MacRumors

Last Friday marked the traditional beginning of the holiday shopping season with Black Friday, and Apple's discounts seem to have driven high traffic to its retail stores if a number of reports from research analysts are any indication.

The Wall Street Journal summarizes the thoughts of four such analysts, who saw strong foot traffic at Apple's stores, solid product availability, and enticing (albeit modest by Black Friday standards) discounts on a number of Apple products. While some analysts saw a potential minor hit to Apple's bottom line given the volume of customers taking advantage of the discounts, particularly on the iPad, the strategy is being viewed as an excellent opportunity to gain customer attention during the holiday shopping season.

A number of analysts did take the time to send out research staff to physically observe the traffic at Apple's retail stores, and they appear to have come away impressed with the results. Barron's reports that Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White saw strong traffic throughout the post-Thanksgiving weekend, with particular interest in the iPad (which saw Black Friday discounts of $41) and the MacBook Air.

Fortune notes that Deutsche Bank's Chris Whitmore oversaw a phone survey of over 100 Apple retail stores and 50 third-party reseller stores and similarly determined that iPads and the 11-inch MacBook Air were the most popular items among customers. Finally, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster performed some quantitative analysis at a limited selection of Apple retail stores, finding sales rates of about 8.2 Macs per hour (on par with last year's results) and strong iPad sales of 8.8 units per hour.

Research firm Gartner today announced that it is reducing its worldwide PC shipment estimates for 2010 and 2011 from earlier levels, citing increasing strength of media tablets such as the iPad. Gartner predicts that worldwide PC shipments will reach 352.4 million this year, an increase of 14.3% over last year but down from the 17.9% increase that had been predicted just two months ago. Similarly, 2011 shipments are now predicted to see 15.9% growth to 409 million units, down from 18.1% growth predicted previously.

"These results reflect marked reductions in expected near-term unit growth based on expectations of weaker consumer demand, due in no small part to growing user interest in media tablets such as the iPad," said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. "Over the longer term, media tablets are expected to displace around 10 percent of PC units by 2014."

The report notes that tablets such as the iPad offer improved "on-the-go content consumption" and sees consumers looking to the devices as complements or even alternatives to traditional PCs. Even those customers who opt to use tablet as complements to traditional PCs are seen as likely to extend the replacement cycles of their existing computers as they embrace tablet technology, slowing growth in PC sales.

Barron's reports that other research firms have reached similar conclusions, with Citigroup reporting that booming tablet sales will result in approximately 11 million fewer PCs sold next year than would otherwise have been expected. Overall, Citigroup predicts 2011 tablet sales of about 35 million units, with Apple's iPad representing about 75% of that total.

Other analysts are predicting an even bigger bite from tablets, with some claiming overall tablet sales in the range of 70-100 million next year, with one PC unit sale estimated to be lost from every 2.5 tablet units sold.

Bloomberg offers a look at Apple's involvement in numerous patent lawsuits, noting that the company is the most-targeted technology company for such actions since 2008 and reporting that Apple is bringing on board some of the industry's highest-profile lawyers to help defend it against the suits and pursue its own actions.

Apple has been the most-sued technology company since 2008, the year after the iPhone was introduced, topping Microsoft Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc., according to LegalMetric Inc., a compiler of litigation data based in St. Louis.

Jobs, Apple's chief executive officer, is firing back by recruiting lawyers who have fought for and against some of the world's largest companies, including Microsoft, Intel Corp. and Broadcom Corp. Broadcom won a patent dispute with Qualcomm Inc. last year that ended with Qualcomm paying $891 million in cash over four years.

The report summarizes recent patent lawsuits involving Apple and such firms as Nokia, HTC and Motorola, specifically identifying some the top lawyers Apple has brought on as outside counsel to augment its own legal team headed by former Intel general counsel Bruce Sewell.

Apple has hired some of the nation's top patent lawyers as outside counsel. They include Robert Krupka of Kirkland & Ellis, who negotiated a 2005 settlement in which Apple agreed to pay $100 million to Creative Technology Ltd., maker of the Zen music player; William Lee of WilmerHale in Boston, who successfully represented Broadcom Corp. in its fight against Qualcomm; and Matt Powers of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, who successfully defended the patent on Merck & Co.'s biggest product, the $4.7 billion-a-year asthma drug Singulair.

This year, Apple added an in-house attorney, Noreen Krall, to focus on intellectual property litigation. Krall had been chief IP counsel for Sun Microsystems Inc. and a staff attorney at International Business Machines Corp., according to the Intellectual Property Owners Association.

