Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has done it!  They wanted to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008 and they are already close to reaching this goal.  And this is before the holiday season even started.  It is quite possible that analysts were conservative in their estimates out of fear of the current economic state, but now the company has a reason to celebrate.

This past August, an investor in London (with username Tommo_UK) posted a message on The Mac Observer Apple Finance Board.  The message was a request to have anyone that bought an iPhone post the serial number, date of purchase, and the first 13 numbers of the IMEI number.  From this data, Tommo_UK was able to predict how many iPhones were manufactured.  Since the initiative started, the Apple Finance Board collected 150 IMEI numbers and placed it on a Google Docs spreadsheet.  The last IMEI number that was collected was one that belonged to the 9,190,680th iPhone 3G built. 

With this many already built, Apple is well on their way to manufacturing 10 million iPhones before the end of this month.  Selling is obviously different from manufacturing the devices.  FORTUNE points out that some of them may be stored in inventory distribution centers, loading docks, and store shelves.  But Apple probably knows a thing or two about supply and demand.  They obviously wouldn’t be manufacturing at this fast of a pace if they aren’t expecting to sell that many.

All things considered, Apple’s stock is taking a beating.  When Apple announces their next line of new products, Jobs will have to work his reality distortion field once again.  And the media needs to stop bashing on his health.  I cannot believe someone posted fake reports about him having a heart attack this past week.  I’m glad that the SEC is investigating the matter.

“I’m relieved, optimistic, and grateful to our listeners.”
-Pandora Founder Tim Westergren

The U.S. Senate passed the Webcaster Settlement Agreement on Tuesday.  This allows web radio stations to negotiate a more reasonable royalty rate for streaming songs on the web.  Those prices will be contradictory to that set by Congress last year. 

Now that the bill has passed The House and The Senate, it just has to be signed by President Bush.  And royalty rates will then have to be negotiated between webcasters and the copyright-holding labels.  The deal between the label companies and webcasters then have to be approved by Congress.  The RIAA sided with webcasters like Pandora to push the bill through The House and The Senate.  This is one of the few times I be proud of the RIAA!

“This is a welcome and encouraging development and a sign of the constructive working relationship between the music industry and Webcasters,” stated RIAA chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol. “Together, we want to make this marketplace work for both music fans and music creators.”

While webcasters like Pandora are fighting for the Settlement Act, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is currently dealing with an increase in royalty rates, pushed by the National Music Publishers’ Association.  The association wants rates to be increased from 9 cents to 15 cents per track sold on services like iTunes.  Apple responded by threatening to shut-down iTunes.

Apple is using the same strategy as Pandora!  Pandora threatened to shut down their services if the Webcaster Settlement Act passed too. 

“I have no doubt that an increase in the per track price would lower total music purchases at the store,” stated Eddy Cue, VP of iTunes.  Kid Rock boycotted his most recent album from being sold on iTunes because he believes that Apple pockets too much of the artist’s hard work.  I would not be surprised if you see a lot of other artists follow his lead.  Why not offer to sell the DRM-free tracks for $0.99 on your own website and cut out the middle man?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is really starting to prove that they are not a very open company.  Apple wants to keep all of their hardware and software closed within one ecosystem and they have final say on who is allowed in it.  This is especially the case for the App Store where Apple has been notorious for rejecting applications left and right.  Apple’s strongest competitor, the Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android, will not require an approval process for the applications listed in their future application store. 

Apple most recently blocked an application called Podcaster.  Podcaster was a way to play streaming podcasts through a site called Podcaster.fm.  Apple did not approve it for the App Store and stated that “Since Podcaster assists in the distribution of podcasts, it duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes.”  Okay, so Apple did not approve it because of iTunes.  So what does the developer do with all the time that would otherwise be wasted?  The developer decided to distribute his application on his own website, nextdayoff.com.

Apple did not like that either so they blocked new users from being able to add it to their iPhones or iPods.  “Apple has banned me from making new provisions. That means if you signed up before
9/23/2008, you can still install and use the app,” stated the Podcaster developer.  if users signed up for the application before September 23, they can still install it.

