MacRumors

Yesterday, Apple filed suit against Samsung over their "Galaxy" line of Android-based smartphones and tablets. In a statement, Apple claimed that Samsung copied Apple's technology and user interfaces:

"Rather than innovate and develop its own technology and a unique Samsung style for its smartphone products and computer tablets, Samsung chose to copy Apple's technology, user interface and innovative style in these infringing products," the Journal quoted Apple's complaint as saying.

As many have noted, Apple also happens to be one of Samsung's biggest customers. Apple uses Samsung displays and semiconductors extensively in their iOS devices. Even so, Samsung says they will respond "strongly":

"Apple is one of our key buyers of semiconductors and display panels. However, we have no choice but respond strongly this time," an unidentified official was quoted as saying.

According to the Yahoo news article, Apple was Samsung's second-largest client in 2010 after Sony Corp and was responsible for 4% of Samsung's $142 billion in revenue last year.

Valve Software launched their much anticipated first person action/puzzle game today. This represents a simultaneous Mac launch alongside Windows, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360 releases. Portal 2 is available through Valve's Steam online store as well as through traditional retailers.

Portal 2 is the sequel to the critically acclaimed Portal. Portal was a relatively short game featuring physics based puzzles in which the player manipulated two different teleporting portal entrance. Portal 2 picks up where the original left off and continues to challenge players with platforming and physics-based puzzles using the same portal gun. Forum user aznguyen316 has already installed it on his 2011 15" MacBook Pro with AMD 6750 and found that it runs very well on maxed out settings. This YouTube video shows the first 10 minutes of the game running on his MacBook Pro.

Early reviews of the game are overwhelmingly positive. Portal 2 is available on Steam for $49.99.

Apple today released iTunes 10.2.2, bringing a handful of bug fixes to the company's media management and syncing software.

iTunes 10.2.2 provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

- Addresses an issue where iTunes may become unresponsive when syncing an iPad.
- Resolves an issue which may cause syncing photos with iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to take longer than necessary.
- Fixes a problem where video previews on the iTunes Store may skip while playing.
- Addresses other issues that improve stability and performance.

The update can be obtained via Software Update or through Apple's iTunes download page. The update follows the release of iTunes 10.2.1 early last month.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has filed a patent lawsuit against Samsung, targeting the Korean company's "Galaxy" line of Android-based smartphones and tablets.

The lawsuit, filed on April 15 in the Northern District of California, alleged that Samsung's smartphones, such as the "Galaxy S 4G," "Epic 4G," "Nexus S" and its "Galaxy Tab" touchscreen tablet, violated Apple's intellectual property.

"Rather than innovate and develop its own technology and a unique Samsung style for its smart phone products and computer tablets, Samsung chose to copy Apple's technology, user interface and innovative style in these infringing products," the lawsuit said.

Samsung is one of Apple's chief suppliers for its own iOS-based devices, with Samsung manufacturing Apple's A4 and A5 systems-on-a-chip as well as LCD displays, flash memory, and other components.

Samsung is one the companies pushing ahead most aggressively in the tablet market to compete against Apple's iPad, having already released a 7-inch "Galaxy Tab" and announced larger 8.9-inch and 10.1-inch versions set to launch within the next few months. The company is of course also a major player in the Android-based smartphone market.

Update: All Things Digital has posted a few images from the lawsuit, a number of which show side-by-side comparisons between Apple's and Samsung's devices.

Business Insider reports that Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has just released a new research note sharing data from NPD on Apple's first quarter Mac and iPod sales in the United States. According to the data, Apple's new MacBook Pro released in late February led to a tremendous surge in Mac sales during the month of March, with total Mac unit sales up 47% year-over-year.

That strong performance follows 20% year-over-year growth in January and 12% growth in February, yielding a cumulative year-over-year Mac growth rate of 27% for the quarter. Consequently, Munster estimates quarterly Mac sales at close to 3.7 million units, slightly ahead of Wall Street consensus estimates. Apple shipped just under 3 million Macs in its March quarter last year, a quarter that is usually one of Apple's lighter sales periods following strong back-to-school sales in the September quarter and holiday sales in the December quarter.

