Strong orders of Apple’s next-generation MacBook laptops are causing labor shortages within the Cupertino, California-based consumer electronics company’s Asian supply chain, a recent report claims. Citing multiple unnamed sources, Digitimes on Monday reports that heavier than expected MacBook orders have created labor shortages so serious at some Apple suppliers that they have been forced to outsource orders to meet shipment schedules. The report notes that May and June are typically slower months among PC component suppliers in eastern China, however Apple’s orders have caused recent labor shortage issues to grow more serious. New MacBook laptops and iMac all-in-one PCs will reportedly launch this summer. Apple’s new notebook computers are expected to be thinner than previous models, and both the MacBook Pro and iMac lineups are expected to include new high-definition Retina displays. Apple’s next-generation MacBook Air laptops may be updated with Retina displays as well, recent reports claim.

Read

Unreleased versions of Apple’s MacBook Pro and iMac computers have appeared in a Geekbench database maintained by benchmark testing software provider Primate Labs. Designated as “MacBookPro9,1″ and “iMac13,2,” a number of preliminary specifications for each model have been revealed in the publicly available test results, which were first uncovered by forum members posting to MacRumors. Apple’s upcoming laptop and all-in-one desktop computers have long been expected to feature new Core i5 and Core i7 Ivy Bridge processors from Intel, and the Geekbench results indeed show a quad-core 2.7 GHz Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3820QM processor in the unannounced MacBook Pro, and a 3.4GHz Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770 quad-core processor in the iMac. The new models may be unveiled during the keynote at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference, which will take place on June 11th, and it is unclear if the laptop model referenced in the benchmark results is the new ultra-thin 15-inch MacBook Pro model expected to be released this summer.

Read

Apple is reportedly preparing to launch a new 15-inch MacBook Pro laptop with a high-resolution Retina display and a new ultra-thin design. Citing anonymous sources within Apple’s supply chain who have supposedly handled parts from the upcoming notebook computer, 9to5Mac claims the new Ivy Bridge-powered MacBook Pro model will launch this summer. In line with earlier reports, the new MacBook Pro is said to be thinner than the existing 15-inch notebooks but thicker than Apple’s MacBook Air lineup. The new laptops are also said to be equipped with “jaw-dropping” Retina displays as well as USB 3 compatibility, and they will shed their optical drives, like Apple’s MacBook Air and Mac mini have before them, in order to faciliate the new thinner design. Production of the new MacBook Pro models reportedly began in April.

Read

Apple on Wednesday released the latest update to its OS X Lion operating system, OS X 10.7.4. Along with a number of minor bug fixes and a security update to address a vulnerability in FileVault, the update included behind-the-scenes changes that will pave the way for future Macs with high-resolution Retina displays, according to Apple Insider. The Cupertino-based company has updated a number of apps — including the built-in TextEdit app — with double-resolution icons, increasing their sizes from 512 x 512 pixels to 1,024 x 1,024 pixels. The move suggests that Apple is planning to introduce new MacBooks with ultra-high-resolution screens, as it did with the Retina displays found on its iPhone and iPads.

[Via Gizmodo]

Read

NPD Group on Thursday released the results of its Apple Ecosystem Study, which suggests that almost 25% of U.S. iPad owners are first-time Apple buyers. The firm’s data, as reported by AppleInsider, indicated that 33% of U.S. households own Apple products, with a majority owning an iPod. That number is growing beyond the 37 million American households the Cupertino-based company’s products are already found in, thanks to Apple’s flagship tablet. “iPad sales are growing much faster than any other Apple product has this soon after launch,” said Ben Arnold, director of industry analysis at NPD. “In fact, one-in-five Apple owner households has one — nearly equivalent to the number that own an Apple computer. This demonstrates the appeal of both the new form factor and Apple’s app ecosystem.” The study found that six out of ten homes with a Mac also own a Windows PC, and nearly 30% of so-called “Apple enthusiasts” own a smartphone other than the iPhone. The data comes from a survey NPD conducted in February of more than 3,000 consumers.

Read

Apple announced on Wednesday that its annual Worldwide Developer Conference will take place from June 11th through June 15th this year in San Francisco, California. The company made tickets available at around 8:30 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, and they were sold out within two hours, likely before most West Coast-based developers even woke up. Tickets are not transferable this year and as such, developers who didn’t manage to secure a ticket don’t have many options. One man, however, found a way around Apple’s restrictions.

An anonymous developer on Wednesday posted a want ad on Craigslist. Under the headline, “I will legally change my name to yours for a WWDC ticket – $1600,” the San Francisco-based man offered any takers as much as $2,100 plus other services in exchange for a ticket to the conference, which costs $1,600 when purchased directly from Apple. Because tickets are not transferable, the man said he would also legally change his name, thus allowing him to use the ticket.

In addition to the name-change and $1,600, the man offered a number of perks. As he and any potential taker will share a name once the transaction is complete, the eager developer has agreed to perform jury duty, handle tasks at the department of motor vehicles and perform up to 40 hours of court-ordered community service in place of the ticket holder. He also offered a $500 bonus if the ticket holder’s first name is Jebodiah.

Apple’s developer conference this year will offer more than 100 sessions focused on developing for the iOS and OS X platforms. Apple will also likely unveil new products during its keynote on June 11th, though a new iPhone is not expected to be announced until later this year.

Security firm Intego on Monday announced that it had discovered a new variant of the Flashback malware called Flashback.S that continues to use a Java vulnerability Apple has already patched. This variant requires no password to install, and it places its files into the user’s home folder in “~/Library/LaunchAgents/com. java.update.plist” and “~/.jupdate.” Once Fashback.S is installed, it will then delete all files and folders in “~/Library/Caches/Java/cache” in order to delete the applet from the infected Mac, and avoid detection. The virus is actively being distributed, although it will not install if it finds Intego VirusBarrier X6, Xcode or Little Snitch installed on the Mac it tries to attack.

Read

Security firm Sophos on Tuesday indicated that a surprisingly high level of malware has been found on Mac computers — the firm’s research revealed that one in every five Mac computers is harboring some kind of Windows malware. Of the 100,000 customers sampled through Sophos’s antivirus offerings, 20% of users were found to be carrying one or more instances of Windows malware. The firm highlighted that Windows malware on a Mac won’t cause any harm, however, unless the computer also runs a Windows partition in addition to OS X. The company’s research found that just 2.7% of Macs that installed the company’s free anti-virus software were infected by OS X malware. Nearly all of the OS X malware discovered was an iteration of the “Flashback” trojan called “Flshplyr.” Sophos said that cybercriminals may find Macs to be targets because OS X users are less likely to be running an anti-virus software, however Macs can get viruses and the right software can keep a user’s computer safe. A second pie chart follows below.

Read

The “Flashback” virus discovered to have infected more than 600,000 Mac computers earlier this month originated on a series of WordPress blogs, security experts have determined. According to Alexander Gostev, head of the global research and analysis team at Kaspersky, the virus began as a trojan hidden within a fake Adobe software update. In March, however, the malware’s creators repackaged the virus in a “drive-by attack” that infected users’ Apple computers when they visited one of thousands of compromised WordPress blogs. ”Tens of thousands of sites powered by WordPress were compromised,” Gostev wrote on Kaspersky’s SecureList blog. “How this happened is unclear. The main theories are that bloggers were using a vulnerable version of WordPress or they had installed the ToolsPack plug-in.” Apple released a system update earlier this month that patched a Java vulnerability and removed most common iterations of the Flashback virus. As of the middle of last week, however, more than 140,000 Mac computers were still infected with the virus, which is capable of intercepting private data and transmitting it without a user’s knowledge.

Read

Apple responded fairly quickly to news that more than 600,000 Mac computers were infected with a trojan virus called “Flashback.” One week after the massive botnet was discovered, Apple issued an update fixing the Java vulnerability that allowed Flashback to infect the machines, as well as a removal tool for affected machines. Despite the company’s efforts, Symantec stated on Tuesday evening that approximately 140,000 OS X PCs were still infected with the virus at that time. “The statistics from our sinkhole are showing declining numbers on a daily basis,” the company wrote on its blog. “However, we had originally believed that we would have seen a greater decline in infections at this point in time, but this has proven not to be the case. Currently, it appears that the number of infected computers has tapered off, but remains around the 140,000 mark.” Symantec offers its own Flashback removal tool separate from the one Apple made available in a system update on April 12th.

Read

The idea that Macs don’t get viruses is now officially a thing of the past. Of course Mac malware has been around for years, but now a massive botnet has been discovered that takes this relatively small issue and makes it a widespread problem. While hackers indeed target Windows PCs far more frequently, a trojan horse virus discovered earlier this year has reportedly now been found to affect more that half a million Mac computers worldwide. Russian anti-virus vendor Dr. Web has discovered that malware called “BackDoor.Flashback.39″ is currently present on at least 600,000 Macs. The trojan has the capability to use a java vulnerability to intercept passwords and other private data, and then transmit the information back to the person or group that deployed it. Apple has since patched the vulnerability, but security experts at F-Secure have published a simple guide to help Mac users determine whether or not they are infected, and then remove any malicious files from their computers that are tied to the Flashback trojan. A link to F-Secure’s guide can be found below.

