MacRumors

Back in June, it was reported that the iPhone 5 was in carrier testing, with high-level executives at Apple and some of its carrier partners said to be carrying the device around for testing purposes.

In addressing a new claim that the next iPhone won't debut until October, later than the September timeframe that has been the focus for some time now, The Guardian offers some details on the carrier testing process that is said to indeed be underway.

My carrier sources tell me that the boxes in which the new iPhone hardware is encased have been transported to carriers for testing. This is an important step in the release cycle for any phone. ... The next iPhones go for their testing inside locked and sealed boxes so that the carriers can carry out checks on their network compatibility in their labs. It's very high security, as you could guess; my understanding is that barely anyone inside the carriers gets to open those boxes, and even when they do the hardware is encased in a dummy body which means there's no clue to what the actual phone will do.

The report suggests that with the iPhone 5 now in final carrier testing, a process that should take only weeks, Apple is in prime position to ramp up manufacturing to meet a September launch.

Other sources are also skeptical of the October launch claim, with RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky noting that Apple during its last earnings conference call noted that it would be experiencing a "future product transition" affecting the current quarter, which ends in late September. Abramsky also cites channel checks that continue to point to an August/September build ramp for the new iPhone to meet a September launch, as well as increased retail staffing and vacation blackouts at Apple and its carrier partners for the September timeframe.

Rumors regarding the iPhone 5 continue to fly fast and furious, and a couple of reports from earlier today are making the rounds with more claimed details on the next-generation device.

Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu today reported in a research note related by AppleInsider and Business Insider that the iPhone 5 update looks to be "bigger than expected", with the device said to be bringing a larger display and thinner bezel in addition to a dual-core processor. The form factor is said to otherwise be "similar" to the iPhone 4.

What is different is that in addition to a dual-core processor that we have talked about before, our supply chain sources indicate that it will sport a slightly larger display than the current 3.5-inch retina display that is already industry leading. We are picking up that it will retain a similar form factor and size but with thinner bezel. We believe this makes sense to improve the iPhone experience without making it too bulky as we have seen with models from competitors.

Consistent with other reports, Wu says that the iPhone 5 will not offer 4G LTE compatibility, as chipsets of acceptable size and power draw are not yet available and network coverage remains low.

Wu does not have a terribly good track record when it comes to iPhone rumors, and some of the case designs floating around and said to have been designed based on the iPhone 5's form factor instead show a slightly teardrop shape with rounded or tapered edges, with the latter feature much more akin to earlier iPhone models than the iPhone 4. Those cases also suggest that the iPhone 5 may be slightly longer and wider than the iPhone 4, supporting the notion that the device could see a larger display.

Meanwhile, BGR reports that a "reliable source" at Canadian carrier Telus has revealed that an internal document at the carrier lists an October 1st release date for the iPhone 5. While the listed date could simply be a placeholder, BGR and its source believe that the date could actually be a genuine one given that listings for other upcoming devices do appear to be specific ones rather than placeholders. The report also notes that October 1st is a Saturday, reported to be the busiest day of the week for mobile phone retail stores.

We have significant doubts about this speculation, however, and find the October 1st date to most likely simply be a placeholder given that the date is merely a convenient first of the month and that Apple has not been known to launch new iPhones on Saturdays. In addition, Apple works very hard to keep its carrier partners in the dark about its device plans, with even senior executives at Apple's biggest carrier partners not being clued in to the details of the company's roadmap.

Continuing a months-long trend of improving shipping estimates for the iPad 2, Apple today finally reach its quickest possible turnaround time for the device, moving to "within 24 hours" for shipping through the company's online stores for the United States and Canada. Adding engraving bumps the window out to 1-3 business days.

Shipping estimates in Apple's online stores for most of its other markets appear to remain at 1-3 business days, although they too may be updated in the near future to shift to the faster turnaround.

Apple's online store shipping estimates for the iPad 2 quickly ballooned to 4-5 weeks just as the first deliveries of the device began back in mid-March. Estimates slowly dropped over the following months as Apple began to catch up with demand, finally moving to 3-5 business days just under a month ago and then 1-3 business days the following week.

