MacRumors

Apple released the iPhone 3G S on Monday with a case that is physically identical to the current iPhone 3G. As a result, most felt that the matte case photos that were leaked back in February were likely fake. Strangely enough, however, the photos do appear to have been real cases for the iPhone 3G S.

The leaked matte case design was clearly marked with a new model number A1303 and FCC ID BCGA1303A. Based on the official records released yesterday, this FCC ID does correlate to the new iPhone 3G S:

These model numbers and FCC ID's followed no obvious progression at the time so it seems unlikely that someone simply got lucky in guessing. We're not sure if plans simply had changed at the last minute, but the original leaked case was clearly produced by Apple.

One of the featured demos at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on Monday was TomTom for iPhone, a forthcoming turn-by-turn GPS navigation solution. Turn-by-turn car navigation has been a highly anticipated function for the iPhone whose deployment has been delayed in part by numerous hurdles imposed by Apple's SDK terms and restrictions from map providers on the use of their data. Several major vendors have been promising that they are working on such projects, with a small handful of applications even having been released.

TomTom last year asserted at the time of the iPhone 3G launch that it was working on developing turn-by-turn navigation, with additional confirmation coming several months later. According to this week's keynote demo and an associated announcement, TomTom's offerings, which will include both the software app and a hardware "car kit", will become available following the launch of iPhone OS 3.0 next week. Pricing has yet to be announced.

The TomTom solution combines two new TomTom products to provide users with state of the art in-car navigation on their iPhone 3G:

- The TomTom navigation application for iPhone; an Apple version of TomTom's award-winning turn-by-turn navigation software, including IQ Routes and latest maps from Tele Atlas;

- The TomTom car kit for iPhone; a specially developed car kit for secure docking, enhanced GPS performance, clear voice instructions, hands-free calling and in-car charging.

TomTom has also released a brief promotional video demonstrating the hardware setup and providing a glimpse at the software interface:

TomTom is not the only company still promising to bring turn-by-turn car navigation to the iPhone. German GPS navigation firm Navigon responded to TomTom's news with a press release announcing that it will be bringing its own MobileNavigator solution to the iPhone by the end of June.

Before the end of this month iPhone users will be able to kit out their smartphones with the professional navigation software from App Stores across the globe. "With the new OS 3.0 operating system, Apple has made the use of navigation software on the iPhone possible, and NAVIGON has quickly managed to adapt the MobileNavigator software to the new firmware. The iPhone can now be transformed into a versatile, fully functional navigator", quotes Egon Minar, CEO of NAVIGON AG.

Navigon promises a free "lite" version of the software, which will provide maps and the ability to display points of interest but no route guidance, and a full version that will provide full turn-by-turn functionality. Pricing for the full version as not yet been announced.

With the announcement of the iPhone 3G S yesterday, many current iPhone users have been looking to upgrade to the new model. Unfortunately, many users have been surprised and disappointed to find that their carriers are requiring that existing iPhone customers under contract are unable to immediately upgrade at the $199/$299 price point offered to "qualifying" customers.

It appears that many of these users had expected to be "qualified" for the lowest pricing despite being currently locked into a multi-year contract, as carriers such as AT&T permitted original iPhone users to upgrade to the iPhone 3G at the qualified price despite still being under their original two-year contracts. The key difference between last year's situation and this year's is that the original iPhone was unsubsidized by AT&T, and thus the carrier had no upfront subsidy to recoup through the two-year contracts its customers were on.

Customers on iPhone 3G contracts, however, received initial subsidies of several hundred dollars, meaning that carriers will require those customers to fulfill most or all of their contracts prior to qualifying for full subsidized pricing on upgraded models. This policy is not unique to AT&T, as upfront carrier subsidies quickly became the basis of Apple's iPhone business model throughout the world. As TechRadar notes, UK carrier O2 has also been receiving complaints from customers unable to qualify for fully subsidized pricing.

Speaking to Steve Alder, General Manager of Devices for O2 UK, he pointed out that it simply wasn't viable to let O2's iPhone customers upgrade early:

"Having subsidised much (or all - depending on tariff) of the price of a customer's iPhone 3G, we simply cannot justify invalidating that contract and subsidise a second device for the same customer.

"Much as we understand the desire of many customers to have the latest version, this would be a loss making deal for O2 and would be a distinct set of business terms for iPhone customers that don't apply to our other customers."