[Via Ars Technica]

Read [Dr. Web] Read [Removal guide]

Apple is reportedly planning to refresh its iMac family of computers with Intel’s 22nm-based Core i5 and Core i7 Ivy Bridge processors in June or July, How To Arena reported on Wednesday, citing a “reliable tipster” in Apple’s supply chain. The Cupertino-based company is also reportedly ramping up production in preparation for thinner 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro models, which will use the same Ivy Bridge processors. Previous rumors have suggested that Apple’s redesigned iMac would feature an anti-reflective glass display, and it should be slimmer and lighter than the current units. Apple’s iMac lineup was last updated in May 2011 with Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors, a high-speed Thunderbolt port and a high-definition FaceTime camera.

Read

J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz has made “significant increases” to both his iPhone and iPad sales projections for the first quarter of 2012, raising his price target on Apple stock from $625 to $715, Apple Insider reported on Tuesday. The analyst previously estimated that Apple would ship 28.1 million iPhones in the first quarter of 2012, however he now believes shipments will reach 31.1 million units. Full-year iPhone shipments for 2012 are now expected to total 138.2 million units. Moskowitz thinks Apple’s next-generation smartphone will launch in the second half of 2012 and include a “thinner body and LTE capability.” He projects iPad shipments to reach 13.8 million in the first quarter, up from his earlier estimate of 10.1 million units, and his full-year shipment estimate was raised to 69.6 million tablets, up from 59.8 million. Apple will also “refresh its MacBook portfolio, including the Air, in the next three months,” Moskowitz wrote in his note to investors. He continued by saying that the company needs to improve its specifications and features while introducing lower price points to stay ahead of the “Ultrabook crowd.”

Read

The world’s most valuable company is showing no signs of slowing down, and numerous industry watchers believe Apple will continue to grow despite increased competition from rivals like Samsung. Topeka Capital Markets, new home to analyst Brian White, on Monday initiated coverage of Apple with a Buy rating and a sky-high $1,001 price target. “Driven by an ever expanding portfolio of innovative products, a growing integrated digital grid, unmatched aesthetics and a brand that is able to touch the soul of consumers of all backgrounds, Apple fever is spreading like a wildfire around the world and we see no end in sight to this trend,” White wrote in a note to investors on Monday. Read on for more.

White sees plenty of upside for Apple right now, and he lists three key points that will positively impact the company’s position in the near term. First, Apple’s entry into the 4G LTE space with the new iPad seemingly shows that Apple is prepared for what White calls “the rise of the mobile Internet.” 4G LTE networks are still very young, and the analyst sees Apple emerging as a 4G leader as network buildouts continue. White also believes the next-generation iPhone, which he refers to as the iPhone 5, will include integrated 4G LTE connectivity.

China is the second key factor for Apple’s upcoming growth, according to White. The country recently surpassed 1 billion mobile subscribers, and White believes Apple is about to make significant headway in the region. ”Apple just recently added China Telecom (CHA, $54.90, NR) as the second carrier in China authorized to carry the iPhone. However, China Mobile (CHL, $55.08, NR) remains the largest carrier with 66% market share in the country and still does not officially offer the iPhone but we expect will over the next year,” the analyst wrote.

Finally, Apple is about to launch an entirely new product line that will immediately see the Cupertino, California-based company become a major player in a $100 billion market.

“In our view, the recent launch of the new 1080p Apple TV with a refined user interface is another step down the road toward Apple unveiling a full blown TV in the future,” White wrote. “Apple’s digital grid is tough to match and iCloud further strengthens this ecosystem, however, Apple is missing an important product and that is a full blown TV. We believe the pieces are in place for a launch over the next year, driving an entirely new $100 billion market opportunity, while further strengthening the Company’s digital grid and providing customers with a new TV experience.”

Apple has reportedly scheduled mass production of its new 15-inch MacBook Pro to begin in April, and production of a new 13.3-inch model will ramp up in June, according to a report from Digitimes. The site’s unnamed sources from Apple’s supply chain said that the Cupertino-based company has ordered a far greater number of 13.3-inch models than 15-inch laptops, and it is anticipating higher demand for the smaller device. The source also indicated that the 15-inch model’s monthly production capacity is expected to start with between 100,000 and 150,000 units and rise gradually. The Taiwanese publication has previously reported that Apple will launch an ultra-thin 15-inch MacBook laptop with Air-like features as early as the second quarter of 2012.

Read