MacRumors

The Wall Street Journal reports on a research note from Credit Suisse analyst Bill Shope based on meetings with Apple executives revealing that the company has apparently left the door open to future price cuts on the iPad should customer demand not meet expectations.

Shope also wrote that despite the seemingly aggressive pricing of the iPad - the lower-than-expected price points range from $499 to $829 - Apple seemed to indicate it would respond with price cuts if demand for the device wasn't revving up the way it liked. "While it remains to be seen how much traction the iPad gets initially, management noted that it will remain nimble (pricing could change if the company is not attracting as many customers as anticipated)," Shope wrote.

Many observers were surprised by Apple's entry-level price point of $499 for the iPad, with general consensus having been that pricing would come in significantly higher.

Shope also noted that Apple seems relatively unconcerned about the iPad's possible cannibalization of other Apple product sales, following on the theme presented by Apple CEO Steve Jobs during the iPad's introduction that offered a clear segmentation among the iPhone/iPod, iPad, and notebook lines.

TamsIJungle reports (via Engadget) that it received word from wireless carrier Hutchison Austria that the company is planning to offer subsidized iPads for users willing to commit to a two-year data contract with the company. According to Hutchison Austria CEO Berthold Thoma:

Hutchison Austria will be the first Austrian carrier to bundle the iPad. We will do so via our long-established laptop bundle, which offers customers a 333euro rebate if they agree to a 2yr contract offering 5GB of data for 29.90euro.

Thoma also noted that, because the initial supply of iPad models will be Wi-Fi-only, the company will bundle the iPad with a Wi-Fi-based 3G modem for connectivity. Thoma's comments do not necessarily suggest that the carrier has worked with Apple on the subsidized pricing, however, as it would appear simple enough for the carrier to purchase iPad units on its own prior to bundling them for sale to its customers.

Questionable early reports had claimed that Apple was looking to pursue arrangements with Verizon for subsidized tablet pricing in exchange for customer data contracts, although later rumors were relatively silent on the possibility. The only announced carrier offering for the iPad so far comes from AT&T in the United States, which will offer contract-free monthly 3G access plans for $14.99 (250 MB) and $29.99 (unlimited).

Macworld Expo 2010 kicks off this week at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California. The significance of this year's Macworld Expo has been significantly reduced due to Apple's decision not to participate. Apple cited the diminished importance of trade shows as a way to connect to its customers.

Macworld has tried to refocus the event and even made scheduling changes to accommodate a larger audience. This year's Macworld Expo was pushed into February to avoid the usual conflict with CES, and even includes Saturday floor show hours for the first time.

The expo takes place from February 11th - 13th, 2010. MacRumors will be in attendance and will provide some coverage of the events. Email tips@macrumors.com to contact us. While Apple will not be in attendance, there has been some whispers that Apple may launch MacBook Pro revisions this Tuesday. Benchmarks for unreleased MacBook Pros were discovered just this past weekend.

While the iPad was officially announced in January, the iPad will not be available for purchase until late March. However, it seems some iPads have been seeded into the wild as David Vogler claims to have seen one in a New York City Starbucks (photo).

If you're having trouble waiting for the iPad to arrive, Jess Silverstone, the lead artist for Revolutionary Concepts put together a cut-out of the Apple iPad that you can print yourself.

The cutout is provided in two separate PNG files (iPad Front 664KB and iPad Rear 377KB). Each cutout can fit on standard A4 (8.3 x 11.7 inches) paper, but your printer has to be capable of borderless printing to achieve close to actual iPad dimensions. The real iPad dimensions are 9.56 inches x 7.47 inches x 0.5 inches. They've even included a cutout of the A4 processor you can include for "improved performance".

Here's what it looks like put together:

Meanwhile, if you actually have access to a large format A3 printer, a Taiwanese blogger has put together a PDF that will print to full size.

A Geekbench result posted to their site on February 4th has generated a lot of excitement in our forums. The report seems to reveal the results for an unreleased Arrandale MacBook Pro running at 2.66GHz. Intel officially unveiled the new latest mobile chips at CES 2010 and Apple has been widely expected to use them in their next MacBook Pro revisions.

The MacBook Pro gives a "6,1" model designation and a non-shipping build of Mac OS X 10.6.2 (Build 10C3067). The 6,1 designation has been spotted before in recent builds of Mac OS X 10.6.2. The later build number is also consistent with the kind of interim builds Apple provides with brand new hardware.

The processor is listed as an Intel Core i7 M 620 running at 2.66GHz. The final benchmark score of 5260 compares favorably to identically clocked (2.66GHz) shipping MacBook Pros (3700-4000). The Core i7 M 620 is a high end dual core processor with Turbo Boost and Hyperthreading.

Apple's MacBook Pros are due for updates and Intel's new mobile processors are the most likely candidates. While we haven't heard any solid evidence, there have been rumblings from international resellers that Apple's MacBook Pros supplies have been constrained. Supplies can be constrained for any number of reasons, but the timing does fit with a MacBook Pro refresh.

One of the major announcements alongside the Apple iPad launch was the fact that Apple is now in the chipmaking business. The Apple A4 is a system-on-chip that includes an ARM based processor that is believed to have been designed by the engineers Apple acquired along with P.A. Semi.

