iTimes with Tony Bove

With Macworld Expo in San Francisco approaching, the rumor mill is working overtime along with developers feverishly constructing demos and beta versions of new applications.

The net result was more press coverage for Apple than any company could ever achieve by simply releasing new products. There is great price sensitivity in electronics, and the price cut enabled Apple to hit its stated goal of 1 million iPhones sold a few weeks earlier than expected.

After two months of Apple iPhone bliss, no glitches. Sales are exceeding expectations, and more innovations are coming.

iPhone sales are well ahead of expectations. More rumors are swirling about a wide-screen, multi-touch iPod in August. The list of new iPhone widgets and applications is growing exponentially…

The iPhone has already changed the way people think these devices should work, and how developers should provide third-party applications. Showing real, unadulterated, unfiltered Web sites and running Web apps — that’s the full Internet experience Apple will promote with this product to differentiate it from the smartphone set.

The new iTunes Plus portion of the online iTunes Store is now available, offering higher-priced, higher-quality, DRM-free songs and albums you can play on any device and copy endlessly. And as of one day after it was announced, boomers rule.

With Paul McCartney and Wings, FCC approval, new designs for iPods, and more car integration kits, it is no wonder that as of this writing, Apple stock is surging. We’re going to get hi, hi, hi!

At the OnHollywood conference, Arianna Huffington and Carson Daly were the most visible representatives of the professional media that has taken the plunge into blogging and video channeling; but the true stars are the geeks and weirdos that have turned professional.

So you want to upgrade EMI-labeled music you purchased from iTunes to the higher-sonic-quality versions without copy protection (when they become available in iTunes next month)? If you’re a Mac user, you can use this tip. Otherwise, watch this space for future enhancements to iTunes.

Apple has taken a sad song — the copy restrictions on its music — and made it better by removing the Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection for its high-quality music format in a deal with record giant EMI.