Briefly: large Apple flash order, 10.4.7, MS on iPod
Apple is once again garnering massive quantities of NAND flash for an upcoming product ramp. Mac OS X 10.4.7 inches further towards a release. And Microsoft says all those reports last week about it developing an "iPod killer" are a big misunderstanding.
Apple increases flash orders
"Following recent signs of recovery for the price of NAND flash, industry sources are confident that the industry should break out of its low point as Apple is booking considerable capacity at chip makers," DigiTimes is reporting.
The overseas publication cites sources who speculate the orders are for a new version of the company's iPod "probably with 8GB of NAND flash." Both Samsung and Hynix are said to be the recipients of the larger order.
In the report, DigiTimes also cites sources "at memory makers" who say OEM makers have resumed their large memory chip orders ahead of seasonal upturn. They further stated that digital audio players are once again picking up sales momentum, representing an industry-wide rebound.
Mac OS X 10.4.7 nearing release
Development of Mac OS X 10.4.7, a hefty update to Apple's Mac OS X "Tiger" operating, is believed to be winding the final stretch.
After reportedly seeding Mac OS X 10.4.7 build 8J119 (PowerPC) and Mac OS X 10.4.7 build 8J2119 (Intel) early last week, Apple followed up with builds 8J122 and 8J2122 just prior to the weekend.
The increased frequency in which the company has begun to see the software suggests a release is now imminent. The maintenance and security update will offer dozens of enhancements, with a focus on Safari, Mail, iChat and Synching, among other things.
Microsoft: There is no iPod killer
Last week, a flurry of reports claimed Microsoft had convened with eight other companies in the Far East and decided to create a new product that would stomp Apple's iPod. Apparently, this was the case of a translation gone bad.
"The announcement that came out of Japan this week was simply about the Japanese launch of Windows Media Player 11," an unnamed Microsoft representative told PC Mag "Due to translation issues the announcement was misconstrued to sound like Microsoft was developing a rival to the iPod; that's just not the case."
The eight companies listed in the overseas press release were simply Microsoft's device partners who had agreed to employ the Windows Media Player 11 technology in their products, similar to the way they did with WMP 10.
Apple increases flash orders
"Following recent signs of recovery for the price of NAND flash, industry sources are confident that the industry should break out of its low point as Apple is booking considerable capacity at chip makers," DigiTimes is reporting.
The overseas publication cites sources who speculate the orders are for a new version of the company's iPod "probably with 8GB of NAND flash." Both Samsung and Hynix are said to be the recipients of the larger order.
In the report, DigiTimes also cites sources "at memory makers" who say OEM makers have resumed their large memory chip orders ahead of seasonal upturn. They further stated that digital audio players are once again picking up sales momentum, representing an industry-wide rebound.
Mac OS X 10.4.7 nearing release
Development of Mac OS X 10.4.7, a hefty update to Apple's Mac OS X "Tiger" operating, is believed to be winding the final stretch.
After reportedly seeding Mac OS X 10.4.7 build 8J119 (PowerPC) and Mac OS X 10.4.7 build 8J2119 (Intel) early last week, Apple followed up with builds 8J122 and 8J2122 just prior to the weekend.
The increased frequency in which the company has begun to see the software suggests a release is now imminent. The maintenance and security update will offer dozens of enhancements, with a focus on Safari, Mail, iChat and Synching, among other things.
Microsoft: There is no iPod killer
Last week, a flurry of reports claimed Microsoft had convened with eight other companies in the Far East and decided to create a new product that would stomp Apple's iPod. Apparently, this was the case of a translation gone bad.
"The announcement that came out of Japan this week was simply about the Japanese launch of Windows Media Player 11," an unnamed Microsoft representative told PC Mag "Due to translation issues the announcement was misconstrued to sound like Microsoft was developing a rival to the iPod; that's just not the case."
The eight companies listed in the overseas press release were simply Microsoft's device partners who had agreed to employ the Windows Media Player 11 technology in their products, similar to the way they did with WMP 10.
Comments
When did the last OS update come out? It doesn't seem to have been that long ago.
Originally posted by Ireland
1 thing would be enough for me. Make mail faster!
I agree on this. On occasion, I try Mail out, it appears to convert about ten emails a second from my Thunderbird account. I don't know how many emails I have right now, but the transition would take far too long.
So maybe, just maybe Leopard will be released in late October. Granted that only leaves developers with a couple of months to add any changes into their apps to take advantage of Leopard. But what if the best of Leopard's advances can be taken advantage of without application-modification? Or what if many of the developers have already been NDAed in about the changes?
Well, here's to hoping for a kick-Vista Christmas season.
Originally posted by mark2005
The speed at which Apple is putting out OS updates increases my belief that Leopard is coming sooner rather than later. Apple has yet to exceed the 10.x.9 threshold (10.2.8, 10.3.9), and there's no reason to believe they will do so with Tiger. So if 10.4.7 is released in June, they only have 2 more releases left. And I can see 10.4.9 coinciding with the initial release of 10.5.
So maybe, just maybe Leopard will be released in late October. Granted that only leaves developers with a couple of months to add any changes into their apps to take advantage of Leopard. But what if the best of Leopard's advances can be taken advantage of without application-modification? Or what if many of the developers have already been NDAed in about the changes?
Well, here's to hoping for a kick-Vista Christmas season.
I'd like to see it at Macworld. I just don't want them to rush it. Remember zll of the problems 10.4 had when it first came out, due to the fact that it was rushed?
I've also seen articles saying that it will come out closer to the middle of next year.
It's difficult to know just what's going on.
Originally posted by melgross
Is this saying that Apple is ordering more memory than they already secured for the next couple of years? Or is it merely confirming that they are taking some of that secured supply?
I read it as implying that Apple has requested that the chip makers ramp up production of the chips that have already been secured. It would make no sense for Samsung & Hynix to produce the chips until the need is expressed by Apple.
Originally posted by audiopollution
I read it as implying that Apple has requested that the chip makers ramp up production of the chips that have already been secured. It would make no sense for Samsung & Hynix to produce the chips until the need is expressed by Apple.
That was my feeling as well. If true, the article can be misleading.
Originally posted by melgross
That was my feeling as well. If true, the article can be misleading.
Yes, the sub-heading for the article should be less ambiguous.
Perhaps, "Apple requests that flash memory suppliers fill secured orders."
Originally posted by audiopollution
Yes, the sub-heading for the article should be less ambiguous.
Perhaps, "Apple requests that flash memory suppliers fill secured orders."
That would do it.
There's a good chance the same would happen with Tiger. With over 6 months left in the year, that gives Apple plenty of time to release two more updates to Tiger.
My bet is that Leopard will be on the shelves at about the same time Vista is released. Who knows, we may see it released at Macworld 2007
10.4.7 ... Finally, this is how stable Tiiger should have been on release day. Now I can go buy a copy.
With pioneering products like TiVo's DVRs and Apple iPods, the unsung storage components of hard disk drives and flash memory are taking on more visible roles. These are the keepers of precious personal cargo - from photos and household finances to music collections and favorite TV shows. "You're letting us into your heart now, not just your home," said Bill Watkins, chief executive of Seagate, the world's largest maker of hard drives.
The opportunity hasn't been lost on storage purveyors.
Top suppliers - like Seagate, Western Digital and Hitachi for hard drives, and Samsung and Toshiba for both flash memory and hard drives - are pushing the technological envelope to feed device makers with ever beefier and more reliable technology.
Consider Apple's original iPod, which started in 2001 with a 5-gigabyte hard drive. Today, Apple has models ranging from the pencil-thin iPod Nano that holds up to 4 gigabytes using flash memory, to a video-capable iPod holding up to 60 gigabytes on a hard drive.
Flash memory makers have been doubling capacities about every nine months, says Celeste Crystal, an analyst at market researcher IDC. They're squeezing more bits of data onto cells in their silicon chips as well as developing new ways to stack layers of cells in the same amount of space.
The capacities of hard drives have been doubling nearly each year. After decades of cramming more and more bits of data closer together, physical limitations are kicking in, so now the industry is switching to so-called perpendicular recording. By flipping the bits of information to stand vertically rather than horizontally, hard drive capacities are again on track to keep expanding. As a result, consumers are closer than they've ever been to seeing a terabyte of storage in the 3.5-inch hard disk drives found in mainstream home computers.
Later this year, consumers will see PCs and backup-storage devices with 750-gigabyte hard drives - a 50 percent increase from the previous industry maximum of 500 gigabytes and many more times greater than the megabyte drives of the 1980s.
Three-quarters of a terabyte will let consumers store roughly 375 hours of standard TV programming, about 75 hours of high-definition video, more than a half million photos, or more than 10,000 music CDs converted into the MP3 digital audio format. By 2008, PCs will have 1-terabyte drives while notebook computers will sport 200-gigabyte drives, suppliers said.
The competing storage medium, flash memory, holds data in tinier packages than hard drives, though at smaller capacities. Flash chips, unlike hard drives, have no moving parts, making them particularly rugged and versatile. It's why people can now tote around reams of documents on USB keychains or work out to their favorite tunes on gizmos as light as a stick of Chapstick.
Continued advances will mean portable gadgets will be able to carry 32 gigs on fingernail-sized flash memory cards within five years, predicts Eli Harari, chief executive of SanDisk, world's largest supplier of flash memory cards.
Both industries are on a tear.
The hard drive industry hit a record $27.9 billion in worldwide sales in 2005, and IDC predicts record shipments will continue annually, ballooning to $41.5 billion in 2010. Flash sales are expected to jump to $18.7 billion in 2010, up from a record $10.6 billion in 2005, IDC forecasts.
"Storage growth is phenomenal," said IDC analyst John Rydning.
Though flash memory and hard drives will compete for business in some overlapping product segments -cell phones, portable media players and ultracompact laptops -analysts say both are poised to dominate their respective markets.
Hard drives, with their monster capacities, are expected to become increasingly vital components in all kinds of consumer gear - not just computers. They're also expanding into game consoles, car navigation systems, digital video recorders and camcorders.
And Watkins eyes the kingpin of consumer electronics: "Every TV will have a hard drive on it, in it, near it," he said, adding that storage demands will only be driven higher as consumers download more video games, TV shows, movies and other media.
Meanwhile, flash memory is expected to expand beyond its current staples of digital cameras, portable music players and keychain drives. Flash memory suppliers are bullish on how the portability and battery-life advantages of their technology will give consumers access to media wherever they want.
Harari eyes the mother lode in the mobile arena: "There are a billion consumers coming on stream for cell phones that will be your TV, personal computer, personal communicator and entertainment device. That's our huge opportunity."
For both industries, thriving sales in consumer electronics have been key in boosting company profits even as they invested in research and development and cut per-gigabyte prices.
Seagate saw 2005 earnings rise to $707 million on revenue of $7.5 billion, up from $529 million on sales of $6.22 billion the year before. SanDisk earned $386.4 million in 2005, on sales of $2.31 billion, up from $272 million on sales of $1.78 billion a year earlier.
Because the industry has continually reduced prices, Hitachi's Healy promises consumers won't have to break the bank to satisfy their storage needs.
"This is the vision of the future," Healy said, holding the mock 1-inch, 1-terabyte hard drive. It might take 20 years to get there, he said, "but it won't cost you anymore than it would today."
That would roughly mean a retail price of $150, but instead of getting 8 gig of storage, you would get 1,000.
Forbes Magazine
Originally posted by CubaorPeru4amonth
Bill Healy, senior vice president of Hitachi Global Storage Technologie, held the future in his pocket. Showing a tiny hard drive about the size of a Wheat Thin. The drive's label claimed a capacity of 1,000 gigabytes - more than 100 times greater than today's models that can hold 8,000 photos or 2,000 songs. It wasn't real. But at the rate storage technology is now moving, it's only a matter of time before Healy's mock 1-terabyte disk drive becomes a reality.
With pioneering products like TiVo's DVRs and Apple iPods, the unsung storage components of hard disk drives and flash memory are taking on more visible roles. These are the keepers of precious personal cargo - from photos and household finances to music collections and favorite TV shows. "You're letting us into your heart now, not just your home," said Bill Watkins, chief executive of Seagate, the world's largest maker of hard drives.
The opportunity hasn't been lost on storage purveyors.
Top suppliers - like Seagate, Western Digital and Hitachi for hard drives, and Samsung and Toshiba for both flash memory and hard drives - are pushing the technological envelope to feed device makers with ever beefier and more reliable technology.
Consider Apple's original iPod, which started in 2001 with a 5-gigabyte hard drive. Today, Apple has models ranging from the pencil-thin iPod Nano that holds up to 4 gigabytes using flash memory, to a video-capable iPod holding up to 60 gigabytes on a hard drive.
Flash memory makers have been doubling capacities about every nine months, says Celeste Crystal, an analyst at market researcher IDC. They're squeezing more bits of data onto cells in their silicon chips as well as developing new ways to stack layers of cells in the same amount of space.
The capacities of hard drives have been doubling nearly each year. After decades of cramming more and more bits of data closer together, physical limitations are kicking in, so now the industry is switching to so-called perpendicular recording. By flipping the bits of information to stand vertically rather than horizontally, hard drive capacities are again on track to keep expanding. As a result, consumers are closer than they've ever been to seeing a terabyte of storage in the 3.5-inch hard disk drives found in mainstream home computers.
Later this year, consumers will see PCs and backup-storage devices with 750-gigabyte hard drives - a 50 percent increase from the previous industry maximum of 500 gigabytes and many more times greater than the megabyte drives of the 1980s.
Three-quarters of a terabyte will let consumers store roughly 375 hours of standard TV programming, about 75 hours of high-definition video, more than a half million photos, or more than 10,000 music CDs converted into the MP3 digital audio format. By 2008, PCs will have 1-terabyte drives while notebook computers will sport 200-gigabyte drives, suppliers said.
The competing storage medium, flash memory, holds data in tinier packages than hard drives, though at smaller capacities. Flash chips, unlike hard drives, have no moving parts, making them particularly rugged and versatile. It's why people can now tote around reams of documents on USB keychains or work out to their favorite tunes on gizmos as light as a stick of Chapstick.
Continued advances will mean portable gadgets will be able to carry 32 gigs on fingernail-sized flash memory cards within five years, predicts Eli Harari, chief executive of SanDisk, world's largest supplier of flash memory cards.
Both industries are on a tear.
The hard drive industry hit a record $27.9 billion in worldwide sales in 2005, and IDC predicts record shipments will continue annually, ballooning to $41.5 billion in 2010. Flash sales are expected to jump to $18.7 billion in 2010, up from a record $10.6 billion in 2005, IDC forecasts.
"Storage growth is phenomenal," said IDC analyst John Rydning.
Though flash memory and hard drives will compete for business in some overlapping product segments -cell phones, portable media players and ultracompact laptops -analysts say both are poised to dominate their respective markets.
Hard drives, with their monster capacities, are expected to become increasingly vital components in all kinds of consumer gear - not just computers. They're also expanding into game consoles, car navigation systems, digital video recorders and camcorders.
And Watkins eyes the kingpin of consumer electronics: "Every TV will have a hard drive on it, in it, near it," he said, adding that storage demands will only be driven higher as consumers download more video games, TV shows, movies and other media.
Meanwhile, flash memory is expected to expand beyond its current staples of digital cameras, portable music players and keychain drives. Flash memory suppliers are bullish on how the portability and battery-life advantages of their technology will give consumers access to media wherever they want.
Harari eyes the mother lode in the mobile arena: "There are a billion consumers coming on stream for cell phones that will be your TV, personal computer, personal communicator and entertainment device. That's our huge opportunity."
For both industries, thriving sales in consumer electronics have been key in boosting company profits even as they invested in research and development and cut per-gigabyte prices.
Seagate saw 2005 earnings rise to $707 million on revenue of $7.5 billion, up from $529 million on sales of $6.22 billion the year before. SanDisk earned $386.4 million in 2005, on sales of $2.31 billion, up from $272 million on sales of $1.78 billion a year earlier.
Because the industry has continually reduced prices, Hitachi's Healy promises consumers won't have to break the bank to satisfy their storage needs.
"This is the vision of the future," Healy said, holding the mock 1-inch, 1-terabyte hard drive. It might take 20 years to get there, he said, "but it won't cost you anymore than it would today."
That would roughly mean a retail price of $150, but instead of getting 8 gig of storage, you would get 1,000.
Forbes Magazine
Well, maybe you should put some info in your posts!