MacRumors

The New York Times has begun offering digital subscriptions via Apple's in-app subscription feature. The subscription offering puts the Times app in compliance with Apple's revised in-app subscription guidelines. The Times rolled out its digital subscription offerings earlier this year, but they couldn't be purchased directly in an app until today.

The Times is now the highest profile app to work with Apple's requirements surrounding subscriptions. Current NYT subscribers can login and access their content, and non-subscribers can quickly sign up using their iTunes accounts.

For new users signing up through the app, the Times is charging $14.99/month for NYTimes.com + iPhone App access, $19.99 for website + iPad, and $34.99/month for website + iPhone + iPad. Apple will receive a 30% cut of these subscriptions.

These prices are similar to those offered via the Times website, though NYTimes.com offers a $0.99 promotional price for the first month. In-App subscribers will receive a week-long subscription for free if they share their name, email address and ZIP code with the Times.

Though the deadline for compliance with the new In-App Subscription guidelines came and went yesterday, Apple is reportedly helping developers update their apps to work within the guidelines and allowing some additional time for them to come into compliance.

Adobe today announced a new "switcher" promotion clearly designed to take advantage of the significant amount of criticism being levied against Apple's new Final Cut Pro X. The new program offers a 50% discount on either Creative Suite CS5.5 Production Premium or Premiere Pro CS5.5 to current users of Apple's Final Cut Pro or Avid's Media Composer. Certain current Adobe users are also eligible for the promotion.

"We're hearing from video professionals that they want pro level tools that address cutting edge work but also allow them to use legacy footage and workflows," said Jim Guerard, general manager and vice president of professional video and audio, Adobe. "At Adobe we've been in the trenches with video pros for years and with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 and CS5.5 Production Premium we've delivered professional-grade tools that are already being battle-tested by some of the most innovative filmmakers, broadcasters and video pros."

Adobe's switcher program is limited to commercial customers and is valid through September 30th.

Avid has also taken advantage of Apple's issues, once again offering Final Cut Pro users more than 50% off of its Media Composer software, pricing it at $995 compared to the usual $2,295 download price and $2,495 boxed price. The discounted pricing is available for existing pre-Final Cut Pro X users.

We are listening. And one of the things you have clearly said is that you want Media Composer to be more accessible. In response to your feedback, we are extending the cross-grade to Media Composer - through September. Final Cut Pro (excluding FCP X) users can get Media Composer 5.5 at the promotional price of $995 USD. You can order the cross-grade as of next Tuesday, July 5th.

Avid had offered the crossgrade promotion from mid-April through June 17th after Apple took over the Final Cut Pro User Group SuperMeet at NAB to preview Final Cut Pro X, kicking out Avid and other sponsors of the event in order to have the stage for itself. Avid's decision to renew the crossgrade the program through September is clearly an effort to attract Final Cut Pro users disappointed in the official release of Final Cut Pro X.

DigiTimes reports that upstream suppliers in Apple's manufacturing chain have been given orders to begin preparing for production of next-generation iPhone and iPad models, with a debut expected in the September-October timeframe.

Taiwan-based companies included in the supply chain for iPhone 5 and iPad 3 have begun to prepare materials for the production of the two devices, which are likely to make their debuts in September and to hit the market in October, according to industry sources. ... The sources pointed out that Apple only plans to launch one model of the new iPhone, while iPad 3 has just recently been added to the production schedule with both set to be produced in small volumes in August and the volume will start picking up in September and October.

While Apple has been widely rumored to be preparing to launch its next-generation iPhone within that timeframe, a new iPad has been a controversial topic. A number of sources have reported that Apple may introduce an updated iPad just months after the release of the iPad 2 as the company seeks to maintain its stranglehold on the tablet market in the face of rapidly-increasing competition, but those claims have been met with skepticism by others expecting Apple to roughly stick to its usual annual update cycle.

According to today's report, the new iPad will likely be thinner and lighter than the current iPad 2 and will support a display resolution of approximately 250 dpi, which would be double that of the iPad and iPad 2.

Nortel announced that they had concluded an auction to sell of its patents and patent applications to a consortium consisting of Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, RIM and Sony. The final winning bid was $4.5 billion and includes over 6,000 patents and patent applications covering wireless, 4G, networking optical, voice internet, semiconductors and more.

"Following a very robust auction, we are pleased at the outcome of the auction of this extensive patent portfolio", said George Riedel, Chief Strategy Officer and President of Business Units, Nortel. "The size and dollar value for this transaction is unprecedented, as was the significant interest in the portfolio among major companies around the world."

