All Articles in Rumors

Crazy rumor of the day, courtesy of Silicon Alley Insider, has Apple considering turning iTunes accounts into a Paypal competitor. Though they’re careful to classify it as gossip and not confirmed news (heh), it’s not beyond imagination that someone, somewhere, wanted to gauge a little public reaction to this idea.

Now, TiPb has given Microsoft a lot of negative feedback for losing focus and getting into areas they have no business getting into (pun intended). So, we have to do the same for Apple.

Does iTunes need to become a Paypal competitor? No doubt someone has to, given the more onerous sides of Paypal and the lack of Google Check Out, and still vaporish Pay with Facebook making eBay sweat enough to straighten up and behave properly, but Apple?

The link above suggests maybe Apple is interested in using the iPhone platform itself as a real-world payment system (they’ve only been doing that outside North America for years, after all), or they wish to diversify a la General Electric and this may be an easy and logical way to do it.

If it’s the former, and it works with typical Apple magic, then yes please and now. If it’s the latter then Apple should likely remember that focus, not diversification, has led them to tremendous success so far, even as their competition has floundered.

What do you think?

Multichannel News (via Apple Insider) is reporting that an industry source claims Netflix “Watch Instantly” is coming to the iPhone.

Netflix currently uses Microsoft’s proprietary DRM, however, so unless they’re planning on switching to something more iPhone friendly — namely H.264 like YouTube did — we’re not quite sure how they’ll manage it with anything approaching decent results.

That’s if Apple even allows an iTunes competitor onto the iPhone (and before people howl “unfair!”, it’s not like you can load up PlayStation or Wii games on an Xbox 360 — consoles control their media). And, of course, if AT&T allows streaming over 3G, which they wouldn’t do for SlingPlayer Mobile…

(We’ll also point out that Netflix is a US-only service, unlike iTunes which is available in many countries internationally).

Barrons (via MacRumors) claims an unnamed analyst has seen the near-legendary Apple iTablet and thinks:

The machine impresses with its display of hi-def video content, says the veteran analyst, who asked not to be identified. “It’s better than the average movie experience, when you hold this thing in your hands.”

And what’s more, competitors know that we know that they know that it’s coming soon:

“It’s close enough now to a final design that in Asia, there’s no other product in the waiting room or in the bullpen,” said the analyst. “There are dozens of ODMs [original device makers] making products for Lenovo and other PC makers that are all waiting to see what the Apple product is.”

So does this mean just as the iCloned iPhones are waning, the iReplicated iTablets are just waiting to launch? We’ll know come September. Or October. Or… January to March 2010!

(And yes, we still have polls open on both when it will ship, and what OS is will run, and whether or not it will succeed – get voting!)

The Financial Times is reporting that Apple may be in cahoots with the Big Music record labels, Sony, Warner, Universal, and EMI to create bonus-material laden Apps in an attempt to reignite interest in full album purchases among consumers. This project is said to be code named “cocktail” and would include:

a new interactive booklet, sleeve notes and other interactive features with music downloads

Since the advent of iTunes, sales of digital singles has risen but full albums has fallen. In previous decades, from vinyl through cassette and compact disc (CD), with the exception of 45s (original, not the new digital kind) and compilations, albums were often the only way to get popular tunes.

While some, including our own editor-in-chief, still prefer buying whole albums so as to get the whole “story” an artist is trying to tell, others have maintained since the days of vinyl that some artists were just as content to put effort into a couple hit songs then quickly produce filler for the rest of the album.

So “Cocktail” could well enhance even those mega-albums filled with great music, much as they did in the heydays of physical media, but will they be compelling enough to get consumers to fork over $9+ instead of $1.29 to get filler from that one hit wonder as well?

[Via MacRumors]

Techcrunch reports sources claiming Verizon is racing to get 20-40 markets up and running on their 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) network by Q1 2010 to coincide with an iPhone and iTablet launch.

Verizon is getting 60Mbps in 4G tests which is admittedly ZOMG fast, and since they’re going with LTE, this network will be theoretically compatible with AT&T and other GSM carriers also moving to the same technology.

And yes, it does sound too good to be true, but we won’t go all Leo Laporte on them just yet…

We know you want your iPhone on Verizon. But what about your iTablet. And are you willing to wait for LTE to get it? Let us know in our poll!

[Thanks Icebike for the tip!]

