Apple

Apple Computer Inc.'s chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, captivated an audience of thousands at San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center yesterday as he unveiled Apple's newest products at the company's annual Macworld trade show. But this year's show-and-tell is more keenly anticipated than most. Some industry-watchers think the appearance could be Jobs' last as Apple struggles to deal with the backdating of stock options. Apple stock rose nearly 5 percent last month after the board issued a report from a panel led by former Vice President Al Gore that concluded Jobs had broken no laws.

DALLAS -- A new year can mean many things, but to Macintosh enthusiasts, it means one very special thing - Macworld. The yearly gathering of Macintosh users and vendors and a visit from Apple chief executive Steve Jobs are just around the corner. A Steve Jobs Macworld keynote address is the one time during the year when we can count on Apple Computer Inc. unveiling new products. Apple has a reputation of keeping new product releases close to the vest. This only serves as kindling to the rumor-fires that start around the first of December.

Apple Inc.'s former finance chief warned Chief Executive Officer Steven P. Jobs that the company may need to take a charge for stock options grants, an assertion that might undermine an internal probe that exonerated Jobs. Former Chief Financial Officer Fred D. Anderson said he told Jobs in January 2001 that Apple would have to account for grants to key executives if they weren't dated to coincide with the board's approval for the awards, according to a statement issued yesterday by Anderson's lawyer, Jerome C. Roth.

I am uncertain about my Apple Inc. shares because, after some tremendous past increases, they seem to have slowed. I want to know if I should worry. - R.C., via the Internet What's in a name? There's plenty at this master seller of consumer technology: "Computer" has been dropped from its name to indicate its broader scope. It has resolved a dispute with Beatles' guardian Apple Corps Ltd. and is assured ownership of the Apple name and logo. A trademark agreement was reached so the "iPhone" name can be used by both Apple and Cisco Systems Inc. Apple's new product combining music and video-playing with wireless phone can therefore co-exist worldwide with the Cisco handset for Internet phone calls.

AppleWorks 6, Apple's veteran production suite, has been officially declared "end of life." Its page on Apple's Web site now redirects visitors to the iWork suite page. Though not surprising in view of the recent addition of the Numbers spreadsheet to iWork, it nevertheless brings a bittersweet end to a legendary program. Introduced as ClarisWorks in 1991, the software offered an early Mac alternative to Microsoft's offerings. ClarisWorks differed from most other productivity suites in that it combined six programs - word processing, database, spreadsheet, drawing, painting and a terminal program for communications (later replaced by a presentation program)

SIXTEEN YEARS AGO, Lisa Anne Portera started Lisa Anne's Decadent Gifts featuring a large Granny Smith apple drenched in caramel, chocolate and toffee. She has since created other sweet treats, which she sells out of her store at 2121 N. Charles St. and online at theapplelady. com. This time of year, it's a bit crazy, says Portera, who tries to greet her regular customers and still oversee the production of the hand-dipped apples. Every year, Portera offers new holiday flavors. This year, they are Hot Chocolate Apple and Cinnamon Praline Pecan Apple.

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Calling it a milestone in digital music, Apple Inc. for the first time sold songs yesterday that can be freely copied or played on any number of devices. Apple's launch of a new version of its online music store, called iTunes Plus, marks the first time a major record label has removed digital rights management, or DRM, software protections on downloadable music. Apple and EMI Group - whose artists include the Rolling Stones, Coldplay, Norah Jones and Frank Sinatra - announced in April that they were working on dropping DRM while at the same time improving the quality of recordings.

While shopping at Target over the weekend, I was able, fortunately, to prevent what could have been a Christmas morning tragedy. In addition to shopping for my daughter - whose birthday falls exactly one week before Christmas - I was doing my part to enhance Apple's December quarter results by purchasing an iPod Nano for that special someone in my life. While I was in the iPod aisle, a middle-aged woman came by and, seeing the display for the rival Zune directly across from the iPods, declared, "There's the iPods!"

Apple Inc. Shares climbed $4.94 to $132.51 after the Financial Times reported that Apple has nabbed a revenue-sharing deal with three European cell phone operators who want to exclusively sell the iPhone.

Chris Hazelton, a senior analyst of mobile device and technology trends at IDC, speculated in a Computerworld Web article that if the early buyers of the iPhone don't like it, the negative chatter will rapidly torpedo the device. Hazelton went on to make this show-stopping statement: "It's a complicated phone, basically a computer, and like computers, like Macs, it may crash, maybe a lot." Then the Computerworld story paraphrases Hazelton's theory that reports of the crashing iPhones will turn it into "another Newton," Apple's ultimately unsuccessful personal digital assistant device.

