MacRumors

9to5Mac reports that Apple is set to announce tomorrow its plans for opening the company's new retail store in the historic Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. Apple had been said to be trying to get the store open by mid-November for the holiday shopping season, but it still appears to be unclear whether it will have the store open in time for Black Friday later this week.

From what we have now heard, Apple will be filling the store with stock and applying the finishing touches this week putting the the actual opening of the store on Black Friday or shortly thereafter. The goal all along has been to get the store open for the holiday shopping and to make a big splash with Apple’s new crown jewel of retail.

The store's 300 staff members have been in training for some time now, and are currently dispersed to other New York City stores for final training ahead of the store opening.

techfootnote grabbed some photos of the black screening surrounding the under-construction store, which reveal some large panels on the front of the barrier that are said to potentially be hiding large video display boards to highlight the store's opening.

Sprint has released a new television commercial for the iPhone, pushing its unlimited data plan as an advantage over its rivals.

There are over half a million apps and counting on the iPhone. Apps that can take you anywhere, do anything. You might say there's no limit to what this amazing device can do. So the question to ask is, "Why would anyone want to limit the iPhone?" We don't.

Truly unlimited data for you iPhone...only from Sprint.

The ad does not specifically promote the iPhone 4S, with the carrier instead opting to focus on the generic iPhone line given that it offers both the iPhone 4S and the new 8 GB iPhone 4 that serves as a low-end option priced at $99 on contract.

Both AT&T and Verizon initially offered unlimited data plans for the iPhone but have since transitioned to tiered plans, although customers on those carriers who had previously signed up for unlimited plans have been allowed to keep them.

Research firm Canalys today noted that Apple appears set to become the world's largest PC manufacturer by volume if the iPad and other tablets are included in the figures. The company already ranks second behind HP by that measure, but Canalys is unsure whether Apple will take the lead in the fourth quarter of this year or if it will require a boost from the iPad 3 launch early next year in order to surpass HP.

“Apple has seen its PC market share expand from 9% to 15% in just four quarters, though iPad shipments in its core market – the United States – are likely to come under pressure in Q4 due to the launch of the Fire and Nook at extremely competitive price points,” said Canalys Analyst Tim Coulling. “HP and Apple will fight for top position in Q4, but Apple may have to wait for the release of iPad 3 before it passes HP.”

Apple already ranks as the #1 mobile PC vendor when the iPad is included, but HP's lead over Apple in desktop sales has been enough to hold off Apple in the overall market.

Apple's iPad actually carries a higher average selling price than Windows PCs, resulting in some comparisons between the two in consumers' minds when making purchasing decisions. Apple has acknowledged that the iPad is cannibalizing Mac sales to some extent, but notes that it is happy to make that tradeoff given that PC users in general are undoubtedly making similar decisions to opt for the iPad. Consequently, Apple's relatively small share of the PC market indicates that significantly more Windows PCs than Macs are being left on the shelves in favor of iPads.

With the release of OS X Lion, Apple updated their licensing agreement to allow the virtualization of Mac OS X under programs such as VMWare Fusion and Parallels. This functionality allows you to deploy different sandboxed installations of OS X on a single machine. The change, however, appeared to only apply to OS X Lion and not to previous non-server versions of Mac OS X such as Leopard and Snow Leopard.

So, when the Lion optimized version of VMWare Fusion was released, it allowed users to run additional virtualized copies of OS X Lion, but continued to prohibit running older versions of Mac OS X under Lion.

Those rules seem to have changed a bit in the latest version of VMWare 4.1 which was released on Friday. As first noted by Macworld, VMWare's Fusion no longer strictly prohibits the virtualization of client editions of Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard.

But one big change with this update isn’t documented anywhere: The software has been modified so that it will run the non-server versions of Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) and Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5). Previously, VMware Fusion supported virtual Macs running Lion, Lion Server, Snow Leopard Server, and Leopard Server.

The change in support, however, is a bit subtle. Instead of prohibiting the use of non-server Snow Leopard and Leopard, VMWare prompts the user to verify that they are licensed to run such copies:

Macworld's Jason Snell confirmed that simply agreeing allowed him to to install and run non-server Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Leopard under Lion. Now, whether end users actually have such a license is less certain. When questioned by Macworld, Apple simply reiterated that virtualization is allowed for Mac OS X Lion, Snow Leopard Server and Leopard Server.

