AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and reportedly Sprint each stand to grab a healthy slice of the market demand for the new iPhone. But each carrier brings something different to the table, making it difficult to predict which one might benefit the most, says ComScore.

AT&T holds the dominant share of existing iPhone customers. As of July, 81.9 percent of iPhone subscribers were with AT&T, leaving only 15.1 percent for Verizon, according to the report.

Following the launch of the new phone, all current iPhone carriers will likely continue to offer the iPhone 4 at a discount. AT&T could pick up even more customers by also continuing to sell the iPhone 3GS cheap. But that advantage may be short-lived since at some point, the older model iPhone will cease production, especially if Apple launches a low-cost iPhone 4.

Though Verizon’s percentage of iPhone users may be low, its satisfaction rates continue to be high. In July, ComScore found that more than 76 percent of Verizon smartphone customers graded the carrier with a score of 8 or higher out of 10, compared with 68 percent for other carriers. Among existing iPhone users, 23 percent said that they will switch or are seriously thinking of switching to another provider, opening the door for more business to come Verizon’s way.

However, Sprint also stands to do well if it gets custody of the new iPhone as it would be the only carrier to still offer an unlimited data plan. That benefit alone could scoop up new customers and prompt current data-slurpping users to switch carriers to grab the lower-price plan. However, questions have been raised as to how long Sprint could retain its unlimited plan, especially given a flood of iPhone users gobbling up data that the network might having trouble supporting.

No matter how the carriers fare with the new iPhone, the one company certain to come out ahead is Apple, ComScore said.

“Putting the operators aside, the one clear winner so far would appear to be Apple, which stands to gain market share from the additional market sectors penetrated by Sprint and providing another device option for customers of AT&T and Verizon,” the report noted. “As the Android platform continues to grow in popularity, it will be interesting to see the role the iPhone 5 plays in the platform share race and how this will ultimately impact the operator industry.”

[Thanks: http://news.cnet.com]

These images come via TUAW, and show placeholders for the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4S. These screenshots do not show images of either device, but offer a look at the possible specs for Apple’s new iPhone.

Before you get too excited, these could just be placeholders put up by an expecting carrier — but even that is a telling sign. Just yesterday, we saw the Sprint iPhone 5 show up in Radio Shack’s inventory system.

You see, these screenshots appeared on the pre-paid pages of Cincinnati Bell. This is the first time we have heard about this carrier getting the iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S.

The first screenshot shows the specs of an iPhone 5. This includes a larger 4″ display, up from 3.5″ on the current iPhone 4. We also see an 8MP camera listed, which is an improvement over the current 5MP iPhone 4 camera, and we also see 4G data speeds listed. While this might get your heart beating a big faster, calm down. This isn’t real 4G LTE, which delivers super fast downloads. Instead, this is HSPA+, which is only 4G in a fantasy world where marketers control definitions.

Are these the iPhone 5 Specs?

Next up, we see a screenshot of an iPhone 4S placeholder. This is the rumored low cost, tweaked iPhone 4. The iPhone 4S claims to have the current iPhone 4′s 3.5″ display and 5MP camera, but has an upgraded A5 processor. This device is notably cheaper at $99 after an instant $300 rebate.

Are these the iPhone 4S specs?

We are waiting for Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, to announce the new iPhone on October 4th at the company’s headquarters in California. We expect at least one new iPhone, but we may actually get two unique devices on Tuesday. If the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S are announced by Apple, we expect a release date of mid October on Sprint, AT&T and Verizon.

Apple is also expected to announce the iOS 5 release date. iOS 5 is a new version of the software that powers the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. This new version is rumored to bring voice control in the form of a new Assistant app, only available on the new iPhone, as well as over 200 new features to the iPhone 5 and older iPhones.

This leak gives us hope that Apple may go even broader with the launch and allow regional carriers that use Verizon, AT&T or Sprint towers to get in on the iPhone 5 game.

[Thanks: http://www.gottabemobile.com]

Next week Apple will be closing its huge Covent Garden store in London early, as they can host a press gathering to watch the press event that will be streamed from the California headquarters. The store will be closing early at 3:30pm to get ready for the media event that will start at 6:00pm. Its Covent Garden store normally stays open until 9:00pm on that day.

MacRumors are reporting that Apple notified staff about the event, but couldn’t go into details about what was going to be presented at the event. This was likely to prevent any leaks to the media ahead of the presentation.

Apple has launched press events in London before but they were mainly held away from its retail outlets. With the iPhone 4 that went on sale in June 2010 the company’s flagship store on Regent Street opened early at 7am to meet demand for the device.

There is likely to be many Apple fans trying to get a look inside to see what is going on during the keynote speech by Tim Cook. The store may blackout its windows though as the anticipation for the next handset grows. We told you earlier about a survey that found a big percentage of consumers are looking to get the iPhone 5.

