Apple

We’ve just been handed some internal AT&T information on device changes:

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A new tier of device will be created in AT&T’s phone database on October 4th (a Tuesday:) which will require a higher rate of insurance.  iPhone (and other devices) will move there on the arbitrary October 4th date.  It is curious that the iPhone was mentioned specifically and not other devices.

While light years away from a new iPhone launch date confirmation, it could be a sign that new iPhones will hit AT&T in this timeframe.

In any case, it might be a good idea to buy insurance before that date as the monthly prices are going up.

Thanks at&T!
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Update: New MacBooks and Mac minis, not Mac Pros (yet). Full story here.

We have been expecting new MacBook Airs this week and now it appears that the ultra-thin notebooks won’t be the only new Macs this week. According to our source Mr. X, part numbers for an upgraded Mac Pro line have appeared, hinting at a release for the new line of professional-minded desktop Macs in the coming days. Here are the new MacBook Airs:

As you can see from the Apple-internal part numbers above, Apple will be releasing four new MacBook Air models. This includes two 11 inch models and two 13 inch models; both screen sizes will come in entry level and upgraded configurations. Built-to-order options (BTO) will be available as well. We expect some RAM and processor upgrades. Our sources who handled the new MacBook Air told us earlier this month to not expect any noticeable exterior changes. Speedy Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt I/O are this model’s main upgrades.

Surprisingly, it also looks like new Mac Pros are coming as early as this week. The new line was rumored to be launching in the last week of July or the first week of August, but it looks like Apple is getting them out earlier (or we just got the part numbers super early, which is unlikely). The new Mac Pros are may feature a re-designed enclosure that is both narrower and rack-mountable. A faster, 16 core model is also a possibility and Thunderbolt is an obvious addition. As expected, a new Mac Pro Server model will also debut. Here are the new Mac Pros:

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Apple has already announced that they will be building a new mapping service based on crowd-sourcing, and in iOS 5 Apple is more clear about this. Apple is also more clear about their use location in iOS 5 beta 3, putting in a clear and descriptive boot screen (on first setup) that discusses the device’s location services. This screenshot is shown above. (Thanks, Devin and PiratX!)

In addition, we are noticing speed improvements and bug improvements throughout the operating system. Notably, the camera application is much faster to boot with the iPhone 4. More snappiness is present in Safari. Also, a slight user interface tweak in the iTunes WiFi sync menu is present. That is shown after the break. Let us know if you find anything else… tips@9to5mac.com.

Update: Reminders.app got a new icon! Shown after the break.

Update 2: New location services preferences! After the break..

Update 3: You can now disable/enable voice roaming. Neat.

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The gigantic glass display spans three 6 lanes of traffic.

Apple’s Hong Kong Flagship store just got the curtain treatment according to a 9to5mac reader Nastypenman.  The IFC center is the gateway to Hong Kong from the Airport rail link (ferry terminal, subways, etc) and is in the heart of Central, Hong Kong’s premiere shopping and business district.  The IFC had evict or relocate about 20 stores on two-three levels, circled below in this Macrumors report from March.  It could be Apple’s most expensive store to date (rent-wise) as Hong Kong’s prices are some of the highest in the world and this is about the most sought-after spot in Hong Kong.

Apple is also rumored to be building another local store, possibly in Pacific Place a short walk away.

A very Apple-like internal picture below:
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Hot on the heels of reports that claim Apple is gearing up to launch a new iPad model this fall, Digitimes reports that Apple will be adding a second manufacture to augment the tablet’s current manufacturing from Foxconn. Foxconn is currently Apple’s exclusive contractor for iPad 2 production and since the plant’s devastating incident in May and with a new tablet right around the corner, Apple is looking for a second manufacture to build their popular tablets.

According to the report, Apple’s second iPad manufacture will either be Pegatron or Quanta Computers. Pegatron, notably manufactures the Verizon iPhone and reportedly landed 15 million iPhone 5 orders for a fall release. Quanta manufactures some Macs and other Apple products. With Apple reportedly gearing up to launch a new iPad 2 model – dubbed iPad HD by This is my next – now is a perfect time for Apple to use more manufacturing power.

The ‘iPad HD’ is expected to be a professional-minded tablet from Apple with a 2048 x 1536 Retina Display. Artwork of this high resolution has already appeared in iOS 5 exclusive SDKframework files and has been a long-rumored feature for the tablet family. This new iPad is pegged at being another iPad model, not the iPad 3.

