MacRumors

RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky today issued a new report sharing his expectation that Apple will handily beat market expectations for its quarterly earnings report set for next week. Citing strong sales of the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, as well as very strong iPad sales, Abramsky expects Apple to post revenue of $24 billion and earnings per share of $5.75 for the quarter.

The research note also included the results of a proprietary survey of over 2000 respondents in the United States conducted March 14-23, interestingly revealing 40% higher demand for the iPad 2 than in a similar survey conducted for the first-generation models in May 2010. According to the survey, 28% of respondents are either "very likely" or "somewhat likely" to purchase an iPad 2, up from 20% for the first-generation iPad last May.

The survey also demonstrates a shift in the "sweet spot" for customer demand when it comes to Wi-Fi-only models. A February 2010 survey ahead of the launch of the original iPad saw the low-end 16 GB Wi-Fi iPad registering as most popular among those planning to purchase an iPad, with the 32 GB model in second place and the 64 GB model in third place. The new survey for the iPad 2 shows that customers are finding the greatest affinity for the mid-range 32 GB model among the Wi-Fi options, followed by the 16 GB model and finally the 64 GB model. 3G-capable models follow the same trend seen in last year's survey, with those customers looking most frequently to the top-end 64 GB model.

With Apple now offering both GSM (AT&T) and CDMA (Verizon) 3G models of the iPad 2, it is also interesting to look at the balance in customer demand between the carriers. According to the new RBC survey, 46% of 3G iPad 2 customers plan to use a Verizon iPad while only 30% of customers plan to utilize AT&T's service.

As expected, Microsoft has just released Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 1. The update, which weighs in at 246.2 MB, addresses a number of bugs and security issues while also bringing several new features including a number of enhancements to Outlook.

Security updates with bug fixes also appear to be on the way for Office 2008 (12.2.9) and Office 2004 (11.6.3).

Availability of the software updates is currently sporadic, with download pages properly loading on an intermittent basis and the updates not yet showing in the AutoUpdate tool packaged with Office.

There have been some rumblings in recent weeks about Apple and manufacturing partner Foxconn making investments in Brazil to manufacture devices there in an effort at least in part designed to boost sales there by circumventing high import taxes currently assessed on the devices coming in from overseas, but according to a new report from Reuters, things seem to be firming up with Foxconn considering investing up to $12 billion in manufacturing facilities in the country.

The Brazilian government is studying Foxconn's investment plan, President Dilma Rousseff told reporters during a visit to Beijing, where she is meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

"You've got an ample range of investments that go from $300 to $400 million to $12 billion over 5 to 6 years in the case of Foxconn," Rousseff said, speaking of discussions Brazil's government is having with various technology companies.

"They're proposing a partnership. They came to us and said we want to invest in Brazil."

Aloizio Mercadente, Brazil's science and technology minister, notes that discussions with Foxconn have been in progress for three months and while they are still in progress, he is "confident" that a deal will be reached. Mercadente also reported that Foxconn is preparing to begin manufacturing the iPad in Brazil by the end of November.

Separately, Mercadente also told reporters that Foxconn is planning to begin assembling Apple's iPad tablet PC at its plants in the South American country by end-November.

Foxconn is Apple's chief manufacturing partner for its mobile devices, as well as for many of its computers. The Taiwanese company has primarily hosted its manufacturing plants in mainland China, tapping into that country's vast workforce for high-volume production of electronics. The company has, however, in recent months begun instituting plans to expand beyond its massive base in Shenzhen, China to other regions of the country and even internationally.

A number of websites have begun offering customers the ability to have their iPhones unlocked remotely for use on any network without requiring that the devices be jailbroken. As noted by prominent iPhone hacker MuscleNerd, the procedure seems to involve accessing Apple's database to directly add IMEI device identifiers for unlocking.

they're not using a hack. They're using actual access to the Apple database (which is why the unlock happens through iTunes)

Cut Your Sim was the first to gain attention for the service, charging $169.99 for a device unlock. The site does, however, appear to be working through a third party to perform the unlocking rather than performing it directly themselves. Several other sites (1, 2, 3) are offering similar services priced in the $170-$180 range. It is unclear, however, whether they are operating independently or if they are all working with the same party that has decided to offer the service to various storefronts while remaining silent behind the scenes.

Adding a device's IMEI to Apple's database for unlocked iPhones should in theory permanently unlock the device, although the company could conceivably find a way to identify those entries that had been made improperly and remove them, rendering those devices re-locked once they again sync with iTunes. Consequently, most of the sites offering unlocking services are failing to guarantee that the unlock will be permanent, although they are advertising it as such.

