Apple has long used the fall to introduce new iPod models, which to date has made much sense, since the iPod business all but turned Apple into the consumer electronics industry force that it is today. But iPod sales have either been stagnant or dropping, in sales measured year-over-year, as standalone digital audio players have been cannibalized by smartphones. During Apple’s last fiscal quarter results, iPod sales were revealed to have dropped the most since their introduction, with a 17 percent dip.

The iPod touch continues to show positive growth, and accounts for a growing piece of iPod sales overall, but neither the iPod touch or even the whole iPod category can hold a candle to Apple’s iPhone business. Last quarter, it sold 18.65 million handsets, beating the previous year by more than double. iPhone sales for the quarter also doubled the year before that.

What’s the bottom line? Increasingly, iPods are less important to Apple’s business. They still represent a considerable revenue stream, but the trend indicates that iPhones and iPads will probably occupy a more privileged place in Apple’s future business.

With the update schedule we saw last year, the iPad was introduced in April, and the iPhone 4 came out in June. That’s relatively little time between two major releases. This year, Apple held off on unveiling a new iPhone device, and the iPad could be a big part of why, since a lopsided annual revenue picture isn’t good for investors confidence, nor is having the development timelines for two core hardware products with many similarities so minimally spaced an ideal situation for Apple’s mobile device engineering team.

If Apple’s sales trends continue, in a few years time, you’d have the iPod holding on to a much smaller fraction of Apple’s mobile business, while the iPhone and the iPad make up for a much better piece of the overall picture. The iPod just wouldn’t be able to carry the September time-period nearly as well as it has in the past. Plus, Apple’s more interesting products would both have lost a lot of steam, in terms of novelty value, press coverage and buzz by the time holiday buyers are preparing their shopping lists and news outlets are looking for shiny new tech to recommend.

It’s not quite at the point where iPod releases are uninteresting to buyers, but Apple wouldn’t want to wait for that to happen, and the strong sales success of the iPhone 4, coupled with the expansion of its availability to Verizon customers, and the late addition of the white model, all meant that if there was a year where Apple could afford to miss its fairly rigorous annual refresh, 2011 was it.

Last year, Jon Gruber of Daring Fireball suggested that Apple was planning to release another new iPad incarnation in the fall, which could have been intended in part to put a marquee mobile release closer to the holidays. I think he got the idea right, but the device wrong. Apple does need a new fall star, and that star will be the iPhone.

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Whitmore’s checks covered more than 50 Apple retail stores, and stores belonging to retail partners like Best Buy. His inquiries found that demand was very high, but Apple was well-prepared for said demand, and few stores experienced complete sell-outs of any product.

The iPad was a strong seller, so much so that Whitmore increased his estimate for quarterly sales for the device from 6.0 to 6.5 million. The best-selling model of iPad according to the channel checks was the 32 GB 3G + Wi-Fi iPad: the most expensive one available.

Whitmore also increased his iPhone and Mac sales estimates. iPhone sales are projected to be around 16 million (in keeping with earlier estimates, since Whitmore isn’t counting on a Verizon iPhone), while Macs (the lowest selling category) should see around 14.2 million, according to the analyst’s calculations. iPods were the only device category whose sales estimates Whitmore did not increase.

Holiday sales estimates for Apple products, and the iPad especially, have been all over the place, but a recent roundup of various analyst predictions by Fortune found the average of iPad sales estimates to be around 6.53 million sold during the quarter including December, which is very much in line with Whitmore’s figures.

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Walmart confirmed the news Monday evening, following rumors circulating last week that it would start carrying the iPad sometime this week. All six iPad configurations, including both Wi-Fi and 3G + Wi-Fi models, will be on sale at the Arkansas-based big box retailer.

You don’t have to wait until this Friday to make a purchase at Walmart, though. According to some sources, the iPad is already appearing on shelves in some stores next to the iPods that are already there. Also, you can order a few models of the iPad online through Walmart’s online store, though the only shipping option available is site-to-store. At the present time, only the 64GB iPad with Wi-Fi, and the 32 and 64GB iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G are available for online order, with the rest showing “Out of Stock.” It’s likely the cheaper models are being reserved for in-store sales, since they’re much more likely to be bought off the shelf.

