MacRumors

Research firm IDC today announced the debut of its Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker, offering a look at unit shipment data and market share numbers for devices such as the iPad and Amazon's Kindle. While the data included in the initial release is from the third quarter of 2010 and thus is a bit dated, it reveals that Apple held 87.4% of the worldwide media tablet market (distinct from the eReader market in which the Kindle competes) during the quarter.

- Apple definitively led the worldwide media tablet market in shipments and set the standard for technology innovation in 2010, with nearly 4.2 million units shipped in 3Q10 and an 87.4% share worldwide.

- During 3Q10 a handful of tier 2 and tier 3 vendors shipped media tablets based primarily on Android 2.1 and 2.2. In 4Q10, Samsung's introduction of the Galaxy Tab brought the first tier 1 device vendor to the Android media tablet market. Media tablet market growth is expected to accelerate significantly in 1Q11 with new products from multiple high-profile device vendors, including Motorola's Xoom, based on Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), and RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook based on BlackBerry Tablet OS.

In addition to dominating the "media tablet" market, the iPad's estimated 4.2 million units also compare favorably to sales of eReaders, where Amazon's Kindle easily topped the market with 45% share on just 1.14 million units shipped during the quarter.

IDC, which also tracks shipments of computers and phones on a quarterly basis, notes that it defines "media tablets" as those tablet devices with screen sizes ranging from 5- to 14-inches and running "lightweight" operating systems such as iOS and Android. The category is differentiated from "tablet PCs" that run full PC operating systems on x86 architecture on one end and the single-purpose eReaders on the other end.

Apple's stock opened for trading at $327.05 per share this morning, down over 5% from its close on Friday, with the dip clearly related to Steve Jobs' announcement that he will be taking a new medical leave of absence from the company. The stock has been rebounding in the few minutes the market has been open for trading, however, and currently sits at about $336 per share, or down 3.5%.

Apple appears to have strategically released the news of Jobs' leave yesterday morning on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a U.S. holiday when the stock markets would be closed and would give investors a day to absorb the news before making moves with their holdings of the company's stock. Apple's stock was being traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange yesterday, closing down about 6.6% and offering observers an expectation of what would happen this morning.

Another factor likely playing into Apple's timeframe for announcing Jobs' leave is the company's quarterly earnings announcement scheduled for after the close of the market today. Apple is widely expected to beat analyst estimates, performance that could offer the company's stock a lift to at least partially offset today's decline on Jobs' health worries. We'll have full coverage of the earnings release and accompanying conference call, where analysts are certain to question Apple executives seeking to learn more about how the company will be run during Jobs' absence and when we might expect him to return.

Update: As of 1:30 PM Eastern Time, Apple's share price has climbed back up to $343 per share, down only 1.5% for the day.

Update 2: Apple's share price close regular trading for the day at $340.65, down 2.25%. Apple's earnings release is forthcoming, and the stock will likely move relatively significantly in extended trading following the release.

The newest next-generation iPad case designs from Chinese accessory manufacturers show off two additional openings that haven't been seen before. The images above (via MIC Gadget and AppleInsider) reveal a left-upper slot and a top-middle slot that were not found on previously leaked designs.

A recent report from Engadget claimed that the new iPad will have an SD card slot. The most likely location for that seems to be the top-left (shown above) opposite the current volume buttons. Meanwhile, the top slot is more of a mystery, though the above articles both speculate that it could be the right size for a video output such as mini DisplayPort.

While it's hard to get excited over the growing number of case designs coming out of China, what struck our eye was that the two ports match up exactly to a leaked design document from December. Those images also have the distinction of being forcibly taken down upon legal demand, suggesting that there may have been some legitimacy to them.

DigiTimes reports that Taiwanese manufacturer Pegatron has recently bumped its production plans for the CDMA iPhone to 12-15 million units for 2011, up from earlier plans for 10 million units.

Taiwan-based notebook maker Pegatron Technology has recently started shipping its Apple CDMA iPhones orders with total volume is estimated to be around 12-15 million units in 2011, helping to cover the company's notebook manufacturing business, which has recently suffered loss of orders, according to sources from upstream component makers.

