MacRumors

iPhone cases have always been a very popular accessory amongst readers, but has gained even more attention with the iPhone 4 as it can help alleviate some of signal issues you might encounter.

Our iPhone accessories forum has been active with photos and user reviews of the current options. iLounge, however, has taken a more formal approach to reviewing the early iPhone 4 cases and has posted some first impressions. Unfortunately, early case designs can have problems as Apple does not share upcoming product device dimensions with accessory manufacturers before the official announcement. As a result, most of the early in-store case designs were based on the rumored iPhone 4 specs. According to iLounge, this shows:

Developers really rushed out the first handful of cases in order to get early options into AT&T and Best Buy stores, and in some cases are going back and fixing problems they discovered only after the iPhone 4 became available. Issues with the iPhone 4 flash have been most widely discussed, particularly in cases from iFrogz that have mysteriously not arrived here for testing, but also in other cases with backs that werent cut to allow the flash enough room to fire.

Incipio was singled out as one of the manufacturers with good early cases, while iLounge felt that Apple's bumper cases weren't worth recommending at all. They point out a common issue with the bumper cases that only work with the newer slimmer connection cables that Apple has been recently shipping.

Now that accessory manufacturers have the iPhone 4 in hand, we should expect to see improved cases over time. We also hope to see some more creative accessories and add ons in time.

iFixit's teardown revealed that the iPhone 4's glass back slides right off after only removing the two bottom screws. Such a trivial replacement procedure could open the door to 3rd party replacements for the iPhone 4's back.

Clayton Morris provides some details about the App Store ranking fraud reported over the weekend. As previously reported, developer Thuat Nguyen's apps had been removed from the App Store after it became apparent that he was manipulating the App Store rankings by using compromised iTunes accounts to purchase his own apps.

Morris received confirmation from Apple that approximately 400 iTunes accounts were affected and that iTunes servers were not hacked in any way. The total number of iTunes users number about 150 million according to Morris. Apple is said to be increasing security to help minimize this fraud by asking users to enter their credit card security code more often. If not compromised at iTunes, itself, then users likely revealed the passwords inadvertently through phishing attempts, keyloggers, or easy to guess passwords.

While compromised iTunes accounts have been reported for years, this is the first reported time that a developer has tried to use them to their advantage.

Apple has updated its MobileMe iDisk application with a number of significant enhancements, most notably including a shift to a universal application to support both the iPhone/iPod touch and the iPad. In addition, the update brings multitasking support for devices running iOS 4, as well as integration of outside applications for opening documents and sharing enhancements.

- Designed for both iPhone and iPad
- Multitasking support for iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS (iOS 4 required).
* Quickly switch to another app and back to iDisk
* Play audio from your iDisk while using another app
- When app is opened, the last file or directory viewed is displayed
- Open to open iDisk documents in compatible apps such as iBooks
- When sharing a file, an email can be sent from any configured email account
- The URL for a shared file can be copied and pasted
- Various stability improvements

MobileMe iDisk was released for the iPhone and iPod touch nearly a year ago and received its first significant update in December.

Apple's iMovie application for iPhone 4 [App Store, $4.99] has also received a minor update, delivering improved reliability during exporting and a fix for an issue with music playback within a project, as well as other miscellaneous performance and reliability enhancements.

Silicon Alley Insider reports that Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has released a new research note looking at NPD's data for Mac and iPod sales for April and May. According to Munster, Apple is continuing to see strong growth of Mac sales ahead of analysts' expectations, with little cannibalization by the iPad seen so far. The iPod, however, is still underperforming relative to Wall Street expectations, although sales seem to have improved since an earlier survey covering only April's data.

Mac retail sales in the U.S. are up 37% year-over-year for the quarter through May, according to NPD Group data analyzed by Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, who just published the new data in a note.

That's better than the 19% year-over-year growth (3.1 million units) the Street is predicting for the June quarter. So unless Mac sales hit a wall in June, Apple should have some Mac upside in the June quarter, plus all the benefit of the iPad.

The earlier survey covering only April had shown Mac sales up 39% year-over-year, with the new report adding in May data showing only a slight slip in overall growth for the quarter from the earlier data, but still nearly double that currently expected by Wall Street analysts.

