MacRumors

News Corp. today is holding a media event to launch its tablet-focused news publication, The Daily, which will initially be made available for the iPad. The event is scheduled to kick off at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City at 11:00 AM Eastern Time, or just about 30 minutes from now.

The Daily is offering a live video stream of the introduction on its website, where it has also announced that the application will go live in the App Store at noon Eastern Time, following the event.

Watch at 11 a.m. Eastern Time today as News Corporation unveils The Daily, featuring special guest Eddy Cue, vice president of Internet Services from Apple. Check back later today for our full web site. The Daily will be available on the App Store starting at 12 p.m. EST.

Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of Internet Services, will be presenting at the event, presumably to discuss Apple's behind-the-scenes work to develop support for recurring billing to users' iTunes Store accounts. The Daily has been reported to be priced at $0.99 per week, which would be automatically billed directly to users' iTunes Store accounts rather than using separate payment methods.

In addition to The Daily's video stream, we will be updating this article with coverage as the media event unfolds.

Event Updates

- Those present at the event note that the audience is relatively small, possibly due to weather issues in New York City.
- Gizmodo has published purported details on The Daily, confirming many of the rumored details including pricing of $0.99 per week or $39.99 per year.

- Event underway. News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch on stage. Thanking Steve Jobs for changing industries and developing the iPad. Welcomes Eddy Cue...we'll hear from him in a few minutes.
- "The iPad demands that we completely re-imagine our craft."
- There is a substantial market of people who do not read traditional newspapers but do consume media and expect it at their fingertips. We're going to bring the magic of newspapers to The Daily, and we must make the business of news gathering and editing viable again.
- The opportunity is enormous, and in the tablet era, there is room for a fresh and new voice.
- We can offer The Daily for only 14 cents per day, bringing a polished news magazine to our readers. The Daily's success will be determined by its utility and originality, and we will work tirelessly toward those goals.
- Congratulations and thank you to our friends at Apple and those involved with putting this project together.
- Introducing The Daily's executive team (Jon Miller, Greg Clayman, Jesse Angelo) to show off the publication.

- Discussing how the iPad allows different methods of telling stories...immersive 360-degree photos, audio, video clips. Showing off a live demo while discussing.
- Navigation utilizes "The Carousel"...tiles represent each story, swipe through like Cover Flow. Various options for auto-play, shuffle stories. Video anchors highlighting top stories, some stories available read aloud. Articles can be shared via Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.
- The Daily can pull in HTML5 content from the web and also link out to external sites. Built-in Twitter feeds can pull in content.
- Apps and games section, sports sections. Showing off Super Bowl feature, options for customizing favorite teams to follow.
- Publishes to iPad each morning, and can update throughout the day with breaking news.
- First two weeks are free courtesy of Verizon.
- Introducing Apple's Eddy Cue.

- "Thrilled to be here". In the last year, the iPad has defined a whole new category of device. Over 15 million iPads sold. Over 9,000 news apps available for iOS devices. Over 200 million news apps have been downloaded so far.
- Rupert has built an amazing team of reporters, editors, and designers, and leveraged News Corp.'s resources to develop something new.
- It's amazing that something of this production value can be done every single day.
- iPad customers can download The Daily today. One-click billing...your choice of $0.99 per week of $39.99 per year.
- We think iPad customers are really going to embrace it.
- Turning it back to Jon Miller for a photo op, and then Q&A.

Q&AQ: How is back content handled? Large filesizes?
A: Angelo: Everything is on the web through our sharing functions. We're working on search and archiving.

Q: When will recurring billing be available to other magazines?
A: Cue: Available today on the iPad, and we have a great relationship with other publishers. There will be an announcement soon.

Q: Advertising?
A: Miller: We're working on some really innovative ways to show off their brands.

Q: Metrics for success?
A: Murdoch: When we're selling millions. Ambitions are very big, but costs are low. So financially, the metric is quite low, but we're looking much bigger than that. We've invested $30 million that will be written off in our latest results. But we'll be running at less than $500,000 a week without subscription and advertising income.

Q: Can you talk about the recent developments regarding shifting content purchases to in app purchases?
A: Cue: You'll here from us soon, but we want customers to be able to get content either from us or from others' sites.

Q: Breaking news element? How do you break in real-time, and how do you decide what's worth breaking in for?
A: Angelo: We have a lot of different ways to handle it. We have tickers, can integrate Twitter feeds, can drop in a new front page whenever we want. But as a consumer I don't like pages that change every five minutes. So there will be a balance.