Confusion remains, however, over just what requirements are necessary in order for existing customers to qualify for subsidized pricing for a given carrier. Carriers typically permit users to qualify for partial or full subsidized pricing on handset upgrades several months prior to the expiration of their existing contracts in exchange for the customer locking in for an additional multi-year contract.

But AT&T iPhone 3G customers, for example, appear to be receiving varying information about when they will be eligible for subsidized pricing on the iPhone 3G S. One MacRumors forum member reports that an AT&T representative claims that this discrepancy stems from whether the customer purchased an original iPhone prior to purchasing an iPhone 3G, in which case the customer would qualify for subsidized pricing on the iPhone 3G S only 12 months after signing their iPhone 3G contract instead of the 18 months required for customers who had only purchased an iPhone 3G. A number of other forum members, however, claim that the pricing offers they are receiving do not reflect this supposed set of rules.

Because it remains unclear exactly how much of their contracts iPhone 3G users will need to fulfill before becoming eligible for subsidized pricing on the iPhone 3G S, customers looking to upgrade should anticipate additional clarification on this process from their carriers.

In the wake of yesterday's big announcements from Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, several smaller items of interest have managed to fly under the radar.

- iDisk iPhone Application: Apple's "More Features" pages for the iPhone 3G and 3GS contain a section entitled "iPhone and MobileMe", which highlights several iPhone-related features for customers of Apple's MobileMe service. In addition to the "Find My iPhone" feature previewed during the keynote, Apple is also prominently featuring a forthcoming iDisk application that will allow users to easily access files stored on their iDisk from their iPhone.

The free iDisk app lets you view files on your iDisk right on your iPhone. Microsoft Office or iWork '09 documents, PDFs, video files, and more are viewable in landscape or portrait. Even access Public folders of other MobileMe members with a few taps.

The free application also allows for easy sharing of files with others.

With the iDisk app -- free on the App Store -- you can share files that are too big to email. Choose your recipients and iDisk sends an email with a link to download your files.

- No ZFS Support in Snow Leopard Server?: Apple's interest in Sun's ZFS file system as a possible replacement for OS X's current HFS+ file system has been an item of interest for several years, with rumors even suggesting that ZFS would be the default file system for OS X Leopard. While that change did not come to fruition, Apple has continued to signal its interest in ZFS and has long mentioned ZFS support as a feature of Snow Leopard Server. Apple, however, has now removed mention of ZFS from its revamped Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard specs page and makes no mention of it on its new OS X Server File System page.

Apple has posted the 2009 WWDC Keynote stream from today which introduced a remarkable number of announcements today:

- iPhone 3.0 Launching June 17th
- Apple Announces iPhone 3G S, Launching June 19th
- Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Shipping in September
- Apple Releases Safari 4 for Mac and Windows
- Apple Releases New 15" MacBook Pro, Updates 17" MacBook Pro
- Apple Updates 13" Aluminum MacBook, Rebranded as "MacBook Pro"
- Apple Updates MacBook Air and Drops Price to $1499

An archive of the keynote coverage from MacRumorsLive can be found here.

AT&T has posted a walkthrough video explaining how to order the new iPhone 3GS and what pricing you can expect. Unlike the iPhone 3G launch, Apple and AT&T are allowing pre-orders on the iPhone 3G S which means you can order today to get your handset by June 19th.

The iPhone 3GS will be available for $199/16GB and $299/32GB for "new and qualifying" customers. The existing 8GB and 16GB 3G models can also be purchased for $99 or $149 (while supplies last).

On launch day (June 19th), two lines will form at 7 a.m. local time at the AT&T retail stores. Customers who had pre-ordered from retail stores will be able to pick up their iPhone 3GSs at that time, while customers who wish to purchase that day will have to wait until the store opens at normal business hours.

While iPhone customers might have been glad to hear that the newest iPhone 3.0 software supports both MMS and Tethering, U.S. customers found they were going to be left a bit behind.

According to one report MMS will be delayed as current iPhone customers' accounts have to be manually enabled to support MMS. Regardless, Apple did say that MMS would be coming to AT&T iPhone users but it would be delayed by a number of months.

Meanwhile, an AT&T rep is said to have confirmed that Tethering is in the works for U.S. customers but that nothing could be announced at this time. Boy Genius also has heard that tethering is in the works but suggests it could be included into a $70/month Unlimited Data + Tethering plan.

Apple today announced that its iPhone OS 3.0 will launch on June 17th, just prior to the release of the new iPhone 3G S. The upgrade will be free for all iPhone users, and will be priced at $9.95 for iPod touch users. While many of the features of iPhone OS 3.0 were previewed at Apple's media event in March, several additional features and clarifications were mentioned during today's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote.

