MacRumors

Apple this week updated its Universal Dock package, which offers a convenient charging and syncing solution for a variety of iPhone and iPod models, as well as a means to connect those devices to stereos or TVs. While the dock itself remains the same, Apple has updated the package to include the company's now-standard aluminum remote instead of the previous white remote.

The new dock package also includes a USB power adapter and a USB cable to aid in connectivity, accessories that had previously been sold separately. Consequently, Apple has raised the price of the package from $49 to $59.

The package also contains a revised set of five dock adapters offering compatibility with the iPhone 4/3GS/3G, second-, third-, and fourth-generation iPod touch, and the fifth-generation iPod nano. Adapters for other iPod and iPhone models can be purchased separately.

In addition to the new Universal Dock, AppleInsider notes that Apple has discontinued its compact wired aluminum keyboard. The company had previously offered the compact keyboard in both wired and wireless versions, and continues to offer the extended wired keyboard that includes a number keypad to the right of the main keyboard area.

Update: Apple has also updated its Composite AV Cable and Component AV Cable offerings, reducing the price of each by $10 to $39 and no longer including the USB power adapter. It appears that Apple has reorganized its offerings to recognize that the power adapter should be included with the basic dock package and not with the cable accessories, as users in the past might have purchased both types of cables and found themselves with two power adapters for one dock.

As noted by Mashable, Apple's "Ping" music-focused social networking service within iTunes has scored its first major exclusive, premiering a new posthumously-released track from Michael Jackson. The track, "Much Too Soon", is being streamed exclusively through Jackson's Ping profile page for the next week.

The entry and press release note that "Much Too Soon" was recorded at the time of Jackson's blockbuster "Thriller" album (released in 1982) but was never included on any of his albums.

The song "Much Too Soon" was written at the time of Thriller. Michael always liked the song and would pull it back out of the vaults for each subsequent album project but never found the right home for it; on the new album it finds its place as the bittersweet closing to the stellar collection. The song was written by Michael Jackson and produced by Michael Jackson and John McClain. David Campbell is featured on the strings.

Ping launched in iTunes 10 in early September, but has yet to catch on with many users. Apple has, however, continued to push forward with new features for the service, including Twitter integration and iPad access being added in just the past few weeks.

Algoriddim, the developer of the popular djay application for Mac, has released djay for iPad today. As we reported last month, the app takes advantage of new audio features that only recently came to the iPad with the release of iOS 4.2.

The app provides a virtual turntable interface that allows scratching and multiple controls as well as full access to the iPod music library stored on the iPad. It is optimized for iOS 4.2 with multitasking and background operation capabilities.

Algoriddim has created a promotional video highlighting the app's capabilities.

The app's features include:

- Realistic low-latency turntable interface
- Automix mode with automatic transition control (Fade, Backspin, Reverse, Brake, Random)
- Live Recording (with builtin organizer for recorded performances)
- Seamless AirPlay integration (wirelessly transmit your mix to Apple TV or AirPort Express station)
- PreCueing (with optional headphones adapter)
- BPM analysis with automatic beat and tempo matching
- Full visual waveform with beatsynchronized scrubbing
- Highquality scratching
- Mixer, Tempo and EQ controls
- PitchBend
- Cue Point Trigger

djay for iPad is available in the App Store for $19.99.

Just over a year ago, Apple began rolling out an iPod-based checkout system known as "EasyPay" in its retail stores. A few months later, it was reported that Apple was considering commercializing the system. The system has been marketed for some time now as Linea Pro by its creators, Infinite Peripherals, who offer it as a $499 accessory for the second- and third-generation iPod touch.

It is unclear how many other customers Infinite Peripherals has been able to sign on to the technology, but 9 to 5 Mac reports that The Gap's Old Navy retail store chain has been piloting usage of the system, known there as "ZipCheck", in a few of its stores. According to the report, Old Navy is piloting one ZipCheck system per store, with some employees also carrying small wireless printers on their belts to quickly provide customers with receipts for purchases made through the device.

