GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Apple and five publishers have lost a bid to have a class action case on electronic book pricing rejected, thus allowing the case to proceed in court in the United States.
US district attorney judge Denise Cote in New York Tuesday 15 May rejected a motion by Apple and the publishers to dismiss the case, citing concerns of a “conspiracy”. Cote wrote in an opinion that the agreement to set prices for e-books between the electonics giant and the publishers—Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Group and Simon & Schuste—”is unlawful per se because it is, at root, a horizontal price restraint”.
The class action suit, filed last August, preceded US Department of Justice allegations last month which claimed that Apple had colluded with the publishers to wrest control from online book vendor Amazon and to boost the price of e-books. Judge Cote is overseeing both cases.
Links to other sources: Business Week, Publishers Weekly, Times of India
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Apple will email Australian buyers of its newest iPad models with an offer to refund their purchases after a consumer group sued the company for misleading advertising.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said Tuesday 27 March that the electronics giant misinformed consumers that the latest “iPad with wifi and 4G” will work in Australia, not the case because it is not compatible with either of the 4G networks available in the country.
A lawyer for the company, Colin Golvan, reportedly told an Australian court that Apple will notify consumers that the latest iPad is not compatible with Australian 4G LTE networks and WiMAX networks in the coming week.
On Wednesday afternoon Apple’s Australian website was still advertising its newest iPad as being 4G compatible. The iPad launched earlier in March in Australian stores.
Links to other sources: Aljazeera, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Sydney Morning Herald, Vancouver Sun, The West Australian
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Apple says Tuesday 20 March that 3 million of its new iPads have been sold since they hit the market Friday, four days earlier. It announced Monday that it will be paying investors dividends later this year, for the first time since 1995. But not everyone is happy. A group of 22 well-known writers in China are suing Apple for copyright infringement, saying their e-book versions of their works have appeared in the Apple store without their permission or involvement.
They are seeking $7.9 million in damages.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The number of apps being developed is rapidly growing, so one of the most closely watched battles is that of Blackberry vs iPhone vs Google Android supporting phones, and Canada’s case is one to watch. Canada’s RIM company is behind the Blackberry, which suffered heavy market erosion in the US in 2011, but a new study shows it remaining ahead of the iPhone in Canada, with 32.6 percent of the market compared to Apple’s 31.2 percent. But Samsung, a popular Android smartphone maker, is rapidly gaining market share, according to research firm comScore.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Apple is cutting the cost of mobile advertising, as the fight to woo advertisers for iPhones, iPads and Androids steps up. Last week the company announced that it will charge $100,000 for a campaign, a far cry from the original 2010 price of $1 million and a sharp cut from the recent $500,000 tab, reports Ad Age.
The price change is accompanied by two other key changes, the way in which advertisers are billed, which is being simplified, and the amount app developers will earn. Ad Age notes that “in addition, app developers will receive 70% of ad revenues from iAds running on their apps, vs. their previous 60% cut. The extra money will compensate for lower ad rates and serve as added incentive for developers to build businesses on Apple devices, even though they may grab a bigger audience or more ad revenue creating apps for Google’s Android devices, which now outnumber Apple smartphones in the U.S.
This editorial has been moved to the Editor’s Notepad blog, where it was originally intended to sit (apologies for the early morning confusion).
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, died Wednesday, age 56. The news was announced by Apple in a brief tribute on the company’s home page: “Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.”
Jobs died of a rare form of pancreatic cancer. He had been ill for months and in August he resigned as CEO of the company he started with Steve Wozniak in 1976. His up-and-down relationship with the company he founded turned around in 1997 when he re-joined the company after 12 years away, and turned it into one of the most valuable companies in US business.
Tributes to Jobs, the man who turned Apple into the world’s largest technology company, are appearing in media around the world, but the most overwhelming public praise has come from China, where more than 35 million tributes were posted online in just hours early Thursday.
Links to other sites: Economic Times, India, Gizmodo Australia, Hindustan Times, PC World, Reuters Canada, the Wirecutter (on Gizmodo’s theft of iPhone 4 and relationship with Jobs), Xinhuanet
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – “Here comes the Cloud” might not be a tune the Beatles wrote, but Apple is doing a pretty good job with the silver-lining idea, announcing widely 4 October that the new cloud technology is available for its fans 12 October.
It “stores your music, photos, apps, contacts, calendars, documents, and more, keeping them up to date across all your devices, including iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC. When content changes on one device, all your other devices are updated automatically and wirelessly,” the company said Tuesday. The set of cloud services is free and includes iTunes in the Cloud, Photo Stream, and Documents in the Cloud. Detail: you need to upgrade to iOS5.
