Apple briefs: HD flicks, Cramer picks, Palm misses
Tuesday's iPhone 3.0 special event drew the biggest headlines, but that wasn't the only Apple (AAPL) news that broke this week. The highlights:
HD movies on iTunes: On Thursday, the company announced that its collection of high definition movies, hitherto available only through the Apple TV set-top box, can now be purchased or rented on the iTunes Store for viewing on a Mac, PC or widescreen TV. Is this a sign that Apple is losing interest in its "hobby"? The pickings for now are slim — only nine of the "box office blockbusters" featured on iTunes' HD Movies page are currently available — and they're pricey. Apple will be charging $19.99 for Quantum of Solace in HD when it becomes available on March 24; as Business of Video notes, you can order the DVD from Amazon for $16.99.
Jim Cramer touts Apple: You would think that after his humiliation on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart — and the first TV broadcast of his advice about how to short Apple and foment FUD to drive it down — that Jim Cramer would just shut up about Apple. But you would be wrong. This time he's an Apple bull. "I'm not going to go against Apple," he declared on his Mad Money Lighting Round Thursday. "There are a thousand Steve Jobs over at Apple and they're delivering product after product."
Revenues plummet at Palm: As expected, Palm's (PALM) earnings took another drubbing in the quarterly results released Thursday. Revenue fell to $90.6 million from $312.1 million a year ago, in line with the warning the company issued two weeks ago, but far below the $155 million the Street had been expecting. The company is pinning its hopes on the Pre — Palm's answer to the iPhone — slighly delayed but still due out before the end of June. The earnings call transcript is available here.
The iPhones of summer: If we didn't already believe that Apple has some new handsets in the works, developers poking around the entrails of the iPhone 3.0 beta software have found fresh clues pointing to new iPhones, new iPod touches and two mystery products simply referred to as "iProd" and "iFPGA." See here.
