MacRumors

Apple today issued a media alert announcing details for the July 21st release of its financial results for the third fiscal quarter and second calendar quarter of 2009. The results will cover sales from March 28th, 2009 through June 26th, 2009, and will be released at the close of trading (4:00 PM Eastern / 1:00 PM Pacific) on Tuesday. 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 primary product releases for the period occurred late in the quarter, with a revamping of its MacBook Pro line and an update to the MacBook Air taking place at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in early June and the new iPhone 3GS launching just a week before the end of the quarter. Apple also offered a minor bump to the white MacBook just prior to WWDC, where it became the sole member of that line with the 13" aluminum MacBook's rebranding as a MacBook Pro.

For the quarter, analysts are predicting net earnings of $1.16 per share on revenue of $8.16 billion, above Apple's guidance of $0.95-$1.00 profit on $7.7-$7.9 billion of revenue. Apple's year-ago results for the third fiscal quarter of 2008 included net earnings of $1.19 per share on revenue of $7.46 billion. Research firms Gartner and IDC earlier this week offered conflicting pictures on Apple's Mac shipments for the quarter as part of their industrywide analyses.

Palm today announced that it has released the Mojo Software Development Kit to all interested developers, opening the door for a broader offering of applications for the Palm App Catalog.

The initial response to Palm webOS apps -- from both developers and customers -- has been enthusiastic. Even in its initial beta stage, over 1.8 million apps have been downloaded from the beta App Catalog since Palm Pre was released less than six weeks ago. Thousands of developers have participated in the Mojo SDK early access program since it began in early April. New applications are in the pipeline for the Palm App Catalog, and the App Catalog submission process will be opened to all developers beginning this fall.

Expanding on the early access program begun in April, Palm is now providing all interested developers with the tools necessary to create their own applications for Palm's webOS, which is currently offered only on the Palm Pre but will be expanded to additional smartphones in the future.

The Palm Pre has been seen as a the major competitor to the iPhone, though with a previously restricted SDK, the number of apps found in the Palm Pre's version of the app store has been very limited.

According to comments made by Kevin Turner, Microsoft's Chief Operating Officer, Apple's legal department reportedly contacted Microsoft to stop running the Laptop Hunters ads. According to Turner:

And you know why I know they're working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey -- this is a true story -- saying, "Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices." They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I've ever taken in business. (Applause.)

I did cartwheels down the hallway. At first I said, "Is this a joke? Who are you?" Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we're just going to keep running them and running them and running them.

Microsoft's Laptop Hunter ads have been the source of a lot of discussion here on MacRumors. The ads present customers who are looking for a laptop within a specific budget, and specifically target Apple's higher price points as compared to the PCs featured in the ads.

Research firms Gartner and IDC have both released preliminary reports details U.S. and worldwide PC shipments for the second quarter of 2009, and the two firms offer conflicting pictures of Apple's performance during the quarter.

According to Gartner's report, Apple maintained its fourth place ranking for U.S. shipments with an 8.7% market share on unit growth of 2.5% over the year-ago quarter. Apple's market share was up significantly from the previous quarter's 7.4% share and up slightly from 8.4% in the year-ago quarter. The year-over-year increase reverses a trend that saw a slight market share decline between the first quarters of 2008 and 2009.

Overall, Gartner saw a 1.2% decrease in U.S. PC shipments over the year-ago quarter, handily beating the firm's expectation of a 12% decrease. A significant drop by market share leader Dell was offset by continuing tremendous growth from Acer, which has focused its efforts on the netbook and budget notebook segments.

IDC's report paints a very different picture for Apple, showing the company dropping past Toshiba into fifth place in U.S. market share at 7.6% on unit sales decline of 12.4%. Overall, IDC saw a 3.0% decline in the U.S. market versus the first quarter of 2008.

While Gartner and IDC do typically differ somewhat in their quarterly shipment estimates, the two firms diverge rather significantly in their analyses of Apple's performance for the second quarter of 2009. The reasons for the difference are not yet known at this time, although we can expect to gain a much clearer picture of Apple's performance next week at the company's earnings release and conference call.

ZDNet reports that Microsoft is planning to open a number of retail stores in close proximity to existing Apple Stores later this year. While the stores will reportedly be designed more to "showcase" Microsoft products and build brand awareness than to serve as retail distribution points, the move continues the aggressive attacks on Apple by Microsoft begun with its recent "Laptop Hunters" and Zune Pass commercials.

Microsoft is planning to open the first of its planned retail stores next to existing Apple stores this fall.

Kevin Turner, Microsoft's Chief Operating Officer, told partners the news during his Worldwide Partner Conference keynote on July 15. A number of attendees tweeted Turner's words immediately.

Microsoft officials announced in February that Microsoft was planning to open retail stores but have offered few details since that time as to what the stores would look like or when they'd open. I did hear from some Softies that the stores wouldn't be clones of Apple's, and that they'd be more showcases than actual retail outlets.

Microsoft's previous attempt at the retail store concept consisted of a single location opened in June 1999 in San Francisco's Sony Metreon shopping center. Hampered by its location in a tech-focused shopping center that never lived up to Sony's plans, the "microsoftSF" store closed in late 2001. Rumors of Microsoft returning to the retail store market surfaced early last year, but the company remained silent on the topic until its February announcement.

Earlier today, Apple released iTunes 8.2.1, describing the update only as providing "a number of important bug fixes and addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices." The notice regarding device verification has led to speculation that the update breaks the ability for the Palm Pre to sync directly with iTunes.

According to a posting at PreCentral and a report in our own forums, this is indeed the case, signaling the latest salvo in the ongoing dispute between Apple and Palm, which has hired a number of former Apple employees in recent years as it attempts to outdo the iPhone.

At least on this Mac, iTunes sync isn't working after the 8.2.1 update. We were wondering if this day would come after the back and forth between Apple and Palm on the issue. It's as-yet unclear exactly what method Apple is using to block Pre sync, but we suspect is wasn't easy. ...Which means we also suspect it might not be easy for Palm to turn it back on.

Update: Apple has officially confirmed that it has disabled the ability of devices pretending to be iPods to sync with iTunes.

"iTunes 8.2.1 is a free software update that provides a number of important bug fixes," says Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris. "It also disables devices falsely pretending to be iPods, including the Palm Pre. As we've said before, newer versions of Apple's iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with unsupported digital media players."

Palm's response has been to encourage users to use iTunes 8.2 without upgrading to 8.2.1. Palm will apparently also consider other options for syncing music to the Pre.

Just got a statement from Palm spokeswoman Lynn Fox. "Palm's media sync works with iTunes 8.2. If Apple chooses to disable media sync in iTunes, it will be a direct blow to their users who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience. However, people will have options. They can stay with the iTunes version that works to sync their music on their Pre, they can transfer the music via USB, and there are other third-party applications we can consider."

SinoCast Daily Business Beat reports that Foxconn, Apple's Taiwanese manufacturing partner for the iPhone, has begun production of a China-specific iPhone lacking Wi-Fi connectivity.

Two production lines in the Foxconn Shenzhen plant are producing 90-coded mobile phones, device that looks like iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, said one source.

The mysterious products might be the very model designed for Chinese users, according to another source, noting that the massively-produced device has no Wi-Fi functions, just like the A1324 model, the Chinese version of 3G iPhone being sent to the China Telecommunication Technology Labs (CTTL) for a test.

The news comes on the heels of a report from research firm Wedge Partners claiming that Apple has officially applied to the Chinese government for a Network Access License to began selling the Wi-Fi-less iPhone there by January 2010. The Chinese government has adamantly objected to Apple's desire to include Wi-Fi on iPhones sold there, desiring to route all Internet traffic through state-controlled cellular networks.

The Chinese version of the iPhone reportedly will run using the same GSM network standard as existing models, preventing it from being deployed on several of China's largest carriers, such as China Telecom, that utilize the CDMA standard. Consequently, Apple appears to be moving toward a deal with GSM carrier China Unicom for the iPhone. Apple had reportedly initially targeted China Mobile, China's largest carrier, for the iPhone, but extended negotiations between the two companies broke down in the wake of disagreements over revenue sharing, subsidies, and App Store control.

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook noted during the company's April earnings conference call that the company hoped to have the iPhone released in China within a year, and Apple seems to be rapidly progressing toward meeting that goal.

AppleInsider reports that Apple is considering bringing back matte antiglare displays in the form of an option on more of the company's Mac offerings. Currently available only as a $50 option on the 17" MacBook Pro, the report speculates that the 13" and 15" MacBook Pros are the most likely candidates for future inclusion of the option.

The transition towards glossy displays appears to have been sparked by the original iPhone, whose glass touchscreen and black border resonated well with customers. The reception was favorable enough that Apple, in a bid to push the envelope and standardize materials across its product families, gave similar treatment to its iMac line a few months later.

Further emboldened, Apple announced in October its new line of unibody notebooks would also forgo matte displays for glossy ones, with the exception of a $50 antiglare option on the pricey 17-inch MacBook Pro. These new displays "provide crisp images and vivid colors which are ideal for viewing photos and movies," Apple said, "and the edge-to-edge cover glass creates a smooth, seamless surface."

Apple's glossy displays have come under criticism from both professional image editors who note that the glossy displays interfere with color matching and a wider array of users who find the glare generated by Apple's glossy displays under bright conditions distracting. Apple has reportedly been following various petitions and discussions regarding the complaints and is making plans to address them in future product revisions.

Yesterday's release of OS X Snow Leopard Build 10A411 to developers has sent those with access to the new version searching for changes since the last update. Given that the previous seed had occurred only five days earlier, the changes found so far in the latest build are unsurprisingly minor for the most part. Here are a few of the changes observed so far:

QuickTime X Interface: QuickTime X has been updated from version 10.0 (42) to 10.0 (47) and adds a new "glossy black" look to the navigation interface.

Dock Contextual Menu Font: The font used for Dock contextual menus appears to have reverted to the "Leopard-style" larger non-bold text.

Trashing Files from Stacks: Trashing files from Stacks in Grid view now properly deletes the selected files.

Dock Expos Across Spaces: Dock Expos reportedly now displays windows from all Spaces upon activation.

New Safari Build: Safari has been updated to version 4.0.3 (6531.4). There is no word on any visible changes since the previous build.

One of the big changes discovered in the latest iPhone 3.1 Beta released tonight was that it seems to disable tethering hacks for AT&T customers in the U.S.

Tethering is the process by which you can share your iPhone's wireless internet connection with your laptop via USB or Bluetooth. This allows you to have access to the internet from your laptop, using your iPhone as a wireless modem. While tethering officially arrived with the 3.0 firmware, U.S. AT&T customers have been unable to officially take advantage of it.

Shortly after the release of the 3.0 firmware, however, several hacks began circulating allowing U.S. AT&T customers to unofficially enable tethering on their iPhones. The latest beta firmware, however, seems to disable this functionality.

AT&T plans to provide an official tethering solution later this summer, but will certainly require an additional charge beyond the standard data plans.

Close on the heels of the iPhone OS 3.1 Beta 2 developer release today, Apple has also seeded OS X Snow Leopard Build 10A411 to registered developers. The new seed comes just five days after the release of Build 10A402.

The new update weighs in at about 750 MB, considerably smaller than last week's 1.3 GB update. Specific changes in the latest build have not yet been revealed.

This Snow Leopard Developer Preview Update is recommended for all users running the Snow Leopard Developer Preview Build 10A402 or later. This update includes general operating system fixes for stability, compatibility, and security.

The public release of OS X Snow Leopard is slated for September, and the update will cost $29 for current OS X Leopard owners. Users who purchase a new Mac between June 8th and the Snow Leopard release can receive the updated operating system for $9.95 though Apple's "Up to Date" program.