Apple Paris Expo Cancelled

Seems that there is a lot of news coming out of Apple’s pulling out of the 2009 Macworld Expo…

Organizers for the Apple Expo in Paris confirmed Wednesday that the annual trade show has been canceled indefinitely, with this year’s show likely having been its last.

Word of the show’s demise came just hours after Apple’s surprising announcement that it will no longer participate in the stateside Macworld Expo, which has traditionally seen chief executive Steve Jobs unveil the company’s latest product innovations during an inaugural keynote address.

Jobs had also been a fixture at the Paris expo until 2004, when he was forced to undergo surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his pancreas. Although the Apple co-founder was scheduled to present the keynote address the following year, he subsequently canceled and has not made an appearance at the show since.

Still, Apple remained an exhibitor at the show until this year, when they company quietly backed out of the conference with out providing a formal explanation. Apple Expo was once the world’s largest Apple trade conference, attracting more than 90,000 attendees a year during its prime.

Attendance fell to 54,000 last year as Apple, facing last minute delays in launching the iPhone locally, was unable to show off the touch-screen handset during the conference.

Apple has been steadily scaling back on trade shows in recent years. Its decision to forgo Apple Expo and Macworld San Francisco follows its departure the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), Macworld New York, and Macworld Tokyo trade shows.

(via AppleInsider.com)

Apple Ordered To End iPhone Exclusivity With Orange

There’s a sort of ironic title, get it?

Anyways… Apple must immediately cease its exclusive relationship with France Telecom’s Orange and allow other local carriers to offer the iPhone to its subscribers, the French competition counsel ruled Wednesday.

On September 18th, France’s third largest mobile operator Bouygues Telecom filed a complaint with the regulator, arguing the deal between Apple and its larger rival violates local freedom of competition and pricing laws.

The ruling handed down this week is reportedly a temporary and precautionary measure while the counsel continues to investigate the merits of Bouygues’ claims.

In addition to being ordered to open up the iPhone to other French carriers, Apple and France Telecom are also prohibited from entering into any other exclusive agreements for future iPhone models during the precautionary period.

The French competition counsel said Apple’s exclusive arrangement with Orange poses a serious and immediate threat to competition in the wireless sector and causes consumers to incur hefty and unjust fees should they attempt to switch providers. (A copy of the 48 page ruling can be seen here in French.)

Representatives for Bouygues Telecom applauded the counsel’s decision and said the carrier is looking forward to offering the iPhone to its customers in the near future.

France Telecom plans to appeal the decision.

Did Apple Want Out of Macworld?

Apple’s decision to end its participation at the annual Macworld Expo after next month’s show is a sign the company wants to free itself from making product announcements on someone else’s schedule and not an indication that its chief executive is in poor health, according to new reports.

The announcement Tuesday is similar to a move by which the Mac maker pulled out of the east coast Macworld conference several years ago following a disagreement with show organizer IDG, which sets the dates and locations for the events.

“This change is bound to once again raise questions about Jobs health,” Needham & Co. analyst Charles Wolf told clients in a report on the matter. “Our reliable sources, which we spoke with this fall, indicated that Jobs is cancer free.”

Instead, the analyst equated the move to an extension of a recent strategy that has seen the Cupertino-based company more frequently introduce new products at its own events, like the two held this fall that gave way to new iPods and Mac notebooks.

“I think Apple wants to get away from the tyranny of MacWorld where it is forced to introduce new products on IDG’s schedule, rather than its own,” he said.

Keith Bachman, an analyst with BMO capital, had similar thoughts on the matter. In a note to his own clients, he said he believes Jobs will remain Apple’s chief executive at least through the 2009 calendar year.

Instead, the analyst sees the charismatic chief’s absence from this year’s conference as a sign that the company has nothing special to announce and therefore has decided to scale back expectations ahead of time.

“We believe that not having Mr. Jobs lead the 2009 MacWorld does suggest that this event will not be terribly meaningful,” he said. “Hence, the downside in the stock for a disappointing MacWorld is probably realized near-term rather than at MacWorld.”

Shares of Apple were trading down $7.09 (or more than 7%) to $88.34 in late morning trading.

(via AppleInsider.com)

SimCity for the iPhone

I found this great review and video of Simcity done by AppVee (great source for iPhone App News and Reviews - get their review app from the AppStore) for the iPhone/Touch that is now available via the AppStore.

It’s hard to believe that there are people out there who haven’t played SimCity before. This series of games is one of the most legendary simulation games to have ever graced a computer screen. If you’re a fan of the franchise, enjoy sim games, or you’re just looking for something new that you can sink your teeth into and keep coming back for more, definitely check out SimCity for the iPhone and iPod Touch, you won’t be disappointed.

For more info please check out AppVee for this and other great reviews.

[Video and Review via AppVee]

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2009 Macworld Expo To Be Apple’s Last; No Jobs Keynote

Apple announced Tuesday that next month is the last time the company will exhibit at Macworld Expo in San Francisco and that chief executive Steve Jobs will not be making a keynote presentation this year.

Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the opening keynote for this year’s Macworld Conference & Expo, and it will be Apple’s last keynote at the show.

The keynote address will be held at Moscone West on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. Macworld will be held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center January 5-9, 2009.

“Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers,” the company said.

“The increasing popularity of Apple’s Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.”

Apple has been steadily scaling back on trade shows in recent years, including NAB, Macworld New York, Macworld Tokyo and Apple Expo in Paris.

(via AppleInsider.com)

Awww, I always looked forward to those Jobs keynotes!

Unlocked iPhone 3Gs Sold In Taiwan

The iPhone 3G debuted last week in Taiwan, where Apple is partnered with the country’s largest mobile operator, Chunghwa Telecom. However, despite claims to the contrary by Chunghwa, that relationship may not be entirely exclusive.

A report in Digitimes suggests that the handsets being sold in Taiwan are not actually locked for use with Chunghwa’s network, even though the company says they can only be used on its network. Many users who’ve bought the phones are saying that inserting a SIM card from a different provider works fine, though it does mean that users can’t access Chunghwa’s special web services.

That fact might make Taiwan very attractive as a market for iPhones to be used in other countries where the device isn’t available yet. However, one barrier to that is the fact that the iPhone is relatively expensive in Taiwan, carrying a pricetag of NT$26,600 (~US$800) for an 8GB model with no contract. And, as illicitly unlocked iPhones seem to have long been making their way to Asian markets at lower prices, the price premium may be seen as excessive. One advantage, however, is that a legally-distributed unlocked iPhone would likely carry less risk of being made inoperable by a future Apple software update.

Taiwanese iPhones aren’t the only ones to be sold legitimately unlocked: France and Hong Kong are also among the countries that have offered unlocked iPhones.