Apple may not quite be recession-proof, but it’s darn close.

Reporting earnings for the March quarter yesterday, Apple exceeded Wall Street expectations by a resounding 24 cents per share. Its profit of $1.21 billion translated to $1.33 per share, well above the $1.09 predicted.

To put this achievement in perspective, consider that Apple’s total profit was 26 cents per share as recently as the September quarter of 2004. In its fiscal 2003 Apple’s entire annual profit was just 19 cents per share.

So once again Apple made the gloomy prognosticators look foolish. (Even I admit I had my doubts.)

Overall Apple had its best non-holiday quarter ever, said Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, with revenue increasing 9 percent year over year and profits increasing more than 15 percent.

Though Mac sales declined 3 percent from 2.29 million units in last year’s March quarter to 2.22 million, the iPhone picked up the slack and then some.

Unit sales of the iPhone rocketed 123 percent resulting in a 302 percent revenue increase year over year. The iPhone contributed $1.52 billion to Apple’s revenue total for the quarter, compared to $378 million last year.

Of course, the comparison isn’t exactly fair. The iPhone now is sold in 81 countries; in the early part of last year it was available in just four, including the United States.

Meanwhile, iPod unit sales grew 3 percent to 11 million, though revenue declined 16 percent from $1.818 billion to $1.665 billion.

I found this odd since Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said iPod Touch sales had more than doubled year over year. I’d have thought the Touch’s higher margins would have helped prop up overall iPod revenue.

But the iTunes Store segment (which includes “iPod services and Apple-branded and third-party iPod accessories) had a nice 18 percent bump in revenue from $881 million to $1.049 billion.

The amazing success of the App Store – which is on the verge of selling its 1 billionth app -- apparently gave the iTunes Store an extra boost this quarter.

A less likely contributor to Apple’s successful quarter was the Software, Service and Other sales category, which also saw revenue increase 18 percent to a tidy $625 million. Oppenheimer said that sales of the iLife ’09 and iWork ’09 suites, introduced in January, were better than anticipated.
A few more nuggets from the conference call:

Mac holds its own: For the past three months, numerous analysts and pundits have berated Apple for refusing to lower prices or introduce a low-cost laptop to compete with cheap netbook PCs. Apple has stubbornly held its ground, but was not punished as harshly as some predicted.

In fact, given the “challenging economic environment, Oppenheimer said the company was “very positive about our Mac performance.” He noted that IDC data showed the larger PC market contracting by 7 percent in the quarter, making the 3 percent decline in Mac sales look better by comparison.

No wonder Oppenheimer prefers IDC’s data; its report last week showed Apple’s market share increasing from 7.2 percent to 7.6 percent. Gartner’s report showed Apple’s market share falling from 8 percent to 7.4 percent.

The 2Q results could have been much worse. Cook said the refresh of the entire Mac desktop line March 3 gave sales a big boost at the end of the quarter. He said Mac sales in the U.S. suffered because both creative professionals and education customers were putting off buying due to the poor economy.

Unit sales of laptop Macs dove 22 percent, and many of those who did buy went for the previous-generation model $999 MacBook. Cook called that a “good thing,” seeing it as strength among the consumer market.

The dreaded netbook question: Asked about the diminutive PCs, Cook blasted the category as he has before, criticizing the “cramped keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware, [and] very small screens.”

Cook said Apple had no interest in creating such a product, then deftly pointed out that the iPhone and iPod Touch can perform many of the tasks for which people buy netbooks, such as e-mail and light Web browsing.

And then he hinted once again that Apple might be developing some sort of innovative product in the genre, offering teasers such as “the product pipeline is fantastic for the Mac.”

Retail Stores: The stores made a bit less money, but Apple is selling its wares – particularly the iPhone – in more places these days. Still, Oppenheimer said “about half” of all Mac sales in the stores were to customers who had never previously owned a Mac, same as he always does. So apparently people haven’t stopped switching from Windows to the Mac, no matter what Lauren says.

The money’s in the mattress: Apple’s cash position grew by $841 million, bringing its war chest to $28.9 billion. And no plans to spend it. “Our investment priority for the cash continues to be preservation of capital,” Oppenheimer said. So there.

Steve Jobs: When asked for an update on the recuperating CEO, Oppenheimer reiterated the company line: “We all look forward to Steve returning to Apple at the end of June.”

