Apple stock tumbles; US iPhone illegal in Europe?

[AppleInsider]

Shares of Apple Inc. bled more than 10 percent of their value Thursday afternoon amid concerns of a slowing economy, but later recouped a portion of the losses. Meanwhile, Blockbuster is turning to download kiosks to combat iTunes.

AAPL takes a nosedive amid market jitters

US Federal Reserve chariman Ben Bernanke triggered a general plunge in the US stock market on Thursday when commenting that the shrinkage of the US housing industry, a weaker US dollar, and higher oil prices were all combining to put the brakes on the US economy as a whole.

The negative outlook prompted one of the largest sell-offs in recent months for the Dow Jones exchange and hit technology stocks particularly hard, many of whom had previously been climbing upwards at a rapid pace.

Although not the worst-hit in terms of money lost, Apple was particularly vulnerable to investors' fears. The company's stock dropped as much as 11 percent in the day to reach $167.77 before partially recovering near the end of the trading day to reach $175.47, or a drop of 5.8 percent.

Jay-Z refuses iTunes sales of new album

Those looking for Jay-Z's latest album, American Gangster, will have to skip iTunes if they want to buy it online, the rap artist says.

In a statement provided to the press this week and reported by Ars Technica, the musician known legally as Shawn Carter describes the concept of per-song downloads as illogical.

"As movies are not sold scene by scene, this collection will not be sold as individual singles," Jay-Z says.

Instead, iTunes users and iPod owners looking to buy the album will have to turn to CD shops and competing online stores that will sell only the complete album, such as Amazon MP3 or RealNetworks' Rhapsody.

The move adds Jay-Z to the ranks of other artists that insist on whole-album downloads for artistic reasons, which includes Radiohead and other high-profile groups. This resistance is often credited to an insistence on the part of Apple chief Steve Jobs that every song shorter than ten minutes must be available as a stand-alone download.

Blockbuster looks to download kiosks to fight online videos

Faced with the sharp decline of its traditional retail video rental strategy in favor of iTunes, Netflix, and other services that operate partially if not entirely online, Blockbuster is experimenting with the idea of installing kiosks that permit downloads directly to handheld media devices, Electronista writes.

Although most of the details have not been revealed to the public, the stations should be ready in prototype form by the start of 2008 and may include locations outside of Blockbuster's familiar turf, including shopping malls.

The company is also considering digital installments for children at its stores and may tightly integrate recently acquired online video store MovieLink into the main Blockbuster website, according to the report.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[trevorlsciact]

So, Jay-Z plans on not releasing any singles at all?

....

(sarcasm, incase anyone's detector is off today)

[GQB]

The move adds Jay-Z to the ranks of other artists that insist on whole-album downloads for artistic reasons,

Well, chalk up at least one 'artist' who's as much of an a-hole as the labels.
Did he miss the memo about the reason labels are dying being that people don't want to pay for 45 minutes of crap to get 5 minutes of (in the case of most current 'product') tolorable.

[trevorlsciact]

Originally Posted by GQB

Well, chalk up at least one 'artist' who's as much of an a-hole as the labels.

He's also the CEO of Def-Jam

[Bergermeister]

Darn, and there I was thinking that the stock actually fell because of the iMac hardware issue or some other important topic of relevance, not just one guy's opinion on the overall economy, whoever he may be.

Apple should get their stock smashed for the iMac problem, the nano problem, the Leopard fiasco (data loss is a fiasco), and the other recent stream of problems (iPhone, Touch, power adapters, etc, etc). Eventually their track record with 1st editions is going to become so well known that nobody will buy any of their products.

They are rushing to market with a lot of things before making sure they are right, and it is not good; the stock price should reflect that and the the holders would raise a storm (if only out of concern for their own pockets) and everybody would benefit.

[TriSept]

I don't know what Jay-Z is talking about, on many occasions I see "Album Only" for the buy button. I think he's just trying the Universal stand.

[trevorlsciact]

Originally Posted by Bergermeister

Darn, and there I was thinking that the stock actually fell because of the iMac hardware issue or some other important topic of relevance, not just one guy's opinion on the overall economy, whoever he may be.

