MacRumors

Electricpig reports that it has heard from a Mac accessory manufacturer that Apple is planning to launch a 15-inch MacBook Air as soon as April.

And what is coming? If you take our source’s word for it, a 15-inch MacBook Air with ports on both sides, no optical drive and no ethernet cable.

While our source wasn’t certain that this would completely destroy the Pro (he also stated that Apple might hold on to the 17-inch model, which would make sense for the sizeable audience of professional editors out there), he was fairly sure that the shakeup will happen in April. To that end, our source’s company’s got its manufacturers on standby to be able to make and ship a new product lineup inside of 90 days.

The source is reportedly involved in "MacBook docking solutions", and while Apple almost certainly hasn't shared any specific information with the source, he does obviously have a strong interest in acquiring such information and may even have access to sources who could provide estimates of Apple's plans. That said, the source may simply be reiterating a previous rumor that had claimed new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models with thinner MacBook Air-like form factors would be launching in April.

One other question still remaining is chip availability from Intel. With delays in the launch of the chip manufacturer's new Ivy Bridge platform and uncertainty about whether these thinner MacBook Pro or larger MacBook Air products would run traditional mobile chips as found in the current MacBook Pro or ultra low voltage chips as found in the MacBook Air, it is not entirely clear when chips for the new machines will become available.

Apple today officially announced that the new iPad will launch at 8:00 AM local time on Friday in the United States and nine other countries. The first hints of an 8:00 AM launch surfaced earlier this week with the grand opening time of Apple's new Highland Village retail store in Houston, and the time was essentially confirmed yesterday with a leaked photo of Apple retail store signage announcing the launch time.

Apple today announced the new iPad, the third generation of its category defining mobile device, will arrive at Apple’s retail stores and the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com) on Friday, March 16 at 8:00 a.m. local time in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the UK; along with Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

Apple also notes that customers purchasing the new iPad will receive free Personal Setup to get their new device up and running, while promoting Personal Pickup options available through the Apple Store app for iOS devices.

Finally, the company confirms that the new iPad will be available from Best Buy, RadioShack, Sam’s Club, Target and Walmart in the United States. Carriers AT&T and Verizon have also announced that they will be offering 4G models of the new iPad beginning with Friday's launch date.

A few times a year, MacRumors partners with MacUpdate to promote their Mac application bundle deal.

Their latest bundle delivers at 11 Mac applications for $49.99 (a $377.79 value if all purchased separately). Notably, it includes VMWare Fusion 4 for the first time. Fusion is a popular virtualization tool that allows users to run Windows on their Mac.

- VMware Fusion 4 ($49.99) - Run Windows on your Mac without rebooting
- Drive Genius 3 ($99.00) - Optimize, repair, test, resize and clean up your Mac
- PDFpen 5 ($59.95) - Edit and add text, images and signatures to PDFs
- ForkLift 2.5 ($29.95) - File manager and FTP client
- Typinator 5 ($33.00) - Text expansion solution
- DesktopShelves 2 ($14.99) - Display folders as desktop shelves
- Snapheal ($14.99) - Professional-quality image enhancement utility
- Boom ($10.99) - Boost audio output for your entire system
- Phone to Mac ($24.95) - Copy media from an iOS device to your Mac
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition ($29.99) - Action game in the Star Wars Universe
- Worms Special Edition ($9.99) - Classic turn-based strategy game

All apps together are being sold for $49.99 until March 28th.

MacRumors is a promotional partner with MacUpdate. Bundle sales through these links benefit MacRumors financially, and provide a way for readers to directly support this site.

Update: Bundle extended until but now without VMWare, includes Drive Genius 3 instead.

Vietnamese site Tinhte.vn has been spending some more time with the 3rd Generation iPad in their possession.

They took some screenshots of the native apps that come bundled with the new iPad that support its new Retina screen. This is a screenshot from iPhoto (click for full size):

The sizes of these Retina-enabled apps appear to be about 2.5-3x the size of their original counterparts.

These applications are developed by Apple has been upgraded to support the Retina screen, for example with Keynote (iWork software sets), this application previously only 115MB capacity but its latest version is 327MB. Numbers from 109MB or 283MB up to, from 95MB to 269MB Pages, iMovie from 70MB to 404MB.

Existing iPad apps are automatically pixel-doubled to take up the full screen on the new iPad, but appear noticeably less sharp than native Retina graphics.

In a separate post, they took a number of sample photos using the new iPad's 5-megapixel camera. This represents a significant upgrade from the iPad 2's 1-megapixel camera. One sample shot is included here (click for full size):

The 3rd Generation iPad is officially launching on March 16th at retail stores. The bulk of the pre-orders should also be arriving in customers hands on that day.

Bloomberg reports that antitrust investigators with the Federal Trade Commission have issued a subpoena to Apple requesting information on the company's deal to make Google the default search engine on iOS. Google has been reported to have paid Apple $1 billion last year in the iOS search deal, and the subpoena is part of an ongoing antitrust investigation of Google over its actions to lock up search engine traffic.

