MacRumors

Apple today announced that Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard will go on sale Friday, August 28 at Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers, and that Apple's online store is now accepting pre-orders.

"Snow Leopard builds on our most successful operating system ever and we're happy to get it to users earlier than expected," said Bertrand Serlet, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "For just $29, Leopard users get a smooth upgrade to the world's most advanced operating system and the only system with built in Exchange support."

Snow Leopard is available as an upgrade for users of Mac OS 10.5 Leopard for $29 as a single user license and $49 as a family pack. For users of Mac OS 10.4 Tiger and earlier, the Mac Box Set includes Mac OS X Snow Leopard, iLife '09 and iWork '09 for $169 as a single user license and a family pack for $229. (prices in USD)

The Japanese version of Engadget reports [Google translation] that a Mac mini purchaser appears to have received a Mac OS X Snow Leopard restore disc along with the computer. The source has provided a photo of the DVD, as well as several screenshots showing the Snow Leopard installer.

Meanwhile, several readers report that the status of their OS X Snow Leopard Up-to-Date pre-orders have changed to "Prepared for Shipment" and continue to indicate a shipping date of "By August 28th", adding yet another indication that the launch of Apple's new operating system is quickly approaching despite the lack of an official announcement from the company so far.

As noted earlier today, Apple was expected to file comments with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission regarding their purported rejection of the Google Voice iPhone application. Apple has complied and published their response to the FCC in the Hot News section of Apple.com.

Starting off with background information on the iPhone and the App Store, Apple notes that the App Store now "offers over 65,000 iPhone applications, and customers have downloaded over 1.5 billion applications" and that it has "fostered competition as other companies (e.g., Nokia, Microsoft, RIM, Palm and Verizon) seek to develop their own mobile platforms and launch their own application stores." In describing the App Store approval process, criteria that serves to "protect consumer privacy, safeguard children from inappropriate content, and avoid applications that degrade the core experience of the iPhone" are listed and most rejections are based on bugs, with attempts made to provide feedback to the developer to help them improve it and increase the chances of an app's approval afterward.

In response to the question about the rejection of the Google Voice app, Apple states:

"Contrary to published reports, Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application, and continues to study it. The application has not been approved because, as submitted for review, it appears to alter the iPhones distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhones core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls, text messaging and voicemail. Apple spent a lot of time and effort developing this distinct and innovative way to seamlessly deliver core functionality of the iPhone."

Additionally, the response describes how the Google Voice application fails to make use of the Visual Voicemail feature and the native Messaging app, as well as the fact that it uploads a user's Contacts list to Google's servers with no "assurances from Google that this data will only be used in appropriate ways." Apple commits that it is still "continuing to study the Google Voice application and its potential impact on the iPhone user experience."

Regarding the role of AT&T in relation to the Google Voice app, Apple clearly explains that AT&T has no role in the app approval process, nor does anything in Apple's contract with AT&T have any bearing in this situation. It is noted, however, that the agreement with AT&T does require Apple to not "include functionality in any Apple phone that enables a customer to use AT&Ts cellular network service to originate or terminate a VoIP session without obtaining AT&Ts permission," which clearly provides the reasoning behind the Wi-Fi-only functionality of the Skype VOIP app and other similar apps.

Apple's response to Question 6 provides further details on the app approval process, describing that there are "40 full-time trained reviewers" and that "at least two different reviewers study each application so that the review process is applied uniformly." Apple also reveals there is also an executive review board that oversees policies and procedures and reviews apps escalated because they "raise new or complex issues."

USA Today reports that Apple, AT&T, and Google are expected to file comments with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission today regarding Apple's rejection of the official Google Voice iPhone application.

Apple (AAPL) and AT&T (T) Friday are expected to tell the Federal Communications Commission why Google's free voice application, called Google Voice, is banned from the Apple iPhone. Google is also filing comments.

The FCC moved quickly to investigate the application's rejection, looking to determine the extent of AT&T's role in the decision-making process as Apple and the wireless industry have both come under scrutiny in recent months for possible anti-competitive practices.

The report notes, however, that Google may also find itself facing inquiries about a similar issue in which users of handsets based on the company's Android mobile phone operating system are unable to take advantage of full Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service from Skype.

Consumers who use Android, the Google-developed operating system for wireless devices, can't use Skype, a leading Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. A pioneer in free Internet calling, Skype allows you to talk as long as you want without draining cellphone minutes.

