MacRumors

Bloomberg reports that Apple is preparing a major overhaul of its iTunes software to more closely integrate its iCloud services and add new features for sharing music.

With an increasing amount of content available on the store, the overhaul is intended to improve how people manage all their files, one person said. That includes changes to how users find new material and how they access what they already own on different Apple devices, said one person.

One of the main ways Apple will attempt to improve discovery is by making it easier for people to share songs, a popular feature of Spotify Ltd.’s music-subscription service. Apple has been negotiating with major record labels for rights that would let a user listen to a song sent to them from a friend for free, one person said.

Apple's iCloud efforts will improve organization of users' own content while also the company is also considering splitting out some functions of iTunes as it did yesterday on iOS with its new Podcasts app.

Apple is also looking to include more multimedia content in the iTunes Store, requesting more photos and music videos from artists to help broaden its offerings.

The revamped iTunes application is set to launch before the end of the year and is said to be one of the largest sets of changes since the iTunes Store's debut in 2003. As announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month, Apple is also working to improve the iTunes experience on iOS, revamping its digital store apps in iOS 6 to aid users in discovering new content.

Earlier this week, The Next Web noted that some early purchasers of the Retina MacBook Pro have been experiencing "ghosting" on their machines' displays, with remnants of previously-displayed screen contents remaining visible for some time afterward.

Some readers on the ASC forum have reported the image retention issue with as little as 20 minutes worth of use. However it’s well worth noting that the problem isn’t happening to everyone, and image retention isn’t uncommon on IPS panels such as the one used in the new Pro.

Apple has reportedly been replacing machines affected by the issue, but tight supplies of the Retina MacBook Pro could result in waits for the replacement units.

Ghosting on Retina MacBook Pro display (Source: Mac Performance Guide)

It used to be much more common, but now it's unusual to see it in a display. The cause varies: an electrostatic build up, a chemical impurity build up, a thermal imbalance, or an electronic levels issue within the panel. Depending on the cause it can be better to leave the display on with a dark uniform image, on with a bright uniform image, or turn the display off all together.

Apple continues to cite shipping estimates of 3-4 weeks for new Retina MacBook Pro orders amid high demand, and the company is apparently delaying some early custom-configured orders from business customers by up to a month from their original estimates.

At its Google I/O conference today, Google unveiled several new products intended to compete in the tablet and home entertainment markets, squarely targeting Apple's iPad and its rumored push into the living room for which the Apple TV has served as a foothold.

Google's presentation began with a spotlight on Android, noting that it is now activating more than one million Android devices per day and showing off Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean". The new version of the operating system offers a number of enhancements, including a faster interface, cleaner home screen design with resizable widgets, offline voice dictation, a new camera app, enhanced notifications, Siri-like voice search, and more.

A new "Google Now" feature keeps tracks of users' locations to automatically offer information relevant to their real-life experiences, whether it be information on subway schedules, menu recommendations at a restaurant, or other situations.

As for Google's hardware announcements, they leaked out ahead of time through the company's own Google Play site, which confirmed that the Google Nexus 7 will be an ASUS-manufactured tablet priced at $199 for 8 GB of storage and $249 for 16 GB of storage. The device's 7-inch IPS display offers 1280x800 pixels and a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera is included. The Nexus 7 will use a quad-core Tegra 3 processor and incorporate Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and NFC connectivity.

On the home entertainment front, rumors from earlier this year are coming to fruition today with the introduction of the Google Nexus Q, a spherical $299 "social streaming media player". The Nexus Q will allow users to wirelessly stream music, video, and YouTube content to their home entertainment systems. Also serving as an amplifier, the Nexus Q can be connected directly to speaker systems such as Google's new $399 Triad speakers.

Google's keynote is still ongoing, and we will update this post with additional information as it is released.

While Apple first showed off the original iPhone at Macworld San Francisco in January 2007, the device did not launch until six months later, officially arriving on June 29, 2007. With the iPhone's fifth birthday coming later this week, research firm Strategy Analytics published a brief press release noting that Apple has now sold 250 million iPhones that have generated roughly $150 billion in revenue for the company over the product's lifetime.

According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, Apple has generated US$150 billion of cumulative revenues for its iPhone family in the first five years since launch in June 2007. A quarter of a billion iPhones have been shipped cumulatively worldwide.

Neil Shah, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, said, “Apple’s first iPhone was launched commercially in the United States on June 29, 2007. Between June 2007 and June 2012, we estimate the iPhone family of models has generated US$150 billion of cumulative revenues worldwide for Apple. This is an impressive achievement and it illustrates just how popular the iPhone has become during the past five years.”