The main advantage for end users of such a configuration is the ability to run older PowerPC-based applications on demand. Apple removed Rosetta PowerPC emulation support in Mac OS X Lion, stranding some users who depend on legacy PowerPC applications. By running Snow Leopard in a virtual machine under OS X Lion, those users could continue to run their PowerPC applications on occasion while otherwise using OS X Lion.

Update: VMware has noted that the Snow Leopard and Leopard client virtualization was made possible by an omission of a server edition check from the new Fusion 4.1 software. WMware will be releasing an update to address the issue.

According to a study by Metrico Wireless, a mobile performance measurement company, AT&T has the fastest iPhone 4S data speeds for both upload and download. Sprint's data speed is roughly five times slower, echoing earlier anecdotal reports of poor Sprint data connections.

In all, Metrico performed 21,000 Web page downloads nationwide with the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 over the networks of the nation's largest three carriers. Metrico also ran more than 8,000 data download and upload tests and generated about 6,000 voice calls with recorded human voices. The tests were performed in a certified lab as well as several locations in five unnamed cities that Metrico called "representative of [network] conditions nationwide."

Metrico claims Sprint has the highest voice call quality on the uplink -- when the iPhone owner is speaking -- while AT&T had the highest quality on the downlink.

For dropped calls, something for which AT&T has been consistently criticized, Sprint comes out worst. Metrico claims Verizon experienced a 2.1% call failure rate while AT&T had 2.8% and Sprint was worst at 3.7%.

Computerworld noted that part of the intention of the nationwide study was to show "how performance problems in one city reported by the news media and bloggers shortly after a phone is launched can be less relevant over the entire network over time."

In a curious move, AT&T has raised the subsidized price of its cheapest iPhone to $0.99, up from free.

When the iPhone 4S was announced in October, Apple specifically mentioned in its press release that the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS would be available in 8GB capacities for subsidized pricing of US$99 and for free, respectively.

During AT&T's Q3 2011 earnings call with analysts on October 20th, AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega twice mentioned the iPhone 3GS's $0 price point, saying during the introductory remarks:

Our lower price plan continues to be a good entry point for many subscribers and now that we offer a free iPhone with a 2-year contract for the first time ever, the iPhone 3GS, we expect to broaden the smartphone base even more.

De la Vega again mentions the 3GS during question-and-answer portion:

I also mentioned in my notes that we have another device that I think is going to dramatically change those people that are on smartphones and quick messaging devices, the 3GS, which is free with a 2-year contract. We've seen a tremendous, tremendous demand for that device even though it's a generation old. And actually, we're getting more new subscribers coming on the 3GS on the average than other devices.

It is unclear why AT&T has elected to raise the price of the iPhone 3GS by a negligible but still notable amount a month and a half after it became free on contract, particularly given the fact that both Apple PR and AT&T Mobility's CEO had specifically touted the free nature of the device. In response to a request for comment on the price increase, AT&T declined to offer a specific reason:

iPhone 3GS is still available at an incredibly low price and we're confident consumers will agree that this remains one of the best deals for a leading smartphone.

For its part, Apple continues to offer the iPhone 3GS, subsidized on AT&T's network, for $0.00 on the Apple Online Store.

Update: MacRumors forum user Metcury46l had one possible explanation for the price change: I work at AT&T, this is being done to help prevent fraud as the 99 cents cannot be billed to your bill. It must be charged to a credit or bank issued debt card. Fraudsters are using stolen identities to steal these handsets ... been an issue since they went free.

(Image courtesy Flickr/MrVJTod)

iLounge offers a series of tidbits from its "most reliable source" regarding Apple's product plans for 2012, reporting that the iPad, iPhone, and MacBook Pro will all be receiving redesigns.

- iPad: The source indicates that the iPad 3 is planned to launch in March and that it will be approximately 0.7 mm thicker than the iPad 2 due to the need to incorporate a dual light bar system for the higher-resolution display. The iPad 2 currently checks in 8.8 mm thick, which would make the iPad 3 approximately 8% thicker than the iPad 2 but still substantially thinner than the 13.4 mm original iPad.

- iPhone: iLounge's source claims that the next-generation will not resemble the teardrop "iPhone 5" design that circulated ahead of the iPhone 4S introduction last month. The next iPhone is, however, said to carry a 4-inch display (up from 3.5 inches in the current iPhone) and be 8 mm longer than the current form factor. Apple is said to be targeting a summer launch for the device, which would mark a short interval from the iPhone 4S launch last month.

