MacRumors

Apple today increased its promotion for the upcoming milestone of 50 billion downloads from the App Store, an event the company is marking with a contest in which the person who downloads the 50 billionth app will receives a $10,000 iTunes Store gift card while the next 50 downloaders will receive $500 gift cards each.

The milestone is now being promoted as the main feature on Apple's front page, with an animated counter being accompanied by a rotating series of iPad mini app photos with associated facts to put the "50 billion" number in perspective:

- "With 50 billion steps, you could walk around the earth more than 800 times." [Solar Walk]

- "With 50 billion bricks, you could build 12 Great Walls of China." [ProCamera HD]

- "Counting to 50 billion would take you 1600 years." [Intro to Math, by Montessorium]

Apple announced the contest one week ago, and the counter stood at slightly over 49.2 billion downloads at the time. With the counter now registering a little over 49.6 billion downloads, it should take just under another week to reach the milestone.

(Thanks, Ben!)

As noted by AppleInsider, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today published three Apple patent applications related to the company's Lightning connector introduced on its iOS devices late last year.

The first application describes the hardware itself, while two nearly identical applications outline the adaptive technology used to assign pin functions. The only difference between the latter two applications appears to relate to one describing implementation on an electronic device while the other addresses its use on an accessory.

The present invention generally relates to connectors for connecting two devices. Specifically, certain embodiments of the present invention relate to reversible connectors with configurable contacts. [...]

Embodiments of the present invention provide techniques for dynamically configuring contacts of a host-side connector that is associated with a host system. In one embodiment of the present invention, a contact in the host-side connector is capable of being assigned one of several functions. The function to be assigned to the contact (and other contacts in the connector) may depend on the accessory coupled to the host system and the signals provided/used by the accessory. For example, when an audio only accessory is coupled to the host system, at least one of the contacts on the host-side connector can be configured to carry audio data.

As part of the hardware-focused patent, Apple shares several examples of implementations for the Lightning connector, including the Lightning Digital AV adapter, Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader, and even an as yet unreleased Lightning dock of similar design to the company's iPad dock for the first-generation iPad with its 30-pin connector standard.

Apple's three patent applications published today were filed in November and December of last year, but are continuations of similar applications filed on September 7, 2012, five days before the company officially announced the standard as part of the iPhone 5 introduction. The patent applications can, however, be traced back even further to several provisional patent applications filed by Apple in November 2011.

Aio Wireless, a new prepaid cellular brand from AT&T, today announced that it has launched operations in Houston, Orlando, and Tampa, with additional cities coming over the next year. The brand offers customers access to increasingly popular prepaid cellular services alongside popular devices including the iPhone.

"We talked with no-annual-contract customers and created our service around what they want. They want simple, easy plan choices with unlimited offers; first-class service at affordable prices; great devices; nationwide voice and data coverage; and no annual contracts. Today's wireless customers don't want to compromise," said Jennifer Van Buskirk , president of Aio Wireless. "We are set up to win over value-conscious customers who are increasingly moving towards smartphones and mobile broadband."

Aio offers two no-contract plans for smartphone customers, with the carrier's "Aio Smart" plan priced at $55/month offering unlimited talk, text, and data, with a 2 GB soft cap on high-speed data. An "Aio Pro" tier priced at $70/month increases the data soft cap to 7 GB. Aio offers the iPhone 5, 4S, and 4, with devices carrying full unsubsidized prices that see the iPhone 5 start at $650.

As noted by GigaOM, Aio mentions in its press release that the carrier offers "4G download speeds of up to 4Mbs per second", indicating that LTE is not currently supported with high-speed data limited to HSPA+ networks.

Just a day after reporting that its consumer electronics revenue would drop more than expected in the second quarter, perhaps due to weakening iPad mini demand, Apple manufacturing partner Pegatron has announced that it will boost its workforce by 40% in the second half of the year. The significant increase is fueling ongoing rumors of a lower-cost iPhone, as the firm has been reported to be handling production of the device.

