MacRumors

In newly released research notes, a pair of analysts have praise for both Apple and Amazon's tablet efforts. They note that the Kindle Fire appears to be doing extremely well, though it is not challenging the iPad directly. In fact, Fire sales could indirectly encourage iPad purchases in the long run.

Evercore Partners' Robert Cihra writes in a note obtained by Apple 2.0:

While Amazon's Kindle Fire has come out of the gates strong, as expected, we see Apple maintaining its competitive lead, if anything accentuated by what now looks like the only tablet to so far mount any credible iPad challenge apparently needing to do so by selling at cost; not to mention Amazon's success may just vaporize other "for profit" Android tablet OEM roadmaps (e.g., we est Amazon 50% of all Android tablets in CY12). Meanwhile Apple goes on as the only vendor able to cream off the most profitable segment of each market it targets, whether tablet, smartphone or PC.

At the same time, JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz (and the Apple executives that he met with) feel that Apple is not seeing pressure from the Kindle Fire and that they are of the belief that current Fire owners "could gravitate to more feature-rich experiences" later on with the Fire acting as a "gateway drug".

Darrell Etherington, writing for GigaOm:

I think Apple’s optimistic outlook should pan out, however, as long as one thing remains true: tablets continue to encroach upon and replace PCs as primary computing devices for general users. In that case, the Kindle Fire and the iPad likely will enter into a mutually beneficial orbit, with the cheaper device’s drawing in first-time tablet users and the iPad’s acting as a sort of graduation gift for when they opt to use tablets as their main computers.

When the Kindle Fire launched, Apple executives said they welcomed the entry of the Fire to the market for its ability to further fragment the Android ecosystem and its ability to put enormous price pressure on other tablets. The popularity of the Kindle Fire seems to affirm Steve Jobs' belief in an end-to-end software-and-hardware ecosystem -- something that no companies other than Apple and Amazon have been able to effectively assemble.

Smarthouse claims to have received word that Apple will be offering its rumored television set in three different sizes ranging from 32 to 55 inches, with the device being powered by the same "new processor" (presumably the A6) set to appear in the iPad 3.

Sources at a major Japanese company who are involved in manufacturing the TV believe that the 55" model will compete with new Smart TVs from Samsung and LG that will have new processors built in while offering a combination of OLED display, as well as new Super HD TV technology from LG.

Smarthouse has historically been rather unreliable with its Apple rumors, but the claim of three different sizes does match up with previous rumors. Smarthouse had claimed earlier this year that Apple was looking at OLED technology for its 55-inch television, but that claim was later refuted by other sources.

Last week, Piper Jaffray analyst and long-time Apple television set proponent Gene Munster offered his speculation on what Apple's plans might be, also suggesting that the company would be likely to introduce a range of sizes in order to appeal to customers with a broad range of sizes for their television needs.

The latest Smarthouse report doesn't specifically name the A6 system-on-a-chip as the planned brains for the Apple television set, but the claim of it being a "new processor" certainly seems to imply the A6. There has been some uncertainty about the A6 and the iPad 3, with reports indicating that the new iPad will launch in "early 2012" in line with previous years while confusion over whether TSMC or Samsung will produce the A6 has included claims that the chip will not be ready until June 2012.

A group of three law firms late last week announced (via BGR) the filing of a class action lawsuit against Apple, Carrier IQ, and five other companies over privacy issues related to Carrier IQ's logging software The list of defendants also includes hardware manufacturers HTC, Samsung, and Motorola, and carriers AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile.

The carriers and manufacturers last month were caught willfully violating customers’ privacy rights in direct violation of federal law. A technology blogger in Connecticut discovered last month that software designed and sold by California-based Carrier IQ, Inc. was secretly tracking personal and sensitive information of the cell phone users without the consent or knowledge of the users. On Nov. 30, 2011, the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary said in a letter to Carrier IQ that “these actions may violate federal privacy laws.” It added, “this is potentially a very serious matter.”

While it appears that the version of Carrier IQ's software installed on iOS devices is much less capable than that found on Android devices, concerns have still arisen over just what information is being logged and transmitted back to Carrier IQ to be passed on to carriers. For its part, Apple has claimed that it has stopped supporting Carrier IQ in iOS 5 and that it will remove all remaining traces of the service in a future iOS update.

