MacRumors

Last year, both AT&T and Verizon acknowledged that they were working on offering shared data plans, which would allow multiple devices owned by a single user or members of a family to draw data from a single monthly allotment. But while there has been evidence that Verizon is making progress on its plans, AT&T has been relatively quiet about its efforts aside from acknowledging that billing and other issues were complicating the work.

CNET now reports, however, that AT&T may be close to launching its shared data plans. The news comes from AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega, who indicates that the carrier knows what it intends to offer to its customers.

"I'm very comfortable with the plan that will be offered to our customers," de la Vega said on the sidelines of his company's home security and automation event at the CTIA Wireless trade show. [...]

He said the company knows how the plan would be structured. He, however, declined to provide any specific details on timing, and wouldn't comment on whether it would be out in the next few months or if AT&T would beat Verizon Wireless to the punch.

Shared "family plans" for voice minutes have been available for quite some time, and a similar mechanism for sharing data seems to be a natural evolution. But aside from sharing data among family members, even individuals could see a benefit from the plans, which would allow them to subscribe to a single monthly data allotment that could be used with their iPhone, iPad, and perhaps even a USB modem or mobile hotspot device.

T-Mobile USA yesterday announced its plans to begin work with Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks to roll out LTE service in 2013, taking advantage of spectrum it obtained from AT&T last week following the failed merger of the two carriers. But perhaps more importantly for iPhone users, T-Mobile's network improvements will allow it to offer HSPA+ service in the 1900 MHz band compatible with current iPhone hardware "by the end of the year".

As part of the company’s network modernization effort, T-Mobile also plans to launch 4G HSPA+ service in the 1900 MHz band in a large number of markets by the end of the year. Network modernization trials have shown up to a 33 percent increase in HSPA+ data speeds as well as improved in-building coverage. Rolling out 4G HSPA+ services in the 1900 MHz band will also provide customers with the ability to use a broader range of devices, including the iPhone, on T-Mobile’s 4G network.

T-Mobile already has over one million iPhone customers on its network and has been beefing up support for those customers even though they are currently limited to T-Mobile's much slower EDGE data network.

T-Mobile USA began refarming its spectrum late last year, allowing a small number of users to access 3G speeds on the 1900 MHz band compatible with the iPhone. With yesterday's announcement, that refarming will spread nationwide and make it possible for the carrier to fully support the iPhone without Apple being required to build hardware specific to T-Mobile and a handful of other carriers using the 1700/2100 MHz AWS bands for their 3G/4G service.

AllThingsD notes that T-Mobile USA Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray acknowledged that the spectrum refarming will allow the carrier to aggressively target current AT&T customers whose contracts have lapsed by the end of the year.

Ray declined to comment on whether the company would directly target iPhone users in a big marketing push planned for later this year.

“It would make sense,” Ray agreed, but added, “We’re not there yet.”

Apple is widely expected to include LTE support in the next-generation iPhone, and a September-October release in line with rumors would still leave T-Mobile behind the curve with its LTE network not rolling out until 2013. But the carrier would certainly be in a much more competitive position simply by offering a fast HSPA+ network supporting the iPhone.

The number of industries that Apple is disrupting with the iPhone and iPad is growing by the day. Amtrak, the government-owned American passenger railroad company, has adopted the iPhone as a ticket scanner for its 1,700 conductors, reports the New York Times.

The phones will be in a case equipped with a barcode scanner, similar to the Linea Pro cases that Apple uses at its retail stores. The phones will scan barcodes on paper tickets, as well as digital barcodes on smartphones. The MBTA commuter rail in Boston is adopting a similar system for smartphone ticketing.

By late summer, 1,700 conductors will be using the devices on Amtrak trains across the country, the company said.

With the new system, passengers will be able to print tickets or load a special bar code on their smartphone screens for conductors to scan, and conductors will be able to keep track of passengers on board, Amtrak said.

“You don’t even need to print the document and bring it with you,” said Matt Hardison, chief of sales distribution at Amtrak, who helped plan the iPhone program. “We’ve made a number of important improvements for both our customers and Amtrak, all in one fell swoop.”

The Times notes that Amtrak's ticketing system is long overdue for an upgrade. The prior ticketing process involved punching a hole in a paper ticket and physically transporting those tickets to a central location where the information was entered in a database. Among other things, conductors couldn't keep track of how many empty seats were on a train and customers needed to get their paper tickets cancelled and reissued if they wanted to change to a different train.

Amtrak does have an iPhone app that allows riders to book tickets, check train status and schedules, and more. Amtrak eTickets can currently be purchased within the app for 4 routes, with the entire Amtrak system rolling out the ticketing scheme during 2012.

