MacRumors

In light of Jobs' medical leave of absence, it is notable that ABC is reporting that Steve Jobs will be meeting with President Obama Thursday evening:

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who recently took a medical leave of absence from his company, and Google chief executive Eric Schmidt will be among the attendees of President Obama's event with business leaders in San Francisco Thursday evening, a source familiar with the event tells ABC News.

Steve Jobs and Barack Obama have previously met to discuss issues related to technology and the economy. Obama is also said to be meeting with Google's Eric Schmidt, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, as well as others.

The explosion of rumors that Apple is working on a variety of iPhone designs including smaller ones and iPhones with 4" screens has spawned a significant amount of speculation and mockups about the possibilities.

In particular, the talk of a 4" screen and rumors of an "edge to edge" screen resulted in this mockup by mjay2k which shows that a 4" screen could fit on an existing iPhone 4 sized device by extending the screen to the left/right edges. Similarly a smaller iPhone could use the existing 3.5 screen in a similar fashion.

Another take on the "edge to edge" screen, submitted by a reader. This image tries to look like a "spy" shot, but we believe is just another creative mockup.

Finally, this old design mockup pre-dates the iPhone 4, but shows another take on a large screen format with a reduced prominence of the home button.

Cult of Mac reports that it has received information from a source regarding Apple's efforts to revamp its MobileMe service, suggesting that the company is going well beyond simple cloud-based media streaming to include social and location-based services.

Among the many services Apple is working on are:

- A live video-streaming service like Ustream
- A location-based check-in system like Gowalla or Foursquare
- A geo-tagging system codenamed "Tokens" that tags real-world locations, like Facebook Places on steroids.

According to the report, the focus of the revamped MobileMe will be on a "dynamic webpage" that is constantly updated with the user's latest activity with their iOS device, from locations to photos and videos to music.

"The concept is that you would have you own website that's dynamic, all based on what you are doing at that moment," said our source. "Apple thinks of it as having a webserver in your pocket... everything will be dynamically updated to MobileMe."

With "Tokens", users would be able to tag GPS locations with photos, reviews, and other information that would be available to other MobileMe users visiting those locations.

While Apple is not known for being on the cutting edge of social networking and its Ping component of iTunes has struggled to catch on as a music-focused network, the company has clearly shown interest in developing social features, particularly when it comes to location-based technologies. Over a year ago, the company advertised for a software engineer who could help take the iOS Maps application "to the next level", while more recent job postings have hinted at integrated navigation software. And more recently, builds of iOS 4.3 have hinted at a feature called "Find My Friends" that could easily be a part of the rumored MobileMe revamp.

Differing schools of thought regarding a MobileMe revamp have arisen over the past few days, with some suggesting a very strong focus on true cloud-based services beaming data from Apple's servers to a variety of devices, while others have suggested that the user's own home computer will be the source from which data is disseminated to portable devices.

Over the past few years, much has been made of Apple's reserves of cash and securities, which are now up to approximately $60 billion and growing rapidly. Some observers have suggested the company initiate a stock buyback or issue dividends to reward investors with some of the profits, while others have preferred that the cash remain in Apple's hands to enable the company to reinvest it into the business at some point in the future for greater returns. Apple CEO Steve Jobs noted during the company's October 2010 earnings conference call that Apple is holding onto the cash in order to take advantage of "one or more unique strategic opportunities" that it believes may present itself.

But all of the money may not be available for immediate use, as Fortune reports that Apple is one of a number of U.S. companies with significant profits generated in international markets that continue to sit abroad as the companies prefer to not pay the 35% federal tax charged on such foreign earnings.

To address this situation, Apple and these other major players are reportedly stepping up lobbying efforts to try to get the federal government to offer a one-year "tax holiday" that would allow them to bring the profits back to the United States while only being subjected to 5% tax, with the rationale being that the money could be put to work in the U.S. to stimulate the economy rather than simply sitting in foreign bank accounts.