Much of the focus has been on Carrier IQ itself and the carriers that have partnered with the company, but hardware companies have also become involved in the controversy. German regulators have already begun pressing Apple for details on its usage of Carrier IQ data, and other authorities will likely also turn to Apple and other hardware companies as the story continues to develop.

Late last week, a U.S. judge declined to award a preliminary injunction that would have blocked Samsung from selling its Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets in the United States, marking a setback for Apple in its effort to take on Samsung for its alleged infringement of Apple's designs and functionality. Judge Lucy Koh did, however, suggest that Samsung was likely to have infringed some of Apple's patents but declined to issue an injunction because of a lack of evidence that Apple would suffer irreparable harm if Samsung were allowed to continue selling the products while the case was being heard.

In her ruling, Koh wrote that for some of the smartphones, "Apple has established a likelihood of success on the merits at trial."

Koh added that Apple would likely prove Samsung infringed one of its tablet patents. However, Apple had not shown that it was likely to overcome Samsung's challenges to the patent's validity, Koh wrote.

Apple must demonstrate both infringement and validity to succeed in its lawsuit.

Interestingly, The Verge notes that the court order declining to issue the injunction reveals that Apple has in fact licensed to third parties one key iOS patent covering the "scrollback" feature displaying the linen texture when elastically scrolling beyond the end of a document or webpage. Licenses for the patent were obtained by Nokia and IBM, and Apple offered a license to Samsung during failed negotiations back in November 2010.

Apple asserted this patent against Samsung as part of its failed attempt to get an injunction against Galaxy devices, and the court order denying the injunction includes general discussion of how past licensing behavior affects the decision of whether or not to grant an injunction. The discussion is nestled among two redacted statements shown to The Verge that confirm the '381 patent was licensed to IBM and Nokia, and that Apple offered a license to Samsung in November of 2010 as part of settlement negotiations.

At first blush, the revelation suggests that because Apple is indeed willing to offer licensing for certain iOS features rather going to the "thermonuclear war" extreme, its case may be strengthened by Samsung's refusal to purchase a license as other companies have done.

But the fact that Apple has been willing to license the feature to other companies for monetary compensation also undermines its argument that it is being irreparably harmed by Samsung's alleged infringement. In Koh's view, if Apple could be adequately compensated for the infringement through a license by Samsung, Apple could be made whole at a later date without the need for a preliminary injunction at this point in the trial.

Apple today posted its official Grand Central retail store page, formally announcing the 10:00 AM grand opening scheduled for this Friday, December 9th. The store's normal hours will include an early opening time of 7:00 AM on weekdays in order to accommodate commuters passing through the terminal.

One MacRumors reader has passed along a few recent photos of the interior of the store, showing that Apple is still putting the finishing touches on the store's buildout including the typical wood tables that will allow customers to test out Apple's products. One photo in particular shows a close-up view of the store's Genius Bar, revealing the clear glass wall behind the bar that will provide customers will a relatively unobstructed view of the terminal's stone walls behind.

Apple is paying approximately $1.1 million per year in rent for the large space, well below market rates for retail space in the terminal and the broader Manhattan real estate market. The State of New York is investigating the deal's terms, but the Metropolitan Transportation Authority insists that it received the best possible terms for a difficult space.

Shortly after the initial Mac OS X 10.7.3 Beta build was released to developers, Netkas noted that he had found traces of new video drivers for an upcoming AMD graphics card. The site lists a series of function names referencing the codename "Tahiti".

"Tahiti" is the codename for AMD's upcoming 28nm desktop graphics cards which are due in January 2012.

The new Tahiti series should end up with Radeon HD 7xxx branding and as it will come in XT and PRO flavours. It’s kind of safe to assume that Radeon HD 7970, codename Tahiti XT will be the fastest single chip card from AMD while the Radeon HD 7950 will be codename for the Tahiti PRO product.

MacGadget.de points out that this must have been put in place for the Mac Pro, as it's the only Mac that still uses desktop-class graphics cards (translation):

The presence of these drivers suggests that Apple will release the aforementioned graphics chip with the next-generation Mac Pro. The Mac Pro is the only Mac-series, which are used in desktop graphics chips. In all other Macs GPU Mobile versions can be found.

While it's possible Apple could just be building in support for existing Mac Pros, that's not the way Apple usually works. Apple typically introduces new graphics card support alongside each new product revision. Unfortunately, even if the presence of these drivers proved that Apple had been working on a new Mac Pro, it still doesn't mean Apple will be releasing them.