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The Chinese Economic Daily News via Bloomberg reports that Foxconn plans on spending NT$47B to build stores in China which will sell Apple products, which of course it also produces.  The information was relayed by the unit’s Chairman Steve Chang.

Back in January, we reported:

Foxconn subsidiary Cybermart has been granted retail permission from Apple and will begin selling Apple products in April of this year. Cybermart currently has 34 stores across the Greater China area, with 7-8 more stores planned for 2011. The report also states that Cybermast is planning to open as many as 500 stores, that will retail Apple products, in the future.

Foxconn is becoming a pretty powerful player in Apple’s fortunes in China and the world.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XYbVwg5B7g]

There is a new Facetime ad as well, below:
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In a note last night, Wayne Lam of IHS-iSuppli made the case against Apple going with 1st generation LTE chips in its next iPhone.

“It remains to be seen whether the next Apple iPhone set for introduction in September will support 4G LTE,” said Wayne Lam, senior analyst for IHS. “However, if it does, two things are clear. First, the iPhone’s minuscule printed circuit board (PCB) will have to grow in size in order to support the first-generation LTE baseband processor as well as all the supporting chipset. Second, the next iPhone’s BOM value certainly will increase substantially compared to the iPhone 4 if LTE is implemented in the same manner as in the HTC Thunderbolt.”

I think Apple is more concerned with the extra space and battery life the new chips would consume much more than the extra cost of the components.“The first generation of LTE chipsets forced a lot of design compromises with the handset, and some of those we are just not willing to make,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple chief financial officer, speaking at the company’s April 2011 earnings call.

The next round of chips which would allow Apple to put LTE in a similarly sized package won’t hit the streets until the first half of 2012.

I don’t see an iPhone as big at the Thundebolt or Charge, ever. 
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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iui_BLtj4wg]

One of our readers took it upon himself to jailbreak one of the Apple Store iPad 2 Smart Signs (video above). If you aren’t familiar, the Smart Sign is the iPad in front of each Apple product. As we revealed earlier this year, this sign explains and provides specifications for the product it sits beside.

Customers are not able to actually use this iPad for anything but the Smart Sign application, but with the right top-secret gesture anything is possible. That’s where reader Adrian came in. He figured out the secret gesture, went to the home screen, launched up Safari, and jailbroke the Smart Sign with the new JailbreakMe 3.0 tool.

Now that it has been done, no one else needs to do this, mmk?

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Hardware specialists over at Bare Feats ran a series of interesting Final Cut Pro X benchmarks pitting the latest Sandy Bridge-equipped iMac and MacBook Pro against the last year’s Mac Pro. The iMac system rocked a 3.4GHz quad-core Core i7 processor with 16GB of DDR3 1333MHz RAM and AMD Radeon HD 6970M graphics with 2GB of GDDR5 video memory. The MacBook Pro was a 2.3GHz quad-core Core i7 system with 8G of DDR3 1333MHz RAM and AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics with 1G of GDDR5 video memory. The 2010 Mac Pro desktop had a 3.33GHz six-core Westmere processor with 24GB of ECC DDR3 1333MHz RAM and AMD Radeon HD 5870 graphics with 1G of GDDR5 video memory.

Summing up, in two out of four benchmarks involving blur sharpen and blur directional effects the iMac came in first and the MacBook Pro outperformed or matched the Mac Pro. It is in the remaining two GPU-intensive tests – exporting a Final Cut Pro X project in H.264 (transcoding) and encoding a  Blu-Ray stream in Compressor 4 – that the Mac Pro shined. Although the benchmarks are far from conclusive, they give away the false impression of Apple favoring the newer Sandy Bridge architecture.

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One of the more controversial components of the iPhone 4 is its non-Gorilla glass backing.  Glass is a great material for displays obviously because it is transparent, relatively strong and scratch-resistant.  However, it is more questionable for the back of a device because it breaks spectacularly where traditional materials are stronger and lighter.

But it does look awesome on the back of the iPhone 4.

So the question of the day: Should Apple’s next iPhone continue to use a glass backing or should they move to a different material like plastic, aluminum or liquid metal?

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TechRadar is reporting that HDMI.org, the group that oversees the HDMI spec has informed them that MiniDisplayPort->HDMI cables are illegal and shouldn’t be sold. All of them.

