MacRumors

Two major instant messaging clients (AIM and Beejive) for the iPhone and iPod Touch were updated tonight with support for Push notifications. Instant messaging was always cited as one of the major reasons the iPhone and iPod Touch needed some form of background processing. Prior to iPhone 3.0, if you were to switch out of these applications, there was no easy way for the applications to notify you of an incoming message.

AIM (Free) - AIM is the official AIM client from AOL. The new version allows you to stay logged in for up to 24 hours and receive notifications through Apple's Push Notification system.

BeejiveIM ($9.99) - Despite its higher price, it has been a very popular instant messaging client with support for multiple protocols (AIM, MSN, Yahoo, GoogleTalk, Facebook, ICQ, Jaber, MySpace). The latest update adds push notification support and other enhancements.

Push notifications require the 3.0 firmware that was released last week. Apple announced today that it has been downloaded over 6 million times since it's release.

CNBC reports that Steve Jobs has indeed returned to work at Apple today. His return had been suggested as he was attributed a quote for Apple's press release today about the iPhone 3GS sales. Jim Goldman of CNBC, however, is able to confirm his presence on Apple's campus according to multiple employees.

Meantime, we still await official word from Apple, but employees are confirming this. The news is solid. Jobs is back in the house, at least for today.

This would fulfill his original promise to return to Apple in June, but with the recent report about his medical condition he may only be back in a limited fashion.

Last week, we reported on a discussion in our forums regarding Apple's apparent downgrade of the SATA hard drive interface to 1.5 Gbps in the latest 13" and 15" MacBook Pros when compared to previous-generation MacBook Pros running at 3.0 Gbps. While users were unlikely to max out the 1.5 Gbps transfer rate unless they had installed an aftermarket fast solid state drive (SSD), concern remained about Apple's decision to scale back the interface speed.

Apple today addressed the issue with the release of MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.7, which allows the new MacBook Pros to utilize the full 3.0 Gbps interface.

MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.7 addresses an issue reported by a small number of customers using drives based on the SATA 3Gbps specification with the June 2009 MacBook Pro. While this update allows drives to use transfer rates greater than 1.5Gbps, Apple has not qualified or offered these drives for Mac notebooks and their use is unsupported.

Full details on the update are located in the associated support document, and instructions for installing the update are included in the update application package. The update weighs in at 3.35 MB and requires OS X 10.5.7.

Apple announced today that the company has sold over 1 million iPhone 3G S models over this past weekend. The press release notably includes a quote from Steve Jobs:

"Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "With over 50,000 applications available from Apple's revolutionary App Store, iPhone momentum is stronger than ever."

The sales figures match those of last year's iPhone 3G launch weekend sales numbers. Apple also reports that six million customers have downloaded the new iPhone 3.0 software which works on the existing 40 million iPhone and iPod touch models.

Since Friday's release of the iPhone 3G S, there has been a lot of focus on the actual speed gains provided by the newest iPhone model.

Anandtech performed formal benchmarks between the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, Palm Pre and Android G1 to see which was the fastest in web rendering and app launching. The site found a 122% speed improvement in web rendering in the iPhone 3G S over the iPhone 3G and a 22.6% improvement in the 3G S over the Palm Pre in the same testing. The iPhone 3G S was also the leader of the pack in app launching with 14-72% improvements over the iPhone 3G.

Meanwhile, Tap Tap Tap found that the framerate (video) of their currently unoptimized but graphics intensive Plasma application runs about four times faster on the iPhone 3G S than the iPhone 3G:

As the video shows, in our OpenGL ES testing, the 3GS is generally close to four times faster than the 3G. Results will vary depending on the application but this is remarkable to say the least. Plasmas pretty heavy on particle animation and fairly CPU intensive.

Finally, the developer of AirCoaster 3D [App Store] a roller coaster simulation application put together this comparison video showing the dramatic difference in performance of a particularly complex track on the 3G and 3G S.

The differences in performance are expected to be even more significant once developers start taking advantage of the advanced graphics capabilities found in the iPhone 3G S.

World of Apple recently posted a look at the build of Snow Leopard (10A380) provided to developers at WWDC 2009. Despite being described as "near final", the build did not contain all the features that were demonstrated in the WWDC keynote such as the Dock Expos. As a result, most of the changes found were rather minor.

Some of the changes detailed include:

- Snow Leopard now counts data sizes in base 10. In the example shown a 320GB hard drive shows as 320GB as opposed to 297GB
- Your timezone can be determined automatically
- System-wide spelling correction

The final version of Snow Leopard will be released in September 2009.

In an effort to compensate individuals affected by the delays in iPhone activation over the weekend, Apple has been sending out emails to affected customers indicating that they will be getting a $30 iTunes Store credit.

