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AllThingsD: All three music labels on board for Apple
In the music industry, there are three major labels: Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music. According to Peter Kafka at All Things D, Apple has now signed agreements with all three labels, opening the way to a possible Apple announcement of the iRadio streaming service during the WWDC 2013 Keynote on Monday. "iRadio" may not be the actual name of the service, but has caught on as speculation has grown about Apple's music streaming plans. Apple still has to sign up Sony/ATV, the music publishing part of Sony, but is apparently quite close in negotiations. Kafka expects that Apple won't actually launch iRadio on Monday, but will tell developers -- and the rest of us -- about the service. The service is expected to be free and supported by audio iAds, providing more control over what songs you wish to listen to than standard Web radio stations. If it's announced on Monday, iRadio -- or whatever it's going to be called -- will be a win-win for Apple fans and the major record labels.
Tim Cook explains why Apple only makes one iPhone [Video]
During yesterday's All Things D kickoff interview, Walt Mossberg asked Tim Cook why Apple hasn't yet released different iPhone models for a range of demographics and regions. If a varied product lineup worked so successfully for the iPod, Mossberg wondered, why not implement a similar strategy for the iPhone. In short, amidst a sea of increasingly popular Android handsets with large screens, Mossberg wanted to know why Apple has continued to stick with a one-size-fits-all iPhone strategy. Cook first responded that while Apple hasn't yet released an iPhone with a bigger screen, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they won't in the future. Cook continued: It takes a lot of work, a lot of really detailed work to do a phone right when you manage the hardware, the software and the services around it. We've chosen to put our energies into getting those right, and have made the choices in order to do that so we haven't become de-focused working multiple lines. Cook also pointed out that Apple's varied selection of iPods wasn't done haphazardly, explaining that each distinct iPod model served a different role and addressed different needs. "And so on the phone, that is the question," Cook continued. "Are we now at a point to serve enough people that we need to do that?" Pressing forward, Mossberg asked if a large screen is different enough of an experience that it's now worth pursuing, especially in light of the fact that consumers seem to enjoy devices with larger screens. Cook responded: At a macro level, it might. A large screen today comes with a lot of trade-offs. Customers clearly are looking at size, but they are also looking at things like, do the photos show the proper color, the white balance, reflectivity, battery life, brightness, the longevity of the display. So there are a whole bunch of things that are very important to the display. So what our customers want is for us to weigh those and come out with a decision. And at this point, we felt that the Retina display that we're shipping is overwhelmingly the best. In a hypothetical world where trade-offs don't exist, you could see that screen size would be a differentiation. It's certainly an interesting take, but I don't quite buy into Cook's notion that average consumers are making extremely informed decisions about screen size when picking out a smartphone. On the contrary, I think consumers are easily lured into purchasing a device with a big screen and vibrant colors and don't give much, if any, thought to metrics such as white balance and the longevity of the display. You can check out Cook's full answer below.
Tim Cook to speak at All Things D conference tonight
Fresh off of his recent trip to Washington D.C., Apple CEO Tim Cook will kick off the 11th annual All Things D conference later today when he sits down for an interview with Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg. The interview is slated to begin at 9 PM ET. The interviews at All Things D are always informative and typically address a number of issues. In previous years, Steve Jobs participated in several All Things D interviews where he would often divulge a variety of interesting factoids about Apple products and opine on the state of the tech industry at large. During the 2010 All Things D conference, for example, Jobs revealed for the first time that Apple's iPhone initiative initially began as a tablet project. While it goes without saying that Cook won't shed any light on future Apple products, the interview will undoubtedly offer an interesting glimpse into Cook's view of the tech industry.
Tim Cook will headline All Things D conference next month
The Wall Street Journal's AllThingsD blog has announced the lineup for its 11th AllThingsD conference happening later this month, and the lead draw is Apple's CEO. Yes, an interview with Tim Cook will headline the show. He appeared at the conference last year to talk about Apple's present and future, and he's planning to do the same again this year. New products will definitely be a subject. Apple hasn't revealed anything new in quite a while, so the second half of 2013 could be a big one for Apple. And it'll be nice to just hear what Cook has to say -- these talks are generally pretty open, and Cook always reveals one or two good tidbits about life on the Apple campus. Sony's Kaz Hirai, Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg, and a number of other tech-related executives are also set to take the stage at the 11th All Things D show as well. It'll be held from May 28 to 30 later on this year.
