small enough in the grand scheme of things that IBM didn't feel it warranted a lot of effort.  

One interesting opinion was given in an article posted at: 

http://www.it 

director.com/article.php?id=12794

, called IT director dot com. In this article Arnold Reinhold 

points out that Intel has been hampered by its relationship with Windows. They can't really do 

anything spectacular with their chips, such as innovate new and interesting things, unless 

Microsoft approves it! Wow, I had never thought of that... 

The article also goes on to explain why he believes that the switch to Intel will lure developers to 

the Mac platform. It's an interesting article with lots of good information. Give it a read. 

iTunes still a hit   This article comes under the general heading of  You know your good 

when...  Ecommerce Times recently reported that the University of Rochester started providing 

free access to Napster's new online music downloading service to students with high marks. 

Sounds like a nice benefit for hard working students and I applaud the University for this. 

However, it appears the students still enjoy paying to use the iTMS rather then using Napster for 

free! Of a survey, 71% of those surveyed used the iTMS to get songs even though Napster was 

available for free. 

This is an important thing for two reasons. First, it is good news for Apple. It means that 

customers of their music store appear to be as dedicated to it as Mac users are to their Macs. It 

also tells us that the Napster business model isn't the most appealing to students, but Apple's is. 

Very interesting. 

Perhaps even more important, is the fact that perhaps the ethics of the students is being reached 

by Apple's music business model. If one can imagine that a survey like this indicates they would 

rather own paid for music then have access to free music.  

You can read the full article and the other statistics that go along with it by visiting 

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/44531.html

.  

Apple financial statement   Apple announced another impressive quarter, which ended on June 

25th. Once again they beat the analyst estimates on iPod sales by almost 1 million units, by 

selling over 6 million iPods! They also sold 1,182,000 Macs. Which indicates a growth 35% for 

Macs and 616% growth in iPods over the same quarter a year ago. 

As for revenue it grew 75% with a net profit growth of 425%. Wow, that sounds impressive! 

You can read Apple's statement by visiting 

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/jul/13results.html

.  

It is great to hear that the iPod is still doing well and that Mac sales are up. Perhaps the halo 

effect is really working, who knows. 

Apples moves up to #4   We have reported Apple's position in PC market sales in the past. 

Apparently, they just moved up another spot. It moved to the #4 position in the US markets and 

#5 worldwide. While Window's based computers still have almost all of the market, Apple is 

making headway. There is an interesting article covering this topic which you can read by 

visiting 

  MPN, LLC 2005 macCompanion 

Page 20 

August 2005, Volume 3 Issue 8