Mac News Review

Record Apple Revenue and Profits, Macs Still Going Strong, Security Mount for new Mac mini, and More

This Week's Apple and Desktop Mac News

Compiled by Charles Moore and edited by Dan Knight - 2010.07.23

MacBook, PowerBook, iBook, and other portable computing is covered in The 'Book Review. iPad, iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV news is covered in The iNews Review.

All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.

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Apple Third Quarter Results: 78% Earnings Increase on Record Revenue

PR: Apple announced financial results for its fiscal 2010 third quarter ended June 26, 2010. The Company posted record revenue of $15.7 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.25 billion, or $3.51 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $9.73 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.83 billion, or $2.01 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 39.1% compared to 40.9% in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 52% of the quarter's revenue.

Apple sold 3.47 million Macs during the quarter, representing a new quarterly record and a 33% unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 8.4 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 61% unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.41 million iPods during the quarter, representing an 8% unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company began selling iPads during the quarter, with total sales of 3.27 million.

It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple's history with iPhone 4, said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year.

We re really pleased to have generated over $4 billion of cash during the quarter, said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue of about $18 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $3.44

Notes of Interest from Apple's Q3 2010 Conference Call

AppleInsider staff members have posted a collection of statistical snippets and comments by Apple executives.

Despite iPhone and iPad Celebrity, Apple's Macs Still Going Strong

Contra Costa Times' John Boudreau reports that despite all the attention focused on the iPad and 4G iPhone. Apple's MacBook laptops, iMac desktops, and low-end Mac mini desktops continue to represent a major portion of the Cupertino company's business and innovative focus. A glance at the company's patent files indicates Apple's engineers continue to tinker with the Macintosh family of computers with innovations like solar power, touchscreen technology, and a MacBook with invisible buttons, keyboards, and trackpad.

Boudreau notes that Mac systems sales brought Apple $3.76 billion* in revenues last quarter, and shipments of Mac computers increasing 13.5% last year while the global PC industry overall grew only 2.9%. He cites Kaufman Brothers analyst Shaw Wu declaring that: "The Mac still represents the ultimate Apple experience. It's where it all started. It's still arguably the heart of the company."

* Editor's note: We've seen figures as high as $4.4 billion for the Mac division. This includes sales of things other than Mac systems, such as software and peripherals. It accounts for 28% of Apple's income for the quarter. For my perspective on this, see Best Mac Quarter Ever. dk

Rumors About the Coming Mac Pro and iMac

Hardmac's Lionel says one of the French Mac news site's better sources has indicated that new Mac Pro desktops are planned for the end of the summer back-to-school period, with new iMacs coming a few weeks or a month later at the beginning of autumn.

The source also predicts that these machines will be the first Macs to incorporate USB 3.0 and a faster FireWire interface - either 1600 or 3200 Mbps - but no Blu-ray support.

MacPaint Source Code Archived Online

Macworld's Serenity Caldwell reports:

"If you were a Mac user in the 1980s, chances are you knew - and loved - Apple's MacPaint drawing program, developed by Bill Atkinson. The application, which paved the way for programs like Photoshop by developing key tools like the paint bucket and lasso, has long been remembered fondly by developers and users alike - and on Tuesday, its source code was formally inaugurated into the Computer History Museum's online collection."

MacPaint and QuickDraw Source Code at Computer History Museum

The Computer History Museum says:

"The Apple Macintosh combined brilliant design in hardware and in software. The drawing program MacPaint, which was released with the computer in January of 1984, was an example of that brilliance both in what it did, and in how it was implemented.

"For those who want to see how it worked 'under the hood', we are pleased, with the permission of Apple Inc., to make available the original program source code of MacPaint and the underlying QuickDraw graphics library.

"Note: This material is Copyright 1984 Apple Inc. and is made available only for non-commercial use."

Products & Services

Seagate GoFlex Home: Easy-to-Use Centralized Storage for the Whole Family - and Compatible with Time Machine

Seagate has unveiled the newest addition to its GoFlex family of hard drives, the GoFlex Home network storage system. When this easy-to-use device is connected to a wireless router, an entire household can centrally store, easily access, and continuously backup files wirelessly from both Windows and Mac OS X operating systems on the home network. The new centralized storage system simplifies the backup process by being compatible with Apple Time Machine, as well as including a version of the backup application for both Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. With the GoFlex Home storage system, families can also wirelessly stream photos, movies, and music to most network-connected DLNA devices, such as game consoles or a GoFlex TV HD media player, from any room in the house. With just two cable connections and a simple, illustrated, step-by-step installation tool that gets the device up and running in minutes, the GoFlex Home system solves the household storage puzzle in a snap.