- MMS: While the inclusion of multimedia messaging in iPhone OS 3.0 was discussed at Apple's previous media event, Apple today revealed the MMS will not be available for AT&T customers until "late summer", as much as several months after the launch of the new operating system. A number of other wireless carriers throughout the world will be supporting MMS at launch.

- Internet Tethering: At its previous media event, Apple chose not to focus on tethering, addressing it only in a Q&A period by saying that while the functionality is being built into the iPhone OS 3.0, cooperation from carriers would be needed in order to enable it. During today's keynote, Apple announced that tethering via USB and Bluetooth will be offered on a number of carriers at launch, although AT&T will not be supporting it for the time being.

- "Find My iPhone": A newly-advertised feature only for MobileMe subscribers allows customers to track the location of their lost iPhone, send alerts to the device, and perform remote wipes for data security. If later found, wiped iPhones can then be restored by syncing with iTunes.

Apple today announced the official launch of its Safari 4 browser for OS X and Windows. Safari 4, which has been available as a public beta since February, delivers a number of enhancements to Apple's browser offering.

Apple today released Safari 4, the world's fastest and most innovative web browser. Available for Mac and Windows PCs and introduced as a beta in February of this year, Safari 4 features the Nitro engine which runs JavaScript up to 4.5 times faster than Safari 3. Safari 4 makes browsing more intuitive and enjoyable with innovative features, such as Top Sites, Full History Search and Cover Flow, and support for modern web standards like HTML 5 and advanced CSS Effects.

"The successful beta release helped us fine tune Safari 4 into an even better, faster version that customers are going to love," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "Safari is enjoyed by 70 million users worldwide and with its blazing fast speed, innovative features and support for modern web standards, it's the best browser on any platform."

Safari 4 may be downloaded at Apple's site.

True to rumors, Apple today announced that the new iPhone 3G S will launch on June 19th in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK. Launches will occur one week later in an additional six countries, with many more launches around the world coming over the next few months.

Appearing almost identical to the iPhone 3G, the iPhone 3G S will be available in both black and white and be priced at $199 for 16 GB models and $299 for 32 GB models for new and qualifying AT&T customers in the United States. Apple will also continue to offer the 8 GB iPhone 3G, priced at $99 for qualified AT&T customers.

Apple today introduced the new iPhone 3G S, the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet, packed with incredible new features including improved speed and performance -- up to twice as fast as iPhone 3G -- with longer battery life, a high-quality 3 megapixel autofocus camera, easy to use video recording and hands free voice control. iPhone 3G S includes the new iPhone OS 3.0, the world's most advanced mobile operating system with over 100 new features such as Cut, Copy and Paste, MMS, Spotlight Search, landscape keyboard and more.

The iPhone 3G S contains many of the features that had been rumored including Digital Compass, Video Recording, Voice Control, 3 megapixel camera with autofocus and faster internet speeds.

Apple has also posted a guided tour of the new iPhone 3G S.

The big remaining issue is how pricing for existing iPhone 3G owners will be. The prices listed above represent subsidized pricing which existing iPhone 3G owners don't appear to qualify for. When the iPhone 3G was released, AT&T did allow previous iPhone owners to buy-in at the subsidized price, but the circumstances were different as the original iPhone had never been subsidized.

Existing iPhone 3G owners may have to pay approximately $200 over subsidized pricing to upgrade:

Visit Apple's online store and click "buy" on the iPhone 3G S to see what you qualify for.

Apple today announced that Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard will launch in September and will be priced at only $29 for current OS X 10.5 Leopard users. Alternatively, a $49 family pack will also be available. Meanwhile, Tiger users with Intel machines will be able to purchase a Mac Box Set containing Snow Leopard, iLife '09, and iWork '09 for $169 for a single license or $229 for a family pack.

"We've built on the success of Leopard and created an even better experience for our users from installation to shutdown," said Bertrand Serlet, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "Apple engineers have made hundreds of improvements so with Snow Leopard your system is going to feel faster, more responsive and even more reliable than before."

Apple offered a preview of Snow Leopard at today's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, highlighting many of the next-generation operating system's features. Apple touted a streamlined installation process (45% faster and 6 GB smaller) and speed improvements for a number of applications including Mail, Safari 4, and Spotlight. Snow Leopard also brings support for Microsoft Exchange Server to Mail, iCal, and Address Book.

