Though Apple had never made public its intention to release a third-generation iPad model this year, a new report claims the 2011 launch of the iPad 3 has been canceled. It has been widely reported that Apple intended to launch a new iPad model with a Retina Display this year, however DigiTimes on Tuesday claims Apple has canceled those plans due to display issues. The trade paper’s unnamed sources from within Apple’s supply chain believe the reason for the delay lies in the inability of Apple’s display partners — Sharp, LG and Samsung — to manufacture high-resolution 9.7-inch Retina Display panels quickly enough. DigiTimes says that Apple plans to have between 28 and 30 million iPad 2 units built in the second half of 2011 in lieu of an iPad 3. A report from TiPb late last week claimed Apple would launch its iPhone 5 in October and the iPad 3 would not launch until spring 2012.

Read

Sprint has abandoned its plans to launch a version of Research In Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet with an embedded 4G WiMAX radio. The nation’s No. 3 wireless carrier cited a lack of demand among business customers as its reasoning for the cancellation, The Wall Street Journal reports. “It’s an interesting concept, it just hasn’t caught on with business customers as much as they would like,” said president of Sprint’s business markets group, Paget Alves. “There are so many tablets in the market, it creates confusion for the average customer.” Sprint announced in January that it would release a 4G BlackBerry PlayBook sometime this summer, and a Sprint spokesperson told The Journal that the decision to not release the 4G PlayBook will have no impact on the carrier’s relationship with RIM.

Citing issues with the user experience, O2 UK announced on Thursday that it “will not be selling” the BlackBerry PlayBook. The wireless carrier began notifying customers who had signed up for more information about its change of heart on Thursday. The carrier officially stated: “unfortunately there are some issues with the end to end customer experience,” but didn’t delve further into its reasons for the decision. We suspect it could be the lack of a native email client, an addition that RIM has said it will add in a future update, but we also noted that it felt like an “unfinished product” in our recent review. O2 did say that it could offer the product at a later date, and that it will work with Research In Motion on its BlackBerry PlayBook products in the future.

Read

T-Mobile giveth, and T-Mobile taketh away. News coming down from T-Mobile enthusiast blog TmoNews suggests that the apple of AT&T’s eye has decided to cancel its “Even More Plus” plan, which never even got off the ground. T-Mobile intended to launch two promotional unlimited plans this week — Even More and Even More Plus — but the Plus plan was apparently cancelled with no explanation. T-Mobile has informed retail locations that they should not offer the plan to customers even if it has already appeared in their systems. Both the $79.99 Even More and the $59.99 Even More Plus plans offered unlimited voice calling, unlimited messaging and unlimited data — with a 2GB soft cap and throttling thereafter — but Even More was for postpaid subscribers while Even More Plus could be had by month-to-month customers. Alas, T-Mobile subscribers will now need a contract in order to get Even More.

Thanks, Jeremy

Read

New Yorkers and commuters in the surrounding region troubled by the possibility of an even more chaotic Grand Central experience got some good news, as The Observer reports Apple’s Grand Central Terminal store is a no-go. According to a source close to the M.T.A., Apple was indeed in talks to open a 16,000 square-foot Apple Store location on the balconies of the main terminal in Grand Central, but the negotiations fell through. The report doesn’t detail exactly what happened to sour the deal, but it looks like Apple is back on the prowl as it searches for a new home for a monstrous new retail shop in New York City.

Read

The Wall Street Journal has confirmed earlier rumors that Nokia’s upcoming X7 smartphone for AT&T has been cancelled. The Nokia X7, which has not yet been announced in any official capacity, would have been a unique option for AT&T subscribers. It features the latest version of Nokia’s Symbian operating system and four speakers that create a surround sound experience. According to The Journal’s sources, Nokia cancelled the U.S. launch of the device, which was scheduled to be announced ahead of Mobile World Congress next month, because AT&T was not going to provide the subsidies or marketing support the phone needed in order to succeed. Nokia still plans to launch the X7 in other markets and will likely unveil the smartphone next month.

