MacRumors

U.S. exclusive iPhone carrier AT&T has received significant criticism for its apparent difficulties in maintaining network performance under heavy demands from iPhone users, but it appears that it is not alone in its struggles. The Financial Times reports that UK carrier O2 has publicly apologized for similar difficulties with its network in London over the past few months as demand has grown there to strain the company's network capacity.

Mr Dunne said O2's network difficulties had been caused by an "explosion" of demand for data services on smartphones but insisted the problems were largely confined to London.

Some O2 customers have periodically been unable to make or receive phone calls, or download material to their handsets, because the network was clogged up by smartphones.

Like AT&T, O2 has been taking steps to address the issue, including working with third-party vendors to improve network traffic management and adding additional mobile sites for increased bandwidth. But in a comment that may be slightly unsettling to heavy data users, O2 CEO Ronan Dunne noted that the company is also talking to Apple and Research in Motion in trying to "learn about" data-intensive applications. Dunne did not elaborate on what O2 might do with that information on data-intensive applications.

Just last week, O2 experienced a significant outage of its data network lasting nearly 48 hours and affecting a significant proportion of its customers.

Just two weeks ago, a suggestion that Apple could sell 10 million iPhones during the current quarter began to make its way around the Mac investor and rumor communities. At the time, the claim was significantly higher than analysts' consensus in the 8-9 million range, and was thus viewed with some skepticism.

Tech Trader Daily today reports on an Apple stock upgrade from Broadpoint AmTech analyst Brian Marshall, who has done things one better by pushing his quarterly iPhone sales estimates to 11.3 million on the strength of international sales.

Meanwhile, Broadpoint.AmTech analyst Brian Marshall boosted his target this morning to $260, from $235, repeating his Buy rating. Marshall's note focused on explaining his higher-than-consensus estimate for December quarter iPhone sales: he sees 11.3 million units in the quarter, above the Street at an estimated 8.8 million. Marshall sees U.S. units down 20% sequentially, to about 2.5 million units, but with international units more than doubling sequentially to 8.8 million units.

Marshall's view has yet to spread to other industry analysts, however, as consensus iPhone shipments for the quarter remain slightly under 9 million.

Other analysts are upping their overall forecasts for Apple though, as Digital Daily notes that Thomas Weisel Partners analyst Doug Reid has boosted his sales predictions, particularly for the company's iMac line that was revamped in October. Reid's industry checks indicate very strong demand likely leading to yet another outstanding quarter for Apple.

In the wake of today's analyst upgrades, Apple's stock hit a new all-time high of $213.95 before settling back to close at $211.67.

MobileCrunch reports on data from mobile analytics firm Flurry showing very strong App Store download performance coming from iPod touch devices, suggesting a strong holiday season for Apple's premier iPod line. On Christmas Day, Flurry's data saw download volume from iPod touches increase nearly 1,000% from pre-Christmas levels, spiking well above comparable iPhone downloads, which typically lead iPod touch sales by a considerable margin.

Overall, Flurry's data reveals 51% month-to-month growth in App Store downloads for December using forecast data for the remaining days of the month. Google's Android Market also experienced strong month-to-month growth of 22%, but was unable to match Apple's performance, at least in application downloads.

The apparent tremendous boost in iPod touch-based App Store downloads was not unexpected, as similar indicators of strong iPod touch sales were seen last year.

TechCrunch reports on a new Apple job posting that appeared last week that seems to reveal plans for an expanded online "cloud" experience for the company's iWork productivity suite. While Apple has offered an iWork.com beta site for document collaboration since soon after the launch of iWork '09 in January, the job posting hints at a new ground-up project in the works.

The Productivity team (i.e. iWork) is seeking an energetic, highly motivated software engineer in building a scalable rich internet application. The person will be part of the core development team and engage in an area from design to development of the software system.

Apple's desired qualifications for the position include experience with JavaScript and browser technologies, computer graphics, scalable rich internet applications, and productivity application development.

Although the job posting provides no details on project specifics, the mention of the position's involvement in "design to development" stages suggests that Apple is looking to undertake a new project of grander scale rather than simply continuing to tweak and build on its existing iWork.com offerings.

From the outset, Apple noted that iWork.com was planned to be a fee-based service, although it remains free for users of iWork '09 while in a pre-release beta version.

