MacRumors

M.I.C gadget reports that it has heard from a small iPhone accessory shop in Shenzhen, China that Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn had lost a prototype of Apple's redesigned iPhone 5 carrying the tapered teardrop form factor seen in a number of case designs over the past few months.

While the sourcing on the report is certainly questionable, the detailed account is an interesting read and it would not be the first time that a mobile phone accessory vendor has been involved in leaked iPhone prototypes.

The missing prototype is said to have been enclosed in a case to disguise it as a current-generation iPhone 4–which brings to mind the iPhone 4 prototype acquired by Gizmodo that was camouflaged as an iPhone 3GS. How Apple achieved that with the iPhone 5 supposedly wider and longer than the current iPhone 4 is a point to ponder.

It is said to be a test model with a finalized iPhone 5 chassis featuring the tear-drop design. However, the interesting thing about it is that it apparently houses what we assume to be slightly modified iPhone 4 electronics with components such as the A4 chip and even the same amount of memory.

The report goes on to note that an outside party had paid a Foxconn employee to deliver the prototype device, which was reportedly then sold to a case manufacturer for approximately $3,100.

It is unclear when the alleged loss of the prototype occurred, although reports of the tapered design extend back to least April and a design document showing the form factor appeared by late July. Since that time, numerous case manufacturers have released cases for the new form factor, but actual evidence of the device in the form of parts leaks has yet to surface.

Not all Apple prototypes make it into production, with the 2009 iPod touch with camera being a notable example of a design that made it quite far through the prototyping process before Apple decided to remove the camera. There has been considerable debate about whether Apple will be launching this redesigned teardrop form factor for the iPhone, as evidence from leaked parts has so far only shown an "iPhone 4S" design based on the iPhone 4.

Daring Fireball's John Gruber hints in his link to news of the media event invitations that there may in fact be only one new device introduced next week, which would presumably be the more conservative iPhone 4S design.

Something tells me there’s only one new iPhone.

The comment is far from confirmation, but Gruber has in the past offered accurate information on Apple's plans and has on occasion coyly hinted at such knowledge in his comments.

BGR reports that AT&T has issued a blackout on retail store employee vacations for the first two weeks of October, apparently in anticipation of the launch of the iPhone 4S and/or iPhone 5.

With reports circling that Apple’s next iPhone is due to launch on October 14th, BGR has received new information from a trusted AT&T source that seems to confirm a mid-October launch. AT&T has started to block all employee vacation requests for the first two weeks of October in order to have “all hands on deck.” Our source clarified that the dates are the first two works weeks starting on Monday, October 3rd and ending on Friday, October 14th.

The source notes that previous blackouts have sometimes been extended after their initial announcements, suggesting that AT&T could push the blackout into the following week to handle heavy traffic in the days after a potential October 14th debut.

Apple has reportedly blacked out vacations for its retail employees for October 9th through 12th and 14th through 15th. Sprint, which is expected to begin offering the iPhone for the first time, has also blacked out vacations for the first two weeks of October.

BGR's AT&T source also indicates that the carrier has added six new placeholder listings for "new products" in its internal database. The new listings are not specifically linked to Apple, but handsets from other manufacturers generally appear under their actual names. The six new listings could refer to black and white versions of three different iPhone handsets, potentially two different capacities of the iPhone 4S or 5 and a single, lower-capacity iPhone 4/4S. The listings may not, however, be based on direct information from Apple and may simply be a best-guess effort for placeholder purposes.

Confirming earlier reports, Apple today issued media invitations for a special iPhone event to be held next Tuesday, October 4th at the company's Town Hall auditorium at its headquarters in Cupertino, California. The event is scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM Pacific Time.

As noted by The Loop, invitations for the event carry the tagline "Let's talk iPhone" and depict iOS icons for Calendar, Clock, Maps, and Phone.

Apple is of course widely expected to introduce its next-generation hardware (whether it be iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, or both) at the event, and is expected to also be including a minor update to its iPod line. iOS 5 and iCloud are also expected to be topics of discussion at the event, while other reports have indicated that Facebook may launch its iPad app at the event.

Japanese site Mac Otakara reports that Apple may be preparing to launch the iPhone 5 (or 4S or both) on October 14th in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan.

The report cites earlier comments from France Telecom CEO Stéphane Richard regarding an October 15th launch for the device on that carrier and reports of Apple retail store employee vacation blackouts for October 14th and 15th, but seems to have its own independent information regarding an October 14th launch.

Apple is reportedly holding a media event next Tuesday, October 4th to introduce the new iPhone, and an October 14th launch for the device would be in line with Apple's usual interval between announcement and availability and would line up most closely with previous rumors of a mid-October launch.

Mac Otakara has occasionally offered accurate information in the past, although several of its claims also failed to come true. Back in August, the site claimed that the iPhone 4S and iPad 3 would debut at a media event in early October with availability set for late October. iPad 3 rumors had been swirling at the time, but were later discounted as reported indicated that Apple will be pushing the iPad 3 with Retina display back to an early 2012 introduction.

Update: The Next Web is also hearing word of an October 14th launch date, with iOS 5 perhaps appearing for current hardware on October 12th. Previous reports have suggested that iOS 5 could debut on October 10th.

While Apple has received considerable publicity for its push to open dozens of new retail stores over the last three months, the company has also been renovating a number of its stores to bring them up to the latest designs. Most of these straightforward renovations result in the stores being closed for about a week, during which time they are boarded up with Apple's standard black construction barriers and posted with notices directing customers to either the closest alternative store location or to Apple's website for information on locations.

Among the locations currently under renovation in the lead-up to the iPhone launch:

- Chestnut Street (San Francisco, California): Closed September 26th through October 4th. 9to5Mac posted a photo yesterday showing the closed location with an AT&T worker and his van directly in front of the store.

- University Village (Seattle, Washington): Closed September 26th through October 6th. GeekWire posted the details on the renovation, which include new display counters, Genius Bar, and other fixtures. Planning documents show Apple moving from a layout three product display tables wide to one using four narrower tables across the width of the store. The report also notes that Microsoft will be opening its own retail store directly across a small parking lot from Apple's store on October 20th, giving Apple additional incentive to spruce up the location.

- Walnut Creek (Walnut Creek, California): Closed September 26th through October 3rd. The location opened in 2003, but was remodeled back in August 2009.

At least two other stores, Biltmore in Phoenix, Arizona and Sagemore in Marlton, New Jersey, were closed for renovations last week and have since reopened for business.

Update: Apple's Legacy Place store in Dedham, Massachusetts is also closed September 26th through 30th.

Some readers have noted that all of the closures are for stores open to the street and not in enclosed malls and shopping centers. Consequently, the closures may be related to the installation of new security grating to help deter smash-and-grab robberies that have become increasingly common at Apple's street-facing stores. With the exception of the University Village store in Seattle, it is unclear if there are additional renovations being performed at the stores.

In a decision handed down by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Apple has been denied an application for a trademark on the term Multi-Touch. Apple originally applied for the trademark on January 9, 2007, the day the iPhone was introduced.

A lawyer for the USPTO denied Apple's initial trademark application and the company appealed to the Appeal Board. The board upheld the initial refusal to grant the trademark.

For trademarks, "the greater the degree of descriptiveness the term has, the heavier the burden to prove it has attained secondary meaning." The trademark attorney pointed out that the term "multitouch" has taken on generic meaning, being used by a wide variety of publications to describe the touchscreen technology on Android phones, tablets, and notebooks.

Thus, from the foregoing, we find that “multi-touch” not only identifies the technology, but also describes how a user of the goods operates the device. Based on the evidence discussed above, as well as other evidence in the record, we agree with the examining attorney that MULTI-TOUCH indeed is highly descriptive of a feature of the identified goods. We now consider whether applicant has submitted sufficient evidence to establish acquired distinctiveness of this highly descriptive term.

There is a list of items that can determine if a mark has "acquired distinctiveness", including sales success, length and exclusivity of use, and advertising expenditures. The board ruled that Apple has not met the burden to be granted a trademark on multi-touch.

We've posted the full decision to Scribd.

Mashable claims that Facebook is actually launching its long-awaited iPad app at Apple's rumored October 4th media event where the company is believed to be launching iOS 5 and the iPhone 5.

Facebook will launch its long-awaited iPad app at Apple’s iPhone 5 launch event on Oct. 4, Mashable has learned. In addition to the iPad app, Facebook is also expected to release a revamped version of its iPhone app and may unveil an HTML5-based mobile app marketplace.

The news comes after a report that a Facebook developer had quit with concerns that the iPad Facebook app may never launch.

According to Mashable, Facebook may introduce a revamped iPhone app as well. There has been evidence in the past that the two companies were be working to integrate Facebook into iOS much as Apple has done with Twitter, but disagreements reportedly derailed the integration.

Last week, Robert Scoble also revealed that he had heard that Facebook would be releasing its iPad app at Apple's event on October 4th.

Apple is expected to hold a media event on October 4th where the company will introduce the iPhone 5 and announce a release date for iOS 5.

Business Insider noticed earlier today that Facebook engineer Jeff Verkoeyen, who has been responsible for development of the social networking company's iPad application since the beginning of this year, has left his position and taken a job at Google.

In a blog post (apparently down for the moment due to high traffic), Verkeoyen laid out his personal complaints about Facebook and the status of the iPad application, noting that the application has been feature-complete since May but has yet to see a release and may never see the light of day. Verkoeyen has apparently since edited the post to remove his original thoughts on the iPad app.

Verkoeyen wrote on his blog today that he was the lead engineer on the Facebook iPad app back in January. He put a ton of time into the app.

It was feature-complete back in May, he writes, but Facebook kept pushing its release out another two weeks, then another. (Feature-complete doesn't necessarily mean "finished," but it's usually the last stage before a public beta test.)

Now, he thinks it "may never be released."

Verkoeyen did not offer any details on the reasons behind the repeated delays.

The New York Times reported back in June that a Facebook app for iPad would be released "in coming weeks". In late July, an iPad version of the existing app for iPhone was discovered inside the iPhone app, accessible through a tweak, but Facebook quickly disabled access to the iPad-specific interface through that mechanism. Some had hoped for a launch at the company's F8 conference last week, but an iPad app was not a part of Facebook's announcements at the event.

Late last week, CNET reported on a new trojan horse threat targeting Mac users. While the threat was initially discovered back in late July and had yet to become fully functional, only recently was the malware highlighted by antivirus companies targeting such threats.

The new threat consists of two parts, with the first being a trojan downloader known as "OSX/Revir.A" that serves to distract users by downloading and continually opening a PDF document containing "offensive political statements" written in Chinese. But the actual damage from OSX/Revir.A comes as it installs a backdoor known as OSX/Imuler.A to potentially allow malicious parties to access the user's machine.

When the backdoor is installed, it will set up a launch agent on the system that is used to continually keep the malware active on the system. It will then connect to a remote server and send the system's current username and MAC address to the server, after which the server will instruct it to either archive files and upload them, or take screenshots and upload them to the server.

The report noted that the malware did not appear to function properly due to a lack of instructions being delivered from a remote server, but malicious activity could still be possible.

Apple has moved quickly to counter the threat, updating its malware definitions for Snow Leopard and Lion systems to allow them to recognize the trojan. Apple updated its tools earlier this year in response to the MacDefender threat, and Snow Leopard and Lion systems now automatically check for new malware definitions on a daily basis.

Apple's battles with malware authors continue, however, as CNET discloses that another trojan horse, known as OSX/flashback.A, has been discovered. Like a similar threat that surfaced early last month, the new trojan masquerades as a Flash Player installer to trick users into installing the package.

Unlike the previous Flash Trojan (called Bash/QHost.WB), which changed one file on the system, this new Trojan is a bit more complex and first deactivates network security features, then installs a dyld library that will run and inject code into applications that the user is running. The Trojan will also try to send personal information and machine-specific information to remote servers.

Users requiring Adobe's Flash Player software are of course advised to download it directly from Adobe's site rather than attempting to install it from sites which may be trying to trick users into installing malware. If past history is any indication, Apple should quickly update its malware definitions to help recognize the new threat, alerting users to the known malicious nature of the package should they attempt to download and install it.

Earlier today, a report from JPMorgan analysts made headlines for its claim that Apple has slashed its fourth quarter iPad production plans by 25%, sparking speculation and rumors that Apple may be planning a price cut amid weakening demand.

The Wall Street Journal notes, however, that several analysts have already spoken out against the conclusion, arguing that a single supply chain data point is insufficient to warrant such drastic production cut predictions. From Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster:

We also note that previous calls based on sell-in or supply chain data have, for the most part, proven to have very little correlation with Apple’s results vs. consensus dating back to early iPod shipments (2003). We believe Apple purposely maintains enough suppliers and manufacturing partners to make any one supply-side data point inconclusive.

Analysts also note that Apple appears to have actually accelerated production and bumped up third quarter orders to stockpile iPads heading into the holiday shopping season. Sources also indicate that Apple is likely to begin production of the iPad 3 at the end of the fourth quarter or early in 2012 and may be accelerating production now in order to ease that transition.

Apple struggled with the transition from iPad to iPad 2 production earlier this year, with weak sales coming in the first quarter of this year as Apple scaled down production of the original iPad and was unable to meet heavy initial demand for the iPad 2. From Susquehanna analyst Chris Caso:

We believe chatter regarding iPad production cuts are misleading – we have seen pull-ins, not cuts. We have noted recent comments by competitors discussing iPad production cuts for 4Q. Our recently published AAPL supply-chain checks noted a sequential decline in 4Q iPad builds from 17 mln-19 mln units in 3Q to 11 mln-13 mln units in 4Q. However, the 4Q sequential decline was accompanied by an increase in 3Q builds, leading us to conclude that production was likely pulled-in from 4Q to 3Q.

Some have suggested that the fourth quarter production cuts may be due to Apple shifting some production to Brazil by the end of the year, although most of Apple's Asian component suppliers would be expected to be serving that production channel in addition to the existing Chinese channel.

Apple's stock dropped as much 3% earlier today as the initial report circulated, but has since rebounded and is currently down only about 1.25%.