The iPhone platform: The combined sales of the iPhone and iPod Touch have reached 37 million units, with about 21 million iPhones and 16 million Touches. Both Cook and Oppenheimer spoke often of the new platform’s potential, particularly with the iPhone OS 3.0 coming this summer. “I think it unleashes a whole new level of innovation that keeps Apple years ahead of everyone else,” Cook said.

Feeling the love for AT&T: Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster, citing survey data showing that some people don’t buy an iPhone just to avoid AT&T, asked why Apple maintains the exclusive relationship in the U.S.

Cook replied that AT&T has “done a very good job with the iPhone.” He said Apple is happy with AT&T and has no plans to change the relationship. He also admitted that Apple’s choice of GSM technology – driven by the need to make the iPhone work with the most common networks globally -- precluded a relationship with Verizon, which uses CDMA.

Posted by David Zeiler at 7:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                       

The long-awaited refresh of Apple’s desktop Macs arrived Tuesday with a thud.

Given how long it’s been – April 2008 for the iMac, January 2008 for the Mac Pro and August 2007 for the Mac Mini – one might have expected more dramatic improvements than what we got Tuesday.

Only the Mac Pro got a new processor chip, the Intel Xeon “Nehalem.” The other Macs just got speed-bumped versions of the currently used Intel Core 2 Duo.

Nor did Apple significantly change any of the Mac case designs.

And Apple didn’t budge on pricing, either – which will no doubt disappoint Wall Street analysts.

One could argue that today’s computers are already so powerful, big leaps in capabilities are no longer required. But if Apple can’t wow us with snazzy new hardware and droolworthy specs, it should sweeten the deal by nudging down prices -- particularly in these dark economic times.

While Apple seriously needed to refresh its Mac line, I’m not sure the new models will do much to revive its slumping desktop sales. The affordability factor will likely continue to trump other considerations (e.g, the Mac’s superior overall value), at least for the near term.

The unequivocal good news is that Apple boosted hard drive capacity and base memory in every model but the $599 Mac Mini.

Apple also has upgraded the graphics capabilities in its desktops, although I find the trend toward integrated graphics in the low-end iMacs disturbing.

Integrated graphics chipsets don’t have their own memory, but share the memory used by the rest of the system. Such chipsets became common in laptops because they’re cheaper and consume less power than dedicated graphics cards.

However, you trade off price for performance. Although charts on Apple’s Web site indicate the new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics in the Mini and low-end iMacs is faster than the ATI Radeon HD 2400XT card the previous 20-inch iMac model used, that’s an older, low-end card.

Any current graphics card, even a low-end one, would deliver better performance particularly on systems with less system memory.

What puzzles me about this is that we are only months away from the launch of the next version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, which Apple promises will harness the graphics chips in your Mac to boost overall computing speed. It seems like an odd time to remove the dedicated graphics cards from any members of your flagship desktop line.

The Mac Mini always had integrated graphics, so the new NVIDIA graphics should be a hefty improvement over the long in the tooth Intel GMA 950 graphics used in the previous Mini.

One change that may irk veteran Mac users with legacy FireWire devices is the replacement of FireWire 400 ports with FireWire 800 ports on all models. After Apple did the same with its laptop line – and eliminated FireWire entirely from the MacBook Air and new aluminum MacBooks – the move is not a surprise.

But the transition may be an inconvenience for some. Unlike USB 1.1 and USB 2.0, the FireWire 800 ports are not the same shape as FireWire 400 ports. So users will need an adapter to connect older FireWire peripherals such as video cameras, scanners and external hard drives.

One other common change, also introduced on the aluminum MacBooks, is the adoption of the Mini DisplayPort. Like the FireWire 800 issue, this may mean the purchase of adapters for some users.

Apple is also promoting its new desktops as more environmentally friendly than ever, as they all comply with the new, stricter Energy Star 5.0 standards.

A closer look at the new Macs model by model:

Mac Mini: Not much changed. The $599 Mini gets a tiny speed boost and no extra base RAM; the $799 model gets double the base RAM but no speed boost. The Mini does use a faster type of RAM, and is now expandable to 4GB (up from 2GB).

Both models get substantially larger hard drives and a fifth USB port. The $599 gets upgraded from a combo drive (can burn CDs but only read DVDs) to a SuperDrive (can read and burn both CDs and DVDs).

iMac: Where are the quad-core iMacs? Many expected a quad core version at the top of the iMac line for this refresh. It have made sense, since another of Snow Leopard’s features will be to better capitalize on multiple processing cores. Maybe next time, eh?

