MacRumors

Earlier this month, we reported that Apple resellers were seeing dwindling numbers of MacBook Airs, and it appears that many outlets are also experiencing low supplies of Apple's Mac Pro.

According to MacTrast, the entry level quad-core 3.2GHz Mac Pro is backordered or out of stock at a number of online stores, including MacMall, B&H Photo, CDW, PowerMax, Adorama, and J&R Electronics.

Popular Apple reseller Amazon.com has just nine of the low end Mac Pros in stock, and other retailers like MicroCenter, Frys, and Best Buy also have limited supplies.

Dwindling product supplies at third-party Apple retailers is often an indication that a refresh is imminent and the Mac Pro may be a prime candidate for an update announcement at WWDC in June, as it has been more than 1,000 days since the product last saw a significant release.

The Mac Pro received a slight update at WWDC last year, which included a small processor bump. Many Apple customers were dissatisfied with the update, but an Apple spokesman later confirmed that a new Mac Pro would be introduced in 2013.

One issue for Apple is likely to be processor availability, as the company has traditionally used high-end Xeon chips from Intel in the Mac Pro. The next-generation Xeon chips, Ivy Bridge-E, are not expected until around September of this year, a date far enough off that it would be difficult for Apple to announce a new Ivy Bridge-E Mac Pro at WWDC but close enough that Apple would have a difficult time justifying use of the current Sandy Bridge-E chips that have already been on the market for quite some time.

We've learned more details about Apple's new 'GPU Design Center' in Orlando, Florida, following our reporting from earlier this week.

Sources told MacRumors that the engineers Apple hired recently were not laid off from AMD, but were instead actively recruited -- largely via their LinkedIn profiles. Apple is said to have learned that many of AMD's 3D graphics patents were issued from its Orlando offices and targeted this area specifically. AMD has job listings for its Orlando offices to fill several of these recently vacated positions.

The temporary office space that Apple has leased for the new team in Orlando is located very close to AMD's campus in the city, though Apple is reportedly building permanent offices as well. Apple hired more than twenty employees from AMD and recruited more than that, with Apple reportedly looking to build the GPU team up to roughly forty engineers.

The newly hired employees are said to be reporting to the Austin-based former Intrinsity team that Apple acquired two years ago. Intrinsity technology was used in the A4 processor, and their expertise has contributed to Apple's more recent chips as well.

With its hiring of these 3D graphics specialists, Apple is likely working to redevelop its 3D graphics capabilities in its iOS devices. The company has made a number of acquisitions in recent years to revamp its chip design capabilities, and this new team would seem to supplement those efforts.

Apple is planning to launch an ad exchange, according to an anonymous advertising executive who spoke to Business Insider. The site says it heard from "one of the biggest players in online advertising", but could not confirm it -- BI said it talked to other sources who said they had heard nothing about it.

An ad exchange is an online sales platform that allows advertisers to target users through a variety of mechanisms. An Apple exchange could theoretically target particular Apple users based on their location, type of device, buying habits, what apps they own and more. Apple holds a ton of data about the buying habits of its customers, making an Apple ad exchange a potential gold mine for advertisers.

We can't confirm it. And, of course, the ad business is awash with rumors. (And, to give the full context, a couple of other sources we talked to said they'd heard nothing of the kind.)

But ... it's interesting that a bunch of people in the mobile ad business expect, even want, Apple to launch one, perhaps inside iAd, its existing mobile ad network.

Facebook and Twitter have recently announced plans to develop ad exchanges, and companies like Google and Yahoo already have their own.

Bloomberg reported last October that advertising was to be part of a broader push by Apple, in particular with its new iRadio service which is said to be partially funded by advertising:

The advertising initiative is part of broader flexibility Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is giving the company’s mobile advertising group to lure new business and integrate ads with other Apple services, according to people familiar with the matter.

Earlier this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook said at D11 that advertising was not a central business for the company, but Apple wanted to help iOS developers make as much money as possible.

At the beginning of last year, Apple hired former Adobe executive Todd Teresi to head its iAd mobile advertising unit and he now reports directly to Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president for internet software and services.

Following yesterday's introduction of a new entry-level fifth-generation iPod touch with 16 GB of storage and lacking a rear camera, Apple's retail stores began carrying the device today. Australian Ben Pasternak was one of the first to purchase the new iPod touch, and he has posted a brief video overview of it.

While the body design is nearly identical to the existing fifth-generation iPod touch, merely lacking the rear camera and support for Apple's Loop wrist strap, the video provides a good look at the unique color scheme for the new model, which carries a black front and silver back.

The new 16 GB iPod touch is priced at $229, compared to $299/$399 for the 32/64 GB models. With the introduction of the 16 GB model, Apple has discontinued the fourth-generation iPod touch, which it had continued to offer at $199 (16 GB) and $249 (32 GB) alongside the fifth-generation models since their launch late last year.

Update: iLounge has also posted some photos of the new iPod touch.

Apple has raised the prices for the iPad, the iPad mini, and the iPod touch in its Japanese online store, Bloomberg reports.

Over the past several months, the Japanese yen has weakened in value, hitting ¥100.69 against the dollar earlier today, which is said to be the reason why Apple has increased its prices.

Previously, the entry level fourth generation iPad and iPad mini were priced at ¥42,800 and ¥28,800, respectively. As of today, the prices for the base products are ¥49,800 and ¥32,800. The increase is equivalent to approximately $40 for the iPad mini and $70 for the iPad, raising the price of the iPad mini to $324 and the price of the iPad to $492.87.

The iPod touch has also had its price increased, with the entry level 32GB 5th generation version now priced at ¥29,800, up from ¥24,800.