Amtrak for iPhone is available free on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Apple today released iOS 5.1.1, offering bug fixes and other improvements for recent models of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

This update contains improvements and bug fixes, including:

- Improves reliability of using HDR option for photos taken using the Lock Screen shortcut
- Addresses bugs that could prevent the new iPad from switching between 2G and 3G networks
- Fixes bugs that affected AirPlay video playback in some circumstances
- Improved reliability for syncing Safari bookmarks and Reading List
- Fixes an issue where 'Unable to purchase' alert could be displayed after successful purchase

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

iOS 5.1.1, which arrives as Build 9B206, is available for the following devices via iTunes, Apple's site, and over-the-air download directly from the devices:

- Third-generation iPad: Wi-Fi, AT&T/GSM, Verizon
- iPad 2: Original Wi-Fi, New Wi-Fi (with A5 die shrink), AT&T/GSM, Verizon/CDMA
- Original iPad

- iPhone 4S
- iPhone 4: GSM, CDMA
- iPhone 3GS

- iPod touch: fourth-generation, third-generation

Cult of Mac reports that it has received information from a "well-placed" source who claims to have seen a prototype of the rumored Apple television set. According to the source, the device resembles Apple's current Thunderbolt display but is "much larger" than the 27-inch model currently offered.

Among the key features reportedly included on the prototype Apple television set is a Siri-enabled iSight camera allowing users to make FaceTime video calls using the device. Addressing the fact that users are likely to sit substantially farther away from the television than they do their computers and mobile devices, the source claims that the camera will be able to automatically detect and track faces, zooming in on them for FaceTime calls even if they move about the room.

The Apple HDTV makes FaceTime calls using the built-in iSight camera. The camera is sophisticated, with facial recognition and the ability to zoom into the user’s face and follow them as they walk around the room. This allows users to make video calls from the couch across the room, rather than having to stand smack in front of the TV.

In addition, calls are initiated by Siri, the iPhone 4S’s virtual assistant. “[Apple] used Siri to make a FaceTime call,” the source said.

Apple's rumored television set is widely expected to make extensive use of Siri, a rumor that first surfaced in Jobs' authorized biography, in which he was quoted as saying that he had "finally cracked" the problem of creating an elegant interface for the device. With Jobs calling it "the simplest user interface you could imagine", speculation immediately leapt to Siri, which could allow users to change channels and find shows using only their voice.

The idea of a Siri-enabled television set quickly gained steam with a followup rumor from The New York Times claiming that Apple was indeed working on such a device for a launch in late 2012 or 2013.

Apple has reportedly been working with component suppliers on plans for Apple television sets in recent months, although debate continues as to whether such a product will be ready for launch by late this year, next year, or even 2014.

ZDNet reports on the discovery of a significant breach of password security for certain users of Apple's FileVault encryption system under OS X Lion. Affected systems currently store the login information for every recent user of the machine in plain text, allowing for easy circumvention of encryption.

In specific configurations, applying OS X Lion update 10.7.3 turns on a system-wide debug log file that contains the login passwords of every user who has logged in since the update was applied. The passwords are stored in clear text.

Anyone who used FileVault encryption on their Mac prior to Lion, upgraded to Lion, but kept the folders encrypted using the legacy version of FileVault is vulnerable. FileVault 2 (whole disk encryption) is unaffected.

The issue was noted last Friday by David Emery on the Cryptome mailing list.

This is worse than it seems, since the log in question can also be read by booting the machine into firewire disk mode and reading it by opening the drive as a disk or by booting the new-with-LION recovery partition and using the available superuser shell to mount the main file system partition and read the file. This would allow someone to break into encrypted partitions on machines they did not have any idea of any login passwords for.

Emery also offers some suggestions for dealing with the issue, including turning on FileVault 2 and setting a firmware password on the machine in question.

The issue was actually first noted in the Apple discussion forums back on February 6, just days after OS X 10.7.3 was released to the public. That poster now notes that the issue may extend further than just the specific FileVault situation outlines by others, as he notes that he has experienced the same behavior on an OS X Lion virtual machine through VMware Fusion, without FileVault ever having been active on the installation. Consequently, the extent of the issue may not yet be fully known.

Apple has yet to offer any response to the issue, although it is unclear when the company became aware of it. Apple touts the security features of OS X Lion in its promotional materials for the operating system, with a focus on FileVault as an important component of that security, and it seems likely that the company will move as quickly as possible to investigate and fix the issue.

Two weeks ago, Adobe officially unveiled its new Creative Suite 6 (CS6) bundles of design applications, as well as its new Creative Cloud subscription service offering access to the software and other cloud services for integrating access across desktop and mobile devices.

Adobe had announced that the new products would begin shipping within 30 days, and the company officially began shipping CS6 today. Availability of Creative Cloud will follow on Friday, May 11.

Top new features across the CS6 product line include:

- New levels of performance with tools that take advantage of Adobe Mercury Graphics functionality, allowing users to go from ideas to finished work faster than ever before.
- Enhanced user interfaces that vastly simplify workflows, so users can focus on their content and achieve results quicker.
- New capabilities that streamline the creation of responsive content, ensuring website and apps look great across virtually all screen sizes and form factors.
- Remarkable new science, integrated into imaging and video apps, makes previously impossible tasks suddenly possible.

Adobe Creative Cloud membership delivers:

- Access to download and install all CS6 applications, new HTML5 desktop products – Adobe Muse 1.0 and Adobe Edge preview – and deep integration with Adobe Touch Apps.
- Easy storage and sharing of content across desktop, mobile devices and the cloud.
- Integrated website publishing and hosting.
- Ongoing innovation that provides members with the most up-to-date products and services

Pricing for CS6 bundles begins at $1299 for the Design Standard collection, which includes Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Acrobat X Pro. The Master Collection, which includes all CS6 applications, is priced at $2599.

Creative Cloud will be priced at $49.99 per month on an annual commitment or $74.99 for month-to-month access, with the service providing full access to all CS6 applications, cloud storage and hosting, and integration with HTML 5 and mobile apps.

Xinhua reports on comments from a Proview lawyer claiming that Apple has for the first time put forth a settlement offer in the dispute over the "iPad" trademark in China. The offer came as part of settlement talks suggested by the court overseeing the case.

"We feel that the attitude of Apple Inc. has changed. Although they expressed that they were willing to negotiate, they have never taken any action before. But now, they are having conversations with us, and we have begun to consult on the case," said [Proview attorney] Xie Xianghui in an interview with Xinhua on Sunday. [...]

Xie said the two sides have discussed a compensation package, and Apple Inc. has tabled an amount it thinks appropriate. But the Proview side has not agreed on a deal, and Xie would not disclose the amount of money offered by Apple Inc..

A settlement offer from Apple does not necessarily mean that the case is nearing a resolution, as Bloomberg notes that a "big gap" remains between Proview and Apple in their expectations of a settlement figure.

“The Guangdong Higher People’s court is trying to mediate this, and both parties are trying to negotiate and come to a settlement,” Xie said. “Right now, there is still a big gap between the two sides on the settlement amount.”

Apple contends that it purchased the Chinese rights to the iPad trademark from Proview's Taiwanese arm in a December 2009 deal encompassing rights in a number of countries and carrying a $55,000 purchase price. But Proview has argued that the Chinese rights were controlled by its Chinese arm and that the Taiwanese unit had no ability to sell them to Apple, despite the fact that corporate officers common to both units were involved in the deal.

Reports on Proview's damage claims have varied, but sources have indicated that the company has been seeking as much as $2 billion in compensation from Apple to turn over the iPad trademark in China.

Digitimes reports that Apple is planning to launch a cheaper MacBook Air in the third quarter of this year, dropping the entry-level price to $799 from the current $999. The move is reportedly being made to take on Intel's "Ultrabook" initiative that is pushing low-cost, ultra-thin notebook PCs.

Although Acer has recently reduced its ultrabook shipment target, Intel continues to aggressively push ultrabooks and is aiming to have the devices priced at US$699 in the second half of the year. However, if Intel is unable to bring down ASPs to its goal, the price gap between ultrabooks and the US$799 MacBook Air may further postpone the time ultrabooks become standardized, the sources noted.

Ultrabook manufacturers have so far struggled to match or beat Apple's MacBook Air pricing, leading to weak shipments. But Intel remains committed to the initiative, and is working with manufacturers to continue to bring prices down.

It is unclear just how Apple would achieve a $200 price cut on the MacBook Air, given the company's focus on maintaining high profit margins. Certainly pricing on the solid-state drives used in the MacBook Air will continue to fall, but Apple likely has only limited flexibility to bring down pricing. And given the strong performance of the MacBook Air as Ultrabooks continue to struggle, it is not immediately obvious whether Apple would even see a need to lower pricing on its models.

Digitimes has a spotty track record with regard to Apple rumors, although it has on occasion offered accurate insight based on sources in Apple's supply chain. The publication's recent claims regarding Apple's notebook plans including a report of production being underway on slimmer 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models, as well as a suggestion that Apple is considering a 14-inch MacBook Air for Asian markets.