It goes without saying that users interested in having their iPhones unlocked without jailbreaking should be wary of small sites claiming to offer such services and should investigate the legitimacy of any offerings they are considering purchasing.

Speculation about Apple's plans for its massive new data center in North Carolina has been running rampant for quite some time, and we're always hesitant to place too much emphasis on claims of research analysts, but one report from Jefferies analyst Peter Misek is gaining some attention today for its claim that Apple may be preparing to take on Netflix in the streaming video subscription market.

Apple is on the cusp of launching a "a new far reaching cloud-based service" focused on video, writes Jefferies analyst Peter Misek in a big report this morning.

Misek says Apple will use its new massive data center in North Carolina to offer an advanced web-based video subscription product that rivals Netflix.

Last week, a report surfaced claiming that Apple had locked in as much as 12 petabytes of storage purportedly set to support video download content. While Apple has been said to be preparing to roll out a cloud-based MobileMe revamp that would allow users to store video, music, and photos on Apple's servers, Misek argues that Apple will further use the capacity to launch a Netflix-like service that would serve to further drive sales of Apple hardware.

Misek sees Apple's plans to potentially double the size of its new data center in the future as the first step towards a massive expansion of its server capacity that could see the company rolling out multiple such sites around the world in the years to come in order to support massive storage and streaming capabilities for such services.

With increasing rumblings that Apple is planning to release its fifth-generation iPhone sometime later than its usual June-July timeframe, including fresh analyst comments claiming that the device won't even begin production until September, All Things Digital's John Paczkowski now reports that he is hearing that Apple may use its traditional September media event to stage the introduction.

As I've reported here before, Apple doesn't plan to unveil a new iPhone at its Worldwide Developers Conference, which this year will be largely software-focused. And increasingly, I'm hearing speculation about the company possibly commandeering its annual September media event to launch the device instead. Which seems plausible.

While Paczkowski refers to the rumor as "speculation", his history of demonstrating solid connections providing insight into Apple's plans suggests that the idea is likely more than simple speculation.

Packzowski goes on to note that the iPod line has lost a fair amount of its luster in recent years as the iPhone and now the iPad have surpassed it in consumer awareness and the company's long-running efforts to enhance the line have already come close to "perfecting" the various models, making annual incremental improvements less exciting than in past years. That decline in importance for the iPod could allow Apple to use the iPhone to spice up its fall media event while allowing it to focus its Worldwide Developer Conference in June more squarely on software and developers.

Earlier this year, rumors had suggested that we might be getting two iPad revisions this year. The iPad 2 was launched in March but whispers had suggested that the iPad 3 might not be that far behind, possibly by September of 2011.

Digitimes. however, is now citing component partner sources that Apple has yet to provide any information about manufacturing the iPad 3. This leads them to conclude that the iPad 3 won't be shipping until next year at the earliest:

The sources pointed out that they have not yet received any notice for next generation iPad products and do not believe iPad 2 is a transitional product. With iPad 2's strong shipment order forecast from Apple, the sources believe iPad 3 will not appear in the short term.

MacStories points to an interesting use of the iPad's front facing camera to provide a convincing 3D effect on the iPad. Jeremie Francone and Laurence Nigay from the Laboratory of Informatics of Grenoble put together this demo video showing how user tracking can be used:

We track the head of the user with the front facing camera in order to create a glasses-free monocular 3D display. Such spatially-aware mobile display enables to improve the possibilities of interaction. It does not use the accelerometers and relies only on the front camera.

Francone and Nigay were inspired by the work of Johnny Lee who built a similar system using a Wii system. The app does not yet appear to be available for download. We had previously reported that Apple was also exploring this type of 3d "hyper reality" displays for the Mac desktop based on a patent application published in 2009.

The user could then move their head left and right to look around a 3D object as shown in the example image above. Apple also suggests that it could also be applied to 2D objects like windows to provide some added depth to traditionally flat objects.

As with all patent applications, we don't know if Apple will ever deliver these technologies to market, but 3D has become a trendy topic once again, so there's been a lot of renewed interest in this field.

The 2011 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show is underway. While the event is primarily targeted at Audio/Video/Film professionals, Apple fans will be interested to see that companies are finally starting introduce Thunderbolt-compatible devices into the market. Jigsaw Broadcast posts a brief summary of the some of Thunderbolt solutions introduced so far. They include products from AJA, Blackmagic, Promise, and Matrox. All are targeted at video professionals, but finally shows some industry adoption of the new connectivity standard.

