Native MySpace iPhone app; iTunes royalties; FNAC chases iPhone

[AppleInsider]

MySpace is rumored to be among the first developing third-party native iPhone software. Meanwhile, musicians listed on European iTunes stores typically earn more than their US counterparts, a major French retailer demands iPhone sales rights, and Kaspersky has built prototype Mac antivirus software.

MySpace rumored to be developing iPhone app

One of the first native applications for Apple's touchscreen devices could be a front end for MySpace, says a rumor at Electronista.

The software is reportedly built using a pre-release version of Apple's development kit for the iPhone and iPod touch and has largely been considered a secondary priority at the company, which has only devoted a handful of staff to the project on a casual basis.

Even so, the current results are purportedly "impressive," if unfinished: the project isn't believed to be ready for Apple's Software Roadmap event on Thursday and isn't likely to be a full-fledged replacement for the website, which streams music and video through a Flash interface unavailable on the Apple devices.

The same website first alluded to high-profile developers receiving SDK kits last fall, several months ahead of the public unveiling.

iTunes royalties higher in Europe

If a musician or band wants to reap the rewards from music sales through iTunes, their best bet is to offer their titles through the European stores, performer Leon Rousseau has revealed.

In one of the few instances where artists have discussed the hard math of iTunes' royalty system, Rousseau notes that a song costing 99 Euro cents in France's iTunes Store nets brings back almost 95 US cents to the label, while the same track purchased from the American store offers just 64 US cents in compensation.

The rocker can't provide the same figures for whole albums, however: while he knows that a €9.99 title will pull $8.94, no one on the US store has yet to buy the whole track.

Nonetheless, the income from either country is strong enough to make it a viable (if not ideal) venue to sell music, Rousseau claims. As traditional CDs are often sold at a higher price to distributors who themselves take a cut, the old format is often more expensive and less profitable at the same time.

"It's frankly not that bad for a support mechanism that doesn't generate manufacturing costs," the musician says.

Most other iTunes stores based in countries that depend on the Euro charge similar rates.

French chain demands rights to sell iPhone

France's primary electronics retailer, FNAC, may resort to legal measures to gain sales rights for the iPhone, according to a report by national newspaper Le Figaro on Tuesday.

The store chain's chief executive, Denis Olivennes, told the publication that FNAC was holding talks to become a new official source for the iPhone, but that it would not accept an unsuccessful attempt. If necessary, the company will take steps to force the issue -- though the retail head did not say what routes might be possible.

Orange's exclusive lock on selling the iPhone in its own stores is "inadmissable," Olivennes says. At present, the UK is the only country in which Apple allows the iPhone to be sold through an outlet besides its own stores or those of the exclusive carrier. British customers can buy the device through Carphone Warehouse in addition to Apple and O2 stores.

Kaspersky mulls Mac OS X security suite

Moscow's well-known antivirus developer Kaspersky could have a Mac port of its software released "in just days" if necessary, company representative Timur Tsoriev told the press at the CeBIT show in Germany.

The company is now known to be holding a rough copy of the software in reserve should the Mac become a genuine target for malicious software. Apple's continued marketshare increases prompted the move, according to the company's founder, Eugene Kaspersky.

This feat is possible due to the engine underneath the current software. Where some security programs often require major conversion efforts to work on the Mac, Kaspersky's software is independent enough to run on multiple operating systems. The software team can therefore ready a Mac version without committing to a full release.

Other companies such as AVG developer Grisoft and F-Secure are also pondering Mac development, though both suggest that a release would depend heavily on demand.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[wbrasington]

You know, it's interesting when the anti-virus marketeers line up to pronounce they are "ready" if at some point in the future they are needed.

Kind of like the banks putting out a cattle call for bank-robbers.....


PS:While the engine might transfer easily, I wonder how much of it makes no sense like the part that scans the registry...

[randomthot]

Can't help but wonder if there is a punitive element to the pricing since Jobs renegotiated with the U.S. labels. After seeing the Euro compensation, perhaps that's why the labels here are so anti-Apple?
Plus, does the lower compensation of artists in the U.S. mean they will have a harder time growing & thriving?

------------------
In one of the few instances where artists have discussed the hard math of iTunes' royalty system, Rousseau notes that a song costing 99 Euro cents in France's iTunes Store nets brings back almost 95 US cents to the label, while the same track purchased from the American store offers just 64 US cents in compensation.
. . .
Nonetheless, the income from either country is strong enough to make it a viable (if not ideal) venue to sell music, Rousseau claims. As traditional CDs are often sold at a higher price to distributors who themselves take a cut, the old format is often more expensive and less profitable at the same time.

"It's frankly not that bad for a support mechanism that doesn't generate manufacturing costs," the musician says.

Most other iTunes stores based in countries that depend on the Euro charge similar rates.

