MacRumors

The Loop reports that "very reliable sources" are claiming that Apple's much-anticipated tablet computer will not be introduced at Apple's keynote event reportedly scheduled for the week of September 7th. While some reports had claimed that the tablet could see an introduction as early as September alongside music-themed announcements, The Loop's sources agree with other reports pointing to an early 2010 launch for the new device.

Very reliable sources familiar with the product have said speculation of the tablet being introduced during the September event are flat out wrong. The Apple tablet, they said, would not see the light of day until the first part of 2010.

The event in September will be focused on music, which means we could see new iPods and perhaps some updates to iTunes. The tablet computer will not even be mentioned as part of the event, my sources said.

MediaMemo reports on claims from music industry sources that Apple is planning a keynote event for the week of September 7th.

Time to get the rumor mill kicked into high gear: Multiple music industry sources say Apple executives have told them the company is planning one of its famed keynote events for the week of Sept. 7.

But in true Apple fashion, the company has been noncommittal about the exact date of the event and what it will be showing off.

Given the apparent inside information held by media executives, the report suggest that the event may highlight Apple's rumored "Cocktail" iTunes album enhancements.

Given that Apple has tipped off music industry executives, its a fair bet that the event will incorporate music in some way. Perhaps it will show off the new Cocktail format that Apple has been working on, which bundles full-length albums with other goodies like album covers and interactive bells and whistles.

iPod updates are another likely possibility, with evidence pointing to the possibility of revised iPod touch and nano models offering built-in cameras. Rumors of Blu-ray support, iPhone app organization and social media integration in iTunes 9 are another possible topic of discussion for the event. Finally, rumors have pointed to the possibility of an announcement regarding Apple's much-rumored tablet computer as early as September.

Apple has traditionally held media-focused keynote event each September to introduce new iTunes features and iPod updates, making the announcement of a similar event this year an unsurprising move.

- 2008: Apple held a "Let's Rock" event to introduce iTunes 8 and new iPod touch, nano, and shuffle models.

- 2007: Apple held a "The Beat Goes On" event introducing the original iPod touch alongside updates to the remainder of the iPod line, an iTunes 7.4 update, and iPhone price drops.

- 2006: Apple offered the "It's Showtime" event introducing iTunes 7 and iPod updates, as well as a sneak peak at the "iTV" that launched several months later as the Apple TV.

- 2005: Apple's "Here We Go Again" event introduced the Motorola ROKR mobile phone with iTunes support alongside the release of iTunes 5 and saw the introduction of the original iPod nano to replace the iPod mini.

Gizmodo reports on details regarding Apple's rumored tablet computer from a source believed to have had access to information on the device. The source reports that the device will look much like a large iPhone, complete with home button and black plastic back, and offer a 10-inch screen. The source claims:

"The device, which I've held mock ups of, is going to have a 10 inch screen, and when I saw it looked just like a giant iPhone, with a black back -- although that design could change at any time" they said, "with the same black resin back, and the familiar home button."

Additional information includes the existence of two models, one including a webcam and one designed for "educational use" presumably lacking a webcam of any sort. The device will also reportedly cost $700-$900 and may have the ability to serve as a secondary display and touchscreen input device for existing Macs.

To make up for that cost and make the device more than just a big iPod there was, this person claimed, there was talk of making the device act as a secondary screen/touchpad for iMacs and MacBooks, much like a few of the USB screens that have come out in recent months from Chinese companies. Very interesting.

Microsoft today announced that the next major version of Office for Mac will see the replacement of its Entourage for Mac e-mail client with Outlook for Mac. The company has also deployed a Web Services Edition of Entourage 2008 for Mac beginning today, offering users the ability sync Tasks, Notes and Categories.

Outlook for Mac will bring to the next major version of Office for Mac a number of new features, particularly targeted at enterprise users, designed to enhance productivity.

- Cocoa. Built from the ground up using Cocoa providing users with improved integration with the Mac OS
- New database. A high-speed file-based database with support for backing up files with Time Machine and Spotlight searching
- Information Rights Management. Helps prevent sensitive information from being distributed to or read by people who do not have permission to access the content

The Loop reports that the next version of Office for Mac is scheduled for launch in the "Holiday season 2010."

Microsoft also announced the introduction of Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition, scheduled for release on September 15th. The new edition will replace the existing Standard Edition and Special Media Edition packages with a single suite offering support for Microsoft Exchange. New features in the Business Edition include:

- Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition. Improves performance, brings new features and support for the latest version of Exchange Server
- Microsoft Document Connection for Mac. Helps improve access and browsing to documents on SharePoint Products and Technologies and Microsoft Office Live Workspace
- New art. More than 200 business-related templates and professional clip art
- lynda.com training. Training for beginning to advanced users by lynda.com Inc.

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition will be available for pre-order beginning August 18th at a price of $399.95 for the full version or $239.95 as an upgrade. The existing Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition will continue to be offered at $149.95.

