Seth Weintraub

Sprint Nextel CFO Joe Euteneuer, speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Entertainment & Communications conference (webcast) as recorded by Fierce Wireless:

“Steve [Elfman, president of Sprint’s network operations and wholesale,] and his team have been relentless on watching the existing network to make sure that we are spending the capital we need and to make sure we don’t create a bad user experience–irrespective of all the rumors,” In terms of the demand and network usage generated by selling the iPhone, Euteneuer said “we’re going to stay ahead of it.”

Sprint is getting the iPhone….and the iPad.  The takeaway from this webcast is that it is going to try to do it without data caps.  
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2Tkj8SIHMU&start=277]

There is nothing that you can do on the iPhone or iPad that I can’t do.

AnilDash via TNW
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Sony seems to be hampering its PlayStation Vita console right out of the gate according to a report today from Ars. What may have seemed like OK battery life before Apple’s iOS devices came on the scene, now seems downright paltry. Compare the iPad’s 10+ hours of usage to the Vita’s claimed stats, with the screen at the default brightness, Bluetooth turned off, and headphones used for audio:

• Game: Approx. 3-5 hours
• Video: Approx. 5 hours
• Music (in stand-by mode): Approx. 9 hours

Even the diminutive and probably better-compared iPod touch (released a year ago) pretty much destroys that with 40 hours of music playback and 7 hours of video (right).

As for memory, the Vita has none built-in like iOS devices. But Sony (just being Sony) will offer a proprietary memory card format, instead of say just using SD or speedy SDXC cards that are about a buck a Gig. Prices?

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Announced on the Skype Blog, Microsoft-owned Skype now integrates with (5% Microsoft-owned) Facebook on Mac.  With the update, your Facebook friends will be able to see your online status and Skype you without leaving the Skype application.  As per usual with Microsoft applications, the Mac version trails behind the Windows version…and as a bonus, non-paying Skype users will now see ads.

Today we’re launching Skype 5.4 for Mac Beta. The launch introduces the same Facebook integration found in Skype 5.5 for Windows. We are excited to finally deliver Facebook integration to our Mac users.

Just like in our Windows client, you will now be able to IM and connect with your Facebook friends without leaving Skype. You will also be able to read and update your News Feed, as well as comment and ‘Like’ your Facebook friends’ posts – all within Skype for Mac. To connect to Facebook, simply sign into Skype, click on the Connect to Facebook tab and enter your Facebook sign in details.

We are also introducing an advertising platform in this new release, but if you are a paying Skype consumer or have Skype Credit, you won’t see any display ads; similar to the model that is currently being used in our Skype for Windows client.

Download Skype 5.4 for Mac OS X Beta.  We’re sticking to 2.8, in case the snarkiness didn’t tip you off.
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Unwire.hk (via MacRumors) shows what they indicate may be screen protectors for the new iPhone 5. Interestingly, the screen protectors here show a wide home button (above) and when compared to the current iPhone 4, show a wider screen area (below).

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If the current aspect ratio is preserved, the new size would indicate that the screen extended further toward the top and bottom of the device.

Another closeup image, below:

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…in New Zealand anyway.  One 9to5Mac reader said that the Thunderbolt Display he ordered on August 17th was now en route to his home.  If anyone else has a shipping display let us know in the comments or at tips@9to5mac.com.

What’s perhaps most interesting about this shipment information is that these displays aren’t shipping directly from China as most Apple products do. They are shipping from a holding spot in Australia (below) perhaps indicating that the wait on these displays isn’t because of hardware, but in fact software, which, incidentally was updated last night on Thunderbolt MacBook Pros and Mac Minis.

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TechCrunch notes that the UK Advertising Standards Authority has ruled in Apple’s favor on the complaint from Samsung that its Galaxy S II Smarphone is thinner than Apple’s iPhone 4. Apple’s iPhone is 9.3mm thick the whole way down the phone, while Samsung’s Galaxy S 2 is 8.71mm thin but has a 9.91mm ‘thick’ antenna hump.

The ASA ruled that since the iPhone’s thickest point is thinner than the Galaxy S II’s thickest, Apple has the right to continue claiming the title. Samsung likely isn’t too pleased — save for a single thick bit, their GSII is mostly thinner, and Apple gets to maintain their positioning (in the UK at least) as purveyors of slim, sleek design.

In reality, neither in the “thinnest”. NEC sells a 7.7 mm thin device among other thinner devices in the market.

Sure there are bigger fish to fry, but this ‘small’ victory comes as both companies are set to release new products.

Yes, this is about a month before a likely thinner Apple iPhone hits the market and Samsung has the rumored ‘Nexus Prime’ device in its pipeline.

VMware Fusion was upgraded to version 4 today with “over 90 new features” and low introductory $49.99 price. That follows the release two weeks ago of main competitor Parallels with many of the same Lion and speed improvements but heftier $79.99 price tag.

