MacRumors

While comparison photos of the iPad 2 rear shell and a claimed iPad 3 rear shell have shown slightly increased thickness for the forthcoming model and reports have suggested that the difference is roughly 1 mm, no measurements had surfaced to quantify the exact difference in thickness between the two devices.

Apple.pro now points [Google translation] to a new photo showing both shells being measured with a digital caliper. According to the photo, the iPad 2 rear shell measures in at 8.69 mm thick while the iPad 3 part comes in at 9.50 mm, a difference of 0.81 mm.

Apple's official iPad 2 specs peg the device at 8.8 mm thick, just slightly thicker that the rear shell itself, which wraps around the sides of the device. Given a nearly identical design for the iPad 3, the overall device would measure in at roughly 9.6 mm, or about 9% thicker than the iPad 2 but still well below the 13.4 mm thickness of the original iPad. Sources who have handled the iPad 3 rear shell suggest that the difference from the iPad 2 will be nearly imperceptible to users.

The Guardian reports that Apple is currently working on a new audio format that could allow the company to offer "high definition" audio via iTunes. The format would also integrate an "adaptive streaming" component that would allow music being accessed from iCloud and iTunes Match by portable devices to be automatically adapted to fit bandwidth or storage constraints.

Apple is working on a new audio file format that will offer "adaptive streaming" to provide high- or low-quality files to users of its iCloud service. [...]

The new system would adjust itself to the bandwidth and storage available on the receiving device.

It is believed that Apple will use the new file type to upgrade its iTunes Match service, which allows users to re-download music from iCloud to their Apple devices.

According to the report's source, Apple has asked one London music studio to prepare audio files in the new format, which would allow Apple to instantly and automatically improve the quality of iTunes Match content. The source is unclear, however, on whether Apple would transcode the higher-quality files on the fly to match a given bandwidth/hardware setup or if it would simply maintain several versions of the track at different qualities and serve the most appropriate one for a given situation.

Given the timing of Apple's work, the source suggests that the company is likely preparing the new format for a demonstration at its iPad media event rumored for next Wednesday, March 7.

The new report comes less than a month after Neil Young revealed that he had worked with Steve Jobs on a high-definition music format for the iTunes Store but that "not much" had ended up happening with the effort. Apple has also recently begun a significant expansion of its Mastered for iTunes program. The initiative encourages recording professionals to utilize high-quality master recordings of songs and albums as the initial source material for iTunes Store submission, processing them using Apple's guidelines and tools to achieve file compression allowing for the highest-quality sound available.

Potentially signaling its belief that the launch of the iPad 3 is imminent, Best Buy is now offering $50 discounts across the entire line of iPad 2 models, with pricing now beginning at $449.99 for the 16 GB Wi-Fi model.

Furthermore, Engadget reports that Best Buy has begun updating its internal inventory management systems to reflect a "deleted" status for iPad 2 models.

Best Buy generally does not have advance notice of new Apple products, especially those that are anticipated to appear as part of a major media event. Consequently, Best Buy's moves should not be taken as specific indicators of an iPad 3 launch, although numerous sources have indicated that a debut is near, with March 7 rumored for the planned media event.

But Best Buy certainly appears to be adjusting its offerings to make way for the updated model, and the company is not alone in that regard. Grocery and retail store chain Meijer earlier this month offered the entry-level iPad for $429, a $70 discount from the regular retail prices. Meijer's pricing has since returned to normal, but indications are that retailers are anticipating the arrival of the iPad 3.

Last month, we reported on Evi, an app from True Knowledge that offered some of the same features as Apple's Siri. While Evi lacks the system-level integration of Siri on the iPhone 4S, it does offer greater information content and expanded device compatibility.

TechCrunch reported yesterday that Apple has now contacted True Knowledge with the suggestion that it will soon remove Evi from the App Store for duplicating Siri's functionality and confusing customers.

On Friday evening True Knowledge had a call from Apple representative Richard Chipman. (If you Google Richard Chipman’s name you’ll find he is also the Apple rep that does the controversial calls about apps).

