MacRumors

Google has released its annual Zeitgeist feature for 2011, highlighting some of the top trends in search during the year. As in previous years, Apple and its products appear in a number of contexts within this year's results.

In the highest-profile ranking included in the survey, the term "iPhone 5" ranked sixth among fastest-rising searches on a global basis. Driven by considerable speculation and rumors about the device and Apple's later-than-usual release for this year's iPhone, consumer interest in Apple's follow-up to the iPhone 4 remained at high levels for many months in 2011.

Consumers and analysts alike anticipated the release of Apple’s newest smartphone many months prior to its arrival. Rumored features included a larger screen, edge-to-edge glass, an 8 megapixel camera, and extensive voice controls. Many believed the phone would be called the iPhone 5.

Google notes that searches for "iPhone 5" rose 1,658% between 2010 and 2011, with the peak coming in the week of September 25th, just ahead of Apple's iPhone media event. To encapsulate the popularity of the "iPhone 5", Google requested our permission to use the mockups of the rumored design we commissioned from CiccareseDesign based on leaked case designs.

Apple of course released the iPhone 4S and not the iPhone 5 at the event, to the disappointment of many who had been hoping for a significant exterior redesign, hopes that had been fueled by the leaked case designs and rumors of a thinner, teardrop form factor.

As far as Google's Zeitgeist 2011, Apple made several other appearances in high-profile rankings, with Steve Jobs taking ninth place in fastest-rising searches and the iPad 2 taking tenth. Among fastest rising consumer electronics, the iPhone 4S took second place to Amazon's Kindle Fire, with the iPad 2 coming in in sixth place and the so-far unreleased iPad 3 taking tenth.

Jobs site Glassdoor yesterday announced the release of its annual list of the 50 best places to work. While consulting companies Bain and McKinsey topped the list, Apple grabbed 10th place in the survey with an average employee rating of 3.9 out of 5. Apple's performance marked a significant increase over the previous three years that saw the company ranking around 20th place in the survey.

Facebook, last year's #1 company, took third in this year's survey while Google jumped from #30 to #5 to place ahead of Apple among high-profile tech companies.

In tech company employee ratings of their CEOs, Apple's Tim Cook placed third with an approval rating of 96%, one point lower than Steve Jobs' approval rating in last year's survey. This year's CEO survey was led by National Instruments' James Truchard and NetApp's Tom Georgens, who both scored 100% approval ratings.

With the preliminary injunction banning sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia now lifted, Samsung is turning the dispute with Apple to its advantage, noting that the lawsuits have made Samsung a "household name" according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

"At the end of the day the media awareness certainly made the Galaxy Tab 10.1 a household name compared to probably what it would've been based on the investment that we would've put into it from a marketing perspective," [Samsung Australia vice president of telecommunications Tyler McGee] said.

Asked how many units of the Galaxy Tab Samsung was bringing in, McGee said "as many units as we can" but warned "there will probably be short supply against the demand".

Apple was granted an injunction blocking the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia back in mid-October, with Samsung reporting that it may scrap the device's launch entirely there if the injunction was not lifted in time for the holiday shopping season. The injunction was indeed lifted in late November, but Apple won a one-week extension that carried the ban through to December 9th as it unsuccessfully tried to appeal the lifting of the injunction. The case will proceed to full trial next year.

Meanwhile, Engadget points to a Tweet from @maungle showing a new Galaxy Tab 10.1 newspaper ad from Samsung carrying the tagline "The Tablet Apple Tried to Stop," illustrating how Samsung is seeking to tie its advertising to the lawsuit and portray the tablet device as so significant a threat that Apple felt the need to prevent it from going on sale.

Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, who has historically been rather conservative in her predictions of Apple's performance, issued a new report yesterday (via Fortune) suggesting that Apple could sell nearly 200 million iPhones next year. The number would be more than double that of this year's iPhone sales, which currently stand at 56 million ahead of a blockbuster quarter that is expected to add perhaps 30-35 million to that number.

- iPhones are selling surprisingly briskly. Based on the survey and last week's comments from AT&T (T), Huberty estimates that Apple (AAPL) could ship anywhere from 31 to 36 million iPhones this quarter -- as much as 20% higher than the 30 million she's modeling and nearly 30% higher than the 28 million Wall Street is expecting.

