MacRumors

CNet provides a summary of Apple's current standings in the digital download market. According to the NPD group, iTunes carries a 70% marketshare for digital downloads from December 2003 to July 2004. This marketshare has held steady despite the introduction of other competitors.

The article goes on to summarize Apple's ongoing strategy providing essentially exclusive iTunes-iPod integration - the goal, presumably, to drive iPod sales. In line with this, Apple has resisted allowing outside music stores to provide integration with the iPod.

This has been an area of criticism for 3rd party music stores such as Real Networks and the newly launched MSN Music service.

Apple will webcast its Q4 2004 financial results conference call via QuickTime at 5:00pm EDT (2:00pm PDT) on Wednesday, October 13, 2004.

Please note that comments made during this call may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. For more information on the factors that could influence results, please refer to Apple's SEC filings.

In additional to revenue, profit, and other sales figures, information about Apple developments and product releases is sometimes revealed during these conference calls, such as when Apple confirmed plans for the G5 iMac during the Q3 results conference call in July.

According to AppleInsider, the next revision to Apple's OS X 10.3 Panther operating system is expected within the next 30 days. Enhancements are said to be in Networking, OpenGL, Updated ATI & NVidia graphics card drivers, additional FireWire audio and USB device compatibility, and improved compatibility for third party applications. Also expected are updated versions of Apple's Calculator, DVD Player, Image Capture, and Safari applications, as well as previous standalone Mac OS X security updates.

ThinkSecret has published a rumor of a new 4th generation iPod featuring a previously rumored Toshiba 60 GB hard drive. In addition to the rumored size increase the new iPod is said to have a 2-inch color liquid crystal display, iPhoto synchronization, audio/video-out capabilities, and will sell for $499. Form factor is not expected to change, although the new iPod will be slightly thicker and heavier than the present 20 and 40 GB models.

The 2-inch color screen is identical in size to other iPods, but will sport a higher resolution for photo viewing. However, the new device's real shining feature will be its video-out port, which will enable users to tote their photo galleries with them, ready to be plugged into any television for big-screen viewing.

The 60GB iPod will feature only rudimentary built-in software for viewing photos, with no editing tools, sources say. Photo albums will be navigated in a similar fashion to music playlists, and a slideshow feature will provide transitions with user-specified background music, similar to iPhoto. Synchronizing features similar to iTunes will also be added to iPhoto.

According to a recent post at AppleInsider, iChat 3, which is due as part of OS 10.4 Tiger, is likely to sport tabbed windows. iTunes integration has also made an appearance, allowing the current track playing in iTunes to be set as the current here/away message. There are a host of 3rd party scripts to provide this functionality in the current version of iTunes, but this appears to be integrated into the app itself. Additional new features are expected in the messaging client that haven't even shown in the most recent builds, according to their sources.

AppleInsider has posted screen shots of Mail.app 2.0 in the most recent developer release (8A27x) of Tiger. In a blend of the two current themes available (Aqua & Brushed Metal) a platinum interface theme has emerged, with a smooth gradation of color in the menu bars. Other Mail 2.0 features are parental controls for filtering display of content on a per-application basis, iCal integration, and the ability to read email certificates. A single-window interface has also been implemented, doing away with the retractable mailbox drawer, and circular count badges are being used to show unread message counts within mailbox folders.

Now Available via Software Update:

Security Update 2004-09-30 delivers a number of security enhancements and is recommended for all Macintosh users. This update includes the following components:

AFP Server
CUPS
NetInfoManager
postfix
QuickTime

For detailed information on this Update, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798

The online Apple Store is no longer selling iChat AV for Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar).

iChat AV, Apple's videoconferencing software designed for use with the iSight video camera, is part of Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) and was previously available for Jaguar (10.2.5 or later) for $29.95 in the online Apple Store.

Apple's iChat AV page no longer mentions the use of the software under Jaguar and the iChat AV download page states that "Mac OS X v10.3 or later" is the minimum requirement for iChat AV 2.1.

The iSight and iChat AV (as beta software) were introduced in June 2003.