Apple launched its iCloud.com beta tonight. The beta is intended for developers to test their iCloud syncing functionality, though there has been some confusion about who exactly had access. Early on, it seemed that Apple inadvertently allowed access to more than just developers, but we now hear that Apple has started shutting out these non-developer users.

iCloud is Apple's upcoming syncing and storage service for both iOS 5 and OS X Lion. iCloud (the service) stores your music, photos, apps, calendars, documents and keeps it in sync across multiple devices. iCloud.com (the website) represents Apple's MobileMe website replacement that gives users online access to their Calendar, Email, Address Book, Find My Phone and iWork data. The entire interface borrows heavily from iOS and Lion and incorporates many nice graphical flourishes and animations.

This quick walkthrough video by helpfulmactips2010 shows the different pieces in place:

Apple has also revealed the pricing for additional iCloud storage. iCloud comes with 5GB of free storage, and the additional pricing is as follows:

• 10GB Additional, $20/year
• 20GB Additional, $40/year
• 50GB Additional, $100/year

Apple has said that purchased music, apps, and books, as well as Photo Stream, don’t count against your free 5GB storage.

Much more about iCloud should be revealed as the launch nears. Apple has promised that iCloud will launch this fall alongside iOS 5. OS X Lion will also need an update to fully support iCloud.

After a brief appearance in the New Zealand app store, Skype for iPad has now launched internationally, including the U.S. The much anticipated iPad app offers Skype users 3G and Wi-Fi phone calls and video conferencing. From the release notes:

• Send and receive video using front or back camera on iPhone 4, iPad 2nd Generation, and iPod Touch 4th Generation.
• Send and receive video using rear camera of iPhone 3GS
• Receive video only on iPad 1st Generation and iPod touch 3rd Generation

Skype for iPad is a free download [App Store]. Skype for iPhone and iPod Touch remains available as a separate free download [App Store].

Update: Skype says the app was released prematurely, so they've pulled it.

Update 2: As noticed by Macerkopf.de, Skype for iPad has returned to the App Store. Skype has yet to issue an official announcement about the release, however, so it is unclear if this is the official launch or if it is once again being made available prematurely.

Update 3: Skype has now officially announced the release of Skype for iPad.

Apple seems to have opened up the iCloud Beta on iCloud.com. Notably, the login page is nearly identical to a leak from the days before the original iCloud announcement. We were doubtful of the screen at the time, but it appears to have been legitimate.

There's some mixed reports about people being able to login. We have reports of both developers and non-developers having success and trouble logging in.

iWork Beta with iCloud support was also seeded to developers:

Swedish 3D mapping company C3 Technologies appears to have been acquired in July. Saab AB announced last month that it had completely divested itself of its 57.8% stake in the company for approximately $150 million US dollars. Meanwhile, C3's website has since been completely shut down though portions of it remain in Google's cache.

Nyteknik.se reports only that the buyer is a western company.

We have promised not to say who the buyer is. But there are no Chinese or other Asian companies. It is a company in the Western world, says one of Saab today after the deal is worth 1 billion.

That opens the door to one of many companies, but certainly the big players such as Apple, Microsoft and Google are the prime candidates.

C3 Technologies made a big splash in January at CES 2011 when it began demoing its technology on both Android and iOS devices. The company uses formerly classified missile targeting technology to achieve its impressive 3D mapping effects.

As described by Technology Review.

C3's models are generated with little human intervention. First, a plane equipped with a custom-designed package of professional-grade digital single-lens reflex cameras takes aerial photos. Four cameras look out along the main compass points, at oblique angles to the ground, to image buildings from the side as well as above. Additional cameras (the exact number is secret) capture overlapping images from their own carefully determined angles, producing a final set that contains all the information needed for a full 3-D rendering of a city's buildings. Machine-vision software developed by C3 compares pairs of overlapping images to gauge depth, just as our brains use stereo vision, to produce a richly detailed 3-D model.

