Hot on the heels of my last report, Psystar has filed its Reply Brief in response to Apple.

Copyright Misuse

Psystar asserts that copyright only governs copying and not restrictions on use. Even at first blush, this appears absurd. I cannot play a non-copied movie for a public audience at a theater. Psystar (in my opinion) deceptively spins Alcatel in claiming:

For all Apple’s attempts to distinguish that case, R. Br. at 35-37 — the only case about use of a copyright in an operating system to control the user’s choice of hardware, and thus the only case squarely on point – Apple must admit that the Fifth Circuit held that it was misuse to prevent a competitor from offering compatible, cheaper hardware for use with a copyrighted operating system.

Here is a link to the case. Read it for yourself. Psystar conveniently ignores the fact that the case deal with hardware components (replacement parts).

It pulls a similar sleight of hand with the Practice Management case. In that matter, the AMA tried to prohibit the use of competing medical codes, not to control the use of their own medical codes. Psystar remarkably tries to claim that this is even more damning to Apple. Huh? Once again, please go read the case for yourself.

Stifling Creativity

Of course Psystar denies Apple’s position that their copyright restrictions do not stifle creativity. But once again Psystar falls into dysfunctional thinking. Apple’s claim was that there is no dampening of creativity to create competing operating systems. Psystar claims that it stifles competition creativity in hardware systems that can run Apple’s work. But that is not the focus in determining copyright abuse.

Tying

At last! Psystar makes a relevant and accurate representation. It states that Triad (link to case) is distinguishable since the Triad software was never sold apart from the hardware while Apple does sell the operating systems separately and wants to control after-purchase use.

But then they straight into Oz:

(Page 10) Finally, it is worth taking a step back to look at a strange feature of Apple’s position. Apple admits that if it required OS X to be the only operating system that a user used on his Macintosh, then that would be copyright misuse. R. Br. at 34-35. But Apple denies that, if, instead of creating an exclusive operating system, it required that its operating system system be used exclusively on Macintoshes, that would be copyright misuse. It cannot be that misuse exists where a copyright owner tries to use copyright to make his copyrighted work exclusive, but not when he tries to use copyright to make an adjunct, uncopyrighted work exclusive.

No. No. No. Apple stated that if (and didn’t even state this on the pages cited by Psystar which say nothing of the kind) it required its buyers of OS X not to use other operating systems AT ALL (no mention was made of using them on a Macintosh) than THAT would be misuse. I have to wonder if there is a just an abysmal lack of reading comprehension or a blatant attempt to mislead the Court.

Scope of the Injunction

Psystar holds firm to its assertion that it didn’t need to accept the California Court’s invitation to examine Rebel EFI when it believed that the Court had no jurisdiction to do so since that issue was first-filed before the Florida Court. Psystar claims, “Apple’s discussion of the injunction misses this point entirely.” (Page 11) Huh? Apple addressed this specifically and at length (Pages 43 through 45).

Sealing Orders

Psystar clarifies that its basis to remove the sealing orders was that the information appeared in publications that Apple’s own experts admitted were authoritative. Since I don’t have access to all of the documents needed to assess this assertion, I cannot make a judgment. However, if the quality of analysis is similar to what came before, hope does not spring eternal.

Grammar Nazi nitpick: When filing a Federal Brief, one should know about the wonderful world of em-dashes.

Safari 5

Apple today released Safari 5.0.1 turning on Safari Extensions and introducing the Safari Extensions Gallery. Apple introduced extensions support in Safari 5 in June so developers could begin creating extensions with HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript web standards. With Safari Extensions Gallery, users can quickly find extensions that add powerful new features to Safari, from toolbars that display live web feeds to sophisticated programs that filter web content. Safari 5.0.1 allows users to download and install extensions either from the Safari Extensions Gallery or directly from a developer’s site.

The Safari Extensions Gallery is accessible from the Safari menu or at extensions.apple.com. Users can download and install extensions from the gallery with a single click, and there’s no need to restart the browser. Extensions can be automatically updated and are easily managed within Safari. Users can enable or disable individual extensions, or turn off all extensions with one click.

