In their summer earnings call earlier this evening, Intel conceded that Apple's iPad has eaten away at overall computer sales since the revolutionary tablet device was released in April. Electronista reports:

"There was "softness" in sales mainly in the US and Western Europe, both of which have been cornerstones of iPad sales. Executives said Apple's tablet was likely taking away sales "at the margin" as customers without a large income often had to choose between one device or another."

Over the past 6 months, some believe that as high as 13 percent of computer sales could have been lost to the iPad alone. This is an astounding number when you factor in how new the iPad is to the market -- and further suggests that Apple has single-handily defined a new market genre with their quickly-adopted iPad.

During the same time, it appears that they've taken a significant chunk of sales from the largest consumer electronics device category in history. Additional comments from the article suggested that the iPad may have an easy time holding their ground through 2011, as there won't be any form of concordant competition from any of the major players in the immediate future:

"Intel doesn't plan to have truly thin and long-lived tablets until 2011 but expected to be competitive with Android, MeeGo and Windows tablets."

Intel is assuming that these other players are going to just pick up market share with their initial offerings, and that they'll be able to compete head-on with iPad. However, assumptions are never a good thing to make -- especially in a market that's dominated by a company as smart as Apple.

What about you? Have you recently opted for an iPad over purchasing a new PC or laptop? Let us know in the comments below!

[Electronista]

by Andrew Wray

Looks like Apple, Google and others will have to put a stop to their handshake deals over not hiring each others employees, thanks to the US Justice Department:

According to the complaint, the six companies entered into agreements that restrained competition between them for highly skilled employees. The agreements between Apple and Google, Apple and Adobe, Apple and Pixar and Google and Intel prevented the companies from directly soliciting each other’s employees. An agreement between Google and Intuit prevented Google from directly soliciting Intuit employees.

“The agreements challenged here restrained competition for affected employees without any procompetitive justification and distorted the competitive process,” said Molly S. Boast, Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. “The proposed settlement resolves the department’s antitrust concerns with regard to these no solicitation agreements.”

The government was concerned that the deals prevented employees at the companies involved from getting competitive salary and job offers via "cold calls" aka poaching or active solicitations.

The proposed settlement between the DOJ and the companies prevents them entering into any no-poaching agreements, or any agreements against cross-hiring, for 5 years.

So we pretty much figure the iOS teams' phones are going to be ringing off the hook from now until 2015, right?

[DOJ, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

According to CEO Paul Otelini, he made sure Steve Jobs was comfortable with the purchase before Intel acquired Apple iPhone 3G baseband supplier, Infineon WSL.

Intel chef Paul Otellini says he checked the opinion of Apple CEO Steve Jobs before buying German chipmaker Infineon Technologies' wireless unit for US$7.7 billion. The deal makes Intel a major supplier of the baseband chips that let mobile phones connect to cellular networks.

"Steve was very happy," Otellini told Fox Business TV. "The industry was abuzz that this business unit was on the market, and there were a number of competing companies for it. I think they are very happy that Intel won the bid."

It makes sense, given Intel's existing relationship with Mac hardware, that they'd want to keep their new, high profile, mobile customer happy. The question is, did Intel check with Steve Ballmer before buying McAfee?

[Channel News via 9to5mac]

Intel has announced that they've bought Infineon's wireless solutions business (WLS) for 1.4 billion dollars, which includes the Infineon 3G radio baseband used in iPhone. Here're the PR bullets:

• WLS sale enables Infineon to expand leading position in markets for automotive, industry and security technologies.

• WLS will operate as a standalone business. Intel is committed to serving WLS' existing customers, including support for ARM-based platforms.

• The acquisition expands Intel's current Wi-Fi and 4G WiMAX offerings to include Infineon's 3G capabilities and supports Intel's plans to accelerate LTE. The acquired technology will be used in Intel® Core processor-based laptops, and myriad of Intel® Atom™ processor-based devices, including smartphones, netbooks, tablets and embedded computers.

