MacRumors

Much has been made over the past year or so regarding NVIDIA's exit from the chipset business in the wake of a dispute with Intel over whether or not NVIDIA was permitted to build chipsets for Intel's latest Core series processors. That dispute forced Apple's hand for its recent small notebooks, leading Apple to stick with aging Core 2 Duo processors paired with a custom NVIDIA integrated graphics chip, as NVIDIA was still permitted to offer chipsets compatible with those processors. The alternative for Apple was to offer newer Intel processors but with Intel's integrated graphics, which offered much poorer performance than NVIDIA's offerings.

NVIDIA and Intel today announced that they have entered into a new patent cross-licensing agreement that will see Intel pay NVIDIA $1.5 billion over six years, but the new agreement (PDF) appears to still prohibit NVIDIA from developing its own chipsets for Intel's latest processors.

The Parties agree to amend the Chipset License by adding the following at the end of Section 2.14 of the Chipset License:

"Notwithstanding anything else in this Agreement, NVIDIA Licensed Chipsets shall not include any Intel Chipsets that are capable of electrically interfacing directly (with or without buffering or pin, pad or bump reassignment) with an Intel Processor that has an integrated (whether on-die or in-package) main memory controller, such as, without limitation, the Intel Processor families that are code named 'Nehalem', 'Westmere' and 'Sandy Bridge.'"

Rumors of a settlement had been circulating, but NVIDIA has remain firm in its stance that it has exited the chipset business for good and that Apple is likely to continue using Core 2 Duo processors paired with NVIDIA's MCP89 chipset for quite some time. For its part, Intel's latest Sandy Bridge processors, introduced last week, bring significantly enhanced graphics performance for integrated systems, making them a viable alternative for Apple in future hardware updates.

Update: From the press call:

NVIDIA just said on its press call that it has "no intentions to build chipsets for Intel processors," and that Intel will be able to use NVIDIA's technology in Sandy Bridge

TUAW reports that it has heard from "an anonymous tipster" that Apple will be expanding its presence at Best Buy stores, adding more products and even going as far as to add Genius Bars in some locations.

An anonymous tipster who works at a Best Buy store let us know this morning that he was informed by his Apple rep that the Apple section of the computer department will be going through a transition sometime this Spring to allow more products to be displayed. At the same time, the stores will get a Genius Bar, up to this time a fixture only at Apple Stores.

While the accuracy of the claim is unknown at this time, such a development would seem to mark a significant change for Apple, which has relied heavily on its own retail stores for providing face-to-face support for its users. Beyond its own stores, support services for Apple's products are currently offered through a network of authorized service providers, but bringing full-fledged Genius Bars to Best Buy locations could extend the "Apple Store experience" on a small scale to areas currently unserved by Apple's retail stores.

Also unknown is how Best Buy's Genius Bars would be staffed. While Best Buy does support sales of Apple products with its own employees, Apple does employ a network of Apple Solutions Consultants at some Best Buy locations to provide expertise in Apple products. Consequently, it is unclear whether Best Buy Genius Bars would be staffed by Best Buy or Apple employees.

About two-thirds of Best Buy's approximately 1,000 U.S. locations currently feature dedicated "Apple Shop" sections for Apple products.

We've been following Intel's work on its "Light Peak" computer connection standard from some time now, watching as the company has been demonstrating connectivity promising speeds of 10 Gbps over fiber optic cables, with the possibility of extending the technology to 100 Gbps transfer speeds in the future. Rumors have pegged Apple as being likely to be at the forefront of Light Peak adoption, and several Intel demonstrations using Mac hardware have fueled interest in the technology on the part of Mac users.

As reported by IDG News Service, Intel announced at CES last Friday that Light Peak is in fact ready for implementation, with the major caveat being that the standard is initially being deployed over copper wiring instead of fiber optics.

"The copper came out very good, surprisingly better than what we thought," Perlmutter said. "Optical is always a new technology which is more expensive," he added.

Perlmutter declined to comment on when devices using Light Peak would reach store shelves, saying shipment depended on device makers. Intel has in the past said that devices with Light Peak technology would start shipping in late 2010 or early this year.

There has been some question about whether sticking with copper over fiber optics for the initial implementation will result in a speed reduction, but PCMag reports that Intel has been able to hit 10 Gbps over copper, buying it time to continue to refine the fiber optic implementations as it looks forward to 100 Gbps.