He told True Knowledge that Apple was “going to pull Evi from the appstore” as it was similar to Siri.

The rule being cited is number 8.3 in the App [Store] T&Cs” “Apps which appear confusingly similar to an existing Apple product or advertising theme will be rejected”.

The publicity has caused a spike in Evi's sales rank as users have sought to purchase the app before it disappears, but The Verge now reports that Apple is not planning on removing the app from the App Store. Instead, Apple is said to be "working with" its developers to reduce potential confusion with Siri.

Despite what True Knowledge told TechCrunch, the app remains in the App Store, and according to sources familiar with the matter, Apple is attempting to work with the developers on bumping out those similarities, rather than just pulling the product. It's apparently standard practice these days for Apple to flag something that could be confusing to end users and then try to work with developers to alter the appearance and / or functionality of the app, and we're told that's taking place with True Knowledge right now.

It remains to be seen just what changes to Evi will come out of these discussions between Apple and True Knowledge, but it seems clear that Apple is concerned about Evi's parallels to Siri.

AT&T plans to offer app developers and other mobile content providers the ability to pay for its customers' data usage on the carrier, according to the Wall Street Journal. The carrier compares the proposed service to toll-free 800-numbers for the mobile-broadband world.

[AT&T senior executive vice president for technology and network operations John] Donovan likened the service to toll-free calling for the mobile-broadband world. The move comes as carriers are hunting for new ways to make money on the rising data traffic on their networks, while mindful of limits on what consumers are willing to spend.

"A feature that we're hoping to have out sometime next year is the equivalent of 800 numbers that would say, if you take this app, this app will come without any network usage," Mr. Donovan said on the sidelines of a mobile-industry conference here.

Customer use of AT&T's data networks has exploded in recent years as smartphones have become increasingly popular. AT&T has made several moves to limit data usage, including dropping its unlimited data plan option and slowing the download speeds of its heaviest data users.

For customers on data-limited plans, the option to download a movie without it being charged against his or her data plan could be a motivating factor. Donovan compares it to including the cost of shipping in a catalog order. Of course, much like with "free shipping", while the customer wouldn't have to pay for the extra data usage directly, the cost would instead be bundled into the price of the app or service. Developers could, however, end up paying less for data than individual customers do if AT&T is willing to offer bulk purchase agreements.

While Apple has been rumored by several sources to be planning to deploy a quad-core processor as part of what was presumed to be a new "A6" system-on-a-chip in the iPad 3, that assumption was called into question earlier this month with the appearance of a logic board photo showing an "A5X" package instead. Some have suggested that the implication of the package being a beefed-up A5 would limit it to a dual-core processor.

The idea of the package being a smaller upgrade is supported by Apple referring to the application processor as S5L8945X, a part number jump of only five from the S5L8940X processor found in the A5. The A4 chip launched in the original iPad carried a processor designated S5L8930X.

But now an examination of the iOS 5.1 beta code by 9to5Mac has revealed yet another application processor, S5L8950X, appearing alongside the S5L8945X that is apparently inside the A5X. This new application processor is presumed to be part of Apple's actual A6 system-on-a-chip.

Deep in the iOS 5.1 betas (as shown below) sits references to two next-generation iOS device chips: the previously discussed S5L8945X and this brand-new S5L8950X. While nobody has found this 50X (A6) chip in the code until now, we can report that both next-generation processors entered the iOS code simultaneously. This would seem to indicate that Apple has been working on two next-generation chips.

The report notes that mentions for both processors entered the iOS beta code simultaneously, but it is unclear exactly what Apple's plans are for the two processors. It is possible that they represented a "Plan A/Plan B" scenario, or they could potentially be targeted for two different devices.

Over the past several days, several unverified rumors about the iPad 3 have been showing up on Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo, offering tidbits of information about Apple's plans for the device.

One post seems to depict a price comparison between the iPad 2 and iPad 3 possibly revealing a price increase for the iPad 3. The headings are labled left to right: "Apple iPad Model", "iPad 2 US Price", "iPad 3 US Price", "iPad 3 RMB equivalent price". The final column is calculated on the exchange rate.