Walmart joins Target and Best Buy, both of which began selling the iPad as major national third-party chains to offer the iPad for sale. Apple is clearly keen on making sure that it has as wide a retail base as possible going into the holiday shopping season, especially now that it seems to have resolved the supply chain limitations that kept its popular tablet sold out at many locations following its launch.

The iPhone first went on sale at Walmart in December of 2008. Apple reported its best quarterly revenue and earnings ever for the quarter ending Dec. 27, 2008, including quarterly iPhone sales of 4,363,000, which marked 88 percent growth compared to the same period the previous year. Obviously, Walmart wasn’t the only reason for the spike in sales, as the iPhone was steadily growing in popularity before it became available there, but increased retail presence at one of the largest chains in the U.S. couldn’t have hurt those numbers.

Availability at Walmart, even in limited quantities (sources report only five per store at launch) will help ensure there’s an iPad under as many trees as is realistically possible this holiday season.

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If you’re looking for a gift to buy yourself this holiday season (or someone else, I suppose, though I never find that people much like software gifts), the MacUpdate Holiday Bundle has just arrived and is well worth considering. Like MacHeist and many other software bundles, MacUpdate’s offers a heaping helping of software at a bargain basement price.

The bundle includes 11 quality Mac apps, including both utilities and games, and if you’re lucky enough to be one of the first 10,000 buyers, you also get three additional pieces of software at no extra charge (around 1,200 had been sold at the time of this writing). Best of all, if you’re unsure about any of the apps included, you can download a preview package that includes trial versions of each.

The total cost of the Holiday Bundle is $49.99, which is a nearly 90 percent discount from the cumulative regular price of $446.77. Even if two of the apps on offer are part of your prospective to-buy list, there’s no better time to snatch them up. Here’s a quick look at what’s included in the deal:

• Path Finder – Finder replacement. Looks like Finder, but features numerous enhancements, including a dual pane file browser, tabbed browsing, easy Mac package navigation, disk image creation and OS X command line access.
• Socialite – Used to be EventBox. It’s an aggregator for your social networks and news sources, including Google Reader, Facebook, Twitter and RSS. Learn more in our recent article about the program.
• Yep – PDF and document management app. It’s described by the developers as an iPhoto or iTunes for your iWork, Office and PDF files. You can navigate your file structure to find them and move them, and also preview them within the app.
• Radio Gaga – Nothing to do with the Lady of the same name. It’s an internet radio player and recorder. You can add your own stations or use the built-in directory of more than 10,000.
• Garage Sale – eBay auction creator and client. You can build your auction using templates and a WYSIWYG editor, broadcast them using Twitter, and also keep an eye on auctions you’re bidding on. PayPal support is also built-in.
• DragThing – An OS X launcher. It’s a dock, but more versatile than the one that ships with OS X, and you can have more than one using DragThing. Billed as a way to keep your desktop clean, so that you can have your files available without wasting all that space and memory.
• Speed Download – Download manager and accelerator. I’ve never used one of these, but this one does have the advantage of doubling as a full-featured FTP client, which is good enough for me.
• HealthNut – Calorie tracker and food diary. Just in time for helping exacerbate the guilt of stuffing your face over the holidays, and helping you stay on track with your consequent New Year’s resolution to lose weight.
• PCalc – Scientific calculator application. Features support for hex, octal and binary calculations and unit conversions, and is completely scriptable. Also includes a companion dashboard widget.
• Machinarium – The much-loved Mac puzzle/adventure game. You’re a robot who has to travel through a world of robots to find your robot lover. On the way, you’ll run into countless puzzles and brain teasers.
• iRip – A utility for getting music from your iPod onto your Mac. This is the one that made headlines a little while ago when it had to change its name to iRip because Apple took issue with its original name, “iPodRip.”

That’s the basic bundle, but as mentioned, you also get three other apps if you buy it soon. Those three are PowerTunes (manage multiple iTunes libraries), Holiday DVD Templates (self-explanatory) and FlagIt! (flag add-on for Apple Mail). The MacUpdate Holiday Bundle is only available for around 12 more days, so if you’re going to bite, you’ve got less than two weeks to do it.