Although data transmission speeds will reach higher levels with fiber-optic cabling - including a proposed scale of up to 100 gigabits per second within a decade - the reality on the ground is that optical cabling is quite expensive compared to copper. Intel tipsters have indicated that the company will still be able to hit its initial target of 10 gigabits per second using copper cabling which, itself, will be more than adequate for the typical short connection lengths needed by computer consumers.

The initial 10 Gbps implementation of Light Peak offers over twice the theoretical speed of USB 3.0, which itself is still in the early stages of rolling out. The two standards are not necessarily incompatible, however, as USB and other protocols could run on top of Light Peak cabling, offering increased speed and flexibility while maintaining compatibility.

Last month, All Things Digital reported that News Corp.'s forthcoming tablet-focused news publication, The Daily, appeared likely to debut sometime the week of January 17th. Forbes has now confirmed with a source inside the company that the publication will be formally announced on January 19th.

Mark your calendars, media nerds. Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011 is the day it all changes. Maybe.

That's the planned launch date for The Daily, the iPad-only publication News Corp. has been feverishly developing. The company has yet to say boo about it, and a spokesman declined to comment when I asked him about the launch date, which comes via a News Corp. insider.

The report notes that The Daily's staff of 100 has been putting out content as dry runs for a list of 1,000 invited readers in preparation for the official launch.

Apple has been said to be supporting The Daily with its work on support for recurring billing via users' iTunes Store accounts. The Daily has been rumored to be priced at 99 cents per week, with users signing up for subscriptions being charged periodically without the need for manual payment management. Reports had previously indicated that the subscription billing support would be rolled out in a new iOS 4.3, although we've yet to see any signs of a new version of Apple's mobile operating system being pushed out to developers for testing.

Update: According to The Cutline, Steve Jobs and Rupert Murdoch will appear on stage together at San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art for the introduction.

The two media moguls will appear together at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, according to a source familiar with preparations for the event. The launch date is expected to be Jan. 19, but that may change.

Last week, Apple released iWork 9.0.5, bringing a number of fixes and improvements to the company's productivity suite. Among the most substantial changes are enhancements to the iWork.com beta service that allows users to share projects online, including new support for playing back Keynote presentations and new options for publishing public and private documents.

Apple has just sent out an email to users registered for the iWork.com beta, highlighting the changes to the service and linking to updated feature pages on Apple's site discussing the capabilities.

Play back Keynote '09 presentations on the web, complete with animations.
Using Keynote for Mac, share your presentations and let viewers experience them with over 15 animations, video, hyperlinks, and audio. Play back a presentation on iWork.com using the latest version of Safari on a Mac or PC, iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. Just swipe to advance slides on your iPad using Safari.

New publishing options for public sharing and private online storage.
Upload your documents for private online storage and easily access them from anywhere, or share your documents on social networks using a Public link. Also, you can now embed your presentation seamlessly on a website or blog using the embed code provided by iWork.com. To learn more about these features, and to view an embedded presentation, click here.

Apple announced the iWork.com beta alongside iWork '09 in January 2009. At the time, Apple stated that iWork.com would become a fee-based service once it exited beta mode and made a full public debut. But two years later, the service remains in beta form with only occasional feature updates. Apple has been widely expected to launch a new version of iWork in the relatively near future, with some suggesting it might make its debut alongside the Mac App Store last week, although those predictions failed to come true.

The flood of news stories coming out ahead of the Verizon press conference continues to reinforce the likelihood that the Verizon iPhone will be announced on Tuesday, with The Wall Street Journal now reporting that Verizon is confident that it will be able to handle the onslaught of the iPhone.

Verizon Wireless, the country's largest wireless carrier, is confident enough in its network that it will offer unlimited data-use plans when it starts selling the iPhone around the end of this month, a person familiar with the matter said. Such plans would provide a key means of distinguishing its service from rival AT&T Inc., which limits how much Internet data such as videos and photos its customers may use each month.

AT&T has been widely criticized for performance issues related to its handling of the iPhone. In several major cities, users have reported frequent dropped calls and poor reception.

For its part, AT&T has begun going on the offensive, already working to tout the speed of its 3G network compared to Verizon's CDMA network and also apparently moving to aggressively court the low end of the market with some pricing changes.

AT&T's first official response clearly responding to the Verizon iPhone rumors describes Verizon's CDMA technology as "life in the slow lane.":

The iPhone is built for speed, but that's not what you get with a CDMA phone. I'm not sure iPhone users are ready for life in the slow lane."

Meanwhile, just prior to the news breaking last Thursday regarding a Verizon iPhone introduction tomorrow, AT&T lowered the price of the 8 GB iPhone 3GS from $99 to $49 with a new two-year contract. Apple quickly followed suit in its own online store, lowering iPhone 3GS pricing to $49 in line with AT&T's pricing.