Even with news that Apple has registered the iSlate trademark, we can't be certain that's the name the company will ultimately use for their rumored tablet. Of historic interest, however, is the fact that this is not the first time they used the "Slate" term in labeling one of their tablet projects. In the early 1990s, Apple had an unreleased tablet prototype called the "MessageSlate" based on the Newton technology.

The MessageSlate never went into production. Apple even applied for trademark protection for the MessageSlate name back in 1993.

With the revelation that Apple had acquired the iSlate.com domain and iSlate trademarks, it seemed clear to us that iSlate was the likely name for Apple's upcoming tablet computer. While we agree with skeptics that these historic actions can't prove Apple's intent to follow through, we still think they are a very clear signal.

In order to confirm or deny the belief that Apple may have registered alternative options for their upcoming tablet, we did some extensive research looking for evidence for more of these hidden trademark and domain registrations. In the end, we were able to find one other trademark registration that was made on behalf of Apple through a company called iGuide Media, LLC.

iGuide Media, LLC. is another Delaware-based company whose sole purpose appears to be to obtain a trademark on behalf of Apple, Inc. In this case they have a single trademark application for the term "iGuide" that is currently pending. The application was first filed in December 2007. Again, we found Apple's Senior Trademark Specialist Regina Porter's signatures on the trademark documents linking iGuide Media, LLC to Apple, Inc. Meanwhile, the lawyer handling the paperwork for the iGuide trademark is the same lawyer who filed for the iPhone trademark under Ocean Telecom Services, also on behalf of Apple. Like iSlate, it seems clear that Apple created iGuide Media, LLC to obtain the iGuide trademark.

iGuide seems like it could be another possible name for Apple's upcoming tablet computer or a related software or service. In fact, the trademark classification for iGuide seems to be particularly telling. While most of these classifications seem to cover an overly broad range of possibilties, iGuide's paints a picture of an all-purpose media browser:

Computer hardware and computer software for accessing, browsing, searching, recording, organizing, storing, transmitting, receiving, manipulating, streaming, reproducing, playing, and reviewing audio, video, games, music, television, movies, photographs, and other multimedia content

Even more revealing was a later passage which describes downloadable electronic content of a wide variety:

Downloadable electronic publications in the nature of books, magazines, newsletters, journals, and blogs in the fields of entertainment, sports, science, history, culture, celebrities, news, current events, politics, technology, and education;

This description mirrors many of the recent rumors that Apple had approached magazines and newspapers to provide their content in a format for the upcoming tablet. iGuide, of course, could also describe a service or software application that might launch alongside the tablet itself.

So for those who weren't happy with iSlate as the possible name for the Apple Tablet, iGuide appears to be another option, though frankly, we still prefer iSlate. It might make more sense if iGuide were to be related service or software to the Apple tablet.

Taiwan's Economic Daily paper claims that Cheng Uei Precision Industry has received an order for "connectors" for Apple's new Tablet PCs. According to the report the company is likely to begin shipping in the 3rd quarter of 2010.

Meanwhile Digitimes reports that Innolux, a panel-making subsidiary of Foxconn, will be the supplier for the touch panels in Apple's Tablet PC. The screen size is said to be 10-inches for the rumored device.

These reports add to the increasing number of rumors about Apple's upcoming Tablet. Just last week, Apple was said to be planning a late January media event to launch the device which would ship later in 2010. Even more recently have been discoveries that Apple has trademarked the "iSlate" name presumably as a possible name for the device.

In perhaps the final chapter to the Psystar saga, Psystar has updated their website over the holidays with a letter explaining that they have suspended sales of the Rebel EFI software product as they await clarification from the courts.

Meanwhile, in an apparent effort to raise funding, they are asking for $20-$100 donations on their website and also selling a $15 T-Shirt that reads "I sued Psystar" on the front and "... and all I got was a lousy injunction." on the back.

Psystar was an unauthorized Mac clone manufacturer that was sued by Apple earlier this year for copyright infringement and DMCA violations. The final verdict came just a couple of weeks ago forcing Psystar to shut down by year's end.