• The deal aligns with Internet connectivity pillar of Intel's computing strategy.

What if anything this changes for Apple or iPhone remains to be seen. (Queue A4 baseband chipset rumors for next year...)

[Engadget, image via AppleInsider]

A few days ago we mentioned issues users were reporting about iPhone Sync being busted on Windows 7 with Intel P55 express chipset. Microsoft said they were looking into it, but now Intel has issued a statement. CNet has the quote and the background:

"Our leading theory is a BIOS or system configuration issue, but we are still investigating," Intel said Monday. The BIOS, or basic input/output system, is the initial code that runs when a PC is powered on. The BIOS identifies and initializes system devices such as the chipset, graphics card, and hard disk drive. Makers of PC circuit boards, aka motherboards, typically offer their own BIOS.

Again, we're guessing users are less interested in what's to blame, and more interested in getting things working again. So, while everyone investigates, check out the link at the top for some potential work-arounds, and let us know if you get up and running or are still having problems.

[CNet via iLounge]

According to an Engadget exclusive, Apple brought a new specification for optical port connection to Intel who, after some heated back and forth, has produced Light Peak:

Based on what we've learned, Apple will introduce the new standard for its systems around Fall 2010 in a line of Macs destined for back-to-school shoppers -- a follow-up to the "Spotlight turns to notebooks" event, perhaps. Following the initial launch, there are plans to roll out a low-power variation in 2011, which could lead to more widespread adoption in handhelds and cellphones. The plans from October 2007 show a roadmap that includes Light Peak being introduced to the iPhone / iPod platform to serve as a gateway for multimedia and networking outputs. While the timing doesn't line up, a low-powered Light Peak sounds like the kind of technology that would be perfect for a device with a need for broad connectivity but limited real estate for ports... like a tablet.

Can one port rule -- and replace -- them all? Do we want to kiss our USB/FireWire, VGA/DVI/DisplayPort, Ethernet, and all other connectors goodbye and replace them with a single, standardized optical cable? Check out Engadget's full post for more, then let us know what you think.

Some Intel Execs must be still quite jealous that Apple went with the ARM architecture for the iPhone and left Intel waiting at the altar. At a Intel Developer Forum in Taipei, Taiwan, two Intel Execs claimed that the iPhone struggles with "any sort of application that requires any horse power" and that Apple fell short in delivering a full internet browsing experience.

Huh. Color us confused. We've been using the iPhone as our daily driver since it came out and we thought that this was the most--or at least one of the more-- powerful phones on the market. We've been using apps and playing games that show off the pure power of the iPhone that no other phone can run. And that Internet we browse on Mobile Safari? I guess that's not best-in-class either. Though we still can't seem to find a comparable experience, well, anywhere.

The ARM architecture may have its faults but to say the iPhone is slow, underpowered, and fails to deliver the Internet? Did these guys even use the thing? I think good 'ol Intel should give the TiPb headquarters a visit and we'll show them how the iPhone, of this world, works.

What do you guys think? Does the iPhone really suck that much? Or has Intel gone crazy?

Photo Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet

Read

What's going to power the next generation iPhone 3G? Infineon again? Insider Intel? A curveball from PA Semi? And more importantly -- when are we getting our hands on one?! What do YOU think?

To give you some help, here's a HUGE roundup of all the iPhone 3G chipset and ship date rumors. Epic-style. Because let's face it, roughly 0.01 seconds after Steve Jobs pulled the first iPhone from his pocket back at Macworld 2007, and someone, somewhere, put aside their childlike sense of wonder long enough think: "Nice! What's the next gen going to be like?"

Complementary, contradictory, obvious, confusing, all but confirmed or from left field via outer space, the rumors have flooded the internet ever since. It's become almost impossible to keep track of them all. But we're going to try!