One of the hottest gadgets over the past month has been Microsoft's Kinect, a controller-free gaming interface for the company's Xbox 360 gaming system that senses users' body movements and voice commands for interacting with gaming and entertainment content.

As noted by InformationWeek, Apple has expressed interest in using somewhat similar technologies, as well as its own multi-touch gesture control, for interacting with such devices as kitchen appliances and vehicles. The revelation comes from a patent assignment in which inventor Timothy Pryor transferred his interest in three patents and ten pending patent applications to Apple, an assignment that was made in March of this year.

The various patents and patent applications have to do with the control of machines, specifically through a combination of touch screens and video sensing. They include titles like "Man Machine Interfaces For Entering Data Into A Computer" and "Programmable Tactile Touch Screen Displays And Man-Machine Interfaces For Improved Vehicle Instrumentation And Telematics."

While the oldest of the patents included in the transfer was filed over fifteen years, ago, the ten patent applications have all been filed since August 2007.

One patent application in particular, entitled "Control of Appliances, Kitchen and Home", describes how a rear-projection display and sensing array could be used on a kitchen countertop or directly on appliances or other surfaces to detect the user's motions and assist with food preparation while also providing access to other home automation and Internet-related functionality directly from the countertop.

"Machine vision sensing, coupled with suitable computer software, can also, as disclosed in my referenced applications, determine gesture commands in space made by a person, and can determine various features of the person or objects they are working with, or in some cases their movements and action," the patent application says.

Pryor's patent application proposes touch-enabled appliance surfaces that can control a multitude of appliances and "can ease kitchen and house work, while allowing the user to share time for home functions with Internet shopping, social networking and the like."

Obviously, it is unclear exactly what, if anything, Apple plans to do with the intellectual property it acquired from Pryor. It seems possible that Apple may simply have been moving to lock in ownership of some aspects of the inventions that relate in some way to the company's vision of implementations for multi-touch functionality in general, but clearly Apple has a significant interest in Pryor's work given its acquisition of a significant number of patents and patent applications.

Apple yesterday released a new iPad commercial entitled "iPad is Amazing", airing the ad on primetime television and posting it to the company's iPad site and YouTube page to show off a number of new features available in iOS 4.2.

The new commercial offers the same soundtrack as several earlier ads and follows the same of theme of displaying a series of quick shots of the iPad's capabilities interspersed with corresponding single-word descriptions relevant to the "iPad is..." theme: "creating" (Pages), "printing" (AirPrint), "vital" (AirStrip), "ideas" (TED), "multi-tasking" (Mail and Calendar), "facts" (Solar Walk), "figures" (Numbers), and "amazing" (AirPlay).

In mid-May, Apple released its "What is iPad" commercial, harkening back to an earlier ad for the Newton nearly twenty years ago. Apple then shifted gears, however, releasing the current string of iPads with "iPad is Delicious" in mid-August, "iPad is Musical" in early September, and "iPad is Electric" early last month.

Verizon Wireless today announced that it will be launching the first large-scale LTE (4G) cellular network on Sunday, December 5th, bringing service to 38 metropolitan areas and 60 airports in the United States. The network is launching with only broadband data plans for USB modems, as handsets utilizing the technology are not expected until mid-2011.

Verizon Wireless customers can choose from two 4G LTE Mobile Broadband data plans: $50 monthly access for 5 GB monthly allowance or $80 monthly access for 10 GB monthly allowance, both with $10/GB overage. For laptop connectivity, two 4G LTE USB modems will be initially available: the LG VL600 is available at launch and the Pantech UML290 will be available soon, each $99.99 after $50 rebate with a new two-year agreement. Both USB modems provide backward-compatibility with Verizon Wireless' 3G network. If laptop users travel outside of a 4G LTE coverage area, they will automatically stay connected on the company's 3G network.

