MacRumors

The Wall Street Journal reports that Verizon will in fact be offering an unlimited data plan for the iPhone when the device goes on sale next month, pricing the offering at $30 per month on top of customers' calling plans.

It's official: Verizon is going to offer iPhone buyers a $30 unlimited data plan. The carrier's heir apparent and chief operating officer, Lowell McAdam, told us the news ahead of the companys meeting with investors.

"I'm not going to shoot myself in the foot," he said. Not offering an unlimited plan would put up a barrier for customers who might otherwise switch from AT&T, he said.

The data plan offering may not be unique to the iPhone, however, as Engadget reports that the company is doing away with its low-end 150 MB data plan priced at $15 per month for 3G smartphone users, leaving the $29.99 unlimited plan as the only option. Verizon had just introduced the low-end plan in late October.

AT&T had offered a $30 unlimited data plan for iPhone customers, but switched to tiered pricing with the iPhone 4 announcement in June 2010, moving to a 200 MB plan priced at $15 per month and a 2 GB plan at $25 per month with no unlimited option available. Existing customers on the unlimited plan at the time of transition were grandfathered in and can continue on that plan, but new customers, as well as existing customers who have already switched to limited plans, can no longer sign up for unlimited data plans on AT&T.

Update: The Wall Street Journal has updated its article to note that McAdam later revealed that the $30 unlimited data plan would be a temporary offering, with the carrier set to shift back to tiered pricing "in the not too distant future".

Bloomberg claims that Apple will be incorporating NFC (Near Field Communication) hardware in the next iPhone and iPad. This feature would allow customers to use the iPhone and iPad to make purchases:

The services are based on "Near-Field Communication," a technology that can beam and receive information at a distance of up to 4 inches, due to be embedded in the next iteration of the iPhone for AT&T Inc. and the iPad 2, Doherty said. Both products are likely to be introduced this year, he said, citing engineers who are working on hardware for the Apple project.

Apple could potentially tie this payment system into people's existing iTunes accounts. It's described to allow customers to walk into a store and make payments directly from their iOS device. Apple may also incorporate loyalty rewards and credit system in iTunes as well. Other possibilities include using location based transactions to improve iAd targeting.

According to this source, Apple has already made prototype payment terminals intended for small businesses to scan NFC-enabled iPhones and iPads. These terminals could be subsidized or even given away to encourage adoption.

Apple has been hiring NFC experts as well as applied for several patents on the technology. A couple of previous reports have also pegged the next generation iPhone as having NFC technology built in.

Apple today launched an official Twitter account for the App Store, marking yet another potential way for users to keep updated on the latest news about the company's popular marketplace for iOS applications. The account's debut Tweet simply welcomes users to the account, which is up to over 4,000 followers at the present time and rapidly growing.

Welcome to App Store on Twitter! Follow us to discover new apps, get exclusive offers, and share with friends. #appstore

The @AppStore account is not yet verified by Twitter as being a legitimate Apple account, but the initial Tweet was retweet by the company's iTunesTV account, suggesting that it is indeed legitimate.

We don't yet know exactly what Apple plans to highlight with the new AppStore Twitter account, although the company's existing iTunes Twitter accounts offer announcements of new and sale releases on a fairly regular basis, so a similar model might be expected for the @AppStore account.

Update: A second Tweet has just been issued from the account, promoting the Nike Training Club application.

Update 2: @AppStore is now listed as a verified account and has already garnered over 50,000 followers.

The back-and-forth debate about whether Apple will seek to double the resolution of the iPad's display to 2048 x 1536 in the second-generation model continues, with PC World reporting late last week on comments from IDC analyst Tom Mainelli claiming that Apple is seeking to make the jump with its third-generation model, presumed to be released in 2012, and not the second-generation model expected to be released in the relatively near future.