Android users get Skype Lite, a watered-down version of the original that routes calls over traditional phone networks -- not the Internet. As a result, long-distance calls are still cheap or free, but cellphone minutes are gobbled up every time a Skype Lite call is made.

In a statement, Google noted that it does have the ability to block VoIP services at the request of wireless providers. With T-Mobile currently being the only U.S. provider to offer Android-based phones, it would appear that the wireless company is responsible for the limitation on Android-based phones, but a T-Mobile spokesman has denied that that is the case.

USA Today notes that Google has been asked to address its application approval process for Android as part of the Google Voice investigation.

Apple's UK online store is now listing a shipping date for the OS X Snow Leopard "Up-to-Date" program of "by August 28th". The listing comes on the heels of reports from several sources in recent days that Snow Leopard would see an August 28th launch, ahead of Apple's previously-announced September launch window.

A brief survey of the equivalent page at Apple's online stores for a number of other countries currently shows all of them still listing an estimated shipping date of September.

The page appears to only be an informational listing, as users are unable to order Up-to-Date discs directly via the product page in Apple's online store. Customers must first verify that they are eligible for the program through the main Up-to-Date program page, which restricts participation to users who purchased a Mac on or after June 8th, 2009.

Update: Following reports that Apple's online stores for several other countries, including the U.S. and Canada, began showing the "by August 28th" ship date, Apple has now revised all of those listings to again read that the Snow Leopard Up-to-Date disc will ship in "September".

Macenstein claims to have received information from sources claiming that support training for OS X Snow Leopard has begun and that Apple's new operating system will very likely launch on Friday, August 28th.

According to reliable sources, support training for Snow Leopard has begun, signaling an imminent release of the next major release of OS X. Sources claim a date of Friday, August 28th is extremely likely.

The source also provided several screenshots of Snow Leopard training instructions for AppleCare support representatives. The news corroborates claims from several other sources that Snow Leopard will ship on the 28th, ahead of Apple's announced September launch window.

MacRumors has also heard from a purported AppleCare representative that support staff at their location had just been provided with Snow Leopard discs (containing the rumored "Golden Master" Build 10A432) for installation on their primary machines. The source noted that OS X Leopard was distributed to AppleCare representatives approximately one week before its October 2007 launch, leading the source to suspect that a Snow Leopard release may in fact be right around the corner.

In a message to clients, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster describes the possibility that Apple will enter into the market for television sets, with an Apple-branded set for movies, music, games, and interactive TV.

"TV hardware is a challenging business if you don't change the rules of the game," Munster writes, "but we see potential for Apple to offer best-in-class software and hardware and charge a premium."

In his view, Apple's move would begin with the introduction of a new set-top box with a built-in DVR and subscription-based access to TV shows, a move into more direct competition with cable companies, and then an Apple television set that would sync with other Apple products as the Apple TV does with Macs now.

We believe Apple could differentiate itself with software that makes home entertainment simple and solves a pain point for consumers (complicated TV and component systems).

Munster, who has made predictions about Apple's TV business before, cites evidence that includes Apple DVR interface patents and a comment by COO Tim Cook that "we're going to continue to invest in it" when asked about Apple TV development by Munster.

iLounge reports on a forum posting [Google translation] at Chinese site WeiPhone in which a user claims to demonstrate 720p and 1080p high-definition video playback on the iPhone 3GS. The poster conducted a series of test using the FileAid iPhone application to transfer video files of increasing resolution and bitrate to the iPhone 3GS, finding acceptable performance on video playback up to 1980 x 1080 resolution encoded in H.264 format at over 30 Mbps.

A forum post to Chinese-language site weiphone.com indicates that the iPhone 3GS is capable of playing back both 720p and 1080p video encoded in H.264 through the built-in video player, suggesting that Apple is currently placing arbitrary limits on the device, either to preserve battery life or keep its functionality more consistent with that of prior iPhone OS devices. Using the free document storage and viewing application FileAid, forum member fridtear was able to circumvent Apple's video restrictions, smoothly playing back files up to 30 Mbps in 1980x1080 resolution via the iPhone 3GS' built-in video player.

While such high-resolution video is obviously not necessary for the iPhone itself, which offers only a 480 x 320 pixel display, many users are interested in outputting video for display on external monitors, and the iPhone 3GS is by default limited by Apple in that regard to the same 640 x 480 resolution, 1.5 Mbps standard used by older iPhone models. Of course, the large file sizes involved in high-definition, high bitrate video would restrict videos to relatively short clips given current iPhone storage capacities. The tests also did not address the effect of such video playback on heat or battery life under extended usage.

