MacRumors

Apple's early November announcement that it will discontinue its Xserve line of rackmountable servers at the end of this month has caused turmoil among the product's fans, while Steve Jobs has suggested that poor sales were the reason for the decision. But in a follow-up report today, Hardmac claims that the Xserve discontinuation may only be the beginning of a move by Apple to pare down its storage- and server-focused offerings.

According to our sources, the discontinuation of the Xserve by Apple would be only the beginning of an overhaul, which would lead to the disappearance of some professional-orented activities.

Xsan and Final Cut server could be among the programs being discontinued, as Apple's management would be wondering whether to continue to develop and support them in the future.

Looking even further down the line, the report claims that Apple could opt to do away with its Mac OS X Server releases entirely, although the company is still expected to release a server version of Mac OS X Lion later this year.

Three Guys and a Podcast claims that Apple is working to merge its iTunes application into its Safari browser later this year, creating a single application for browsing web and media content.

Apple may be preparing a massive move that will propel Safari from niche browser to market leader. The move to merge Safari and iTunes into one software solution appears long in the works, which may arrive this fall at Apple's usual iPod special event.

According to the report, one reason for the push is to boost Safari's market share among Internet browsers, where Apple has yet to crack the 5% mark. Tying iTunes into Safari, it is argued, would likely bring a significant boost to the company's share of the browser market as consumers turn to the integrated environment.

It is believed that Safari will be the only browser able to access iTunes, as iTunes is built into the browser itself. "Moving iTunes organizational side-bar into Safari isn't a monumental task" claimed a source, adding "Safari would skyrocket in use as a result of integrating the software titles together."

We are highly skeptical of the claim for a number of reasons, including significant reservations due to the rumor's source, which has in the past appeared to base its claims on significant amounts of speculation.

Despite the fact that the launch of News Corp.'s tablet-focused news publication has reportedly been pushed back by a few weeks from its rumored introduction next week and with the prospect of a joint Steve Jobs-Rupert Murdoch media event now apparently off the table with Jobs' medical leave of absence, The Daily is still being looked to as a model for Apple's plans with respect to recurring subscription billing for magazine and newspaper content.

The New York Times takes a look at magazine and newspaper subscriptions for the iPad, and how publishers continue to be frustrated by the lack of such options for their subscribers and Apple's insistence regarding control over subscriber information.

One publisher that seems to have been granted favored-nation status is the News Corporation, which is developing The Daily, an original iPad newspaper. The Daily will be sold through Apple as a recurring subscription, meaning subscribers will be automatically billed a small fee - expected to be about $1 a week - to receive the publication on their iPads every day. The development of the subscription software was said to be the reason The Daily's debut was pushed back.

The report notes that other publications are expected to have a similar arrangement with Apple for subscription-based billing on the iPad, but no such deals have yet been struck with Cond Nast, Hearst or Time Inc., three of the major publishers with existing presences on the App Store.

Also on the topic of The Daily, Ad Age plays to its focus on advertising in noting that the publication has lined up an impressive list of launch sponsors coming in with support at flat-fee rates rather than any flavor of impression-based pricing.

But one thing has fallen into place for The Daily: an impressive array of launch sponsors, including Macy's, Verizon Wireless, Land Rover, Pepsi Max and Virgin America, according to people close to those deals. In addition to sponsoring the project, they'll help The Daily get off the ground by offering incentives for their customers to download the app, such as frequent flyer miles from Virgin America.

But while The Daily will be iPad-exclusive at launch, the publication is expected to move to other platforms over time, and the publication is keeping a more flexible approach to advertising by eschewing Apple's iAd platform in favor of selling and serving ad content through mobile ad firm Medialets.

The close association with Apple does not mean The Daily will be taking iAds; rather, all advertising on The Daily will be sold directly and served through New York-based mobile ad company Medialets, which is providing the technology for the ads as well as the metrics back to advertisers.

Contrary to numerous previous claims of The Daily being priced at 99 cents per week, Ad Age claims that the publication will cost 99 cents per day after a two-week trial period, with fresh news content being pushed to subscribers throughout the day.

