Latest News from iPhone Developer's Journal

Googlerola Misusing Patents, EC Sends SO

Tue, 07 May 2013 09:00:00 EDT

A year after opening a formal investigation into how Motorola Mobility enforces its patents, the antitrust arm of the European Commission has sent the company an SO or statement of objections saying it’s misusing the standard-essential patents (SEPs) it’s got on mobile phones. The misuse comes from seeking injunctions in Germany that would legally bar allegedly infringing Apple products from being sold. The EC said Motorola’s behavior “amounts to an abuse of a dominant position prohibited by EU antitrust rules.” The EC’s decision is “preliminary,” and Googlerola can defend their actions either in writing or at a hearing although it’s not likely to sway the regulator. Apple complained last year that Motorola was demanding ludicrously steep license fees for IP that was supposed to be available on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.

Apple Borrows Billions for Next to Nothing

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:15:00 EDT

Apple has started borrowing money to underwrite the three-year $60 billion share buy-back program it promised stockholders last week. The company is also going to pay out $55 billion in dividends through 2015. It’s issued floating-rate notes maturing in 2016 and 2018 and fixed-rate securities due in 2016, 2018, 2023 and 2043, it said in a regulatory filing, starting with a bond offering worth $17 billion on Tuesday, reportedly the largest non-bank bond offering ever . It was swamped with orders reportedly worth $50 billion.

ITC Clears Apple of Patent Infringement

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 07:45:00 EDT

A panel of the six commissioners at the International Trace Commission Monday tossed out a Motorola claim that Apple’s iPhone 4 was in patent violation, foiling its attempt to get the widget banned in America. Motorola and its parent Google can appeal to the Federal Circuit and Google said it was evaluating its options. Apple was absolved of infringing the fourth of four remaining Motorola patents in the suit, which the ITC ultimately found invalid for want of novelty and obviousness. It was about sensors and programming touch screens so a user’s head doesn’t interfere while talking on the phone. Motorola started with six patents covering IP stuff like signal noise.

Apple, Ever the Conundrum, Buys Off Stockholders

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:00:00 EDT

In the most anticipated quarterly report in recent memory, Apple – which a few brief months ago was the largest company in the world before its record stock price collapsed – indicated Tuesday that its growth has tempered and its margins have been crimped. It made $9.5 billion, or $10.09 a share, down 18%, on revenues up 11% to $43.6 billion in the March quarter, against earnings of $11.6 billion, or $12.30 a share, on $39.2 billion in revenue a year ago. It was the company’s first earnings decline and first revenue slowdown in years although it beat Wall Street’s lowered revenue estimates of around $42.3 billion. It also forecast flat revenues of only $33.5 billion to $35.5 billion this quarter against Wall Street expectations of $38.2 billion, which could mean its first year-over-year decline in a very long time.

Embarcadero: The Answer to Developers’ Prayers

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

Embarcadero Technologies claims to have created the first real native multi- platform IDE – modeled on its FireMonkey widgetry – that a team can use to build apps that are processor-optimized for PCs, Macs, tablets and smartphones from a single code base on a single schedule to get to market faster without sacrificing performance.

ICE Drops Blackberry for iPhone

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 13:05:00 EDT

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement started to provide its employees up to 17,000 iPhones for work and personal use as the agency moves to replace its Blackberry devices. ICE selected the iPhone after evaluating other types of smartphones such as Android devices and analyzing Blackberry maker Resarch in Motion's business model and innovation rate, GovExec reports. Mobile security company Good Technology is helping ICE roll out the iPhones after previously helping the Department of Homeland Security protect its technology, data and applications from unauthorized people such as hackers. Eugene Liderman, the company's director of public sector technology, told GovExec Good Technology is contracted to secure up to 25,000 mobile users. He said the agency can scale up to 17,000 users with current infrastructure, he said. ICE's phones contain features for wiping a device of government data if it is either misplaced or stolen, but not lose personal files, the report said.

Apple’s Key Rubber-Band Patent Found Invalid Again

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 07:45:00 EDT

Samsung rushed in to tell District Court Judge Lucy Koh the other day that the US Patent and Trademark Office had found a major claim in Apple’s so-called Rubber-banding patent invalid (US Patent No. 7,469,381). The PTO said it wasn’t novel based on prior art. The decision is a so-called Final Office Action, which – in the bureaucratic scheme of things – isn’t really final until Apple exhausts all appeals available, a process likely to take years. Last August a jury found the patent valid and infringed by Samsung. Then a PTO re-examination found it invalid in what they call a First Office Action. The PTO has found three claims in the patent valid and tossed out 17 other claims including the one important in Apple’s infringement case against Samsung, claim 19.

