Our Pre-Macworld Root Access Special

Okay, so maybe Macworld fever isn't quite as high as it's been in previous years. Still, this IS the event of the year for the Mac faithful. And also, it's a good time for a reminder that we'll have live video coverage of the Macworld 2009 keynote beginning at 11:30AM ET on Tuesday, January 6th.

At any rate, our in-house genius recently stopped by for a special pre-Macworld edition of Root Access. In part one, we tackle the controversy surrounding Apple's decision to leave Macworld. Part Two is a look at what's fair, and what isn't when it comes to Steve Jobs' health. And in part three, we get down to the nuts and bolts of looking at this year's rumors before the big event.

Part One.

Part Two

Part Three

TDL Live This Week: 12/29

It's the final look at Apple news and rumors in 2008. iPhones at Wal Mart, Apple Media servers? iPhone Nanos? We cover it all this week. Show notes/credits are below. Enjoy!

Apple Rejects iPhone Application That Lets Users Jiggle Breasts
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,471564,00.html

Apple's online App Store has decided it'd rather not be stacked with an iPhone application that lets users jiggle a pair of breasts.
The "iBoobs" application was rejected because Apple deemed it "objectionable content," the U.K.'s Register tech blog reported.
"If you believe that you can make the necessary changes so that iBoobs does not violate the iPhone SDK Agreement we encourage you to do so," Apple reportedly told the creator, Mystic Game Development of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
The iBoobs application is a computer animation of a large pair of breasts in a bikini top. Shaking the iPhone makes them wobble from side to side, or up and down, depending on the movement.
--------------

Amazon Touts Best Holiday Sales Ever; Acer, Apple Win
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2008/12/26/amazon-touts-best-holiday-sales-ever-acer-apple-win/

Amazon.com (AMZN) this morning announced the holiday season was its best ever, with 72.9 items going out the door per second on the peak day, December 15, for a haul that day of 6.3 million items. The company lists in its press release a number of humorous stats regarding holiday purchases — enough coffee sold to give every citizen of Seattle a cup a day for two months — and lists best sellers, which include, in electronics, the Samsung (SSNLF.PK) 52-inch hi-def TV, the Apple (AAPL) iPod touch 8-gigabyte, and the Acer (2353.TW) Aspire One 8.9-inch Netbook.
--------------

$99 iPhone Arrives, But Not at Walmart
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/12/99-iphone-arriv.html
----------------

Apple’s App Store sees big iPod Touch downloads this Christmas
http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/12/29/apples-app-store-sees-big-ipod-touch-downloads-this-christmas/
by Doug Aamoth on December 29, 2008

Looks like the iPod Touch had a good Christmas, as App Store downloads on December 25th increased three-fold or more for most titles.
The boost in sales "appears to be from a large influx of iPod Touch users," according to MacRumors.com, who noted that it would have been much easier to give an iPod Touch as a Christmas gift versus an iPhone, which would have to be activated and whatnot.
--------------

Google, Microsoft, Apple sued over preview icons
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10129022-92.html

A Michigan-based networking company on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Google, Microsoft, and Apple, alleging that all three tech giants violated a patent it owns on the use of document-preview icons--or thumbnails--in operating systems.

In the suit (PDF), Cygnus Systems targets Google's Chrome, Microsoft's Vista and Internet Explorer 8, and Apple's iPhone, Safari, and Mac OS X as patent infringers. Apple uses the patent-protected technology in its Finder and Cover Flow Mac OS X features, the lawsuit claims.
Cygnus describes the technology covered by the patent as "methods and systems for accessing one or more computer files via a graphical icon, wherein the graphical icon includes an image of a selected portion or portions of one or more computer files."
-----------------

Wal-Mart Has Started Selling the iPhone
http://www.mercurynews.com/businessheadlines/ci_11313954

Wal-Mart on Friday confirmed one of the worst-kept secrets in technology: It will begin selling Apple's iPhone on Sunday.
But the retail giant officially knocked down one other rumor that had been making the rounds: It won't be selling a special 4-gigabyte version of the iconic phone for $99.
Instead, the retail giant will offer the same two standard iPhone models that are already sold at Apple, AT&T and Best Buy stores. Wal-Mart customers will be able to buy the phones at a discount, but not much of one.
The retailer's stores will sell the 8-gigabyte model for $197 and the 16-gigabyte for $297. Both of those prices are $2 less than they can be found at other outlets.
---------------

The Dream iPhone Pro
http://gizmodo.com/5119445/the-dream-iphone-pro

--The photo is the story--

That's good, but we thought it could be a bit better. We fixed the keyboard to make it more rational and compact, losing some unneeded keys. With the space, we added what it's really needed to make the iPhone a true Nintendo DS competitor: A direction pad and two buttons. For the D-Pad, we didn't want to reinvent the wheel and just copied Nintendo's tried-and-proved design.
----------------

Apple wants to swipe your iPhone
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/29/swipe_patent/

Apple has applied for a patent to replace some tap-based gestures on the multi-touch displays of a variety of computing devices, phones, and media players with "swipe gestures" - that is, making a device's display responsive to a finger being drawn across it rather than simply tapping it.
Swipe gestures, of course, currently exist on the iPhone and iPod touch for rudimentary tasks such as moving from one home screen to another or pinching images, but this new patent would extend that capability to enhancing what's now keyboard-based input.

