Are you sitting down for this one? Good. Here goes: Apple is going to keep taking market share from "traditional PCs." I know, it's a real shocker. But so says Zacks Investment Research (which is not, apparently, run by a dude named Zack as you'd think). They say that consumers are enjoying Apple's innovations, and that a strong product line lead by the iPod, iPhone, and the MacBook Air will continue to increase Apple's business and give them a bigger piece of the personal computing pie. Who knew?

But Zacks isn't jumping into anything -- they still say that the iPod line will slow down over the next few years, so they're going "hold" with AAPL. Still, it's a good thing they told us about that marketshare thing. Without analysts like these, we'd have no idea what we're buying lately.

[via MacBytes]

We've been talking a lot about Apple's remarkably strong 4th quarter results here on TUAW, but with the recent gains Apple passed an important milestone. Apple has a larger market capitalization than IBM, meaning simply that Apple is now the most valuable computer hardware maker in the world. Let me say that again: Apple is, as of this writing, trading above $185 per share giving it a market cap of $161b, compared to IBM at $153b, HP at $133b and Dell at a measly $65b. When you put it that way it seems almost preposterous, but the numbers are what they are. Of course, all the standard provisos about market cap apply, but nonetheless I'm sure they're savoring this in Cupertino.

According to the Dow Jones Marketwatch, apparently Apple's earnings last quarter are going to be much higher thanks to something called the iPhone. You probably haven't heard much about this device, but our sources tell us it's some sort of hybrid between a Personal Digital Assistant and one of those phones you can use in your car.

Investors are cooing about the tiny "iPhone", because even though it only appeared on Apple's quarterly cycle for two days, the estimated 500,000 units sold in the first weekend will probably be listed as at least partly responsible for the 34% rise in AAPL's profits. The iPod didn't do too badly either-- everyone's expecting Apple to announce that around 10 million iPods were sold last quarter also.

And not surprisingly, bigger things are on the way-- one analyst says "the iPhone will have an even stronger halo effect than the iPod on Macintosh's market share." If two days of the iPhone can do this much, how big will AAPL get with a whole quarter of the gadget?

Since the iPhone's introduction in January, the requests and baiting rumors for a touch-screen iPod that looks and acts like an iPhone - sans the actual phone - have sounded from every corner of the web. The world is inarguably intrigued by this new UI Apple developed for their highly anticipated gadget, and many are waiting with bated breath and credit card in hand, believing the iPod will naturally gain these touchy-feely features any day now. The only problem is: there's no way in Cupertino that's going to happen. At least, not anytime soon.

Put yourself in Apple's shoes: you've just smashed one out of the park with the iPod. You spent a few years working on it, polishing it, developing generation after generation of updates that instantly make the previous version look old 'n busted. After a slow start, you eventually take the DMP (Digital Media Player) market by storm, beating out a few major companies at their own game. Six years and a ton of 3rd party accessories later, you are the king of this particular domain, with what appears to be nary a formidable challenger in sight.

Next: imagine that, after introducing the iPod and giving it that nudge it needed to skyrocket in popularity, you embark on another project, spending at least four and a half years developing a killer mobile phone + DMP + internet device the likes the world has never seen. A gadget so cool and anticipated that it is not only shaking up the mobile phone market, but it single-handedly drowns out the entirety of CES during the week of its introduction. A key factor here, oh reader who is momentarily in Apple's shoes, is that the mobile phone market currently speaks in the mouth-watering language of 'billions,' while Apple's iPod sales - impressive as they may be - are playing in the kiddie pool at 'millions.' Whether you want a mobile phone packed into your iPod or not, you can't ignore the fact that the mobile phone market makes iPod sales look like the Zune's on a good day.

I don't give predictions of market analysts too much serious thought, mostly because the statistics don't really mean much other than to hype up a particular product. Or maybe these analysts just like to be able to say 'told ya so' if their predictions become true. Anyway, one Deutsche Bank analyst claims that the Apple TV can potentially capture 20-30% of the CD and DVD market within a few years after its launch this month. Not to be a naysayer or anything, but that is a huge percentage that seems way too optimistic to be taken seriously. There are a ton of factors at play here. (Oh, and let's not forget that only Disney, Paramount, and Lions Gate are on board to sell films through iTunes... and as far as I know, there are a couple more movie studios out there than just these three).

