Here are your Apple rumors and news items for Thursday:

AT&T iPhones Heat Up: The latest version of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) mobile operating system comes out March 11, coinciding with the iPad 2’s release, but that’s not the only Apple device getting a boost from the software. AT&T (NYSE:T) confirmed on Wednesday that it would support the new Personal Hotspot feature found on Verizon’s (NYSE:VZ) iPhone 4 when the 4.3 OS X update comes out.  Personal Hotspot allows iPhone owners to use their smartphone as a portable Wi-Fi connection.

Refund?! Refund!: Consulting firm Brand Keys says in a recent report that Apple has the second-highest rating for consumer brand loyalty of all American companies. That reputation isn’t born of just fashionable products and slick marketing. The company institutes a variety of extremely consumer-friendly policies, as shown by how it’s accommodating customers who purchased an original iPad shortly before the iPad 2 was announced on Wednesday. Apple is offering anyone who purchased an iPad within two weeks of Tuesday’s iPad 2 announcement a $100 refund on their purchase. Alternatively, customers can return their iPad for the full purchase price and put those funds toward an iPad 2 model of the same price.

Help for Disabled Students: A new patent application made public by the federal patent office reveals Apple’s plans for developing a network interface that would help teachers accommodate students with a variety of disabilities. A host machine could include a lesson plan and then distribute that plan to multiple interfaces tailor-made for students requiring, for example, a Braille interface or an automated reader. The patent describes how Apple’s portables like the iPhone and iPad could be used as secondary student devices that communicate with the host PC. Educational software is still a relatively untapped market for Apple, compared with competitors like Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).

As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.