MacRumors

Just hours after our latest summary of reports on the potential for an "iPad mini" coming later this year, Bloomberg weighs in with its own claims that Apple will be looking to introduce the device in October for availability before the end of the year.

The new model will have a screen that’s 7 inches to 8 inches diagonally, less than the current 9.7-inch version, said the people, who asked not to be identified because Apple hasn’t made its plans public. The product, which Apple may announce by October, won’t have the high-definition screen featured on the iPad that was released in March, one of the people said.

Specifically, the report claims that the iPad will "have the same number of pixels as those in the iPad before it was upgraded to the so-called Retina Display earlier this year", giving the device a resolution of 1024x768 pixels. Using the same resolution as on the larger iPad will minimize fragmentation for developers who already need to target their apps for both iPad and iPhone/iPod touch sizes, but the higher pixel density will mean that iPad content will appear smaller than on the full-size iPad.

The report also indicates that Apple has been mulling the idea of a smaller iPad since the launch of the original model, even as Steve Jobs was panning 7-inch tablets being brought to the market by Apple's competitors. But with Amazon's Kindle Fire and Google's forthcoming Nexus 7 at least generating interest at a much lower $199 price point, Apple may now feel that the time is right to release a smaller, less expensive iPad that can help cement its dominant position in the tablet market.

While talk of an iPad mini has been circulating for quite some time with increasing rumors pointing to a launch later this year, Bloomberg is now the second mainstream publication to lend its weight to the claims. The Wall Street Journal reported back in February that Apple was testing such a device and qualifying suppliers, but acknowledged that Apple routinely tests products that are never released to the public.

Update: The Wall Street Journal has added its own claim that Apple's component suppliers are ramping toward mass production of a smaller iPad beginning in September.

Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White today issued a new research note highlighting a steep drop in sales at Wintek, Apple's long-time supply chain partner involved in production of display touch panels for iOS devices. According to the report, Wintek has experienced one of its steepest declines in shipments on record, but rather than suggesting that the decline is due to overall weakness in Apple products, White believes that it is evidence of Apple moving to in-cell touch sensing technology in its next-generation products.

This morning, Wintek reported consolidated June sales of NT$5.22 billion, down 33.6% MoM and much worse than the average MoM June sales increase of 1% over the past seven years. Based on our records, this appears to be the biggest MoM sales drop for Wintek since the later part of 2008 and one of the most significant drops we have on record (back to 2005). We would not overreact to the weakness at Wintek as it relates to Apple because we believe Wintek may be losing market share in key next generation Apple products and therefore ramping down certain programs.

White notes that Wintek was previously estimated as generating over 50% of total sales from Apple, but that its role in Apple's supply chain is slipping amid the transition to new technologies.

Rumors of a shift to in-cell technology, which would allow for thinner displays, surfaced in April with indications that it would benefit larger display manufacturers like Sony, Sharp, and Toshiba. Smaller players like Wintek that have specialized in the current on-cell touch panel implementations would likely see their roles reduced, and White believes that that impact is already being felt at Wintek.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo issued a report in late April estimating that a shift from on-cell technology to in-cell technology could allow Apple to shave up to 0.5 mm from the thickness of the next-generation iPhone. Altogether, Kuo expects that Apple will seek to embrace thinner displays, thinner back cases made of metal instead of glass, and thinner batteries made possible by spreading out within a larger form factor as a way reduce the thickness of the iPhone by nearly 1.5 mm.

Claims of an "iPad mini" have been circulating for some time now, with a number of the reports indicating that Apple is planning to launch the device with a 7.85-inch display later this year. While the rumors have been evolving for quite some time now, things have been beginning to firm up a bit with a report last month from iMore, which has offered accurate information on several topics in recent months.

Unwired View now points to a report [Google translation] from Chinese site MyDrivers.com claiming that Apple will indeed be launching a 7.85-inch iPad later this year. According to the report's anonymous supply chain sources, the iPad mini will carry roughly the same thickness as the iPad 2, with Apple using Sharp's indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) technology to create a thinner and brighter display.