Instagram and Twitter aren't friends anymore
Remember the good old days when Instagram and Twitter (both free apps) were good buddies, playing together nicely and sharing their toys? Well, those days are long past. In an article on AllThingsD, blogger Mike Isaac details the deteriorating relationship between the two companies. Twitter blogged this morning that Instagram has disabled integration with Twitter cards, which is how Twitter displays multimedia inside of tweets. By doing so, Instagram photos are going to appear cropped. Isaac says this is "Instagram giving Twitter the middle finger," and Instagram boss Kevin Systrom concurs. At the LeWeb conference in Paris today, Systrom said "We want to direct users to where the content lives originally. Where do you go to interact with [an Instagram] image? We want that to be instagram.com because that's a better user experience." Instagram, which is now part of Twitter competitor Facebook, is responding to Twitter's move last summer to turn off the "find my Twitter friends" feature on Instagram. Twitter has been reading the writing on the wall, and is working on providing its own set of photo filters to turn perfectly good photos into dark, scratchy and weirdly-tinted images. Does this mean that the two companies won't be exchanging cards this holiday season? Probably.
Apple investors 'return to senses' with big rally today
A massive sell-off in Apple shares that's been going on for about eight weeks now appears to have been nipped in the bud with a rally from Friday's close of US$527.68 to a high around $560. While the news out of Washington, DC about possible action on the upcoming "fiscal cliff" appears to be driving a broader market rally today, John Paczkowski at AllThingsD points out the real driver behind the AAPL rally -- Wall Street analysts are pointing out the stock slide as "unmerited". This morning, Topeka Capital Markets' Brian White sent a note to clients stating that "The sell-off in Apple's stock over the past eight weeks has gotten to the point of being 'insanely insane' given the depressed valuation, new blockbuster products for the holiday season, the attractive long-term growth opportunities that lie ahead and the company's ability to distribute significant cash flow to investors." Over the weekend, Paczkowski pointed out that the pre-holiday decline in Apple share price is a "historical pattern ... Apple shares slip late in the year amid profit-taking and some irrationality or other. And then the company reports monster first-quarter earnings in January and they spike."
Ballmer: Apple has not produced a product that customers use
Someone in Redmond, WA needs to call the folks with the straitjackets, as it appears that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has gone certifiably bonkers. AllThingsD's John Paczkowski notes that in a recent interview with CNBC, Ballmer went on record as saying that "I don't think anybody has done a product that is the product that I see customers wanting. You can go through the products from all those guys ... and none of them has a product that you can really use. Not Apple. Not Google. Not Amazon." Okaayyyyy, Steve. Just put down the Microsoft Surface and sit down, and let's talk about this. What about the 100 million iPads that Apple has sold in a little over two years? How about the Amazon Kindle Fire, which (despite the company refusing to release actual sales figures) is supposedly the best-selling Amazon product ever? Ballmer is maintaining that everyone wants the Surface, which he touts as the product that can be both PC and tablet, at play and at work. Perhaps it's the stress of last week's product launch of Windows 8 and Surface, or maybe the fact that the company is spending an estimated $1.5 billion to launch those products that's causing him to lose sight of reality. Paczkowski ends his post by saying that "Maybe Microsoft will change users' expectations for tablets. But after two and half years and 100 million iPads sold, it's not going to be easy."
iPhone 5 supply still stretched
To those of us who are waiting ... patiently, I might add ... for our iPhone 5s to ship from Apple, it's obvious that the supply of the newest iPhone is constrained. John Paczkowski at AllThingsD reports that many Apple Stores are reporting low inventory of the iPhone 5, and that the online store is still showing a three- to four-week delivery time. While the supply constraint is just an inconvenience to those of us who had to order the phone after the first day, Wall Street analysts are now lowering their forecasted sales of iPhones as a result. Yesterday, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster lopped 2.2 million iPhones off of his sales forecast for September of 2012, moving from 27.2 million units down to 25 million. The news isn't all bad, though. Munster thinks the supply situation should be balanced with demand by the all-important holiday season, so he's keeping with his 49 million unit estimate for the October - December quarter. Another analyst, Peter Misek from Jefferies, was quoted by AllThingsD as saying "Remember, there are 170 million post paid subscribers coming off contract. That's overwhelming all supply ramps. The demand here is unprecedented."