Apple today issued a media advisory revealing that Steve Jobs has been granted a "medical leave of absence" from the company. Jobs plans to continue serving as CEO, although Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook will oversee Apple's day to day operations during Jobs' absence.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs today sent the following email to all Apple employees:

Team,

At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health. I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for all of Apple's day to day operations. I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011.

I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy.

Steve

No timetable for his expected return has been given.

Jobs had previously suffered from pancreatic cancer and had reportedly been cured of the disease back in 2004. But Jobs announced in January 2009 that he would be taking a six-month leave of absence for medical reasons. It was later revealed that he received a liver transplant during that time.

Update: The New York Times reports on a source claiming that Jobs has been suffering from "ups and downs" typical of those dealing with immune system issues related to liver transplants, but that Jobs had recently scaled back his activities at Apple as one of those down cycles began in recent weeks.

Mr. Jobs suffers from immune system issues common with people who have received liver transplants and, as a result, his health suffers from frequent "ups and downs," according to a person with knowledge of the situation, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss it.

In recent weeks, Mr. Jobs began a down cycle and slowed his activities at Apple, the person said. Mr. Jobs has been coming to the office about two days a week, and appeared increasingly emaciated, the person said. He frequently lunched in his office, rather than in the company cafeteria, the person said.

iPhone and iPad parts vendors have been a big source of leaks for Apple's upcoming devices. MacRumors reader @Frafoso has found a couple of very interesting parts on the website of GlobalDirectParts.

Notably, GlobalDirectParts is the same company that posted a video showing "iPhone 5 parts". That video was taken down at the request of Apple. While the parts were said to represent the iPhone 5, they were a mostly accurate representation of the Verizon iPhone that was announced just weeks later.

The first part listed is the "iPad 2 LCD Screen" which is "out of stock" but is listed for a price of $218.19. For comparison, the company also sells the original iPad screen for only $63.35. We can't tell for sure when the part appeared on their site, but the image appears to have been uploaded this weekend after the 2048x1536 rumors broke.

Based on GlobalDirectParts' old price lists, they sold the original iPad LCD for $144.99 in June of last year. This means the $218.19 iPad 2 part represents a more expensive part, even when considering prices at launch.

The next interesting part is an iPad Vibrating Motor. No photo is provided, but it's a curious part since the iPad currently has no vibrating motor. It's possible this is simply a mislabeled iPhone part, but does raise the possibility of the feature making its way into the next iPad.

Finally, the site also displays a White iPad on its Apple iPad 2 Parts page. The image is simply a thumbnail, and is believed to be from a concept image (thanks @markgurman).

With the rumors of a 2048x1536 high resolution screen for the iPad 2, one question that has emerged is what graphics processing unit (GPU) can adequately power the device. AppleInsider claims that the new iPad (and iPhone 5) will use a dual-core SGX543 GPU from Imagination Technologies.

A source familiar with Apple's graphics strategy says the company will not only be upgrading its video core, but also going to multiple cores, a feature that is designed into the SGX543 design. The most likely configuration of Apple's next custom chip is reportedly the SGX543MP2, which pairs two SGX543 cores to work as one, offering around four times the capability of the previous A4 in graphics and video tasks.

We had previously revealed that the latest iOS 4.3 beta SDK had drivers for the new SGX543 GPU, so it should be no surprise that it is the most likely contender to be the next GPU for the iPad. Meanwhile, when it was first announced it was billed as a very capable multi-core chip:

In other words, the SGX543 can have any number of cores from two to sixteen with no change in the driver software or the application. All that complex data/pipeline/thread management is done in hardware. No muss, no fuss.

If Apple indeed is pursuing a very high resolution screen for their iPad 2, it makes sense that they will also have to comparable upgrade the underlying horsepower of the device. Meanwhile, another rumor had pegged Apple's new A5 CPU to also be a multi-core chip.

A number of observers have noted that three new iPad offerings appeared on Best Buy's site today, with all three models described as "APPLE COMPUTER INC. - APPLE IPAD SKU WIFI" and availability listed as "coming soon". Curiously, two of the models carry price tags of $599.99, while the third comes in at $699.99.

