FTC will investigate Apple

The Federal Trade Commission will open an investigation into whether Apple is illegally using its position in the mobile software market to harm competitors, according to several published reports.

On Friday afternoon, both Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal reported that the FTC had opened a formal probe.

At issue is Apple’s recent tweaking of its App Store rules. In May, Apple made changes that prohibit certain developer tools from being used to create applications for the iPhone and iPad, and on Monday effectively blocked Google’s AdMob and other non-independent mobile ad networks from accessing applications on the iPhone.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The probe will look at whether Apple is using its highly successful App Store to hurt competitors. When Apple changed the rules on which tools could be used to write apps sold in the App Store it raised eyebrows, as the shifts seemed to specifically target Adobe, with whom Apple recently had a public fallout.
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BP’s bottom line on ‘top kill’ — wait a day

Venice, Louisiana (CNN) — Nearly four hours after BP’s latest attempt to cap the runaway leak in the Gulf of Mexico got under way Wednesday afternoon, the oil giant’s chief executive said he would not know for another 24 hours whether the plan is working.

Speaking from a command center in Houston, Texas, BP CEO Tony Hayward said the operation was going according to plan, but he cautioned against trying to reach any conclusions based on the live video feed of the stricken well a mile below the surface.

“It’s unlikely to give us any indication of what’s really going on,” he said. “Increases or decreases are not an indicator of success or failure at this time. We will be continuing for at least another 24 hours, and it will be 24 hours before we will know whether or not this has been successful.”

That timetable diverged from one offered by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who told reporters in Venice that he expects to know Wednesday night whether the attempt is working.

CNN.com Live: Underwater view of top kill procedure

“What they have told us is it will take a couple of days for it to be fully implemented, but that they should know in a matter of hours,” he said.
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Apple topples Microsoft’s throne

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Microsoft’s dominance as the tech industry’s most valuable player has ended.

On Wednesday, Apple’s market capitalization edged past its longtime rival’s as investors made official what consumers have long suggested: Microsoft is no longer the industry’s alpha dog.

Just last month, Microsoft’s market cap exceeded Apple’s by about $25 billion, but now Apple is in the lead by nearly $3 billion.

Microsoft’s consumer products business is struggling to compete as Apple’s hot new items like iPad and iPhone capture the attention of customers.

Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) fell 4% to close at $25.01 on Wednesday, while Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) lost 0.45%, closing at $244.11.

Shares of Microsoft have dipped more than 15% in the past couple weeks, while Apple’s stock is down just over 6%, despite recent market volatility.

“What this really means is that Wall Street has more confidence in Apple’s growth prospects than it does in Microsoft’s growth prospects,” said Matt Rosoff, lead analyst at Directions on Microsoft, an independent firm.
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The Paradox of Deep Water: Lots of Oil, Lots of Danger

The ability to extract oil in hard-to-reach places has zoomed ahead. Disaster preparation has not

On May 7, in a darkened room called the hive at BP’s (BP) command center in suburban Houston, technicians were closely watching video feeds from the oil company’s underwater robotic vehicles. They showed a 40-foot-tall concrete-and-steel device called a container dome being carefully lowered into the depths of the Gulf of Mexico. BP executives had great hopes the dome could help siphon off most of the oil from its ruptured well that was spewing an estimated 5,000 barrels of oil each day into the Gulf. The device soon proved to be a bust. Said BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward: “There is an enormous amount of learning going on here, because we are doing it for real [for] the first time.”

Oil executives like Hayward had better get used to a steep learning curve. While the magnitude of the BP spill has captured headlines, the operation that precipitated the disaster wasn’t out of the ordinary. Operating in deep water has become a major focus of oil companies, thanks to big undersea deposits, drilling advances, and the willingness of nations such as Brazil and the U.S. to allow rigs off their shores. While drilling at depths of 5,000 feet or more was almost unheard-of 20 years ago, about 6 percent of world oil production now comes from deepwater wells. And that is set to double over the next 20 years, according to Peter Jackson, an analyst at IHS CERA.
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Report: Google Android surpasses iPhone in U.S.

(CNET) — Google’s Android operating system edged out Apple’s iPhone operating system for the No. 2 spot in the U.S. consumer smartphone market in the first quarter, research firm NPD Group reported Monday.

According to NPD, devices running Android accounted for 28 percent of the units sold to U.S. consumers in the first quarter of 2010.

BlackBerry devices made by Research In Motion, which use RIM’s homegrown operating system, took the top spot with 36 percent of the U.S. market. Apple’s iPhone, which had been in the No. 2 spot previously, fell to third place with 21 percent of the market.