As the report notes, most patent lawsuits of the sort being filed by and against Apple are settled, with the companies reaching agreements on licensing their intellectual property. But considerable time, effort, and expense are being dedicated to the pursuit of these claims as each company seeks to defend its own position in the market and either bring down or benefit from the success of other major players.

Several items of interest to certain European Apple fans have surfaced over the past few days, including news of a forthcoming retail store in Amsterdam that would be the company's first in the Netherlands, as well as reports of the iPad launching throughout Scandinavia tomorrow.

Dutch site One More Thing reports [Google translation] that Apple is preparing to open its first retail store in that country. The store, reportedly set for a debut in the spring of 2011, is said to occupy a portion of the ground floor of the Hirsch building on Leidseplein in Amsterdam. Apple's corporate headquarters for the Benelux region already occupy the third floor of the building.

Meanwhile, numerous news sources out of Scandinavia are reporting that the iPad will officially launch in their countries tomorrow, with third-party retail partners gearing up with early store openings to support the launch. Reports have been coming in today from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland regarding the iPad debut, with Apple spokesmen in several of those countries confirming the launch.

Apple is offering a small selection of accessories on sale for Cyber Monday. Apple had discounted some of their Macs, iPads and iPod Touches on Black Friday, but the sales lasted for that day only.

3rd party retailers have continued their sales going from Black Friday through today: MacConnection appears to have the most substantial discounts for the majority of Macs by combining instant and mail-in rebate discounts.

Prices for MacMall, MacConnection and Amazon have been included, with the best price in bold.

Note: Amazon's prices are in flux throughout the day, so they may change.

Software / Other

- VMWare Fusion 3.1 for $39.99 (normally $79.99)
- Microsoft Office 2011 (Home and Student) for $79.99 (normally $119.99)
- Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 for $44.56 after discount/rebate (normally $99.99).

Several of the vendors listed are affiliate partners with MacRumors and sales benefit the site financially

Digitimes relays a report from Chinese-language Economy Daily News which claims that Apple's next generation iPad will add 5 distinct new features. The newspaper cites industry sources for the information.

The five new features include "video phone, better mobility, USB port, new display technology and 3-axis gyroscopes."

The gyroscope, video phone (FaceTime) and better mobility (thinner/smaller) have been expected features of the new iPad. Meanwhile, the quote from the paper suggests the new displays will be "Retina Display" technology that will enhance "image and color output". Finally, the USB connector is perhaps the most surprising.

All of Apple's iOS devices have been based around the dock connector for charging and syncing. This proprietary connector also gives Apple some control over the accessory market for their devices. But, this isn't the first time we've heard that Apple will be adding a USB connector to their next iPad. Back in September, Goldman Sachs analysts described the next iPad as a lighter/thinner and with a mini USB connector. Apple's adoption of USB may be due to regulations passed in Europe requiring the adoption of a universal USB charging standard amongst mobile phone manufacturers including Apple.

Apple has officially unveiled their U.S. Black Friday sales for their online and retail stores. The discounts are in line with past year events, around 8% depending on the product.

- iMac ($101 Discount across all models)
- MacBook Pro ($101 Discount across all models)
- MacBook Air ($101 Discount on 13" Models%)
- iPod Nano ($11 Discount on 8GB, $21 Discount on 16GB)
- iPad ($41 Discount across all models)
- iPod Touch ($21-$41 Discount depending on model)

The discounts are available on Apple's online store and retail stores on Friday. Meanwhile, 3rd party retailers are offering larger discounts, and depending on your geographical location, you may not have to pay sales tax on the purchase.

Big Apple and Mac Discounts: MacBook Pros, iPod Touches and More...

This year, MacConnection appears to have the most substantial discounts for the majority of Macs by combining instant and mail-in rebate discounts. In particular, MacBook Pros are seeing as high as $240 (13%) discounts. However, MacMall and Amazon discounts are applied instantly so no mail-in rebate is required.

Prices for MacMall, MacConnection and Amazon have been included, with the best price in bold.

Note: Amazon's prices are in flux throughout the day, so they may change.

App Store Discounts

iPhone developers are discounting their iPhone apps again this holiday season. A full list of discounts can be found at AppShopper, or through AppShopper's App Store App [iTunes Link]

Software / Other

- Microsoft Office 2011 (Home and Student) for $88.99 (normally $119.99)
- Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 for $44.99 after discount/rebate (normally $99.99).

