MacRumors

Last weekend, book publisher Macmillan won out over Amazon in a battle over eBook pricing, switching to an "agency model" in which book prices are set by the publisher with retailers receiving a percentage (30% in Amazon's case) of the sales price. The move effectively eliminated Amazon's standard $9.99 eBook price for new releases, with Macmillan targeting a range of $12.99-$14.99 for new releases.

Macmillan's negotiations with Amazon were spurred by its deal with Apple for the iPad involving a similar arrangement. While Amazon at the time claimed that it felt that other publishers would not follow in Macmillan's footsteps, other book publishers do in fact appear to be falling into line.

During an earnings conference call this week, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch acknowledged that his HarperCollins book publishing unit has been unhappy with Amazon's control over eBook pricing and noted that HarperCollins and Amazon were about to begin discussions about moving to a similar model allowing for more flexible pricing.

And just yesterday, Media Bistro reported that Hachette CEO David Young has announced a similar plan for his company, marking the third of the five book publishing partners announced by Apple for the iPad to extend the agency model beyond the Apple deal. Young writes:

"There are many advantages to the agency model, for our authors, retailers, consumers, and publishers. It allows Hachette to make pricing decisions that are rational and reflect the value of our authors' works. In the long run this will enable Hachette to continue to invest in and nurture authors' careers--from major blockbusters to new voices. Without this investment in our authors, the diversity of books available to consumers will contract, as will the diversity of retailers, and our literary culture will suffer."

The increased prices will reportedly actually result in lower income for book publishers, serving instead to prevent Amazon from selling eBooks at a loss in order to draw in Kindle customers. In the view of publishers, the move will help maintain consistent eBook pricing and improve the long-term viability of the industry, while also allowing publishers the flexibility and control over their releases to offer eBook releases on the same day as hardcover releases.

Silicon Alley Insider reports that Apple CEO Steve Jobs apparently traveled to New York City in recent days to meet with executives at The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal for discussions about bringing their content to the iPad.

We're reliably informed that Jobs showed up for an iPad show and tell in the Times newsroom. The meeting was strictly off the record, though a person present indicated Jobs is preparing to gear up the iPad for magazines and newspapers, having put books first on his list of priorities.

Jobs' visit to The Wall Street Journal was reportedly more low-key, eschewing a newsroom visit in favor of a more limited audience.

New York also reports that Jobs held a dinner meeting with 50 representatives of The New York Times.

Our source says Jobs, who sat at the head of the "intimate, family-style gathering" with Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, demonstrated the iPad and its functions, and spoke about how it could serve the future of media.

At Apple's media event held to introduce the iPad, Apple executives focused primarily on traditional book publishers when discussing content partnerships, although The New York Times was heavily featured in demonstrations. In the days since the media event, Apple has reportedly been working to broaden its content deals, pursuing additional book publishers and bringing textbook publishers on board while now apparently beginning focused efforts on the newspaper and magazine industries.

Update: According to Fortune, Jobs is still in New York, having been spotted entering the headquarters for Time magazine.

On Friday morning he showed up at the Time & Life Building to demonstate his new tablet computer to Time Inc. (TWX) CEO Ann Moore and roomful of magazine editors.

As Apple struggles with flickering and yellow-tinting issues on the displays of its 27-inch iMac models, Gizmodo has been continuing to closely follow the situation and has learned that Apple has been offering refunds of 15% of the machine's purchase price to users experiencing repeated service issues with their machines. The news comes just days after Apple issued a second firmware update that appears to be taking care of the flickering issues for many users.

Yesterday, Gizmodo reported that it had received information from an Authorized Apple Service Provider in the UK that Apple is experiencing a shortage of replacement 27" LCD parts in Europe, with a backlog of over 230 machines waiting to be serviced. According to the report, Apple was apparently offering affected users the ability to return their machines for a full refund, as well as offering all affected users a refund of 15% of their purchase price.

A follow-up report today suggests that a similar program is in effect in the United States, with Apple apparently offering 15% refunds to users who have exchanged their iMacs multiple times in seeking to have the issues addressed.

15%. Cash. So on a $2000 machine, we're talking about a $300 apology straight from Apple customer support. From the handful of reader anecdotes we've received thus far, it sounds like you need to be a repeat iMac returner who's dealt with multiple 27-inch iMacs that have been busted in some way (but they may accommodate first time buyers as well, we don't know). One reader had multiple yellow screens, then received another new model with broken Bluetooth. He took the 15% and just returned it.

Despite the apparent refund program in effect and Apple's efforts at addressing the flickering issues, the company has yet to publicly acknowledge the yellowing issue generating significant numbers of complaints from customers. The company has, however, reportedly published an internal service memo for its service providers alerting them to the issue and offering instructions on how to handle it.

Shipping lead times for new 27-inch iMac orders placed through Apple's U.S. online store remain at two weeks after improving from a three-week margin earlier this week.

Research firm IDC today issued a report highlighting fourth quarter and full year worldwide sales numbers of "converged mobile devices", more commonly known as smartphones, revealing continuing outstanding growth for Apple's iPhone above the overall industry already-healthy growth rate.

According to the data, Apple's shipments for the fourth quarter of 2009 were up 97.7% year-over-year, in line with results reported by Apple in its most recent earnings release and well ahead of the smartphone industry's 39% growth overall. The 8.7 million iPhones shipped during the quarter placed Apple solidly in third place with 16.0% market share behind Research in Motion and Nokia, both of which saw growth in line with the overall industry's growth rate.

For all of 2009, Apple similarly held down the third position behind Research in Motion and Nokia, shipping 25.1 million iPhones for an increase of 81.9% over 2008 and enough to hold 14.4% of the worldwide market for year, up from 9.1% in 2008. Overall, the market grew by only 15% year-over-year, with only Research in Motion (46.2% growth) joining Apple in outperforming the industry.

Earlier this week, data from ABI Research revealed that Apple's share of the worldwide smartphone market had slipped slightly between the third and fourth quarters of 2009 as Apple was unable to keep pace with overall industry growth rates. The report apparently failed, however, to address the typically stronger seasonal effect seen in Apple's sales numbers compared to other manufacturers that release multiple new handsets throughout the year.

AT&T today announced that it has decided to allow Sling Media's SlingPlayer Mobile iPhone application to stream video content over its 3G network. SlingPlayer Mobile allows users of Sling Media's "Slingbox" hardware to control and stream live and recorded content to their iPhones and iPod touches.

AT&T attracted significant attention when it refused to allow the SlingPlayer Mobile to stream video over the carrier's wireless networks, citing the potential for the video traffic to overwhelm its network capacity and create service issues for other users. Consequently, the application has been Wi-Fi-only in the U.S. since its launch in May 2009.

Since mid December 2009, AT&T has been testing the app and has recently notified Sling Media -- as well as Apple -- that the optimized app can run on its 3G network. The SlingPlayer Mobile app already is available for use today on AT&T's Wi-Fi network, the nation's largest with more than 20,000 hotspots.

In its press release, AT&T also took the opportunity to publicize its willingness to work with developers on bandwidth-intensive mobile applications in order to create the best possible experience for users.

"Just as we've worked with Sling Media in this instance, we look forward to collaborating with other developers so that mobile customers can access a wider, more bandwidth-sensitive, and powerful range of applications in the future," said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "Collaboration with developers like Sling Media ensures that all apps are optimized for our 3G network to conserve wireless spectrum and reduce the risk that an app will cause such extreme levels of congestion that they disrupt the experience of other wireless customers. Our focus continues to be on delivering the nation's most advanced mobile broadband experience and giving our customers the widest possible array of mobile applications."

Support for developers is offered through AT&T's dedicated developer site.

TechCrunch reports that Apple has expanded its browser-based 'iTunes Preview' functionality to include pages for App Store applications.

To see this for yourself, open any direct link to an iPhone app (example) in your favorite Web browser.

You'll notice that instead of only throwing up a dialog box prompting you to confirm that you wish to launch iTunes on your desktop, you'll see a nice page with the app logo, price, description, screenshots, rating, reviews and more in a new window or tab.

