MacRumors

It seems 2010 is going to be the year of the tablet with or without Apple. While Apple is rumored to be pursuing the market later in the year, other consumer electronic companies aren't going to wait and see. A number of non-Apple tablet announcements are expected at CES this year with Notion Ink's announcement arriving a bit prematurely.

Details of Notion Ink's "Smartpad" tablet was released by Slashgear today and carries an impressive spec sheet. The 10.1" sized device also is one of the first to use Pixel Qi's 3qi screen we detailed as a possible candidate for the Apple tablet. The specs for the unreleased device can give you an idea of what might be possible in an upcoming Apple tablet:

- 6.3 x 9.7 x 0.6 inches
- 1.7 lbs
- WiFi b/g, Bluetooth, UMTS/HSDPA (3G)
- Digital Compass, Accelerometer, Proximity, Ambient light, Water sensors
- USB, HDMI, 3-megapixel autofocus camera, Video Recording
- 32GB SSD, SD Slot
- Android OS with Gesture Support.
- 1024x600 Pixel Qi display
- 48 hrs standby battery, 8 hrs HD video playback, 16 hrs internet surfing over WiFi

No price was given, and the system appears to be based on the NVIDIA Tegra T20 chipset. The Pixel Qi display which we detailed in the past is said to offer significant power savings to these portable devices as well as clear viewing in sunlight.

Apple is rumored to be bringing a tablet of roughly the same size to market later in 2010. Apple's version is expected to be based on the iPhone operating system.

A BusinessWeek report from last night has received significant attention today for its focus on Verizon's claimed readiness should the company and Apple strike a deal to bring the iPhone to the largest U.S. wireless carrier next year.

Verizon Wireless has even made upgrades that would make its network more capable of handling extra traffic that would be generated by the iPhone, Verizon Wireless Chief Technology Officer Anthony Melone says in an interview.

"We have put things in place already," Melone tells Bloomberg BusinessWeek. "We are prepared to support that traffic."

Verizon has been seen by many customers disgruntled with AT&T's network performance as a likely partner for Apple once the iPhone maker's exclusivity agreement with AT&T expires.

The report notes that the iPhone has placed tremendous stress on AT&T's network, causing data traffic to explode by 5,000% over the past few years. Consequently, many have wondered whether any other U.S. mobile provider would have been able to meet the iPhone demand had they been able to offer the device. The BusinessWeek report points to a vague comment from Melone stating that Verizon has similarly seen growth of 1,000% per year, although recent comments from Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg have pegged the growth at substantially closer to 100% per year. Still, Verizon remains confident that it will be able to provide a quality customer experience for iPhone users should the opportunity arise.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that unauthorized Mac clone maker Psystar has begun the process of winding down its business ahead of a December 31st deadline set by a federal court judge in granting Apple a permanent injunction preventing Psystar from selling hardware with Mac OS X preinstalled or enabling others to infringe on Apple's copyrights.

The Doral, Fla.-based computer maker, which made machines that run Apple's popular Macintosh operating system, intends to fire its eight employees, company attorney Eugene Action told Dow Jones Newswires on Thursday.

Psystar President Rudy Pedraza will then be "shutting things down immediately, " Action said. "They will not be in business."

To that end, Psystar's web site, which serves as its primary sales channel, became inaccessible yesterday and it appears doubtful that it will be revived.

In the permanent injunction granted earlier this week, federal court judge William Alsup declined to grant Psystar's request to exclude from the injunction its Rebel EFI software, which enables consumers and other third parties to install Mac OS X on non-Apple computers. Alsup noted, however, that Psystar could bring a separate case to address the legality of Rebel EFI, which was not subject to full disclosure in the trial, although the company could be held in contempt if it continued selling the software before its legality had been addressed.

Given Psystar's bold history of business and legal moves, it did not appear out of the question that its management might decide to press the issue of Rebel EFI's legality, but it does now seem that Psystar has finally conceded and will be shutting down its operations in the very near future.