While there has been much debate about whether Apple will refer to the next-generation iPhone as "iPhone 5", "iPhone 6", simply "iPhone", or something else entirely, Fusible notes that Apple has filed a claim with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) seeking to gain control of the iPhone5.com domain. WIPO authorities are currently assessing compliance of Apple's claim with the agency's regulations, and proceedings are likely to be initiated in the near future.

The iPhone5.com domain currently hosts a very small discussion forum dedicated to discussion of the "iPhone 5". The forum was launched in October 2010 following the debut of the iPhone 4 earlier in the year.

Apple's pursuit of the iPhone5.com domain is interesting given how slow the company has been to take action to secure domains related to its previous products. Apple didn't gain control of iPhone4.com until nearly a year after that device launched and Apple didn't seek to gain control of iPhone4S.com until several weeks after that device debuted last October. In the latter case, Apple was likely extremely motivated to take control of the domain because it was being used to forward visitors to pornography sites.

Given that Apple typically doesn't pursue domain names for its products until after they launch, lest their names be revealed ahead of time by the negotiation process, it seems odd that Apple is already seeking to gain control of iPhone5.com. But with "iPhone 5" having been the name informally attached to Apple's next iPhone form factor redesign for nearly two years now and still in popular use, the company apparently believes that it should have some control over the name's usage.

Speaking at a conference this week, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson noted that he only had one regret about AT&T being the first cellular carrier to support the iPhone. As reported by the New York Times:

“My only regret was how we introduced pricing in the beginning, because how did we introduce pricing? Thirty dollars and you get all you can eat,” he said in the on-stage interview at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference on Wednesday. “And it’s a variable cost model. Every additional megabyte you use in this network, I have to invest capital.”

Since then, AT&T has discontinued offering unlimited data plans to new customers, as well as throttling users who have been grandfathered in from older plans.

Stephenson is also concerned about services like Apple's iMessage texting service and Skype affecting AT&T's existing business models.

“You lie awake at night worrying about what is that which will disrupt your business model,” he said. “Apple iMessage is a classic example. If you’re using iMessage, you’re not using one of our messaging services, right? That’s disruptive to our messaging revenue stream.”

All those concerns aside, AT&T has been extraordinarily successful attracting and keeping profitable iPhone users. In the last quarter, AT&T made $3.58 billion in profit on $29 billion in sales. The iPhone accounted for 60% of the carrier's total phone sales to postpaid customers in that quarter.

Bloomberg briefly reports that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is preparing to fine Google over its efforts to circumvent privacy restrictions in Safari for iOS to track users through ads on numerous sites across the web. According to a source, the fine is likely to amount to tens of millions of dollars.

Google Inc. (GOOG) is negotiating with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over how big a fine it will have to pay for its breach of Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s Safari Internet browser, a person familiar with the matter said. [...]

The fine would be the first by the FTC for a violation of Internet privacy safeguards as the agency steps up enforcement of the Web.

Google took advantage of a loophole in Safari's default privacy settings, making the browser think that the user was interacting with a given ad, thus allowing a tracking cookie to be installed. With that cookie installed, it became easy for Google to add additional cookies and to track users across the web as they visited other sites displaying ads from Google's networks.

Late yesterday, Cult of Mac reported that select Walmart locations had significantly dropped their prices on the AT&T iPhone 4S and iPhone 4, slashing the 16 GB AT&T iPhone 4S to just $114 and the AT&T 8GB iPhone 4 to $34 on contract. Walmart's usual pricing has been $188 for the iPhone 4S and $88 for the iPhone 4, already below Apple's standard $199/$99 pricing.

This news comes to us from Edmond, Oklahoma, and we’re not sure how widespread the sale is in the United States, or how long it will last. AT&T has yet to clarify if this price drop is a national carrier promotion, or a change decided by Walmart.

Highlighting the sporadic nature of the reports, The Verge notes that it contacted six Walmart stores around the United States and found only the initial Edmond, Oklahoma store and a store in Austin, Texas offering the discounted pricing. Walmart's website also has not been updated with the lower pricing.

Most observers expect that Apple will not introduce new iPhone hardware until the September-October timeframe, in line with the iPhone 4S debut last year. But for those still holding out hope for a launch next month at Apple's sold-out Worldwide Developers Conference, Walmart's price drop, even if only sporadic for the time being, may provide a reason to not yet give up.

Update: Walmart issued a statement to 9to5Mac saying the chain "experienced a pricing error in limited stores" and that the issue has since been corrected. The correct Walmart pricing for the 16GB iPhone 4S is $188; iPhone 4 at $88; and iPhone 3GS at $0.97.