What do you think? Will the Apple TV cause that big of a shakeup in the home entertainment market once it lands? Will it appeal only to fervent Apple fans? What about those people that can barely operate the remote control of their DVD player, never mind tackling the prospect of downloading and transferring digital videos? Any thoughts?

Techcrunch's Michael Arrington has penned an interesting piece on why the upcoming .Mac webmail revamp is so important. Be sure to check it out, but in summary: Michael believes the combination of a killer AJAX-infused webmail service that both allows users to manage multiple accounts and syncs with a desktop client will give Apple a significant advantage and appeal over competing email services. Now, putting aside the fact that Gmail allows you to transparently send and receive email from non-Gmail addresses, I agree with Michael and I'm pretty darn excited about the first .Mac webmail revamp since the stone ages. However, I think he's missing a major point that many others overlook when discussing, praising or damning .Mac: it isn't webmail.

Or to be more specific: it isn't just webmail. Michael compares .Mac webmail to competing offerings from Google and Yahoo! - individual and free webmail services that can integrate with other offerings from their respective providers - or not. Google has their news, RSS reader (which just had a killer overhaul, by the way) and countless other sister products, just like Yahoo! has their own tool belt of web services. But the crucial fact here is that .Mac webmail is an unconditional component of a suite of products for which users have to pay a hefty yearly fee. You can't get .Mac webmail by itself, let alone for free, and while everyone is excited about the UI revamp (well, almost everyone), the mounting orchestra of criticism against .Mac still stands. The service overall, especially webmail, is sorely missing fundamental features that competing services have had for years, and our own Dave Caolo nailed one of the most significant on the head in his eulogy for .Mac: server side spam filtering. .Mac doesn't feature it, but it's become a standard (as in: four-wheels-on-a-car standard) with virtually any other service, webmail, POP or otherwise.

[Update: A reader named 'random' pointed out that .Mac apparently does feature server-side spam filtering, courtesy of Brightmail, as outlined in this support doc. While this is nice, it doesn't seem to work well (especially compared to the likes of Gmail and Yahoo!), and it doesn't allow users to adjust its sensitivity or peruse server-specified messages as spam in case some legitimate messages are being inaccurately marked. In other words: it's terrible.]

Stepping back from fundamentals and specifics, however, I think Michael is placing a little too much hope in this .Mac webmail upgrade. I highly doubt it will rake in the new users, even with the unique abilities Michael hails. At best, I think it will serve as a very welcomed upgrade that could convince a good portion of existing users to go the 'eh, ok fine I'll renew' route for just one more year. Don't get me wrong: as a member myself, I'm welcoming the upgrade and I was planning on renewing in a month before I knew about the webmail refresh. I just don't believe an update to one (admittedly major) part of .Mac will hold that much weight with those who aren't interested in the entire retail package, especially when competing services can stack up pretty well for the general user, and keep $99 their pocket to boot.

eMusic, a seemingly small-time digital music service that sells DRM-free MP3s of independent artists, has quietly overtaken other big name rivals such as RealNetworks, Yahoo! and even Napster for the #2 spot in digital music sales. The company attributes its success largely in part to the iPod's widespread popularity and the fact that MP3s play just fine on it, but also says "the consumer confusion over interoperable formats gives us a great advantage". In other words: the tower of babel that is the digital download industry has opened the door for a service that speaks everyone's language to snag the second largest piece of the pie. While not everyone is happy with 2nd place, eMusic seems to be enjoying their 11% of the industry, right after the iTMS at 67%, but way ahead of Real Rhapsody with 4%, Napster - 4% and MSN Music - 3% (data according to NPD Group).

[via iLounge]

Safari's market share has been slowly climbing the charts over the last couple of years, and depending on which statistics you google, it has now reached an all-time high of 3.19%, up from 1.93% from June 2005. MacNN interestingly points out that, in a way, this statistic could also be viewed as a (very unofficial) barometer for general Mac usage, since Safari is one of the few Mac-only browsers (though I bet many Mac users ride the Firefox wave as well).