MacRumors also points out that Apple is now closing e-mails to developers with a note that says: THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MESSAGE IS UNDER NON-DISCLOSURE.  So if you get any e-mails from Apple, you developers better keep your mouth shut.

Piper Jaffray is estimating that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has sold about 5 million iPhone 3Gs during the current quarter.  In the opening weekend alone, about 20% (1 million) of this estimate was sold.  Apple will release the formal number of total sold iPhones next month when they report 4th quarter earnings.

Apple hopes to sell 10 million iPhones 3Gs by the end of 2008.  The holiday season is expected to help surge the sales of Apple’s new product line.  The 3G is selling faster than the original iPhone because of the price and because of it’s availability in many other countries.  Another reason why the iPhone sold more units is because the App Store was launched in July 2008.  This gave developers an incentive to find a new way to make money. 

The original iPhone sold about 2.5 million units in the first 6 months.  Though it is ambitious, Apple’s goal for selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008 may be hindered by the release of the Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android-powered phones at the end of October. 

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is putting their ad campaign featuring Jerry Seinfeld on pause for the time being.  The $300 million campaign will continue to march forward with a new theme.  The new theme is a rebuttal against the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) ads, Mac vs. PC.  The new Microsoft ad will start with a commercial that features an engineer that resembles John Hodgman, the actor that plays “PC” on the Apple ads.  The new ad even starts by saying “Hello, I’m a PC, and I’ve been made into a stereotype.” 

Crispin Porter & Bogusky came up with the new campaign idea.  Microsoft is even bringing several celebrities on board as part of the campaign that includes Eva Longoria (Desparate Housewives), Deepak Chopra (author), and Pharrell Williams (musician).  Others featured in the commercials will include 60 Microsoft employees.

“[Apple executives have been] using a lot of their money to de-position our brand and tell people what we stand for,” stated David Webster, General Manager of brand marketing for Microsoft [NYT].  “They’ve made a caricature out of the PC.”  Through this campaign, Microsoft wants to take back the narrative. 

When Microsoft launched the Seinfeld ads, the reviews were 25% positive and 13% negative.  The ads became less negative as time went on.  “It did what it needed to do,” stated Rob Reilly, Partner and co-executive creative director of Crispin Porter. “People who got it, got it.”

The new ad campaign will be beginning tonight.  There is no word on whether Seinfeld will return to additional Microsoft ads or not.  Other clients of Crispin Porter includes Ad Council, Bell Sports, Burger King, Coke Zeo, Compass Bank, Domino’s Pizza, Geek Squad, Giro, International Andy Awards, KNOW HIV/AIDS, Sprite, Volkswagen, and Old Favorites.

Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will always remember the day, September 16.  On this day in 1985, Jobs left the company he founded after losing a boardroom vote.  John Sculley remained as CEO.  Jobs founded Apple in 1978 with Steve Wozniak. 

What happens when you fire a founder?  A rival is created.  On the day that Jobs left Apple, he incorporated a company called NeXT Computer.  During the 10 years Jobs was at NeXT, a top operating system was created called NeXTStep.  Apple bought NeXT for about $400 million in 1996 to use their operating system.

Jobs then stepped in as an adviser for Gil Amelio, Apple’s CEO in 1996.  Around that time, Apple had one of their biggest quarterly losses.  Jobs was asked to be CEO, but he was busy with Pixar.  Around that time Toy Story was just released and Jobs was busy.  After some persuasion, Jobs signed on as the interim CEO on September 16, 1997.  Exactly 11 years after that, Apple is worth $121 billion and is selling consumer electronics by the millions.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is seeing tremendous sales through the App Store.  So far Apple has sold over 100 million apps - 70 million in August alone.  Given the current rate that Apple is selling applications, they are expected to sell over 1 billion applications by 2009.  This is much faster than the time Apple reached 1 billion in music download sales.  It took Apple 2 years to reach that landmark.

Apple increased a new line of iPods at their latest “Let’s Rock” event.  By giving consumers additional choices for music players, it is likely that they will see an increase in sales of their music player.  By increasing the sales of music players, Apple will more than likely increase the rate of applications and music sold.

