Apple Earnings Jump 50 Percent

Apple first-quarter 2010 earnings soared past Wall Street expectations Monday, with the company reporting a profit of $3.37 billion, or $3.74 per share.

That's up 50 percent from the same quarter a year ago, when profits reached $2.26 billion, or $2.54 per share.

Revenue for the quarter was $15.6 billion, up 32 percent from the same quarter a year ago.

Apple, labels talk music in the cloud

Apple executives have spoken to the top four recording companies about plans to offer a streaming music service free of charge to consumers, multiple music industry sources told CNET.

Apple's managers haven't revealed many details about their plans but did discuss offering iTunes users a means to store copies of their music libraries on Apple's servers. The benefits to an iTunes user would include the ability to back up music and access songs off the Web from any Internet-connected device and conceivably from anywhere in the world.

Apple Changes App Store Review Process

Apple has changed the way it deals with iPhone app developers letting them now keep closer tabs on how their software is proceeding through Apple’s strict App Store review process. Many see the move as yet another step by Apple to keep app store developers from defecting to competing mobile platforms namely Android.

As first reported in Wired in November, a software developer can now see precisely when an app is “Ready for Review,” “In Review,” and “Ready for Sale,” Before that, developers only got vague status bulletins from Apple giving the “average wait time” around finding out whether or not Apple has okayed an app.


Software developers began complaining loudly about Apple’s review policies late in ’08, after Apple offered a hodgepodge of reasons for banning apps ranging from the Murder – drome comic book to the “Pull My Finger” fart joke app and Alex Sokirynsky’s “Podcaster” app.