Following the report yesterday of Apple’s $20 billion quarter, many Wall Street analysts are tempering future sales predictions for the company because – let’s face it – sales will likely slow a little after the massive wave of initial enthusiasm and consumer interest in the wake of the iPhone 4′s release.

Not all well-known forecasters are scaling back their sales predictions, however. iSuppli has put forward what has become a very high profile example of a contrary forecast. The folks at iSuppli have upped their 2011 shipment forecast for Apple to 43.7 million units (that’s up from 36.5 million). iSuppli is basing its estimates on the popularity of the iPad, which will be a huge holiday seller and a popular buy throughout 2011.

iSuppli’s latest forecast bonanza also brings an expansion to its 2012 outlook for Apple to 63.3 million units, up from 50.4 million previously forecast. “In its previous iPad forecasts, iSuppli noted that the only constraint on shipment growth now is production—and not demand,” said Rhoda Alexander, director of monitor research for iSuppli. “The only factor limiting production is the availability of key iPad components, such as the Field Fringe Switching (FFS) LCD panels, projected capacitive touch screens and NAND flash. Despite ongoing yield issues, Apple’s suppliers have steadily increased monthly production to meet Apple’s demand. Production rates are now on target to meet the expected strong fourth-quarter sales.”

iSuppli

People who had gotten used to making ringtones by paying Apple again for a song they’d already bought were dismayed to find that the feature had been removed from iTunes 10. MacLife’s Roberto Baldwin wrote one of the first of many reports about the absence of the "Create Ringtone" option on the Store menu. However, the end-around many of us have been using for years – clipping tracks and changing .m4u extensions to .m4r – works fine with iTunes 10, so the change just seems to affect the folks who have been falling for the double-payment scam all this time.

If you are just hearing about this scam now, my apologies. Take a look at one1‘s how-to right here; it’s really easy and works with any song, not just ones you purchased from Apple. The only difference with iTunes 10 is that it won’t work if you drag the .m4r into the iTunes Music window or the Ringtones folder. However, if you just double-click the file in the Finder, it will be appear in your Ringtones folder and be added to your iPhone at the next sync.

Apple has given no reason for the change, though some suspect it’s because the company is going to start selling ringtones itself on the iTunes store.

Source: FSM

This thing has been sitting on my desk for months. There’s another behind me in the closet still in it’s box which I’ll give away at the end of this post.

Here’s the thing. It’s supposed to be a sleek “Mac-looking” little shelf that gives you more space to work with on your desk. Your Apple keyboard fits nicely under it, you can still type comfortably, and then you have some tempered glass shelving above your hands where you can store/hold stuff. And it’s pushed as a USB hub as well, with 3 ports on the left side. Right. Except it doesn’t work.

I mean, it works as a shelf, sure. It’s a piece of glass that slides into some sturdy-but-still-plastic ABS plastic. So you pretty much can’t fail at working for that part. But the USB ports aren’t powered at all, fine, except even without power they fail to work like any other non-powered hub has for me on this same computer. Devices were regularly blinking in and out of connectivity when I tried to use it; devices with really low power consumption. Like my keyboard. Suddenly, I just couldn’t type anymore if I plugged /anything/ else into the USB ports.

So I tossed the extra one in the closet and put the review unit on the side of my desk (hey it’s still a shelf, right? just not worth $50 ), and figured I’d move on. Well, I kept getting emails asking when I’d publish the review, and I told these guys the thing just didn’t work very well. Here’s what I was told by the guys at Pyramid Distribution who make the uBoard. “Please excuse these subjects Please assume USB ports are just added in extra.” Heh. They also said they recommend “not using several devices at the same time.” On a 3 device hub. If you check the Amazon link it says “It is not recommended to connect many USB devices that take up lots of power, and it can be the cause for malfunction.” Ok, cool. So the title of the product has Build-in [sic] USB 2.0 Hub in it, but we should assume that may not work. Even for my keyboard. And we should pay $49.95 for it.

The box comes with the parts for the uBoard, some assembly required, no instructions (or anything at all other than screws and parts) provided. Oh and a plastic cup-holder attachment. And if you aren’t willing to spend $50 on it (I wouldn’t recommend you do), leave a comment and on Monday I’ll pick someone and mail you out one of these awesomely bland overpriced shelves. I mean, or you can confuse us all and pick one up on Amazon . “U-Board will give you a brand new experience. Whatever your job maybe, U-Board will simplify your working environment and help you to reduce the working time. Additionally, U-Board’s simple and slim design will fit perfectly into your desk top. “ That should sell you.

More…

The chairman of China’s #1 PC maker Lenovo taunted Steve Jobs over the weekend, saying he is missing a big opportunity in China due to his "bad temper." Lenovo’s founder and chairman Chuanzhi Liu told the Financial Times Sunday that his company’s Android-powered "LePhone" would be competitive with the iPhone because it had more Chinese content available for it.

The iPhone remains in high demand in China, largely because supply is constrained by the official provider China Unicom, which sells the device at a price that is well out of the reach of average Chinese consumers and with WiFi disabled. Unlocked phones are still available on the grey market for much less, but these phones don’t work with China’s official WAPI wireless standard.

Chairman Liu said that Lenovo has recovered well from the financial crisis, with a 30 percent market share in China, which is the fastest growing market in the world and is projected to be the world’s largest by the end of the year. Liu said Apple was missing out in China, telling the Financial Times that his company is "lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn’t care about China," saying that if "Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, we would be in trouble.” This was largely considered braggadocio rather than a suggestion that Apple would be able to seriously challenge Lenovo in its home market, where PCs and phones are available for a tiny fraction of Apple’s prices.

Nevertheless, Apple is attempting to make inroads into China, with the newest Apple Store slated to open Saturday at the base of China’s largest skyscraper, the glittering World Financial Center in Shanghai. The company reportedly plans to have 25 Apple Stores in China by the end of this year.

Apple’s GSM-only iPhone continues to be a hindrance in China as in other markets, and as in the US, rumors persist in China about a CDMA variant of the device. Michael Essany covered reports last week of talks between Apple and China Mobile to bring the iPhone to the mainland’s largest carrier.