- iPhone demand is accelerating. "Surprisingly," she writes, "US consumers expect to buy more iPhones in C1Q12 than C4Q11" (emphasis hers). Even discounting the survey results 10%, that suggests Apple could sell 13 million iPhones in the U.S. and 41 million worldwide next quarter. Morgan Stanley's model has Apple selling 30 million iPhones in calendar Q1 2012.

Huberty's predictions are based on her own research and a consumer survey by AlphaWise that pegs demand for the iPhone next year 40% higher than anticipated by Morgan Stanley in its "base case" scenario.

On the tablet side, the survey data points to a similar story, with Huberty's survey data indicating that Apple could see sales of over 80 million iPads next year, well above her firm's estimate of 52 million units. Apple has sold 25 million iPads so far this year, with analysts estimating that Apple may add 13-14 million units to that total in the holiday quarter.

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the release of Grand Theft Auto III, Rock Star Games has released an iOS version that supports both iPhone and iPad. Grand Theft Auto III was first released in 2001 and was the first 3D title of the series. The game received very positive reviews and was considered revolutionary at the time.

The iOS version of the game was originally promoted as being one of the first to take advantage of the enhanced speed and capabilities of the iPhone 4S and iPad 2. The final version also supports iPhone 4 and 4th Generation iPod Touch.

Initial impressions are favorable, with full reviews likely to come tomorrow:

Initial impressions are remarkably positive, although at this writing we've only played it so far on our collective iPad 2's. But, it's Grand Theft Auto III on iOS devices. The controls are about what you'd expect, virtual buttons everywhere, but they seem entirely workable once you get your head wrapped around where everything is.

Grand Theft Auto III is a universal app and now available for $4.99. [App Store]

Apple seems to be deploying iTunes Match into international music stores this evening, though there seem to be some ongoing glitches that suggests they could be an early mistake or a partial roll out.

Several readers in the UK and Australia have noticed that iTunes Match is now a sign up option in their iTunes Account information page. Apple has not yet started promoting iTunes Match in the iTunes Store, but the links to iTunes Match are live with localized pricing (see above).

In the UK, iTunes Match costs £21.99 for a year and €24.99 in other parts of Europe. Users are allowed to sign up for it and receive a confirmation email of their purchase but one Twitter report claims it "does nothing" at this stage. For Australian customers, the service is priced at A$ 34.99.

To see if it appears available in your country, log into your iTunes account on your Mac or PC and then tap on your account name to see your account information. From there, you may be able to sign up, though we'd advise some caution as it seems the service isn't fully operational at the time of this writing. Alternatively, you can also try this direct link that opens the page directly in iTunes.

iTunes Match is Apple's music service offers users the ability to match their existing iTunes library with high quality versions in Apple's iCloud. The service originally launched in the U.S. and recently expanded to Brazil.

Thanks Colin

Update: It appears the launch may have been premature. Apple is refunding early buyers and claims it is not available outside of Brazil and the U.S. at the moment.

Forbes publishes a lengthy guest post from advertising executive Rob Siltanen, one of the primary contributors to the development of Apple's famous "Think Different" advertising campaign that helped turn the company around following Steve Jobs' return. In the piece, Siltanen details the process of pitching the campaign to Jobs and his work on the "Here's to the Crazy Ones" script.

Siltanen was inspired to write the post following the publication of Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs, which repeats the oft-cited claim that Jobs himself was responsible for much of the "Here's to the Crazy Ones" text and ideas.

Steve was highly involved with the advertising and every facet of Apple’s business. But he was far from the mastermind behind the renowned launch spot. In fact, he was blatantly harsh on the commercial that would eventually play a pivotal role in helping Apple achieve one of the greatest corporate turnarounds in business history.

Siltanen goes on to describe how he and other representatives of the high-profile TBWA/Chiat/Day advertising firm were surprised that Jobs required them to pitch to win the contract with the then-struggling Apple. In dreaming up concepts to pitch to Jobs, the one that stood out was the "Think Different" tagline paired with photos and videos of famous creative thinkers. Jobs liked the campaign but initially worried that it would appear too egotistical. Within seconds, however, Jobs changed course and brought the firm on board to carry out the idea.