During the holiday season, it is expected that the download rate will surge.  However, Apple will have to remain extra-competitive with new services starting to appear.  Amazon recently restructured their video download service.  MySpace Music will be launching later this week with free music streaming and paid downloads. 

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) distributes Spore, the number one application selling at $9.99 per download. The current top 10 paid applications are:

1. Spore Origins

2. PocketGuitar

3. Koi Pond

4. Asphalt 4

5. Air Hockey

6. Ambiance

7. Where To?

8. What’s On?

9. iMprint

10. Election 08′

Several developers have been getting their Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) applications banned and they aren’t too happy about it.  Some of the applications that have been banned so far include the I Am Rich application, a tethering application, Pull My Finger, and most recently: Podcaster.  Podcaster was rejected because it was an application that competes with iTunes itself.

“I wouldn’t invest in or develop an iPhone app because Apple could decide not to approve it, and if they don’t approve it you can’t sell it,” stated Dave Winer on his blog. “You can’t even give it away. You don’t find out if you’ve been approved until the last step, after you’ve fully invested, so you could lose, totally, if Apple says no.”

How will developers know whether their app is good enough for Apple?  I’m thinking that one approach that might be beneficial is have an idea submission page.  Before the developer takes the time to code around Apple’s APIs, he or she submits the idea to Apple.  And if they get the approval, then they are good to develop the application.

People pay to get applications built from developers on eLance.com and several other contracting websites.  Other developers spend days trying to build an app.  The idea submission idea would save these people time and money. 

How do you protect your idea from Apple stealing it?  Integrate some sort of TOS agreement that they won’t steal your idea after submitting it or create a product that directly competes with your idea.  Facebook has created features that competes directly with some of their application developers in the past.  This is why the terms of service agreement would be integral for submitting the idea to Apple.

What are your thoughts?  Leave them in the comments.

Today Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) held an event called “Let’s Rock” in California to announce their new product line-up.  The event started at around 10AM Pacific Time earlier today. 

The first thing that Jobs talked about was his health. “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” stated one of Jobs’ slides.  This slide was in reference to Bloomberg accidentally publishing and retracting an article with Steve Jobs’ obituary.  Jobs then started talking about iTunes.

iTunes
iTunes is still #1 for music distribution in the world.  There are about 65 million users on iTunes.  iTunes also started TV shows in HD and this includes shows provided by NBC.  iTunes 8 has also been released.  iTunes 8 has music album and song browsing in an iPhoto style.  There is also a “Genius” feature that creates suggested audio and video playlists to iTunes users.

New iPod Nanos
The iPod has a 73.4% market share in the U.S.  Over 160 million iPods have sold so far.  The Classic iPod is now available at 120GB for $229.  The iPod nano was redesigned.  The new nano has a bigger screen and is the thinnest iPod Apple has made so far.  One of the most interesting features on the new nano is “shake-to-shuffle.”  This shuffles to a random song just by physically shaking the device.  The new nano is also the most toxin-free iPod, making it environmentally safer than before.  The new nano is available in 8GB and 16GB and will start selling in stores immediately.  They come in 8 colors too.

New Headphones
Apple has released two new types of headphones.  The first is similar to the regular iPod headphones, but has a volume control switch connected to the cable.  The second type of headphones is also in-ear, but looks more comfortable. 

New iPod Touch
The new iPod Touch is thinner, more stable, has Genius-support, and also still has access to the App Store.  Jobs added that over 100 million applications have been downloaded so far. 

Games
Phil Schiller, SVP of Product Marketing at Apple showcased Spore on the iPod.  Spore is a video game that was developed by Maxis, the company that is famously known for it’s Sim game series.  Spore uses the iPod accelerometer to travel throughout the universe.  Another couple of games that were showcased at the event was Real Soccer 2009 and Need For Speed.

The 2.1s
Jobs talked about the iPhone 2.1 and iPod Touch 2.1.  These new devices have less reception issues and less dropped calls.  These new devices also have less issues interacting with App servers. 

Wall Street
Despite the product line-up, Apple’s stock dropped by almost 4%.  The stock opened at about $157 per share and then closed at about $152.  Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is expected to release a fresh line of Zunes to match some of the new iPod features within the next month.