Last week, we noted that Apple had expanded its iMac 1TB Seagate Hard Drive Replacement Program to include iMac models sold between October 2009 and July 2011. The program provides for free replacement of the defective Seagate drives or reimbursement for repairs already paid for out of pocket by machine owners.
Apple has now begun emailing customers for whom it has contact information associated with a purchase of one of the affected machines. The email provides essentially the same information as is posted on the replacement program's support page, but helps ensure that iMac owners are aware of the issue.
Dear iMac owner,
Apple has determined that certain 1TB Seagate hard drives used in 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac systems may fail. These systems were sold between October 2009 and July 2011.
Our records show that you have an iMac with an affected 1TB Seagate hard drive. Apple will replace your hard drive with a new one, free of charge, under the iMac 1TB Seagate Hard Drive Replacement Program.
Owners of affected iMac machines are covered for three years or until April 12, 2013, whichever provides longer coverage.
In line with one of the theories explaining two dozen iPad part numbers that appeared earlier this week, 9to5Mac reports that half of those part numbers are indeed for a revised version of the third-generation full-size iPad.
The revised iPads arriving at next Tuesday's media event will reportedly make the switch to Apple's new Lightning connector, and may include other enhancements as well while retaining the same pricing as the current models.
Apple will announce a refreshed version of its full-sized, 9.7-inch Retina display iPad at its media event October 23rd, according to our sources. These people say that the new version of the iPad will retain the same $499, $599, and $699 WiFi-only price points, and the LTE line will retain the current $629, $729, and $829 pricing. With no price changes or additional storage capacities, we believe that the storage options of 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB will also be retained.
Claims of a revised full-size iPad surfaced in July amid considerable skepticism, but gained momentum with several follow-up reports in subsequent weeks and were fleshed out with additional rumors over the past several months.
Rumors for the tweaked iPad have included a shift to new indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) display technology, better heat dissipation, backlight changes, 4G LTE support for the UK and other countries using the 1800 MHz frequency band, and perhaps even a move to Apple's new A6 chip found in the iPhone 5. It is, however, unclear just which of the rumored changes will actually be included in the revision.
Earlier this week, we pointed to a forum thread [Google translation] at Chinese site WeiPhone.com sharing a pair of photos of what was said to be the display assembly from Apple's upcoming 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro.
Battery layout of 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro
The poster of that thread has now updated the original post with additional photos showing a number of features of the machine, including the battery layout, the ports on the left and right sides of the machine, and a number of other internal features. Unfortunately, the pictures are generally rather small and of low quality, but it seems clear that the poster does indeed have access to an unreleased 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro.
Left-side ports: MagSafe 2, Thunderbolt, Thunderbolt, USB Right-side ports: SD card, HDMI, USB
Other photos include small shots of the main logic board, internals for the various ports, and 8 GB of RAM from Elpida. Several screenshots said to be of the machine booted into Windows 7 and showing an available Retina display resolution of 2560x1600 pixels are also included.
Update October 20 10:23 AM: The poster has added several more images of the 13-inch MacBook Pro, including several comparing it to the MacBook Air.
Last month ahead of the iPhone 5 launch, we rolled out the first in a new series of "Roundups", designed to be a one-stop location for readers to catch up on our up-to-date thoughts on Apple's upcoming product releases and updates.
With another Apple media event right around the corner, we've added new Roundups to include a significant number of products expected to see releases next week. Our new pages, all of which are accessible through the "Roundups" tab in the site navigation bar, include:
Comex, the hacker responsible for JailbreakMe.com, is no longer employed at Apple after working at the company as an intern for just over a year. Forbesreports that Allegra forgot to respond to an email offering him a continuation of his employment at the company:
When I followed up with Allegra in a phone call, he explained that the email he forgot to answer was an offer to continue his employment at Apple as a remote intern. At Apple, apparently, offer letters are taken rather seriously, and Allegra soon learned that his had been rescinded. "I wasn’t too happy about it, but it didn’t seem like I was able to fix it," he says. "So that’s what it is."
