Apple looks like they’ll be jumping full force into the touch screen market sometime in the future. An uncovered patent application shows an iMac Touch that runs both Mac OS X and iOS, which seamlessly switches between the two operating systems depending on how the screen is orientated.

In this image, the iMac screen is tilted upright to be used as a traditional Mac with a keyboard. In this orientation the iMac runs Mac OS X and would appear as any other iMac.

Here’s where things get interesting:

This image shows the same iMac slanted down, and when orientated horizontally the iMac looks to seamlessly switch to running the touch based iOS. Amazing! The patent application also describes touchable areas on the screen that would activate iOS, suggesting that iOS will run on a layer atop Mac OS X, almost like a super powerful touch version of Dashboard.

The patent also describes similar OS switching functionality on a laptop. This is fresh off the heals of the MacBook Touch patent discovery that clearly demonstrates an Apple laptop with a high resolution touch screen.

If you’ve been were wondering what Apple plans to do with the future of their hardware and dual operating systems, this should give you some great insight. Mac OS X and iOS look to be integrated on the same hardware when applicable, allowing a user to either use the simplified touch GUI or the more powerful and traditional computing environment of Mac OS X. Will we see these features in Mac OS X 10.7 and iOS 5? Time will tell!

Head over to Patently Apple for more pictures and a good walkthrough of the patent. How many years off are these features and hardware? Who knows. Will we ever see touchscreen Macs that switch between OS on the fly? It’s as good as a patent and rumor at this point, but hopefully! This is really exciting stuff.

Apple may be working on a MacBook Touch, and will integrate high resolution touch screens into future Apple hardware, according to a recently discovered Apple patent. The information is pretty straightforward, as Patently Apple puts it “There’s no wishy-washy lingo about it” since the patent specifically names a MacBook, MacBook Pro, and the MacBook Air:

one of the prime target products for such a new display is a touchscreen based MacBook as shown below in patent FIG.3. Later in the patent under patent point 46, Apple clarifies that FIG. 3 could be a MacBook, MacBook Pro and/or MacBook Air.

The patent also suggests that the MacBook and MacBook Pro will soon have the same high-resolution IPS display that is featured on the iPad, iPhone 4, and the latest iMac. Upgrading the screens seems like a no brainer to me, but it’s the touch screen and it’s applications that make this news. Perhaps even more interesting than just a MacBook Touch (yes I just made up this name), the patent also indicates that the touchscreen technology could apply to a television and gaming system.

Of course this is all speculative and should certainly be branded as a rumor for now, but it sounds like Apple has a lot up there sleeves! You have to imagine something like this is quite a ways off from release (if ever) considering the current versions of Mac OS X are not nearly as touch friendly as iOS. Maybe we’ll start to see touch features in Mac OS X 10.7?

If you’re a patent geek or you just want to see the full scoop, head over to Patently Apple where you can see all the details, some more drawings, and all the abstract patent application details.

The tablet wars are about to heat up. The iPad is currently the only meaningful tablet device around, but that may change as soon as November when Google is rumored to release their Chrome OS Tablet. According to MacRumors, the Google Tablet may be released as soon as November 26 in order to fit into the holiday shopping season.

Running Google’s Chrome OS and attached to data plans through Verizon, the hardware specs of the Google Tablet are anticipated to be impressive so that the device doesn’t “disappoint its early adopters”:

It’ll likely be based on NVidia’s Tegra 2 platform and sport a 1280×720 multitouch display, 2GB of RAM, minimum 32GB SSD, WiFi/Bluetooth/3G connectivity, GPS, webcam, and possibly expandable storage via a multi-card reader. Expect it to be every bit as geek-tastic as the Nexus One

Google will likely aggressively price the Chrome Tablet against the iPad, although the pricing structures for the device and accompanying data services are currently unknown. Data plan contracts are expected to subsidize the consumers cost of the tablet dramatically, similar to the manner of cell phone contracts.

Apple’s iPad is the dominant tablet computer at the moment, and thus far all other attempts at competing in the marketplace have flopped. Microsoft has already floundered, leaving Google to be the only foreseeable threat to the iPads dominance. Google hopes to replicate Androids success against the iPhone with their entry into the tablet market, creating yet another head-to-head battle between Apple and Google.

Not much is known about the touch interface of Chrome OS, or the appearance of the Google Tablet itself, the above image is nothing but a speculative mockup. You can run Chrome OS in Mac OS X, but the current version floating around really isn’t that exciting, it’s basically the Chrome browser running in a virtual machine. It’s highly unlikely the released version of the tablets Chrome OS will be as boring.

As the tech world froths with more iPhone on Verizon rumors, an overlooked bit of information caught my eye. According to Digitimes, Apple is going to replace the glass back panel of the iPhone 4 with metal that features an integrated antenna:

As for the CDMA iPhone, Pegatron Technology is expected to start mass production in December and will supply to both US-based Verizon Wireless and China-based China Telecom. The CDMA iPhone’s back plate will be forged from metal materials and will feature an integrated antenna, according to Digitimes Research.

While the report specifically mentions the CDMA iPhone (Verizon is CDMA), it would be unusual if Apple kept other iPhone 4 models with a glass enclosure. My guess is that Apple is looking to replace the back glass for two reasons: one, it’s relatively fragile and prone to shattering with minor drops, and two a metallic back panel with integrated antenna could help to aid the antenna problems that have received so much negative press.

I really wouldn’t be surprised if Apple restyled iPhone with a metallic enclosure. From a purely design standpoint it seemed unusual that Apple went with the glass back considering their other products are enclosed in a hardy and attractive aluminum shell. Assuming they figured out a way to help the antenna issues and just make the device more durable in general, this design change is a no brainer before the iPhone comes to millions more customers through Verizon and even T-Mobile in the USA.

Apple is working on a “revolutionary” new Mac OS X 10.7 feature, according to a new job posting on Apple.com:

We are looking for a senior software engineer to help us create a revolutionary new feature in the very foundations of Mac OS X. We have something truly revolutionary and really exciting in progress and it is going to require your most creative and focused efforts ever.

The posting was originally discovered by AppleInsider and since then speculation has swarmed about what the feature is. Based on evidence within the posting itself and some other recent Apple news, it looks to be related to cloud computing.

Mac OS X 10.7 + Cloud Computing = Mac OS X Clouded Leopard?

The biggest hint in the job posting is the favoring of candidates who have experience developing with “internet technologies and services” and more tellingly “participated in or lead the architecture of large web scale systems” with HTTP protocol experience. This naturally leads to the assumption that Mac OS X 10.7 will indeed have Cloud features built into the foundation of the operating system. HTTP and XHTML5 are core elements in the Open Cloud Computing Interface (OCCI) spec and are integral parts in most existing cloud computing services and platforms. When you combine this knowledge with recent news that Apple is building a massive 500,000 square foot data center, there is little room left to wonder what Apple is up to.

Of course the question remains on how exactly cloud computing will be integrated with future versions of Mac OS X, iOS, and even iTunes, so let the speculation run wild! I’ll go first. Assuming this all pans out, the name Mac OS X 10.7 Clouded Leopard would certainly be fittingly appropriate and along the existing feline naming conventions as the first iteration of Mac OS X to directly integrate cloud computing features.

Here’s the entire job posting:

Are you looking to help create something totally new? Something that has never been done before and will truly amaze everyone? Are you excited by the prospect that what you helped create would be used every day by millions of Apple customers? Then come and work on with the Mac OS X software engineering team to help build a new and revolutionary feature for Mac OS X.

We are looking for a senior software engineer to help us create a revolutionary new feature in the very foundations of Mac OS X. We have something truly revolutionary and really exciting in progress and it is going to require your most creative and focused efforts ever.

An ideal candidate will have a degree in Computer Science (or equivalent), five years of professional experience developing C / C++ / Objective-C libraries or frameworks for use on end user systems, experience with developing for Internet technologies and services, and a passion for doing “really hard” things that have never been done before.

An exceptional candidate will also have up close and personal experience with the HTTP protocol as well as other protocols layered atop it, have participated in or lead the architecture of large web scale systems, have shipped multiple “platforms” for use by millions of users.

Additional Desired Skills and Experience:
- Mac OS X platform development experience
- Knowledge of Objective-C
- UNIX development experience
- BS in Computer Science or equivalent; 5+ years experience

You can see the job posting or even apply for it yourself at jobs.apple.com.

A report based on patent findings shows the continued interest of an ad supported operating system that may be in the works at Apple. AppleInsider shows several of the patents mockups demonstrating a desktop operating system that looks very much like Mac OS X, except there are advertisement features included in it. Perhaps the most interesting part of the patent filing is the idea that the ads will disable functionality of the OS while you view them:

“The operating system can disable one or more functions while the advertisement is being presented… At the end of the advertisement, the operating system can again enable the function(s). The advertisement can be visual or audible. The presentation of the advertisement(s) can be made as part of an approach where the user obtains a good or service, such as the operating system, for free or at reduced cost.”

The last part about the ads subsidizing the cost of the operating system is fascinating too. Will any of these ‘features’ be mandatory in Mac OS X 10.7? I hope not. I don’t know about anyone else but I’d much rather just pay for an OS than have ads as part of my core desktop experience. Of course, Apple has many patents filed and not every idea that is patented is actually used, so take this information with a grain of salt for now.

Oh the rumor that never dies: iPhone is coming to Verizon. This has been speculated for years, but now the partnership of Apple and Verizon seems nearly certain, at least according to a report by Bloomberg. Citing two anonymous sources, Bloomberg claims that iPhone 4 will be available on the Verizon network starting in January of 2011.

If iPhone 4 became available on Verizon, it could produce a significant sales boost for Apple. AppleInsider cites an analyst saying that just having iPhone available on Verizon could sell an additional 12 million iPhones a year, which certainly wouldn’t help the current iPhone 4 availability difficulties, but it would be a very impressive feat considered Apple sold 11 million iPhone’s last year on AT&T alone. Having the iPhone on Verizon would also alleviate some of the network congestion that AT&T is dealing with as a result of the iPhone’s popularity.

I’m going to continue to treat this as a rumor because it’s been talked about so many times in the past, but supposedly this time it’s true… we’ll see come January!

After Apple released iOS 4 at an App Store centric WWDC 2010, many people questioned the future of the Mac. Well, MacsimumNews took it upon themselves to email Steve Jobs and ask about the future of the Mac directly, here’s the exchange:

Mr Jobs,

Newsweek just ran an “obituary” for the Mac, saying the Mac has been “relegated to the steaming dung heap of the past.”

I hope he’s wrong, I believe and hope that the Mac will remain a vibrant, vital part of Apple’s future and one of its (admittedly many) product lines.

So, as you view it, does the Mac have a long and important history ahead of it?

Dennis

Interestingly enough, Steve Jobs responded in his typical short and sweet manner:

Completely wrong. Just wait.

Here’s a screenshot of the exchange via the aptly named EmailsFromSteveJobs.com:

So does the response from Steve allay the fears of the Mac community? I’m going to go ahead with the assumption that the Mac will be around for a while, but who knows what the future holds? We just have to wait and see the actions (and inactions) of Apple.

It looks like there will be an update to the plastic Unibody MacBook lineup soon. A very authentic looking refreshed unit has shown up in some video and images out of Vietnam, which is a popular source of Apple product leaks at the moment. Assuming this is legitimate, the specs on the revised MacBook are practically identical to the base model 13″ MacBook Pro, except that the refreshed MacBook will only ship with 2GB of RAM (as opposed to the 4GB in the MBP). Expect a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard disk, and the same Nvidia 320m GPU.

This is kind of frustrating to me. I’ve always wondered why Apple makes the consumer MacBook so close to the more expensive and supposedly “Pro” model, especially since the 13″ MacBook Pro really underperforms with its C2D chip in benchmarks next to the new MacBook Pro Core i5/i7 models. This refreshed MacBook with identical specs really suggests that the MacBook Pro 13″ is just a MacBook in a much fancier case. For the record I have a 13″ MacBook Pro and love it, the small form factor is perfect for me, which I guess proves that regardless of the frustration on the specs people still buy the otherwise beautiful machines.

If you’re interested, you can see video and a few more pictures of the box on Engadget.

Not much is known about Mac OS X 10.7, and many in the Mac community have been operating under the assumption that we’d all get a glimpse into the future of Mac OS at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June. But that may not be so this time around, at least according to the always interesting John Gruber. Posted to DaringFireball, Gruber made a rather interesting note on Mac OS X 10.7:

A few months ago, I heard suggestions that Apple had tentative plans to release a developer beta of Mac OS X 10.7 at WWDC this June. That is no longer the case. Mac OS X 10.7 development continues, but with a reduced team and an unknown schedule. It’s my educated guess that there will be no 10.7 news at WWDC this year, and probably none until WWDC 2011.

Apple’s company-wide focus has since been focused intensely on one thing: iPhone OS 4.1 The number one priority at Apple is to grow mobile market share faster than Android. Anything that is not directly competitive with Android is on the back burner.

While somewhat disappointing, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised by this. The potential of dominating the mobile market share with iPhone OS powered devices and the iPad is probably a far greater opportunity for Apple than expanding the relatively small Mac desktop computing market share, especially when more and more computing is done on the go. Combine that with all the excitement surrounding iPhone OS 4 and I think it makes sense that WWDC 2010 is going to be an iPhone OS centric event as Apple is heavily focused on their mobile platform.

Does that mean we definitely won’t see anything of Mac OS X 10.7 at WWDC? No, certainly not, at this point this is a prediction at best and a rumor at worst. John Gruber is often right with his predictions, but everything with Apple is always a mystery until the last minute. Even if Apple has paired back focus on Mac OS development for the time being, keep in mind Apple is a large company with plenty of resources. They have roughly 35,000 employees, so what exactly a “reduced team” means in that context is anyone’s guess. Regardless, I’m sure Mac OS X has many exciting things in store for it’s future, whether it has been delayed by the iPhone OS or not.