MacRumors

Returning from a holiday break, Apple today seeded iOS 5.1 Beta 3 to developers to allow for further testing of the next update to the company's mobile operating system. The new version arrives as Build 9B5141a, up from the previous Build 9B5127a released ad iOS 5.1 Beta 2 on December 12.

So far the update appears to only be available via the over-the-air update mechanism for existing iOS 5.1 beta users, but should become available for general download through Apple's iOS developer program site shortly. We'll have more information on the new build at that time.

Update: We're still waiting for Apple to post iOS 5.1 beta 3 to the developer site with release notes, but commenters in our forums have noted that the new build restores the toggle that allows users to turn off 3G cellular data access. As Apple notes on the setting, 3G offers faster data speeds but uses more battery power than EDGE.

Update 2: iOS 5.1 Beta 3 is now available via the iOS developer program portal. Xcode 4.3 Developer Preview 3 and Apple TV Software Beta 2 have also been released today.

The full release notes for iOS 5.1 Beta 3 still have not been posted.

Update 3: The release notes for iOS 5.1 Beta 3 have now been posted, and one item of note involves a new API to help developers flag app content that should not be backed up.

iOS 5.1 introduces a new API to mark files or directories that should not be backed up. For NSURL objects, add the NSURLIsExcludedFromBackupKey attribute to prevent the corresponding file from being backed up.

The addition appears to be an expansion of the company's iOS 5.0.1 effort to help deal with content being stored for offline use that does not need to be committed to a device backup but which should not be subject to removal during the purging of caches. Apple will be replacing the com.apple.MobileBackup file attribute introduced in iOS 5.0.1 with the new API usage in iOS 5.1.

Citing "explosive momentum" for both Apple and Samsung, ChangeWave Research today released the results of a new survey of North American smartphone customers showing that over half of those looking to purchase a smartphone over the next 90 days are planning on buying an iPhone 4S. The 54% share of future buying plans held by Apple as of December was down from 65% in September, but easily marked Apple's best performance when measured two months after a new product release after demand has generally slackened considerably.

The late December survey looked at smart phone demand trends going forward, and finds Apple iPhone demand remains incredibly strong more than two months after the iPhone 4S release.

Among respondents planning to buy a new smart phone in the next 90 days, better than one-in-two (54%; down 11-pts) say they'll get an iPhone.

Apple has never dominated smart phone planned buying to this extent more than two months after a major new release.

Samsung has continued its momentum among Android smartphone purchasers, with its share more than doubling to 13% among those looking to purchase a new phone over the next three months.

In analyzing satisfaction of existing smartphone users, Apple continues to lead with 75% of owners saying they are "very satisfied" with their iPhones. The iPhone has ranked in the 70-80% range for nearly the entire history of the device. Among Apple's competitors, Android manufacturers Samsung, HTC, and Motorola all score in the 45-47% satisfaction range while Research in Motion has continued its slide with a new low of 22% of users registering as very satisfied with their BlackBerry devices.

ChangeWave's sample base focuses on professionals and early-adopter consumers, somewhat skewing its data toward higher-end users likely to have greater awareness of the market. But the firm's long history of consistent data gathering offers a look at patterns measured from this pool of users that frequently serves to set trends for the rest of the market.

Last September, we noted that Belkin was showing off a new Thunderbolt docking station at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), preparing to offer users a single-cable dock connection three USB ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a FireWire port, as well as inbound and outbound Thunderbolt ports for daisy chaining.

Belkin is once again previewing the Thunderbolt Express Dock at CES this week, but has announced that it will not begin shipping until September of this year and will be priced at $299.

Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock - $299

- Quickly connects into a desktop workstation and instantly accesses multiple devices with a single cable
- Adds reliable, gigabit Ethernet connectivity to your laptop
- Includes three USB 2.0 ports, one Firewire 800 port, one HDMI port, one 3.5mm Audio port, one gigabit Ethernet port and two Thunderbolt ports (one upstream and one downstream) for daisy-chaining to another Thunderbolt compatible device.
- Utilizes Thunderbolt Technology for data transfer rates of up to 10Gbps bi-directionally

The company had previously claimed following the publicity surrounding the dock's appearance at IDF that it would begin shipping in "spring 2012".

Apple offers similar docking functionality built into its Apple Thunderbolt Display. The $999 27-inch display includes three USB ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, a FireWire 800 port, a FaceTime HD camera, and a 2.1 speaker system, all connected to the user's computer over a single Thunderbolt cable.

Ion Audio's original iPad iCade started life as a ThinkGeek April Fool's joke but has since become one of the most well supported iOS game controller accessories. If you aren't familiar with it, it was a small arcade cabinet stand that allowed you to prop your iPad up and play games using a real joystick and buttons. The company behind the iPad gaming accessory has now announced that they have expanded to three new models to service a broader range of iOS devices.

iCade Core - Pictured on the top right, the iCade Core offers a stripped down version of the original iCade cabinet and supports the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Like the original iCade, the iCade Core lets you play your iOS games with a real joystick and buttons. Communication is done through Bluetooth, but a 30-pin connector is included to allow for charging while playing. No pricing yet for this slimmed down version.

iCade Mobile - Pictured top left, the iCade Mobile is a device that wraps around the iPhone or iPod Touch to give you more of a mobile handheld gaming experience. Again, using Bluetooth alone for the communication, it offers a swiveling landscape or portrait orientation. This one will cost $79.99 when it becomes available this spring. Engadget took this video showing it in motion.

iCade Jr. - Pictured below, the iCade Jr. is a shrunk down version of the original iCade. This version is made specifically for the iPhone or iPod Touch and lets you prop up your device in this miniaturized arcade cabinet. It comes with an arcade joystick and 4 front facing buttons a 4 rear facing buttons. It also offers a dock connector for charging. This one is expected to cost $49, again coming in spring.

There have been other similar mobile gaming accessories for iOS devices, but the iCade seems to be the one that has garnered the most support amongst gaming developers. The new devices will likely be directly compatible with the existing list of iCade compatible games.

The most notable titles include Atari's Greatest Hits, Pac Man for iPad, Temple Run and iMAME (no longer available).

CNet reports on a new eSATA Hub from LaCie which allows you to connect external eSATA drives to your Thunderbolt equipped Mac.

The hub comes with two Thunderbolt ports and two eSATA ports. Users can connect up to two eSATA drives to the hub for use on their Thunderbolt equipped Macs. The additional Thunderbolt ports can also be used to daisy chain additional Thunderbolt peripherals off the device.

eSATA is a high performance drive connector used to connect external hard drives to your computer. eSATA has never been a standard option on Macs, but is a faster alternative to USB 2.0 and Firewire and is commonly found on high performance external drives and storage arrays. As noted by CNet, eSATA devices are also presently cheaper than their Thunderbolt counterparts. While Thunderbolt has a higher maximum speed than eSATA, if you are just connecting a single external drive (and not a drive array), it's not likely to exceed the upper limit of eSATA.

So, for those who are have existing eSATA drives or are waiting for Thunderbolt drives to drop in price, this could be a good interim solution. Unfortunately, LaCie hasn't released a price yet, but this eSATA hub is expected to be available during the first quarter of 2012.

A few more interesting items are starting to leak out ahead of CES 2012.

AR Drone 2.0

Engadget publishes a press release for Parrot's new AR Drone 2.0 which sports a 720P HD Camera. The original AR Drone was shown off at CES 2010. It's an iPhone-controlled quadricoptor that uses a number of sensors, including a downward facing camera, to help stabilize its flight. You control the flying machine with the use of your iPhone.