- MacBook Pro: The source indicates that 2012 will indeed see the launch of a thinner MacBook Pro form factor, barring any last-minute problems. We've been hearing for some time that Apple has been finishing up work on just such a redesign, although the company did sneak in one last minor refresh using the current form factor just last month. Recent reports have claimed that an ultra-thin 15" Mac notebook, whether it be a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, is on target for a March launch with small volumes of components already making their way through the supply chain.

FOSS Patents reports that a pending court case in Germany could have significant ramifications for Apple, with a potential injunction shutting down the company's iCloud service there over infringement of a Motorola Mobility patent being pegged as a $2.7 billion risk to Apple.

In brief, Motorola asserted last year that Apple's MobileMe service infringes upon a Motorola patent related to data synchronization. Motorola amended the suit to include iCloud once that service was introduced later in the year. While an official ruling on an injunction isn't due until February, Motorola has already won an initial default judgement involving the patent and FOSS Patents reports that the presiding judge is not looking terribly favorably on Apple's defense so far.

The court doesn't appear to buy any of Apple's defenses at this stage. It may still change mind until the ruling, which is scheduled for February 3, 2012, 9 AM local time, but if it had had to rule today, I have no doubt that Apple would have lost.

If Motorola wins its case and an injunction is granted, Apple could be forced to pull all of its products in Germany that contain the infringing iCloud integration. It is typical in German courts to require winning parties to post bonds in order to guarantee repayment of lost income should the defendant win an appeal of the ruling, and Apple has asked that Motorola be required to post a 2 billion euro ($2.7 billion) bond in this case.

The court was wondering whether that hefty amount truly reflects the economic damages Apple would suffer from enforcement, given that the iCloud is only one Apple offering and doesn't correspond to the entire value of its products. But Apple's lawyers insisted that an enforcement against its product sales in Germany could result in damages of that magnitude.

The judge raised the possibility of Apple developing a workaround for iCloud to avoid infringing Motorola's patent, but Apple's lawyers pressed their case that the risk to Apple's business was indeed still severe.

Apple obviously has a vested interest in setting as high a bond as possible, forcing Motorola to put up a significant amount of money if it wishes to press forward with an injunction. The figure represents a substantial commitment on Motorola's part and makes clear that Apple will move to recover that money should an injunction be granted and later overturned, thus increasing Motorola's own risk in the proceedings. But while Apple may be artificially inflating its risk somewhat, it does still have to justify the figure to the court and is clearly working to do just that.

Childhood classic A Charlie Brown Christmas has made its way to the iPad as an interactive book that Mashable describes as "spectacular" and "like magic".

The app turns the 1965 television special into an interactive children's book, giving kids (and nostalgic adults) the chance to "play Schroeder's piano, finger paint with the gang, go carolling with the Peanuts choir, and participate in the Spectacular Super-Colossal Neighborhood Christmas Lights and Display Contest".

A Charlie Brown Christmas was built by Loud Crow Interactive, an app development firm in Vancouver that specializes in turning book content into interactive digital apps.

This isn't Loud Crow's first experience turning a classic children's tale into an iPad app. Last year, the company created interactive interpretations of Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit and The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, and William Wallace Denslow's The Night Before Christmas.

A Charlie Brown Christmas is a universal app, designed for both iPhone and iPad, and is $6.99 on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Last month, we noted that Sony Pictures was reportedly courting Aaron Sorkin to write the screenplay for a film adaption of Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs. At the time, former ER star Noah Wyle, who played Jobs in the 1999 made-for-TV movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, reported that he would love to reprise the role in a new film.

According to British magazine NOW, Wyle is indeed in the running to play Jobs in the forthcoming film, with his former ER co-star George Clooney reportedly also in the mix.

George Clooney, 50, is battling it out with his former ER co-star Noah Wyle, 40, to play Apple founder Steve Jobs in a new movie.

The biopic, which is expected to start filming next year, will chart the life of the tecchie guru, who died last month from cancer at the age of 56.

Isaacson's biography of Jobs has been one of the biggest-selling books of the year despite having debuted just last month. Amazon projected just after the book's release that it could become the company's #1 seller for 2011, and the title currently stands at #2.

The New York Times publishes an interview with Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson which among other topics may touch a bit further on Apple's plans for a connected television set.

