iOS and OS X have the same foundation, and there is no reason why efficient features of one shouldn’t be added to the other. But Apple is, in my opinion, developing a much deeper and longer term strategy in iOSifying OS X.

In its most recent fiscal quarter, Apple’s earnings were dominated by sales of iOS devices. Out of $39.2 billion in revenue, the iPhone and iPad represented three quarters of the company’s sales. While Mac growth is still well ahead of the rest of the PC market, the Mac now makes up less than one-fifth of the company’s revenue. Apple is making some 75 percent of its income from product lines introduced within the past five years.

iOS devices are driving sales for Apple.At the same time, there’s another stat Apple presents during its quarterly earning announcements: Half of the Macs sold at the company’s retail stores are to new customers–to switchers.

Put yourself in the shoes of a person who owns an iPhone or iPad. If they want a new computer, and they have been happy with their iPhone or iPad, they might consider buying a Mac. When they go to an Apple Store today, they’ll look at a Mac and see applications like iCal and Address Book, or System Preferences and iChat. While the icons are similar enough for them to figure out the link between these and their mobile equivalents, it would be a lot easier if they saw Calendar and Contacts; Settings and Messages. And those little Share buttons? People use them all the time to send things by e-mail, but it’s not immediately clear how to do this in OS X.

Apple’s Mac growth is impressive, but the company can do so much more to bring into the fold people who have already been converted to iOS. What better way to do so than to say, “You know how to use an iPhone; so you already know how to use a Mac.” This iOSification is not a dumbing down of OS X, but rather a drive to create consistency across the two platforms. I certainly don’t expect touch-screen laptops–just think how tired your arm would get after constantly raising it to touch the screen–but making the two operating systems coherent is the best thing that Apple can do to get new customers to buy Macs.

In addition, Apple’s iCloud strategy is clearly designed to link the two types of devices. With OS X Mountain Lion, iCloud will be enhanced, managing reminders, notes, passwords and much more. Once Apple makes iCloud syncing fully transparent, the ability to switch from an iPad to a Mac will be simple enough that it will become second nature.

I can see Apple launching a major marketing campaign to get its iOS customers to buy Macs. With the rapprochement of the two operating systems, I can even picture a new commercial the company might run. It might start something like this:

A: Hi, I’m an iPhone.

B: I’m an iPad.

C: And I’m a Mac.

The three characters can then go on to point out how easy it is for one of the hundreds of millions of iOS users to buy a new Mac, enter their Apple ID, and start working (and playing). They could show how so many familiar apps and concepts make picking up and using a new Mac simple for anyone who is used to an iPhone or iPad.

Taking the best of iOS and adding it to OS X will not weaken the desktop platform, as some have suggested; the features being added are those that have proven effective on mobile devices. If anything, this cross-pollination will improve both platforms, and simplify tasks for those who use both platforms to get things done. And, in the end, the iOSification of OS X may be the catalyst that allows Apple to take Mac sales to a new level.

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While most of the updates focus on the slow convergence of iOS with the desktop, one unsung gem is sure to delight those of us who rely on the Internet rather than cable for television: AirPlay for Mac.

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Bloomberg is the latest outlet chiming in with a report that Apple will make drastic changes to its 2012 iPhone. According to people familiar with Apple’s plans, the Cupertino, Calif., company has ordered from suppliers screens that are “bigger than the 3.5-inch size” that the iPhone has sported since its debut in 2007.

“Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had worked closely on the redesigned phone before his death in October,” the report noted one person as saying. Another source said that Jobs had played a “key role in developing” Apple’s next-generation iPhone.

If Apple were to perform a major redesign of the iPhone, it would be the device’s first since the iPhone 4 arrived in mid-2010. The previous design, that of the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, was also kept for two years before the current form factor was introduced.

With three mainstream media outlets reporting similar claims in the same week, the likelihood that Apple will expand the screen on its best-selling handset appears high. On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal said that LG Display, Sharp and the newly-created Japan Display are readying production lines for 4-inch displays bound for Apple’s sixth-generation iPhone. Reuters then noted that production of the new screens could begin as soon as next month, ahead of full production of the next-generation iPhone in August.

Pundits have suggested that Apple’s interest in a larger-screen iPhone comes in response to pressure from ever-increasing screen sizes of competing Android handsets. For instance, Samsung’s Galaxy S II, the most popular Android phone according to one recent study, has a 4.8-inch screen. The Galaxy Note, also by Samsung, is a hybrid smartphone and tablet with its 5.3-inch display.

Apple is widely expected to bring a new iPhone to market this fall, roughly one year after the iPhone 4S went on sale. Sources have disagreed, however, on whether the device’s launch will come in September or October.

Multiple reports have also suggested that the 2012 iPhone could make the jump to 4G LTE. Apple is expected to make use of newLTE chipsets from Qualcomm with improvements to power consumption over the previous generation.

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Comcast has just announced that it is suspending its 250 GB data cap. That’s the good news. The bad news? The Internet service provider will instead try out “improved data usage management approaches comparable to plans that others in the market are using that will provide customers with more choice and flexibility than our current policy.”

Translating from the corporate-speak, you’ll see the new trial plans still have data caps. The plans in Comcast’s two test markets each give users 300 GB per month with the option to buy 50 GB more for $10. One of the two trial plans stops there, the other gives users of the “Blast” and “Extreme” service tiers higher initial caps. If you’re not part of one of these two trial markets, you’ll simply have your 250 GB limit removed until the company figures out what it’s going to do.

If you ask me, it sounds like Comcast is lifting one way of screwing you over while it searches for another way of screwing you over. As Sonic.net CEO Dane Jasper pointed out, data caps are the wrong tool to manage network traffic and punish the wrong users. Hopefully Comcast will eventually settle on a more reasonable means of managing its network traffic, like prime-time rate caps.

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Apple notes that “MacBookPro3,1″, which corresponds to mid and late 2007 machines, is not compatible with the new build, but that issue will be rectified in a later build.

No other details on improvements in the latest build are available yet, but it certainly appears that Apple is making some of its final tweaks for developers leading up to its Worldwide Developers Conference less than four weeks away. Apple is expected to provide extensive previews of OS X Mountain Lion at the conference, with a public launch scheduled for “late summer”.

The new Mountain Lion build is still a bit short of the 12A211 build spotted in a Geekbench entry for an apparently unreleased MacBook Pro earlier this week. While that entry could have been faked, the data does match closely with what is known about upcoming Ivy Bridge MacBook Pro models, and Primate Labs believes the entry to be legitimate.

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DisplaySearch Senior Analyst Richard Shim says that super high-resolution 13.3-inch and 15.4-inch panels that Apple would be a prime candidate to use are already available from suppliers.

“We’re seeing it at 15.4 (inches),” Shim said in an interview yesterday. “You can get it.”

According to Shim, a Retina 15.4-inch display at 2880×1800 resolution for a density of 220 pixels per inch (ppi) currently costs approximately $160, a $92 increase over Apple’s estimated cost of $68 for the current display in the 15-inch MacBook Pro. In the smaller 13-inch MacBook Pro, a Retina display at 2560×1600 costs $134, a $65 premium over the display used in the current model.

Unaddressed is the 17-inch MacBook Pro, which would require a display of 3840×2400 and undoubtedly carry an even higher price premium over the current display. It is unclear, however, whether the 17-inch MacBook Pro will be receiving the same upgrades as the rest of the family at WWDC, as most rumors so far have pointed to only 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models being in production. In addition, Apple has beenrumored to be following the pattern of its transition to the unibody MacBook Pro design in moving the 17-inch model to the new form factor several months after its smaller siblings.

Shim notes that with these Retina resolution displays available in the supply chain, Apple is the most likely customer for the screens, although he has been unable to confirm what company or companies are purchasing them for use in their computers.

Also unclear is how Apple will handle the cost increase associated with the Retina displays. While some cost savings will be achievable by the removal of the optical drive, Apple will almost certainly see increased costs for storage as the MacBook Pro reportedly moves from traditional hard drives to solid-state drives. While such drives are used in the lower-priced MacBook Air models, higher-end users expected to be drawn to the MacBook Pro will likely demand higher-capacity drives at significantly greater costs. Consequently, it will be interesting to see how Apple ends up pricing the redesigned MacBook Pro given all the changes involved.

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The iPhone was initially offered with unlimited data plans when it launched on Verizon early last year, but the carrier soon dropped the unlimited option in favor of data plans with allocations of data.

Fierce Wireless has the details, quoting Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo at a JP Morgan conference:

As these 3G unlimited data plan customers migrate to 4G LTE, they will have to purchase the company’s data-share plan (which Verizon plans to launch in mid-summer) and move off the $30 per month unlimited data plan. “Everyone will be on data share,” Shammo said.

Verizon currently throttles its unlimited data users only when a particular cell tower is overloaded, whereas competitor AT&T slows its unlimited users after they use 3GB of data in a month. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson recently noted that his one regret about bringing the iPhone to AT&T was offering unlimited data.

Sprint, the number three carrier in the country — and the only carrier to still offer unlimited data packages for the iPhone — has said it will continue to offer unlimited data plans for the iPhone, even if the next iPhone includes LTE, as is expected.

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1 GB of Elpida DRAM in third-generation iPad (Source: iFixit)

“It looks like Apple doesn’t want to see Samsung and hynix dominate the chip market. Apple wants to maintain its bargaining power by keeping Elpida running,” said Choi Do-yeon, an analyst at LIG Investment & Securities.

Elpida filed for bankruptcy in late February, and Micron has emerged as a likely acquirer for the company. The combined Micron-Elpida would be a strong competitor in the DRAM market, sparking concerns for others in the competitive industry.

DRAM, the volatile memory used to hold active applications and other data for use while a device is in operation, is a commodity in the consumer electronics market, with Apple routinely sourcing from multiple suppliers and shifting orders to achieve the best pricing.

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Apple Inc., which is expected to launch its next-generation iPhone later this year, has ordered screens from its Asian suppliers that are bigger than the ones used in iPhones since they debuted in 2007, people familiar with the situation said.

Production is set to begin next month for the screens, which measure at least 4 inches diagonally compared with 3.5 inches on the iPhone 4S, the latest phone from Apple, the people said.

Apple is reportedly working with LG, Sharp, and Japan Display (the newly-merged display businesses of Sony, Hitachi, and Toshiba) on the new screen.

Rendered mockup of taller iPhone with 4-inch display (left) and iPhone 4S (right)

Update: Reuters has filed its own report making similar claims, although one of its sources seems more firm that the screen will measure 4 inches diagonally, as opposed to the “at least 4 inches” reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Apple Inc plans to use a larger screen on the next-generation iPhone and has begun to place orders for the new displays from suppliers in South Korea and Japan, people familiar with the situation said on Wednesday. [...]

The new iPhone screens will measure 4 inches from corner to corner, one of the sources said.

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Commenting on the announcement, [Sony Pictures Co-Chairman Amy] Pascal said, “Steve Jobs’ story is unique: he was one of the most revolutionary and influential men not just of our time but of all time. There is no writer working in Hollywood today who is more capable of capturing such an extraordinary life for the screen than Aaron Sorkin; in his hands, we’re confident that the film will be everything that Jobs himself was: captivating, entertaining, and polarizing.”

Casting for the film has yet to be determined, but rumors have suggested that George Clooney and Noah Wyle may be in the running for the role of Jobs. Wyle portrayed Jobs in the 1999 made-for-TV film The Pirates of Silicon Valley, which focused on the early days of Jobs and Bill Gates.

The project is a completely separate effort from an independent film about Jobs that hasAshton Kutcher starring in the lead role. Just last week, Kutcher was spotted wearing Jobs’ trademark wardrobe en route to the film’s set, where filming is currently underway while Kutcher is on a break from his television show Two and a Half Men.

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9to5Mac now reports that Apple is indeed unsurprisingly planning to bring Retina displays to the MacBook Air, with that upgrade being the most significant change for the next-generation line.

Apple’s new MacBook Air will not see major changes across the entire computer like the next-generation MacBook Pro, but this update will truly be all about the Retina Display. [...]

Apple is preparing both new 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch models. These new Airs lack notable design changes, but feature fast and power-efficient Ivy Bridge processors and improved graphics engines to support the Retina Display, according to supply chain sources. The new Airs will also use improved Apple internal battery technology in order to support the battery life required by high-pixel-density screens such as the Retina Display, according to sources familiar with prototype versions of the super-thin notebook’s internal components.

The report’s source suggests that the updated MacBook Air is unlikely to appear at next month’s Worldwide Developers Conference, with Apple still working to meet the Retina display’s power requirements within the MacBook Air’s thin form factor.

Apple is also reportedly undecided on whether it will include USB 3.0 in the next-generation MacBook Air. The USB 3.0 standard, offering higher data transfer speeds, is reportedly being included on the revamped MacBook Pro, but the company is still weighing whether it wants to bring the standard to its lower-priced MacBook Air line.

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The sometimes-reliable DigiTimes reported on Tuesday Nitto will supply the thin-film materials and Nissha Printing and TPK will produce touchscreens for Apple’s so-called “iPad Mini.” Wintek will reportedly not be part of the supply chain, as it does not have thin-film touch capacity.

The rumored “G/F2″ design will reportedly reduce costs, and also allow Apple to make the new iPad even thinner than the current third-generation iPad, or the iPad 2. The technology uses one less layer of film than the “G/F/F,” or “glass/film/film,” structure found in previous iPads.

“The G/F2 structure places the electrode on the top and bottom ends of the ITO film, which will then be laminated onto the cover glass,” the report said. “The iPad Mini will also be more transparent and will have good sensitivity despite current skepticism with thin-film touch panels in the industry.”

AppleInsider previously reported in April that Apple’s next-generation iPhone is also expected to use new touchscreen technology that will allow the device to be thinner. By switching from current glass-on-glass solutions to in-cell touch technology, Apple could reduce the thickness of the iPhone by 0.44 millimeters, or allow more space for a larger battery.

As for the rumored 7.85-inch iPad, the device has been rumored to have a screen resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels, which is the same resolution as the first-generation iPad and the iPad 2. That would allow current applications written for the iPad to run on a new, smaller device without any modifications.

Various reports have reaffirmed that Apple has experimented with a 7.85-inch iPad, which would have a height roughly the same as the width of the current 9.7-inch iPad. A smaller, less expensive model would allow Apple to compete more directly with Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire.

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