Euro iPhone News

Apple says Steve Jobs and a team of Apple executives will kick off the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address on Monday, June 6 at 10:00 a.m. At the keynote, Apple will unveil its next generation software – Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS® X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad®, iPhone® and iPod touch®; and iCloud®, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.

So we will get a Jobs demo of Lion and iOS5. These are the usual suspects that we expect.

The big news is the announcement and naming of iCloud. We can only guess but this is the Apple cloud service. Will this replace Mobile Me? Is it music is it Apple SharePoint? We will know the answers and more at 10 PST on June 6 or D- Day for those in the UK and France.

The conference is sold out – as usual – see more here

After one week of sales on iTunes it seems the fab four have sold north of 2 million songs. Not bad for a bunch of oldies that a lot of people had written off.

Billboard says that of the 13 albums released 11 are in the top 25 and that more than 400,000 albums have been sold. Abbey Road is the biggest seller.

Apple should be happy as they take 30% of sales. Say $600,000 or so. And the Beatles agents should be happy with some nice cash. The only person left out is the printer and CD maker who are totally by-passed.

iPhone shipments grew just shy of 100%  in the fourth quarter on a year-over-year basis, giving its market share a nice jump. Source IDC.

Is demand picking up for the  iPhone?

Research firm Wedge Partners said in a research note published kast Friday that its checks have found “a recent uptick” in iPhone production.  They believe this reflects a pickup in global demand.

They say specifically that this is not related to the production of any new models.

Seeking Aplha reported the story and listed 3 potential reasons.

• One factor, Wedge contends, is recent heavy marketing of the App store. Wedge notes that copy-cat sites from Nokia and Google and others have cropped up, but that “Apple’s store offers the most compelling experience due to ease of use and delivery of applications as well as the broad developer base creating fun and and functional apps.”
• They also note a wave of regional promotions. They point out that there have been some aggressive promotions of the phone in some countries, with free iPhones from Telefonica in Spain and O2 in the U.K. under certain contracts. In Japan, Softbank Mobile is now offering free 8GB iPhones for customers who sign a two-year contract.
• Not least, they note a move toward lower data plan pricing. “We understand that Apple has been in discussion with numerous carrier partners around the globe to look at lower tiered data plans in order to make the iPhone more affordable on a monthly basis,” Wedge writes. “Lower cost data plans generally drive an uptick in demand for smartphones, and the high monthly data fee for the iPhone has been a barrier to success for the handset in a number of countries, particularly emerging markets.”

The bun fight in SF last week produced a great many yawns as Apple showed new versions of iLife and iWork. Both versions look like beneficial upgrades. And the one more thing was the 17″ Mac Book Pro now looks like the 15″ just a little bigger. And iTunes music is now free of DRM and will be offered a different price points.

Hardly worth the price of the ticket.

at last we have a new 3g unit and we love it

In an PR statement yesterday Apple siad that the four big US networks all offer HD shows via iTunes that is now the most popular place to download TV shows.

“We’ve got an incredible Fall 2008 TV lineup with over 70 primetime comedies and dramas, including many of the most popular shows on TV in stunning HD,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services. “With over 200 million episodes sold, iTunes customers have proven they love watching television on their computer, iPod, iPhone and TV with Apple TV.”

200 million shows at $1.99 is a reasonable chunk of cash. Of course how much of the $400M Apple keeps after paying the studios and servers is open to debate.

At the notebook event this week Apple showed how it is now making the new machines from a solid block of aluminium. Te two new machines look great with a large glass screen and a smooth metal body. And even better they are shipping right now.Apple also launched a new fancy 24″ display designed to work with the new machines. 

T3 readers picked the Touch as the best music gadget of the year and iPhone as best computer gadget. Readers cast over 50,000 votes. Thats quite a few mouse clicks. See t3.com for full details. 

Currently royalties are 9.1 cents on a digital download and the National Music Publisher Association wanted to bump rates to 15 cents.

Apple threatened to close iTunes rather that raise the 99 cent price.

The Royalty Board rejected the request.