Finally, Apple promoted Snow Leopard's ability to use Grand Central Dispatch and OpenCL standards to allow applications to more fully harness the power of multi-core processors and to take advantage of graphics processing power for general purpose computing.

Apple also announced the launch of Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard, scheduled for release in September at a price of $499, including unlimited client licenses on Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Today at WWDC, Apple announced major changes to their laptop line. Amongst these, Apple has updated the MacBook Air and discounted the entry level price significantly.

Apple today also updated the incredibly thin and light MacBook Air, making it more powerful and more affordable. Measuring just 0.16 to 0.76-inches thin and weighing just three pounds, the MacBook Air is available in two models starting with the new entry price of $1,499 for a 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system with a 120GB hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics, and a 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system with a 128GB solid state drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics for $1,799.

The $1499 entry level price represents a $300 drop from before, while the $1799 model represents a $700 drop in price for the high end model. Meanwhile, the clock speeds have increased from 1.6GHz and 1.8GHz to 1.86GHz and 2.13GHz respectively.

Apple today released a revamped version of the 15" MacBook Pro. The new model incorporates the same non-user-replaceable battery found in the 17" MacBook Pro and offers up to seven hours of runtime and up to 1000 charge cycles. Apple has also replaced the ExpressCard slot found in the previous model with an SD card slot and improved the display quality. Pricing starts at $1699, a $300 reduction from the previous entry-level model, and the new models are shipping today.

Three standard 15" MacBook Pro configurations are offered:

- $1699. 2.53 GHz, 4 GB RAM. NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, 250GB HD. Firewire.
- $1999. 2.66 GHz, 4 GB RAM. NVIDIA GeForce GT. 320GB HD. Firewire.
- $2299. 2.8 GHz, 4 GB RAM. NVIDIA GeForce GT . 500 GB HD. Firewire.

Additional options include:

- Up to 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo
- Up to 8 GB RAM
- Up to 500 GB HDD or 256 GB SSD

Apple also announced minor spec updates to the 17" MacBook Pro today and dropped the entry-level price to $2499 from $2799. The new entry-level 17" MacBook Pro offers 2.8 GHz processor and a 500 GB hard drive. The new 17" model also retains the ExpressCard slot and begins shipping today.

Apple today updated its 13" aluminum MacBook, rebranding the model as part of its MacBook Pro line. The new model offers the same non-user-replaceable battery found in the 17" MacBook Pro and adds a FireWire 800 port and an SD card slot. Pricing begins at $1199, a $100 drop over the previous entry-level price point, and all models include backlit keyboard.

The new 13-inch MacBook Pro is a significant upgrade at a lower price than the original aluminum MacBook it replaces. With the same sleek and durable design popular with consumers, students and professionals, all 13-inch MacBook Pro models now include a seven hour built-in battery, an SD card slot, a FireWire 800 port, an illuminated keyboard and an improved LED-backlit display with 60 percent greater color gamut.

Hard drive and RAM options for the 13" notebook are the same as in the new 15" MacBook Pro, topping out at 500 GB and 8 GB respectively. The new MacBook models offer the following price points and features:

- $1199. 13" MacBook Pro. 2.26GHz. 2GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 9400. 160GB HD. Firewire
- $1499. 13" MacBook Pro. 2.53GHz. 4GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 9400. 250GB HD. Firewire

Apple is now reserving the "MacBook" name for the white polycarbonate model. The new MacBook is available immediately.

Apple's 2009 WWDC Keynote is going to start soon. Here's a photo from one of the banners from the second level of Moscone which reads:

Threading has left the station.
Grand Central Dispatch

The banner is referring to a new feature in Snow Leopard that will allow developers to more easily support multi-core processors for improved performance on the Mac.

We're providing live coverage for the event at MacRumorsLive.com and all traffic from MacRumors.com will redirect to that page when the time comes.

Notes:
- iCal has the date of June 19th. The default date for the icon has been July 17th, the day the app was first announced in 2002.
- There is a new QuickTime icon.
- Apple's online stores are down.

WWDC 2009 is upon us and we've traditionally provided a rumor roundup prior to the big event to summarize the most likely rumors surrounding the Apple event.

iPhone

The product that seems to be getting the most attention ahead of the keynote is the next iPhone. Especially with the recent attention the Palm Pre has gotten as a potential "iPhone killer", everyone is eager to see what Apple is preparing for their next iteration. The Palm Pre, itself, provides some hints at what technology could realistically be delivered in the new iPhone.

