MacRumors

IDG News reports that Acer and Asus have announced that they will begin adopting the new Thunderbolt connectivity standard next year, shifting momentum toward the platform developed in a collaboration between Intel and Apple and first released to the public in new MacBook Pro models back in February. Apple has since brought Thunderbolt to its entire Mac lineup with the exception of the Mac Pro, which has yet to be updated since the platform debuted.

A Windows PC with Thunderbolt technology was demonstrated onstage during a keynote address by Mooly Eden, Intel's general manager of the PC client group, at the Intel Developer Forum being held in San Francisco. Solid-state drives from Intel were connected to the PC and transferred four uncompressed videos at 700 megabytes per second.

Thunderbolt has been viewed as an alternative to USB 3.0, but as the technology was exclusively on Macs, only a few peripherals such as storage drives supported the interconnect. The adoption of Thunderbolt by device makers could grow when Acer and Asus adopt the technology in PCs.

Concerns about whether Thunderbolt would become a widely-adopted standard gained strength back in May when HP announced that it would be sticking with USB 3.0 and not adopting Thunderbolt. HP has of course since announced that it will be exiting the PC business.

While Apple had a headstart on Thunderbolt adoption, Intel has been pushing forward to speed adoption of the standard by providing partners with developer kits to help them build products using the platform. Intel has also committed to supporting Thunderbolt alongside USB 3.0 in its next-generation Ivy Bridge processor platform, making it easier for manufacturers to embrace the technology.

Apple today stepped up promotion of its iBookstore by launching a new Twitter account to keep followers updated on new releases, special offers, and other details from the store, as noted in the account's debut Tweet. The account was created back in June, but Apple has just started using the account to send out Tweets today.

Welcome to the Apple #iBookstore on Twitter. Follow us to discover new releases, exclusive book offers, and more.

The account's second Tweet promotes Erin Morgenstern's "The Night Circus", which is being heavily promoted by Apple. Apple is currently featuring the book on the iBookstore's main page, and Starbucks has also stepped into the promotion by offering a free "extended sample" of the book through its recently-expanded Pick of the Week program.

Apple maintains a number of Twitter accounts to provide updates on new and featured content from the iTunes Store, with the App Store receiving its own account earlier this year. The iBookstore account is not listed as a verified account, but does appear to be official as it is one of only seven accounts being followed by Apple's App Store account. The other six accounts followed by @AppStore are official Apple accounts.

Apple is also increasing its ties with Twitter in other areas, having recently added Twitter and Facebook posting to its online store and bringing systemwide Twitter integration to iOS 5.

Update: The @iBookstore account is now officially verified as belonging to Apple.

Back in June, Apple unveiled iMessage, one of the major new features of the upcoming iOS 5 update.

iMessage is a unified messaging service for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch that allows users to send text and multimedia messages over Wi-Fi and 3G with read and delivery receipts and real-time typing indication. But as far as Apple has officially said, there is no way to send iMessages to or from non-iOS devices such as your Mac.

One developer has revealed to MacRumors that there is evidence that Apple has already started building in iMessage support into OS X Lion's iChat instant messaging software.

Buried in the framework of OS X Lion's iChat, are two new properties (highlighted below):

@interface IMMessage : NSObject
{
IMHandle *_sender;
IMHandle *_subject;
NSAttributedString *_text;
NSString *_plainBody;
NSDate *_time;
NSDate *_timeDelivered;
NSDate *_timeRead;

The "timeDelivered" and "timeRead' fields indicate the tracking of delivery and read receipts for instant messages. These features, however, are not supported in any of iChat's native messaging protocols, while the same features are offered in Apple's iMessage protocol. These properties were also not present in previous versions of iChat prior to OS X Lion. We believe the only reason Apple would have added these properties was to build in cross compatibility with their new iMessage protocol.

Adding iMessage support into OS X Lion's iChat would allow iOS 5 users and Mac users to easily send text messages to each other in real time. This would not be the first time Apple has added such cross compatibility between its Mac and iOS product lines. Apple similarly extended iOS's FaceTime video conferencing feature to the Mac with the launch of FaceTime for Mac in February.

iMessage for iOS has not yet launched and will be part of iOS 5 which will be released this fall. It's not clear if and when Apple will launch iChat support for iMessage, but it seems work has already started.