Pegatron's Chief Financial Officer Charles Lin told Reuters on Thursday that 60 percent of the company's 2013 revenue would come from the second half.

He declined to comment whether the cheaper iPhone was among the new products to be made in the second half.

Pegatron is a longtime manufacturing partner for Apple, currently handling the iPhone 4S and iPad mini, although the majority of Apple's iOS device assembly is handled by the larger Foxconn. Pegatron currently employs 100,000 workers in its facilities, with yesterday's report indicating that the iPhone 4S and iPad mini each account for more than half of Pegatron's revenue for its communications and consumer electronics divisions respectively.

Pegatron, a contract manufacturer for Apple that makes the iPad mini and the iPhone 4S, among other products, said today that its second quarter consumer electronics revenue will drop 25 to 30 percent from the previous quarter, reports Bloomberg.

The company says there is a decline in revenue from iPad mini production is "more on demand, while price has been stable", but CEO Jason Cheng also noted that "almost every item is moving in a negative direction" for the quarter. "Not just tablets, also e-books and games consoles".

The iPad Mini accounts for more than half of Pegatron’s consumer-electronics revenue, and the iPhone 4S contributes a majority of sales in the communications division, Cheng said.

"This is a bigger drop than we’d expected," said Vincent Chen, who rates the company buy at Yuanta Financial Holding Co. in Taipei. "We’re seeing strong indications from the supply chain that demand for iPad Mini will now fall 20 percent to 30 percent from the first quarter, instead of an earlier 15 percent estimate."

In its quarterly results report in April, Apple issued guidance for expected revenue for the June quarter of $33.5-35.5 billion, a drop in revenue of some 20 percent from the prior quarter.

Reports have indicated that mass production of the display for a Retina iPad mini should begin in June or July, for a planned release well into the third calendar quarter of 2013.

Update: Fortune reports that Pegatron CEO Jason Cheng has clarified the situation, noting that in no way did he indicate weakening iPad mini demand was responsible for the company's projected revenue decrease. The association with iPad mini demand appears to have simply been speculation by Bloomberg based on the device being responsible for a significant portion of Pegatron's consumer electronics division revenue. In an email to Fortune, Cheng wrote:

After the meeting, one reporter from Bloomberg approached me, trying to dig out detail numbers about some specific product. I clearly refused to comment on specific products, nor customers, even though he continued with other questions. I did say those words that he quotes me in the article "more on demand, while price has been stable"…, "almost every item is moving in a negative direction"...; "Not just tablets, also e-books and games consoles". But I did not say anything associated with any specific products.

"No indication, nor hint for specific products or customers" has been our principle and guideline for any public events such as investors conference. There are always speculations after these meetings.

Apple is well known for the simple, no-frills product photos that highlight its lineup of mobile devices and as it turns out, a lot of work goes into capturing those images. The Verge interviewed Peter Belanger, a photographer who has worked with Apple for years, to shed some light on Apple's creative process.

In the interview, Belanger reveals that Apple exercises extreme attention to detail when it comes to product photos, providing him with both sketches and a comprehensive shot list.

The team at Apple always has a really well developed shot list and sketches of what they need. I work with their talented art directors to translate those sketches into photos. We start by getting the position of the product and then move forward on lighting. Because Apple products have such carefully selected materials it is incredibly important to light the product in a way that will showcase the various materials accurately.

As depicted in the photo below, Belanger uses an intricate setup of lights and equipment to accurately highlight the design of each item that he photographs.

I pick an area to start with and think about how that material needs to be described. Once that section is done I move on to the next. This is how my sets get so complicated! I need to have control over each and every surface so when the client asks for a highlight to be elongated, I can do that. It's similar to working on a file in Photoshop: you don't do all your work on one layer. I think of my lights as layers that I can adjust individually to get the desired results.