Several of the vendors listed are affiliate partners with MacRumors and sales benefit the site financially

Mercury News reports that Apple has purchased 98 acres of land in Cupertino which was owned by HP:

Apple's latest acquisition is the longtime Cupertino campus of rival tech giant Hewlett-Packard, the Mercury News learned Wednesday. HP announced over the summer that it planned to move out of that site, which it had occupied for decades, as it consolidates operations at its Palo Alto headquarters over the next two years.

The extra land will be used by Apple to expand their existing Cupertino campus.

Three Guys and a Podcast are claiming that Apple will be holding two special events next year:

- January 2011 - New iPad
- April 2011 - All New Mac Book Pros + Final Cut Pro Update

They don't list their source for the information, so we're not sure how much is speculative, but they claim the MacBook Pro will follow the MacBook Airs move to Solid State Storage and removal of an optical drive.

The Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. has triggered massive sales in the App Store. TouchArcade has consolidated a massive list of notable gaming sales. Meanwhile, AppShopper offers a running list of every App Store sale as they happen. The Universal App let's you find sales on your iOS device.

Apple Australia has already begun their Black Friday sales with the following discounts:

-A$51 on iPad (8%)
-A$121 on MBP (8%)
-A$15 or 25 on Nano (respective sizes) (up to 12%)
-A$25, 45 or 51 on iPod Touch (respective sizes) (up to 18%)
-A$121 on MBA (only 13") (7.5%)
-A$121 on iMac (8%)

We'll cover Apple's U.S. Black Friday sales tomorrow, which should offer similar savings.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) yesterday announced that it has agreed to investigate Apple's claims of patent infringement lodged against Motorola late last month, indicating that a preliminary examination of the case has yielded sufficient cause for the agency to pursue a closer look.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) has voted to institute an investigation of certain mobile devices and related software. The products at issue in this investigation are mobile devices, such as smartphones, and their operating systems, user interfaces, and other application software.

The investigation is based on a complaint filed by Apple, Inc., f/k/a Apple Computer, Inc. Of Cupertino, CA, on October 29, 2010. The complaint alleges violations of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 in the importation into the United States and sale of certain mobile devices and related software that infringe patents asserted by Apple. The complainant requests that the USITC issue an exclusion order and a cease and desist order.

The dispute between Apple and Motorola, one of many in the tech industry, was launched in early October when Motorola filed suit against Apple alleging infringement of eighteen Motorola patents by a variety of Apple products including the iPhone, iPad, "iTouch" (presumably iPod touch), and certain Mac computers. The ITC announced earlier this month that it would investigate Motorola's claims against Apple.

Apple fired back at Motorola in late October with its own claims that a number of Motorola smartphones infringe six Apple patents related to multi-touch technology, claims which the ITC has now also agreed to investigate.

Earlier this year, we reported that Sling Media was "hard at work" on an iPad version of its SlingPlayer Mobile application, which offers iOS device compatibility with the company's service designed to "sling" television content from a set-top box connected to a user's television to computers and mobile devices.

Sling Media today announced that SlingPlayer Mobile for iPad [App Store, $29.99] is now available in the App Store, offering higher-resolution video than its iPhone counterpart.

Available for purchase on the iTunes App Store, SlingPlayer Mobile software for iPad lets Slingbox owners extend their living room TV experience to their iPad and takes advantage of the iPad's high-resolution, 9.7-inch LED-backlit display for great video quality. The revamped program guide uses the iPad's intuitive native interface, and a recent channels feature puts a viewer's recent channels at his fingertips.

Compatible with Slingbox SOLO and PRO-HD set-top boxes, the software allows users to change channels, control their DVR, and watch shows over Wi-Fi and 3G.

The original SlingPlayer Mobile application for iPhone generated significant attention after it was approved in May 2009 without support for streaming over 3G, a limitation imposed by AT&T over concerns regarding the strain 3G streaming functionality could place on its network. AT&T eventually relented, and a 3G-capable version of SlingPlayer Mobile appeared in the App Store in February of this year.

Research analysts have gained significant attention over the years for their predictions of Apple's production plans, with "channel checks" frequently being cited as the basis for their assessments. These checks involve receiving information, often secondhand, from representatives of Apple's manufacturing partners.

The Wall Street Journal reports, however, that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is now investigating the legality of such channel checks, looking to determine whether some of the tactics amount to insider trading as the analysts share the non-public information with their clients.

Where once insider-trading cases were built around a single tip about a merger, for example, prosecutors appear to be broadening into new territory. They are examining how arcane, confidential, but presumably routine data may move company stocks.