The previous rumors have suggested that Apple had already developed a new version of the Mac Pro but the company wasn't sure if they were going to release it. The expected January release of the new AMD graphics cards do line up nicely with the Q1 2012 expected availability of suitable Intel Xeon chips for the new Mac Pros.

Apple last updated the Mac Pro over 15 months ago in July, 2010.

OregonLive.com reports that Apple is currently deciding whether to commit to building a major new data center in Prineville, Oregon that would complement its newly-opened facility in Maiden, North Carolina. Apple currently has an option to purchase 160 acres of land for the potential Prineville data center near a recently-opened Facebook data center, and Apple has until the end of this month to exercise that option or allow it to expire.

The world's largest tech company is nearing a decision on whether to build a large data center in Prineville, a quarter mile south of the Facebook server farm that opened earlier this year, according to two people with direct knowledge of Apple's plans.

...

Those familiar with the discussions say that Apple's Oregon plans have been in flux while it awaited word on whether there would be adequate electricity transmission in Prineville to meet its needs.

With transmission capacity expanding and other companies now looking elsewhere, a door opened for Apple.

Apple's project, codenamed "Maverick", is said to initially include a 31-megawatt data center, with plenty of land available for future expansion should the need arise and electricity capacity for the area prove sufficient. Apple's electricity demand for its North Carolina has not been disclosed, but some sources have estimated it in the range of 100 megawatts.

Apple has been working hard to expand its data center capacity to handle iCloud and other services, having invested $1 billion in the North Carolina center and revealing a master plan that could see the size of the facility double in the future. Apple also maintains a smaller data center in Newark, California and has been building out minor additional capacity in Santa Clara, California near its corporate headquarters in Cupertino.

Data center industry observers have been expecting Apple to continue building out West Coast data center capacity, as most large tech companies seek to locate major facilities along each coast of the United States to provide redundancy and optimize performance.

Several weeks ago, it was reported that Apple was requesting that Motorola be required to put up a $2.7 billion bond should it prove victorious in a German patent case and decide to enforce that ruling against Apple. Such a bond is common practice in the German court system and would be used to compensate Apple for the time its products were out of the market should Apple win on an appeal of the ruling.

Importantly, no such initial ruling has yet been made against Apple, but FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller stated that last month's proceedings had hinted that the judge in the case was skeptical of Apple's defenses against Motorola's claims of infringement of a data synchronization patent by iCloud.

FOSS Patents now follows up with a report from a new hearing on the case in which it was revealed that the $2.7 billion bond requested by Apple was actually an annual sum. With a Motorola lawyer suggesting that the trial and subsequent appeals could drag on until 2018, Apple's bond request could amount to a total of $16.2 billion over a potential six-year period beginning in 2012.

At the hearing two weeks ago, the amount appeared to be an all-time total. Today it was clarified that this is an annual figure. But the period of time for which Motorola Mobility might have to post a bond would span far more than one year.

One of Motorola's lawyers mentioned the year 2018 today. Considering that the relevant cases are up for decision in February 2012, we're then talking (hypothetically) about six years, or six times $2.7 billion, or $16.2 billion.

Mueller points out that the potential bond amount would exceed the $12.5 billion price Google has proposed for purchasing all of Motorola Mobility. He goes on to note that it is unclear whether the judge in the case will accept Apple's claim of a $2.7 billion per-year risk should an injunction be enforced, but that Apple's structure of funneling much of its European operations through the Irish subsidiary targeting in the case could indeed lead to substantial risk for the company.

Motorola would of course also have to enforce a decision against Apple for the bond to be required. The company would not be required to do so, and while continued litigation of the matter might suggest that Motorola would seek to enforce a decision, patent lawsuits are frequently conducted in order to put pressure on competitors to reach some sort of settlement prior to a final judgment being rendered.

Two and a half weeks after the initial developer seed of OS X 10.7.3, Apple has pushed out a new 11D24 build of the next maintenance update for OS X Lion to developers.

For the new build, Apple has added Spotlight and Safari to the list of areas upon which developers are asked to focus their attention. Developers are asked to continue looking at iCloud Document Storage, Address Book, iCal, and Mail as had been documented in the earlier seed. No known issues with the current build have been documented by Apple.

A targeted public release timeframe for OS X 10.7.3 is currently unknown. The release will come as a follow-up to OS X 10.7.2, which appeared in mid-October to support iCloud.