The 2.0 upgrade now offers a 1280x720 resolution camera that can be used to record videos as well as new flight control modes to allow for easier handling. Per Gizmodo:

Perhaps best of all, it's now even easier to pilot. Before you had to rely on the camera to know which way the AR.Drone was facing, and then send commands from the drone's perspective. That option is still available for advanced users, but the AR.Drone 2 now senses where you are, so tilting your phone/tablet away from you will send the drone away, and tilting it to your right will make the drone go that way, too. It's incredibly intuitive.

The 2.0 version of the AR Drone will be $299 and available in the 2nd Quarter of 2012. This video shows the original AR Drone in action:

OCZ Thunderbolt SSD

PCPer spotted this new external SSD coming from OCZ. The company had previously offered a similar external USB 3.0 SSD, but this new model brings Thunderbolt support.

According to OCZ, the Thunderbolt-equipped SSD should have transfer rates as high as 750MB/s and "improved latency and highly accurate time synchronization" for professional audio/video work. No timeframe on release, but more details may arrive at next week.

The 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) kicks off next week in Las Vegas, Nevada. The January show has traditionally introduced new products and trends in the consumer electronics market. The LA Times notes, however, that there seems to be no single theme for this year's show.

This year, though, the Next Big Thing remains elusive. Despite what is expected to be a record number of exhibitors and attendees, many analysts agree that no single device or technology has emerged to define the show.

While Apple has never had a presence at CES, their general influence on the industry has been apparent in past shows. Third party vendors, of course, will be showing their Apple-related wares in the 80,000 sq. foot iLounge pavilion.

Here are a few early items of interest that we've seen in the news leading into the show.

Gorilla Glass 2

Corning will be showing off their next generation of Gorilla Glass at the show. Apple is known to have used the damage-resistant Gorilla Glass in its original iPhone, and the company is believed to still be using it for their iPhone products.

Corning was vague about what improvements have been made to the glass, but hinted that it would allow for thinner designs. A full product announcement is planned for Monday, Jan 9th.

Vizio

The Wall Street Journal reports that television manufacturer Vizio Inc is planning to enter the PC market this year to compete against Apple on both price and looks.

Vizio, which also produces Blu-ray players and a tablet, says it worked on its computer designs for two years in attempts to offer an aesthetic that competes with Apple Inc.'s popular products but at a lower price.

Vizio says it spent months, for example, shaving millimeters from its desktop computer so the central processing chip could hide in a sleek base while the screen stands attached to its thin aluminum neck.

The company plans on unveiling 24- and 27-inch desktop models, a 15" laptop and 14 and 15-inch ultralight models at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Engadget has a full gallery of their upcoming product line. The company claims that their products will be priced 'substantially less" than corresponding Apple products.

Nokia's Windows Phone

Nokia is expected to unveil their new Lumia 900 Windows Phone.

A NYTimes article details some of the challenges and sees 2012 as a crucial year for Microsoft's Windows Phone strategy.

Ultrabooks

Intel's Ultrabook initiative is expected to be highlighted at CES with new models being introduced. The MacBook Air-like design is expected to make up a large percentage of laptop designs in the near future.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the launch of the Mac App Store, Apple's attempt to remake software distribution by offering an easy-to-use digital download store for Mac apps linked to the company's existing iTunes Store infrastructure.

The Mac App Store gained prominence throughout the year as Apple added more and more of its own software to the marketplace, even opting to use the Mac App Store as the primary method of distribution for OS X Lion. Less than a year after the store's launch, Apple announced that the Mac App Store had seen over 100 million downloads, not including purchases of OS X Lion, app updates, or multiple downloads from a single transaction.

In an effort to assess the impact of the Mac App Store on established Mac software companies, we chatted with Aspyr, which offers over a dozen games through the store including the current top-grossing game and Mac App Store Game of the Year Civilization V: Campaign Edition [Mac App Store]. Other major titles from Aspyr include Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Call of Duty 4, and DOOM 3.