Allegra added that his departure from Apple was more complicated than just a forgotten email, and that "it wasn’t a bad ending," but declined to say more. He also wouldn’t say what he worked on during his two internships at Apple–one in the fall of last year and one over the past summer–but he said he enjoyed his time in Cupertino.
Last year, Forbes unmasked Comex as Nicholas Allegra, a Brown University student from Chappaqua, NY. In that article, Allegra described jailbreaking as "like editing an English paper... You just go through and look for errors. I don’t know why I seem to be so effective at it."
AppleInsider reports on a research note from Evercore Partners analyst Robert Cihra, who suggests that Apple may discontinue the iPad 2 alongside the launch of the "iPad mini" next week in an effort to keep the company's product lineup from expanding too much.
Rob Cihra with Evercore Partners said in a note to investors this week that he sees Apple phasing out the current iPad 2, because Apple's overall vision calls for "clearer product tiers." The prediction comes as Apple is expected to lower the barrier to entry of its iPad lineup by unveiling a new, smaller iPad next Tuesday.
In a similar strategy to that used for the iPhone, Apple has continued to offer the iPad 2 since the launch of the third-generation iPad earlier this year, offering consumers a $399 entry point for its tablet family. With the introduction of the iPad mini, Apple will be able to offer the tablet experience at even lower pricing, albeit with a smaller screen, lessening the need for the company to continue offering the iPad 2.
The claim appears to be based entirely on speculation and we have heard no specific word of Apple planning to discontinue the iPad 2, so we are treating the report with skepticism unless additional information surfaces.
Earlier this week, we pointed to a couple of claims suggesting that Apple is planning to launch the "iPad mini" on Friday, November 2, also making the case that the date is the most reasonable one given Apple's past history and the media event scheduled for October 23.
Reports are continuing to pile on that November 2 date today, with TechCrunch reporting that it has received information from its own sources pointing to the same date.
November 2 is the ship date we’ve heard today from a source close to Apple’s supply chain, echoing an earlier report by Geeky Gadgets that that’s the day the iPad mini will go on sale. [...]
Our own source has also previously proven reliable with unreleased Apple info.
German site iFun.de is also weighing in with its own report claiming that Apple has informed a major shipping logistics partner that it should be preparing for a significant boost leading up to that date.
9to5Mac reports that it has begun to receive pricing information on the upcoming 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro. According to the information, the entry-level model should be priced in the neighborhood of $1699, a $500 premium over the corresponding non-Retina model.
We’ve now received pricing information on the base model and the “better” model. Based on wholesale prices we’ve received, we believe the entry model 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro will cost roughly $1699 at launch while the higher specc’ed model will cost $300 more making the $2000 price point likely.
Current pricing on non-Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro
Interestingly, the estimated $500 price premium for the Retina version of the 13-inch MacBook Pro compares to a $400 premium on the entry-level 15-inch Retina versus non-Retina models. The higher-level 15-inch configuration carries a $600 price premium over its non-Retina counterpart due to the significantly more expensive 512 GB flash storage included with the machine.
The Oregonian reports (via Wired) that Apple has begun construction on the $68 million first phase of its data center project in Prineville, Oregon. The first phase will see the construction of one of two 338,000 square foot buildings planned for the site, but that building will apparently only be partially fitted out for the time being.
The price tag covers the cost of one building and two "data halls" inside. Plans filed with the city and Crook County last summer call for adding a second building and, eventually, 14 more data halls.
There's additional space on the property for more buildings, identified in planning documents in two sections marked "Future Development Area."
Soon after purchasing the data center site in February of this year, Apple opened a 10,000 square foot modular data center to establish a presence there, but with permanent construction now underway Apple's longer-term vision is starting to play out.
