MacRumors

Back in May, Apple announced that its annual iTunes Festival in London would be moving to September for 2012, with the event once again offering 30 days of free concerts at The Roundhouse. While tickets to the shows have been awarded on a lottery basis, Apple this year is offering access to the concerts with a number of live streaming options including through the iTunes Festival website, through a dedicated universal iOS app, and through Apple TV.

For those interested in watching the shows on Apple TV, the company has just pushed out an automatic update adding the iTunes Festival app to users' set-top boxes, making it easy for users to access the shows from the main menu of the device.

This is not the first time Apple has experimented with delivering live content directly to the Apple TV, as the company earlier this year offered a live stream of a Paul McCartney concert through both iTunes and the Apple TV.

The 2012 iTunes Festival kicks off on September 1 with Usher and runs daily throughout the month until closing with Muse on September 30.

Apple today announced that Craig Federighi and Dan Riccio will be joining the company's senior executive team, receiving promotions to the Senior Vice President level.

Federighi succeeded Bertrand Serlet as head of Mac Software Engineering in early 2011, but was not elevated to the senior executive team at that time. Riccio is currently transitioning to lead Hardware Engineering as Bob Mansfield steps down.

As senior vice president of Mac Software Engineering, Federighi will continue to be responsible for the development of Mac OS X and Apple’s common operating system engineering teams. Federighi worked at NeXT, followed by Apple, and then spent a decade at Ariba where he held several roles including vice president of Internet Services and chief technology officer. He returned to Apple in 2009 to lead Mac OS X engineering. Federighi holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Riccio, as senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, will lead the Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod engineering teams. He has been instrumental in all of Apple’s iPad products since the first generation iPad. Riccio joined Apple in 1998 as vice president of Product Design and has been a key contributor to most of Apple’s hardware over his career. Dan earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1986.

Apple has also announced that Mansfield will remain with the company rather than retiring as previously announced, staying on to "work on future products" and reporting directly to CEO Tim Cook.

A New Jersey teenager was arrested this weekend for allegedly attempting to shoplift a pair of headphones from the Fifth Avenue Apple Store in Manhattan, reports Macworld. Eric Shine says he scanned the barcode of a pair of Bose headphones, and navigated the EasyPay purchase process to the final screen, but failed to complete his purchase. Upon trying to leave the store, he was stopped by store employees who accused him of shoplifting and called the police to have him arrested.

I pulled out my iPhone, and realized it still showed the Pay Now button, and not the receipt," Shine said. "I told them I had no intent of stealing; I’ve been in the store for an hour, and I’m still willing to purchase the headphones."

That didn’t satisfy the Apple Store staff. "They said, they see this all the time, and that they knew I had the intent to steal, and this was an easy excuse," said Shine, who pointed out to the manager that he had asked for—and received—a bag from an Apple Store employee for the headphones. When you successfully complete a transaction, the Apple Store app clearly states that, to get a bag, "just show a specialist your receipt." Shine says the Apple Store employee he spoke to didn’t ask to see his receipt, compounding his own error with the app.

Last year, the 'Apple Store' iPhone app was updated with a new 'EasyPay' feature that allowed users to purchase products in the retail store without interacting with any salespeople. This benefits both customers and the store by freeing up store employees to deal with customers that need one-on-one attention.

EasyPay has been popular with Apple's more tech-savvy customers, but the risk of misunderstandings like this are easy to foresee. Shine was offered a plea bargain for one day of community service and attending a class on larceny in exchange for having the charges against him reduced, but he declined. He told Macworld that he "didn't try to steal anything" and will instead face larceny charges in October.

Yesterday, we pointed to a report from The Korea Times quoting a senior Samsung executive as saying the $1 billion judgment against the firm in its patent and design dispute with Apple was the "worst scenario" for Samsung. Several senior executives were reportedly holding an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss Samsung's next moves in the case.

Reuters now notes that Samsung CEO Kwon Oh-hyun, who took the reins of the company as part of an executive reshuffling in June, was not present at that meeting. According to the report, Kwon's absence was part of Samsung's efforts to compartmentalize the patent and design dispute within the company. While he does serve as CEO, Kwon's primary responsibility is to oversee the company's component business, a division that maintains a close relationship with Apple.

The clear message from Samsung is that a strict internal firewall between its handset business and its components operations remains intact.

While it plans to appeal the U.S. verdict, and a damages bill for $1.05 billion for copying critical features of Apple's popular mobile devices - a sum that could be trebled - Samsung will not want to put at risk its Apple supply contract which is worth billions of dollars.