Apple and Intel launched Thunderbolt alongside the new MacBook Pro revisions in February. Thunderbolt promises faster connectivity than USB 3.0 and FireWire and we expect it to be included in all future Mac products.

Promise was one of the first companies that announced support for RAID Thunderbolt drive enclosures back in February. Those enclosures aren't yet shipping, but at least a couple of early prototypes are being demoed on the NAB floor. @sforde reports on one at the Adobe booth:

Wow! We have 1 of only 2 promise raids in world with thunderbolt at the Adobe booth at #NAB. CS5.5 screams on it.

The other must be at the Blackmagic booth which is pictured above. Meanwhile, the big anticipated news from NAB is Apple's announcement of a new version of Final Cut Pro. That news should arrive tomorrow night if rumors prove true.

BusinessInsider relays an analyst report from Avian Securities which claims that the iPhone 5 won't start production until September and that this suggests that next generation iPhone won't make it to the market until the end of the year or even early next.

Supporting out comments over the last month, conversations with yet another key component supplier indicates that production for iPhone-5 will begin in September. This is consistent with Avian findings in the supply chain in recent months and we believe the consensus view is moving towards this scenario.

Avian cites "key component suppliers" as the source of the information. They also revive the possibility of a cheaper/lower cost iPhone also in the works, but no new details.

While some may tire of the on-again/off-again nature of these rumors, the information from Avian is consistent with previous claims that no new iPhone hardware would be coming in June as well as claims that due to part production timelines, the iPhone 5 won't be shipping until Fiscal 2012 (after September 2011).

BGR has managed to obtain an early copy of the iOS 4.3.2 update and claims it is due in the next week or so.

One of our Apple sources has just let us know that Apples iOS 4.3.2, due within the next week or so, will fix the issues weve been hearing about with some Verizon iPad 2 models. Additionally, the new update is said to contain a fix for FaceTime in addition to security fixes for things like WebKit vulnerabilities and other minor changes.

BGR has reportedly installed it on their phone and we'll update this post if they find any other changes. Apple had previously stated they were looking into the Verizon connectivity issue which was causing some customers problems connecting on 3G.

Shawn Welch posted a short video showing off a sample iPad app utilizing Adobe's newly announced Photoshop Touch SDK. While Adobe had already announced several official iPad-companion apps for Photoshop, the opening of the SDK will open the door for 3rd party developers to offer their own tools.

The Photoshop Remote app shows how you can access all active Photoshop installations on your network. The images on the iPad reflect close-to-realtime the changes made on the running copies of Photoshop on the local network. Images can also be manipulated on the iPad itself.

Photoshop Remote is a heads-up-display for all of the Photoshop CS 5.5 installations on your local network. The dashboard gives you a live thumbnail of each connected client while giving you the ability to perform global actions on all connected clients like saving open images to your iPad photo library, opening the same image on all connected computers, or sending a message to all connected computers. When you drill down to an individual screen, you have even more functionality such as tool selection, color selection, filters, adjustment layers, and more.

This app is expected to be released in May, and there will certainly be others from other 3rd party developers.

Developer James Laird has reverse engineered the Airport Express private key and published an open source AirPort Express emulator called Shareport.

This program emulates an Airport Express for the purpose of streaming music from iTunes and compatible iPods. It implements a server for the Apple RAOP protocol.

Previously, the private key was unknown, which meant that only Apple's Airport Express or official 3rd party solutions could wirelessly stream music from iTunes or equivalent. Many existing solutions such as Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil have long been able to stream music to AirPort Express or other AirPlay devices, but not the other way around. A Hacker News commenter illumin8 spells it out:

Previously you could do this:
iTunes -- stream to --> Apple Airport Express
3rd party software -- stream to --> Apple Airport Express

Now you can do this:
iTunes -- stream to --> 3rd party software/hardware

Now, it seems unlikely that any hardware manufacturers will use the unauthorized information to create AirPlay-compatible hardware products, especially when it is possible to be an officially licensed AirPlay partner. However, this does open the door to software solutions. iTunes music , for example, could be streamed to other Macs, non-Macs, customized consoles (Xbox 360), or mobile devices with the right software. The developer originally posted the key to the VideoLan developer mailing list in case there was interest in adding that feature to a future version of VLC.