The iPod line is a different story, however, as the maturing product line is being overtaken in sales and publicity by the iPhone as strong sales of the iPod touch are only just struggling to offset declines in the traditional iPod segment. NPD's new data shows a decline of about 13% year-over-year in the iPod line, roughly in line with Wall Street expectations of sales of 9-10 million for the quarter and slightly worse than Munster's prediction of a 9% decline. The 13% decline marks an improvement from the April data alone, however, which showed iPod sales down 17% year-over-year. Munster also notes the NPD's data, which tracks only U.S. sales, is less reliable for iPods than Macs due to the higher mix of international sales for iPods.

Engadget reports that Apple has issued a statement on strange App Store rankings over the weekend that saw one Vietnamese developer grab nearly all of the top 50 positions in the App Store's Books category. While initial reports wondered if the App Store itself may have been hacked, in actuality it appears that a relatively small number of iTunes Store accounts compromised through other means were used to purchase the applications to drive their increase in ranking.

According to the statement released by Apple, the developer in question has been removed from the App Store for violation of the developer terms. The company also reminds users who have had their iTunes Store accounts or credit card numbers compromised to contact their financial institutions to request chargebacks and to change their passwords. Apple's statement reads:

The developer Thuat Nguyen and his apps were removed from the App Store for violating the developer Program License Agreement, including fraudulent purchase patterns.

Developers do not receive any iTunes confidential customer data when an app is downloaded.

If your credit card or iTunes password is stolen and used on iTunes we recommend that you contact your financial institution and inquire about canceling the card and issuing a chargeback for any unauthorized transactions. We also recommend that you change your iTunes account password immediately. For more information on best practices for password security visit http://www.apple.com/support/itunes.

With over 100 million iTunes Store accounts, it is inevitable that some number of accounts will be compromised through any of a variety of reasons, from random guessing of passwords to social engineering tactics such as phishing. A concerted effort could easily gather information for a very small proportion of accounts, but still offer the ability to affect rankings in low-traffic App Store categories such as Books.

In a rapidly-growing thread started in our forums over the weekend, iPhone 4 users from a number of locations around the United States have been reporting significant drops in data upload speeds on AT&T's 3G network. As noted by Gizmodo, many of these users are seeing upload speeds maxing out at only 100 kbps, far below the 1500 kbps these same users were seeing before the weekend on their HSUPA-compatible devices.

Users in several dozen metro areas scattered across the country, including Boston, New York City, Washington DC, Houston, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Seattle among others, have reported the issue. The issue does not appear to be nationwide, however, as users in a number of locations including Atlanta, Richmond, and Raleigh, as well as some customers even in markets where other users are affected, are not experiencing slow upload speeds.

A couple of posters in our forums have reported speaking with AT&T service representatives who have indicated that the company is in fact experiencing data issues in much of the country. While it is disconcerting that the issue has been affecting users for several days now, it seems likely that the holiday weekend in the United States may have slowed the company's response.

Bloomberg takes a look at Apple's new iAd platform and how the company is using its vast database of customer information to target advertising campaigns and get a leg up on Google in the mobile advertising space.

Relying on the music, videos and apps that customers are downloading from its iTunes, App Store and iBooks helps Apple sketch a behavioral profile that can be paired with appropriate promotional messages. On its website, Apple says its "standard targeting options" include demographics, application preferences, music passions, movie genre interests, television genre interests and location.

Google, which has made its search business in large part on its ability to deliver targeted ads, has similar capabilities to Apple, with its search results, email offerings, and Android platform serving as sources for customer information that it could use for targeting mobile ads. But what it doesn't have is access to Apple's ecosystem administered through the iTunes Store, a limitation that gives Apple a significant advantage on its own iOS platform that has reportedly surpassed 100 million devices sold.

Today's report points to Unilever's "Dove Men+Care" soap campaign, one of the launch iAd campaigns, as an example of Apple's iAd program in action.

Unilever, which began working with Apple in May on a campaign for its Dove Men+Care soap, is using iAd to zero in on married men who are in their late 30s and have children.

"Apple then overlays that with the iTunes information and targets quite well and quite surgically," said Rob Candelino, marketing director at Unilever, based in London and Rotterdam.

Apple doesn't share information on individuals, Candelino said. Instead, Unilever can choose to advertise in certain "buckets" of applications, such as those on news or entertainment, based on characteristics of its users.

Despite comments from Apple CEO Steve Jobs last month revealing that the company has already locked up $60 million in iAd commitments for the second half of this year, a number of questions remain about the program, ranging from privacy and antitrust concerns to worries about whether it can live up to the hype and deliver the kind of customer response advertisers are expecting and for which they are paying top dollar.