"I think the Digitimes story probably got the resolution right, but the iPad version wrong," Mainelli told PCWorld via e-mail. "Our sources say Apple has requested that manufacturers begin work on displays with that resolution for the iPad 3."

"I don't believe anybody is ready to produce that resolution in volumes at this point. And Apple is going to require huge volumes for the iPad 2," he added.

Double-sized images found in Apple iPad applications had led to speculation that the company might be planning to double the resolution of the device's display in the forthcoming revision, but sources have indicated that such a change is unlikely.

Adding to the confusion has been speculation about the possibility of Apple still being able to offer a "Retina" display on the iPad while increasing the resolution by less than a factor of two, with observers arguing that the fact that an iPad is typically viewed at a farther distance than an iPhone would allow for an iPad "Retina" display at a lower pixels-per-inch than found on the iPhone. But others have argued that anything less than a doubling of the pixels in each dimension would cause significant problems for existing applications by not allowing them to be simply and sharply scaled up using pixel doubling methods.

Google today announced the launch of new support for the company's Cloud Print service on mobile devices such as those running iOS 3.0 or later. The service allows users to print documents and emails directly from Gmail's mobile interface.

Imagine printing an important document from your smartphone on the way to work and finding the printout waiting for you when you walk in the door. Just open a document in Google Docs or an email in Gmail in your mobile browser and choose "Print" from the dropdown menu in the top right corner. You can also print certain kinds of email attachments (such as .pdf or .doc) by clicking the "Print" link that appears next to them.

The feature is rolling out today and tomorrow for English-speaking users in the United States.

The one catch to the functionality is that in order to configure printers for use with the Google Cloud Print service, users must connect their printer to a PC running Windows 7, Vista, or XP and the latest version of Google Chrome. Google promises that support for the feature through Mac and Linux computers is "coming soon".

Apple is of course working on its own wireless printing technology, AirPrint, for iOS devices. But while AirPrint can offer support across a broad array of applications, it does require that the iOS device and printer be located on the same wireless network, whereas Google Cloud Print can enable printing to anywhere.

All Things Digital reports that Apple has hired noted cybersecurity expert and author David Rice to take on the role of director of global security, signaling a continued and growing commitment to security in all aspects of the company and its products. Rice, who formerly held positions with the U.S. Navy and the National Security Agency and is the author of the landmark software security book Geekonomics, is expected to begin working at Apple in March.

Those who know Rice describe him as a deeply respected name in IT security circles who not only can speak the kind of language that makes CIOs comfortable, but can also back up that language with the skills and knowledge to match.

Rice hasn't yet responded to my messages seeking comment, but his bio is fascinating. He's a 1994 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and has a master's degree in Information Warfare and Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School. He served as a Global Network Vulnerability analyst for the National Security Agency and as a Special Duty Cryptologic officer for the Navy.

Rice has spent the past eight years in private industry, primarily serving as a consultant for private sector and government entities, while also serving a consulting director for the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit in recent years.

Rice is the latest in a series of high-profile security hires made by Apple. The company in 2009 hired Ivan Krstić, former security director for the One Laptop per Child project, and followed that up with the 2010 hiring of Window Snyder, former security chief at Mozilla.

Following our report last week about the white iPhone 4 appearing in an internal Best Buy inventory database with a February 27th release date and similar reports of listing sightings with Vodafone Germany, BGR now notes that the white iPhone 4 has appeared as an option for users managing their AT&T accounts online. The option appears in a section of the site where users can specify their current phone if the one automatically generated by AT&T's systems is incorrect.

AT&T is now showing two versions of Apple's unicorn-colored iPhone. The entries appear in AT&T's Online Account Management system (OLAM), and read as "iPhone 4 - 16GB White" and "iPhone 4 - 32GB White." While the carrier's online account tool obviously wouldn't include any indication as far as when we might expect white iPhone 4 models to hit the store shelves, it's looking like late February or early March at this point.

