Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch - Day 1 - (NASDAQ: AAPL)

Apple iPhone is going to be launched towards late June, 2007. I am going to begin the Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch starting today.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is one of the top 20 innovators of The Innovation Index, and was voted recently number 1, the top innovator, by BusinessWeek and Boston Consulting Group.

What will the Countdown to Apple iPhone Launch contain?

1. Latest news about iPhone

2. Latest blogs about iPhone

3. Latest gossips and rumors about iPhone

4. Anything else that is interesting about iPhone

Today's latest news about iPhone as reported in MarketWatch:

"But to hear Steve Jobs tell it, the device's strongest selling point may be neither.

As he touted the product to a gathering of tech industry executives this week at D - All things Digital, Apple's chief executive sounded most excited about the iPhone's Internet pedigree -- especially its ability to download and play videos.The iPhone comes equipped with "real versions" of the company's operating system and the Safari Web browser, Jobs said, which will allow Apple to deliver to consumers an experience that others have mostly failed to. "It's the Internet in your pocket," he said.

Even though cell-phone providers have spent billions to build out sophisticated networks to let handsets access the Web, "you can't do a lot with them," according to Jobs. "You get the 'baby Internet,'" he said. "People want to get the 'real Internet' on their phone," Jobs said.

During his presentation at the "D" - All Thing Digital conference in Carlsbad, Calif., Jobs managed to turn on its head the most common argument against the iPhone -- that its lack of a keyboard will be a huge negative for consumers used to texting on smart phones like the Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) BlackBerry and the Palm Inc. Treo.

Jobs acknowledged that the iPhone's touch screen will take some getting used to. "It takes about a week; you have to learn how to trust it," he said.

But the feature will provide the device with "incredible versatility," because it allows the device to offer users different interfaces for its different applications. To be sure, it's not that Jobs downplayed the product's music player capabilities. The iPhone "has the best iPod we've ever made," he said.

Still, he acknowledged that Cingular Wireless, which will be the only carrier to sell the product when it begins shipping next month, took a chance by agreeing to carry the product before Apple even showed it to them. "They took a gamble on us," because Apple has never made its own handset, "just as we took a gamble on them," Jobs said.

So why would Cingular, now a unit of AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), do it?

Because "music hasn't been good on the phone," he said, and the company felt that partnering with Apple was their best chance of improving that experience. If consumers agree, Apple's sales and stock price may continue to rise, and Jobs may once again look like a genius."

References:

Apple is Number 1, Numero Uno, Top Innovative Company for the 3rd year in a row

The Innovation Index races to 21%, crushes major U.S. indices - Weekly Report 05-25-07

Apple is #1 - Numero Uno - Top Innovative Company in the world 3rd Year in Row

"It should come as little surprise, then, that Apple tops the BusinessWeek-Boston Consulting Group’s list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for the third year in a row. That sort of staying power speaks volumes about the sort of innovation that matters today. Unlike the Post-it Note, which proves the value of lone inventors, the iPod epitomizes today’s innovation sensibilities. These include the ascendance of design, the focus on the user’s experience, and the power of ecosystems: The iPod is a hit because it works so seamlessly with the iTunes software. The company’s much-anticipated iPhone, which launches in June, will likely keep Apple high on our list next year too."

In the latest BusinessWeek-Boston Consulting Group's list of the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) tops the list 3rd year in a row. Apple is crowned the #1 - Number One - Top Innovative Company. Although BusinessWeek and the readers tout Apple's iPod and iTunes, and soon to be launched iPhone, I believe iMac has come onto its own now, and Apple TV will also have a significant impact in 2007 and beyond.

What does Erich Joachimsthaler think of Apple in his latest book - Hidden In Plain Sight? Specifically, what was his answer to the question:

What drives Apple's innovation and growth? Is Apple better at connecting with and engaging consumers?

Click here to find the answer.

Apple is a top innovator, and is one of the top 20 innovators tracked weekly on The Innovation Index.

The Complete Story on Hidden In Plain Sight can be found at: Creativity And Innovation Driving Business

Ten Questions with Erich Joachimsthaler - Hidden In Plain Sight - Demand-first Innovation And Growth

What do Allianz Group, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Axe, GE Healthcare (NYSE: GE), BMW, Proctor & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), and Netflix have in common? These innovators consistently and successfully bring to market winning innovations, achieve profitable new growth, and reinvent their business for the future.