According to a new report from DigiTimes, Apple has pushed orders with its suppliers for iPad production well beyond two million units for the month of July, marking a continued increase in supplies as the company seeks to keep up with demand in existing markets as well as expand into new countries.

Apple is estimated to have outsourced 2.3-2.35 million iPads to Taiwan players in July with 58-60% for the Wi-Fi and 3G hybrid model despite Wi-Fi only models having stronger sales in the first half of 2010, Kuo noted.

It was less than a month ago that DigiTimes estimated iPad production at having ramped to 1.2 million per month, with plans to move to 2.5 million per month by the end of year. If DigiTimes' latest report is correct, Apple appears to already be approaching its planned monthly production capacity nearly six months early.

After limiting initial availability to the United States, Apple launched the iPad in an additional nine countries in late May. The company's next round of international launches, set for later this month, includes Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore.

While Apple's iPhone 4 signal loss issues have been receiving significant attention since the device's launch late last month, a number of other problems have been seeing sporadic reports, and one of the most prevalent of late has been problems with the device's proximity sensors designed to sense when the phone is held up to the user's face and deactivate the device's screen, thus preventing unintended activation of buttons on the display.

Noted early on, the topic has received considerable attention on Apple's support discussions and in our own forums (1, 2, 3), with users reporting either that the proximity sensors fail to turn off the display during calls, resulting in unintended hangups and other actions, or that the sensors failed to turn the display back on after a call, resulting in a black screen.

Macworld has summarized the effort of those seeking to address the issue, with some users reporting success with resetting some of their iPhone's settings.

Many affected users report that either a Settings reset or a hard reboot fixes their problem. One Apple support thread recommends that users open the Settings app, then go to General -> Reset, and choose "All Settings" at the top (note: this will not erase your apps, media, or other data -- that's what the "Erase All Content and Settings" button just below this option is for. "Reset All Settings" just reverts any Settings preferences you've customized back to their factory defaults). One Twitter follower, Brian Partridge, reported that AppleCare told him to just use Reset -> Reset Network Settings, not all settings, and it worked.

While many users have reported being unable to replicate the issue, suggesting that it may not be a universal fault, a significant number of users are experiencing proximity sensor-related problems. Apple has yet to comment on the issue, and it is unclear whether it is a hardware or software problem, although the majority of observers are leaning toward the software explanation. If so, users can hold out hope that a simple software update, such as that planned for the signal strength issue in the next few weeks, may be able to fix the issue.

The Financial Times offers an interesting piece highlighting the views of Lenovo CEO Liu Chuanzhi on Steve Jobs and Apple's efforts to penetrate the rapidly-growing Chinese market where Lenovo leads in PC sales with 30% of the market. In particular, Liu notes that Lenovo is lucky that Apple "doesn't care about China" or else it could see itself being "in trouble".

Speaking of Apple's chief executive, Lenovo's founder and chairman, told the Financial Times: "We are lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn't care about China. If Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, we would be in trouble."

Evidence is mounting, however, that Apple may be beginning to take the Chinese market more seriously, with the company announcing earlier this year that it plans to open up to 25 Apple retail stores in the country within the next two years. In fact, the company is planning a grand opening this weekend for its first store in Shanghai, the company's second store in the country following the Beijing store opened in time for the 2008 Summer Olympics there.

As Silicon Alley Insider points out as well, Apple executives noted during the company's most recent earnings conference call that revenue from "greater China" including Hong Kong and Taiwan totaled $1.3 billion for the first six months of fiscal year 2010, up over 200% year-over-year.

Earlier today a report on TheNextWeb claimed that the App Store had been hacked and that a rogue developer had gamed the system by artificially driving sales to their eBooks. The rise in ranks were noted by competing developers who thought the rise strange given that the books all represented poorly coded Vietnamese-based books.

A couple of reviews left on one of the books revealed that at least two customers had their iTunes accounts compromised to purchase the books. This led to theories that a widespread attack specifically tied to this developer could be the cause of the rise in ranks. Which then led to a cascade of headlines suggesting that everyone's iTunes account was suddenly vulnerable to a coordinated attack. While we do believe that this developer had been trying to game the iTunes ranking system, it's hard to believe that their efforts affected more than a few hundred accounts worldwide.

The Book category in which we found these apps (note, they've been pulled from the App Store) is one of the lowest trafficked categories in the App Store. Based on sales reports we've received from developers, the number of daily sales required to hold a book in the #10-#50 rank seems to range from 50-250 sales a day. That means that even if every sale was based on a compromised account (unlikely), the actual number of accounts involved are minuscule compared to the 100 million active iTunes accounts.

