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According to two “solid sources” for TechCruch, Apple’s forthcoming iOS 5 software may bring with it a major revamp of the operating system built around the cloud, but we’ll have to wait for a fall release to enjoy its new features.

A fall release would break the pattern of previous iOS releases, which have typically been unveiled in early spring and released alongside a new iPhone in the summer. However, it’s believed iOS 5 may come with a third-generation iPad rumored to launch later this year.

The TechCrunch sources say that:

• iOS 5 will launch in the fall and will be a major revamp of the OS.
• It could well be previewed at WWDC, it just won’t be released then.
• The iOS 5 launch is also likely to coincide with the release of the iPad 3.
• The new iOS will be heavily built around the cloud, and we could see several new services launch from Apple that take advantage of this.
• Yes, one of those is very likely a “music locker” service. There is also a fall launch aim for this, during Apple’s annual music-themed event.
• But much of the cloud stuff will first be talked about at WWDC, Apple’s developer event which will take place in June.
• One of the new cloud service elements is likely a location service that focuses on finding friends and family members.
• OS X Lion is still on pace for a summer release — some of the new cloud components are likely to be baked into it as well.

Earlier reports had suggested that iOS 5 would be previewed at Apple’s iPad 2 keynote earlier this year, and when that didn’t happen, new reports then rumored that another event in April would take place to talk about iOS 5 and a revamped MobileMe. If the TechCrunch sources are correct, it seems this event won’t go ahead either.

Unfortunately, these sources didn’t provide any details on the iPhone 5, but we’re guessing the device is still on track for its unveiling at WWDC with a launch this summer. Of course, if that is the case, the device will launch with the latest version of iOS 4 and not iOS 5.

iPhone users are downloading, and VCs are throwing money at, a new iPhone app called Color.

Don’t get it? You’re not alone.

What the Naysayers are Naysaying

The general reception to Color has been overwhelmingly negative — even worse than the initial reception to the Apple iPad.

Gizmodo quipped that Color’s main purpose is to “amuse yourself by creeping out strangers.”

All Things Digital said Color reminds them of a mock news story created by The Onion, in which investigators establish the cause of a fire by examining the “43,000 pictures taken by students at a party.”

Fortune called Color a “whimsical” “Trojan horse.”

Computerworld called it a “social network for voyeurs.”

Daring Fireball says Color is a “breathlessly overhyped piece of crap.”

The app is currently rated by users with only two stars out of five in the iTunes App Store. Compare that with, say, the 99-cent “Mr. Ninja” game app, which is getting five stars.

The two main strains of criticism center around uselessness and privacy. People aren’t understanding how to use Color, nor why they might want to. Also: The app doesn’t give you any way to know who’s seeing your pictures, and enables creepy weirdos to potentially observe others unwisely sharing private or inappropriate moments. Also: Many users I’ve talked to don’t realize that when you connect to others at a specific event, Color then gives you access not only to their photos and videos taken at the same event, but all taken by them previously elsewhere as well.

All this criticism and mockery is interesting, but largely misguided. I’ll tell you why below, but first lets understand what Color actually is.

Timing for me was good this afternoon. I went to sync my iPad 2 on my Mac and iTunes told me that an iOS update was available for it. Yes indeed and much to my surprise — iOS 4.3.1 (8G4) is out.

The latest firmware offers the following improvements and fixes:

• Fixes an occasional graphics glitch on iPod touch (4th generation)
• Resolves bugs related to activating and connecting to some cellular networks
• Fixes image flicker when using Apple Digital AV Adapter with some TVs
• Resolves an issue authenticating with some enterprise web services

The update supports: iPhone 4 (GSM model only), iPhone 3GS, iPad, iPad 2, and iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation). The update isn’t available of Verizon iPhone 4 users who remain on iOS 4.2.6.

There isn’t any mention of a fix for battery woes encountered by users across practically all iOS devices, but I hope that it addresses that problem as well.

Information about security fixes in this update can be found in this Apple knowledge base document.

