John Martellaro has an article up on Mac News World that tries to shed light on issues that drive Apple's relationships with the business world, Apple's plans to expand, and the issues that could trouble them.

Here are the five issues he identified and a little bit on how it affects Apple's business sales:

Degrees of Freedom - Apple does its best to comply with government regulations, but handle them behind the scenes so that managers and engineers in the company can just focus on work. They have very minimalist and simple policies, but they enforce them strictly.

Because of this, employees feel a degree of freedom and empowerment working for Apple. As to how they interact to other businesses Martellaro says that Apple says this: Here's the product we're selling today, take it or leave it, you'll love it. That doesn't feel so 'free' right?

Partnerships - Face it: Apple is a company that's fun to love. Apple deals with companies that often want to become related (or even a part) of this successful company. That desire to insinuate themselves into Apple's success blurs the rational distinction between fandom and client requirements. Apple is alert to this and often paradoxically distances itself when the customer is just seeking a closer relationship. Don't you want to be "closer" to your clients?

Want to know the rest? Click "Full Article" after the jump!

Back in the 1st of October, trueb*****dteddy complained of Microsoft's MSN for OS X's bitter shortcomings. Article gets dugg - from both Mac users who feel his pain, and PC users who feel a pain of a completely different sort.

What did TBT say, anyway? "Microsoft doesn't get it" with their "Universal" MSN. Why? He lists his complaints: no video and audio chat, no offline messaging, no groups, and annoying pop up dialogue boxes he doesn't need. In other words, MSN for Macs doesn't perform well compared to PC versions. He thinks that because Apple is such a small niche in the computer market, Mac users aren't a priority for Microsoft - as opposed to that larger Windows base.

Well, since that 1st of October, he'd been deluged with about six-hundred-or-so diggs that he didn't expect, as well as comments that have enlightened him on some of his complaints. Like, for example, one comment told him how to get rid of an annoying security dialog box. Another informed him that Mac-MSN actually supports groups. And the official Microsoft Mac blog released a post explaining some of the reasons why voice for Mac-MSN hasn't been implemented yet. Enlightening, yes, but it still hasn't changed his opinion of Mac-MSN.

But counterarguments can sometimes be a bit touche. After all, one Digg commenter replied "Quicktime for PC: Apple doesn't get it" (although a few replies to that comment were very critical). Another pointed out that "Rome wasn't built overnight," and neither will Mac-MSN.

Ah, all this competition between Apple users and PC users. Remember the Mac Ad? Yeah, it can be wonderful, simply wonderful, to be a cut above the rest. But does that mean you can't ever be with the rest? Nobody wants to be lonely...

Apple's foray into the world of portable media player gave birth to one of the most recognizable electronic products in the world - the iPod.  The iPod has evolved from being a digital music device to a video viewer, podcast player and pocket-sized photo album. And if that wasn't enough, Apple has thrown in the gauntlet and announced their newest plan for this nifty little gadget: iPod games.

To be able to enjoy these games, iPod owners with any fifth-gen (video) player must first download and install the latest iTunes 7 software for Microsoft Windows or Apple Macintosh computers. After installing, you can now download a total of nine games from the iTunes store for US$ 4.99 per game.

One of the games offered is Namco's classic arcade game from the 80s called Pac-Man. the little yellow guy was able to chomp his way to the iPod. A total of 256 levels can be enjoyed in the iPod version of Pac-Man, with "coffee break" animations that serve as intermissions between  levels. The gameplay is exactly the same as in other version: to guide Pac-Man onto the dots and fruits while evading the colored ghosts. The only difference is that you get to control him by using the click wheel of the iPod: gently tap (not press) one of the four directions of the click wheel to direct Pac-Man to the goal.

Another game being offered is Electronic Arts' Mini Golf. The game features three courses: 18-hole Tommy Totem's Tiki Putt Putt; the Ancient Egypt course; and the Freaky Circus Sideshow course. The last two courses will be unlocked if you are able to shot under par. The game also offers Pass n' Play multiplayer mode where two players can take turns putting off at a hole, and the Practice mode for newbie players. The iPod's click wheel serves as the game controller.

Another downloadable game is PopCap Games' Zuma. Take control of a stone frog in the middle of the screen and eliminate the long string of multicolored balls by firing a colored ball from the stone frog idol's mouth towards a group of two or more of the same colored balls. The control is simple, rotate the frog and use the center Select button t fire the ball. To select the color of the ball in the stone frog' mouth, click fast-forward or rewind button. Other additions of the game include shooting gold coins for extra points, creating combos by chaining successful moves together and power-ups. These are only three of the games offered by iPod. Other titles includes Tetris, Texas Hold'em, Mahjong, Cubis 2, Bejeweled and Vortex.

