Two? Yup. The iPhone 3GS came in at number one, and the iPhone 3G came in at number two. On the 3GS, the display, battery life and other features is what carried the day over the Blackberry Storm and the Palm Pre, though CR says those models bested the iPhone on messaging. CR also produced an iPhone vs. Palm Pre video that's worth watching.

Evernote founder Stepan Pachikov was a co-founder of ParaGraph, a Russian concern that in 1993 supplied the CalliGrapher handwriting recognition engine to Apple's Newton line of PDAs. Retired in 1998 not long after Steve Jobs took over as CEO from Gil Amelio, the Newton is fondly remembered by enthusiasts, but more widely remembered for being lampooned by cartoonist Garry Trudeau in Doonesbury, mainly because its text recognition abilities weren't quite ready for prime time.

As anyone who's used it can tell you, one of Evernote's best features is its ability to quickly recognize text in photos, and even in images of handwritten notes on paper or white boards. I asked CEO Phil Libin if there were any connection between the two. There is, absolutely, he said. Some of the people who worked on the original CalliGraphy engine are working on Evernote's text-recognition capabilities now, and so the two products are very much related, he says. So if you're an Evernote user now, and were a Newton user at any time in the past, you can appreciate the connection.

I don't know exactly why anyone should be surprised, given how its both the end of June, and Apple has consistently, maddeningly, repeated over and over in response to practically any question about the CEO, that "Steve looks forward to returning to work in June."

That statement, usually attributed to Apple spokesman Steve Dowling has been replaced by a new one: "We are very glad to have him back."

Additionally, there was the little bit about Steve being quoted in the press release concerning sales of the iPhone 3GS.

Apple stock is up 32 cents or 0.22% as of 1:20 PM EDT.

The next step in the process is for Jobs to be seen at some kind of Apple event. I'd start looking for that in September. With the iPhone and MacBook upgrades now out of the way, there isn't a lot of major product news to expect from Apple for the remainder of the summer, though I should hedge that by saying that Apple hasn't — at least in recent months — been sticking to its well-worn product-introduction patterns.

For the last few years Apple has refreshed its iPod line every September since 2005, and it would seem that the iPod touch would be the next likely candidate for some attention. Now that the iPhone 3GS is sporting 32 gigabytes of storage capacity, it would make some sense for the iPod touch to go to 64 GB, and to perhaps get a camera and maybe even an internal microphone — for audio recording apps and for VOIP-over-WiFi apps like Skype, and to ship with iPhone OS 3.0 pre-installed. It would make sense for Steve to introduce just such a product in person at an Apple media extravaganza, would it not?

I've confirmed that Dr. James D. Eason, (pictured) program director of Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute and the source of the hospital's statement, was the lead surgeon on the team who performed the transplant. Jobs is, Eason says, "recovering well and has an excellent prognosis," but declined to give any further information about his condition. Eason is a former Major in the US Air Force, received his medical degree from the University of Tennessee, and is an associate editor of the American Journal of Transplantation.

The hospital also shot down any speculation that Jobs' received any special treatment because of his wealth or status. Under a medical scoring system called MELD – short for Model for End-Stage Liver Disease – Jobs was the sickest patient on the waiting list with his blood type when a liver became available. More about the MELD system can be found at Medscape, and at Wikipedia

Apparently, Jobs picked a good place to have the transplant done. Methodist University Hospital performed 120 liver transplants in 2008, making it one of the ten busiest liver transplant centers in the U.S.

And while this disclosure may certainly cool any lingering criticism around how the transplant came to happen, it still satisfy the corporate governance critics who say Apple, and specifically its board of directors, hasn't been forthcoming enough with information around the medical condition of the CEO. But as I reported on Tuesday, there has been precious little guidance from the US Securities and Exchange Commission on precisely when the illness of a CEO becomes a material matter that must be disclosed to shareholders. That leaves companies to meet, arguably, only the minimum requirements of the law.

Update: Now the United Network for Organ Sharing has put out a statement on transplant. This is the organization that under federal contract operates the national Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), and it explains more about the MELD score. "Whenever a person known to the public receives a transplant, it is tempting to compare that person's waiting time to national averages," it says. "Any comparison of one person's experience to that of thousands of others can be misleading."

It goes on: "Liver waiting time is greatly influenced by a formula that assigns priority for organ offers based on the candidate's risk of dying within three months without a transplant. For candidates 12 or older, this formula is called a MELD score."