With iPhone sales continuing to accelerate, more than 100 million of those unit sales have come during the past year. The iPhone 4S has marked a significant part of the surge, with over 35 million units sold in each of the past two quarters.

Business Insider summarizes some of the iPhone's impact on business, noting that the device now generates more quarterly revenue than Microsoft's entire business, generates more profit than GE, Microsoft, or Google, and has remade the technology industry with its dominating position.

MacRumors has received word today from several customers who have received emails from Apple indicating that their launch-day purchases of Retina MacBook Pro machines through Apple's enterprise sales channel have been delayed by up to a month. The customers had been quoted shipping estimates of 7-10 business days at the time of ordering, but today's emails from Apple cite new shipping dates of on or before July 25.

Dear Apple Customer,

Thank you for your recent order.

Purchase Order#: xxxxxxxxxx
Sales Order#: xxxxxxxxxx
Ship-to Zip Code: xxxxx

Due to an unexpected delay, we are unable to ship the following item(s) by the date that you were recently quoted:

Z0ML, MBP 15.4/CTO
will now ship on or before
Jul 25, 2012

Please note that product availability can change rapidly, and it is possible that your order may ship much sooner than we anticipate. You may even receive a shipment confirmation between the time we send this email and the time that you read it.

It is unclear exactly what is triggering the delays in shipping estimates, although all of those who contacted MacRumors about the delay indicated that they had customized the high-end model with 768 GB of solid-state storage but did not upgrade from the stock 2.6 GHz processor.

The Retina MacBook Pro has been in high demand since its introduction during the keynote of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month, with shipping estimates slipping to 2-3 weeks within hours of launch before settling at 3-4 weeks a day later. Estimates have remained at that 3-4 week timeframe since that time.

Reuters and AllThingsD report that U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh granted a preliminary injunction against the sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab in the U.S.

The ruling is the latest in the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Samsung. Apple had accused Samsung of copying the design of Apple's iPad and iPhone products. Apple has previously sought and won injunctions against the sale of the same Samsung tablet in other countries.

As reported by AllThingsD, the new ruling stated:

“Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly, by flooding the market with infringing products,” Koh wrote in her order, adding that the strength of Apple’s case on the merits left her no choice but to grant the injunction. “While Samsung will certainly suffer lost sales from the issuance of an injunction, the hardship to Apple of having to directly compete with Samsung’s infringing products outweighs Samsung’s harm in light of the previous findings by the Court.”

Samsung is likely to appeal the preliminary injunction but the order could go into effect once Apple posts a $2.6 million bond to cover any damages to Samsung if the injunction does not hold up in appeal.

AllThingsD received a statement from Apple that reiterated their previous claims that Samsung had copied the iPad:

“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging. This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we’ve said many times before, we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

Last week, e27 reported that Apple had invited Asian music label representatives to a "launch event" scheduled for tomorrow in Hong Kong, with speculation centering around a launch for iTunes Store music offerings in a number of countries in the region. Rumors have also indicated Jason Mraz will be performing at the launch event as part of the celebration.

We received a tip off from a trusted source in the industry that Apple is planning a secret launch event on 27th June in Hong Kong. The location has not been confirmed, but rumors suggested that the location of the event is close to the airport.

Based on our observations, we noticed a strong showing of Apple executives at the recent Music Matters event in Singapore. Our source has also mentioned that a good number of Asian music labels are already in talks with Apple. If that is not enough of an indication that something big is coming to Asia, the tip also indicates that representatives of these labels will be flying over to Hong Kong next week for the supposed Apple launch event.

e27 now follows up with a specific claim that the launch will include not only music but also movies and TV shows and will be going live in seven countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

A review of the localized iTunes Stores for the various countries reveals that movie listings have already gone live, and the navigation bars also contain listings for music, although they are not yet functional. TV shows are not listed as an option in the navigation bar, so it appears that they may not be included in the launch.

Music and movies have been available in roughly 50 countries around the world prior to today's launch, with the most recent expansion coming last December with the addition of 16 Latin American countries.

The App Store has the broadest distribution among Apple's iTunes Store content types, with 155 countries offering apps after last week's expansion. All seven of the Asian markets receiving music and movie access today previously offered apps, podcasts, iTunes U, and free books, but the new content marks substantial additions for customers in those countries.

Update: Apple has issued a press release confirming the launch. The company is launching the iTunes Store in 12 new countries, not 7: Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

The Reno Gazette-Journal reports that Apple has proposed investing up to $1 billion over the next ten years to build a new data center and other facilities in the Reno, Nevada area. The data center would be located in unincorporated Washoe County, while a "business and purchasing center" would be located in a business park in downtown Reno.

