News 

April

An iPod-owning judge rules that the latest dispute between Apple and Apple Corps, The Beatles company, will be heard in the UK, not California as Apple had hoped. Apple Corps has taken umbrage against Apple's foray into the music market via the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) alleging it breaches an earlier agreement. Apple argues that it has exclusive rights in the digital music sphere, but warns that this dispute could go on for years.

Apple's busy legal team is also concerned with an anonymous programmer who claims to have cracked Apple's FairPlay digital rights management (DRM) technology. FairPlay enables Apple to restrict the extent to which music bought from its iTunes Music Store can subsequently be copied. However further investigation appears to reveal that the hack, tagged Playfair, is a triumph of hype over reality, as it renders the music files unplayable.

Not that European music fans need be worried. Real Networks' boss Rob Glaser tells the German Financial Times that we are not ready for online music stores: 'European customers are still too much of the opinion that music is still to be had for free,' he claims.

Apple's cheapest Mac line is overhauled. eMacs are now cheaper and faster, offering a 1.25GHz G4 processor for £549, with SuperDrive for £699. These configurations remain unchanged for the rest of the year.

The iPod goes from strength to strength. Apple sells 807,000 in three months, fuelling a 228 per cent year-on-year profit rise. iBook sales are also up, by 51 per cent. iMacs continue to fail to live up to expectations.

Real's Rob Glaser makes a 'let's take on Microsoft' overture to Apple, suggesting that the two companies form a digital music alliance. Observers suspect that this has more to do with trying to persuade Apple to open up the iPod so that it can play downloads from Real's music store than anything else. His plea is rejected by Apple CEO Steve Jobs; Real repeats its oft-heard refrain about consumer choice: 'As long as Apple refuses to make this happen, that's not going to help the consumer.'

There is still no news on a UK version of iTMS, but Apple confirms that it will open its first retail store on these shores later this year and begins hiring staff.

Apple unveils the latest addition to its portfolio of professional video applications, Motion, for creating animated motion graphics The company also introduces an HD version of Final Cut Pro and releases a beta version of Xsan software for creating shared, networked storage.

Not to be content with sharpening up its application offering, Apple also soups up its PowerBook and iBook notebook ranges whilst cutting prices. £750 will now buy you a wireless-equipped G4 Apple laptop. Like the eMac, it its the last time these machines will be upgraded this year. So no G5 PowerBook for the forseeable future.

Unhappy with Apple's decision to spurn his advances - 'To be honest, it's just not worth it,' according to Steve Jobs - Real's Rob Glaser shows an uncanny grasp of twentieth century history as he describes iTunes as a 'kind of Soviet

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model'. As we noted at the time, 'For readers under the age of 21, he is referring to the self-styled communist regimes of Eastern Europe, and drawing a parallel between their closed markets and the closed environment of iTMS.' That is closed as in the only online music store open to both Mac and PC users.

The iTunes application is updated, with Party Playlists and CD jewel case insert printing. Jobs promises that European users will soon be able to click the Music Store button and actually buy something.

May

Apple announces that the next version of OS x - 10.4 - will be called Tiger and previewed at the forthcoming Worldwide Developers Conference. The release of Tiger - date to be announced - will bring the total number of OS X updates to four in four years, a rate which, the company says, is 'unsustainable'. Expect future updates to be more widely spaced.

The company will doubtless be hoping that Tiger is rather more successful than the iMac, a victim, so it seems, of 'shifting consumer preference.

'Sales of flat panel iMac systems have been negatively affected by a shift in consumer preference to portable systems and competitor desktop models with price points below $1,000,' says Apple in its latest quarterly report. 'Also, the current flat panel iMac and eMac form factors are approximately two years old, which continue to contribute to declining net sales.'

The iMac could certainly do with some of the iPod's magic; such is the phenomenon, that Apple decides to set up a separate iPod division to 'focus our talent and resources'.

Napster is the first major US music store to launch in the UK, offering Windows users 500,000 songs at 99p each, albums for £9.95.

June

Apple announces a 'special event' to be held in London with the words 'The biggest story in music is about to get bigger'. It does not take a genius to work out that the iTunes Music Store is on its way.

Apple's role as pioneers in wireless networking takes another twist with the unveiling of AirPort Express, a unique combination of router, base station, printer sharing and audio broadcasting. Along with the new AirTunes software it lets you stream music from your Mac to any hi-fi in the house.

That Mac could be one of the upgraded Power Macs, including the 2x2.5GHz model with liquid cooling. For the time being the three models in the range are powered by two processors, though the 1.8GHz- and 2.0Ghz-fuelled models are cool enough to rely on old fashioned fans. However, none of them can be described as the world's fastest computer. The UK's Advertising Standards Authority rules that Apple's TV advert claim is 'unjustified'.

It has been a long wait, but finally iTMS opens in the UK, Germany and France with other European countries to follow. Steve Jobs' appearance in London, alongside Alicia Keys, is sufficient to ensure a high-profile launch. However it is not long before the UK price of 79p per song is compared unfavourably with the European equivalent of €0.99, about 70p. Apple sells 450,000 songs in the UK in the first week of business.

Rival stores Napster and OD2 are quick to stress that while iTunes downloads can only be played on one type of portable player, the iPod, theirs can be heard on dozens. Unfortunately for them that does not include the iPod.

The month closes with Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference and the first public demonstration of Tiger and its new technologies such as Spotlight, Dashboard, Automator and Core Image. The final release is slated for the first half of 2005.

Apple also unveils Power Mac-matching aluminium displays, including the huge 30-in Cinema Display.