MacRumors

Readers report that this week's Circuit City Ad (page 20) is advertising a purple iPod nano.

Apple's current line of iPod nanos come in silver, blue, green, black, pink, and (PRODUCT) RED. The obvious suggestion is that Apple is set to release a purple iPod nano. However, note that mousing over the photo reveals the current iPod nano lineup, increasing the possibility that the advert simply has profound mistakes. The photo also appears extremely similar to Apple's stock gallery imagery.

The addition of a purple option to the iPod nano would make the iPod Shuffle lineup a complete subset of the iPod nano colors. Currently, the purple depicted in the ad is available on the iPod Shuffle but not available on the iPod nano, whereas the iPod nano has the additional options of black and pink (recently added) that are not available on the iPod shuffle.

Intel announced today that they are officially branding their upcoming ultra-mobile processor family as 'Atom'. Formerly known as Silverthorne, the new family of low-power processors are specifically designed for mobile internet devices (MIDs).

"This is our smallest processor built with the world's smallest transistors," said Intel Executive Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Sean Maloney. "This small wonder is a fundamental new shift in design, small yet powerful enough to enable a big Internet experience on these new devices. We believe it will unleash new innovation across the industry."

'Atom' offers very low-power consumption (0.6-2.5 watt) over Intel's laptop-class processors (35 watt) yet preserves the Core 2 Duo instruction set. In theory, this means that Mac software could run unmodified on the new low-power processors. Intel envisions the use of these processors to introduce a new class of internet capable devices.

Rumors have placed 'Atom' processors in upcoming mobile devices from Apple -- either the rumored Apple tablet/PDA or the next generation iPhone.

According to sources Apple has released a Safari seed to developers that promises a "significant" amount of bug and performance fixes regarding the following areas:

- large plaintext pastes
- photo uploading to auction websites
- Handling of "unsafe" Javascript
- Writing direction shortcuts

The seed build numbers are 9B4021 for Leopard, 8S4021 for Tiger, and 31A15 for Windows.

Evidence has recently been surfacing that Apple is planning to bring a host of performance improvements to Safari. An earlier Safari beta appears to have incorporated recent rendering improvements to WebKit.

Rumors earlier today from iLounge suggested that Apple would act as a gatekeeper for iPhone and iPod Touch applications based on their upcoming Software Development Kit (SDK). As gatekeeper, Apple would individually review new applications by 3rd party developers to decide whether or not they are allowed for inclusion in the Apple iTunes Store. The exact criteria for this rumored approval is unknown, but some have expressed concerns that this practice could seriously restrict application development on the iPhone.

Electronista, however, now claims that Apple plans on only imposing those restrictions on commercial applications for sale through iTunes and will not try to restrict free programs in any way

...the new contact claims that free applications are not subject to the same rules that will guide paid software downloads. In this model, free software is unlikely to be subject to much if any scrutiny by Apple

Such a tiered system could appease those concerned that an Apple approval system would arbitrarily restrict an otherwise thriving developer community. Meanwhile, commercial iPhone applications sold through the iTunes store would benefit from the existing infrastructure and customer base of the iTunes store, but in exchange would have to meet some set of predefined criteria.

It is still too early to draw too many conclusions about Apple's SDK plans. Apple has announced very little publicly about their plans, though Apple's COO has recently made comments claiming that with the SDK, the only limit would be people's imaginations.

Apple is hosting a media event on Thursday, March 6th to detail their SDK roadmap.

The first Time Capsules have started arriving, and some Apple Stores already have the new wireless backup solution in stock.

First impressions from Gizmodo and Engadget provide the following observations:

- New AirPort Utility software with easy to use step-by-step
- USB Drives connected to Time Capsule are available for backup
- Initial backup takes a while.
- An Apple Tech note recommends not interrupting your first backup. and notes that you can use an Ethernet connection for your initial backup.
- Can't transfer an existing Time Machine backup to Time Capsule.
- "so far it works as billed, clean and easy."

Apple has posted (PDF) the Time Capsule setup guide which provides detailed instructions on the the product's usage.

Time Capsule is a wireless backup accessory for the Mac that allows you to backup your computer's data. It was announced by Apple at Macworld San Francisco 2008 and is available in 500GB ($299) and 1TB ($499) models.

iLounge cites several sources "familiar with Apples iPhone and iPod touch software development kit (SDK) plans" to reveal some controversial new details:

iTunes Store as hub - as expected, Apple will require future iPhone and iPod Touch applications to be distributed through Apple's iTunes Store.
Apple as Application Gatekeeper - iLounge believes that Apple will act as a gatekeeper for the applications themselves and will formally approve or deny all software releases:

While one source saw this as a positive for major developers, suggesting that Apple will be choked by application submissions and forced to give priority to releases from larger companies, another source disagreed, stating that Apples current approval processes for third-party products have resulted in lengthy, needless delays.

No Accessory Support - no ability to support dock-based accessories (such as a GPS module), though the iPhone's own phone, Wi-Fi, and camera will reportedly be accessible.

iLounge corroborates earlier rumors that the final SDK would not be ready for release at Apple's March 6th event. Instead, they echo that a beta will be available then, with the final release to await WWDC in June. Meanwhile, they do expect Apple to announce Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes support at the March event.