Please share your experiences with the update after you’ve installed it by leaving a comment.

[via iTunes]

Calling the online petition signed by over 150,000 people a “calculated smear campaign,” by gay activists to remove the Exodus International app, the president of the Christian organization responded to Apple’s decision to pull it from the iTunes store.

Here’s an excerpt of what Exodus President Alan Chambers has to say about Apple’s decision:

Here is my point.  It is becoming apparently clear that there is no room in this culture for diversity of thought or opinion. It goes beyond Apple having the right to discriminate. It is the fact that simply offering someone support as THEY CHOOSE to live their life through the filter of their faith rather than their sexuality is now considered not only offensive, but also dangerous.  People with biblical convictions are now being labeled bigoted and homophobic for simply upholding someone’s right to self-determine how they want to live their lives.  It’s astounding.

Do you think this decision is going to come back and bite Apple in the you-know-what?

Via Exodus International

Apple has stopped selling MobileMe to customers, and told educational institutions to push free 60-day trials of the service as a stop-gap, so we know a relaunch is coming soon.

Rumor has it that the relaunch will see Apple start to realize its streaming iTunes ambitions with the addition of a music locker. Users would upload songs they want to be able to access from any device. This would allow Apple to compete with services like Spotify and Rdio without cutting the legs of their iTunes digital download empire out from under themselves.

We’ve heard these rumors from so many sources at this point that we’re pretty sure. What we haven’t heard anyone do yet, though, is put a price on the new locker service. Now Music Void is doing just that, saying that the MobileMe iTunes locker services will cost somewhere around $20 per year.

Ten years ago Apple bestowed a new operating system unto the world, Mac OS X. A merger of NeXTStep and the Classic Mac OS, OS X finally delivered Apple’s first major evolution in OS design after a half decade of failed attempts: Taligent, Copland, Rhapsody…

To teach new users how to use its new creation, for a few years Apple included an explanatory brochure titled Welcome to Mac OS X with every copy. These booklets provided a helpful introduction to the new OS. In honor of the tenth anniversary of OS X, here’s a look back at how Apple described things in 2001.

Mac OS X celebrates its tenth birthday today. The groundbreaking operating system was introduced to the public on March 24, 2001. Mac OS X helped reverse Apple’s fortunes in the desktop PC market, and has underpinned a lot of Apple’s subsequent success. Most importantly, it spawned iOS, which runs today’s iPads and iPhones.

Below is the story of how OS X’s game-changing interface came about. The story gives some insight into corporate creativity at Apple. OS X’s interface started as a side project. But as soon as Steve Jobs got wind of it, it was fast-tracked. Jobs became intimately involved in its development — a scary prospect for the programmers working on it.

But the struggle wasn’t just in its development. Apple had to nail the switch from the old Mac OS to the new, or it could have sunk the company. Guess which ally was crucial to the transition — Apple’s old enemy, Microsoft.

With the launch of OS X, Jobs finally took the title of Apple’s permanent CEO. Prior to that he’d been the interim CEO, or iCEO, and OS X was the last major part of the company he needed to fix.

AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile would result in new efficiencies and economies of scale. It would enable the provisioning of more and better services at lower cost than the two companies could achieve separately.

And that’s exactly why the Obama administration may block it.

UPDATE: Brian Tong sent me a note pointing out my unfair characterization of him as “just a TV show host.” Brian has worked at CNet for three years where he is an editor. He’s a journalism major and even used to work in Apple retail. He’s got lots of contacts at the company. My apologies to Brian for unfairly questioning his credentials.

New iMacs with Sandy Bridge CPUs and the zippy new Thunderbolt port are due at the end of April or the first week of May, according to CNet TV presenter Brian Tong, citing “anonymous sources.”

There won’t be a redesign. The new machines will look the same as the old, which is no bad thing.

The source of this info is a bit iffy. Tong isn’t a traditional is a tech reporter — he’s a TV show host — but he does work in tech news and Tong is an editor at CNet and host of CNet TV’s The Apple Byte Show. He says he’s “highly confident” about his source.