MELD uses tests of liver and kidney function, and can range from 6 which is least urgent, to 40, the most urgent score. Those candidates with a score of 15 or higher are at considerable risk of dying in the short term without a transplant. OPTN policy assigns a priority to liver candidates in the local region of the donor with a MELD score of 15 or higher before less-urgent candidates may be considered.

Of candidates listed in the United States with an initial MELD score between 19 and 24, half receive a liver transplant within approximately 15 weeks, the organization says. Of those listed with an initial MELD score of 25 or higher, half receive a transplant within 20 days. Candidates with lower MELD priority may often wait months to years for a transplant opportunity, it says.

We do not know what Steve Jobs' MELD score was. Based on the fact that it was reported first in January by Bloomberg News that Jobs was "considering" a liver transplant, and that the operation itself occurred in April, then we can deduct that his need for a transplant was fairly urgent, and as such that his MELD score was likely higher than 15. If this is the case, then it suggests that the illness was serious enough that Jobs was closer to death than anyone has yet indicated. It's hard to argue under any circumstances that this was not a material fact to which investors aren't entitled, medical leave or no.

Interestingly, the press release quotes Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who as we all all know was revealed to have undergone a liver transplant two months ago. Having been out on medical leave since Jan. 5, he's expected back at work at the end of this month. The last time Jobs was quoted in an Apple press release was on Jan. 21 when the company reported earnings for its first fiscal quarter. Maybe I'm trying too hard to read something out of the tea leaves, but could this be the signal that Jobs is back on the job?

Apple stock is as I type, up slightly, by about 27 cents on the news in pre-market trading, after trading down by as much as a dollar less than an hour to go. More after the regular session opens.

Update: Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says in a research note issued moments ago that the 1 million-unit number represents phones sold into the channel. What that means is that these are iPhones sold from Apple to retailers, to AT&T stores, and into its own retail channel, but he says that's a pretty good mirror of sell-through to end-users. "The one million units sold in the first weekend are technically one million units sold into the channel, but closely approximates sell-through. In other words, the one million units sold into the channel mirrors the sell-through number."

Meanwhile, Apple stock opened higher initially this morning by more than a dollar, but is now trading down about 70 cents.

Here’s what the analysts have to say this morning:

Gene Munster, Piper Jaffray: “We spent Friday at Apple stores in New York and Minneapolis quantifying the iPhone 3G S launch. Early sales indications including our survey results, comments from carriers, and lines at stores were more positive than we were anticipating. …The only true benchmark for judging the launch of the iPhone 3G S will be the time it takes Apple to sell 1m units (assuming the company announces the 1 millionth unit). Apple sold 1m 1st gen iPhones in 74 days and 1m iPhone 3G units in 3 days. … Our early read on iPhone sales for the first weekend is about 750,000 units.”

Yair Renner, Oppenheimer Equity Research: “Lines for this year's launch were about a third as long as last year, a fact likely explained by four factors: the ability to pre-order; the lack of a price cut; the separate launch of the $99-8GB iPhone; and prior assurances by AT&T and Apple that products would be plentiful. … Compared to the 3G launch, the 3G S debut was more about sparking replacements (for Apple) and service renewals (for AT&T) then landing fresh customers (a task better left to the $99 model). 55% of buyers already had an iPhone (33% last year); 25% were new to AT&T (37% last year). … We estimate that 400K-500K 3GS iPhones were sold in the first weekend. 1M 3G iPhone's were sold in the opening weekend last year, but this year's launch was geographically limited (8 countries vs. 21) and staggered (with the $99-8GB model launching earlier).”

More as they come in.

One other interesting revelation: Many had hoped to find out who has been bankrolling Psystar. No answer there. Page 25 of the 26-page filing lists “equity security holders.” Psystar’s answer: None.

I pulled the filing myself, and uploaded to Scribd. Have a look for yourself.

Speaking for two hours before a crowd made up mostly of software developers, Apple executives including VP for worldwide marketing Phil Schiller, Scott Forstall VP of its iPhone software division, and VP for software engineering Bertrand Serlet laid out an aggressive slate of product upgrades and introductions, starting with the debut of the iPhone 3GS on June 19.

