Apple's new MacBook Airs July, iPhone 5 September

[ABOVE: Many readers got pretty vocal to complain about Final Cut Pro X in comments to my report earlier this week. There’s no smoke without fire -- the debacle's now grown big enough to become a punchline on the Conan O'Brien show.] 

MacBook Air for Sandy Bridge A new model MacBook Air had been expected to enter production in May, equipped with Intel's new Sandy Bridge processor. New Mac production was then reportedly delayed pending Apple's release of its all new Lion OS, which also ships next month. With the new OS imminent, production of the new model MacBook Airs has reportedly restarted, with component suppliers expecting sales of the lightweight all-in-one notebook to be up to two times as brisk as ever before."Makers in the upstream supply chain for Apple notebook products will run in full gear starting July preparing needed parts and components for the vendor's new MacBook Air models, according to sources in the supply chain," reports Digitimes.(Bear in mind the report claims Apple will take delivery of 8 million MacBooks in Q3, which sounds unlikely to me.)Projected shipments of MacBook notebooks for the whole of 2011 have been raised to 15 million units, compared to 13 million forecast previously, the report adds.Speaking during Apple's Q2 2011 financial call, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer explained Mac sales growth in the quarter has been fueled by MacBook Air. "The growth in Mac sales was fueled primarily by the continued great popularity of MacBook Air, which was updated in the December quarter, as well as very strong sales of MacBook Pro," he said.The new ultra-light notebooks seem set to be even thinner than before, with the inclusion of the Intel/Apple Thunderbolt I/O platform. Both 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch MacBook Air upgrades are planned, Digitimes previously reported.Inclusion of support for Thunderbolt I/O on these machines will be transformative. The standard hasn't yet reached prime time -- you can't even purchase Thunderbolt cables easily just yet -- but performance on pre-production tests of third party devices is astonishing.In a world exclusive report, Digital Arts reports the interconnect: "Delivered an average read speed of 835.5MBps and an average write speed of 353.1MBps -- faster than many fiber channel systems and equivalent to quite a few streams of uncompressed HD respectively."iPhone hits China Mobile, AAPL earnings explode  Apple COO Tim Cook was reportedly in China this week (along with some other key execs from the iPhone and mobile teams), reportedly to seal an iPhone deal with the world's biggest mobile carrier, China Mobile.

The deal went through and the new device will ship in September, the Shanghai News (via Reuters) claimed, quoting Liu Yang, the firm's marketing official,

"A new iPhone with China Mobile's network will debut and the cooperation will be announced in September," Yang wrote on his micro-blog. However, Apple and China Mobile now seem to be in damage control mode, refusing to confirm or deny these claims.

As previously reported, the combined GSM/CDMA worldphone iPhone 5 seems set to be twice as fast as the current generation, equipped with an A5 processor, 8-megapixel camera, a much-improved flash function, and an improved display. Screen size may be larger with the loss of the physical Home button and a 64GB model might appear (though given Apple's new iCloud service it is arguable that local capacity will become less important on devices.)Making the new phone available via the world's biggest mobile carrier is likely to help Apple set new financial results records as the impact of its place at the heart of the growing tech market in China sees that territory become its biggest global market.What do you think? Will you be getting an iPhone when it appears? Are you standing in line for a MacBook Air? Do you think Final Cut Pro X sucks? Let us know in comments below. Otherwise, please follow me on Twitter so I can let you know when new reports get published here first on Computerworld. 

Apple's iCloud leader quits for health

By Jonny Evans

The ex-Apple [AAPL] employee network continues to extend its reach. Most recently, Apple's iCloud product manager, John Herbold, quit Cupertino to create digital products designed to boost health. What kind of apps might he help create?

Making healthy cool

A little more background. In a release, HealthTeacher tells us Herbold "led the development and marketing of Photo Stream" as well as product managing iCloud and developing iPad and iPhone apps for Apple. Before that he was a Senior Product Manager on Apple's MobileMe team.

Herbold reckons his challenge will be to: "Create engaging and innovative experiences that make good health cool and aspirational -- all while encouraging kids to move beyond the screen and be more active."

He's passionate about this. Lifestyle changes can save lives, 90 percent of heart disease is preventable, he argues. Writing on his blog, he points to an article by Dr. Dean Ornish, the founder and president of the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute, who wrote:

"... simple choices that we make in our lifestyle -- what we eat, how we respond to stress, whether or not we smoke cigarettes, how much exercise we get, and the quality of our relationships and social support -- can be as powerful as drugs and surgery..."

You have to wish the ex-Apple product manager luck on a mission like that. Meanwhile, it's never to late to start getting healthier too.

Taking health with the 'i'

Here's six iPad apps which might make it a little easier (even without the Nike+ system -- health doesn't necessarily require new running shoes).

Fitness Free HD (free)
Over 700 exercises with photo and text instructions. Features include 50 yoga exercises, three workouts, logging and training tools and a stop-watch timer. The great thing? This selection of exercises is aimed at people who may need to get started getting back to fitness, so you are less likely to hurt yourself while trying to become more healthy.

Pocket Yoga HD ($2.99)
Some laugh at Yoga. Many do not. At once both simple and incredibly challenging, Yoga is a fantastic discipline for keeping yourself in shape and supple. Pocket Yoga HD helps you do it, featuring 145 illustrated poses, logging, reminder, music and TV playback tools.

MyNetDiary -- Food and Exercise Diary for iPad ($9.99)
"You don't need diet pills or silly fads. You need a natural diet plan that works," the MyNetDiary site states. That sounds about right. This lets you keep track of what you're eating, what exercise you take, even how much water you get down your neck. Don't forget, you need to lose 3,500 calories to lose one pound in weight (apparently). (Also take a look at the free Snack App).

Easy Stop Smoking HD ($4.99)
Now for the big one -- the single best thing you can do for your health if you are a smoker is to quit the habit. This app gives you a little smoking cessation hypnosis, and lots of advice to help you through. It's tough, but good luck.

Everyday Health (free)
Exercise is part of the equation. Diet and calorie control another. Quitting smoking and keeping an eye on drinking are also proven ways to keep fit. Even the healthiest people get a sick sometimes, and when they do, it's good to have a relatively trustworthy source of health information. This app will guide you through the symptoms of the top 50 health conditions.

White Noise Pro ($2.99)
Believe it or not, one of the healthiest things you can do for yourself is make sure you get a good night's sleep! White Noise Pro creates ambient sounds to help. Sometimes a little chilled-out background noise is all it takes to calm a stressed-out insomniac attempting to get some rest before that 6am meeting. (You might want to use this in conjunction with the free iDream Dictionary, for those dream interpretations).

One more thing

Of course, all these apps, worthy as they are, could be seen as a little lacking in terms of immersive two-way engagement. Where's the call and response of the Wii's dancing games? Health should be fun, right?

But with Apple prepping AirPlay video within iOS 5 and lots of speculation as to the future Apple television and Apple TV, perhaps Herbold's quit the company just in time to create a new generation of "better than Wii" hugely engaging, family-focused fitness apps, equipped with Facetime video communication and social networking tools.

Who knows, Yoga might become a game all the family can play -- personal fitness could perhaps become an intra-family competitive sport!

Your thoughts? Please say your piece in comments below. Otherwise, please follow me on Twitter so I can let you know when new reports get published here first on Computerworld.