Today, the Washoe County Board of Commissioners is considering abatements for Apple’s planned data center in the Reno Technology Park, located east of Sparks along Interstate 80.

Mike Folks, an Apple spokesman, said the company planning for the project to become operational later this year.

“We’re looking at a 30-year relationship,” Folks told commissioners.

The data center, codenamed "Project Jonathan", is said to be planned to generate nearly 600 construction jobs and as many as 41 direct and 200 contractor jobs upon opening.

Apple currently operates a major data center in Maiden, North Carolina and a much smaller one in Newark, California near the companies headquarters. Apple is also investing $250 million in a new data center in Prineville, Oregon.

Update: Apple has issued a statement to AllThingsD confirming its intent for the area.

“We hope to build Apple’s next data center in Reno to support Apple’s iTunes Store, App Store and incredibly popular iCloud services,” Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet told AllThingsD. “If approved, this project would expand our presence in Nevada and create hundreds of construction jobs over the next year, plus permanent jobs at the data center which will add to our existing total of nearly 400 employees in the state.”

Earlier this month, it was reported that Apple would be launching a standalone podcast app in iOS 6. Instead of waiting for the next version of iOS, Apple posted the Podcast app on the App Store today. [App Store]

Podcasts app is the easiest way to discover, subscribe to and play your favorite podcasts on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Explore hundreds of thousands of free audio and video podcasts from the Podcasts Catalog, and play the most popular podcasts, organized for you by topic, with the all-new Top Stations feature.

Features:

- Enjoy all of your audio and video podcasts in a single app
- Explore hundreds of thousands of podcasts including shows in over 40 languages
- Try the innovative new Top Stations feature to find new podcast series in a variety of topics, including arts, business, comedy, music, news, sports, and more.
- Browse by Audio or Video podcasts, or see what's most popular in Top Charts
- Tap subscribe for your favorites and automatically receive new episodes for free as they become available
- Stream episodes or download to listen while offline
- Skip forward and back using simple playback controls
- Turn on Sleep Timer to automatically stop playing a podcast while listening in bed
- Share your favorite episodes with friends using Twitter, Messages and Mail
- Optionally sync your favorite episodes from iTunes on your Mac or PC
- Sync your episode playback for seamless transition between devices

The app supports streaming or downloading of episodes and offers syncing of episode playback between devices. This means that users can, for example, start listening to a podcast on their iPhone and finish on the iPad.

Update: Some users have noticed a redeem button within the Podcast app suggesting the possibility of paid podcasts down the line.

Podcasts is a free download for the iPhone and iPad on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Brightcove announced today the introduction of App Cloud Core, a free edition of the company's app platform that allows developers to create native iOS apps using HTML5 and JavaScript. In addition, one of the major new features of the API is the ability for developers to easily create dual-screen apps for iOS devices to broadcast content to the Apple TV over AirPlay.

The new solution enables media publishers to develop rich content apps for the iPhone and iPad that simultaneously control content, data and information presented on an HDTV while displaying synchronized content on the iPad or iPhone. The unique dual-screen solution leverages Apple's AirPlay technology, which allows viewers to use applications that simultaneously present content, interactive options and data on both the touch device and an Apple TV.

This ability to broadcast separate content to a user's device and Apple TV is not new (Real Racing 2 HD Demo), but the new APIs provide another easy way for developers to implement these features. Brightcove offers this demo of how it can be used:

Beyond Apple's own efforts with AirPlay, there has been rumors that Apple might take it a step further with a fully developed Apple TV app model as well as the possibility of a full Apple television set in the near future.

Fortune reports that Apple's iPhone has dropped from the top selling smartphone position in Verizon retail stores for the first time since the carrier started selling the device. The news comes by way of a research note from William Blair's Anil Doradla.

Doradla attributes the iPhone's fall from grace less to the usual slowdown in advance of a new model than to Verizon's aggressive marketing of competing 4G devices, particularly Motorola's Droid RAZR MAXX, which the carrier is selling for $299 with a 2-year contract.

The results are based on "channel checks" from the April-May-June quarter of 2012. The iPhone was reportedly dethroned by the Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX, but remains in the number two spot ahead of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Verizon first started carrying the iPhone in February 2011. Verizon benefited from pent up demand at launch and the subsequent launch of the iPhone 4S in October of that same year. The iPhone 4S is now 8 months since it's release with rumors that the next generation iPhone will launch this fall.

Update: A separate analyst claims that the iPhone 4S remains the top selling smarpthone at Verizon.

But that's not the case, according to Walkley, who said while the latest Razr is "gaining ground," it "hasn't caught iPhone." His own research has found the iPhone 4S as the top selling smartphone at Verizon, as well as AT&T and Sprint, for the entirety of 2012 thus far.