Multiple mainstream news sources have reported that Apple is set to release a Verizon-compatible version of the iPhone as early as January 2011, although that model is not expected to support Verizon's new 4G network. In fact, rumors have suggested that the next major revision to the iPhone, likely set for launch in June or July of next year, also will not support 4G. Such a move would follow the precedent set by Apple with the original iPhone, which did not offer 3G compatibility despite AT&T offering a 3G network at that time, with Apple opting to wait to adopt the technology until the following year when it had matured and availability expanded to more markets.

Rumors have also suggested that Verizon may be testing LTE-compatible iPads, although the information appears to be unconfirmed.

AT&T has been said to be on track to roll out its own 4G LTE network in mid-2011 as it continues to upgrade its 3G service to faster speeds to support current users and to serve as a fallback during the full roll-out of 4G service in the future.

Research firm Nielsen today published a report outlining the results of its survey of U.S. smartphone users for October 2010, finding that Apple has finally caught up to Research in Motion in market share, with the two companies finishing in a "statistical dead heat" with Apple's iPhone claiming 27.9% of the market and Research in Motion's BlackBerry line grabbing 27.4%. Google's rapidly-growing Android operating system claimed 22.7% of the market.

While Apple outsold Research in Motion last quarter on a global basis (14.1 million vs. 12.4 million) and other reports had suggested similar results for the U.S. alone, Nielsen's study notably focuses on installed user base rather than new sales.

Nielsen's report also offers a look at future smartphone purchasing plans across several demographic divisions, finding that the iPhone (30%) nudges out Android (28%) as the most desired smartphone among those likely to purchase a new device, with the iPhone leading among current smartphone owners and Android leading among users currently on featurephones who are seeking to upgrade to smartphones.

Broken down by age, the iPhone leads Android as "most desired" in all age brackets except the 35-54 range, with users in the 35+ brackets markedly less certain about their most desired smartphone operating system than younger users. Finally, the study finds that female users lean relatively strongly toward the iPhone over Android as their most desired smartphone (30.9% vs. 22.8%), while male users prefer Android by a 32.6%-28.6% margin.

Last month, we noted that major U.S. banks Bank of America and Citigroup have been running pilot tests with an eye toward allowing their employees to abandon their corporate-standard BlackBerry devices in favor of the iPhone, demonstrating Apple's growing place in the business world and a increasing threat to Research in Motion's position in that market.

Bloomberg now reports that Research in Motion is facing challenges on the tablet front before it can even get its PlayBook out the door, with investment bank JPMorgan Chase opting to provide its employees with iPads to assist them with their work as part of a pilot study to gauge their effectiveness.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. will give its investment bankers iPads to provide an additional mobile tool as Apple Inc. expands its domain to Wall Street, threatening Research in Motion Ltd. in a market it traditionally dominated.

"We believe there are real benefits in our working environment that can be realized using this device - as well as the personal productivity and enjoyment that come as part of the package," two managing directors at New York-based JPMorgan said in an e-mail obtained by Bloomberg News.

According to the email, all associates in JPMorgan's global investment banking division will be eligible to receive free iPads, with the pilot program extending through May 1st, 2011.

Bankers will be able to access e-mails, contacts, calendar and attachments via Microsoft Outlook, as well as have the ability to mark-up and annotate confidential documents and make client presentations, according to the e-mail. They will also be allowed to download applications for personal use.

"There are a variety of ways to leverage the iPad. Some work off-the-shelf whilst others rely on JPMorgan software/security tools," the managing directors said. "Depending on its success we will evaluate if we should repeat this one time initiative and/or expand it to others."

Apple has been increasing its focus on enterprise deployment for the iPhone and iPad as the company has worked to build corporate-friendly features into iOS. The company has targeted Research in Motion's leadership position in the market, even going as far as to hire away a number of Research in Motion's key sales employees to head up its own efforts.

Update: Swiss bank UBS is also reportedly piloting the iPhone and iPad for its employees.