No other information beyond the scant details included on the product pages is available, and thus it is unclear if these listings are intended to reflect second-generation iPad models, some sort of internal SKU shift on existing models, or perhaps simply an error on Best Buy's part.

Best Buy's inventory database is a relatively unreliable source of information on future product releases, as the company has in the past sometimes used existing rumors to create placeholder entries in anticipation of forthcoming product releases. The company has, however, on occasion included legitimate details on unreleased products in its database, most notably with an unspecified "mobile computing" device that appeared in May 2009 and turned out to be an updated MacBook announced by Apple two days later.

Update: Best Buy has removed the three new entries from its site.

There's been a lot of talk about a "Retina" display for the next generation iPad due from Apple in the coming months, but it hasn't been completely clear what resolution the iPad's "Retina" display would be. Based on Apple's marketing efforts for the original "Retina" display, it would suggest a DPI (dots per inch) greater than 300 to exceed the abilities of the human eye.

A more practical approach would simply be doubling the resolution of the current iPad (1024x768) to 2048x1536 at a 260 DPI. While not quite a "Retina" display, it would follow with Apple's efforts to avoid fragmenting their product line. From a developer's perspective, the doubling of an existing resolution is much easier to support. Apple similarly doubled the iPhone's resolution from 480x320 to 960x640 when they introduced the iPhone 4. Like on the iPhone 4, older apps can will simply run pixel-doubled while native apps will take advantage of the full resolution of the new screens.

Based on some findings by @StroughtonSmith by way of @Xuzz on Twitter, it seems Apple is going to take this pixel-doubled approach again for the iPad 2. These icons were also previously found in August.

Version 1.1 of Apple's iBooks application seems to have accidentally included some artwork for this hypothetical pixel-doubled iPad. As shown above, the App's bookmark icon included versions for the iPad, the iPhone and the iPhone Retina Display (iPhonex2). It, however, also included one additional version labeled "iPadx2". Sure enough, this is exactly double the resolution version of the iPad icon and is distinct from the other versions. The most likely explanation for this added graphic is plans for a double-resolution iPad. Apple has since removed this extra artwork in subsequent versions of iBooks.

Based on this information, and persistent rumors of a higher resolution iPad 2, we believe the next iPad will have a 2048x1536 screen resolution. It would also explain why Apple would have to upgrade the GPU on the new devices to drive this higher resolution.

Update: Rafeed.me points out another "x2" iPad graphic found in iBooks 1.2.

See the Wood Tile@2x.png below. It's current dimensions are 1536x800 pixels. For comparison, the previous Wood Tile.png in iBooks 1.1 was a mere 768x400 pixels.

Update 2: Several commenters note that the "Retina" definition is based on a specific distance the device is being held from your eye. Since an iPad display would likely be held farther from your face, it would require a lower DPI to achieve the same effect.

Engadget claims to have some details about the upcoming iPad 2, iPhone 5 and next generation Apple TV.

The iPad 2 details are close to what has been reported. This includes a "super high resolution" screen that is akin to the iPhone 4's Retina Display. The physical screen size is said to remain the same but will feature both front and rear cameras. One somewhat new piece of information they do provide is that they claim that the new iPad will carry an SD card slot. There had been talk and speculation about an SD card slot based on some of the earlier circulating case designs, but no real definitive statements.

Meanwhile, Engadget also claims that Apple will start transitioning their communication chipsets to those produced by Qualcomm. The move will allow for Apple to support dual-modes allowing for both Verizon and AT&T compatibility in the same hardware model. This chipset change will also advance to the iPhone 5, again allowing a single hardware model to work across both Verizon and AT&T. Right now, Apple is producing two distinct iPhone 4s to support both CDMA (Verizon) and GSM (AT&T) modes.

The iPhone 5 is said to be "completely redesigned" with an expected launch in the summer. One major upgrade will be a Cortex A9-based multicore processor (to be dubbed the Apple A5). The current Apple A4 processor is a single-core Cortex A8 processor. This faster processor will also make its way into the next generation Apple TV.