Last week that it was rumoured that hundreds of thousands of Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cables are to be recalled because HDMI Org has deemed the cable system to be out of HDMI spec.The DisplayPort system is used primarily by Apple in its Mac range, but there’s a number of other manufacturers who use the port – including Toshiba.HDMI Org has exclusively contacted TechRadar about the situation and confirmed that any cable that has a DP male connector on one end and an HDMI male connector is unlicensed and should not be on sale.

Apparently at issue is that the “HDMI specification defines an HDMI cable as having only HDMI connectors on the ends. Anything else is not a licensed use of the specification and therefore, not allowed.”

Insane.

So for the record this is not OK (get them while supplies last):

What is OK, is these little dongles, which are actually pretty popular (we like the Kanex!)

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What is making HDMI.org so batsh!t insane?  As you can see, you still need to buy a licensed ($$$) HDMI cable to use the adapter below whereas the top adapter bypasses the licensing issue altogether…or at least it did until today.

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This afternoon, we recieved some intel from an iPhone source that has been reliable in the past.  Most of the information is already known but it is important to weigh in on what’s going around.  The “big” news is that Apple will be selling two totally distinct iPhones in September.  One will be a low-end variety that will address the cheap Android market, according to the source.  The other will be a high-end device and will be an all new design.  There will be no mistaking these two devices, they will be immediately discernible.  The iPod touch, like it always has, will get updated in September as well.

So that’s where the info path trails off, and to be frank, it isn’t all that surprising.  There are currently two totally distinct iPhones on the market: the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4.  The 3GS is at a cheaper price point while the iPhone 4 is the high-end line.

So we’ll have the same thing in September?  iPhone 4 is the low end and iPhone 5 the high end?

I’m not so sure.  For one, the price of an iPhone 4 isn’t going to compete with cheap Android phones in any way.  Apple is currently selling them for over $600.  They aren’t going to cut the price in half overnight.  The 3GS doesn’t currently compete on price either.  I think that to compete on price with Android, Apple has to make a totally new low end phone as well.

What’s it going to be?  I think a good place to start looking is the curent iPod touch.  The iPod touch has the same resolution screen as the iPhone 4 but with poor(er) viewing angles because the screen doesn’t have In-Plane Switching.  (video below)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJSESZ3faH4&HD=1]

Also, the back camera is an order of magnitude worse than the iPhone 4’s, it doesn’t have GPS, has less RAM and the battery doesn’t last quite as long.

…and obviously the iPod lacks the “phone” bits.

But Apple somehow makes a lot of money selling this “almost iPhone” for just $229 retail (and under $200 at discounts) vs. the $650 that the iPhone 4 fetches without a plan.  It doesn’t seem infeasible to me that Apple could use the iPod touch platform that debuted a full year ago to build a cheap iPhone device.

Here’s how:

Start with the same hardware.  Add the GPS/3G baseband chips and some phone wiring and a solid 3 megapixel camera and you are 99% of the way to an iPhone lite.  iPhone Air?  Whatever.

Apple could make this device, one that is thinner than an iPhone 4, with most of the same specs, for $299.  But here’s the best part:
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We’ve heard from a few overseas sources that Apple Retail stores are planning ‘overnights’ on July 13th.  Overnights are generally where Apple refreshes store displays and trains up management on new products.  Sometimes it is big stuff and sometimes it is insignificant (at least to us).

July 13th, however, lines up with our Lion release date pretty nicely.  We’re expecting the Lion release obviously, and also some new MacBook Airs which may or may not have faster storage (but not this fast), a Sandy Bridge CPU, HD Facetime cam and Thunderbolts coming out the side.

We’ve heard some stories of backlit keyboards, 3Gs, a black option and the mythical 15-inch MacBook Air HD but they seem unlikely at this point.

Along with the Airs, there have been shortages of the White MacBooks, Mac Minis and (perhaps redesigned) Pros  — everything that doesn’t currently have Thunderbolt — so those could also see updates.  If not on the 14th, then perhaps shortly after.

In fact, MacBook Pros and iMacs with Snow Leopard pre-installed have also seen some hiccups in inventory globally so we’re thinking Apple is going to re-package those items for Lion at some point in the next few months.  Probably sooner rather than later.

Just one question?  Anyone camping out?

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op4t3h10vMU]

iPhone Download Blog posts a nice video of Swype on Jailbroken iOS

Swype is a keyboard system for touch mobile devices that enables users to type faster in some instances because it doesn’t require as much ‘tapping’. Apple has shown little interest in putting Swype on iOS devices however.