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A few years ago, any response to that question would have been met with an awkward silence and an embarrassed look and a rush to change the subject to the weather. Now a days, thankfully, the answer is: Not that bad, actually. The switch to Intel processors, along with TransGaming’s Cider, has allowed companies to port their games to OS X.

The bad news is, almost all the games on this list require a Mac with an Intel-based processor to run, and most of them either do not work on the old GMA 950 chip, or are severely limited.

Massively Multiplayer Online Games

I’ve got a weak spot for these enormous time sinks. They do come with a not-so-hidden cost of a monthly subscription fee and potential dirty looks from your spouse as you’re up until 3am trying go get “just one more level.”

Warhammer Online
Derived from the old Warhammer miniatures war games, we’ve covered this one previously. It’s still a good choice for someone who also likes bashing their fellow man in the face as well as computer-controlled monsters. You can download the endless trial, which will let you play a portion of the game for free, or you can also buy the retail Windows version for about $20 — you don’t need to install it, and the Mac version isn’t on the disc, but you can use the account key to create the account and then download the Mac client.

Eve Online
A space-themed MMO where you pilot your own ship is a nice distraction from the chicks-in-chainmail you find in fantasy games — really, that bikini has a high armor rating?  Riiiiiight. While my experiences with Eve are limited, from what friends have told me, “once you get over the learning curve, it’s quite fun.” So, if you’re tired of burly elves and svelte dwarves (or is it the other way around?), Eve Online might be worth a look. As with Warhammer, you can either download it online or pick up a box set at a retailer.

World of Warcraft
It’s hard to mention a gaming roundup without talking about the 800 pound gorilla of the gaming market. Recently celebrating its fifth anniversary and over 11 million subscribers, WoW shows no indication of slowing down this decade. Blizzard has always been a staunch supporter of the Mac, and the box you buy at the store will have the Mac installers on the disc. There’s even a handy iPhone app you can view your character and guild info with.

Shooters

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
In a break from the World War 2 theme of the earlier Call of Duty game, as you’d assume from the title, this one is set in the modern era. The single-player campaign is one of the best I’ve ever experienced — I’ve got a fairly low finish rate on games, and this once was interesting all the way to the end. You’ll play the part of two soldiers in different areas of the world (A British SAS trooper and an American marine) working on two plot lines. I found the level design varied and well-paced — each level felt bereft of the usual “padding” developers add to the game to make it longer. At around 12 hours long, the campaign is relatively short, but, frankly, I’d rather most games be this short and well done than inflated.

Bioshock
Yeah, I know, like Call of Duty 4, it came out a few years ago for consoles and PCs. This Art Deco themed shooter answers the question: What would happen if Ayn Rand built an underwater complex based on her Objectivist theories? Naturally, something goes wrong and you get to unravel it. As with Call of Duty 4, Bioshock is one of the few games that compelled me to finish it, and is one of the few games so scary it caused the hair on my arms to stand up.

Sim Games

Sims 3
It’s hard to ignore the siren’s call of a game that lets you block off the bathroom and watch your Sims go mad. The Sims franchise is a guilty pleasure of mine. Apparently I’m not so busy micromanaging my own life, I need to micromanage a Sim’s virtual life, too. The Sims 3 has a few new features, like careers. Previously, when your Sim went to work, he or she disappeared into a black hole from which money spouted. Now, they can advance up a career path. I just wish they’d learn to use the bathroom at work.

X-Plane
Back in my PC gaming days, I was a huge fan of Microsoft’s Flight Simulator series. Unfortunately, Microsoft’s shuttering of that development group killed the program — not that we’d have seen a Mac version. X-Plane seems to be the Mac equivalent of it. I’ve yet to play it, and, sadly, any attempt at downloading the demo has failed. You can get it at the Apple store but the online store claims a 2-3 week shipping time.

