The Android fine print: kill switch and other tidbits

An uproar erupted when iPhone users discovered a so-called remote kill switch on their phones - will it spur the same reaction in users of the G1, the first Android phone?

In the Android Market terms of service, Google expressly says that it might remotely remove an application from user phones. "Google may discover a product that violates the developer distribution agreement ... in such an instance, Google retains the right to remotely remove those applications from your device at its sole discretion," the terms, linked to from the phone, read.

That item is one of a few hints of things to come in the "About phone" section of the device, which also alludes to some hitherto unknown people and companies that were instrumental in developing the software.

The G1, the first phone to run the Android software developed by Google, goes on sale 22 October, and many people are getting their first in-depth look at it because T-Mobile has loaned the devices to reporters. The Android Market is the online store accessible from the phone where users can download applications.

Android users might be more receptive to Google's remote kill switch than iPhone users were to Apple's for a couple of reasons. First, Google is being upfront about it. Apple didn't confirm the capability for the iPhone until days after a developer discovered it.

In addition, Google says that if it does remotely remove an application, it will try to get users their money back, a question that iPhone users have wondered about in the case of an iPhone application recall. Google said that it will make "reasonable efforts to recover the purchase price of the product ... from the original developer on your behalf." If Google fails to get the full amount back, it will divide what it gets among affected users.

Google may have more need to use a kill switch than Apple. That's because Apple vets applications before putting them into its Apps Store. Anything goes in Google's Android Market, opening the chances of malicious or otherwise unwanted applications appearing in the market.

The Android Market business and program policies also include an item that says users can return any application for a full refund within 24 hours of the time of purchase. In the absence of a trial version of applications, this offer will let users return an application that might not deliver exactly what they expected.

Android Market users can also reinstall as many times as they wish an application that they buy, another useful feature in case a phone fails.

For now, all applications in the market are free because Google hasn't yet set up the mechanisms to allow developers to offer them for purchase.

People around the world - phone users or not - might also be pleased to learn about this item listed in the Android Market terms of service, in all caps for extra effect: "None of the products are intended for use in the operation of nuclear facilities, life support systems, emergency communications, aircraft navigation or communication systems, air traffic control systems or any other such activities in which case the failure of the products could lead to death, personal injury, or severe physical or environmental damage."

That's not the only bit of levity to be found on the phone. The G1 comes with a text-only scrolling video listing contributors and offering special thanks. After a pause, at the very end, Google assures us that "no robots were harmed in the making of this product."

While the contributors video refers to the Open Handset Alliance - the group of companies backing Android - without naming all the members, it thanks contributors that many industry observers may not have known were involved in the creation of Android.

Andy Missan and Jason von Nieda are the only people called out by name under the special thanks section. According to Missan's website, he has worked as legal counsel for MobiTV, ReplayTV and WebTV. He also worked for Danger, the company recently acquired by Microsoft and founded by Andy Rubin, who later started a mobile software company called Android that Google acquired.

On his site, von Nieda describes himself as a Seattle-based "computer programmer, systems administrator, network engineer and all around good guy."

Other companies listed as contributors or given special thanks include Swedish software technology and design company The Astonishing Tribe; Swiss engineering company Noser Engineering; media player developers Hooked Wireless; Indian consultancy Satyam; mobile software and services providers Core Mobility; and designers Mike and Maaike.

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UK slows down plan for sweeping electronic surveillance

The British government is slowing down a proposal that would give law enforcement sweeping power to collect electronic data as a measure to prevent terrorism.

The proposal, in the Communications Data Bill, would allow the government to collect data on phone calls and other electronic communication. The government planned to put the proposal in Parliament's upcoming legislative agenda, but opted instead on Wednesday to conduct a consultation next year due to concerns about intrusive monitoring of private citizens.

"It's a sensitive issue, and there needs to be a proper public debate," a Home Office spokesman said Thursday.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said on Wednesday the legislation is needed because of the difficulty in collecting evidence against terrorists.