That’s where the jailbreaking community comes in.  Andrew Liu (@WyndWarrior) is working on porting Swype to iOS. With the recent Jailbreakme.com, making it incredibly easy to jailbreak your phone, many others will try it (remember it is in beta).

If you are the adventurous type:

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We’re in love with Guilherme Schasiepen’s iPhone 5 mockups (via MacMagazine.br).

More below:
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This is my next runs this story based on unnamed sources who claim that come this Fall tablet fans will have a choice between iPad 2 and an-all new high-end iPad aimed at creative pros, apparently dubbed ‘iPad HD’:

Our sources are saying that not only will there be a newly designed iPhone coming in the fall, but there is going to be a new entry into the iPad family as well. As hard as it might be to believe, the new tablet is said to sport a double resolution screen (2048 x 1536), and will be dubbed the “iPad HD.” The idea behind the product is apparently that it will be a “pro” device aimed at a higher end market — folks who work in video and photo production possibly — and will be introduced alongside something like an iPad version of Final Cut or Aperture. This product is specifically said to not be the iPad 3, rather a complimentary piece of the iPad 2 line. Think MacBook and MacBook Pro.

As for Final Cut Pro/Aperture, it would perhaps explain why Apple made such a drastic change in its X product, but the extra pixels don’t exactly make a professional video editor.   A bigger screen could, however :D.

Overall, we love the idea of an iPad HD and all of the previous evidence points to it (below from the iS 5 SDK). But why wait until the Fall?  Perhaps the screens just weren’t ready yet at price points that made sense.  That is a lot of pixels to throw on a 9.7-inch display.

Also interesting:

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Analytics company Localytics today published a report on the rise of the Verizon iPhone.  In the July month, it accounted for 32% of all iPhone 4s purchased (AT&T is still selling iPhone3GS, and has the US exclusive on the $49 iPhone).  That’s with AT&T’s 8-month head start.

It’s not all gravy for Verizon.  Localytics surmises that the biggest selling point to US users was the ‘unlimited’ data plans…which end today.

Why the recent uptick in Verizon adoption? One reason may be Verizon’s unlimited data plan, which they are scheduled to do away with on July 7th. AT&T officially discontinued its unlimited data plan in mid-2010, although existing customers were allowed to keep their plan as long as they remained AT&T customers. We’ll continue tracking the shift in iPhone 4 market share to see if Verizon loses momentum post-unlimited-data.

It will be interesting to see the split on iPhone 5 when all carriers (including Sprint T-Mobile and others?) are equally pitted against each other.
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We were the first ones to report that Jailbreakme.com was live last night at about 2am ET.  That was about 20 hours ago.  Just a few minutes ago, @chpwn tweeted that they’d surpassed a million jailbreaks on Jailbreakme.com.  That’s a pretty impressive distribution vector.

Although there was some concern going in that Comex was rushed in this jailbreak, commenters seem to be impressed with the results.  The process couldn’t be easier as the below video shows.

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Amazon today announced unlimited storage for music in its cloud drive.  The catch is you have to upgrade your overall Cloud storage (also includes Docs, Pictures, movies, etc) to the 20GB plan which is $20 per year.  Once you do that, you can upload “Unlimited” amounts of music and play it anywhere.  So, this appears to be taking on Spotify, Google and Apple’s iTunes Match (though each service is slightly different).

Speaking of Apple, the Amazon Cloud web experience is now also optimized for the iPad.  Full press release below:

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The WSJ reports on the next generation iPhone due this fall:

According to some suppliers of components to Apple, the new version of the iPhone is expected to be thinner and lighter than the iPhone 4 and sport an 8-megapixel camera. One person said the new iPhone will operate on Qualcomm Inc.’s wireless baseband chips. The current iPhone 4 uses memory chips made by Samsung Electronics Co. and baseband chips from German chip maker Infineon Technologies AG, according to a report by market-research firm iSuppli Corp.

Verizon execs have already said the next iPhone will be a GSM/CDMA world phone – which means it is likely that it will use Qualcomm’s Gobi chips (As the current Verizon iPhone and iPad currently do).  Numerous reports have also said it will contain a 8megapixel camera – from Sony and other manufacturers.

There is some question about whether or not these devices will meet production deadlines, however…

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