The iPad 2 prices are in U.S. dollars at the present pricing, which starts at $499 for the 16GB+WiFi model. The iPad 3, meanwhile, is listed at a starting price of $579 for the $16GB+WiFi model and goes as high as $899 for the 64GB+WiFi+3G model. According to the chart, the iPad 3 costs $80 more for the equivalent Wi-Fi models, and $70 more for the equivalent 3G models.

A second post from Sina Weibo [via Apple.pro] shares an apparently now-removed image from WeiPhone depicting what is claimed to be details on a series of high-security cargo flights from Chengdu, China, where Foxconn has iPad assembly plants, to Shanghai. The six flights, which are taking place between yesterday and March 9, are said to be part of itineraries moving iPad 3 units to the United States, with three flights ultimately headed to Chicago's O'Hare airport, two headed to Los Angeles, and one headed to New York's Kennedy airport. A separate flight on March 5 appears to be planned to position units through Tokyo's Narita airport.

9to5Mac also posts a photo of what one Sina Weibo user claims is iPad 3 units being loaded onto a cargo plane for transport.

With all of the reports coming from WeiPhone forums and Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, it's hard to tell if they have any credibility. But it seems reasonable to believe that Apple might be preparing to stage supplies of the iPad 3 at various locations in order to be ready for a quick launch following an introduction as rumored for March 7.

On the pricing front, Apple is believed to be upgrading the iPad 3 to a 2048x1536 "Retina" display, which could account for some price increase to the iPad 3. It's also not clear if the usage of "3G" in the chart means that the iPad 3 will be 3G-only, or if it was just used for the price comparison. The iPad 3 has also been rumored to be getting LTE (4G) data on both Verizon and AT&T in the U.S.

Several weeks ago, a report from Digitimes claimed that Intel would be delaying mass availability of its forthcoming Ivy Bridge processors until "after June", generating concerns about extended waits for new Mac models. Those fears were tempered a bit just a few days later when a new report claimed that the delay affected only dual-core mobile chips, which Apple would be using either only in its 13" MacBook Pro or not at all in its next round of updates.

Financial Times now reports that an Intel executive has confirmed delays in Ivy Bridge notebook chips, although it is still unclear exactly which processors the delay applies to. But with the executive claiming that the new manufacturing process is to blame, it is possible that it could affect all mobile Ivy Bridge processors.

In his first interview to discuss Intel’s business in China, [Intel executive vice president Sean] Maloney told the Financial Times that the start of sales of machines equipped with Ivy Bridge – the 22nm processor set to succeed Sandy Bridge in notebooks this year – had been pushed back from April. “I think maybe it’s June now,” he said.

Mr Maloney said the adjustment was not caused by a lack of demand but came because of the new manufacturing process needed to make the smaller chips.

While Intel is officially still sticking to its "Q2" launch schedule for Ivy Bridge, the question is whether Mac users can expect chips for updates to their favorite machines to become available closer to the beginning or end of the quarter. Digitimes' original report had claimed that Intel may still be planning an April launch of the chips but with mass availability not coming until the end of the quarter, although this dynamic is actually fairly typical for Intel's chip launches, as shortages are common in the early weeks after a debut.

Update: VR-Zone reports on a new Ivy Bridge launch timeline posted by SweClockers.com. According to the timeline, quad-core desktop processors such as those used in the iMac are scheduled to launch on April 29. The report does not mention quad-core mobile processors such as those used in Apple's larger MacBook Pro models, but given that they are based on the same die as the desktop chips, the mobile chips could appear at the same time. Dual-core mobile processors such as those found in the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro are not estimated to ship until late June.

Update 2: CNET offers some clarification from an Intel spokesman, who reports that the delays are in reality only a few weeks for each chip type.

"Reports of an eight-week delay to the Ivy Bridge launch are inaccurate and our schedule has only been impacted by a few weeks," spokesman Jon Carvill told CNET today.