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

iTunes royalties higher in Europe

If a musician or band wants to reap the rewards from music sales through iTunes, their best bet is to offer their titles through the European stores, performer Leon Rousseau has revealed.

In one of the few instances where artists have discussed the hard math of iTunes' royalty system, Rousseau notes that a song costing 99 Euro cents in France's iTunes Store nets brings back almost 95 US cents to the label, while the same track purchased from the American store offers just 64 US cents in compensation.

Questions?

99 Euro cents = $1.50 US or 66% in royalties vs.

US 99¢ generates 64¢ or 65% in royalties and 36% gross profit for Apple

I believe that the French VAT is (included) 19.6%. Not sure about duty which is either 0 or 5 to 7%. If both are included, the actual price is $1.12 US and if the royalty in France generates 95¢US on $1.12, it would represent 10% in gross profit to Apple.

Have to go, but it does raise a few questions. Or maybe my math is just a little funny in my rush.

[OlivierL]

Originally Posted by Abster2core

Questions?

99 Euro cents = $1.50 US or 66% in royalties vs.

US 99¢ generates 64¢ or 65% in royalties and 36% gross profit for Apple

I believe that the French VAT is (included) 19.6%. Not sure about duty which is either 0 or 5 to 7%. If both are included, the actual price is $1.12 US and if the royalty in France generates 95¢US on $1.12, it would represent 10% in gross profit to Apple.

Have to go, but it does raise a few questions. Or maybe my math is just a little funny in my rush.

For music (and almost all cultural products), VAT is 5.5%.

So : €.99 with VAT => €.9355 without VAT.

[Wally]

Originally Posted by randomthot

After seeing the Euro compensation, perhaps that's why the labels here are so anti-Apple?

Don't the labels pay the musicians from their (music label's) cut of iTunes? If so, then it wouldn't technically be Apple paying the musicians. I think the better compensation for Euro bands is simply the crappy value of the US dollar right now.

The music labels here are anti-Apple because they have repeatedly tried (and failed) to jack iTunes song prices up.

[aaarrrgggh]

Boy, what kind of rocket scientist of a musician does it take to realize that a percentage based royalty will yield higher dividends if the price is higher! Amazing!

Maybe AI should post a article about how music purchasers realize greater value buy purchasing through the US iTunes store than Euro based stores?

[Rot'nApple]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

French chain demands rights to sell iPhone

France's primary electronics retailer, FNAC, may resort to legal measures to gain sales rights for the iPhone, according to a report by national newspaper Le Figaro on Tuesday.

The store chain's chief executive, Denis Olivennes, told the publication that FNAC was holding talks to become a new official source for the iPhone, but that it would not accept an unsuccessful attempt. If necessary, the company will take steps to force the issue -- though the retail head did not say what routes might be possible.

Orange's exclusive lock on selling the iPhone in its own stores is "inadmissable," Olivennes says. At present, the UK is the only country in which Apple allows the iPhone to be sold through an outlet besides its own stores or those of the exclusive carrier. British customers can buy the device through Carphone Warehouse in addition to Apple and O2 stores.

"but that it would not accept an unsuccessful attempt" and "inadmissable"... I thought it was President Bush who was labeled arrogant!

[freelander51]

Originally Posted by aaarrrgggh

Maybe AI should post a article about how music purchasers realize greater value buy purchasing through the US iTunes store than Euro based stores?

Please dont. Let me enjoy it while it lasts.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by wbrasington

PS:While the engine might transfer easily, I wonder how much of it makes no sense like the part that scans the registry...

Isn't the Registry just files on the machine that need to be traversed like any other files.

[nagromme]

There isn't even a usuable MySpace Dashboard widget that I've found--the one I did find seems to do nothing.

Credit to Kapersky for not trying to take Mac owner's money before there's a reason Unlike, say, Symantec. I'm all for security companies making themselves Mac experts.

[kresh]

Why does FNAC even care about selling the iPhone? Why would a company sue to gain the right to sell a product that supposedly nobody wants and is not selling very well?

Could all the detractors, pundits, and Apple Haters have been lieing when they point to Europe, then trash iPhone sales?

Nobody would sue Apple to buy devices wholesale, just to have them sit on their shelves and collect dust.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by kresh

Why does FNAC even care about selling the iPhone? Why would a company sue to gain the right to sell a product that supposedly nobody wants and is not selling very well?

Even if they only sell a few thousand, that is something that may bring in some customers; but I think they are just preparing for the inevitable 3G release.

PS: Did everyone hear that the Meizu booth at CeBIT in Germany was shut down and their items confiscated for copyright infringement. Perhaps they should have attended a fair in a country that doesn't sell the iPhone.

[eAi]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Isn't the Registry just files on the machine that need to be traversed like any other files.

