“Apps” are indeed only sold on Apple’s App Store, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority ruled this week. The ASA issued its decision after receiving a number of complaints (10, to be exact) about a TV ad running in the UK, acknowledging that other devices also have third-party software and relatively easy ways to get it, but that Apple is still allowed to use the apparently controversial wording in its commercials.
Amazon attracted a lot of unwanted attention when it used its Kindle e-book reader’s always-on network connection to delete copies of works by George Orwell that had been sold without a proper license. The company has since apologized to its users and promised that it will never happen again, but those steps aren’t enough for some. A lawsuit has been filed in Seattle that seeks class action status for Kindle owners and Orwell readers, alleging that Amazon has done everything from committing computer fraud to eating a high school student’s homework.
It’s a conflict as old as RISC vs. CISC, and one still not settled; fab or fabless? It’s been more than a decade since Cypress’s T.J. Rodgers first said “real men have fabs,” a sentiment later echoed by luminaries of AMD and Intel, and more than two decades since Intel used its manufacturing dominance to attain market dominance over its microprocessor competitors. In that time, though, fabs have become increasingly expensive and risky to operate, and today entire sectors of computer components (graphics, sound, mobile devices) are dominated by fabless players. Clearly, the two modes of operation coexist well. Yet, two pieces of news today, in the shadow of larger pure play victories over the last year, seem to illustrate that, for even the most entrenched fab players, pure play foundries carry some advantages.
Apple has removed its high-end, node-based visual effects and compositing application, Shake, from its website and online store. While Apple has made no official announcement and did not respond to our request for comment, Apple sales representatives were reportedly informed that it has been discontinued. The product page for Shake now redirects to a product page for Final Cut Studio, a possible sign that the recent additions to Motion 4 are considered by Apple to be a replacement for Shake, which has languished without updates for the last few years.
Intel VP Sean Maloney kicked off the Intel Technology Summit today with a broad-ranging discussion of a number of themes that Intel has been pounding recently, including the state of the global computing market and the chipmaker’s recommendations for and relationship to various government stimulus projects. Maloney also spoke to a few other hot topics in the ensuing Q&A, including netbook cannibalization of existing laptop sales, the impact of Windows 7 on the upgrade cycle, and rumors of the end of Moore’s Law.
Mac security researcher Dino Dai Zovi revealed a significant vulnerability in Mac OS X today at the Black Hat conference taking place in Las Vegas this week. He and other Mac security experts warn that Mac OS X could prove to be an easy target if hackers were to shift significant resources to exploiting any of its security flaws.
For much of the recent past, Nintendo has appeared to defy gravity, racking up sales despite the general slowing in consumer spending. Those happy days, however, appear to have come to an end. Sales across the company’s product lines have plunged, taking the company’s income with them. But, despite the economic challenges, Nintendo continues to operate profitably, something that can’t be said for Sony, which faces the same conditions that Nintendo does, but announced another losing quarter today.
Apple has released its MobileMe iDisk app for iPhone OS 3.0, after promising the app would be coming soon after the 3.0 update last month. MobileMe iDisk allows you to connect to your iDisk storage space, view the available files, and even download and view a number of formats, including iWork and Office files, PDFs, QuickTime movies, JPEGs, and others.
Jon Peddie’s latest graphics shipment numbers are in, and the results are well in line with the trends identified in our previous reporting on the Intel and AMD earnings calls. Specifically, the entire channel is preparing for a boost in sales soon, as seasonal back-to-school buying starts. Everyone is also hoping and praying for a round of IT upgrades that are now overdue. The thinking is that there is a ton of pent-up demand in the IT market as everyone is keeping costs down by not upgrading, so all of that demand will have to come rushing into the market the minute that IT managers get some money to spend again. In this respect, the channel is “pricing in” the expected IT upgrade spending, so let’s hope that it isn’t disappointed.
Despite ramping up production of its NAND flash chips, Toshiba is telling some customers that it might have trouble meeting supply for their orders—a sign that Apple is taking the bulk of Toshiba’s supply for iPods. Meanwhile, Samsung has produced a 1GHz version of the ARM processor used in the iPhone 3GS, though its likely Apple could pass over the design for chips designed in-house by PA Semi.