OpenXava 4.7: Develop Enterprise Web Applications for iPad

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:15:46 EDT

OpenXava is a framework for Rapid Development of Web Applications for iPad, well-suited for business and database oriented applications. OpenXava allows you develop applications just by writing simple domain classes with Java or Groovy. The user interface is generated automatically in runtime, without code generation. Learn more about iPad support in OpenXava.

Jobs May Have Had a Hand in Next Two iPhones

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 10:00:00 EDT

The next two generations of iPhones were designed before Steve Jobs died in October of 2011, according to San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón, who reportedly gleaned this little tidbit during a rambling conversation with Apple’s government liaison, Michael Foulkes. The San Francisco Examiner reports that the D.A. was told the future iPhones “have already been developed” and “preceded Tim Cook.” Gascón was talking to Apple to get its backing for a kill switch that would disable cell phones and tablets when they’re reported stolen. The idea is to make the widgets less attractive to thieves. Devices such as iPhones were involved in half the city’s robberies last year but the D.A. isn’t getting much support for the idea from widget makers or service providers.

Apple Corrects Judge’s Sums

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 08:00:00 EDT

After Judge Lucy Koh cut $450.5 million off the original stunning $1.05 billion in damages a jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple for infringing its patents, Apple checked the judge’s arithmetic and wants to file a conditional motion to reconsider. It complains it’s been gypped of $85 million and that two Samsung phones were on the market during the time required for Samsung to disgorge its profits. Apple says it’s really entitled to damages of at least $685 million. FOSS Patents says Apple is only bringing the issue up now to pre-empt the partial final judgment requested by Samsung. Aside from the appeals that have been lodged by both Apple and Samsung, Koh has ordered a new trial to recalculate the damages and that means the total damages could ultimately go up or down.

Press Unites to Unseal Apple-Samsung Filings

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

A coalition of news organizations and media advocacy groups including Bloomberg, The New York Times and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has asked the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold District Court Judge Lucy Koh’s order that Apple and Samsung unseal financial documents filed in Apple’s patent infringement litigation against the Korean giant. Reuters says such a decision “would set an important precedent for high-level intellectual property cases” where sealing documents to keep them from the press is a knee-jerk reaction.

Book Review: The Advanced iOS 6 Developer's Cookbook (4th Edition)

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:00:00 EDT

This book is what it claims to be and that is a cookbook on advanced topics. I would follow the author's advice and if you are a beginner with Objective-C or iOS, this book is not the one you want to start with. This book is however an excellent book for experienced developers. The first chapter kicks right into overdrive with a really nice overview of device specific development. It shows you how to get device capabilities and how to take advantage of that information in your applications. It continues on with 12 more excellent chapters which I have listed below.

Intertrust Sues Apple for Massive Patent Infringement

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 07:30:00 EDT

Apple has gotten sued for patent infringement again, but this time the charges are coming from Intertrust Technologies Corporation, now owned jointly by Sony and Royal Philips Electronics NV, which got Microsoft to settle a broad claim back in 2004 for $440 million. The suit against Apple sounds a lot more expensive. It says Apple is in violation of 15 of its fundamental patents naming the iPhone, iPad, Macs, Apple TV, iTunes, iCloud and the App Store as the offenders. Intertrust has taken its 44-page complaint to the federal court for Northern California after talks with Apple going back to ’05 failed. Its software called Marlin, is used to protect digital content, and companies like Samsung, Nokia, HTC and Huawei either license it or the IP underneath.

Apple Makes Highly Eccentric Hire

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 09:00:00 EDT

Apple polished its reputation as a contrarian Tuesday when the news broke because of an SEC filing that it had hired Adobe’s CTO Kevin Lynch to be VP of technology and reportedly coordinate its hardware and software teams. Adobe confirmed his departure effective Friday, March 22. He will report to SVP Bob Mansfield, Apple’s core hardware maven, who leads Apple’s Technologies Group, which includes its wireless and semiconductor interests. Provocatively Mansfield is scheduled to retire from Apple for the second time next year. Lynch, a Macromedia legacy, violently backed Mobile Flash to the hilt as a sine qua non platform long after Steve Jobs famously blasted the widgetry’s reliability, security, performance and battery life problems, chalking it up as bad, inelegant software and barring it from the iPhone and the iPad. The news of Lynch going to Apple lit up the blogosphere but left the question of why Apple hired him unanswered.