VMware touts three major areas of improvement:

If, for some reason, you don’t want to run Lion on your new Mac Mini, it appears that using a clone of a recent MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard will boot and operate the Mac Mini.  MacBidoulle cautions the Ethernet hasn’t been properly tested and the new Radeon Video cards in the high end model may need some hacking to get 3D working.
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From 9to5Toys.com:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgaVYa42BL0]

Continuing this week, MacUpdate’s latest $49.99 Mac software bundle is a pretty impressive one. Headlined by Roxio’s Toast Titanium optical disc authoring tools (which retails for $100 by itself), the bundle includes Data Rescue (fix corrupt drives – also over $100), FX Studio Pro 2 (we reviewed v1 here) photo effects as well as seven other useful applications and one nice bonus… Details below or at MacUpdate.com.

Update: Macupdate now offers 2,000 Fonts from MacFonts as a bonus.

MacFonts Complete expands your font collection with over 2,000 never-before seen fonts designed over the last few years by our exclusive SummitType™ font foundry. MacFonts Complete Collection includes a single user license, can be used for any personal AND commercial use (for-profit) project, are fully embeddable (i.e. for PDF files), and include complete character sets that support international languages and symbols. Also, since every font is in OpenType® format, everything you need is contained in a single file that is compatible with all of your applications. 
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Today was Microsoft’s Windows Tablet 8 unveiling.  The product on the surface looks cool, people are hyped, but alas it will be a year before real products are given to real people.  The iPad 3 with its Retina Display will have been on the market for months and Google will have iterated 10,000 Beta releases of Android before then on 200 different pieces of tablet hardware.

On top of that, this new OS is really just smashing together Windows Phone 7 Metro UI Windowing (some admittedly nice UI features) with Windows 7 applications.  Real world use of Windows 7 apps in tablet form isn’t going to be fun.  I’ve tried using Windows on the Parallels iPad app – and it is OK in a pinch, but apps need to be redesigned 100% to work in tablet mode effectively.  Try entering data into Excel on a tablet for instance.  Then try Numbers on an iPad – it is slightly better.

Luckily, just about every iOS app was designed or redesigned first for touch over the past four years.  Microsoft is, today, telling its developers to do the same for their Windows apps.

How long can Microsoft keep up its “next year” strategy?  Windows 8 tablet isn’t the only thing coming “Next Year”.

Two years ago, Microsoft made the decision to scrap Windows Mobile and said: “Next year we’ll have Windows Phone 7”.  When Windows Phone didn’t grab much attention at the end of last year, Microsoft ‘bought Nokia’ and said, by the end of this year we’ll have some top quality phones from Nokia.  We’re waiting to see how that pans out, but by the time Nokia can produce anything with a Windows logo on it, it will have fallen from #1 in the world in smartphones to #4 or #5 behind Apple, Samsung and probably HTC and RIM.  But Windows Mango devices are coming to AT&T, have you heard?

How did this “wait until next year” thing become business as usual for Microsoft?  
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AI reports that the MacBook Pro line will receive minor processor updates before the holiday shopping season.  In fact, they say the updates should come before the end of the month.

According to people with proven insight into Apple’s future product plans, the late-2011 MacBook Pro refresh will deliver marginal speed bumps to the notebooks’ Core i-Series of Sandy Bridge processors but will otherwise introduce no material changes over the existing models.

While precise timing for the update may change, those same people say the Mac maker currently anticipates an introduction of the refreshed line before the end of the month,

The report seems to stem from the recent release of Intel Core i7 2700 series processors fit for use in MacBook Pros (right).

This seems to fly counter to earlier reports from MacRumors that the next update to the MacBook Pro line would be a big redesign.

MacRumors has heard reliable confirmation that the next revision of Apple’s MacBook Pro line will utilize a new case design for the first time in several years.

For what it is worth, we’re seeing no hiccups in the supply chain on current models.  Silent updates aren’t unheard of however.

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Will the touch turn into an iPhone, the Classic be killed by iCloud and the Shuffle and Nano be morphed into wearable/iWatches?

from Wikipedia, data to Q2 2011

Out of Apple’s incredibly successful product lines, the iPods are the only one dropping numbers and revenue (above, mostly to iPhone and iPad, not the competition). Analysts as well as Apple forecast iPod sales drops close to 20% this quarter over the year ago quarter, which is an acceleration of the previous year to year drop. Apple’s very nature is to only go after lucrative expanding markets so there could be some motivation to cut or revamp the iPod lineup.

There’s been some talk of Apple killing the iPod touch at next month’s iPhone 5 announcement, which happens to be smack dab on top of the release window of every iPod announcement of the past 5 years. The idea is that if a “cheap” iPhone is made to cost less than $300, what is the point of having an iPod touch alongside it only a few bucks cheaper? Indeed, having the iPhone event during the normally scheduled iPod event could indicate some sort of new branding/pairing or at the very least a new release schedule. Interestingly, we’ve heard there are global constraints on iPhone 4 happening globally, but not on iPods ahead of September…

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According to the WSJ, Verizon is readying Prepaid plans to rival Sprint’s Virgin and Boost as well as T-Mobile.:

Verizon Wireless will begin offering the plan–which includes unlimited talk, text and Web use for $50 a month–on Thursday, said spokeswoman Brenda Raney. In addition to Verizon stores, it will be sold at Best Buy Co. (BBY), Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) and Target Corp. (TGT) locations.