"These are not like other criminal investigations," Smith said during a speech at the Institute for Public Policy Research. Law enforcement "put a very high premium on pre-emptive intelligence because we are trying to stop a criminal act and not investigate one which has already taken place."

Critics contend that allowing the government to create a "super database" that logs e-mails, phone calls and Web sites visits raises privacy concerns as well as potential security problems over how the data would be stored.

Smith denied the government seeks a super database. "There are no plans for an enormous database which will contain the content of your e-mails, the texts that you send or the chats you have on the phone or online."

But collecting data such as the location and identity of someone making a phone call "is vital to fighting terrorism and combating serious crime," she said.

The government has not made a draft of the Communications Data Bill publicly available.

However, it is modeled in part on European Union Directive 2006/24/EC, which requires that communication providers retain a vast array of data including IP (Internet Protocol) address, physical address and user ID used for communications such as e-mail.

The actual content of the communication should not be retained, but data around how it was sent and when should be retained for at least six months and up to two years, the directive says.

The directive was propelled in part by the July 2005 terrorist attacks in London. E.U. countries were required to comply in part with the directive by September 2007, but can delay the Internet access and e-mail monitoring until March 2009.

The Open Rights Group, a nongovernmental group that monitors Internet-related privacy and legal issues, said it supported the government's decision for a consultation.

"Creating this database would drastically alter the relationship between the citizen and the state, handing national security and law enforcement agencies immense power to invade the private lives of ordinary people," wrote Becky Hogge, the group's executive director.

At least one senior Microsoft executive doubts how helpful collecting Internet communications would be for law enforcement. Hackers have a variety of techniques that could undermine a user's PC and make it appear a victim is involved in a scheme when they're not.

E-mails can be spoofed and computers can be infected with malicious software, wrote Jerry Fishenden, Microsoft's U.K. National Technology Officer.

For example, a Web feature called "pre-fetch" lets one Web site command a person's browser to pull up another Web site in the background, a feature that speeds browsing.

But pre-fetch works without the knowledge of a user, Fishenden wrote. A blog entry could trigger a bomb-making Web site to be called up in the background, which would then be logged by the ISP (Internet Service Provider).

"Legitimately you would know nothing about it, but try telling that to someone knocking on your door at four o'clock in the morning waving a printout from the ISP showing you regularly frequent 'known terrorist Web sites'," Fishenden wrote.

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The iPhone application graveyard

There's been controversy over Apple's decisions to reject particular iPhone applications from the App Store, but beyond the few snubbed titles that have attracted publicity, which Apps have actually been turned down (or removed post-acceptance)?

All new website, the iPhone Application Graveyard, aims to be the go-to resource for "remembering the applications that Apple has killed."

The site claims to list every application that Apple has rejected, although the site's maintainer said that it includes only those apps for which the developer has made the rejection public. As of Tuesday, that totals 11 applications, from NetShare, which allegedly violated Apple's agreements with AT&T, to Shaker, which was removed due to a copyright complaint from Tetris Company.

(Macworld has heard from developers that additional apps have been rejected. Some are eventually accepted after changes have been made; others are rejected outright.) For each app, the site lists the app name, developer, release and kill dates, reason for rejection, current status, information source, and a summary of the app's history.

Another site, Finger Gaming, provides a similar page listing games that have been removed, post-approval, for one reason or another--usually an allegation of trademark or copyright infringement. Finger Gaming's Archive for the 'Removed Game' Category currently lists a number of games, including Shaker, Rockfall, Tris, and Flying Rider, that have been removed because of similarities to games such as Tetris, Line Rider, Boulder Dash, and Arkanoid.

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Switching GPUs in new MacBooks requires logout

Apple has published a tech support note detailing how MacBook Pro users can switch between graphics processors - and it's a bit more fiddly than expected.

Introduced last night, these new Macs ship with two GPUs installed. Both from Nvidia, these include the GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor for better battery life and the powerful GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics processor for higher performance.

Users select between higher performance or better battery life in System Preferences>Energy Saver. These systems ship with "battery life" selected as the default option.

MacBook Pro users must then log out and log back into their system for the change to take effect, though they do get the chance to save their files.

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Live update: Apple's notebook event

Apple has invited the media to its Cupertino Campus in San Francsico. The Macworld team is covering the event with Jason Snell writing live commentary as the event gets underway.

The Macworld UK team will be adding its own thoughts and information that is specific to the UK.

9:52 PT: Hello from Cupertino! This is Macworld Editorial Director Jason Snell, reporting to you from the small theater on the main Apple campus on Infinite Loop. Members of the media, analysts, and Apple employees are filing in to this theater, which has been the location of numerous Apple product launches, including the original iPod launch. I'll be providing your live update today, so I'm warming up my typing fingers right now.

And this is Macworld UK's Editor In Chief Mark Hattersley, we are tracking this event here in London where we will be adding a UK perspective including prices and release information. From here on in all times will be in Pacific Time (PT).

9:54 PT: How you know it's not an Apple music event: The music playing is classical. Classical is not my specialty, but it was a solo violin. Now some more... chamber music? "Now I feel like I'm at a wedding," says an Apple employee behind me. Are you ready to rock? I hope not! Are you ready to classical?

9:59 PT: Lights are dimming. We're about to get started

9:59 PT: Steve Jobs on stage. "Good morning!" Black mock turtleneck, blue jeans -- standard attire. "Everybody knows, today's about notebooks, and we've got some exciting new notebooks and we want to tell you the story about how we created these things." But first, "we want to cover the state of the Mac." So Steve introduces Tim Cook to take us through the "state of the Mac."

10:00 PT: Slide of current Mac line. Cook: Last reported quarter, 2.5 million Macs, new company record. "This didn't just start in the last quarter. Several quarters in a row, we've been growing 2-3 times the market growth. Here's why we think this is the case." First, "better computers, far superior" to what's out there. He cites the iMac and the MacBook air.

10:01 PT: Next: Better Software. "Software like Leopard. Virtually everyone agrees that Leopard is far ahead of Vista. And software like iLife, the best digital lifestyle suite on the market, that lets you enjoy photos, and make movies, and make music, all in an integrated package.

10:02 PT: Number 3, compatibility. He cites Boot Camp on every Mac. Shows Windows XP running on iMac. "When I look at this, it sends shivers up my sign. But it works as an insurance policy, whether you use it or not."

10:03 PT: Next up, "something we didn't do -- Vista." Laughter in the audience. "I think it's fair to say that Vista hasn't lived up to everything that Microsoft hoped it would. And consequently, it's opened doors for a lot of people to consider switching to the Mac. And this has given us an opportunity and Apple has been the beneficiary of this."

10:04 PT: Great marketing. "The Mac-PC ad has struck a chord with so many switchers. They tell a story, and people listen." And he plays one of the ads - it's the "you're banished" ad with John Hodgman on a throne.

10:05 PT: "Number six, retail stores. We began our journey in the retail stores just about seven years ago. And today we have 247 stores in 8 countries, and they greet 400,000 visitors each day. And most importantly, still 50% of the Macintoshes they sell are to people that are new to the Mac, making the people underneath the Macintosh tent larger and larger." Shows photos of the new Sydney store and the new Beijing store.

10:06 PT: "And these are the six reasons we'd attribute to the Mac's momentum. But this just didn't begin. If you look at the history, what you would see that the Mac has outgrown the market for 14 of the last 15 quarters. That's almost four years. That's phenomenal."

10:07 PT: "Obviously the unit share is growing. In U.S. retail, we've gone from a single-digit number to now, the Macintosh represents 17.6% of unit sales in U.S. retail. And if you look at revenue share, because we focus on fully-featured systems and we don't compromise on quality, our revenue share is 31.3 percent. That means one out of every three dollars spent on computers in U.S. retail is spent on the Macintosh. What a difference a few years makes."

10:08 PT: "In education, we've surpassed Dell to become the top-selling provider of notebooks, 39 percent. And at a major university, here's what's happened." Shows a slide, starts at 2002 at 15 percent, up to 47 percent in 2008.

10:09 PT: Tim puts up a photo of a lecture hall at a college, and it's almost entirely Mac laptops. "I challenge you to find a PC," he says. The point is, college kids have a choice of laptops and they're choosing Macs.

10:09 PT: New slide: total Mac units sold. Pointing out that in the first three quarters, Apple has already sold as many Macs as they did all last year. "And that's the state of the Mac," Cook says.

10:10 PT: Jobs is back! "With that done, let's talk about notebooks. But before we get started, we want to talk about some technologies and discoveries we've made that help us build notebooks."

10:11 PT: Jonathan Ive on stage. "I'd like to take a few moments to tell you about a real breakthrough we've had in how to design our notebooks. To show you the issues that preoccupy us when we're designing these products." First, he's going to show how they build the current MacBook Pro. "When you're designing a product as thin and light as the MacBook Pro, is making it strong, robust, tortionally rigid. I think you'd be surprised to know that the aluminium enclosure you see makes a small contribution to the structure. The structure is primarily derived from the internal frame. It's made of multiple parts that are then assembled into the bottom case, which is a very thin Aluminium pressing. It's this composite that starts to create a strong system."

10:13 PT: Showing a series of plates on the current model that are welded together to provide more support. And finally, they add a plastic gasket. "That allows us to control the reveal of the junction between the palm rest and the bottom case. We have been looking at a new way of solving these problems, and we've been looking for a better way to build a notebook, and we think we've found it. We had a significant breakthrough that culminated in the design of the MacBook air. There is no way that you could build a product that is as thin, light, and importantly as strong and robust as the MacBook air given the architecture that I just described.

10:14 PT: "We discovered that if we started with a thick piece of aluminium and removed material to make physical features in the structure, we could make a much lighter but much stronger part. So that's how we make the palm rest of the MacBook air." He shows an image of an aluminum extrusion to show how the put it together. They create the "locating features," holes in the metal. Then rough cutting, a "noisy stage" where they remove large amounts of material quickly. Remove holes for key caps, and the trackpad. Then they blast it and anodize it.

10:16 PT: "At each of these distinct stages, we're continually collecting the material, and cleaning it, and recycling it. So we started with a solid slab of aluminium that weighed over 2.5 pounds, and we end with this remarkably precise part that ways less than a quarter of a pound. It's also very strong. That one part forms the structure for the MacBook air. It's the highly precise enclosure that makes the product possible. So this new way of building a notebook that we pioneered here obviously has relevance beyond the MacBook air. And we've been working hard to build new unibody enclosures for new notebooks."

10:17 PT: Jobs is back. "We also have some new graphics for notebooks. Nvidia came to us many months ago and talked to us about an amazing graphics part they wanted to build, that would combine the chipset and an extremely powerful embedded graphics processor, all in one part, for a desktop computer. And we said, 'This is fantastic, but we'd like to use it in a notebook. Can we work together on this?' And we've worked with them and... it's really great. It's the Nvidia GeForce 9400M. It's an amazing chip. It combines the Chipset and GPU on one die. 70 percent of the die area is the GPU. There are 16 parallel graphics cores on it, and they deliver 54 gigaflops of graphics performance. So this thing's a stunner in performance. And in our tests we've found it's up to five times faster than integrated graphics." Slide showing performance: 2.8x in World of Warcraft, up to 6.2X for Call of Duty.

10:19 PT: Showing 55 percent performance versus the 8600M GT in the current MacBook Pro, and for general performance it's up at 86 percent.

