This is no big surprise but over the last few years we've seen Apple expand massively and according to Steve Jobs a triple growth means space at the HQ is hard to come buy. In fact its so hard to come by that he's had to rent another 30 buildings and decided the current campus isn't enough. Thats why Apple is planning to build another campus, approx 50 acres in size, near to the current HQ. The new campus should be ready in around 4 years and can locate up to 3500 people. In a recent meeting with Cupertino city council members jobs phrased it like this,

"WhatÂ?s happened at Apple is that our business has basically tripled in the last five or six years, Apple has gone from $6 billion in sales to $20 billion in sales. WeÂ?re pretty thrilled. Since weÂ?re your largest taxpayer, I thought you might be happy for us."

So it looks like Apple have had success in the past few years that most companies wish they had, and with that, then need space to accommodate for future expansion. The new campus is expected to be around a mile from the current one.

It seems as though Burst.com can't get enough of the inside of a courtroom and neither can Apple. On April 17, 2006 Burst filed a patent counterclaims lawsuit stating that Apple is infringing on 4 different patents which include Apple's iTunes Store, iTunes software, iPod devices, and Apple's QuickTime Streaming products. This was in response to a claim filed in January by Apple stating that the claims made by Burst are invalid.

Burst believes that Apple success is directly related to Burst's technology providing audio and video-on-demand media delivery.

A similar lawsuit was files by Burst against Microsoft in 2005 which was settled out of court for a substantial sum that gives them the proper licensing.

Â?While we had hoped to avoid litigation and negotiate a reasonable license fee, it is AppleÂ?s own actions that have forced our hand,Â? said Lang, Burst's Chairman and CEO. Â?We now look to the courts to reaffirm BurstÂ?s rights as innovators and to be paid fairly for our widely acknowledged contributions to the industry.Â?

We've come across this unusual method of advertising that Apple is now using. In order to highlight their HiFi system, they are using a sort of cracked glass effect to bring on the illusion of power within the speakers. This type of advertising is unusual yet it has been effective for Apple, consistently drawing the bypasser's attention to the product. This form of marketing is called Guerrilla Advertising, which was developed by Jay Conrad Levinson. This is basically a marketing strategy that is cheap yet effective, and by doing this apple have possibly succeeded on local advertising. It just shows what a bit of plastic film and correctly positioned products can do.

After observing other UK based companies exploit a tax loophole, Apple could now be interested in following suit.

Throughout the United Kingdom there is a system called "VAT" (Value Added Tax) that means British consumers have to pay an extra cost with every good they buy. But if the delivery of these goods is from a location in the Channel Islands, in addition to the item being worth less than £17 ($30), it becomes free of VAT.

With this possibly in mind, Apple recently expressed that they are looking at setting up an operation on the island of Guernsey.

Could this mean long demanded price drops on iTunes UK will now take place? By doing something like this, it could cut the costs of iTunes UK goods by nearly 18%

We'll see soon enough I guess!

Recently, Apple had to call a meeting discussing possible changes to there corporate policy after upsetting a 9 year  old girl. Shea O'Gorman began learning in her third-grade class on how to write formal letters, and decided she wanted to write to Steve Jobs on how Apple could improve her iPod nano.

Nearly three months later, she actually got a reply from Apples Califonia-based headquarters, although, a letter from Law Department isn't what she expected. The reply came from Mark Aaker who instructed her that Apple does not consider unsolicited ideas, so she shouldn't bother sending them suggestions and just read their legal policy instead. Upset, Shea just ran into the room and slammed her door. Later CBS5 News heard about it from her family.

Since the incident, it has been reported that Apple held a meeting last Wednesday to discuss on how they could be less cruel towards children by making amends in there corporate policy. In addition, following the CBS5 News report, an Apple Representative called Shea to apologise.

According to Mac Daily News, Apple and its products are the darling of the technology world in Hollywood and prime-time television. Reportedly, the Apple brand was featured 250 times on 38 network prime-time shows. Featured as simple set extras, to being involved heavily in stories themselves, the iPod and other Apple products are clearly seeping into the public mind (like they hadn't by this point).

Many of the Apple placements, as tracked by Nielsen's Place Views, have handed the computer company key roles in story lines: Stewie did his own rendition of the iPod black silhouette commercial in "Family Guy"; Pamela Anderson and her co-stars tried to figure out who left an iPod behind in the "Stacked" bookstore; and co-workers on "The Office" attempted to trade in their office holiday party gifts for an iPod in a yankee swap. Apple has reportedly spent millions of dollars providing free Macs for the Hollywood community over the past 15-20 years. The investment clearly has paid off. Despite a tiny share of the worldwide PC market, Apple is by far the most widely used PC by fictional characters in film and television.

Take that, Microsoft! (Kudos to anyone who can name the actor in the pic.)

Apple will be revealing its second quarter results soon, results that some analysts are saying may be the second best ever for the company. American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu said he expects the company to deliver some rock-solid financial reports to its investors, exceeding its guidance of $4.3 billion in revenue. He pegs the figure at $4.4 billion. Wu's estimates are more reasonable than other analysts' forecasts, he said.

The analyst urges investors to continue buying stock in the company, and expects Apple to do very well heading into its third quarter. "We believe Apple is well positioned to continue above market growth rates with arguably the industry's most powerful and complete stack of hardware, software, and service addressing the digital entertainment space," he said.

For the first time, consumer computer sales are surpassing sales from corporate computer sales. The shift represents a dramatic new direction for computer companies, Apple among them, and may signal the beginning of a more consumer-oriented shift within these companies.

While Apple has historically had its aim on the consumer market, a big piece of its sales were attributed to corporations buying in large quantities. That change if reflect, and is primarily attributed, to the strong sales of notebook sales versus desktop sales. Analysts believe that notebook sales will eclipose desktop sales as early as this year. For Apple's popular Macbook line, and its ability to play Windows OS now, Apple is poised to reap the benefits.

We try, we really do, to promote Apple by offering the latest morsels of secrets when they hit the Internet. Nothing is quite as exhilirating to the Mac faithful as a sneakily-obtained shot of that hot, new product that will shake the world when it becomes publically available.

While there have been some notable rumor sites offering more notable rumors, Apple has not taken everyone to court, but a few bloggers are feeling the impact of being at the tail-end of a lawsuit from company. One of those is Jason O'Grady, whose blog in 2004 revealed plans for a top-secret product being worked on by the company. O'Grady is now facing off against Apple, though he defends his actions completely legal under the First Amendment.

He writes: At issue was a series of stories that I ran in October 2004 about an upcoming product that was in development. Was it the next great PowerBook? Maybe the a red hot iPod? Maybe a killer new version of the OS? Nah. The stories about a FireWire breakout box for GarageBand, code-named "Asteroid." Yawn.

Lighten up, Apple.

According to Steve Wozniak, who with fellow friend Steve Jobs founded Apple Computers in the 1970s, he never was a willing partner in creating a company that would go on to change the world. In an interview with the Seattle Times, Wozniak, or Woz as he is known in Silicon Valley, one of the most influential figures in modern computing history never had the inclination to make lots of money either.

"I didn't want to start this company," said Wozniak." "My goal wasn't to make a ton of money. It was to build good computers. I only started the company when I realized I could be an engineer forever."

That's kind of like Thomas Edison saying he really didn't invent the lightbulb to light up the world at night, but to help him find his keys in the dark. In any case, Woz continues to be an influential figurehead in the world of computers. Engineering one of the first iterations of the modern computer himself, Woz also set the stepping stones on which Steve Jobs would later so nimbly jump across to make Apple a household name.