MacRumors

Earlier this year, we pointed to a report from media research firm Nielsen indicating that Apple's iOS was just barely holding off Android in smartphone usage in the United States. But continued strong growth from Android that saw the platform easily leading the pack among the most recent smartphone acquirers left little doubt that Android would quickly pass iOS in total penetration.

New Nielsen data from March but released today shows just that, with Android now taking the overall lead with 37% of the market in the U.S., ahead of iOS which continues to hold steady at 27%. Research in Motion's BlackBerry platform has continued its slide and is now down to 22%.

Just looking at those who acquired smartphones in the six months leading up to the March survey, Android's lead is even stronger with a full 50% of users opting for the platform. Apple polled in second place at 25% while Research in Motion dropped to 15%.

Nielsen also took a look at future buying plans, assessing those consumers planning to purchase a smartphone sometime within the following year from the date of the survey. According to the latest data, Android now edges out iOS, 31% to 30%, a significant change from the July-September 2010 period when iOS held a 33%-26% lead over Android among future smartphone purchasers.

Just over a month ago, Apple filed a trademark lawsuit against Amazon over the company's use of the term "Appstore" for its own Android application marketplace. According to the suit, Apple is seeking an injunction to prevent Amazon from using the name, which Apple believes infringes upon its own "App Store" mark.

GeekWire reports that Amazon has now filed an official response (PDF) to Apple's suit, calling the claim baseless and asserting the generic nature of term.

The Seattle-based online retailer asked a federal judge in San Francisco to throw out Apple's trademark suit, calling the phrase "app store" generic and not something that Apple can claim for its exclusive use. Amazon's filing echoed Microsoft's arguments in a separate dispute at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office opposing Apple's attempt to register the trademark.

Using a similar tactic to that employed by Microsoft in its attempts to have Apple's "App Store" trademark application denied, Amazon has cited comments by Apple CEO Steve Jobs in which he refers to app stores in the generic sense rather than specifically in relation to Apple's marketplace.

Amazon has also filed a counterclaim seeking dismissal of Apple's suit, a declaratory judgment that use of the term "app store" does not infringe upon Apple's trademark rights, and reimbursement of attorney's fees and other costs.

Apple has asked that the courts address the trademark lawsuit on an accelerated timetable in order to head off the rapidly increasing number of entities using "App Store" and related terms, but the court has yet to issue a decision regarding that request.

While we noted earlier today that preparations are moving full speed ahead for a debut of the white iPhone 4 within the next day or two and shipments making their way to retail stores, some retailers have jumped the gun and begun selling units to customers. Once such case popped up late last week in the UK through Vodafone, although the carrier apparently quickly clamped down on the rogue sale. But with more shipments now on location at retail stores, the premature sales are likely to occur with greater frequency.

One MacRumors reader wrote in today to say that he had just purchased a white iPhone 4 through a Mobistar retail shop in Antwerp, Belgium. According to the reader, the white iPhones are already available for general sale to all customers.

As in other recent photos, the final version of the white iPhone 4 carries a redesigned proximity sensor area on the front panel, utilizing a relatively large, lozenge-shaped area above the earpiece as opposed to the grille of small holes seen in early designs.

Update: iSpazio reports that yet another white iPhone 4 has been sold to a customer in Italy.

Update 2: The customer in Belgium has sent us another photo showing the "About" screen of the new white iPhone 4, revealing that the units are shipping with iOS 4.3.1 Build 8G4, the same build of iOS 4.3.1 released to GSM iPhone 4 users in late March. Apple has, however, since released iOS 4.3.2 for existing devices.

CNET reports that Apple is expected to charge customers a fee in order to use its forthcoming cloud-based music storage service, a new product said to be rapidly approaching completion. The company could, however, offer a free introductory period to give customers a chance to test out the new service and gather a user base.

Music industry insiders told me that Apple has indicated it could offer the service free of charge initially but that company will eventually require a fee. Google is also expected to charge for a similar service.

The report points to claims that Apple may charge a $20 annual fee for the service, although that information remains unconfirmed with many sources apparently not being privy to those details.

Apple's cloud-based plans have been said to be linked to a MobileMe revamp that could see certain aspects of cloud storage become free, even if the music storage component requires a modest annual fee.

Apple is not the only significant player looking to move to cloud-based music storage. Amazon late last month rolled out its Cloud Drive service with limited free storage augmented by various levels of paid storage. The company has, however, received some push back from record labels who were not included in discussions with Amazon. For its part, Google has been taking the Apple route and trying to work with record labels on a cloud-based music storage service, but the search and advertising giant has reportedly been "going backwards" in its talks with no signs of a resolution in the near future.

As we've been noting, Apple is gearing up to finally release the white iPhone 4, with all signs pointing to a release over the next few days, possibly as soon as tomorrow.

Engadget posts photos of a shipment of white iPhone 4s that have reportedly arrived at a Belgian retailer just ahead of the launch, indicating that Apple's distribution channels now have stock in position for immediate availability as soon as the launch occurs.

