MacRumors

With a number of reports and now photos supporting the idea that Apple will be introducing a significantly smaller dock connector for its iOS devices in the coming weeks, iLounge reports that Apple's lack of advance notice is causing concern for accessory manufacturers worried that they will not be able to have new accessories ready in time for the lucrative holiday shopping season.

With only two weeks remaining before the expected debut of the next-generation iPhone, Apple has not offered third-party developers the components or engineering details necessary to build docking accessories for the new device—the first iOS product expected to ship without Apple’s now-ubiquitous 30-pin Dock Connector, which will soon be replaced across all future Apple pocket and tablet devices. Noting the time required to manufacture and ship new products, the sources suggest that new iPhone-specific electronic add-ons will likely miss the upcoming holiday season, apart from whatever accessories are released by Apple itself.

Accessory manufacturers also remain concerned over what technical and licensing restrictions Apple will be using with the new dock connector, as well as whether new circuitry will prevent their existing product from working with Apple's next-generation products even with an adapter.

Some accessory manufacturers have apparently been working hard to try to stay ahead of the competition, with a leaked micro-USB/Apple mini dock power adapter from Scosche showing up briefly earlier this week before the company requested that the images be removed. It is unclear how Scosche has been able to source new dock connector parts if Apple has not been working with accessory manufacturers, so it is unknown whether Scosche will have the parts in sufficient quantity to launch its accessories alongside or soon after the debut of the new iPhone.

Update 11:23 AM: iLounge's Jeremy Horwitz tells us that neither Scosche nor any other accessory manufacturer has access to the actual parts. They are all simply designing product based on their best guesses from what has leaked so far.

Last week, we shared photos of the leaked dock connector and headphone jack for the next-generation iPhone paired with a leaked rear shell for the device, demonstrating that the independently-obtained parts are indeed compatible and giving a good overview of what the bottom of the device will look like.

Sohu now posts (via Nowhereelse.fr) a new set of photos of parts for the next iPhone, including a photo showing a number of components placed into their proper positions within the rear shell. The flex cable housing the external buttons, the SIM tray, and dock connector/headphone jack flex cable can all be seen in the photo. Much of the remainder of the interior of the device will be taken up by the battery and logic board, which would be installed on the left and right sides respectively.

Parts repair firm iResQ published a set of photos with a similar theme earlier this week, installing the bare components into their proper positions in the rear shell.

The photos from Sohu also show an assembled front panel for the next-generation iPhone placed onto this partially assembled rear shell, giving a good look at the overall appearance of the device. Photos of a similar assembly appeared a month ago, but these new photos offer a fresh perspective on the complete device, comparing it to the iPhone 4 and 3GS and giving a good look at the comparative thickness of the three devices.

One final tidbit comes from iLab Factory, which posts a photo of the silver rear shell of the white next-generation iPhone but with black strips at the top and bottom for the antennas. All other photos of the rear shell from the white device seen to date have contained white strips.

Reuters reports that Apple and several major publishers have agreed to offer concessions in an ongoing European Union antitrust investigation over alleged e-book price fixing. The concessions would significantly unravel the Apple-backed agency model of book pricing in which publishers set the retail prices for their content with distributors such as Apple and Amazon receiving a fixed percentage of the sales price.

Apple and four major publishers have offered to allow retailers such as Amazon to sell e-books at a discount for two years in a bid to end an EU antitrust investigation and stave off possible fines, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday. [...]

The Commission was now sounding out opinions from the industry as to whether the concessions are sufficient, the person familiar with the matter said, before a formal market test which could lead to the investigation being dropped.

News of Apple's willingness to make concessions in Europe comes just two days after a group of publishers agreed to a $69 million settlement in the United States over the same issue. The U.S. Department of Justice sued Apple and five publishers back in April, and while three of the publishers elected to settle the case, Apple and the other two publishers have been fighting the charges.

Regulators have claimed that the shift to the agency model amounted to price collusion facilitated by Apple and the publishers, sparking the antitrust concerns. For its part, Apple has cited that the implementation of the agency model has had the opposite effect, weakening Amazon's previously overwhelming position at the top of the market gained by selling books at deep discounts to entice customers to visit the online store and purchase other products and content.

While several observers have noted shortages of Apple's current 27-inch iMac at resellers over the past several months, the tight supplies now appear to be increasingly affecting Apple's own retail stores. According to a survey of retail store stock availability through the "Personal Pickup" program at Apple's 249 U.S. locations, each of the two standard 27-inch iMac configurations is currently out of stock at approximately half of all Apple retail stores.