Isaacson had quoted Jobs in his biography as saying that he had "finally cracked" the difficulties in building an Apple television set, describing "the simplest user interface you could imagine" and iCloud integration for content. In the wake of the book's release, it was reported that Apple is indeed working on a Siri-enabled TV, an innovation that would fit with Jobs' description of his rethinking of the television.

The new interview with Isaacson suggests that input methods were indeed one of Jobs' primary concerns regarding a TV set, lending credence to the idea of a Siri-enabled device.

I didn’t go into details about these products in the book because it was implicitly Apple’s creations and it’s not fair to the company to reveal these details. But, he did talk about the television. He told me he’d “licked it” and once said, “There’s no reason you should have all these complicated remote controls.”

Essentially reiterating comments shared last week at a Fortune meeting, Isaacson notes that beyond television, Jobs was also working on textbooks and photography as his next areas of focus, but it remains to be seen whether and how Apple pursues those areas of exploration without Jobs at the helm.

Alongside the launch of the iPhone 4S, Apple also debuted a new $99 AppleCare+ program offering an extended warranty with accidental damage coverage. The AppleCare+ package replaced the previous $69 AppleCare for iPhone offering that did not offer accidental coverage.

Some confusion about the AppleCare+ program arose in its early days, stemming in large part from Apple's requirement that the coverage be purchased at the same time as the iPhone, a requirement that seemed to conflict with the legal text of the agreement which stated that AppleCare+ must be purchased within the device's one-year standard warranty period. Regardless, a number of customers were not offered the AppleCare+ option at the time of pre-ordering, and Apple addressed the issue by offering a temporary exception to allow any early iPhone purchaser to obtain AppleCare+ through November 14th.

With that deadline for delays AppleCare+ purchases having now passed, Apple appeared set to revert to the original policy of requiring that the plan be purchased at the same time as the iPhone. But Apple has now updated its AppleCare+ page to indicate that users can purchase it in-person at an Apple retail store or over the phone any time within 30 days after the iPhone purchase.

How to get AppleCare+

* Add it to your shopping cart during the checkout process when you purchase your new iPhone.

* Buy it within 30 days of your iPhone purchase:
- At Apple Retail (requires a Genius Bar appointment, inspection of the iPhone & proof of purchase).
- Or call 1-800-275-2273 (requires proof of purchase).

Apple has also revised the AppleCare+ terms and conditions to remove the previous mention of the option to purchase any time within the one-year standard warranty period.

In addition to the new 30-day window, SprintFeed reports that it has received an internal Sprint notice indicating that the original amnesty period for early iPhone 4S purchasers has also been extended through December 15th. The wording does suggest, however, that the 30-day limit still applies to these customers, so customers who purchased the iPhone 4S on launch day would still be out of luck given that the window has now passed for them. But the policy does offer some continuing retroactive coverage for customers who purchased their devices less than 30 days ago.

Just yesterday, Digitimes noted that Apple had reduced its fourth-quarter orders for iPad 2 display components in order to accommodate production of iPad 3 parts. Apple's strategy has apparently involved boosting production of iPad 2 parts during the third quarter and stockpiling them as it begins the transition to the iPad 3 this quarter.

Digitimes now expands upon that information in a new report claiming that Apple's iPad 3 display panel suppliers Samsung, LG, and Sharp will have delivered approximately three million units to Apple's manufacturing chain by the end of this month.

Samsung Electronics, LG Display and Sharp reportedly shipped a total of one million units of high-resolution flat panels for next-generation iPads to Apple in October and will ramp up shipments to two million units in November, according to industry sources.

The report notes that the touch module component that is comparable to the one found in the iPad 2 should begin shipping from TPK and Wintek imminently as Apple's iPad manufacturing partner Foxconn is apparently targeting a January 2012 start for assembly. That timeframe appears to be in line with rumors of an early 2012 launch for the iPad 3, potentially around March or April as with the past two generations.

The report also reiterates claims of display manufacturers having sampled 7.85-inch screens for Apple, but it is unclear how independent Digitimes' claim is from the earlier report.

There have been several bits of App Store-related news over the past day, so here is a roundup of some of the more prominent items:

- iPad Swiping: As noted by MacStories, Apple has improved navigation of the iPad App Store, now allowing users to swipe between pages of featured apps and other listings. Users had previously needed to tap navigation arrows to move between pages, but moving to swipe-based navigation makes for a more natural interface and faster page changes.