Now, on a separate note, the issue of hacked or compromised iTunes accounts is a major issue, and one not to be dismissed. However, this issue has been ongoing for years and we're not convinced there has been a major spike in activity. iTunes accounts are easy targets since they are so common. In our forums we have had a running thread on the topic since January 2008. A few reports appear every few months. There do seem to be a higher number of reports arising the past day or two of other iTunes accounts being hacked. It's certainly possible there has been an acute rise in the past few days, but the added press coverage will certainly attract more stories. Meanwhile, a blog post from 2009 similarly attracted a number of "me too" reports. The cause of the iTunes accounts to be compromised are almost certainly due to phishing attempts and the like rather than any insecurity on Apple's iTunes, itself.

It's still a good idea to make sure your accounts are safe, and especially important to make sure you have good (and different) passwords on all your sensitive accounts. Common mistakes include easy to guess passwords and shared passwords across multiple accounts.

A couple of discoveries have revealed early Mac support for the high end ATI and NVIDIA graphics cards, raising hopes that Apple will soon be updating their desktop computers. Both the Mac Pro and iMacs are overdue for product refreshes with no solid timeframe for either update.

The newly released Mac mini has revealed a new set of ATI drivers buried within its default Mac OS X installation. New Macs always have a slightly newer version of the system software installed that provides support for the new hardware. In this case, the software also revealed early support for the ATI Radeon 5 series. Some tinkerers have been able to use the software to drive an ATI Radeon 5870 on an actual Mac Pro. Meanwhile, a recent NVIDIA Driver release have shown references to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 400 series support.

For the masses, neither release is particularly useful, but does remind us that Apple's desktop line is overdue for update. There has been talk of Mac Pro updates for months, but no clear timeframe when it might happen.

Addressing yesterday's report of cloud-based iTunes streaming coming "soon", CNET's well-connected Greg Sandoval reports that things still may not be as far along as many observers would like, as music labels have reportedly yet to sign on to the deal.

While it's hard to say what Boy Genius' source meant by "soon" it's worth noting that Apple has yet to obtain necessary licenses from the top four recording companies, according to multiple music industry insiders. They added that Apple has indeed engaged in discussions with the music labels but the record execs haven't even seen all of the details yet.

The way some at the major labels see the situation, Apple could enable iTunes users to stream songs from a home computer to other gadgets without requiring new negotiation, but for Apple to stream music from the company's servers to computers and other gadgets, the labels would require CEO Steve Jobs to cut a new deal, the sources said.

The report notes that Apple could try to press the issue and roll out a cloud-based streaming service without negotiating new deals with the music labels, although it would likely find itself in court to address whether such usage is permitted under current licenses.

So, unless Apple is ready to go to war over this, don't expect an iTunes cloud service--at least one offering music--anytime soon. Music insiders say that while that the whole sector would welcome an iTunes cloud service, negotiating the licenses will likely take months.

The possibility of a cloud-based streaming service for iTunes has been a hot topic of conversation since Apple's acquisition of music streaming firm Lala Media late last year, as users look forward to the ability to access their music on a variety of Internet-connected devices without the need for manual syncing of content or significant local storage requirements.

The New York Times reports that Apple is preparing to launch a significant revamp of its television-related offerings, targeting at least a software overhaul for the company's Apple TV while an entirely new hardware product remains a possibility. According to the report's sources, Apple has recently hired a number of new user interface designers with backgrounds in television broadcast design as the company seeks to modify its iOS platform for use in the living room.

They said it was not clear whether the company would create an entirely new product as well as updating the software. They also said Apple might base a new television design on its iOS operating system, which is on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Notably, one former Apple employee reported that much of the work has been taking place outside of the company's Apple TV group, suggesting that an entirely new hardware product might be in the works.

Just over a month ago, Engadget reported that Apple is preparing a dramatic overhaul of the Apple TV hardware, planning to offer a new device "based directly on the iPhone 4" with the capability for 1080p HD output and only limited onboard storage, as the device would primarily stream media from the Internet. The revamped Apple TV was also said to be set to carry a price tag of only $99.

On a separate note, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster today released a report continuing to beat his drum predicting a future Internet-connected television from Apple. He sees the inclusion of an HDMI port on the new Mac mini and the rumors of a revamped Apple TV set-top box as part of a progression that will lead to the launch of an actual Apple television with integrated iTunes/Internet access within two to four years.