Are you holding out for the iPhone 5?

[Thanks: http://www.product-reviews.net]

The two anticipated new iPhone models are expected by analyst Chris Whitmore with Deutsche Bank to push Apple’s smartphone sales even higher. He sees the so-called “iPhone 4S” as a handset with a bill-of-material cost lower than $150, allowing Apple to sell it for between $300 and $350 without a carrier subsidy.

Whitmore sees a low-cost iPhone giving Apple even greater market penetration into the midrange smartphone market, where he estimates there are about 1 billion prepaid customers. Such a move would “drastically expand” the addressable smartphone market for Apple, he believes.

The anticipated iPhone 4S is viewed as essentially an 8GB iPod touch with an added cellular antenna. Whitmore believes such a device could achieve margins of around 50 percent, if it were to be sold for more than $300. He noted the current 8GB iPod touch, which sells for $229, has margins of about 38 percent.

In his note to investors on Monday, Whitmore also made brief mention of Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone, which he expects will be a completely redesigned handset. Specifically, he said he expects the device to have an aluminum unibody construction to replace the current glass back of the iPhone 4.

In addition, Whitmore also believes that the so-called “iPhone 5″ will sport a better camera and a slightly larger screen size. Various rumors have suggested the next handset will have an 8-megapixel camera along with an edge-to-edge screen.

Claims that Apple’s next iPhone will sport an aluminum back first surfaced in March, when it was said that ditching glass could allow the handset to be even lighter. It was claimed again in August that Apple’s iPhone 5 will sport a “metal chassis” replacing the reinforced glass on the back of the iPhone 4.

Leading up to an anticipated iPhone announcement from Apple, a number of alleged parts have leaked from the company’s overseas supply chain showing a handset largely similar to the iPhone 4. Some reports have claimed that these are for Apple’s new low-cost iPhone 4S, while others have said the iPhone 5 will look largely the same as the current model.

Though no components showing a drastically redesigned iPhone 5 have appeared, a number of third-party cases have shown a redesigned iPhone with curved sides leading to a flat back. In addition, The New York Times has claimed that the iPhone 5 will sport a “fairly different” look on the outside.

[Thanks: http://www.appleinsider.com]

The most significant update highlighted by the company is Social Guides. This new feature is made up of a list of 60 cities to start with and 100 more are coming soon. Deriving data from local updates by users, recommendations from experts, and several other inputs, this feature will act as a guide to the particular place. Also, as a result of strategic collaborations with Disney, National Geographic, the Austin American-Statesman and more, Gowalla will also add 20 exclusive places to the catalog of Social Guides.

The new Love button is no less than the ‘Like’ option which is popular these days. The company has attempted at expressing their passion by renaming it. Other new inclusions, rather makeovers, comprise Lists and improvements in Highlights. Lists, which was earlier known as Trips, will now be more accommodating while Highlights are made more easier to access. The checking in concept has also been widened, henceforth to be known as stories. The arrangement of befriending users has also evolved, putting forth the option of ‘Following’ each other.

The upgraded Gowalla app for the iPhone and Android devices is now available for download. And for existing clients, they might have to bear some bumps as the process of enhancement formulates entirely over the next few weeks.

[Thanks: http://www.mobiletor.com]

Some of the panels supplied by Wintek have been found to suffer “delayed bubble” problems, DigiTimes reports, where bubbles of gas are trapped in-between the multi-layer films used. There’s no word on exactly what proportion of Wintek’s touch panels are believed to be affected.

Wintek is providing up to a quarter of the iPhone 5 touch panels, the sources claim, with Apple supposedly aiming to ship as many as 26m units of the fifth-gen smartphone in Q4 2011. The company has only publicly said that all of its products are being delivered “on schedule” and has not commented on specific orders or customers.

With the application process of the iPhone 5 touch panels being identical to that of those in the iPhone 4, industry insiders don’t envisage that Wintek will experience any significant delays in rectifying the problem. Exactly how many of the panels it has already supplied will need to be replaced is unclear.

Apple is believed to be readying two new versions of the iPhone, the iPhone 4S with almost identical aesthetics to the current iPhone 4 and targeted at the more affordable end of the market, and the iPhone 5 which is tipped to have a larger display among other changes. Cases for the iPhone 4S were caught in the wild yesterday seemingly confirming that Apple is indeed close to launching at least one of the new handsets.

[Thanks: http://www.slashgear.com]

The patents involved cover microprocessor functionality in the above mentioned products, Via said, singling out U.S. Patent No. 6253312, “method and apparatus for double operand load,” and U.S. Patents Nos. 6253311 and 6754810, “instruction set for bi-directional conversion and transfer of integer and floating point data.”