A group of tech, pharmaceutical and energy giants is readying a major lobbying blitz for a tax holiday that would allow them to bring home the estimated $1 trillion they've got parked overseas at a steeply discounted rate, Fortune has learned.

The campaign is still in its planning stages, but sources close to the effort say Oracle, Cisco, Apple, Duke Energy, and Pfizer are among the major players looking to bankroll a coordinated, sustained pitch to sell policymakers on the idea. Their aim is to win a one-year tax amnesty on their foreign earnings, allowing them to repatriate that money at a tax rate of about 5%, instead of the 35% they face now.

International markets have become increasingly important to Apple as iOS devices have proliferated around the world. In fact, Apple reported that during its most recent quarter, 62% of its revenue came from international sales. Consequently, billions of dollars in profit are being generated overseas each quarter, and Apple has been loathe to turn over 35% of those sums to the U.S. government.

On a possibly related note, Apple recently hired high-profile lobbying firm Fierce, Isakowitz and Blalock to assist with government dealings, an unusual move for the company that has typically refrained from significant lobbying in Washington, DC.

Warner Brothers today announced the launch of "App Editions" of its feature films, providing the titles as App Store apps that offer downloadable and streaming versions of the films along with an array of expanded content. The program, which launches today with the release of Inception [App Store] and The Dark Knight [App Store], offers the apps as free downloads with full access to the films and special features available via in-app purchase.

App Editions provide a fully-loaded, connected viewing experience that gives consumers the first five minutes of a feature film and a portion of bonus content that can include games, trivia, soundtracks and soundboards. The entire feature film can be unlocked via an in-app purchase, which enables downloading and unlimited streaming, as well as access to the entire array of bonus content available within the App.

Inception is currently available for an in-app purchase price of $11.99, while The Dark Knight checks in at $9.99.

Beyond the bonus features and flexible delivery options, Warner Brothers touts the new App Editions as a means to offer video to iOS device owners in countries where Apple does not yet offer iTunes Movie Stores.

The apps, which are packaged as universal apps for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, offer subtitles in a host of languages, as well as a social component that can allow users to interact via Facebook and Twitter. Warner Brothers is planning a host of App Edition releases throughout the year, including both new and back-catalog movies.

BGR reports that sales of the Verizon iPhone have not quite lived up to Apple's and Verizon's expectations, offering exact unit sales data aggregated from five Apple retail store locations showing that Verizon iPhone only barely outsold the AT&T version over the Verizon device's first five days of availability.

Below are unit sales totals from five Apple stores combined (including two very, very prominent Apple stores) showing both Verizon and AT&T iPhone 4 sales during the Verizon iPhone's first five days of availability:

- Thursday: Verizon = 909, AT&T = 539
- Friday: Verizon = 916, AT&T = 680
- Saturday: Verizon = 660, AT&T = 471
- Sunday: Verizon = 796, AT&T = 701
- Monday: Verizon = 711, AT&T = 618

According to the source, pre-orders for the Verizon iPhone came in at about 550,000. And the first few days of in-store availability did in fact see strong Verizon iPhone sales relative to the AT&T iPhone, but that performance quickly tailed off to the point where sales are nearly equal.

Many observers had expected a rush of customers heading from AT&T to Verizon as the new device debuted, even though most AT&T iPhone customers are still currently tied to contracts. But the new data shows that, at least at a handful of Apple stores, AT&T iPhones are selling nearly as quickly as Verizon ones even as the latter should be seeing a huge surge with its debut.

What would possibly have been even more interesting is to see a comparison of this data to sales at the same locations just prior to the Verizon iPhone launch, in order to see just how sales of the AT&T iPhone have been affected by the availability of the Verizon model and to get a gauge of how total U.S. iPhone sales have changed with the new dual-carrier arrangement.

The report also offers statistics on Verizon iPhone purchasers, presumably gathered by Verizon and/or Apple at the time of purchase. According to the report, 14% of Verizon iPhone purchasers were coming over from an AT&T iPhone, while 30% had been Android users and 25% had been BlackBerry users.