The agency’s request for documents includes the agreements that made Google the preferred search engine on Apple’s mobile devices, said the people, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly and declined to be identified. Google rivals such as Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) have criticized these agreements as anticompetitive.

The subpoena indicates the FTC is intensifying its scrutiny of Google’s business practices. Details of the Apple-Google relationship may show whether Google is abusing its dominance of Internet search to boost revenue in the mobile phone advertising market, said Allen Grunes, an antitrust lawyer at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP in Washington.

The investigation is also looking more broadly at how Google's advertising rates and search results may be being manipulated to give Google an unfair advantage in the marketplace.

With Android and iOS now together holding the vast majority of smartphone market share, Google's search engine possesses a dominating position in the rapidly-growing mobile search space. With mobile search expected to pass desktop search within the next few years, Google's dominance and its tie-ins to its own advertising services are garnering significant attention from regulators.

Following reports from late last year indicating that Apple would be switching back to NVIDIA for graphics chips in its next MacBook Pro update, SemiAccurate now reports that NVIDIA's issues with GPU production are apparently leading Apple to rely more heavily on Intel's integrated graphics.

Apple has reportedly been ordering beefed-up integrated graphics from Intel on its Ivy Bridge platform, a development the report claims would be pointless if the chipsets were to be paired with discrete graphics chips from NVIDIA.

Apple upped their SKUs from parts bearing awful Intel GPUs to variants with more of those awful shaders. Since those Ivy Bridge CPUs are going in to laptops that have a GPU, upping the shader count from 6 to 16 should be a waste, they will never be turned on.

If they are going to be turned on, that would mean that the discrete GPU in those machines is either going to be much higher spec’d, or it won’t be there.

With NVIDIA struggling to produce even lower-end Kepler graphics chips, the report suggests that the latter option is more likely and expects that Apple may be bumping integrated-only graphics into the mid-range of its notebook lines. Integrated-only graphics have typically been reserved for Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro form factor, which lacks the space necessary to also house a dedicated graphics chip.

Our analysis indicates that the lower end MacBooks will simply do without a GPU, the higher end parts will remain unchanged, and the middle ground will have some models with and some without a GPU instead of almost all with a discrete Nvidia GPU. Those without will make a much larger portion of the mix than they would have at this time last month, if there were any at all.

One other factor that may also be at play is rumors of a significant redesign of the MacBook Pro to yield a form factor more in line with that of the popular MacBook Air. A slimming down of the chassis may see Apple seeking to reduce size and power consumption in certain areas, requirements that may result in the company bringing lower-powered CPU and graphics options to its mid-range machines than might have otherwise been seen.

In a report from The Korea Times (via SlashGear), an anonymous Samsung executive reveals that Apple has committed to purchase at least $9.7 billion worth of components from the company this year, with Apple's expenditures potentially reaching $11 billion depending on demand. According to the executive, growth will be driven in part by the new iPad, as well as more MacBook Air units utilizing Samsung solid-state drives and a smaller iPad.

''The contract is expected to rise to $11 billion by the end of this year as Apple is planning to release a smaller iPad, probably with a 7.85-inch screen, and to sell more of its MacBook Air PCs using Samsung's faster solid state drive (SSD) storage,'' the official said.

Apple CEO Tim Cook agreed with Samsung Electronics Chief Operating Officer (COO) Lee Jay-yong to use the Korean firm's components until the end of 2014 during Lee's visit to his office in Cupertino, Calif., late last year.

Apple reportedly contracted for $7.8 billion in components from Samsung in 2011, with the numbers for this year revealing yet another substantial increase as Apple's device shipments continue to rise.

Mockup by CiccareseDesign

Reports of a 7.85-inch "iPad mini" have been circulating for some time, and it seems reasonable to conclude that Apple has at least been toying with the concept. There has yet to be any firm evidence, however, that the company is seeking to move forward toward a public release.

Bloomberg reports on comments from IHS iSuppli analyst Vinita Jakhanwal claiming that Samsung is currently serving as the sole supplier of the ultra-high resolution Retina display in the new iPad. Previous reports had indicated the Sharp and LG would also be supplying displays for the device.

Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) will supply the touch screen for Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s new iPad after LG Display Co. (034220) and Sharp Corp. (6753) didn’t meet the U.S. company’s quality requirements, according to an analyst with iSuppli.

Samsung, the world’s top flat-panel maker, currently is the sole vendor of the display for the 9.7-inch device, said Vinita Jakhanwal, a senior manager at iSuppli, a unit of Englewood, Colorado-based IHS Inc.

Sharp's role in the new Retina iPad display has been particularly murky, with some sources claiming that the company was responsible for a new design intended for the display and that it would be a key manufacturing partner for Apple. Rumors of Sharp failing to meet Apple's quality control standards surfaced in January, although a photo of a leaked display from Sharp surfaced a few weeks later. Another report from last month similarly suggested that Sharp was not a part of Apple's supply chain for the new iPad display, despite having designed the component.