Siltanen used Robin Williams' speeches from the movie Dead Poets Society as inspiration for what became "Here's to the Crazy Ones". But when it was presented to Jobs in what turned out to eventually be nearly its final form, Jobs initially hated it.

We played the spot once, and when it finished, Jobs said, “It sucks! I hate it! It’s advertising agency ****! I thought you were going to write something like ‘Dead Poets Society!’ This is crap!”

Clow said something like, “Well, I take it you don’t want to see it again.” And Steve continued to go on a rant about how we should get the writers from “Dead Poets Society” or some “real writers” to write something.

Jobs eventually changed his mind again, and the "Think Different" campaign quickly marked a turning point for the company even as it was still trying to develop new products to execute the dramatic turnaround.

In the wake of reports that Apple is considering the purchase of Israeli firm Anobit, Israeli financial newspaper Globes reports that Apple plans to set up its first research and development center outside of its Cupertino headquarters.

Sources inform "Globes" that Apple Inc. has decided to open a development center in Israel focusing on semiconductors. The decision was taken even before the company entered into talks to acquire Herzliya-based flash storage solutions provider Anobit Ltd..
Apple has hired Aharon Aharon, a veteran player in Israel's high tech industry, to lead the new development center.

[...]

Aharon Aharon comes to Apple with a varied background that will assist him in setting up a semiconductors operation for a foreign company. His most high-tech venture was Camero Tech Ltd., which develops Radio Frequency (RF) based imaging systems, and which he founded in 2004 with Amir Beeri. Aharon serves as chairman of Camero Tech. Before that he was chairman of embedded security solutions developer Discretix Inc. and managed their Israel development center. Earlier still he was VP operations at Zoran Corp. (Nasdaq: ZRAN), having begun his career at IBM's Haifa development center where he reached the post of deputy director.

Globes also claims Aharon will spend several months at Apple's headquarters and will return to Israel to set up the research center whether or not Apple purchases an Israeli company.

Both Globes and Israeli business paper Calcalist report [translation] that Apple vice president Ed Frank has been taking meetings with high-tech companies in Israel ahead of the announcement of the development center. A number of other US tech firms have research centers in Israel, including Intel, Google, IBM, Microsoft.

Following up on last month's promise that it would be launching an updated user interface for its iPad application, Netflix has just updated its universal iOS app to version 2.0. The new update brings the updated iPad interface, compatibility with new streaming services in Latin America, and several other improvements.

New in Netflix v 2.0

1. Netflix now available in Latin America for iPhone and iPad
2. New iPad UI for all regions - US, Canada, Latin America - requires upgrade to iOS 5
3. Addressed stability issues
4. For support questions please contact us at mobilesupport@netflix.com

As Netflix previously noted when the revised interface debuted on Android tablets, the app now displays twice as many movies and TV shows as with the old interface, making it easier for users to discover new content to add to their Instant Queues.

Netflix is a free download, but requires a monthly subscription to Netflix's streaming service.

(Thanks, Arthur!)

Apple's artificial intelligence agent Siri was one of the key new features in the iPhone 4S. The impressive system has generated a lot of publicity and has put voice recognition technologies back into the forefront. Many companies are expected to integrate more voice enabled applications in the coming year.

Google's Android has long had voice dictation and command capabilities, but the company seems to be stepping up their efforts in the coming months. AndroidandMe reports on a secret project codenamed Majel which is meant to be an evolution of Google's Voice Actions with the addition of natural language processing. This natural language processing is what gives Siri an edge over other simple voice recognition systems.

In a Slashgear interview with Matias Duarte, Google's Director of Android OS User Experience, they describe their approach which won't try to mimic Siri's attitude:

The metaphor I like to take is – if it’s Star Wars, you have these robot personalities like C-3PO who runs around and he tries to do stuff for you, messes up and makes jokes, he’s kind of a comic relief guy. Our approach is more like Star Trek, right, starship Enterprise; every piece of computing surface, everything is voice-aware. It’s not that there’s a personality, it doesn’t have a name, it’s just “Computer.” And you can talk to it and you can touch it, you can interact with it at the same time as you talk with it. It’s just another way to interface with the computer.

The codename "Majel" comes from Majel Barrett-Roddenberry who voiced the Federation Computer from Star Trek.

