MacRumors

Times Online claims the reason for the UK and German iPhone discounts are to clear room for the 3G iPhone. European mobile operators reportedly overestimated demand for the current iPhone and are said to be working to clear excess inventory ahead of the 3G iPhone release.

This claim appears to be somewhat speculative, but Times Online also claims to have heard that Apple has placed orders for the 3G iPhone:

Times Online understands that Apple has placed an order with its Asian suppliers to produce 200,000 of the new 3G iPhones by the end of May, rising to 2 million - 500,000 per week - in June.

Times Online goes on to say that the new version of the iPhone will have a "radically different" appearance.

Among the possibilities are flip version, which would enable the screen to be larger, and a sliding model with a regular qwerty keyboard - as opposed to a touchscreen one.

The reliability of Times Online's sources are unknown, but such a departure from the existing iPhone's design seems very unlikely. Jobs specifically criticized the inclusion of an built-in keyboards amongst existing smartphones when the iPhone was first introduced. Apple is also in the midst of launching a Software Development Kit (SDK) intended for their multi-touch OS X. Radically changing the form factor would splinter the audience for iPhone applications.

While these headset displays already exist, Apple describes decoupling a "laser engine" from the goggles itself. Instead, it is a separate piece which generates the laser light which is piped into the headset. This helps reduce the bulk of the goggles themselves.

"A user simply plugs their handheld video player such as the iPod manufactured by Apple Computer of Cupertino, Calif., into the compact laser engine attached to their belt, and places the headset on their head. The user then selects a video to be played at the handheld video player (viewing through transparent display elements)."

Apple notes that when the unit is not being used for playing video "no images are being created and thus the display unit acts just like glasses." In fact, they suggest that the headset could even include lenses and actually double as daily-wear glasses.

IBM's Research Information Services division is investigating the possibility of moving a significant number of employees to Apple's Macintosh platform according to a report acquired by RoughlyDrafted.

In line with IBMs external strategy of offering a true Open Client that may be Windows, Linux or a Mac, the document noted, [Research Information Services] is focusing on providing an IBM application stack on multiple Operating Systems, rather than be confined to one or the other.

The first phase of the pilot program was conducted between October 2007 and January 2008. During this phase, 24 MacBook Pros were distributed to researchers and used as the primary notebook, with the employees' existing ThinkPads acting as backups if needed.

Of the 22 of 24 who responded, 18 said that the Mac offered a better or best experience compared to their existing computer, one rated it equal or good, and three said the Mac offered a worse experience. Seven reported having no or marginal prior knowledge of using Macs, while 15 reported having moderate or expert knowledge of the platform.

Other highlights:
- 86% of pilot users requested to keep the Mac
- More new hires are requesting Macs
- Research and Academic clients have a growing Mac community
- IBM internal software made for Mac was easy to install
- Some key software was unavailable for Mac, including DB2 and Websphere Application Server, Rational Application Developer IDE for J2EE apps, WebSphere Integration Developer SOA development tool, and Microsoft Visio.

Some Comments:
- "When presenting at customer or external meetings, I have been greeted with the 'wow factor.' 'Where's the ThinkPad, IBM uses Apples now?'"
- "This can free us from the Windows stranglehold."
- "It has been easier learning the Mac than learning Vista."
- "The ability to run Windows XP in a VM under Parallels is a great feature."

An expansion of the pilot is planned for 2008, supporting up to 100 users by the end of the year. As a grain of salt, IBM has been heavily invested in Linux and the pilot is likely to simply fall in line with efforts to break reliance on Microsoft Windows. That being said, the company has been re-invigorating efforts to develop Mac software, including versions of the company's Lotus Notes client for iPhone and Lotus Symphony.

Gartner has published a preliminary report on U.S. and worldwide PC shipments for the first quarter of 2008. According to Gartner's numbers, Apple placed fourth in U.S. marketshare at 6.6%, up from 5.2% in the first quarter of 2007. Apple's U.S. shipments increased 32.5% year-over-year, far outpacing the total industry shipment growth of 3.0%

Previous Gartner reports had placed Apple with a 6.1 % U.S. market share for the fourth quarter of 2007, and 8.1% U.S. market share for the third quarter of 2007. Apple's numbers for the back-to-school third quarter traditionally benefit from its strong educational presence.

Apple has released Safari 3.1.1 for Mac and Windows, now available via its website and Software Update.

This update is recommended for all Safari users and includes improvements to stability, compatibility and security.