Simultaneously, iTunes will be opened and you'll be directed to the app's detail page in the App Store.

iTunes Preview was launched last November, offering users the ability to view iTunes Store music content in their browsers without the need for iTunes to be separately installed. The functionality was later updated to allow users to listen to 30-second song samples, although users remain unable to actually purchase content though iTunes Preview.

While Apple's iTunes Store has always been something of a proprietary browser, the company has only recently made a significant push into the real browser environment itself. With Apple's recent purchase of streaming music service Lala Media and rumors of the Lala team being deployed to develop a cloud-based iTunes, Web browsers appear poised to play an even greater role in the iTunes experience.

NY Times reports that Amazon has acquired the multi-touch company Touchco. Touchco is a startup company that was recently profiled in the New York Times for producing cheap, pressure sensitive, multi-touch panels:

In contrast, Touchco uses a technology called interpolating force-sensitive resistance, or I.F.S.R. This technology uses force-sensitive resistors, which become more conductive as you apply different levels of pressure, and then constantly scan and detect different inputs.

The Touchco website mysteriously shut down over the new year and all its YouTube videos set to private. We received a number of emails from those speculating who might have bought out the startup.

As it turns out, Amazon will merge Touchco with its Kindle group and is expected to try to add features to the Kindle to better compete with the newly announced Apple iPad. There is some question about whether Amazon will continue to stick to e-ink or switch to a color display better suited for multimedia.

Ars Technica reports on growing complaints from users of Apple's Nehalem ("Early 2009") Mac Pro models regarding heat and performance issues when performing audio processing tasks.

The problem manifests as what has been described as excessive increases in power use and processor core heat when playing songs in iTunes, watching videos via Quicktime, or even when keeping USB or FireWire-based audio interfaces plugged in and active. While hardware monitors only report a small percentage of processor use, it can still cause performance decreases of up to 20 percent for other tasks.

The complaints had originated in our own forums last October and have grown to well over 1,000 posts in a single thread serving as a centralized discussion on the topic.

According to reports, the symptoms are present when running under either Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6, but absent when booted under Windows via Boot Camp. The glitch, which is reportedly highly reproducible, has been claimed to boost internal CPU temperatures by in excess of 30 degrees Celsius, while also dramatically increasing power consumption for what should be a relatively minor task.

Despite the thorough investigations by users into the situation, AppleCare representatives have been unwilling acknowledge that any issues exist, calling such temperature spikes normal and within design parameters for the machines. Users continue to be frustrated, however, by the performance hits their machines are experiencing and Apple's refusal to address the situation. Apple has yet to issue any statements regarding the issue.

Earlier this week, a report briefly mentioned that Clayton Morris of FOXNews.com, who offered several reports about the iPad coming to Verizon in the weeks leading up to the device's introduction, had spoken to a Verizon source who claimed that Apple and Verizon are continuing to work on an iPad deal despite AT&T having been the only announced partner at Apple's media event. Morris has finally filed his full report on the events, noting that according to his source, the companies are "still talking", although Morris acknowledges that the statement does not necessarily mean much.

Of course "still talking" doesn't mean anything. It would be ridiculous to think these companies aren't still talking: that's what big companies do. To be fair, these talks are very much in keeping with reports from Wall Street analysts who expect some Apple/Verizon partnership announcement this year. But I'll believe it when I see it.

Despite all the attention focused on the iPad at the moment, the report also claims that Verizon is much more interested in the iPhone due to its more lucrative revenue stream of contracted voice and data service. While sources are optimistic that a deal is in the works for later this year when AT&T's exclusivity agreement for the iPhone is reported to expire, other observers remain skeptical of the benefits of rolling out new iPhone or iPad hardware compatible with Verizon's CDMA-based network just as the company is preparing to transition to the next-generation LTE (4G) standard that will offer global hardware compatibility.

Another interesting tidbit claimed in the story is that AT&T won the battle among GSM-based service providers with its willingness to "outbid" its competitors in pricing.