Yesterday, a report surfaced claiming that Sprint sales reps are being trained for an iPhone 4 launch next month. The report also included mention of a "4G" iPad in development for the carrier, but the overall report was seen as questionable given that it also claimed that Sprint will not receive the iPhone 5 until 2012, a claim that directly contradicts other recent mainstream media reports.

But the claim of a Sprint-specific iPad has taken on more weight today with a report from 9to5Mac claiming that such a device is indeed ready for launch.

Apple and Sprint have completed work on a version of the iPad for Sprint’s data network. This Sprint compatible iPad appears to be ready for public consumption and will join the family of GSM (AT&T) and Verizon capable Apple tablets before the holidays. With Apple soon launching a Sprint version of the iPhone – which we independently confirmed in June – we suspect that the Sprint iPad will come alongside or soon after that release.

The primary question regarding the Sprint iPad is just what network technology it will support. Apple and Sprint could theoretically simply offer the existing CDMA iPad 2 for use on Sprint's network, so it seems that Apple and Sprint may have some other plans for the device. Sprint operates a 4G network based on WiMAX technology, and so speculation naturally turns to that possibility as an enticing option.

A Sprint-specific iPad 2 would increase Apple's slate of iPad offerings to an overwhelming 24 different models once all color, capacity, and carrier options are accounted for. Just last week the company simplified the layout of its iPad model selection page in its online store, and it would be a relatively clean addition to offer Sprint as a third carrier option within that new layout.

Research firm IDC today released the results of its study of worldwide tablet and eReader shipments for the second quarter of 2011, and while the tablet market has changed dramatically in the nearly three months since the quarter ended, the data still offers an interesting look at Apple's performance in the market. According to the study, Apple rode the strength of the iPad 2 launch to capture over 68% of total worldwide tablet shipments for the quarter, up from 65% in the previous quarter.

Worldwide media tablet shipments in the second quarter were driven by continued robust demand for Apple's iPad 2, which saw shipments reach 9.3 million units, representing a 68.3% share of the worldwide market (up from 65.7% the previous quarter). Research in Motion entered the media tablet market in 2Q11 with its PlayBook product, grabbing a 4.9% share of the market. Apple's strength and RIM's entrance meant bad news for Android-based media tablets, which saw its collective share slip to 26.8%, down from 34.0% the previous quarter.

IDC predicts that Android's share will continue to shrink during the third quarter due to continued iPad strength and a flood of $99 sales of HP's discontinued TouchPad, but that Android will begin to regain share during the fourth quarter of the year as new models come to market.

"Apple's iOS share will continue to lead by more than 40 percentage points over Google's Android for the remainder of the year, but we expect Apple's share to fall closer to 50% by the end of the forecast period as manufacturers bring new tablets to market," said Jennifer Song, research analyst, Worldwide Trackers.

It is important to note that IDC's studies track shipments from manufacturers into their distribution channels, and by most accounts Apple's lead is even stronger when looking at sales to end users. Whereas Apple has repeatedly said that it is selling essentially every iPad it can make, a number of other vendors have seen their shipments into the channel languish amid low consumer demand.

Still, IDC is impressed by the total tablet shipments seen for the second quarter, which saw 88.9% growth over the previous quarter and 303% year-over-year growth. As a result, IDC has boosted its estimates for 2011 from 53.5 million units to 62.5 million units overall.

Virtualization firm VMware today announced the launch of its new Fusion 4 software to allow Mac users to run Windows and other operating systems virtualized alongside their native OS X operating systems. Optimized for OS X Lion, VMware Fusion 4 offers more than 90 new features, including the ability to run OS X Lion in a virtual machine as is now permitted by Apple's licensing.

With more than 90 new features and now optimized for today’s multi-core Macs and OS X Lion, key features in VMware Fusion 4 include:

- Built for OS X Lion – VMware Fusion 4 is designed to provide the best Windows experience on OS X Lion. Add Windows programs to Launchpad, experience them in Mission Control, view them in full screen or switch between them using Mac gestures.

- Better Performance and Faster Graphics – VMware Fusion 4 has been engineered to run Windows and Mac applications side-by-side with incredible speed and reliability. As a 64-bit Cocoa application, it is optimized for today’s multi-core Macs and delivers 3D graphics up to 2.5-times faster than previous versions of Fusion.

- Even More "Mac-like" Experience – VMware Fusion 4 enhances the way Windows programs run on a Mac. From the brand new settings menu to the redesigned virtual machine library and snapshot menu, users have even more Mac-like experiences when running Windows programs.