Archive of Jobs videos makes iTunes go all things Steve
The mark that Steve Jobs left on the industry is a deep one, indeed. But aside from regular product announcements, we didn't see all that much of the Apple founder. Jobs's appearances at the All Things Digital conference certainly do a little to remedy the late-executive's notoriously private nature, and now you can watch them all from the comfort of your own Apple-branded media player. All Things D has released Jobs's six lengthy interviews in video and audio format via iTunes.
Google's Sundar Pichai confirms that offline Google Drive 'coming in five weeks,' hints at ad-supported Chromebook
During the closing session here at D10 in California, Google's on Senior Vice President of Chrome & Apps Sundar Pichai was joined by Susan Wojcicki (SVP of Advertising at Google) at Walt Mossberg. Sundar was able to drive the majority of the conversation in the realm of Chrome and Chrome OS, and quite a few interesting nuggets were dropped. For one, he made an offhand comment that "offline Google Drive [is] coming in five weeks," a clue that it'll be revealed and launched in full at Google I/O next month. On the topic of Chrome's browser market share, he reckoned that around a third of the world's desktop browser use is now done on Chrome, noting that percentages are far, far higher in the consumer realm as compared to enterprise, where lots of companies mandate that employees still use Internet Explorer at work. Oh, and Sundar also stated that it's "not lost on [Google] that it can use advertising to provide better value propositions [for Chromebooks] as well. In other words, Google's at least evaluating an ad-supported Chromebook. Looking for more? A fair amount of the back-and-forth is transcribed after the break.
Skype CEO Tony Bates confirms 250m monthly users, talks Microsoft partnership and future plans
Skype CEO Tony Bates just took the stage here on the final day of D10, and he got right into the news delivery mindset: as of now, there are 250 million monthly connected users. Said Bates, "When we closed [the Microsoft deal], we had 170 million monthly users, so haven't skipped a beat in terms of momentum." Continuing on when asked from Kara Swisher about integration with Microsoft, Bates said: "I'm not going to talk about future products, but I'll steal a line from Tim Cook. We're going to double-down on integration with Windows 8, and we're doing to double-down on secrecy." Specifically, he mentioned that there'd be some "great integration points" with Windows 8, noting that Skype is viewed as an "experience, with most folks viewing it as a Swiss army knife, regardless of where and how it's used." Kara followed up with a question on Kinect, and Bates did his best to dodge the bullet by re-referencing intent on Windows 8 and Windows Phone -- there wasn't a peep mentioned in either direction on if it'd end up there. Kara asked what his most important smartphone platform was, and Bates said: "I wouldn't classify it as one most important. As far as download numbers, it's absolutely iPhone, but Android is gaining momentum. Our top priority is mobile; we made two acquisitions in that space. The Android marketplace -- as many know -- is quite fragmented, and this was a big challenge for us from an engineering standpoint. This team in the Qik acquisition really helped us there. I'm very hopeful -- Windows Phone is very exciting for me because of that people-centric nature." Kara pushed to see if Windows Phone would get a "special" version of Skype, and Bates simply said that he "hopes they can add value." Given that both Windows Phone and Skype now live under the same roof, though, we're guessing that he's underselling things in the effort of "doubling-down on secrecy."
Spotify director Sean Parker: Apple tried to keep Spotify out of the United States
Daniel Ek (co-founder of Spotify) and Sean Parker (Director at Spotify) just took the stage here at D10, with Walt Mossberg asking the two about the company's impact in America, negotiations with record labels and -- perhaps surprisingly -- its links with Apple. Outside of confirming that there's still around 10 million Spotify users worldwide (with around three million of those being of the paid variety), the duo also confirmed that it's working daily to improve the catalog. Said Ek: "We're up to 18 million songs, growing at 10,000 or 20,000 songs per day -- it's very much a growing catalog." Walt was curious as to why iTunes had upwards of 30 million tracks, and why all of the services simply don't have the same library, but both players were quick to brush off the topic and pivot directly to the importance of playlists. Ek stated: "If you look at iTunes, the vast majority of songs haven't been purchased by anyone -- it's driven by hits. We see 80 percent of our whole catalog listened to." Following that, Parker contributed: "The playlist is now the CD. It used to be a few songs were wanted by the consumer, and the rest of it was garbage. It's the new mixtape, but accelerated on a massive scale." As it turns out, Spotify actually sells "bundles" (which are glorified playlists) as pay products in Europe, and when Walt asked why these weren't available in America, Parker obliged: "We just haven't released it yet." In other words, they're coming soon.
TUAW TV Live: Cookin' with Steve and Megs
No, we're not going to go all Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis on you. Instead, we're going to be talking about Mr. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple and the honored guest at the opening of the DX Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California last night. There's all sorts of blather being read into what Cook said -- or didn't say -- Tuesday evening, so we're going to cut through the cryptic answers and try to figure out if there's any meat at all in this buffet of words. Below, you'll find a Ustream livestream viewer and a chat tool. The chat tool allows you to participate by asking questions or making comments. You can also choose to watch the show on Justin.tv if you wish, by visiting our portal at http://justin.tv/tuawtvlive. In either case, you'll be watching the show in glorious HD! If you're driving somewhere and would like to watch TUAW TV Live while you're stuck in traffic, please don't -- keep your eyes on the road! However, if someone else is doing the driving, you can watch the show on your iPhone and join the chat by downloading the free Ustream App. It's a universal app and is wonderful on an iPad, both for viewing and participating in the chat. We'll start at about 5 PM ET, so if you're seeing a prerecorded show, be sure to refresh your browser until you see the live stream. For those of you who are not able to join us for the live edition, you'll be able to view it later this evening on our TUAW Video YouTube channel and as part of the TUAW TV Live podcast viewable in iTunes or on any of your Apple devices.
Aaron Sorkin talks about future Steve Jobs movie, impact of technology on his writing
You don't have to look far to get a grasp on who Aaron Sorkin is -- he wrote A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Moneyball and The Social Network, for starters -- and he showed up at D10 to talk creative media, how the digital age impacts his writing and his impending movie about late Apple CEO Steve Jobs. While not involving hard technology news, the interview was exceedingly refreshing, and it delved deep into the world of tech as it impacts his upcoming show about a fictional newsroom (The Newsroom on HBO). The highlights included a frank quote that whoever ends up playing Jobs in his movie -- not to be confused with the one already in production with Ashton Kutcher -- will have to be "good, and intelligent." He also confessed to being fully engaged in the "three screens" movement, but wasn't too prideful to admit that he taps into the brain of his 11-year old daughter for lots of technological help. Pretty wild for a guy that many would label "genius." For more from the interview, head on past the break.
Intellectual Ventures' Nathan Myhrvold defends patent trolling, calls tech industry immature
Intellectual Ventures' CEO and founder Nathan Myhrvold, who previously spent some 14 years at Microsoft Research, took the stage here at D10, and as predicted, his interview with Walt Mossberg was quite the invigorating one. You may know the man and his company for its vicious patent trolling -- or, what appears to be patent trolling. In essence, a lot of its business comes from acquiring patent portfolios, and then licensing and / or suing companies to "enforce" them. Naturally, Nathan has a radically different perspective than most sane individuals on the matter, insisting that the system isn't necessarily broken, and that "making money from enforcing patents is no more wrong than investing in preferred stock." The talk centered predominantly around how Intellectual Ventures operates, what it does, and if its CEO feels that the "rat's nest of lawsuits" -- as Walt put it -- was getting out of control. Despite saying that his company has hundreds of people working on new inventions to help deliver medicines in Africa (in response to a question from the crowd on whether his outfit was truly helping people), he confessed that suing to enforce patents was simply another method of capitalism working. Care to take a ride on the crazy train? Head on past the break for a few choice quotes from the interview.
TUAW TV Live: Tim Cook recap with Steve and Megan
Although today seems like Tuesday, it's actually Wednesday, so it's time again for TUAW TV Live. Today my guest on the show is TUAW blogger and editor Megan Lavey-Heaton, who is joining me for an hour chatting about Apple CEO Tim Cook's visit to the D Conference last night. While some in the press are reading way too much into Cook's measured responses to questions from All Things Digital writers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, we'll be giving you "just the facts." Well, maybe a little opinion here and there, but we're going to try to avoid implying that Cook made any announcements at all last night. As usual, I'll be starting the show at 5 PM EDT (2 PM PDT / 10 PM BST) sharp, and we'll take a few minutes to chat before the demos start. To join in on the chat and watch the live streaming video, drop by TUAW about five minutes before the start time to get your instructions on how to participate. If you're unable to join us for the show, remember that you can always subscribe to the video podcast and watch the show at your leisure in iTunes or any other favorite podcatching app. The past shows are also available on the TUAW YouTube channel. The chat is on IRC: join us on server chat1.ustream.tv, chat room #tuaw-tv.
Zynga CEO Mark Pincus says 'no thanks' to console gaming, isn't worried about a life detached from Facebook
Zynga CEO and founder Mark Pincus just took the stage here at D10, and in a wide-ranging interview with Kara Swisher, he sidestepped conversation about Words With Friends and Farmville long enough to touch on the murky world of console gaming. In a bid to quell any potential surprises at E3 next month, Mark said outrightly that his company is not interested in getting into the console world. "We're aiming for you," he said while pointing at Swisher. "We're going after the mainstream market. There's too much friction [in the console world]." He also made clear that he tries to not look too far ahead of where the world really is. When talking about the undeniable shift to mobile, he made clear that there's still a huge amount of desktop traffic on Zynga's games -- "lots of people play while bored on conference calls at work," he quipped. It's an interesting viewpoint in a world where PSN and Xbox Live Arcade has given independent developers all new distribution platforms to reach users, but it also highlights the outfit's intrinsic attachment to Facebook in particular.
Apple CEO Tim Cook interview at D10: the liveblog
We had quite the time here at the 2011 edition of D, and if you're fully caught up with last year's shenanigans, it's time to get to work. And by "work," we mean listening in to the opening keynote of DX. The 2012 conference is kicking off in earnest on May 29th, and it'll be Apple CEO Tim Cook taking the stage alongside hosts Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. By our calculations, this looks to be his first offsite interview outside of the financial realm, and we'll be liveblogging the whole of it from the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. The action's scheduled to kick off around 6:15PM PT (that's 9:15PM for you folks on the right coast; 3:15PM in Tahiti), and you can follow along just past the break. As to what'll be discussed? Just guessing here, but in no particular order: Samsung, intellectual property, Foxconn, iOS, earnings, lawsuits, iPad, acquisitions and cold, hard cash.
Apple CEO Tim Cook to open D10 conference: yes, we'll be liveblogging
The All Things D conference has a long history of wrangling an impressive speaker list, and this year's gala is no different. The outlet has just confirmed that Apple CEO Tim Cook will be the keynote speaker for D10's opening night, just two years after the late Steve Jobs last sat down on those very red chairs in a keynote interview of his own. In fact, Cook's sit-down will come five years after the historic Jobs + Gates discussion from D5, and we're told that this will be Cook's first onstage event that isn't run by Apple or for an investor group as the company's head honcho. As ever, we'll be on site liveblogging the back-and-forth, and we'll be hanging around to hear from NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, FCC chairman Jon Leibowitz and a whole host of others. Cook's appearance will kick things off on the evening of May 29th from Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
AllThingsD: Apple to announce iPad 3 in March
John Paczkowski of AllThingsD is claiming that Apple will hold a press event in the beginning of March to announce the new iPad, which he calls "iPad 3" (noting that might not be its official name). Paczkowski expects the announcement to take place in San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, where Apple has held several other similar events. The iPad 2 was announced on March 2, 2011 and was released on March 11 on the US. If the rumor is true, the so-called iPad 3 would be in line with a similar schedule. Paczkowski's sources say it should be available for purchase "...a week or so after the event."
