SONY posts

Game Developer Research has published its 2009/10 survey of video game developers, and the results are pretty impressive for the still relatively fledgling iPhone platform: The number of developers who are working on mobile games increased by 12 percent, and there are actually twice as many developers working on iPhone games as are working on the Nintendo DS and Sony's PSP handheld consoles.

That's a pretty amazing number, though it's not quite a surprise when you consider it. First of all, Nintendo DS and PSP publishing takes a much larger investment than Apple's $100 developer fee and an SDK download. Second, while the DS and the PSP are certainly selling a lot of games, they're not actually releasing nearly as many as the hundreds of thousands of apps on the App Store. Finally, new DS and PSP games sell for $30 or $40, while new App Store games sell much closer to 99 cents. So the fact that there are lots more people moving to the much more open and accessible platform isn't really that surprising.

No, you didn't click on the wrong link. We haven't changed our name to The Unofficial Audio Weblog. "Why, then, is my beloved Apple-centric site doing a review of a car stereo?!" you're no doubt asking yourself. 'Cause this thing rocks your iPhone like you've never heard before!

Sony was nice enough to send us one of its newest models, the Xplod MEX-BT5700U, which happens to be the company's flagship head unit. With things like iPod integration via the front-mounted USB port and Bluetooth audio streaming, the $299 single-DIN stereo has an interesting mix of features that you'd expect to come at a higher price.

First off, some ground rules. I'm not an audiophile. This isn't going to be a review chock full of decibel ratings or fancy audio terms. While I've had quite a few aftermarket stereos in my time, and I've installed my share of head units, car stereos aren't my living. Instead, I'll be focusing on its interface and various connections to iDevices.

The specs
The Xplod MEX-BT5700U is no slouch when it comes to traditional stereo benchmarks. It outputs 52W per channel without external amplification and has a separate subwoofer out. It'll play nearly any audio source including HD Radio (via an optional kit), satellite radio, CDs (the store-bought pressed ones in addition to CD-Rs and CD-RWs with MP3, AAC, or WMA data files), USB sticks and drives, a CD changer, and of course MP3 players. Oddly enough, there is no Memory Stick slot. (Thank goodness!)

Oh yeah, it even gets AM!

The Daily Deals just keep on coming from our friends at DealNews.com. Even though today is Sunday, you still have time to hit the Internets and pick up some more great deals for all your holiday shopping needs. After all, there are only 25 shopping days until Christmas, so you better get busy.

Here are the deals for today:

MacMall: [Cyber Monday] MacMall 3-Day Apple Cyber Monday Sale: Up to 25% off Apple systems, more after rebate

Staples: [Cyber Monday] Staples Cyber Monday Savings Event available online

Adorama: [Cell Phones] Unlocked Sony Ericsson W350A Walkman Phone for $70 + free shipping

Best Buy: [USB Hard Drives] Seagate Expansion 500GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive for $50 + $6 s&h

Staples: [USB Hard Drives] Seagate Expansion 2TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive for $140 + free shipping

TigerDirect: [Projectors] 3M MPro110 LED Pico Projector for $155 + free shipping

Walmart: [Office Furniture] Orion L-Shaped Desk with Hutch for $89 + $29 s&h

Staples: [22-Inch LCD] Acer 22" 1080p Widescreen LCD Display w/ HDMI for $110 + free shipping

Dell Home: [20" - 22" LCD TVs] Vizio 20" 720p Widescreen LCD HDTV for $165 + free shipping

ZipZoomFly: [USB Drive Enclosures] Thermaltake BlacX eSATA / USB 2.0 Docking Station for $20 after rebate + free shipping

Best Buy: [Plasma TVs] Panasonic Viera TC-P58S1 58" 600Hz 1080p Plasma HDTV for $1,480 + free shipping

6ave: [40" - 42" LCD TVs] LG 42" 120Hz 1080p LCD HDTV w/ NetFlix, YouTube for $788 + free shipping

While some say Apple never wanted the iPhone to be a gaming device, the company knows which way the wind is blowing and wants to get involved. Apple is looking to hire a game and media software engineer for its iPhone and iPod touch team, which could mean it wants to make games of its own.

