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The Wall Street Journal has just confirmed that Apple is indeed preparing to break away from its existing 3.5-inch panels in favor of a display measuring “at least 4 inches diagonally.” iPhones have been of the same 3.5″ panel right from the beginning when the first gen iPhone were launched way back in 2007. It’s going to be a different story for the next iPhone — often dubbed the “iPhone 5’, however, with “people familiar with the situation” claiming that Apple has already ordered screens of “at least 4 inches” from its Asian suppliers.

Production is set to begin next month for the screens, which measure at least 4 inches diagonally compared with 3.5 inches on the iPhone 4S, the latest phone from Apple, the people said. Manufacturers say Apple has placed an order for larger display screens for the next generation of iPhone. The WSJ’s Juro Osawa tells Deborah Kan about what’s in store for the new device.

The move suggests that Apple is trying to make its popular smartphone more appealing amid intensifying competition from rival Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea. Samsung, which became the world’s biggest cell phone maker in the first quarter, recently unveiled its new flagship smartphone with a 4.8-inch display, one of the largest smartphone screens.

A new iPhone with a larger screen wouldn’t necessarily mean that Apple is making changes to its products because of what rivals are doing, said Mizuho Investors Securities analyst Nobuo Kurahashi.

[via - WSJ]

Sometime back iLounge reported that Apple is seriously looking to move to a 4-inch display in iPhone 5 by just increasing the height of the screen and keeping the width the same as iPhone 4S. There is this website Ciccarese Design started by Macrumors which has shared some higher quality mockups of how this taller iPhone 5 might look like. Its pretty interesting:

Macrumors goes on to say that, increasing the diagonal measurement of the iPhone display from 3.5 inches to 4 inches while maintaining the same width as the current display adds approximately 11 mm (0.45 inch) to the height of the display. With iLounge’s report indicating that the new iPhone’s body will measure in at approximately 125 mm, which is 10 mm taller than the iPhone 4S, the spacing for the components above and below the display would remain roughly the same.

The mockup also shows a smaller dock connector as has been rumored by several sources, as well as a flat metal panel in the central portion of the rear shell of the iPhone, in line with iLounge’s claims.

iLounge shared some fresh iPhone 5 rumors which might come true. Jason Horwitz writes that the next-gen iPhone will come with a larger 4inch screen that will have the same width of 4S but a taller height sporting a new aspect ratio for the iPhone.

What we’ve learned: the new iPhone will indeed be longer and thinner than the iPhone 4 and 4S. Approximate measurements are 125mm by 58.5mm by 7.4mm—a 10mm jump in height, nearly 2mm reduction in thickness, and virtually identical width. According to our source, Apple will make one major change to the rear casing, adding a metal panel to the central back of the new iPhone. This panel will be flat, not curved, and metal, not ceramic. Our artist’s rendition provides a rough idea of what this change will look like; it echoes the current-generation iMac design, to be sure.

Check this mockup:

Horwitz goes on to say that the iPhone 5 make use of Gorilla Glass 2, a material which provides as much strength as the Gorilla Glass with a thinner form factor. The report also notes that Apple’s next iPhone will introduce a new and smaller dock connector.

Apple will also introduce its new Dock Connector on the new iPhone. The new port will be a little larger than the bottom speaker or microphone hole on the iPhone 4/4S. It’s believed to have fewer pins than the prior 30-pin Dock Connector, perhaps only 16, and the shape of the hole is apparently closer to a pill shape than the prior rounded rectangle. It will be used on all upcoming devices, including an update to the iPod touch that’s expected this year, and will almost certainly feature a similarly updated screen and CPU.

Lets wait for October 2012.. Yeppieee

Source – iLounge

This is definitely a must-read Guys. I usually dont share non iPhone topics on my iPhone blog. But this one is just enriching. Let me get to this Forbes topic right away: Here’s why Google and Facebook might completely disappear in the next 5 years:

“We think of Google and Facebook as Web gorillas. They’ll be around forever. Yet, with the rate that the tech world is moving these days, there are good reasons to think both might be gone completely in 5 – 8 years,” Eric Jackson writes for Forbes. “Not bankrupt gone, but MySpace gone. And there’s some academic theory to back up that view, along with casual observations from recent history.”
“More and more in tech, it seems that your long-term viability as a company is dependent on when you were born,” Jackson writes. “Think of the differences between generations and when we talk about how the Baby Boomers behave differently from Gen X’ers and additional differences with the Millennials. Each generation is perceived to see the world in a very unique way that translates into their buying decisions and countless other habits.”

Jackson writes, “With each new paradigm shift (first to social, now to mobile, and next to whatever else), the older generations get increasingly out of touch and likely closer to their significant decline. What’s more, the tech world in which we live in seems to be speeding up… Yahoo is already a shell of its 2000 self. There is increasing chatter (including from me) about how Google’s facing a painful multiple contraction, once its desktop search business (still accounting for the vast majority of its revenues and profits) starts to fall off a cliff as users dramatically drop traditional search for new ways of getting information they want in a mobile world… Facebook is also probably facing a tough road ahead as this shift to mobile happens.”

Source – Forbes

Apple’s iPhone is now the most profitable business in the world. The company is going to generate $45-$50 billion of profit this year. That’s way more than the next-most-profitable company in the world, ExxonMobil which generated about $30 billion of profit last year. Apple’s iPhone business alone is likely more profitable than any other company in the world.

Apple’s overall profit margin is 30%. The iPhone, most analysts agree, is more profitable than some of Apple’s other products. So perhaps the iPhone business has a profit margin of, say, 35%. The iPhone business, meanwhile, is currently generated about $100 billion of revenue per year. So it seems likely that the iPhone business is generating ~$35 billion of profit per year. That’s more than ExxonMobil.

Five years ago, the iPhone didn’t exist. Apple invented it out of thin air and then launched it in the summer of 2007.
In other words, the Apple division built around a product that didn’t exist five years ago is now the most profitable company in the world. WOW!!!

Source – Business Insider

Apple has announced the dates for WWDC 2012 – will take place from June 11 -15th at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.

Phil Schiller goes on to say, “We have a great WWDC planned this year and can’t wait to share the latest news about iOS and OS X Mountain Lion with developers, the iOS platform has created an entirely new industry with fantastic opportunities for developers across the country and around the world.”

Passes went on sale this morning for $1599 and sold out within 2 hours. Apple is touting plans to hold over 100 technical sessions for iOS and OS X developers. Over the last few years, Apple has gotten much better about posting videos from the conference online, for free.

Tickets were limited to one per person, or five per organization, and are non-transferable and non-refundable

Apple had another record-breaking financial quarter over the last three months. A record revenue of $39.2 billion and net quarterly profit of $11.06 billion, or $12.30 per diluted share in Q2 2012, compared to revenue of $24.7 billion and net profit of $6.0 billion, or $6.40 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter, in the year-ago quarter. Here are few other high points:

• Apple now has $110 billion dollars in the bank
• iOS device sales recently crossed the 365 million mark
• There are now more than 600,000 apps in the App Store
• 200,000 of those apps are iPad-specific
• iCloud now has more than 125 million users
• Apple has 363 retail stores (not counting stores within stores)
• Retail stores saw over 85 million visitors last quarter

Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook said:

“We’re thrilled with sales of over 35 million iPhones and almost 12 million iPads in the March quarter. The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you’re going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver.”

The Taiwan based Central News Agency is reporting, citing research analyst David Hsieh, that the iPhone 5 will incporate “in-cell” technology which will result in a potentially much thinner device. iPhone 5 is expected to be released in the third quarter of 2012, is likely to adopt in-cell touch panels rolled out by Sharp and Toshiba Mobile Display (TMD), according to sources in Apple’s supply chain.