------------------

Rumors abound, Apple working on media server?
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/12/29/rumors-abound-apple-working-on-media-server/
According to 9to5, the new product will include a Dynamic DNS system to tie in with MobileMe; this will provide username.me.com domains for easier access across the Internet. In addition, the device will include AFP filesharing and Time Machine backup stores. The device will not run off of Mac OS X Server, as you might suspect; rather, it would run the same system and processor that the Time Capsule does.

-------------------

Four Potential Positives of a Jobs-less Apple

First a few disclaimers. 1. We do not wish any ill will to Steve Jobs. 2. We have no reason to think his departure is imminent. 3. We're not calling for him to leave Apple, not in the least.

However, when Jobs is no longer with the company, be it next week, month, or decade, there are some potentially positives that could come along with the change:

1. Lower Cost Market Entry
It's been said time and time again, that the average price paid for a PC is falling. Other than the foray with the Mac Mini (let's hope for an update there, soon) Apple has all but ignored this market. Years ago Jobs made the point that luxury automakers are doing just fine with a sliver of the auto industry. His point at the time was to show that Apple wasn't in peril if it didn't have 15 percent of the market. While true, times have changed. No one is sitting around wondering whether Apple will survive these days. Instead the question becomes where can Apple find more growth. Like it or not, the low-end of the market is the answer. Plus there's a practical reason: Apple has created a largely successful ecosystem of iPod/iPhone/Mac. While many wannabe iPods have come and gone, if another company is successful at dominating the growing low-end market, they could potentially launch a legitimate competitor to the whole Apple environment. Without Jobs, Apple would have even more pressure from outside, and from what we hear, more support internally for aggressively pursuing this market.

2. Partnerships
One of the great premises of web 2.0 is the community sharing, and community experience. Companies also realize they can be leaner and more competitive when they work together. Sure, Apple could bury Netflix if they wanted to, but why re-invent the wheel? Partner with them instead. Apple is always set to "go it alone." If Apple does lose it dominance in music, for example, i would expect it to come at the hands of some sort of partnership among many companies, rather than a single competitor. Fortunately for Apple, so far these companies have shown themselves as inept at working together. (See "Plays For Sure")

3. Employee Blogs / Openness
The end of Apple's participation in Macworld will leave a giant void for the Mac faithful, who want to be in on what's going on. One way to satisfy that curiosity, and control the flow of information at the same time would be employee blogs. I think most Mac fans would find it fascinating to read a post from Johnny Ive for example, talking about the trial and error of creating the aluminum unibody. Let's see some videos of testing. Let's see some prototypes. We're talking about revealing this info after the fact, in a manner that would keep the faithful tuned in, and wouldn't reveal anything to put the company at a disadvantage. No one's asking for a three-year product roadmap, just some glimpse into the process of creating the products.

4. iPhone as a (more) open platform
I've seen the future. In five years we may be living in a world in which all phones with the exception of the iPhone run some variant of Android. These are the two mobile platforms of the future. Android will presumably be comprised of many of the concepts described in the other suggestions: several handset manufacturers agreeing/partnering on a single OS, an OS created in an open-source manner, and meticulously chronicled in blogs across the web. Over at Apple, we'll have updates pushed out when Apple says they're ready, and app developers in the dark, with their hands tied in what their apps can do. The iPhone has an impressive processor, and one can assume it will only get better. Consumers will wonder why can this $79 phone have touch capabilities, AND flash, AND copy and paste, and yet the (then) $149 iPhone doesn't?

So there you have it. The best news is, none of these changes would require Jobs to be gone from the company. He could decide at any minute to implement these changes. Given Apple's history though, don't hold your breath.

What do you think? Are there other potential positives of a Jobs-less Apple? Are we off our rockers this time?

Apple Drops a Bomb: No Jobs at MacWorld. Apple Leaving Next Year

Apple just dropped a bomb. Steve Jobs will not be giving the Macworld keynote, AND this will be the last year for Apple to attend the event.

More detailed thoughts once we pick our collective jaws off the floor...