The latest version of the industry standard iPhone was also released, but to little excitement, with the new iPhone 4S. Gizmodo languidly notes that “Apple’s new iPhone 4S is just last year’s design loaded with a new brain and more memory. It will run your apps faster and Apple’s new iOS5′s Assistant, an artificial intelligence program that listens and interprets your orders, and a new camera.” Writer Jesus Diaz waxes a little more enthusiastic as he details some of the new features.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – One of the most successful companies based in the US, Apple, is losing its long-time leader, Steve Jobs, 56, who has stepped down as chief executive officer. Jobs, who has had serious health problems for several years, will remain chairman of the board, but the day-to-day running of the company will now be in the hands of his former number two, Tim Cook.
Apple shares immediately did a nosedive when the news was released, dropping 7 percent in after-hours trading, according to Reuters.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Apple is making headlines this week for bypassing Exxon, if briefly, as the largest publicly listed US company, in the chaos of stock markets this week. In May 2010 it bypassed Microsoft as the largest tech company.
Big doesn’t necessarily mean everyone loves it, however, and in particular Apple is facing fights with the Financial Times, Wal-mart and Amazon, among others who are refusing to put their new iPad apps through the Apple iTunes system because of Apple’s insistence on taking a 30 percent bite.
The Atlantic calls it the beginning of the end of the Apple App Store, noting that “Amazon and Walmart have challenged Apple to a duel with the release of the Kindle Cloud Reader and Walmart’s Vudu streaming site.”
Links to other sites: the Globe & Mail, Reuters
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Gloomy news about sovereign debts, new bank capital requirements and the US debt ceiling were briefly forgotten on world stock markets Wednesday 20 July, with strong results from several tech companies. Apple lead the way with a 125 percent increase in net income for the second quarter, compared to a year earlier. IBM also had results well above predictions. The stronger than expected corporate results plus news from the White House that a debt ceiling deal may be coming prompted markets to rally. Apple’s shares rose 4.5 percent in trading Tuesday, with the income jump attributed to Asian markets and iPhone sales.
Links to other sites: Financial Times, Reuters
©2011 Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – It’s raining in the Lake Geneva region today, but that’s not the only reason we are scanning the sky.
To love or not love it, that is the question haunting reviewers around the globe since Apple’s announcement Tuesday of its new iCloud, a kind of digital pie in the sky that will house all our (Apple) device storage needs.
The cloud up there will make life easier for Apple, whose, according to its guru Steve Jobs, is having a nightmarish time trying to keep all our Apple devices synched. And for Apple product owners, it should make our computers lighter and at some point cheaper because they won’t be weighed down by all those operational systems that lie behind our everyday computing.
But the best news in the short term, it appears, is that Apple’s move could put the music industry back on stronger financial feet, with our personal cloud data holding all our music, available to us anytime, anywhere (thereby making us more willing to pay iTunes to get it in the first place). Wired doesn’t entirely agree with this, but it does say Apple’s move could well be an “industry changer” despite not inventing anything and being only for Apples.
For those owners, another bit of good news is that our mobile phone bills could drop, as Apple clouds gather up our instant messages, texts, photos and videos included, on a new system called iMessage, available this autumn, and let us send them for free.
Better yet: for once, all our devices might really be synched, quickly, easily.
There are a few sore losers, starting with mobile phone manufacturers and phone companies, who stand to lose millions. Data privacy protection missionaries are asking uncomfortable questions about the security of the skies above us.
Reviews and comments on iCloud: CNET (video of Jobs presentation), The Daily Record, Scotland, 27/7 Wall St, USA
A bright spot in world news, at least for investors, is that stock markets have risen strongly on reports of results from technology companies. The Dow Jones rose 187 points, up 1.5% , 20 April and Nasdaq was up 2%. The Dow Jones ended Wednesday at its highest level since June 2008
Intel and Apple were leaders in the surge, with Apple “coming in way ahead of expectations”, according to the BBC, more than doubling its profits in the first three months of 2011.
The dollar fell to a three-year low against a basket of currencies, with the little expectation the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in the near future, notes Reuters.
But shadow cast by iPhone plant suicides
Apple store, Rives in Geneva, day before iPad arrives, 27 May 2010
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Apple (Ah-pull’ in Geneva French, if you’re looking for the store) shop in the Rive district in Geneva was bustling Thursday, but it appeared to be busy business as usual, rather than buzz related to the new iPads that go on sale at 08:00 Friday.