An improvement in yield rates of the in-cell touch panels at Sharp and TMD has persuaded Apple to choose to cooperate with Japan-based panel makers, the sources noted. Sharp will produce the in-cell panels at its 5.5G lines, while TMD will utilize its 6G lines for production, indicated the sources, adding that the two makers will begin to ramp up in-cell panel production in the second quarter of 2012.

The adoption of the in-cell touch panels, if realized, will also have a significant impact on the operations of Apple’s current touch panel suppliers TPK Holdings and Wintek, which are specialized in the production of glass on glass touch solutions currently, said the sources.

Source – Digitimes

Zooey Deschanel gets in on the action this time. The videos are on Youtube. Dont miss these 2 ads. The ad appears to be an Apple creation, with the three U.S. iPhone carriers — AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon — being variously featured in title cards at the end of the ad:

This interesting story was originally covered in the Men’s Journal, called “How a Geek Grills a Burger,” casts the former Microsoft chief technology officer as a “mad scientist” living out a “nerd fantasy.” He has a bestselling six-volume cookbook, he studied astrophysics with Stephen Hawking, and his giant Tyrannasaurus rex skeleton has turned his waterfront home into a tourist attraction.

And yes, by the way, he tried to convince Microsoft to make the iPhone, basically, more than two decades ago. From the piece …

In 1991, Myhrvold predicted the emergence of the iPhone down to the smallest detail, describing a “digital wallet” that would consolidate all personal communication — telephone, schedule manager, notepad, contacts, and a library of music and books, all in one. It would record and archive everything you asked it to, he surmised. “The cost will not be very high,” he wrote. “It is pretty easy to imagine a $400 to $1,000 retail price.” Microsoft, however, was too cost conscious and risk averse to execute Myhrvold’s vision. “Hey, it was better than predicting the wrong thing,” Myhrvold says now.

Taken in its entirety, it’s very different picture of Myhrvold than the one painted last year in the This American Life/Planet Money piece, “When Patents Attack.” The radio investigation likened the approach of Myhrvold’s Intellectual Ventures  patent holding company to a “mafia-style shakedown.”

The Men’s Journal piece leaves a different impression overall, portraying Myhrvold more as geeky genius than as a patent troll. Myhrvold participated in the story, apparently enthusiastically — even sticking a half-lemon in his mouth for one goofy pic.

Slashdot has it:

“Microsoft apparently could have been a contender in the smartphone market, instead of the WP7 bum it is today. Former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold says he tried to convince Microsoft to make an iPhone-like device more than two decades ago. ‘The cost will not be very high,’ Myhrvold wrote in 1991. ‘It is pretty easy to imagine a $400 to $1,000 retail price.’ So is Myhrvold bitter that cost-conscious and risk averse Microsoft opted not to pursue his vision? Nope. ‘Hey, it was better than predicting the wrong thing,’ Myhrvold explains.”

Just awesome! I felt. Jon Stewart gives us his take on Google’s glasses and Facebook’s purchase of Instagram for $1B. Watch Jon Stewart Give His Take On Google’s Project Glass And Rip Up Facebook’s Purchase Of Instagram On The Daily Show:

[via - AndroidPolice]

This is going to be the first iPhone-connected wristwatch. Its called the Pebble. Shared at the Kickstarter project this smartphone-connected wristwatch is known as the Pebble. Heres a brief - Customize Your Perfect Watch. It’s as Easy as Downloading an App.

Pebble is the first watch built for the 21st century. It’s infinitely customizable, with beautiful downloadable watchfaces and useful internet-connected apps. Pebble connects to iPhone and Android smartphones using Bluetooth, alerting you with a silent vibration to incoming calls, emails and messages. While designing Pebble, we strove to create a minimalist yet fashionable product that seamlessly blends into everyday life

Check out this initial video shared the developers:

As of now, it can pull data like caller ID, email, calendar alerts, Facebook messages, and Twitter notifications from the handset. But using the SDK, third party developers will be able to add all kinds of different functions.Yesterday, these guys receieved $1M in just 28hrs – We’re absolutely blown away by your support, Kickstarter. $1M in 28 hours!

Source – Kickstarter