NPD’s figures are based on self-reported consumer surveys and they estimate the number of devices sold to consumers. The figures do not include sales of devices to business customers through enterprise contracts.

Android is an operating system that is available on several different models of phones made by different manufacturers, such as Motorola, HTC, and Samsung. Meanwhile, Apple’s operating system is used only on Apple’s own iPhone.

Ross Rubin, an analyst with NPD, attributed the strong growth in Android to the fact that devices using Android software are now available on all major U.S. carrier networks.
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IPad sales top 1 million in 28 days; it took iPhone 74

Apple is up to 1 million iPads sold in just 28 days, more than twice as fast as the original iPhone.

After Friday’s launch of the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G, Apple has pushed past the 1 million milestone. It took the iPhone 74 days to get to that point.

“Demand continues to exceed supply and we’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a statement.

Analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray estimated that Apple sold about 300,000 units over the weekend, similar to the 300,000 Apple sold the first day of sales April 3. He said the 3G unit was sold out in 49 of 50 stores he checked, suggesting that long term, 3G units will make up about 40 percent of all sales while Wi-Fi units will make up the remaining 60 percent.

Munster said it appears that his 1.3 million unit forecast for the June quarter is conservative but there is enough uncertainty around international launches and supply constraints to leave his estimate unchanged for now.
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United and Continental Airlines to merge

US-based United Airlines and Continental Airlines have agreed a deal to merge, creating the world’s biggest carrier.

The loss-making companies said they expected the deal, worth $3.2bn (£2.1bn), to deliver savings of more than $1bn a year.

The combined group will be named United Airlines.

But new branding will combine the current Continental colours with the United Airlines name.

After the deal was announced shares of both firms rose in morning trading in New York.

United’s parent UAL Corporation saw its shares rise by 51 cents, or 2.37%, to close in New York at $22.11, while Continental shares were up 51 cents, or 2.28%, to $22.86.

Although United is seen as the dominant partner, the merger was described as “a merger of equals”.

Together United and Continental currently fly to 370 destinations worldwide, flying 144 million passengers a year.

Combining the two companies will create the world’s biggest airline, based on the total number of passenger-miles flown.
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Google reveals government data requests and censorship

For the first time Google has released details about how often countries around the world ask it to hand over user data or to censor information.

Brazil tops the list with 3,663 data requests while the US made 3,580 and the UK came a distant third with 1,166.

Just last month the internet giant pulled its search engine out of China over online censorship issues.

Google said it cannot provide statistics on requests from China which are regarded as state secrets.

Brazil was also made the highest number of requests to Google to remove content with 291 calls between July and December 2009. In second place was Germany with 188, India with 142 and the US with 123 requests.

The search giant has launched an online tool breaking down the figures which it hopes will be “just the first step toward increased transparency”.
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iPhone demand boosts Apple profit

Strong sales of its iPhone and Macintosh computers helped Apple profits to leap by 90% in the first quarter of 2010.

It made a net profit of $3.1bn (£2bn) while revenue rose 49% to $13.5bn in the three months to 27 March.

Apple said it sold about nine million of its popular smart phone – more than double the figure from a year earlier.

And it shipped almost three million Macs and about ten million iPods. The period did not include the iPad launch.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said the results were “our best non-holiday quarter ever”.

The profits were well ahead of market expectations, and sent its shares about 6% higher.
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Outlook: cloudy

Why so little is known about the effects of erupting volcanos on air travel

NORTHERN Europeans will not forget the name Eyjafjallajokull in a hurry, even if they may have trouble pronouncing it. Monday April 19th marked a fifth day of jet-free skies over a huge swathe of the continent as a result of the eruption of the Icelandic volcano, which began pumping large quantities of ash into the sky last Wednesday. That fine volcanic ash could pose a risk to jet engines, which have cut out in the past after exposure to similar volcanic material. Many of Europe’s busiest airports remained out of action.

Demonstrating the unpredictability of volcanic eruptions, Britain’s National Air Traffic Service said on Monday afternoon that airspace in Scotland and parts of northern England would reopen on Tuesday morning, and sounded optimistic that the rest of Britain would be cleared for flying later in the day; but later switched to a more cautious tone as a new ash cloud began spreading. Earlier, Norway, Sweden and Finland had allowed a few mainly domestic flights to operate.

The civil-aviation authorities had come under strong pressure from European airlines, several of whom had conducted successful test flights in the supposed danger zone. However, the engines of a Finnish military jet did suffer considerable damage as a result of breathing in the ash.
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