Wednesday morning, Boomtown opened with the exclusive confirmation we’d all been waiting for: Microsoft’s Bing search engine had inked deals with Twitter and Facebook. The age of real-time is upon us. As if the world weren’t complicated enough, Microsoft (MSFT) opened its own Apple stor… er, Microsoft stores to challenge Apple’s (APPL) retail success. Kara went in like lion and out like Carl Icahn this week with a Friday profile of the mogul. Icahn, activist investor and owner of the world’s best name to precede “haz cheezburger,” quietly left Yahoo’s board this week waving a flag of defeat at CEO Carol Bartz.

Digital Daily took a hard look through the Windows this week. John covered the Microsoft’s release of the new leaner, meaner Windows 7. John’s conclusion: Microsoft’s lucky number could be seven, even if that’s just because it’s anything but Vista. Hopefully they programmed this one with 20 percent more customer goodwill. John reminded us this week that you never can tell what John McCain is going to do next, unless you follow the money. Maverick McCain introduced a bill to prohibit the Federal Communication Commission from implementing the Net neutrality rules it released in recent weeks. Digital Daily wasn’t too surprised to see Sen. McCain take the bold position, as it’s squarely in front of the same telecom industry that has been so generous to him in the past. To round things out, John covered a particularly interesting legal chess game/slap fight between Nokia and Apple. Nokia (NOK) may have sued Apple (AAPL) over cellphone patents, the analysts say, as a way to fend off possible suits in the other direction over Nokia’s multitouch assets.

MediaMemo makes sense of that crazy New York state of mind. That clarity was more valuable than ever this week when Demand Media got in our faces. Peter explained Demand’s model for flooding the net with cheap news stories designed to maximize clicks and add revenue. We’ll have to see how the “content by the numbers” game plays out. In the latest installment of the Condé Nast saga, Peter brought news of a new attempt to grab some of those new media dollars. GQ Magazine will offer its December issue in an iPhone version. This move comes during a round of downsizing all over the Condé empire. While Condé Nast’s strategy seems to be to get users to pay for something they couldn’t get before, it appears that Hulu plans to ask users to pay for something they can currently get for free. Hulu doesn’t know how it will happen yet, but the video service is looking for a way to begin monetizing its vast collection of movies and TV shows. If the company goes with “Hulu Plus” as a subscription option, maybe Peter will get a nod to the naming rights.

Walt spent his column inches this week on the evolution of the Mac. Midweek, Apple released refreshed versions of the iMac and MacBook, as well as the new Magic Mouse. All signs seemed positive with the new products, which feature updates like a larger screen option for the iMac and a rounder, more lovable case for the white plastic MacBook. When Walt went out to check the mail, Mossberg’s Mailbox was again full of Windows 7 questions. Walt discussed some of the new low-vision features in Windows 7, explained the admittedly complicated price points and told readers where to download the operating system.

Katie brought a sparkle to the week with a review of Goby, the self-proclaimed search engine of fun. While she was impressed by the concept, she spotted some gaping holes in search returns, like hundreds of missing events she knew to be on the calendar and others that had already come and gone. Goby might be a great idea, but Katie won’t be relying on it until things like accuracy and timeliness are better addressed.

Weekend Update can make two promises for what’s coming next. First: If it is happening in tech, you will find it at AllThingsDigital. Second: Weekend Update promises to keep the ghost puns to a minimum in the next edition.

The new iMacs boast LED-backlit 21.5- and 27-inch widescreen displays in an edge-to-edge glass design and all aluminum enclosure. They’re available with Intel (INTC) Core 2 Duo processors starting at 3.06 GHz, and Core i5 and i7 quad-core processors for even better performance. The low-end model is priced at $1,199, the same as the past generation, but its high-end sibling is now $200 cheaper, at $1,999.

The new MacBook features an 13.3-inch LED backlit display, a multitouch trackpad, and a $999 price tag. Though still housed in white polycarbonate plastic, it features an updated unibody design borrowed from the MacBook Pro.

The successor to the Mighty Mouse, Magic Mouse, eliminates mechanical buttons, instead, employing the same multitouch surface found on the iPhone, iPod touch, and Mac notebook trackpads, allowing users to navigate their desktops with simple gesture commands.

Accompanying the Magic Mouse is a a new Apple Remote. It’s got a new design and is, predictably, housed in aluminum.

