Prompt's Blog

In history, January 9th has played host to quite a few notable events.

For example, it was on this date in 1861 that Mississippi became the second state to secede from the Union before the outbreak of the American Civil War. In 1947, it was the last day that Elizabeth "Betty" Short, the (legendary) Black Dahlia, was last seen alive, and was the birthday for the 37th President of the United States, Richard Nixon. Well known Jamaican ragga-hip hop musician Sean Paul celebrates his birthday on January 9th each year, along with one of the Backstreet Boys (bet you can't guess which one). Not only that, it was the date of the first eclipse of the third millennium in 2001 and would eventually become the date in 2007 that Steve Jobs would introduce the iPhone.

Even more importantly, however, January 9, 2001 was the date that the world was introduced to and began its obsession with Apple's iTunes.

Further to iTunes' success from 2001 on, Apple launched the iTunes store in April 2003. Five years later, it had become the number one music vendor in the United States and now boasts over 11 million songs available for download accounting for 70% of online digital music sales worldwide.

Beyond music, the iTunes store currently has 150,000 podcasts available for download, 20,000 audio books, countless hours of video content and over over 75,000 educational audio and video content files available to download through iTunes U.

Now just over nine years old, iTunes really is 'the world's most popular way to organize music and download songs online' - just how Apple puts it. On Wednesday this week, the iTunes store celebrated its 10 billionth music download coincidentally on Steve Jobs' 55th birthday.

The iTunes store was launched on April 28, 2003, making it just under seven years (or 2,494 days) old. Given its age,the iTunes store has averaged a staggering 4,009,623.1 downloads for each day that it's been in existence.

The lucky downloader of the milestone track was a 71 year old man from Georgia who was downloading Johnny Cash's "Guess Things Happen That Way." Once the download finished he received a phone call from Steve Jobs himself to let him know he had just won a $10,000 (£6,500) iTunes gift card redeemable against song, movie, TV show, and application purchases on the iTunes Store.

Jealous? I know I am.

Labels: apple, downloads, itunes, Steve Jobs

Considering the frenzy of excitement that preceded Wednesday's launch of the Apple iPad -- you couldn't move on Twitter, Facebook or tech blogs for rumour, speculation and general pant-wetting anticipation -- it was somewhat surprising to wake up on the morning-after-the-night-before to find the huddled online masses shrugging and underwhelmed.

A prolonged news conference spearheaded by Apple supremo Steve Jobs and his magical assistant Jonathan Ive was precisely scripted to reveal the wonders of the iPad feature by feature - hyping the innovation and revolutionary claims, pushing the lifestyle benefits and dropping the odd price-bomb along the way. We got to see a stylish device twirled around, and to preview that stunning display streaming multimedia marvels and handling productivity apps with aplomb. So why exactly are so many potential customers now seemingly feeling deflated and dismayed?

It's hard to pinpoint really as there’s not really anything wrong with the iPad, but the hype cycle would suggest the market is merely experiencing 'the trough of disillusionment'. I believe we were basically spoilt by the huge sea change brought about with the launch of the iPhone/iTouch design. Apps, screen-pinching, accelerometers, GPS, Wi-Fi, 3G, HD... ...it was all massively impressive the first time round and now the iPad is giving us more of the same, pretty much. Yes the SDK is a leap forward, the browser experience is better, the screen is sharper, mail is better integrated, eBooks will look terrific and so on. But to many observers the overall impression was much the same as it was to a five year-old who saw me streaming the launch: "Hey it's just like your phone, only for giants!"

Whatever your own personal reaction has been to the unveiling of the iPad, you have to admit that Mr Ive has conjured up a gorgeous chunk of techy eye-candy, and that this is likely yet another launch pad device for Apple to take off from, taking millions of followers along for the journey. No doubt it will work hard to earn its place in the Apple product stack and in the affections of many customers throughout 2010 and beyond.

What did you think of the unveiling? Please let us know.

Labels: apple, iPad, Jonathan Ive, Steve Jobs, Tablet

Apple announced this week that it netted $1.67 billion dollars for its net income over the third quarter, beating analyst estimates and sending the value of its shares sky high. Even in a down economy, Apple has been uncommonly resilient. In the past year, its share price has more than doubled, as companies around it have fallen.

