MacRumors

Last week, we highlighted the unique construction barrier art in place at Apple's forthcoming Passeig de Gràcia retail store in Barcelona, Spain. The art, which consisted of tile mosaics using images of Apple iOS app icons and honoring the style of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, surrounded the store during the final phases of construction leading up to grand opening scheduled for this Saturday, July 28.

With the grand opening just two days away and Apple making preparations to open the store for the media and then the public, the construction barriers have come down and Cult of Mac has been able to shoot some photos through the windows of the new store.

Despite the Gaudí-influenced signage promoting the store's opening, Apple appears to have maintained its usual style for the store itself, using its typical stone, wood, and metal finishes to create a clean, open feel inside the store. With three levels, the large store offers a full range of Apple products on display, as well as a large Genius Bar and a theater.

On the ground floor of the Barcelona Apple Store, about half of the available floor space is taken up with iPhone and iPad displays, spread across twelve tables in three rows. The other half of the floor is taken up by various models of MacBooks, with only a single table devoted to iMacs.

Higher up, the glass staircase leads to the Genius Bar, as well as an in-house theater.

In the basement is where Mac and iOS accessories are stored, which Apple retail employees are now hard at work filling the shelves.

Apple's new Passeig de Gràcia store opens to the public at 10:00 AM on Saturday.

Yesterday, we noted that Apple's Up-to-Date program allowing recent Mac purchasers to receive free upgrades to OS X Mountain Lion was experiencing some early hiccups, with users receiving Mac App Store redemption codes that were registering as invalid. Customer support representatives were advising users that Apple was aware of the issue and would be automatically issuing replacement codes but that the process could take up to three days.

While many of these replacement codes are already coming through, users today have begun reporting that Apple is mistakenly sending out codes for the OS X Server components of Mountain Lion rather than Mountain Lion itself.

I just got my second code and was able to redeem it. The only problem is when it redeemed it came up with an error saying OSX Server cannot be downloaded because it requires OSX 10.8.0 to run. It seems they sent me a redemption code for server instead of mountain lion. The pdf with the code clearly says that the code is for mountain lion...

My purchased tab only shows OSX Server - no mountain lion...

At least half a dozen users have reported the same problem, with the issue presumably affecting a much greater number of users receiving codes today. One user who called Apple about the issue was advised to file another request through Apple's uptodatesupport@apple.com support mechanism.

OS X Server is also available through the Up-to-Date program, but is limited to users who purchased server models of the company's Mac Pro and Mac mini lines.

Time yesterday released a list of the 20 most influential Americans of all time, with Apple founder Steve Jobs making the cut for inclusion in the list. Jobs is the final entry on the chronologically-sorted list that includes such figures as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ford, and the Wright brothers.

Jobs was a visionary whose great genius was for design: he pushed and pushed to make the interface between computers and people elegant, simple and delightful. He always claimed his goal was to create products that were “insanely great.” Mission accomplished.

The new Time feature is part of a promotion for the publication's new book covering what it judges to be the 100 most influential people of all time, a list that also includes Jobs.

Time also releases annual lists of the world's most influential people, with Apple CEO Tim Cook and Jobs' biographer Walter Isaacson making the 2012 list back in April.

Last month, The New York Times reported that Facebook has been working on a major overhaul of its iOS app, seeking to improve performance by transitioning from the current HTML5-based app to a native Objective-C one. At the time, Facebook was said to be releasing the app the following month.

Bloomberg now follows up with a more extensive report looking at Facebook's mobile efforts, which reportedly include work with HTC on a Facebook smartphone targeted for mid-2013. That effort has been previously disclosed, with the company reportedly having hired former Apple engineers to drive the project.

Today's report indicates that this team of former Apple engineers has actually been focused primarily on the iOS app rebuild, although the company's timeline appears to be a bit longer than suggested last month.

This team from Apple has been primarily focused on rebuilding Facebook’s iPhone application, which has been criticized by users for being slow. An initial release could be announced within a couple of months, with another broader overhaul of the iPhone app coming next near, one person said.

Facebook's team of former Apple employees includes Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris, two iOS interface designers who left the company to start digital publishing company Push Pop Press, which Facebook acquired last year.

Former Apple staff hired by Facebook to work on mobile are: Greg Novick, who helped develop the touch-screen user interface; Tim Omernick and Chris Tremblay, who also worked on the device’s software; and Scott Goodson, who helped create the stock-market application, according to people with knowledge of the hires.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged that transitioning to mobile devices is among the most difficult tasks for the company, given the differences in user experiences between mobile and desktop. While the company has embraced mobile with apps for iOS and Android, it is still seeking ways to improve the user experience on those devices and bring new features to those platforms.

Research firm IHS iSuppli today released the results of a new study tracking global semiconductor sales in 2012, predicting that Apple will expand its lead on the strength of 15% growth in the face of a stagnant market. Apple first topped the list in 2010 after quickly rising from third place in 2009 and sixth place in 2008.