Under the Personal Pickup program, customers can place their orders online and pick up the items at their local Apple retail stores. Most stock Mac configurations and many accessories are generally available for immediate pickup, but for items that are not in stock at a particular location, the company will ship the ordered items to the store for pickup within about a week.

Our survey of Apple's retail stores shows that 120 out of the 249 U.S. locations are currently out of stock of the base 27-inch iMac model, with 135 locations being out of stock of the high-end configuration. Most of the stores are quoting a pickup date in the range of September 4-7, indicating that Apple will be able to deliver new orders for pickup fairly quickly, although some locations are quoting availability for as far out as September 11.

As with the shortages seen so far at resellers, Apple's shortages appear to be limited to the 27-inch models, with the 21.5-inch iMac continuing to be widely available at the company's retail stores. In our survey, we found only seven Apple retail store locations currently out of stock of the base 21.5-inch iMac model, all of which could offer pickup in the range of September 4-7.

Apple has been expected to release updated iMacs using Intel's latest Ivy Bridge processors at any time, with several reports having suggested that an October launch would be likely. One point of contention has been whether the new models will offer Retina displays, although the general consensus now seems to be that Apple will need to wait until next year for the higher-resolution displays to come to its desktop lineup.

Instapaper developer Marco Arment has spotted two new iPad device codes in his logs that he believes represents the long rumored "iPad mini".

The new identifiers found were "iPad2,5" and "iPad2,6". As Arment notes, the iPad2,1 through iPad 2,3 designations are known to represent the iPad 2's WiFi, GSM and CDMA models. The iPad2,4 represents a die-shrunk/cheaper version of the iPad 2 that was released alongside the 3rd generation iPad. Finally, the 3rd Generation iPad carries a designation of iPad3,x.

As for "iPad2,5" and "iPad2,6", they have not been seen before, but Arment concludes they are likely to be the long rumored 'iPad mini' which is based on iPad 2 hardware.

The much more likely explanation is that iPad2,5 and iPad2,6 are the new “iPad Mini” in Wi-Fi and GSM, and I haven’t recorded the likely iPad2,7 CDMA version yet.

If so, this suggests that the iPad Mini is, effectively, an iPad 2: an A5 with 512 MB of RAM and enough GPU power to drive the Gruber Display, but not a Retina Display.

It’s a textbook Tim Cook supply-chain move: selling the last generation’s hardware at a lower price point to expand marketshare.

By "Gruber Display", Arment refers to John Gruber's speculation that a iPad Mini made sense as a 7.85" display that shares the same resolution as the original iPad (1024x768). Arment goes into a little further depth in his blog post about his speculation on the internals of the iPad mini.

Apple is believed to be launching a smaller 7.85" iPad in the coming months. Rumors have suggested we'll see it launched as early as October.

Apple has quietly made some changes to iOS 6's App Store app formatting tonight and introduced a new search results format that seem clearly inspired by Chomp.

Chomp was a three-year old search and app discovery startup that was acquired by Apple earlier this year. The reason for the acquisition was reportedly to improve the App Store search and app discovery. It appears the first of those efforts are being deployed in iOS 6.

On the iPhone, the new search results show a single tile result that can be swiped to move to each new result. Chomp's iOS app used a similar tile system in their search results.

In a thread in our forums, some users are already unhappy with the shift as it is slower to browse through many results.

Meanwhile, 9to5Mac notes several other changes in App Store functionality such as Genius support, Purchased section and Podcast search:

Also adding to the iOS 6 App Store updates, Apple has enabled the Genius recommendation section this evening, providing users with apps that may be in their interest to download. Furthermore, the purchased section has also joined the party, displaying all the apps a user has downloaded to their account, making it easy to retrieve favorite apps. Last but certainly not least, the iTunes Store has been updated with the ability to once again search for podcasts.

The iPad version of iOS 6 also shows the new tile-based results, but is able to show four results at a time. (screenshot).

Adobe today provided a few more details on its plans for Retina display support on its software, noting that a Retina-compatible version of Photoshop CS6 will be arriving "this Fall". A Retina version of Lightroom 4 will also be delivered "as soon as the work is complete".

Supporting this new technology requires significant work by our product teams and we’re committed to provided a free update to all Photoshop CS6 customers this Fall and Lightroom 4 as soon as the work is complete. Please note that Creative Cloud members will receive Photoshop updates more frequently and receive this update in advance of updates for non-members.

Users of Photoshop Elements should not expect a Retina update in the immediate future, although that team is still looking into adding support for it.

