AT&T has stopped selling the Apple iPhone in the New York metropolitan area through its Web site, perhaps due to data congestion, credit card fraud, or routine sales strategy changes depending on whom you believe.
Online sales of the phone were apparently suspended Sunday. Prospective customers attempting to buy an iPhone through the Web site and using a New York area ZIP code get a message saying, "We're sorry, there are no Packages & Deals available at this time. Please check back later." However, changing ZIP codes to other U.S. metro areas yields a bevy of iPhone choices.
An AT&T representative's statement to CNET suggested that the move to not offer any iPhones online to buyers in the Big Apple was a routine strategic decision.
"We periodically modify our promotions and distribution channels," said Fletcher Cook, an AT&T spokesman.
However, customer service representatives, who are likely not authorized to comment officially for the company, painted divergent pictures.
One customer service representative hinted that data congestion may be the reason for the suspension, telling The Consumerist that "New York is not ready for the iPhone. You don't have enough towers to handle the phone."
In light of AT&T's tarnished reputation for its 3G service, this is certainly a plausible explanation. For more than a year, iPhone users have complained about dropped calls and poor service on the 3G network. The problems appear to be particularly acute in densely populated urban areas, such as New York and San Francisco.
However, another representative suggested that credit card fraud is responsible. Sales were suspended due to "increased fraudulent activity in that area when ordering the iPhone," the other representative told the Gearlog blog. However, the iPhone is apparently still for sale at Apple stores in the New York area.
No word on what the nature of the alleged fraud may be, but as others have certainly pondered, isn't online fraud as likely to happen in Dallas, Seattle, or San Francisco?
The widely rumored Apple tablet, a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, has just gotten a little more interesting.
Thanks to some crack reporting, MacRumors.com discovered that Apple purchased the domain for "islate.com" back in 2007.
What we know: islate.com was registered to Apple in 2007, through an intermediary (to disguise its true owner). At the moment, that domain doesn't seem to lead anywhere--and there are a few possible explanations. First, Apple bought it as a protective measure, to stop anyone else from using that "i" prefix with that particular word. Second, Apple had or has plans for either a product or a project by that name. Third, it's the tablet. Or fourth, it's Apple's take on Slate.com.
Maybe we'll find out just what that means in January, when the tablet is rumored to be announced.
This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.
Tech stocks typically have to break significant price milestones or have dramatic dips to make CNET's news story queue. Likewise, we try not hop on the Apple rumor bandwagon unless there's something credible or/and novel to report.
But being as it's Christmas Eve and all, we'll go out on a limb and offer you this nugget anyway. Apple's stock closed Thursday at an all time high of $209.04, up 6.94 points (3.43 percent) in a shortened day of trading on unconfirmed rumors that the company might unveil a long-awaited portable tablet computer next month.
The Apple blogosphere went wild Wednesday following several reports that the company told some of its key developers to prepare versions of their iPhone apps that will work on a device with a larger screen, in time for an event next month.
And Financial Times cited "people familiar with the plans" saying that Apple has booked the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco "for several days in late January." That's the very venue where Apple CEO Steve Jobs made his first public appearance in September following his medical leave.
For what it's worth, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster also said in a research note Wednesday that there's a 50 percent chance Apple will announce a tablet at a January event.
The Apple tablet is threatening to approach Yeti status, but here's an indication that it will turn out to be real: the company has told some of its key developers to prepare versions of their iPhone apps that will work on a device with a larger screen, in time for an event next month.
Add that to the news that Apple has reportedly booked the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco "for several days in late January," according to the Financial Times, and it's pretty easy to connect the dots. It's a very good bet we're getting a look at this thing within the next 30 days or so.
A mobile industry source tells me developers have been told that the mystery device will be shown off at the event only, but won't be ready to ship (Dan Frommer at Alley Insider relays the same news).
Announcing a product before launch used to be unusual for Apple, but it's a pattern the company has practiced more recently, notably with the first iPhone. And if Apple is indeed coming out with a new product that will require developers to rethink their approach, it makes a lot of sense.
I've asked Apple for comment, but I'm not holding my breath.
My source says Apple's instructions to developers indicate that the tablet--or at least the thing it's showing off next month--will be based on the iPhone OS and will rely on the same iTunes Store that has moved 2 billion apps in a couple of years.
... Read moreStory Copyright (c) 2009 AllThingsD. All rights reserved.
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Apple is in talks with CBS and Disney to offer television programming using a subscription model, The Wall Street Journal reported late Monday but suggested that the venture could face a pretty steep uphill battle.
There's an understatement.
Apple has been incredibly successful with iTunes. It's almost become bad business to not play ball with Apple. But at this point, things are also very different. Consider the following:
• Hollywood has become more tech savvy.
• iTunes largely still uses a pay-per-view model.
• Limited subscriptions offer limited value.
• It's the content, not the network.
• But don't underestimate the network.
Disclosure: ZDNet is published by CBS Interactive, a unit of CBS.
Read more of "Apple's push into subscription TV: Why it will be a tough sell" at ZDNet's Between the Lines.
Open University's marketing message on iTunes U.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jim Dalrymple/CNET)The education-specific channel of its iTunes Store, launched in 2007, has reached a new milestone, recording more than 100 million downloads, Apple told CNET on Friday.
According to Apple, one of the most popular areas of iTunes U has been that of the United Kingdom-based Open University (iTunes link), whose learning categories include Arts and Humanities, Business and Management, Childhood and Youth, Health and Social Care, Law, Psychology, and Science. The academic institution says it caters to at least 150,000 undergraduate and 30,000 postgraduate students, more than 25,000 of whom live outside the U.K.