Apple is maintaining its lead in semiconductor purchasing because of continuing strong demand for its products, combined with the company’s capability to maintain beneficial relationships with more than 150 suppliers that provide components or offer manufacturing and assembly services.

But aside from maintaining its global dominance in chip purchasing, Apple is also outgrowing the other OEMs and making gains in the various regions of the world. For Apple, this translates into competitive advantages when it comes to manufacturing electronic products.

The report notes that Apple's increasingly dominant market position, which is estimated to see nearly double the revenue of second-place Samsung this year, gives Apple significant market advantages in terms of controlling pricing, availability, and product roadmaps.

Apple is predicted to continue expanding its lead in 2013, with IHS iSuppli's estimates pegging Apple at 12.3% growth next year, the highest of any top-ten global customer.

One of the new features found in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion is PowerNap. PowerNap was introduced at WWDC 2012 and allows your Mac to continue to perform tasks such as receiving email and updating software even when it's sleeping.

Apple lists the full capabilities in this Knowledge Base document. Capabilities include getting new Mail, syncing Calendar, Contact and Reminder changes, and more. When plugged into power, your Mac can download software updates and make backups with Time Capsule.

Apple only supports PowerNap on 2011 MacBook Airs and beyond as well as the 2012 Retina MacBook Pro. The capability should move over to more of Apple's laptops as Apple makes a full transition to SSD. Built-in flash storage is listed as one of the requirements of the technology. Apple just released a firmware update that enables this functionality in the 2011 MacBook Airs, while support for the Retina MacBook Pro is said to be "coming soon".

Today, Apple launched OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion for $19.99 on the Mac App Store. The latest version OS X provides a number of new features borrowed from iOS as well as some Mac specific ones. This overview video from Apple provides a quick look at the biggest new features.

Other sites have put together more detailed videos showing smaller changes and a more detailed look at AirPlay mirroring.

In general, the reception has been positive amongst reviewers, especially given the $19.99 price tag. The launch, however, has resulted in the removal of OS X Lion from the Mac App Store. While this isn't too big a surprise, it could leave some owners of older Macs stuck if their Mac isn't supported by OS X Mountain Lion but were supported by OS X Lion.

The other major hiccup in today's launch was the distribution of codes for Apple's Up To Date program. The Up To Date program offers Mountain Lion OS X to customers free of charge if they have bought a new Mac since June 11th. Apple seems to be aware of the issue and is working on reissuing faulty codes.

There have been a number of OS X Mountain Lion related software updates and news items today. If you aren't following our full RSS feed, you may have missed the many updates on our Mac Blog today:

- Adobe and Avid Report Only Minor Issues With Mountain Lion
- Microsoft Confirms Office 2011 and 2008 Compatibility with OS X Mountain Lion
- Create a Bootable Mountain Lion USB Key Installer
- Apple Updates iPhoto, iMovie and Aperture Alongside OS X Mountain Lion
- Apple Updates iWork with iCloud and Dictation for OS X Mountain Lion
- Apple Launches 'OS X Server' for Mountain Lion for $19.99

Tidbits offers a nice overview of tips and little details from Mountain Lion. Macworld has posted a number of detailed looks at Mountain Lion's Safari, Messages, and Reminders. Finally, MacRumors readers have been posting in our Mountain Lion forum for questions and tracking issues.

On the heels of Apple's earnings release yesterday in which the company announced a record 17 million iPads sold during the second calendar quarter of 2012, research firm Strategy Analytics has published its estimates of the total global tablet market for the quarter. According to the report, Apple captured 68.3% of the market, up from 62% in the year-ago quarter and the company's highest share in nearly two years.

Apple shipped a robust 17.0 million iPads worldwide and maintained its strong market leadership with 68 percent share during the second quarter of 2012. Apple continued to shrug off the much-hyped threat from Android and the iPad’s global tablet share is at its highest level since Q3 2010. [...]

Despite high expectations for companies like Amazon, Samsung, Acer and Asus, the Android community has yet to make a serious dent in Apple’s dominance of the tablet market. Unspectacular hardware designs, limited uptake of cellular models and a modest number of tablet-optimized services have been among some of the main reasons for Android’s mixed performance so far.

Google's Android platform actually kept pace with the overall market's 66.8% growth, enabling it to hold steady with 29.3% of the market. Apple's 83% growth instead came at the expense of smaller players such as Microsoft, which saw its share of the market fall from 4% to 1.2% as the company has yet to roll it out its major tablet effort with Windows 8.

Apple's continued strength in the tablet market comes even though a number of observers have predicted an erosion of its dominant position amid increasing numbers of low-cost Android tablets. But with Apple riding high on the launch of the new third-generation iPad just prior to the start of the second quarter, Apple is improving its position in the market. With rumors of an "iPad mini" coming later this year, Apple could further solidify its leadership position by competing more closely on price with some of the recent high-profile Android entrants such as Amazon's Kindle Fire and Google's just-introduced Nexus 7.