Apple should get their stock smashed for the iMac problem, the nano problem, the Leopard fiasco (data loss is a fiasco), and the other recent stream of problems (iPhone, Touch, power adapters, etc, etc). Eventually their track record with 1st editions is going to become so well known that nobody will buy any of their products.

They are rushing to market with a lot of things before making sure they are right, and it is not good; the stock price should reflect that and the the holders would raise a storm (if only out of concern for their own pockets) and everybody would benefit.

Data loss fiasco! PAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

If you are copying something from one drive to another, no MOVING a file from one drive to another AND you remove it! Then you lose that file. That is no fiasco!

[p_toolan]

The article text is ridiculous. As could be seen in the furore over toy recalls in the summer, there is a lot of confusion over the use of the CE marking. Its use denotes the application of applicable directives, but is not a consumer safety or such marking. Any applicable product that which wants to be sold in the European FTA needs to have the marking on it. Whether it's subject to subscriptions or so forth is neither here nor there.
Furthermore, if the German iPhone were to display the CE mark it would be highly irregular for the British one not to. If for no other reason than that it would be illegal.

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by trevorlsciact

So, Jay-Z plans on not releasing any singles at all?

Who cares. He sells "product", not music.

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by GQB

Well, chalk up at least one 'artist' who's as much of an a-hole as the labels.
Did he miss the memo about the reason labels are dying being that people don't want to pay for 45 minutes of crap to get 5 minutes of (in the case of most current 'product') tolorable.

Hey, he has the right to control how he wants his product marketed and sold. Only his "fans" will want to buy his stuff, he'll miss out on all of the other sales from casual listeners. No biggie.

[teckstud]

Apples don't bleed, they ooze!

[Bergermeister]

http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=80826

All in all, there are sufficient flaws in 10.5.0 to have delayed its release. The same was true for 10.4.0 and 10.0.0 and others. Many of the problems are likely known to Apple; indeed, they often have fixes within a couple of weeks. Why not take those weeks and make sure the product works right before sending it out? Why the hurry as opposed to the desire to get it right?

I have never updated an OS on any of my machines until the X.Y.1 was released, and never on my work machine until the X.Y.2 in order to make sure the teething problems are fixed. Sadly, this means somebody else has to suffer through the beta test period.

[wirc]

What you all are missing here is that the album is a concept album "inspired by the film American Gangster." Apparently it is meant to be listened to start-to-finish, theoretically in one sitting, like a film, or seeing Jay-Z's ego, an opera. The tracks are inspired by scenes in the movie, apparently, and it's a pretty good album from what my friends say, although it sounds exceedingly pretentious.

I support this because he is an artist and I respect his desire for creative freedom. It's annoying, yes, but wait, judging by your responses, how many of you were going to buy it anyway?

It's fine if Jobs, a CEO, wants to smack around another CEO, however he ought to tread more lightly with the content producers.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by trevorlsciact

Data loss fiasco! PAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

If you are copying something from one drive to another, no MOVING a file from one drive to another AND you remove it! Then you lose that file. That is no fiasco!

How do you spell fiasco? APPLETV! It can't even record off the TV! It's the Zune of video hardware.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by wirc

What you all are missing here is that the album is a concept album "inspired by the film American Gangster." Apparently it is meant to be listened to start-to-finish, theoretically in one sitting, like a film, or seeing Jay-Z's ego, an opera. The tracks are inspired by scenes in the movie, apparently, and it's a pretty good album from what my friends say.

I support this because he is an artist and I respect his desire for creative freedom. It's annoying, yes, but wait, judging by your responses, how many of you were going to buy it anyway?

It's fine if Jobs, a CEO, wants to smack around another CEO, however he ought to tread more lightly with the content producers.

Oh I get it- like a YES album from the 70's!

[smokeonit]

the US and EU iphone are identical, only the firmware is different... but with the s/w update 1.1.2 that will also be the same...

the iphone was approced by the FCC and the EU governing bodies, both working cosly together for GSM phones so they don't have to spend so much moeny in research...

CE amrking info:
"CE SELF-CERTIFICATION SYSTEM: The Definite CE Marking Guide
Many manufacturers and exporters believe that they need to get CE Marking from a certification body. And you know what? They’re wrong!
For many products, the CE regulations allow self-certification. That means that it is not required to have a third party certify the product compliance, but that you assess the product compliance yourself. Many companies have found this way and are now using it to their benefit. Because with a little effort, they save a great deal of time and money. And you can too! Do you want to know how you can do CE Marking yourself and save money in the process?"

nuff copied and pasted...

so the CE thing is bullshit...