So, for instance, if a desktop Ivy Bridge product was slated for an April launch, that would be pushed to May. And a mobile product scheduled for May, would launch in June. Intel always staggers production schedules. For example, Intel's most power-efficient ULV (ultra-low-voltage) parts typically ship later than other (e.g., desktop quad-core) parts.

Back in December, Motorola Mobility won a preliminary injunction against Apple in Germany that could have seen Apple barred from selling its 3G-enabled products such as the iPhone and cellular-capable iPad models in the country. Apple did indeed briefly pull all 3G devices with the exception of the iPhone 4S from its German online store earlier this month, only to put them back on sale a few hours later after a court temporarily suspended enforcement of the injunction.

But FOSS Patents now reports that Apple has won a much more significant decision in the ongoing case, as a court has now ruled that Motorola can not enforce the injunction for the duration of Apple's appeal in the case. With the appeals case perhaps taking as long as a year or more, Apple is no longer at risk of having its products removed from sale for the foreseeable future. The report notes that the ruling also calls into question whether Motorola will eventually prevail.

The Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court ("Oberlandesgericht Karlsruhe"), the appeals court within whose circuit the Mannheim Regional Court is based, decided today that Motorola Mobility is barred from further enforcement of its standard-essential patent injunction against Apple in Germany at least for the duration of the ongoing appeal (which I believe will take a year, if not more). And while today's decision is only a summary and preliminary decision that MMI could overturn during the course of the full-blown appellate proceedings, this indicates thatApple's appeal is highly likely to succeed -- and even if it didn't, Apple could realistically resolve the problem with limited additional concessions.

Much of the debate over the 3G patent case relates to the patents having been declared essential to standards for the technology, with Motorola having been required to license the intellectual property under fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms. Apple has now convinced the German courts that it has made sufficient good faith efforts at licensing the patent that any enforcement of the injunction by Motorola would be considered a breach of antitrust regulations.

Apple has been pushing for reform in the licensing and enforcement of FRAND patents, seeking to bring clarity to the complex landscape of patent lawsuits. That landscape involves both standards-essential FRAND patents that must be licensed in order to promote competition, as well as other feature and design patents that allow companies to protect certain other innovations and distinguish their products from those of their competitors.

These latest developments are separate from the current dispute that has seen Apple suspend iCloud push email functionality in Germany, as the patent at issue in that case has not been deemed subject to FRAND licensing and Motorola is thus free to pursue enforcement while Apple appeals the decision.

Yesterday, Adobe prematurely launched its new Photoshop Touch app for the iPad 2, quickly pulling it amid claims that the official launch was scheduled for Monday, February 27.

The app has now returned to the App Store [direct link], where it is available for $9.99. As previously noted, the app is currently compatible only with the iPad 2 running iOS 5.

Transform images with core Adobe Photoshop features in an app designed for tablets.

Combine images, apply professional effects, share results with friends and family through sites like Facebook, and more – all from the convenience of your iPad.

Adobe Photoshop Touch is the flagship app from a group of six tablet apps that Adobe announced last October. The company has been taking steps onto the iPad and other tablets with a series of applications, although they have obviously yet to match the capabilities of the desktop versions of the Adobe's key software products.

Adobe's initial goal for the iPad was to explore how the device might be used as an auxiliary input for the desktop version, but the company has broadened its scope to now include at least some of the dedicated image editing features from Photoshop in its latest apps.

Update: MacStories has a nice early review of the app.

Apple today released a new iPhone 4S commercial focusing on iCloud. Entitled "iCloud Harmony", the ad offers no voiceover and instead utilizes a series of fast-paced cuts to show music, photos, calendars, apps, contacts, and books all automatically syncing among Macs, iPads, and iPhones.

The commercial, which is also being featured on Apple's main homepage, ends with the tagline "Automatic. Everywhere. iCloud."

Adobe prematurely launched Adobe Photoshop Touch for the iPad 2 in several worldwide stores this evening, but the app has since been pulled.

Adobe first announced the product back in October, 2011 alongside 5 other upcoming tablet applications. Adobe Photoshop Touch is described as a tool to "let you quickly combine images, apply professional effects, share the results with friends and family through social networking sites like Facebook, and more".