Strategy Games

Civ 4
The Civilization series has been a long staple in the strategy era, and Civ 4 is one of my favorites. Civ 4 adds a few new features over previous versions: religion is much more important, you can promote units, and now you can see your overall score. There is also a slimmed down iPhone version.

Whimsical

Lego Series
If there’s something more fun than a Lego adaptation of Star Wars or Indiana Jones, I don’t know what it is. I love how they are both true to the source material, yet light-hearted. These are fun for the whole family.

Peggle
Part pinball, part blockout, part crazy, the idea behind Peggle is to eliminate the orange pegs. You are given 10 balls to complete this task. If the ball lands in the scoop at the bottom, you get a free ball. Most of my experience has been with the iPhone app, but I’ve been loving it.

Any sort of a roundup like this is heavily biased on the author’s tastes: in my case, it’s apparent I like MMOs, shooters, and strategy games. Now it’s your turn: What games would you like to give or receive this holiday season?

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Boy Genius Report got the early tip-off, from an anonymous source. It comes in the form of what looks like a flyer image, detailing some pretty significant discounts on all things Apple, basically. They’re deep enough that you’d probably do well to hold off any Mac or iPod-related purchase for at least another 10 days just in case.

Here’s what we’re looking at, if the rumors prove true:

• Up to 30 percent off all iPods (excluding iPhone and iPod shuffle)
• Up to 25 percent off all Macs
• Up to 15 percent off all accessories, Apple software and Apple hardware

The sales seem to be available in Apple retail stores only, since the poster also states that “Select Apple stores open at 6 am,” and a line at the bottom advertises the new availability of in-store gift-wrapping. Last year we saw online Black Friday discounts, though, so it’s possible we’ll see them again.

If these deals do indeed come to pass, they would be pretty significant compared with previous Black Friday sales by the Mac maker. Twenty-five percent off of all Macs is a very good discount, for example, and would result in a $500 discount on the Core i5 27-inch iMac, or a $250 discount on the entry-level MacBook. Compare that to a $101 discount on the MacBook last year, and a $101 discount on the top model iMac.

The teaser image leaked by BGR is fairly convincing, in that it does seem to use design cues and aesthetics currently favored by Apple in its marketing materials, but it’s hard not to be skeptical in the face of sound business sense — considering Apple’s previous Black Friday discounts, and the fact that last time I checked, it really wasn’t in a position to need to offer big price cuts to bolster sales.

If these do prove true, I’ve been putting a new Time Capsule or Airport Extreme purchase on the back burner for quite some time now, and that 15 percent off is nothing to sneeze at, given Apple’s usual reluctance to offer any kind of price cut at all. Anyone else planning on making a purchase if these discounts really do apply? Something you wouldn’t buy otherwise, perhaps?

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While the timing of both rumors happens to be concurrent, please note that it is very unlikely that if Apple were to release an 8GB iPhone 3GS in time for the holiday season, it would use the new RFID tech. It’s more likely that the RFID integration will come to fruition in later models of the iPhone.

$99 8GB 3GS

Rumors of the smaller capacity 3GS come via Boy Genius Report, which has proved fairly reliable in the past when it comes to predicting product launches by Apple. They claim to have heard news of the 8GB model from two separate sources at AT&T:

Definitely not confirmed, but rather interesting nonetheless. We’ve heard now from two sources that AT&T, and we guess Apple, are contemplating launching an 8GB iPhone 3GS at the $99 price point before Christmas. One source said this was AT&T’s way of combating the Droid madness.

It should be noted that BGR specifically points out that they haven’t heard any of this from Apple or any of its personnel, which could mean that AT&T is pitching the idea but doesn’t necessarily confirm that Apple is receptive. Still, a 3GS at the magical $99 sweet-spot would definitely take some of the wind out of Droid’s sails.

Of course, there is the fact that Phil Schiller said the Apple holiday lineup is set. That should mean no new products, right? Or it could mean that the 8GB 3GS was already on the roster and that it just hasn’t been announced yet. Still, if it is coming in time for Christmas, Apple is already missing out on some prime holiday buying time. We’ll definitely see it before Black Friday if we’re going to see it at all.

RFID

Apple is looking into integrating RFID swipe support into new iPhone prototypes, AppleInsider reports. iPhones boasting RFID capabilities could allow for things like making swipe payments, proximity alerts, and getting data from swiping RFID-embedded objects or even animals.

RFID tech is ideal for this sort of thing because it requires little power, since the data transferred is often small in size, usually only a number or a URL. There’s also the cost benefits of the tech, and the fact that they’re already in wide use. According to AppleInsider:

The cost of RFID chips is now down to just a few cents each in quantity, making it possible to apply them to a wide variety of uses. Shipping companies and retailers already use RFIDs to track packages much like barcodes; libraries use them to track books, farmers use them to identify animals in herds, and the army, theme parks and schools attach RFIDs to people.

The site also speculates that Apple could then leverage its existing iTunes accounts, broadening it to make it a method for paying for anything via your iPhone, so long as the vendor you’re dealing with is equipped to accept RFID payments. Such payment systems using cell phones have already been used widely in parts of Asia and Europe.

If Apple gets in early on widespread RFID adoption here in North America, it could see the kind of industrial and business success it’s been missing thus far. It might become as common to see an iPhone-based device on the loading dock as it is to see one in a Starbucks.

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TAB Welcomes: Dave Greenbaum

As a new writer here, let me give you the File → Get Info on me.

For my day job, I own a computer repair business here in Lawrence, Kansas. Drawing on my support background, I focus on practical technology from the user perspective; If I can’t find it useful, I’m not that interested in it. My passion is helping people with technology. I’ve worked in corporate IT and academic computing before settling on residential and small office computer support. I’m also heavily involved in our User Group.

My experience with Apple goes back to Apple IIe days; the first Mac I used was a MacPlus, and owned was a IIvx. Ever since then I’ve been a Mac fan. I even met my spouse through the Lawrence Apple Users’ Group and we’ve been married 10 years this June.

At home I use a Mac Pro for my main workstation. I’m proud to say I have every current form factor of Mac just in case a customer needs a part or I need to test something. I carry with me an iPhone and black Macbook, and in the office we have a Mac mini. Dare I even discuss my home-built PC or my upcoming netbook? Yes, because we still live in a PC world and sometimes the Mac is not the best at everything. I have my foot in both worlds.

I’ll bring to TheAppleBlog consumer advocacy and critical analysis. My writing will focus on industry trends that will matter most for an Apple users’ daily life. Some of my past articles have been reprinted by the User Group community around the globe, and I’ve written technology columns for daily newspapers in this region.

In my “spare” time, I enjoy cooking, gourmet food and drink, as well as occasional travel. While working hard, you might find me listening to the Pet Shop Boys or Nine Inch Nails. Since I truly love what I do for a living, I find that I don’t need too much free time.

I love hearing your comments and feedback: good, bad or otherwise. Let’s keep the conversation going!

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With both shopping days and budgets running short, you may be wondering what to get your friends and family members who have either just purchased or will be receiving a new Mac.

With 1-8GB USB flash drives having a street price of ~$6-$15.00 and a plethora of highly useful free software for the Mac ripe for the picking, here is a guide to putting together a relatively inexpensive, yet most invaluable gift that will definitely keep on giving. If you have suggestions for items to include, post your ideas in the comments (it has to be free, remember!).

While TAB cannot distribute a pre-loaded DMG with these items (many have license “click throughs” before downloading and/or mounting), we can get you started building your present with this handy pre-built DMG file (ZIP), complete with custom disk image, background image and folder icons, all pre-layed out for you.

Core System Elements

• Growl + Hardware Growler – Great way to receive system and application notifications.
• iStat Menus – CPU, memory, enhanced date/time with calendar and more right in your menu bar.
• Perian – “The Swiss-Army knife for QuickTime” that lets you play more media formats than you will ever need.
• UnPlugged – Visual notification when your Mac becomes unplugged.
• Quicksilver – Put almost every aspect of your OS X system components and applications right at your fingertips.
• VirtualBox – Free virtualization tool for OS X which lets you run Windows, Linux or other operating systems side-by-side with OS X.

