MacRumors

In addition to today's iTunes Match expansion to Hungary and Poland, Apple has also undertaken a significant expansion of its iTunes in the Cloud feature, adding movies to the list of eligible items in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

We've heard from several UK users who have reported that only a small fraction of their purchased movies are currently shown as eligible for re-download, through iTunes in the Cloud, but Apple indicates that "most" content should be included in the program.

The expansion marks the first time iTunes in the Cloud has been available for movies outside of the United States. The feature provides additional flexibility for those who have purchased movies through the iTunes Store, allowing them to download the content as needed on any computer, iOS device, or Apple TV.

iTunes in the Cloud for music and music videos is available in over 50 countries around the world, and support for TV shows has also been available in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Re-downloads of apps and books are permitted throughout Apple's digital store markets.

Update: Steven Troughton-Smith notes that iTunes in the Cloud for movies is also live in Ireland.

Update 2: The feature has also gone live in many of Apple's Latin American markets, including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela.

Update 3: Many of Apple's Asia-Pacific markets are also included: Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

Update 4: In Europe, the following countries are also seeing iTunes in the Cloud for movies: Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia.

As noted by CNET, Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo made a comment during today's earnings release conference call that many are interpreting as a hint that the next-generation iPhone will be launching in the fourth quarter of this year.

Apple's next iteration of the iPhone could drop in the fourth quarter.

That's according to Verizon CFO Fran Shammo, who hinted at the possible timing during the company's quarterly conference call today with a vague reference to a major phone the carrier expects to launch in the fourth quarter.

Shammo's exact statement was captured by The Verge:

When asked what might have held customers back from upgrading their devices in Q2, Shammo said that "of course there's always that, uh, rumor mill out there with a new phone coming out there in the fourth quarter, so people may be waiting." While there's a chance that he was referring to the next Nexus phone, this felt more like a thinly-veiled reference to the oft-rumored "new iPhone."

Rumors have been pegging the launch of the next-generation iPhone for the September/October timeframe, but with Verizon's fourth quarter not starting until October 1, Shammo's comment would point toward the latter half of the rumored timeframe.

Shammo could pass his comments off as simply an acknowledgment of the circulating rumors with no inside information coloring his perspective, but observers searching for any hints of Apple's plans are clearly wondering whether the timeframe mentioned by Shammo was indeed based on Apple's schedule.

Last year, Shammo spoke out several times on Apple's iPhone plans, confirming that what became the iPhone 4S would be a world-mode phone capable of operating on both GSM and CDMA networks and noting that Verizon would launch the device simultaneously with AT&T despite Verizon having launched the iPhone 4 midway through its lifecycle.

Following a report earlier this week claiming that European carriers have been stockpiling new nano-SIM cards in expectation of Apple using the smaller card in the next-generation iPhone, BGR now reports that carriers are indeed testing the new cards in partnership with Apple.

Multiple carrier sources have exclusively told BGR that Apple is supplying nano-SIM adapters so its carrier partners can test how nano-SIMs work on their networks in standard test devices before they are widely deployed when the new iPhone is introduced. This includes AT&T.

As we noted in the our report earlier this week, a part leak back in early May suggested that Apple would continue to use micro-SIMs in the next-generation iPhone, but with the new nano-SIM standard backed by Apple having been approved last month the company may already be pushing forward to adopt it as a space-saving measure.

Verizon today announced earnings for the second quarter of 2012, providing a first glimpse at Apple's iPhone performance during the quarter. During the conference call associated with the earnings release, Verizon announced iPhone sales of 2.7 million for the quarter, down from 3.2 million in the prior quarter.

A quarterly decline in iPhone sales for Verizon is not necessarily a surprise given the typical lull heading toward new hardware launches. And with Apple's iPhone business increasingly coming from international markets, performance of the main U.S. carriers like AT&T and Verizon is less indicative of Apple's overall sales numbers.

Notably, the 2.7 million iPhones represent 45% of Verizon's total smartphone sales of 5.9 million units, down from roughly 50% in the first quarter and 55% in the fourth quarter of 2011. Apple's share of Verizon smartphone sales does, however, remain above its low point of 35% seen in the third quarter of last year just before the launch of the iPhone 4S.