Where there’s this many iTablet rumors, there just has to be an actual product Steve Jobs is finally happy with and will be unveiling to the world at a special Apple event in early 2010, right?

That’s what Apple Insider is reporting. The gist is as follows:

• 10″, 3G networked device similar to “a jumbo iPod touch”
• Guided by Steve Jobs from hospital, home, and work
• Culmination of at least 6 previous prototypes Jobs vetoed
• Will launch in first quarter of 2010
• Verizon may be the carrier
• Delays caused by lack of satisfaction over Intel Atom power consumption
• Hence Apple bought PA Semi to build in-house, custom chipset based on ARM

Check out the full article, linked above, for more.

Still and all, even if this is real, Bill Gates has been trying to push the tablet concept for almost a decade with little or no mass market acceptance. Can Apple work another product category miracle, doing for the tablet and e-book form factor what they’ve done for the MP3 player and smartphone?

Can Apple take the tablet from geek niche to consumer necessity? Or is this doomed to Apple TV “hobby” status from the get go?

Check out our fancy new blog poll, below, and let us know!

The Street (via MacRumors) is rumoring about the iTablet on Verizon:

An initial version of the long-anticipated Apple tablet will be subsidized by Verizon (VZ Quote), but Apple and Verizon “won’t be as tightly integrated” as Apple’s iPhone exclusivity deal with AT&T (T Quote), says one source familiar with the companies, who asked not to be named.

iTablet, or MediaPad, rumors for Verizon are nothing new of course. The Verizon subsidy would help reduce the initial sticker price of an $800 iTablet down to something more competitive with low cost netbooks, though with only a data plan and no voice, the subsidy wouldn’t be a large as the one AT&T provides to iPhone customers who promptly return ~$100 a month in service fees.

Since Verizon is CDMA and Apple is an international company, it’s hard to believe a GSM version of the iTablet — if such a beatie is really near release — isn’t in the works, or wasn’t completed first. So, hopefully, those not on Verizon, not eager for a CDMA data plan, or not in the US will have iTablet options as well.

Following up on rumors of a $800 Apple netbook, MacBook, iTablet, etc. VentureBeat reports that Apple might also use the new platform to introduce their long-rumored custom system-on-a-chip.

This would be the result of Apple purchasing fabless chip design firm Palo Alto Semiconductor (PA Semi) and hiring Papermaster from IBM and graphics processor (GPU) gurus x2 from AMD/ATI (though whether or not it includes the ARM and PowerVR licenses for cores found in the iPhone and iPod touch, or beefier Intel chips found in the Mac line is uncertain).

While Steve Jobs said PA Semi was going to be used for iPods and iPhones, VentureBeat claims the team was actually split in two, half for iPod/iPhone and half for the tablet.

TUAW speculates that, given recent news of problems between Apple and Nvidia, who currently makes the Mac integrated chipsets, perhaps Apple will push the custom work into that line as well.

Either way, we’ve seen the huge benefit shared software technology has provided for the iPhone and Mac (Spotlight, QuickTime X to name but two), Apple going in-house with the chipsets could be just as beneficial…

MacRumors is reporting that, according to sources at InfoTimes, Apple is set to release a a 9.7 inch, (multi?)-touch Wintek screen netbook this October:

Because Apple will adopt touch screen technology on its netbooks, Apple will not target low-end consumers, avoiding direct competition with Acer, Asus, as well as their less-than-500-dollars netbooks. Apple’s netbook (or a “tablet” as many call it,) will probably be sold at around $800 USD each.

Does this mean a new line of MacBooks now that the 13″ has gone Pro? And what does this mean for the long-rumored large iPod/tablet form factor?

I recently tried out a friend’s battery charger case and my iPhone 3GS began to buzz and flash between locked, wallpaper, and temperature warning screens.

Not to be all Wall Street Journal about it, but according to sources in a position to know, this is not an uncommon problem and Apple is set to address it in the next firmware update, which should be coming soon — 3.1.

3.1 you ask? It’s what we asked as well, and were told the iPhone 3GS is already running what’s considered 3.0.1 and the next update would likely be 3.1 (though 3.0.2 or an “official” cross device 3.0.1 still sounds more like as a bug fix release to us).

Consider it a rumor for now, but at the very least, if your charging case is giving you headaches, rest assured help is on the way.

(And it’s recommended you don’t use it until the problem is addressed).