As we noted last week, the CDMA iPhone is expected to quickly make its way to a number of countries around the world, despite Verizon in the United States being the only CDMA carrier so far to announce availability. Reports on CDMA iPhone production have indicated that Pegatron is shipping units for international markets, while Foxconn is handling CDMA iPhone production for the United States.

A pair of reports last October had indicated that Foxconn and Pegatron would be splitting the CDMA iPhone 4 manufacturing load roughly equally, with Foxconn at the time planning for 15 million units in 2011 while Pegatron targeted 10 million units of its own. With Pegatron having raised its target in recent weeks, total CDMA iPhone production for 2011 is now pegged at up to 30 million units.

Apple is widely expected to introduce a fifth-generation iPhone around the middle of this year, with most observers assuming that it will be available in both GSM and CDMA versions. Consequently, manufacturers' plans are likely accounting for production of both iPhone 4 and the unreleased "iPhone 5".

Apple's early November announcement that it will discontinue its Xserve line of rackmountable servers at the end of this month has caused turmoil among the product's fans, while Steve Jobs has suggested that poor sales were the reason for the decision. But in a follow-up report today, Hardmac claims that the Xserve discontinuation may only be the beginning of a move by Apple to pare down its storage- and server-focused offerings.

According to our sources, the discontinuation of the Xserve by Apple would be only the beginning of an overhaul, which would lead to the disappearance of some professional-orented activities.

Xsan and Final Cut server could be among the programs being discontinued, as Apple's management would be wondering whether to continue to develop and support them in the future.

Looking even further down the line, the report claims that Apple could opt to do away with its Mac OS X Server releases entirely, although the company is still expected to release a server version of Mac OS X Lion later this year.

Three Guys and a Podcast claims that Apple is working to merge its iTunes application into its Safari browser later this year, creating a single application for browsing web and media content.

Apple may be preparing a massive move that will propel Safari from niche browser to market leader. The move to merge Safari and iTunes into one software solution appears long in the works, which may arrive this fall at Apple's usual iPod special event.

According to the report, one reason for the push is to boost Safari's market share among Internet browsers, where Apple has yet to crack the 5% mark. Tying iTunes into Safari, it is argued, would likely bring a significant boost to the company's share of the browser market as consumers turn to the integrated environment.

It is believed that Safari will be the only browser able to access iTunes, as iTunes is built into the browser itself. "Moving iTunes organizational side-bar into Safari isn't a monumental task" claimed a source, adding "Safari would skyrocket in use as a result of integrating the software titles together."

We are highly skeptical of the claim for a number of reasons, including significant reservations due to the rumor's source, which has in the past appeared to base its claims on significant amounts of speculation.

Despite the fact that the launch of News Corp.'s tablet-focused news publication has reportedly been pushed back by a few weeks from its rumored introduction next week and with the prospect of a joint Steve Jobs-Rupert Murdoch media event now apparently off the table with Jobs' medical leave of absence, The Daily is still being looked to as a model for Apple's plans with respect to recurring subscription billing for magazine and newspaper content.

The New York Times takes a look at magazine and newspaper subscriptions for the iPad, and how publishers continue to be frustrated by the lack of such options for their subscribers and Apple's insistence regarding control over subscriber information.

One publisher that seems to have been granted favored-nation status is the News Corporation, which is developing The Daily, an original iPad newspaper. The Daily will be sold through Apple as a recurring subscription, meaning subscribers will be automatically billed a small fee - expected to be about $1 a week - to receive the publication on their iPads every day. The development of the subscription software was said to be the reason The Daily's debut was pushed back.

The report notes that other publications are expected to have a similar arrangement with Apple for subscription-based billing on the iPad, but no such deals have yet been struck with Cond Nast, Hearst or Time Inc., three of the major publishers with existing presences on the App Store.

Also on the topic of The Daily, Ad Age plays to its focus on advertising in noting that the publication has lined up an impressive list of launch sponsors coming in with support at flat-fee rates rather than any flavor of impression-based pricing.