We had previously reported that Apple had been interested in buying up the patents off Nortel Networks which had filed for bankruptcy in 2009. The interest in the portfolio was significant due to the broad reach of the patents, especially in the area of wireless networking and LTE technology. Google was also said to be one of the early interested parties by placing an opening bid of $900 million on the patents.

One research firm has estimated that there are 105 patent families deemed essential to deployment of LTE (4G) technology, with Nokia controlling 57 of those families. Ericsson is said to control 14 families, while Nortel, Qualcomm, and Sony are each reported to control about seven families. The companies that are part of the winning bid will presumably provide access to these patents to those companies.

During the keynote address at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month, Phil Schiller noted that Apple's Mac App Store, launch in early January, has rapidly risen to become the top selling distribution channel for computer software, beating out Best Buy, Walmart, and Office Depot. According to Schiller:

In the last six months, something incredible has happened. In the last six months, the Mac App Store has now become the #1 PC software channel for buying software. That's incredible.

But questions have remained about just how successful the Mac App Store has been, given the smaller installed base compared to iOS and long-standing alternative methods for purchasing software.

Developer Martin Schultz has, however, now provided a look at sales figures for his Hard Rock Racing app, which managed to peak as the #3 paid game and #14 overall paid app in the U.S. earlier this month after being featured by Apple in the "New and Noteworthy" section on the front page of the Mac App Store. According to Schultz, that stellar ranking translated into only 743 sales on the peak day.

While that one-day performance resulted in a solid $2,500 payday for Schultz after Apple's 30% cut of revenue, it's clear that Mac App Store sales fall far short of those seen for iOS apps. We spoke with John Casasanta of iOS developer taptaptap, who shared that his Camera+ application typically pulls in 8,000-12,000 downloads per day when it is ranked around #14 in the overall paid apps for the iOS App Store. Of course, 743 sales on peak day may be better than Schultz might have done through traditional channels or direct online sales. The average sales price for iOS apps also appears to be much lower than Mac Apps, which may also contribute to the volume discrepancy.

Apple is of course working hard to drive adoption of the Mac App Store, opting to distribute its forthcoming OS X Lion exclusively through the store. The company has also released its new Final Cut Pro X apps and other titles such as Aperture, iWork, and iLife through the store. With the Mac App Store set to take on an even larger role in OS X Lion with the addition of such features as in-app purchases and push notifications, Apple is clearly pushing forward in its attempts to replicate the success of the iOS App Store on the Mac platform.

Earlier this year, Apple rolled out In App Subscriptions for App Store applications, offering content providers a way to provide ongoing content within their applications. As part of that rollout, Apple required that providers offer their content via In App Subscriptions at at least the same rates as other purchasing mechanisms and also barred apps from including links to those alternative external mechanisms, such as "buy" buttons linking out to web-based stores. The regulations were set to apply to both purchased and subscribed content, and would go into effect on June 30th (today) for existing applications.

But with just a few weeks to go before the deadline, Apple backpedaled somewhat, adjusting its App Store terms to allow developers to provide content in their applications without also requiring that the content be made available through In App Purchases/Subscriptions. The company did, however, maintain its exclusion of "buy" buttons linking to external purchasing mechanisms, and presumably continued to demand a June 30th compliance date for existing apps.

Last week, Hulu Plus became one of the highest-profile apps to comply with Apple's new rules, simply removing an external link for signing up for the Hulu Plus service. The revised app complies with Apple's rules by playing outside subscription content without offering an In App Subscription option while also not providing users with a way to subscribe to the service linked from directly within the app.

At the time, it was noted that a number of other high-profile apps had yet to comply with Apple's terms and that some such as Amazon's Kindle app might have significant difficulties doing so given their focus on offering individual eBook purchases. Offering access to a catalog of eBook content with no way to link out for external purchases would mark a relatively significant inconvenience for users trying to make new purchases.

CNN Money reports that Kindle does indeed appear to be in Apple's crosshairs, along with similar eBook services from Barnes & Noble and Borders.

The new rules explicitly prohibit apps that include "external mechanisms for purchases ... such as a 'buy' button that goes to a web site to purchase a digital book."

Amazon's Kindle app prominently features a "Shop in Kindle Store" link, which takes shoppers to Amazon's website. That's verboten under the rules set to take effect Thursday.

