Apple has stated on their website that Boot Camp will support Windows 7 on Intel-based Macs “before the end of the year.”

As Boot Camp already supports OS X/Vista configurations, one wonders why it will take Apple any length of time to implement this feature given the bootloader similarities between Vista and 7.

In the interim, Some Apple customers have successfully used a work-around to install the RC of Windows 7 without issue.

Apparently we’re still in a recession, but you would never know it by looking at Apple’s fourth quarter results. Everyone’s favorite (ahem) tech giant from Cupertino announced on Monday that their fourth quarter was the most profitable in the firm’s history, primarily driven by record-breaking Mac and iPhone sales. Revenue hit $9.87 billion, up from $7.9 billion in 2008, and a quarterly profit of $1.67 billion, or a $530 million improvement over 4Q08.

In the context of the current economic climate, these numbers seem surprising. It is well-known that many of Apple’s products are priced significantly higher than similar offerings from other players, or even DIY PC builders. In a year where most are trying squeeze a little more out of their budget, it’s impressive that the demand for Apple products has been so strong.

On the other hand, Apple released several solid products this year, including: The iPhone 3GS, refreshed iPods, OS X 10.6 (”Snow Leopard”), and revisions of both their laptop and desktop offerings.

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These days you can practically go to business school for free, thanks to iTunes.

Psystar, the infamous Mac cloner under siege from not one, but two lawsuits from Apple, has today announced an OEM program to certify other Hackintoshes.

Psystar’s vision of open computing is to provide users with the freedom to choose which OS’s they install on their hardware. The Licensing Program will allow computer manufacturers the opportunity to ship the certified systems pre-configured with DUBL and OS of choice including Windows 7, Windows Vista and several flavors of Linux. These systems would also be compatible with Mac OS X Snow Leopard and receive normal software updates through the use of “Safe Update” technology. The customer can install the Mac OS themselves simply by inserting the retail DVD or choose to install several other OS’s with no manual boot configuration. DUBL supports up to six different operating systems on a single machine and configures itself *automagicly*.

Under the program, the Florida-based firm will license its “virtualization technology” (an EFI implementation and a bootloader) to other builders. The license also provides a “Psystar Certified” seal of approval which allows those builders to use Psystar’s tech to preload Mac OS X. The company also promises that the machines will receive updates through a “Safe Update” process which installs patches without completely bitching up the OS X install.

While Psystar’s PR has dropped herculean cajones squarely on Apple’s doorstep, there is at least one pulled punch: The release explicitly states that consumers can purchase and install OS X themselves. This is a sharp departure from Psystar’s current model which ships Hackintoshes preloaded with OS X–a tactic that is the subject of Apple’s twin lawsuits. In a subtle way, it’s a sign of things to come should Psystar come to lose in court. By shipping a copy of OS X with a machine for customers to install, Psystar could cooperate with the letter of the law while running willy nilly all over the spirit.

The outstanding lawsuits against Psystar allege willful copyright infringement for selling OS X-powered PCs, and a DMCA violation attributed to the “encryption” “cracking” needed to take OS X out of its Apple-provided hardware platform.

Against the wishes of both Apple and the USB Implementers Forum, Palm has once again updated the Pre to sync with iTunes.

Palm released today WebOS version 1.20.1 and, amongst fixes to Exchange support, cheekily “[resolved] an issue preventing media sync from working with latest version of iTunes (9.0.1).”

The fix, according to the PreCentral blog, is another round of iPod mimicry. According to their report, the Pre now masquerades as an iPod Video when connected to iTunes for syncing.

Here’s what your computer sees when you set your Pre to Media Sync Mode (changes from webOS 1.2.0 and previous in bold):
USB Product ID: 0×1209
USB Vendor ID: 0×05ac (Apple, Inc)
Manufacturer: Apple Inc.

With Palm now moving against the wishes of both Apple and USB’s overseer, it is not immediately clear what happens next in this humorous game of cat and mouse.

Big number is big

Today Apple announced that two billion iPhone and iPod Touch applications have been downloaded on the iTunes App Store.

Currently the App Store contains more than 85,000 applications covering just about every possible subject, from Getting Things Done apps, to tower defense, and just about anything else you could—or couldn’t—ever think of. And yes dear cynics, the vast majority of these apps are indeed crap.

Though the App Store has passed two billion downloads, Apple CEO Steve Jobs says that growth is still accelerating.

“The rate of App Store downloads continues to accelerate with users downloading a staggering two billion apps in just over a year, including more than half a billion apps this quarter alone,” he said.

“The App Store has reinvented what you can do with a mobile handheld device, and our users are clearly loving it.”

Prices in the App Store run the spectrum from free to more than $100. Today’s top five most profitable apps include CNN Mobile ($1.99), MobileNavigator North America ($89.99), Dungeon Hunter ($6.99), RedLaser ($1.99) and Madden NFL 10 by EA Sports ($9.99).

It’s exciting to see the mobile app market mature and hit these kinds of numbers, regardless of the platform. Hopefully that growth will continue, especially in light of Apple’s mission to scare away top developers with its poor submission policies and blatant developer mistreatment.

Palm Corporation has released WebOS 1.2 for the Pre which makes no mention of the phone’s ability to sync with iTunes.

Dubbed “media sync,” Palm originally gifted the Pre with the ability to imitate an iPod in order to sync tunes and playlists with Apple’s popular iTunes program. The two firms subsequently waged a protracted battle over the function, in which Apple and Palm took turns circumventing fixes designed to restore or block iTunes support.

The battle came to a climax last Wednesday when Palm was given firm treatment by the USB Implementers Forum which oversees the USB technology. The USB-IF rejected Palm’s idea that Apple was unfairly using its USB vendor ID (a unique number given to all USB devices) to block the Pre.

“[In] the view of the USB-IF, Palm’s allegation (if true) does not establish that Apple is using its Vendor ID (VID) contrary to the USB-IF’s policies,” the group said. “Therefore, under present USB-IF policies, the USB-IF does not consider the alleged use, without more, to be ‘improper.’”

The group went on to say that Palm may even be violating its member agreement which states that a device may only ever report one VID. In syncing the Pre with iTunes, Palm switches out the phone’s natural ID in favor of an Apple one which iTunes cannot filter.

WebOS 1.2 is the first OS release for the Pre which contains no update on the status of media sync’s iTunes compatibility. Although Palm was mysterious when questioned about future support, we’re all fairly certain that this goose is cooked.

So when Palm drops its Pre prices early it’s a “road to zero” but it was OK when Apple did it for the iPhone?

Dear iPhone users:

Congratulations on picture messages! What a big day this must be for you! Now you can take vapid self portraits or compromising photos of friends at parties and send them to other people with phones! We’re so proud of you.

* sniff * they grow up so fast.

It has been a hard-fought battle between Palm, which has used dirty tricks to get their Pre syncing with iTunes, and Apple who wouldn’t stand for it. The battle appears to be over, however, as the USB Implementers Forum has settled the dispute in favor of Apple.

The USB Implementers Forum, or USB-IF, is the overseer of all things USB. The non-profit organization is responsible for promoting the tech, as well as assigning the vendor IDs which allow USB devices to function.

Palm had previously alleged that Apple was improperly filtering non-Apple USB vendor IDs from syncing with iTunes, thereby blocking the company’s Pre smartphone. The USB-IF has disagreed with that claim, saying “[in] the view of the USB-IF, Palm’s allegation (if true) does not establish that Apple is using its Vendor ID (VID) contrary to the USB-IF’s policies,” the group said. “Therefore, under present USB-IF policies, the USB-IF does not consider the alleged use, without more, to be ‘improper.’”

The group went on to say that Palm may even be violating its member agreement which states that a device may only ever report one VID. In syncing the Pre with iTunes, Palm switches out the phone’s natural ID in favor of an Apple one which iTunes cannot filter.

The ruling leaves future iTunes sync support on the Palm Pre in jeopardy. It is not immediately clear if Palm can appeal the decision, or work within it to continue offering iTunes support.

Those with good memories may recall the Apple/AT&T/Google fiasco of a couple months ago that stirred the FCC to action, sending formal questionnaires to all three companies regarding their roles in the rejection of official and unofficial Google Voice applications, their companies’ roles in the marketplace, the state of VOIP applications, and more. Today, the FCC and Google released the full text of Google’s response, which contradicts Apple’s stated response.

As many noted at the time, Google’s responses were carefully and curiously redacted as released, in particular the entire section of their response regarding why Google Voice was rejected from the App Store.

Apple’s original statement in response to Question 1:

“Contrary to published reports, Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application, and continues to study it.”

Google’s original response, given at the same time, states:

“The primary points of contact between the two companies were Alan Eustace, Google Senior Vice President of Engineering and Research, and Phil Schiller, Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing. On July 7, Mr. Eustace and Mr. Schiller spoke over the phone.”

“It was during this call that Mr. Schiller informed Mr. Eustace that Apple was rejecting the Google Voice application for the reasons described above in 2(a).”

Google’s section 2(a) states:

“Apple’s representatives informed Google that the Google Voice application was rejected because Apple believed the application duplicated the core dialer functionality of the iPhone. The Apple representatives indicated that the company did not want applications that could potentially replace such functionality.”

Interestingly, section 2(b) elaborates (PDF) on why Google Latitude was rejected from the App Store:

“Apple’s representatives informed Google that the Google Latitude application was rejected because Apple believed the application had the potential to: (i) replace the preloaded maps application, (ii) create user confusion since the preloaded maps application on the iPhone is a version of Google Maps, and (iii) offer new features not present on the preloaded maps application (which might also contribute to the user confusion referenced above).”

So not only are you barred from making an app that duplicates functionality, you can’t make an app that enhances functionality. Now that’s an ecosystem developers can rally behind!

While the discrepancies are certainly interesting, we remain without concrete answers until the FCC has completed its ongoing investigation.

At least everybody says AT&T had no say in the application rejection process.

The Cliff’s Notes of last week’s Apple event. [via]