New iPhones Still Expected to Launch in June/July, Fingerprint Sensor for iPhone 5S?

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has issued a new research report claiming that Apple is expected to unveil its iPhone 5S and lower-cost iPhone alongside iOS 7 this June, with the devices coming available in July. Versions supporting the time-division duplexing (TDD) standard used by China Mobile are said to follow in September.

We expect Apple will introduce its new iPhones and iOS7 in June, and start shipping the new iPhones (5S and low-cost model) in the FDD version in July. Both dates are earlier than last year's roadmap. We attribute this to: (1) an effort to avoid repeating the fatal mistake of last year of the delayed iPhone 5 launch, which gave competitors room to grab market share; and (2) the new iPhones this year are mainly designed on the basis of the current iPhone 5, which suggests development time could be reduced.

Kuo says that all of the new iPhone models, including the lower-cost iPhone, will support LTE, with differentiation coming in other specs.

[W]e expect the product differentiation between iPhone 5S and iPhone 5 will be: (1) computing power, with iPhone 5S to run on the faster A7 application processor; (2) the camera, with iPhone 5S being equipped with Smart Flash, ensuring photo quality using white or yellow flash according to lighting conditions; (3) iPhone 5S will have a fingerprint chip under the Home button, improving security and usability; and (4) the low-cost iPhone 5 hybrid casing of fiberglass and plastic will make it lighter and slimmer than general plastic casing and easier to make in various colors. However, we still think it will be heavier than iPhone 5S, which will have an aluminum casing. Thus, even form factor will be an area of differentiation.

Kuo's iPhone claims are very similar to ones he laid out in his 2013 Apple product roadmap back in mid-January, but the fresh report suggests that Apple is still on track and his fresh comments on a TDD iPhone suggest that Apple may indeed be very close to bringing the iPhone to China Mobile, the world's largest carrier.

Kuo has a rather solid track record, having accurately predicted a number of Apple product announcements in recent years. As a result, his research reports have been followed with increasing interest.

Project Amy Allows Users to Send App.net Private Messages via Messages for OS X [Mac Blog]

Steve Streza of Pocket (via MacStories) participated in App.net's hackathon over the weekend, producing Project Amy, which offers a way to integrate App.net private messages with Apple's Messages app for the Mac.

Project Amy uses both App.net's private messaging API that was introduced in December and Apple's IMServicePlugin.framework to add App.net as an account in Messages. It shows up as an account type option after being installed, much like other services AIM and Google Talk.


After entering a username and password, App.net contacts are displayed in the buddy list. Clicking on a contact opens a chat window, which begins an App.net private message conversation.

It deeply integrates App.net into a major app. It doesn't rely on a proxy server (or in fact communicate with any API except for App.net), so there's no concerns about privacy and far less issues with stability. It uses 100% public, documented APIs that are exposed, so updates will not break the plugin (in theory). It's super simple to set up; just run the installer and add your account information. And it is an integration in an app used by millions of people, with a wide intersection of the people who use App.net. It fixes all of the problems, makes Messages more useful, and makes App.net more useful.

Streza notes that Project Amy is a beta and that it may have bugs. The software can be downloaded directly from App.net.

Apple Releases Java Update to Fix New Zero-Day Vulnerability [Mac Blog]

Apple has pushed a new release of Java 6 that fixes a new vulnerability discovered just a few days ago. Somewhat confusingly, Apple delivers updates to Java 6, while Oracle delivers updates directly to Java 7 users.

InformationWeek reports:

"We detected a brand new Java zero-day vulnerability that was used to attack multiple customers," FireEye security researchers Darien Kindlund and Yichong Lin said in a blog posted Thursday. "Specifically, we observed successful exploitation against browsers that have Java v1.6 update 41 and Java v1.7 update 15 installed," they said, referring to the two most recently released versions of Java 6 and Java 7.

Lion and Mountain Lion users should download Java for OS X 2013-002. This file updates Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_43, the latest version released by Oracle. Snow Leopard users will download Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 14, which delivers the same version of Java 6.

The last update for both Java 6 and 7 was released in mid-February to fix a different security vulnerability.

Next Generation iPads Due in April, iPhone 5S in August?

Following today's research report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggesting that the iPhone 5S could launch in July with a fingerprint sensor, Rene Ritchie at iMore confirms that the iPhone 5S will be unveiled during the summer, but targets an August release date.

Apple has previously launched phones in June through October, with the iPhone 4S released in October and the iPhone 5 released in September.


According to Ritchie, the upcoming iPhone 5S will be similar to the iPhone 4S, improving the internals of the phone while leaving the outer casing untouched.

Sources familiar with the plans have told iMore that the iPhone 5S does indeed have the same basic design as the iPhone 5, with a more advanced processor and an improved camera. With the iPhone 5, Apple reduced the thinness of the casing but managed to keep essentially the same, if not slightly better, overall quality.

Given the dimensions, or lack-thereof, that in-and-of itself was a feat of engineering. With the iPhone 5S, the aim is to once again raise the bar in terms of iPhone optics, including a much better camera in essentially the same casing. No huge surprises there, given the past history of S-class iPhones.

iMore is also predicting a possible April launch date for the fifth generation iPad and the second generation iPad mini, which would be in line with the previous spring launch dates for the original iPad, the iPad 2, and the third generation iPad. According to iMore, a casing redesign is expected for the fifth generation iPad, but it remains unclear if the iPad mini will feature Retina.

Apple is not going to release iPads that costs more or don't get as good battery life as the current models. So, if the next iPad mini does end up getting slated for April, it could be a spec bump, or have something other than Retina as a differentiator. Hopefully we'll know more soon.

Previous Retina iPad mini speculation has suggested a fall release date, which could fit in with iMore's predicted April launch if Apple moves to a bi-annual release schedule for its tablets.

iMore has been spot on with recent Apple releases, reporting the Lightning connector several months before it was released and predicting both the iPad mini launch date and the announcement date of the iPhone 5.