Meanwhile, German sites Macerkopf and iFun.de have noted the existence of promotional banners already in place on T-Mobile's site indicating a launch of the white iPhone 4 in that country on April 28th. The images have, however, already been removed from T-Mobile's site as the carrier has no doubt already reacted to the publicity of these reports.

Macerkopf also indicates that Apple's own retail stores in the U.S. have received promotional materials for the white iPhone 4, preparing to roll out the new signage in support of the device's release.

According to a report [Google translation] from Japanese newspaper Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun (via AppleInsider), Sharp has been tabbed as a manufacturer for next-generation poly-silicon (p-Si) display technology for the sixth-generation iPhone due in 2012. The technology, which permits electrical components to be integrated directly into the glass surface, is said to allow for thinner and lighter screens that consume less power than currently-used technologies.

Sharp will begin manufacturing of the displays in the spring of next year according to Japanese newspaper Nikkan. The company is said to have already begun preparing equipment at its Kameyama Plant No. 1, which is primarily used for building LCD TVs.

The article also contains an apology for last week's report claiming that Sharp had been cut out of the supply chain for future iPhones by a deal between Apple and Toshiba to push forward on a new plant for displays, a claim that Sharp had publicly refuted and for which the company had requested an apology and retraction. Consequently, today's report has led to speculation that Sharp may have intentionally leaked information about the new p-Si displays in order to counteract the earlier report about Toshiba.

In what shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, Bloomberg briefly reports that a lawsuit has been filed in U.S. federal court targeting Apple over privacy concerns related to location information being stored on iOS devices and in backups for those devices. The lawsuit is almost certainly the first of many regarding this issue.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) was sued for alleged privacy invasion and computer fraud by two customers who claim the company is secretly recording and storing the location and movement of iPhone and iPad users, according to a federal complaint filed today in Tampa, Florida.

As we noted earlier today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has reportedly replied to a customer email denying that Apple is tracking its customers and labeling the claims being widely discussed as "false".

Update: Bloomberg has now published an expanded article offering additional detail on the lawsuit.

"We take issue specifically with the notion that Apple is now basically tracking people everywhere they go," Aaron Mayer, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said today in a telephone interview. "If you are a federal marshal you have to have a warrant to do this kind of thing, and Apple is doing it without one."

The two plaintiffs, an iPhone user in Florida and an iPad user in New York, are asking a judge to bar Apple from collecting the location data and requesting refunds for the purchase prices for their devices, claiming that they would not have bought them if they had known about the data collection.

Apple has declined to officially comment on the lawsuit.

MIC Gadget posts a photo of what they claim could represent the "iPhone 4S". The image shows what looks like a while iPhone 4 but with a slightly larger display.

Man, we dont know if this is real, but at least we can see that it has a larger display and edge-to-edge glass. Maybe its a mockup, but we are sure that its not an iPhone 4.

They offer no explanation as to how they obtained the images and don't seem that confident in the authenticity of the images. The images could obviously be easily doctored.

They also provide a comparison photo between the current iPhone 4 and the larger screen, but this time on just the screen part, not a full device:

The new screen part, however, lines up closely to the design drawings documents that were leaked in the past, which may offer some possible validity to the images.

Another recent rumor claimed the iPhone 5 would carry a 3.7-inch display, but we've since heard that report is inaccurate -- at least for the upcoming iPhone 5.

9 to 5 Mac reports that Apple has begun delaying iMac orders, notifying customers that shipment of their orders is being pushed back to next week. The move comes ahead of an expected iMac refresh that may be set to occur on Tuesday of next week.

Due to an unexpected delay, we are unable to ship the following item(s) by the date that you were originally quoted:

Z0JP, IMAC 27/5750/SD
will now ship on or before
May 02, 2011

The report also notes that Mr. X, a source who has provided reliable information to a number of sites in the past, claims that new iMacs should be expected sometime the week of May 2nd.

Separately, we've heard that Apple is planning a change-out in the promotional materials of its retail stores for next week Tuesday, May 3rd. Such shifts are common when Apple rolls out updated models in one of its high-profile product lines as it seeks to capitalize on the publicity and interest. The company generally distributes updated "planograms" showing any changes in store layout, as well as new promotional signage and materials several days ahead of time.

Just over a month ago, CNET's Brian Tong reported that new iMacs were due by the end of April of the first week in May. A May 3rd release would obviously meet that timeline.

There has obviously been a lot of discussion about last week's disclosure that iOS devices are maintaining an easily-accessible database tracking the movements of users dating back to the introduction of iOS 4 a year ago. The issue has garnered the attention of U.S. elected officials and has played fairly heavily in the mainstream press.

One MacRumors reader emailed Apple CEO Steve Jobs asking for clarification on the issue while hinting about a switch to Android if adequate explanations are not forthcoming. Jobs reportedly responded, turning the tables by claiming both that Apple does not track users and that Android does while referring to the information about iOS shared in the media as "false".