The job description doesn't say "games" specifically, focusing instead on "interactive multimedia experiences." However, the ad is looking for someone with "3-4 years of video game development experience," someone who has "shipped at least one AAA title," and someone who is a "passionate gamer."

id Software co-founder John Carmack says higher-ups in Apple aren't overjoyed with the growing status of the iPhone and iPod touch as gaming devices. But there's big money in games. Research firm DFC Intelligence sees profits for dedicated game-device makers like Sony and Nintendo shrinking 27% over the next five years, while expecting revenue from games for Apple's handhelds to rise from $46 million last year, to $2.8 billion dollars by 2014. That's a lot of money flowing through Apple, though most of that will go to developers. With over 100,000 apps available in the App Store, only four available today are made by Apple, and only one of those - Texas Hold'em (iTunes link) is a game.

[via Apple Insider]

When Joris Kluivers (@kluivers on Twitter) set out to write his Lyrics app for iPhone, he never intended to personally take on Apple, Sony, and Gracenote. Kluivers, a student at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, was just trying to get his foot in the App Store door, not go toe-to-toe with three media behemoths. The story of how he ended up navigating through the corporate bulwarks to eventually successfully publish his latest release, Lyrics 2 (iTunes Link), with the blessings of all three companies, no less, makes quite the App Store saga.

The initial version of Lyrics was simple. Kluivers collaborated with Moop.me, a programming cooperative, to build his application. Published this past May, Lyrics was the first application on the App Store to allow users to find and display song lyrics. Several other similar applications followed in the weeks after.

Kluivers built the application around the LyricsWiki database. Featuring over 700,000 songs, the wiki provided easy access to a much-desired resource. It was exactly that access to a vast library of songs that caused the first of Kluiver's corporate challenges. Apple insisted on censoring his lyrics.

Read on to learn more about what happened...

Fast Company is reporting that there is a Kindle reader application coming for the Mac. At the Windows 7 launch this week, Microsoft said there is a Windows version of the e-reader on the way, prompting a promise from Amazon that a Mac version was coming as well.

Amazon hasn't released sales figures for the hardware-based Kindle reader, but under pressure from Sony and the new Barnes and Noble 'nook,' Amazon is working hard to increase the share of Kindle users. That means not restricting e-book reading to an Amazon device, but opening up the software to run on more platforms.

Kindle already has a clever e-book reader for the iPhone and iPod touch, and it allows standalone use, or synchronization with a Kindle so you can stop reading on one device and then pick up on the same page on the other.

There's no estimated shipping date for the Mac Kindle software, and we can't forget that if Apple delivers a tablet computer it could put Amazon into direct competition with Apple.

This is bound to be fun to watch.

In a bold report released this week, DFC Intelligence states that if current sales and development trends continue, the iPhone and iPod could surpass both Sony and Nintendo in the fast-growing handheld gaming market in as little as five years.

Now, DFC isn't describing the number of units sold. They expect the Japanese companies to retain that lead. Instead, they expect the iPhone/iPod's growth rate to expand while PSP and DSi sales have plateaued. In other words, DFC predicts that the iPhone and iPod touch will be the only portable gaming devices still seeing significant growth by 2014.

It's interesting because Apple has never paid much attention to gaming... until the most recent press event where they went overboard to promote the iPod touch as a gaming platform. I play games on my iPhone and my original PSP and while it's a different experience, they're both enjoyable.

Of the apps you own, how many are games? If you own either a PSP or a DS plus an iPhone/iPod touch, how would you compare the three platforms?

[Via Electronista]

It's been just over a year since we officially noticed that Apple was pushing towards gaming on the iPod touch, and while their advertising hasn't stopped pushing, the actual push hasn't quite gotten to a shove. If you look at this holiday season, certainly the iPod touch is a popular device, butt kids are still asking for the PSP Go and the Nintendo DSi, handheld units meant specifically for gaming. If Apple wants to trounce gaming the same way they've trounced the smartphone market with the iPhone, they've got a long road to travel.

But don't count them out yet, says analyst Michael Pachter -- he says the iPod touch is the "most dangerous thing that ever happened to the [major video game] publishers, ever." Apple's main handheld gaming device is $200 this Christmas, but he says next year it'll be $149, and the year after that, maybe $129. When, in the future, you can put down $99 and walk away with an iPod touch, says Pachter, then "every nine year old kid is going to have one of those instead of a DS or a PSP, and if you train kids that this is the game that you want to play... How about Tetris? Why would you pay USD 20 for Tetris when you can get it for USD 6.99 or USD 3.99 on iPod touch?"