Apple has been rapidly expanding its data center capacity at sites around the United States, expanding beyond the company's long-standing sites at its corporate headquarters in Cupertino, California and nearby Newark with a massive new facility in Maiden, North Carolina and now starting to bring its Prineville site online. The company has also announced plans for a data center outside of Reno, Nevada.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is on the verge of a significant expansion of its iPhone sales effort in India, bringing on two large distribution companies to help bring the device to more points of sale. The iPhone has so far been available almost exclusively through mobile phone carriers in the country, but with the iPhone 5 reportedly launching next week, the company appears to be significantly expanding its operations.
A person who has knowledge of the plans says Apple will begin selling the iPhone through specialized distribution companies in an attempt to reach a wider audience, especially Indians who live in thousands of smaller towns.
The Cupertino, Calif. company has recently tied up the local operations of Ingram Micro Inc., a large U.S.-based distributor of technology, and Redington (India) Ltd., a local distributor with 12,000 smaller partners across the country, the person said.
Apple has existing relationships with the two distribution companies, using them to offer products such as the iPad but reportedly having held the iPhone back from them for fear of eating into profit margins.
But with Apple's share of the mobile phone market in India falling by half year-over-year to 1.2% in the second quarter, the company may now be willing to sacrifice some profits in an effort to bolster its position in the country. Still, analysts believe that Apple's market share will remain low there given the premium pricing and the fact that over 70% of phones sold in the country are priced at under $100.
While Apple has been most heavily focused on China among emerging markets, there have been signs that the company is looking at the possibility of expanding its presence in India. Earlier this year it was reported that Apple was looking at opening retail stores in the country, but requirements for domestic sourcing of materials appear to be hindering those plans. In the absence of Apple-owned retail stores, the company earlier this year was also hiring staff for an effort to expand its reseller network in the country.
GOG.com is probably not a name familiar to many Mac users, but it's been around for years selling classic and out-of-date games on Windows. The Loop has more:
GOG.com, originally Good Old Games, has been around for the last four years, and originally made a name for itself offering Windows users a way to buy and download vintage games that have long since gone out of circulation, relying on emulation and other similar technology to work. The company licenses titles from a variety of publishers and is zeroing in on 500 titles in their catalog.
Sim City 2000, as an example, runs in an self-contained emulated DOS environment with seemingly no hiccups. The company says the original 50 games are just the beginning, promising to bring more games to the Mac in the future.
After several months in public and then private alpha and beta testing, Tweetbot for Mac has been released for $20 [App Store].
The app includes support for the Retina MacBook Pro, iCloud syncing with the iOS versions of Tweetbot, and more. There are also a number of excellent reviews out today to help users decide if the app is worth $20, including from The Verge, The Next Web, and MacStories.
Perhaps the biggest question from potential customers is regarding Tweetbot's $20 price. Mark Jardine, one of the developers behind Tweetbot, wrote this in a blog post announcing the release:
Why is Tweetbot for Mac $20?
If you think about it, it’s not that expensive. Twenty dollars for a quality piece of software that you use every day? That has been the price point for quality utility apps on the Mac for years. However, it’s not just the development time and attention we put into the app that commands the higher price.
Because of Twitter’s recent enforcement of token limits, we only have a limited number of tokens available for Tweetbot for Mac. These tokens dictate how many users Tweetbot for Mac can have. The app’s limit is separate from, but much smaller than, the limit for Tweetbot for iOS. Once we use up the tokens granted to us by Twitter, we will no longer be able to sell the app to new users. Tapbots will continue to support Tweetbot for Mac for existing customers at that time.
This limit and our desire to continue to support the app once we sell out is why we’ve priced Tweetbot for Mac a little higher than we’d like. It’s the best thing we can do for the long term viability of the product. We know some will not be happy about Tweetbot for Mac’s pricing, but the bottom line is Twitter needs to provide us with more tokens for us to be able to sell at a lower the price. We spent a year developing this app and it’s the only way for us to be able to make our money back and continue supporting it with updates in the future. Feel free to let Twitter know how you feel about it.
Regardless, Tweetbot for Mac is available on the Mac App Store for $19.99 [Direct Link]
Earlier this week, we noted that Apple's Retina MacBook Pro and newest MacBook Air models had been among a number of ultrathin notebooks whose eligibility for inclusion on the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) registry had been verified. The approval came with some clarifications of the EPEAT standards that were criticized by some, including iFixit's Kyle Wiens, as watering down the requirements for inclusion.