“Safari 5 has been a big hit, and user response to the innovative new Safari Reader has been fantastic,” said Brian Croll, Apple’s vice president of OS X Product Marketing. “We’re thrilled to see so many leading developers creating great extensions and think our users are going to love being able to customize Safari.”

Image courtesy of Apple

Apple has today revised the iMac to include the latest Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors. Additionally Apple updated the included graphics capabilities, making use of dedicated ATI graphics rather than integrated chips.

“We took the world’s best all-in-one and made it even better,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With the latest processors, high-performance graphics and signature aluminum and glass design, customers are going to love the latest iMac.”

Dual-core Intel Core i3 and Core i5, and quad-core Core i5 and Core i7 processors set a new benchmark for iMac performance. The processors feature an integrated memory controller to access the system memory directly, allowing the new iMac to take full advantage of its faster 1333 MHz memory. New discrete ATI Radeon HD processors deliver incredibly smooth, crisp graphics for the most demanding 3D games, creative software and technical applications. iMac displays feature IPS technology to deliver a brilliant image across a wide 178 degree viewing angle. The SD card slot on the iMac now supports the SDXC format to handle the latest high-capacity storage cards. Customers of the 27-inch iMac have the option to order a 256GB solid state drive (SSD) as a primary or secondary drive. The iMac SSD supports up to 215 MB/s data transfer rates for faster startup and application launch times.

27-inch LED Cinema Display

Apple has today released a brand new LED Cinema Display, the new 27-inch display which replaces the 24-inch model features a built-in iSight video camera, microphone and speakers, powered USB 2.0 hub, and universal MagSafe connector, the new LED Cinema Display is an ideal companion for the MacBook family or a Mac desktop, and is available for $999.

“With built-in MagSafe charging, iSight camera, speakers, and USB ports, the LED Cinema Display is ideal for MacBook and MacBook Pro users,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With its massive 2560 x 1440 resolution, the new 27-inch LED Cinema Display is a perfect fit with our powerful new Mac Pro, and it gives iMac users an easy way to double their screen real estate.”

The new, larger 27-inch LED Cinema Display features a beautiful 16:9 edge-to-edge glass display on an aluminum stand with an adjustable hinge that makes tilting the display almost effortless. The LED Cinema Display has vivid colors and exceptionally high contrast and uses a premium display technology called in-plane switching (IPS) to provide a brilliant image across an ultra wide 178 degree viewing angle.

The new 27-inch LED Cinema Display will be available in September.

Magic Trackpad

Apple has today released the Magic Trackpad, a multi-touch glass trackpad for desktop computers. The Magic Trackpad gives desktop users the same intuitive multi-touch gestures that Mac notebook customers have come to love and is available separately for $69 (£59).

With its glass surface, the wireless Magic Trackpad enables users to scroll smoothly up and down a page with inertial scrolling, pinch to zoom in and out, rotate an image with their fingertips and swipe three fingers to flip through a collection of web pages or photos. The Magic Trackpad can be configured to support single button or two button commands and supports tap-to-click as well as a physical click.

The Magic Trackpad makes use of Bluetooth for wireless connectivity and is powered by two AA batteries. Apple now also sells a $29 (£25) Battery Charger, designed to charge two AA batteries.

Apple today unveiled a new Mac Pro line with up to 12 processing cores and up to 50 percent greater performance than the previous generation. Featuring the latest quad-core and 6-core Intel Xeon processors, all-new ATI graphics and the option for up to four 512GB solid state drives (SSD), the new Mac Pro continues to deliver amazing performance and expandability for the most demanding consumers and professionals.

“The new Mac Pro is the most powerful and configurable Mac we’ve ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With up to 12 cores, the new Mac Pro outperforms our previous top-of-the-line system by up to 50 percent, and with over a billion possible configurations, our customers can create exactly the system they want.”

Mac Pro features the next generation quad-core and 6-core Intel Xeon processors running at speeds up to 3.33 GHz with an integrated memory controller for faster memory bandwidth and reduced memory latency; Turbo Boost to dynamically boost processor speeds up to 3.6 GHz; and Hyper-Threading to create up to 24 virtual cores. The Mac Pro now comes with the ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics processor with 1GB of memory and customers can configure-to-order the even faster ATI Radeon HD 5870 with 1GB of memory.

Mac Pro also now features two Mini DisplayPorts and one dual-link DVI port. The additional Mini DisplayPort output allows customers to connect two LED Cinema Displays without an additional graphics card or adapter and the dual-link DVI port supports legacy DVI-based displays up to a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels.

The new Mac Pro will be available in August.

Apple looks set to release a flurry of updated and new products today. Over the last week stocks of iMac and Mac Pro desktop computers have become strained, suggesting an imminent refresh.

The change of stock quantity is inline with rumours earlier this year which suggested that Apple would refresh the Mac Pro alongside the release of a brand new 27-inch LED Cinema Display. Although the original rumour quoted a release “by June” it appears that one more product release has slowed down Apple’s plans.

Just before WWDC rumours of a “Magic Trackpad” appeared with suggestions of a WWDC release but that never happened. It seems that Apple was waiting for the Bluetooth device to receive approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Last week Apple received such approval.

To add credence to a series of rumours, the ever accurate Daring Fireball blogger John Gruber has pointed towards the release of all four products today.

Mockup of 27-inch LED Cinema Display | Courtesy of AppleInsider

The Florida Court has granted Apple’s request for a stay of proceedings pending the outcome of the Appeal. This is typical and expected. The Florida Court had not yet ruled on Apple’s Motion to transfer the Florida case to Judge Alsup in California. On the Appellate front, Apple has filed its Answering Brief as well as a Motion for Judicial Notice.

Unlike the other early filings in the Appeal, this item was not filed under seal. It is broken into three primary categories which I will follow in digesting the Brief. I remind the readers that Appeals are limited to mistakes of law or fact and thus are usually much more narrow than the issues in the underlying suit. For example, Psystar did not appeal the dismissal of its antitrust counterclaims that were originally alleged in the California case. Nor did it ever supply the California Court with the requested information for a determination to be made on the Rebel EFI product which was enjoined until Psystar could prove that its operation was substantially different from the issues ruled upon. Based upon this latter fact, Apple argues that Psystar has waived its right to ask the Appellate Court to remove Rebel EFI from the Injunction.

We do learn some details about Psystar’s sealed Opening Brief. Apple alleges:

Nonetheless, on the pretext of educating the Court regarding the technology at issue in this case, Psystar supplies a “Technical Addendum” with its opening brief. This document appears to be a veiled attempt to revive factual claims the district court has rejected and Psystar has abandoned on appeal. (Page 11 of Answering Brief)

Psystar has more veils than a harem girl.

Psystar now asserts that installation of Psystar’s bootloader and numerous kernel extensions is unnecessary to run Mac OS X on Psystar computers absent the existence of Apple’s TPM [technological protection measure]. Opening Br. At 27. But this claim is contrary to the unchallenged factual record. For example, even if Apple did not implement its TPM, Psystar would still be required to modify Mac OS X by replacing the bootloder and modifying certain Mac OS X kernel extension files to force the operating system to run on non-Apple hardware. (Page 15 of Answering Brief)

And we get this interesting graphic of Psystar’s Pirates R Us operation (Page 11 of Answering Brief):

The District Court Correctly Rejected Psystar’s Affirmative Defense of Copyright Misuse

Psystar does not dispute that it is a copyright infringer. Instead, its defense is that the infringed copyrights are per se invalid due to Apple’s copyright abuse. However, per se copyright abuse would be a novel doctrine in contravention of existing precedent. In fact, the Ninth Circuit itself rejected this theory in the case of Triad Systems Corp. V. Southeastern Express Co., 64 F.3d at 1337 (9th Cir. 1995). Unbelievably, Psystar is arguing that Apple also abused its copyright by suing Psystar in the first place, an act it describes as sham litigation,—despite the reality that Apple prevailed. Apple argues that if Psystar were correct then nearly any software licensing would be invalid and undermine long-standing laws, rights, and business relationships. It is well-established that courts have rejected findings of copyright abuse when proprietary software is limited to use on specific hardware as long as the creator does not prevent other parties from creating their own competing software—something Psystar has acknowledged that its lacks the talent to do. In fact, a copyright owner could refuse to let ANYONE use the protected work. In order to prevail on copyright misuse in general (not the even more radical theory of per se copyright abuse) Psystar would have to show that Apple used its copyrights to create an unlawful monolopy or to inhibit competition and creativity.