The S, the company said, stands for speed. Among its new features are chips for faster 3G wireless connection speeds using a technology known as HSDPA that is capable of running as fast at 7.2 megabits per second. The new phone can also capture video, and boasts an improved capability for taking still pictures. The iPhone GS will hit the market on June 19, in capacities of 16 and 32 GB for $199 and $299. Meanwhile the current model, the iPhone 3G will now sell at $99 for 8 GB.

Along with the phone comes an update to its operating system software. Among its many new features is the ability to initiate transactions within an application. This feature will be especially popular among game developers, but others will take advantage of it as well. Scrollmotion, said it will offer a million books for download, including textbooks, plus 50 magazines and 170 daily newspapers, thus putting the iPhone and iPod touch in competition with Amazon’s Kindle digital reader device.

Apple's US carrier partner AT&T drew some criticism. One new major feature, Multi-Media Messaging Services (MMS) is coming with the new iPhone software but AT&T won't support it until September. An additional new feature known is tethering, which allows a mobile phone to be used like a modem when connected to a notebook PC, appears not to have support from AT&T as its name did not appear on a slide listing those wireless carriers around the world who are supporting it. AT&T didn't immediately comment.

The release came only three days after Palm released its Palm Pre smartphone on Sprint’s wireless network. The dropping of the price on the lower-end iPhone model, coupled with the forthcoming features of the new operating system, can’t help but place Palm in a difficult competitive stance for the time being. Palm stock fell 84 cents or more than 6% to close at $12.16 during regular trading. Apple stock fell 82 cents to close at $143.85.

The day wasn’t entirely about the iPhone. Apple announced updates to its MacBook Pro line of notebooks. It’s 15-inch MacBook Pro was updated with improved display technology, a faster Intel processor, and the addition of a slot for SD Memory cards. The 15-inch model has a starting price of $1,699 or $300 lower than the prior model. Apple also updated its $2,499 17-inch MacBook Pro, and 13-inch MacBook models, changing the branding on the latter to MacBook Pro with a starting price of $1,199. The MacBook Air was also updated with new Intel processors, and larger storage capacities, starting at $1,499.

Apple also demonstrated Snow Leopard, the next iteration of its Mas OS X operating system software, that will hit store shelves in September at a price of $29 for those who own the current version of the OS known as Leopard, and $129 for those buying it as a standalone product.

Rumors had suggested that Jobs, Apple’s longtime CEO who often takes the stage at events such as the developer’s conference, might appear in some capacity. The company has maintained that Jobs, who has since January been on medical leave, is on course to return to work at the end of June.

-Schiller is focusing first on the Mac. He announced a new 15-inch MacBook Pro with a 7-hour battery similar to that of the 17-inch model announced earlier this year. The price starts at $1,699.

-17-inch model has been updated as well with a starting price of $2,499

-He also announced a new version of the 13-inch notebook, known as the MacBook. One important new feature is the addition of slots for SD Memory cards. It starts at $1,199 and has been re-branded as the MacBook Pro.

-MacBook Air has been updated with a faster 1.86 GHz Intel Processor, and a larger solid state hard drive. The new base price for the new model is $1,499

-Now Bretrand Serlet is talking about the new features and enhancements in Snow Leopard, the new version of Mac OS X.

-The Dock, the launching pad for Mac software can now be presented in a 3D manner on screen, much like Coverflow in iTunes. It also uses a new type of file compression, which means that when you install it over the current version of Leopard, you'll get six gigabytes of hard drive space back.

-Safari 4, the Web browser, is coming out of Beta today.

-Another new feature, native support for Microsoft Exchange in Apple's Email software called Mail. This will be hugely popular among the growing number of Mac-users in corporations.

-Snow Leopard costs $29 for those already running Leopard. $129 if you buy it standalone.

-Now on to the iPhone with comments from Scott Forstall. New stat: Combined unit sales of iPhone and iPod touch is now north of 40 million.

-Forstall: iPhone OS 3.0 brings with it more than 100 new features. First up, cut-copy-paste working across all applications. Also Undo: Shake to undo your last action.

-Rent or purchase movies from iTunes directly on your iPhone.

-Internet tethering. Treat you iPhone as a modem. A common feature with other phones, finally comes to the iPhone. Works wirelessly over Bluetooth or via a wired connection, and supports both Mac and PC. Interestingly AT&T is not listed among the wireless carriers who will support tethering.

-"Find My iPhone" -- a service via MobileMe helps you find your iPhone if it's lost. Includes a remote "wipe" command that will delete all the data. Plus if you do find it, you can quickly restore it with a connection to iTunes on your computer.