Yesterday, we reported on Apple's removal of a free iOS app from DriversEd.com that allowed users to create fake driver's licenses on their devices. While the app was positioned as a joke app that would allow users to add funny content to licenses and share them with friends, it attracted the concern of U.S. Senator Bob Casey, who sent a letter to Apple suggesting that the app could be used to support identity theft and underage alcohol and tobacco purchases, as well as compromise national security.

DriversEd.com got in touch with MacRumors about the situation, sharing that Apple did not contact the company until several hours after pulling the app from the App Store. In its communication, Apple simply cited without clarification Section 22.1 of the App Store Review Guidelines:

Apps must comply with all legal requirements in any location where they are made available to users. It is the developer's obligation to understand and conform to all local laws.

In a press release (PDF) response and an associated FAQ (PDF), DriversEd.com lays out the numerous ways in which the gag licenses produced by the app could not possibly used to generate legitimate-looking fake IDs. Among the most important characteristics are slight differences in layouts, fonts and colors, multiple mentions of the license being a "mock" from DriversEd.com, and a resolution of just 72 DPI.

DriversEd.com specifically and deliberately designed the app to prevent the creation of counterfeit identification. “By design, it would take more effort and expertise to modify the product of the DriversEd.com ‘Driver License’ app than to construct a counterfeit from scratch,” says Founder and Chief Operating Officer Gary Tsifrin.

Tsifrin goes on to note that it strongly supports Senator Casey's goal of secure identification but that the company's free license app could not possibly threaten that aim. Says Tsifirn, "We hope that in light of these facts Apple will take one more look at the DriversEd.com ‘Driver License’ app."

In a report sure to excite our readers, DigiTimes is saying that Apple may be readying an ultra high-resolution MacBook Pro for as early as second quarter (Q2) 2012:

Apple is likely to launch its new MacBook Pro lineup with a display resolution of 2880 by 1800 in the second quarter of 2012, setting a new round of competition for panel specifications in the notebook industry, according to sources in the upstream supply chain.

The publication cites supply chain partners as the source for the information which would double the resolution of the MacBook Pro to 2880x1800 pixels.

This new high resolution MacBook Pro would presumably be a 15" model which currently carries a native resolution of 1440x900 pixels. By doubling the resolution in each dimension, Apple would achieve four times the number of pixels and provide developers an easy way to scale existing artwork.

We've known about Apple's work to support these ultra high resolution screens, but we didn't necessarily expect them to arrive so soon. That said, support seems to be building for exactly such a thing.

Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge processors are known to support resolutions as high as 4096x4096. Meanwhile, Apple has already added new "HiDPI" modes in Lion that support this resolution-doubling mode. Apple has even added ultra-high resolution artwork in Lion with desktop images at 3200x2000 pixels and icons at 1024x1024 pixels.

And Apple's not the only company preparing for the possibility. Microsoft is also building in support for high dpi monitors in Windows 8.

A Q2 2012 launch would place it near what has been expected to be the arrival of a 15" MacBook Air. Based on the expected timing of that product (Q1 2012), it seems this MacBook Pro may be a different product altogether.

University of Georgia student and user interface concept designer Jan-Michael Cart has officially announced on his new blog that he is headed to Cupertino to take a seven-month internship with Apple. Cart has gained some fame in the Apple rumor community for his ideas and concept mockups for potential iOS and Lion feature additions and enhancements.

And like that, my time has come — I am now a member of the Apple community. I will still update my website with random small portfolio additions. I will also open up the blog portion of my website to document my day-to-day happenings in Cupertino. Stay tuned!

Notably, MacRumors and Cart worked together earlier this year to create a video mockup of the "Assistant" feature for iOS that appeared a week later in the iPhone 4S as Siri. Working from our information received from a source with direct knowledge of Siri, Cart created a remarkably accurate depiction of how Siri would function.

While Cart's hiring by Apple may be a surprise to some given his role in leaking the design of Siri ahead of its public revelation, this is not the first time that Apple has drawn from what might be considered the fringes of the iOS community from Apple's point-of-view. Notably, Apple previously offered internships to Peter Hajas, developer of the jailbreak tool MobileNotifier, and Nicholas Allegra, better known as jailbreak expert Comex.

Other examples of Cart's user interface design concepts and work can be seen on his YouTube account.