10:20 PT: "We've got a new trackpad for notebooks. It's a gorgeous, large, multitouch glass trackpad for notebooks. It's 39 percent larger tracking area than before, it's multi-touch for gestures, it's glass for silky-smooth travel. And we've optimized the coefficient of friction on the glass, so it's really beautiful. And the entire trackpad is the button. It gives you more area on the trackpad and keeps you from hunting for that button. You can get multi-button support from software. And we've added some new four-finger gestures that are really nice."

10:21 PT: Steve is recapping the gestures from the prior models, one-fingure ones, two-finger spreads and pinches and rotations, and three-finger slides forward and back. And now the new four-finger gesture, sliding four fingers up for Expose activation, and sliding to the side to bring up the app switcher, then one finger to move between the apps in the app switcher.

10:22 PT: "Today we're introducing our new MacBook Pro. Our current MacBook Pro is the best in class in the industry, and today we're going to replace it with this. And it's gorgeous. Full glass, instant on LED displays, you can see how thin the display is. All the connectors on [the left] side." Black front like an iMac. "Precision aluminum unibody enclosure, LED display, next generation graphics, a multi-touch glass trackpad, a mini displauy port connector -- we're putting that on all our systems -- and environmentally responsible." Also the usual stuff, like backlit keyboards, magnetic latch, motion sensor, speakers, iSight and microphone.

10:24 PT: "The unibody saves us half the parts from the old model. So we're really happy about this, and I'd like you to see it." He's going to pass around the unibody part.

10:27 PT: Lights are back down now. We've seen it and touched it. Very light, very finely detailed part, all in one piece.

10:27 PT: GeForce 9400M built into the MacBook Pro. "But even that wasn't the best we could do. We've added the GeForce 9600M Gt. State of the art for mobile graphics. 32 parallel graphics cores, 125 gigaflops. And we've included both of them in the new MacBook pro." Graphic showing the both connected. "With the 9400M, you get 5 hours of battery life, with the 9600M GT you get four hours of battery life. You choose."

10:29 PT: Slot-load superdrive on right side. Left side, MagSafe, Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800, dual USB 2 connectors, Mini Display Port. "This is what we're going to for all video out for all of our products." Audio in and out, both analog and optical digital, an ExpressCard 34 slot, and the battery indicator is on the side "so you don't have to turn your product upside-down."

10:30 PT: "We can do everything [the DVI port] can do, and at a fraction of its size. We're building it to everything we make. It's going to be the first MacBook Pro with a Solid-State Drive option. And you can acess the drive and the battery from a door on the bottom." Full accessibility to the battery and drive from that lower bay!

10:31 PT: .95 inches - "This is our thinnest MacBook Pro ever. And it's going to come in two models." First one: $1999 (1,399), 15.4-inch LED-backlit display. 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 3MB L2. 2GB 1066 MGhz DDR 3 memory. Both Nvidia cards. 250GB hard drive. Slot-loading SuperDrive. $1999 (1,749).

10:32 PT: $2499 config: 2.53GHz processor, 6MB L2, 4GB of memory, 512MB on the 9600M Gt, 320GB hard drive. Upgrades: 2.8GHz, 4GB mem, SSD, and more. "Shipping today. They should hit stores starting tomorrow."

10:32 PT: "As you know, we have a major push here to make our products more environmentally friendly, and that involves leaving out toxic chemicals. Here's our environmental checklist." Arsenic-free glass, BFR free, Mercury-free, PVC-free, highly recyclable, and 37% smaller packaging.

10:33 PT: And for the first time for the MacBook Pro, we've wone an EPEAT Gold rating from the EPA.

10:34 PT: Now, "we'd like to update the MacBook Air." So first up, graphics. Putting the GeForce 9400M inside the MacBook air. 4x faster graphics. New Air: 120GB hard drive in, and 128GB SSD option on the Air as well. "In addition to that, we're putting in a mini display port, so you can drive all our new displays." $1799 (1,299), GeForce 9400M, 1.6GHz processor, 2GB of 1066MHz RAM, 120GB drive. Second model, $2499 (1,799), 1.86GHz, 128GB SSD. Available early November.