Especially given the fact that Apple's products tend to be at the highest price points on the market, it is surprising that its sales have continually increased. The reason that Apple is in such good financial shape hinges a lot on the smartphone market. It is estimated that the smartphone market will grow from 184.2 million units right now to 235.6 million units in 2010. Apple has already been fueling its growth in the mobile space, having its market share almost double in the past year. The App Store has been a major factor as well and has also been on the rise, with Apple receiving constant revenue from the users of its iPhones.

Apple keeps growing and as Forbes' article stated, roughly one-third of its business is in growth mode, from its iPhones and iPods to services that utilize them. It just announced redesigned Macs and mouses to go with them as well. And, as if that wasn't enough, the long-rumored tablet seems to be getting closer to release from the online chatter around it. With new products and tremendous room for growth in its current offerings, Apple seems poised to continue its growth throughout 2010.

Labels: apple, mobile phone, Tablet

The Times of London penned a 4,000-plus word profile of Steve Jobs. Almost anyone else would be envious to get that much space in the paper. Apple, however, instead of being proud to get a lot of prestigious ink, complained and tried to put a stop to it, according to Computerworld UK.

The company, much like the technology behind it, is very closed off in terms of how it deals with the public. When Steve Jobs was in ill health, the company was quiet even as he was visibly eroding before our eyes. But trying to prevent the press from publishing a profile on Steve Jobs is irresponsible. First, Jobs is a public figure and there is more than enough information that the paper could write about him even if Apple didn’t want them to. However, the paper wanted to get input on the story from Apple, and they were scorned by Apple’s PR team.

The piece was on the topics of Job’s life, from his childhood to his education, business success and recent health problems. It criticized Steve for his being a control freak, but was not a completely negative article. Apple’s PR team tried to use the excuses that they “discourage profiles,” but in calling the editorial department to try to get the story killed they just reinforced what the Times of London described as Apple’s “cult of corporate omerta - the mafia code of silence.” It even sends misinformation to various parts of the company to find anyone that breaks it.

The company is facing a lot of bad PR for its lack of openness. In trying to prevent the article from coming out, it has drawn more attention to the fact that it isn’t open. If they had just remained quiet about it, the article probably wouldn’t have received much attention across the pond. Microsoft, for all of its flaws, has been good overall in letting the press write about whatever angle they choose. Apple should take note: Microsoft doesn’t try to kill articles, and it seems to be doing pretty well.

Labels: apple, PR

The O’Reilly Radar had a fascinating look at the stats of what applications people are downloading on Apple’s iTunes, and the results are surprising. News applications are now the fastest growing category on iTunes, surpassing the previous record holder, books.

The news category has added many new apps since late May, showing that the media have very recently began to embrace it. News applications are varied, from software to read and organize news to platforms that provide premium content. The most popular applications, in fact, are from media companies themselves. The article cites the statistic that there are over 1,500 news applications. Clearly, this is a trend worth paying attention to.

As people move towards using smartphones as their main means of accessing the internet, it will be interesting to watch how this affects the way we consume news. Right now, on our phones, we already have Twitter and the mainstream media in application form that optimizes text, images and video, so we can be up-to-date with news almost instantly anywhere. As the mobile broadband networks and the smartphones that rely on them improve and proliferate, and our culture becomes more used to the idea, we could see news become even more instantaneous than it is even now. Slowly, everyone is beginning to have cameras that can record pictures, video and audio on their bodies at all times. And those cameras are getting better. Companies should start to think now about how mobile content creation can be used as tools to engage with the media in new ways, and how to be able to react should a crisis occur which those tools record.

Labels: apple, itunes, news applications

More evidence this week that Apple will pull even further away from the pack in the race to put intuitive, state-of-the-art computing into the pockets of consumers.

If it wasn't exciting enough for Apple fanatics to hear Steve Jobs say that a new generation of iPhones is likely to appear in stores sometime in late June, there was agreement across the IT press this week that the long rumoured Apple Tablet is also now on its way.

TechCrunch wrapped up some nice insights and predictions for the device in its article 'What we know about the Apple Tablet So Far'.

Google around for myriad other links and rumours.

Our knee-jerk reactions to the news so far included the following:
- If any firm can popularise the problematic 7-10-inch screen size, it's going to be Apple
- What the heck will be the impact on the embryonic eReader market if the Apple Tablet really takes off
- Will the Tablet use the iPhone OS, or some version of OS X?
- How will Apple handle the ever-troublesome battery life / power / weight trade off?
- Will Intel get a look in?
- A predicted price bracket of $500 - $1000 is pretty vague and smats of several different models aimed at very different market segments. Do tell.
- Why doesn't Apple leak and deny like a seasoned pro, such as rival Microsoft?
- Will we see these babies in Apple Stores before Christmas?
- In the UK? Really?
- If Apple staff are being taken off iPod and iPhone projects to get the Tablet readied, does that mean the iPhone 3.0 is 'good to go'?
- Seriously, can we have a play with a new iPhone or two and worry about the Tablet later?

Let us know whether you're more excited about the Apple Tablet, the Apple iPhone 3.0, or whether you shun anything with an Apple trademark on it on principle (in which case the best we can do is tell you that the Pre is still rolling down the Palm pipeline and will be in US stores on 6th June.)

Labels: apple, iPhone, Mac, Steve Jobs, Tablet

We went out to Apple's largest store in the US (and probably the world) today and filmed people's reactions to the most anticipated gadget of the year, Apple's iPhone 3G.

It was a fun morning of filming and we met a lot of interesting people, from someone who waited in line since Wednesday (and didn't get the iPhone!) to a VP of AT&T.

Labels: 3G, apple, Boston, interview, iPhone, launch, Prompt Communications

When the iPhone launched last year, an awful lot of people lined up to say an awful lot of gushingly good things about it. And why not? On the face of it, it's a brilliant little convergence device: the interface is superb, the screen is gorgeous, it fits nicely in your shirt pocket and iPhone owners genuinely smile when they use them (do try and stop that though).

However, there were at least two obvious drawbacks that prevented me and many other gadget-happy people becoming early adopters of iPhones.

Firstly, they are extremely expensive to own - partly because of the wanton wallet-opening lust they inspire in an endless line of consumers happy to pay almost any asking price, and partly because of some very shrewd exclusive regional mobile operator deals struck by Apple at the direct expense (literally) of its customers.

Secondly, for a smartphone, the current generation of iPhones really isn't all that smart. You can't add more memory, you can't swap out the battery, you can't run MS Exchange or Office on them and worst of all, what were Apple thinking not supporting 3G, the fastest mature mobile network out there, on the ultimate convergence phone? We still don't get it.

Well, as far as the Total Cost of Ownership issue goes, we can't see anything changing very quickly. Unless you're happy to buy an iPhone unlocked on eBay and gamble on avoiding any automatic updates drawbacks or other form of censure, every indication suggests you'll need to sign-up to a costly 18-month contract with your local iPhone purveyor - O2 in the UK - whether you want one of the current batch of iPhones or the next generation.

However, there ARE lots of rumblings that a proper 3G iPhone is just around the corner. TrustedReviews originally hoped for a January 2008 launch. The Register then predicted a May 2008 release. TimesOnline now thinks we'll see them in the UK in June.

Overall I think we can agree 3G iPhones will 'probably be here in the Summer', but that's about all. What we still still can't fully fathom is why Steve Jobs really had such a downer on 3G in the first place? Was it truly all down to battery life and his belief just a year ago that WiFi support somehow made up for a lack of genuine mobile web browsing? (You've got to see this MacWorld clip from September 2007 by the way) Or do you think offering a huge suckered install base a rapid upgrade path and a new locked-in 18-month contract only halfway into their current deal was just too damn lucrative and dastardly a plot to resist?

If you see us smiling into our pockets on a commuter train this Summer, we might admit to being overly cynical. Watch this space.

Labels: 3G, apple, iPhone

This week, Tim Westergren, founder of the hugely influential internet streaming radio service Pandora, sent me and other UK devotees a very sad email.

Despite huge support over the past few years from listeners and artists in this country, the service will finally be blocked to this last territory outside the USA from January 15th.

Tim explained that two key bodies, the PPL (which represents record labels) and the MCPS/PRS Alliance (which represents music publishers) had demanded per track performance minima rates which were too high to be covered by advertising supported internet radio and so the UK had to be barred in much the same way as the rest of the world had been back in the summer of 2007.

Professionally and personally I have to admit to being more than a little gutted - I listen to Pandora most working days in return for a few ads here and there and have been constantly impressed by the artificial intelligence of the track selection for the various personal radio stations I've set up along the way. Tim promises to let the UK know if he can open Pandora up to us again one day soon.

Here's hoping, but until then, I guess there's always the miniscule Apple iTunes price cuts to get excited about.

Labels: apple, broadcast, digital music, itunes, mcps, pandora, ppl, prs alliance, radio, streaming