[wirc]

Oh, I thought I'd add that several of his albums on iTunes are partial albums, missing songs and impossible to purchase as a whole. Hmmm...

[strask]

Originally Posted by wirc

What you all are missing here is that the album is a concept album "inspired by the film American Gangster." Apparently it is meant to be listened to start-to-finish, theoretically in one sitting, like a film, or seeing Jay-Z's ego, an opera. The tracks are inspired by scenes in the movie, apparently, and it's a pretty good album from what my friends say, although it sounds exceedingly pretentious.

I support this because he is an artist and I respect his desire for creative freedom. It's annoying, yes, but wait, judging by your responses, how many of you were going to buy it anyway?

It's fine if Jobs, a CEO, wants to smack around another CEO, however he ought to tread more lightly with the content producers.

Nice comments. A film is a good comparison. One wouldn't expect to be able to buy select scenes. You buy the movie. Its the same with audio books. You don't by chapters 2, 5, and 9: you buy the book. Not every album falls into the category of concept album but if that's what he's done then good for him.

[strask]

Originally Posted by Bergermeister

Darn, and there I was thinking that the stock actually fell because of the iMac hardware issue or some other important topic of relevance, not just one guy's opinion on the overall economy, whoever he may be.

Apple should get their stock smashed for the iMac problem, the nano problem, the Leopard fiasco (data loss is a fiasco), and the other recent stream of problems (iPhone, Touch, power adapters, etc, etc). Eventually their track record with 1st editions is going to become so well known that nobody will buy any of their products.

They are rushing to market with a lot of things before making sure they are right, and it is not good; the stock price should reflect that and the the holders would raise a storm (if only out of concern for their own pockets) and everybody would benefit.

Exactly how wide spread are these problems? I know the iMac issue is a big one as things go for Apple but is it 10% of product sold 50%? 5%? As far as the dat loss thing goes, don't unplug the hard drive while you are copying data to it.

[eAi]

Originally Posted by smokeonit

the US and EU iphone are identical, only the firmware is different... but with the s/w update 1.1.2 that will also be the same...

the iphone was approced by the FCC and the EU governing bodies, both working cosly together for GSM phones so they don't have to spend so much moeny in research...

CE amrking info:
"CE SELF-CERTIFICATION SYSTEM: The Definite CE Marking Guide
Many manufacturers and exporters believe that they need to get CE Marking from a certification body. And you know what? They’re wrong!
For many products, the CE regulations allow self-certification. That means that it is not required to have a third party certify the product compliance, but that you assess the product compliance yourself. Many companies have found this way and are now using it to their benefit. Because with a little effort, they save a great deal of time and money. And you can too! Do you want to know how you can do CE Marking yourself and save money in the process?"

nuff copied and pasted...

so the CE thing is bullshit...

Looks to me like you could write CE neatly on the back of your iPhone and you'd be ok. It allows the person who puts the device 'into service' to certify it, according to Wikipedia...

[MoBird]

That is correct. The only difference is that YES had a concept. Jay-Z has neither a concept or a clue.

Originally Posted by teckstud

Oh I get it- like a YES album from the 70's!

[wirc]

Originally Posted by MoBird

That is correct. The only difference is that YES had a concept. Jay-Z has neither a concept or a clue.

Whatever. It's still better than most of the crap on iTunes and definitely better than what Jobs plays at keynotes. Except for the Beatles and Dylan. They're good. That's it.

[robotsocks]

I pre-ordered the Jay-Z album and it was available for download. I guess they had to fulfill the pre-orders. They screwed up and didn't include the video and digital booklet so they made them available and then credited me $1.98 for the next two song purchases... interesting.

RARE LIMITED EDITION DRM locked itunes version of American Gangster

[mklos]

Originally Posted by Bergermeister

http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=80826

All in all, there are sufficient flaws in 10.5.0 to have delayed its release. The same was true for 10.4.0 and 10.0.0 and others. Many of the problems are likely known to Apple; indeed, they often have fixes within a couple of weeks. Why not take those weeks and make sure the product works right before sending it out? Why the hurry as opposed to the desire to get it right?