Interesting point. It's true that console manufacturers have been hesitant to lower prices on their products (in fact, Sony's latest version of the PSP actually had a price increase), while Apple seems committed to pushing the prices on iPods ever cheaper. And yes, as long as companies keep releasing the same games on both devices for $30 on the DS and less than $10 on the App Store (and why shouldn't they -- no packaging, no distribution costs), people will go for the cheaper one. I don't expect to see the iPod touch as a huge winner this year (as a gaming competitor, I mean -- of course it'll sell by the truckloads), but Pachter seems right: wait until the prices drop, and the iPod touch might have traditional gaming devices shaking in their D-pads.

Remember when we said the four largest record companies were working together with Apple to add enhanced liner notes and extra media to full album purchases through the iTunes Store? Well, apparently Apple wasn't in on that cooperation. The Guardian is reporting that the four companies' plans for enhanced full albums were rebuffed by Apple, and they are planning to release their own format in competition with the one to be released in the iTunes Store.

The new file format, called CMX, was created by EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner. It will function quite a bit like a DVD, with a launch page allowing for navigation to the related artwork and video portions of the album. An unnamed label representative is quoted saying that the format was initially presented to an uninterested Apple; now, Apple is releasing a competing format under the code name Cocktail.

The format's tentative launch date is set for November, will be for a small number of titles, and only available in smaller music stores and non-Apple players. It is unclear how Cocktail and CMX will be different, if at all, save for the exclusivity of platforms. Apple is largely said to be following up on the format as a precautionary measure, in case it proves to be immensely popular; as they've said repeatedly, their interest still lies with supporting the more lucrative hardware, rather than trying to profit from full album sales. Still, Apple is stepping up to the format battle, and while not on the scale of Betamax vs. VHS or HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray, this promises to be a pretty decent fight.

[via Electronista]

Digital music purchases have been dominating the market for some time now as physical CD purchases continue to fall. For Apple, a significant lead over the rest of the music proprietor world is not enough: according to the Financial Times, the company is now working together with the four largest record labels in the business to add new features to accompany digital music purchases through its iTunes Store in hopes of stimulating full album purchases.

[The FT also reports, without hedging, that Apple's "media pad" tablet device will ship in time for the holiday shopping season. According to the paper, the long-rumored iPad is intended as a full-featured portable computer and video & music player, like an oversized iPod touch, including wireless data connectivity but no built-in phone functions.]

Apple has formed an alliance with EMI, Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music to bundle whole albums with perks like interactive booklets, digital sleeve notes, and video clips. By doing so, Apple hopes to increase sales of the albums over single track purchases, a sales model that has been immensely popular in the advent of digital music.

The project, codenamed "Cocktail," is intended to recreate the former experience of album-purchasing, where you could browse the liner notes, follow lyrics, and look at the album artwork as the music played. Executives have said that users will even be able to play music straight from the proposed interactive booklets without having to use iTunes. Of course, the main motivation for increasing album sales is to increase profits, as albums have a higher margin than individual songs.

This change is one that should have taken place a long time ago- having to search for lyrics on shady, ad-ridden websites should already be a fading, shudder-inducing memory (though liner notes have been available on some albums, a change across the board has yet to take place). As items like liner notes and photos are possibly the last benefit that physical CDs can offer over digital purchases, this may turn out to be a very serious blow to the CD market. The iTunes Store album add-ons are set to roll out in September.

Sunday night on the Talkcast we were talking about sync apps for mobile devices -- the latest iTunes update blocked the Palm Pre from identifying as an iPod in iTunes, and we were lamenting the fact that Pre users would have to go back to using Palm's app again. Blackberry users are likewise forced to sync with one hand tied behind their backs: the Blackberry Desktop app up until now has only been available for Windows, and users on OS X have been recommended PocketMac for Blackberry, a third-party product. But now RIM has finally announced that they're bringing the Blackberry Desktop app to the Mac -- it'll be available this September, and will offer all of the functionality you'd expect: syncing of calendars, contacts, and notes and tasks, app management, and the usual device updating and so on.