The report notes that both Samsung and Apple have been seeking to diversify their supply relationships to reduce their reliance on one another, but the two companies remain very close partners on the supply chain side. According to statements by Apple's lawyers during the trial, Samsung parts currently comprise 26% of the component cost of the iPhone, even with Apple taking steps to move contracts for some commodities such as DRAM from Samsung to competitors Elpida and Hynix.

Yesterday, TechCrunch reported that AT&T had issued a vacation blackout for September 21-30 ahead of an "iconic release", coinciding exactly with a similar blackout at Verizon.

9to5Mac now reports that AT&T has specifically denied that a company-wide blackout is in effect for that time period. Anecdotal reports from store staff do, however, suggest that the carrier may be increasing its staffing levels around that time.

This morning, an AT&T spokesperson told us that there is no company-wide vacation blackout at the end of September.

We’ve also talked to AT&T reps at other stores who’ve implied that, depending on staffing levels of that particular store, more people are being put on duty – but there is no “blackout”. In fact one New York employee will be sitting out the first week of the iPhone launch on a long planned vacation.

Numerous sources have indicated that Apple will be introducing the next-generation iPhone at a media event on September 12, but the actual launch date for the device has been somewhat less certain. Several sources have pointed to September 21 as the launch date for the first group of markets, a timeframe that does fit with Apple's typical pattern seen in previous launches.

We've been following Apple's efforts to open retail store locations in Sweden for some time, noting last November that the company had filed for a business registration certificate. The company began hiring for its new stores in February, although the locations for those stores were not disclosed at the time.

Over this past weekend, 99mac reported [Google translation] that a new location listing in Swedish search engine and mapping service Hitta.se has revealed Apple's forthcoming store in the Täby Centrum shopping center in Stockholm. According to sources, the store is scheduled to open on September 15.

IDG.se followed up [Google translation] with a visit to the shopping center, where it discovered the under-construction store covered by Apple's traditional black construction barrier emblazoned with the Apple logo and the URL for company's Swedish site.

Apple is reportedly working on several other Swedish retail store sites, with a location in Malmö said to be planned for an October 25 opening and a second Stockholm site also said to be under consideration.

Sweden appears set to become the 14th country with an Apple retail store presence, with the company counting China and Hong Kong as separate markets. Unlike Apple's high-profile entry into the Netherlands earlier this year with a flagship store, the first Swedish store appears to be of the more standard mall-based variety, although with a very wide storefront indicating that it should be of substantial size.

The Verge reports that Google has officially responded to Friday's ruling in the Apple vs. Samsung case that saw a jury award Apple over $1 billion in deciding that Samsung had infringed upon Apple's patents and trade dress.

In its statement, Google attempts to distance itself from the controversy somewhat, indicating that most of the issues addressed in the trial do not relate to Android itself. The issues instead deal with Samsung's specific software implementations and its hardware design decisions. Google writes:

The court of appeals will review both infringement and the validity of the patent claims. Most of these don't relate to the core Android operating system, and several are being re-examined by the US Patent Office. The mobile industry is moving fast and all players - including newcomers - are building upon ideas that have been around for decades. We work with our partners to give consumers innovative and affordable products, and we don't want anything to limit that.

Some of the key pieces of evidence weighing in Apple's favor in the jury's mind were in fact 2010 memos and conversations between Google and Samsung that included Google "demanding" Samsung make changes in its implementation of Android over concerns that it was too similar to Apple's iOS. From one internal Samsung email describing Google's concerns:

“I am notifying you of the team leader’s directives from the executives’ meeting yesterday,” the message begins. The sixth item on the list addresses a need to “respond to the issue of design similarity for the S series,” which Samsung designer Kim Jin Soo testified was a reference to the company’s S series of smartphones.

“Google is demanding distinguishable design vis-à-vis the iPad,” according to the e-mail. “Consider design distinguishability for the items demanded by Google while maintaining the current design, and in regards to each carrier’s demands.”

With the Korea Stock Exchange having just opened for trading for the first time since the ruling, Samsung's stock is currently trading down 7%. Apple's stock rose nearly 2% in after hours trading Friday following the ruling.

Part leaks claimed to be for the next-generation iPhone continue to surface as the all-but-confirmed September 12 media event introduction approaches, with the latest batch of photos showing what appears to be the most completely assembled front panel seen yet. The new photos, which were highlighted by Apple.pro [Google translation], were posted to a Photobucket account that previously posted photos of measurements showing that the third-generation iPad would be thicker than the iPad 2, as well as the first leaked photo of the next-generation iPhone front panel in white.

