According to new figures released by Nintendo on Friday, the company sold twice as many Nintendo DS gaming consoles as it did newer Nintendo 3DS devices. The Japanese firm revealed that it sold 386,000 Nintendo DS systems as opposed to just 143,000 3DS units in June, according to MSNBC. It’s likely that the popularity of the DS can be attributed to its lower price point, but the small pool of 3D games could also be hurting 3DS sales; game publishers have yet to release some of the most anticipated 3D titles, such as The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time 3D. The gaming industry hasn’t jumped for the device as much as Nintendo had hoped, either. Although Nintendo said that it moved 400,000 units during its first week of U.S. availability, the firm also said overall sales were weaker than expected.

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Sales of video game hardware and software declined 10% in June according to new data reported by industry watcher The NPD Group. Total content sales including home consoles, portable consoles and PC game sales totaled $1.03 billion last month, down 10% from June 2010. Hardware sales declined 9% from $401.7 million in June 2010 to $366.6 million last month, and software sales dropped 12% over the same period to $469.5 million. Video game accessory sales also declined from June of last year, dropping 11% from $177.7 million in 2010 to $158.9 million last month. Game publisher Take 2 Interactive was responsible for the two best-selling games in June, with L.A. Noire occupying the top spot and Duke Nukem Forever coming in at No. 2 despite low ratings from reviewers. Sony’s Infamous 2 was the third best-selling game for the month, while Disney’s Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game and Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D rounded out the top-5. Overall hardware, software and accessory sales in the first half declined 2.4% compared to the first half of 2010. A list of The NPD Group’s top-10 software titles for the month of June follow below.

It has been widely reported that Apple is planning to refresh its MacBook Air family later this month or early next month, and now there’s a new rumor that may make the wait even more worthwhile. According to MacRumors, the refreshed top-end MacBook Air model may also be available with a new anodized black aluminum finish — a color option that hasn’t been seen since Apple did away with the black MacBook. The image above is from Colorwave, which offers custom paint jobs for a variety of gadgets, but it’s a good idea of what such a product could look like barring the trackpad. Apple’s refresh is also expected to deliver support for the new Thunderbolt I/O port as well as Intel’s new Sandy Bridge processors. We’re definitely excited to see what the refresh entails, and the good news is we almost certainly won’t have a long wait to find out.

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According to Reuters, Apple is poised to refresh its popular thin and light MacBook Air family later this month. The news outlet cited a report from Taiwan’s Economic Daily, which suggested that Apple’s first shipment will include 380,000 of the new Air units. The report is in line with earlier rumors suggesting supplies of the MacBook Air were drying up nearing a possible refresh; one analyst with Concord Securities recently suggested that Apple will upgrade its MacBook Air family in June, too. The new models are expected to carry Intel’s Sandy Bridge CPUs, new Thunderbolt I/O ports, and improved Intel graphics. Apple last refreshed its MacBook Air family on October 20th, 2010.

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Rumor has it Dell has a new 10-inch Android Honeycomb tablet up its sleeves, and a few details about it have been leaked. The Dell Streak Pro could offer a 1GHz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 chip — standard fare for Honeycomb tablets these days, it seems — 1GB of RAM, dual-microphones, a 5-megapixel camera, and 2-megapixel camera for video chat. There may be three different models, too, including a 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB version. The hardware sounds nearly identical to what’s available in Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, but the Streak Pro is rumored to measure 12.9mm thick — a good deal beefier than the 8.6mm thin Galaxy Tab. The difference, however, is that the Streak Pro could ship with support for AT&T’s 4G LTE network. Rumor has it the Dell Streak Pro could land next month, although that seems like a stretch since AT&T has yet to deploy its 4G LTE network.

[Via Android Community]

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Customer service representatives, while often very helpful, are rarely solid sources for unannounced information. At the same time, there have been cases in the past where customer service reps have unknowingly shared information that was intended to stay behind closed doors, and we have a feeling this could be one of those cases. According to Apple enthusiast blog MacRumors, an AT&T rep recently confirmed to a subscriber that there will not be a new iPhone launching in June or July this year. The correspondence was initiated when the subscriber noticed his eligibility date for an upgrade was pushed back by five months. He contacted AT&T to determine the reason for the move, and was reportedly told the following:

Apple has informed us that they do not plan to release the iPhone in the June to July timeframe, though there will be a newer version in the future. Unfortunately, we have not been given a release time for the new phone. We will release this information on our website when it is available to us.

The news lines up with earlier reports, of course, which state that the iPhone 5 will not launch until September or later. Apple’s next iPhone will be an incremental update according to rumors, and it will reportedly feature Apple’s new A5 processor, an 8-megapixel camera and a case similar to the one found on the iPhone 4.

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Blog Business Insider has filed a report that states Apple will begin production of its next generation iPhone — oft referred to as the iPhone 5 — beginning this September. Citing a note published by Avian Securities, the iPhone-report du jour states that a “key component supplier” has indicated that the Cupertino company will schedule production in preparation for a “very late 2011 or more likely a 2012″ launch event. The same supplier also notes that a “lower-spec/lower-priced iPhone” is in Apple’s device road map — another popular rumor amongst technology sites. Analysts continue to postulate on the release date of Apple’s next smartphone product, with June of 2011 and January of 2012 being the two most popular guesses. The full text of Avian’s speculative statement is after the break.

Supporting out [sic] comments over the last month, conversations with yet another key component supplier indicates that production for iPhone-5 will begin in September. This is consistent with Avian findings in the supply chain in recent months and we believe the consensus view is moving towards this scenario. In addition, our conversations also indicate the existence of a lower-spec/lower-priced iPhone in Apple’s roadmap. However, while our contacts have seen the placeholder in the Apple roadmap, they do not yet have insight into specs or production timing. This leads us to believe that any launch is likely a very late 2011 or more likely a 2012 event. As a reminder, Avian has uncovered several data-points in recent months pointing to the existence of a lower-spec/lower-price iPhone. A lower-spec/lower-price iPhone has also been speculated in the press and gadget blogs, though we do not believe consensus currently discounts the existence of such a model.

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A rumor reported early on Tuesday claiming the iPhone 5 will launch in June is false, a new report claims. The Loop, which is known for reporting accurate information regarding Apple products, cites an anonymous source in claiming that Apple will indeed switch things up this year and skip its now-customary June iPhone launch. “My sources said today that rumors of an iPhone 5 release at the end of June were completely false,” the blog states. Don’t fret, Apple fans — you’ve still got iOS 5 to look forward to this summer. The iPhone 5 will reportedly launch in September, and will feature more internal storage, an 8-megapixel camera and an NFC chip for mobile payments. It may also sport a metal case similar to the custom case back seen on the iPhone 4 pictured above.

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Following rumors suggesting that Apple’s highly anticipated iPhone 5 launch might be delayed until September, etnews.co.kr reports that Apple’s next-generation iPhone is on track for a release during the fourth week of June. Apple has traditionally released new versions of its popular smartphone in June or July, but recent rumors suggested the iPhone 5 might be delayed until September. The rumors were further supported by reports that Apple might focus solely on iOS 5 at WWDC this year and forgo a hardware announcement. “‘iPhone 5,’ the next model of iPhone 4, will be released on the coming 4th week of June,” etnews.co.kr reports. “In the midst of the iPhone 5 postponement rumors, Apple has confirmed that iPhone 5 will be released as planned and it will be released simultaneously in Korea through SK Telecom and KT.” Rumors suggest Apple still may focus solely on software at WWDC 2011 and instead announce the iPhone 5 at a special media event hosted by CEO Steve Jobs.

[Via MacRumors]

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Apple’s iOS platform is now on its fourth iteration and from the second it was announced, iOS has been arguably the most cohesive and advanced mobile operating system in the world. That’s not to say iOS is perfect, as competing operating systems like Android have greatly accelerated their advancements in near light-speed fashion. With Apple’s next version of iOS due to hit in the coming months, here’s what we have to see in iOS 5.

For starters, notifications. This is a must, and Apple is well aware of that fact. How the company will end up integrating a revamped notifications UI into its almost clinically polished OS is up for grabs, though we could see Apple taking a page out of webOS’ book with unobtrusive yet meaningful notifications that peek out / push down into view, for instance. Apple did, after all, hire Palm’s webOS architect recently.

Apple really hasn’t let users customize their notifications settings at all thus far, and it might be time the company has a change of heart. It would definitely be a big surprise and an even bigger departure from Apple’s current philosophy, but a “profiles” type app that manages notification settings and options for all apps would be ideal. It might be similar to how RIM does it — set your custom notification tone, vibrate settings and more, all in the same app for anything you want to customize. Apple’s current setup is especially frustrating with hundreds of millions of iOS devices out there playing the same exact “ding” email alert tone. We get the branding aspect of it, but it’s time to let users customize their SMS, email, and notification sounds and settings.

Apple also has to open up access to its filesystem to be taken seriously as a viable modern-day smarphone OS. We understand that the filesystem is hidden so users don’t have to see it or manage what’s in it, and there are valid security concerns with giving apps the ability to write to any location, but a default or set list of locations all third-party apps could write and read to would be ideal. And the fact that Safari can’t upload a file from the iPhone itself is kind of insulting.

Additionally, we get the fact that iTunes is the preferred method of loading media to the device, but back to that filesystem… there is no reason why files like MP3 tracks or AVI video files downloaded from the device itself can’t be stored into some default location for later playback.

Apple is rumored to be switching to the cloud for a lot of its services, and we hope the company extends this concept to wireless device syncing. We should be able to enter our Apple IDs and have devices load our most recent backup over the air along with all our apps and settings.

An improved lock screen would be a welcome addition as well, with more information being able to be shown while the device is locked. This would save users the time it takes to unlock their phones just to see if they have a new email message waiting for them, and so on.

We’d also like to see a user-editable dictionary (we know it exists for some languages on the phone, but we’d like this to be universal and it needs to be reworked, too), the ability to use FaceTime over 3G, real gesture support and a few other improvements here and there.

Let’s be honest — none of these things are integral to the success of Apple’s next iPhone or any other iOS-powered devices. People will keep buying them either way because as a whole, they’re still amazing devices. But Apple is a company that got where it is by building incredible experiences and, often times, by leading instead of following. Apple’s iOS platform is now falling behind in several key places, including some areas of the overall user experience. For a company that puts so much time and resources into UX, I can’t help but wonder how much further Apple will let things slip before it reassumes a clear lead.

We exclusively reported that the HP TouchPad, the company’s first webOS tablet, would ship in June, and HP’s CEO has gone on record stating that. Leo Apotheker, earlier today, offered up the release date at the enterprise-focused HP Summit in San Francisco. He also went on to detail that the webOS PC initiative would launch in beta, and run in a web browser “later this year.”

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With the iPad 2 rumors now put to bed by the device’s official unveiling, where will Apple fanatics turn for their iRumor jollies? The iPhone 5 of course! The Taiwanese newspaper Economic Daily News, citing anonymous Chinese sources, states that Apple, Inc. may be considering ditching the very controversial design of the iPhone 4 for its next generation smartphone. The presumed iPhone 5 would sport a milled aluminum backing with the antenna integrated into the rear Apple logo — similar to the original, Wi-Fi only iPad. The juicy rumor even comes with the above mockup, courtesy of macotakara.jp. It’s safe to assume that after the antenna fiasco that accompanied the release of the iPhone 4, Apple will do some serious retooling when it comes to the iPhone 5. Will the redesign incorporate an all aluminum back complete with a radio radiating piece of fruit? We should find out in June.

[Via MacRumors]

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One of our sources has just provided us with new information surrounding the launch of the recently unveiled HP TouchPad. It’s been communicated to us that HP is (or was — it’s not clear if things have recently changed) planning on having the TouchPad in market before the end of June. We’ve also been told pricing should be $699; slightly less than Motorola’s $799 XOOM. How does June and $699 sound for an HP TouchPad?

According to blog Pocket-lint, yes. The publication has filed a report citing “multiple sources familiar with the matter” stating that Android 2.4 — code named Ice Cream — will be released in June or July of this year. The mobile operating system’s nicknames are based on tasty dessert treats and are named in alphabetical order:

• Cupcake
• Donut
• Eclair
• Froyo
• Gingerbread
• Honeycomb
• Ice Cream

No details about potential new features or improvements were provided. What do you think? Does a June/July timeframe for Android 2.4 make sense to you?

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Thanks to the FCC, the user manual for the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 has hit the interwebs. The device, which was first announced back in June, packs a 3″ HVGA display, 3.2 megapixel camera, A-GPS, Wi-Fi, 128 MB of internal memory, 600 MHz processor, and Android 1.6 with SE’s UX UI. The device has the 850 MHz and 1900 MHz 3G HSPA bands, which makes AT&T a likely landing spot for this little number. However, we’re starting to wonder how many mid-level Android devices can fit into AT&T’s smartphone portfolio. The PDF is live on the FCC’s website and can be downloaded directly using this link. Thoughts?

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