AdMob has released its November 2009 Mobile Metrics Report, offering a featured look at the iPhone and iPod touch's international growth during 2009 as seen by data collected through its ad network. The data shows that, while the U.S. has seen strong growth with a doubling of the number of iPhone and iPod touch devices appearing on AdMob's network, international growth has been even more substantial. Led by Japan's nearly 350% increase and France and Australia claiming 250-300% growth, AdMob's network saw overall worldwide growth of 150% during the course of the year.

International growth has been a key theme for the iPhone in recent months, with a recent report showing the device claiming a 46% share of the smartphone market in Japan. The iPhone also had a strong opening in South Korea late last month, a fact captured in AdMob's data.

AdMob notes that Android has also seen strong growth so far this year, including a substantial rise in the U.S. over the past month led by the launch of the Motorola Droid from 20% of smartphone ad requests in October to 27% in November. The increase, however, has primarily come at the expense of smaller operating system, as Apple has managed to continue holding 55% of the U.S. ad request market while boosting its international share to 54% only a month after hitting the 50% milestone.

MobileCrunch details a research report [Google translation] released last week by Japanese market research firm Impress R&D showing that the iPhone commands 46.1% of the smartphone market there.

For this year, Impress sees the 3G commanding 24.6% in this segment, while the 3GS contributes another 21.5%. The 3G was introduced in Japan in summer 2008 (the 3GS followed earlier this year). Sources in Japan say that the iPhone user base in Japan now stands at 3 million, which is an impressive 10% of the global userbase.

MobileCrunch points to very aggressive advertising, including widespread print and TV ads and competitive pricing, by wireless carrier SoftBank as being key to the iPhone's success in the market.

The Impress report also reveals unsurprisingly high data usage for iPhone customers, with 66.8% of iPhone 3G and 77.3% of iPhone 3GS users spending more than 30 minutes per day on data communications, well ahead of the 55.3% figure for the entire smartphone market.

Intel held a brief press conference today previewing some of the chips that they will be release at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January. Intel will release the first 32-nm chips across the Core i3, i5 and i7 brands.

The Arrandale and Grantdale processors are all shipping now and will begin appearing in new computers in early 2010. Intel has invested more than $7 billion in the United States in 2009 on four factories used to build the 32-nm products.

The mobile version of these chips have been commonly referred to as Arrandale and have been expected to be used in future MacBook Pro updates. Previous leaks have indicated that the new processors will run as high as 2.66GHz, though Intel did not officially confirm any of those details today.

Intel did demo the chips in several systems showing off the graphics capabilities of the chip as well as boasting about the new Hyper Threading and Turbo Boost features. While there had been some unconfirmed rumors about Apple skipping this set of processors, most continue to expect that Apple will adopt these processors in the next MacBook Pro.

CES kicks off on January 7th, and for the first time in many years, CES will not be competing for headlines with Macworld Expo. Macworld has been moved to February 9th-13th this year and is struggling to find its place after Apple's decision to stop attending the event.

AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega, who received significant attention for his comments last week suggesting that the company is looking at tiered pricing for data plans to rein in high-use customers, appears to now be downplaying that suggestion, according to a Wall Street Journal report (subscription required).

A senior AT&T Inc. executive dismissed speculation that the telecommunications carrier is planning to change the way it prices data plans for its wireless customers, but said it will give customers incentives to limit their use of its wireless network for surfing the Internet or downloading mobile applications.

"We have not made any decision to implement tiered pricing," AT&T Mobility Chief Executive Ralph de la Vega said Wednesday, referring to plans that would charge based on how much data a customer uses rather than the unlimited plans that are popular today.

While de la Vega's statement certainly doesn't appear to take tiered pricing options off the table for the long-term, as the earlier report suggested such a move would be anyway, it does emphasize AT&T's current strategy of using "incentives" and other strategies for shifting traffic off of its network instead of changing the pricing structure of its wireless plans.

