Apple’s iPhone finally arrived at market in China today and is evidently selling fairly well, despite wallet-emptying prices. ChinaNews.com found about 300 people queued up to buy the device at China Unicom’s flagship store in Beijing.
So much for Xbox 360’s game console exclusivity on Netflix streaming. This morning, the DVD-by-mail pioneer said that beginning sometime next month, owners of Sony’s PlayStation 3 game consoles will be able to stream movies and TV shows from Netflix.
Apple’s September quarter saw, among other things, the release of Snow Leopard, the latest upgrade to its OS X operating system and the first public appearance of CEO Steve Jobs, who’d been on a medical leave of absence for a liver transplant. It was also the first full period since the company launched the iPhone 3GS in late June. No wonder it was a blowout quarter.
In the canon of Microsoft cock-ups, this may be the most humiliating. A server failure at the company’s Danger subsidiary has wiped out the personal data of a large number of T-Mobile Sidekick users and despite its best efforts Microsoft cannot seem to get it back.
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, the latest iteration of Apple’s operating system, arrived at market today–about a month earlier than originally anticipated. And while it doesn’t really deliver the GUI enhancements we’ve come to expect from Apple and some incompatibilities are riling people up, Snow Leopard’s under-the-hood improvements and price point appear to have struck a chord with critics. After the jump, a selection of early reviews.
Apple has repeatedly characterized its forthcoming Snow Leopard operating system as an under-the-hood upgrade to the Mac OS, one that focuses on performance enhancements rather than new features.
The Apple Store went offline earlier this morning and when it returned, its homepage featured Mac OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard. Available for preorder today, the next iteration of the Mac OS will ship Aug. 28 as a $29 upgrade.
Looks like Apple may have another hit on its hands with the 13-inch MacBook Pro. The company is reportedly having a hard time keeping the machine in stock as it heads into the back-to-school buying season. And for good reason: It’s a significant upgrade at a lower price. Starting at $1,199, it’s $100 less than the original aluminum MacBook it replaces.
Launching Windows 7 with a steeply discounted preorder offer won’t eradicate all memory of Microsoft’s widely criticized Vista operating system, but it might ensure that it receives a better reception at market. And so the company today said that beginning Friday, “select markets” can preorder Windows 7 at a more than 50 percent discount.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster was right. The iPhone 3GS didn’t sell as well as the iPhone 3G did during its launch weekend last year. But it did quite a bit better than he thought. In an investment note issued this morning, Munster estimated the company sold 750,000 iPhones over the weekend.
The outcry over the $200 premium some existing iPhone 3G users must pay to upgrade to the iPhone 3G S has caused AT&T to think better of the move. The carrier this morning extended the 3G S’s so called “standard upgrade” prices of $199 (16GB) and $299 (32GB) to existing subscribers who would have otherwise qualified for those lower prices on or before the end of September.
As a valued AT&T customer, AT&T can offer you an early iPhone upgrade with a new 2-yr commitment and an $18 upgrade fee. You may qualify for a standard iPhone upgrade on 12/29/2009.
$299.00*–8GB iPhone 3G (black)
$399.00*–16GB iPhone 3G S (black or white)
$499.00*–32GB iPhone 3G S (black or white)…For non-qualified customers, including existing AT&T customers who want to upgrade from another phone or replace an iPhone 3G, the price with a new two-year agreement is $499 (8GB), $599 (16GB), or $699 (32GB).
– The ugly fine print for some existing AT&T (T) subscribers planning to purchase an Apple (AAPL) iPhone 3G S.
Apple has $29 billion in cash, no debt, a 36 percent gross margin, and it’s on the cusp of another iPhone ugrade cycle. Little wonder, then, that analysts are raising their target prices on the company’s stock. Among those doing so today: Morgan Stanley’s Kathryn Huberty, who says “Apple is emerging as the clear leader in the battle over the mobile Internet.”
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper.
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
Best video mashup ever.
A Facebook Memorial
Wow.
Worth it for the Rickrolling photo alone.
Excellent.
Flughumor!
… you vacuous, toffee-nosed, malodorous perverts
Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine meet the kakapo — a fat, flightless and very randy rare parrot.
Spectacular in the bellowing Russian sailor sense of the word …
“If you spell something wrong on your insurance claim, do you really deserve surgery? I don’t think so …”
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