No, the registry a massive 'tree' of settings for pretty much every app on the computer and the OS. It's all stored in a couple of files, but often the removal of viruses involves editing the registry (e.g. stopping them starting when Windows starts). The equivalent is OS X's plist files, but these have the advantage that they're all individual files so easier to control.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by eAi

No, the registry a massive 'tree' of settings for pretty much every app on the computer and the OS. It's all stored in a couple of files, but often the removal of viruses involves editing the registry (e.g. stopping them starting when Windows starts). The equivalent is OS X's plist files, but these have the advantage that they're all individual files so easier to control.

Sounds like something I said. Software, System, SAM, Security, Default, UserDiff, and NTuser.dat.

[quinney]

Originally Posted by nagromme

I'm all for security companies making themselves Mac experts.

Me too, as long as they don't use their expertise to secretly release malware to
create demand for their security products. You know, like the tire shop owner
who spread hundreds of tacks on the freeway offramp near his shop.

[auxio]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Sounds like something I said. Software, System, SAM, Security, Default, UserDiff, and NTuser.dat.

Except that it'd be a real hack job to write your own custom registry file reading/writing functionality when you can just use built-in Windows functions to read/write it properly. What happens if/when MS changes the registry file formats in the future?

But yeah, just simply change the underlying implementation of ScanAndEradicateRegistryMaliciousness() on Mac to scan through all of the plist setting files rather than the registry. Then change the name to ScanAndEradicateSystemSettingMaliciousness() so that it makes sense no matter what platform you're on. Porting software isn't exactly nuclear rocket surgery.

[tink]

Kaspersky mulls Mac OS X security suite: Moscow's well-known antivirus developer Kaspersky could have a Mac port of its software released "in just days" if necessary, company representative Timur Tsoriev told the press at the CeBIT show in Germany.

Now that's gorilla marketing.

[teckstud]

I wish we could buy music from the other countries iTunes stores.

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by OlivierL

For music (and almost all cultural products), VAT is 5.5%.

So : €.99 with VAT => €.9355 without VAT.

Could you supply a reference.

All my searching indicates otherwise. For example, this site (http://www.soulab.com/component/opti...d,74/vmcchk,1/) sells their music and adds tva (French VAT) of 19.6%

[wbrasington]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Sounds like something I said. Software, System, SAM, Security, Default, UserDiff, and NTuser.dat.

I think the point, is that Windows uses the registry as a way for MicroSoft to extend the operating system by letting it's footsoldiers attach their applications as if part of the operating system with equal peer powers. Something they needed to do to enlist all the software developers to jump on board in 1992.

It is or course, the main way that millions of viruses jump on board.
The thing that made it easy to work with for developers, is what makes it easy to attack and hack.

And of course...... the MAC kind of bypassed that crap.
So, I'd guess the registry thing is not a problem that needs to be "ported" to the MAC.
Leaving us with...... why do we need that virus protection software again?

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by aaarrrgggh

Boy, what kind of rocket scientist of a musician does it take to realize that a percentage based royalty will yield higher dividends if the price is higher! Amazing!

Maybe AI should post a article about how music purchasers realize greater value buy purchasing through the US iTunes store than Euro based stores?

Exactly.

Obversely, it is also possible that the higher Euro per-tune price reflects the higher royalty expectations in the EU (including Apple's required margin).

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by solipsism

PS: Did everyone hear that the Meizu booth at CeBIT in Germany was shut down and their items confiscated for copyright infringement. Perhaps they should have attended a fair in a country that doesn't sell the iPhone.

Heh, heh. Thanks, Germany. About time that someone thwacked these blatant IP rip-off artists.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

Heh, heh. Thanks, Germany. About time that someone thwacked these blatant IP rip-off artists.

Looks like it wasn't about the iPhone and the reason was a bogus claim by an Italian comapny that Meizu illegally uses their codec.

• http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/05/m...ssues-not-the/

[TravisReynolds]

I bet the myspace app, we'll get to see the profile's music

[macFanDave]

Denis Olivennes, told the publication that FNAC was holding talks to become a new official source for the iPhone, but that it would not accept an unsuccessful attempt.

Sacre bleu! That is SO French! Jealousy, unrequited love, the love triangle -- the key elements of a great French film (they don't make movies, they make films.) We just saw La vie en rose, so I would like to see Marion Cotillard as the beautiful iPhone, and I'm not sure whether I'd cast Gerard Depardieu as Orange or FNAC, but I think there is a law in France that he has to be in all movies, sorry, films.

We need to see more Marion Cotillard films over here so we can really learn more about what really happened on 9/11 <DHSThoughtRayEngaged>, oops, I mean, tolerate her crazy conspiracy theories </DHSThoughtRayDisengaged>. What was I saying?