MacRumors

World of Apple reports that Apple has seeded a new version of Mac OS X 10.6.2, termed Build 10C527f, to developers. The new build comes one week after the previous seed of Build 10C519f.

Apple today gave developers the latest built of Mac OS X 10.6.2, 10C527f which contains only one known issues is said to include two sets of release notes, an indicative sign of a possible release candidate. The build is 483.5MB in size.

Build 10C527f reportedly contains a number of fixes to QuickTime Player, Image Capture, iChat, and a host of other areas and includes one documented known issue related to scanning in Image Capture.

The update also appears to address an issue in which users have reported their user data disappearing due to a glitch with Guest accounts.

Apple's Safari for Windows browser has received some attention today due to a proposal from Microsoft to use a "browser ballot" system to allow users to select Internet browsers for use on their Windows PCs in Europe, where the company has faced significant scrutiny over its historical anti-competitive integration of Internet Explorer with Windows.

Microsoft proposes featuring a "ballot" of the five most popular Internet browsers from which users can select their desired browser. Additional browsers would be available for selection, although they would be featured much less prominently. In ordering the selection of featured browsers, Microsoft has chosen to place them in alphabetical order by vendor from left to right, giving Apple's Safari the prime first position. Safari would be followed by Google's Chrome, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla's Firefox, and Opera.

As Firefox designer Jenny Boriss notes on her personal blog not affiliated with Mozilla, the arrangement has raised some eyebrows for the apparent advantage it gives to Safari, which currently holds a very small percentage of Windows browser share.

This ordering is about the worst option possible, both for user choice and the web as a whole. Microsoft wrote in their proposal that "nothing in the design and implementation of the Ballot Screen and the presentation of competing web browsers will express a bias for a Microsoft web browser or any other web browser," but this is exactly what the current design does. Windows users presented with the current design will tend to make only two choices: IE because they are familiar with it, or Safari because it is the first item.

Boriss, who understandably would like to see Firefox, the second most-popular Windows Internet browser behind Internet Explorer, featured more prominently, cites studies of election results that show that minor party candidates listed first on a ballot frequently receive up to a 50% boost in their vote totals simply due to their placement on the ballot.

In order to address that issue, she suggests several alternative arrangements, including randomizing the order of the five featured browsers on each load of the ballot screen, ordering the list of browsers based on market share with Internet Explorer being placed last, or a combination of the two in which the probability of a given browser appearing first in the list is weighted by its market share.

While the current design of the ballot screen is not final, the European Commission gave its approval last week to begin market testing of the feature.

Over the past several days, a number of analysts have raised the possibility that Apple may have some trouble meeting expectations for quarterly iPhone sales, currently pegged at about 7 million, at its earnings report scheduled for next Monday.

Yesterday, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster noted that supply constraints on the iPhone 3GS may have hindered Apple's ability to meet customer demand. Apple had noted during its July earnings conference call that supplies of the iPhone 3GS were constrained due to robust demand, and major shortages of the device were seen in several countries well into the quarter. Ever the Apple optimist, however, Munster still expects Apple to have shipped 7.5 million iPhones during the quarter, ahead of consensus estimates.

Today's story comes from Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Yair Reiner, who claims that Apple will have a difficult time meeting iPhone sales expectations after the company implied partial quarterly sales of only 3.5 million iPhones at its "It's Only Rock and Roll" media event just three weeks before the end of the quarter.

"The first hint of trouble," he writes, "surfaced during the iPod event on Sept. 9, when Apple implied that ~3.5M phones had been sold with only 21 days left in the quarter. Subsequent checks showed the iPhone 3GS sold out in many markets. Something was clearly preventing Apple from shipping to demand Consensus estimates imply that 3.5M phones flowed out to customers in the final weeks of 4Q09, which may be too aggressive."

Reiner's estimate of 3.5 million iPhones sold, however, appears to be based on Apple CEO Steve Jobs' announcement at the event that the company had sold a total of 30 million iPhones since its initial launch in 2007, subtracting from that number the approximately 26.4 million iPhones recorded in Apple's earnings reports for previous quarters. But a key unknown in that calculation is the accuracy of the "30 million" number given by Jobs.

Apple is known for promoting its sales milestones and flashing round numbers on its slides during presentations for maximum visual impact. Apple could very well have sold 31 million or more iPhones, but announced only 30 million for an easy-to-remember presentation visual. In addition, Apple may have purposely understated its sales numbers at the event as part of its usual strategy of underselling its performance to investors and analysts in order to temper expectations enough that the company can easily beat expectations at its quarterly earnings releases, generating continued enthusiasm and publicity for the company's stock.

Reiner notes, however, that even if Apple struggles to meet iPhone sales expectations due to supply issues, consumer demand remains robust. Consequently, any dip in Apple's stock price that would likely accompany an unexpectedly low number of reported iPhone sales for the quarter could be seen as a buying opportunity for investors looking ahead to greater iPhone sales for the current quarter as supplies finally catch up with demand.