The cases relied upon by Psystar do not have a bearing in this case. First, in Practice Management Info. Corp. V. American Medical Ass’n, 121 F.3d 516 (9th Cir. 1997), the copyright owner extracted a promise that the consumer would abstain from using competing products regardless of any infringement on the copyrighted work. That is not the case here. In fact, Apple makes it easy to use competing operating systems with its Boot Camp feature. Second, in Alcatel USA, Inc. V. DGI Technologies, 166 F.3d 772 (5th Cir. 1999), Alcatel effectively prohibited the addition of any non-Alcatel peripherals or components to its systems. Of course this is also not the case here. Psystar, however, attempts to stretch the facts by claiming that the microprocessor cards in Alcatel are analogous to an entire Macintosh computer. Even if this were so, competing hardware exists, and more on point, the analogy is ridiculous. A more pertinent example would be after-market hard drive or memory.

When allegations of copyright misuse are grounded in tying software to another product, there is no misuse unless the copyright holder used the copyrights to limit competition in the market for the tied product. The market in this case has been ruled to be personal computers in general, and it is patently obvious that there is no lack of competition in hardware vendors. However, this can be overcome by a showing of market power being leveraged to harm competition. Apple may soon have to worry about this prong, but right now, its personal computers are still in the minority and in this matter, Psystar did not allege that Apple had market power in the relevant market as its theory of a separate market consisting of Macintoshes alone was shot down.

The District Court Correctly Enjoined Psystar’s Continuing Infringement and DMCA Violations

A lower court’s grant of Injunction can only be reversed based upon a showing of reliance upon an incorrect legal standard or clearly mistaken findings of fact. There is nothing in the record to show the Court misunderstood the facts or the law. Psystar cannot now allege a factual difference with its Rebel EFI product when it declined to produce such evidence to the Court granting the Injunction. Psystar attempts to claim that the Florida case is the “first-filed” for Rebel EFI but that is putting the cart before the horse. It was not products that were deemed unlawful in and of themselves, it was the infringing activity that was the basis of the California Court’s Injunction. If the infringing activity is similarly unlawful, it wouldn’t have to be re-litigated de novo each time Psystar conceived of a new parasitic product. Imagine the legal nightmare that would cause. No party could be assured of the final disposition of their rights. With Rebel EFI, Psystar admits in its Opening Brief that it is a continuation of the same infringing process ruled upon.Further, the Court properly enjoined infringing acts with Snow Leopard as it is a derivative work of Leopard in addition to the essential infringing activity being nearly identical.

The Sealing Orders Should Not be Vacated

Psystar claims that Apple’s TPM [technological protection measures] are already widely available so that sealing them is unnecessary. Apple counters that their trade secrets are not public and that the existence of websites which routinely speculate upon same does not deprive Apple of its rights. Apple does not acknowledge the validity of any of these speculations nor sanction them. The items sealed were narrowly confined to trade secrets and do not impeded upon the public’s ability to understand the case. There is one Order that Apple inadvertently submitted that was broader than the parties agreed. Psystar never brought this error to Apple or the Court’s attention and cannot sit upon such knowledge of a non-malicious mistake and attempt to play “gotcha.”

Apple Inc.’s Request for Judicial Notice

If a court takes Judicial Notice of something that means it will be accepted as fact without need for any further proof. This is commonly used for things such as a date falling on a certain day of the week or from nearly indisputable sources. This is within a court’s discretion. In this instance, Apple is asking the Court to take Judicial Notice of proceedings which are directly related to this matter and cites case law in which proceedings can be so introduced if they have substantial relation to the present matter. The cases which Apple is seeking to have recognized are the Florida District Court case and Psystar’s prior Bankruptcy case. I think this will likely be granted. The relevant filings from the California case are already before this Court.

It is unclear to me whether or not Psystar is allowed a rebuttal to this filing. If so, it should have been filed within seven days of the Answering Brief, which date has already expired. However, there are other relevant, and later dates, relating to Apple’s filing of the Answering Brief, so if a reply is forthcoming and allowed, it should appear any day.

Apple has published the details of how iPhone 4 owners can refund an existing bumper and order a new case or bumper for free.

If you purchase an iPhone 4 before September 30, 2010, you are eligible to receive an iPhone 4 Bumper or a select third-party case from Apple at no charge.

Apple has made the process simple for iPhone 4 owners, just download a specially built iPhone app from the App Store [iTunes link] and pick what case you want and it’s as simple as that. Apple is offering 7 third-party cases alongside its own black iPhone bumper.

Apple has also offered instructions to those who already purchased an iPhone bumper. Those who purchased online or through a retail store using a credit card will see automatic refunds. Those who bought a bumper using cash or gift card will need to return the receipt to an Apple store before September 30 for a refund. Apple’s refund will include any taxes and shipping charges.

In a statement today Apple said that the white iPhone 4 will not be available until “later this year” due to a manufacturing problem.

White models of Apple’s new iPhone 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.

Apple has promoted Jeff Williams to fill a new position as Senior Vice President of Operations, a positioned design to ensure that Apple products meet “the highest standards of quality”.

Jeff Williams previously held the role as Vice President of Operations. Williams will continue to report to Chief Operating Office Tim Cook.

Apple brought Williams into the company from IBM over 10 years ago and originally held the position head of worldwide procurement where he managed the supply chain of products.

Following the release of Apple’s third fiscal quarter results earlier today the company held a conference call for media and analysts. Below is a list of notes from the conference call.

• Apple ended the quarter with $45.8bn in cash up from $41.7bn.
• Worldwide Mac sales up 18 percent, portables up 37 percent and desktops down 12 percent.
• Mac sales were up 40 percent in the Americas, with revenue up 25 percent.
• Apple sold a record 3.47 million Macs in total, exceeding the previous record by 100,000.
• No Mac supply issues.
• iPhone ASP (average selling price) was $595.
• Strong growth noted in Asia, Europe and Japan.
• Passed 5 billion App downloads.
• Apple will defer $175 million to buy cases which will be recognised upon delivery to customers.
• iPhone 4 demand is unprecedented. Tim Cook: “We are selling every unit we can make currently.”
• $2.17bn made on sales of iPad and accessories. iPad sales alone was about $2.1bn.
• iPad ASP was $640.
• “We are still are quoting longer lead times than we’d like, and we’re working around the clock to get supply and demand in balance,” Cook said. “In the scheme of things, it’s a good problem to have.”
• iPod ASP dropped about $7.
• iPod marketshare is over 70 percent in North America.
• Retail revenue up 73 percent. Mac sales were up 38 percent.
• About half of Macs sold to customers in retail stores were to customers who never owned a Mac before.
• 7 new stores opened during Q210 including 4 in U.S.; 2 in Australia and 1 in Canada, ending with 293. With an average of 280 stores open.
• Average revenue per store was $9 million.
• During Q310 Apple will open a further 24 retail stores including the already open Paris and Shanghai stores but also stores in Madrid and Barcelona and London, Covent Garden.
• Stores saw visitors of 60.5M visitors, compared to 38.6M during year ago.

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2010 third quarter which ended June 26, 2010. The Company posted revenue of $15.7 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.25 billion, or $3.51 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $9.73 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.83 billion, or $2.01 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 39.1 percent compared to 40.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 52 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

During the quarter Apple also sold 3.47 million Macs representing a 33 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold 8.4 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 61 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter as well as 9.41 million iPods during the quarter, representing an 8 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

For the first time ever Apple also reported iPad unit sales of 3.27 million

“It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple’s history with iPhone 4,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year.”

“We’re really pleased to have generated over $4 billion of cash during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue of about $18 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $3.44″

Today Apple will announce its fiscal results for the third quarter of 2010. The results which will be watched closely by analysts, bloggers and Wall Street are expected around 4.30PM EST (9.30PM BST) with a conference call being held at 5PM EST (10PM BST).

Q3 ended just two days after the release of the iPhone 4 which could impact iPhone unit numbers heavily. The media will also be watching to see what effect the Gizmodo leak of the iPhone 4 had on sales of the iPhone.

As is always the case before Apple’s fiscal results, analysts have been making their predictions for what Apple will announce.

During the last fiscal results conference call Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said, “Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue in the range of about $13.0 billion to $13.4 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $2.28 to $2.39”.

The street consensus polled by Thomson Financial Network is for Apple to report earnings of $3.10 a share on revenue of $14.74 billion. The street also expects Apple to report sales of 3.29 million iPads, 8.35 million iPhones, 9.83 million iPods and 3.21 million Macs.

Apple has today quietly released a minor update to iTunes. The 102MB download is available from Software Update or Apple.com.

iTunes 9.2.1 provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

• Disables older versions of some incompatible third-party plug-ins
• Addresses minor issues with dragging and dropping items
• Addresses a performance issue when first syncing to some devices with iTunes 9.2
• Addresses an issue upgrading to iOS 4 on an iPhone or iPod touch with encrypted back-ups
• Addresses other issues that improve stability and performance

  
  

Apple is pushing the iPad and iPhone 4 into more territories in the coming weeks, today the company announced that the iPad will be available in an additional nine countries this coming Friday.

During last weeks iPhone 4 press conference Apple took the opportunity to inform that the iPhone will be available in 17 new countries on July 30.

This Friday, July 23 iPad will be available in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore.

On Friday, July 30 iPhone 4 will be available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

During today’s press conference about iPhone 4, Apple announced that it would offer a free iPhone 4 case to everyone who has purchased an iPhone 4 up until September 30. Those who have already purchased a case will be eligible for a refund.

The news comes after a media furore over the antenna design on the iPhone 4 which gave the impression of being able to drop calls easier than previous handsets.

Apple also said during the intimate press conference held at its headquarters in Cupertino that a fix is also incoming for problems with the proximity sensor on the iPhone 4, this fix will be delivered in the next software update.

iPhone 4 owners can apply for their free case on Apple’s website starting late next week. “Pick a case, zoom, we’ll send it off to you,” said Steve Jobs at the event.

Those still unhappy with the iPhone 4 can return the handset within 30 days and pay no restocking fee.

Apple today released iOS 4.0.1 for iPhone, addressing the algorithm fault in signal strength calculation reported as part of the reception issues and iOS 3.2.1 for iPad which address WiFi connection issues.

The release follows the first beta of iOS 4.1 seeded yesterday to developers containing a few minor updates, and comes just a few hours before Apple are due to address the press regarding iPhone 4, presumably to discuss the recent press coverage regarding the signal reception issues.

Yesterday Apple invited select members of the media to a press conference to be held at Apple’s HQ in Cupertino. The press conference is very late notice and media weren’t notified what it would be about, except it would be “regarding the iPhone 4″.

In recent weeks troubles with the antenna in the iPhone 4 have turned into a PR nightmare for Apple with the company remaining quiet on the subject for long periods of time. It is predicted that Apple will discuss the issue along with any potential solution they have come up with, some suggesting that this will be a recall of the iPhone 4.

Join World of Apple on Friday, July 16 at 10AM PT/6PM BST for up to the minute coverage of Apple’s special media conference.

Starting times in other timezones:

11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
01:00PM – Eastern
06:00PM – London
07:00PM – Paris
09:00PM – Moscow
03:00AM – Tokyo (Saturday 16)
05:00AM – Sydney (Saturday 16)

Apple this afternoon released the first beta of iOS 4.1 iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2nd and 3rd generation.

The build is numbered 8B5080c, but Apple have provided no details of any changes or fixes in the iOS software.