- Lion Squared – VMware Fusion 4 now supports OS X Lion in a virtual machine, allowing users to get more from their Mac by running OS X Lion, OS X Lion Server, Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server and Mac OS X Leopard Server in virtual machines.

VMware Fusion 4 is being offered at a promotional price of $49.99 until the the end of the year, after which time pricing will be set at $79.99. Users who purchased Fusion 3 on or after July 20th are eligible for a free upgrade to Fusion 4.

VMware's primary competitor in the virtualization market is Parallels, which released its own Lion-optimized version two weeks ago.

China Telecom is reportedly gearing up for the launch of the iPhone 5, training staff members and even beginning advertising as it prepares to begin taking orders as soon as the end of this month.

China Telecom has instructed some of its provincial branches to begin preparations for the sales of the iPhone 5, including conducting staff training, and the operator will accept orders for the phone at the earliest at end September, reports Southern Metropolis Daily, citing a company insider.

According to the report, a LED screen at the Changan Road branch of China Telecom had started advertising the forthcoming debut of the iPhone 5.

The carrier is expecting to begin pre-sales of the iPhone 5 later this month, with official sales beginning next month. China Telecom is also said to be dedicating a massive 1.5 billion yuan ($234.5 million) to marketing for the device under an initiative known as the "Dragon Plan".

China is a booming market for Apple, but Apple has so far partnered only with China Unicom as an official carrier for the iPhone. China's other two major carriers, China Mobile and China Telecom, have been pushing hard for the iPhone, and it now appears that at least China Telecom is lined up to begin offering the device with the launch of the iPhone 5.

News of this week's Apple retail store openings has been trickling out day-by-day so far, and it seems that Apple has added one more opening to the schedule for this Saturday.

On Monday, we noted the unusual mid-week opening for the Stratford City store in London scheduled for the following day, with the new Jungfernstieg store in Hamburg, Germany following suit on Saturday. Yesterday, we reported that Apple had added two more opening for Saturday: Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso, Texas and Via Rizzoli in Bologna, Italy.

Barrier at Braehead retail store (Source: ifoAppleStore)

During a BUILD 2011 presentation, Microsoft told Windows 8 developers to plan their artwork for High DPI (dot per inch) monitors with varying artwork sizes. In particular, they mentioned Retina-class desktop and laptop monitors. @Stroughtonsmith tweeted from the talk which is not yet online:

We'd previously reported that Apple had also been planning for ultra high resolution Retina displays in Mac OS X Lion. These ultra-high resolution displays would increase the number of pixels per inch found on both laptop and desktop displays.

There's been some doubts about when such displays will become commercially available, but it seems both Apple and Microsoft have built in support for it in their latest operating systems. Microsoft seems to indicate that they will be available within the next couple of years.

AppleInsider claims that Apple may be bumping the processors of the MacBook Pros before the end of this year, but will make no other changes to the notebooks.

According to people with proven insight into Apple's future product plans, the late-2011 MacBook Pro refresh will deliver marginal speed bumps to the notebooks' Core i-Series of Sandy Bridge processors but will otherwise introduce no material changes over the existing models.

Intel recently introduced 16 new Sandy Bridge processors, some of which could be used in the current generation MacBook Pros.

Last year, Apple quietly added a high end 2.8GHz Core i7 option to the MacBook Pros in late October. So, the move is not without precedent, though last year it was offered only as a built-to-order option and not an across the board upgrade.

Slide from Intel's Haswell preview (Source: Gizmodo)

[Intel CEO Paul] Otellini also described the new class of platform power management in development for the 2013 "Haswell" products for Ultrabooks. The advances in silicon technology and platform engineering are expected to reduce idle platform power by more than 20 times over current designs without compromising computing performance. Otellini said he expects that this design change, combined with industry collaboration, will lead to more than 10 days of connected standby battery life by 2013. The advancements will aid in delivery of always-on-always-connected computing where Ultrabooks stay connected when in standby mode, keeping the e-mail, social media and digital content up-to-date.

Intel demonstrated the low-power nature of the Haswell platform by rigging up a prototype Haswell system running off a solar cell powered by light bulbs and other ambient light. Full systems based on Haswell will obviously contain many other components that will increase the power draw, but it is clear that Intel is taking power consumption seriously as it seeks to facilitate thinner and longer-running notebook systems running on a platform that can compete head-to-head with the efficiency of the ARM chips used in many smartphones and tablets today.

Intel demonstration of Haswell system running on solar power (Source: This is my next)