According to an Avian Securities client note this morning, Apple may not be shipping their upcoming iPhone 5 until very late 2011, or even early 2012.

Additionally, Apple may be ready to unveil a lower spec, lower priced iPhone, one that will help Apple take some share in the low-end smartphone market currently dominated by Android.

Avian bases its assumptions on multiple conversations with a "key component supplier" in Asia.

Says the note:

Supporting out comments over the last month, conversations with yet another key component supplier indicates that production for iPhone-5 will begin in September. This is consistent with Avian findings in the supply chain in recent months and we believe the consensus view is moving towards this scenario. In addition, our conversations also indicate the existence of a lower-spec/lower-priced iPhone in Apple's roadmap. However, while our contacts have seen the placeholder in the Apple roadmap, they do not yet have insight into specs or production timing.

This leads us to believe that any launch is likely a very late 2011 or more likely a 2012 event. As a reminder, Avian has uncovered several data-points in recent months pointing to the existence of a lower-spec/lower-price iPhone. A lower-spec/lower-price iPhone has also been speculated in the press and gadget blogs, though we do not believe consensus currently discounts the existence of such a model.

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Seven years after they first filed suit against Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, it seems the legal drama between Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and the social networking giant is coming to an end.

A federal appeals judge has denied the twins attempt to unwind a 2008 settlement, and says they must accept the deal, as is.

Along with Harvard classmate, Divya Narendra, the twins filed suit against Facebook in 2004 alleging that the concept for Facebook was stolen from them and their early work on HarvardConnection.

In 2008, Facebook agreed to settle, giving the trio a deal worth $65 million, with the majority in Facebook stock. At the time, the group was given $45 million in stock with Facebook valued at $15 billion. The twins filed suit again last year claiming Facebook had internally given itself a $3.7 billion valuation, and so the group was conned out of many more shares in the company.

The federal Judge, Alex Kozinski, has now killed their appeal:

At some point, litigation must come to an end. That point has now been reached. The Winklevosses are not the first parties bested by a competitor who then seek to gain through litigation what they were unable to achieve in the marketplace. They made a deal that appears quite favorable in light of recent market activity.

Regardless, at a new valuation of $70 billion, the Winklevoss/Narendra shares in Facebook are worth just over $200 million, an appreciation of 440 percent in just three years.

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According to the latest StatCounter analytics, Windows 7 has finally surpassed the aging Windows XP in American usage share.

As of April 11th, Windows 7's share is 32.2 percent compared to XP's 30.2 percent share.

Microsoft announced in January that it had sold 300 million Windows 7 licenses and that the operating system was the fastest-selling in the company's history.

The company's failed Vista platform fell to 19.5 percent while Mac OS X (all iterations) moved up to 14.8 percent.

When moving the numbers internationally, XP is still the champ, at 46.8 percent, followed by Windows 7 at 31.5 percent.

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A few analysts have estimated today that Nintendo sold 750,000 3DS handhelds in March, after the device went on sale on the 27th.

Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter had a lower prediction, however, putting sales at just 500,000.

Doug Creutz of Cowen and Company says the 3DS will soon become a "stabilising factor" in the market for handheld gaming consoles, which has been declining for quite some time now.

Pokemon Black & White, the latest in the blockbuster (understatement) franchise is expected to have moved up to 3 million units.

The NPD Group will reveal all the official data on Thursday. The struggling U.S. market is expected to see another fall, year-over-year.

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After just three months in the store, 'Angry Birds' is now the most downloaded game, ever, via the PlayStation Store.

The news shouldn't be too shocking to anyone given how the game has remained a fixture in the top 5 for iOS and Android for over a year and was very popular when released for the PC earlier this year.

Sony's PlayStation Network has 75 million registered accounts, with about 40 million active.

Over 1.4 billion pieces of content have been downloaded since launch.

Angry Birds sells for $1.99 on the PS3, $.99 on iOS, and for free on Android (with ads).

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Amazon has announced today it will begin selling an ad-subsidized Kindle reader for $114, a full $25 discount off the regular price for the latest generation of Wi-Fi e-readers.

The new "Kindle with Special Offer" will, as promised, give consumers special offers and will also show ads as screensavers when you are not actively using the device.

A few of the "Special Offers" are actually very nice, including $10 off a $20 Amazon gift card and $1 for a full album via Amazon MP3.

Amazon says its first launch partners for ads are Chase, Visa, Olay and Buick.

Says the company: "Lower-price sponsored ad strategy will serve us well and make us an attractive option to the widest possible group of people."

Pre-orders start today and the e-reader hits on May 3rd.

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Sony America has announced today that they are settling with George "Geohot" Hotz in the high-profile case involving jailbreaking and homebrew for the PS3 console.

Both sides reached an agreement on March 31st and Sony says Hotz has agreed to a permanent injunction.

Geohot was sued after he released custom firmware for the PS3 which allowed for the installation of homebrew. Different firmwares from other hackers eventually led to piracy for the console.

Says Riley Russell, General Counsel for SCEA:

Sony is glad to put this litigation behind us. Our motivation for bringing this litigation was to protect our intellectual property and our consumers. We believe this settlement and the permanent injunction achieve this goal.

Hotz was also happy to have the case ended:

It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier," said Hotz, "I'm happy to have the litigation behind me.

Geohot has said he will join in on 'Anonymous' boycott of Sony products, and encourages others to do the same.

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