Apple Review

NPD: Apple treads water while others sink in jukebox market

Apple may not be enjoying the multiples of growth it once did as its iPod business grew to its current size, but the Cupertino, Calif.-based firm may be the only one seeing growth at all in the current market, The NPD Group reports.

The overall market for portable players dipped an average of 16 percent year-over-year for the period between November 18th and December 9th, creating disappointment in a business which is used to upswings in the few weeks between American Thanksgiving and Christmas.

NPD assigns blame to a mature market where most customers are already spoken for; there are fewer newcomers and less chances for growth as a result, according to the group's analysts. Apple may also be skewing the market downwards as it expands its retail avenues to challenge previously isolated rivals and switches from expensive hard drive players to les pricey flash models.

MacBook leads Amazon charts into holidays

Last-minute orders for notebook computers from Amazon before Christmas have been been dominated by the mid-range 2.2GHz MacBook, Fortune claims.

As the morning opened, the white portable was at the top of the rankings and was joined by two additional models, the 2GHz base model at 7th place and the starting MacBook Pro in 10th.

The ranking is likely helped by ongoing rebates as high as $150, the magazine says in its blog. However, systems from HP and other Windows-based manufacturers have had to drop prices by as much as 27 percent to make the list.

Apple has been a familiar presence at the head of the general electronics category, with the 4GB iPod nano outselling Amazon's own Kindle e-book reader. The 8GB iPod nano, 16GB iPod touch, and the 80GB iPod classic are also currently in the top ten as of press time.

Report: Apple working on auto-volume control for iPods

Apple is developing a volume control device for its iPods that would automatically calculate how long a person has been listening and at what volume, before gradually reducing the sound level, all in an effort to protect users' hearing, according to the London-based Daily Mail.

Citing a new patent application, the report--to which Apple declined to comment--says the "device will also calculate the amount of 'quiet time' between when the iPod is turned off and when it is restarted, allowing the volume to be increased again to a safe level."

In February 2006, a Louisiana man filed a class action suit against Apple, saying the computer maker failed to take adequate steps to prevent hearing loss among iPod users. That was followed by warnings from politicians and researchers on hearing-loss hazards related to MP3 player use.

Apple responded by releasing a free software update for some iPods that lets listeners set a maximum volume limit. But we haven't heard much on the matter since.

Let's turn to rocker Pete Townshend for his foreshadowing quote: "I have unwittingly helped to invent and refine a type of music that makes its principal components deaf," he said on his Web site two years ago. "Hearing loss is a terrible thing because it cannot be repaired. If you use an iPod or anything like it, or your child uses one, you MAY be OK...But my intuition tells me there is terrible trouble ahead."

ModBook almost ready to ship?

Filed under: Hardware

Our friends at jkOnTheRun recently got word from Axiotron that the long fabled ModBook, which you might recall from Macworld 2007 (here is a video we shot of the ModBook, and a gallery), is going to ship on or around January 8th, 2008 a year since it was announced. Since the ModBook has been delayed so much, its specs have changed. It is now running Leopard, the GPS option is standard (formerly $99), and the specs reflect the latest MacBook hardware rev (since the ModBook is basically a MacBook converted into a tablet with a pressure sensative touch screen).

All of this starting at $2279.00. Here's hoping that Apple doesn't rev the MacBook at Macworld this year, for Axiotron's sake.

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Learn Cocoa with your free time this holiday

Filed under: Apple, Developer

Let's face it, during the holiday season we all need to take a little break from our families (even though we love them). Why not do something productive when you're squirreled away in that spare bedroom hiding in the bed from your Aunt Dora? Cocoa Dev Central has just updated their great Cocoa tutorial for Leopard. I am just a simple blogger, and I could follow along so I am sure you smart readers out there will be whipping up apps lickety-split.

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