Adobe Photoshop was one of the high-profile applications highlighted by Apple at June's Worldwide Developers Conference as having Retina display support in the works. Adobe, Autodesk, and Blizzard were three major software companies Apple noted it had already been working with on Retina compatibility, but it is still taking some time for developers to make their applications fully compatible with the new ultra high-resolution display found on the Retina MacBook Pro.

Update 1:36 PM: A second blog post notes that Retina support will be coming to many more software titles than just Photoshop and Lightroom.

We expect to update the following products with HiDPI support, free to all CS6 and Creative Cloud customers, over the next few months:

Dreamweaver
Edge Animate
Illustrator
Lightroom
Photoshop
Photoshop Touch
Prelude
Adobe Premiere Pro
SpeedGrade

We are currently evaluating the roadmap for when other products may support HiDPI displays, and we will announce those plans as they are finalized.

Earlier this week, we reported on a newly-disclosed vulnerability in Java SE 7 that could pose a risk for users on a wide variety of platforms, including OS X. While the real-world threat to Mac users stemming from the vulnerability is very low given that a Mac-specific exploit for the vulnerability has not been seen and only a small fraction of Mac users have manually installed Java SE 7, the incident has served as another reminder the Mac users can be vulnerable malicious attacks.

Although Oracle was reportedly warned of the issue months ago and apparently did not take significant action to protect users until it became public, the company has now moved quickly to address the problem with today's announcement regarding the release of Java SE 7 Update 7. The release addresses the specific vulnerability disclosed earlier this week as well as several others, and the company has also released Java SE 6 Update 35 to address a separate issue with the earlier version.

If successfully exploited, these vulnerabilities can provide a malicious attacker the ability to plant discretionary binaries onto the compromised system, e.g. the vulnerabilities can be exploited to install malware, including Trojans, onto the targeted system. Note that this malware may in some instances be detected by current antivirus signatures upon its installation.

The updated versions of Java are available though Oracle's Java download page.

Reuters reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Larry Page have been participating in active discussions to address patent issues relating to the two companies, "keeping the lines of communication open" as patent battles between Apple on one side and Google and its Android hardware partners on the other side continue to rage.

Google Inc CEO Larry Page and Apple CEO Tim Cook have been conducting behind-the-scenes conversations about a range of intellectual property matters, including the ongoing mobile patent disputes between the companies, according to people familiar with the matter.

The two chief executives had a phone conversation last week, the sources said. Discussions involving lower-level officials of the two companies are also ongoing.

The two executives and their associates have reportedly been discussing some sort of settlement truce addressing some of the more minor issues that have been included in the disputes between the two companies. It is unclear, however, whether a broader agreement to address larger issues is also on the table.

Late last week, Apple was awarded over $1 billion in a jury verdict deciding that Samsung had infringed upon Apple's patents and trade dress with a number of its Android products. With Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility, which has been involved in patent litigation with Apple for some time, Apple and Google are now also essentially competing head-to-head in the courts over these issues.

The flood of part leaks claimed to be for the next-generation iPhone continues with a new report from Nowhereelse.fr [Google translation] pointing to a fresh set of high-quality photos and a video of an assembled front panel similar to the one that appeared earlier this week. The new photos and video come from Chinese parts distributor SINOCET.

While the part isn't a new leak, the photos are of good quality and one shot in particular shows a front-on view of the assembled front panel next to the same part from an iPhone 4S, making clear how Apple has been able to minimize the overall increase in device height by shrinking the top and bottom margins somewhat to compensate for the impact of the taller screen. The height comparisons have been seen in previous leaks, but this new photo seems to shows the most straightforward comparison yet.

The video in the report also focuses on comparing the next-generation iPhone front panel assembly to the corresponding part from the iPhone 4S.

While a significant number of parts claimed to be for the next-generation iPhone have appeared over the past few months, the component of perhaps the most interest has yet to be seen: the main processor package. Speculation has covered a number of different possibilities including a die-shrunk A5 similar to that introduced in the revised iPad 2 earlier this year, an A5X such as found in the third-generation iPad, or an all-new A6 system-on-a-chip.

Several photos of the device's logic board have leaked in recent weeks but the low quality of the photos or the presence of shielding on the part have left the identities of the chips on the part unknown.

Sonny Dickson, who has been digging up photos of a number of components leaking out of Apple's supply chain, has now posted a partial photo of what certainly appears to be the same logic board part seen in previous photos. In this new photo, an "A6" designation can be seen on the main chip, suggesting that Apple may indeed be rolling out a brand-new chip family with the next-generation iPhone.