This post is for those who want to know how Microsoft's Zune - often tagged as THE iPod killer - stacks up against Apple's ubiquitous media player, in this case the 80GB model. Judging from the pictures, the Zune is just a bit longer than the iPod, and while the iPod is a bit thinner, the Zune is surprisingly lighter according to the reviewer (no exact figures on the weights though). In terms of screen size, the Zune has the edge with a bigger 3-inch screen. Check out the images below for a sneak peek.

 
 

While we tend to take those "iPod killer" nicknames with a grain of salt these days, Microsoft's Zune probably stands more of a chance than the rest of the field. The prime reason is the fact that Microsoft is building the Live service to envelop every device of theirs. While it may take a bit of time to fine-tune and polish every aspect of it, I'm sure Microsoft has enough moolah to keep everything going just fine.

Computerworld has an article up which talks about how Apple might just be scared of the Zune. While they've "innocently" left out a few things and skewed a few statistics, I still think I'd believe them. When I was thinking about the Zune the other day, one of the few things which I found to be very cool was the fact that I would buy it knowing that it would fit seamlessly with the rest of the Microsoft devices in my home. Now that includes my media center pc, my Xbox 360, and probably a few more things which I might buy in the time to come.

One of the main reason why I'd buy this is the strong integration with Live, and consequently, Xbox Live. You see, the Live service has been one of the greatest things to have ever happened to console gaming. Even though other manufacturers like Sega had tried it with the dreamcast, Microsoft did a helluva job. The result was an unbeatable success. Getting the Zune to "talk" on Live might add a lot of great things. For example, you could probably buy songs from the Zune marketplace on your Xbox 360, play them on it, transfer them to your Zune, and God knows what else. The fact that Microsoft hasn't advertised it right now doesn't mean it couldn't happen in the future.

The other great thing about it is that you can share your music over Wifi among your friends. This concept can be great for new bands who want to be heard. There's no better way to get yourself known than the viral way. If it works, then nice bands could be overnight rockstars! The only grudge I have is that if I've received a shared song from my friend, I can't share it to other people. This means that a song can't hit big-time until enough people have bought it and are sharing it with their friends.

I'll probably buy the thing because I'm bored with the music capabilities of my PSP. Let's hope it goes well!

  VS ???

Stephane Dion from the TheTechZone.com thinks that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray movies are... well, too little, too late. Why? iTunes has movies on its menu - yeah, well Disney and Disney-affiliate movies for now. Soon enough, Dion says, so will Microsoft for its Zune, and with iTV (temporary codename) on its way, there will soon be no reason for movie downloads to not appear on the TV screen.

Which means that when Blu-Ray and HD-DVD movies (and their associated players) finally come out in force, they will find a market that has, well, settled for movie downloads, and which actually love them. They will instead find its niche in a small market of tech die-hards with a lot of money in their hands (are you forgetting the Xbox 360 and PS3 people, Stephane?), but it won't become the home movie standard that DVD became.

To sum up why he believes so, Dion lists the five following reasons why digital download will kill the next-gen movie discs:

• Because it's cheap. You don't have to buy an HDTV and an HD player to play any of the iTunes movie stuff, but you'll have to in order to play Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. And the downloads (for now) are cheaper compared to the discs.
  
• Because it's cool. Like music downloading is cool. It's easy, it's accessible, and your neighbor's probably doing it as well. So why not movies?
• Because downloading's readily available from the production side. All those movie studios have to do - once they get over their movie-downloading fears and jump in the bandwagon - is upload the digital movie into a server. No need to print up new cases and discs!
• Because music downloading killed the CD. Like, "Video killed the radio star..."
• Finally, because high-speed broadband is bigger business than HDTV, especially when it comes to digital video and audio media - movies and music.
  

For us, only time - and the rest of Hollywood jumping in on the movie downloading wagon - will tell if iTunes (and its present and future competitors) will become the next generation's DVD, or if HD-DVD and Blu-Ray will be accepted as the norm. Dion may make a compelling case for the former, sure, but this industry is constantly changing and evolving. Besides, from where we're sitting, it's not like the CD or DVD's entirely dead, either, even given iTunes and less legitimate movie downloading sites.

Who knows? Even Stephane asks: "When are we able to download a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD movie?" Now he's talking.