On the iPod side, NPD's data suggests quarterly sales of 9.8-10.3 million units, in line with Wall Street estimates and down 5-10% from last year as Apple's maturing iPod line continues to shrink as consumers increasingly turn to the iPhone and iPad for their needs. Munster notes that the iPod data is somewhat less accurate than the Mac data, given the high international representation in iPod sales and NPD's focus on only the U.S. market.

Apple is set to announce earnings this Wednesday at approximately 4:30 PM Eastern Time after the stock market close.

As noted by Recombu, UK wireless carrier Three is now showing the white iPhone 4 as available for purchase on its website, listing an "earliest delivery" date of this Wednesday, April 20th.

Officially, Three representatives have only stated that the deal is not yet live and that they do not yet have any other information on the white iPhone 4.

Multiple mainstream news sources have indicated that the white iPhone 4 is finally in production and is expected to be released by the end of the month. Italian site iPhoneItalia has claimed that the device will launch on April 26th.

Over the weekend, Apple finally rolled out the planned revamp of its support discussions forums, rebranding them as Apple Support Communities. The company had announced last August that the changes would be happening "very soon".

Apple has posted a series of tutorials laying out how Apple Support Communities bring a new organization and layout to the company's discussion forums, offering individual sections for each product line and a prominent text box for searching existing discussions by typing in a question.

Social-based features allow users to promote replies to questions by offering their own responses or "liking" individual posts. Community members can flag previously-posted answers as "correct", increasing the reputation score of helpful members to give additional weight to their future comments and provide them with increased privileges within the forums.

As noted by Fortune, however, the revamp is not being met with universal acclaim, with a number of users complaining about the changes and other bugs. While it will obviously take a bit of time for users to become familiar with the operation of the new site, it remains to be seen whether Apple will incorporate some of the feedback to improve the new Apple Support Communities experience.

Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has issued a new research note in support of earlier claims that the fifth-generation iPhone will not go into full production until September. Kuo's note also corroborates other reports indicating that the new iPhone will be largely identical to the iPhone 4 in appearance and contain primarily internal improvements.

Specifically, Kuo has heard that the iPhone 5 will include the faster A5 processor already found in the iPad 2, as well as a higher resolution 8 megapixel rear camera. He has also been told that Apple will switch to a Qualcomm baseband for both GSM and CDMA models, along with an improved antenna design.

Kuo has also been told that the new iPhone will go into trial production in August and mass production in September, allowing Apple to reach shipment volumes of between 28 million and 32 million units this year. That would align with previous reports that have indicated Apple plans to make its new iPhone available for sale later than usual this year, likely in Apple's next fiscal year beginning in October.

Kuo's report does, however, apparently assume that the new iPhone will be introduced at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in early June, despite that event coming at least three months before the device would become available under this scenario. A number of other reports in recent weeks have indicated, however, that there will be no iPhone introduction at WWDC, with Apple potentially looking to its annual September iPod event for the introduction of the new iPhone.

Kuo suggests that the main selling point of the fifth-generation iPhone will be a significantly revamped iOS 5, although the operating system would presumably be fully or nearly fully supported on the iPhone 4 hardware. Kuo claims that the sixth-generation iPhone will be the model to carry a substantial redesign and could launch in the first half of 2012, even with a later-than-usual introduction of 2011's iPhone model.

Despite a few misses, Kuo has frequently offered fairly accurate information originating from Apple's supply chain, perhaps most notably pinpointing the smaller, thinner MacBook Air ultimately released late last year.

Apple today issued a media alert announcing details for Wednesday's release of its financial results for the second fiscal quarter and first calendar quarter of 2011. The results will be released after the close of Wednesday's trading at approximately 4:30 PM Eastern / 1:30 PM Pacific. Apple's conference call discussing the results will follow at 2:00 PM Pacific and will be available via a live audio webcast. MacRumors will provide running coverage of the conference call highlights.