Features listed include:

- Use popular Photoshop features designed for the tablet such as layers, selection tools, adjustments, and filters to create mind-blowing images.
- Use your iPad camera to fill an area on a layer with the unique camera fill feature.
- Select part of an image to extract by scribbling with the Scribble Selection tool. With Refine Edge, use your fingertip to capture even hard-to-select image elements, like hair, with ease.
- Search and acquire images with the integrated Google Image Search.
- Share images on Facebook and view comments right within the app.
- Browse an inspirational gallery for the styles and results you'd like to achieve. Then follow step-by-step tutorials to easily learn techniques the pros use for great-looking results.
- Use AirPrint for wireless printing of Photoshop Touch projects.
- Upload projects to Adobe Creative Cloud* and open layered files from Adobe Photoshop Touch in Photoshop CS5.
- Maximum image resolution: 1600 x 1600 pixels

The launch is believed to have been a mistake and is expected to officially launch on Monday for $9.99 in the U.S. It will be compatible with the iPad 2 only. We've included the full set of screenshots.

➜ Click here to read rest of article...

The Digital Reader points to reports that Apple's iBooks Digital Rights Management (DRM) copy protection has been cracked for the first time:

Reports are coming in today that the latest version of Requiem, an app that removes Fairplay DRM from music and videos sold via iTunes, will now also remove the DRM from iBooks ebooks.

The news is notable in that it's the first time that iBooks DRM has been circumvented. This would allow iBooks downloaded from iTunes to be used on other platforms besides Apple's iBooks reader.

Apple's DRM for music and movies have been circumvented in the past, and resulted in a cat and mouse game of updates to iTunes to disable these hacks. Apple will likely respond in a similar fashion to this hack.

The New York Times today addressed Apple's record growth in both revenue and stock price in the context of the "law of large numbers".

Apple is so big, it’s running up against the law of large numbers.

Also known as the golden theorem, with a proof attributed to the 17th-century Swiss mathematician Jacob Bernoulli, the law states that a variable will revert to a mean over a large sample of results. In the case of the largest companies, it suggests that high earnings growth and a rapid rise in share price will slow as those companies grow ever larger.

If Apple’s share price grew even 20 percent a year for the next decade, which is far below its current blistering pace, its $500 billion market capitalization would be more than $3 trillion by 2022. That is bigger than the 2011 gross domestic product of France or Brazil.

Put another way, to increase its revenue by 20 percent, Apple has to generate additional sales of more than $9 billion in its next fourth quarter. A company with only $1 billion in sales has to come up with just another $200 million.

Apple has posted annual revenue growth of 16%, 56%, and 69% over the past three years respectively, with sales rising from $39 to $61 to $103 billion. Staggering growth for a company this large, but Apple seems to be continuing the trend for fiscal 2012. Apple reported more than $46 billion in revenue for the first quarter, and provided guidance of $32.5 billion in revenue for the second quarter.

This $78 billion in revenue for the first half of fiscal 2012 (which will likely be higher, as Apple traditionally underestimates on guidance) represents yet another massive increase in revenue from the year-previous quarters. The Q1 2012 number is a rise of more than 73% over the prior year, and the Q2 guidance would represent a 32% increase growth.

The enormous growth Apple has shown in recent years is largely on the backs of two products: the iPhone and the iPad.

The iPhone, as a product category, has grown from a mere $630 million in sales in 2007, to more than $47 billion in fiscal 2011. The iPad, for its part, tallied more than $20 billion of Apple's revenue last year. Between the two of them, Apple's main iOS devices account for more than 65% of Apple's total sales. Remove those two and Apple is a much different company.

It's all a bit of a theoretical exercise, of course. The iPhone and iPad halo effects are real, and have had a beneficial impact on other parts of Apple's businesses -- but the point remains: Apple's astounding growth is the direct result of the company's move into new product categories.

As the above chart shows, Apple's overall year-over-year revenue growth is impressive, but if the iPhone or iPad is backed out, the revenue growth is much less awe-inspiring. Without the iOS devices, Apple only showed 12% and 8% revenue, versus 56% and 69% otherwise.