I have never updated an OS on any of my machines until the X.Y.1 was released, and never on my work machine until the X.Y.2 in order to make sure the teething problems are fixed. Sadly, this means somebody else has to suffer through the beta test period.

They released it on time as scheduled. If they would have delayed it again, they would have gotten a lot of very bad publicity. So, they released a WORKING version of Leopard, just as they do nearly everything they release. They get their products out on time and utilize software update to fix the bugs. If you haven;t noticed, they do this for nearly everything they release, hardware and software wise. Its impossible to fix every single little bug before a release because until its out in the wild with millions of different types of setups they don't know about them. No one Mac setup is the exactly the same. Every person has something different on their Mac that makes it unique from someone else's. That very difference may have an effect on one person and not another.

It would have been very bad for Apple to delay it again. People have already whined and complained when they delayed it back to October because of this "stupid" iPhone. Plus, remember that Apple picks on Microsoft left and right about not being able to release an OS on time and here would be Apple doing the very same thing. Not a good thing.

Leopard is very usable. Yes, it has bugs but they're not the type that totally makes the OS unusable for the majority of people. Now if there was a thread in say the Apple Discussion Forums with 500,000 of the 2 Million sold with the same major issue, then I would think differently,but there isn't so to me, its a very usable OS.

People who use Macs for their business would be silly to run any major OS update no matter how long Apple spent on it because there will still be bugs with the OS that may effect them. They should always wait until version x.1 or x.2 before upgrading if they even need to upgrade.

[technohermit]

I like Jay Z. Too bad he doesn't realize all of his songs aren't good. I only want some of them. Radiohead can go scratch too. I like a LOT of their stuff, but not all of it. Pink Floyd should be listened to cover to cover, but I wouldn't go ahead and say Money shouldn't have been released as a single.

How about everyone stop messing around and allow a consumer to make the choice to buy something they want, instead of jamming shit they don't want down their throats?

No wonder BitTorrent is so active. If someone just wants one song off one album, they have somewhere they can get it for free. And that might not be a great, legal solution--but it should send a flag up to the big-head, huge-wallet CEO's everywhere that there is demand they are deliberately side-stepping.

[quinney]

Originally Posted by strask

Nice comments. A film is a good comparison. One wouldn't expect to be able to buy select scenes. You buy the movie. Its the same with audio books. You don't by chapters 2, 5, and 9: you buy the book. Not every album falls into the category of concept album but if that's what he's done then good for him.

On the other hand, each song has a separate copyright, and may be
considered a separate entity.

[mdriftmeyer]

As much as people speculate on the lunacy of analysts about Apple products I urge this site to don't even attempt to play economist and discuss the rise and fall of Apple Stock.

This had to do with the Financial Sector profit taking which later rebounded.

Cisco's CEO expressed concerns about domestic growth in the "Financial Segment" for Cisco products and that tanked the tech sector until the Financial Sector rebounded.

Speculate on Apple product releases.

Leave the rest out of this site.

[potterhead4]

Originally Posted by quinney

On the other hand, each song has a separate copyright, and may be
considered a separate entity.

Seems to me if Jay-Z is so concerned about this being a "creative" thing versus a "I want more money" thing, he should release his album as one 40-minute track, which he could then sell for $9.99. Maybe he can also negotiate some DRM where people can't fast-forward through it either?

[Rot'nApple]

Originally Posted by wirc

What you all are missing here is that the album is a concept album "inspired by the film American Gangster." Apparently it is meant to be listened to start-to-finish, theoretically in one sitting, like a film, or seeing Jay-Z's ego, an opera. The tracks are inspired by scenes in the movie, apparently, and it's a pretty good album from what my friends say, although it sounds exceedingly pretentious.

I support this because he is an artist and I respect his desire for creative freedom. It's annoying, yes, but wait, judging by your responses, how many of you were going to buy it anyway?

It's fine if Jobs, a CEO, wants to smack around another CEO, however he ought to tread more lightly with the content producers.

What Jay-Z is missing, is the fact that I as a consumer, may not want to buy album only versus one or two songs I may like irregardless of whether or not he as the artist says this is how it must be done. Regarding his stupid comment about you don't buy a movie for a scene here or scene there, does he not know the word edit and the expressions "that scene was left on the cutting room floor"?

