According to Global Equities Research, which monitors Apple’s iBook sales via a proprietary tracking system it doesn’t much care to discuss, more than 350,000 textbooks were downloaded from the company’s iBooks Store within the first three days of availability (caveat: a number of these may well have been free copies of E.O. Wilson’s Life on Earth downloaded for free by folks interested in seeing an iPad textbook in action)

And there were some 90,000 downloads of iBooks Author, Apple’s free textbook-creation tool, during the same time.

If those numbers are accurate, Apple’s textbook effort would seem to be off to a good start. Which is good news for everyone involved — particularly textbook publishers, who stand to make more money on books sold through iBooks than those sold at retail.

According to Global Equities Research, the supply chain markup on textbooks ranges between 33 percent and 35 percent. So there are savings to be had in cutting out that publisher-to-distributor-to-wholesaler-to-retailer process.

Add to this the lower cost of iBook production, which the research outfit estimates to be 80 percent less than print publication — and a system under which textbooks are sold directly to students, who use them for a year, rather than to schools which keep the texts for an average of five years — and the math here starts to looks pretty good.

Said Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry, “[This is] a recipe for Apple’s success in the textbook industry.”

Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with tiny Global Equities Research, contends that 7 minutes of the June 7 keynote by Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been blocked off for a presentation by Microsoft (MSFT) to talk about Visual Studio 2010, the company’s suite of development tools. Chowdhry says the new version of VS will allow developers to write native applications for the iPhone, iPad and Mac OS.

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• In a research note today, Chowdhry asserts that the company “may announce” a new Android-based phone for the AT&T (T) network; he says sources indicate the phone will have an OLED screen and a physical keyboard, and may run the “Google (GOOG) experiences” software environment, rather than the company’s proprietary MotoBlur software.
• He also says the company “may announce” a second Android phone for Verizon Wireless (VZ); that one he says will have an OLED screen and a soft keyboard.

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Chowdhry says the “MySQL community” is concerned about Oracle owning MySQL, asserting that users don’t believe Oracle has good intentions. What matters more, of course, is what the European regulators think, since they are the last obstacle to completion of the merger. And he thinks they will see Oracle owning MySQL as reducing competition in the corporate database market.

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The latest version comes from that old rumormonger, Trip Chowdhry, proprietor of the boutique research firm Global Equities Research. Once a month or so, Chowdhry publishes Silicon Scorp, a roundup of chatter he’s hearing around the Valley. And one of things he’s been hearing lately is that Apple by the end of the year will announce an $899 “SmartBook,” with 8-10 inch OLED screens from LG Electronics, and an ARM Holding dual core Corex9 chipset. He writes that his contacts are “almost positive” that such a device is coming, that Apple wants to launch this year, but that widespread availability isn’t likely until Q1 2010.

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Sounding off in a barrage of research notes today, analysts suggested Palm investors view the transition in leadership as a positive. “The timing was certainly awkward, coming just four days after the launch of the Pre,” Thomas Weisel Partners analyst Matthew Sheerin said in a note to investors. “Our take is that Rubinstein was being groomed for the last two years to run the company, and is ready for the next challenge, having put together a solid engineering team.”

James Faucette of Pacific Crest agreed. “Our turnaround thesis on Palm has always been rooted in the development team that Palm had recently put together, particularly the addition of Jon Rubinstein as head of development,” he said. “Today’s announcement effectively ensures that one of Silicon Valley’s best talents not only remains with Palm, but is fully engaged with the company’s future.”

And Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry said the streamlining of senior management roles at Palm was an absolute necessity. “I think this is the right move, a smart move,” he told the Mercury News. “[Rubinstein’s] involvement in the company has to be more mainstream. He has to be responsible for the success, and accountable for the failure, if there is any.”

Palm shares were up nearly eight percent, to $12.94 at the time of this writing. That’s up more than 500 percent since last December.

Among those doing so today: Morgan Stanley’s Kathryn Huberty, who lifted hers to $180 from $105, arguing that iPhone demand through 2010 is being underestimated by the market and will help drive Apple’s stock value up. “We believe Apple is emerging as the clear leader in the battle over the mobile Internet,” Huberty wrote in a research note to clients, adding that some future pricing adjustments will only solidify that position. “We expect a price cut to the current generation iPhone to drive 50 percent to 100 percent (two million to four million units) incremental unit demand,” she said. “Our survey data suggests 15 percent plus of the iPhone installed base typically upgrade to a new phone.”

A bullish call, especially for Huberty, whose opinion of Apple has historically been mercurial at best. Shares of Apple (AAPL) rose five percent to $128.60 in early trading this morning.

Tempering Huberty’s exuberant pronouncements today is Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry, who tells Reuters that the iPhone will suffer a bit at the hands of the Palm (PALM) Pre, which is scheduled to arrive at market on June 6. “Investors should not think the upcoming version of iPhone 3 is going to be as successful as iPhone 2.0 because it will have solid competition from Palm Pre, developed by ex-Apple designer Jon Rubinstein,” Chowdhry said. “Palm Pre has a superior operating system than iPhone. It runs on a better network–Sprint CDMA-versus iPhone which runs on GSM.”

His notion is that the recent layoff spree in the Valley will slow down; but that companies trying to hold on to their talent while awaiting a recovery will shift to a four-day work week instead. Save money, but keep your talent. At least that’s the theory.

Chowdhry contends that National Semiconductor (NSM) will adopt a four-day work week for all of 2009, and that Cisco Systems (CSCO) is considering the same idea. He says his contacts believe almost every Silicon Valley company could adopt the idea, including Oracle (ORCL).

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Sounds intriguing, yeah? So what it is it?

Chowdhry hasn’t the faintest idea. But he speculates that it will involve chips developed by P.A. Semi, the boutique semiconductor design company Apple acquired last April. A clearer picture of what’s in store for us will emerge in early 2009 with a series of new Apple patent filings says Chowdhry, who contends that a P.A. Semi chip has also been designed into the third-generation iPhone–which will boast vastly improved performance and battery life over its predecessor.

As result of the continued disruptions in the global financial markets, worldwide economic conditions and their impact on levels of consumer spending have recently deteriorated in many countries and regions. Any decreases in or delays in advertising spending due to general economic conditions could reduce our revenues or negatively impact our ability to grow our revenues.”

Google’s 10-Q, Nov. 7

If Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry is right, Google’s (GOOG) latest 10-Q is more prophecy than financial guidance, more foreknowledge than forecasting.

In a dismal research note issued this week, Chowdhry suggests Google is headed for a two-year revenue contraction, one that could force the company to sack as much as 15 percent of its staff. “Our research indicates that the challenging macro-economic conditions continue to worsen Google’s advertisement driven Consumer Internet business,” Chowdhry writes. “Contacts tell us that Google is benefiting from the shift in ads from traditional media to digital media, however this shift is not sufficient to overcome the downward macro-economic pressures. Contacts also tell us that online users are selectively tuning off the right side of search results, which are sponsored links. This may reduced the number of paid clicks, which in turn may negatively impact Google’s revenues.”

An ugly prediction, but certainly, and sadly, plausible.

Hard to believe. GOOG was trading at over $700 less than a year ago. Today it closed at $275.11.