When it comes to the graphics performance on Apple's iOS devices, the company has been sticking with the powerful POWERVR SGX535 GPU from Imagination Technologies for quite some time, introducing it on the iPhone 3GS and carrying it through into the company's own A4 system-on-chip designs for the brains of the iPad and iPhone 4. But hints included in the new iOS 4.3 beta seeded to developers earlier this week indicate that Apple may be preparing to move to Imagination Technologies' next-generation GPU architecture with the SGX543 on future devices.

Introduced for licensing in January 2009, the SGX543 appears to only just now be coming ready for inclusion in mobile devices, and the new iOS 4.3 beta SDK includes references to a driver bundle supporting the graphics processor core.

The SGX543 is said to deliver performance of 35 million polygons per second and a filtrate of 1 billion pixels per second when running at 200 MHz, compared to 28 million polygons per second and a filtrate of 500 million pixels for the SGX535 running at the same clock speed. In addition, the SGX543 offers support for the Apple-backed OpenCL specification that allows applications to harness untapped potential of both CPUs and GPUs for processing purposes. Finally, the SGX543 support multi-core configurations allowing for even greater performance.

Aspyr Media, the company responsible for the porting of a number of Windows games to the Mac platform, has taken the notable step of embracing Apple's Mac App Store, potentiality leading the way for a surge in gaming interest that could drive growth on the new app marketplace. For its debut, Aspyr is offering Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Civilization IV: Colonization, two notable titles from the company's library of games. Aspyr has told us that it is planning to bring "many" of its titles to the Mac App Store, although some of its games do not meet Apple's current requirements for Mac App Store offerings and will thus be unable to make the transition in the immediate future.

Call of Duty 4 made its debut on the Mac platform in September 2008, but remains a popular first-person shooter title among Mac gamers. Weighing in at a massive 6.85 GB in the Mac App Store, Call of Duty 4 offers players an immersive gameplay environment and a well-regarded storyline.

Featuring a tense storyline, filled with plot twists, Call of Duty 4 thrusts players into battle like never before. With amazing special effects, including rim-lighting, depth of field, texture streaming and character self-shadowing, players are enlisted into one of the most photo-realistic gaming experiences imaginable.

The community-oriented Call of Duty 4 multiplayer gameplay features a robust leveling system, variety of unlockable perks, hot-join and matchmaking, as well as create a class and party capabilities to ensure that players of all skill levels can join in the fun. Additionally over 100 challenges and a host of new game environments and modes deliver unlimited possibilities. Infinity Ward has also included Kill-Cam, a fan favorite feature that they created in Call of Duty 2, which allows for spectator instant replays.

Civilization IV: Colonization is an updated remake of the original 1994 Colonization turn-based strategy game, with the Mac version of the new game having seen its first release in January 2010.

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization is the fifth offering in the award winning Civilization IV series for the Macintosh. A re-imagining of the classic Colonization strategy game Sid Meier created in 1994, this provides a new game experience in which you lead a European nation on a quest to colonize the thrive in the New World. Explore, trade, fight, and guide your people from the oppressive motherland. Ultimately you can battle for your freedom and independence!

One issue with the two new releases may turn out to be pricing, with Call of Duty 4 going for $49.99 on the Mac App Store. While this is below the standard $54.99 list price for the game, boxed copies of the Mac version of the game are currently going for only $32.56 on Amazon, although some users may prefer the instant access and easy installation on multiple machines permitted with Mac App Store purchases. Civilization IV: Colonization is currently priced at its standard list price of $29.99 in the Mac App Store, but Aspyr itself is currently offering the title at a promo price of $23.96 through its own GameAgent store and Amazon is offering boxed copies for $19.27.

Aspyr and other developers are of course subject to Apple's policies of taking a 30% cut of revenue from Mac App Store sales, making it more difficult for developers to match pricing found through other channels such as Amazon that take smaller profits. But the convenience of the Mac App Store's purchasing, installation, and updating capabilities may serve to draw in users and help drive the growth of the gaming market within the store.

