News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority

iTunes reaches 10 billion song milestone

The iTunes Store reached a historical milestone today when the ten billionth song (you read it correctly—that's ten followed by nine zeroes) was downloaded by an as-of-yet unnamed—but soon to be very lucky—person.

Marco Tabini | Feb 25, 2010

Apple announces MacBook hard drive repair program

A “small percentage” of MacBook owners whose hard drives fail will be eligible for a free replacement under a warranty extension announced by Apple this week.

Marco Tabini | Feb 18, 2010

Analyst: Amazon's e-book market share could plummet

Sorry, Amazon, we have some bad news for you. Pressure from new entrants could cause Amazon’s share of the e-book market to drop from its current 90-percent mark to 15 percent, says one analyst. According to a Wall Street Journal article, a report by Credit Suisse’s Spencer Wang singles out the iPad as a major contributor to Amazon’s woes. Wang cites the agency-style business model that Apple intends to offer to publishers—which diverges considerably from Amazon’s approach of imposing a strict pricing structure on the electronic books it sells through its online Kindle store—as a major factor in his research.

Marco Tabini | Feb 17, 2010

Are publishers finding iBookstore terms hard to swallow?

Magazine and newspaper publishers are reportedly encountering difficulties in negotiating with Apple to bring their periodicals to the iBookstore, which Steve Jobs unveiled alongside the iPad last month.

Marco Tabini | Feb 17, 2010

iPad interest waning? So says one survey

According to a survey published by online shopping comparison site Retrevo, users have lost interest in the iPad since Apple announced the new device last month. However, as Retrevo's past surveys have shown, statistics can be massaged to say pretty much anything

Marco Tabini | Feb 9, 2010

Apple countersues Nokia over 13 patents

Apple announced on Friday that it is countersuing Nokia in yet another ongoing patent dispute.

Marco Tabini | Dec 14, 2009

Apple ordered to pay damages in chip optimisation patent case

Apple has been ordered to pay over $US21.5 million ($A23m) in damages to Opti, according to a press release (PDF link) published on the latter company’s website.

Marco Tabini | Dec 9, 2009