All of the focus of the Verizon rumors has been on a CDMA-capable version of the iPhone 4, and Apple is not expected to introduce a CDMA-capable version of the low-end iPhone 3GS for the carrier, meaning that customers not looking for the latest hardware should in fact find the entry-level iPhone price point $150 cheaper at AT&T than Verizon, assuming Verizon offers the same $199/$299 pricing on iPhone 4 models as offered by AT&T.

Apple's pricing for the iPhone 3GS does not appear to have changed in any other countries, where the company's online stores sell iPhones only at unsubsidized prices, suggesting that the U.S.-only move is likely an action by AT&T to boost its subsidy for the iPhone 3GS and thus more aggressively target the low end of the market unreachable by Verizon and its iPhone 4.

Apple retail stores held staff meetings this weekend to unveil a major new policy. 9to5Mac reports that Apple will be eliminating restocking fees at their Apple Retail stores.

Typically, when you return an opened product to an Apple Store you will be charged a 10% restocking fee. Well, come Tuesday, this will all be in the past as Apple is cutting restocking fees from their retail chain.

Meanwhile Apple will also begin offering personal Mac setup.

When you purchase a Mac at an Apple Retail store an employee will help you setup your e-mail accounts, walk you through the Mac App Store, setup an iTunes account for you, and show you the basic pointers of owning a Mac. Some stores will even have dedicated Mac setup stations.

Apple has previously offered personal setup for iOS devices, but is now extending this service for Macs, as well.

Both changes should help streamline purchasing and setup for new Mac owners. Apple has previously been charging a 10% restocking fee for Mac products. The changes are expected to kick on starting on Tuesday, January 11th.

As we approach the Tuesday Verizon press conference, a few more details about the Verizon iPhone have been leaking. Reuters reported that the expected ship date for the Verizon iPhone.

Verizon Wireless, the top U.S. mobile provider, plans on Tuesday to unveil a version of the Apple Inc iPhone for its service and will kick off sales of the device a few weeks later, a source told Reuters.

Reuters says the iPhone will be offered under Verizon's existing service plans.

The Wall Street Journal clarifies and says that Verizon will be offering unlimited data plans:

Verizon Wireless will offer unlimited data plans when it starts selling the iPhone, a person familiar with the matter said, providing a key means of distinguishing its service from rival AT&T Inc.

Such a move would make Verizon's offering more appealing than AT&T's who recently capped their data plans for iPhone users. AT&T's present offerings include 200MB and 2GB capped plans with additional charges for overages. The unlimited data plan is no longer an option for new AT&T customers. Verizon has also been an advocate of moving from Unlimited to tiered data plans, but it seems for now they will be using the unlimited plan as a competitive advantage.

Verizon is hosting a media even on Tuesday, January 11th and is widely expected to introduce a Verizon-compatible iPhone.

iCADE for iPad

A number of accessories for Apple products were on display at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show this week. Among them were a few unique products, with the iCADE by ION Audio as one of the most notable items among these. The iCADE is a miniature arcade game controller accessory for the iPad.

The iCADE was first conceptualized by Thinkgeek and unveiled on April Fool's day last year and ION partnered with the retailer to develop and bring the product to market. The iCADE provides an analog interface for gameplay through a joystick and buttons, connecting to the iPad via Bluetooth.

iCADE has also partnered with game developer Atari to offer several games, including Asteroids, along with the iCADE. ION has announced that the iCADE will be available in the spring and will be priced at $99.

Magic Charger

On the more practical end of the spectrum, Mobee Technology was on hand to showcase its Magic Charger, an inductive charging accessory for Apple's Magic Mouse. The Magic Charger is comprised of a replacement battery pack and bottom plate for the Magic Mouse and a charging base. Once installed, the Magic Charger's battery pack allows the Magic Mouse to be charged by simply placing it on the included charging base.

The Magic Charger is priced at $49 and can be ordered directly from Mobee and is expected to be available at Apple retail stores soon.

Digg founder Kevin Rose today noted that he has received information from a reliable source indicating that Apple will announce the second-generation iPad within the next 3-4 weeks, possibly on February 1st.

I have it on good authority that Apple will be announcing the iPad 2 in the next "3-4 weeks", possibly Tuesday February 1st. The iPad 2 will feature a retina display and front/back cameras.

In an update to the post, however, Rose notes that another source has indicated that while the display on the second-generation iPad will be of higher resolution than on the current models, it will not be a "Retina" display of the resolution seen on the iPhone 4 and fourth-generation iPod touch. A number of observers have noted that an iPad display at "Retina" pixel densities would be extremely difficult to achieve given the horsepower necessary to drive a display in the range of 2560 x 1920 pixels as would be required.

Rose has offered some accurate information over the years, most notably pinpointing a number of details of Apple's September 2008 iPod refresh. He has missed on several other predictions, however, suggesting that some caution should be taken with his most recent claims.

Rumors of a new iPad announcement come as Verizon is reportedly set to announce next Tuesday that it will begin offering the iPhone, with several reports pointing to an early February date for availability. It is unknown when the second-generation iPad would become available under the scenario of a February 1st introduction, although many observers assume it will be close to the late March-early April timeframe of the original iPad.

In case there was any doubt, The Wall Street Journal confirms that the Verizon Media Event on January 11th will feature the long rumored Verizon iPhone.

The largest U.S. wireless carrier will say Tuesday that Apple Inc.'s iPhone will be available to its subscribers, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The Wall Street Journal offers no additional details about when the Verizon iPhone will become available to the public.

Meanwhile, Gizmodo notes that they have not been invited to the event, despite having a good relationship with Verizon.

Here's what's key: We're great friends with Verizon. (Hi guys!) We've worked with them for years, and we've been to like every event they've had over the last three years. We haven't gotten an invite. Which is weird. We've reached out to Verizon to see why, exactly, we weren't invited, but we've gotten no comment yet. (Update: Verizon's official response is a big ol' no comment.)

Due to the iPhone 4 leak, Gizmodo has been blacklisted from Apple's media events, further suggesting that this is a joint Apple-Verizon event.

Update: All Things Digital reports that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is likely to be present at Tuesday's media event.

While the appearance isn't 100 percent assured, sources in position to know tell me that, barring any unforseen circumstances, Jobs will likely join McAdam onstage in New York when he announces the addition of the iPhone to its handset line-up.

The Loop reports that Verizon has just issued invitations for a media event set to be held in New York City next Tuesday, January 11th. The topic of the event is unknown, but speculation of course centers around a possible introduction of the iPhone on the carrier, although most observers have been expecting that such an introduction would be made at an Apple media event given the company's penchant for secrecy.

Verizon Wireless on Friday sent an invitation to select press to attend a special event on January 11, 2011.

The Verizon event will be held in New York and while it doesn't mention anything about Apple this could be the Verizon iPhone. Typically, Apple's special events are held on the company's campus in Cupertino, Calif.

The January 11th date for the Verizon media event matches a report from yesterday about a Verizon iPhone introduction, although that report indicated that it would be an Apple event.

A separate report today claims that evidence is pointing to a February 3rd launch date for a major new Apple product, presumed to be the Verizon iPhone. Given Apple's history of product releases, an official introduction would be expected in the very near future in order to meet that launch date.

Update: Sources have indicated to All Things Digital that the event is in fact the Verizon iPhone introduction.

No details on its focus, but sources close to the company tell me this will indeed prove to be the long-rumored Verizon iPhone announcement. Question now is will Apple CEO Steve Jobs join Verizon president and COO Lowell McAdam onstage to make it.

Update 2: Gizmodo has been conspicuously not invited to the event, offering further proof that this is an Apple-backed event.

Beyond Apple's announcement this morning revealing total downloads of over one million on the Mac App Store's first day of business, we've been curious about the performance of individual applications debuting with the store's launch and have followed up with a couple of developers to get a sense of how things are going.

At the high end of the scale, we spoke with David Frampton of Majic Jungle Software, the developer responsible for Chopper 2, which currently ranks #2 on the "Top Paid" chart behind Angry Birds. Chopper 2 is currently priced at $0.99, 80% off of its planned stable pricing, in order to make a splash with the Mac App Store's debut.

Riding the momentum of discounted pricing and an established fan base from the original Chopper for Mac and successful Chopper and Chopper 2 games for iOS, Frampton tells us that Chopper 2 for Mac saw nearly 30,000 copies purchased through the Mac App Store yesterday. Accounting for Apple's 30% cut of Mac App Store revenue means that Majic Jungle Software brought in a little over $20,000 yesterday.

Chopper 2's performance is obviously not the norm for most developers, however, so we took a look at a few apps from other developers lower down on the charts, as documented in a thread in the Unity forums. Out of approximately 220 paid games currently available on the Mac App Store, here are some first day sales units and revenues, as well as ranks on Apple's "Top Grossing" list for games:

- 4x4 Offroad Racing ($3.99): 93 units sold for a total of $371, ranked #76
- Bubble Bang ($2.99): 17 units sold for a total of $51, ranked #150
- Light Quest ($9.99): 3 units sold for a total of $30, ranked #173
- Bubblez ($2.99): 7 units sold for a total of $21, unranked (not in top 180)

As we noted yesterday, we've been curious about whether the Mac App Store will experience a similar "race to the bottom" in pricing as seen on the iOS App Store. And in the store's second day of business, we're already seeing developers cut prices on some of these low-performing applications in an attempt to stimulate sales, as Chimp Studios reports that it has slashed the price of Light Quest from $9.99 to $4.99 in hopes of generating interest as the market begins to take shape.

In considering the performance of the Mac App Store, it is important to keep in mind that Apple maintains a Mac OS X installed base of about 50 million, with not all machines running Mac OS Snow Leopard and even many Snow Leopard users undoubtedly yet to install the Mac OS X 10.6.6 update required for Mac App Store compatibility. In contrast, Apple's iOS App Store is well-entrenched with a two-and-a-half year history and over 125 million devices sold.

Boy Genius Report claims to have heard that the vacation blackout being imposed on Apple's retail store employees has been narrowed down to February 3rd-6th in several regions of the United Sates, suggesting that a major launch is scheduled for that weekend.

BGR has confirmed with a source close to Apple that the company has blacked out employee vacation requests between February 3rd and February 6th - Thursday through Sunday. The four-day vacation freeze has been confirmed to be in effect in several regions in the United States. A recent report suggested the vacation black-out would cover a period of three weeks beginning in late January and extending into February, which still could be true in some regions.

The report's source has not confirmed that the Verizon iPhone is in fact the device apparently being launched in that timeframe, although it certainly seems to be the most likely candidate at this time, and the apparent Thursday debut at the front of that window is a common day of the week for Verizon product launches.

In addition to Apple's vacation blackout, we've received a couple of tips claiming that Verizon is also imposing a vacation blackout in early February, although those claims remain unconfirmed.

Apple today announced that the Mac App Store saw over one million downloads in its first day of business yesterday, marking a successful debut for the marketplace that currently offers over 1,000 free and paid applications for Mac OS X Snow Leopard users.

Apple today announced that over one million apps have been downloaded from the Mac App Store in the first day. With more than 1,000 free and paid apps, the Mac App Store brings the revolutionary App Store experience to the Mac, so you can find great new apps, buy them using your iTunes account, download and install them in just one step.

"We're amazed at the incredible response the Mac App Store is getting," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Developers have done a great job bringing apps to the store and users are loving how easy and fun the Mac App Store is."

In its press release, Apple also invites other developers to join the Mac App Store, laying out the store's terms that see developers receiving 70% of revenue for apps sold through the store, with no hosting fees and no fees for free applications. More information on Apple's Mac Developer Program is available through Apple's dedicated developer site.

Boxee, the start-up company that develops media center software for multiple platforms, provided a sneak peek at its upcoming iPad app at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show this week. The iPad app will allow users to view videos on the go and send content to a Boxee device. Also, it allows users to stream a video directly from their Mac or PC in a variety of formats including those that aren't natively supported on the iPad. It accomplishes this through Boxee media server software running on the computer that automatically transcodes video to the iPad.

Boxee's CEO and co-founder, Avner Ronen, describes the app in the company's blog:

[The Boxee iPad app] enables you to access videos from your Watch Later list as well as from your Feed (stuff shared from Facebook / Twitter), and staying true to Boxee roots also enables you to stream videos directly to the iPad from your PC/Mac (without requiring you to sync).

Cult of Mac recorded a demo of an early version of the app in action:

Boxee's first foray into the App Store was in early 2009 when the company released a remote control app [App Store] for the iPhone and iPod touch that can control the Boxee application on a computer via Wi-Fi.

A release date for the iPad app has not yet been announced though the company hopes to release it by the spring. The App will be free, and Boxee reports on its blog that the company will be exploring an iPhone and iPod touch version in the future.

Tw.Apple.Pro has published some design drawings which they believe to be for the next generation iPhone. The drawings aren't particularly revealing but they draw comparisons to the leaked iPhone parts video that was posted earlier this week.

That video was removed from YouTube at the demand of Apple, suggesting the contents were legitimate. The video showed that the break points in the frame between the two antennas have been moved to different locations, indicating that the antenna design has been tweaked despite a very similar overall appearance for the new iPhone.