Read

According to several reports, AT&T and Nokia will not be joining forces to release the X7 handset in the United States. As you may recall, the X7 — which has been seen sporting an AT&T logo on several occasions — is being billed as a high-end, Qt-enabled, Symbian smartphone, complete with four external speakers, that focuses on mobile gaming. Blogs PocketNow and The Nokia Blog have both weighed in on the matter, with the former stating that AT&T scuttled the handset release while the latter suggesting that Nokia was the one that pulled the plug. At CES, AT&T announced that a Qt-enabled Symbian set was due on its network sometime in Q1 of 2011; for this reason, many industry insiders speculated that handset was the X7. Both report cite persons familiar with the matter, but are, up to this point, speculative. We’ll keep our eye on this one and let you know if anything changes.

Read [PocketNow] Read [The Nokia Blog]

First it was called the CrunchPad, then it was called joojoo… now it’s just called dead. Fusion Garage founder Chandrashekar Rathakrishnan confirmed to e27 on Thursday that the company’s virgin tablet offering has been discontinued. The news is hardly shocking following the revelation earlier this year that only 90 people pre-ordered the device. Originally conceived by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, the joojoo was a large-form Linux tablet that was initially envisioned to be little more than a cheap Web browsing tool. Arrington formed a partnership with Fusion Garage to build the device, but it ended in a messy divorce and a DOA $500 tablet. While the joojoo was quick to find its way to the gadget graveyard, Fusion Garage will apparently live on. Rathakrishnan confirmed rumors that a joojoo follow up is in the works — several, in fact — and that Android will be the company’s operating system of choice moving forward.

Read

We aren’t too sure what’s going on here, but all of a sudden our tip line has been flooded with emails from irate iPhone 4 pre-orderers who say their order has been cancelled for no apparent reason. Gizmodo is also hearing the same thing, so it seems there’s definitely something to this. We’ve got two sample emails that we were sent in after the break in case you’re curious. But in the event you’ve received such an email, we’d love it if you would keep letting us know so we can get to the bottom of this.

From AT&T:

Your iPhone order has been cancelled.

Your credit card has not been charged.

If you believe you have received this email in error, please return to the AT&T store where you placed your order.

Sincerely,

AT&T

From Apple:

Dear Customer,

We were unable to complete the authorization process for your iPhone order. As a result, we had to cancel your iPhone order. To complete the purchase of your iPhone, please visit an Apple Retail Store or an AT&T company-owned retail store.

[...]

We apologize for this inconvenience.

Sincerely,

Apple Online Store Team

Not that anyone ever really spent sleepless nights longing for it, but it might upset a few Motorola fans to know that DigiTimes is reporting that the Motorola Alexander has been scrapped. The Alexander, for those who don’t recall, was said to be a Windows Mobile device that featured a vertically-sliding QWERTY keypad, an 8 megapixel camera and an NVIDIA graphics chip that was rumored to be more than adept at spitting out 3D graphics. In other Moto news, the same source is saying that shipments of the MOTOSURF have been scaled back due to a decision to limit the markets in which the device is available. Another one bites the dust…

[Via WMExperts]

Read

Like Sony Ericsson’s Paris P5, bloggers managed to get their hands on a recently-cancelled Nokia handset and give it a quick once over. Unlike the Paris however, this is likely one that won’t be missed by many. Mobile-Review dropped a handful of images in a recent post of a peculiar purple handset that looks like it took several design cues from both Nokia’s Vertu and Prism lines. The result, a less than stunning angular device that Nokia may have been wise to move to the chopping block prior to production. While many mobile users enjoy a device that separates them from the pack a bit, Nokia’s Prisim handset has not been overly successful as many simply can’t stomach the look of it. This mystery device, as you can see above, likely would have suffered a similar fate. Very little is known about the handset but we can assume its functionality would have been on par with many of Nokia’s more capable devices thanks to the presence of a 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss shooter which can be seen on the back. We can also assume it would have fallen into Nokia’s numbered device range as it lacks any semblance of an Nseries. The rest may remain a mystery forever but Nokia has plenty in store for us in the coming year so we won’t exactly be shedding any tears. What do you guys think – would this purple people eater have been on your handset purchase list?

Read