Update: Call of Duty 4 is currently the top-grossing game on the Mac App Store, beating out the popular Angry Birds. Civilization IV: Colonization currently ranks as the fourth-highest grossing game.

Earlier this week, we shared some highlights from a Bloomberg interview with Verizon President Lowell McAdam that offered a glimpse of some of the behind-the-scenes dealings that led to the carrier announcing that it will begin offering the iPhone next month.

In a similar interview with outgoing Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg, Bloomberg Businessweek reveals a few more details of interest about the history of Verizon's relationship with Apple. Most notably, Seidenberg reveals that Apple was solely focused on GSM technology for the original iPhone and had absolutely no interest in also producing a CDMA version for the initial launch, meaning that Verizon was "never in the running" to partner with Apple back in 2007 when AT&T won exclusive rights for the iPhone in the United States.

It all started with Apple (AAPL), and Apple decided that it wanted one carrier in every major market. So Apple and AT&T consummated a deal three years ago. And because Apple was more focused on a single technology - the GSM technology - they chose AT&T. We had good discussions with them, but it was clear to us that they weren't looking to make a device for both sets of technologies.

The comments seem to dispute a report from around the time of the original iPhone's introduction claiming that Apple and Verizon had been in talks but that Verizon had rejected Apple's demand that it receive a share of monthly service fees, a demand that AT&T accepted for a time before the two companies reworked their relationship to eliminate monthly fee revenue sharing and move to the more traditional subsidized hardware business model.

Seidenberg also notes in the new interview that both he and McAdam had periodically called up and visited with Steve Jobs and Apple COO Tim Cook to talk about a possible iPhone on Verizon, suggesting that Verizon had long been extremely interested in the iPhone. The comments support a statement made by Seidenberg in October 2009 noting that the decision regarding a Verizon iPhone was "exclusively in Apple's court" and April 2010 remarks sharing that Verizon had explicitly asked Apple for the right to carry the iPhone.

In the new interview, Seidenberg also touts Verizon's wide array of businesses, from Internet backbone to FiOS residential service to 4G wireless networks, that will allow the company to serve video and other content to customers wherever they are. Citing an estimate that 90% of Internet traffic within five years will be video-related, Seidenberg suggests that Verizon is well-positioned for the coming wave and in an excellent position to continue working with Apple.

Apple today issued a media alert announcing details for next Tuesday's release of its financial results for the first fiscal quarter of 2011, corresponding to the fourth calendar quarter of 2010. The results will be released after the close of Tuesday'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 first fiscal quarter of 2011 was relatively quiet when it came to new product introductions after a busy previous quarter. The only notable product introduction during the quarter leading up to and including the holiday season was the revamped MacBook Air that saw a new, sleeker design, flash-only storage, and an 11.6-inch model joining the previously-existing 13.3-inch size.

For the quarter, analysts are predicting net earnings of $5.36 per share on revenue of $24.34 billion, above Apple's guidance of $4.80 profit per share on $23 billion of revenue. Apple's year-ago results for the first fiscal quarter of 2010 included net earnings of $3.67 per share on revenue of $15.68 billion.

Apple today launched a new 10 Billion App Countdown promotion to celebrate the upcoming milestone, awarding the user who downloads the 10 billionth app a $10,000 iTunes gift card.

As of today, nearly 10 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store worldwide. Which is almost as amazing as the apps themselves. So we want to say thanks. Download the 10 billionth app, and you could win a US $10,000 iTunes Gift Card. Just visit the App Store, and download what could be your best app yet.

As noted in the official rules for the contest, users can make up to 25 contest entries per day by either downloading an app from the App Store or by filling out an alternate entry form.

Apple conducted a nearly identical contest just eleven months ago to celebrate 10 billion songs downloaded from the iTunes Store, illustrating just how quickly the App Store, which only launched two and a half years ago, has nearly caught up with the iTunes music store in download volume.