Q: Political tone of The Daily?
A: Angelo: We believe this a new era, and we want a new brand and a new voice. In terms of our editorial page, we're patriotic. We believe in free ideas, and free people. In terms of specific issues, read our editorial pages. You'll be surprised.

Q: Why focusing on The Daily rather than using an existing brand?
A: Murdoch: The Wall Street Journal was one of the first paid apps to be on the iPad, and it made me excited to pursue this project.

Q: How long do you anticipate exclusive distribution for the iPad? Does this marry News Corp and Apple?
A: Murdoch: As other tablets get established, we will develop the technology to get on them. We expect to be on all the major tablets. This year, and maybe next year, belong to Apple, but that's just a market judgment.

Q: Has Steve Jobs said anything to you in the last few days about the project?
A: Murdoch: He did call me last week and said that he believed the app was really terrific.

Q: Discoverability? Apps aren't indexed on the web, so how will people discover it?
A: Cue: People have downloaded 10 billion apps, so they're not having a hard time discovering these things. Miller: We wanted to make a really great experience

Q: Will stories be available on the Web?
A: Miller: It will be mirrored on the Web, but we expect the main consumption to be through the app. Angelo: You can't do everything you do in the app on the Web. So we'll do what we can on the Web, and we do want to be there.

Q: Will Web content be free?
A: Angelo: No, we don't expect that. If you share a link with someone, they'll be able to see that free of charge, but you won't be able to go to thedaily.com and just browse.

Q: Demographics?
A: Angelo: Our demographic is everybody.

Wrapping up. iPads preloaded with the demo available for attendees to view.

The Daily is now available in the App Store.

Apple today announced that it will be joining Verizon in offering pre-orders of the new Verizon iPhone to existing Verizon customers as of tomorrow.

Apple today announced an exclusive opportunity for Verizon Wireless' 94 million customers to pre-order iPhone 4 online beginning on Thursday, February 3 through the Apple Store (www.apple.com) and at www.verizon.com/iphone. Due to high demand, customer orders will be fulfilled on a first come, first served basis.

The company also announced that all other customers can begin ordering the Verizon iPhone for delivery or in-store pickup beginning next Wednesday, February 9th, although handsets won't be available for pickup until the following day.

Apple's retail stores will open at 7:00 AM on Thursday, February 10th to allow customers to purchase the Verizon iPhone, with Verizon's 2,000 retail stores also offering availability. A day-by-day timeline of the launch process is posted on Apple's site.

MacRumors has received word that Apple has seeded a new version of Mac OS X 10.6.7, termed Build 10J850, to developers for testing. The update comes about a week after the previous build was pushed to developers.

According to those familiar with the new build, Apple is continuing to request that developers focus their testing on Mac App Store, AirPort, Bonjour, SMB, and Graphics Drivers. No known issues are listed in the documentation.

An estimated target date for the public release of Mac OS X 10.6.7 is unknown, as Apple's development cycles can be very unpredictable. This new build marks the third version seeded to developers since January 20th.

iFixYouri and 9to5Mac have posted photos of what is said to be the new iPad 2 screen.

At this point, we cannot tell if the resolution is higher (or "Retina") but it is definitely higher quality in terms of its build. The iPad 2's display is also lighter, and over a mm thinner than the current iPad's display with a smaller surrounding frame.

No other details (such as resolution) have been revealed, but the slightly thinner screen agrees with previous analyst reports that claim that the iPad 2's screen will be 30-35% thinner as well as offering an anti-reflective coating for better outdoor usage.

Apple is widely expected to release a new iPad in the first quarter of this year.

Update: One commenter at 9 to 5 Mac has deciphered the new screen's model number of LP097X02-SLN1 as indicating a 9.7-inch H-IPS display from LG with the same 1024 x 768 resolution as the current iPad.

As noted by Macworld, Verizon has released a new version of its VZAccess Manager software, offering Mac OS X support for the carrier's Pantech UML290 4G LTE modem. While Verizon launched its LTE service for mobile broadband device in a number of markets back in December, Verizon's two LTE-capable USB modems did not initially offer support for Mac OS X devices.

With today's release, the Pantech modem can now be used with Mac OS X machines, while the LG modem is still awaiting software support to enable connectivity.