The iMacs, like the Minis, benefit from a faster type of RAM. And Apple has increased the maximum RAM possible from 4 GB to 8 GB. But the 8x SuperDrives appear to be the same as those in the previous generation.

The biggest change here is to the middle-of the-line $1,499 model, which gets the larger 24-inch display and double the RAM and hard drive capacity. However, it’s saddled with the NVIDIA integrated graphics rather than the GeForce GT 120 card bestowed on the $1,799 model. And no speed bump whatsoever.

At least the entry-level 20-inch $1,199 iMac gets a tiny speed bump, although it too receives the downgrade to integrated graphics.

The $1,799 iMac’s dedicated graphics card and tiny speed boost combined with the doubled RAM and hard drive specs make it the most-improved iMac of the lot, and possibly the best deal.

In addition, Apple now offers a 3.06 GHz base variation (you could buy one before as a build-to-order option). This top-end iMac gets a better graphics card than the $1,799 model as well as the doubled RAM and hard-drive capacity, but whether it’s worth $400 more than its closest sibling is questionable.

Mac Pro: “The Mac Pro is a significant upgrade and starts at $300 less than before,” Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller boasts in the press release. Phil, I love you buddy, but aren’t you being just a bit disingenuous here? That $2,499 Mac Pro to which you refer is a quad core, but you’re comparing it to the price of the early 2008 8-core Mac Pro, which came in just one base configuration. Dropping that model down to a quad-core – the equivalent of the new quad model -- gave you a $2,399 Mac Pro. Shame on you, Phil.

Other than that, the new Nehalem chips are an excellent upgrade. It’s hard to say how much faster they’ll be than the Harpertowns in real world situations, but the benchmark charts on Apple’s Web site look promising.

The new Mac Pro also gets a slightly faster SuperDrive (18x, up from 16x), better RAM (1066 MHz DDR3, up from 800 MHz DDR2) and two more PCI Express 2.0 slots than its predecessor. Unfortunately, the base 8-core model also gets a $500 higher price tag. That’s crazy.

The quad model is much more reasonably priced -- $900 less than the 8-core -- but with one drawback. It has only four RAM slots, so is expandable only up to 8 GB (the 8-core can handle 32 GB in its 8 slots, just like the previous model). Otherwise its specs and architecture appear to match its pricier brother’s.

One final nit on the Mac Pros: Apple puts six 1 GB modules in the 8 core and three 1 GB modules in the quad, which leaves the users only two open slots in the 8-core and just one in the quad. So expanding RAM significantly will require the user to toss out some of those 1 GB modules. Why not put larger RAM modules in the Pros to retain more open slots?

Posted by David Zeiler at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
                       

If you’re shopping for a computer with a good balance of features, performance and price, check out a Mac. And if solid tech support is a major concern, your choice is even clearer – Apple’s support tops all competitors.

So says Consumer Reports in its annual computer-buying extravaganza (June issue). The latest data continues the trend, as it has the past few years, of overall praise for Apple’s line of Mac laptops and desktops an in particular for its customer support.

On tech support issues, Apple stands out. Its reader score for laptops is 83 out of 100 (meaning it solved the problem 83 percent of the time), well ahead of Lenovo’s 66 and Dell’s 60.

Apple beats its rivals by an even greater degree in the desktop category. Its score of 81 percent led the field by an embarrassingly large margin; second-place Dell (56 percent) trailed by 25 points, just ahead of Gateway (54 percent).

Not that Consumer Reports has been chugging Steve Jobs’ Kool-Aid. As it has done often, CR criticized Apple for its brief 90 days of free tech support compared with a year for most other PC makers.

Because of that, as well as the above-average service Apple customers get with paid support plans, the magazine advises Mac buyers purchase an AppleCare plan.

Consumer Reports also points out, however, that all Mac owners can get free tech support at the Genius Bar in Apple’s retail stores, which CR says solved problems an impressive 90 percent of the time. But the customer is responsible for the cost of any required repairs.

However, the CR piece misleads a bit when it describes the Genius Bar as “walk-in support.” Yes, you can walk in to any Apple Store with a Mac problem but you can’t consult with a Mac Genius unless you’ve made a reservation.

The only truly bad news for Apple appears in the main article, in the “Brand Repair history” survey chart. While Apple’s desktops boast the fewest repairs – 12 percent versus 17 percent for its closest PC competitors – Apple’s laptops sit at the bottom of their category.

