MacRumors

Following Wednesday's media preview event, Apple's massive new retail store in Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal opened to the public today at 10:00 AM. As noted by Fortune, the main concourse of the terminal was filled with hundreds of people waiting for the store to open as hundreds more red-shirted Apple employees prepared to welcome them.

As is traditional for Apple retail store openings, the company is handing out store-specific T-shirts to early visitors. Fortune notes that Apple has prepared to hand out 4,000 T-shirts for today's opening.

While much has been made of Apple's strong iPhone sales this quarter with estimates now pushing toward 30 million units, what hasn't been known is the mix of iPhone models contributing to that number. The significant majority of sales are almost certainly from the current iPhone 4S, but the company continues to offer lower-end 8 GB iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS models in some markets. Higher-capacity iPhone 4 models are also available in countries where the iPhone 4S has yet to launch.

Ahead of the iPhone 4S debut, the iPhone 3GS was continuing to sell well under the shadow of the iPhone 4 in the United States, suggesting that there is indeed a significant market for these lower-end devices.

A new report from Digitimes now puts some production numbers on these low-end models for the current quarter, claiming that Apple's manufacturing partners are pushing out two million units of the iPhone 3GS this quarter. In addition, Apple is said to be producing 800,000-1 million CDMA iPhone 4 units.

Apple has been increasing its penetration into entry-level smartphone markets and the OEM production of iPhone 3GS has continued steadily with the volume likely to reach two million units in the fourth quarter of 2011 and 1.4-1.6 million units in the first quarter of 2012, according to industry sources.

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Meanwhile, the production of the CDMA version of iPhone 4 is expected to top 800,000 to one million units in the fourth quarter of 2011 and 500,000-600,000 units in the following quarter, estimated the sources.

Unaddressed is the GSM iPhone 4, which is undoubtedly being produced at an even higher rate given the worldwide market for the device. And despite Apple's rapid international rollout of the iPhone 4S, a number of countries are still yet to see the device and are thus still selling the GSM iPhone 4 as the most current model.

FOSS Patents reports that Motorola Mobility has won an initial ruling in Germany that could allow the company to bar Apple from selling the iPhone and 3G-capable iPad models throughout the European Union. The court found that Apple's products violate a patent related to the GPRS data service used over cellular networks.

Interestingly, the patent in question is one that Apple had argued was essential to the GPRS standard, making Motorola required to license the technology under FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) terms. The patent has indeed been declared essential to the standard, but the court ruled in Motorola's favor in part because Apple did not satisfy the requirements for making a binding offer to license the patent in question.

Essentially, they can't just hold a FRAND defense against a patent holder who's suing them. Instead, they have to proactively make efforts to procure a license on FRAND terms by making an irrevocable, binding offer to the patent holder and by posting a bond for ongoing royalties.

Only if the FRAND patent holder denies a license despite having such an offer on the table, the defendant can claim that an injunction would result in a violation of competition law and, as a result, should not be granted.

The suit officially names all iPhone models with the exception of the iPhone 4S, which was released after the case was initiated. The ruling would, however, still apply to the iPhone 4S given that the ruling generally covers all devices that implement the invention. 3G models of the original iPad and iPad 2 are also specifically named as infringing products.

In its ruling, the court ordered Motorola to post a $134 million bond should it wish to enforce the preliminary injunction against Apple, a sum that would be used to reimburse Apple should the injunction be overturned on appeal. Apple will obviously be appealing the ruling, and will also be requesting a stay to prevent the injunction from being enforced while the appeals process takes place.

Barring a successful appeal, Apple's options are to either obtain a license from Motorola for the patent in question or to engineer around the patent. But given that the patent's technology has been declared essential to the GPRS standard, the latter option may not be possible.

Update: Motorola Mobility has issued a press release announcing the victory.