In our previous research of ARM based chip technology, we found that a company called Intrinsity was making a name for itself by accelerating ARM CPU designs while reducing power consumption. In July, Samsung announced an Intrinsity enhanced 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor called the Hummingbird which was to take on Qualcomm Snapdragon. Intrinsity accomplishes this by simplifying designs which make for smaller transistors which ultimately provides additional power savings.

The key to this and many other performance tricks is the type of logic gate Intrinsity uses: 1-of-n domino logic, or NDL, part of its suite of technologies called Fast14 (named after the atomic number of silicon). Russo says NDL can speed up a logical step by 40 to 60 percent. About a fifth of the A8s functions are benefiting from it, he adds.

What was most interesting to learn, however, was that Intrinsity design team was formerly from Exponential Technology in the 1990s prior to its dissolution.

Longtime Apple watchers will remember Exponential Technology as the company that promised to deliver super-fast PowerPC chips at a time when PowerPC lagged behind their Intel counterparts. A 1996 press release has a quote from Apple describing the Exponential X704 as a "major competitive advantage" for the Macintosh platform. Apple was even a major investor of the company. The relationship ultimately soured, however, when it became clear that Exponential couldn't keep pace with Motorola and IBM. Exponential even filed suit against Apple after they decided not to use the chips.

Now, we don't necessarily believe that Intrinsity is currently working with Apple, but it's certainly possible that their paths may cross again as Intrinsity is applying their techniques to Cortex A9 based technology. The Cortex A9 is likely to power a number of future products both from Apple and other companies.

Apple has seeded a new version of Mac OS X 10.6.3 to developers today. The last seed was released on January 22nd. According to reports, the newest version provides a number of enhancements and bug fixes for QuickTime X, 64-bit Logic, printing and OpenGL.

There are said to be "no known issues" with the latest build, possibly indicating that we may be approaching release. 10.6.3 only began seeding to developers in early January but 10.6.2 saw a comparably short time frame from initial seeding to public release.

The Mac OS X 10.6.2 update was released on November 9th.

MacNN points to a blog post written earlier this week by Phil Bellaria, a director in the National Broadband Task Force at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), expressing concern over increasing cellular network congestion and citing Apple's iPad introduction as the spark for renewed fears.

Apple's iPad announcement has set off a new round of reports of networks overburdened by a data flow they were not built to handle. These problems are reminiscent of the congestion dialup users experienced following AOL's 1996 decision to allow unlimited internet use. For months users had trouble connecting and, once they did connect, experienced frequent service outages. The FCC even held hearings on the problem.

Despite the fact that the iPad has yet to begin shipping, Bellaria uses the concerns as fuel for his task force's push to free up additional wireless spectrum for such important and fast-growing uses as wireless broadband.

Reaching an always-on wireless broadband future means that spectrum can no longer remain attached solely to uses deemed valuable decades ago. The broadband plan will suggest ways of moving more spectrum into high value uses, such as broadband access, to help ensure that we don't get stuck in 1997 dialup-style congestion.

AT&T, Apple's U.S. wireless partner for the iPhone and the upcoming service provider for the iPad, has received substantial criticism for its network performance as it has struggled to keep up with surging data traffic demands driven in large part by the popularity of the iPhone. But while AT&T is in the process of spending billions of dollars on its own infrastructure, the FCC reminds observers of the role it will play in the allocation of resources as it attempts to define a national plan for broadband access for an interconnected web of wired, wireless, and satellite technologies.

Yesterday, AT&T announced that it had finally decided to allow Sling Media's SlingPlayer Mobile to stream video over the carrier's 3G network. As part of the announcement, AT&T claimed that it had "worked with" Sling Media to develop a version of the application that was optimized for performance on AT&T's network. Early reports on the approval also included specific quotes from AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega claiming that Sling Media had modified the application in response to AT&T's requests.

"The key for us is Sling Media was willing to work with us to revise the app to make it more bandwidth sensitive, "Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, said in a statement. "They made important changes to more efficiently use 3G network bandwidth and conserve wireless spectrum so that we were able to support the app on our 3G mobile broadband network."

De la Vega's statements, however, no longer appear in AT&T's official press release, and Ars Technica has heard from Sling Media, which claims that it did not work with AT&T on the application's approval.

"We didn't change anything," Sling Media's John Santoro told Ars. "AT&T never discussed any specific requirements with us."

Santoro explained that SlingPlayer Mobile has always contained code to adapt the stream quality to the given network conditions. AT&T has been in discussions with Sling since it was first released last year, but AT&T never asked the company to make specific modifications. No changes were made to the app's 3G streaming capabilities between its being barred from AT&T and now.

Sling Media's claims and AT&T's apparent backtracking suggest that AT&T may simply have decided either that SlingPlayer Mobile's video streaming would no longer place an excessive burden on the carrier's network or that its continued refusal to allow such streaming was simply indefensible as expectations for wireless data networks have grown. Consequently, the carrier may have been looking to the SlingPlayer Mobile approval announcement as a venue to encourage future developers of bandwidth-intensive applications to reach out to AT&T to ensure from the very beginning that such applications are optimized for network performance.

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.