Aspyr is in a relatively unique position among Mac App Store developers in that it already offered a significant digital distribution platform of its own through its GameAgent marketplace. But the Mac App Store has still been able to attract a significant amount of business from Aspyr customers, with Aspyr telling us that the Mac App Store accounted for sales of roughly 500,000 units across all of Aspyr's titles in 2011, representing 50-60% of the company's digital distribution business.

In particular, Aspyr credits the Mac App Store with breathing new life into older titles, bringing them to the attention of more casual gamers who would not have otherwise sought out the games. Unsurprisingly, games that receive featured treatment from Apple in the form of banners and other promotional mentions are the strongest performers for Aspyr.

Even beyond the Mac App Store, Aspyr cites general growth of the Mac platform as another driver of increased software sales. The Mac has seen steady momentum in outpacing overall PC market growth every quarter for nearly six years, most recently setting a new high with 12.9% of the market in the third quarter of 2011.

Overall, the Mac App Store remains heavily skewed toward Apple's own software, with the top six most popular apps and the eight highest-grossing apps in the store being Apple software. But given the volume of downloads on the store, a number of other developers are clearly seeing success with the store as it is proving popular with Mac users looking for ease of purchase and installation. According to our sister site AppShopper, there are currently over 8,900 apps available in the Mac App Store, making for a substantial library of content easily found and downloaded through the marketplace.

9to5Mac reports that evidence of support for quad-core processors has shown up in beta versions of iOS 5.1, lending support to claims that Apple's forthcoming A6 chips will see a doubling in the number of processing cores.

The references to quad-core iPhone and iPad chips come by way of a hidden panel that describes cores that are supported by iOS device hardware. The updated core management software includes an option of “/cores/core.3,” and this represents a fourth available processing core…

The report notes that single-core processors such as the A4 found in the iPhone 4 and original iPad fall under a "cores/core.0" designation, while dual-core processors such as the A5 in the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 are covered by a "/cores/core.1" designation. The "/cores/core.3" reference thus suggests compatibility with a quad-core chip.

Apple's A6 system-on-a-chip has been rumored several times to carry a quad-core processor, and has been presumed to be set for inclusion in the company's next-generation iPad and iPhone models. There have, however, been some questions about whether the production timeline for the A6 would support its inclusion in the iPad 3, which is rumored for a release around March of this year.

Earlier this week, Apple announced that it would be launching the iPhone 4S in 22 new countries on January 13, with China being the highest-profile debut in the group.

Bloomberg now reports that China Unicom, Apple's existing iPhone carrier partner in the country, has released details on pricing that include a free iPhone 4S for users subscribing to contracts coming in at as little as $45 per month.

China United Network Communications Group (CHTZ), the nation’s second-largest wireless carrier, will give users an Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPhone 4S if they sign multiyear service contracts costing as little as 286 yuan ($45) a month.

The promotion starting Jan. 13 offers a 32-gigabyte model with a three-year plan, while a commitment to two years for a monthly fee of 386 yuan allows users to get the 16-gigabyte model, the company known as China Unicom said in a statement on its website yesterday.

Beyond the contract price levels required for a free iPhone 4S, China Unicom offers a complex series of service plans and term lengths that carry varying levels of subsidy for the iPhone 4S. Contracts are available in terms ranging from 1-3 years and begin at 66 yuan ($10) per month, with longer and more expensive contracts obviously carrying higher subsidies and thus lower device costs for consumers.

Full details on the China Unicom's contract options are available in Chinese in the company's press release.

Bloomberg notes that China Unicom previously offered similar pricing for the iPhone 4, but ended the practice due to the high subsidies cutting too much into the carrier's profitability. The carrier is continuing its efforts to rein in subsidies as it works to boost its smartphone customer base, but seems willing to make an exception for the iPhone 4S in hopes of winning away customers from other carriers.

AppleInsider reports that Apple is planning to launch a test program later this year that would see the company open "store-within-a-store" concepts in 25 Target stores around the United States. The stores would be similar to the "Apple Shops" found in a number of Best Buy locations.