Update: According to Bloomberg, a Verizon spokesperson has said that the carrier is pleased with iPhone sales so far, but he declined to share exact sales figures until the company's next earnings report.

With Apple's announcement yesterday of new App Store subscription offerings and policies requiring all content providers to offer at least the option of in-app subscriptions at the same prices as external options, questions have been raised about how providers will respond to the likelihood that significant numbers of customers will likely choose options that require them to hand over 30% of their revenue to Apple.

The Wall Street Journal explores possible antitrust issues, with experts noting that any such case would hinge on the definition of the market, as that would determine how dominant Apple's position is in it.

"My inclination is to be suspect" about Apple's new service, said Shubha Ghosh, an antitrust professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Two key questions in Mr. Ghosh's mind: Whether Apple owns enough of a dominant position in the market to keep competitors out, and whether it is exerting "anticompetitive pressures on price."

Experts note that publishers might be able to argue that tablet devices constitute the market for their offerings, and Apple's dominance in that market could subject it to antitrust investigation. But a broader market encompassing the entire App Store ecosystem and thus smartphones and tablets in their entirety would likely not raise red flags due to Apple's much smaller share of that larger market.

"Millions will be spent litigating how broad the market is," said Herbert Hovenkamp, an antitrust professor at the University of Iowa College of Law.

Mr. Hovenkamp said digital media is the most plausible market. He said he doubted that Apple, currently, has a sufficiently dominant position in that market to warrant antitrust scrutiny.

All eyes are of course also on the content providers themselves, who would have to raise prices by 43% in order to provide Apple with a 30% cut and still maintain their existing income, should all transactions shift to in-app subscriptions.

While many content providers have yet to respond publicly to Apple's announcement as they weigh their options, music streaming service Rhapsody spoke out yesterday, noting that it will be talking with other companies in its same position in "determining an appropriate legal and business response to this latest development."

Our philosophy is simple too - an Apple-imposed arrangement that requires us to pay 30 percent of our revenue to Apple, in addition to content fees that we pay to the music labels, publishers and artists, is economically untenable. The bottom line is we would not be able to offer our service through the iTunes store if subjected to Apple's 30 percent monthly fee vs. a typical 2.5 percent credit card fee.

Publishers of existing App Store applications have until June 30th to comply with Apple's new policies.

AppleInsider reports that production of the new MacBook Pros are already underway and that volume shipments will begin as early as the first week of March.

A person familiar with the matter said the Mac maker currently anticipates an introduction of the new models within about two weeks time, which would represent a delay of just a couple of weeks from when the company initially hoped to usher the new models onto the market.

The MacBook Pros have been due for a refresh and supplies have begun to constrain. An interesting additional note from the rumor site, however, hinted that Sandy Bridge may not be the only change in the laptop model. Apple is reportedly making some additional enhancements, though no specifics were given.

Many have suggested that the new MacBook Pros may take cues from the recently refreshed MacBook Airs.

Alongside today's announcement of its new in-app subscription program and policies, Apple also updated its iOS App Store Guidelines to reflect the requirements laid out in the press release.

But Apple also made several other additions to the guidelines, with the most notable one being new language aimed to help Apple crack down on developers who "cheat the system". The new language appears as a bullet point in the introductory portion of the document, making it one the key points being stressed by Apple.

If you attempt to cheat the system (for example, by trying to trick the review process, steal data from users, copy another developer's work, or manipulate the ratings) your apps will be removed from the store and you will be expelled from the developer program.

The addition gives Apple more ammunition to help it address growing issues regarding easter eggs carrying hidden functionalities, "counterfeit" applications stealing content from other developers, and manipulation of app ratings through the use of shill accounts and other tactics.

Other notable additions to the review guidelines include language directing developers to submit apps that are simply songs, movies, or books to the iTunes Store or iBookstore rather than to the the App Store, and prohibition of arbitrary geographic or carrier restrictions on who may use a given app.

AppleBitch reports that Best Buy's Mexican arm is advertising a special in-store event for this Saturday, February 19th, where users can visit stores to learn about how to use the "new iWork '11". iWork '11 of course has not yet been released, although reports from late last year had suggested that work on it was wrapping up and that it could debut early this year, possibly as a Mac App Store exclusive.

The webpage describes an event where you can "visit Best Buy on February 19th and find out what you can do with iWork '11". While this is obviously not an official announcement from Apple, this event is a good indication that iWork '11 is nearing release. We hope it is at least, otherwise there's going to be a fairly unhappy crowd at a Best Buy in Mexico on February 19th.

The iWork '11 event is currently listed on the front page of Best Buy Mexico, with the entry linking to the feature page with the broader description.

Update: The feature page and front page event listing have both been removed from Best Buy's site.

Social Apples details a change employed in an update to Apple's iBooks application released last week that detects whether a device has been jailbroken using one of several tools, and if the device has been found to be jailbroken, refuses to open content purchased from Apple's iBookstore.

Since using the greenpois0n jailbreak, I have been unable to open some of my iBooks that I rightfully purchased from the iBook Store. I thought it was a problem with the downloaded books, so I re-downloaded them. That didnt work so I removed the iBooks from my iPhone and re-syncd them from my computer... still no luck. Then I stumbled on a tweet from @comex tonight that really blew my mind.

According to noted jailbreak author @comex, whenever a user attempts to open an eBook purchased from the iBookstore and containing digital rights management code, the new iBooks tries to run unsigned or improperly signed binaries as a test to see if the device is jailbroken. If those binaries run successfully, the device is flagged as having been jailbroken and the eBook refuses to open.

Users of devices jailbroken by one of the methods that allows Apple's test binaries to successfully run who attempt to open content purchased from the iBookstore are met with the following error message:

There is a problem with the configuration of your iPhone. Please restore with iTunes and reinstall iBooks.

Restoring a device from iTunes obviously removes the jailbreak, again rendering the device in compliance with Apple's standards.

Apple's tactics are of course drawing some scrutiny from jailbreak fans, many of whom are pointing to recent actions by the U.S. government to explicitly allow jailbreaking. Consequently, Apple's move to prevent access to legitimately purchased iBookstore content just because the user attempts to view it on a jailbroken device is seen as interference with legal usage.

Update: Reports have clarified that the jailbreaking detection mechanism has been present since iOS 4.0 and is part of the fairplayd DRM check. It has only recently been generating attention as newer jailbreak methods such as greenpois0n have opened up Apple's restrictions enough to trigger the blocks.

AppleInsider reports that a customer survey from Apple gauging user satisfaction with the company's new MacBook Air contains several questions related to 3G connectivity, suggesting that Apple may be considering adding the feature as a built-in option on future models.

Perhaps most telling are a number of questions in the survey related to 3G data use and connectivity. The MacBook Air comes with integrated Wi-Fi, but does not have a built-in 3G radio.

Apple's survey asks users whether they have connected their MacBook Air to a 3G network, how often they do so, where they connect to 3G, what type of device they use to connect to a 3G network (MiFi, USB device, or tethering with a cell phone).

As long ago as the MacBook Air's introduction in January 2008, a lack of built-in 3G mobile connectivity was seen as a deal-breaker by some, although the proliferation of devices and plans for tethering and personal hotspot data services in subsequent years have tempered those objections.

Many users have continued to hope, however, that Apple builds 3G access directly into a future model of the MacBook Air in order to make it a self-contained always-connected portable machine. An Apple job posting in mid-2009 hinted at the possibility that the company was looking at built-in 3G for portable Macs, and a rumor suggesting just that surfaced just weeks later, although no such device has yet appeared.

While the MacBook Air received a significant redesign, including the addition of an 11.6-inch model, just this past October, observers are already looking forward to a rumored update to Intel's new Sandy Bridge processors as early as June of this year.