10:35 PT: New 24-inch LED Cinema Display. "It's gorgeous. Really, really nice. Thin." Looks like an iMac. One cable for AC, other cable has MacSafe - power your notebook! - USB, and Mini Display Port. "Just plug this into your MacBook Pro and you're all set. No extra cables, power supplies, nothing." 24-inch LED-backlit display, 19200x1200 pixel resolution, built-in iSight camera * mic, built-in stereo speakers, plus the connectors, and a three-port USB 2.0 hub. Available in November.

10:37 PT: "But there is one more thing. And of course, it's the MacBook. The MacBook is an amazing product. It's the best-selling Mac ever. We sell a ton of these MacBooks, and people love them. They are one of the best products in the industry. We're going to reduce the entry price today from $1099 to $999 [the price has gone up by 20 to 719 in the UK - Macworld UK], make 'em a little more affordable. And I think we're going to sell them for a long time. But we've heard from a lot of MacBook customers, and the top three things they'd like are: a metal enclosure. They lust after the MacBook Pro's metal enclosure. Faster graphics -- they want to play games, they're doing a lot of intense graphics applications. And a lot want LED backlit displays, for instant-on. And we figured out a way to bring these to the MacBook line. And so we are introducing a new generation of MacBook, on top of our white plastic MacBook, and here it is. It's an all new MacBook."

10:39 PT: Corner-to-corner glass (black background like the iMac). Precision aluminum unibody enclosure, LED display, next-gen graphics, multi-touch glass trackpad, Mini Display Port connector, and environmentally responsible.

10:40 PT: "Eliminates more than 60% of the parts, and it's much stronger." Claims 5x graphics performance over previous MacBooks. 5 hours of battery life. Environmental checklist slide comes out again. Arsenic free, BFR free, mercury free, highly recyclable, and packaging is 42% smaller, and EPEAT Gold certification.

10:41 PT: Yesterday these features cost $1999 for a MacBook Pro. Starting today, you can get them for just $1299 (949). Two models: $1299 (949): 13.3" display, 2GHz Core 2 Duo / 3MB L2 cache, 2GB 1066MHz DDR 3 memory, GeForce 9400M, 160GB hard drive, slot-loading SuperDrive. "This is a beautiful machine." Second model, $1599 (1,149). 2.4GHz processor, 250GB hard drive, and a backlit keyboard - first for the MacBook! Upgrades: more memory, 320GB drive, 128GB SSD, and video adapters, including dual DVI.

10:43 PT: Summing up now. "We're building both in a whole new way. From a slab of aluminum to a notebook. New graphics. New trackpad, the best we've ever built. And LED-backlit displays that are far brighter, instant on, far more environmentally responsible." And once again he points out the MacBook now has MacBook Pro features but costs $700 less.

10:44 PT: Roll the video! Jony Ive talking about the design. Coldplay playing in the background -- there we go, now we're ready to rock.

10:46 PT: Dan Riccio, VP of Product Design, now in the video. Showing the factory. It's not every day that Apple details parts of their actual product-building process. They are obviously proud of this system and also see how it's a good way to explain why these new models are different. Pretty clever, and good marketing, but it's also cool to see Apple lift the veil and actually talk about what they're building in their factories, how, and why.

10:47 PT: Bob Mansfield, Senior Vice President, Mac Hardware, is now on the video, talking about the hardware design and the story about all the parts.

10:49 PT: A little more detail on the trackpad from the video - it's a physical press, not like the current models, where you lift up and tap. You can press while your finger is down, because it actually presses down when you push.

10:52 PT: It's Q&A with Steve Jobs, Phil Schiller, and Tim Cook! But first, "we can't answer any questions about the current quarter," because the earnings report is October 21. (Tune in to Macworld for coverage of that.) Jobs: "Second, 110/70, this is my blood pressure. This is all we're going to talk about Steve's health today. If you want to see it go higher, ask him more questions about it." Lights are up and let the questions about Intel stickers begin!

