On January 24th, 1984, Steve Jobs pulled a 128K Mac out of its case in front of a crowd of reporters, turned it on, and let the computer introduce itself to the world. The rest, as they say, is history."

Wow, 26 years. Seems like only yesterday doesn't it? This was the first Apple product I ever owned, although I had used the IIe that a friend owned. What was your first Apple product?

"The MHA, a Kentucky-based software company with a name that can be tough to work into sentences, released Airlock on Tuesday. Airlock unlocks your Mac when you approach it, and locks it again when you walk away, using the magic of Bluetooth to detect your proximity by looking for your iPhone (or later-gen iPod touch). Always assuming you don't forget your phone at your desk, of course."

This is something I'm interested in trying out, since I have to really be diligent on locking my laptop at work as my fellow employees are practical jokers that love to mess with an unprotected laptop, or iPhone for that matter. The program costs $7.77 USD and can be used on up to 3 Macs. There is also the failsafe manual password option in case your iPhone or iPod Touch runs out of juice. They do note, however, that there has been a recent compatibility issue with the wireless mouse and keyboard, and are working with Apple to correct it. More info can be found at the MHA website.

"We know that a beta version of Chrome for Mac is due at least by the end of December, but today brings more confirmation that it may be even closer than that. Mike Pinkerton, the guy leading the Chrome for Mac team, has just tweeted out that there are only '8 remaining M4 Mac beta blockers! Go team!'"

Even better now, if you check out the status page it only shows 5 bugs remaining. So it appears that it is on track for the December, correction "early" December release that was talked about on the Google Groups page. Anyone out there going to switch and move to Chrome, or at least give it a try?

"Apple's fiscal results are out and they are, as expected, quite good. The company reported profits of $9.87 billion compared to $7.9 billion in the year ago quarter."

Apple also sold 3.05 million Macs which was a 17% increase from last year. On the iPod front, down 8% at 10.2 million sold while the iPhone sales hit 7.4 million, which was a 7% increase from the same time last year. Pretty hefty profit especially in these economic times, and Steve Jobs said they had a "great lineup" for the holidays and some "new products in the pipeline for 2010." Hmmm, let the rumors begin! More info can be found on the Apple investor site, or from their press release.

"BlackBerry owners can now sync their contacts, calendar notes and more with their Mac systems, via the newly released Desktop Manager for Mac."

We reported on the upcoming release of this program in September, and now it is here. You can get the free program right from the Blackberry site, and it requires the following:

• Mac OS X v10.5.5 and above (Only 32-bit mode is supported on Mac OS X v10.6);
• BlackBerry® Device Software v4.2 or higher;
• iTunes v7.7.1 or later.

Seems like a no-brainer if you have a Blackberry and a Mac, however I haven't read any reviews on it so downloader beware.

"Mac ownership is up 33 percent over 2008 among US households, according to the latest NPD survey. Though at least twice as likely to have the latest consumer electronics gear, plenty of Mac users are also using Windows PCs as well."

Macs are now in 12% of US households, up from the 2008 figure of 9%, and in 85% of the households that have Macs they also have PCs. As part of these stats, only about 1.8% of households that have a computer are Mac only. I count myself amongst the 85% group, although we don't use the PC for much other than a few kids games. How about you? Do you have both in your house or are you ?

Apple this week unveiled a new "Get a Mac" ad, entitled "Top of the Line,"featuring actor Patrick Warburton.

I love Warburton's comedic style, this ad is no different.

So why do you use a Mac?

"More good news for Apple this week: if consumers are going to buy an expensive computer, they're choosing the Mac maker."

According to the NPD Group, Apple has 91% of the market (up from 88% in May of this year) for computers over $1,000.00 USD. Not surprisingly the drop in price recently of the MacBook line didn't hurt. According to NPD, for Apple to continue it's sales trend, they will eventually have to price more of their products below the $1,000.00 USD mark (currently only the Mac Mini and white MacBook are under this price point). I'm not so sure, they don't seem to have any trouble selling product at the levels they are currently priced, and as long as they remain innovative I think they will continue the trend. I guess it boils down to what market they want to be in, what do you think?

"If attending this year's Worldwide Developers Conference just wasn't in the cards, Apple has produced a collection of videos that cover all 126 instructional sessions from the conference. While WWDC ticket holders get free access, those who missed out can buy the videos via ADC on iTunes."

The videos were divided into two groups, one on Mac development and the other on iPhone development. Each group is $299.00 USD, but you can buy all the videos for $499.00 USD. To do this, however, you have to be a registered ADC member or iPhone developer, which isn't too hard since you can become an online-only ADC member for free. The Mac sessions total 13GB, the iPhone ones total 17GB so prepare yourself for some long download times unless you have a FIOS connection or something fast like that.