Q: Steve,

Could you please explain the necessity of the passive location-tracking tool embedded in my iPhone? It's kind of unnerving knowing that my exact location is being recorded at all times. Maybe you could shed some light on this for me before I switch to a Droid. They don't track me.

A: Oh yes they do. We don't track anyone. The info circulating around is false.

Sent from my iPhone

As is Jobs' usual style, his brief comments provide little detail or information to support his claims, and his vagueness leaves things rather open to interpretation.

Android has been shown to also gather location information, but the database is limited to a much smaller list of entries and is regularly wiped by the system. Jobs' email seems to explicitly claim, however, that Google's location information is used to track users while Apple's is not.

Apple responded to some questions about location tracking and privacy last July, noting that users have the ability to turn off location services entirely and that all location features require explicit authorization from the user. The Wall Street Journal has found, however, that this newly-publicized database is constructed even when location services are turned off entirely.

The Journal tested the collection of data on an iPhone 4 that had been restored to factory settings and was running the latest version of Apple's iOS operating system.

The Journal disabled location services (which are on by default) and immediately recorded the data that had initially been gathered by the phone. The Journal then carried the phone to new locations and observed the data. Over the span of several hours as the phone was moved, it continued to collect location data from new places.

As many observers have noted, the iOS location database does not record exact GPS data, instead seeking to pinpoint the locations of Wi-Fi access points and cell towers that the device comes within range of, although the database does offer a clear general track of a user's movements.

In the meantime, government agencies in a number of countries have launched investigations into the situation, seeking explanations from Apple and details on how users can protect their privacy.

MacRumors has heard reliable confirmation that the next revision of Apple's MacBook Pro line will utilize a new case design for the first time in several years.

The possibility of a new case design was first revealed by iLounge in February just before the early 2011 MacBook Pros were released. iLounge described the most recent updates as the last "incremental" update before an all-new MacBook Pro design.

Next year is the year when Apple will introduce an all new design for the MacBook Pro product family, which is already under development at Quanta in Taiwan. It's being described as a big, "milestone" release for the Pro family, as compared with the speed bump features that will be introduced in [February's] models.

The last time the MacBook Pro was redesigned was in late 2008 with the introduction of the unibody MacBook Pro. The unibody MacBook Pro design which remains in use today offers an iMac-inspired design with a black-bezel and aluminum unibody casing. Unfortunately, we have no specifics on what the next MacBook Pro might look like, though many have previously speculated that Apple will take cues from the MacBook Air line.

In case you've missed all the recent signs, the white iPhone 4 is finally being launched this week. All signs point to April 27th as the launch day. European carriers point to the 27th, Best Buy does too, and Apple has started shipping units to Apple Stores this week. In fact, Vodafone UK even sold one prematurely to a customer. Meanwhile, we've heard rumblings from both Best Buy and Apple Retail sources of the same.

With all rumor-eyes looking toward the next generation iPhone 5, it's not clear how much demand there is for the white iPhone 4 which is now 10 months late from the original launch. So, here's a poll to see who is planning on buying a white iPhone 4.

BGR provides photos of an iPhone prototype that supports T-Mobile USA's 3G service.

Thats right, youre looking at photos of an iPhone prototype with T-Mobile USA 3G bands. The actual internal model is N94, and if you remember, the Verizon model is N92 while the standard GSM variant is N90. We have verified that the phone itself is running a test version of Apples iOS, much like the one we saw in those videos from Vietnam, and it includes internal Apple test apps like Radar and Apples employee directory app.

The T-Mobile US network uses different frequencies than AT&T's, requiring different hardware to support. It's not clear what this will mean given that AT&T is planning to acquire T-Mobile USA, though that transaction will take some time before it goes into effect. In the meanwhile, T-Mobile continues to operate as an independent carrier in the U.S.

A finding earlier this month by OSXDaily has generated some speculation about Apple's plans for "Retina" display Macs. The Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 2 released in late March included an ultra-high resolution version of the background desktop image at a resolution of 3200x2000. A few observers noted that this is higher than any Apple display has ever supported, generating speculation that Apple is preparing for "Retina" display Macs in the near future.

We had previously reported that Mac OS X Lion has made some under-the-hood changes opening the door to such super-high resolution displays.

Taking cues from iOS, Apple has reportedly built in support for what it calls "HiDPI display modes". These HiDPI modes allow developers to supply 2x-enlarged images to support double-high resolution displays. Like the iPhone 4's Retina Display, this means that user interface elements will remain the same size, but everything will be twice the resolution and therefore twice as detailed.

Now, MacMagazine.com.br has found that Apple is already starting to include other super high resolution artwork in Lion. They found several icons stored as 1024x1024 sizes, up from a previous maximum of 512x512.

Of course, this support for super high resolution displays is only the first step, but suggests Apple is planning ahead when the hardware becomes available.

Update: The 1024x1024 icons in Mac OS X Lion were publicized [Google translation] earlier last week by Consomac.fr.