Month of April , 2006

During its financial results conference, for the second time this year, the company has announced it will be shipping its next-generation processors earlier than scheduled.

The Conroe, Merom and Woodcrest were first scheduled to be released in late 2006. Some weeks ago, the company announced it would be shipping them a bit earlier in Q3 and now they're planned to be shipping by June according to the company's CEO Paul Otellini.

Intel has also announced it would startlarge restructuring efforts so as to get some market share back from its main competitor AMD. The company also announced it is already working on the two next generations of processors, with plans to change generation every two years.

Apple has released Keyboard Update 1.0 for Intel Macs through its Tech Support web site:

This update is recommended for the following computers:

-MacBook Pro
-iMac (Early 2006)
-Mac mini (Early 2006)

The Apple Keyboard Update 1.0 addresses reliability of keyboard and mouse functionality.

The installer guides you through the steps to install the Apple Keyboard Update.

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CNET News reports that Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs said during the company's annual shareholders meeting that a "very exciting" ad campaign will be launched as soon as next week and that it will focus on Macs rather than the iPod.

"Jobs revealed the plan in response to a shareholder's question as to why Apple hasn't taken more market share over the past few years. Apple's market share declined just a little during the first quarter, in part because some potential customers are waiting until the transition to Intel chips is completed, he said. Once that finishes up later this year, Jobs expects Mac sales to grow."

ThinkSecret reports that Apple has asked to several members of the Aperture development team to leave while some of them were affected to other teams.

Sources familiar with Apple's professional software strategy said they were not surprised by the move, describing Aperture's development as a "mess" and the worst they had witnessed at Apple.

Aperture was much criticized in technical reviews because of its several bugs but also because of its high pricing. Apple recently cut the price significantly to $199 from $499, making it competitive to Adobe's recently introduced LightRoom beta.

Apple has made available Pages 2.0.1 and Keynote 3.01 updates through the Software Updateb utility.

Pages 2.0.1 Update:

Pages 2.0.1 addresses issues with charts and image adjust. It also addresses a number of other minor issues.

Keynote 3.0.1 Update:

This update to Keynote 3.0 addresses issues with three-dimensional charts and textures. It also addresses a number of other minor issues. This update should be installed on all computers that share your Keynote 3.0 files, so that textures display properly.

Apple has posted a minor update for GarageBand version 3.0.2. It is available through the Software Update utility with the following description:

This update to GarageBand addresses issues with video handling, podcast exporting, and importing QuickTime markers. It also addresses a number of other minor issues.

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Apple has just re-opened its temporarly closed online store and has released a new 17" inch MacBook Pro.

The new MacBook Pro 17 inch comes in a single configuration:

- Intel Core Duo processor at 2.16Ghz / 667 MHz front-side bus
- 1GB of RAM, upgradable to 2GB of (667 MHz DDR@ SDRAM)
- 120GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive
- ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 PCI Express graphics with 256MB of Video RAM
- built-in iSight Camera
- MagSafe Power Adapter
- Firewire 800, Firewire 400, USB2
- Bluetooth and Airport Extreme

The new high-end laptop is priced $2799 while the PowerPC-based Powerbook has been dropped from the Apple Store with only the 12 inch model remaining.

Today, Apple France has opened registration for Apple Expo 2006 through a dedicated web site.

Apple Expo will take place at Paris Expo, Porte de Versailles on September 12-16. For the moment, no information is provided about a keynote conference.

The show is known in France to be the biggest technology event in country, gathering more than 60 000 visitors and hundreds of exhibitors every year. Announcements are occasionally made by Apple on the opening day.

Entrance to the show is free to pre-registered visitors and costs 12€ for the non-registered. Visitors from other countries than France may also get special visitor packages on this page.

As it announced during its Q2 Financial Results conference, Apple plans to build a new 50-acre Campus in Cupertino so as to accomodate more than 3000 employees. It will take the company some years to design and build the campus.

PortalPlayer announced its latest chip won't be used for Apple's flash-memory based iPods as Apple has chosen another chip supplier for thir "new mid-range portable players". Apple will however still use PortalPlayer's chips for the video-enabled iPod.

According to both ThinkSecret and AppleInsider, Apple plans to release a 17 inch MacBook Pro at NAB conference as soon as next week.

The NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) conference will take place on April 22-27 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Similar tech specs and form factor as the 15 inch MacBook Pro are expected for the forthcoming 17 inch. However the new high-end model will include a faster Core Duo chip and more storage.

Today Apple Computer has released its second quarter financial results. The company posted a profit of $410 million and revenue of $4.36 billion.

Analysts were expecting between $4.2 and $4.8 billion of revenue for this quarter and unit sales between 8 million and 9 million iPods and nearly 1 million Macs. During the quarter, Apple sold 8.5 million iPods and 1.1 million Macs.

Guidance for the next quarter is from $4.2 to $4.4 billion of revenue and earnings per share of about $0.39 to $0.43.

Apple's shares are trading at more than 3% higher to nearly $68 after the markets' close.

Apple has made available through three new firmware updates intended to the Intel-based Macs, just days after it released version 1.0 of these firmware updates, a version 1.0.1 has been released.

- Mac mini (Intel) Firmware update 1.0.1
- MacBook Pro (Intel) Firmware update 1.0.1
- iMac (Intel) Firmware update 1.0.1

Apple has just made available the "Release 4" of Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0 through the Software Update utility.

Here is the description provided:

Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0 Release 4 delivers improved reliability and compatibility for Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0 on Mac OS X v10.4.5 and later. This release includes J2SE version 1.5.0_06. With this update J2SE 5.0 becomes the preferred Java version, superseding Java 1.4.2. Java 1.4.2 is still installed on your machine, but applications will run with J2SE 5.0 unless they specifically request Java 1.4.2.