IGZO displays had been rumored for Apple's third-generation iPad, but they were apparently not ready in time, as Sharp did not begin mass production of such panels until mid-April.

Just days ago, Chinese site Apple Daily reported (via DigiTimes) that Apple will be refreshing the current iPad this summer with new IGZO displays. But with even DigiTimes calling the claim "highly doubtful", those waiting for such an update are likely to be disappointed.

With Apple opting not to release updated iMac models at its Worldwide Developers Conference last month, there has been considerable debate over the timing of the next update. Several of the hardware pieces such as Ivy Bridge processors are already available to support an update, and with the last update having occurred 427 days ago the time seems ripe for new models.

But one wild card has been the issue of Retina displays and whether they will be included in the next round of updates to the iMac. ABC News reported in mid-May that Retina displays would indeed becoming to the next iMac, but more recent claims have suggested that Apple will need to wait until next year to roll out the technology, especially given the horsepower needed to support massive numbers of pixels on the 27-inch iMac.

That latter report from Marco Arment suggested that the interim non-Retina iMac refresh would happen some time in the latter part of this year, perhaps in the September-October timeframe. Alternatively, we've speculated that Apple could release updated iMacs without Retina displays at any time given the availability of components and an apparently-legitimate benchmark, with the launch of OS X Mountain Lion later this month being one opportunity for such a launch. But with essentially no sign of Apple ramping up production on new iMacs, the company's plans remain unclear.

Now, a new report from DigiTimes claims that Apple's supply chain is indeed preparing to provide components for an updated iMac, with an eye toward a launch in October of this year.

Apple's supply chain reportedly will start supplying components for the mass production of Apple's upcoming new iMac all-in-one PC in July with the device's official launch possibly around October, according to sources from upstream supply chain.

Unlike Arment's sources, however, DigiTimes believes that Apple will include Retina displays in the new models.

DigiTimes has come under increasing criticism for a number of claims that have not been borne out, but the publication does occasionally offer correct information and weighing its information with other rumors can still help fill out a picture of Apple's roadmap. In this case, the new report offers a second data point claiming that new iMacs will arrive in the September-October timeframe rather coming sooner as many have hoped.

Leaks first appeared in May that Apple was planning to add web versions of the Reminders and Notes iOS apps to iCloud.com for access from desktop Macs and PCs.

The iCloud Beta portal has since been activated for developers enrolled the iOS 6 beta at beta.icloud.com. The site displays "Beta" tags on Calendar, Find My iPhone, Notes, and Reminders -- the last two being new additions to iCloud.

The web version of Find My iPhone has been polished, with a battery status icon as one new feature. The add-on gives users with lost gadgets some indication of how long they have to find their device.

Notes is a fairly faithful reproduction of the skeuomorphic notepad on the iPhone. Users can create, edit, and delete notes, with updates reflecting on iOS devices in near-real time.

The Calendar app doesn't have any immediately noticeable changes, other than the removal of Reminders to its own app:

Apple says it is using iCloud to "increase customer delight". With more than 125 million iCloud users as of April, it's unsurprising that the company is focusing so much effort on the service -- both on iOS and the Web. The new iCloud web apps will be live for all users with the launch of iOS 6, expected this fall.

Thanks Jono!

Apple today updated its investor relations page to note that it will announce its earnings for the third fiscal quarter (second calendar quarter) of 2012 on Tuesday, July 24. The earnings release typically occurs just after 4:30 PM Eastern Time following the close of regular stock trading, and the conference call is scheduled to follow at 5:00 PM Eastern / 2:00 PM Pacific.

MacRumors will provide running coverage of the earnings release and conference call.

The release should provide a look into the status of iPhone 4S sales after more than 8 months of availability -- and, perhaps most importantly, the strength of Apple's sales in China. Apple reported strong results three months ago and provided guidance for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 expecting revenue of $34 billion and earnings per diluted share of $8.68. If it meets that guidance, it will be the third consecutive quarter with total sales of more than $30 billion.

