MacRumors

In line with analyst speculation from last week, Engadget reports that Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann has just announced at his company's analyst day event that T-Mobile USA will begin selling Apple products in 2013.

The announcement was posted --nearly as an afterthought, oddly enough -- as part of a press release in which Deutsche Telekom spelled out its financial plans through 2015. While the two companies have not explicitly given specifics on which Apple devices we can expect to see in a retail store near you, the timing of the launch will likely correspond with the fourth-largest carrier's LTE launch in 2013.

T-Mobile is currently the only one of the four major U.S. carriers to not offer the iPhone, due at least in part to longstanding incompatibilities between Apple's hardware and the spectrum used by T-Mobile for its fastest data networks. The carrier has, however, been working hard to refarm its spectrum to add compatibility for frequencies supported by the iPhone, and it previously stated that it would be ready for the iPhone by the end of 2012. T-Mobile USA will also be rolling out LTE service for its customers in 2013.

Update: Deutsche Telekom's press release is now available.

The higher investment volume is to be used to roll out the broadband infrastructure in Germany and the United States in particular. In the mobile communications network, this will be done using the state-of-the-art technology LTE. Around EUR 6 billion is earmarked for rolling out the broadband infrastructure in the German fixed network with optical fiber and vectoring between 2013 and 2020. In addition, T-Mobile USA has entered into an agreement with Apple to bring products to market together in 2013.

No further details on exactly which products are included in the deal are available yet, but presumably both the iPhone and iPad will be coming to T-Mobile.

Update 2: Apple has also confirmed to The Loop that it has struck a deal with T-Mobile.

Just as Apple CEO Tim Cook has revealed that Apple will be bringing some Mac production back to the United States next year, Bloomberg reports that Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn is seeking to expand into the country.

“We are looking at doing more manufacturing in the U.S. because, in general, customers want more to be done there,” Louis Woo, a Foxconn spokesman, said in a phone interview. He declined to comment on individual clients or specific plans. [...]

“Supply chain is one of the big challenges for U.S. expansion,” Woo said. “In addition, any manufacturing we take back to the U.S. needs to leverage high-value engineering talent there in comparison to the low-cost labor of China.”

Neither Apple nor Foxconn has confirmed that the two companies will be working together on U.S. Mac production, but Cook noted that Apple's $100 million investment in domestic production would involve "working with people".

The moves by Apple and Foxconn to bring production to the United States demonstrate an evolution of the thinking held by Apple until very recently, which comes from a perspective that the U.S. labor force and supply chain simply aren't set up to handle the kind of nimble consumer electronics mass production available in China.

For Mr. Cook, the focus on Asia “came down to two things,” said one former high-ranking Apple executive. Factories in Asia “can scale up and down faster” and “Asian supply chains have surpassed what’s in the U.S.” The result is that “we can’t compete at this point,” the executive said. [...]

“The entire supply chain is in China now,” said another former high-ranking Apple executive. “You need a thousand rubber gaskets? That’s the factory next door. You need a million screws? That factory is a block away. You need that screw made a little bit different? It will take three hours.”

With Cook's announcement regarding domestic Mac production for 2013, the company is clearly testing the waters, perhaps with a low volume product like the Mac Pro, but the company faces major challenges if it wishes to bring operations on the scale of iPhone production to the United States.

In his lengthy interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Apple CEO Tim Cook discusses the recent management shakeup that saw iOS chief Scott Forstall relieved of his duties and retail boss John Browett out of a job just months after arriving at Apple. In line with comments in the press release announcing the changes, Cook elaborates on his belief in high levels of collaboration and that executive changes were needed in order to take that effort to the next level.

So the changes—it’s not a matter of going from no collaboration to collaboration. We have an enormous level of collaboration in Apple, but it’s a matter of taking it to another level. You look at what we are great at. There are many things. But the one thing we do, which I think no one else does, is integrate hardware, software, and services in such a way that most consumers begin to not differentiate anymore. They just care that the experience is fantastic.

So how do we keep doing that and keep taking it to an even higher level? You have to be an A-plus at collaboration. And so the changes that we made get us to a whole new level of collaboration.

Cook goes on to highlight Eddy Cue's expertise in services, Jony Ive's design skills, Bob Mansfield's experience with silicon and wireless, and Craig Federighi's history of overseeing the underpinnings of both OS X and iOS. Cook is careful to note, however, that this increased collaboration is not working toward a merger of iOS and OS X as some have speculated.

We don’t subscribe to the vision that the OS for iPhones and iPads should be the same as Mac. As you know, iOS and Mac OS are built on the same base. And Craig has always managed the common elements. And so this is a logical extension. Customers want iOS and Mac OS X to work together seamlessly, not to be the same, but to work together seamlessly.

Forstall had been seen as a polarizing figure at Apple, wearing his ambition on his sleeve while some said that he was quick to take credit for accomplishments but deflecting blame for missteps. Forstall reportedly also refused to sign an open letter from Cook apologizing for shortcomings in Apple's new Maps app for iOS 6, sealing his fate.

As part of its teaser for tonight's Rock Center interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook, NBC points quotes Cook as hinting that Apple is indeed focused very seriously on redefining television.

What’s next for Apple? Did Cook leave us with a clue?

“When I go into my living room and turn on the TV, I feel like I have gone backwards in time by 20 to 30 years,” Cook told Williams. “It’s an area of intense interest. I can’t say more than that.”

Cook's hint comes as Apple has reportedly been struggling to reach content deals that would allow it to create the revolutionary television experience it is looking for. Talks are said to be ongoing, but launches for any new Apple television products, which could include a set-top box or an Internet-connected television set, are said to not be imminent.

NBC reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook will announce during an interview airing on Rock Center tonight that the company is bringing some Mac production back to the United States.

In an exclusive interview with Brian Williams airing tonight at 10pm/9c on NBC’s “Rock Center,” Apple CEO Tim Cook announced one of the existing Mac lines will be manufactured exclusively in the United States next year. Mac fans will have to wait to see which Mac line it will be because Apple, widely known for its secrecy, left it vague. Cook's announcement may or may not confirm recent rumors in the blogosphere sparked by iMacs inscribed in the back with “Assembled in USA.”

“We’ve been working for years on doing more and more in the United States,” Cook told Williams.

It’s not known well that the engine for the iPhone and iPad is made in the U.S., and many of these are also exported—the engine, the processor. The glass is made in Kentucky. And next year we are going to bring some production to the U.S. on the Mac. We’ve been working on this for a long time, and we were getting closer to it. It will happen in 2013. We’re really proud of it. We could have quickly maybe done just assembly, but it’s broader because we wanted to do something more substantial. So we’ll literally invest over $100 million. This doesn’t mean that Apple will do it ourselves, but we’ll be working with people, and we’ll be investing our money.

Cook also addresses several of the challenges Apple faces in bringing production back to the United States, pointing out once again that the educational system is not producing the expertise needed for major manufacturing in consumer electronics, but he hopes that Apple's effort can help spur progress in that area.

CNET reports on comments from AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega today revealing that the carrier has experienced record-breaking smartphone sales through the first two months of the fourth quarter of 2012.

The wireless carrier is selling smartphones at a record pace -- 6.4 million already in the first two months of the quarter, according to Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T's mobility arm. De la Vega, speaking at an investor conference today, said he now expects to sell 26 million smartphones this year, 1 million more than previously expected.

The current record for the carrier was set in the fourth quarter of 2011 with 9.4 million smartphone activations on the strength of the iPhone 4S launch.

Given that the iPhone typically represents 70-80% of AT&T's smartphones, the carrier's record numbers for the quarter so far bode well for Apple. Apple will likely also see a boost from its rapid rollout of the iPhone 5, which is already offered in nearly 50 countries and will be available in more than 50 additional countries by the end of the month.

Apple is clearly expecting a blockbuster quarter, having issued guidance for a record $52 billion in revenue on the strength of not only the iPhone 5 but also the new iPad mini and the just-updated full-size iPad, as well as recent updates to most of the company's Mac and iPod lines.

Casio has officially announced the Bluetooth G-Shock, a $180 Bluetooth v4-enabled smart watch. Though the watch will ostensibly be competing with the Pebble e-paper wristwatch, the G-Shock is in a bit of a different category.

It's a much more traditional watch, looking nearly identical to other G-Shock watches, water resistant to 200m, and with significantly fewer features resulting from its Bluetooth v4 connectivity than the Pebble. When paired with an iPhone, the Casio smart watch can automatically set its own time, alert you to incoming calls and email, and locate your iPhone from the watch.

The watch only works with the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5 at the moment. They are the only iPhones that support the new Bluetooth Low Energy specification which we've covered previously. Casio isn't the only company to adopt Bluetooth Low Energy; the Pebble watch and other watches like the Strata are both using the same technology.

The G-Shock uses an ordinary watch battery and the company says it should last 2 years when connected to Bluetooth for 12 hours per day. The watch lists for $180 and has limited availability at select retailers.