Feel like pimping your Mac? We don't mean just customizing your desktop or adding plug-ins and extensions for your Safari. It's tweaking almost every tiny function of your Apple computer so you get the best out of it! Thanks to Michael of My Tech Lists, we got a whole bunch of apps and downloads here (some are free, some are not) that you can use. Check them out:

Pixel Press Icons dishes out 120 of the most beautiful icons on ANY OS that you can download and use for any of your programs. You can download hundreds of Mac Desktop Images with MacDesktops. Now if you want to customize your toolbar in 80 different ways where you can include DiggUpdates and Del.icio.us bookmarks (to name just a few), get Super OS X Menubar Items.

To get things done the quickest way, you can use OS X Keyboard Shortcuts -- a site that gives a complete list of the keyboard shortcuts available in OS X. To make browsing with Safari a breeze, you can try looking at Pimp My Safari where more than 60 plugins and extensions for the default OS X browser are available.

Other sites can help you with advanced programs that needed to integrated well with your Mac. Some of them are NeoOffice, Automator World, and CenterStage. NeoOffice encompasses almost all office applications for the Mac OS X. Based on the OpenOffice.org office suite, it allows you to import, edit, and exchange files with other popular office programs such as Microsoft Office. Automator World, on the other hand, is a great resource for Automator Users. CenterStage allows you to let your digital media content connect seamlessly with your TV.

Some apps come with the features already bundled, while others are self-contained. Undercover allows you to see who's using your Mac with its advanced recovery software from Orbicule. Unsanity Apps is a collection of lots of really useful apps such as Application Enhancer Version 2.0.1, ClearDock Version 1.4.1, Dock Detox Version 1.2, Menu Extra Enabler Version 1.0.3, Paranoid Android Version 1.3, ShadowKiller Version 1.3, Smart Crash Reports Version 1.2, and the Cee Pee You Version 1.1.3 . All are ready for download in either freeware, shareware or OpenSource versions.

Apple fans everywhere must be cringing at the thought, but numbers compiled by Net Applications (the net statistics people) show that the Mac OS market share has fallen to 3.71% as of August, from a high of 4.55% last December. While the numbers were miniscule to begin with - as is the dip - the worry is that it's reversing the earlier trend that saw a growing interest in the Mac Operating System as an alternative to Windows.

The dominant OS in PCs today just so happens to be Windows XP, and it may stay that way for a while. However, the numbers may be rendered moot with both Apple and Microsoft launching the latest versions of their respective operating systems, OS X (a.k.a. Leopard) and Windows Vista, but the numbers do send a clear signal to Apple's accounting and advertising arms: hope that their MacAd campaign pays off big-time.

For starters, Mac's new Office will be redesigned from the Windows version to do away with the ribbon system. That, and they're going to be rebuilding the Windows version to do it justice on the Mac.

According to APC Magazine, the Mac version of Microsoft's Office Suite will be made to work more in sync with the OS, with designers rebuilding the program as a Universal-Binary app. At the same time, they're adding in the XML file format for this version of Mac Office to be more compatible with Windows users. They're already at the halfway point for rewriting the code into Apple's XCode, and while the transition isn't over, it's a big relief for the developers to hit the halfway mark.

Regarding the Ribbon redesign for Office, Mary Starman of Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) says that the redesign for the Mac will include a reworking of the Ribbon system implemented in the Windows version. As she mentions to APC, the redesign will not be exactly that of Office 2007.

"Apple has got their own very specific set of user interface guidelines and we try to first and foremost to follow those guidelines. If we can innovate on top of that and do some interesting things to make sure that the interface is really discoverable for the Mac user, then weÂ?ll look at doing that. We can get some ideas (from the ribbon) but it still has to fit within AppleÂ?s UI guideline, thatÂ?s what a Mac user wants to see."

They'll be doing a lot of testing to ensure the product will be in tip-top shape, but they're optimistic that they'll get the job done well. Let's hope Microsoft's Mac developers can please everyone with their Office redesign.

After crowning September 12 with the new iPod, nano, and Shuffle, as well as iTunes 7 and iTV, how will Steve Jobs and Apple top themselves now? Two bets running in the rumor mill are the iPod phone and the touchscreen iPod.

With the phone, ThinkSecret's thinking that it'll be announced in time for the upcoming MacWorld Expo this January. Every rumor can only be tested with official confirmation and time, though, so the coming months will tell if the trilling of a mobile iPod will greet the new year.

Well, now it's the touchscreen's turn to survive the mill. ThinkSecret's other sources - those same sources which first revealed the Apple touchscreen patents - are also saying that Apple's pouring in a significant amount of resources to complete the final specifications of the new design and that it might, just might (and we have to repeat, just might) enter the production line in late October, barely in time for Christmas.

Read the rest of the article after the jump.