"I think the pricing speaks for itself," said AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel. "Apple sets the price for these plans and the $29.99 unlimited plan is comparable to our data plans for other devices."

Comparable? Actually AT&T brought its A game, offering much cheaper options for consumers than currently exist for netbooks.

It remains unclear exactly why a Verizon-Apple deal for the iPhone didn't get done as many expected, although it seems possible that AT&T may have set the bar with its pricing structure and Verizon was unwilling to match it. Alternatively, Apple may have decided that it was unable or unwilling to offer hardware compatible with Verizon's CDMA network at this time.

Google yesterday announced that it had begun to deliver over-the-air software updates to users of its Android-based Nexus One smartphone, offering a number of enhancements. Most notably, the update enables pinch-to-zoom multi-touch functionality in several core applications.

Pinch-to-zoom functionality: devices will now include a new pinch-to-zoom mechanism in the phone's Browser, Gallery and Maps applications

Google's Android operating system previously did not support pinch-to-zoom in the U.S., with sources indicating that it had agreed not to include the functionality at the request of Apple. The functionality has, however, been available in European versions of Android smartphones. As the relationship between the Apple and Google, has soured amidst increasingly direct competition, speculation of course centers around the possibility that Google now considers full multi-touch capabilities to be fair game in the U.S.

For its part, Google offered a weak explanation to ReadWriteWeb, claiming that until this point, the hardware was not sufficient to deliver adequate pinch-to-zoom capabilities in Android.

Looking around the mobile industry, from Apple to Palm to HTC and Motorola - it's clear that pinch-to-zoom technology has become a standard and popular way for users to interact with their mobile phones. Likewise, Android users can now truly benefit from this capability with the availability of Android 2.1, which powers a new class of devices with larger touchscreens and more interactive features. Unlike past devices, these phones have the processing power to deliver pinch-to-zoom, while still providing a great user experience. Based on these new capabilities and numerous requests from Android users, we decided to provide pinch-to-zoom capabilities with this new over-the-air software update for Nexus One devices.

Engadget has posted a video of the Nexus One's pinch-to-zoom functionality in action.

Patently Apple reported yesterday that Apple has been granted a patent regarding the use of touch-sensitive bezels in electronic devices, primarily focused on portable devices. While the content of the patent is not new, having been previously disclosed with the publication of the initial patent application in October 2006, the technology has gained renewed interest as the granting of the patent and the introduction of Apple's new iPad tablet device have provided additional perspective not available at the earlier time.

According to the patent documentation, the invention describes the use of a touch-sensitive bezel, offering discrete areas on the bezel for controlling the device. Visual cues displayed on the screen next to the touch-sensitive areas would instruct the user on each area's function. In addition, the patent describes the integration of an orientation sensor such as an accelerometer that would allow the device to adjust both the locations of touch sensitivity for certain functions and the corresponding visual cues.

At the time of the original patent application's publication, neither the iPhone nor the iPod touch had been introduced, and the application's included images offered an intriguing glance at what a "Video iPod" might look like. With last week's introduction of the iPad, which offers a relatively substantial bezel around all four sides of the display, additional opportunities for deployment of the technology have become possible.

It remains unclear, however, exactly what benefit a touch-sensitive bezel would offer to an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad user given the multi-touch capabilities of those devices' screens. The ability to control certain functions of the device without obscuring the device's screen would appear to be a benefit at first glance, but the need for visual cues on the display to identify the controls would appear to mitigate that benefit.

The bezel is not the only component of the iPhone that has been rumored for touch sensitivity. A report several weeks ago suggested that Apple may be planning to offer a touch-sensitive casing in the next-generation iPhone that would allow users to control the device by touching the rear of the iPhone. While little evidence for the claim beyond an anonymous source was offered, previous patent applications from Apple have also pointed to its interest in "back-side touch".

DigiTimes today offers a series of reports involving Apple, revealing a number of claims from industry sources in Taiwan regarding the next-generation iPhone, Apple's possible plans for USB 3.0, and iPad component suppliers.