TechCrunch notes that Apple has removed online dating service Match.com's iOS app from the App Store over violations of the company's in-app subscription requirements. The Match.com app had allowed users to sign up for subscriptions to the service through an external link in the app, a mechanism that is no longer permitted by Apple as it has sought to drive usage of its in-app subscription services that sees Apple taking a 30% cut of revenues.

Apple has removed Match.com‘s iOS app because it allowed the lonely to pay for Match subscriptions with a credit card through an external link rather than using the in-app purchases system. That meant Apple wasn’t getting its 30% cut. In June Apple revised its policy to state that “Apps can read or play approved content that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app, as long as there is no button or external link in the app to purchase the approved content.” Apple and Match.com are now negotiating how the app must change before their relationship can be rekindled and they can have an earth-shattering makeup revenue split.

Match.com can satisfy Apple's requirements either by offering an in-app option via Apple, which would result in Apple taking its 30% cut, or by simply omitting any links to external payment mechanisms. Under the latter scenario, users would have to know to visit the full Match.com site to sign up for a subscription, an extra step for users which may reduce the number of new subscribers but one that would enable Match.com to avoid having Apple skim off 30% of subscription revenue from the app.

Apple had originally announced that the new in-app subscription requirements would go into effect on June 30th, but the company offered a grace period as it worked with some developers to help them meet the guidelines. Some developers and content providers such as the Financial Times ultimately decided not to adopt Apple's guidelines, and Apple has in those cases removed the apps from the App Store.

It is unclear why it took Apple five months from the official start of the new guideline enforcement to take the Match.com app down. The app was originally introduced back in March 2009 and had been receiving regular updates, but the most recent one had appeared in early June ahead of Apple's new policy implementation. Match.com may simply have been avoiding submitting any updates or investing further in the app while it either discussed options with Apple or hoped to remain under Apple's radar, but it seems that Apple has decided that the best way to encourage compliance was to remove the app for the time being.

As noted by AppleInsider, shipping estimates for build-to-order iMac models equipped with 2 TB hard drives have slipped to a significant 5-7 week timeframe, suggesting that hard drive shortages caused by massive flooding in Thailand over the past several months may be catching up with Apple.

Curiously, Mac Pro models configured with 2 TB drives do not show the same delays, with those build-to-order configurations shipping in just 3-5 business days. The 2 TB drive on the iMac is the only drive affected, as the standard 1 TB drive and configurable 256 GB solid state drive do not significantly boost build times. That 2 TB drive is available as a build-to-order option on the high-end 21.5-inch iMac and on both base models of the 27-inch iMac.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked about the potential impact of the Thailand flooding on Apple's business during the company's October earnings conference call. Cook noted that there would undoubtedly be an industry-wide shortage of hard disk drives that would primarily affect Apple in its Mac business, but that there had yet to be a full assessment of the impact or an estimated timeline for recovery. He also declined to offer any specific information on the expected impact to Apple, noting only that any such impact was figured into the company's blockbuster revenue guidance of $37 billion for the holiday quarter.

Just as Apple revealed yesterday that it will open its new Grand Central Terminal retail store on December 9th, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced that he would be investigating the terms of the deal, which appeared at first glance to be extremely favorable for Apple compared to leases held by other terminal retail tenants and broader market rates.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which oversees Grand Central Terminal and the leasing of its retail space, has now issued a statement welcoming the investigation and expressing confidence that it received the best possible deal for a difficult space that had previously been underperforming expectations.

With regard to any calls for an investigation into the lease, our comment is this: “Bring it on. This is the best possible deal for the MTA, quadrupling the rent we receive and bringing foot traffic to Grand Central Terminal that will increase revenue from all of our retailers. We look forward to explaining the details of this competitively bid transaction to anyone who is interested.”

Some of the details of the MTA's argument were covered in yesterday's report, but the agency makes clear that Apple's lease is a significant upgrade over the previous tenancy from restaurant Metrazur, which paid only $263,000 per year in rent and did not earn enough revenue to require percentage rent above that amount. Apple's lease quadruples that of Metrazur's rent obligations to $1.1 million per year.

The MTA also notes that the space is a difficult one for retailers to deal with given the limitations imposed by historic preservation regulations for the open balcony space. Apple's tenancy also required a $5 million buyout of Metrazur's lease, which ran through 2019, and more than $2.5 million in improvements to the building infrastructure, including a new elevator, HVAC systems and other changes.