Erich Joachimsthaler, founder and CEO of Vivaldi Partners, a strategy, innovation and marketing consulting company, in his newly published book - Hidden In Plain Sight : How to find and execute your company's next big growth strategy - provides us insightful answers to real questions facing businesses today: on creating successful innovations and driving profitable growth - by introducing a new methodology “demand-first innovation and growth” (DIG). Joachimsthaler purports a poignant view of the misplaced state of innovation in the broader market.

.............

Question #10: What drives Apple's innovation and growth? Is Apple better at connecting with and engaging consumers?

Erich Joachimsthaler: Apple’s innovation and growth is first and foremost driven by inner conviction about the outer world – a conviction that is manifested by Steve Jobs and largely led by him and people around him.

This conviction is about changing how consumers live around music or entertainment. It is not merely a product focus, although it might appear this way. Apple has created the transformational change that I talk about in the book, it has created the customer advantage as I define it. It has changed the way we find out about music, the way we select music, buy music, listen to music, store music and discard music – in short, it has changed how we manage music in our lives (something that is fairly important to all of us), it also has changed how we manage video, etc.

It is not merely a better experience from competitor X, but it is a transformation of our lives, a part of our lives and Apple moves on doing the same with our entire digital lives, watch the launches of iTV and iPhone.

If Apple merely would define a set of needs and wants and then seek to fulfill it, they would ask consumers what they like or dislike about the Walkman and then create a better Walkman. I think that model of need-fulfillment paradigm is NOT at the core of the Apple process. Instead, Apple develops a notion of the changing consumer landscape. Think about around 2000 or 2001, there were already some consumers who downloaded songs from Napster and Kazaa. They see how the demand landscape is changing and they develop their own thinking, what I call structured thinking, around how to create a transformative experience for consumers. They don’t rely solely on consumer input and focus groups. In the process, Steve Jobs reframes the entire opportunity space for Apple – from a computer company, to a music company (Apple happens to be now one of the largest music retailers), to be an entertainment company. You ask about connecting with consumers? What would Madison Avenue recommend you? They would say: you need to find an emotional message that creates a connection with the consumers – touting functional and emotional benefits and achieve a clear positioning relative to competitors. How would that look like? Most likely a message, communicated over TV that clearly explains the principal benefits and the reasons to believe this benefits to targeted consumers. What would a marketer recommend? He or she would recommend that Apple segments the market into those who like more noisy music versus the sophisticated music lover who perhaps listen to classic music. And if you look at what Apple did, it seems they have followed little of the standard advice from marketers or advertising professionals. Connection and engagement does not happen on the small screen, the TV set or the large screen, but it happens in the 1,440 minutes where consumers live and work and play. Engagement and connection for Apple has nothing to do with emotionalizing the difference of iPod over the Walkman or touting superior product attributes. Look at their advertisements. Their marketing program or advertising program cannot be printed on paper or shown in little films called TV or cinema spots. Their program of connecting with consumers is about the 2,000 accessories that they have licensed to Bose and other companies so that we can absorb and assimilate the iPod into our 1,400 minutes we all live every day.

The Complete Story can be found at: Creativity And Innovation Driving Business

Apple trading off Leopard for iPhone, for now

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) today released the following statement after market close at http://www.apple.com/ :

Apple Statement
PR Newswire - April 12, 2007 4:30 PM ET

"iPhone has already passed several of its required certification tests and is on schedule to ship in late June as planned. We can't wait until customers get their hands (and fingers) on it and experience what a revolutionary and magical product it is. However, iPhone contains the most sophisticated software ever shipped on a mobile device, and finishing it on time has not come without a price -- we had to borrow some key software engineering and QA resources from our Mac OS(R) X team, and as a result we will not be able to release Leopard at our Worldwide Developers Conference in early June as planned. While Leopard's features will be complete by then, we cannot deliver the quality release that we and our customers expect from us. We now plan to show our developers a near final version of Leopard at the conference, give them a beta copy to take home so they can do their final testing, and ship Leopard in October. We think it will be well worth the wait. Life often presents tradeoffs, and in this case we're sure we've made the right ones."

Click here for the complete story and analysis

Apple Innovations Roundup for 03-18-07

Apple Innovation News

Avid investors prepped for Apple surprises at NAB
Apple Insider - 15 Mar 2007
Investment research firm PiperJaffray on Thursday cautioned shareholders of video production firm Avid Technology , Inc . that shares could experience some short - term volatility should Apple ...

BofA echos reports of flash-based Apple sub-notebook in 2H07
Apple Insider - 14 Mar 2007
Bank of America Securities this week joined a chorus of other Wall Street firms who say they believe Apple Inc . is working on flash - based notebook and video iPod designs for a release sometime ...