Finally, Apple (AAPL) also updated the Mac mini. While its design is largely identical to that of its predecessor, it offers far more storage. Starting at $599, the entry-level Mac mini features a faster 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, a 160GB hard drive, five USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800, Nvidia GeForce 9400M integrated graphics and a SuperDrive.

There’s also a new $999 Mac mini that’s specially configured with a Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server. It’s outfitted with two 500GB hard drives for a total of 1TB of server storage.

Quite a refresh and one analysts are already crowing about. In a bulletin released after the announcement, Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster said Apple’s new machines will undoubtedly improve the company’s prospects for the December quarter.

“We expect the new iMacs, and to a lesser degree the new Mac minis, to help the desktop category rebound in the Dec. quarter,” Munster wrote. “In other words, the headwind that existed in the Sept. quarter due to aging Mac desktops has now turned into a tailwind for Mac units in the Dec. quarter….Bottom Line: Street Mac numbers may also be conservative if positive trends continue coupled with new Macs in the quarter.”

“Apple continues to execute well across its major product categories,” McCourt wrote in a note to clients today. “…we believe trends are faring better than expected, with a notable increase in Mac demand following the release of Snow Leopard in early September. We believe this reflects the improved value proposition of the MacBook Pro line (updated last June with new price points), which have been performing particularly well on both Amazon and Best Buy’s top sellers charts, two web sites that we believe provide a decent proxy for sell-through trends in the U.S. consumer PC market.” (See chart below; click to enlarge.)

Given this, McCourt expects Apple to exceed consensus estimates and its own guidance–a safe bet since the company’s been doing this for a while now.

Though the carrier’s decision to allow Internet telephony apps on its 3G network has lead some to speculate that the company will soon allow data tethering as well, that’s not the case. Evidently, there’s still a while to wait until AT&T (T) supports that long-promised feature, which it fears might exponentially increase network traffic and undermine sales of air cards.

Asked if AT&T’s new policy on Internet telephony apps heralded the arrival of iPhone tethering, a company spokesman repeated the same tired line we’ve been hearing for months now: “Whenever we offer new features, we want to offer the best possible customer experience. For tethering, we need to do some additional fine tuning to our systems and networks so that we do deliver a great experience.

And perhaps that’s for the best given the widespread complaints over the quality of AT&T’s network prior to iPhone tethering. If it’s as poor as some claim now, how poor might it be when Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone users begin tethering their MacBooks to it?

In fact, it could be argued that public confirmation of Jobs’s health since his return to the company was truly the most significant announcement of the day. As Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt quipped in a research note issued after the event, “Aside from a lack of a camera on the iPod Touch, everything announced was generally in line with expectations, although it all tends to sound much more revolutionary when Steve Jobs is spinning the story. It was clearly a positive to see him back on stage.”

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster felt similarly: “There was some debate over whether Steve Jobs would deliver the presentation at [the] event,” he said in a note to clients. “He did, and we see this as a sign that he has returned to work at near-full capacity following his health-related leave of absence. We continue to believe he is the primary spokesman and active leader of Apple.”

Munster went on to note that the event was otherwise a bit of a disappointment. Certainly, the lack of a new iPod touch with a built-in video camera, which was viewed by many as almost a sure thing, was a bit of a letdown.

“We were expecting a new iPod touch model with a video camera, which Apple did not announce,” Munster said. “The lack of a camera may be due to last-minute quality issues, or it may also be a strategic decision to differentiate the nano from the touch, and the touch from the iPhone. Ultimately we see the lack of a camera in the touch as a move to push users toward the iPhone and drive purchases of multiple devices per customer by segmenting the product lines.”

Or to position the iPod touch as a truly competitive portable gaming device. Certainly, that’s what appeared to be going on yesterday as Apple (AAPL) brought out Ubisoft, Tapulous, Gameloft, and Electronic Arts (ERTS) in quick succession to demo their upcoming new games. And then, there were the data points. Consider these:

• 20 million iPod touches sold to date
• Over 100 million iTunes accounts
• Over 1.8 billion apps downloaded to date. Impressive given that Apple passed one billion apps downloaded just last April
• Over 75,000 apps available
• 21,000 of those 75,000 are games and entertainment apps

So nearly one third of all iPhone OS apps sold to date are games and entertainment apps. Clearly, Jobs was on to something when he told The Wall Street Journal in November 2008, “I think the iPhone and iPod touch may emerge as really viable devices in the mobile games market.”

According to new stats from NPD Group, Apple now claims 91 percent of the U.S. retail market for personal computers costing more than $1,000. Nine out of 10 dollars spent on such machines in June went to Cupertino.

