It looks like a new Mobile Safari browser is on the way. (thanks Bob)

Imitation = the most sincere form of flattery?   New specs are coming out on the Blackberry 9000 below..

Sony is probably the biggest perpetrator of loading up their brand new laptops with crapware (stuff like 30-day trials of services that almost no one would ever want - like AOL).  Most Sony laptop owners we know just install a fresh OS on their machines the first time they use them rather than try to uninstall the litany of the crapware individually.  Well, if you are in the market for a Sony laptop, your initial experience with your great Sony hardware could be getting slightly better.

Engadget is reporting that Sony is offering to ship you a machine without putting crapware on it for $50.  So Sony is acknowledging their users might want a better experience out of the box...but then charging for the option.  Sony isn't really putting a shine on their brand with this new 'Fresh Start' initiative are they?

As an IT Administrator that is happily "exchanging" my headache of Active Directory/ Exchange server knowledge in for a company that wants to move to Google Apps, I am surprised that Apple has forgot its best buddy, Google - at least for the time being. 

The SDK announcement yesterday included no reference to Google Apps working on the iPhone.  While I've been using IMAP to check my Google Apps Email for awhile now (at push-like 1 minute intervals), it is a bit of a pain to connect to the Calendar and Addressbook through the EDGE web interface.  I would much prefer to use the native apps like Exchange now can.  I also know that I can sync my desktop Calendar and Addressbook.app to Google Apps and sync it periodically with the iPhone...but this isn't really how I'd like to work (well since 1998) - and the point of the iPhone's Internet connectivity is to be able to receive updates in real time. 

Today's iPhone software development kit (SDK) announcement by Apple Inc. -- long anticipated and long overdue -- is big news for iPhone (and iPod Touch) users. Sure, there's a hitch: Just like last year, when Apple unveiled the iPhone in January then made would-be buyers wait six months to get their hands on it, everyone will have to wait until June for all the promised applications and advances to arrive.

But it will be well worth the wait.

When the one-year anniversary of iPhone 1.0 rolls around this summer, iPhone fans will get what is essentially version 2.0 of their favorite smartphone. The added features and apps expected then -- some of which were showcased by Apple today -- will transform the iPhone far beyond what it has been so far.

Hey - Computerworld nicked this (ha) continue reading from there.

Changewave's latest report gives some very interesting numbers for the iPhone in the business market:

1. Apple is the number two manufacturer in the planned purchases category (ahead of Nokia (this must be US-centric), Palm, Samsung and Motorola) and already has 5% of the business market. 
2. Apple leads (59%) the very satisfied category in their survey by double digit numbers and kills Palm and Windows Mobile devices (10-30% very satisfied).
3. While RIM currently is the market leader by huge numbers, its recent outages and declining satisfaction ratings are leaving a big question mark in the business landscape - one that Apple is hoping to exploit.

AnandTech has taken a close look at the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros both inside and outside.  Their conclusion?  Not much to talk about.  The internals are almost exactly the same.  Same motherboards, same hardware save for new video chips and trackpad on the MacBook Pros and Penryns and RAM/HD configurations on both.

Alltogether kind of a small update from Apple.  In fact, the MacBook Pros haven't been touched much over the past two years.  We expect much more from Apple at the WWDC 2008.  Perhaps even a *gasp* redesign. 

Table recreated below...

Apple today released information on the SDK event which was originally scheduled for February 26th. As predicted, the event will largely cover enterprise topics like Exchange and Lotus Notes synching.

We'll also see some 3rd party goodness.  Our wishlist:

Along with today's server hardware announcement, Apple today also released XSAN 2, a totally revamped version of its high-performance shared disk file system for Mac OS X.

Xsan is an Apple branded version of Quantum's StorNext File System software with minor enhancements designed for Apple's Mac OS X operating system. Xsan enables the sharing of one or more Xserve RAID devices with multiple Xserve or Macintosh systems. Xsan will also work with third party fibre channel storage devices with limited support from Apple. With the Xsan file system installed, these computers can read and write to the same storage volume at the same time. Xsan is a complete storage area network (SAN) solution which includes the metadata controller software, the file system client software, and integrated setup, management and monitoring tools.

Apple's press release..