EPEAT has now posted a defense of its actions, noting that its review committee was simply following the guidelines as they are written. The group acknowledges some of the concerns, but notes that those issues should be raised in the forthcoming update to the standards and not as criticism of the application of the standards as they are currently written.
Regarding upgrade capability, the criteria specifically state that products may be upgraded or extended “by a high performance serial bus (IEEE Std 1394™ [B4]) or Universal Serial Bus (USB)”. Regardless of opinions about whether or not that is appropriate or acceptable language, the hard fact is that EPEAT has no authority to ‘flunk’ products if they meet the explicit terms of the standard.
Regarding disassembly: The criteria under discussion are located in the section of the standard that addresses Design for End of Life – that is, design for effective recycling. The criteria investigated are not in any way aimed at refurbishment or repair. Again, people may think that there should be more in the standard about disassembly for repair and refurbishment – and we welcome their views – but these criteria do not apply to that topic.
The group goes on to note that EPEAT standards are developed through an open process that involves stakeholders from a number of sides, although Wiens had previously noted that the voting group for the last standards update was heavily weighted toward computer industry companies. EPEAT also notes that at the time of the registry's implementation, no products qualified for the Gold standard, indicating that the registry's overall purpose in defining reachable goals has been a success.
The EPEAT system was structured to encourage continual improvement by providing progressive ratings and by regularly updating the environmental performance criteria products must meet. It took a year for any products to meet the Gold rating requirements after the registry launched, because it was extremely challenging to do so. Over time, the EPEAT PC/Display criteria have become more familiar and companies have designed them into their products and supply chain requirements. That’s a good thing. In fact the whole point of the EPEAT system is to drive change… Our goal is to create a new bottom line for environmental innovation that affects the whole global industry for the better.
EPEAT is moving forward with its next update to its PC/Display standards, hoping draw upon recently-updated standards for imaging equipment and televisions in certain aspects. Consequently, it seems that the time for those interested in tightening the criteria for such aspects as upgradeability and recyclability and to add criteria for repairability is approaching.
Late yesterday, The Next Web reported that Apple was finalizing a deal to acquire Color Labs, the video streaming service and app founded by Lala Media veteran Bill Nguyen. The report came at the end of a confusing day in which an internal memo indicated that the company was being shut down, only to have the company deny those claims.
AllThingsD now provides significantly more clarity to situation, revealing that Apple is only acquiring Color's 20-member engineering team for a relatively small sum.
What’s really happening is that Color’s engineering team — about 20 people, comprising almost the entire company — is being “acqhired” by Apple at what’s being called a “nominal” price of something like $2 million to $5 million, according to multiple sources familiar with both sides of the situation. To repeat, there are no “double-digit” millions involved, according to many people familiar with the deal.
Apple is not buying Color’s technology, intellectual property, domain names or liabilities. Those are being left with the company, which still has considerable cash in the bank — something like $25 million — and is going to be wound down.
Apple is reportedly bringing Color's engineers on board to work on cloud-related projects.
The report notes that there is a significant amount of bad blood between the various parties involved at Color and even Apple, contributing to the mass confusion yesterday about what exactly is happening with Color. Apple and Color have yet to comment on the deal.
9to5Mac reports that prices for Apple's new iMac and Mac mini coming next week will be in line with current pricing, almost certainly confirming that the new iMac models will not carry more-expensive Retina displays.
The three Mac mini models will likely be priced at the same $599, $799, and $999 for the two standard models and single server model, respectively.
The new iMacs will also feature similar or same pricing as the current iMacs, but the top 27-inch and 21.5-inch models may feature slightly cheaper pricing in some countries. The current iMacs come in at $1199, $1499, $1699, and $1999 U.S. price points.
The news conflicts with a report from earlier this month claiming that the iMac would be seeing a price increase alongside a thinner form factor.