The Sandy Bridge update is definitely on the cards. What’s new is the ship date — four to six weeks. This in line with our interactive Buyer’s Guide, which says an iMac update is overdue.

Please, please, please let this be true. I’m in the market for a new desktop to replace my old Mac Pro, and Sandy Bridge, big screens and Thunderbolt make for a juicy, juicy update.

The last iMac update was about eight months ago with Intel’s Core i3, i5 and i7 chips and ATI Radeon graphics. But the MacBook Pros were just updated with quad-core Sandy Bridge processors, and they’re screamers.

Thunderbolt is a new port for high-speed peripherals and displays. Dubbed “one connector to rule them all,” it’s a single 10Gbps cable that consolidates almost all existing ports, from FireWire to USB to miniDisplay to eSATA.

There’s been a lot of complaints about the long lines and short supplies of the iPad 2. But there have some nice stories too, like the iPad that Apple sent to one man when his wife made him return it.

Here’s another great story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9txpbfDbq6I&feature=youtu.be

Think the big deal with the iPad 2’s rear-facing camera is all about snapshots and videos? Think again.

The augmented reality gurus over at Metaio sound pretty darn excited about the new iPad 2 for two key reasons. The first is obvious: it has a much larger screen, which makes the iPad much more useful for, say, mixed-reality games than the iPhone ever was. The second ingredient is the iPad 2’s new, explosively fast dual-core A5 processor.

The hubbub over the app from Christian group Exodus International keeps growing. The petition against the app for “homosexual strugglers” has reached nearly 130,000 signatures.

Apple has still not responded and, at this writing, the free app is still in the iTunes store. The battle is also being waged in the reviews for the app – currently there are 371 five-star reviews and 836 one-star reviews.

Exodus International spoke to the Christian Post about how they hope Apple the reviews won’t shake the initial 4+ rating for their content – meaning it contains no objectionable material — and how the app has been misunderstood.

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who participated! I had a great time reading all your comments. Congrats to Mitchell Chin (youtube user: Sportwin) and Mark Fleser (youtube user: markfleser) on winning a small stack of assorted Gear Ties from Nite Ize. If you’re one of those two people, check your youtube account, I just messaged you!

If you missed my gushing review of these brilliant Gear Ties from Nite Ize, check it out here to see what all the fuss is about.

I love these little rubber-bonded-over-pliable-steel pieces. I use them so often and they work so well, they’ve become one of my favorite new products.

Well, I got to thinking that you, our dear CoM readers and viewers, might love them too. So I asked Nite Ize if they’d be willing to give some away to you, and they responded with a resounding “yes!” So, if you’d like to qualify to win some of these little wonders, you only need to do two simple things:

Given how difficult it is to get an iPad 2 in America right now, you didn’t have to be a die-hard cynic to think that Apple was going to have to repeat 2010’s one month international delay in launching the iPad internationally.

Not so! Apple wants everyone to know that the iPad 2 will still launch in 25 more countries this Friday.

Apple also announced that all models of iPad 2 will be available in Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and additional countries in April.

As with the American launch, customers will be able to purchase their iPad 2 directly at an Apple retail store starting at 5pm local time. If you want to order one online, you can do so through Apple.com at 1am that same day (the press release doesn’t say, but presumably this is Pacific Time).

If you’re an international customer planning on ordering an iPad 2 online, keep in mind that even the U.S. customers who ordered their iPad 2s within minutes of the order page going live had to wait 3-5 business days for their iPad 2 to ship (mine only came yesterday). Also, U.S. customers who didn’t order their iPad 2s quickly now face a 4-5 week wait. Set your alarms and get ready to be patient. To explore more about the history on Mac and how previous Apple devices evolved, check out this detailed timeline.

How is Apple capable of launching in 25 countries when they can’t even supply the United States? My guess is that they’ve either been stockpiling iPad 2s for the international launch, or that current US delivery estimate times are massively informed by projected international demand.