Either way, this should be great news for Safari-using web surfers and web designers alike, as the so-called web design 'standards' have yet another browser to get customized and tweaked for.

Inside Mac Games has a nice roundup of reactions from various Mac OS X game developers on the news of Boot Camp. Reactions on the whole are positive concerning the opportunities that Boot Camp offers, and speculation from the likes of Aspyr, MacSoft, Freeverse and Ambrosia are hopeful that this will help boost the Mac gaming platform even faster.

Check out the roundup, as there are some great comments from individuals at these companies that touch on where they think the market is headed, and what we can expect in the not-too-distant future of Mac gaming.

Napster's CEO, Chris Gorog, has pointed a finger at Microsoft for the dominance of the iTunes iPod combination in the digital music market. The frustrated CEO is upset with Microsoft's DRM technology and its relationship with hardware manufacturers, commenting on what many feel is the root of iPod competitors'  problem: “It’s a lot more complex to get organized properly than it is to build one device and one service as Apple has done." While the debate surrounding whether Apple should license their iTunes DRM or open iPod hardware platform has many layers, there is certainly something to be said with how solid Apple is able to build this platform simply because they manage it from start to finish.

Check out the rest of the Reuters article for interviews from both Napster and Real on the state of the digital music market, as well as a humorous prediction from Gorog: "Ultimately, the consumer electronics giants ... are all going to come to this Windows Media party," he said. "This is really going to be the ubiquitous format."

[via iLounge]

MacDailyNews is reporting that, just yesterday, Apple's market worth (price of shares multiplied by number of shares outstanding) has hit $72,132,428,843, surpassing Dell's $71,970,702,760. This sounds like quite the feat for a computer company that has only ~6% of the market.

Nice work Jobs, Ive and company. Just don't let it go to your heads. The day you start cranking out $300 Macs with underpowered power supplies and a whole bunch of "sign up now!" spyware pre-installed is the day you'll have a revolt on your hands.

There are a number of articles cropping up lately proposing that, due to the success of the iPod, Apple will move away from producing Macs in '06 and either release OS X truly into the wild or simply shelve it to collect dust through the ages.

First off, I refuse to link to any of these preposterous articles, as there is no way I am directly contributing to their ad impressions. Second, it's the holidays, so I'm going to try and be nice: I couldn't think of a more ridiculous, unfounded or illogical thing to say about Apple at a time like this (yea, that's me being *nice*).

Yes the iPod is wildly successful. Woohoo. While Macs don't make nearly as big news as iPods, nor do they look half as cool dangling from someone's neck, the Mac's market share in the US is up to 6.6% - almost double what I heard it was a couple of years ago. Sure, 6.6% is pocket change to the rest of the industry, but that has to be big, big bucks in Apple's pockets. Further, with Apple promising a full transition to Intel-based Macs over the next two years, there's even less of a possibility that any of this "Macs are disappearing" silliness could make a shred of sense.

So please, rational TUAW readers: don't fire up your Google searches for "Macs are disappearing," and don't click on those RSS headlines. Sit back, relax over the holidays, and relish in the fact that our favorite computer maker is finally enjoying some much-deserved success.

The Mp3 market has experience an almost 200% increase in sales over 2003, according to research firm In-Stat. 27.8 million MP3 players were sold in 2004, and In-Stat projects that 104 million units will be selling annually by 2009.

That's a lot of Mp3 players, and Apple leads the market with the iPod holding on to a 30.2% share of the worldwide market. I can remember when the iPod was first launched, my reaction was something like, "It's an Mp3 player. Big deal." That shows what I know. Staying on top takes effort, and I'm itching for new Apple hardware, which leads me to the question: What do I want in the next generation of the iPod? Well, a "podcast" menu item would be nice, and seems to make sense considering the podcast feature that will be a part of the next release of iTunes. Greater storage capacity is always a good idea, and a color screen across the board would be nice as well. Of course, I still want to see the option to jump directly to an album from shuffle mode that I've discussed before. What would you like to see?