Verizon is now offering a version of its VZAccess Manager for Mac that brings compatibility with one of the network's two 4G USB modems, the Pantech UML290. The newly released version 7.2.4 (2534b) of the VZAccess Manager software allows Mac users to plug in the UML290 and, along with a compatible data plan, get access to Verizon's high-speed LTE network in 38 markets around the U.S.

Verizon is offering the Pantech UML290 for $100 when purchased with a two-year data contract. Monthly pricing for the data packages comes in at $50 for 5 GB or $80 for 10 GB.

Verizon is set to launch the iPhone 4 to its existing customers in just a few days, with general availability opening up next week. The Verizon iPhone is not, however, a 4G LTE device, and no LTE phones are expected to be available for Verizon's network until later this year.

As previously rumored, Apple today issued a third beta version of iOS 4.3 to developers. The release comes nearly two weeks after the previous seed.

Today's seed carries the rumored build number of 8F5166b, compared to the previous 8F5153d build. As with the previous builds, versions are available for the iPad, iPhone 4 and 3GS, and third- and fourth-generation iPod touch, with a separate version for the second-generation Apple TV also available.

While we've yet to hear details on changes from the previous build, earlier builds have included such new features as personal Wi-Fi hotspot functionality, enhanced support for AirPlay video streaming, and a software toggle to set the functionality of the iPad's side switch.

Apple has also been rumored to be building support for recurring subscription billing for App Store content into iOS 4.3, although we've yet to see signs of it in the developer builds. The recurring subscription billing is expected to play a key role in distribution of The Daily, an iPad-focused news publication set for introduction at a media event tomorrow.

Update: Earlier today, App Advice noted that iOS 4.3 betas now allow users to cancel downloading apps and delete them mid-download. The feature would prove useful for users who accidentally begin downloading a large application and wish to cancel the process.

The feature is quite simple to use. All you have to do is enter the icon arrangement mode ("Wiggle mode") as you normally do to delete an app. This time however, you'll notice the "x" appear over the currently downloading app as well. Just hit it, confirm, and iOS will proceed to interrupt the download and delete the app.

The feature is present in earlier iOS 4.3 betas than the one released today, but was first brought to our attention this morning.

Following up on last night's story revealing that Apple had rejected a Sony Reader iOS application for eBooks, All Things Digital has received an official statement from Apple clarifying the company's position. According to the company, Apple has not changed its terms, but is simply enforcing existing ones that require applications offering content for purchase outside of the application to also offer the content via Apple's in-app purchasing mechanisms.

Apple's made no change to its App Store Guidlines, it's simply enforcing a rule that's been in them all along: apps that offer purchases elsewhere must support in-app purchases as well. We have not changed our developer terms or guidelines," company spokesperson Trudy Miller told me. "We are now requiring that if an app offers customers the ability to purchase books outside of the app, that the same option is also available to customers from within the app with in-app purchase."

While short of the originally-feared banning of all external content purchasing methods, the new enforcement does raise additional questions about how such popular eBook applications as Kindle will deal with the requirement. Notably, will in-app purchases be required to be priced at the same level as external purchases, and if so, how will content providers respond to Apple taking its 30% cut of revenue from the in-app purchasing method that is more convenient for consumers than the external purchasing method that sends all revenue to the provider?

Courthouse News Service reports that AT&T has been hit with a new class action lawsuit alleging that the carrier is overbilling its customers for data transferred through its networks to iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad. According to the suit, AT&T is overstating the amount of data used for each transaction, leading some users to exceed their data plan limits and incur extra charges.

This one claims that "AT&T's bills systematically overstate the amount of data used on each data transaction involving an iPhone or iPad account," and bills customers for data transactions even if they disable their phones and leave them untouched - as the plaintiff's experts did.

The class says AT&T's billing system "is like a rigged gas tank that charges pump that charges for a full gallon when it pumps only nine-tenths of a gallon into your car's tank."

The filing describes how a consulting firm hired by the plaintiff's attorneys conducted a two-month study that found AT&T overstating data usage by 7-14%, with some transactions coming in at as much 300% above the actual amount of data transferred.

The complaint goes on to detail data transactions being recorded even when no data usage is being initiated by the customer, as determined by the company purchasing an iPhone and letting it sit with push notifications and location services disabled and with no applications open or other data-transferrring tasks enabled.