With yesterday's developer seed of the rumored OS X Snow Leopard "Golden Master" (Build 10A432), users with access to the latest version have been examining it for changes. Among the most obvious modifications, as noted by Gear Live, is a change in the install icon from Leopard's "galaxy" image to one portraying a snow leopard. The change likely reveals the art to be included on the physical installation media.

Brazilian site MacMagazine.com.br also shares [Google translation] several screenshots of the installer application, noting several changes to the installation process when compared to Leopard, including the movement of Rosetta and QuickTime 7 to optional installs. The source also offers a video highlighting the Snow Leopard installer.

Notably, the source indicates several minor issues both in the installer and in the Snow Leopard build, leading MacMagazine.com.br to speculate that, contrary to numerous other reports, Build 10A432 may not in fact by the Golden Master version to be released to manufacturing.

Finally, both Daring Fireball's John Gruber and MacDailyNews have been hearing that Mac OS X Snow Leopard may be released on Friday, August 28th, ahead of Apple's previously-announced September launch window.

International Business Times covers reports from Chinese-language media claiming that wireless carrier China Unicom has purchased 5 million China-specific iPhones from Apple and will begin selling them next month.

China Unicom, the potential exclusive distributor of iPhones in China, has poured 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion) to buy 5 million units from Apple, ready to sell the first batch in September, local media reported on Wednesday.

China Unicom had already paid Apple 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion) for 5 million WCDMA standard iPhones with unit price of 2,000 yuan ($293), CBN news said, citing a well-informed source.

The report also notes that Apple has given up its traditional business model of sharing in "profit dividends" from its distributors, apparently referring to a lack of subsidies from the carrier that in other countries boost Apple's sales price for entry-level iPhone models by several hundred dollars.

Apple made compromises in the China market because of its great demand and intense competition, but Apple can still make profits from each unit from 1,000 yuan and 1,100 yuan as China Unicom offers a good price for each unit.

The iPhone will reportedly be offered to customers at about 2,400 yuan ($351) for the 8 GB model, with the 16 GB model possibly priced at 4,800 yuan ($702).

The news comes on the heels of a reported trip to China by Apple vice president of iPod and iPhone Product Marketing Greg Joswiak and other executives last week in order to finalize details with China Unicom.

Apple has seeded Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Build 10A432 to developers tonight. The 10A432 build has been rumored to be the Golden Master build for Snow Leopard. This designation indicates that it would be the final shipping build when it is ultimatly launched.

Snow Leopard represents the next major version of Mac OS X to be released to consumers and has been officially scheduled for September, though there has been some suggestion that it could appear later this month. Snow Leopard will provide a number of "under the hood" enhancements that should improve performance and stability.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard will be priced at $29 for current OS X Leopard owners, and users purchasing a new Mac on June 8th, 2009 or later can receive the updated operating system for $9.95 though Apple's "Up to Date" program.

AppleInsider has received information detailing a number of changes to the installation process for Apple's forthcoming Mac OS X Snow Leopard in comparison to the process for OS X Leopard. Notable changes include the preservation of minor point updates upon reinstallation, a shifting of Rosetta and QuickTime 7 to optional installs, and removal of the "Erase and Install" and "Archive and Install" options from the basic installer to reduce user confusion, although the options are still available via Disk Utility.

- Although Rosetta and Quicktime 7 are both included on the Mac OS X 10.6 installation DVD, both are designated as optional installs by default. However, if Mac OS X 10.6 is being installed on a Mac that contains a registration a key for Quicktime 7 Pro, the installer will install Quicktime 7 automatically.

- Options to "Erase and Install" and "Archive and Install" are no longer present in the Mac OS X 10.6 installer. According to those familiar with the software, this was done for convenience, so that users do not accidentally erase and install their Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard partitions. However, "Erase and Install" remains available through Disk Utility, which is also included on the installation DVD.

- If you need to reinstall 10.6, it automatically archives and installs for you.

- A reinstallation will not affect your Mac OS X version number. In other words, reinstallation of Mac OS X 10.6 on a Mac that contains Mac OS X 10.6.1 (when it becomes available) will not overwrite any new components delivered by 10.6.1. So when the re-install is complete, you will still be running Mac OS X 10.6.1. This will save users considerable time.

Additionally, the installer will copy a large chunk of data from the installation disc to the user's hard drive at the beginning of the installation process, allowing the bulk of the process to occur on the user's drive rather than constantly transferring data from the optical media. The Snow Leopard installer will also sequester existing applications known to be incompatible with the updated operating system, allowing for more reliable system behavior upon upgrading.

Finally, the report notes that word of a Snow Leopard release as early as August 24th has been suggested, although there is no confirmation of that information at this time. Apple has previously stated that it is scheduling a September launch of the new operating system.