For more details on this Update, please visit this website: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302983

Apple officially confirmed today that it will reveal its next major release of Mac OS X, code-named Leopard, at the WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) 2006. The company now provides a program to developers through its dedicated web site. WWDC 2006 will take place in San Fransisco on August 7-11.

Apple will release its Q2 financial results tomorrow after the markets' close. The company has given very conservative guidance for this quarter (4.3 billion of revenue expected) and analysts provide similar expectations with significant but temporary drop in iPod and Mac sales. MacOSXRumors should be covering the results conf call which will be webcasted on 5:00 p.m. (ET).

According to a report on StarPulse blog, Apple Corps, which owns the Beatles songs rights is currently in the process of digitalizing all the Beatles discography so as to make it available online. Apple Corps' Neil Aspinall confirmed that although Apple Computer and Apple Corps are in legal dispute, the music company will allow Apple Computer to sell the Beatles discography on iTunes.

ThinkSecret, which has rumoured Apple would announce a true video iPod with touch-screen and virtual click-wheel, now claims the launch of this new product will be delayed. The delay is due to technical issues with the touch-screen display, according to the site. Apple has also delayed its negociations with the movie industry.

AdAge reports that Apple will include sponsored ads into iTunes, in the lower-left corner of the iTunes library while user listens to podcasts replacing the podcasts' cover.

According to MacWorld, Kirk Paulsen, senior director of pro applications marketing, told during the NAB conference that a universal binary version of Shake will be shipping in May. The product was demonstrated by the company on an Intel-based iMac and Kirk Paulsen admited that the PowerPC iMac couldn't have been used for the demonstration.

The DigiTimes reports that Apple has shifted its recently iPod video contract with Quanta to another manufacturer.

Diane Greene, VMWare's president has confirmed to Kevin Maney's USAToday blog, our recent revelations that the company is developing Mac version of VMWare.

"We can run it on the Mac OS in our labs already," Greene says." told Diane Greene to USAToday.

MacosXrumors was the first to reveal that a Mac version of VMWare was being developed on this report dated on March the 23rd.

VMWare, which is an EMC subsidiary, offers a plethora of virtualisation solutions for Windows and Linux. It's good news to learn that the company is entering the Mac software market.

ThinkSecret reports that Apple is planning to release the long rumoured successor of the iBook, based on the Intel architecture, during "the next 30-60 days".

The new entry-level laptop is said to be named "MacBook" as suggest the trademark Apple has registered last month.

The site claims the MacBook will come in a 13.3 inch version across the line with technical specifications similar to the current Intel Mac mini and wil Intel. Expect two models based on Core Solo and Core Duo chips.

Very reliable sources recently informed MacOSXRumors that VMWare, the maker of virtualisation solutions for Windows and Linux, is currently porting its software on Mac OS X.

Sources told us that the company is already successfully running the Mac version of its software with Linux and Windows operating systems in its labs.

VMWare is offering several flavors of its virtualisation software for Windows and Linux. The three most known are:
- VMWare Player - freeware application allowing to run existing VMWare images but cannot create any,

Apple's shares closed up nearly 10% on the announcement of "Boot Camp", a utility allowing Intel Mac users to dual boot with Windows XP.

Analysts reacted very positively on the announcement of Boot Camp. Piper Jaffray UBS and American Technology Research believe that this move will help Apple to gain market share over its competitors.

- Gene Munster (Piper Jaffray): "We believe Apple will gain share in the PC market in CY06 and Boot Camp may serve to accelerate these market share gains."

Apple has made available through its web site three firmware updates intended to the Intel-based Macs.

- Mac mini (Intel) Firmware update 1.0
- MacBook Pro (Intel) Firmware update 1.0
- iMac (Intel) Firmware update 1.0

No details are given on what the firmware updates bring but we suspect this update improves support for Boot Camp, the Windows/Mac OS dual-boot kit that was announced some hours ago.

Today Apple has introduced Boot Camp which allows users of Intel-based Mac to run Microsoft Windows natively in dual-boot mode.

Boot Camp is currently available in a beta version on this page, along with a tutorial. The Boot Camp page states:

More and more people are buying and loving Macs. To make this choice simply irresistible, Apple will include technology in the next major release of Mac OS X, Leopard, that lets you install and run the Windows XP operating system on your Mac. Called Boot Camp (for now), you can download a public beta today.

According to a AFX News Limited report (Forbes), Asustek has secured a contract to manufacture 1.2 million units (initially) Intel-based iBooks.

The report claims that the new iBooks will have a 13.3 inch LCD display and that they'll start selling in June.

Last week we reported from reliable sources that Apple was planning to release a 12 inch Mac Book Pro and that the 13.3 inch form factor would rather be used on the iB

Apple has just posted Mac OS X 10.4.6 Update in PowerPC and Intel versions through the Software Update utility.

Here is the description provided:

The 10.4.6 Update is recommended for all users and includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes for the following applications and technologies:

- login and authentication in a variety of network environments
- file access and byte range locking with AFP file sharing
- network access when using proxy server automatic configuration files
- connecting to Cisco VPN servers using IP/Sec
- using Bluetooth wireless devices

Apple Computer, which was founded on April 1st 1976, celebrates its 30th anniversary today. So, Happy Birthday Apple!

During its 30 years of existence Apple showed us its capacity to drive innovation in the IT industry and to survive to a crisis. It also surprised the entertainment market with the iPod which has become one of the most popular electronic gadgets of the decade.

Remember, ten years ago when Apple celebrated its 20th anniversary, the company was facing a big crisis and we weren't even sure they would survive until 2006. Today the company is in a very good finanacial position, thanks to the iPod, and, according to many experts, is poised to gain market share in the PCs market.