Dropbox Spends Maybe $100M on Tiny Start-Up

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:00:00 EDT

Dropbox, the cloud storage outfit, has spent something like a reported $100 million in cash and stock pushing Yahoo and Facebook out of the way so it could buy a little 14-man e-mail management start-up whose early-stage widgetry, out maybe a month, can’t really scale so couldn’t meet initial demand and is thin on platform support. It’s also got a lot of features left on its to-do list.

Apple May Supposedly Hire Intel as Chipmaker

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 08:00:00 EDT

Speculation is back in circulation that Apple – enflamed by Samsung’s “slavish copying,” the ensuring worldwide patent litigation and Samsung’s increasing dominance in smartphones and tablets – is weaning itself off its component dependency on Samsung and moving its A7 chip production to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Intel. The Intel part may, of course, just be wishful thinking especially on Intel’s part. DigiTimes, which is spreading the current crop of rumors, says institutional investors figure Intel, which wants to rent out its ovens because of the PC downturn, could get 10% of Apple’s next-generation A7 processor orders. In that case TSMC could get 40% leaving Samsung with the remaining 50%. Apple has also been shifting orders for DRAM, mobile RAM chips and panels away from Samsung.

Book Review: Sams Teach Yourself iOS 6 Application Development in 24 Hrs

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 08:00:00 EDT

If you want to learn iOS 6 development, this is a great place to start. The book spends the first several chapters covering the basics. The author first shows you how to get your system setup and how to install Xcode. He then covers the Xcode interface and the iOS simulator. After that he provides a short primer on Objective-C and then covers the Cocoa touch layers and the frameworks they contain. There are a ton of them but the author does a nice job of introducing them. You leave Hour 4 with a great understanding of the tools you have access to. The author continues with twenty more chapters broken down into hour long reads. Most chapters took me longer because I got sidetracked playing with the code samples. I have listed the chapters below. Their titles are descriptive enough to give you a good idea of what is covered.

Court Cuts Historic Apple Award; Orders New Trial

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 05:00:00 EST

A US district court judge Friday slashed the $1.05 billion award granted Apple last August by a jury that found Apple’s great nemesis Samsung copied Apple’s mobile widgetry. Apple’s stock thereupon fell. The court has ordered a new trial to decide exactly what Apple should get. District Court Judge Lucy Koh doesn’t think the trial will begin before the companies’ appeals are resolved and may not determine exactly how to calculate the damages. It’s not clear that Apple still won’t get the remaining $450,514,650 or more. And Apple also wants more damages than the jury gave it. Apple gets to keep roughly 60% of one of the largest awards ever made but will have to fight to get the rest, which Koh claims was granted on incorrect legal theory.

Apple Ordered to Pay VirnetX $333K a Day

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 15:00:00 EST

A Texas district court Wednesday upheld a jury verdict arrived at in November awarding Internet security firm VirnetX more than $368.2 million after it found Apple and its FaceTime video chat service infringed four virtual private networking patents designed to establish a secure connection between two devices. The court denied Apple’s motion to lower the damages. Apple has to pay VirnetX more than $333,500 a day until the case is settled, a situation supposed to force the companies to come to an agreement on future royalties. Failure to reach an agreement could mean more damages. The iPhone 5, iPad mini, iPod touch and recent Mac computer are all implicated.

Foxconn Hiring Freeze Sends Apple into a Tizzy

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 06:00:00 EST

Word that contract manufacturer Foxconn had stopped hiring across its Chinese plants sent Apple stock into a tizzy this week on an assumption by the Financial Times that the bottom had dropped out of demand for iPhones, Apple’s bestselling and most profitable product. Foxconn claimed the hiring freeze had nothing to do with iPhone 5 production, which Apple has already said should be less this quarter than last, but happened because more workers came back to work after the Lunar New Year than usual or expected. UBS analysts Steve Milunovich thought maybe it had to do with cutbacks in orders from HP, which represents about 8%-10% of Foxconn sales, ya know, desktop PCs, printers and some servers.

Apple Hacked

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 08:45:00 EST

Tuesday when a report by American security firm Mandiant that’s been six years in the making was circulating tracing an “overwhelming percentage” of Communist China’s far-flung corporate and governmental cyber espionage to a 12-story building in Shanghai connected with the People’s Liberation Army know as PLA 61398, the usually secure Apple disclosed that its Macs had been hacked and infected with malware by bad guys leveraging the known vulnerabilities that Oracle doesn’t seen to be able to eradicate from the Java software used as a browser plug-in. Facebook last Friday confessed to experiencing the same infestation.

Is it iTime for iOS?