Must-have Utilities

• Audacity – For all your sound recording and editing needs.
• Fluid – Turn any web site into a desktop application.
• HandBrake – Preserve and convert video media and files.
• SuperDuper! – Don’t rely solely on Time Machine to preserve your data. SuperDuper! puts you back in control of your backups.
• TextWrangler – Let’s face it, TextEdit just does not cut it for power editing. This baby brother of BBEdit is a great free alternative, filled with options and support for many programming languages.
• Transmission – When you need a torrent, Transmission is the best way to get it.
• VLC – If there is a video or audio file that VLC cannot play, it won’t be long before support for it is added.
• Burn – Comprehensive audio, video and data media burning software.

Security

• ClamXav – Don’t join in the misconception that OS X is safe from the evils of the internets. ClamXav is a great, free anti-virus solution for OS X.
• TrueCrypt – Create cross-platform, virtual encrypted disks to keep your private data private.
• Wireshark – See what is really going in and out of your system/network. Great troubleshooting tool as well as a security-related app.
• nmap – One of the most comprehensive network scanners available. Find out who and what is running on your network.

Communication/Social Networking

• Adium – Centralize all your instant messaging, from .Mac to Facebook.
• Firefox – Despite growing compatibility with WebKit, there are times when Firefox is needed to view a problematic site.
• Last.fm - Personalized radio stations.
• NetNewsWire – NNW puts you back in command of your RSS feeds.
• Skype – Free or cheap voice, video and text calls to anywhere in the world.
• Twitterrific – The clean and classic way to tweet from your Mac.

Productivity/GTD

• Evernote – Store notes, web clips and more right from your browser or desktop.
• OpenOffice – Full office productivity suite offering compatibility with Microsoft’s comparable suite.
• Seashore – Powerful image editor based on GIMP.

Fitness

• TrailRunner – get into shape, track your cycling and train for that marathon.

Education

• Google Earth – Satellite imagery, maps, terrain, and more.
• Stellarium – Chart the heavens on your Mac.

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As you do your holiday decorating this year, don’t forget to trick out your Mac, too. Fortunately, it’s a lot easier than hauling out heavy decorations or hanging 40 miles of outdoor lights in sub-zero temperatures.

I am always amazed at the creative widgets people devise and create for the holidays, and this year is no exception. Have a look at some of the festive widgets, games, and goodies that commemorate this holiday season.

• My favorite this year is Snow in the Dashboard. It’s not a particularly useful widget, of course, since it doesn’t do anything but make light snow fall across your dashboard. Since I live in Florida, though, it’s as close to the white stuff as I’m likely to get this December.
• If you’re looking for computer-based games, there are plenty of fun ones to choose from that will get you in the holiday spirit. I could try a different one every day and still not be done in time for Christmas, but I gave a few of them a whirl and found Christmas Swap and Christmas Crisis are the best bets if you’re looking for a little mindless fun. The former tests your reflexes and keeps your brain sharp, while the latter is just a fun arcade-type game.
• Children all over the world play the Dreidel Game during Hanukkah. This year, treat your kids to a version that’s played on an iPhone or iPod touch. Same great game and same great fun as when played with a real dreidel, but this one has a 21st-centruy slant. Though the Dreidel Game won’t help you trick out your Mac, it’s still a fun little app that you won’t want to overlook.
• Want to know just how many shopping days you have left before you’re out of time and have to show up at the company party with a re-gifted fruitcake? Put this Christmas Countdown on your Dashboard as a gentle reminder, or for a quick answer to your kids’ constant question, “How long until Santa comes?”
• If you really don’t feel like hanging lights all over your house, just string them across your monitor instead. NightLights Screensaver can be customized with mini or novelty lights and even lets you choose whether to let them randomly blink or remain lit . For a really festive screensaver, try 3D Christmas or Christmas Village.
• Speaking of lights, there’s a really neat Kinara widget that lets users light seven virtual candles in honor of the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa. Though the widget is free to download, it’s creators request users consider a donation to the ECOLIFE Foundation.

Have you found other cool holiday downloads and apps for your Mac? Tell me about them in the comments.

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