According to the CR survey, 23 percent of Mac laptops required repair or had a serious problem. While that’s not so far from Lenovo’s category leading 20 percent, Apple should take note that the quality control of its laptop line could stand improvement.

Elsewhere in the main article, in which CR makes its general recommendations, both Mac laptops and desktops earn high marks.

In the 15.4-inch “workhorse” laptop category, the MacBook Pro was the magazine’s top choice: “The Apple weighed the least and had the best battery life among the 15-inch models.”

The beefier 17-inch MacBook Pro earned top honors in the “Best Desktop replacement category despite its much higher price relative to its competition (it costs $1,000 more than the next cheapest laptop in that category – a Sony Vaio VGN-AR770).

Meanwhile the newest member of the MacBook family, the MacBook Air, managed to take second in the “Best Lightweight laptops” category on the strength of its exceptionally low weight (3 pounds), strong battery life and slim form factor. The CR editors apparently decided those characteristics trumped the Air’s higher price and missing features (no CD/DVD drive or Ethernet port).

Here’s how CR assesses the Air: “This somewhat pricey, ultra-thin ultra-portable won’t replace your everyday laptop, but the generous keyboard, touchpad technology, and small size make it worth considering. The compromises are in performance and ease of loading and unloading data.”

On the desktop side, the Mac appears absent at first, but it turns out Consumer Reports has added a third Apple-inspired category: all-in-ones.

CR says the best inexpensive all-in-one is the 20-inch iMac (“excellent performance and good ergonomics”) -- and that was before last week’s processor upgrade. Going from a 2.0 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo to a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo, the 20-inch iMac represents an even better value now.

The 24-inch iMac was ranked behind the HP TouchSmart IQ775 (who comes up with these names?), but that model’s processor upgrade to a 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo from 2.4 GHz enhances its value quite a bit, too.

Curiously, the Mac Pro got no mention in the “high-end” desktop category, perhaps because it’s not aimed at ordinary consumers but rather video and graphics professionals.

Overall, this year’s CR report card looks as more favorably upon the Mac than ever. That’s the sort of positive reinforcement that could encourage more potential Windows users to switch in the months ahead, maintaining the Mac’s market share growth momentum.

Posted by David Zeiler at 5:06 AM in MacBook, iMac | Permalink | Comments (9)
                       

Reading through the transcript of Apple’s conference call with analysts yesterday, I ran across several intriguing nuggets of information. Such as:

iPod Touch: On several occasions, Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer referred to the iPod Touch as “an entirely new type of iPod.” From his opening remarks: “This new iPod had the potential to grow the iPod from being just a music and video player into being the first mainstream WiFi mobile platform running all kinds of mobile applications.”

Many pundits (and Touch owners) have declared the iPod Touch the ultimate PDA, but I don’t recall Apple having been this emphatic about it before. This could be a sign that Apple plans a lot of future enhancements to the iPod Touch, both in the software and the hardware. Evolving the iPod line in the direction of a pocket computer is logical as well as a good business move. Despite its recent successes, Apple recognizes that it can’t stand still.

Apple Retail Stores: Apple opened six new stores in the quarter, and now has 204. The company expects to add 35 to 40 locations in 2008, including more outside he United States. The average revenue per store was $8.5 million, up sharply from $6.6 million in the year-ago quarter. Traffic increased by 10 million visitors from last year, to 38.4 million, which translates to 14,700 visitors per store per week. No wonder it always seems like the Apple Stores are packed.

On a similar note, Oppenheimer said Apple plans to expand its presence in Best Buy stores from 286 to 600 over the next six months. The total number of “storefronts” carrying the Mac has increased to 9,500 from 7,700 a year ago. “We have done that because of the momentum we see in the Macintosh business,” explained Apple Chief Operating Officer Timothy Cook.

MacBook Air: When asked where the MacBook Air fits in Apple’s product roadmap, Oppenheimer uncharacteristically responded with a general description of the target customer: “We think that the MacBook Air will appeal to travelers, to professors, to all different kinds of people who want to access the computer very quickly wherever they are.”

He added that pre-orders for the laptop have been “very strong.” The super-slim MacBook Air has been lambasted by critics who say it omits too many features to suit the needs of most customers. Steve Jobs and his deputies obviously believe otherwise.