More than 175 higher-education organizations currently provide content to iTunes U, including Princeton University, University of California at Los Angeles, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Oxford University, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and Yale University.
Apple's iPhone has topped Microsoft's Windows Mobile in U.S. market share of smartphone operating systems for the first time, putting it in the No. 2 spot, according to a report from ComScore released Thursday.
In February, 5.2 million respondents to ComScore's survey reported using Apple's iPhone, while 6.8 million reported using phones running Microsoft's Windows Mobile, according to a report on FierceDeveloper. ComScore, a market research firm, averages results in a three-month period.
In May, Apple's number rose to 5.7 million, then 6.6 million in July, and finally to a high of 8.9 million for October, the most recent period for which results are available. In comparison, Microsoft rose in May to 7 million, dropped in July to 6.6 million, and went back up in October to 7.1 million.
The highest market share numbers in the survey go to Research In Motion's BlackBerry. It registered 9.6 million in February, 12.2 million in May, 13 million in July, and 14.9 million in October.
It's interesting to note that Palm's number rose from 2.3 million to 2.8 million in 2009, and Google's Android operating system rose to a high of 1 million by October.
The survey asked U.S. mobile subscribers, who had to be over the age of 13, what type of phone they use. ComScore then figured out what operating system they were using and calculated the data for the report.
Raw photo files from Canon's new 1D Mark IV now can be seen in Mac OS X.
(Credit: Canon USA)Apple released one of its routine Mac OS X updates on Wednesday to let its computers handle raw images from a handful of new Nikon and Canon SLRs as well as from Canon's newer high-end PowerShot G11 compact camera.
The update lets Mac OS X 10.6 as well as Apple's iPhoto and Aperture software handle the raw image files taken directly from the camera's sensors without in-camera processing. Raw photo formats offer more quality and flexibility at the cost of convenience and file size.
The update supports Canon's new professional EOS-1D Mark IV and high-end EOS 7D SLRs. Among Nikons, the support ranges from the entry-level D3000, the higher-end D300S, and the professional D3S.
Windows relies on camera makers to supply software to decode the raw images. Adobe Systems and Apple write their own modules to decode the proprietary raw formats.
Updated 7:31 a.m. PST December 18 to clarify that the update expanded existing raw support.
After 17 months of litigation, the hammer has finally fallen on Psystar.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Tuesday granted Apple's request for permanent injunction against the Mac clone maker. This bars Psystar from peddling PCs with the Mac OS X operating system preinstalled, from circumventing the technological measures Apple uses to prevent unauthorized copying of Mac OS X, and from assisting others in doing so.
"Defendant must bring its conduct into compliance with the injunction by midnight on December 31, 2009, at the latest," U.S. District Judge William Alsup wrote in his ruling. "Defendant must immediately begin this process, and take the quickest path to compliance; thus, if compliance can be achieved within one hour after this order is filed, defendant shall reasonably see it done."
It would seem, then, to be over for Psystar, though we likely haven't yet heard the last of it. Alsup's injunction doesn't include the company's Rebel EFI software, which allows Mac OS X to be installed on PCs. So for now the company can continue to sell it, though Alsup warns that to do so is a risky legal proposition at best.
"Rebel EFI will not be expressly excluded from the terms of the injunction," Alsup wrote. "It should be clear, however, that this ruling is without prejudice to Psystar bringing a new motion before the undersigned that includes real details about Rebel EFI, and opening itself up to formal discovery thereon. This would serve the purpose--akin to a post-injunction motion vetting a 'design-around' in a patent action--of potentially vetting (or not vetting) a product like Rebel EFI under this order's decree.
"Moreover, Psystar may raise in such a motion any defenses it believes should apply to the factual circumstances of its new product, such as the 17 U.S.C. 117 defense raised in its opposition and at oral argument. Whether such a defense would be successful on the merits, or face preclusion or other hurdles, this order cannot predict. What is certain, however, is that until such a motion is brought, Psystar will be selling Rebel EFI at its peril, and risks finding itself held in contempt if its new venture falls within the scope of the injunction."
Below is the permanent injunction order in full:
Story Copyright (c) 2009 AllThingsD. All rights reserved.
Additional stories from AllThingsD
Apple's delay in shipping the 27-inch iMac may have more to do with the sheer volume of sales than any problems with the graphics chips, according to numbers from market research firm NPD.
(Credit:
Apple)
Stephen Baker, NPD's vice president of industry analysis, told CNET on Monday that for October and November, Mac desktop sales were up 74 percent over the same period last year. While NPD did not break the numbers down by desktop model, it's clear the iMac is a top seller.
In fact, the 27-inch iMac appears to be selling so well, it could account for the shipping delay that Apple apologized for on Sunday.
"It's not surprising Apple would be having problems supplying them [iMacs]," said Baker. "I can't imagine in their wildest dreams they would have thought they would sell like this."
Reports over the weekend suggested Apple was delaying shipments of the 27-inch iMac due to reported problems with the graphics card. While those issues remain, it may not be the root cause of the delay.
The surge in Mac sales was not limited to the 27-inch model. Baker said that the 21.5-inch iMac and the Mac mini are also doing very well.
Piper Jaffray financial analyst Gene Munster estimated in a research note to clients on Monday that Apple could sell 2.9 million to 3 million Macs for the current quarter, according to a report on AppleInsider. Munster cautioned that approximately 50 percent of all Mac sales for the quarter happen in December, so that number could change.
Mac notebooks saw a 5 percent increase for October and November, while iPod sales were down 11 percent year-over-year for the same time period.