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 05:00:00 EST

There have been quite a lot of rumors these last few weeks with regards to Apple reportedly working on an iWatch. I was wondering what they would gain with such a move? Some have pointed out that they already have the iPod Nano as a simple watch, but this repeats the functionality of the music player and lacks functionality of the full iOS device. Does this mean the age of Dick Tracy is around the corner? Far fetched you think? I would have agreed, but after I visited the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA last week it may not be. The Computer History Museum exhibits hardware up to the year 2000 and it's awesome how far we have gone beyond that in 13 years! So this may not be far off… and trust Apple to make it happen.

Apple Cuts MacBook Prices

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 09:45:00 EST

Apple has cut the price of its 13-inch MacBook Pro laptop by $200 and updated its processors. It’s also put out new models with faster processors and more memory. It said the MacBook Pro with a Retina display and 128GB of flash memory will now cost $1,499, down from $1,699. A new model with 256 gigs of flash will cost $1,699. The 15-inch model has a faster processor and the same price. Apple put out new MacBook Pro models last fall with flash memory instead of the traditional hard drive, making it thinner and lighter. Mac sales dropped in Q4 down 22% to 4.1 million units.

The iWatch Watch Begins

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 02:45:00 EST

According to the blogosphere and both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal the world is waiting for Apple to deliver a Dick Tracy-like wristwatch that mates with the iPhone and shows you the time, who’s calling, texting or e-mailing or directions to the address you’re looking for and saves you from pulling the phone out of your pocket – or from pulling out your wallet for that matter since it may contain a near-field communications chip.

Tim Cook To Be Guest at State of the Union Address

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 01:15:00 EST

Michelle Obama waited until the very last minute to invite people to sit in her box at her husband’s State of the Union address Tuesday evening. That means that Apple CEO Tim Cook, who will be her guest, had to rearrange the agenda of the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco, where he was supposed to speak at 1:15 in the afternoon Pacific time – after the market closed in New York – and answer a lot of tough questions about Apple’s stock plummeting and what he’s gonna do with the $137 billion Apple has in the bank. He’s now supposed to get up at the crack of dawn, speak at the conference at 7:15 in the morning local time then hop a plane to Washington to show up cool as a cucumber on Capital Hill to listen to Obama, who may say nothing substantive about jobs, visas or anything else important economically. He’ll be there because – according to White House economic advisor Gene Sperling – “Apple is a great American company, and it stands for our sense of innovation, invention, entrepreneurship, and risk taking and I think that’s quite an appropriate person to be in the First Lady’s box when the president

Apple Denied Fast Track on Possible Samsung Ban

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 10:20:00 EST

The US Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, Monday tossed Apple’s bid to fast-track its motion to ban several Android-based Samsung phones, denying it the right to argue its case before the full appeals court right away. A district court rejected Apple’s move for a permanent injunction after a federal jury awarded Apple $1 billion dollars last year. The appeals court said Monday that a three-judge panel will consider Apple’s appeal first, and that the full appeals court wouldn’t decide whether to hear the case until after that. The decision will keep devices that Apple regards as “stolen” on store shelves. The same court rejected to reconsider banning Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus phone last week.

Apple to Launch a 128GB iPad

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 08:15:00 EST

Apple Tuesday announced a fourth-generation iPad with 128GB of memory to grace the top of the existing line currently available with 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. Obviously it’s for people who need to carry around a lot of data. It will sell starting Tuesday February 5 in black or white for $799 with Wi-Fi and $929 for Wi-FI plus 3G. It will have the high-resolution Retina display of its cheaper siblings that start at $499. The older iPad 2 starts sat $399. The company said it’s sold 120 million iPads since the widget first debuted in April 2010 and pointed out that it has 300,000 iPad-specific applications in the App Store.

Samsung Escapes Jury’s Verdict of Willful Infringement

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 03:30:00 EST

District Court Judge Lucy Koh decided late Tuesday that Samsung didn’t willfully infringe six Apple patents as a federal jury found last August denying Apple the chance to get parts of the jury’s $1.05 billion damages award trebled.

Apple – Why the Sudden Antipathy?