After we broke the news yesterday that Apple had acquired iSlate.com, other pieces to the puzzle seemed to fall into place. Notably, TechCrunch found that iSlate had been registered as a trademark by an unknown Delaware company by the name of Slate Computing, LLC in November 2006. iSlate had also been registered as a trademark in Europe using a law firm that Apple employs. The implication being that Apple set up Slate Computing, LLC as a dummy corporation to secretly acquire the iSlate trademark. Apple has been known to do this in the past. For example, the iPhone trademark was originally filed by Ocean Telecom Services, another anonymous Delaware-based company.

In delving deeper, however, we have discovered evidence that Apple is indeed behind Slate Computing, LLC and the iSlate trademark. The trademark application documents for the iSlate reveal the signatory being one Regina Porter:

Regina Porter happens to also be Apple's Senior Trademark Specialist as shown in her Linkedin profile. While we can't definitely pinpoint this to be the exact same Regina Porter, it seems beyond the realm of coincidence. So, not only did Apple obtain the iSlate.com domain in late 2006/early 2007, it also seems likely that Apple also filed for an iSlate trademark under a dummy corporation. Given that, it seems "iSlate" is very likely going to be the name of the upcoming Apple tablet.

Another interesting tidbit, as first noted by Fscklog, iSlate is not the only trademark that Slate Computing, LLC has filed for in the United States. The company also filed for a trademark for "Magic Slate". The term was categorized broadly to cover Computers, computer peripherals, computer hardware and much more. "Magic Slate" adopts a similar naming convention to the recently released multi-touch Magic Mouse from Apple. It's not hard to imagine that a "Magic Slate" would be a multi-touch peripheral for computers, much like the multi-touch iGesture Pad released by Fingerworks before their acquisition by Apple.

Exactly such a multi-touch "trackpad gadget" was rumored in October. It's not clear if Apple is still planning on releasing such a device, but the name of "Magic Slate" would fit in nicely alongside the Magic Mouse.

With rumors of the Apple tablet reaching new highs, MacRumors has found evidence that Apple acquired the domain name iSlate.com presumably in preparation for the new device.

The iSlate.com domain was originally registered in October 2004 by a company called Eurobox Ltd. It later changed hands to Data Docket, Inc. in 2006. In 2007, however, the domain was transferred to registrar MarkMonitor.com. MarkMonitor handles domain name registrations and trademark protections for many companies, including Apple. As is typical, however, the name of the actual registrant was initially hidden to obscure the identify of the actual owner. Up until this point, one could still easily dismiss all this as a simple coincidence.

However, after further investigation of the domain name registrant history, it seems Apple's name was temporarily exposed as the actual owner of "iSlate.com" for several weeks in late 2007. It was changed back within a few weeks, but using DomainTools, MacRumors has found the historic record proving Apple ownership of the iSlate.com domain:

iSlate.com currently points to no website. Apple is rumored to be announcing an Apple tablet in early 2010 and given this evidence "iSlate" seems a likely candidate for the device's name.

Thanks to Mark Gurman from AppleRejectedMe.com for first pointing us in the direction of iSlate.com

In the wake of yesterday's provocative hint suggesting that users would be "surprised how you interact" with Apple's much-rumored tablet, speculation has begun about what that surprise might be. Conveniently enough, a patent application published today entitled "Keystroke tactility arrangement on a smooth touch surface" revisits previously-revealed technology from Apple regarding possible tactile feedback for a touchscreen device such as a tablet.

The technology described in the patent application addresses several mechanisms for providing tactile feedback for a keyboard displayed on a smooth touchscreen surface, including: 1) use of protruding bumps to identify keys; 2) use of an "articulating frame" that can raise and lower depending on whether the screen is being used for gesturing or typing to offer the user a frame of reference for key edges; and 3) use of fixed key edges below a compliant gel or foam surface that would be smooth when subjected to light pressure of gesturing but offering tactile ridges under harder pressure of typing.

Disclosed are four arrangements for providing tactility on a touch surface keyboard. One approach is to provide tactile feedback mechanisms, such as dots, bars, or other shapes on all or many keys. In another embodiment, an articulating frame may be provided that extends when the surface is being used in a typing mode and retracts when the surface is used in some other mode, e.g., a pointing mode. The articulating frame may provide key edge ridges that define the boundaries of the key regions or may provide tactile feedback mechanisms within the key regions. The articulating frame may also be configured to cause concave depressions similar to mechanical key caps in the surface. In another embodiment, a rigid, non-articulating frame may be provided beneath the surface. A user will then feel higher resistance when pressing away from the key centers, but will feel a softer resistance at the key center.