The latest set of photos posted to the account shows a nearly fully assembled front panel with even more parts than seen in last week's leak of the front panel with the LCD attached. The new photos show not only the LCD attached to the front panel but also the home button installed and secured by a metal bracket, the shielding frame for the display that was first seen as a standalone part earlier this month, and the front-facing camera installed behind additional shielding.

Increasing numbers of parts are leaking in ever more complete states of assembly, offering good looks at the overall appearance and layout of the next-generation iPhone.

While the front of the device will appear very similar to the iPhone 4S/4 with the exception of a taller screen and slight tweaks in the locations of the camera and sensors, it is the rear of the device that seems to be generating the most discussion. The forthcoming iPhone appears to incorporate a unibody design that will incorporate a two-toned rear/side shell featuring a large metal section in the center paired with two strips of glass or plastic at the top and bottom that will allow for transmission of the numerous types of signals necessary for the device's operation.

Note: Watermarks have been obscured due to political statements contained within them.

Update: Mac Otakara points out that the unknown square-shaped feature visible at the top may be a near field communications (NFC) chip.

CNET reports that production has begun on 13.3-inch, 2560x1600 displays that will be incorporated into Apple's forthcoming smaller Retina MacBook Pro.

Production has begun of a 2,560-by-1,600 pixel density display that will land on a 13.3-inch MacBook Pro, NPD DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim told CNET.

"The supply chain indications are that it's for a MacBook Pro 13.3 -- not a MacBook Air," said Shim.

Displays are being made by Samsung, LGD, and Sharp, he said.

Shim indicates that launch supplies for the new 13-inch Retina displays will be higher than seen for the 15-inch displays incorporated into the first Retina MacBook Pro released back in June, reflecting the greater popularity of the 13-inch models compared to their larger siblings.

"With 15.4 it's production of a few hundred thousand units versus one to two million for the 13.3," he said. That 13.3-inch production began in the third quarter.

Apple has been rumored to be looking to launch the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro in October, and with mass production of the displays for the forthcoming machines now underway, it seems that Apple may be on track to meet that timeframe.

While Samsung has already issued an official statement vowing to fight on against Apple in court cases and to innovate with its products following the $1 billion judgment against the company, The Korea Times reports that executives at the company are "reeling in shock" at the decision.

Samsung executives were still reeling in shock Sunday, but provided no clear hint on the company's next move in the showdown with its industry archrival. It's widely expected that Samsung will appeal, but the outlook for success in the appeal now looks rather murky.

"It's absolutely the worst scenario for us," a senior Samsung executive said as he rushed into the company's compound in southern Seoul.

Inside the building, Choi Gee-sung, former Samsung Electronics CEO and now the head of Samsung Group's corporate strategy division, was holding an emergency meeting attended by Shin Jong-kyun, the company's mobile devices chief, and Lee Dong-joo, lead marketing official.

Both Apple and Samsung will be making post-verdict motions in the case, with Samsung seeking to have Judge Lucy Koh overrule the jury's decision before filing an official appeal while Apple is likely to seek a tripling of the damage award based on rulings that Samsung's infringement was willful. Apple will also be pursuing injunctions barring the sale of Samsung devices found to infringe Apple's patents.

Two weeks ago, BGR reported that AT&T was planning for a launch of the next-generation iPhone in late September, instituting an "all-hands-on-deck policy" for the last two weeks of the month and into October.

That news was followed last week with word that Verizon had instituted its own vacation blackout for September 21-30, bolstering claims that the new iPhone will launch in the United States on Friday, September 21.

TechCrunch now reports that AT&T's vacation blackout period has been pinned down to the same September 21-30 timeframe seen at Verizon. According to the report, AT&T staff will be training up for an "iconic release" scheduled for that time, with all indications pointing to the next-generation iPhone as the device in question.

According to an AT&T sales rep, AT&T staff has been given a vacation blackout from September 21 to September 30, just like Verizon employees. Our source also mentioned that blue carrier employees are undergoing training for an “iconic release.”

Sounds like the next-gen iPhone to me.

Apple is expected to introduce the next iPhone with a media event on September 12, with availability in the United States apparently set for nine days later. Several other major countries are likely to see a launch on that same date, with other markets following quickly in subsequent weeks.

Apple is reportedly also preparing to launch its "iPad mini" in the coming months, but the company is said to be planning a separate media event for October to introduce that product.