In a blog post, Nokia Siemens Networks reveals that Apple's iOS 4.2 released last week supports new technology known as Network Controlled Fast Dormancy (NFCD) that can reduce strain on cellular networks while also improving battery life for devices. The technology allows devices to remain in an "intermediate state" instead of constantly alternating between active and idle states when sharing information with cellular networks.

All this disconnecting and reconnecting takes time and can cause a frustratingly slow network response. On the other hand, leaving the smartphone in an active mode all the time drains the battery very quickly.

To overcome the problem Nokia Siemens Networks introduced a method that, instead of putting the handset into idle or keeping it always active, keeps the handset in an intermediate state. From here, a smartphone can wake up much more quickly and needs to send far fewer signals to and from the network to start a data connection. You get a fast network response and a longer battery life.

The report notes that Nokia implemented the technology in its smartphones earlier this year, and with Nokia and Apple together accounting for half of all new smartphone sales on a global basis, the change is now widespread enough to be contributing to noticeably improved user experiences and cost reductions for cellular providers.

The post specifically references the network of one Middle Eastern cellular provider that has seen smartphone devices reach an average battery life of 11 hours on its networks, compared to six hours on competing networks. Meanwhile, testing in North America has shown reductions in signaling between smartphones and networks of up to 50%.

The technology does, however, require that Nokia Siemens' network equipment be used in order for the improvements to be possible, and it is unclear which regions and carriers have embraced the company's products. For example, AT&T noted earlier this year that upload issues being experienced by iPhone users were caused by software problems in network equipment from Nokia Siemens competitors Alcatel-Lucent. Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson have also been selected to provide equipment for AT&T's next-generation LTE (4G) network.

Research firm ChangeWave today released the results of a new survey of its audience of professionals and early-adopter consumers, showing that the iPad is quickly gaining ground on Amazon's Kindle in the eReader market, despite its different feature set and higher price point. According to the survey, the Kindle leads the iPad 47% to 32%, a dramatically smaller margin than the 62%-16% spread of just three months ago. Both devices dwarf Sony's Reader (5%) and Barnes & Noble's Nook (4%) in popularity.

Based on the survey, Apple appears poised to continue to make gains on the Kindle, with 42% of respondents looking to purchase an eReader over the next 90 days planning to buy an iPad, while only 33% plan to purchase a Kindle.

The iPad's strength is mirrored in its user satisfaction ratings, with 75% of iPad owners in the survey calling themselves "very satisfied" with their purchase, as opposed to 54% of Kindle owners registering with the same level of satisfaction. Finally, the survey found that while iPad owners are less likely to read eBooks than Kindle owners (76% vs. 93%), they are much more likely to consume other types of digital reading material such as newspapers, magazines, and blog and news feed content.

One of the major new features deployed in iOS 4.2 last week was AirPlay, Apple's solution for streaming video, audio, and photos from portable iOS devices to the new Apple TV for display on users' televisions. Unfortunately, the feature's debut came with a few more limitations than users had originally hoped for, with streaming from third-party applications and even Safari limited to audio-only.

While some hackers have been able to discover how Apple has coded the restrictions on video streaming and ways to work around it in a proof-of-concept implementation, mainstream users would obviously prefer Apple to offer full-fledged support for the feature on third-party apps through a public API developers could use for their apps.

One MacRumors reader emailed Apple CEO Steve Jobs about the future of video streaming via AirPlay and reportedly received a response noting that Apple hopes to bring additional functionality to AirPlay sometime next year.

Q: Hi, I recently updated both my iPhone 4 and iPad to 4.2. I think my favourite feature is airplay. This is seriously amazing and makes sharing content seamless. I just purchased Apple TV and was wondering are you ever going to make airplay video work for videos in safari and 3rd party apps? I hope to get a response. :)

A: Yep, hope to add these features to Airplay in 2011.