Seagate GoFlex HomeSolutions designed to help access content from multiple devices in the home, distribute it over the home network, and stream to other devices and products, will be appealing to active digital media consumers.

Available in 1 TB and 2 TB capacities, the GoFlex Home storage system provides plenty of room to help safeguard precious digital memories for the whole family and is ideal for use with home laptops, netbooks, or other devices with limited storage. Unlike other single-drive network solutions, its modular design also enables the included drive to be upgraded when needed by simply removing the drive from the base (no tools required) and replacing it with a higher capacity GoFlex Desk hard drive. Families can also add more storage to the GoFlex Home system by simply connecting additional drives to the USB port. Additionally, this same USB port can be used to wirelessly share a USB printer with every computer on the network.

"With broadband and home networks reaching higher levels of penetration and operating at higher speeds, consumers are increasingly downloading and streaming content into their home and wanting to access that content from anywhere," says Seagate's vice president of Retail Sales and Marketing Darcy Clarkson. "The GoFlex Home system makes it easy for families wanting to quickly and effortlessly backup, enjoy, and share their favorite home movies music or photos from any room in the house. We spent a lot of time focusing on simplicity with this product and believe people will find it very intuitive to setup and get started. With the GoFlex Home system, now home networking is within reach for today's digital households."

A recent report by In-Stat predicts the consumer network storage market will continue to grow between 25% and 50% over the next five years. In addition, the number of devices connected to the home network, and the number of devices that are mobile or portable, are creating desire for consumers to move in and out of their home networking environment with their content. Using the included remote access and file sharing service on GoFlex Home system called Seagate Share service, families can easily access movies, music or photo files stored on their GoFlex Home system from any Internet connected computer in the world. The Seagate Share service also allows families to share photo albums, home movies and documents with friends by simply selecting the files or folders they want to share and typing in an email address. Those friends will receive a notification with a direct link to a customized webpage where they can view the shared files.

"Consumers are showing increased interest in downloading and streaming content from the Internet into the home, connecting devices in the home to social networks, and demanding easy access to content both within the household and beyond the reach of home networks," says Norm Bogen, vice president, Research, Digital Entertainment with In-Stat. "Solutions designed to help access content from multiple devices in the home, distribute it over the home network and stream to other devices and products, will be appealing to active digital media consumers."

The GoFlex Home system also offers a premium service option the Seagate Share Pro remote access service that allows families to access content stored on the drive from mobile devices such as an iPhone, iPad or BlackBerry, integrate photos or files with Facebook and Flickr, and keep friends and relatives updated with the latest shared files using Integrated RSS (Really Simple Syndication) notifications.

In addition to delivering quick and easy wireless, file access, streaming and multicomputer backup of digital files, the GoFlex Home network storage system has been designed with the cost and environmentally conscious households in mind. The GoFlex Home system also includes a power saving (idle) mode that automatically runs after 30-minutes of inactivity and a power switch that allows it to be shut off while families are away for extended periods.

The new GoFlex Home network storage system can be purchased on Seagate.com and select retailers for a suggested retail price of $159.99 for 1 TB and $229.99 for 2 TB.

Tryten Technologies Releases Innovative 2010 Mac mini Security Mount

2010 Mac mini Security MountTryten Technologies of Seattle announces the release of the Mac mini Security Mount. Tryten's adaptable Mac mini Mount secures the 2010 Mac mini to a variety of locations, including the back of a monitor or to any side of a workspace, without limiting functionality.

The Tryten Mac mini Security Mount features a LockBar with a seven-pin pick-resistant lock. Even while protected, the open design of this Mac mini Mount allows easy access to all peripheral connections and the disk slot, and maintains optimal WiFi and Bluetooth communications. The sleek design of the Tryten Mount offers alternative locking options including a wide selection of keyed or combination locks, and a built-in security slot for added flexibility. Whether secured with the Tryten LockBar or also with a Tryten Security Cable, the refined yet rugged Mac mini Mount offers convenient adaptability to any workplace configuration.

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