This is the best possible deal for the MTA. When all of the costs are included, Apple is paying more than $180 per square foot over the ten-year lease. As the competitive bidding process revealed, there are no other uses for this space that would generate the same revenue for the MTA given the up-front costs and limitations.

The MTA is clearly viewing Apple's tenancy as a high-profile addition to draw more customers to the retail component of the terminal in general, noting that for every 1% increase in sales across the terminal's retailers, the MTA will gain $500,000 in rent due to the percentage rent provisions in place on the leases of nearly every other tenant with the exception of Apple.

Other Grand Central Terminal retailers are reportedly "very pleased" that Apple will be adding its hefty retail presence to the area and are looking forward to the increased foot traffic expected from the addition.

Apple is continuing its rapid international rollout of the iPhone 4S this month, and while the company has not published any recent press releases detailing its upcoming launch schedule, carrier partners and retailers in several countries have begun announcing availability for December 16th. Notably, this round of launches will include two of the world's most populous countries: Brazil and Russia.

In South America, Brazilian carrier Claro has posted a promotional page [Google translation] noting the December 16th launch date. MacMagazine.com.br noted last week that several shops had already begun selling both the iPhone 4S and 8 GB iPhone 4 at very high prices (nearly $2000 for a 16 GB iPhone 4S) ahead of the official launch, but official pricing from Apple's carrier partners for the iPhone 4S remains to be seen.

Several Russian retailers including Digital.ru [Google translation] have announced that they too will begin selling the iPhone 4S on December 16th, with pre-orders already underway.

Brazil and Russia are not the only countries set to see iPhone 4S launches on December 16th, as reports are also coming in from Taiwan, the Philippines, South Africa, and Malaysia citing that same date for their iPhone 4S debuts.

Update: The iPhone 4S will also be launching in Saudi Arabia on the 16th.

Update 2: We're also seeing mention of December 16th launches in Chile, Israel, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam, bringing this round of launches to a total of at least a dozen countries.

Just a day after an appeals court ruled to lift the sales ban on Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia, Bloomberg reports that Apple has won a one-week extension of the ban while the company attempts to appeal the decision.

High Court Justice John Dyson Heydon today extended the ban on the release of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 to Dec. 9. On that day, the country’s top court will consider Apple’s request for permission to appeal a lower court’s order issued earlier this week, which lifted a ban on the product that has been in place since mid-October.

“A stay for one week will cost Samsung, in effect, one week’s trade,” Heydon said, following a 90-minute hearing in Sydney. The extension will hurt Samsung “but not to extend the status quo is likely to be injurious to Apple,” he said.

Samsung had been planning to begin selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia today ahead of shipments into the country this weekend. The company was rushing to bring the device to market in time for the holiday shopping season, but has been forced to put those plans on hold for the time being.

Samsung argued that every day of delay is crucial as the clock continues ticking on the holiday shopping season, claiming that Apple has no basis for an appeal of the ruling, but the court is willing to keep sales on hold until it can hear Apple's side of the request for appeal.

Apple and Samsung are also battling over the Galaxy Tab in Germany, where Apple previously won an injunction barring the sale of three different models of the device. Samsung tweaked the design of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 several weeks ago in an attempt to skirt around the injunction, but Apple has filed a request to have the new Galaxy Tab 10.1N banned from sale as well, arguing that the new design still infringes on Apple's design for the iPad.

Apple, not known for its partnerships with third-parties, is recognizing December 1st as World AIDS Day on its website and within the Apple Retail Stores.

Apple currently sells two items associated with Bono's PRODUCT (RED) charity, a red iPod Nano and a red Smart Cover, both sold exclusively on the Apple Online Store and in the Apple Retail Store. Apple gives a portion of the purchase price of these specially branded items to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa.

IFOAppleStore reports that today in the retail stores:

a select group of Specialists will be wearing and promoting the (RED) iPod nano, with a portion of the $129/$149 price going to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa. Also, managers and store greeters who normally carry iPads for work will have (RED) Smart Covers protecting the devices. On the product shelves, signs will promote the Beats by Dr. Dre Solo HD Headphones that are also part of the (RED) product line. There is also a special (RED) iTunes gift card available in the stores.

Some stores, including the Regent Street location in London, have also colored their Apple logos red for the occasion:

In addition to its retail store efforts, Apple has put a prominent link on the bottom left of its homepage to (RED)'s 2015quilt.com.

Thanks to Sam for the Regent Street photo.