The AirPlay functionality appears to have a few other quirks as well, as noted by Daring Fireball's John Gruber. One such quirk involves the fact that the iPhone 4 is unable to stream via AirPlay video shot directly on the iPhone.

The most obvious shortcoming: You can't use AirPlay to play videos shot on your iPhone. That's an obvious feature, right? Shoot a video on your iPhone, then play it back for family and friends on your big TV via AirPlay. No syncing, no docking, no moving files around. Just hit play. But it doesn't work in iOS 4.2.1 - even though you can use AirPlay to show still photos from the Photos app.

While some had theorized that the issue was related to bandwidth required to stream the high-definition footage shot on the iPhone 4, video footage shot on the device and then synced to iTunes and back to the device will stream via AirPlay. Gruber theorizes that Apple had to roll out incomplete AirPlay functionality in order to meet its goal of releasing iOS 4.2 by the end of November and that we will see increased functionality coming in the future, as Jobs' purported email suggests.

Over the weekend, PC World published the results of its annual reliability survey, incorporating reports from 79,000 tech users to assess customer satisfaction with reliability and tech support for a wide variety of products. As in previous surveys, Apple topped the rankings in an assortment of categories, with PC World going as far as to say that Apple "once again smoked the competition", despite a few stumbles from the iPhone.

Apple once again smoked the competition in the desktop, notebook, and smartphone categories, winning high praise from customers in all reliability and service categories. The Macintosh and iPhone maker did so well that virtually all its scores were above average. Apple's only average scores were related to the company's deftness at replacing failed notebook components, and in two areas pertaining to serious problems with the iPhone, the latter perhaps stemming from the iPhone 4's well-publicized antenna issue that resulted in dropped calls for some users.

The report points to Apple's use of high-quality components and a straightforward software experience for providing customers with high levels of satisfaction. In addition, the company's retail stores with Genius Bars offering service and support are seen as a key component to Apple's customer care initiatives.

In the desktop category, Apple, Asus and Alienware topped the rankings, with Apple receiving "above average" ratings in all nine categories measured. According to the survey, under 9% of customers surveyed reported an issue that was unable to be resolved by Apple's support staff, significantly better than the 21% industry average.

It was a similar story for the laptops, where Apple received above average scores in eight of nine categories. Apple scored only "average" in its performance when it comes to replacing failed components. Apple was followed in the rankings by Asus and Toshiba.

When it comes to smartphones, Apple's iPhone swept the top spot with above average ratings in all five categories related to ease of use. But Apple trailed Motorola's offerings in the reliability portion of the survey, ranking above average in two categories and merely average in two categories related to problems experienced out of the box and severe problems experienced by users. In general, the report noted that users are very satisfied with the iPhone itself but frustrated with carrier partner AT&T, which ranks last among major U.S. carriers in PC World's survey of network service.

While we noted yesterday that the iPad appeared set to launch in Scandinavia today, Apple's new round of international launches for the popular tablet device has extended to a total of eleven countries scattered around the globe: Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Sweden, and Taiwan.

Pricing and retail distribution partners vary from country to country, so customers should check with Apple and their favorite retailers regarding availability. Customers interested in 3G-capable iPad models should also check to see which carriers are supporting service in their country and determine data service pricing options.

Feeding rumors and expectations that Apple will include at least a front-facing camera in the next-generation iPad, DigiTimes reports that market rumors in the region are pegging Taiwanese firm Largan Precision as having been selected to provide camera lens modules for the device. The company, however, refuses to comment on the rumors.

Largan Precision has declined to comment on market rumors indicating the company will be the sole lens module supplier for Apple's upcoming iPad 2 tablet with shipments to kick off in the first quarter of 2011, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE).

While the report does not specify whether Largan has been claimed to be providing VGA-resolution front-facing cameras or higher-resolution rear-facing cameras (or both), the report comes just as Largan has reportedly begun shipping 5-megapixel lens modules for tablet devices. According to that report, Largan has begun outsourcing production of VGA-resolution models in order to focus on the higher-resolution versions, leading to speculation that the company may be gearing up for high-volume production of the 5-megapixel module for a rear-facing camera on the iPad.

