According to Tech Crunch, three independent sources “close to Apple” have confirmed that a large screen, (7 or 9 inch) iPod Touch will be released in the fall of 2009.
The “sources” have seen the prototypes and Apple is currently in talks with OEMs in Asia over mass production.
One of the sources says Apple has been experimenting with large form media devices for at least a year but concerns were that it would not sell well. Now however, with the App Store in full swing and iTunes selling movies at a fast clip, a large screen media device should sell well, especially branded by Apple.
There was no word on pricing but expect it to be around $500 USD at launch, if this rumor is true.
Result for: oem
According to industry sources in Taiwan, OEM Blu-ray manufacturers have been hit with “seriously stagnant sales” due to Sony, Samsung and Sharp’s decision to drop prices of standalone Blu-ray players to under $200 USD.
The manufacturers began shipping players out in October and November aimed “at the $199 to $299 price range” which became nearly impossible to sell at profit after the bigger brand name companies began selling the players at under $200.
The companies should be okay now however, as brand name Blu-ray player prices have crept up to their average prices before the special holiday cuts.
Digitimes noted that U.S. buyers bought almost exclusively from big name companies such as Samsung and Sony during the holiday season, leaving less reputable OEM brands out to dry.
Result for: oem
Microsoft’s XP SP3 release manager Chris Keroack has announced that the long awaited Service Pack has been released to manufacturing channels and will hit OEM and enterprise customers by April 29th.
On that day the SP3 will also be available for download from the Microsoft Download Center but it will be an optional download, most likely in response to the company’s recent debacle with the release of Vista SP1.
The key features of Service Pack 3 are “Microsoft’s updated Management Console 3.0, which appears in Windows Server 2008 and Vista; the new Windows Installer 3.1; an update to Wi-Fi protected access; and support for Network Access Protection, the “health checking” component used by Windows Server 2008.”
The official SP3 feature list is available here: Microsoft XP SP3 update list
