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The next version of iTunes will get a full facelift and extensive iCloud integration, according to a report from iDownloadBlog.

From what we’re hearing, the UI would be much more cleaner and “slick.” iCloud is also going to be more closely integrated with iTunes. Rather than the iTunes Store being essentially a web browser, the Store will actually be integrated into the entire app— much like Spotify is currently.

We’re also hearing that iCloud backups will be integrated into iTunes. This means if you back up your iDevice to iCloud, that same backup will be stored locally on your computer. Also, app data from iCloud will be synced closely with iTunes. For example, if you beat a level in Angry Birds, that level data will be synced to iCloud and then to your iTunes library.

It would make sense — the iCloud is meant to be “the truth”, with all other devices (including your Mac and PC) backing up to it.

This can be seen currently with the limited iCloud support Apple has already implemented. If you purchase an App within iTunes (and have the appropriate settings saved), it automatically downloads to your iOS device. I’ve begun doing all my app shopping within iTunes for this reason.

iDownloadBlog is a completely unproven source, with no track record, so take this report with a grain of salt.

By coincidence, in yesterday’s anonymous “unproven source” report that Apple was considering an acquisition of Barnes & Noble, BGR’s tipster said iTunes 11 would be released in September along with iOS 5 and iCloud, and would support reading iBooks on the Mac.

Apple is currently beta testing iTunes 10.5, along with developer previews of iOS 5. This could have placeholder code for iCloud, while hiding a larger redesign of the application itself.

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Apple’s share of profits raked in by the world’s top publicly-traded mobile phone vendors rose once again this quarter, as asymco’s Horace Dediu notes in the latest edition of his quarterly tracking reports. According to Dediu’s calculations, Apple’s share of profits among the eight companies tracked rose to 66%, up from 57% last quarter.

This quarter saw a slight sequential decline in overall profit for the sector, but four vendors did not manage a profit from selling phones. Nokia, Motorola, Sony-Ericsson and LG all saw losses. The other vendors split the slightly decreased pie with Apple getting two thirds of it (66.3%)

This share is up from 57% in Q1 and 50% in Q3 and Q4. Samsung’s share went to 15%, though that’s not a peak level historically. In Q1 2008 the company was at 21%. RIM was at 11%, a level in a range that has been unchanged for three years. Finally, HTC captured 7.4%, a new high and an increase from 6% since last quarter.

Dediu notes that smartphones have become the primary driver of mobile phone vendor profitability, giving Apple a significant edge over most of the competition with its smartphone-only offerings.

Apple first grabbed the profit share lead from Nokia way back in the fourth quarter of 2008, and hit the 50% mark a year ago in the third quarter of 2010. Apple of course only holds about 5.6% unit share in the total mobile phone market, but earns much more profit on its premium-priced iPhones than other vendors do with their offerings.

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Yesterday, we noted that Logitech had slashed the price of its Google TV-powered Revue set-top box to below cost following a quarter in which customer returns actually exceeded new sales. We reported that development within the context of Apple’s measured steps into the television market that have seen the Apple TV primarily function as a media hub for iTunes Store content and a handful of streaming services.

Apple does indeed appear to be having some moderate success with the Apple TV, as industry checks by Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reveal that Apple shipped approximately 480,000 Apple TV units during the second quarter, as reported to AppleInsider. The performance represents more than 70% year-over-year growth as Apple transitioned from the larger hard-drive based first-generation Apple TV to the iOS-powered second-generation streaming device.

Kuo’s industry sources claim, however, that Apple is not planning a hardware update for the Apple TV during the current quarter, putting a damper on the excitement of those hoping that changes in iOS 5 would open the door to a true 1080p Apple TV. Instead, Apple is said to be relying on iOS enhancements to boost the AirPlay capabilities of the Apple TV to better support Apple’s latest iOS devices.

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Apple’s new computers shipping with Lion do not include physical restore media and instead utilize a hidden recovery partition to allow users to reinstall their system software should the need arise. But as noted by Macworld, reinstallation of the iLife ‘11 software included on new Macs occurs via the Mac App Store, which recognizes the machines’ iLife licenses and links them to users’ Apple IDs during the initial setup process.

But one key feature of the Mac App Store is that a single purchased license permits downloading of the software to any machines owned or controlled by the person linked to that Apple ID and logged in with the account. That key feature means that the iLife licenses issued to new computers via the Mac App Store permit users to download the software to their other Macs that may not have been upgraded to the latest version of iLife.

Purchase an app on your laptop, and you can launch the Mac App Store app on your iMac, click the Purchases button, and install that same app without having to purchase it again.

The iLife license you get when you set up one of the latest Macs is no different. Which means that if you haven’t yet gotten around to upgrading to iLife ’11, buying a new Mac mini or MacBook Air essentially gets you iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand for all your Macs running OS X 10.6.6 or later (since you need at least that version of Snow Leopard to run the Mac App Store). And this isn’t sneaky or dishonest—it’s right there in the Mac App Store’s software license.

The report notes that the policy only applies to iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand, as Apple is in the process of phasing out iWeb and iDVD and does not offer them for download via the Mac App Store or include them on the new MacBook Air and Mac mini. The applications were included in the boxed version of iLife ‘11, but did not receive any meaningful updates from the iLife ‘09 versions, meaning that users with fully-updated iLife ‘09 installed are already running the most up-to-date versions of iWeb and iDVD anyway.

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Even as its smartphone sales explode and appear set to cruise past Apple during the current quarter to take the top spot in the market, Samsung has instituted “a new information policy” that will see the company cease public reporting of its quarterly phone sales numbers, according to The Wall Street Journal.

While industry analysts will still be able to make some reasonable estimates of Samsung’s phone shipments going forward, the new tight-lipped policy will make performance comparisons between market leaders more difficult.

“As competition intensifies, there are increased risks that the information we provide may adversely affect our own businesses,” Robert Yi, Samsung’s chief of investor relations, said on the call. He declined a request for further explanation.

The report notes that Samsung may have implemented the new policy at least in part due to its legal dispute with Apple, fearing that concrete comparisons between its shipments and Apple’s could harm its case. Apple has accused Samsung of copying Apple’s designs with its own Android-based products, which have seen tremendous success over the past several years.

Portion of MacBook Air motherboard with Eagle Ridge chip outlined in teal (Source: iFixit)

AnandTech takes a look at the Thunderbolt controller used by Apple in the new MacBook Air, finding that the company has opted to use a scaled-down “Eagle Ridge” controller chip from Intel instead of the “Light Ridge” chip found in larger Thunderbolt-enabled machines.

[Light Ridge] features four Thunderbolt channels (4 x 10Gbps bidirectional = 80Gbps aggregate bandwidth) and up to two DisplayPort outputs. It’s used in the 2011 iMac, MacBook Pro and Mac mini. …

Eagle Ridge is available in two form factors (normal and SFF [small form factor]) and is effectively half of a Light Ridge chip. That means you only get two Thunderbolt channels and one DP output. Apple used the small form factor version of Eagle Ridge in its new MacBook Air to cut cost and save on motherboard real estate.

With Eagle Ridge only supporting a single DisplayPort output, MacBook Air users are only able to drive a single external display via the Thunderbolt port, although the machine’s integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 would also preclude the use of two external monitors on the MacBook Air as it does on the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Thunderbolt adoption has thus far been limited to high-end devices in part due to high costs associated with inclusion of the technology. Use of the scaled-down Eagle Ridge controller could help push Thunderbolt into lower-end products, presuming that the smaller chip carries some cost savings for manufacturers.

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After the release of the purported iPhone 5 design document, we’ve received a couple of mockups what the iPhone 5 might look like. While we don’t normally indulge the purely speculative mockups, the recent rumors have given us some guidance as what the iPhone 5 might look like.

The first comes from MacRumors user bikr who we asked to try to closely approximate the leaked document, with a tapered design and elongated home button.

The design has a slightly sloping taper to it from top to bottom, reminiscent of the MacBook Air.

Meanwhile, CiccareseDesign has created their own mockup but was a little more free with their design choices. They retained the top-to-bottom taper, but ignored some of the other elements. They call this the “iPhone Air”.

A few of the other images show that the designer took some liberties, retaining the squared off design of the iPhone 4. Obviously, this is not likely to be predictive of what the actual iPhone 5 might look like.

Just hours after research firm IDC released data showing Apple dramatically outpacing the overall mobile phone industry in year-over-year growth for the second quarter of 2011, Strategy Analytics has confirmed that Apple has indeed become the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer. In that smaller but faster-growing submarket, Apple dethroned long-time leader Nokia and just barely held off a fast-rising Samsung to take the top spot.

Alex Spektor, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, said, “Global smartphone shipments grew a healthy 76 percent annually to reach a record 110 million units in Q2 2011. We had previously reported on Apple becoming the largest smartphone vendor in terms of revenue and profits. Now, just four years after the release of the original iPhone, Apple has become the world’s largest smartphone vendor by volume with 18 percent market share. Apple’s growth remained strong as it expanded distribution worldwide, particularly in China and Asia.”

With both Apple and Nokia reporting their quarterly financial results last week, it was confirmed that Apple had passed Nokia, but some analysts had suggested that Samsung might surge past both companies on the strength of its Android-based handset sales. While Samsung did indeed achieve remarkable 520% year-over-year smartphone growth to move from 5.0% of the market to 17.5%, Apple’s performance was strong enough to at least temporarily take the crown with 18.5% of the market.

Update: ABI Research has just released similar data showing Apple on top of the smartphone market with Samsung in a close second.

ABI Research Senior Analyst Michael Morgan comments: “Although Apple’s 142% YoY growth placed it as number one this quarter, Samsung’s 500% YoY growth shows that going forward, the top smartphone OEM position is Samsung’s to lose.”

ABI Research estimates that 47 million Android phones were sold during the quarter, giving the platform 46.4% of the smartphone market, more than double that of the iPhone.

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Research firm IDC today released results for global mobile phone sales for the second quarter of 2011, showing strong growth for Apple as it sits firmly in fourth place and closes quickly on LG in the race for third place among global phone vendors.

Apple maintained its number four position overall but closed the gap on Top 5 competitors thanks to another record unit shipment quarter. The company easily posted the highest growth rate of the worldwide leaders despite the fact that its flagship iPhone 4 is now more than a year old. The triple-digit shipment volume growth allowed Apple to more than double its share when compared to the same quarter last year. Apple’s ability to bring its smartphone momentum to developing economies, where it’s less successful, will help dictate the company’s smartphone fortunes in future.

Apple’s share of the global market grew to 5.6% after hitting the 5% milestone last quarter, and grew up over 140% year-over-year against the backdrop of a market that grew by only 11.3% overall.

IDC within the next few days should be breaking down the data to reveal results for smartphones specifically, and while Apple has been reported to have passed Nokia to become the world’s largest smartphone vendor, some analysts have suggested that Samsung may have ridden Android’s popularity to even stronger growth that may have allowed it to surpass Apple last quarter.

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Reviewer Jim Dalrymple writes in The Loop that the new 13-inch
MacBook Air combines all the capabilities required for doing day-to-day work with optimal screen size and resolution. Dalrymple also praises the device’s spacious keyboard, “amazing” battery life, and pre-installed OS X Lion. He concludes: “The 13-inch MacBook Air is the computer that all other laptops will be measured against. It has power, portability, and a sleek design that is only matched by other MacBooks.”