Late last year, Apple was fined $1.2 million by Italian regulators over warranty-related issues, with Apple being cited for not adequately disclosing standard two-year warranties required to be offered with new products sold in the country.

Following the ruling, Apple temporarily added disclosures to its Italian online store even as it was appealing the decision. Apple officially lost its appeal earlier this year, with the company being required to pay the previously-assessed fine.

Reuters now reports that Italian regulators remain concerned about Apple's sales and marketing tactics and are considering additional fines and an eventual temporary ban on Apple's ability to sell products in the country as further sanctions.

The AGCM said in its monthly bulletin that Apple was continuing to adopt unfair commercial practices in Italy and noted this could eventually lead to the closure of its Italian operations for up to 30 days.

The U.S. group has 30 days to respond.

The AGCM alleges that information provided by Apple about an extra guarantee scheme encourages customers to buy the service without clearly explaining that the company is obliged to offer a two-year free warranty, the source said.

Italy is not the only country where Apple is facing criticism over its warranty policies. Earlier this year, consumer groups in eleven European Union countries filed letters of complaint with their respective regulatory agencies asking them to take action against Apple's misleading warranty sales tactics in light of the EU's requirement for a standard two-year warranty. The company clarified the differences between EU protection and Apple's warranty policies, but concerns about its disclosures apparently still remain.

Update: Apple takes issue with the Italian antitrust authority, saying in a statement:

We have introduced a number of measures to address the Italian competition authority concerns and we disagree with their latest complaint.

Following this weekend's shutdown of MobileMe in favor of iCloud, Apple today sent out an email to users of its beta iWork.com service reminding them that it too will be discontinued on July 31.

Dear iWork.com user,

Remember, as of July 31, 2012, you will no longer be able to access your documents on the iWork.com site or view them on the web.

We recommend that you sign in to iWork.com before July 31, 2012, and download all your documents to your computer. For detailed instructions on how to save a copy of your documents on your computer, read this support article at Apple.com.

Moving forward, you can use iCloud to store your documents and make them available across your computer and your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Learn more about iCloud.

Sincerely,
The iWork team

iWork.com launched as a free beta in January 2009, with Apple intending to eventually offer the service with tools for collaboration on iWork documents for a fee. The service never exited beta, however, and with iCloud offering new options for moving documents around the company has decided to eliminate the program.

While iCloud does not replicate all of the features of iWork.com, Apple continues to expand the functionality of iCloud, with the next round of improvements coming with OS X Mountain Lion later this month and iOS 6 this fall.

ifoAppleStore posts a photo of Apple's concept for a redesigned Genius Bar for at least some of its retail stores, a move intended to increase capacity at the busy support location. Significantly, the change turns the entire Genius Bar by 90 degrees to provide stools for customers on both sides of the table.

The change also breaks down the barrier between customers and support staff, with Geniuses and customers apparently mingling on the same side of the table. As Apple has tweaked its support procedures so that Geniuses are assisting up to three customers at a time, the company can also more efficiently address customer needs with the new layout. In the example described by ifoAppleStore, the move allows the total number of stools to be increased from 7 to 12, although some of the newly-gained space will still be needed by Geniuses for their work with customers.

This new 90-degree Genius Bar turn solution would be particularly effective at narrow stores where there is limited room for seated customers. The improvement seems to come at the expense of the very popular kids area, with its round, black seats and iPads loaded with children’s software. It’s not clear if this design change will be rolled out to other stores or if it’s simply being tested at this specific store.

As the report notes, the move would sacrifice the kids' tables typically found near the rear of Apple's narrow store designs, certainly a disadvantage for some customers. Apple earlier this year replaced the iMacs at its kids' tables with new iPads, increasing the number of devices available for use and moving to a more natural touch-based exploration concept.

Associated Press reports that Apple and Chinese company Proview Technology have reached a settlement deal that involves Apple paying $60 million for the rights to the "iPad" trademark in China.

"The iPad dispute resolution is ended," the Guangdong High People's Court said in a statement. "Apple Inc. has transferred $60 million to the account of the Guangdong High Court as requested in the mediation letter."