Either way, if you’re someone who has been trying to get an iPad 2 at your local Apple Store, only to have a shady gray market iPad 2 smuggler purchase it out from under you every time, take heart! As the gray market overseas is a huge part of what is contributing to current shortages, iPad 2 availability through retail channels should actually improve when the tablet is available in more countries.

Following the incredibly successful launch of the iPad 2 in the U.S., it seems that once again Apple is struggling to meet the demand for its highly sought-after tablet, and this could mean dreaded delays for international launch dates. If the iPad 2 doesn’t arrive on time in your country and you’re keen to get your mitts on the latest device soon, here are four ways of getting one imported from the U.S.

Here’s a great story about an iPad 2 that was returned to Apple.

Apple is keeping a close eye on iPad 2 returns as part of its QA process. The company wants to identify any problems in early production units, like the light-bleeding backlights we’ve been hearing about.

But one customer returned his iPad 2 for a different reason: his wife wouldn’t let him keep it. He took his iPad back to the Apple Store with a sticky note on it: “Wife said no.”

But a pair of executives at Apple got wind of the story and sent him a replacement iPad 2 with a new sticky on it. Guess what it said?

“Apple said yes”

If the lucky fellow reads this, please get in touch. We’d love to hear more.

MacRumors: iPad 2: Wife Says No, but Apple Says Yes

There are plenty of questionable apps available on iTunes – from the plethora of fart clones to belly jam – but here are some that Apple approved then removed because they were offensive.

What Apple approves, keeps or pulls in iTunes was on my mind over the weekend as I watched the number of signers to the online petition to remove a “gay-cure” app from Christian group Exodus International boom.

When we first wrote about the app, there were 6,700 signatures – about as many that got the much milder Manhattan Declaration pulled – there are now nearly 90,000.

Yes, the iPhone won’t officially be available to T-Mobile users until at least 12 months, when government regulators are expected to give thumbs-up (or thumbs-down) on the $39 billion acquisition by AT&T. However, that hasn’t stopped Wall Street experts from weighing-in on the possible impact. Depending on who you ask, the deal could be a huge, or minor, plus for Apple.

“We believe T-Mobile could add [around] 3 million incremental iPhones in its first full year, which could be conservative,” Bank of American analyst Scott Craig told investors Monday morning. If you don’t like that view, there is another.

This is a guest post by Mark Hosbein, a potential iPad 2 customer. Mark has been unable to get an iPad 2 after several days waiting in line. He expresses the frustration felt by many. As we’ve reported, Apple continues to see long lines for the iPad 2 a week after launch day. Mark’s piece was originally published here.

I just returned from the Apple Store at the Short Hills Mall in New Jersey. I arrived at the mall at 5.20 AM to wait in line for my chance to buy an iPad 2. I was number 27 in line. I did not get one. The line went to 81. My wife had been there for the past two days, and both days she was shut out. She was number 39 yesterday, with no luck.

For a revered brand, Apple is risking customer will in the way they are managing the iPad launch.

Plans to build a 16,000 square-foot Apple store in the balconies of Grand Central’s main terminal may have been abandoned by the Cupertino company, according to a source close to the M.T.A., who says that preliminary negotiations have fallen through.

Jeffrey Roseman, a retail executive for Newark Knight Frank, posted a tweet on Thursday that backed up these claims, and indicated plans for Apple’s largest store in the world weren’t going ahead: “Lets see if Apple NOT coming to Grand Central, gets as much press as it got, when the rumor started.”

The store was expected to open this September, celebrating 10 years of Apple retail, and attracting some of the 700,000 people who visit the terminal each day. A source for Cult of Mac confirmed Apple’s plans to build the superstore back in February, however, it seems that the M.T.A.’s strict guidelines made Apple’s plans too good to be true.

<strong>Note from Leander: I’ve reached out to my source who said the deal was signed, sealed and delivered. I’ll report here what they say.