Apple will report its performance for the third fiscal quarter (second calendar quarter) of 2012 next Tuesday, July 24.

Earlier today, we pointed to some grainy photos of an early iPad prototype dating back to the 2002-2004 timeframe, revealing a much bulkier but otherwise fairly similar design to that seen in the device that was ultimately launched in 2010.

BuzzFeed has now posted new photos showing the prototype in full color next to an iPad 2, a comparison which shows the prototype to carry a much larger screen than seen on the iPad to date. Measuring pixel counts against the ruler shown in several of the photos reveals that the prototype device had a display measuring almost exactly 12 inches diagonally.

Compared to the eventually-released iPad's 9.7-inch screen, the prototype device would have had roughly 40% more screen real estate, although it is unknown at what resolution the early device was projected to run.

The prototype otherwise bears a distinct similarity to Apple's iBook of the time, carrying a white plastic shell with rounded corners and a 4:3 aspect ratio for the display. The prototype iPad measures in at just under 1-inch thick, compared to 1.35 inches for the white iBook models and the 0.34-0.50 inch range of the iPad models released to the public so far.

After having an online presence in the United Kingdom for more than 15 years, Apple has finally acquired the Apple.co.uk domain name. Dating back to at least 2003, Apple.co.uk has been owned by Apple Illustration, an illustration agency based in the UK. That company is now located at AppleAgency.co.uk.

.co.uk is the primary commercial second-level domain under the United Kingdom's domain hierarchy with many major companies using it as a base of their UK online operations.

Domain name:
apple.co.uk

Registrant:
Apple Inc.

Registrant type:
Non-UK Corporation

Registrant's address:
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino
CA
95014
United States

Registrar:
Corporation Service Company (UK) Limited [Tag = CSC-CORP-DOMAINS]
URL: http://www.cscprotectsbrands.com

Relevant dates:
Registered on: before Aug-1996
Expiry date: 13-Jan-2014
Last updated: 06-Jul-2012

The transfer in ownership happened early this month, with the website beginning to redirect to Apple in the past few days. We've contacted both Apple and Apple Illustration for comment on how the transfer came about, but have yet to hear back from either company.

Following last week's launch of a hack that allowed users to obtain In App Purchase content free of charge by routing their purchase requests through a server run by a Russian hacker, Apple began taking steps to thwart the method. The hacker has, however, continued to develop his method to skirt around Apple's roadblocks.

One of the suggestions for a method by which Apple could improve the security of In App Purchasing was to include a unique identifier in validation receipts, and we've received word that developers are now seeing something along those lines coming from receipts issued by Apple since late yesterday. The receipts carry a new field called "unique_identifer" that appears to include the Unique Device Identifier (UDID) for the device making the In App Purchase.

As one developer noted to us, apps are no longer supposed to be collecting the UDID and thus it is unclear whether Apple's use of the identifier for this purpose is simply a first step toward a broader implementation of unique receipt identifiers for increased security or if Apple is attempting to identify those users and devices who are sharing their receipts with the Russian hacker to allow the method to function.

Business Insider points to a Bloomberg bulletin indicating that a UK judge has ruled Apple must display on its UK website and in British newspapers a notice acknowledging that Samsung did not copy the design of the iPad with its Galaxy Tab 10.1. The UK court had previously ruled that the Galaxy Tab did not infringe upon Apple's design, with the judge observing that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is simply "not as cool" as the iPad.

According to the news flash, Apple will need to post the notice on its UK website for six months. Apple can presumably still appeal the ruling, although that information has not yet been disclosed.

We'll update this article once the full Bloomberg report is available.

Update: Bloomberg's article has gone live with additional details on the situation.

The notice should outline the July 9 London court decision that Samsung’s Galaxy tablets don’t infringe Apple’s registered designs, Judge Colin Birss said. It should be posted on Apple’s U.K. website for six months and published in several newspapers and magazines to correct the damaging impression the South Korea-based company was copying Apple’s product, Birss said.

The order means Apple will have to publish “an advertisement” for Samsung, and is prejudicial to the company, Richard Hacon, a lawyer representing Cupertino, California-based Apple, told the court. “No company likes to refer to a rival on its website.”