One week from today Steve Jobs takes Moscone Center stage for the sold-out WWDC keynote, and according to everyone and their newsfeed, announces the iPhone 3G. In eager anticipation, every day this week, TiPb wil be rounding up a different set of next generation rumors, from 3G to GPS, release dates to price points, colors to casings, 2.0 software to .Mac .Me services, and this weekend we'll wrap it all up with a look into the WWDC/iPhone 3G Crystal Balland a roundup of the very best of YOUR predictions.

So come on, let’s get in on!

[Digg it!]

WWDC -7 and Counting: Of Baseband Chips and Release Date Trips

Categorically unrelated much? Here's the thing: the rumors swirling around the iPhone's 3G chipset and the iPhone 3G's release date, much like how the terms iPhone and 3G have become inextricably linked as the de facto name for the next generation Apple handset, always seem to show up together. So that's how we're going to tackle them.

Now, we don't really know anything for certain. Not that Jobs is going to be announcing the iPhone 3G. Not that it's going to be officially called the iPhone 3G. Or even that it's even going to be 3G (though at this point it really has to be!). All we have is rumors. Tons of them. More of them than perhaps for any event in Apple's history, and in the tech industry, that's saying a lot. Enough rumors to stun a blogsphere.

The current iPhone operates on the GSM networks 2.5/2.75 G (Generation) technology known as EDGE, which provides for data speeds roughly analogous to the dial-up internet connections of yore. (We joke only slightly). 3G GSM cell networking uses the more broadband-like HSPA, and while I mentioned before that you can never say certain, it's pretty much certain the next generation iPhone will support 3G. But which 3G chipset will it use exactly, and when will this iPhone 3G be released?

Let's start at the beginning and work our way forward:

September 18, 2007: At the "Mum's No Longer the Word" iPhone launch in the UK, Steve Jobs gave Apple's first public comment on 3G and the iPhone:

I think we’ll see that hopefully late next year.

Boom. The 3G rumor mill was on!

September 20, 2007: Intel demonstrated a next generation MID (Mobile Internet Device) proof-of-concept that resembled what can only be termed an iPhone "Stretch" based on their then 45nm Silverthorne/Moorestown, now called Atom architecture, which could integrate functionality like 3G. The interwebs lit up, and Intel Inside looked like a possibility for iPhone 3G.

Nov 29, 2007: Once again proving they could make a leaky bucket seem airtight, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson confirmed Jobs "guesstimate" of an iPhone 3G in 2008, though without the "late" part:

You'll have it next year.

February 28, 2008: Analysts and suppliers brought word from Asia that first generation iPhone 2.5 G baseband supplier Infineon was ramping down production of their S-Gold-2 chips in anticipation of a switch to 3G by mid-year.

That made it a two chipset rumor race, though this one seemed more credible than Intel's from the get go.

March 6, 2008: This was SDK day. The big one. Steve Jobs and Co. officially announced iPhone 2.0, with immediate beta, and general release in "late June", which in Apple parlance would roughly translate to June 30, 11:59 pm. But does 2.0 mean new hardware? Does it mean 3G?

March 13, 2008: Skipping right over the 2nd generation iPhone to the 3rd, the Inquirer went back to the Intel MID, predicting Apple would jump from ARM as they had PowerPC, and lent some more weight to the chip-now-known-as-Atom getting into the iPhone (at some point).

March 14, 2008: Pouring fuel on the fire of mid-year release rumors, Apple officially lit the June match by announcing their annual World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) would run from June 9 to 13, and prominently featuring the iPhone as the second bridge/track, next to the traditional Mac focus.

WWDC began to get more and more interesting...

March 25, 2008: Digg founder Kevin Rose used his massively popular Diggnation Podcast to say the 3G HSPA iPhone would arrive in a few months. Rose, of course, had been wrong in his predictions for the first iPhone...

March 26, 2008: More analysts, more Asia, led to reports that Apple may have already placed orders for up to 10 million iPhone 3G handsets from manufacturers. That meant things were moving quickly, and an introduction could be sooner rather than later.

March 29, 2008: And yet more! This time the rumors said 10 million iPhone 3G's from longtime Apple supplier Hon Hai, some perhaps as early as May (probably test units for carriers), and release in June. Word also came that the New York Apple Store was sold out of current gen iPhones.