Dear Apple Customer,

Thank you for your recent Apple Store order. We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience caused by the delay in your iPhone activation.

We are still resolving the issue that was encountered while activating your iPhone with AT&T. Unfortunately, due to system issues and continued high activation volumes, this could take us up to an additional 48 hours to complete.

On Monday, you'll receive an email from Apple with an iTunes Store credit in the amount of $30. We hope you will enjoy this gift and accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience this delay has caused.

Thank you for choosing Apple.

Sincerely,
Apple Online Store Team

Affected customers should receive the credit on Monday.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple CEO Steve Jobs received a liver transplant about two months ago to treat some ongoing complications from his previous pancreatic cancer:

Steve Jobs, who has been on medical leave from Apple Inc. since January to treat an undisclosed medical condition, received a liver transplant in Tennessee about two months ago. The chief executive has been recovering well and is expected to return to work on schedule later this month, though he may work part-time initially.

The exact source for the information is not provided, though The Wall Street Journal is reporting it as fact and not rumor. They also state that he is recovering well and is expected to return to Apple at the end of June, though may initially return on a part-time basis.

Steve Jobs stepped down as Apple's CEO in January for a medical leave of absence. Jobs had previously been treated and said to have been cured of pancreatic cancer in 2004.

According to experts cited by The Wall Street Journal, the reason for a liver transplant may have been from the spread of the original pancreatic cancer into the liver. The exact cure rate for this particular condition with a liver transplant seems to be up for debate, although five-year survivals for all causes of liver transplant seems to be around the 75% range.

The report adds some validity to previous rumors that Steve Jobs was receiving medical treatment in Memphis, Tennessee.

A number of iPhone 3G S customers in the U.S. are reporting problems activating their new purchases for use. According to a message displayed during the activation process, it may take up to 48 hours for activations to go through.

Due to current iPhone activation volumes, it may take up to 48 hours to resolve your issue. We will send a confirmation to {e-mail address redacted} once your activation is complete. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes. You can set up your iPhone and enjoy features that do not require access to the AT&T network. To get started, please disconnect and then reconnect your iPhone.

Several MacRumors forum members have reported that they have had success by calling AT&T and having a representative assist them with activation, while others have reported that AT&T representatives have simply told them that nothing can be done to speed up the process.

Despite the seemingly shorter lines for the iPhone 3G S, the early sales number estimates indicate that the iPhone 3G S launch numbers could even exceed those of the iPhone 3G launch. Apple managed to sell 1 million of the iPhone 3Gs during its launch weekend last year. Unlike last year, however, Apple and AT&T have allowed pre-orders for the latest iPhone device.

UK mobile carrier O2 reveals that by lunchtime, they've already sold more iPhone 3G S handsets than they did during the entire day of the iPhone 3G launch. They expect by the end of the day to have sold 50% more than last year's opening day.

Meanwhile, AppleInsider reveals that AT&T has sold "hundreds of thousands" of iPhone 3G S's ahead of the launch. Based on these numbers, the site also speculates that Apple could easily sell more than a million devices during the first three days.

The iPhone 3G S went on sale this morning 7 a.m. local time in the United States. First impressions by MacRumors forum members are being recorded in this thread. Highlights include

- "...really does seem a lot faster than my 1st gen, and a lot smoother."
- "Video recording alone makes it worth it - the quality's great."
- "One thing I have noticed in comparison to my 3G is that the screen colours are much warmer - a lot less blue."
- "The screen is great, tap all over it and you barely see any finger prints."

Overall, reactions have been very positive to the quality of the video coming out of the iPhone 3G S. One user posted this YouTube video directly from the iPhone 3G S. Meanwhile, fdot posted a raw QuickTime movie (.mov file - 8.5MB) showing the raw quality of the video. Some more photos taken with the iPhone 3G S have also been posted.

The iPhone 3G S is, of course, much faster than the iPhone 3G. Some users are posting speed comparisons between the two models. We recorded this side-by-side video showing the web rendering speed of the iPhone 3G S and iPhone 3G when on the same Wi-Fi network.

The iPhone 3G S is, of course, on the left and shows a much faster rendering speed.

We're not sure if the iPhone 3G S launch will require long waits in line like previous years. The fact that customers have been able to pre-order the new iPhone will certainly dampen the turnout in the morning. Still that's not stopping some (photo). One analyst predicts Apple will sell about 500,000 units this time around, about one half of the number sold on the launch of the iPhone 3G. Still, that number is twice as much as the sales numbers for the original iPhone's launch weekend.

One French company has already obtained an iPhone 3G S and done a disassembly on the device:

Update: CNet blog documented the opening at the 5th Avenue NYC Store:

First users posting photos: