Apple has been widely rumored to be readying a Siri-enabled television for release this year, but a new report claims component availability issues will prevent the highly anticipated “iTV” from launching in the first half. Citing unnamed sources within Apple’s supply chain, DigiTimes on Friday reports that Sharp, rumored to have been contracted to supply display panels for Apple’s debut HDTV, is not yet ready to ship the indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) panels Apple will use in its iTV. According to the site’s sources, upcoming HDTV models from Samsung and LG will occupy much of the OLED panel capacity during the first half, so Apple has chosen to instead utilize IGZO panels. Sharp is reportedly not yet ready to mass produce its latest IGZO panels, however, and Apple’s iTV launch may have been pushed to the second half as a result. Apple’s iOS-powered iTV will reportedly support apps and feature voice controls powered by Siri as well as access to on-demand content through iTunes.

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RIM has responded to an exclusive BGR report published on Thursday in which our source claimed BlackBerry 10 was delayed not because the vendor was waiting for a new LTE chip, but because RIM’s developers have not yet been able to resolve many of the issues plaguing the new OS. “RIM made a strategic decision to launch BlackBerry 10 devices with a new, LTE-based dual core chip set architecture,” RIM told AllThingsD. “As explained on our earnings call, the broad engineering impact of this decision and certain other factors significantly influenced the anticipated timing for the BlackBerry 10 devices. The anonymous claim suggesting otherwise is inaccurate and uninformed. As RIM has previously explained, and as Mike Lazaridis reiterated on the earnings call, we will not launch BlackBerry 10 devices until we know they are ready and we believe this new chip set architecture is required to deliver the world class user experience that our customers will expect. Any suggestion to the contrary is simply false.” Contrary to RIM’s statement, our source indicated that the company has not yet been able to get core features like email and BlackBerry Messenger working as desired on BlackBerry 10 smartphones, and that it is “pushing this out as long as they can for one reason, they don’t have a working product yet.”

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Research In Motion confirmed part of an exclusive BGR report Thursday night when its co-CEOs announced during an earnings call that its first BlackBerry 10 smartphone would not launch until the “latter part of 2012.” Despite RIM’s earlier statement that a QNX-powered smartphone would launch in the first half next year, we reported in November that RIM’s first next-generation smartphone would not launch until the third quarter. RIM co-Chief Mike Lazaridis blamed the delay on new dual-core processors that were not yet ready to be manufactured in bulk, but the fact remains that by the time RIM’s first QNX-based smartphone launches it will be competing against Apple’s sixth-generation iPhone, a horde of new Android phones with next-generation features and specs, a variety of Windows Phones from Nokia, and more. According to one analyst, BlackBerry 10 may be “too little, too late.” Read on for more.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky went out on a limb and continued to see a potential upside for RIM long after other analysts were jumping ship. It now appears as though the Waterloo, Ontario-based vendor failed to capitalize on what little opportunity Abramsky had identified. The analyst recently began dropping his price target on RIM stock and on Friday, he cut it further to $16 from $20, troubled by RIM’s weak fourth-quarter guidance and the BlackBerry 10 delays.

“BlackBerry 10 is now pushed out to 2H/CY12 (from 1H/CY12), making RIM significantly late to the high-end smartphone market, risking further share losses and competitive developer momentum,” Abramsky wrote in a note to clients on Friday. He continued, “As visibility continues to decline with BB10 delayed, we see few catalysts over the next six months (valuation volatility may occur on newsflow) and recommend investors remain on the sidelines.”

RBC lowered its estimates for fiscal 2012 to $18.9 billion in revenue with earnings of $4.55 per share, down from earlier estimates of $19.3 billion and $4.40. Abramsky cut fiscal 2013 estimates as well in light of BlackBerry 10 launch delays; he now sees revenue totaling $18.1 billion and EPS coming in at $3.00, down from $20.0 billion and earnings of $4.30 per share.

Judge Ellen Huvelle approved a joint request by AT&T and the Department of Justice to delay a lawsuit regarding AT&T’s planned purchase of T-Mobile USA. AT&T requested a stay in the suit on Monday and said it was working with Deutsche Telekom to prepare the best defense possible. “We are actively considering whether and how to revise our current transaction to achieve the necessary regulatory approvals so that we can deliver the capacity enhancements and improved customer service that can only be derived from combining our two companies’ wireless assets,” AT&T said in a statement on Monday. The Department of Justice has also sought a delay, or an entire dismissal of the suit, since it believes a ruling is unnecessary now that AT&T has withdrawn its FCC application to purchase T-Mobile USA. “It’s not a real transaction until they file with the FCC,” Justice Department lead attorney Joseph Wayland said recently. The pretrial proceedings for the Department of Justice’s suit against the merger will begin on January 18th, 2012.

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ASUS has reportedly delayed the launch of its highly anticipated Transformer Prime convertible tablet. ASUS’s new tablet was expected to launch this week but Wi-Fi issues have seemingly set things back. ”The WiFi range on the TF201 did not meet our quality standards,” a spokesperson from ASUS Canada reportedly told Engadget in a statement. The spokesperson continued, saying that ASUS will not launch the slate until the wireless performance issues are fixed. The Transformer Prime will be among the first quad-core tablets to reach market when it finally hits store shelves, though ASUS did not indicate how long its solution for these wireless issues would take to implement. Pre-orders are still being taken for the Transformer Prime, which starts at $499.99.

UPDATE: ASUS has stated that the Transformer Prime is on schedule for release next week.

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AT&T said Monday that it, along with Deutsche Telekom, has asked Judge Ellen Huvelle to delay any further court hearings regarding AT&T’s planned $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA until January 18th, 2012. AT&T said the delay will “allow the two companies time to evaluate all options” and that the U.S. Justice Department also joined in on the filing. AT&T recently withdrew its merger application from the FCC to instead focus on the lawsuit that was brought against the merger by the Department of Justice. “AT&T is committed to working with Deutsche Telekom to find a solution that is in the best interests of our respective customers, shareholders and employees,” AT&T said in a statement. “We are actively considering whether and how to revise our current transaction to achieve the necessary regulatory approvals so that we can deliver the capacity enhancements and improved customer service that can only be derived from combining our two companies’ wireless assets.” The delay makes a lot of sense, since the Department of Justice doesn’t have much of a reason to sue AT&T unless it has a merger application filed with the FCC. ”It’s not a real transaction until they file with the FCC,” Justice Department lead attorney Joseph Wayland said last week. AT&T’s full press release follows after the break. 

AT&T UPDATES STATUS OF T-MOBILE USA MERGER

DALLAS, December, 12, 2011 – AT&T today issued the following statement regarding the status of its merger with T-Mobile USA:

“AT&T and Deutsche Telekom advised Judge Huvelle this morning that they wish to stay any further Court proceedings until January 18, 2012, to allow the two companies time to evaluate all options.  The U.S. Department of Justice joined in the filing.

“AT&T is committed to working with Deutsche Telekom to find a solution that is in the best interests of our respective customers, shareholders and employees.  We are actively considering whether and how to revise our current transaction to achieve the necessary regulatory approvals so that we can deliver the capacity enhancements and improved customer service that can only be derived from combining our two companies’ wireless assets.”

The Justice Department intends to file a motion next week to delay or dismiss its lawsuit against AT&T’s planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA. The DOJ originally sued AT&T to block the deal in August, and AT&T soon after decided to pull its merger application from the FCC to instead focus on the suit. In light of the withdrawal of AT&T’s merger application, however, the DOJ seemingly no longer has cause to sue. ”It’s not a real transaction until they file with the FCC,” Wayland told Judge Ellen Huvelle according to Reuters. With that, it looks we’re now watching at a giant game of cat and mouse. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson recently said that U.S. regulators don’t understand the wireless industry enough to see the benefits of its proposed T-Mobile USA purchase. Earlier Friday he said in an interview that ”regulators can’t keep up with the changes in the industry” and that blocking the merger will increase wireless prices for U.S. consumers.

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We’ve just received word from a third-party Verizon Wireless retail partner that Verizon’s Samsung Galaxy Nexus has been delayed and will not launch on December 9th, as earlier rumors have suggested, or December 12th as the email above suggests. While retail partners don’t always launch handsets at the same time as Verizon Wireless, we’ve also received word that Verizon may be delaying the phone’s release as well. An international GSM version of the Galaxy Nexus has been available for the past several weeks, and it remains unclear what could be causing the delay with Verizon Wireless. The phone is expected to retail for $199.99 with a new two-year contract when it makes its debut.

Microsoft has reportedly pushed the launch of its Windows Phone operating system in China to the first half of 2012. Microsoft’s China communications director Yang Tanyang had originally said the Redmond-based company’s vendor partners planned to deploy handsets in the country before the end of the year, IDG News explained Monday. The most recent reports suggested Microsoft gave Chinese retailer Suning an exclusive offer to sell Windows Phone and Windows 8 devices in more than 700 of its retail stores. China’s Windows Phone launch will be key for Microsoft’s goals to boost its mobile operating system’s global market share. IDC and Gartner both predict Windows Phone will have the second largest operating system share in the world by 2015.

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The Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday that it will hold an administrative hearing to examine AT&T’s planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA. The FCC said the hearing will not begin until after the Justice Department’s lawsuit against the merger, and that case isn’t expected to go to trial until February. The hearing was decided upon after the FCC concluded in a draft order that the AT&T/T-Mobile deal might not be in the best interest of the public and could result in job losses. The government agency also said that the burden will be on AT&T and T-Mobile to prove otherwise. Read on for more.

AT&T has long argued the deal will create “thousands” of jobs and improve wireless service in the United States. Additionally, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) has argued that the merger will create 96,000 jobs and bring another 5,000 back from overseas call centers.

Sprint recently filed a lawsuit in opposition of the merger, arguing that it will eliminate competition in the United States. In addition, the FCC said that AT&T has failed to address exactly how the merger will create new careers.

Should the Department of Justice lose the trial against AT&T, the FCC’s planned proceeding will continue unchanged. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski also noted that the FCC has concluded a draft order  — by no means final — that has approved AT&T’s planned purchase of Qualcomm’s wireless spectrum, which it was reviewing at the same time as the T-Mobile deal.

AT&T originally expected the merger to close in March 2012 and earlier this month said it will close later than expected.

Vonya McCann, Sprint’s Senior Vice President for Government Affairs said Sprint’s statement on the matter is as follows:

As Chairman Genachowski said in August when the Justice Department filed its antitrust lawsuit against AT&T, the record before the FCC presented, ‘serious concerns about the impact of the proposed transaction on competition.’ That record is complete and more than justifies moving this matter to an Administrative Law Judge for a hearing. We appreciate Chairman Genachowski’s leadership on this issue and look forward to the FCC moving quickly to adopt a strong hearing designation order.

AT&T has pushed back the date it expects to close the books on its planned merger with T-Mobile and spectrum purchase from Qualcomm, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The carrier had originally planned to close both acquisitions by March of 2012, although it now expects the required approvals to take as much as three months longer to gain. The carrier now says the deal should be approved by the end of the first half next year. AT&T recently ran into speed bumps with both deals. In August the Federal Communications Commission announced that it would review both AT&T’s spectrum purchase from Qualcomm and its merger with T-Mobile USA at the same time. Later that month, the U.S. government sued AT&T in an effort to block the T-Mobile acquisition. AT&T has argued that the T-Mobile purchase will provide jobs and improve wireless service for Americans. It also responded to the FCC lawsuit, saying it will “vigorously contest [the] matter in court.”

Apple’s manufacturing partners are running into a few speed bumps creating the new high-resolution Retina Display for the iPad 3, CNET reported recently. LG CEO Young Soo Kwon confirmed that his company, which also builds the Retina Display on the iPhone 4 and 4S, is working on the next-generation iPad 3 screens. Samsung and Sharp are also allegedly behind the development. However, CNET said that mass manufacturing a display with a 2,048 x 1,536-pixel resolution, twice the pixel density of the current iPad 2, has been a struggle. “It’s not a question of just making one,” a source said. “That, of course can be done. The challenge is making lots of them. This is a quantum leap in pixel density. This hasn’t been done before.” In August, a report surfaced that suggested Apple had delayed the iPad 3 due to display issues. CNET said the companies have 1,600 x 1,200-pixel resolution screens prepared as a back-up in case the Retina Display can’t be mass produced in time.