But one thing has fallen into place for The Daily: an impressive array of launch sponsors, including Macy's, Verizon Wireless, Land Rover, Pepsi Max and Virgin America, according to people close to those deals. In addition to sponsoring the project, they'll help The Daily get off the ground by offering incentives for their customers to download the app, such as frequent flyer miles from Virgin America.

But while The Daily will be iPad-exclusive at launch, the publication is expected to move to other platforms over time, and the publication is keeping a more flexible approach to advertising by eschewing Apple's iAd platform in favor of selling and serving ad content through mobile ad firm Medialets.

The close association with Apple does not mean The Daily will be taking iAds; rather, all advertising on The Daily will be sold directly and served through New York-based mobile ad company Medialets, which is providing the technology for the ads as well as the metrics back to advertisers.

Contrary to numerous previous claims of The Daily being priced at 99 cents per week, Ad Age claims that the publication will cost 99 cents per day after a two-week trial period, with fresh news content being pushed to subscribers throughout the day.

Apple today issued a media advisory revealing that Steve Jobs has been granted a "medical leave of absence" from the company. Jobs plans to continue serving as CEO, although Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook will oversee Apple's day to day operations during Jobs' absence.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs today sent the following email to all Apple employees:

Team,

At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health. I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for all of Apple's day to day operations. I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011.

I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy.

Steve

No timetable for his expected return has been given.

Jobs had previously suffered from pancreatic cancer and had reportedly been cured of the disease back in 2004. But Jobs announced in January 2009 that he would be taking a six-month leave of absence for medical reasons. It was later revealed that he received a liver transplant during that time.

Update: The New York Times reports on a source claiming that Jobs has been suffering from "ups and downs" typical of those dealing with immune system issues related to liver transplants, but that Jobs had recently scaled back his activities at Apple as one of those down cycles began in recent weeks.

Mr. Jobs suffers from immune system issues common with people who have received liver transplants and, as a result, his health suffers from frequent "ups and downs," according to a person with knowledge of the situation, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss it.

In recent weeks, Mr. Jobs began a down cycle and slowed his activities at Apple, the person said. Mr. Jobs has been coming to the office about two days a week, and appeared increasingly emaciated, the person said. He frequently lunched in his office, rather than in the company cafeteria, the person said.

iPhone and iPad parts vendors have been a big source of leaks for Apple's upcoming devices. MacRumors reader @Frafoso has found a couple of very interesting parts on the website of GlobalDirectParts.

Notably, GlobalDirectParts is the same company that posted a video showing "iPhone 5 parts". That video was taken down at the request of Apple. While the parts were said to represent the iPhone 5, they were a mostly accurate representation of the Verizon iPhone that was announced just weeks later.

The first part listed is the "iPad 2 LCD Screen" which is "out of stock" but is listed for a price of $218.19. For comparison, the company also sells the original iPad screen for only $63.35. We can't tell for sure when the part appeared on their site, but the image appears to have been uploaded this weekend after the 2048x1536 rumors broke.

Based on GlobalDirectParts' old price lists, they sold the original iPad LCD for $144.99 in June of last year. This means the $218.19 iPad 2 part represents a more expensive part, even when considering prices at launch.

The next interesting part is an iPad Vibrating Motor. No photo is provided, but it's a curious part since the iPad currently has no vibrating motor. It's possible this is simply a mislabeled iPhone part, but does raise the possibility of the feature making its way into the next iPad.

Finally, the site also displays a White iPad on its Apple iPad 2 Parts page. The image is simply a thumbnail, and is believed to be from a concept image (thanks @markgurman).

With the rumors of a 2048x1536 high resolution screen for the iPad 2, one question that has emerged is what graphics processing unit (GPU) can adequately power the device. AppleInsider claims that the new iPad (and iPhone 5) will use a dual-core SGX543 GPU from Imagination Technologies.

A source familiar with Apple's graphics strategy says the company will not only be upgrading its video core, but also going to multiple cores, a feature that is designed into the SGX543 design. The most likely configuration of Apple's next custom chip is reportedly the SGX543MP2, which pairs two SGX543 cores to work as one, offering around four times the capability of the previous A4 in graphics and video tasks.

We had previously revealed that the latest iOS 4.3 beta SDK had drivers for the new SGX543 GPU, so it should be no surprise that it is the most likely contender to be the next GPU for the iPad. Meanwhile, when it was first announced it was billed as a very capable multi-core chip:

In other words, the SGX543 can have any number of cores from two to sixteen with no change in the driver software or the application. All that complex data/pipeline/thread management is done in hardware. No muss, no fuss.

If Apple indeed is pursuing a very high resolution screen for their iPad 2, it makes sense that they will also have to comparable upgrade the underlying horsepower of the device. Meanwhile, another rumor had pegged Apple's new A5 CPU to also be a multi-core chip.

A number of observers have noted that three new iPad offerings appeared on Best Buy's site today, with all three models described as "APPLE COMPUTER INC. - APPLE IPAD SKU WIFI" and availability listed as "coming soon". Curiously, two of the models carry price tags of $599.99, while the third comes in at $699.99.

No other information beyond the scant details included on the product pages is available, and thus it is unclear if these listings are intended to reflect second-generation iPad models, some sort of internal SKU shift on existing models, or perhaps simply an error on Best Buy's part.

Best Buy's inventory database is a relatively unreliable source of information on future product releases, as the company has in the past sometimes used existing rumors to create placeholder entries in anticipation of forthcoming product releases. The company has, however, on occasion included legitimate details on unreleased products in its database, most notably with an unspecified "mobile computing" device that appeared in May 2009 and turned out to be an updated MacBook announced by Apple two days later.

Update: Best Buy has removed the three new entries from its site.

There's been a lot of talk about a "Retina" display for the next generation iPad due from Apple in the coming months, but it hasn't been completely clear what resolution the iPad's "Retina" display would be. Based on Apple's marketing efforts for the original "Retina" display, it would suggest a DPI (dots per inch) greater than 300 to exceed the abilities of the human eye.

A more practical approach would simply be doubling the resolution of the current iPad (1024x768) to 2048x1536 at a 260 DPI. While not quite a "Retina" display, it would follow with Apple's efforts to avoid fragmenting their product line. From a developer's perspective, the doubling of an existing resolution is much easier to support. Apple similarly doubled the iPhone's resolution from 480x320 to 960x640 when they introduced the iPhone 4. Like on the iPhone 4, older apps can will simply run pixel-doubled while native apps will take advantage of the full resolution of the new screens.

Based on some findings by @StroughtonSmith by way of @Xuzz on Twitter, it seems Apple is going to take this pixel-doubled approach again for the iPad 2. These icons were also previously found in August.

Version 1.1 of Apple's iBooks application seems to have accidentally included some artwork for this hypothetical pixel-doubled iPad. As shown above, the App's bookmark icon included versions for the iPad, the iPhone and the iPhone Retina Display (iPhonex2). It, however, also included one additional version labeled "iPadx2". Sure enough, this is exactly double the resolution version of the iPad icon and is distinct from the other versions. The most likely explanation for this added graphic is plans for a double-resolution iPad. Apple has since removed this extra artwork in subsequent versions of iBooks.

Based on this information, and persistent rumors of a higher resolution iPad 2, we believe the next iPad will have a 2048x1536 screen resolution. It would also explain why Apple would have to upgrade the GPU on the new devices to drive this higher resolution.

Update: Rafeed.me points out another "x2" iPad graphic found in iBooks 1.2.

See the Wood Tile@2x.png below. It's current dimensions are 1536x800 pixels. For comparison, the previous Wood Tile.png in iBooks 1.1 was a mere 768x400 pixels.

Update 2: Several commenters note that the "Retina" definition is based on a specific distance the device is being held from your eye. Since an iPad display would likely be held farther from your face, it would require a lower DPI to achieve the same effect.

Engadget claims to have some details about the upcoming iPad 2, iPhone 5 and next generation Apple TV.

The iPad 2 details are close to what has been reported. This includes a "super high resolution" screen that is akin to the iPhone 4's Retina Display. The physical screen size is said to remain the same but will feature both front and rear cameras. One somewhat new piece of information they do provide is that they claim that the new iPad will carry an SD card slot. There had been talk and speculation about an SD card slot based on some of the earlier circulating case designs, but no real definitive statements.