Apple has just sent out an e-mail to registered iPhone developers informing them that In App Purchasing, previously restricted to paid applications, is now also permitted in free applications. The change also permits developers to create a single version of an application to be sold for free with limited accessibility that can then be unlocked for full functionality via In App Purchases, eliminating the need for developers to create separate free "lite" versions of paid apps if they wish to offer such products.

In App Purchase is being rapidly adopted by developers in their paid apps. Now you can use In App Purchase in your free apps to sell content, subscriptions, and digital services.

You can also simplify your development by creating a single version of your app that uses In App Purchase to unlock additional functionality, eliminating the need to create Lite versions of your app. Using In App Purchase in your app can also help combat some of the problems of software piracy by allowing you to verify In App Purchases.

Visit the App Store Resource Center for more details about how you can add In App Purchases to your free apps.

Apple today issued a media alert announcing details for the October 19th release of its financial results for the fourth fiscal quarter (third calendar quarter) of 2009. The results will cover sales from June 27th, 2009 through September 26th, 2009, and will be released after the close of trading on Monday at approximately 4:30 PM Eastern / 1:30 PM Pacific. Apple's conference call discussing the results will follow at 2:00 PM Pacific and will be available via a live audio webcast. MacRumors will provide running coverage of the conference call highlights.

Apple did not have any major Mac product releases during the quarter, with the company having updated its notebook line at its Worldwide Developers Conference just prior to the quarter and users still awaiting much-rumored updates to the iMac and Mac mini. The iPhone 3GS launched alongside a price drop on the iPhone 3G just a week before the quarter began, and should offer significant contributions to Apple's revenue during the quarter. Finally, Apple updated its entire iPod line late in the quarter, likely spurring demand for that segment of Apple's business.

For the quarter, analysts are predicting net earnings of $1.42 per share on revenue of $9.19 billion, above Apple's guidance of $1.18-$1.23 profit on $8.7-$8.9 billion of revenue. Apple's year-ago results for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2008 included net earnings of $1.26 per share on revenue of $7.9 billion. A number of research firms and analysts are seeing evidence of strong Mac and iPhone sales based on recent data, suggesting that Apple may yet again have another strong financial quarter.

Recent changes to accounting standards may have an effect on Apple's guidance for this quarter if the company elects to adjust its reporting for the new fiscal year. Apple has in recent years offered two sets of financial numbers in order to provide a more accurate picture of the company's cash flow in light of accounting regulations that previously required Apple to defer revenue for iPhone and Apple TV sales, parceling out such revenue over a two-year period from the date of sale. As a result, Apple's official financial numbers have been significantly lower than its true performance. The recent accounting rule change will allow Apple to officially recognize a much greater percentage of hardware revenue for those devices at the moment of sale.

In a brief report, AppleInsider notes that it has received unconfirmed information from several sources indicating several changes from information offered in a previous report issued late last month regarding Apple's next iMac revision, which is expected in the very near future. According to the new information, the next-generation iMac may be the first to offer quad-core processors in the form of Core i7 "Clarksfield" mobile processors from Intel. Additionally, previously rumored Blu-ray support may not be included in the new models.

More specifically, people close to the Cupertino-based company have picked up on chatter suggesting that earlier plans to offer Blu-ray technology on the new all-in-one desktops may have been pulled back just before the systems went into product last month.

While inconsistent with AppleInsider's earlier report, the claim of quad-core processors does agree with information offered by Mac4Ever late last month, and the rumor of no Blu-ray support echoes a claim made earlier this month by Daring Fireball's John Gruber, who also had previously heard that such support would be included.

BusinessWeek reports that Apple is expected to begin an advertising push in the near future designed to lure Windows customers considering purchasing new computers due to the launch of Windows 7 on October 22nd. In an interview, Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller notes that the Microsoft launch "presents a very good opportunity" for Apple.

In the coming weeks, Apple is expected to hit those computer buyers with advertising aimed at luring them to its Macs. It will likely make the case that Macs are less susceptible to viruses and are best suited to its popular iPods and iPhones. And look for it to poke fun at Microsoft for making XP owners go through an arduous process to upgrade to Windows 7 -- one that includes backing up all their files to an external drive, reformatting their PC, and then reinstalling all of their old programs, assuming they still have the CDs. "Any user that reads all those steps is probably going to freak out. If you have to go through all that, why not just buy a Mac?" says Schiller.

The launch of Windows 7 is expected to bring a surge in new computer sales, with many customers having continued using their old hardware rather than upgrading to the much-maligned Windows Vista. Apple, which has recently lowered price points on a number of its computers and introduced Mac OS X Snow Leopard just seven weeks ago, sees itself positioned to attract some of those consumers once again thinking about purchasing new hardware.