While we have been unable to confirm that these options are indeed new, we have verified that they are present on AT&T's site. Also unknown is whether the growing number of listings are based on actual information on the device's availability being provided by Apple or if the carriers and retailers are simply preparing their systems for a potential launch based on Apple's most recent public claims of "spring" availability.

Apple's patent applications have always been a topic of interest here at MacRumors. They give us a rare look into Apple's research and development labs, although many of the concepts never see the light of day.

For years, we've seen Apple patent applications for touch-sensitive keyboards. Those patents have been based on the pioneering work of FingerWorks, a company which was acquired by Apple in 2005 and served as the basis for much of Apple's multi-touch technology. Prior to the acquisition, FingerWorks had produced several touch-sensitive multi-touch keyboards that garnered positive reviews, although they never became mainstream products. The one major hurdle in the adoption of these touch-only keyboards has been the lack of tactile feedback as compared to traditional keyboards.

A new Apple patent application that we've uncovered seems, however, to try to address that issue by creating a hybrid physical keyboard that will also double as a motion-sensitive input device. The patent application is authored by John Elias, one of the co-founders of FingerWorks.

First, Apple acknowledges that the physical keyboard remains the preferred input device:

Over the last forty years there have been numerous attempts made to introduce an alternative to the standard keyboard. The changes include, but are not limited to, non-QWERTY layouts, concave and convex surfaces, capacitive keys, split designs, membrane keys, etc. However, although such alternative keyboards may provide improved usability or ergonomics, they have failed to replace or duplicate the commercial success of the conventional mechanical keyboard.

In the patent application, Apple goes on to describe a best-of-both-worlds scenario in which a physical keyboard also has a motion-sensitive area. The motion-sensitive area is implemented in this design with four "slot cameras" around the perimeter of the keyboard. These cameras are be able to track the user's finger movements immediately above the keyboard to provide the usual mouse or trackpad functions of cursor tracking and window scrolling.

Apple suggests that the keyboard would offer two modes: a typing mode and a mouse mode. These modes could be toggled by holding down a special key or through a specific key combination. Users could then operate the computer entirely using the keyboard for both typing and navigation. This configuration would eliminate the need for a mouse or even a trackpad. It's also easy to imagine the evolution to incorporate more complicated gestures beyond standard mouse navigation.

It's perhaps telling that, despite years of research, the most dramatic new input device Apple has released has simply been a standalone multi-touch trackpad. Keyboards relying solely on touch have not been considered ready for primetime quite yet, but it seems that Apple is shifting gears to explore more palatable variants.

The advertising push continues to grow for the new Verizon iPhone. After the teaser ad for the Verizon iPhone, Apple has started airing their own ad featuring both AT&T and Verizon.

Existing Verizon customers will be able to begin preorders on February 3rd with general availability on February 10th.

Early last week, Steve Jobs announced that he was once again taking a medical leave of absence from Apple. The news has been met with understandable concern about his future at the company, and resulted in many a "look back" at Apple over the years. One particularly insightful article is this Newsweek article interviewing Steve Jobs back in 1985 shortly after his ousting from Apple. It's interesting to see how his views and attitudes about product design hasn't changed much in 25 years.

Steve Jobs co-founded Apple Computer in 1976 and led the Macintosh team in the early 80s, but in 1985, he was forced out of the company after an internal power struggle with John Sculley, the Apple CEO at the time. This interview was held shortly after he had departed Apple.

On what his plans and strengths are, Jobs described himself as being best and most enthusiastic about building products:

What I'm best at doing is finding a group of talented people and making things with them. I respect the direction that Apple is going in. But for me personally, you know, I want to make things. And if there's no place for me to make things there, then I'll do what I did twice before. I'll make my own place. You know, I did it in the garage when Apple started, and I did it in the metaphorical garage when Mac started.

