MacRumors

In a brief report, DigiTimes claims that Apple has placed orders with OmniVision Technologies for both 3.2 and 5-megapixel image sensors. The 3.2-megapixel sensor is reportedly destined for the next-generation iPhone, while the 5-megapixel sensor is claimed to be for a separate product launching later this year.

OmniVision has received 3.2-megapixel CMOS image sensor (CIS) orders for Apple's next-generation iPhone, according to market sources. The company is also said to have secured 5-megapixel CIS orders for another Apple product expected to be launched later in the year.

Both the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G utilize a 2-megapixel camera, and speculation regarding a higher resolution camera in the next-generation iPhone has been popular for some time now. Evidence of a "Publish Video" screen in the iPhone OS 3.0 beta and supporting claims of a video camera in the next-generation iPhone suggest that Apple is targeting significant improvements to the iPhone's imaging capabilities.

PC World reports that an error on Apple's Hong Kong online store reveals that an announcement of new Xserve models featuring Intel "Nehalem" processors should be occurring in the near future. The error involves a broken image on the main Xserve ordering page with a filename of "promo-ribbon-nehalem.jpg" and an alt attribute reading "Pre-order the new Xserve with Intel Xeon (Nehalem)."

A notice on Apple's Hong Kong online store is offering to take preorders of the Xserve based on Intel's latest Xeon server chips. However, preorders cannot be placed as the link hasn't been activated yet, and customization capabilities for the old Xserve products have been disabled.

Rumors of an Xserve refresh have been gathering steam in recent days, with changes in Apple's estimated shipping times and text strings in the OS X 10.5.7 beta pointing to an imminent update to Apple's rackmountable server computers.

In the minds of many, the unreleased Palm Pre may be the biggest potential threat to Apple's growing iPhone marketshare. Announced at CES, the Palm Pre is an entirely new platform developed by Palm to replace their long-running Palm OS.

The Palm Pre will be the first multi-touch mobile phone to be released following the iPhone. This fact has generated a number of veiled legal threats between the companies.

Palm was demonstrating the Palm Pre at CTIA Mobile this week. Computerworld provided some early impressions:

the webOS is layered to allow users to keep several applications open at once and to let them flip seamlessly between them. The Pre's main button at the bottom center of the device acts as an all-purpose "zoom out" button that shrinks applications in use and gives users the ability to browse through other apps. Although this sounds like it could be confusing, Palm has designed its operating system to make flipping through apps a breeze. Basically, users can flip through their open apps by moving their fingers from left to right -- or vice-versa -- along the phone's touch screen, just like flipping the pages of a book.

A promo video from Palm is also available showing the operating system in action.

Meanwhile, Pre Central has an actual hands on video showing the operating system in real usage.

The Palm Pre uses the ARM Cortex A8 (not multicore) CPU and PowerVR SGX GPU, which are a step beyond the technology Apple currently has in the 3G iPhone. Apple has been rumored to be working on a major hardware refresh for the iPhone that is due this summer.

TechCrunch reports on comments made by Stephen Elop, President of Microsoft's Business Division, at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco that suggest that Microsoft is still exploring ways to bring its Office suite of applications to the iPhone.

I'm here at the Web 2.0 Expo keynote, where Stephen Elop, President of Microsoft Business Division, hinted that we may be seeing Microsoft Office make its way to the iPhone some time soon. After his interviewer Tim OReilly caught him on the comment, Elop backtracked a bit, stating "not yet, keep watching". But it's clear that an iPhone version of Office is on his mind.

Fortune reported a year ago that Microsoft's Mac Business Unit was exploring its options for iPhone applications, and it appears that something may still be in the works.

Apple seeded developers with the latest build (10A314) of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) today. The latest beta version of Snow Leopard is said to be more stable than previous builds. Specifically, QuickTime X is said to have made significant strides since the previous version.

Apple, however, has not yet deployed the "Marble" user interface changes that have been rumored for Snow Leopard.

An exact release date for Snow Leopard has not been established , though recent rumors have suggested it could be as late as September. Apple will likely make further announcements and demos of Snow Leopard at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

HardMac posted a collection of rumors they've received. They don't seem particularly confident about the information but do provide some believable tidbits:

- Snow Leopard will not be ready before September. Significant amounts of work left on QuickTime X, Open CL, and Grand Central
- New Xserve in June alongside a Mac Pro bump to 3.2GHz with Quadro FX 5800
- Notebooks to move to Nehalem in November
- Final Cut Studio 3, DVD Studio Pro, Shake, Logic updates.

The Mac Pro 3.2GHz speed boost is conceivable as Intel did officially release the Nehalem Xeon processors that run up to 3.2GHz. Apple currently only offers Mac Pros that run up to 2.93GHz.

AppleInsider follows up on yesterday's report regarding an update to Apple's Xserve offering with additional evidence for the new model. According to the report, a user has discovered text strings in the latest Mac OS X 10.5.7 beta identifying an unreleased "Xserve3,1" model, as well as references to Marvell's Yukon 2 Ethernet controller chips suitable only for Apple's Xserve line but not found in the current model.

In particular, AppleInsider reader Adam has discovered references to an "Xserve 3,1" inside the AppleTyMCEDriver extension file currently seeding to Mac OS X developers as part of Mac OS X 10.5.7.