According to a recent analyst's quote, Apple will be using controller chips from an Austin, TX based semiconductor company called SigmaTel in an upcoming version of a solid-state, flash-based music player. The analyst, Jason Pflaum of Thomas Weisel Partners LLC, cited "numerous sources in Asia" and predicts SigmaTel will receive $2-4 million from the deal in the first full quarter.

It must be noted that Thomas Weisel has an investment banking relationship with SigmaTel and that neither the semiconductor company nor Apple has confirmed this deal.

If true, it could mean a cheaper, lighter, skip-proof iPod.

Note:
SigmaTel is a manufacturer of MP3 controller, Audio decoder, and USB mass-storage chips. They are not providing the flash storage itself, but the chips that would most likely enable a new iPod to use it.

Eddie Cue, Apple's Vice President of Applications announced today Apple has plans to open new EU extensions of the iTMS in October. Speaking at the annual Popkomm convention in Berlin, Cue gave little details as to which areas of the EU would be receiving their own stores. With Italy and the Netherlands representing the two top-10 music markets in the EU currently without stores, they at least seem likely candidates. Cue also noted that file-sharing networks like KaZaA and WinMX make up the largest competition for the online music store, instead of other more legal options already available.

In addition to the Logic Pro & Logic Express releases today, Apple has also increased the storage space for subscribers of .mac accounts to 250 MB. The user-defineable space is combined between the .mac mail, and the user's iDisk, with the defaults set for 125 MB each. Current member benefits for .mac subscribers can be found on Apple's website.

Released this morning on Apple's website:

The industry-leading application for music creation and audio production dramatically broadens the capabilities of computer-based studio environments with Logic Pro 7. The first choice of many prominent musicians and producers, Logic Pro 7 provides the most comprehensive collection of music creation tools, all for $999.

Create your own music using an advanced spectrum of features and tools for computer based music production. Logic Express provides a step up from GarageBand for aspiring musicians, producers and composers without breaking the bank. With the same flexible layout as Logic Pro, you can dive deeper into the creation and manipulation of audio and MIDI, for just $299.

A collection of new Jam Packs for GarageBand were also made available today.

According to AppleInsider and a column at USA Today, the System X supercomputer at the Virginia Tech Terascale Computing Facility has been upgraded to Apple Xserve Dual G5s running at 2.3GHz, up from 2.0GHz.

The cluster consists of 1100 Apple Xserve G5s, each with 4 GB RAM, and was previously upgraded in January from Power Mac G5s to Xserves.

Apple still describes the Xserve G5 as running only up to 2.0GHz, although specs in a leaked graphic in January showed 2.3GHz. The 2.3GHz version was reportedly made available exclusively to Virginia Tech.

In a press release from Freescale, details have been given regarding variants on the 600e PowerPC core. Utilizing a 90nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) copper interconnect technology, three new chips will find their way to market. Variants include a single core MPC8641, a dual core MPC8641D, and the MPC7448 discreet processor, which gives higher performance at a lower power level, able to consume less than 10 Watts running at 1.4 GHz.

The new chips offer pin-to-pin compatibility with the MPC7447A, and offer 1MB of L2 cache, and are expected to surpass 1.5GHz. As is typical, Apple has made no comment on whether they will include this chip in future models, but with the eMac, the iBook and the PowerBook still running on G4 architecture, there are plenty of willing candidates for the upgrade. The dual core G4 chip has been previously rumored to be the next step for the PowerBook line.

Apple has extended its "Add more life to your Mac" promotion which offers a US$50 mail-in rebate with the purchase Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) and iLife '04 until January 10, 2005, according to MacMinute. January 10 is also the first day of MWSF 05. The promo was originially scheduled to end September 25, 2004, but the extension suggests that either a new version of the iLife suite, or the full public release of Tiger could be expected at the show. Apple had noted in June at the Worldwide Developer's Conference that Tiger would be released in the first half of 2005 at a price of $129. With current builds being as far along as they are, it seems the beginning of the year is a possibility for release.