Apple's multi-touch technology seen spawning "mega-platform"
Apple Insider - 13 Mar 2007
Financial experts at UBS Investment Research say they believe Apple Inc . is developing a " mega - platform " based around its recently introduced multi - touch display technology that will facilitate ...

Apple TV manufacturing ramp up to begin as early as today
MacDailyNews - 12 Mar 2007
" With last minute graphics - related issues seemingly sorted out , Apple Inc . expects to begin manufacturing ramp up of its long - awaited Apple TV wireless media hub as early as Monday , " ...

Apple job posting seeks engineer for next-gen multi-touch displays
MacDailyNews - 9 Mar 2007
" Although traditionally tight - lipped , Apple Inc . in a recent job posting has revealed plans to incorporate multi - touch display panels in more of its future products , "

Apple Innovation Blogs

Real Apple Innovation
12 Mar 2007 by Painfree
Whilst Apple Inc often claims innovation, the current rumour that it may be about to introduce a flash memory based notebook would be real innovation. Flash memory has the advantages of ruggedness and low power consumption compared to ...
Painfree - http://painfreeblog.blogspot.com/index.html

Editorial: Vista - Where's my innovation? Microsof...
16 Mar 2007 by 3DCOOL.COM
In other words, where has the innovation and imagination that went into the early Windows builds gone? There are scores of readers and critics that have pointed out the features in Vista and said, “You know, Apple has had that for a ...
3DCOOL BLOGS - http://3dcool.blogspot.com/index.html

The Innovation Index unchanged, still beats US major indices ...
16 Mar 2007 by Sanjay Dalal
Alphabetical list of the top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index and their stock ticker symbols: 3M Company - (NYSE: MMM) Amazon.com, Inc. - (NASDAQ: AMZN) America Movil - (NYSE: AMX) Apple Inc. - (NASDAQ: AAPL) ...
Creativity And Innovation Driving Business - http://creativityandinnovation.blogspot.com/index.html

How to create and mantain the Apple Cult? - Instituto de Empresa ...
I am not an Apple fan. However, I do admit that I admire their Marketing Management and the cult they have created around the Apple brand. In this story I will describe the purchasing process of an Apple product by a fan, and how both ...
Marketing Weblog - Instituto de Empresa... - http://marketing.blogs.ie.edu/

The Apple Google Juggernaut - $66 Billion - Overtaking Microsoft?

If Apple and Google merge, the combined company will amass estimated revenue of $66.1 billion in 2009, thereby eclipsing Microsoft, whose estimated annual revenue in 2009 will be $62.4 billion. It will be a merger unlike any other in the history of mergers, and will create a powerhouse that might just topple the mighty Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) from the throne. Google CEO Eric Schmidt loves Apple to say the least, and signaled that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is working more closely with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference this week. Schmidt joined the board of directors of Apple last year.

Apple, Google and Microsoft are three of the top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index.

When Schmidt was asked by an investor on whether Google might be developing “Google phone” to compete with Apple's highly anticipated iPhone, Schmidt responded:"I don't want to comment on rumors, I will tell you that Google and Apple are doing more and more things together through the normal course of communications ... We have similar goals and similar competitors."Google and Apple are already working closely together; when Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, announced the iPhone in January, it came packaged with Google Maps. (Apple Rising)

Apple and Google, or should we say AppGoogle, or GoogApple, will be a force to reckon with.

Rest of the story at:
The Apple Google Juggernaut - $66 billion - overtaking Microsoft?

Apple Innovations Roundup for 03-07-07

Apple Innovation News

Apple could yield $900m from Adobe CS3 launch
Macworld UK, UK
Apple will profit from the launch later this month of Adobe's first design suite built from the ground up for Intel-based Macs, a financial analyst said on ...

Apple TV ei giochi: una conferma da iTunes?
Tom's Hardware Guide, Italy
Nella giornata di ieri Apple ha rilasciato iTunes 7.1 e QuickTime 7.1.5, due software popolari per sistemi Windows e Mac. Tra le novità incluse citavamo il ...

Apple's new iTunes update fails to fix Windows Vista problems
EETimes.com
Apple's latest update to the PC-version of its iTunes music software fails to address a number of compatibility issues with Microsoft's Windows Vista ...

Google perceives closer ties with Apple
Earthtimes.org - NEW YORK: Is Google planning to forge closer ties with Apple? There are indications. Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt almost said so when he was asked ...

Apple to open 35-40 new stores in 2007
ipodnn, CA
Apple is aiming to expand its retail presence in the US as well as abroad, with plans to open 35-40 stores in 2007 with more than 10 of those planned ...