All Things Digital reports that the Steve Jobs-Rupert Murdoch media event rumored to have been scheduled for next Wednesday to introduce News Corp.'s new iPad-focused news publication The Daily has been pushed back. The change apparently comes as Apple seeks more time to finish working on its end of the project, which involves support for recurring billing subscriptions through users' iTunes Store accounts and the ability to automatically "push" new content on a daily basis to those with subscriptions.

Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch, according to sources familiar with the companies' plans. The delay is supposed to give Apple time to tweak its new subscription service for publications sold through its iTunes platform.

Plans to debut the iPad newspaper at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art next Wednesday have been tabled "for weeks, not months," Im told.

The reported internal delay comes as the first hints of what the publication may look like have appeared, with Poynter's Damon Kiesow discovering a small image buried in The Daily's website showing a pair of cover screenshots.

But peeking inside the source code of its recently-launched companion website, TheDaily.com, I came across the image below, which appears to be a house ad for the new app.

The Daily staff has reportedly been producing sample editions of the tablet app for several weeks, so the covers shown here may represent that work.

While it is not entirely clear how content on The Daily's website will compare to that found in the app, Kiesow also discovered other hints of certain functionalities for the website, including support for social media sharing and an embedded video player. The tablet application, which is rumored see subscription prices of 99 cents per week, has been said to be offering substantial video and multimedia content.

Market research firm ChangeWave Research today announced the results of new survey examining the impact of the Verizon iPhone on customer carrier preferences. While the survey of professional and early-adopter consumers was conducted in late December, ahead of the official Verizon announcement, the general media consensus at the time had been that a Verizon announcement was imminent.

Among the findings of the survey was a surge in the percentage of AT&T subscribers planning to change carrier over the subsequent 90 days, rising to 15% from 10% just three months earlier.

Importantly, when we compared the churn rates for the top wireless providers, we found major differences.

Only 4% of Verizon's customers plan to switch in the next 90 days. In comparison, 10% of Sprint/Nextel's customers say they plan to switch, as do 15% of both T-Mobile's and AT&T's.

Related to that spike was a result showing that 16% of surveyed AT&T customers were planning to switch to Verizon if it began offering the iPhone, with an additional 23% of AT&T customers registering as unsure whether they will switch carriers.

That metric was even higher among AT&T's iPhone customers, with 26% of them saying they would leave AT&T for a Verizon iPhone. While most AT&T iPhone customers are currently tied into long-term contracts, many of them are apparently ready to jump ship anyway, with 41% of those planning to switch saying they will do so within the first three months of Verizon iPhone availability and an additional 31% doing so within a year.

ChangeWave has also continued to track reports of dropped calls on the major carriers, an area where AT&T has struggled mightily. The most recent survey did in fact find some good news for AT&T in this area, with its dropped call rate falling to 4.7% in December from 6% as measured in September. But despite clear improvement presumably related to network improvements, AT&T's call-drop rate remains far above that of Verizon's 1.7% figure.

While the Verizon iPhone 4 announcement this week captured all the headlines, the fact that the new CDMA-based hardware is now ready to go also opens the door for other major CDMA carriers around the world to carry the device. According to DigiTimes, the CDMA iPhone 4 is set to rapidly make its way to China, Japan, and South Korea, with other countries also likely to see the device.

The report also offers some information on the supply chain for the CDMA iPhone 4, which has reportedly been tooled up to produce 7 million units this quarter, although it is unclear how many of those will make their way into the hands of consumers by the end of the quarter and how many will be used to fill out channel inventory for sales going forward.

As had been previously noted, Pegatron has been brought onboard as a second iPhone 4 manufacturer, joining Apple's long-standing partner Foxconn. Today's report also offers some clarity to an earlier report that both Foxconn and Pegatron would be producing the CDMA iPhone 4. The new report indicates that Foxconn's shipments of the CDMA iPhone 4 began in December and are headed to the United States, while Pegatron will begin shipping CDMA units for the rest of the world this month.

China Telecom, that country's third-largest carrier, has already been rumored to be in discussions to carry the CDMA iPhone, and a pair of Indian CDMA carriers, Reliance and Tata, have also been claimed to be talking with Apple about bringing the iPhone to their networks.