There are screenshots on the official blog, and boy does that thing look like iTunes, all the way down to the sidebar menu, memory usage bar, and even the Music syncing screen. But then again, as we said last night, iTunes is basically the gold standard for syncing apps -- every other proprietary app we've used, from the Palm Desktop app all the way back to the proprietary Sony app I used to use with my old minidisc player, is more or less rubbish. It's great that Crackberry users will finally get to sync directly with their Mac using an official program, but it is funny that that program looks almost exactly like iTunes.

[via Ars]

In today's New York Times, Tim Arango tells a story of a heated conversation between Sony Music's Rolf Schmidt-Holtz and Steve Jobs on Christmas Eve -- one that "ricocheted around the music industry."

Apparently, before the announcement at Macworld, all the labels except Sony had agreed to a new pricing deal. Sony wanted the new pricing to take effect immediately after the announcement, but Jobs wanted a longer rollout. After the phone call, according to the Times, Sony agreed to the longer waiting period.

During this time, Jobs was allegedly on medical leave, recuperating at home from his much-publicized illness. Arango notes that Jobs' point-man on music industry relations, Eddie Cue, and Apple's entire staff "do their best to follow Mr. Jobs's style in their own negotiating." That is to say: Hardball.

Music executives, according to an unnamed source, are afraid of angering Apple, as Apple can single-handedly remove a label's catalog from the iTunes store, angering the label's customers. At the same time, Apple can claim that their hands were tied, the decision wasn't theirs, and that all the ire should be directed at the music industry. Such a thing hasn't happened -- yet -- but the threat is there, and real.

The labels, on the other hand, feel like they brought Apple back from the dead, blessing the company with content.

Even so, David Card of Forrester Research offered an interesting coda to the story: "if it weren't for Apple, God knows how bad the music industry would be," he said.

[Via 9-to-5 Mac.]

Sony announced today it plans to lay off 16,000 workers, close a handful of factories and reduce electronics investment by a third, as their comeback effort falls apart. Sony is both Apple's competitor in the mobile phone market and their partner for computer components, including batteries.

"Five or six" factories will be closed, with only one named so far: Sony Dax Technology Center, in France. Several other factories in Japan will be closed, and one other abroad, according to the IDG News Service.

8,000 full-time employees will be laid off, along with another 8,000 temps and contractors. Those 16,000 people represent about nine percent of their workforce.

Forbes.com's announcement of the layoffs attributed some of Sony's loss of revenue to Apple's dominance in the music player market, a torch Sony once carried.

Sony hopes the moves will save them a billion dollars going into its next fiscal year, which starts in April.

Apple just released an update for RAW camera support for Mac OS X Leopard, Aperture 2, and iPhoto '08. With this new update, the following list of RAW-format cameras are supported:

• Canon EOS 50D
• Nikon D90
• Sony DSLR-A900
• Nikon Coolpix P6000

Apple also notes that this update "addresses issues related to specific cameras and overall stability." You can download this update by opening up Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update) or by downloading the installer package from the Apple Support downloads site.


Thanks for the tip, Tony!

Danny Gorog at APC Magazine has written a really nice analysis of something that's rather strange when you think about it -- why aren't there any high definition DVD drives on Macs yet? It has been asked for by a few folks, but by and large, Apple has pretty much ignored the whole high definition debate. And even now, when we supposedly have a winner in Blu-ray, Apple hasn't pulled the trigger, and consumers, as Gorog notes, haven't even really cared much.

In fact, across the entire PC market there's not a lot of wholehearted support for Blu-ray or any major high definition formats. It's not that DVDs are "good enough" -- HDTVs are selling by the truckloads -- it's more that consumers, apparently, just don't want to settle on another format. And that may be the key to this whole thing -- Apple has a vested interest in selling content, and implementing some other content producer's format into their machines will take away from their best HD content channel yet: iTunes.

And customers, happy to not have to buy yet another permanent format of their favorite movies, may be satisfied with having no next-generation disc format. I, like many users, have already watched tons of HD video without ever having bought a Blu-ray disc. If Apple doesn't need the drives to deliver the same quality content, why should they bother?