He rejected offers to be a professor at the time and said he wasn't ready to be an industry pundit. Jobs went on to found NeXT computer company which was later purchased by Apple in 1996 and its operating system used as the basis for Mac OS X. He also acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm which became Pixar Animation Studios. Pixar, of course, was ultimately acquired by Disney after years of commercial success. After Jobs' return to Apple in 1996, he's widely credited for returning Apple to profitability and the launch of many notable products including Mac OS X, the iMac, iPod, iPhone and most recently, the iPad.

Jobs finally describes his philosophy in running a company and the role of customer feedback:

My philosophy is that everything starts with a great product. So, you know, I obviously believed in listening to customers, but customers can't tell you about the next breakthrough that's going to happen next year that's going to change the whole industry. So you have to listen very carefully. But then you have to go and sort of stow away -- you have to go hide away with people that really understand the technology, but also really care about the customers, and dream up this next breakthrough. And that's my perspective, that everything starts with a great product.

Jobs has echoed this sentiment in recent years including citing a quote from Henry Ford which was "If I'd have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me 'A faster horse.'"

In his letter to Apple employees, Jobs hopes to be back at Apple as soon as he can.

Apple's App Store today reached 10 billion downloads since its inception in 2008, and along with the milestone comes the end of the company's "10 Billion App Countdown" promotion. The winner of the promotion, who is yet to be announced, will be awarded a $10,000 iTunes Store gift card.

The App Store took only a little over two and a half years to reach the ten-billion milestone, while Apple's iTunes Store took almost seven years from its 2003 launch to hit the same milestone for music downloads.

Update: Apple has issued a press release announcing that Gail Davis of Orpington, Kent, UK has been named winner of the contest. Davis, who won the contest with her download of Paper Glider, will receive an iTunes gift card worth $10,000.

"With more than 10 billion apps downloaded in just two and a half years - a staggering seven billion apps in the last year alone - the App Store has surpassed our wildest dreams," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "The App Store has revolutionized how software is created, distributed, discovered and sold. While others try to copy the App Store, it continues to offer developers and customers the most innovative experience on the planet."

9 to 5 Mac reports that it has discovered evidence within the latest iOS SDK revealing that the next-generation iPad will in fact offer both front- and rear-facing cameras. Unfortunately for camera fans, however, the rear-facing camera's resolution will apparently check in at only about 1-megapixel, significantly lower than the iPhone 4's 5-megapixel camera and more in line with the camera found on the iPod touch. The iPad's front-facing camera will apparently be of the lower VGA resolution found on Apple's other iOS devices offering FaceTime capabilities.

Many observers had expected that the second-generation iPad would offer a rear-facing camera with a resolution higher than that found in the iPod touch, with one analyst claiming last October that OmniVision Technologies had been awarded a contract to supply 5-megapixel image sensors for a rear-facing camera in the iPad.

On a somewhat related note, Brazilian site Blog do iPhone earlier this week reported (via MacStories) that evidence has also surfaced indicating that the next-generation iPad may offer a proximity sensor that would enable the iPad to sense when the cover on a case has been opened or closed and correspondingly automatically lock or unlock the device.

A YouTube video posted yesterday reveals that Apple has released new bumper models that are compatible with both the existing iPhone 4 and the CDMA iPhone 4 set for release on Verizon next month. With the primary difference in physical features between the two models being the location of the mute switch, Apple has widened the cutout in the bumper to accommodate either switch position.

Apple has also updated its online store with new "B" model numbers for the bumpers, replacing the original "A" models. The company has, however, yet to update its product images to reflect the modified mute switch opening.

Meanwhile, BGR reports that Apple has issued a blackout on vacations for its U.S. retail store employees between February 5th and 18th in order to handle the expected rush generated by the Verizon iPhone when it launches on February 10th. The company is also reportedly planning for extended hours at its store to handle the crush.

Claims of Apple limiting retail employee vacations had been one of key pieces of evidence narrowing down the expected launch date for the device.