Meanwhile, Engadget also claims that Apple will start transitioning their communication chipsets to those produced by Qualcomm. The move will allow for Apple to support dual-modes allowing for both Verizon and AT&T compatibility in the same hardware model. This chipset change will also advance to the iPhone 5, again allowing a single hardware model to work across both Verizon and AT&T. Right now, Apple is producing two distinct iPhone 4s to support both CDMA (Verizon) and GSM (AT&T) modes.

The iPhone 5 is said to be "completely redesigned" with an expected launch in the summer. One major upgrade will be a Cortex A9-based multicore processor (to be dubbed the Apple A5). The current Apple A4 processor is a single-core Cortex A8 processor. This faster processor will also make its way into the next generation Apple TV.

When it comes to the graphics performance on Apple's iOS devices, the company has been sticking with the powerful POWERVR SGX535 GPU from Imagination Technologies for quite some time, introducing it on the iPhone 3GS and carrying it through into the company's own A4 system-on-chip designs for the brains of the iPad and iPhone 4. But hints included in the new iOS 4.3 beta seeded to developers earlier this week indicate that Apple may be preparing to move to Imagination Technologies' next-generation GPU architecture with the SGX543 on future devices.

Introduced for licensing in January 2009, the SGX543 appears to only just now be coming ready for inclusion in mobile devices, and the new iOS 4.3 beta SDK includes references to a driver bundle supporting the graphics processor core.

The SGX543 is said to deliver performance of 35 million polygons per second and a filtrate of 1 billion pixels per second when running at 200 MHz, compared to 28 million polygons per second and a filtrate of 500 million pixels for the SGX535 running at the same clock speed. In addition, the SGX543 offers support for the Apple-backed OpenCL specification that allows applications to harness untapped potential of both CPUs and GPUs for processing purposes. Finally, the SGX543 support multi-core configurations allowing for even greater performance.

Aspyr Media, the company responsible for the porting of a number of Windows games to the Mac platform, has taken the notable step of embracing Apple's Mac App Store, potentiality leading the way for a surge in gaming interest that could drive growth on the new app marketplace. For its debut, Aspyr is offering Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Civilization IV: Colonization, two notable titles from the company's library of games. Aspyr has told us that it is planning to bring "many" of its titles to the Mac App Store, although some of its games do not meet Apple's current requirements for Mac App Store offerings and will thus be unable to make the transition in the immediate future.

Call of Duty 4 made its debut on the Mac platform in September 2008, but remains a popular first-person shooter title among Mac gamers. Weighing in at a massive 6.85 GB in the Mac App Store, Call of Duty 4 offers players an immersive gameplay environment and a well-regarded storyline.

Featuring a tense storyline, filled with plot twists, Call of Duty 4 thrusts players into battle like never before. With amazing special effects, including rim-lighting, depth of field, texture streaming and character self-shadowing, players are enlisted into one of the most photo-realistic gaming experiences imaginable.

The community-oriented Call of Duty 4 multiplayer gameplay features a robust leveling system, variety of unlockable perks, hot-join and matchmaking, as well as create a class and party capabilities to ensure that players of all skill levels can join in the fun. Additionally over 100 challenges and a host of new game environments and modes deliver unlimited possibilities. Infinity Ward has also included Kill-Cam, a fan favorite feature that they created in Call of Duty 2, which allows for spectator instant replays.

Civilization IV: Colonization is an updated remake of the original 1994 Colonization turn-based strategy game, with the Mac version of the new game having seen its first release in January 2010.

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization is the fifth offering in the award winning Civilization IV series for the Macintosh. A re-imagining of the classic Colonization strategy game Sid Meier created in 1994, this provides a new game experience in which you lead a European nation on a quest to colonize the thrive in the New World. Explore, trade, fight, and guide your people from the oppressive motherland. Ultimately you can battle for your freedom and independence!

