Apple has placed 34th in consumer electronics (CE) retail sales according to tracking firm TWICE, which released its Top 100 CE retailer ratings yesterday. The company saw a 471.6% sales surge with with $383 million in volume sales due to a near doubling in Apple retail stores, now totaling 51 locations. According to the report, this is the first time that Apple has qualified for the rankings.
The illusive "Home on iPod" feature of Mac OS X has once again been proposed for inclusion in an upcoming update to the Mac OS X Panther, sources tell AppleInsider. Once a part of early Panther builds, the functionality seemingly vanished from the operating system during its latter development stages due to a number of imperfections.
The end of the road with Motorola has been reached, at least when it comes time for Apple to revamp its iBook line of consumer portables. The chip designer has failed to produce any process spec PowerPC 7457 G4s in commercial volumes required to propel Apple\'s portable and iMac computers to the next level.
Apple may slashes prices on its Power Mac G5 line of computers just in time for the holiday buying season, sources tell AppleInsider. However, the move would come just 1 week after the introduction of a new model that was accompanied by a price reduction to the base-end Power Mac configuration.
Apple is progressing forth with updates to its Mac OS X Panther operating system and server counter part. The company recently seeded build 7D15 of Mac OS X 10.3.2 client and build 7D14 of Mac OS X 10.3.2 server.
Though not groundbreaking, but rather for some Saturday morning fun, a reader has submitted what appear to be a set of unreleased Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar television or promo ad spots.
\"This week the last milestone was achieved for the 90nm [PowerPC 970] G5,\" sources told AppleInsider on Thursday afternoon. As of Monday, the \'G5+\' (or 90nm PowerPC G5 microprocessor) was officially taped out, and cleared for ramp up. It will be about 3 months before the chips are available to Apple Computer, Inc. in sufficient quantity for revamping its Power Mac G5 line of computers.
Apple and IBM have a contract for at least 4 generations of the PowerPC processor over the next 5 years, sources tell AppleInsider. The first of these microprocessors is the current PowerPC 970, which will be followed by the PowerPC 980 in Quarter 3 of next year.
The second generation Power Mac G5 units will make an appearance by early March of next year, according to a rather detailed report submitted to AppleInsider. The 'Power Mac 8,1', as sources call it, will see an introduction shortly after IBM unveils the 90nm G5 at the International Solid State Circuit conference in February.
Apple is priming an enhancement update to its XCode developer software, sources tell AppleInsider. Version 1.1 began seeding to developers last week and continued with build 7K105 earlier this week. The update contains a substantial list of improvements and bug fixes based around developer feedback on the initial 1.0 release of the software.
On Tuesday Apple seeded its Mac OS X developers with a pre-release version of Mac OS X 10.3.2. The software carries the build number 7D12 and weighs in just shy of 20MB, developers said. The release requires 62MB of hard disk space and is to be installed on machines running Mac OS X v10.3.1 Build 7C107.
AppleInsider received several pieces of information over the weekend that stated Apple would release a 20" iMac and dual 1.8GHz Power Mac G5 on November 18th. The information was not published and assumed to be part of a misinformation campaign due to a lack of confirmation. However, numerous media outlets are now confirming similar tips as authentic.
Apple\'s PowerBook roadmap is very uncertain, according to an AppleInsider source, who states that plans for further revisions are still up in the air. \"A dual processor G4 powerbook may see the light of day if the engineering challenges of shoehorning a G5 into a 1 inch thick enclosure cannot be resolved in a timely fashion.\"
According to a Tech Central report, Apple is currently negotiating with record labels to provide worldwide sales through its iTunes music store. "Darren Sng, software product marketing manager for Apple Asia Pacific, said his company is currently in negotiations with music companies to enable worldwide sales of music via the online store, but he would not comment further."
A new source has provided AppleInsider with some detailed information on the future PowerPC roadmap, and clarifies a recent report. According to the source, the first samplings of 2.5GHz G5 processors started to appear in May, but were based on a 130nm process. However, any G5 processor running at speeds beyond 2GHz — as part of an Apple product — will be built on a 90nm process.
Apple is preparing to deploy the first set of Power Mac G5 revisions by the end of January, sources tell AppleInsider. The company's development labs are reportedly testing a Power Mac model sporting dual 2.5GHz PowerPC G5 chips, as well as a single processor 2.0GHz configuration.
"Apple is trying its hand at selling computers within major retail chains again, announcing the opening of five Apple stores "within a store" in time for Christmas," Australian IT is reporting. " The new stores within David Jones will be structured differently to Apple's previous, less than successful attempts at selling computers in the department store chain, as well as Harvey Norman." The store within a store locations will be staffed by trained Apple employees.
"Less than a month after Pepsi announced a blockbuster deal to give away 100 million downloads from Apple's iTunes music service to its customers, McDonald's is close to a announcing a much bigger deal," according to an article in today's New York Post.
Builds of the highly anticipated Mac OS X 10.3.1 Update have begun to surface over the last 24 hours. The most recently know build (7C103) weighs in at just under half a megabytes and appears as a package upgrader.
Rumor has it that a future version of the Mac OS X operating system will improve on desktop management by allowing users to spawn virtual desktops, sources tell AppleInsider. The feature is highly rumored to appear as part of Apple's Expose´window management technology, which first debuted as part of Mac OS X 10.3 Panther a couple of weeks ago.
According to an article published in The Straits Times, Apple is banking on its QuickTime technology to fuel the next generation of mobile cell-phones based on the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
Apple has indefinitely ended its long-standing relationship with MarketSource, AppleInsider has learned. MarketSource specializes in results-driven marketing solutions and merges talent and experience to help businesses build consumer loyalty, value and trust.
Apple has once again contracted Quanta Computer to manufacture the next-generation of its iMac consumer desktop, sources tell AppleInsider. The Taiwanese computer manufacture has a long-standing history of producing Apple's notebook computers and was the company that landed the production rights to Apple's second-generation flat-panel iMacs over two years ago.
With the cat now out of the bag, Apple has reorganized and expanded its Apple Certification Programs. The company has announced updates to its Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC) and Apple Certified System Administrator (ACSA) titles, and has announced a new 'Help Desk Specialist' certification.
Apple Computer plans to roll-out a new version of their award winning iLife digital software suite during the first month of next year, sources tell AppleInsider. An unconfirmed rumor implies that iTunes 5.0 will be available for Mac OS X users prior to being deployed for Windows. The updated iLife package will also include a speedier version of iPhoto and major updates to iMovie and iDVD.
Matthew Fordahl, of the San Mateo County Times, has written an article comparing Apple's iPod to the latest pre-released version of Napster's digital media player and accompanying software.
Crutchfield, a major online and catalog electronics reseller, will soon begin carrying Apple\'s iPod digital music player.
According to an AUSTRALIAN IT article, Apple is in the process of deploying a \"scheme which enables small schools to group together to take advantage of software licensing and maintenance program discounts.\"
The official release of Apple's Panther operating system is still 3 days away, but that has done little to stop early adopters. Last week Apple provided thousands of its premier and select developers with the final release of Mac OS X 10.3 Panther for personal, professional and testing purposes.
Apple wrapped-up its developer seeding of Mac OS X 10.3 Panther last week, granting \'Select\' Apple Developer Connection members access to the final build of the operating system. Several days prior, \'Premier\' members were provided with the gold master of the next-generation OS. Meanwhile, a small number of Apple\'s select retail partners have reportedly received shipments of the Panther OS, though they are prohibited from distributing copies to customers until Friday evening.
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Kasper Jade
Katie Marsal
AppleInsider Staff