Verizon started airing their first iPhone advertisement tonight. Described by MarximusMG and embedded above:

It starts out with shots of various clocks ticking, as well as a few shots of tapping feet and fidgeting hands. The ticking continues throughout the entire commercial, until one shot shows a clock reaching 12:00. Then the voiceover: "To our millions of customers who never stopped believing this day would come: Thank you." This is followed by more ticking, and on each tick the screen shows: "iPhone 4, Verizon, It Begins, 2.10.11, Rule the Air."

After years of speculation and rumors, Verizon will be launching the iPhone 4 to the general public on February 10, 2011. Existing Verizon customers will be able to begin preorders on February 3rd with general availability on February 10th.

XBMC Media Center has released a version of their software that will run on the iPad, iPhone 4 and new Apple TV. XMBC is a free media player that began life on the Xbox but has since grown to be a multi-platform solution.

XBMC Media Center (formerly Xbox Media Center) is a free and open source cross-platform media player and home entertainment system software with a 10-foot user interface designed for the living-room TV. Its graphical user interface allows the user to easily manage video, photos, podcasts, and music from a computer, optical disc, local network, and the internet using a remote control.

The software is not available through the App Store, and requires a jailbroken Apple TV or iOS device.

While jailbreaking has been a known way to load third party apps onto the iPad and iPhone, it's not been a very common procedure for the Apple TV. Due to similarities of the underlying iOS firmware on the new Apple TV, it's been widely expected that these unauthorized apps would become available for the device. Apple presently offers no authorized way to install apps on the Apple TV.

TUAW posts video showing it running on the Apple TV (as well as iPad and iPhone 4):

As part of its quarterly earnings release issued today, Google announced changes to its top-level management structure, with the most high-profile change seeing co-founder Larry Page replacing Eric Schmidt as CEO as of April 4th. Page will take charge of day-to-day operations at the company, while Schmidt will become Executive Chairman and focus on business deals, partnerships and outreach. Google co-founder Sergey Brin will direct his energies to new and strategic product efforts.

- Starting from April 4, Larry Page, Google Co-Founder, will take charge of Google's day-to-day operations as Chief Executive Officer.
- Sergey Brin, Google Co-Founder, will devote his energy to strategic projects, in particular working on new products.
- Eric Schmidt will assume the role of Executive Chairman, focusing externally on deals, partnerships, customers and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership--all of which are increasingly important given Google's global reach. Internally, he will continue to act as an advisor to Larry and Sergey.

Commenting on these changes, Eric said: "We've been talking about how best to simplify our management structure and speed up decision making for a long time. By clarifying our individual roles we'll create clearer responsibility and accountability at the top of the company. In my clear opinion, Larry is ready to lead and I'm excited about working with both him and Sergey for a long time to come."

Schmidt has posted additional thoughts on the changes in a blog post.

Google and Apple have had a complicated relationship over the years, with the two companies previously sharing a close relationship in facing off against Microsoft in the personal technology market and Schmidt joining Apple's board of directors in 2006.

But with both Apple and Google making strong pushes into the smartphone arena and the two companies competing in an ever-growing number of markets, questions arose about the close ties between them. Schmidt stepped down from Apple's board in 2009, citing diminishing effectiveness as he was forced to recuse himself from increasing numbers of discussions due to potential conflict of interest. Even with Schmidt's departure from Apple's board, tensions between the companies have remained high.

Apple today seeded the first the version of Mac OS X 10.6.7, termed Build 10J842, to developers. Coming just two weeks after the public release of Mac OS X 10.6.6 to support the Mac App Store, Mac OS X 10.6.7 will be yet another free maintenance release for Snow Leopard users.

We've yet to hear word of changes included in 10.6.7, but we will update this post as more information comes in.

Update: We've now heard that Apple lists no known issues in the documentation, and asks developers to focus their testing on AirPort, Bonjour, SMB, and Graphics Drivers.