Belanger goes on to explain that most of his work is done in the camera, but that post production is used for the finishing touches. He captures the majority of his images with the Canon 5D Mark III, using a 24–70mm lens. Belanger's full interview, which details more of his personal creative process and the tools that he uses, can be found at The Verge.

While websites and developers have been seeing low levels of hits from iOS 7 devices for several months, as of last week we noticed a significant surge in such hits in our own logs. The hits come from Apple's block of IP addresses, suggesting that the company may have rolled out a new phase of testing with its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) just a month away.

MacRumors is not the only site seeing significant increases in iOS 7 activity, as TechCrunch reports that mobile publishing company Onswipe has seen a similar spike coming from San Francisco and Cupertino.

Over the past week, Onswipe found a significant bump in the number of visits from iOS 7 iPhones and iPads, specifically located in both Cupertino and San Francisco. SF had the most iOS 7 visits, with 18.75 percent, and Cupertino accounted for 17.9 percent of the total. May 2 saw the highest iOS 7 traffic to date, representing 23 percent, or nearly a quarter, of all unique iOS visitors to Onswipe-enabled sites. Most were visiting from iPhones (75 percent), but iPads also represented a full quarter of visits.

Apple is expected to show off iOS 7, as well as OS X 10.9, at next month's WWDC, but a public release of iOS 7 is not expected until later in the year alongside new iPhone hardware.

We have not seen a similar spike in OS X 10.9 traffic coming from Apple in recent weeks, although that traffic has been slowly growing for a number of months now.

As part of its first quarter earnings release today, T-Mobile USA revealed that its iPhone 5 sales stand at approximately 500,000 units less than a month after the device debuted on the carrier. The carrier also launched the iPhone 4 and 4S in limited markets where the devices are compatible with its networks, but T-Mobile did not specify how many units of those models it has sold.

"Our first quarter operating metrics and financial results are showing positive impact from the changes we began making in the fourth quarter. Branded customer net additions turned positive for the first time since the first quarter of 2009 and our postpaid business has demonstrated significant improvement," said John Legere, President & CEO of T-Mobile. "We ended the quarter with strong operational momentum, which is continuing into the second quarter, driven by the successful launch of our Un-carrier "Simple Choice" service plan and the introduction of the iPhone into our device line-up. Things only get more exciting from here, having brought T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS together to create the wireless industry's value leader and premier challenger."

T-Mobile also announced that success with its Bring Your Own Device campaign continued during the first quarter, adding 100,000 iPhones per month from customers switching to the carrier even before it officially began offering the iPhone.

Comparing T-Mobile to other U.S. iPhone carrier launches, Sprint sold 1.8 million iPhones in its first quarter of availability in late 2011, although that debut took place within the context of the brand-new iPhone 4S launch. Earlier that year, Verizon activated 2.2 million iPhones in its first two months of availability.

According to a new report from Japanese newspaper Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun [Google Translation] (via AppleInsider) Sharp, one of Apple's primary display partners, will begin manufacturing LCD panels for the iPhone 5S beginning in June at its Kameyama Plant No. 1 in Japan.

The site notes that Apple also sent orders to both Japan Display and LG Display, with mass production already under way, which confirms a report last month from The Wall Street Journal that suggested iPhone 5S production would begin in the second quarter.

Earlier this year it was believed that production of the iPhone 5S would ramp up in March to facilitate a summer release, but Apple has faced production challenges as detailed by reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in April.

According to Kuo, the work on the fingerprint sensor that is rumored to be included with the iPhone 5S has caused delays, resulting in a later-than-expected launch date.

While Kuo did not offer a specific fall release date for the iPhone 5S, he did outline three different scenarios involving a launch between September and November. Apple CEO Tim Cook also hinted at an autumn release for the iPhone 5S during Apple's second quarter financial results call, stating that the company has a number of surprises coming during the fall and beyond.

Apple's iPhone 5S is rumored to have the same design as the current iPhone 5 with a number of improvements including the aforementioned fingerprint sensor and a better camera.