This was discovered by the same independent consulting firm, which purchased an iPhone from an AT&T store, immediately disabled all push notifications and location services, confirmed that no email account was configured on the phone, closed all applications, and let the phone sit untouched for 10 days. During this 10-day period, AT&T billed the test account for 35 data transactions totaling 2,292 KB of usage. This is like the rigged gas pump charging you when you never even pulled your car into the station."

PC World notes that the greater-than-expected data usage may in some cases be related to Apple's multitasking features deployed in iOS 4 that allow certain processes of applications to continue running in the background even after the applications themselves have been suspended by the user switching to a different application.

Many of those apps may be actively communicating and downloading data in the background. So, perhaps the data issues that users are seeing, and that AT&T is being accused of systematically overcharging for, are--at least in part--a function of the "virtues" of adding multitasking to iOS. I can tell you this: once we realized all of these apps were running and started manually shutting down all of the multitasking apps, my data usage issues went away.

While it is true that certain applications running in the background can utilize data, that explanation does not appear to account for the circumstances cited in the lawsuit, which involve alleged overstatement of data used in individual transactions and phantom data usage by devices configured not to use data services.

BGR claims that it has learned that Apple will be seeding a third beta version of iOS 4.3 to developers sometime today. The new beta, said to be build 8F5166b, would come nearly two weeks after the previous seed.

One of our Apple sources has just let us know that the company's iOS 4.3 rampage isn't slowing down. We have been told there will be yet another beta build posted for developers, wearing the build number 8F5166b, at some point today.

The interval between the first and second betas of iOS 4.3 was only one week, with Apple surprising some observers by failing to seed another build last week. Apple's seeding intervals are not always consistent, however, and the reasons for the longer interval this time around are unknown.

The New York Times reports that Apple has begun rejecting App Store submissions for applications that offer users the ability to purchase content from outside the company's in-app purchasing mechanism. One of the major applications reportedly rejected under this policy change is Sony's Reader application that would have allowed iOS device users to view eBook content downloaded from its Reader Store.

The company has told some applications developers, including Sony, that they can no longer sell content, like e-books, within their apps, or let customers have access to purchases they have made outside the App Store.

Apple rejected Sony's iPhone application, which would have let people buy and read e-books bought from the Sony Reader Store.

Apple told Sony that from now on, all in-app purchases would have to go through Apple, said Steve Haber, president of Sony's digital reading division.

The move calls into question the fate of such popular eBook applications such as Kindle and Barnes & Noble NOOK for iOS devices. Those applications have so far skirted Apple's rules regarding in-app purchasing by directing users to Safari for purchasing content through a web-based interface, then using the native iOS applications for browsing and viewing the purchased content. But Apple's recent change of heart appears to now ban even that approach.

The change may signal a shift for Apple. The company has made more money selling hardware than music, e-books or apps. If people could have access to more content from more sources on their iPhones and iPads, the thinking went, then they would buy more devices.

Content providers will be hard pressed to alter their business models to comply with Apple's demands, as they would need to offer their content through in-app purchasing mechanisms from which Apple takes a 30% cut of sales. That slice of revenue would mean that content providers would have to either accept significantly less revenue while selling at the same prices they currently do, or substantially raising prices to compensate for Apple's cut of sales.

Apple has been rumored to be building into iOS support for recurring subscription billing via users' iTunes Store accounts. The feature is expected to play a key role in deployment of News Corp.'s tablet-focused news publication, The Daily, set for introduction later this week.

Deployment of such a feature, as well as others potentially enhancing content delivery to iOS devices, could put Apple in a position where it feels that it offers sufficient options for publishers to get their content onto iOS devices while Apple controls the delivery mechanisms. Those options are apparently giving Apple the ability to flex its muscles to shut down non-Apple methods of distributing content to iOS devices, thus ensuring that Apple controls and receives revenue from all sales.

Apple today posted iOS 4.2.6 for the Verizon iPhone (iPhone3,3) to its site, preparing the way for users who will be receiving the phone in the next few weeks. The version checks in as Build 8E200.

The Verizon iPhone carried iOS 4.2.5 when it was demoed at the media event introducing the device earlier this month, so it appears that Apple has made some additional tweaks since that time.

- Direct link to iOS 4.2.6 for Verizon iPhone

No other iPhone or iPod touch models have received updated iOS versions with today's update.