Samsung had also requested that Apple be barred from making public statements claiming that the Galaxy Tab had infringed upon the iPad design, but Birss ruled that Apple is within its rights to make such claims in line with the company's belief that the ruling is incorrect.

Disputing a report from last weekend claiming that Apple has begun production on the next-generation iPhone, BGR now claims that the device is still in engineering testing and has yet to enter production.

Apple goes through multiple stages before a product is manufactured, and two of these include the “engineering verification test” stage and the “design verification test” phase. Apple’s sixth-generation iPhone is currently in the EVT3 stage, the third revision of the engineering test stage, and has not yet entered the DVT stage.

The report also claims to have confirmed several hardware details on the forthcoming iPhone, including the unsurprising inclusion of LTE connectivity, a bump to 1 GB of RAM from the 512 MB found in the iPhone 4S, and near field communication (NFC) technology that could significantly enhance the utility of Apple's Passbook app for iOS 6 unveiled last month.

Network World's iOnApple reports on a recently-unsealed deposition given by Apple design chief Jonathan Ive in the ongoing patent war between Apple and Samsung, a session in which Ive was shown photos of Apple's earliest iPad mockups that apparently date to some time between 2002 and 2004. From Ive's testimony:

My recollection of first seeing it is very hazy, but it was, I'm guessing, sometime between 2002 and 2004, some but it was I remember seeing this and perhaps models similar to this when we were first exploring tablet designs that ultimately became the iPad.

As the report notes, the mockup is quite similar to what was eventually released as the iPad well over five years later, although it was significantly thicker given the state of the technology at the time.

Notably, the mockup lacked a home button but in other respects from the general form factor to the presence of a dock connector certainly mirrors the final shipping product.

Additional photos are included in the original report.

Following Verizon's move to shared data plans last month, AT&T announced its own shift scheduled for late August. The new system offers a similar setup to Verizon's, with all plans including unlimited talk and text and monthly service pricing being based simply on the total data allotment and number and type of devices being used.

With AT&T Mobile Share plans, customers start by choosing how much data they want each month, then choose up to 10 devices to attach to their shared plan, one of which must be a smartphone. Each plan includes tethering and unlimited domestic calls and texts for smartphones and basic or quick messaging phones. The larger the data bucket you choose, the less you pay per gigabyte and the less you pay for each smartphone added to the shared plan

One wrinkle for AT&T's plans is a decreasing monthly smartphone device access cost as customers step up to higher data plans. While Verizon charges a flat $40 per month per smartphone, AT&T's starts at $45 for customers using just 1 GB of data but decreases to as low as $30 for accounts with 10 GB of data or more per month. Access costs for other devices are the same between AT&T and Verizon, with feature phones requiring a flat fee of $30 per month, laptop connections $20, and tablets $10.

AT&T undercuts Verizon at the simplest level with a single smartphone on a 1 GB data plan costing $85 per month ($40 data + $45 device), compared to $90 on Verizon ($50 data + $40 device), but adding additional smartphones to that 1 GB plan is more expensive on AT&T ($45 versus $40). Verizon's and AT&T's pricing are identical at the 4 GB level, while AT&T again takes the lead on higher-level plans with more data and devices. As an example, an account with four smartphones sharing 10 GB of data would cost $240 per month on AT&T ($120 data + 4 x $30 devices) versus $260 on Verizon ($100 data + 4 x $40 devices).

AT&T is launching its new plans as of "late August", and current customers will not be required to switch to shared data, although they may do so without extending the length of their contracts. New customers will have the option of selecting from the new shared data plans or the carrier's existing individual or family plans.

Cydia Blog notes the appearance of "iPhone 5" cases from TVC-Mall that correspond to circulating rumors about the next generation iPhone.

The case design lines up with the many part leaks and schematics that have been floating around for the past several months.

The appearance of case designs shouldn't be that surprising given the numerous leaks we've already seen. The cases, however, do represent some small level of confidence by Chinese manufacturers that the next generation iPhone will match the circulating rumors. This includes a slightly taller/thinner design with a smaller bottom dock connector and a bottom-placed headphone jack.

The next generation iPhone is already said to be in production for an expected fall launch.