"Unlike Google or Bing, all of our maps are 360° explorable," says Smith, "and everything, every building, every tree, every landmark, from the city center to the suburbs, is captured in 3-D—not just a few select buildings."

This is one of their promo videos that remains on YouTube demonstrating how the technology may be used on an iPad:

Other even more impressive videos include a 3d map of Hoover Dam, and Flythrough of Oslo.

Unfortunately, we don't actually know which company has purchased the technology, though with the complete removal of C3's website, it seems the buyer has uses for the technology beyond just supplying app developers an SDK for its use. We were only able to find one possible link with one Nyteknik.se commenter claiming that they "happen to know it was Apple!".

Apple would be a good fit for the company, as they have already admitted to be working on their own turn-by-turn direction GPS service, and we've also found evidence that they have licensed map data from a number of companies. It would also reduce their dependance on Google's mapping solution which presently is used on iOS devices. Apple previously purchased mapping company Placebase and has been aggressively hiring for their Geo Team to take Maps to the "next level".

The first subscriber numbers for Condé Nast's iPad experiment are out, and The New Yorker has 100,000 readers, according to the New York Times:

Offering the first detailed glimpse into iPad magazine sales since subscriptions became available in the spring, The New Yorker said that it now had 100,000 iPad readers, including about 20,000 people who bought subscriptions at $59.99 a year.

Additionally, more than 75,000 people have taken advantage of the magazine’s offer to allow print subscribers to download the app free. Several thousand more people, on average, buy single issues for $4.99 each week.

The article's numbers are a little confusing, mostly because of the word "additionally", but here's how we see it breaking down:

- 75,000 readers who already subscribe to the New Yorker print edition.
- 20,000 readers who subscribe to the annual iPad-only edition for $59.99/year.
- 5,000 readers who buy individual issues for $4.99/week.

The New Yorker's reader count is the highest of any of Condé's iPad titles, which includes tech-savvy Wired magazine. The New Yorker has more than 1 million print subscribers.

All the Condé Nast titles are available via in-app subscription, with Apple taking 30% of sales. Apple has collected approximately $360,000 from The New Yorker's 20,000 annual subscribers.

Condé reported today that it has 242,000 digital readers (PDF) across all its titles, with 106,000 of those being new readers without print subscriptions.

Alongside today's Apple TV software update that brought the ability for users to stream TV episodes they had previously purchased through iTunes, Apple has also expanded the "Purchased" section of the iTunes Store as accessed via Mac, PC, and iOS to include re-downloads of purchased TV content.

The change adds TV shows to Apple's early-stage iCloud offerings, bringing the TV content in line with music purchases that received the same treatment back in early June following the iCloud announcement at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. With the change, users now have the ability to download purchased television content at-will to their various devices as long as they are linked with a single iTunes Store account.

Apple has also updated its iTunes Store terms and conditions with new text covering the changes, and summarizes the change as follows:

Notification of an additional type of previously-purchased content that may be subsequently downloaded to certain computers and devices as an accommodation to you, subject to existing association rules; and that such content may be played back on certain devices that are not subject to existing association rules, with limitations.

The majority of the relevant changes appear to be covered in the section entitled "Automatic Delivery and Downloading Previous Purchases Beta", which outlines two classes of downloadable content: "iTunes Auto-Delivery Content", which covers music and music videos and which can be automatically downloaded to associated devices; and "iTunes Eligible Content", which covers TV shows that must be downloaded manually.

Users have long been responsible for backing up their own content, with Apple only allowing limited re-downloads of lost content on a case-by-case basis. But with the move to iCloud storage of users' purchases, they will be able to freely delete and re-download episodes to whichever devices they wish to view the content on. Such a change generally requires that licensing deals with content providers be renegotiated, and thus Apple has had to work carefully toward deploying re-downloads for each media type and in each market.

Despite the new feature, Apple does still point out that users are responsible for backing up their own content, noting that all previously-purchased content may not be available for re-download at all times.