That's Apple -- calm, cool, and confident that the tech world is marching in its direction. "We've been through these transitions before, and no matter how you look at it -- it's still Windows," says Schiller. "When all is said and done, the Mac picks up share a bit at a time."

Hardmac reports that an early 2010 revision to Apple's Mac Pro may see the inclusion of Intel's forthcoming six-core "Gulftown" processor as a temporary exclusive prior to the full mass release of the processor in the second quarter of 2010.

This Xeon is an evolution of those already powering Mac Pro 2009 with some new features:

- 6 cores and 12 threads for each CPU.
- 12 MB of shared cache instead of 8 MB today.
- 32-nm engraving vs. 45 nm today.
- Power consumption of future hexacore Xeon 32 nm will be slightly lower than the one of current quad core Xeon engraved at 45 nm.

The report's source also indicates that the Mac Pro will see the addition of 10 Gbit Ethernet connectivity and support for 8 GB and 16 GB RAM modules, pushing total RAM capacity to an astounding 128 GB.

Hardmac is unsure whether use of the Gulftown processor, to be branded Intel Core i9 and be part of Intel's Xeon 5600-series, would extend to the entry-level Mac Pro model or whether Apple will continue to use lower-level quad-core processors in those machines.

It is not unusual for Apple to receive early access to Intel's latest processor for use in the Mac Pro, with the most recent instance being the current generation, which received Nehalem processors prior to them even having been announced by Intel.

Research firms Gartner and IDC today both released preliminary reports detailing U.S. and worldwide PC shipments for the third quarter of 2009, revealing modest growth by Apple amid an uncertain market.

According to Gartner's report, Apple once again maintained its fourth place ranking for U.S. shipments with an 8.8% market share on unit growth of 6.8% over the year-ago quarter. Apple's market share was up slightly from the previous quarter's 8.7% share and its 8.6% share in the year-ago quarter.

Overall, Gartner saw a 3.9% increase in U.S. PC shipments over the year-ago quarter, although average selling prices for the quarter dropped approximately 20% compared to a year ago. As was the case last quarter, a significant drop by market share leader Dell was offset by continuing tremendous growth from Acer and Toshiba.

IDC's report shows Apple regaining the fourth place position that it ceded to Toshiba last quarter with a U.S. market share of 9.4% on unit sales growth of 11.8%, an even healthier gain than that reported by Gartner. IDC also saw a much larger decline from Dell, holding growth in the overall U.S. market versus the third quarter of 2008 to 2.5% and allowing HP to claim the top spot in U.S. sales.

9 to 5 Mac reports that it has received a note from an AT&T spokesperson asking the site to remove a reference suggesting that the company would support Internet tethering via the iPhone by the end of 2009.

We believed it was coming later this year, until we got a note from an AT&T spokeman. He told us to correct a post that said AT&T will be delivering tethering in 2009. Specifically, he said (his font color, not ours):

"Just reading again - where did anyone promise tethering by EOY? Where did you see that? We promised MMS by end of summer and ended up being a few days late for that..."

The confusion seems to stem from a November 2008 interview with AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega in which he claimed support for tethering on the iPhone was coming "soon". In re-reporting the conversation, CNET appears to have construed the comment as meaning some time in 2009, but AT&T is apparently now trying to temper any such expectations.

AT&T's comment comes just a week after the company reiterated its position that further network "fine tuning" is required before it can support tethering via the iPhone.

The Wi-Fi Alliance, a consortium of companies that includes Apple, yesterday announced that it has developed a new specification that will facilitate direct peer-to-peer connections via Wi-Fi between devices without the need for an intervening base station. The specification, to be made available on new products and via software updates to existing products beginning in mid-2010, would compete with Bluetooth and allow for significantly faster data transfer speeds, although at a cost of increased power consumption.

The specification, previously code-named "Wi-Fi peer-to-peer," can be implemented in any Wi-Fi device, from mobile phones, cameras, printers, and notebook computers, to human interface devices such as keyboards and headphones. Significantly, devices that have been certified to the new specification will also be able to create connections with hundreds of millions of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED legacy devices already in use. Devices will be able to make a one-to-one connection, or a group of several devices can connect simultaneously.

"Wi-Fi Direct represents a leap forward for our industry. Wi-Fi users worldwide will benefit from a single-technology solution to transfer content and share applications quickly and easily among devices, even when a Wi-Fi access point isn't available," said Wi-Fi Alliance executive director Edgar Figueroa. "The impact is that Wi-Fi will become even more pervasive and useful for consumers and across the enterprise."

While some Wi-Fi devices are already able to support ad hoc wireless networks, the practice is limited in security and other features and is not officially part of the certified Wi-Fi standards. Wi-Fi Direct will include all of the features of standard Wi-Fi networks without the need to connect via a wireless base station.