MacMegasite

Good news! I just got word from the headquarters that we have two new cases custom-made for the iPad, and that I can leak the photos to you. These cases are not quite brand-spanking-new designs, but rather are retro-fits of some of our most popular models: We’ll be adding an iPad version of our heralded Omniverse line of cases as well as our new U-Sleaf sleeve. This news is still breaking, so we haven’t even put the features and info up on our website yet. So, I’ve put the photos up on Flickr. You can check them all out here.

Also, be sure to check in at www.uniea.com regularly for more information. No official date for release, but you can count n it coinciding with the release of the iPad.

Starting January 22nd, UNIEA will be running a promotion for its online store – buy one case, get a matching case for 40% off. The idea is for customers to get themselves and their significant others matching cases – kind of like friendship bracelets, only nerdier. No promo code is needed, just go to http://www.unieastore.com and select a case – you’ll see the option to order a matching case for 40% on each product page.

This offer is valid until Valentine’s Day, but make sure you order soon so that you’ll get your cases in time.

Until today Apple didn’t allow free iPhone apps to use in-app purchases, but they just changed it. All iPhone developers got the following email today:

In App Purchase is being rapidly adopted by developers in their paid apps. Now you can use In App Purchase in your free apps to sell content, subscriptions, and digital services.

You can also simplify your development by creating a single version of your app that uses In App Purchase to unlock additional functionality, eliminating the need to create Lite versions of your app. Using In App Purchase in your app can also help combat some of the problems of software piracy by allowing you to verify In App Purchases.

CUPERTINO, California—July 21, 2009—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2009 third quarter ended June 27, 2009. The Company posted revenue of $8.34 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.23 billion, or $1.35 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $7.46 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.07 billion, or $1.19 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 36.3 percent, up from 34.8 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 44 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

In accordance with the subscription accounting treatment required by GAAP, the Company recognizes revenue and cost of goods sold for iPhone™ and Apple TV® over their estimated economic lives. Adjusting GAAP sales and product costs to eliminate the impact of subscription accounting, the corresponding non-GAAP measures* for the quarter are $9.74 billion of “Adjusted Sales” and $1.94 billion of “Adjusted Net Income.”

Apple sold 2.6 million Macintosh® computers during the quarter, representing a four percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 10.2 million iPods during the quarter, representing a seven percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhones sold were 5.2 million, representing 626 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter.

“We’re making our most innovative products ever and our customers are responding,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re thrilled to have sold over 5.2 million iPhones during the quarter and users have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications from our App Store in its first year.”

“We’re extremely pleased to report record non-holiday quarter revenue and earnings and quarterly cash flow from operations of $2.3 billion,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2009, we expect revenue in the range of about $8.7 billion to $8.9 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $1.18 to $1.23.”

Apple will provide live streaming of its Q3 2009 financial results conference call utilizing QuickTime®, Apple’s standards-based technology for live and on-demand audio and video streaming. The live webcast will begin at 2:00 p.m. PDT on July 21, 2009 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq309/ and will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.

Apple has decorated Moscone West with a collection of iPhone application icons in preparation for WWDC next week.

Could this be a prediction of a 32GB iPhone?

See the full gallery here.

Ustream has received approval from Apple for its live video viewing application on the iPhone just in time to watch the Obama inauguration live from wherever you are. The application requires an open WiFi connection to show video. Audio is pretty good, picture quality is good but with a low frame rate. Of course, there is a lot of buffering, even over WiFi, and users can both read and leave comments in the chat stream. Get it here.

I have taken some screen shots, and posted on my Flickr stream.

Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs will take a medical leave of absence until the end of June. Apple COO Tim Cook will take over for Steve Jobs until then. Trading is halted until 5 p.m., CNBS estimates.

Today Steve Jobs sent the following letter to all Apple employees:

Team,

I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.

In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.

I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.

Steve

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The long awaited iPhone firmware version 2.2 has appeared in iTunes. You can install it now by clicking the “Check for Update” button in your iPhone Summary panel. The iPhone 2.2 update includes:

- Google Street View in Google Maps
- Public Transit and Walking directions in Google Maps
- Display the address of a place when you drop a pin
- Share your location via email
- A fix for a scheduled fetching of email bug
- Improved stability and performance of Safari
- Podcasts can be downloaded right to the iPhone over WiFi or 3G
- A decrease in call failures/dropped calls
- Improved sound quality of visual voicemail messages
- The ability to return to the main home iPhone screen with the click of the home button
- The ability to turn on and off the keyboard auto-correction feature

Also, Apple has released iTunes 8.02. The update is available in your Mac OS X software update.

iTunes 8.0.2 improves stability and performance and provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

- Addresses a quality issue creating MP3s on some computers.
- Fixes a connectivity issue with the iTunes Store when using some Internet proxies with Mac OS X.
- Improves accessibility with VoiceOver.

[Information provided via MacRumors and VentureBeat]

Apple has released Safari 3.2, which adds several security fixes. It also fixes several bugs, including Twitter’s inability to remain logged in. Safari 3.2 is now available via Software Update and is recommended for all users. More information is available here.