April 1, 2008: "Foolish" timing not withstanding, Apple Stores suffered the first in what became a series of current generation iPhone shortages, leading to increased order times and then reports of complete sell-outs.

April 3, 2008: Gizmodo "did lunch" with AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega, and when pressed about the release of the iPhone 3G, de la Vega leaked:

Let me repeat what I said: I think that you’re going to see our integrated devices be 3G devices in the not-too-distant future, and I mean months. That should be clear enough.

April 6, 2008: Apple's go-to review guy, none other than Uncle Walt Mossberg, off-handedly quipped that the iPhone 3G would be released in less than 60 days (by June 6). Mossberg later retracted the quip, but the timeline, so close to WWDC's keynote on June 9, seemed a little too convenient...

April 9, 2008: Jailbreaking wizards ZiPhone deep dove the iPhone 2.0 Beta 3 firmware and came up with strings referencing SGOLD3, which was immediately linked to Infineon's S-Gold-3 chips, one of which supported 3G. Not conclusive, but inching closer...

April 10, 2008: TG Daily reported that the iPhone 3G would indeed debut at WWDC, and went so far as to offer price points at $399 for 8GB, $499 for 16GB, and potentially $599 for a huge 32GB model.

April 16, 2008: Deeply discounted iPhones began to appear in the UK via O2, mirroring discounts available from from T-Mobile in Germany, and followed by Orange in France as well. Euro-liquidation in preparation for the 3G onslaught?

April 18, 2008: Word came from Asia that Infineon would provide the 65nm 3G chipset for the next generation, to be manufactured by UMC. Seemed like a done deal, but then...

April 23, 2008: The interwebs woke to the shocking news that Apple had purchased Palo Alto Semiconductor (PA Semi) for $287 million. PA Semi, from the guys who spun us the DEC Alpha and StrongARM, focused on super efficient mobile chips, suddenly creating a potential 3G love triangle for the iPhone, and making Infineon less of a done deal than it had appeared. Or did it? 3G may never have been, or may never ever be, part of the PA Semi package, and other ideas rapidly surfaced for their potential in the iPhone, primarily as proprietary, special-purpose chips.

April 28, 2008: More for the heap, as Engadget reported that Foxxcon (aka Hon Hai), manufacturer of the first generation iPhone, was ramping up the 3G assembly line for the end of May, with production of 3 million units expected for June, and 25 million during product lifetime.

April 29, 2008: Rogers' announced the iPhone will be coming to Canada "sometime later" in the year. This began a tsunami of similarly short and vague iPhone announcements across Europe and for the first time in Asia, Latin America, Australia, and Africa. Most significantly, many of these were countries where 3G not only made sense but verged on being a deal-breaker.

May 5, 2008: derStandard.at reported that Austria(!) would shortly be serving as the testing ground for the iPhone 3G.

May 6, 2008: Amid rumors galore, a leaked memo from AT&T revealed that once again employees were instructed not to take vacation between June 15 and July 12 due to an expected big bump in traffic from a new promotion... Hmmm...

May 12, 2008: AT&T's website suddenly showed an "iPhone Black". They later claimed it was an error, but the reasons given were nonsensical.

May 13, 2008: Surprising absolutely no one, Apple announced that Steve Jobs, joined by a team of execs, would be keynoting WWDC on June 9. More and more, all rumors led back to that date.

May 15, 2008: Fed up with AT&T hogging all the leaky glory, Intel Germany Geschäftsführer Hannes Schwaderer let slip that:

There is an iPhone with Intel’s new Atom chip. The device is slightly larger than the current version. That is not, however, because of the Intel chip, but because of the larger display used in the new iPhone.

Intel tried to claim it never happened, but others in attendance's take on the comment was:

The Intel CEO mentioned furthermore, that the display on iPhone 2 would be bigger than on iPhone 1 (although it is already quite big). iPhone 2 is also thinner than iPhone 1.