Apple exec disses Vista as no threat to Leopard
Computerworld, MA
Apple Inc.'s CFO yesterday said Windows Vista is no threat to Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" and argued that the steep hardware ...

Keyspan Enhances TuneView Remote for Apple iPod
Xtvworld (press release), India
Keyspan updates its new iPod accessory, TuneView, a powerful wireless remote that lets you browse and fully control your Apple iPod. ...

Latest iTunes Release Hints At Apple TV Gaming Future?
Inside Mac Games, TN
As reported on several Mac websites, the recently released iTunes 7.1 apparently includes localized text strings referring to games and the Apple TV media ...

New Apple products soon? Signs point to "Yes"
Ars Technica, MA - I was reminded yesterday that March 24 is considered a "significant" Apple day, and that there may be some possibility of an announcement of some sort on ...

Intel Chief Praises Apple's iPhone
Top Tech News, CA
Apple's iPhone is forcing a new wave of mobile device innovation, and validates the superiority of Unix-like systems on mobile devices over Windows, ...

Apple: Mac Sales Accelerating on Leopard, Adobe Creative Suite 3
Seeking Alpha, NY
Prudential’s Jesse Tortora yesterday raised his rating on Apple to Overweight from Neutral, and increased his price target to $105 from $100. ...

Apple TV: also a casual games console system?
GamePro.com
Announced just two months ago, Apple TV is Apple's newest attempt in bringing downloadable iTunes content from computers to television screens. ...

Apple is most innovative company — Fortune
Macworld UK, UK
The annual Fortune report also puts Apple at number seven among the top twenty companies in the world, and in second place in the computers category (behind ...

Apple releases iTunes 7.1, QuickTime 7.1.5, more
Apple Insider, AL
Apple Inc. on Monday delivered a new version of its iTunes media software that bundles support for the company's upcoming Apple TV media hub. ...

NAND flash to play bigger role in future Mac and iPod models
Apple Insider
Apple Inc . plans extensive use of NAND flash memory in future Mac and iPod models , which will include a new sub - notebook and widescreen video iPod , according to one Wall Street analyst.Citing ...

iPhone will cost at least $499, Apple exec says
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Apple Inc . predicted that 10 million customers will pay at least $499 to buy an iPhone next year because they realize most free mobile phones are worthless." A lot of people pay zero for the ...

Apple Innovation Blogs

Apple P2P?
Writer Bob Cringely looks at Apple TV media extender and wonders why it needs a 40 GB hard drive. Obviously the drive will be used for video storage, similar to Tivo. But it's not clear why or how it... Continue.
P2P File Sharing - http://www.p2p-weblog.com/

Understanding Apple's DRM
by schneier
Very interesting article about Apple's DRM system, which they call "FairPlay."
Schneier on Security - http://www.schneier.com/blog/

Games on Apple TV, So What?
by Nick Santilli
Apple TV is one of the products from Apple that so many were waiting with bated breath to finally hear about. The unit offers some interesting media options, but ultimately little in the way of new and exciting. ...
The Apple Blog - http://theappleblog.com

Apple TV To Play Games On...TV?
Nothing official yet from Apple on this, mind, but that looks pretty official to me. Which means it looks like you'll be able to play your iPod games on your TV. Why the hell you'd want to is another matter. I believe there are other, ...
Kotaku - http://www.kotaku.com

Apple Mail How to Access Gmail Using Apple Mail
by Scott
Personally, I love Apple Mail. It is such a simplistic email application and is very easy to use. Switching back and forth between Outlook, Entourage, and Apple Mail all day long it makes me really appreciate how simple Mac apps are to ...
Mac Utopia - http://www.scottkellam.com

Apple I-Phone
Something all techies should have seen.
Digg / Apple / digg - http://digg.com/apple

Zune watch out: Apple patented doubleshot
by Ryan Block
Potentially unfortunately for Microsoft, three days ago Apple was granted patent 20070048470, for "Housing of an electronic device formed by doubleshot injection molding". Filed August 16, 2005 by, among others, Johnny "iPhone" Ive ...
Engadget - http://www.engadget.com

Intel Working Against Apple iPhone
by Jonny
Intel make all of the blazing fast processors which belong to Apple and their line of Hardware. However they are planning to work against them in the portable scene where the iPhone is concerned. Battery life is a major factor when ...
Lawsy.net - http://www.lawsy.net

Apple releases Backup 3.1.1 update
Apple today released Backup 3.1.1, the latest version of its backup software for .Mac users under Mac OX...
macminute - http://www.macminute.com/