The only sign of iPad frenzy was a large sign with remarkably little information about Apple’s newest baby, saying it will arrive Friday.
Down the street in chic leather goods shops, iPad holders were set out smartly, however.
Europe welcomes the iPad Friday just as the news is out that Apple has overtaken Microsoft in capitalization, with a stock market value of $222 billion late Wednesday, some $3 billion ahead of Microsoft.
“The fact that Apple, not Microsoft, is the more valuable franchise represents a remarkable turn of events in the history of computing,” reports CNet.
The Financial Post has drawn a neat graph tracking the two companies’ capitalizations since 2004.
But the success of flavour of the year Apple has had a shadow cast over it this week, with the large company in China that makes its iPhones, Taiwan manufacturer Hon Hai, trying to cope with a growing number of suicides in its corporate “village” of 45,000 people.
A tenth person jumped to his death Wednesday, a 23-year-old man, according to the Guardian, UK.
The iPhone was the product that made the difference: Apple surprised investors Tuesday 20 April by announcing sales of $13.5 billion for the three months that ended 27 March, a 49 percent increase over the same period a year earlier. Profits rose 90 percent to $3.07 billion. Computer sales were strong, but it was the iPhone’s 124 percent increase in revenue, thanks to new carriers, that was responsible for the steep climb.
Apple posted a record quarter for sales, for the period ending 31 December 2009, thanks in part to a 100 percent increase in iPhone sales and a 34 percent increase in the sale of Macs, compared to a year earlier. The company’s sales were up 32 percent to $15.8 billion, and profits rose 50 percent to $3.4b, both figures well above analysts’ expectations. New accounting standards also helped boost figures.
The news comes on the eve of Apple’s expected announcement 27 January of its new tablet computer.
Links to other sites: Apple press release, CNN, the Globe & Mail, Canada
Software giant Microsoft rolled out its first new operating system in years yesterday 22 October. Windows 7 is simpler, faster and has new features like limited touch-screen capabilities. Prices range from just under $200 for the basic Home Premium version to more than $300 for the Ultimate version.
Micorsoft’s previous operating system, Vista, was criticized for being difficult to use and having serious security problems. Microsoft, whose software runs on 90 percent of all PCs, is hoping to revive its reputation and needs to face challengers like Apple and Google. Increasingly, software and data is kept on distant servers, and consumers are flocking to simpler, cheaper netbooks. CNet, CNN
Apple CEO Steve Jobs returned to the limelight 8 September at the annual Apple conference in San Francisco after almost a year’s absence due to medical leave to have a liver transplant. He thanked his anonymous donor, a “mid-twenties year-old” car crash victim, for his generosity and urged everyone to become an organ donor. Looking thin and frail, Jobs reported that Apple had sold 30 million iPhones in little over two years. He also announced software improvements to the iPod Nano, new features at iTunes, and price cuts in the products. Jobs received a standing ovation. Apple shares reached a 52 week high of $172.93 the same day, but dropped back one percent at closing. Businessweek, CNET, MSNBC, Reuters
Steve Jobs of Apple was polite but firm: the time had come for Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, to leave the Apple board of directors because Google’s encroachment of Apple territory had reached the point where Schmidt would have to step out of too many meetings because of a potential conflict of interest. Wired
Switzerland's new Galmac eating apple - early August harvest
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Stores in Switzerland are starting to sell the new Galmac early variety of apple, developed by the federal research station Changins-Waedenswil, developed in part to provide an early apple that could compete with foreign imports. Most apples sold in Swiss shops in summer are imported. The new variety is a cross between Gala and Jerseymac, and it matures before Gravenstein, a popular eating variety.
Apple Inc surprised most analysts’ forecasts by posting net profits of $1.3 billion for the quarter ending in June 2009, 13 percent higher than the same period a year ago. The San Francisco-based electronics firm sold 2.6 million Mac computers and 5.2 million iPhones, in part by lowering prices on some items and upgrading other products. The company introduced the improved iPhone 3GS during this period and lowered the basic price of its older version iPhone to $99. NYT, Reuters
Apple’s second financial period quarterly report “soared” past analyst’s expectations, reports Reuters. Profits rose to $1.21 ($1.05m in Q1 2008) and net income rose to $8.16 billion, an increase of 8.7 percent over the same period a year earlier. The ongoing love affair with iPhones and iPods is credited with the strong sales, and shares rose 3 percent on the news.
Results showing a six-fold increase in the sale of iPhones during the third quarter, the first since a new generation of the phone was released, prompted Apple’s share to rise 13% Tuesday. Reuters