Was Intel still in the running?

The same day, banking on a Jobsnote announcement of the iPhone 3G to make history, WWDC sold out for the first time in history.

May 20, 2008: Gizmodo reported that "people in the know" said the iPhone 3G would be announced on June 9, day and date of Steve Jobs' WWDC keynote.

May 21, 2008: InfoSync claimed confirmation that the iPhone 3G would be announced June 9, and further added that AT&T would have it available for sale roughly 10 days later -- June 19 or 20.

May 23, 2008: Import Genius analyzed data from thousands of U.S. customs declarations for Apple, Inc. and found 188 "electric computer" containers of a product never before imported by the company. What could that be...?

May 26, 2008: In a move eerily reminiscent of last years original iPhone launch, AT&T is reported to be hiring temps to bolster their ranks from June 16 - August 16, under code-name "Summer Project Pro".

May 28, 2008: Though everyone expected an iPhone 3G announcement by WWDC, based in part from leaks by Ma Bell herself, AT&T CFO Rick Lindner decided to play coy about pricing details, telling the media:

There’s not been a product announcement. There hasn’t been any pricing decisions made. That’s yet to come.

June 1, 2008: In a move amazingly reminiscent of last year's pre-original iPhone "Fine Edge" project, which boosted 2.5 G speeds, AT&T began an upgrade to boost the speed of their 3G HSPA network. Coincidence? Not.

UPDATED:

June 5, 2008: Fortune’s Brian Caulfield (via Apple Insider) had word of yet more mysterious boxes, this time at supposed current iPhone manufacturer Quanta. While some were labeled “iMac”, 20 others were in plain brown wrappers, with employees either unavailable or unwilling to elaborate.

June 6, 2008: Apple Insider kept up with the box news, and showed packages arriving in Australia with ominous "under NDA" and "do not open until June 10" warnings.

Your Turn!

So there you go, now it's your turn. Tell us what YOU think will power the iPhone 3G. Current supplier Infineon? Powerhouse Intel? Recent acquisition PA Semi? And when will we be getting an iPhone with that chip? WWDC like everyone expects? Late June? July? Sometime before the holidays?!

And after you're done telling us, don't forget to head over to our iPhone Blog's super Wait-a-Thon spectacular where you could win an iPhone 3G of your very own, with whatever chip's in it, on the very day it's released!

Continue reading Part 2: What’s the iPhone 3G Going to Look Like?
Continue reading Part 3: What Surprises Will Be in iPhone 2.0 Software & Services?
Continue reading Part 4: What 3rd Party iPhone SDK Apps Will Be Available Launch Day?
Continue reading Part 5: What Will the iPhone 3G’s Hardware Features Be?

Confession: Yes, when one of these crazy AT&T or Intel rumors come up, I draft a rumor-smasher just as soon as I finish the post. Chalk it up to experience.

Case in point: yesterday we (and everyone else in the blogsphere) reported that Intel Germany Geschäftsführer Hannes Schwaderer done let slip word of an Atom-powered iTablet. Or done did he?

"No Intel exec has said anything about any future Apple product, Atom processor or otherwise," an Intel spokesperson told AppleInsider. "I think that’s important to note as everyone speculates on future products from Apple."

And more awkwardly:

“Intel knows nothing over future products of other manufacturers and can therefore over it also nothing say,” press spokesman Mike Cato told ZDNet

Of course, just like AT&T leaking and un-leaking the iPhone Black, this could just be Intel desperately spinning damage control following a "phone call" from Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

So, basically, either the interwebs have gone slappy-happy bonkers with pent-up pre-WWDC mania, or a large-screen, Atom-powered, iChat'ing iPhone Tablet 3G Black is coming our way very, very shortly?

MacRumors, source of the original hubbub, is standing firm on the latter, and offers up further corroboration-by-way-of-translation:

"PCGH-Editor Daniel Waadt was there as well an can attest, that Schwaderer referred to the iPhone as an example for the use of the atom-processor from Intel. The Intel CEO mentioned furthermore, that the display on iPhone 2 would be bigger than on iPhone 1 (although it is already quite big). iPhone 2 is also thinner than iPhone 1."