Intel today announced that it has discovered a "design error" in its "Cougar Point" support chip that is part of its implementation of the Sandy Bridge architecture for desktop machines, chipsets that are expected to make their way into the next-generation iMac.

As part of ongoing quality assurance, Intel Corporation has discovered a design issue in a recently released support chip, the Intel 6 Series, code-named Cougar Point, and has implemented a silicon fix. In some cases, the Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipsets may degrade over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices such as hard disk drives and DVD-drives. The chipset is utilized in PCs with Intel's latest Second Generation Intel Core processors, code-named Sandy Bridge. Intel has stopped shipment of the affected support chip from its factories. Intel has corrected the design issue, and has begun manufacturing a new version of the support chip which will resolve the issue. The Sandy Bridge microprocessor is unaffected and no other products are affected by this issue.

The issue, which affects systems utilizing Intel's second-generation quad-core Core i5 and i7 processors, has pushed back production to a projected late February date for the first shipments and an April date for full recovery. Intel is estimating the entire cost of repair and replacements associated with the issue to be around $700 million.

Apple's current 27-inch iMac utilizes the first-generation versions of these Core i5 and i7 processors in high-end configurations, and the company is expected to adopt some of these second-generation versions in an update to the line. The iMac was last updated in late July and is approaching the end of its usual update cycle. The issue cited by Intel in today's release does not affect notebook chipsets such as those expected to be used in a Sandy Bridge update to Apple's MacBook Pro line, which is also due for an update.

Update: While initial reports had suggested that the issue is limited to desktop versions of the platform, Cougar Point is in fact used in both desktop and mobile chipsets based on Sandy Bridge, indicating that the recall could also delay availability of refreshed Apple notebooks such as MacBook Pros.

As noted by VentureBeat, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak reported last night during an appearance on The Engadget Show that delays for the white iPhone 4 are in fact due to issues with the paint allowing light to leak in and affect camera performance as had been previously rumored. Wozniak also reported that the issues have been solved and that a release for the device should be expected in the near future.

While Wozniak continues to receive a small salary from Apple and obviously has some connections with the company, he is not involved in Apple's day-to-day affairs and does not officially speak for the company. Consequently, he has been known to offer imprecise statements or speculation in the past, although he would appear to have greater access to information than most independent observers.

The white iPhone 4 has been in the public view in recent weeks as Apple's most recent target date of "spring" for the release approaches and evidence of the device has been appearing in databases of a number of carriers and retailers. The issues with the paint have reportedly been solved with a new painting process developed by a small Japanese company.

An interesting series of charts from Asymco reveals that, despite a worldwide mobile phone unit market share of only 4%, Apple accounted for approximately half of the industry's profits for the fourth quarter of 2010.

With only a small unit market share, Apple has managed to achieve its remarkable profits by focusing on the high-priced and rapidly-growing smartphone market while doing so at significant profit margins. That 4% unit share consequently translates to over 20% of industry revenue and just over 50% of industry profits.

Asymco's study based its calculations of revenue and profit shares on data compiled from reports issued by the top eight publicly-traded mobile phone manufacturers: Apple, HTC, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Research in Motion, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson. While included in the "Other" category for unit market share, companies such as Chinese manufacturer ZTE, which edged out Apple for fourth place in the quarterly unit sales rankings, are not included in the revenue and profit data as such information is not publicly available.

The results demonstrate the continuation of a trend that had seen Apple's share of mobile phone industry profits rise from 20% in 2008 to 39% for the first half of 2010. Asymco published a similar estimate of 50% profit share for Apple in the third quarter of 2010.

Late last week, we noted that Active Storage appeared set to introduce a replacement for Apple's Xserve, which is being discontinued as of today. The company followed through today with its introduction of ActiveSAN, a new metadata controller appliance to fill the void left by Xserve's departure.

"On the day that Apple has formally stopped selling Xserve, we have exciting news. Until now, Apple's Xserve was the Metadata Controller of choice for most Xsan installations, providing enterprise form factor and capabilities," said Alex Grossman, CEO of Active Storage, Inc.

"Xsan users in high-pressure industries require datacenter-level quality products to manage their Metadata, but also demand the ease of use and setup of Xsan," continued Grossman. "Previously, that meant one thing: Xsan on an Xserve. But all that changes today - with ActiveSAN."

ActiveSAN is a 1U rackmountable controller based on Linux and the Quantum StorNext SAN file system. Active Storage also offers an integrated Mac OS X user interface to make setup and maintenance a fast and simple process.