Would Jay-Z "refund", per my request, songs that I care not to have because, say, they stink on my artisticrometer guage?! That is how most albums are. Two or three songs worth a da@n and the rest are crap filler. Jay-Z as an atist may like them, but don't shove it down my throat!

Jay-Z may be a "talented" "musician" with "creative" tendencies vying that the songs or "opera" must be listened to from start to finish, I don't buy his argument, therefore, I don't buy his album.

[pazimzadeh]

oops I wrote a correction then realized I was wrong

[Bergermeister]

mklos: welcome to AI!

The "on time" notion is good, but the deadlines are self-imposed. If they did not announce a formal deadline, then the deadline would not be "missed" and then nobody would be miffed.

I would rather have a good, solid product than one that made a deadline. Also, it is possible for them to test it better; there are lots of little things that they probably knew about but had decided to wait on. Isn't this why they have the developer seeds in the first place?

Regarding other products, you might not have noticed the recent discussions about the newest nanos with the tilted screen. An Apple Genius at an Apple Store said they were all tilted. The Call Center said there was no problem. Both of these are major problems. At the heart of it is shoddy manufacturing that probably resulted from, let's guess, an internal deadline. An extra week would have made it right and prevented the stream of customers returning their nanos. Sure, the number actually returning them seems low, but the Genius was sufficiently embarrassed by the low quality. The same Genius said it was not a good idea to go with a version 1 Apple product; his own company's products and he cannot recommend them! That is beyond sad.

[OriginalMacRat]

Originally Posted by teckstud

How do you spell fiasco? APPLETV! It can't even record off the TV! It's the Zune of video hardware.

Huh?

You mean you still have cable and spend money on a SUBSCRIPTION???

[britwithgoodteeth]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

Who cares. He sells "product", not music.

[britwithgoodteeth]

Originally Posted by MoBird

That is correct. The only difference is that YES had a concept. Jay-Z has neither a concept or a clue.

He's clearly not the only one. Yes? Really?

[britwithgoodteeth]

Originally Posted by Rot'nApple

Regarding his stupid comment about you don't buy a movie for a scene here or scene there, does he not know the word edit and the expressions "that scene was left on the cutting room floor"?

Why don't you explain it to him?

And tell him about your source for purchasing individual scenes from movies.

Idiot.

[Bergermeister]

Originally Posted by britwithgoodteeth

Why don't you explain it to him?

And tell him about your source for purchasing individual scenes from movies.

Idiot.

Have you read the posting guidelines recently?

[amex]

" Anyone caught using the iPhone by a knowledgeable official could face a fine, including Americans visiting the country."

That is not true. I have been traveling for many years to Europe with all kinds of electronic devices (cell phones, laptops, cameras, etc.), none of them have the CE label. Some overly excited journalist had to much to drink when reporting this 'fact'!

[Bageljoey]

Originally Posted by potterhead4

Seems to me if Jay-Z is so concerned about this being a "creative" thing versus a "I want more money" thing, he should release his album as one 40-minute track, which he could then sell for $9.99. Maybe he can also negotiate some DRM where people can't fast-forward through it either?

Yes, just what I was thinking. Jethro Tull had the guts to do this with "Thick as a Brick." Well, actually, it was two 20+ minute tracks because of vinyl record's two sided limitations. If Z is not willing to sell his concept album as individual tracks, would he dare to extend those restrictions to the listener and put out one long track that had to be listened beginning to end with only fast-forward to edit?

Now, I know there were single length edits of Thick as a Brick, but I do not know who did it (the band or their label) or what their purpose was (radio play or greatest hits album tracks). Still, as a music consumer, it did limit my consumption of the album to whole album listening. Course, back in the day that was how I listened to most of my music...

[ecking]

Originally Posted by britwithgoodteeth

Why don't you explain it to him?

And tell him about your source for purchasing individual scenes from movies.

Idiot.

Originally Posted by Bergermeister

Have you read the posting guidelines recently?

Yeah listen to Berger don't grow up to be like me,

[rgreeniwa]

<Anyone caught using the iPhone by a knowledgeable official could face a fine, including Americans visiting the country.>

This makes NO sense. so Americans can use our iPhones to roam in Europe?

Cool.