Apple and the digital booksellers have remained silent on exactly what is expected to happen today as the new rules take effect, but none of the high-profile applications have yet received updates that would bring them into compliance with the rules.

Apple is not averse, however, to rejecting or removing such applications for non-compliance, as the company demonstrated by rejecting a Sony Reader application earlier this year for its ability to purchase external content without also offering In App Purchasing.

As noted by MacStories, Apple's App Store has reached yet another milestone, now offering over 100,000 iPad-specific applications.

Apple and third-party developers have set a new record: in 453 days since the original iPad came out on April 3, 2010, the App Store has more than 100,000 iPad-exclusive apps available. Either specifically targeting the tablet, or released as universal updates to existing iPhone apps, at the moment of writing this there are 100,161 iPad apps in the Store. How do I know? The App Store app itself on my iPad shows that.

Our sister site AppShopper, which tracks iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac App Store apps, currently has the available iPad app count at just over 106,000, as it relies on a slightly different recording method supplied by Apple's API for tracking App Store apps.

Apple currently offers over 400,000 total apps in its iOS App Store, and over 5,000 more in its Mac App Store.

DigiTimes briefly reports that Apple is planning a significant increase in iPad 2 shipments for the third quarter of this year, attempting to move 12-14 million units over the period. That goal is up from the 7-9 million units reportedly shipped during the second quarter.

In order to significantly increase its shipments in the third quarter, Apple has been piling up its inventory of iPad 2 components such as panels in the second quarter to minimize the risk of facing component shortages.

Research analysts have had a particularly difficult time forecasting Apple's quarterly iPad shipments in the face of production constraints and the transition from the original iPad to the iPad 2. While a number of research analysts and firms have pegged Apple's total 2011 iPad sales in the range of 40 million units or even higher, Apple fell far short of expectations in the first calendar quarter with only 4.69 million units shipped. That figure only included, however, a few initial weeks of iPad 2 sales as Apple struggled to meet demand and according to Tim Cook sold every iPad 2 it made during the quarter.

As noted by Arstechnica and iFixIt, Apple's new $50 Thunderbolt cable is actually a "smart" or "active" cable that contains circuitry and firmware. Arstechnica explains:

A source within the telecom industry explained to Ars that active cables are commonly used at data rates above 5Gbps. These cables contain tiny chips at either end that are calibrated to the attenuation and dispersion properties of the wire between them. Compensating for these properties "greatly improves the signal-to-noise ratio" for high-bandwidth data transmission.

iFixIt tore down the new ThunderBolt cable and found two Gennum GN2033 chips in the connector, one on each side. Additional support chips and resistors were also found for total of 12 chips and "tons" of smaller electronic components.

Gennum's chip is described as a transceiver that enables "reliable data transfer at cutting-edge speeds over low cost, thin-gauge copper cables." Early benchmarks of Thunderbolt drive enclosures show massive improvements over FireWire 800.

One interesting benefit of this "active" cabling is that current Thunderbolt ports found in the iMac and MacBook Pro will be future-compatible with planned optical Thunderbolt cables. Optical cables were part of the original plans for Thunderbolt which promises to offer much higher speeds, but the first version released are based on traditional copper wiring. Intel still plans on upgrading to optical cabling in the future, and existing Thunderbolt devices should be compatible with new cabling. This was mentioned during the original Thunderbolt roll out.

...the port you'll find in new MacBook Pros and storage devices can actually take an optical cable when those are cost-effective enough to roll out, because Intel will eventually bake the optical transceivers into the cables themselves.

Ars, however, suggests that the high cost and complexity of the cabling may be a hurdle to widespread adoption of Thunderbolt.

Ever since Apple and Intel introduced the Thunderbolt high-speed data connectivity standard back in late February, there has been speculation about whether the standard would support booting from external disks. At that initial release on revamped MacBook Pros, Andy Ihnatko reported that booting was not supported, although Target Disk Mode was supported. But a report from The Mac Observer early last month indicated that booting from disk would be supported over Thunderbolt.

With Apple's Thunderbolt cable and the first third-party drive systems hitting the Apple Store yesterday, Apple posted a few support articles outlining some of the Thunderbolt functionality, but failing to disclose any booting capabilities and thus leaving potential customers still in the dark about compatibility.

It now appears, however, that we do have confirmation that booting over Thunderbolt is supported, as we received word yesterday from a reader who had received multiple confirmations from LaCie representatives that the feature will indeed be supported. Meanwhile, AnandTech has already received one of the new 12 TB RAID systems from Promise and confirms that booting over Thunderbolt is supported.

Bloomberg reports that HP has expressed interest in licensing its webOS mobile operating system to other companies, potentially opening the door for another major competitor in the smartphone and tablet industries.

"We are talking to a number of companies," Apotheker said in Beijing, declining to elaborate on details. "I can share with you that a number of companies have expressed interest. We are continuing our conversations."

The webOS operating system was originally developed by Palm as an answer to iOS, but was not able to gain much ground against Apple's platform and Google's Android. With HP's acquisition of Palm last year, webOS has undergone a transition as HP has attempted to move directly into the smartphone and tablet markets. HP is launching its TouchPad tablet device within the next few days, and has been said to be trying to launch its own cloud-based media service similar in some respects to Apple's iCloud.

According to the Bloomberg report, Samsung is one of the companies interested in licensing webOS, presenting an alternative to the Android-based systems currently offered by the manufacturer.

A partnership with HP would allow Samsung, which uses Android for its Galaxy Tab tablet computers, to customize devices amid speculation that Google may restrict modifications for phones that use Android, said one of the people, who declined to be named because the talks are private.

If HP is able to find success with its new mobile products and Samsung adopts webOS as a leading platform for its own devices, the mobile industry could see a shakeup with webOS becoming a legitimate contender in the race to compete with iOS and Android.

Microsoft has of course been pushing its own Windows Phone operating system as yet another competitive platform, although customer adoption has appeared weak thus far. The company has, however, partnered with Nokia in a deal to drive that manufacturer's future hardware, a deal that could make Windows Phone another major player if customers embrace the platform.

AppleInsider notes that MacBook supplies have become "severely constrained" at a number of third-party retailers, suggesting that Apple may be drawing down stocks ahead of a refresh.

Specifically, Amazon, MacConnection, On Sale and J&R are all out of stock. In addition, inventory of the entry-level portable is low at DataVision.

In addition, one of Europe's largest distributors is completely out of stock of the white MacBook, and lists no estimated time of arrival for new shipments. Sources indicated that this is unusual, but not necessarily a sign that the current model will be discontinued.

Shipping estimates for orders made through Apple's online stores around the world remain at "within 24 hours", suggesting that the shortages have not yet extended to Apple's own distribution channels. But shortages at third-party retailers are frequently the first indications of Apple preparing to release updated models.

As noted in our Buyer's Guide, Apple is well overdue for a MacBook refresh as judged by its usual update cycle, having last updated the MacBook in May 2010.

Rumors of updated MacBooks have been essentially nonexistent, although the Machine will presumably make the shift to Intel's Sandy Bridge platform and include Thunderbolt support. And while no specific timeframe for an update has been offered, the line is clearly one of many including the MacBook Air, Mac Pro and Mac mini that are due for an update. Apple has been said to be holding new hardware launches until OS X Lion is ready, and so we may see a flood of new releases once the operating system debuts next month.

Update: AppleBitch reports that Best Buy's online store and Amazon UK are also currently out of stock of the Mac mini. While the shortages are not as widespread as seen with the MacBook, they could be early signs of a drawdown for that line as well, which was last updated in June 2010 with a new design.

Many customers have been waiting for Apple to begin shipping its long-rumored updated MacBook Airs, bringing a significant performance improvement to the line with the incorporation of Intel's Sandy Bridge platform. A number of reports had pegged the release for the June-July timeframe, but the June dates are essentially out of the picture now and Apple has been said to be holding the release until it can offer OS X Lion preinstalled on the new machines.

Chatter is now beginning to coalesce around a mid-July launch, and we've been hearing that Apple may be planning a MacBook Air launch for the third week of the month. AppleNApps seems to agree, with several sources there reporting that Apple plans to release the new MacBook Airs alongside OS X Lion on Tuesday, July 19th.

Sources have indicated to AppleNApps that Apple has an internal launch date of July 19th for Mac OS X Lion and a refresh of the MacBook Airs. This is the target date under which the company is currently operating, though both sources are indicating that things can change. Our sources have just seen indications, and can’t be entirely certain, but if everything goes according to plan there will be a new MacBook Air shipping with Lion starting July 19th.

That would coincide with Apple's earnings announcement for the quarter just ending, providing the company with enticing discussion fodder for the conference call.

9 to 5 Mac also reports that it has been hearing Thursday, July 14th in the "rumblings" regarding a launch for Lion and new MacBook Airs, adding to the increasing consensus of a release right around the middle of the month.