In a separate post, 9to5Mac also reports that Apple will for the first time offer 8 GB RAM module options for the iMac and Mac mini. While third-party RAM vendors have long offered 8 GB modules for Apple's machines, Apple itself has sold only 4 GB modules and thus only listed official support for 16 GB of RAM in the iMac and 8 GB in the Mac mini.
The higher-density modules will allow users to configure Mac mini orders with up to a total 16 GB of RAM in the machine's two RAM slots. The iMac could potentially see up to 32 GB of RAM, although that assumes the machine will continue to offer four slots as on the current models. Considering rumors of a thinner profile, this may or may not be the case.
Apple is preparing to open its third retail store in Beijing this weekend, with the massive new Wangfujung store representing yet another high-profile entry for the company.
The Next Web was on hand for the media preview today, gaining an early look at the new store and hearing from Apple retail chief John Browett, who also acknowledged that Apple is working to open a new store in Shenzhen, China.
Browett went so far as to say that, in his opinion, the new location is the best store Apple has built in Asia so far. That would presumably take the unofficial title from the IFC Hong Kong store, which was Apple’s most expensive store to date when it opened last year. [...]
Apple Store aficionados (hey, I’m sure some of you are out there) should take note that the Wangfujing location has one of Apple’s three triple-height glass staircases, the first in Asia. Also a first in Asia, the location has two 360-degree Genius Bars, allowing customers to stand next to their technicians rather than across from them.
M.I.C. gadget shares more photos from the new store, noting that the ground floor is dedicated to product displays while the second floor offers support functions such as the Genius Bars and training tables and the basement houses additional training tables, a kids' table, and the largest range of accessories available at any store.
Back in early July, a UK court ruled that Samsung had not infringed upon the design of the iPad with its own Galaxy Tab device, with judge Colin Birss ruling that the Galaxy Tab was simply "not as cool" as the iPad. Roughly a week later, Birss ruled that Apple must publish advertisements on its website and in newspapers acknowledging that Samsung did not copy the iPad's design.
Apple quickly appealed the ruling and was granted a stay until that appeal could be heard.
BBC News now reports that Apple has lost its appeal and is now required to follow through on publishing its acknowledgments.
The US firm had previously been ordered to place a notice to that effect - with a link to the original judgement - on its website and place other adverts in the Daily Mail, Financial Times, T3 Magazine and other publications to "correct the damaging impression" that Samsung was a copycat.
The appeal judges decided not to overturn the decision on the basis that a related Apple design-rights battle in the German courts risked causing confusion in consumers' minds.
"The acknowledgment must come from the horse's mouth," they said. "Nothing short of that will be sure to do the job completely."
The appeals judges ruled that Apple could satisfy the posting requirement for its own website by including a small link entitled "Samsung/Apple judgement" on the site for a period of one month.
Apple can still appeal to the UK Supreme Court in an effort to have the publishing requirement overturned, but Reuters notes that Apple has given no indication of planning such an appeal.
Verizon today became the first major U.S. iPhone carrier to report earnings for the third quarter of 2012, giving some insight into iPhone sales one week before Apple reports its numbers.
In a conference call following the earnings release, Verizon revealed that it activated 3.1 million iPhones during the quarter, representing approximately 46% of its total smartphone activations of 6.8 million. The iPhone activation number was up from 2.7 million in the previous quarter that saw Apple garnering a similar 45% share of Verizon's smartphone activations.
Addressing the iPhone 5, Verizon noted that 21% of its iPhone activations were for devices running on the carrier's LTE network, translating to about 650,000 iPhone 5 activations in the last few days of the quarter.
AT&T and Sprint will also be reporting their financial results next week, ahead of Apple's announcement and conference call following the close of trading on Thursday, October 25.
Comex, the hacker responsible for JailbreakMe.com, is 
Earlier this week, we 
GOG.com -- short for Good Old Games -- has 
Earlier this week, we 
Late yesterday, The Next Web reported that Apple was finalizing a deal to 
Verizon today became the first major U.S. iPhone carrier to 
