World of Apple

Yesterday, Apple filed its Notice of Entry of Order Granting Motion by Apple, Inc. for Relief from Stay in order to inform Judge Alsup that this case can proceed. I expect that Apple will aggressively pursue this matter in the coming days.

Please look for a summary of the status thus far as well as some interesting tidbits not yet reported here (or elsewhere that I have seen) over this weekend.

Bloomberg has recently revealed that Apple has been steadily increasing its ownership interest in UK company Imagination Technologies, tripling its ownership interest from the end of 2008 to 9.5% at present. Imagination Technologies is a graphics manufacturer of products that are used in smartphone, including the iPhone (and the Palm Pre). Intel is also a significant investor at over 16%. Amid speculation that either company might be planning a takeover, Imagination and Intel has both denied that there is any such intention. Apple, of course, has been silent. As some analysts have noted, this may be simply an investment for both companies which is typical business practice.

A recent teardown and analysis of the iPhone 3G S has determined that the actual hard costs for Apple to manufacture the phone total approximately $179.00 (US) for the 16GB version. Thus, it would appear, that when a customer purchases a subsidized iPhone, they are paying just over wholesale with the carrier shouldering the rest of the purchase price, which is significant indeed. Without getting into how much profit is reasonable (and the other costs such as R&D, advertising, staff incentives, etc.), this figure shows just how valuable the iPhone business is to the cellular carriers if it is worth it to them to subsidize such a large chunk and still turn a healthy profit.

The iPhone 3GS is the latest incarnation of the iPhone from Apple, encompassing just a handful of new features and looking identical to its predecessor the 3GS may seem like a non-sensical upgrade to some.

Compared to the iPhone 3G the iPhone 3GS adds a better camera with auto-focus and the ability to record video, a magnetometer (digital compass), and voice commands. Beyond these features the iPhone 3GS also has some hidden tricks, revealed only by its name. The ‘S’ according to Apple stands for speed and this is where the iPhone 3GS shines.

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Following rumours that Steve Jobs had received a liver transplant several months ago the hospital who performed the operation has come out into the open.

James D. Eason, M.D., program director at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute and chief of transplantation confirmed today, with the patient’s permission, that Steve Jobs received a liver transplant at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in partnership with the University of Tennessee in Memphis.

Steve Jobs is said to be recovering well and evidence suggests that the CEO has returned to work this week.

He received a liver transplant because he was the patient with the highest MELD score (Model for End-Stage Liver Disease) of his blood type and, therefore, the sickest patient on the waiting list at the time a donor organ became available. Mr. Jobs is now recovering well and has an excellent prognosis.

Final Cut Pro 6.0.6 - 19.15MB

This update fixes problems with real-time playback in Final Cut Pro with Mac Pro (Early 2009) models and Xserve (Early 2009) models.

Further information on this update is available in the accompanying release notes.

Time Capsule and AirPort Base Station Firmware Update 7.4.2

The Time Capsule, AirPort Extreme, and AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n Firmware 7.4.2 update provides several fixes, including:

Apparently two pieces of fairly substantial news passed right through the majority of the Apple web today.

In Apple’s press release announcing that it had sold over one million iPhone 3GS devices in it’s first weekend not only did a product name change spelling but a CEO who’s meant to be on leave made an appearance.

It initially looked like an error on behalf of Apple’s PR department (and could still be) but several individuals have confirmed to World of Apple and external sources are also saying that Apple is now opting with iPhone 3GS rather than iPhone 3G S. Apple’s own iPhone 3GS website hasn’t changed and the documentation included with my iPhone 3GS isn’t likely to ever change.

The comment was small, it was subtle but was this the official return of Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs?

“Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

Jobs who is expected back to work at the end of June hasn’t had a comment on a press release since before his announcement that he’d be taking a six month medical leave back January.

[Update] World of Apple has received official word from Apple PR that Apple is now using iPhone 3GS, this is evident by a website wide change earlier today on Apple.com. Because of this World of Apple has also changed all references to read iPhone 3GS.

MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.7 - 3.35MB

MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.7 addresses an issue reported by a small number of customers using drives based on the SATA 3Gbps specification with the June 2009 MacBook Pro. While this update allows drives to use transfer rates greater than 1.5Gbps, Apple has not qualified or offered these drives for Mac notebooks and their use is unsupported.

Further details are available in the related support document.

Apple today announced that it has sold over one million iPhone 3GS models through Sunday, June 21, the third day after its launch. In addition, six million customers have downloaded the new iPhone 3.0 software in the first five days since its release.

“Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With over 50,000 applications available from Apple’s revolutionary App Store, iPhone momentum is stronger than ever.”