- Yuan Now Accepted in China: Penn Olson reports that Apple is now accepting renminbi, the local Chinese currency, for App Store purchases in China. With the new pricing in yuan, Chinese customers will no longer be required to make purchases funded by credit cards in U.S. dollars. Apple has also begun accepting payment via local bank cards, with customers able to top-up their iTunes Store accounts with prepaid amounts from their bank accounts to fund their App Store purchases.

- Kindle Fire Added to 'Amazon Appstore' Lawsuit: Despite the fact that Apple has not yet won a trademark registration on the term "App Store", it sued Amazon back in March over the company's use of the term in its Amazon Appstore for Android. A judge declined to issue a preliminary injunction against Amazon in July, and the full trial is not set to take place until October 2012.

With Amazon having just launched its new Kindle Fire tablet, Apple has expanded its lawsuit to address the fact that Amazon is promoting its "Appstore" in conjunction with the device. As reported by paidContent, Apple has also included new claims of false advertising in the lawsuit.

Apple's revised complaint is intended to show that Amazon has continued to use the "Appstore" term even in the face of Apple's prior claims of trademark infringement, hoping to establish a pattern of willful misrepresentation on Amazon's part leading to customer confusion over the app marketplaces. The courts and trademark examiners have yet to look favorably upon Apple's claims regarding "App Store" being an allowable trademark for the company, but it is clear that Apple is still trying to press its positions.

SemiAccurate claims that Apple had late stage AMD Llano based MacBook Air prototypes last spring and had been "on the verge of production".

If you are wondering why the Air wasn’t really revamped much this last time, it is because you are looking at plan B. Plan A was basically a low power Llano in an Air shell, and that would have been a really tasty machine.

This AMD based design would reportedly have had much more graphics (GPU) power, and lose only a little CPU power as compared to what was ultimately released. The "Llano" is part of the AMD Fusion platform which offers a combined CPU/GPU hybrid system:

Forget about the CPU (Central Processing Unit). Chipmaker AMD would like you to think instead about what it calls the APU, its Accelerated Processing Unit. The combo product uses a single die to contain, according to AMD, "a multicore CPU, a powerful DirectX 11-capable discrete-level graphics and parallel processing engine, a dedicated high-definition video acceleration block, and a high-speed bus that speeds data across the differing types of processor cores within the design."

Graphics (GPU) performance has been a stumbling block for Apple in pushing its laptop designs further. The MacBook Air was stuck on previous generation Intel chips for an extra revision due to the relatively poor performance of Intel's integrated GPUs. Apple finally upgraded the MacBook Air to Intel's Sandy Bridge processors in July.

Earlier this year, Apple had reportedly threatened Intel that they would abandon Intel's chips if the company was unable to improve their power consumption profile. AMD would be the logical alternative to Intel, and it makes sense that Apple would have fully explored its options at that time.

According to SemiAccurate, one reason Apple chose not to adopt AMD's solution was AMD's inability to supply enough of the required parts to Apple. SemiAccurate had previously claimed that Apple was also looking into moving from Intel processors to ARM processors in the future.

Late late week, Apple announced a worldwide replacement program for owners of the first-generation iPod nano. The program was instituted due to battery issues that could cause the devices to overheat and in extreme cases catch fire.

While Apple officially notes that it may take up to six weeks for customers to receive their replacement devices, some users are reporting that their replacements have already arrived. And while some had hoped that Apple might offer newer-generation iPod nano models given a potential shortage of units that officially went out of production nearly five years ago, the replacement units are indeed still first-generation iPod nanos.

According to one customer who received a replacement, the new unit is an exact duplicate of his original iPod nano in terms of color and capacity, although it feels brand-new without the wear and tear of five or six years' worth of use. Apple is almost certainly utilizing refurbished units for the replacements, but Apple's standard refurbishment program includes the use of brand-new batteries and outer shells to make the devices appear and function as new.

I wanted to pass along some info about the iPod Nano exchange program Apple started over the weekend. I just received the replacement and it is an exact replacement. No upgrade. Same capacity and everything. The only upside is that it is "new" (probably refurbished), so it's clean in comparison to my old one.

The replacement iPod nano units come with a 90-day warranty, offering users a chance to make sure that they are operating properly upon receipt. As evidenced by the units coming through already, they should be essentially identical to customers' original devices, although Apple notes that any personalization on the original devices will not be included on the replacements.