My bet? iPhone 3G sans-Intel takes stage at WWDC, ships sometime soonish thereafter, and while an iTablet certainly exists, and certainly furthers Apple's mobile WiFi platform and App Store program, we won't hear about it until sometime between Thanksgiving 2008 and Macworld 2009. Only way it makes sense anytime soon is if Steve Jobs smells blood in the water and is willing to sacrifice short-term roadmaps for the ultra-mobile kill.

What do you think?

ReadVia

True story: before the iPhone, Apple's multi-touch screen mobile efforts were focused on a tablet-like device known internally as Safari Pad. But when El Jobso unleashed his awesome powers of prediction, he saw cell phones coming on so strongly, he shifted Apple's gears -- and mobile OS X Touch development efforts -- to what became the iPhone.

Since then -- heck, since way before then, probably back since Jobs first axed the original Apple ultra-mobile, the Newton -- rumors have persisted that Apple was still working on the iTablet/Safari Pad/Mac Touch. And since the iPhone back in January 2007, every time a Jobsnote is scheduled, the interwebs explode with rumor that this time, at last, the dream machine will finally be released.

Well, this time we may have more than just rumor and hope to go on, as Intel Germany Geschäftsführer Hannes Schwaderer let slip that:

There is an iPhone with Intel’s new Atom chip. The device is slightly larger than the current version, Schwaderer said. That is not, however, because of the Intel chip, but because of the larger display used in the new iPhone.

Okay, so possible Non-Disclosure violations aside, does "slightly larger" mean tablet sized to anyone the Apple rumorati? And how does this factor in to previous rumors of the next-gen iPhone being Infineon powered, never mind Apple's recent purchase of PA Semi and its mobile PowerPC architecture?

More and more questions, with less and less time remaining before WWDC...

What do you think? Could this be this year's One More Thing...?

Read

The Inquirer is rumormongering that the fabled iPhone 3G (in this case, iPhone version 3, rocking 3G HSDPA data speeds) will, like big brother Mac before it, be undergoing a brain transplant. And Intel once again has the technology.

Crutching itself on a CeBIT slide showing Intel's MID (mobile internet device) roadmap, they point to a very conspicuous iPhone image in the bottom right corner. Wassup indeed?

The lucky chip is prognosticated to be a second-gen Atom, code-named Moorestown, Intel's 45nm integrated memory, video/graphics engine, with optional Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and -- you guessed it! -- 3G all possible right there on the little super-chip.

So if all of this is still way off in 2009, with iPhone v3, where does that leave us (hopefully later this very year!) with iPhone v2? Maybe those previous Infineon rumors have some legs?

And with Apple hyping their mobile internet platform as the "next big thing" and rumors of a larger form-factor Safari Pad (iTablet), could it make sense for Apple to unify around a single chipset supplier? Or, like TUAW, will you believe it only when you see it (and pigs) fly?

(via Apple Insider)

figure 1: a mockup of a device on Intel's Moorestown chip

The Apple iPhone is currently based off the ARM processor platform, but they are reportedly considering a switch to Intel in 2009. Some sites are expanding that news as justification for no 3rd party development, but I don't buy it. And why not? Because a web widget -- the simplest form of native 3rd party development -- can be written in processor-agnostic fashion. Indeed, most of them would.

The chip that they're reportedly considering, the Moorestown MID, would give the iPhone an unprecedented amount of computing power for a mobile device in its size class as the chip is designed for use in ultramobile PCs. Moorestown can also pair with chips for 3G, wi-fi, and wimax. Speaking to Jobs' earlier quote about horrible battery life, Moorestown can idle with 10% of the power than its predecessor chip Menlow, meaning drastically longer standby times. Of course, it could just indicate that Apple is coming out with a UMPC of their own, who can say? [picture credit]