“When asked about progress on the company’s $1 billion data center being built in North Carolina, company executives only said the project was on track to be completed by end of calendar year. ‘And then we plan to use it,’ Peter Openheimer said,” Dilger reports. “Nothing else slipped about the new 500,000 square foot project, which is five times larger than the company’s current data center in Newark, California. The new center is expected to be used to expand the company’s rapidly growing iTunes music, apps, and iBooks stores as well as handling its online cloud services such as MobileMe.”
Dilger reports, “Another topic Apple executives didn’t want to discuss was the future of FaceTime… When asked about how and when Apple planned to release FaceTime as an open standard, and whether the company would support FaceTime calls from Windows PCs and Macs, chief operations officer Tim Cook said he wanted to focus on financial questions in order to make sure those were all answered. ‘Punting that one for another day,’ Cook replied.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
FaceTime for Mac seems like a no-brainer, but I’ll go out on a limb and predict that Apple may release FaceTime for Windows too.
I hope they release FaceTime and iChat for the windows.
Just make it better on the Mac!
FaceTime is most likely going to be integrated in two ways. First, as part of AOL Instant Messenger so that it will work with iChat on Macs and AIM for Windows and Linux PCs. Secondly, as a mobile phone protocol that will work over the phone’s data connection.
I can’t wait for this to be completely ubiquitous. And for it to work over 3G. The iPhone’s 3G radio already supports faster speeds. Hopefully AT&T is doing everything they can to upgrade their equipment and improve network speeds as quickly as possible. Time to step up and stop being the iPhone’s weakest link.
Apple should buy AT&T and be done with it.
@ Botvinnik,
The easiest way to “be done with it” is to get the iPhone on all carriers when G4 finally arrives in America.
To Botvinnik: AT&T (T) has, as of this morning, a market cap of $147.5 billion. Even Apple couldn’t afford them. Why they would want them is another matter.
Do you really think that Apple would ever buy ATT?
And have to support all those Windows / Android / et al ?
It’s fun to read how Apple single-handedly has defeated every one of the inefficient and burdensome DRM schemes, by using the huge popularity of their mobile devices. All the evil usual suspects are trying to float yet another DRM, this time called UltraViolet. As before, Apple refuses to join.
Disturbingly, Google is building a cloud data center along the same lines as Apple’s. Gee, I wonder where they got that idea.
Well, duh! Why does any frigtard journalist expect Peter Oppenheimer to open up and tell all during a quarterly conference call? Like this is a surprise? Daniel, fer chrissakes, you of all people should know that.
Oh and to the poster above me who’s all freaked out about Google building a data center, relax. Of course they will do this. In fact, Google has been building data centers all over the world. It’s no surprise that they are, to expand their search capacity, host Google Apps and other cloud services. I hate to say this, but Apple is not the only company to realize the potential for cloud-based services. But their approach will likely be different.
Yes, but at least someone asked about the BILLION DOLLAR SERVER FARM. We are making some progress on the questions!
No FaceTime for Windows. Too many hardware configurations, not enough control. The support lines would be blazing with irate Windows users. Best leave them to M$, HP, Dell, etc.
Also dancing around the question of creating artificial shortages – Apple absolutely does employ this trick – it’s first tenet of Steve Jobs remarkable marketing skill. Saying they don’t is just a lie.
Also dancing around reason for not knowing when iP4 supply will catch up with demand – it will be when the antenna redesign is completed and the Chinese assembly line is restarted.
After that, Apple can start to deal with stupid, early iP4 adopters like me who will be demanding an exchange of their crippled phone for one of the new ones that actually does what Steve Jobs promised at WWDC – be the best phone ever.
“Comment from: lurker
No FaceTime for Windows. Too many hardware configurations, not enough control. The support lines would be blazing with irate Windows users. Best leave them to M$, HP, Dell, etc.”
C’mon, it would be open source/standard before Apple would do that. and.. at that time.. Apple would not be the ones to get the support calls BECAUSE they’ve made it open. The “don’t call us if you can’t get your cr@p platform working” sign would clearly be hung in the Windows.
@ Another Dance,
Dude, you have no clue from whence you speak.
You think Apple: wants delays, wants to limit their sales, wants to frustrate customers (who may turn to other company’s products instead of waiting), you think Apple wants to turn down the money people are waiving in their face to buy Apple’s products, you think Apple wants to earn less and not grow their business as fast as possible, and not grow market share ahead of competitors, you think they don’t want to expose more customers to their products and create more loyal users… — ALL TO CREATE WHAT YOU CALL “MARKETING?”
You’re nuts! You don’t understand Steve, you don’t understand business. You don’t understand the company.
Then you go on to call them liars? You’re an ass to make such an unfounded accusation.
“Marketing” is created by great products, by user’s word of mouth, by large volume sales, by loyal users as Steve said, by success — not by frustrating customers and delays, etc, and all the problems listed above that you think Apple creates on purpose! You’re insane!
You remind me of the idiots everywhere who were claiming Apple planted and leaked the iPhone 4 so Gizmodo could get it, to create…. wait… to create “marketing.” Yeah, right. Look what Giz did to the whole iPhone 4 antenna “marketing…” You want marketing, that was marketing…
Dude, Another Dance, please go market yourself off. You’re conspiracy theories belong with the Fandroid blogger websites and other nut-cases who have all the facts distorted and upside down in your over-emotional excitement to be important.
Hint: Be logical and systematic. Otherwise you make no sense.
FaceTime
FaceTme works the way to works because of Wifi. Even though At&t 3G speed is faster than Verizon, it doesn’t compare to the potential capabilities of 4G. I speculate that Apple will release an iPhone 4G next year to work in this newer 4G network and thus expand the FaceTime capability.
If FaceTime was enabled though 3G, it would be choppy and low quality. Something Apple doesn’t settle for.
SJ: “Now witness the fire power of this fully armed and operational battle station…er, data center!”
@MEES 1Mb upload should be more than enough for video chat