Apple's conference call webcast discussing Q2 - 2011 financial results will begin at 2:00pm PT/5:00pm ET on Wednesday, April 20, 2011.

Please note that comments made during this call may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. For more information on the factors that could influence results, please refer to Apple's SEC filings.

Apple's second fiscal quarter of 2011 saw the introduction of new Thunderbolt-equipped MacBook Pros in late February, followed by the U.S. debut of the iPad 2 in mid-March and a significant international launch of the device at the very end of the quarter.

For the quarter, analysts are predicting net earnings of $5.35 per share on revenue of $23.27 billion, above Apple's guidance of $4.90 profit per share on $22 billion of revenue. Apple's year-ago results for the second fiscal quarter of 2010 included net earnings of $3.33 per share on revenue of $13.50 billion.

For those still looking to buy an iPad 2, Sunday, April 17th may be a good time to try. Both Best Buy and Toys R' Us are advertising iPad 2 availability for that day. Best Buy is featuring a prominent nationwide ad for Sunday promoting the iPad 2 (see above). The promotion appears to be the reason why Best Buy was previously holding back iPad 2 sales. Engadget publishes the internal memo describing the promotion.

Meanwhile, 9to5mac reports Toys R' Us is also using the same day to kick off their iPad 2 sales. Toys R' Us was previously rumored to soon begin carrying the iPad 2. Toys R' Us' website now lists locations that will be carrying the iPad 2.

Last week, Apple confirmed rumors that the White iPhone 4 would finally be launching soon. Multiple sources pegged the release by the end of April, and iPhoneItalia now reports that April 26th will be the day.

The white iPhone 4 was first announced alongside the black model when the iPhone 4 was first introduced. Production issues with the white paint, however, have since held up its release.

Two weeks after pulling channels from Viacom, Discovery, and Fox from its new iPad application that allows the company's cable and Internet subscribers to watch live TV on the device, Time Warner has announced that Discovery and Fox have rejoined the lineup. Time Warner filed suit against Viacom last week, and that dispute remains unresolved.

The new channels include Discovery Channel, TLC, and Animal Planet from Discovery, and National Geographic, FX, and Fox News from Fox.

Time Warner has been steadily adding channels to its iPad application since its debut one month ago, and the lineup now numbers over 50 channels depending on market and cable subscription package.

While Time Warner was the first traditional cable company to launch a live TV application for the iPad, Cablevision rolled out its own app earlier this month that allows subscribers access to as many as 300 channels, as well as support for a number of other features. Cablevision is attempting to skirt the objections of content providers by distributing feeds directly through its digital cable system and then wirelessly broadcasting them to the iPad rather than sending content over the Internet.

All Things Digital reports that Google is having difficulties as it works to develop its own iTunes competitor, describing the company's talks with major record labels as "going backwards". Google has been working since last year to roll out a music service that would also integrate with the company's Android platform in an attempt to rival the iTunes-iOS mobile media combination and move into cloud-based storage.

Google's negotiations with the big music labels are "broken," says a source familiar with the search giant's thinking: "There's definitely a problem with the Google music conversations." Another industry source says Google's top executives are reconsidering their music plans altogether. "They've gone backwards," I'm told.

Some label sources have suggested that Google is continuing to negotiate and that things are moving forward, but there appears to be growing discontentment at other labels due in part to Google potentially changing its demands at the last minute and label concerns over Amazon's new cloud-based storage service and music player launched late last month.

Apple of course is widely rumored to be working on a revamp of its MobileMe services that would allow users to store their media in the cloud and access it from any Internet-connected Apple device. The company has been said to be talking with record labels for many months now, working to get labels on board for the service that they have repeatedly said is not a permitted usage under current distribution contracts.