To continue doubling its total revenue every two years, there are two main possibilities:

Apple would need to show extraordinary -- perhaps impossible -- growth in its iPad and iPhone divisions. Massive sales growth from the iPhone (which has grown more than 90% each of the past three years) and iPad can drive Apple's revenue growth for quite a while, but not forever.

If the iPhone were to continue its 90% annual growth for two more years (which would count 5 consecutive years of near 90% annual sales increases), in 2013 Apple would have nearly $170 billion in revenue coming just from the iPhone. The iPad, which grew an astounding 330% from 2010 to 2011, would report $78 billion in sales that same year -- $248 billion between the two.

Impressive (hypothetical) growth, and given Apple's astounding first quarter numbers, perhaps doable. But follow those numbers out to 2015 and the numbers begin to grow to improbable sizes.

The more likely prospect is for Apple to launch into yet another product category, in addition to the growth of its existing businesses. The possibilities are endless, but there is one new product that seems to be getting more attention than the others.

One thing is for sure: whatever is coming out of Apple's Cupertino R&D labs next is key to the company's continued explosive growth.

Associated Press reports that an iPhone user in California has been awarded $850 in a small claims lawsuit filed against AT&T over throttling of data speeds. The user, who was on a grandfathered unlimited data plan, saw his data speeds drastically slashed once he reached 1.5-2 GB in a given month, even as other users on limited 3 GB plans at the same price see no similar restrictions at those levels.

Pro-tem Judge Russell Nadel found in favor of Matt Spaccarelli in Ventura Superior Court in Simi Valley. Spaccarelli filed a small claims case against AT&T last month, arguing the communications giant unfairly slows speeds on his iPhone 4's unlimited data plan.

Nadel's ruling could pave the way for others to follow suit. AT&T has some 17 million customers with "unlimited data" plans that can be subject to throttling, representing just under half of the company's smartphone users.

There is no word yet on whether AT&T will appeal the decision, but the sales manager representing AT&T in the case has argued that the carrier reserved the right to "modify or cancel" or cancel customer contracts if their usage is adversely affecting the company's network capabilities. The article notes that a class action suit might be the normal evolution of such a complaint, but AT&T's subscriber contract prohibits class action or jury trials, leaving arbitration and small claims as the options.

AT&T began throttling unlimited data customers ranking in the top 5% of data users last October. But while early reports of throttling came mostly from high-volume users consuming in excess of 10 GB of data per month, reports of users being throttled at much lower levels in the neighborhood of 2 GB have been increasing. AT&T notes that the throttling is done on a case-by-case basis and only if there are network capacity issues in the customer's area, but for those who are affected, the throttled speeds are slow enough to make their devices nearly unusable.

Update: AT&T issued this statement to MacRumors: "This is a small claims matter. We are evaluating next steps, including appeal. But at the end of the day, our contract governs our relationship with our customers."

Today would have been Steve Jobs' 57th birthday, and a number of Apple fans are taking the opportunity to commemorate his life and legacy, with the topic currently appearing on Twitter's list of top trending topics worldwide.

Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011 following a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

A pair of Apple fans in New York City are planning a party in Jobs' honor at outside Apple's flagship Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan.

To fete what would have been Jobs’ 57th birthday, dancers will gyrate to Bob Dylan songs while vegetarian birthday cake is served and black turtlenecks are handed out to hundreds of Apple fans, according to the event’s organizers, Brendan McElroy and Seth Rogers. [...]

“If you want to respect his memory, the best way of doing it is focusing on a lot of the positive memories we have of him,” [Rogers] said.

The party is planned to take place from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM today, and CNBC earlier today aired an interview with the two organizers about their plans.

Coincidentally, today also marks the 12th birthday of MacRumors. The site has grown along with Apple and now reaches over 9.5 million unique visitors per month with roughly 70 million monthly page views. As always, we are grateful to our readers, contributors, sponsors, and all those for whom MacRumors is an online home or a regular stop.