In particular, de la Vega reportedly cited the possibility of increasing free access to Wi-Fi hotspots for AT&T customers, helping to shift traffic off of the cellular network while also providing users with faster connections. He also pointed to AT&T's 3G MicroCell program, which customers can connect to their home networks to seamlessly shift wireless calls to the Internet. The 3G MicroCell is designed to provide greater signal strength indoors and offers users the choice of using their own cellular minutes for calls or purchasing an unlimited calling plan for wireless calls routed through the device.

FierceDeveloper reports on data from research firm comScore showing that Apple's iPhone has finally surpassed Windows Mobile in share of the U.S. smartphone market usage. The data is based on monthly user surveys averaged on a quarterly basis, and thus reflects actual handsets in use rather than sales of new devices.

According to comScore's data, approximately 36 million Americans are smartphone owners, while an additional 196 million own non-smartphone devices. Nearly 15 million, or approximately 40%, of those smartphone owners are currently using Research in Motion's BlackBerry operating system, with the iPhone now clocking in in second place at about 25%.

Apple had been calculated to have surpassed Windows Mobile in U.S. sales market share as long ago as the fourth quarter of 2007, but Windows Mobile's head start in the smartphone market enabled it to maintain its advantage over the iPhone among active users for a considerable length of time. Its stagnated user base amid a rapidly growing market, however, has shrunk its share of the market to approximately 20%.

The iPhone blog notes that Apple has launched movie bundles in the iTunes Store, offering consumers the opportunity to purchase a limited number of themed movie multi-pack downloads at discount pricing.

For example, the Godfather I & II bundle [iTunes Store] is offered at $14.99, while the films are available individually for $9.99 each. Some bundles carry even steeper discounts, with the Dirty Dancing bundle [iTunes Store] and several other two-packs priced at $9.99, essentially offering buy-one-get-one-free pricing.

The movie bundles are not limited to two-packs, however, with offerings available up to quad-packs, such as X-Men Quadrilogy [iTunes Store], which is priced at $29.99, a 33% discount over individual pricing.

Finally, Apple has included a pair of HD download bundles in the new offerings in W. / Religulous [iTunes Store, $27.99 HD/$14.99 SD] and a Jason Statham "Action Pack: [iTunes Store, $34.99 HD/$24.99 SD] including Crank 2, Transporter 3, and The Bank Job.

iTunes Movie Bundles currently appear to be limited to the U.S. and Canadian stores, with approximately 30-40 bundles currently available in each store.

A notice posted earlier this month in the forums of VideoLAN, the open-source team behind the popular VLC media player, reveals that a lack of Mac volunteer developers for the software has forced the project organizers to consider new plans for the Mac version of VLC going forward. The forum post, which has since been replaced with a static page, explains that the lack of manpower on the Mac front has resulted in lagging development, primarily on the user interface.

Indeed we have a kind of lack of manpower on the Mac interface of VLC.

The VLC core (in C) and most other plugins work pretty fine, just not the OS X GUI (1% of the code of VLC) in Objective-C.

That explains the issues you have seen in latest version of VLC 1.0.x on mac, and the drop of 64bits version in 1.0.3

VideoLAN hints at a couple of tactics for addressing the problem, including a possible shift to the use of an alternative Qt interface. The organizers interestingly note, however, that Apple has apparently been uncooperative in relation to the VLC project, offering roadblocks to the application's development. Aside from VLC's competition with Apple's QuickTime Player, it remains unclear exactly what Apple's objections are.

While perhaps not as glamorous as 3D display technology, a couple of other patent applications from Apple reveal that the company is working on improving the audio/video experience of their iPod and iPhones.

Apple describes how they might keep track of individual playback characteristics of songs on an iPod in order to improve the overall user experience. Apple could, for example, track a user's preferences for volume, start time, equalizer settings and other factors and apply those automatically in the future. As an example, Apple gives the start time of a track:

For example, the usage metadata may indicate that a user skips, on average, the first 22 seconds of a particular song so the next time that song is played, the first 22 seconds will automatically be skipped.

In another example, Apple suggests that skipped songs which are rarely listened to might be dimmed out or otherwise obscured in favor of songs that the user prefers.