Alongside Creative Suite 5.5, Adobe has also announced the Photoshop Touch Software Development Kit that allows developers to create mobile and tablet applications that interact with Adobe Photoshop CS5.

As an example, Adobe has developed three initial Photoshop CS5 companian apps for the Apple iPad. The apps will be priced from $1.99 to $4.99 and will be available in early May. They include:

Adobe Eazel

With Adobe Eazel, you can use your iPad and your fingertips to paint beautiful works of art. Paint across your entire iPad screen, and easily access the tools you need. Send your artwork directly to Photoshop CS5 from any locationall you need is a network connection between your iPad and computer. Or do all your painting in the app, and share via email.

Adobe Nav

With Adobe Nav and a network connection between your iPad and computer, you can customize the Photoshop CS5 toolbar on iPad to easily access the tools you use most. Browse, reorder, view, and zoom in on up to 200 open Photoshop documents on iPad. Tap a document on iPad to make it the active document in Photoshop CS5. Disconnect from the network and use iPad to easily share files in person with others.

Adobe Color Lava

With Adobe Color Lava, you can use your fingertips to mix colors on your iPad and create custom swatches and five-swatch themes. Instantly access them in Photoshop CS5all you need is a network connection between your iPad and computer. Or use the app wherever inspiration strikes, and then bring your colors into Photoshop CS5 when you're connected. Share colors via email, too.

Macworld offers a quick first look at these apps, which are not yet available on the App Store.

Adobe has introduced Creative Suite 5.5 with substantial upgrades to InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash Professional, Premiere Pro, and After Effects. Also included is a new SDK for Photoshop CS5. This release is new strategy for Adobe which targets mid-cycle releases every 12 months and major releases every 24 months.

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the new Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 product line (see separate releases), enabling designers and developers to target popular and emerging smartphone and tablet platforms, as the revolution in mobile communications fundamentally changes the way content is distributed and consumed. Substantive advances to HTML5, Flash authoring, digital publishing and video tools as well as new capabilities that kick-start the integration of tablets into creative workflows, anchor the new Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 product family.

Alongside Creative Suite 5.5, Adobe has also introduced a subscription model for companies who wish to stay up to date with Creative Suite releases. For example, Adobe Photoshop can be used for $35/month, Adobe Design Premium CS5.5 for US$95 per month, Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Master Collection for US$129 per month. MobileBeat explains further:

For one thing, as an alternative to the traditionally-priced version of Creative Suite, Adobe customers can now purchase CS5.5 through a subscription model. Those subscriptions arent exactly cheap (Photoshop costs $35 per month, while the full suite costs $129 per month), and this isnt a full-on embrace of the online software model either. Subscription customers still buy the software in a box they just pay for the license one month at a time.

Dave Burkett, vice president and general manager of Adobe Creative Suite, explains that many freelancers coming on and off a project would enjoy the flexibility a month to month plan offers. Macworld details the different pricing options which include discounts for year-long commitments.

Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 will begin shipping in the next 30 days. A full listing of new features are detailed on Adobe's website.

Apple has long been rumored to be experimenting with carbon-fiber enclosures for their future laptops and iOS devices. The benefits of carbon fiber over traditional materials has included high tensile strength, low weight and low thermal expansion.

Back in November 2008, reports suggested Apple would replace aluminum parts in the MacBook Air with carbon fiber in order to further drop the weight of the ultra-thin laptop. Then in 2009, a patent application was published also revealing that Apple had been researching the use of carbon-fiber composites for use in the exterior shells of electronic devices. In that document, Apple was specifically working on improving the cosmetic appearance of carbon fiber which it described as "often being black, [providing] a narrow range of surface appearance to the molded article and therefore may give a 'tired', unexciting look."

Finally, this past year, two separate reports indicated that Apple had been working on prototype iPad 2s with carbon fiber backings (2).

Now, a relatively recent hire of Senior Composites Engineer Kevin Kenney (via 9to5Mac) seems to indicate more of the same. Kenney had previously worked at Kestrel Bicycles which is credited with being the pioneer of the carbon fiber frame design with the world's first all-carbon bicycle frame in 1986.

Apple has always paid special attention to the aesthetics of its consumer products, seemingly trying to always shave off a few millimeters of thickness or ounces of weight off of its latest products. Exploring alternative materials is a natural area of research. Late last year, Apple acquired exclusive rights for Liquidmetal's alloys in the field of consumer electronics. Apple has yet to release any designs on any of these new materials.