Apple revamps its iMac line

Today: Apple revamps its iMac line. Plus: Is online video killing your TV? As well: Will Amazon before long challenge the iPad? And Silicon Valley stocks.

The highly anticipated update to its iMac line

Apple today announced the highly anticipated update to its iMac line, featuring then and there-generation processors, faster graphics cards and a new high-speed data port. Prices will remain the same, with the entry-level iMac starting at $1,199.

By providing more value for the price, Cupertino-based Apple no doubt hopes to reinvigorate sales in its desktop computers., which have fallen by about half over the past five years. The slack has been taken up, clearly, by its phenomenal-selling iPods, iPhones and iPads.

The new iMacs will be the first desktops on the market with Thunderbolt, which was developed jointly by Intel and Apple. MacBook Pro laptops were the first to get Thunderbolt back in February.

The overall look of the desktops will remain the same

The overall look of the desktops will remain the same. "Our clients love the iMac's aluminum enclosure, gorgeous display and all-in-one design," Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, said in a statement.

Apple as well touted the machines' green credentials, noting the iMac meets Energy Star 5.2 requirements and gets an EPEAT Gold rating.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Palo Alto-based Netflix last week continued its roll of unprecedented growth, reporting it added about 3.6 million subscribers last quarter. Netflix is said to be responsible for streaming 61 percent of all TV and movies watched on the Internet. It's not like Americans are reducing their TV time; as a matter of fact, viewing is up to a record high, nearly five hours a day, according to one report. We're just watching it all on smaller screens.

The tablet computing wars

Rumors are flying that Amazon will shortly be joining the tablet computing wars. Digitimes reported today that Taiwan-based notebook computer maker Quanta has received orders from Amazon for a new line of tablets. According to the report, orders of up to 800,000 units a month are expected, with shipping coming as before long as the second half of 2011.

CNet notes that Seattle-based retail giant Amazon is feeling the pressure to compete with Apple's iPad, since Kindle sales are not taking off as hoped worldwide, and a new tablet could take advantage of Amazon's new Appstore. The innovation company Forrester told CNet it believes Amazon is one of the few companies that could present a real challenge to Apple. Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps told CNet that she believes Amazon could succeed with a low-cost tablet not attached to a pricey data plan from mobile carriers, and the company has the brand name and available content to appeal to a ripe consumer market.

The contingency arise to its Android Appstore

Time Magazine's Techland blog speculates that should the contingency arise to its Android Appstore, Amazon's tablet could be a platform for e-books, its video-on-demand service and its music store and cloud-based music player, guesstimating a price of around $329.

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