Meanwhile, another application suggests that the iPod or iPhone could actively determine if there is enough battery life to play the selected video. If not, the user could be given a warning as well as options to degrade the video settings or reduce backlighting in order to prolong battery life enough to watch the entire selection. When not enough battery life is detected, a warning dialog would pop up giving the user an option to simply proceed or make the desired adjustments:

The System Does not Have Sufficient Power for Playing the Entire Selected Video Segment.

Choose "Adjust Settings" for Lowering Power Consumption or Otherwise Choose "View Video" to View Selected Video for the Remaining Time.

It seems this would be a welcome feature for travelers to avoid missing the last bit of a movie due to a low-running battery.

Apple's patent applications always provide an interesting peek into what Apple researchers have been working on. In one of the more interesting patent applications we've discovered, Apple appears to be researching 3D displays in which the user will be able to look around an object.

In order to view a 3D object from various angles on your screen at present, you are required to use the mouse or keyboard to manipulate the object. This might simply involve clicking and dragging to pan or rotate an object. While functional, Apple considers this to be unintuitive and potentially frustrating to new users.

Apple proposes that a display could change the perspective of the 3D objects based on the users' relative position. Said display would detect the user's position through any suitable approach (such as video, infrared, electromagnetic fields etc...). Video, of course, is the most likely possibility with a camera mounted at the top of the display itself, thus allowing the computer to determine the user's location and position. The user could then move their head left and right to look around a 3D object as shown in the example image above. Apple also suggests that it could also be applied to 2D objects like windows to provide some added depth to traditionally flat objects:

In fact, Apple suggests that software could be so advanced as to incorporate elements of the user's environments into the scene on the display.

For example, the electronic device may define visual properties of different surfaces of the displayed object (e.g., reflection and refraction characteristics), and apply the visual properties to the portions of the detected image mapped on each surface. Using this approach, surfaces with low reflectivity (e.g., plastic surfaces) may not reflect the environment, but may reflect light, while surfaces with high reflectivity (e.g., polished metal or chrome) may reflect both the environment (e.g., the user's face as detected by the camera) and light. To further enhance the user's experience, the detected environment may be reflected differently along curved surfaces of a displayed object (e.g., as if the user were actually moving around the displayed object and seeing his reflection based on his position and the portion of the object reflecting the image).

Apple has been researching these sorts of novel display types for years. Back in 1995, they had even had a similar system built in the lab and referred to these displays as "Hyper Reality" displays. Apple, of course, is not the only company working on such technology. This YouTube video shows this system in action (thanks djellison) on a make-shift Wii system, demoed by Johnny Lee:

Fortune reports on a newly-published research effort from Morgan Stanley which analyzes the mobile Internet industry and in the process points to the iPhone's tremendous early growth and Apple's leadership position in the industry.

Based on past performance, according to Morgan Stanley, Apple is in the "pole position" in the race to dominate mobile Internet computing, which is supposed to be for the 2000s what desktop Internet computing was for the 1990s, personal computing for the 1980s, mini computing for the 1970s, and mainframe computing for the 1960s.

According to Fortune's report, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty sees the iPhone's massive installed base and application offerings as giving Apple a "two or three-year lead" on the rest of the industry. The iPhone's rapid early growth, which has easily surpassed that of other revolutionary Internet offerings, is seen as evidence of the game-changing nature of the device and the potential for continued leadership throughout the rapidly-evolving industry.

The report also provides data backing up what many have previously observed: that iPhone users' heavy use of data in comparison to that of other smartphone users is revolutionizing the mobile Internet industry and driving innovation and growth in excess of the device's market share. According to the study, the iPhone holds only 17% global smartphone market while claiming 50% of mobile app usage and a full 65% of mobile Web browsing.

While it remains to be seen whether Apple can continue its explosive growth in the face of increasing competition in the mobile Internet space, it seems clear that Apple holds a number of advantages that offer it the opportunity to drive the industry for the foreseeable future.