That compares favorable with plans from Virgin and Boost which come in around $50-55/month. The story only mentions a few low end phones that will work with the new plan, but a new low end iPhone could be tacked on later:

New Verizon customers will be limited to four phones from LG Electronics Inc. (066570.SE), Samsung Electronics Co. (SSNHY, 005930.SE) and Pantech Co., though some older prepaid phones can be used for the unlimited plan.

We know Apple CEO Tim Cook loves the idea of pre-paid plans and he recently told an analyst:

While Tim stopped short of explicitly stating that Apple would pursue a lower price iPhone, he did state that Apple was working hard to “figure out” the prepaid market and that Apple didn’t want its products to be “just for the rich,” but “for everyone”; he also stated that Apple “understood price is big factor in the prepaid market” and that the company was “not ceding any market.” Cook noted that Apple executives – including himself – had spent “huge energy” in China, noting that it is “a classic prepaid market.” He further noted that the handset distribution model was poorly constructed and that Apple would look to “innovate” and do “clever” things in addressing that market.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59mP3R4I8wU]

Joanna Stern at the Verge does an overview of the Windows 8 Samsung tablet that Microsoft is displaying at BUILD today.

One caveat noticed by DF:

However, fan noise is very noticeable, as is the heat coming out of the top vent, and a fast boot doesn’t excuse the slow wake-up times compared to ARM-based cellphones and tablets.

Tablet devices running Windows 8 should be showing up next year and look to take on Apple’s dominance in tablets with its iPad (which should be on version 3 by then).

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In response to the HP Print Control scanner app that we covered yesterday, a source at Apple told us that Apple is working on an app called “scanner” that uses iOS devices camera to act like a digital scanner.  Clearly this is meant for higher iPhone class cameras rather than current iPad or iPod touch cameras.

Here’s what we’ve heard on how it works:

1. The user opens the app and holds the iPhone over the document or object they want scanned.  They then snap a picture of it.  Apple’s on-board software then resizes the image to ‘letter’ or business card, A4 or whatever depending on original document.  Resizing includes aligning edges that get skewed by a sigle scan point rather than traditional scanning methods.  The user can then manually change the size of the document or the use (biz card?)
2. On board software then separates images blocks from text.
3. This is where it gets murky.  At last word, Apple was trying to do OCR both on-device and using alternative cloud methods for recognizing text.  Third party Optical Character Recognition (OCR) vs. in house solutions were also being tested.
4. The resulting file can then be saved as a PDF, .Pages, exported to contacts (in the case of business cards for example).

Third party apps already exist in this field but word is that Apple wanted a polished in-house app that directly tied to its contacts and Pages apps.  Apple has numerous patents in this field so they’ve been thinking about this for awhile.

It isn’t certain when or if this application will be released or if Apple will bundle it as part of its iOS, iWork Apps, or a separate app going forward.

Google does something similar to this with their Docs App in Android.
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Martin Fichter, the acting president of HTC America, has a daughter down at Steve Jobs’ alma mater, Reed College, where he conducted the very scientific focus group:

On the iPhone 5 hype: “Apple is innovating. Samsung is innovating. We are innovating. Everybody is innovating. And everybody is doing different things for the end consumers. I brought my daughter back to college — she’s down in Portland at Reed — and I talked to a few of the kids on her floor. And none of them has an iPhone because they told me: ‘My dad has an iPhone.’ There’s an interesting thing that’s going on in the market. The iPhone becomes a little less cool than it was. They were carrying HTCs. They were carrying Samsungs. They were even carrying some Chinese manufacture’s devices. If you look at a college campus, Mac Book Airs are cool. iPhones are not that cool anymore. We here are using iPhones, but our kids don’t find them that cool anymore.”

They also have no interest in dad’s Porsche.
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Apple’s Thunderbolt hardware pieces are coming together and to get ready, Apple is updating MacBook Air firmware. The 4 MB update promises to enhance the stability of Lion Recovery from an Internet connection, and resolve issues with Apple Thunderbolt Display compatibility and Thunderbolt Target Disk Mode performance on MacBook Air (mid 2011) models.

Thunderbolt parts have already began shipping and new products include Docks, external PCI Card adapters, as well as storage.

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As noted by SetteB.it, the Steve Jobs bio “Enhanced eBook” is now set by Simon and Shuster at 656 pages. That’s over 200 additional pages more than the previous page count which may have been a very low estimate. Recently, Walter Isaacson said that Jobs’ resignation would be added to the book, but it seems like a stretch that that chapter would add 50% more content.

Also, the publication date has move from November 21st, to “on or around November 21st”, signaling that there may be some movement in the release date.

You can pre-order the book at Amazon or on Apple’s iBookStore where it still is listed at 448 pages.

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SprintFeed provides a screenshot of Sprint’s internal systems showing a blackout of some kind due to a major phone launch. The dates September 30th to October 15th fall in line with all of the recent rumors and Sprint’s Galaxy S II gets released next week so that ain’t it. Yeah, Sprint. Welcome to iPhone.

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