Most significantly, Apple notes that 4 security issues have been patched in the release, one of which was recently used to successfully attack a MacBook Air in the CanSecWest PWN2OWN contest.

Apple has released an expanded list of sessions at this year's Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC). An abbreviated list of sessions was previously available, but now over 150 sessions are listed.

At the heart of your WWDC experience are over 150 technical sessions and hands-on labs presented by Apple engineers and experts. Get in-depth information with presentations on the technologies that power iPhone OS, Leopard and Leopard Server, and code along during practical "how-to" sessions.

This year's WWDC takes place from June 9th - 13th in San Francisco. The event falls near the release of the iTunes App store and understandably has a large focus on iPhone application development as well as Mac development.

MacUpdate has also launched their spring application bundle. Their latest bundle delivers up to 10 Mac applications for $64.99 (up to a $474.76 value if all purchased separately), and includes a number of unique applications, including the Windows virtualization software Parallels 3.0. The applications include:

DVDRemaster Pro - recompress large DVDs to fit on standard DVD5 disc, or for use on the iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV
StoryMill - creative writing tool to outline, write and publish a novel
Hazel - create rules to automatically sort and organize your files
Art Text - create high quality headings, logos, banners, buttons
MenuCalendarClock - iCal compatible menu-bar calendar.
Leap - advanced file browsing and tagging
Typinator - type common phrases and pictures
Sound Studio* - record and edit audio
BannerZest* - create animated Flash banners
Parallels 3.0* - PC virtualization software for Intel Macs. Run Windows in Mac OS X.

This bundle sale runs from April 16 - 29th. As typical in these bundle sales, some applications are "locked" until certain sales thresholds are met. Parallels, BannerZest and Sound Studio are currently in "locked" status. These applications will become available to all bundle buyers once sales goals are reached. Historically, with these bundle sales, all applications have been unlocked with previous sales.

MacRumors is a promotional partner with MacUpdate. Bundle sales through these links benefit MacRumors financially, and provide a way for readers to directly support this site.

Coming through on Steve Jobs' recent email promise, Apple released a new graphics upgrade kit today. The $279 NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (1st Generation) Graphics Upgrade Kit for Mac Pro appears to finally offer a video upgrade path for previous generation Mac Pro owners.

The card is distinct from the previous Nvidia 8800GT upgrade kit which was available only for Early 2008 Mac Pros:

Note to owners of Mac Pro (early 2008): Please select the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (early 2008) Graphics Upgrade Kit for Mac Pro.

When Apple released the Early 2008 Mac Pro, they offered the NVIDIA 8800GT as an upgrade option, however due to firmware issues, the 8800GT was not compatible with previous generation Mac Pros -- until today.

MobilityToday reports that O2 will be discounting the 8GB iPhone by 100 for a limited time. The 8GB iPhone will be priced at 169 starting tomorrow until June 1st. The discount is only available for the 8GB model, and the 16GB remains at 329.

The discount is similar to one offered by Germany's T-Mobile who offered subsidized pricing for the 8GB iPhone depending on the 2 year service plan chosen.

InformationWeek spoke to an employee of Psystar, the company responsible for the previously reported $399 Mac Clone. The employee known as "Robert" claims that they will challenge Apple's Mac OS X End User License Agreement (EULA) which specifically prohibits the installation of Mac OS X on non Apple-branded machines.

[Robert] also said Psystar believes Apple's prohibition against third-party installations might not hold up in court: "What if Honda said that, after you buy their car, you could only drive it on the roads they said you could?"

Robert said Psystar will continue to sell the OpenMac system, despite the fact that it appears to violate Apple's EULA. "We're not breaking any laws," he insisted.

Indeed, Apple's EULA agreement is not cast into law, but simply represents an implicit agreement ("contract") between the user and company. The enforceability of EULAs, however, has been a subject of much debate, and a true legal challenge would be very interesting. That being said, Robert's loose use of the word "monopoly" and car/road analogy does not necessarily inspire confidence in his legal prowess.

Of note, Psystar has changed the name of their Mac clone from "OpenMac" to "Open Computer", presumably due to trademark issues surrounding the use of the term "Mac".

Apple quietly pushed a new Software Update to the Apple TV today brining the Apple TV up to version 2.0.2. The 2.0.2 update is the second update since the Take 2 update that Apple announced at Macworld this year.

The previous 2.0.1 Apple TV update appeared to fix some bugs and added a new "Genres" option under "My Movies". No word yet on what fixes or changes the 2.0.2 update brings.