“We are pleased with the court’s ruling. Today’s decision validates Motorola Mobility’s efforts to enforce its patents against Apple’s infringement,” said Scott Offer, senior vice president and general counsel of Motorola Mobility. “Motorola Mobility has worked hard over the years to build an industry-leading intellectual property portfolio that is respected by the telecommunications industry, and we are proud to leverage this portfolio to create differentiated innovations that enhance the user experience. We will continue to take all necessary steps to protect our intellectual property, as the Company’s patent portfolio and licensing agreements with companies both in the U.S. and around the world are critical to our business. We have been negotiating with Apple and offering them reasonable licensing terms and conditions since 2007, and will continue our efforts to resolve our global patent dispute as soon as practicable.”

Update 2: Apple has provided an official statement to AllThingsD noting that it will appeal the decision and that any potential injunction would not affect Apple's sales before the holidays.

“We’re going to appeal the court’s ruling right away,” an Apple spokesperson told AllThingsD. “Holiday shoppers in Germany should have no problem finding the iPad or iPhone they want.”

The ongoing battle between Samsung and Apple might get a little more intense come February. BGR reports that Samsung is preparing to launch its own high resolution 11.6" tablet that will carry a 2560 x 1600 resolution screen.

Even though the tablet features a larger display than Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, we’re told that the tablet is “barely larger” due to the fact the slate will have a thinner bezel with a whopping 2560 x 1600 resolution, 11.6-inch screen with a 16:10 aspect ratio.

A resolution of 2560x1600 would beat the 2048x1536 display that the iPad 3 has been rumored to have.

Samsung first introduced a similar 2560x1600 screen back in May at SID Display Week 2011 International Symposium. That screen, however, used the less conventional PenTile technology to achieve its high resolution which has been criticized for some potential drawbacks.

The PenTile display uses a series of local filter operations to convert the underlying image into display intensities, including convolution, thresholding, color curve adjustment, and postprocessing with locally-adaptive filters. In practice, this means the display blurs the red and blue channels by dispersing these color intensities to the nearest subpixel element of the right color, and then also implements subpixel positioning to increase the apparent resolution again. However, subpixel spacing is not constant across the display, making the real apparent resolution complicated to estimate

Apple and Samsung have been in an ongoing legal battle over similarities the Galaxy Tab product line and the iPad.

Apple has been long rumored to be working on a high resolution iPad display that would carry twice vertical and horizontal resolution of the iPad. Apple used a similar technique when it upgraded the iPhone's screen to 960x640 from 480x320. Apple's iPad 3 is expected to carry a resolution of 2048x1536, up from 1024x768 in the current iPad. Rumors have suggested that there have been production holdups on creating these high resolution screens in quantities. The latest reports suggested Apple could also be able to release the iPad 3 as early as February, though other reports have suggested a slightly later release.

Businessweek reports on the movement towards voice-activated TV remotes in the coming year. The move seems triggered by Apple's plans to enter the TV market in the near future. Steve Jobs said that he had finally "cracked it", referring to the TV user interface. Most believe that this revelation relates to Apple's Siri voice recognition system, and the industry is on the move:

Whether the rumors are true that Apple is planning to release a TV set by 2013, Siri-like voice recognition is headed for the living room. Microsoft (MSFT) is already there, via its Xbox 360 game console, and Comcast (CMCSA), Samsung Electronics (SHCAY), LG, and Sharp are working on voice-enabled features for TV sets, set-top boxes, and related products.

Businessweek suggests an voice command as simple as "Record the next episode of Modern Family" as a much needed improvement over the current solution. Jakob Nielsen of Nielsen Norman Group goes on to say "Anything would be better than what we have now."

Upcoming remote devices are said to look more like iPhones than traditional remotes, with possibly a single physical button to activate the microphone. Others are working to simply embed microphones around the living room and eliminating a physical remote altogether. Nuance suggests that 5% of TVs could be voice controlled by Christmas 2012.

We've previously reported about competitors "scrambling" to identify what an Apple television set might look like. The lead up is reminiscent to the large number of tablet plans from competitors in the months leading up to the original iPad launch.