Leopard: Sales of the latest version of Mac OS X have far outpaced that of its predecessor, Tiger. Leopard revenue was $170 million in the quarter compared to Tiger’s $100 million in its first quarter. Oppenheimer attributed the growth to both a larger installed base of Mac users and that Leopard comes pre-installed on every new Mac, which sold in record numbers (2.3 million) in the December quarter.

One more thing: In a separate announcement yesterday, Apple added a new color to the iPod Nano line, pink. Available now, it’s perfect for people “searching for a special Valentine’s Day gift,” according to Apple Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Greg Joswiak. Other than the color, the particulars are the same as the other Nanos: 8 gigabytes of storage for $199. Too bad I already bought my Significant Other a Nano for Christmas. Ahh, she hates pink anyway.

Posted by David Zeiler at 12:00 PM in Mac OS X, iMac, iPod | Permalink | Comments (2)
                       

One week before Steve Jobs takes the stage in San Francisco for his annual Macworld keynote, the Mac universe is abuzz with the usual rumors and speculation.

Regulations governing Apple pundits require that I contribute to the collective cacophony or forfeit my license to blog on Apple. In that spirit, here’s my take on what might be coming – or not – on Jan. 15:

Mac Pro update – Apple completely shocked me by announcing new pro towers (and server models) this morning. I don't recall Apple ever making such a major product announcement just one week before a Stevenote. So these rumors panned out early. The twin quad core CPUs (giving this Mac 8 cores of processing power) are standard as expected, but there is no mention of Blu-ray DVD support. Steve will mention this, but not spend much time on it.

Retail stats – Steve will probably open the keynote with a rundown of assorted statistics demonstrating Apple’s prodigious business successes. We will hear about how many millions of people visited Apple’s retail stores, and that half of them were “new to the platform.” Steve will tell us how many new stores opened in 2007, and may announce new stores in such countries as China, Brazil and Mexico.

He should gloat about yesterday’s Bernstein Research report that showed Apple’s annual sales per square foot of retail space light years ahead of other retailers. At $4,491 per square foot, Apple not only clobbered Best Buy at $991/sq. ft. but also handily outshone other upscale retailers such as Saks ($388/sq. ft.), Coach ($1648/sq. ft.) and Tiffany and Co. ($2,746/sq. ft.).

Leopard stats – Steve will tell us how many copies of Mac OS X 10.5 have been sold since its launch at the end of October. Whatever the number, it will be the best operating system launch in Apple history. Leopard also will have had the fastest adoption rate of any Mac operating system version.

Office for the Mac 2008 – Craig Eisler, the new general manager of Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit, will join Steve onstage to introduce Office for Mac 2008. There will be a tedious demo.

Other software – Since iWork and iLife both were released in August, we won’t hear of them in the keynote. In fact, it’s hard to say what other software might get mentioned, since Apple got most of its upgrades out over the summer. He might spend a few moments on the prosumer video editing program Final Cut Express, which was updated in mid-November.

Video – The other week I predicted some major video-related announcements at the Stevenote. We will hear about the new iTunes movie rental service, heretofore unannounced by Apple but widely reported in the mainstream media. Various news reports over the past few weeks have said Apple is on the verge of making deals with almost all the major film studios, including 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount and Sony, MGM and Lionsgate. Availability is the major question here; if the deals aren’t final, the service may not launch for a few more months.

Apple TV – Going hand-in-hand with the iTunes Store movie rental news should be an announcement of a new, improved version of the Apple TV. This is not a shoo-in, but it would make a lot of sense for Apple to fix this product by adding the ability to record TV shows (like a TiVo) and access the Internet independently of a computer. The pièce de résistance will be integration with the iTunes Store, so that music, videos and movies could be ordered directly from the user’s sofa with the included remote control.

New iPods – You got ‘em in September. Let’s not be greedy.

iPhone updates – Some think Steve will announce a 3G iPhone next Tuesday; my gut feeling is that it’s too soon. Even if he does announce it, you won’t be able to buy one for several months. One thing we will get at some point during the keynote: stats on how many iPhones have been sold, and a recap of the product’s launch in the U.K., France and Germany. Steve might announce the next nation(s) set to get the iPhone (Spain? Italy? Japan?), but I haven’t read any rumors that further deals are near.

Steve will definitely mention the software development kit that will allow third-party developers to write programs to run on the iPhone. Although Steve has said the SDK would be available in February, he might wow the crowd by announcing its immediate availability.