Rumors surfacing in late April hinted at high-definition capabilities for what turned out to be the iPhone 3GS, but while this latest report indicates that the hardware may be capable of it to at least some extent, Apple has elected not to enable it at this time.

Bloomberg reveals that Apple CEO Steve Jobs reportedly approached then-Palm CEO Ed Colligan in August 2007 with a proposal that the two companies refrain from hiring each others' employees. Colligan rejected the proposal, claiming that the tactic was wrong and "likely illegal."

Colligan, who stepped down as CEO in June, discussed the matter with Jobs in August 2007, as the mobile-phone war heated up, according to the communications. Apple had introduced the iPhone two months earlier, just as Palm hired a former Apple executive, Jon Rubinstein, to develop new smart phones. Jobs, Apple's CEO, told Colligan he was concerned that Rubinstein was recruiting Apple employees. "We must do whatever we can to stop this," Jobs said in the communications.

While the exact proposal made by Jobs was not discovered by Bloomberg in its review of communications between Jobs and Colligan, Colligan's response indicates that an anti-poaching deal was in fact proposed.

"Your proposal that we agree that neither company will hire the other's employees, regardless of the individual's desires, is not only wrong, it is likely illegal," Colligan said to Jobs, 54, according to the communications. Colligan said he thought about Jobs's proposal and considered offering hiring concessions, before deciding against it, according to the exchanges.

The report comes on the heels of another claim that Apple and Google had a similar informal agreement during Google CEO Eric Schmidt's term on Apple's Board of Directors, a situation being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice for possible antitrust violations.

Palm and Apple have developed an intense rivalry over the past several years as Rubinstein and a number of other former Apple employees have played key roles in rebuilding Palm with the development of the Palm Pre and its webOS operating system. On a conference call in January several weeks after the Pre's announcement, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook made what was viewed as veiled threats against Palm regarding multi-touch and other intellectual property claimed by Apple that has appeared in similar forms in the Pre. Palm and Apple have also continued to spar over the Pre's ability to sync media directly from iTunes by presenting itself as an iPod in its vendor and device identification codes.

Apple today released Hard Drive Firmware Update 2.0, addressing issues with certain hard drives on the latest MacBook Pros models. Apple had been reported last week to be working on the issue, which involves intermittent "beeping" noises and occasional brief system freezes on machines using 500 GB, 7200 rpm hard drives.

MacBook Pro Hard Drive Firmware Update 2.0 reduces certain infrequent noises made by 7200-rpm drives.

These drives shipped with the June 2009 MacBook Pro.

To complete the firmware update process, please follow the instructions in the updater application (/Applications/Utilities/Hard Drive Update.app).

The updater will launch automatically when the installation is complete.

New Hard Drive firmware will be: 0007APM2

As the issue was first gaining attention in the first days after release, it was judged to likely be stemming from the G-Force anti-shock protection mechanism found in the Seagate Momentus drives used by Apple. The G-Force mechanism is essentially redundant to Apple's own Sudden Motion Sensor technology included in its notebook computers, but it is unclear exactly what steps Apple took with this firmware update to address the issue.

MacRumors has received word that a listing for the Mac Box Set version of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard briefly appeared in Apple's online store earlier today. While the page, which listed the box set as shipping within 24 hours, is no longer available on Apple's site, an entry for it is retrieved in Google searches for the product number, MC209Z/A.

The Mac Box Set bundles Mac OS X with iLife '09 and iWork '09. A Leopard version was launched in late January at a price of $169, and a similar version will be available for Snow Leopard at the same price point. Apple has noted that the box set will be required for users looking to upgrade from OS X 10.4 Tiger to Snow Leopard, as the standalone OS X Snow Leopard, priced at $29, will require an existing installation of OS X 10.5 Leopard.

The brief appearance of the Snow Leopard Mac Box Set provides further evidence that the launch of Apple's new operating system is rapidly approaching. Snow Leopard Build 10A432 was reportedly designated the "Golden Master" version to be sent to manufacturing for the public release, and several sources have also claimed that Apple may be releasing Snow Leopard as early as Friday, August 28th, ahead of Apple's previously-announced September launch window. Over the weekend, purported photos of the Snow Leopard packaging also surfaced, indicating that manufacturing has indeed begun.

Update: MacRumors has now received a screenshot of the page: