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Following a report from Marbridge Consulting yesterday claiming that sources within China Telecom had revealed that a deal had been struck with Apple for the iPhone 4S, China Daily reports that China Telecom subsidiary Beijing Telecom has confirmed plans for an iPhone 4S release as soon as late February.

In a news release on Monday, Beijing Telecom Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China Telecom, said the CDMA-version iPhone 4S is likely to hit the domestic market by the end of February, or at the beginning of March. However, no pricing details were disclosed.

“China Telecom has already started preparatory work for the launch of the iPhone 4S,” according to the press release.

With the iPhone 4S being a world-mode device capable of operating on both GSM and CDMA networks, previous regulatory approvals that were required to allow the device to be launched by Apple’s long-standing partner carrier China Unicom earlier this month helped pave the way for the device to make its way to China Telecom.

China Telecom currently has over 125 million subscribers on its mobile services, with over 36 million of those on its 3G network as of December 2011, nearly three times the 12 million 3G subscribers the carrier had one year earlier. The addition of China Telecom will leave China Mobile, the world’s largest carrier, as the only one of China’s three major carriers lacking the iPhone. Efforts on a China Mobile iPhone have been slowed by the carrier’s use of TD-SCDMA technology for its 3G network, technology that would require specially-designed iPhone hardware to run on the network.

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Following up on promises to bring support for major features such as multicam editing and XML compatibility, Apple today announced the launch of Final Cut Pro X v. 10.0.3 with a number of enhancements. The release follows another major update released last September and another minor one released in November.

Apple today released Final Cut Pro X v10.0.3, a significant update to its revolutionary professional video editing application, which introduces multicam editing that automatically syncs up to 64 angles of video and photos; advanced chroma keying for handling complex adjustments right in the app; and enhanced XML for a richer interchange with third party apps and plug-ins that support the fast growing Final Cut Pro X ecosystem. Available today as a free update from the Mac App Store, Final Cut Pro X v10.0.3 also includes a beta of broadcast monitoring that supports Thunderbolt devices as well as PCIe cards.

Apple also notes that several third-party developers have also taken steps to expand the capabilities of Final Cut Pro X, including the new release of 7toX [Mac App Store, $9.99] from Assisted Editing to move Final Cut Pro 7 projects to Final Cut Pro X.

Multicam editing in Final Cut Pro X v.10.0.3

Final Cut Pro X [Mac App Store] is available in the Mac App Store and is priced at $299.99. The new 10.0.3 update appears to still be rolling out to the store and may not be available for all users yet.

- Multicam editing with automatic sync and support for mixed formats, mixed frame rates, and up to 64 camera angles

- Advanced chroma keying with controls for color sampling and edge quality

- Media relink for manual reconnect of projects and Events to new media

- Ability to import and edit layered Photoshop graphics

- XML 1.1 with support for primary color grades, effect parameters, and audio keyframes

- Beta version of broadcast monitoring with third-party PCIe and Thunderbolt I/O devices

Update: Apple has also released Motion 5.0.2 [Mac App Store, $49.99], bringing several enhancements to the effect editor that serves as a companion to Final Cut Pro.

- Improved speed and responsiveness of text editing

- Ability to automatically add animation keyframes when recording is disabled

- Keyboard shortcut for re-positioning animation curves or paths

- Ability to adjust the pan and scale of an image in a drop zone

- Enhanced look of the Keyframe editor for easier keyframe viewing and editing

Update 2: The updated version of Final Cut Pro X [Mac App Store] is now available. Apple has also released Compressor 4.0.2 [Mac App Store, $49.99], an update to the Final Cut Pro tool for project export.

- Markers set as chapter markers by default

- Addition of Uncompressed 8-bit and 10-bit 4:2:2 to export settings list

- Improved speed of transcoding from Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 to ProRes

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Apple announced this morning that John Browett will be joining Apple as their new Senior Vice President of Retail. Browett will be leaving his current position as CEO of Dixons Retail.

Apple® today announced that John Browett will join the company as senior vice president of Retail, reporting to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Browett comes to Apple from European technology retailer Dixons Retail, where he has been CEO since 2007. Beginning in April, he will be responsible for Apple’s retail strategy and the continued expansion of Apple retail stores around the world.

“Our retail stores are all about customer service, and John shares that commitment like no one else we’ve met,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We are thrilled to have him join our team and bring his incredible retail experience to Apple.”

Prior to the role of CEO of Dixons Retail, Browett held executive positions at Tesco plc including CEO of Tesco.com, and previously advised retail and consumer goods clients at Boston Consulting Group. B rowett holds a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and an MBA from Wharton Business School.

Browett replaces Ron Johnson who left Apple for J.C. Penny in November. Johnson has been credited as being the driving force behind Apple’s massive success in their retail initiative.

Dixons Retail is one of the largest consumer retailers in Europe with over 40,000 employees. Dixons has already announced that Browett’s role will be filled internally by Sebastian James. Browett officially makes the transition to Apple in April.

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Apple has released updates to its Wi-Fi base stations and to the Airport Utility program that controls them.

AirPort Utility 6.0 for Mac OS X Lion weighs in at 14.13MB and requires Mac OS X 10.7.2. The user interface has been redesigned to look more like the iOS Airport Utility application available through the App Store for the iPhone and iPad. It is also streamlined, with fewer windows required to access the full range of Airport Base Station settings.

AirPort Base Station and Time Capsule Firmware Update 7.6.1 was also released, and can be installed via Airport Utility on the Mac or iOS.

This update is for all 802.11n AirPort Express, 802.11n AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule models. It fixes an issue with wireless performance and provides support for remote access to an AirPort disk or a Time Capsule hard drive with an iCloud account.

Apple also released AirPort Utility 5.6 for Mac OS X Lion, which retains the previous look of AirPort Utility and is required for configuring some older AirPort hardware.

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Apple’s interest in incorporating Near Field Communication (NFC) capabilities into the iPhone has been long rumored. Near Field Communications is short range wireless communication technology (~4 inches) that is used in mobile phones for a variety of applications including mobile payments.

One of the more credible reports about that possibility came from the New York Times in March 2011. The newspaper reported that Apple was interested in incorporating NFC into a future iPhone, but was unable to specify when:

According to two people with knowledge of the inner workings of a coming iteration of the Apple iPhone – although not necessarily the next one – a chip made by Qualcomm for the phone’s processor will also include near-field communication technology, known as N.F.C. This technology enables short-range wireless communications between the phone and an N.F.C reader, and can be used to make mobile payments. It is unclear which version of an iPhone this technology would be built into.

The New York Times believed that Apple would offer a solution that would somehow integrate with users’ iTunes accounts to offer payments.

Rumors went back and forth about it happening in 2011, but ultimately settled on expectations that we wouldn’t see an integrated solution until the 2012 iPhone revision.

A Fast Company interview from last week tried to pin down if Apple was one of Mastercard’s future NFC partners, to which the executive seemed to falter, giving an excuse about confidentiality.

“The timeline is always as rapid as it makes sense for consumers,” he says. “That’s a combination of having a critical mass of the merchants, which is what you’re seeing right now, and getting devices into the hands of consumers. I don’t know of a handset manufacturer that isn’t in process of making sure their stuff is PayPass ready.”

So that would include Apple then?

“Um, there are…like I say, [I don't know of] any handset maker out there,” McLaughlin says. “Now, when we have discussions with our partners, and they ask us not to disclose them, we don’t.”

And now, at Macworld, it seems at least one developer told 9to5Mac that they were hearing the same hints from Apple iOS engineers that the company is “heavy into NFC”. That developer seemed confident enough to be building an NFC-capable iOS app, even though that functionality is currently requires 3rd party NFC accessories on the iPhone.

Apple has already made a small stride towards convincing users to use their iOS devices and iTunes account for payments. Apple recently introduced a self-checkout system to their Apple Store app that allows customers to purchase items at Apple retail stores using their iTunes account. NFC would further streamline the process and potentially expand it to many other retailers.

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Seeking to thwart would-be iPhone scalpers in Hong Kong, Apple has instituted a new reservation system (via 9to5Mac) to handle in-store purchases. With the new system, customers wishing to purchase an iPhone at the company’s retail store in the IFC Mall must request a reservation between 9:00 AM and noon one day prior to their desired purchase. By 9:00 PM that same day, Apple will determine stock levels for the following day and notify customers who are granted reservations for the following morning.

Apple’s previous reservation system had opened at irregular times during the day, with bots run by scalpers snapping up all available slots within seconds. Under the new system, customers wishing to make reservations will need to list contact information and their government ID numbers, with Apple presumably cross-checking that information before granting the reservations. Customers will then have to show their government ID once they arrive to purchase an iPhone 4Sunder their reservation.

Due to high demand, we are accepting a limited number of iPhone reservations per day. To request an iPhone reservation, please choose your store and the iPhone you want. If we have an iPhone reservation for you, you’ll receive a confirmation email by 9:00 p.m. tonight that includes the time when you can pick up your iPhone tomorrow. A government-issued photo ID matching the name and ID number on your reservation is required for iPhone purchases. If you don’t receive an email, we were unable to reserve an iPhone for you, and you can try again another time. Only those who receive an email confirming their reservation will be able to purchase an iPhone; we will not be selling iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S to walk-in customers.

Hong Kong is only one area where Apple has experienced problems with scalpers snapping up all available stocks of popular iPhone models. Violence associated with the iPhone 4S launch in mainland China resulted Apple halting all in-store sales at the company’s five retail stores in mainland China earlier this month, and the company has yet to reinstate in-store sales in that country.

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The iPhone’s glass screen may be made of Corning’s advanced Gorilla Glass, but, contrary to Steve Jobs’ assertion, that doesn’t mean it is scratch proof. Many products exist to solve this problem, including ZAGG’s InvisiShield or rugged cases like Otterbox’s Defender. Both solutions work well, but the feel of screen protector films bother some users, and though the Otterbox solidly protects the iPhone, it hardly maintains the svelte qualities that Jony Ive and his team worked so hard to create.

As an alternative, Spigen has released a tempered glass screen protector to give an added layer of protection to the iPhone 4S. The 0.4mm thick glass protector completely covers the front glass of the iPhone, protecting it from damage and scratches. Spigen claims the glass is specially reinforced to increase shock absorbency and is three times stronger than standard protective PET film. As it’s tempered glass, if broken, it breaks into smaller pieces that aren’t sharp.

The SGP GLAS.t iPhone 4 Screen Protector is available for $27.99 plus shipping on Spigen’s website.

Verizon and other carriers have been talking for some time about the idea of shared data plans that would allow users to draw from a single monthly allotment of cellular data for multiple mobile devices, much the same way family plans can share minutes among their phones. While European carriers have led the way in allowing users with both an iPhone and iPad to share a single bucket of data, Verizon and AT&T have indicated they are working on similar workings with Verizon indicating early last month that such plans were likely to launch in 2012.

Engadget now reports that Verizon appears to be continuing to make progress on shared data plans, with the offerings now showing up in employee training materials.

We’ve been told that training material for an update to the outfit’s internal account management application includes screenshots (one of which you can see above) that show a new section labeled “account level data plans.” The new section apparently shows an account level charge for data allowance and a 9.99 charge per line.

U.S. carriers have so far opted to offer the iPhone under traditional postpaid service arrangements with multi-year contracts locking in customers and enabling the carriers to offer subsidized pricing on the hardware. Conversely, the iPad has been sold at unsubsidized prices (with 3G models carrying a $130 premium over their Wi-Fi-only counterparts) with data service offered on an as-needed basis through contract-free data plans that carry no activation fees.

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In the early 90’s, a small software company called Callisto Corporation released a number of games for the Macintosh, along with a few other productivity applications. One of those games was Spin Doctor, which some long-ago Mac Performa owners may remember because Apple licensed a 10-level Spin Doctor Challenger edition for bundling with “about a million” Performas, according to developer Seth Lipkin.

Lipkin has since ported Spin Doctor, which was sold “in a big box” for $40 when it was first released in 1994, to the iPhone. The game is a bit like chess in the sense that it is easy to learn and difficult to master. It consists of a glowing wand making its way from dot-to-dot through a literal minefield of doors, switches, acid, fuses, bombs, and more. The user controls the direction of the wand — which never stops moving — as it moves its way across the map over more than 100 levels with several difficulty modes.

Spin Doctor for iPhone is $0.99 on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Last July, Taiwanese site Apple.pro posted photos of what was claimed to be the dock connector and ribbon cable for the iPad 3. While the connector doesn’t reveal much of anything about the full iPad 3 device other than some speculation about the connector itself being white as opposed to black on the iPad 2, it was one of the first reported leaks of iPad 3 parts.

Claimed iPad 3 dock connector leaked in July 2011

Apple’s suppliers seem to have taken the leak seriously, however, as Apple.pro now seems to report [Google translation] that it has been sued by the supplier responsible for the part leaked in last year’s report.

Apple’s security demands are of course well-known, but parts for the company’s devices have regularly leaked well before their public release. Most of the leaked parts have been basic ribbon cables and other internal components that have revealed little about the complete devices despite significant amounts of analysis and speculation.

Clearly Apple and its suppliers prefer that even these components not make their way into public view, although given the massive size of Apple’s supply chain it may continue to have difficulty plugging leaks. Parts continue to leak on a regular basis, with some online vendors already offering some of the iPad 3 parts for sale.

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