A Youtube video of an upcoming puzzle game for the iPhone demonstrates how developers could use the unique capabilities of the iPhone as part of the gaming experience.

Trism is a puzzle game, requiring the player to align the the triangles together in three or more consecutive triangles of the same color. Rows of triangles may be moved with the use of the touch screen, and grouped triangles will disappear. The remainder of the triangles will fall into the open space left. The direction of the fall depends on the vertical orientation of the iPhone at the time the triangles disappear. The video demonstrates the basic gameplay well.

The game is currently under development as an "unofficial" 3rd party application and requires a jailbroken iPhone. However, the developer is planning to relaunch it once the official Software Development Kit is released. Apple is hosting a media event on March 6th to announce details about the iPhone and iPod Touch SDK.

A demo of the game will be available on demiforce.com.

SetteB.it claims that the announced "Roadmap" event for the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) will be just that... a "Roadmap". The site believes that Apple will be unable to deliver a final version of the SDK at their March 6th event. Instead, a beta version will be released, with a final version not expected until Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC). The dates for this year's WWDC have not yet been announced, but the conference typically falls in June.

SetteB.it is not a typical rumor source, but this information is consistent with earlier Page 2 rumors and direct observations we've heard from individuals who have seen early versions of the SDK, saying that it appeared to offer just the "bare essentials" at that time.

Meanwhile, UBS analysts are continuing to predict that the 3G iPhone will be released "mid-year". They also pinpoint Infineon Technologies AG as the likely supplier for the 3G communications chip.

Underscoring comments by Apple COO Tim Cook that they are working to expand the iPhone into new geographic areas, wireless carrier O2 announced that they would be introducing the iPhone in Ireland on March 14th, 2008.

The iPhone will be made available through both O2 retail stores as well as branches of Carphone Warehouse. The 8GB model will cost 399 euro and the 16GB at 499 euro. Tariffs start at 45 euro per month. Visual voicemail is not yet supported.

45 euro/mo: 175 minutes, 100 texts, 1GB data
65 euro/mo: 350 minutes, 150 texts, 1GB data
100 euro/mo: 700 minutes, 250 texts, 1GB data

More information available at o2online.ie.

Apple's COO, Timothy Cook, delivered a question and answer session at the Goldman Sachs Investment Symposium yesterday, and touched on a number of interesting topics. Differing notes available at MacNN, Appleinsider and iPhoneAtlas.

Of interest, Cook answers why Apple hasn't offered an unlocked version of the iPhone. He states that multi-carrier offerings were impractical at launch. For the U.S. market, this would require a CDMA and GSM version of the iPhone. In the end, they felt it was impractical to try to satisfy every carrier and every user. Still, he states that Apple is "not married to any business model" and instead, they're "married to ... shipping the best phones in the world."

When asked about the possibility of Apple expanding into even more areas with new product lines, Cook feels anything is possible, but that each product choice is made carefully since "for everything we do, we know me make a choice not to do something else. We may or may not add some over time, we'll see."

Regarding iPod reaching a saturation point, Cook points out that 40% of iPods are still being sold to those who don't already own an iPod and suggests that slower iPod sales are a reflection of the economy than necessarily sales saturation.

He again describes the iPod Touch as the "first mainstream WiFi portable platform" and also describes the iPhone as a "platform not a product", and states that the upcoming SDK will "broaden the platform more, to the point where the only limit will be peoples imagination." Cook stopped short when asked about when the first 3rd party apps would appear, not wanting to take away any element of surprise from next week's event.

Finally on iPhone Unlocking, Cook acknowledges the problem but states he "look[s] at this 'problem' with a little bit of a smile. Having people stepping over each other for the phone isnt a bad thing. He goes on to state that the best way for Apple to fight back is to offer the iPhone in more countries.

A Quicktime stream of the talk is available from Apple.

Apple broadcast a new iPod touch advertisement during American Idol last night. The new advertisement features a table full of iPod touches showing off various features including Photos, Cover Flow, Weather, Notes, Web Browsing, Mail and Video playback.

Brendan Benson is the latest artist to benefit from exposure in an Apple television commercial with their song, What I'm Looking For (iTunes link). Compete reports that almost 1 million searches for iPod commercials and their songs were conducted from August 2007 to January 2008. Though briefly, Apple actually shows the artist name and song being played in this commercial on one of the iPod Touch's screens.

Apple has posted the new ad in Quicktime format and is also available on YouTube.

Crave and Reuters reports that Apple has sent out invitations for an event on Thursday morning detailing the iPhone Software Developement Kit (SDK):

"Please join us to learn about the iPhone software roadmap, including the iPhone SDK and some exciting new enterprise features," Apple said in an invitation sent to reporters.

Steve Jobs had originally announced that the iPhone and iPod Touch Software Development Kit (SDK) would be released in February 2008. Last week rumors pointed to a brief delay in the launch of the SDK. The SDK will allow developers to release their own software applications for both the iPod Touch and iPhone.

Few details have been made available, but the SDK has reportedly been seeded to select developers in the months ahead of its release. The event will take places at 10am Pacific time at Apple's Cupertino campus.