Apple stock tumbles; US iPhone illegal in Europe?
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.
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.
Comments
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(sarcasm, incase anyone's detector is off today)
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.
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
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.
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!
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.
So, Jay-Z plans on not releasing any singles at all?
Who cares. He sells "product", not music.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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...
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.
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.
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...
Oh I get it- like a YES album from the 70's!