"Insider trading basically comes down to where you know or ought to know that the person from whom you're getting this information has a duty to someone else to keep it confidential," said former Securities and Exchange Commission Paul Atkins in a video interview with The Wall Street Journal. "If you go in and pay the mail clerk to give you special information, that's not proper."

While the investigation appears to be a broad look at a number of small research firms, the report focuses on those digging up information on Apple, which has become a prime target due to its financial performance, stock growth, and the company's secrecy about its own plans.

Such channel-check information has become crucial to Apple traders, who have come to expect a weekly dose of information from channel checks about Apple's iPad and iPod businesses.

Analysts relay the information - known in the business as "build plans" - weekly to savvy technology investors, who often dart in and out of heavily-traded Apple shares. Such information has grown to be almost as important as Apple earnings, able to move shares throughout the quarter.

The SEC is also taking a look at "expert network" consultants, who seek to connect investors with employees of certain companies for a fee, and whether those consultants have shared inside information to their clients. No analysts or consultants have yet been charged with any wrongdoing, but the SEC is clearly interested in learning more about their tactics and business practices.

Update: CNBC reports that the FBI has arrested "expert network" employee Don Chu in connection with the broader investigation. Chu, an analyst for Primary Global Research, does not appear to have been directly connected to research on Apple.

As evidence of Apple's strong push into the enterprise market for the iPhone, The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that the company has hired at least five key members of Research in Motion's enterprise sales staff over the last year and a half.

In the past 18 months, at least five members of RIM's enterprise-sales team have left the company to join Apple. This includes Geoff Perfect, who served as Head of Strategic Sales at RIM for nearly five years before leaving in April 2009 and joining Apple a month later as Head of Enterprise iPhone Sales, according to LinkedIn, the online networking service for professionals.

The report notes that Apple revealed during its most recent earnings conference call that 80% of Fortune 500 companies are piloting or using the iPhone. During that same call, Apple CEO Steve Jobs noted that Apple had handily beat Research in Motion in smartphone sales for the quarter, and reported that he doesn't see the BlackBerry maker catching back up.

The movement of personnel from RIM to Apple underscores Apple's aggressive push into the corporate-smartphone market, which RIM has traditionally dominated. On its fourth-quarter earnings call in October, Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said more than 80% of Fortune 500 companies are deploying or piloting the iPhone.

On that same call, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs triggered a war of words with RIM co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie by taking several swipes at RIM during the call. For instance, Jobs noted the iPhone outsold the BlackBerry in RIM's corresponding quarter and he questioned the viability of 7-inch tablet computers, which include RIM's upcoming PlayBook. Apple's iPad tablet is 9.7 inches.

Also on that conference call, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook noted that while Apple isn't offering business-specific hardware, the company is making a stronger push into enterprise sales as the iPhone's software has continued to gain features important for corporate customers. To that end, Apple has worked with its carrier partners to support corporate-friendly billing and other solutions for the iPhone and iPad, and has tapped partners such as Unisys to assist with supporting enterprise and government customers.

Earlier today, we noted increasing rumors regarding Apple and News Corp working together to launch a tablet-focused news product, with John Gruber weighing in to suggest that Apple is tentatively planning for a December 9th media event to introduce the new offering. Gruber noted that Apple's key role in the product's development has been the creation of APIs to support recurring subscription billing via iTunes Store accounts, functionality that would presumably require another iOS update.

MacStories adds its voice to the rumors, claiming that Apple has been planning for a release of iOS 4.3 for Monday, December 13th. That release plan was predicated, however, on iOS 4.2 seeing an early November debut, a schedule that was pushed back after Apple discovered several bugs just prior to release.

Here's what we heard from a reliable source: when Apple didn't know about the WiFi issues in the GM seed of iOS 4.2, the OS was scheduled to be released weeks before Nov. 22nd. Apple found out about the WiFi issues, released a second GM build and iOS 4.2 came out yesterday. It came out in November, but it should have been out in the first half of November. Anyway, before the WiFi issues were discovered, Apple was already planning to release a new build of iOS 4.x in mid-December. Most specifically, they were planning for an iOS 4.3 release on December 13th, which is a Monday.

Our source tells us it is unclear whether the "extra time" that was required to ship iOS 4.2 (actually, it's iOS 4.2.1) will cause a delay for the rumored release of iOS 4.3 on December 13th or not. iOS 4.3 should, however, include bug fixes and maintenance of the code. It's likely that 4.3 will also address the initial issues found in AirPlay, but we can't confirm this just yet.

The source also indicates that iOS 4.3 will indeed support the new recurring subscription functionality needed for The Daily, with a possibility of more substantial cloud-based services coming at the same time.