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Apple customers are just now getting the iPhone 4S into their hands, however, the company’s highly anticipated (and rumored) iPhone 5 may hit the market sooner than later. According to report from 9to5 Mac, Apple is on schedule to ship the iPhone 5 in the summer of 2012. Why didn’t Apple release it earlier, as rumored? CNET said in a recent story that Steve Jobs was heading up the iPhone 5 project, which was met with delays in February, while the iPhone 4S was developed by another team. The iPhone 5 production delays would have made a holiday deadline impossible. As such, Apple was forced to make the final decision to hold the iPhone 5 until kinks in the production line were ironed out. The iPhone 4S team moved forward and released the phone on schedule and in time for the holidays. Rumors still suggest the iPhone 5 will be thinner, lighter and will have a teardrop form factor.

Read [CNET] Read [9to5 Mac]

Apple’s iPhone 4S became available to the general public today, and the launch appears to have been an overwhelming success. Yankee Group analyst Carl Howe believes Apple could close out the weekend having sold as many as 4 million new iPhones. We’ve been hearing from proud new iPhone owners across the country all day — and we’ve also been hearing about all the crazy things they’ve been asking poor Siri — but we’ve also heard from an unhappy minority that seems to have fallen victim to fulfillment problems. Read on for more.

Updated with comment from AT&T.

Beyond an odd complaint here and there, things seem to be going well for Verizon Wireless and Sprint subscribers who emailed us today. We’ve also heard from plenty of happy AT&T customers, but there appears to have been an issue with pre-sales in some cases, and a number of AT&T customers have emailed us with war stories.

“[An AT&T customer care representative] confirmed phones would be shipping to customers for arrival on 10/14, but when nothing in my account changed I spoke with 2 others who confirmed all phones will be shipping with a 2 to 3 week delay,” one reader told BGR in an email. “For someone who purchased early the morning of 10/7 this is a complete let down.”

Several more BGR readers offered similar complaints, saying that orders placed early in the morning on October 7th are now being delayed by two or more weeks. A few other readers found that their orders had been canceled with no explanation given.

As it turns out, customers who had their orders canceled often found themselves in a better position than subscribers with delays. Those who tried to cancel their delayed orders with the intention of going to a retail store to purchase a new phone have often times been unable to do so, according to multiple emails we received. Due to the pending order status, customers would be forced to pay full MSRP for new iPhones since their accounts are no longer eligible for subsidized upgrades.

Dealings with customer care have been mixed to this point, according to accounts given by BGR readers. Several emails recount lengthy conversations that led nowhere as customer service was unable to determine the status of iPhone orders. At least one BGR reader said that AT&T offered to waive the $18 upgrade fee on his account, however he was still unaware of the status of his order at the time this article was published.

Customers with war stories always shout louder than those for whom orders have gone smoothly, and considering AT&T took in more than 200,000 pre-orders on October 7th alone, there were bound to be some bumps in the road. AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

UPDATE: AT&T provided the following statement to BGR via email: “We are fulfilling orders on schedule in nearly every case.  We are aware of a small number of customers who have questions about their delivery timing and are working with one-on-one with each to answer questions.”

Samsung and Google announced last week that the companies were postponing the unveiling of Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” and the Galaxy Nexus smartphone out of respect for Steve Jobs’s passing. Samsung said that it was canceling its “Unpacked” press conference, during which the company was expected to unveil the Galaxy Nexus. “Samsung and Google have decided to postpone the Samsung Mobile Unpacked event during the CTIA in San Diego, previously scheduled for Oct. 11,” the company said in a statement at the time. “Under the current circumstances, both parties have agreed that this is not the appropriate time for the announcement of a new product.” Samsung’s comments alluded to Steve Jobs’s passing as the cause for postponing the event, and the company would later confirm this to reporters. According to industry insider Eldar Murtazin, however, Samsung and Google’s motives were not quite as noble. Read on for more.

“Nexus Prime and Android 4.0 are under question,” Murtazin posted on his Twitter account Tuesday morning. “Google removing some features which are subject of patent war. No timeline for this job.” The plugged-in Russian blogger has a solid track record with inside information. This accusation is serious, however, and we should note that it is not confirmed. To think that Samsung and Google might have tried to appease clients, the media and consumers by disingenuously citing Jobs’s passing is disheartening at best. Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Samsung is among several Android device vendors that have been locked in an ongoing patent battle with Apple since last year.