One report claims that Taiwanese firm Pegatron Technology, a two-year old company created as part of a restructuring of ASUS, has landed a contract with Apple to manufacture the next-generation iPhone. Pegatron reportedly will join existing iPhone manufacturer Foxconn in production of the new models due for introduction later this year.

Another report notes that Genesys Logic has denied that recent sampling quantities of USB 3.0 device controllers are destined for Apple, refuting claims from industry sources that Apple is company behind the design request. USB 3.0, which finally began to make an industry splash with numerous product introductions at CES earlier this year, theoretically offers a 10x improvement in transfer speed over USB 2.0 as well as increased power capabilities for powering attached devices.

The same report offers a look at major component winners for Apple's iPad, with Broadcom reportedly supplying Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and touchscreen controller chips, while Infineon is handling the RF and baseband chips. Novatek (LCD driver), Linear (battery power management) and NXP (system power management) are also named as suppliers for the iPad. A separate report claims that Radiant Opto-Electronics will have provided 300,000 LED backlights to Apple for the iPad during the month of January. And finally, Yageo, Cyntec and Mag.Layers Scientific-Technics, manufacturers of passive components such as resistors and diodes, are all also reportedly providing components to Apple for the iPad.

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that major textbook publishers have struck deals with Apple to bring their content to the iPad. According to the report, textbook publishers will rely on the technology of ScrollMotion, which already has experience developing such content for the iPhone.

Though Apple didn't outline its strategy to target the educational sector with its iPad last week, people familiar with Apple's thinking have said that the iPad's use in schools was one of the focal points of discussions in developing the product. In its exploration of electronic book technology, it thought particularly about how it could re-invent textbooks, these people said.

Rumors of talks between Apple and textbook publishers prior to the iPad's launch sparked interest in the offerings, and they gained additional publicity when McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw appeared to tip Apple's hand regarding the iPad the day before its official introduction. Apple chose not to discuss McGraw-Hill's offerings or any other e-textbook offerings at the media event, leading to conflicting claims about whether McGraw-Hill had been tossed from the event at the last minute over its CEO's comments.

Today's report notes that McGraw-Hill Education, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt K-12, Pearson Education, and Kaplan have all reached deals with Apple for the iPad.

Engadget reports that an internal model number for Apple's next-generation iPhone ("N89") has apparently surfaced in the the new iPhone SDK 3.2 that was released alongside the introduction of the company's iPad tablet device.

Buried way inside the platform simulator lies a set of folders dedicated to specific models of iPhone OS-ready devices, including the iPhone 3GS, second generation iPod touch, something called the "K48" (yep, the codename we were told was the internal name for the iPad), and... the "N89." Sure, it sounds like a Nokia phone just waiting to happen, but this is -- according to our extremely knowledgeable and trusted sources -- likely the codename of the next iPhone (previous versions were called the M68, N82, and N88).

In addition, a similar entry entitled "N80" has also appeared in Apple's just-released iPhone OS 3.1.3 and reportedly corresponds to the next-generation iPod touch.

Interestingly, Apple's just released firmware (3.1.3) also includes another new model, the "N80," which we're told will most likely be the next version of the iPod touch.

Several previous reports had claimed that the iPad was carrying the internal model number "K48", which appears to have been the case. One of those earlier reports had also claimed, however, that the next-generation iPhone carries internal model number N90 instead of the N89 discovered in the iPhone SDK 3.2.

In a statement to The Wall Street Journal regarding ongoing shipment delays for the company's 27-inch iMac models, an Apple spokesman has apparently refuted earlier claims that the company had halted production of the 27-inch iMacs as it has worked to address several issues related to flickering and yellow tints in its displays.

An Apple spokesman said again this week that "the 27-inch iMac has been a huge hit with customers and we are working to increase supply to meet up with strong demand." He added that production has continued while the company fixed the problems with flickering screens and yellow-tinted displays.

Apple just yesterday issued a second firmware update for current owners of the affected machines, designed to address the ongoing flickering issues that have troubled the machines since their introduction late last year.

On a related note, shipping lead times for the 27-inch models improved today to two weeks from the three-week estimates that had recently been seen for those looking to order through the company's U.S. online store.