With the rumored December 13th launch for iOS 4.3 less than three weeks away now, we have yet to see Apple seed any builds of the next version to developers, casting some doubt on whether Apple will be able to meet this goal.

Aspyr Media today announced that Civilization V is now available for Mac OS X. Introduced for Windows back in September, Aspyr announced last month that the Mac version would be appearing in time for the holidays.

Sid Meier's Civilization V Mac reinvigorates the classic turn-based strategy genre with an astonishing new engine built from the ground-up for this flagship edition of the Civilization franchise. Players are introduced to an entirely new combat system, deeper diplomatic interactions and a cavalcade of expanded features that deliver a fully immersive experience providing hours of entertainment as players build and defend their empire on their quest to become the greatest ruler the world has ever known.

Dating back to 1991, the Civilization franchise has been a very popular series of turn-based strategy games for nearly two decades now.

Civilization V for Mac is available through GameAgent for $49.99, but Aspyr will be offering 33% discounts on its entire GameAgent store from Friday through Sunday. The company will also be giving away Civilization V swag over the Thanksgiving weekend and offering limited "flash sales" on Cyber Monday to users following GameAgent's Facebook and Twitter accounts.

DigiTimes reports that Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn has opened up its first iPad production lines at its new plants in Chengdu, China. While the new lines are only capable of producing 300,000 units per month, Foxconn plans to expand it capabilities in Chengdu to 50 production lines capable of manufacturing 40 million iPads per year.

Foxconn had previously refuted claims that the company would establish iPad production lines at the plants in Chengdu, but related component players have pointed out that Foxconn already started shipping iPads from the site in November and expected the site to become a major supply base starting the first quarter of 2011.

The majority of Foxconn's iPad production (2.5 million units per month) currently comes from the company's facilities in Shenzhen, China, but the company has recently moved to build new plants in cities such as Chengdu in the interior of China to address worker morale and mental health by keep workers closer to their families and offer a great degree of separation between their work and personal lives.

According to today's report, Apple is looking for shipments in excess of 7 million units in the fourth quarter of this year, up from sales of 4.19 million in the third quarter.

Many users of Apple's iOS devices were disappointed when Apple significantly scaled back the initial implementation of its AirPrint wireless, driverless printing service in iOS 4.2, limiting compatibility to direct printing to a handful of compatible printer models. With the reasons behind the scaling back remaining unclear and ranging from technical problems to patent issues, users have wondered whether Apple still has plans to allow for AirPrint functionality for other printer configurations such as printers shared through Macs and PCs as the feature had initially supported.

One MacRumors forum member emailed Steve Jobs about the future of AirPrint and reportedly received reassurance from the Apple CEO that the company will be expanding the feature "soon". Jobs also noted the difficulty in deploying driverless printing, hinting at a need for patience as the company continues to push forward.

Q: You got me all hyped up about AirPrint. Now with iOS 4.2 released, I find out that I can only print on 11 select printers. Seriously?!

A: Lots more coming soon. It's what it takes to make a giant leap to driverless printing, which is huge.

Apple has detailed the AirPrint feature and listed the 11 HP printers currently compatible with the service on an iPad feature page.

Yesterday, we noted that Apple and News Corp appear to be in the final stages of preparing a new tablet-focused news service known as The Daily that would offer high-quality video content and interactivity for $0.99 per week.

Daring Fireball's John Gruber has weighed in on the developments, reporting that he has heard that The Daily will be launched at a special media event next month hosted by Apple CEO Steve Jobs and News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch. Gruber notes that he is hearing rumors of a December 9th event, although it could be pushed back to the following week.

My understanding is that this initiative is going to launch with a press event, with Murdoch (and perhaps other newspaper and magazine executives) joining Steve Jobs on stage. This is not going to be a quiet launch, to say the least. But "this month" is effectively already over, considering that Thanksgiving is Thursday, so it won't happen until next month at the earliest.

(The date I've heard is December 9, but that's a Thursday, which would be somewhat unusual for an Apple press event. My guess is that they're telling people December 9 but it might slip back to Tuesday or Wednesday the week after. Perhaps it will coincide with the opening of the Mac App Store?)

Gruber goes on to note that Apple's key contribution to The Daily has been its building in of support for recurring subscription billing for apps via iTunes. The new API could open the door for other such products offering true recurring subscription-based content.

Meanwhile, French site Consomac reports [Google translation] that it has tracked down a filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a trademark application on an iOS-like icon for The Daily. The filing is registered to a company known as "News DP Holdings", which appears to be a shell corporation designed specifically to manage assets for the publication.