Now, granted, Cupertino only sells three Macs priced below $1,000 (the 13-inch MacBook and both versions of the Mac Mini), and Apple’s (AAPL) rivals’ offerings typically price out in the $690 -to-$703 range. Still, that 91 percent metric is impressive.

As Joe Wilcox over at Betanews puts it, “A (higher pricing) doesn’t necessarily lead to B (greater sales). All major Windows OEMs sell PCs in the premium category, too. Apple’s charging more isn’t necessarily recipe for people paying more for Macs, or their capturing big revenue share.”

That said, as NPD analyst Stephen Baker points out, Windows product average selling prices have been falling pretty rapidly over time, especially at retail, so it was inevitable that Apple’s share of the high-end market would rise, since the company hasn’t really altered its pricing philosophy.

“According to reliable information, Apple will not follow the current market trend (by producing netbooks with screens about 10.2 or 10.1 inches in diagonal length.) Instead, Apple will produce screens with about 9.7 inches in diagonal length. Touch screen will be installed. Wintek will be the main manufacturer of the touch screen.”

Beyond screen size, there are no other specifications mentioned in the report. But it does include a price: $800. Which is $300 more than the $500-piece-of-junk price point Apple CEO Steve Jobs cited when he dismissed netbooks last October. “There are some customers which we chose not to serve,” Jobs said at the time. “We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that.”

But will it allow Apple to ship an $800 one? Perhaps something with a P.A. Semi chip? Something that runs App Store apps and offers a sort of middle ground between the iPod touch and the MacBook?

UPDATE: Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster just weighed on these rumors in a research note. His thoughts, below:

On 7/13 Asian media reports suggested Apple is planning a tablet/netbook in Oct-09. Last week we spoke with a Taiwanese component supplier and continue to believe that Apple will launch a tablet, not a netbook, by early CY10. … We expect [it] to be a touchscreen device in the $500-$700 range (between the iPod Touch and MacBook).

[Image Credit: Adam Benton]

In a message to clients Tuesday, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster noted that Apple’s online store is currently showing 7 to 10 day lead times for its new lower-priced 13-inch MacBook Pros, and a number of the company’s retail stores are reporting dwindling supplies. “Our records show that Apple has never had a 7-10 day delay on its most popular 13-inch model, with the most recent significant delay being 5-7 days over 2 years ago,” Munster wrote. “We see this as a sign that demand is outpacing the company’s build expectations, and it may take several weeks to reach supply-demand equilibrium. In addition to delays at its online store, Apple retail stores are experiencing shortages in some 13-inch MacBook Pro models. Of the 10 Apple stores we contacted, 7 are short of at least one 13-inch MacBook Pro model.”

That being the case, Munster said he’s increasingly confident Apple (AAPL) will report sales of 2.2 million Macs for the June quarter. Not quite as high as the nearly 2.5 million Macs the company sold during the same period a year ago, but impressive nonetheless. We are still, after all, in a deep recession. Who said Macs are too pricey?

These are the best MacBooks we’ve ever made, says Schiller, noting the machine’s new unibody design. Schiller announces new version of the 15-inch MacBook Pro. Like its 17-inch counterpart, the 15-inch features Apple’s (AAPL) new lithium-polymer battery. “Nicest display we’ve ever put in a notebook,” says Schiller. The machine also features a built-in SD slot geared towards photographers. It’s also the fastest notebook Apple has ever made. 3.06 GHZ. Nice. So happy I bought my new machine two months ago. Onward. Up to 500 GB hard drive. Starts at $1699. Apple is updating the new 17-inch and 13-inch MacBook Pro as well. Similar configurations. Both devices feature that same SD slot. Built-in backlit keyboard. 13 is tricked out with a new Firewire 800 port. 13-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1199. All three machines ship today. “This is the most affordable line-up we’ve ever had,” says Schiller.

Check out our WWDC 2009 Full-Coverage special feature for more WWDC news.

At issue here are two Elan patents. The first–the company’s so called ’352 or “multi-finger” patent–describes a “multiple fingers contact sensing method for emulating mouse buttons and mouse operations on a touch sensor pad.” The second, or ’353 patent, describes a a “capacitive touchpad integrated with key and handwriting functions.”

“The ’352 patent is a fundamental patent to the detection of multiple fingers on a touchpad or touch-sensitive input device to enable the detection and use of a multi-finger gestures in various applications,” Elan claims in its suit. “Apple has been on notice of its infringement of the ’352 patent since early 2007 and has continued to utilize the ’352 patent invention without authorization. In addition, the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch also permit users to switch the capacitive touchscreen between keyboard and handwriting modes, and thus falls under the scope of the ’353 patent.”