Following our report from earlier today regarding Apple having discontinued the boxed versions of Logic Studio and Express, Logic Pro 9 and MainStage 2 have now appeared for sale in the Mac App Store.

Logic Pro [Mac App Store] is priced at $199.99 and arrives as version 9.1.6 in a 413 MB download.

Logic Pro 9 is a complete set of creative tools for any musician who wants to write, record, edit, and mix music. It comes with a massive collection of instruments, effects, and Apple Loops, making it easy to get amazing sounds and create amazing-sounding songs.

Made for musicians
- Get up and rolling fast with production-ready templates and one-step track setup
- Work fast with easy access to all tools and editing areas using a single-window interface
- Enhance your songs with over 15,000 Apple Loops in a wide range of instruments and genres

MainStage [Mac App Store] arrives as a 303 MB version 2.2 priced at $29.99, making for a low-cost add-on for managing live performances.

MainStage 2 lets you take your Mac to the stage with a full-screen live interface, unmatched hardware control, and a massive collection of plug-ins and sounds.

The ultimate live rig
- Perform live with 120 instrument and effect plug-ins or work with your Audio Units plug-ins
- Import settings from Logic Pro and GarageBand to bring your studio sound to the stage
- Combine instruments and live audio, such as keyboard and vocals, in a single patch
- Seamlessly switch between patches without stopping sound output or cutting off held notes
- Design rich keyboard patches using splits and layers

With the release, Apple now offers 17 different applications in the Mac App Store, including OS X Lion itself as well as iLife, iWork, Aperture, Final Cut Pro and now Logic apps.

Apple today issued a notice to resellers announcing that it has discontinued the boxed versions of its Logic Studio and Logic Express audio software packages effectively immediately, also announcing that the Logic Pro 9 and MainStage 2 components will be moving to the Mac App Store for distribution. It does not appear that Apple will be offering the Soundtrack Pro 3 component of Logic Studio via the Mac App Store.

A report from early September had claimed that Apple was finishing up work on Logic Pro X. The report also indicated that Soundtrack Pro would be discontinued as part of the update as it was with Final Cut update to Final Cut Pro X.

Today's notice to resellers specifically refers to "new" Logic Pro 9 and MainStage 2 coming to the Mac App Store, but it seems odd that Apple would simply move those apps to the Mac App Store while discontinuing Logic Express and Soundtrack Pro and without releasing more substantial updates to Logic Pro and MainStage to address the reworked packages.

Update: Logic Pro is priced at $199.99, down from $499; MainStage is $29.99. The Logic Pro pricing is a significant reduction from the current $499 Logic Studio price, echoing steep price drops on Apple's Final Cut Pro software when it moved to the Mac App Store and the discontinuation of Logic Express ($199).

Logic Pro is available for $199.99 on the Mac App Store [Direct Link], and MainStage is $29.99 [Direct Link].

Apple has released the 2011 edition of its annual iTunes Rewind feature in the iTunes Store. The piece offers a look at what the company has judged to be the best music, movies, TV shows, apps, books, and podcasts of 2011.

Some of the notable winners:

Apps:
- iPhone App of the Year: Instagram
- iPhone Game of the Year: Tiny Tower
- iPad App of the Year: Snapseed
- iPad Game of the Year: Dead Space for iPad

Music:
- Song of the Year: Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People
- Artist of the Year: Adele
- Album of the Year: Wasting Light by Foo Fighters

Books:
- Best Novel: The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obeht
- Best Nonfiction: Boomerang by Michael Lewis

It's important to note that these awards are all for the United States iTunes Store. In some cases, Apple gave awards to different items in different countries. For example, Djay was awarded iPad App of the Year honors in the UK, while Tiny Wings won iPhone Game of the Year in the UK and Australia.

Instagram isn't the first photography app to win App of the Year award. In 2010, Hipstamatic took home App of the Year honors. Plants vs. Zombies won the Game of the Year award that year.