According to a source familiar with Apple's plans, the company plans to begin operating Apple-branded areas within 25 larger Target stores in locations which can't support a standalone Apple Store.

The initial opening would be a small start, given that Target, the second-largest discount retail chain in the US, operates 1752 stores in the US.

The report notes that Apple has had a long-standing arrangement with Target for the retailer to feature iPods in its stores, a relationship that has since expanded to include the iPad and iPhone. With the test program, these select Target locations may soon also begin selling Mac products in its stores in addition to providing other dedicated Apple product sales support.

Many Best Buy Apple Shops are run under the Apple Solutions Consultants, which utilizes Apple-employed consultants to provide expertise within the Best Buy stores, although Best Buy employees may also assist customers.

In an effort to continue throwing ideas at the wall to see what might stick, the only occasionally reliable Digitimes today reported that not only will Apple be releasing the iPad 3 with high-resolution "Retina" display in March as is widely expected, but that the company will follow that up with the release of the iPad 4 in October.

On the topic of the iPad 3, Digitimes suggests that the Retina display will be the main attraction of the new device, with better battery life also serving to entice customers. But other hardware upgrades for the iPad 3 are said to be rather minimal, as Apple is reportedly rolling out the iPad 3 alongside an iPad 2 price cut to $399 as an interim effort to set the stage for a bigger battle with the competition later in the year.

Apple will ship the so-called "iPad 3" with a full HD display in March and then "iPad 4" - named so by its component suppliers - with killer applications in October, according to industry sources in Taiwan. [...]

But a true battle for market share will arrive in the second half of the year when Apple ships its iPad 4 in October, about the time when Microsoft releases its Window 8 and Intel unveils its Clover Trail-W platform, the sources commented.

The 9.7-inch iPad 4 is expected to come with much upgraded hardware specifications and integrated applications so as to compete with an array of Android-, Wintel- or WoA (Windows on ARM)-based tablet PCs to be released in the fourth quarter, said the sources.

The rumor is somewhat reminiscent of last year's round of claims, which suggested that the iPad 2's successor would appear in late 2011 as an interim upgrade carrying a Retina display. Claims of a late 2011 iPad came from several different sources in July and early August of last year before other sources including The Wall Street Journal put the claim to rest.

Digitimes has a proliferative record of Apple-related rumors and has occasionally offered accurate information. But its information is generally considered unreliable given a significant number of claims that have failed to materialize. Claims of two separate iPad launches this year are sure to pique interest though, and we'll be waiting to hear if other sources offer similar information going forward.

Though Sprint, the United States' newest iPhone carrier, has been running advertisements touting its "truly unlimited" network, the carrier is throttling smartphone customers who use "excessive" amounts of data, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

For those that want to abuse it, we can knock them off," [Sprint CEO Dan] Hesse said at an investor conference Thursday. He said Sprint pares back data use for about 1% of users, a practice known as throttling.

[...]

"You'd be shocked how much data you use in a month," Sprint asks in a recent television advertisement. "What happens if you go over? With Sprint, you don't have to worry; only Sprint offers truly unlimited data."

Hesse did say there were no plans for Sprint to move to tiered data plans like Verizon and AT&T have switched to in recent years, however it appears that there is no longer any US carrier that offers "truly unlimited" data plans for the iPhone.

Update: As pointed out by TechCrunch, Dow Jones seems to have misinterpreted Hesse. The throttling only applies to customers who use excessive data while roaming on partnered networks -- "a guy in his house in rural Montana" for example. Sprint's fine print notes the carrier will begin throttling after 300 MB of "off-network" data usage.

Update 2: Sprint has now clarified the situation with a blog post indicating the carrier does not throttle any customer's data usage, even for those with excessive roaming usage. The carrier does, however, have terms in place that permit it to terminate the contracts of users with heavy roaming usage, and it attempts to reach out to those customers and work with them before terminating their contracts.