A new Mac OS X Snow Leopard build (10A432) has reportedly been designated "Golden Master", paving the way for manufacturing of optical media for retail distribution. Mac OS X Snow Leopard will be priced at $29 for current OS X Leopard owners, and users purchasing a new Mac on June 8th, 2009 or later can receive the updated operating system for $9.95 though Apple's "Up to Date" program.

Apple today released Security Update 2009-004 for both Mac OS X Leopard and Tiger via Software Update and Apple's downloads page. The release comes just one week after the release of Mac OS X 10.5.8 and Tiger Security Update 2009-003.

- Security Update 2009-004 (Leopard) (166 MB)

- Security Update 2009-004 (Tiger Intel) (166 MB)
- Security Update 2009-004 (Tiger PPC) (130 MB)
- Security Update 2009-004 (Server Tiger Universal) (204 MB)
- Security Update 2009-004 (Server Tiger PPC) (130.97 MB)

According to the associated security support document, the update addresses a vulnerability in the BIND suite of Unix utilities that works with the Domain Name System (DNS). There is reportedly a public exploit of the vulnerability in "wide circulation" at this time.

Gizmodo has received a supposed screenshot from Rogers Wireless' internal sales systems for hardware upgrades listing an 8 GB iPhone 3GS model. Based on the screenshot and comments from the alleged Rogers employee who submitted it, the 8 GB iPhone 3GS will be offered at the same $99 price point of the current iPhone 3G under the standard three-year contract with data plan offered by Rogers or at $299 without a data plan. According to the source:

It clearly shows that an 8GB 3GS has been added to our stock list and is the same price as the 3G coming in at 99$...

The first listing is showing 74.00$ (promo price with data plan and minus customers 25$ discount)

The second listing shows the phone if the customer does not choose a data plan, which is normall 299$ minus said $25 discount, so 274$

I think that when 3G stock runs out they are going to build 99$ 3GSs since those are the parts they are ordering, might as well keep the parts list minimal...

The news follows an initial report of alleged screenshots from Rogers' sales system last week, and the appearance of an iPhone comparison chart listing the model on Rogers' public website. Rogers, however, claimed that the public listing was an error and that there was no such model.

Research firm Gartner today released a report detailing mobile phone sales for the second quarter of 2009. While Apple does not rank among the top five worldwide vendors for all phones, the report also highlights the smaller smartphone segment, where Apple held the third position in unit sales with 13.3% of that market. Apple's market share is up from 10.8% in the first quarter of this year and from only 2.8% in the year-ago quarter.

The significant increase in the year-over-year data is due in large part to the timing of Apple's product releases. Because the iPhone 3G was not launched until July 2008, Apple's sales number for the second quarter of that year reflected potential customers holding out for the new model and did not include the sales numbers generated at the device's launch. With the iPhone 3GS launching in June of this year, the initial sales bump, which included one million iPhone 3G models sold in the launch weekend and continued brisk sales in the remaining week of the month, was included in Gartner's data. Gartner also notes that the early June iPhone 3G price drop to $99 contributed to increased sales for Apple.

Apple's expansion into a larger number of countries in the past year has produced a clear effect on sales volumes, as have the recent price adjustments on the 8GB 3G iPhone. Sales of 5.4 million units in the second quarter of 2009 indicated a 51 per cent growth in shipments and helped Apple maintain the No. 3 position in the smartphone market, where it has stayed since the third quarter of 2008. Apple brought its much-anticipated new device -- the iPhone 3G S -- to market at the end of the second quarter of 2009, but its full potential will only start to show in the sales figures in the second half of 2009.

Panic co-founder Steven Frank recently detailed his outrage at Apple's rejection of the Google Voice application and other controversial App Store policies. Given that there's been no signs of improvement after a year, Frank decided to personally boycott the iPhone:

I've reached a point where I can no longer just sit back and watch this. The iPhone ecosystem is toxic, and I can't participate any more until it is fixed. As people have told me so many times: It's Apple's ballgame, and Apple gets to make the rules, and if I don't like it, I can leave. So, I don't like it, and I'm leaving.

Apple senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller has since personally responded to Frank to provide him some reassurance that Apple was listening to his feedback.

I haven't sought Phil's explicit permission to republish the letter, so I won't do so here. But to summarize, he said: "we're listening to your feedback". Not all of my suggested solutions were viable, he said, but they were taking it all in as they continue to evolve the app store.

He went on to say that the rumors of widespread e-book app rejection I'd heard were false -- that specifically one e-book app had been rejected because it facilitated iPhone-to-iPhone sharing of (potentially copyrighted) books. But that otherwise, there was no sweeping ban on e-book readers.

The email seemed to provide some reassurace to Frank that Apple was taking the App Store criticisms seriously and will hopefully address them in the near future. Schiller also recently personally responded to Daring Fireball's John Gruber addressing some other App Store criticisms.