One issue with the two new releases may turn out to be pricing, with Call of Duty 4 going for $49.99 on the Mac App Store. While this is below the standard $54.99 list price for the game, boxed copies of the Mac version of the game are currently going for only $32.56 on Amazon, although some users may prefer the instant access and easy installation on multiple machines permitted with Mac App Store purchases. Civilization IV: Colonization is currently priced at its standard list price of $29.99 in the Mac App Store, but Aspyr itself is currently offering the title at a promo price of $23.96 through its own GameAgent store and Amazon is offering boxed copies for $19.27.

Aspyr and other developers are of course subject to Apple's policies of taking a 30% cut of revenue from Mac App Store sales, making it more difficult for developers to match pricing found through other channels such as Amazon that take smaller profits. But the convenience of the Mac App Store's purchasing, installation, and updating capabilities may serve to draw in users and help drive the growth of the gaming market within the store.

Update: Call of Duty 4 is currently the top-grossing game on the Mac App Store, beating out the popular Angry Birds. Civilization IV: Colonization currently ranks as the fourth-highest grossing game.

Earlier this week, we shared some highlights from a Bloomberg interview with Verizon President Lowell McAdam that offered a glimpse of some of the behind-the-scenes dealings that led to the carrier announcing that it will begin offering the iPhone next month.

In a similar interview with outgoing Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg, Bloomberg Businessweek reveals a few more details of interest about the history of Verizon's relationship with Apple. Most notably, Seidenberg reveals that Apple was solely focused on GSM technology for the original iPhone and had absolutely no interest in also producing a CDMA version for the initial launch, meaning that Verizon was "never in the running" to partner with Apple back in 2007 when AT&T won exclusive rights for the iPhone in the United States.

It all started with Apple (AAPL), and Apple decided that it wanted one carrier in every major market. So Apple and AT&T consummated a deal three years ago. And because Apple was more focused on a single technology - the GSM technology - they chose AT&T. We had good discussions with them, but it was clear to us that they weren't looking to make a device for both sets of technologies.

The comments seem to dispute a report from around the time of the original iPhone's introduction claiming that Apple and Verizon had been in talks but that Verizon had rejected Apple's demand that it receive a share of monthly service fees, a demand that AT&T accepted for a time before the two companies reworked their relationship to eliminate monthly fee revenue sharing and move to the more traditional subsidized hardware business model.

Seidenberg also notes in the new interview that both he and McAdam had periodically called up and visited with Steve Jobs and Apple COO Tim Cook to talk about a possible iPhone on Verizon, suggesting that Verizon had long been extremely interested in the iPhone. The comments support a statement made by Seidenberg in October 2009 noting that the decision regarding a Verizon iPhone was "exclusively in Apple's court" and April 2010 remarks sharing that Verizon had explicitly asked Apple for the right to carry the iPhone.

In the new interview, Seidenberg also touts Verizon's wide array of businesses, from Internet backbone to FiOS residential service to 4G wireless networks, that will allow the company to serve video and other content to customers wherever they are. Citing an estimate that 90% of Internet traffic within five years will be video-related, Seidenberg suggests that Verizon is well-positioned for the coming wave and in an excellent position to continue working with Apple.

Apple today issued a media alert announcing details for next Tuesday's release of its financial results for the first fiscal quarter of 2011, corresponding to the fourth calendar quarter of 2010. The results will be released after the close of Tuesday's trading at approximately 4:30 PM Eastern / 1:30 PM Pacific. Apple's conference call discussing the results will follow at 2:00 PM Pacific and will be available via a live audio webcast. MacRumors will provide running coverage of the conference call highlights.

Apple's first fiscal quarter of 2011 was relatively quiet when it came to new product introductions after a busy previous quarter. The only notable product introduction during the quarter leading up to and including the holiday season was the revamped MacBook Air that saw a new, sleeker design, flash-only storage, and an 11.6-inch model joining the previously-existing 13.3-inch size.

For the quarter, analysts are predicting net earnings of $5.36 per share on revenue of $24.34 billion, above Apple's guidance of $4.80 profit per share on $23 billion of revenue. Apple's year-ago results for the first fiscal quarter of 2010 included net earnings of $3.67 per share on revenue of $15.68 billion.