The patent application also describes the use of automatic methods for activation and deactivation of the articulated frame, utilizing the touchscreen capabilities to sense sliding or mouse-click-like tapping as requiring the frame to be deactivated, and "home row" positioning of fingers or asynchronous tapping as requiring the frame to be activated.

This new patent application, filed in August, is actually a divisional of a previous application filed in April 2006, with the new application focusing only on touchscreen-based keyboard applications. The patent application is credited to Wayne Westerman, founder of FingerWorks, the company acquired by Apple in 2005 that is responsible for the multi-touch technology used in the iPhone and a number of other Apple products.

Apple Tablet rumors have exploded in the past few days with reports suggesting that Apple may introduce the device as early as January. A New York Times Blog post by Nick Bilton adds a few tantalizing tidbits about the upcoming device.

As we've known, Bilton reports that Apple has been working on a tablet on-and-off for many years but never felt to be good enough to go to market. Some of the previous technology had already been adapted for the iPhone launch. It seems, however, that Apple has finally gotten the tablet to the point to launch to the market, and according to a current senior employee at Apple, Steve Jobs is said to be "extremely happy with the new tablet."

Furthermore, another source told Bilton, "You will be very surprised how you interact with the new tablet." No other details are offered as to what this interaction might be. Apple, of course, holds many patents on multi-touch technology and has been expected to apply it to their upcoming tablet. Implementing more advanced gestures have been considered possible, though we're not sure if this would be considered a surprising interaction.

The Financial Times reports that it has received word that Apple has scheduled a special media event for Tuesday, January 26th in San Francisco. The event will reportedly be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, site of the company's music-focused events held each fall in recent years.

The company has rented a stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco for several days in late January, according to people familiar with the plans.

Apple is expected to use the venue to make a major product announcement on Tuesday, January 26th. Both YBCA and Apple declined to comment.

The topic of next month's rumored media event is currently unknown, although rumors have been flying today about Apple's tablet device plans, with a report claiming that Apple has asked several iPhone application developers to prepare their apps for demonstration on a larger screen device sometime next month.

Google today announced that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has requested additional information on the company's proposed acquisition of mobile advertising firm AdMob as the regulatory agency continues to investigate the appropriateness of the deal.

As we said when we announced the deal, we don't see any regulatory issues with this deal, because the rapidly growing mobile advertising space is highly competitive with more than a dozen mobile ad networks.

That said, we know that closer scrutiny has been one consequence of Google's success, and we've been talking to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the past few weeks. This week we received what's called a "second request," which means that the FTC is asking for more information so that they can continue to review the deal.

Apple and AdMob had reportedly met in the weeks before the deal with Google was announced, as Apple was apparently considering making its own offer to acquire AdMob. AdMob is currently the world's largest mobile advertising company, and thus a major player in the iPhone development community.

Silicon Alley Insider reports that Apple has approached certain app developers to ask them to prepare for a demo scheduled for next month. Notably, Apple has requested that the developers prepare their applications to run in "full screen" mode rather than limiting display to the iPhone and iPod touch's 320 x 480 pixels.

Apple is preparing to show off a new, larger mobile device with a higher resolution display in January -- probably a version of the Apple tablet we've been hearing about for months -- according to a plugged-in source in the mobile industry.

Apple has been telling some app makers to prepare apps for a demo next month, according to this source. "They've told select developers that as long as they build their apps to support full screen resolution -- rather than a fixed 320x480 -- their apps should run just fine," our source says.

The source notes that only the demo will occur in January, with a device launch scheduled for sometime in the future to allow other developers to modify their applications to support the new device and to allow Apple to generate excitement and anticipation ahead of the launch as it did with the original iPhone.

Apple tablet rumors have been flying fast and furious lately, with rumors of a February production ramp for a March or April release leading to reports of a possible January announcement. Exact specs of the tablet remain unknown, with long-standing rumors of a 10" display being joined in recent weeks with increasing claims of a 7" display, possibly indicating plans for multiple models of the new device.