Mac News: Business

Apple Settles iPod Class Action for $45 a Head

Monday - May 12, 2008

Apple has agreed to settle a pair of class action lawsuits in Canada alleging it misled customers about the staying power of their iPods, the latest courtroom truce over the dwindling battery life of early generations of the device. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company is offering credits for its online store of about $44.75 to people who live in Canada and bought certain iPods there on or before June 24, 2004, according to a court document. [More...]

Environmental Group Puts More Heat on Apple

Sunday - May 11, 2008

Apple has been given a failing grade by Climate Counts, and was placed at the bottom of a list of 12 electronics companies also ranked by the organization. Climate Counts ranks companies on their practices to reduce global warming on a scale of zero to 100, and Apple was given a score of 11, some 66 points behind sector leader IBM, which scored a 77. [More...]

Mac Bloggers Size Up Support, Elbow Into Enterprise, Muse on AT&T Memo

Friday - May 9, 2008

Three interesting topics were kicked around in Apple-minded blogs this week. Entirely unsurprisingly, survey results show that Apple tech support kicks butt in the PC industry at large. Also, AT&T is forbidding vacation time to hapless iPhone salespeople, and it appears Macs have gotten a foot in the door at work. [More...]

Apple's Board: Still Room for Schmidt?

Thursday - May 8, 2008

Until now, having Google chief executive Eric Schmidt sit on Apple's board of directors has made a lot of sense. Google, the world's largest Web-search engine, is one of the most influential companies in technology. Google has been incredibly supportive of Apple's flagship computer, the Mac, and has developed a lot of software for Apple's music-playing iPhone. [More...]

Apple Takes the Gold for Tech Support

Tuesday - May 6, 2008

Based on 10,099 notebook and desktop computer owners who contacted customer support between January 2006 and January 2006, Consumer Reports found Apple to be No. 1 in technical support. Lenovo came in second for notebook computers, and Dell was second for desktops. [More...]

A Clone of Their Own: Psystar's Pedraza Brothers

Tuesday - May 6, 2008

From their hole-in-the-wall office in Doral, Fla., brothers Rudy and Robert Pedraza are waging war on Silicon Valley. The 24- and 22-year-old computer whiz kids are undercutting Apple by building "clone" computers with Mac software and selling them for less money than the tech behemoth. The daring move has sent shock waves through the techie world. [More...]

Apple Gets Lift on Analyst's Second Thoughts

Monday - May 5, 2008

Apple shares rose modestly Monday after an American Technology Research analyst raised his rating to "Buy" and an RBC Capital Markets analyst increased his price target for the computer and gadget maker's stock. Apple shares rose $3.57 to $184.51. Earlier, the shares traded as high as $185.31 -- their highest since early January. [More...]

A Tale of Two Steves

Monday - May 5, 2008

I'm writing this from the Microsoft Management Summit at Interop with 5,000 of my closest friends in Las Vegas, and I'm still thinking about the book I brought up recently, titled Inside Steve's Brain. The result is, I think I've had an epiphany -- and no, I didn't call a doctor. [More...]

Why AT&T May Deep-Discount the iPhone

Sunday - May 4, 2008

The big thing about the next iPhone was supposed to be high-speed Internet access and tools for business. Instead, it's looking like iPhone 2.0 is all about price and that ever-awkward relationship between Apple and AT&T. It appears that AT&T may not be convinced that new bells and whistles will be enough to get droves of new customers to switch from other wireless carriers. [More...]

Psystar Launches First Sally in Mac Clone War

Friday - May 2, 2008

Despite myriad indications to the contrary, Psystar does appear to be an actual company offering a real -- but perhaps not entirely legal -- product. Psystar, of course, is the company that burst onto the national scene with news that it was offering a Mac clone, dubbed the "Open Computer," capable of running the Macintosh OS X Leopard operating system. [More...]

Analyst: 3G iPhone Discount Would Supercharge Sales

Friday - May 2, 2008

Analyst Toni Sacconaghi with Bernstein Research said in a research note on Thursday morning that a $200 subsidy by AT&T for the iPhone could double sales. History has shown that price elasticity for mobile phones is high, he said. Sacconaghi cited the previous experience with Motorola. [More...]

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