The current incarnation of the Xserve, introduced in January of 2008, has long identified itself as "Xserve 2,", meaning "Xserve 3,1" stands as an machine ID indentifier [sic] for an unreleased family of Xserves -- almost certainly the upcoming Nehalem models.

Apple's second iPhone 3.0 beta that was seeded today offers the usual collection of bug fixes and improvements, but does introduce one new feature: users are now allowed 11 pages of apps (180 apps total) on your iPhone and iPod Touch.

The finding was posted with screenshot by TheLoopBlog and was subsequently verified by another user. The currently shipping version of the iPhone firmware only allows 9 pages of Apps (148 apps total). While the distinction may seem small, many users have already run into the 148 application limit in their day to day use.

While Apple has been rumored to offer more robust application support in future versions of the iPhone operating system, no announcements were made during the iPhone 3.0 media event.

After only two weeks from its initial release, Apple has released a second beta version of their iPhone 3.0 operating system. The new seed is available only to registered iPhone developers. The iPhone 3.0 beta was first introduced earlier this month and includes a number of enhancements:

- Search
- Copy and Paste
- MMS
- Tethering Support
- In-App Purchases
- Push notifications
- Many new APIs for developers

At this early stage, there are no reports of any obvious changes in today's seed. Apple is expected to release the final version of iPhone 3.0 to consumers this summer.

Lazard Captial Markets analyst Daniel Amir believes that Apple is working on two new iPhones that will arrive in the coming months. These would include a high end 32GB iPhone with camera improvements as well as a low-end 3G version. Production for the devices would being in April and ramp up in May, with a release in June.

[Amir] noted, however, that the low-end version may only be available in the fast-growing, emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, while the high-end version is expected to make its way to North America and Europe.

As with most analyst reports, "channel partner" checks are cited as the source.

A 32GB iPhone has been long expected and has been dependent on the release of suitably dense memory chips that could fit within the current iPhone casing. A couple of vendors have announced possible memory chips that would be available this year. As a whole, analysts have been notoriously unreliable sources, and this particular group has no notable track record. Still, a June release of the new iPhone is certainly expected. Now with WWDC's dates set for June, Apple has an appropriate venue to announce new products.

Today is April 1st, 2009 and represents April Fools' Day -- so readers should be wary of hoaxes and claims at both news and rumor sites today. Today also represents Apple's 33rd anniversary, as the company was founded on April 1st, 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

April Fools' Day pranks around the web (to be updated):

- Adding "&flip=1" to a YouTube page results in an interesting view: Example: Apple's 1984 commercial (flipped)
- Google Australia's gBall

MacRumors does not participate in April Fools' Day prank news stories. All stories posted today are real.

AppleInsider reports that Apple may release updated versions of its Xserve rackmountable server computers within the next few weeks. The new models are expected to utilize new Intel Xeon 3500 "Bloomfield" processors, as well as the same Xeon 5500 "Gainestown" processors found in the new Mac Pro but only officially introduced yesterday.

New models, should they follow the same configuration format, would therefore include a single processor model capable of accepting 2.66GHz, 2.93GHz, and 3.2GHz quad-core Bloomfield chips and a dual-pocessor model that would take two 2.26GHz, 2.66GHz, 2.8GHz, or 2.93GHz quad-core Gainestown chips.

"Gainestown" is also available in 2.4GHz, 2.53GHz, and 3.2GHz variants, though Apple has expressed little interest in these parts thus far.

AppleInsider notes that Apple's online store is showing shipping times of 5-7 business days for the Xserve, down from a 1-2 week window offered late last week, suggesting that a refresh may be just around the corner. Apple Store representatives are also reportedly informing Xserve customers of possible short-term delays to their orders.

Skype, Inc. has just released their official Skype application for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Skype is a very popular voice-over-IP (VOIP) and instant messaging application that allows you to make phone calls over the internet. Calls can be made to other Skype users or to those with regular landline phones. CNet spent some time with the release version of the iPhone app:

Skype's screens are well organized and use the iPhone's ability to add filters, for instance, to sort your contacts alphabetically, or by who's online. There's chatting as well, though Skype's flagship feature is its VoIP calling that's free to other Skype users and an inexpensive per-minute fee to landlines. Calls on Skype for iPhone work only if you're in range of a Wi-Fi network, so your call quality will in part be at the mercy and strength of wireless networks nearby--calls will not work over the cell phone network on the iPhone (but chatting will.)

As restricted by Apple, the voice-over-IP phone calls will only work over Wi-Fi and not over the cellular connection. iPod Touch owners with a microphone can also take advantage of the VOIP calling.

App Store Link: Skype, Free

IDG announced today on its Macworld Expo page and in an e-mail to previous attendees that the 2010 event will take place from February 9th through 13th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

IDG World Expo announced today that Macworld will be moving from its traditional January event dates to February 9 - 13, 2010. The location will remain at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA.

As we began the planning process for 2010, the Mac community - exhibitors, attendees, media and fans of the show - made it clear that February would be a more ideal time to hold the event, so we listened. The Conference programs are scheduled for Tuesday through Saturday, February 9 - 13 and the Expo will be held Thursday through Saturday, February 11-13th.

Apple previously announced that 2009 would be their final year participating in Macworld Expo.