Mittwochs-Potpourri

Nachdem die US-Staatsanwaltschaft Mitte Januar erstmals die eigene Untersuchung von Apples Optionsvergabe bestätigte, tauchte Steve Jobs ("flankiert von Anwälten") vergangene Woche zur Befragung durch Mitarbeiter des US-Justizministeriums und der Börsenaufsicht in San Francisco auf. «Agreeing to such a grilling -- which few potential targets of a criminal probe would submit to -- is one way for defendants to convince prosecutors that have nothing to hide. "You're giving them free discovery, and you don't want to give them free discovery unless it's to your advantage," said Rory Little, a professor at Hastings College of the Law and a former federal prosecutor. "It's a great show of openness," he said, adding that it can backfire if a person doesn't come across as completely forthright», so The Recorder. «An SEC source said: “To have a representative from the Department of Justice — a criminal prosecutor — attend an interview with a company CEO is a very serious matter. This is not a polite request for information. The way the interview was conducted and the way the investigation seems to be moving forward [suggest] that Apple has a lot more explaining to do before the authorities will even begin to be satisfied”», schreibt die Times.
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Während sich die europäischen Verbaucherschützer gegen iTunes zusammenschließen, geht der norwegische Ombudsman davon aus, dass Apples DRM Fairplay (zumindest in Norwegen) illegal sein dürfte. «"It doesn't get any clearer than this. Fairplay is an illegal lock-in technology whose main purpose is to lock the consumers to the total package provided by Apple by blocking interoperability," Waterhouse told OUT-LAW.COM. "For all practical purposes this means that iTunes Music Store is trying to kill off one the most important building blocks in a well functioning digital society, interoperability, in order to boost its own profits."»
Laut der NYT könnte bereits in den kommenden Monaten eins der Major-Labels entscheiden, die eigenen Künstler komplett DRM-befreit online anzubieten: «Executives of several technology companies meeting here at Midem, the annual global trade fair for the music industry, said over the weekend that at least one of the four major record companies could move toward the sale of unrestricted digital files in the MP3 format within months.»
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Das CyberPsych-Blog bebildert und beschreibt die von Jobs zur MWSF-Keynote verwendete neue Keynote-Version.
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Zwei iPhone-Hintergrundberichte, der erste in der Wirtschaftswoche über iPhone-Displaylieferant Balda: «Balda-Chef Gut hat Steve Jobs noch nie gesehen – braucht er auch nicht. „Die Einkäufer von Apple werden bei Balda bald häufiger erscheinen“, sagt ein Mitarbeiter. Dass die Teile aus Asien für das iPhone aus Amerika mit westfälischer Gründlichkeit montiert werden, kommt Balda-Mitarbeitern logisch vor. Die Unternehmer Chiang und Jobs wirken hier wie Figuren fast wie aus einem Märchen. „Auf den Prinzen haben wir gewartet“, sagt ein Mitarbeiter.» Der zweite bei Delaware Online über Fingerworks, die angeblich von Apple aufgekauft wurden und maßgeblich an der Berührungssteuerung des iPhone beteiligt gewesen sein dürften: «The technology they developed a few years ago at UD is now -- in the opinion of former co-workers and enlightened strangers alike -- helping to drive Apple Co.'s key breakthrough in its new iPhone. The pair have left behind their class schedules, sold the company they founded, and been hired to work in the secretive California headquarters of Apple itself, suddenly elevated from the staid halls of academia to the cutting edge of multibillion-dollar business.»
Nachdem diese Woche Marvell als Prozessorlieferant fürs iPhone herumgeisterte, will AppleInsider erfahren haben, dass es doch Samsung sei (wie ursprünglich angenommen): «People familiar with the new Apple handset say the Korean electronics giant will cater to Apple's request for a unified central processing unit, which will serve a dual role in handling the device's application processing and digital media capabilities. Meanwhile, those same people say wireless IC maker Infineon has also captured a significant piece of iPhone, asserting itself as the primary supplier of both baseband and RF chips. Specific chip models were not identified.»
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Nach iPhone wird wie verrückt gesucht: «For the week ending 1/13/07, the share of searches for 'iphone' was greater than the weekly share of searches for 'ipod' at any time during 2006», so Hitwise.
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Mit einer Apple Remote lässt sich auf Mac-lastigen Messen ziemlicher Schabernack treiben, dokumentiert z.B. in diesem Video. (Danke, Dennis!)
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Fortunes David Kirkpatrick glaubt, dass der Druck auf Apple steigt, OS X letztendlich auch für Nicht-Macs freizugeben: «VMware's CEO Diane Greene told me last week that her company's existing x86 desktop product is already being used by some to run Mac OS on computers from Dell, Hewlett-Packard and others, though this is not intentional on VMware's part. SWsoft's Beloussov says that this spring, Parallels will upgrade its software further, in a way that by coincidence will make it easier to run Mac OS on a non-Apple computer. He also insists that is not deliberate, but just a consequence of the nature of the technology, especially now that Intel builds virtualization technology into its chips. Both companies' products specifically aimed at the Mac will remain self-consciously crippled in order to satisfy Apple's demands that users not be encouraged to put Mac OS on a non-Apple machine. But pressures seem to be building in a way that Apple and Jobs will increasingly have a hard time controlling.»
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Das 90-minütige "Mac OS X State of the Union"-Video von der letzten WWDC ist nun für jegliches ADC-Mitglied über iTunes zum Herunterladen verfügbar (inklusive der Slides als PDF). (Danke, Eike!)
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Runometer.com: «The run database that uses your Apple iPod with Nike+ and matches it up with the routes you run.»