Steve Jobs famously once quoted Picasso as saying: “Good artists copy; great artists steal.” And by that metric, Apple is a lousy artist.

Apple is stolen from by just about everybody. Microsoft and other companies steal design and interface ideas from Apple’s OS X. Cell phone handset makers steal Apple’s iPhone design elements. The new tablet market is essentially Apple’s iPad plus the tablets that steal ideas from the iPad. Everybody has stolen Apple’s approach to app stores.

There’s a difference between stealing ideas and stealing intellectual property. Stealing winning general approaches to doing things like multi-touch gestures on a tablet device is good. Stealing the code to do that is bad.

Microsoft has long been accused of stealing Apple ideas in the many designs of Windows that have occurred over the years. Windows has tended to be more challenging to use than OS X over the years, and Windows products tend to be less elegant. Because of all this, Apple fans often dismiss Microsoft as a company without innovation.

In fact, the opposite is true. Microsoft’s research wing is an under-appreciated engine of invention, in my opinion. And while Microsoft fails to productize some of its best inventions, it’s also occasionally successful at implementing new ideas in real products.

I’ll go further. Apple and its customers would benefit enormously if Apple were to steal the following five key ideas from Microsoft.

Apple has a serious problem on its hands with the iPad 2 display.

Last week I purchased an iPad 2 on launch day. It suffered from backlight bleeding. I took it back to my local Apple Store, which replaced it on Friday. This second iPad 2 also suffers from backlight bleeding.

I’m pissed. I spent more than $1,000 for the whole thing with accessories – I want something worth the investment not a dud.

But I’m not taking it back to Apple a third time. Why not?

One week after the launch of the iPad 2, there are still overnight lines for the device.

Friday morning, there were 71 people in line for possible iPad 2s at the Los Gatos Apple store, according to CultofMac.com columnist Mike Elgan.

Mike called neighboring stores, and was told there were similar lines at stores in Santa Clara and Palo Alto.

It’s the same story at Apple’s stores all around the country. Look at the photo of the Waikiki store above. “Still no iPad2!” reports the photographer, Jayson Smith. At the 5th Avenue store in Manhattan, there’s a perpetual line of several hundred hopefuls.

Most are turned away disappointed. All these lines are for “possible” iPads. Although many stores have been getting fresh deliveries of iPad 2s every day, not all do. Still, standing in line seems quicker than ordering online. Shipping for online orders has been pushed back 4-5 weeks.

The Apple Store in Charlotte, NC, gave disappointed customers free Smart Covers when deliveries of iPad 2s failed to arrive, according to AppleBitch.

The store… told customers the previous day that an iPad 2 delivery was due for the following morning. However, when no iPads arrived, the customers in line, around fifty of them, were apparently offered a free Smart Cover by the Manager as an apology for the mis-information.

Some Apple stores have resorted to telling customers there are no stocks right off the bat. At one store in Los Angeles, this is how staff are answering the telephone:

“Hello. This is the Apple Store and no, we don’t have any iPad 2s available,” reports Twitter user SB ARTS TV.

An online petition to pull an app from iTunes targeted at “homosexual strugglers” has reached 20,000 signatures.

Apple has not commented publicly on whether it intends to pull the free app from Christian group Exodus International and did not return Cult of Mac’s request for comment.

Last November, Apple removed an app called the Manhattan Declaration from the iTunes store after outcry and over  7,000 signatures on an online poll that the content was an anti-gay and hate-mongering. The app makers asked to have it re-instated to no avail.

The group behind the latest petition, Truth Wins Out, has also asked Apple to intervene but received no response. Signers of the petition more than tripled since our last post on the Exodus app.

They issued the following statement: “If Apple continues to bury its head in the sand, we will hold a press conference in front of their offices featuring sexual and spiritual abuse victims of “ex-gay” programs.”

We’ll keep you posted.

Apple is telling suppliers that they will no longer be selling MobileMe subscriptions in preparation for a launch of a new, free and radically overhauled version of the service launching next month.