ActiveSAN runs on a quad-core Xeon processor with 8 GB of 1066MHz DDR3 memory while offering mirrored hot-swappable 1 TB drives, a dual port 8Gb Fibre Channel card, and dual hot-swappable power supplies.

Full details on pricing and configuration options for ActiveSAN are yet to be announced, and Active Storage plans to demo the new hardware at NAB 2011 in early April with product availability set to follow soon after.

With the nascent worldwide tablet market still in a state of flux as Apple's game-changing iPad is starting to see competition from Android devices now making their way to the market, observers have been working to develop a picture of how things are shaking out in the fast-moving market. Research firm Strategy Analytics today announced the result of its survey of market data for the fourth quarter of 2010, unsurprisingly showing Android rapidly gaining a foothold in a market still dominated by the iPad.

According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global tablet shipments reached 10 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010. Apple maintained first position, while Android soared and captured a record 22 percent global share.

Peter King, Director at Strategy Analytics, said, "Global tablet shipments grew 120 percent sequentially to reach 9.7 million units in Q4 2010. Apple maintained first position. Apple recorded an impressive 75 percent global marketshare during the fourth quarter, but it has slipped from a peak of 95 percent in Q3 2010 due to rising competition from Android."

While few had expected Apple to maintain its virtual monopoly on the market and its 75% share still registers as a dominating position akin to that seen with the iPod in the MP3 player market, Android's impressive quarter-to-quarter growth even before the release of the tablet-optimized "Honeycomb" version demonstrates the wide acceptance of Google's mobile platform by device manufacturers and consumers.

With an array of competitors, including Honeycomb-based devices such as the Motorola Xoom and Research in Motion's BlackBerry PlayBook, coming to market over the next few months and Apple preparing to roll out its next-generation iPad, competition in the rapidly-growing tablet market should continue to intensify.

Update: It is important to note that these figures reflect shipments into the sales channels, as is typically reported by manufacturers, not necessarily sales to consumers. And as reported by The Wall Street Journal, many of the Samsung Galaxy Tab units that make up the lion's share of Android's numbers for the quarter may not have made it into consumers' hands.

In early December, Samsung announced it had sold 1 million, declaring that sales were going "faster than expected." Then, in early January, Samsung announced sales of 2 million.

But during the company's quarterly earnings call on Friday, a Samsung executive revealed those figures don't represent actual sales to consumers. Instead, they are the number of Galaxy Tab devices that Samsung has shipped to wireless companies and retailers around the world since product's formal introduction in late September.

Pressed by an analyst at an investment bank, the Samsung executive, Lee Young-hee, acknowledged that sales to consumers were "quite small," though she didn't give a specific number.

Update 2: The Wall Street Journal has corrected its story to indicate that Lee Young-hee had actually said that Galaxy Tab sales were "quite smooth", not "quite small". The error arose from an incorrect transcription of Samsung's conference call.

An analyst from Concord Securities is claiming to have knowledge of some of the upcoming iPad 2 components in their latest research note. According to Ming-Chi Kuo as reported by AppleInsider, the iPad 2 display will not get a higher resolution display as some have hoped.

Instead, the iPad 2's screen improvements will focus on thickness and anti-reflection. The screen is said to be 30-35% thinner and also offer a better sunlight reading experience due to the anti-reflective properties.

The report also claims that the next iPad will use a Cortex A9 dual core processor running at 1.2GHz, as well as Imagination Technologies' SGX 543 dual-core GPU. The iPad 2's RAM will also see a much needed boost to 512MB, equal to the iPhone 4. The iPad 2 is also expected to use the same lower quality front and back cameras found in the iPod Touch.

It's hard to tell where this information is sourced. Some pieces have been reported, but some specifics (1.2GHz, anti-reflective screen) seem to be unique information.

Verizon has sent out emails to existing customers and updated its iPhone information page to confirm that current Verizon customers will be able to order the iPhone 4 beginning at 3:00 AM Eastern time on February 3rd.

Existing Verizon Wireless customers will have an exclusive online purchase opportunity before iPhone 4 is available to everyone else. Order iPhone 4 from our reserved quantity on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 3 AM Eastern.

Earlier this week, we reported that Verizon had begun notifying corporate customers about the launch time, but the company's new announcement confirms the launch for all current Verizon customers.