Proview began publicly objecting to Apple's use of the iPad name in late 2010, with the situation eventually escalating to see Proview demanding bans on iPad sales in the country and up to $2 billion in compensation.

Settlement talks initiated earlier this year reportedly saw Apple offering $16 million to settle the case, but Proview was apparently holding out for a $400 million settlement that could save the company as it seeks to reorganize under bankruptcy.

Apple argued in several court cases that it had acquired the Chinese rights to the iPad name in late 2009 as part of a deal with Proview's Taiwanese arm. That deal, brokered by Apple dummy corporation IP Application Development, reportedly saw the rights to the name transferred in a number of markets around the globe for just $55,000. Proview later claimed that the Chinese rights to the trademark were owned by its Chinese subsidiary and that the Taiwanese arm consequently could not have sold them to Apple.

As promised, Apple has shut down the MobileMe web service but is still allowing users to migrate their data for a "limited time". Apple had been sending out warnings to users of the impending shutdown.

Apple announced the planned discontinuation of the MobileMe service last year. Apple expects users to migrate to their iCloud service, though not all services have been transitioned to the new service.

Just days after Apple won an injunction barring U.S. sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, Reuters reports that the same judge has issued a second preliminary injunction that would bar sales of Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone.

"Apple has made a clear showing that, in the absence of a preliminary injunction, it is likely to lose substantial market share in the smartphone market and to lose substantial downstream sales of future smartphone purchases and tag-along products," Judge Koh said in Friday's ruling.

The new Galaxy Nexus injunction is a much more significant victory for Apple than the Galaxy Tab 10.1 injunction, as evidenced by the $95 million bond Apple will need to post in order for the injunction to take effect. The bond money, which amounted to only $2.6 million in the Galaxy Tab 10.1 case, would be used to compensate Samsung should Apple ultimately lose the case when it goes to full trial.

The Galaxy Nexus has been Google's flagship device for showing off its Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" operating system since late last year, and was given away to attendees at this week's Google I/O conference as part of a package showing off the forthcoming Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" update.

Just after the launch of the Retina MacBook Pro earlier this month, AnandTech provided a first glimpse of the machine's display performance, noting the various resolution options available to users and examining how its color and contrast compares to other notebooks.

After having more time to analyze the new machine, AnandTech last week published its full review of the Retina MacBook Pro, bringing its thorough and technically-detailed perspective to the report. While the whole review is definitely worth a read, the section on graphics performance bears special attention.

With the integrated Intel HD 4000 and discrete NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphics units responsible for driving 2880x1800 pixels in standard Retina mode and as many as 3840x2400 pixels before downscaling to display 1920x1200 at its highest non-Retina resolution, Apple is clearly pushing the limits of the machine's graphics capabilities.

At the default setting, either Intel’s HD 4000 or NVIDIA’s GeForce GT 650M already have to render and display far more pixels than either GPU was ever intended to. At the 1680 and 1920 settings however the GPUs are doing more work than even their high-end desktop counterparts are used to.

AnandTech goes on to assess this graphics performance, noting that the Retina MacBook Pro at times struggles to maintain a "consistently smooth experience".

At 2880 x 1800 most interactions are smooth but things like zooming windows or scrolling on certain web pages is clearly sub-30fps. At the higher scaled resolutions, since the GPU has to render as much as 9.2MP, even UI performance can be sluggish. There’s simply nothing that can be done at this point - Apple is pushing the limits of the hardware we have available today, far beyond what any other OEM has done.

Focusing on browser scrolling behavior, which also involves substantial CPU load, AnandTech notes that the resource-intensive Facebook news feed pages can display at over 50 frames per second on a 2011 MacBook Pro, but that the new Retina MacBook Pro struggles to hit 20 frames per second as it pushes so many more pixels.

The report notes that OS X Mountain Lion will help address some of these issues by leveraging Core Animation, but in AnandTech's testing it was still only able to achieve 20-30 frames per second under Mountain Lion. Further improvements in performance will have to wait for hardware capabilities to catch up with demands imposed by these new ultra-high resolution displays.