This is not the first time that Apple has raised the price of its products. In 2011, the company began charging more for all of its products in the UK in order to compensate for an increased VAT tax.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the comment thread has been moved to our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All MacRumors forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Nuance has long been given credit for powering Siri's speech recognition capabilities, but neither the company nor Apple have ever confirmed the partnership, until today. Speaking at the D11: All Things Digital conference in Palos Verdes, California, Nuance CEO Paul Ricci admitted that Nuance technology powers Siri.

"We're a fundamental provider for Apple," he said.

Though Nuance did not previously admit to an Apple partnership, there have been numerous hints that all but confirmed Nuance's Siri role. Siri, which was acquired by Apple in 2010, was built using voice recognition technology from Nuance, and in 2011, pre-release iOS 5 screenshots revealed hidden Nuance preferences.

Besides powering Siri, Nuance has its own dictation and speech recognition software. It has also formed partnerships with several other companies and Siri competitors, such as Amazon's Evi, and released an API for developers.

Though Nuance is responsible for Siri’s voice recognition capabilities, Ricci did point out (via The Next Web) that other Siri abilities are the work of other companies. Siri integrates with many different services to provide query results, like Yelp, OpenTable and Wolfram Alpha.

Apple is expected to increase Siri integration across its products with both iOS 7 and OS X 10.9. Reports from earlier this year suggested that Apple was working closely with car makers to provide more comprehensive "Eyes-Free" in-car Siri integration and OS X 10.9 is rumored to include Siri support.

Alongside today's introduction of a new stripped-down 16 GB iPod touch, Apple has also reduced pricing for educational customers on its 13-inch non-Retina MacBook Pro. The prices have been cut by $100 for both the low-end and high-end stock configurations, bringing pricing down to $999 and $1299 respectively. The new prices on both models are $200 below Apple's standard retail pricing.

Education pricing on the non-Retina 15-inch model remains unchanged at $1699, while the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro continues to start at $1399 for education customers. The discounted education pricing is available to employees of K-12 schools as well as faculty, staff, students, and parents of students at higher education institutions.

(Thanks, James!)

Following today's launch of a new stripped-down 16 GB fifth-generation iPod touch, The Loop reports Apple has disclosed that the company has reached a milestone for the device with over 100 million units sold since its launch in 2007.

In addition to launching a new model of its iPod touch on Thursday, Apple told me this morning that it has sold more than 100 million units of the iPod touch since its introduction.

The iPod touch was launched in 2007 and took the design of the iPhone, minus the calling ability. It has since become one of Apple’s most popular products.

Historically, Apple has not disclosed the number of iPod touch units it sells each quarter, generally announcing only that the device accounts for more than half of the company's total iPod sales. The company revealed in documents filed in its lawsuit against Samsung last year that it had sold 46.5 million iPod touch units in the United States alone, but firm numbers have otherwise been difficult to come by.

Earlier this week, the San Francisco Chronicle addressed some criticisms of Apple's proposed flagship store for the city's Union Square retail district, a store that would replace the current flagship a few blocks to the south. While the announcement of Apple's plans several weeks ago had been accompanied by glowing remarks from city politicians, critics have pointed to a long blank wall along Stockton Street and the removal of a popular fountain behind the store as significant issues for the plans.

The Chronicle now follows up on the situation, quoting San Francisco mayor Ed Lee as saying that he hadn't realized Apple's plans called for removal of the fountain and reporting that he would be taking another look to see if it could be kept.

"We weren't necessarily focused on that side," Lee said, referring to a plaza along Stockton Street where the fountain stands. "It wasn't part of our discussion." [...]

"I need to take a look and visualize" how the fountain would or would not complement Apple's proposal for a raised narrow plaza between its store and the Grand Hyatt. The hotel tower was built in tandem with the plaza and the retail building in the early 1970s. "We have to see whether it might fit in."

Lee also addressed the issue of the 80 foot-long blank wall along Stockton Street, noting that city officials had raised objections to it during initial discussions and that Apple had been "very receptive" to those concerns. The city places distinct emphasis on activating the street-level experience in the pedestrian-oriented Union Square shopping district, and Apple's plans would create a significant gap in that experience.

The project still needs to proceed through reviews by the city's planning and historic preservation commissions, and it could see tweaks as a result of discussions with those groups. Apple has not commented further on the project, and the Grand Hyatt hotel that owns the property and fountain simply notes that "it's too premature" to address whether there may be changes to the proposal.

Apple today made a quiet update to its iPod touch lineup, launching a new 16 GB fifth-generation model without a rear camera for $229. The new iPod touch, which is only available with a black front and silver back, replaces the fourth-generation iPod touch that Apple had continued to offer since the introduction of new models late last year. The new model is available now in Apple's online store and should be available in the company's retail stores starting tomorrow.

Apple introduced the redesigned fifth-generation iPod touch last September with the same 4-inch display seen on the iPhone 5 and a number of other enhancements. But with the new hardware pushing the entry-level price to $299 for a 32 GB model, Apple decided to continue offering the fourth-generation models at cheaper $199 (16 GB) and $249 (32 GB) price points.

Now, with production on the fifth-generation models having been underway for roughly eight months, Apple has found a way to shave costs through both natural component cost declines and the removal of several features to be able to offer a stripped-down fifth-generation model at pricing close to that previously offered for the fourth-generation models. Beyond the loss of a rear camera, the new entry-level iPod touch also omits Apple's "Loop" wrist strap introduced on the fifth-generation models last year.

Earlier this year, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had predicted that Apple would discontinue the fourth-generation iPod touch in favor of a stripped-down fifth-generation model without a rear camera. Kuo had believed that Apple would introduce an 8 GB version of that device for $199, but Apple apparently decided that 16 GB of storage should be the minimum for the iPod touch lineup.