-Google Map applications can be embedded into applications. This includes turn-by-turn navigation directions that can be added to applications.

-On the navigation note, TomTom has taken the stage to show its navigation app, and a mounting device to use the phone like a personal navigation device. Essentially an iPhone dock with a speaker and a suction cup.

-ScrollMotion, demos a book, magazine and newspaper-reader application.

-iPhone OS 3.0 free for all iPhone customers and $9.95 for iPod touch customers. Available worldwide June 17. Developers walking out with a gold master of the OS today.

-iPhone 3GS confirmed. The S Stands for Speed. 7.2 MBPS HSDPA connection, 3 megapixel auto-focus camera. Includes a tap-to-focus feature. Captures video, just as Peter has been predicting. 30 frames per second, with white balance and auto-exposure. Includes editing.

-Voice control, hold down a the home button, and it brings up a voice interface. Say "Call so-and-so"

-Built-in digital compass

-Improved battery life (badly needed) 9 hours internet and Wi-Fi, 30 Hours audio, five hours 3G talk time. Price $199, 16 GB, $299 for 32 GB. Available in White and Black shells. Prior version of iPhone 3G at $99. iPhone 3GS available next week: June 19. No front-facing camera as had been rumored.

While this could be just another rumor, this name would fit perfectly with what a source told me in late April: that Apple would differentiate the new iPhone by making it the first device that makes home movie-making mainstream. Here's that post again:

Making Movies: The Next Big Thing in iPhones? Posted by: Peter Burrows on April 30

Think back to a time before iPods. Back then, digital music was such a hassle that few people bothered to buy portable MP3 players. Until Apple made it easy. Then came photos. Other than using snapshots as wallpaper on their camera-equipped cell-phones, few consumers bothered to keep all or even some of their favorite pics on a small portable device until the iPod photo was introduced in 2004. A year later, the “video iPod” became the first portable device on which most mainstream consumers would even consider watching a TV show, video podcast or the occasional movie. And since the iPhone debuted in 2007, tens of millions of people think nothing of downloading an e-book, using GPS maps to find a desination, or watching YouTube clips on their phone.

Now, I think we’re about six weeks away from the next big thing. At long last, after decades of having to mess with camcorders and cables and PC video editing software and hard drives, my gut tells me Apple will make the iPhone a one-stop studio for recording, editing, viewing and sharing your own videos. Actually, more than my gut. I’ve spoken with a source that is familiar with Apple’s plans for the next iPhone, which may well be announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in early June. Evidently, shooting video is as easy as it is with a Flip, the ingenious device made by Pure Digital (recently purchased by Cisco). Then there’s an iMovie app that lets you quickly save the sections you want, right there on the phone itself. There may also be support for MMS, so the clips can be shared wirelessly with friends. And because of the iPhone’s relatively large screen, your friends don’t have to schlep to your PC or their Facebook page to see that video of your kids or your safari. Just hand them your iPhone.

The atmospherics suggest that I’m right. I’m referring to the loud silence from Apple—a company that is famous for pre-launch misdirection in order to maintain some element of surprise. For example, Apple made no mention of any video recording capability when it unveiled its iPhone 3.0 software a few months back. And yet blog posts from Gizmodo and others have pretty much confirmed that it’s in there.

Also, the timing seems just about right for Apple to make one of its famous late arrivals into a hot market. That’s what happened with music. Recall that in the late 90s, Macs didn’t even have CD burners so Napster fans could create their own CDs. But with iPod and the opening of the iTunes Music Store, Apple quickly put its stamp on the digital music market. A rather big stamp at that, given that Apple is now the world’s leading music distributor. Or consider the iPhone. Rivals had been making smart phones for years, until Apple waltzed in and totally redefined the segment. Same with the app store concept. Palm had one years ago (complete with TV ads which, like Apple, promoted apps more than its device), as have various carriers. Just not one as easy to use and as well-stocked as Apple’s, which just passed the 1 billion download mark. (Here’s Om Malik’s insightful analysis on what Apple got right in this regard).

Cut to today, when millions of people love to post YouTube videos—but don’t have a dead-simple way to do it. Apple’s new approach sounds like it may be the answer. People will shoot more video, since they will usually have their phone with them. Since they don’t need to mess with any PC or editing program, they may actually go to the trouble of editing it down to a bearable length (and given the excellent synching in iTunes, they won’t simply forget they shot the footage or forget where they put it). And while there is at least one great device for recording video (that Flip) and plenty for playing it back (any laptop will do), the iPhone could turn out to be the best at handling both of these tasks at once.