It is difficult to assess the validity of the photo, as the photo could rather easily have been faked and the image's small size and low quality make it impossible to determine the details of smaller text on the chip, but it does offer the first specific photo claim of the chip to be included in the next iPhone.

Update: 9to5Mac has posted the uncropped version of the photo showing the part with and without shielding.

Concerns do remain, however, over the legitimacy of the image.

Parallels announced the availability of Parallels 8 upgrades for the Mac for existing Parallels Desktop customers. Parallels 8 is the latest version of their virtualization software that allows Mac users to run other operating systems, such as Windows, alongside OS X.

“People don’t need to make an either/or choice between Mac and Windows because Macs running Parallels Desktop 8 empower people to simultaneously use applications that best suit their needs – regardless of whether it’s an app for OS X, Windows, Google Chrome OS, Ubuntu, or even Android,” said Parallels CEO Birger Steen.

New features in Parallels 8 includes OS X Mountain Lion integration as well as Retina support and performance boosts:

- Speak, don’t type – Use the new Mountain Lion Dictation tool across both Windows and Mac environments
- Open in Internet Explorer – When a website doesn’t render well within Safari, launch it in Internet Explorer with a click of a button
- Parallels Wizard – Download and automatically install Windows or other operating systems (OSes) including Google Chrome OS, Ubuntu and Android on your Mac.
- Windows apps on OS X Launchpad – Add Windows applications to the Mountain Lion or Lion Launchpad to quickly launch Mac and Windows applications used most
- Consolidated notifications – Integration of Windows notifications into the Mac OS X Notification Center makes it easy to stay updated on Windows virtual machine operations
- Mountain Lion gestures for Windows apps – Enjoy seamless integration of Mountain Lion gestures with Windows apps such as pinch to zoom, Mission Control, three-finger drag, swipe between full-screen apps, two-finger scroll, Launchpad and rotate
- Retina display support – Enjoy stunning Retina display resolution in Windows OS and Windows applications to see crisper fonts, vivid photos, images and animations
- Improved Parallels Desktop 8 performance - up to 30 percent faster for input/output (I/O) operations, 30 percent faster for games and up to 25 percent faster for virtual machine operations such as boot, suspend, shutdown and resume, when compared to Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac

Parallels 8 will be available starting today as an upgrade for existing Parallels Desktop users. (Parallels' website not showing version 8 at time of publication) Upgrades are priced at $49.99.

The full version will become available for $79.99 both online and in retail stores starting on September 4th. C ustomers who purchased Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac on or after July 25, 2012, are eligible for a free upgrade.

Back in June, we noted the sale of one of only about 50 Apple 1 computers still in existence. That unit, which sold at auction for approximately $375,000, was reported to be one of just a handful of functioning Apple 1's in existence.

The Daily Mail now reports that another Apple 1 is headed to the auction block in early October, but with this unit being non-functional it has been estimated to fetch a lower but still substantial £80,000, or roughly $125,000.

The iconic original is on offer at a Christie’s auction in central London on October 9 and comes from the estate of Joe Copson, a former Apple employee.

The rare opportunity to buy an original is expected to attract worldwide interest from museums and private technology collectors.

Rare machines such as the Apple 1 appear on the market infrequently, although there has been an uptick in listings as owners have seen last year's passing of Steve Jobs and Apple's popularity as good reasons to sell. In addition to the functional Apple 1 sold earlier this year, Apple's founding documents were also sold at auction for nearly $1.6 million late last year.

The Apple 1 was originally priced at $666.66 at its release in 1976, with only about 200 of the units having been produced. Roughly 30 to 50 of them are believed to still be intact.

Pocket-lint notes that Apple's online store downtime earlier today saw the expansion of chat support services for iPad and iPhone customers in the UK, Germany, Spain, and Brazil. The updated chat options include the ability to participate in a traditional text chat with a Specialist, a guided tour in which the customer can share the Specialist's screen to be walked through product information, and scheduling of online sessions to help set up new devices.

Now there’s a whole new way to get help from the Apple Online Store. When shopping for a new iPad or iPhone, you can get answers to all your questions through a personalised, online guided tour. We can even help set up your new product after you get it.

The features are not completely new, as Apple rolled out revamped text chat windows and began testing the screen sharing option in Brazil back in April. At the time, the screen sharing feature was limited to customers shopping for the iPad 2.

The advanced chat screen sharing and device setup options are not yet available in the United States or other countries, and even in countries where the options have launched availability may be limited.