Largan currently supplies the 5-megapixel lens module for the iPhone 4's rear-facing camera.

9to5Mac claims that Apple has asked Taiwanese company PhotoFast to stop sales of their SSD upgrade kits for the new MacBook Air.

Now, according to some sources close to the company, Apple phoned PhotoFast last week and had them stop all sales of their new MacBook Air SSD upgrades. PhotoFast is complying with Apple's request for them to stop production of the product and one of the leading reasons for this is because PhotoFast is in Apple's MFi program.

The reason for Apple's demand is unclear, as the same SSD parts are also available from Toshiba. In fact, Toshiba supplies the exact same parts used in the MacBook Air and is making those parts available to other manufacturers. The devices use a standard mSATA connector rather than any proprietary solution.

Since the SSD parts will become available from other parties, it seems unlikely that Apple's motivation is to prevent the upgrade from being available at all. PhotoFast was, however, marketing the part specifically as a MacBook Air upgrade.

Last Friday marked the traditional beginning of the holiday shopping season with Black Friday, and Apple's discounts seem to have driven high traffic to its retail stores if a number of reports from research analysts are any indication.

The Wall Street Journal summarizes the thoughts of four such analysts, who saw strong foot traffic at Apple's stores, solid product availability, and enticing (albeit modest by Black Friday standards) discounts on a number of Apple products. While some analysts saw a potential minor hit to Apple's bottom line given the volume of customers taking advantage of the discounts, particularly on the iPad, the strategy is being viewed as an excellent opportunity to gain customer attention during the holiday shopping season.

A number of analysts did take the time to send out research staff to physically observe the traffic at Apple's retail stores, and they appear to have come away impressed with the results. Barron's reports that Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White saw strong traffic throughout the post-Thanksgiving weekend, with particular interest in the iPad (which saw Black Friday discounts of $41) and the MacBook Air.

Fortune notes that Deutsche Bank's Chris Whitmore oversaw a phone survey of over 100 Apple retail stores and 50 third-party reseller stores and similarly determined that iPads and the 11-inch MacBook Air were the most popular items among customers. Finally, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster performed some quantitative analysis at a limited selection of Apple retail stores, finding sales rates of about 8.2 Macs per hour (on par with last year's results) and strong iPad sales of 8.8 units per hour.

Research firm Gartner today announced that it is reducing its worldwide PC shipment estimates for 2010 and 2011 from earlier levels, citing increasing strength of media tablets such as the iPad. Gartner predicts that worldwide PC shipments will reach 352.4 million this year, an increase of 14.3% over last year but down from the 17.9% increase that had been predicted just two months ago. Similarly, 2011 shipments are now predicted to see 15.9% growth to 409 million units, down from 18.1% growth predicted previously.

"These results reflect marked reductions in expected near-term unit growth based on expectations of weaker consumer demand, due in no small part to growing user interest in media tablets such as the iPad," said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. "Over the longer term, media tablets are expected to displace around 10 percent of PC units by 2014."

The report notes that tablets such as the iPad offer improved "on-the-go content consumption" and sees consumers looking to the devices as complements or even alternatives to traditional PCs. Even those customers who opt to use tablet as complements to traditional PCs are seen as likely to extend the replacement cycles of their existing computers as they embrace tablet technology, slowing growth in PC sales.

Barron's reports that other research firms have reached similar conclusions, with Citigroup reporting that booming tablet sales will result in approximately 11 million fewer PCs sold next year than would otherwise have been expected. Overall, Citigroup predicts 2011 tablet sales of about 35 million units, with Apple's iPad representing about 75% of that total.

Other analysts are predicting an even bigger bite from tablets, with some claiming overall tablet sales in the range of 70-100 million next year, with one PC unit sale estimated to be lost from every 2.5 tablet units sold.