The Empire strikes back - in a good way. In 2000, the giant E&J Gallo Winery lost a trademark infringement suit it brought against Bridlewood. So it turned around and bought its tiny rival. Good move. This chardonnay is far above the norm in this price range. It's finely balanced, with a crisp acidity and a light touch with oak. The flavors are what you'd expect with chardonnay - apple, lemon and nuts - but with an uncommon clarity and energy. 2007 Bridlewood Chardonnay From: Monterey County, Calif.

Ira H. Apple, a veteran broadcasting manager who later became an industry consultant, died of a brain aneurysm Aug. 11 at Seasons Hospice at Northwest Hospital Center. The Reisterstown resident was 74. Mr. Apple, the son of a furniture salesman and a homemaker, was born in Pittsburgh and raised in Kittanning, Pa., where he graduated from high school. He began his radio career in the late 1940s when he signed a small Kittanning radio station on the air before attending high school, and then returned after school to sign off the daytime-only station.

City ad agency merges with digital company Baltimore-based advertising firm Azzam Jordan Inc. said it has merged with Tri-Media Integrated Marketing Technologies Inc., a digital marketing company that designs Web-based marketing projects. Azzam Jordan, which has Snyder's of Hanover, BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport and WJZ-TV among its clients, will provide creative and media services to Tri-Media's network of North American advertising agencies. Azzam Jordan's clients will have access to Tri-Media's online capabilities.

In recent years, Apple has been a lifeboat for popular music. While sales of CDs plunged, music stores closed and recording companies failed, Apple sold millions of iPod personal music players. The Apple iTunes store became the largest music outlet in the United States, selling countless cuts at 99 cents apiece via the Internet. Now, Apple is ushering in another music revolution that reflects a larger transformation of the music world. Many iPod owners have long been frustrated by their inability to copy iTunes music tracks into formats that can be played on other machines.

After fighting with record labels over its everything-for-99-cents stance, Apple said yesterday that it would start offering different songs at different prices. Apple is the No. 1 music seller in the nation, so the fact that finally it is doing what capitalists everywhere always have done - charge more for, say, a hot new Lil Wayne track and less for an old tune by Yanni - is sure to ripple through the music industry and could give consumers more reasons to buy digital downloads. In the new iTunes pricing system, songs will cost either 69 cents, 99 cents or $1.29 each.

With a flick of his wrist, David Garcia plucked an apple off a high branch and gently laid it in his shoulder-slung picking bag. Then he plucked another yellow-green orb, then another and another, often using both wrists while teetering on a tall ladder. As he climbed down the rungs, his bag grew fuller until it held some 45 pounds of fruit. Above him, a gray quilt of clouds blanketed the hilly contours of north-central Maryland. The leafy branches swayed in the breeze. Prime picking weather, thought Garcia.

I haven't noticed any problems with my MobileMe e-mail account, which switched over from .Mac July 11, but many others have. Apple's MobileMe Mail discussion forum is loaded with threads started by angry customers who couldn't use their me.com e-mail accounts for days. One reader posted a transcript of a tech support chat to my blog entry last week on Apple's inexcusably poor preparation for the combined iPhone 3G/MobileMe launch. I thought the conversation revealing enough that it deserved its own entry.

When several Apple bloggers called attention to Steven P. Jobs' gaunt appearance at the recent WWDC keynote, we were reminded of a fact that few wish to face: Steve Jobs will not head Apple forever. Some speculated that Jobs could be suffering a relapse of the pancreatic cancer for which he had surgery in 2004. An Apple spokeswoman gave The Wall Street Journal the explanation that Jobs merely had a "common bug" and was taking antibiotics. The story percolated on Apple-related blogs as well as financial blogs, contributing to a 7 percent drop in Apple's stock.

Some of the iPhone's biggest fans - tech bloggers, mostly - had a lot to say about the new iPhone's shortcomings after Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled it at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Despite the much-desired addition of faster 3G network capabilities, GPS and a $200 price cut, astute iPhone watchers zeroed in on several improvements that they expected but did not get, such as a better camera, multimedia messaging and greater storage capacity. These folks make some valid points.

SAN FRANCISCO - Taking huge steps to expand its cell phone business, Apple Inc. is introducing a faster version of its industry-changing iPhone, revamping its software to add more features for business users - and substantially slashing prices. When it hits the stores July 11, the 8-gigabyte version of Apple's new 3G (third-generation cellular) iPhone will start at $199, about a third the price of the original iPhone just a year ago. Apple promises the new model will download Web sites and Internet data about twice as fast as older versions.