Apple today released a public statement regarding user complaints of reception issues on iPhone 4, noting that the issue is simply a software one relating to how the number of bars of signal strength displayed is calculated. The apparent significant drop in signal while touching the lower left corner is actually a result of the phone reporting too many bars while not being held.

We have discovered the cause of this dramatic drop in bars, and it is both simple and surprising.

Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don't know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.

To address the issue, Apple will be issuing a software update "within a few weeks" that will adjust how signal strength bars are calculated and displayed. The change will adopt a recently recommended formula from AT&T that will more accurately display actual signal strength at any given time. The update will also increase the size of the smaller bars (1, 2, and 3) to make them easier to see.

The update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and 3G, which are also affected by the miscalculated signal strength indicators.

We have gone back to our labs and retested everything, and the results are the same - the iPhone 4's wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. For the vast majority of users who have not been troubled by this issue, this software update will only make your bars more accurate. For those who have had concerns, we apologize for any anxiety we may have caused.

Finally, the company notes that it is allowing customers still unsatisfied with iPhone to return their device for a full refund within 30 days of purchase, provided that the phone is undamaged.

Fortune's Apple 2.0 is reporting that the latest email exchange between Steve Jobs and a customer was entirely fake, according to statements made by Apple PR.

The conversation was published Thursday by The Boy Genius Report and linked to by more than three dozen other sites. In it, a writer pretending to be Apple's CEO tries several times to mollify a customer called "Tom" who is furious about the iPhone 4's widely reported signal attenuation problem. In separate e-mail messages Jobs purportedly tells "Tom," who grows angrier with each exchange.

Boy Genius Report had originally published and vouched for the emails claiming the exchange was legitimate. Apple PR says the entire conversation was fabricated. The statements originally attributed to Steve Jobs included:

"No, you are getting all worked up over a few days of rumors. Calm down."
"You are most likely in an area with very low signal strength."
"You may be working from bad data. Not your fault. Stay tuned. We are working on it."
"Retire, relax, enjoy your family. It is just a phone. Not worth it."

Note that even before Apple PR's response, BGR had already retracted the last statement that they had originally attributed to Steve Jobs. The "Retire, relax, enjoy your family. It is just a phone. Not worth it." statement was later attributed to the customer, not Steve Jobs. Though, now it appears the entire exchange was fabricated. Adding further doubt to the motivation behind the original email poster, AppleInsider reports that the emailer had shopped the story around to several sites. It's not clear if BGR paid for the the rights to publish the story.

TechCrunch reports that Palo Alto-based iOS development firm Tapulous has been acquired by Disney. Tapulous, the company beyond the popular Tap Tap Revenge series of rhythm tapping applications, was reported last December to have a staff of 20 employees and be bringing in nearly a million dollars per month in sales.

Tapulous has been acquired by Disney. The iPhone gaming startup with several hits on its hands was founded by Bart Decrem, who will join Disney as a VP. COO Andrew Lacy is also joining Disney as a VP. Disney is very interested in social and mobile gaming, having recently invested in Playdom's $33 million round.

Long an App Store staple on the iPhone, Tapulous moved onto the iPad earlier this year with the release of Tap Tap Radiation.

The acquisition is notable not only as an example of small development firms being able to see significant enough success to appeal to major media players, but also for Disney's connection to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who is the company's largest individual shareholder.

Last week, we noted that developers had begin incorporating support for Apple's iAd mobile advertisements into updates for their applications, with a few applications starting to show placeholder banners and test ads ahead of the program's official launch on July 1st. Right on time, iAd advertisements have begun to go live, although their presence appears to be very spotty on iAd-compatible applications at the moment with banners appearing only occasionally while at other times the apps simply show blank space in the banner location.

One iAd we've run across (in Tiptitude) is for the Nissan Leaf, a forthcoming electric car set to launch in December of this year but already receiving considerable buzz and reservation interest. The ad should be no surprise, as it was demoed by Apple CEO Steve Jobs during his keynote at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference early last month.

The ad appears as a small banner in compatible applications and carries a distinctive "iAd" mark in the lower right corner for identification purposes. Tapping the ad launches a full-screen interactive experience, and users may exit the ad at any time and return to their application by clicking the "X" button at the top left of the iAd.

As with the demonstration version shown by Jobs, Nissan's official iAd offers a video and audio intro before launching into an interactive interface where users can learn more about the Nissan Leaf and register their interest in the vehicle.

Update: Nissan and ad agency Chiat/Day have released a video overview of the new Leaf iAd.