Apple has apparently just pushed out an update to its Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 2 initially released late last month. While the changes included in the update obviously fall short of qualifying for an entirely new "Developer Preview 3", it is unknown exactly what tweaks have been made with the new update.

Download the Update by Running Software Update.
From systems that have developer preview 2 of Lion or Lion Server installed, run Software Update and download Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 2 Update. You must also download Xcode 4.1 Developer Preview 3 available from the Mac Dev Center to build apps with this version of Lion.

If you have not yet downloaded developer preview 2 of Lion and Lion Server, get your redemption code from the Mac Dev Center then proceed to the Mac App Store to redeem your code and download Lion.

The update is appearing in Software Update for those with the Lion Developer Preview 2 installed, and Apple has sent out an email alerting all Mac OS X developers about the release. We've been told that the new build is 11A430e, compared to 11A419 for the original Developer Preview 2.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that Cirrus Logic, Apple's long-time supplier for audio chips in its iOS devices, has disclosed manufacturing issues with a new device, presumed to be an Apple product, that went into high-volume production last month.

Cirrus supplies analog chips for use in various energy and audio applications, most notably Apple devices such as the iPod and iPad. Apple makes up about half of Cirrus's revenue, helping the semiconductor company post strong sales and increased profitability in recent quarters as the popularity of Apple devices continued to rise.

But Cirrus late Thursday said it had determined an earlier test for a particular function of a new audio product--which analysts assume is for Apple--was insufficient to guarantee that all products met a certain standard. After a more rigorous test was developed, Cirrus found fewer working chips than previously expected, with that yield loss rising as volumes increased.

While Cirrus has reportedly addressed the issue without meaningfully impacting any device launch, the company has taken a charge against its earnings that will result in decreased gross margins reported for the first quarter of 2011.

Speculation suggests that the device in question may have been the iPad 2, which was in very short supply in the first few weeks of availability and has only recently begun to see shipping times and in-store availability improve. While demand for the iPad 2 has clearly been high, there have been claims that certain issues with components such as the device's display have slowed production and contributed to the shortages.

Analysts have, however, left open the possibility that the device experiencing issues could be an unreleased device, although one of the primary candidates, the fifth-generation iPhone, is not expected to be released in its usual June timeframe this year and appears to have not gone into production yet.

Last December, we reported on survey results showing that users of portable games are increasingly defecting from dedicated devices such as the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP to smartphones such as the iPhone.

New data from analytics firm Flurry comparing overall video game market share in 2009 and 2010 reveals a similar trend, with iOS and Android combining to take 8% of the overall market and a full 34% of the portable gaming market as measure by revenue. In the overall market, console games continue to dominate, growing from 71% to 76% on only a slight increase in total video game revenue.

From 2009 to 2010, iOS and Android game sales increased from 5% to 8% market share within the U.S. video game market. Specifically, we estimate that iOS and Android game revenue increased from $500 million in 2009 to more $800 million in 2010. Of this, the significant majority of revenue was generated by iPhone games.

But setting aside the console market, the success of iOS and Android (primarily iOS according to Flurry's data) as gaming platforms is more obvious in the portable market, where the smartphone platforms have increased their share of revenue from 19% in 2009 to 34% in 2010 at the expense of Nintendo's and Sony's offerings.

From 2009 to 2010, iOS and Android game sales have spiked significantly, resulting in nearly a doubling of their market share. With both Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable shrinking in sales, while smart-device game sales simultaneously grew by more than 60%, iOS and Android games now represent more than one third of the portable game category.

It is also important to note that the surge in revenue share for smartphone platforms comes at a significantly lower average price point than for dedicated devices, meaning that even the strong growth from those platforms has eaten into the total portable gaming market, which dropped from $2.7 billion in 2009 to $2.4 billion in 2010. The "race to the bottom" has long been one of the main concerns for smartphone application developers, particularly traditional game developers who have been accustomed to the pricing model for dedicated gaming devices. But users are clearly shifting toward more casual gaming at lower price points on their smartphones, and developers that have embraced that market are in many cases seeing solid results.