It's a trojan horse! Run!

Yes folks, it's that time again... Time for news of a potential Trojan Horse for Mac OS X. First, my apologies to the builders of the original Trojan Horse. You had no way of knowing cleverly loading up soldiers in a wooden horse masquerading as a gift would be turned into shorthand for anything online that makes the user do something stupid. A piece of history you may not know though: no one's quite sure if the original horse actually existed, or is the product of writers/poets.

So maybe it is fitting now and then Mac users are hit with a sensationalized story of what may or may not be an actual danger for OS X users.

Real or not, I'll take one Trojan Horse over thousands of viruses any day. Never enter your password unless you know why you're doing it, and never allow a program to run that you're not familiar with. Problem solved.

A different take on the value of the iPhone

A few articles have been quick to point out that in the long run, the iPhone 3G will actually cost more than the previous iPhone. While that's true, and it's a point we've made here many times, I have a new perspective on the value of the iPhone.

I want to an AT&T store this past weekend with a friend, switching to AT&T, and not waiting for the new iPhone. The salesperson quickly showed us several options, from free phones, to about $200. What did they have in common? None were particularly memorable for starters, and all shared the same cheap plastic feel. Thanks to the RAZR, some models now have solid metal buttons though.

My friend ended up going with the Sony Ericsson Z750a: A flip phone with camera, video recording, 2MP and stereo bluetooth. A few of these features are better/missing on the iPhone (the full bluetooth support, and video for example.) Final cost for the Z750a: $99 after rebate. It struck me that this situation is very similar to the whole PC/Mac debate. while the "pc" phone was half the price, the build, operating system, and interface are far beyond anything else out there. In the Mac world, people are used to paying a premium for the OS, and maybe the cell phone market is catching on as well.

The bottomline is, an extra $99 for the iPhone with significantly greater storage, (Z750 is bundled with a 1GB card) the most hassle-free interface on any phone, and the ability to hold something that actually feels solidly built is well worth the extra money. While many people have compared the iPhone to other phones at the same/greaer price point (like the Voyager), the real market for the phone may very well be people who are considering getting a cheaper phone, realizing for nearly the same price (without rebate) they can have so much more.

Apple and Klausner Technologies Settle Visual Voicemail Dispute

Ahhh, another lawsuit has come and gone for Apple regarding patent violations.  In December of this past year, Klausner Technology accused Apple of appropriating Klausner’s patent for visual voicemail and joined eBay and AT&T in the suit.  The technology references the visual voicemail feature used in Apple’s iPhone.

Apple, eBay and AT&T settled the suit agreeing to license the visual voicemail technology under a non-exclusive deal.  The financial negotiations of settlement were not disclosed.

        Klausner has already licensed the coveted technology to Time Warner’s AOL for AOL voicemail services as well as Vonage for their Voicemail Plus services.  Comcast and Cablevision Systems Corp. are rumored to be in negotiations with the visual voicemail giants.  Comcast is looking to use the technology to send a visual alert your computer or cell phone when you have a new voicemail.  It seems there are never-ending possibilities to being connected.

this article based on information found at www.newsfactor.com

Root Access now on iTunes

If you've enjoyed Root Access on the channel, or on the shows page, you can now get it (for free of course) directly from the iTunes store. We'd appreciate it if you'd take a moment to subscribe, or leave your thoughts through the iTunes review system.

Here you go!

5 Billion songs sounds like a lot, but...

Apple announced this week they have now sold over 5 Billion songs. That is a huge number, and a huge feat in a space that was practically non-existent before the iTunes store launched.

With that said, some people, especially stock holders, might want to get out the calculators for a minute, and consider the ramifications of a rental or subscription service instead.

For this discussion, let's assume Apple's cut of rented music vs. purchase would be roughly the same. And we'll assume all those 5 billion tracks were purchased individually, meaning the sales brought in roughly $ 5 billion.

Today there are roughly 175 million iPods and iPhones sold. Let's say 150 million are still in use. Now let's assume 40% of those iPod/iPhone owners would be interested in a $15/mo rental program. $15/mo x 90 million would give Apple revenue of $1.25 billion per month.

There are a lot of unknowns here, so let's take a look at far more conservative numbers. Perhaps as few as 5%, or 7.5 million ipods/users would subscribe to the service. That would still mean more than $112 million in revenue each month, or $1.34billion per year. It would take less than four years to match the per song revenue.

This isn't meant to suggest Apple should abandon per track pricing, but rather they should offer a rental system as well. Traditionally Apple has been set in creating hardware or software, then telling the consumer why they needed it. Why not, just this once, give the consumer a choice. A choice that could ultimately lead to far higher revenue.