Day: July 12, 2012

The U.S. market fared worse than expected in the second quarter shrinking by 10.6% compared to a forecast of -4.4%, according to new data from the IDC research group (http://www.idc.com). The data says Apple is now in third place among computer vendors with 11.4% market share on shipments of approximately 1.8 million Macs.

This year, ultrabooks, utrathins, and tablets in the mobile segment are getting all the limelight. However, IHS iSuppli (http://www.isuppli.com) says the All-in-One (AiO) computer, such as the iMac, may “save” the desktop segment of the computer market.

In a note to clients — as reported by “The Street” (http://macte.ch/bZzWG) — UBS analyst Steven Milunovich suggests Apple could eventually move into the home robotics market — though such a move is likely more than a decade away.

Milunovich says “robots for the home would represent a new category, require substantial innovation, and leverage Apple’s ease-of-use knowledge and brand.” He believes that Siri could be key here, with the voice tool likely to play an increased role in future Apple products.

Apple has been at the center of about 60% of the major patent lawsuits, according to Kanzatec IP Group (http://kanzatec.com/), an intellectual-property consulting firm., as reported by “Bloomberg” (http://macte.ch/bZzWG).

“I would speculate that Apple will continue to be at the center of the litigation map of large mobile IT companies for as long as it maintains its dominant place in the market,” says Feisal Mosleh, a senior vice president at Kanzatec.

Apple has confirmed via its Mountain Lion upgrade page (http://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/) that previously published limitations (http://macte.ch/iv08F) on some 64-bit Macs will extend to the final release. This means that several otherwise 64-bit capable MacBook Pros, iMacs, and Mac Pros will be restricted from upgrading to OS X 10.8 when it goes public later this month for US$29 at the Mac App Store.

According to information found in the recently released golden master (GM), the limitation appears to be related to graphics, reports “ars technica” (http://macte.ch/zz8f5).