Interesting claims. Especially since Elan issued a statement back in February dismissing the idea that there might be some overlap between its multi-finger patent and Apple’s 949 “multi-touch” patent. From that statement:

Some market experts have expressed that the issue of Apple’s multi-touch patent might adversely affect ELAN’s competitiveness in the multi-touch market in some way. ELAN … feels that the market has over estimated Apple’s 949 patent. The content of the 949 patent is quite broad and widespread as it might seem like an iPhone user’s manual. However, the final scope of claim granted is mainly based on an angle of initial movement of a finger contact with respect to the touch screen display to determined one or two dimensional command. Although the patent comprises of 20 items covering software, firmware, and memory storage, its scope is actually limited within the establishment of the one and two-dimensional commands mechanism. Simply speaking, it emphasizes more on one or two-dimensional commands finger gesture recognition rather than about multi-touch technology. Hence, to make things unmistakably clear, having a multi-touch feature can not be interpreted as an infringement of the 949 patent. 

As to the ongoing reports that Apple’s 949 patent will have an unfavorable blow to ELAN’s competitiveness, ELAN explains that there is actually no conflict between the multi-touch technologies used by ELAN and Apple. None of ELAN’s current customers are using or plan to adopt the patent claim in the future. Therefore, the approval of the 949 patent will have no adverse effect on ELAN’s expanding Multi-Finger™ market. As to the 949 patent’s market value, ELAN feels that the general consumers, as viewed by the major players in the handset industry, are not enthusiastic or feel the need of operating their mobile phones with the “one and two-dimensional” commands.

An odd thing to say two months before filing suit against the company with which you purportedly have no conflict, don’t you think? I wonder what changed…

Like a heckler emboldened by one-too-many Prairie Dogs, Dell lobs (DELL) catcalls at Apple’s latest MacBook ad, which claims the machine is the “greenest” notebook on the market, thanks to its environmentally responsible unibody enclosure and the recyclable materials from which it’s made. Dell apparently finds such claims to be disingenuous and would prefer us all to think that its notebooks are the greenest.

“We have repeatedly said we want to be the greenest technology company on the planet,” Bob Pearson, Dell’s VP of Communities & Conversations, writes. “This is our aspiration. It really motivates us inside Dell to chase this goal. It’s very different than saying ‘we have the greenest laptops,’ which Apple has said. Apple hasn’t stated any goals, just made claims, which as far as we can tell, are not accurate. Our Latitude E-series makes energy efficiency, the use of BFR/PVC-free components and the elimination of mercury a priority. They were designed and built with the environment and easy accessibility in mind, arguably more so than the Macbook.”

Moreover, Dell believes Apple (AAPL) doesn’t understand the real meaning of being green from the viewpoint of a Fortune 500 company. “We don’t recall Apple joining the conversation about the environment, either via key conferences or the blogosphere or via reporter meetings. In fact, we believe Apple employees are not allowed to blog, as far as we can tell. If you want to make ‘big claims,’ you should be willing to tell ‘big stories’ in an open environment and let others critique your efforts. Don’t skip this step and go right to ads that may not even be truthful.”

Now, leaving aside for a moment the fact that it’s a marketing message that’s at issue here and such things are, by their very nature, prone to exaggeration–have we already forgotten that a court found Dell guilty of false advertising less than a year ago? And leaving aside, too, the fact that Dell has fallen to 12th place from 5th place in Greenpeace’s Greener Electronics Ranking over the past few years (and yes, I’m aware Apple ranks 14th), one would think that any company planning to accuse Apple of making bogus claims about green laptops and failing to engage in a meaningful dialogue about its environmental obligations would conduct the due diligence necessary to back them up.

Not Dell, though.

Because if the company had done its due diligence, surely it would have stumbled across Steve Jobs’s “A Greener Apple” essay, which details the company’s efforts to remove toxic chemicals from its products and to recycle its older products. It might have found Apple’s 2008 Environmental Update as well. That document explains, in a fair bit of detail, the company’s efforts to temper the environmental impact not just of Apple products, but the company’s facilities, and offers a nice overview of Apple’s recycling program and Supplier Code of Conduct, too.

“We wish Apple would be more bold in making a difference rather than making ads,” says Dell. Perhaps it would be better served making its own difference, rather than making empty, poorly research accusations about its rivals.