MacRumors covered iTunes Rewind in 2010 and 2009, as well.

The next iPad will be introduced in February according to a research note issued by Citi analyst Richard Gardner, obtained by Business Insider.

According to "several sources" the next iPad will launch in February, and it will sport a screen with double the resolution of the current model.

Gardner says, "there do not appear to be any significant technical hurdles remaining" to prevent a launch of a high-resolution iPad, despite rumors to the contrary.

Gardner's note echoes prior reports of a mid-Winter launch for the iPad 3.

Some reports had been suggesting that Apple's display suppliers were struggling with mass production of the higher-resolution 2048x1536 displays for the iPad 3, but reports over the past few weeks have indicated that the production is now moving along at Samsung, LG, and Sharp ahead of final iPad 3 assembly scheduled to begin next month at Foxconn.

One issue that has remains unclear is whether the iPad 3 will be thinner or slightly thicker than the iPad 2. Several sources have claimed that the iPad 3 will need to be slightly thicker due to the adoption of a dual light bar system to handle the significant jump in display resolution. But another report from late last month claimed that Apple will be utilizing a new display technology to support the high-resolution without requiring dual light bars, a development that will allow the iPad 3 to be slightly thinner than the current model.

Three-quarters of the way through Apple's holiday quarter, a slew of analysts have increased their calculations of the company's performance, while expecting record iPhone sales on the back of Apple's most successful iPhone launch ever.

Interestingly, Citi analyst Richard Gardner claims to have specifically heard that Apple just last week made a significant boost to its iPhone orders with suppliers, suggesting significant upside for the current quarter.

Our meetings in Taiwan suggest that Apple raised 4CQ11 iPhone orders to suppliers meaningfully just last week. The new iPhone build plan is meaningfully above the low-30’s million figure that we were hearing previously. Given such a significant order increase at this late stage in the quarter, it seems clear that Apple is headed for a meaningful upside surprise on iPhone shipments this quarter.

Other analyst updates include:

- Maynard Um of UBS raised his estimate of iPhones sold on the quarter to 30 million from 28. Um noted that his team believes the 30 million number is still conservative, especially with an iPhone 4S launch in China pending.

- Shaw Wu of Stern Agee raised his iPhone expectations from 26 million to 28 million, though he believes those numbers could run even higher thanks to high demand from Asia.

- William Power of R.W. Baird raised his iPhone estimate to 31.2 million units.

- Mark Moskowitz of JP Morgan raised his iPhone estimates to 28 million units from 25.3 million.

- Mike Walkley of Canaccord Genuity raised his iPhone estimate to 30.5 million from 29 million units, saying "our November checks indicated strong global iPhone sales with Apple share gains versus Android smartphones in the US and Western Europe".

While the iPhone is expected to be a powerhouse this quarter, Power, Moskowitz and Walkley all cut expectations slightly on the iPad.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, on the most recent Apple earnings call in mid-October weighed in with his own expectations, saying his team was "very confident that we will set an all-time record in the December quarter for iPhone sales."

Several MacRumors readers have reported that Apple has rolled out new Apple TV support for streaming purchased television shows in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Users in those countries have been able to rent movies directly on the Apple TV, but purchased content was required to be downloaded to a computer and then streamed to the Apple TV via Home Sharing. With the new update, purchased TV shows are simply stored in iCloud and streamed directly to the Apple TV on demand.

Apple TV streaming of purchased TV shows came to the United States back in August. That addition was accompanied by a new TV Shows section of the purchased items listings in iTunes, allowing users easy access to download purchased shows to any device.

Besides TV show purchases, Apple had previously offered 99-cent rentals of TV episodes. Apple discontinued that offering in August, noting that customers preferred to purchase their shows and that the new iCloud flexibility offered additional benefit to purchases.

Update: It appears that the new menu option may have been released prematurely, as a number of users are reporting that the TV show option is either not functioning or has disappeared completely.