The Palm Pre uses the ARM Cortex-A8 processor which represents the next generation ARM processor that is currently used in the iPhone. Apple is certain to use the ARM Cortex as it provides "the highest performance, most power-efficient" ARM processor available. Apple's job listings have also revealed that they are looking for ARM Cortex-specific programmers to take advantage of the more advanced features of the processor.

As well, Apple is believed to have licensed future 3D graphics chips from Imagination Technologies. Apple currently utilizes the 4th generation of this graphics chip, though the 5th generation is now available and ready for use. This new graphics chip will allow for more advanced 3D graphics on the next iPhone.

This information is also in line with reports by John Gruber who suggest that the next iPhone will be disproportionately faster than the current iPhone.

Other features that seem almost certain at this point based on the mounting evidence include:

- Magnetometer (MacRumors, Boy Genius Report, AppleInsider, Daring Fireball, UMPCFever)
- Auto Focus Camera (MacRumors, UMPCFever)
- Video (MacRumors, Engadget Mobile, Boy Genius Report, Businessweek)
- 4GB to 32GB sizes (Engadget, AreaMobile.de, Tweakers.net, Analyst)
- 7.2 Mbps 3G (AT&T, Boy Genius Report, MacRumors, Silicon Alley Insider, iLounge).

Surprisngly enough, this final list matches up well with an anonymous post from a Chinese forum, so it'll be interesting to see how right those details were after the event.

Despite the multitude of possible case designs that have been circulating around the internet, most of them are either believed to be fake or have been proven to be fake. The most credible case leak came in February when a matte iPhone case appeared forum sources in China. This possibility of a Matte case was later repeated by iLounge which has had a good record in the past. Meanwhile, most of the depictions of front-facing iChat cameras have been artist renditions and we feel there has been no real evidence that Apple will be launching that feature tomorrow.

iPhone 3.0 will certainly be discussed during the WWDC keynote and a launch date will also likely be announced.

Snow Leopard

Despite having such a long lead time, few new rumors about Snow Leopard have been circulating. Apple has been seeding developers with early releases over the past 12 months. While there have been minor revelations here and there, there are few major new details about Apple's upcoming operating system. Developers are expected to get the latest build of Snow Leopard (Build 10A380?) at WWDC and we hope to hear more definitive plans about the launch.

Meanwhile, the one secret change that had been rumored (Marble interface) may not be seen at all in Mac OS X 10.6.

Laptops

Finally, there had been some rumors about the possibility of notebook updates at WWDC back in April. These small updates could incorporate 3G into some of the laptops, or lower the price to stimulate sales. There has also been talk of rebranding all aluminum notebooks under the "MacBook Pro" moniker.

This sort of talk, however, has died down in the days leading up to WWDC and it would be strange for Apple to devote much time to their laptop line at their development conference. If these changes are to take place, it seems likely they would be "quiet" updates or perhaps occur a few weeks after WWDC, itself.

Live Coverage

The 2009 WWDC Keynote kicks off at 10 a.m. Pacific / 1 p.m. Eastern time and will be given by Phil Schiller. MacRumors will be providing live coverage on MacRumorsLive, twitter @macrumors, and a Spoiler Free notification system.

John Gruber articulates what he believes we'll see at tomorrow's keynote. Gruber first reiterates his predictions from before regarding the iPhone update:

I expect Apple to announce updated iPhones with significantly faster processors, twice the RAM, and twice the storage. I expected prices to remain the same as the current lineup: $199/299 for 16/32 GB, respectively. The video camera is going to be a major selling point.

And also reveals that "iPhone 3GS" is the codename for this next gen iPhone. It may or may not carry over to the official brand name and he is not sure what the "S" stands for.
Meanwhile, he offers some speculation about how much Apple might charge for Snow Leopard but does not believe the rumored "Marble" interface will actually make it into this version of Mac OS X:

But while I am convinced that "Marble" is a real design project at Apple, I no longer believe it is slated for Snow Leopard. A new visual appearance isn't something Apple can spring on third-party developers at the last moment. If they plan to ship Snow Leopard soon say, by the end of August that just isn't enough time to allow developers to update their software to look good under a new UI theme.

Finally, he is convinced the Apple Tablet is real but that we won't see it tomorrow.

Gruber has been known to have some inside knowledge of Apple's plans and his last-minute predictions can be quite accurate. MacRumors will have live coverage of the event at MacRumorsLive.com and we will have our own rumor roundup posted shortly.