Then there’s the marketing opportunity. This one is right in Apple’s wheelhouse; the company should have no problem coming up with great ads that poke fun at how difficult it’s been to simply send grandma a video of the kids, and how Apple makes it easier. So my hunch is that Apple will be selling loads of iPhones to people who want to create their own videos, rather than just watch those made by the pros.

Either way, it's a huge problem if it isn't fixed soon--because Palm (and other smart phone players such as RIM, Nokia and Microsoft) are likely to fall even farther behind in the app war in the months ahead. For starters, there's little evidence that any of the new App Store openings from these companies has slowed the meteoric growth of Apple's App Store in recent weeks. Who knows what numbers Apple will announce at its Worldwide Developers Conference next week? Last time it released new data a few months ago, the company said that 35,000 programs had been downloaded more than one billion times. Anyone want to take a guess at the new numbers, come Monday? How about 50,000 and 1.2 billion?

More important, I think this up-and-to-the-right trend line is going to get even steeper in the months ahead. That's because the software upgrade of the iPhone, dubbed iPhone 3.0, that is due out later this summer will include new ways for developers to make money. Currently, developers are flocking to iPhone because that's where the customers are. But all too often, these developers have to give away their apps for $.99 or for free. That's not enough revenue per customer to build a sizeable software business. But with iPhone 3.0, developers will be able to crank up their ARPU, by building recurring revenue streams via subscriptions and what's known as in-app commerce.

This is a very big deal. Tapulous, one of the early success stories to come out of the iPhone ecosystem, has re-written its business plan. Currently, it sells two $5 apps--so $10 per customer is the max it's likely to get. But CEO Bart Decrem told me earlier this week that after iPhone 3 hits the market, Tapulous will cut the price of its paid apps (probably to $.99) and instead make money by selling games tied to particular music. If you want to play Tap Tap Revenge to a particular song that comes into your mind, it'd cost $.50. Or if you wanted to buy more of a band's greatest hits, you'd be able to buy "album packs" for $2, $4 or $6, he says. He also says the company is likely to introduce a subscription service of some kind in the second half of the year--say, rights to a certain number of new games per month for a monthly fee.

These commerce features will attract new players to the iPhone platform, as well. One is Intermap Technologies, which is about to unveil a mapping app that will let hikers, fisherman and other outdoorsmen easily get highly-detailed maps to plan and record their adventures. As you start your hike, for example, the app would use GPS to note your location, and would drop virtual breadcrumbs so you could find your way back to the trail if you got lost. Plus, photos taken enroute would be geotagged and noted on the map as well. Once back in civilization, you could recap your trip for friends by simply pushing a "replay this hike" button that would show the itinerary plus the photos of highlights in context. (This particular fly-fisherman plans to use the app to help me locate--and more importantly re-locate--great trout-fishing holes, so I'd know them the next time I was in the neighborhood).

But Intermap is less interested in selling consumers a single mapping app, than in selling them a bunch of maps over the course of their lives. Marketing chief Kevin Thomas says the company plans to sell maps that cover an entire state for $9.99, or $.99 for maps that cover a smaller area of say, ten or twenty square miles. Thomas doesn't profess to know what kind of revenues this approach will generate for the 13-year-old company. Given how young the apps market is and how untested these new commerce models are, he says “It’s a crapshoot.”

Evidently, it's a risk worth taking--for Intermap and I'm sure thousands of other developers.

At stake would be about 50 direct jobs, and then another 250 or so for contractors. Every job counts, as North Carolina, like every other state in the US, has seen its unemployment rate nearly double over the course of the last year, from 5.7% last April to 10.8% as of April 30 this year, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Next the bill goes back to the state Senate for re-approval, since the House changed the text. From there it should go to Governor Bev Perdue for signature. Of course all that doesn't mean that Apple will really locate the data center in North Carolina, it just means that if it decides to do so, it will get a nice tax break.

The artist Jorge Colombo used the iPhone app Brushes to create the illustration that graces the cover of this week's New Yorker. Colombo will continue to offer drawings made on his iPhone that will be featured on the magazine's Web site. More about it here and make sure you look at the video showing the evolution of the image below.