Apple and Samsung have a complicated relationship given the fact that Samsung provides a substantial number of components for Apple's iOS devices even as it competes with Apple through its own Android-based hardware. Apple has reportedly been seeking to reduce its reliance on Samsung in light of the competition between the two companies, but market forces and technical considerations clearly trump that desire, and Apple is continuing to use Samsung when it is Apple's best option for a particular component.

Yesterday, we noted that Apple's grand opening of its new Highland Village retail store scheduled for 8:00 AM on Friday hinted that the company was likely to planning to launch the new iPad at that time rather than in a late afternoon launch as was seen with the iPad 2.

We received word soon after that visual merchandising staff at Apple's retail stores were scheduled for an overnight shift on Thursday night into Friday morning in order to prepare the store for a morning launch, and now 9to5Mac posts a photo from a retail store source showing some of the new signage going up this week confirming an 8:00 AM launch for the device on Friday.

Apple's product launches have historically been scheduled by local time, so customers in any of the iPad launch countries with Apple retail stores should expect those stores to open at 8:00 AM in their local time zones. With Apple having sold out of its initial batch of online pre-orders for Friday delivery, those still looking to secure an iPad on launch day will need to wait in line at an Apple retail store or other launch retailer in hopes of obtaining one.

AT&T today officially announced that it will offer all Wi-Fi + 4G models of the new iPad through its sales channels beginning this Friday, March 16, in line with Apple's official launch. The announcement is of course no surprise given past history and an information page that has been available on the carrier's site since soon after the device's introduction, but the carrier has now made official its plans to make the device available through all sales channels including online and in-store.

AT&T today announced it will offer the new iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G in the United States on Friday, March 16. AT&T will offer all models of iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G with a range of attractive data plans that will allow customers to connect to the AT&T 4G LTE network with speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G. [...]

Customers can buy the new iPad through all AT&T sales channels beginning Friday, March 16. For complete details on pricing and availability please visit www.att.com/ipad.

The carrier offers three monthly data plans for the iPad, a 250 MB plan for $14.99, a 3 GB plan for $30, and a $5 GB plan for $50. All plans are commitment-free and include access to over 29,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots around the United States.

AT&T has not yet made any announcements on whether it plans to support the personal hotspot functionality of the new iPad, but as things currently stand the feature is not included in AT&T's data plans. Verizon, which will presumably be announcing similar launch plans for Friday, will be offering personal hotspot connectivity as part of its data plans at no additional charge.

Electronics retailer RadioShack has also announced plans to launch the new iPad on Friday, taking pre-order deposits in the form of $50 gift cards that can be applied to the device purchase.

Update: Verizon has also published its press release announcing availability of all Wi-Fi + 4G models beginning on Friday. The carrier is also touting its support for the new iPad's personal hotspot functionality.

Verizon Wireless today announced it will offer the new iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G nationwide on Friday, March 16. Verizon Wireless will offer all models of iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G with a range of attractive data plans that will allow customers to connect to the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network with speeds up to 10 times faster than previously available on 3G. Additionally, Verizon Wireless is supporting the Personal Hotspot feature of the new iPad so users can share their fast network connection with up to 5 other devices using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB.

Last month, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who has long been a proponent of an Apple television set, reported that Apple was investigating components for just such a product, contacting suppliers to learn about the capabilities of their various offerings.

As shared by Business Insider, a new report from Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek claims that things have now moved a step further, with his recent visit to Asia yielding reports of "small quantities" of various components being shipped to Apple's television display panel partners. Misek expects that commercial production of an Apple television set will begin in May or June, with a launch coming sometime in the fourth quarter of this year.

Evidence of commercial iTV production is starting: we believe specialty components have begun to ship to Apple's Asia panel suppliers with polarized films, filters, and IGZO components starting to move in small quantities. We expect commercial production in May/ June with 2M to 5M builds likely. We still expect a CQ4 launch.

Despite resistance from content providers, Apple has also been rumored to be pressing ahead to develop a subscription TV service for launch by the end of the year, in line with predictions for the launch of the television set itself.

In his report today, Misek has also raised his price target for Apple's stock from $599 to $699, boosting his iPhone sales prediction for the current quarter by over 5 million to 33.2 million units.

In addition to the just-surfaced unboxing video of the new iPad, Tinhte.vn also posts Geekbench benchmarks of the device, revealing that the device's A5X system-on-a-chip contains a 1 GHz application processor and 1 GB of RAM.

The new iPad received a total Geekbench score of 756, essentially identical to that of the iPad 2, although Geekbench only tests processor and memory performance and does not address graphics capabilities that are the focus of improvements in the A5X. The A5X offers the same 1 GHz CPU found in the A5, and bumps the RAM from 512 MB to 1 GB as had been predicted and suggested in leaked screenshots of a debug tool for the device.