One more thing ... One product the rumor sites have convinced themselves is coming at Macworld is some sort of Mac subnotebook, something smaller and lighter than a MacBook. This device could incorporate the same touch screen technology used in the iPod Touch. It could use flash memory in place of a hard drive, or at the very least will use flash memory to speed boot times. It will use a LED display (Apple has committed to using the more environmentally friendly LED technology in all its displays.) Despite the prevalence of rumors about this, no one is quite sure what such a beast will look like. But the odds are high we will see some incarnation of a MacBook Mini.

For anyone who’d like to follow the keynote live (it starts at 9 a.m. PST, or noon Baltimore time), several Web sites will be posting updates during the event. I prefer Engadget, but a full list of sites offering coverage will appear on MacSurfer the day of the event.

Posted by David Zeiler at 7:55 AM in Macworld & WWDC, Software by Apple, iMac, iPhone, iPod, iTunes/iTunes Store | Permalink | Comments (1)
                       

By the time Steve Jobs took the stage Tuesday morning to announce new Mac products, everyone knew that new iMacs were on the agenda. Because Steve had invited the media to Apple’s campus, a rarity he usually reserves for such momentous occasions as the debut of the iPod, expectations were high.

Sure enough, Jobs introduced a revamped line of iMacs just minutes after he began his presentation. The new iMacs now have glossy screens, aluminum cases, are significantly thinner and feature an optional wireless keyboard. The 17-inch model is no more; Apple now offers two 20-inch models and one 24-inch model. Perhaps the most notable news here is the pricing: at $1,799 the 24-inch model is $200 cheaper than its predecessor; the midrange 20-inch price remains the same at $1,499 (and as usual offers the best balance of price and features). The low-end 20-inch iMac is $200 more than the cheapest 17-inch had been, but the same as a beefier 17-inch offering. Overall, you’re getting more iMac for the money, and that’s always a good thing.

Still, the new iMacs are hardly a huge leap forward. But things got much more interesting once Jobs moved on to the software: updates to both the iWork and iLife suites, which many had not expected until later this year or even the Macworld show in January.

The biggest surprise was the addition of a spreadsheet, called Numbers, to iWork. That makes the suite fully capable of replacing Microsoft Office. While the subject of yesterday’s post, NeoOffice, remains a usable (and free) alternative to Office for the Mac, iWork now becomes a much better option than it had been. If you throw in Apple’s free Mail program, iWork now has an answer for all four Office for the Mac components -- Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage. And each of iWork’s components can read and save in Office’s file formats. And despite the addition of a third component, the price of iWork remains a mere $79, far less than the $399 list price for the full retail version of Office 2004 for the Mac. While businesses may continue to need Microsoft’s package, most home users will find iWork a more than adequate substitute and far easier on their budgets. If Jobs really wants to get Microsoft’s goat, he could release iWork for Windows. Maybe in 2008, eh?

Jobs also announced an update to the Apple’s iLife suite – iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand and iWeb. He demonstrated several nifty new features, particularly the “Events” in iPhoto, which allows better organization of thousands of images, and a completely revamped iMovie that makes it much easier to browse video files and create movies faster than before.

But the major news here was all of Jobs talk of “Web 2.0” features. Apple has added more integration and sharing features to its online service, .Mac, so users can create an online photo gallery that syncs with iPhoto. Friends can contribute to your online album; the images will automatically download to your Mac. If you have an iPhone, you can access your gallery there, too.

Similarly, iMovie has picked up more sharing features. You can send your movies pretty much anywhere you like, including to your iPhone or to the .Mac Web Gallery. Along with further enhancements to iWeb, Apple’s Web site creation software, it’s clear that Jobs has gotten the message sent by such phenomena as MySpace, FaceBook and YouTube. People want the ability to make stuff (photos, videos, blogs) and share it with the world. Apple was a pioneer in the concept of the “digital lifestyle,” and now has the tools – the iLife software paired with its .Mac online services – to capitalize on that concept having gone mainstream. And the iLife suite comes free on every Mac, offering yet another incentive to switchers from Windows.

Although no one will hail today’s iMacs as any sort of breakthrough, they and their Mac kin, primarily the MacBooks, bring in a major portion of Apple’s profits. The software announced today – what you can do with a new Mac -- will be the reason people will buy them, and should help maintain the Mac’s momentum in picking up more market share.

Posted by David Zeiler at 4:20 PM in Macworld & WWDC, Software by Apple, iMac | Permalink | Comments (1)