Taiwan-based Via bills itself as “a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms.” Today’s patent complaint was filed with the United States International Trade Commission and the U.S. District Court of Delaware.

“Via has built up an extensive IP portfolio consisting of over 5,000 patents as a result of significant investments in…research and development,” Via CEO Wenchi Chen said in the statement. “We are determined to protect our interests and the interests of our stockholders when our patents are infringed upon.”

Apple did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment by publication time.

This is the latest legal salvo aimed at Apple in recent months, the company is currently involved in a patent spat with Samsung over Apple’s iOS devices. The struggle includes lawsuits in the U.S., Europe, Japan, Australia, and South Korea and has led to a temporary ban on Samsung selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Germany.

Patents, of course, have long provided a busy battleground for tech companies, which seek to file as many patent claims as possible, to protect themselves from suits as well as come out stronger in settlements.

[Thanks: http://news.cnet.com]

That will be when the world finally gets to officially see the iPhone 5, according to AllThingsD which cited “sources close to the situation.”

A few things will be markedly different than the last time a new iPhone was announced. For one, Steve Jobs will in all certainly be absent. Instead, new CEO Tim Cook is likely to be the guy to lift the metaphorical curtain.

Additionally, unlike previous iPhone announcements, there is still some lingering doubt as to the extent of products to be revealed. Some have suggested Apple might unveil two phones - perhaps something like an iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5.

Meanwhile, there is still lingering, though shrinking, speculation that Apple could also show off the iPad 3. That seems unlikely but not completely out of the question.

Also unclear is if Apple will make a declaration about the iPhone making its way to Sprint, largely believed to be the next carrier to nab the iPhone privilege.

In other words, while we absolutely know there is a new iPhone on the way, we know very little about it. That’s just the way Apple likes it. Mr. Jobs would certainly be proud.

If the October 4 event does in fact materialize, there’s still one more question - when will the new iPhone actually be released? Hopefully Apple will surprise everyone and say it’s coming out later in the month.

[Thanks: http://www.tgdaily.com]

“Skype uses a locally stored HTML file to display chat messages from other Skype users, but it fails to properly encode the incoming user’s ‘Full Name,’ allowing an attacker to craft malicious JavaScript code that runs when the victim views the message,” Purviance wrote on his blog.

The heart of the problem, according to Purviance, is an improper definition within the Skype app that allows access to a user’s local file system. He says the threat is partially mitigated by protections within iOS itself, but the address book remains vulnerable.

Skype appears to be in no hurry to fix the problem. In a tweet, Purviance said he notified Skype of the vulnerability on August 24, and was told that an update addressing the issue would be released in early September.

A statement from Skype confirms that the company is aware of the issue and will fix it “in our next planned release, which we hope to roll out imminently.”

You can watch a demonstration of exactly how the exploit works in this video, created by Purviance:

[Thanks: http://www.pcworld.com]

Analyst Mark Moskowitz with JP Morgan said on Monday that the next “iPhone 5″ will be a “world phone” with both GSM and CDMA cellular support, but no support for 4G, and a “lighter, thinner form factor.”

He also indicated the iPhone 5 would be accompanied by another device aimed at downscaled markets.

“A second device based on the current iPhone 4 but with some minor improvements could target the midrange and focus on China,” Moskowitz told clients. “As for the current iPhone 4, we expect it to subsume 3GS as the lower-end offering.”

The “research” reignites debate as to whether the consumer electronics giant will launch a new flagship and use the current iPhone 4 as the low-end offering, and create a new device.

But for Moskowitz, a new, cheaper device makes sense, as it allows it to tap into the massive China market without the premium shock.

“If penetrated, China Mobile and China Telecom with approximately 600 million and 100 million subscribers, alongside Sprint and T-Mobile USA with 52 million and 33 million subscribers, stand to have an effect tantamount to the big increase in the number of carriers exhibited in the June quarter,” he said. “We would expect such a big bang if Apple introduces two new iPhones this fall and penetrates the untapped U.S. and China carriers.”

As for the rumored iPad 3, the analyst shot that down, echoing the course of others on Wall Street that say given the current dominance of the iPad 2, there would be little reason to upgrade now.

“The other tablet entrants have stumbled,” Moskowitz wrote. “Offerings by MMI and RIM have been the latest disappointments. Also, we had the opportunity to demo Sony’s tablet before its launch. We were not impressed.”

Indeed, the same analyst noted last week that Motorola Mobility’s “Xoom” tablet had “not exhibited much in the way of meaningful market penetration” and that Research in Motion said it shipped only 200,000 “PlayBook” tablets in the August-ending fiscal Q2, fewer than analysts were expecting.

In comparison, Apple shipped over nine million tablets, and is projected to command over 60 percent of the tablet market in 2012.

[Thanks: http://www.ibtimes.com]