10:53 PT: Question about the Nvidia chip. Jobs: "We helped them, and we're first to take it to market, and maybe the only, but that's up to them."

10:54 PT: Jobs talking about that DisplayPort is better for the computer industry rather than HDMI, which is for more entertainment uses. BluRay? "BluRay is a bag of hurt," Jobs says. "The licensing of the technology is so complex that we're just waiting until things settle down and waiting until BluRay really takes off in the marketplace before we burden our customers with the cost of the licensing and the drives."

10:57 PT: 17" MBP is still available, being refreshed today, but won't get the new features yet apparently. (That was my question. Thank you, thank you very much.)

10:57 PT: Jobs says he thinks "a refresh cycle" will happen with both the Pro and MacBook models. That's code. Let me decode it for you: Jobs thinks they're gonna sell a lot of these laptops.

10:59 PT: Tim Cook on the new production process. "We put a lot of energy to lower the price by $700 and put the features in that people have been asking for." Jobs points out that as you learn and grow, prices drop over time. Cook points out that MacBook volumes will help drive down the production price.

11:02 PT:And that's it! We've been excused and are going next door to view the new systems up close and personal. Stay tuned for much more today and in the weeks to come at Macworld.com.

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Apple COO Cook explains Mac market advantage

Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook today confirmed Apple continues to exceed industry growth in laptop sales.

"This didn't just start in the last quarter," he said. "Several quarters in a row, we've been growing two to three times the market growth."

Cook continued to explain the main causes: better computers; better software and the market disinterest in Vista.

"I think it's fair to say that Vista hasn't lived up to everything that Microsoft hoped it would," he said. "And consequently, it's opened doors for a lot of people to consider switching to the Mac. And this has given us an opportunity and Apple has been the beneficiary of this."

Apple's retail stores are also attracting new customers, Cook explained, stressing that 50 per cent of Macs sold go to users new to the platform. Compatibility through support of standards and Boot Camp and "better marketing" also boost Mac success, he added.

"The Mac has outgrown the market for 14 of the last 15 quarters. That's almost four years. That's phenomenal," Cook added, pointing out that Mac sales now account for 17.6 per cent of computers sold at US retail.

"One out of every three dollars spent on computers in U.S. retail is spent on the Mac," he added.

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Apple empowers Malaysian music production

Malaysia's International College of Music (ICOM) said its use of a mobile computing solution, powered by Apple, has given its students significant creative and technical freedom.

According to ICOM course leader, Nilesh Thomas, the idea behind its m-Mobility program, which includes the use of Apple MacBook Pro notebooks and Logic Studio, was to put studio facilities into a mobile box that met the demands for serious music production.

"ICOM has been using Logic and Digidesign workstations for a long time and it was decided that we were not going to look into any other workstations," said Thomas. "So, whatever computing solution we were to adopt must completely support these applications."

Thomas said that ICOM students receive an m-Mobility system during the first semester of college, and various components were added as they progress through the course. To date, Apple has delivered over 150 units of MacBook Pro and Logic Studio software. Prior to the m-Mobility programme, the PowerMacs and iMacs were already implemented and used in ICOM's recording studios and various technology labs.

Technology has dramatically changed music

"Modern technology has dramatically changed the way the music and entertainment industry functioned in the mid 90's and there was no looking back," said Thomas. "Many sceptics predicted that digital audio will never take off, but today we know that it has taken the industry to greater heights."

Thomas explained that after detailed testing, the power of Apple's hardware and operating system - OS X - proved a useful tool for the process of creating music.

"Since the introduction of the computer into recording studios, it is evident that audio and music technology are in tune with the trends of the digital world," he said. "It was inevitable and irreversible, plus the ever decreasing gap between the desktops and portables in term of computing power, gave us the hint to make radical changes in the way we taught music and audio technology."

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