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:37:00 EST

In our industry the biggest game is “expectation management”. Apple was in big news last week after its earning report. In the latest quarter, Apple topped $50B revenue, an increase of $8.2B from the same period last year. This should be the envy of any company. It sold 48m iPhones, more than any competitor can dream of. As Mike Moritz wrote in the Financial Times yesterday, if Apple were a nation, it will rank 45th. in the world, ahead of Pakistan and New Zealand. Suddenly the sound-bytes by the analysts showed disappointment that Apple only grew “18 percent” and management was forecasting slower growth. The stock was pounded and went down to sub-$450 range. There is such a herd mentality. When your quarterly revenue reaches $50B, growth at double digits become very hard. Look at Microsoft, Cisco, and IBM in the most recent fiscal year – 4%, 6%, and -2%. But Apple is supposed to defy the laws of gravity, according to our financial pundits! Mike says very colorfully that Apple grew by 45% for last 5 years and if that rate continues, it will hit $3 Trillion by 2020. At 5%, that number will be $231B, and at 10% it will be $334B in 2020. No company in history has seen such kind of numbers.

Apple Pushes for Samsung Injunction

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 06:00:00 EST

Apple wants the whole US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to decide whether Samsung really deserves to avoid permanent injunctions barring its widgets from the American market while infringement suits are pending. It claims the court and the District Court in California have prevented it from getting injunctions protecting its patented widgetry, forcing Samsung to change its products or remove them from the market. The appeals court ruled in October that Samsung could continue selling its Galaxy Nexus smartphone despite a $1 billion jury decision in Apple’s favor because it figures that Apple has to prove that the patented features Samsung copied drive consumer demand.

Why the Mobile Website vs. Mobile App Debate Is OVER?

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:45:00 EST

If you are still asking the question should I build a mobile website or create an installable application for mobile… …then you are asking the wrong question! The Mobile Web vs. Mobile App debate is finally over. It is no longer a question of either…or. Making your website mobile friendly is no longer an option – it is mandatory requirement. More and more people are accessing the web from mobile phones and tablets. Share of Internet traffic from such devices has already reached double digit percentage and inching up…up…up. In next couple of years it is likely to overtake internet traffic from desktops and laptops. In fact, as per Mary Meeker (she is known as “queen of net”) then it has already happened in India!

Top Ten Apps to Start 2013 Off Right

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 15:00:00 EST

It’s that time again – the New Year has arrived and everyone’s excited to start 2013 on the right foot. We’re ready to tackle the biggest projects, climb the tallest mountains, and make the biggest deals. Now all we need are the right tools to help us get the job done. To make this task easier on you, we’ve compiled a list of ten innovative apps that are bound to be big hits in 2013. Sign In Blue: This year, did you make a resolution to manage your time more wisely? Then you’ll want to check out Sign In Blue, which allows users to electronically transmit signatures. No more waiting for overnight deliveries or incoming faxes; now, your contracts can be sent and received instantaneously. Imagine all the time you could save.

Apple & Amazon Ordered into Settlement Talks

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 09:45:00 EST

A US magistrate judge Monday ordered Apple and Amazon to try settling their two-year-old App Store trademark dispute before going to trial August 19. They’ll be closeted together for negotiation on March 21 and the judge said, “No participant in the settlement conference will be permitted to leave the settlement conference before it is concluded.” Apple claims that Amazon’s Appstore treads on its App Store mark and confuses the consumer. Amazon contends the term is generic and commonplace in the industry. A district court has just absolved Amazon of Apple’s charge of false advertising.

The Great (failed) iPad Mini Experiment

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 13:14:00 EST

A few weeks ago, I swapped out my Nexus 7 for an iPad Mini. I forced myself to grab the iPad Mini at every turn, and I have to say I am overwhelmingly disappointed. While it was fun to check out Infinity Blade and other similar titles, I found more and more that it is a crippled device. I’m a big Google user, and I found that the lack of dedicated apps for Google services (most notably Google Voice) to be obnoxious. I had to jump through hoops just to get my contacts synced to the device. But here are my major gripes (and a few shiny points). Many people try to compare the Android versus Apple ecosystems, mostly by saying that Android apps are not “optimized” for the tablet experience. If an Android app is not the right size for your tablet, the OS automagically scales it to the screen, and it works. If an iOS application isn’t made for the tablet, it can at best “double in size” which looks AWFUL. For devices in which the screen is the primary way to interact, the jacked up way that Apple handles non-HD apps is awful. Also, any allegations of X number of apps is a farce, because many apps (especially those for services Google doesn’t offer their own app) are just basically glorified bookmarks. There are some apps which are better (Facebook App seems to work smoother), but that’s about it. You can find a lot of games for the iPad only, but to be honest, if you do your research there are viable Android alternatives (that more often that not) play exactly the same. Apps are expensive in the Appstore (which is probably why they sell more). But they are not better. There might be more of them but they are limited to Apple’s walled garden, limiting what they can do. Apple also charges money for, well their own apps. Things like Garage Band and more cost $5 just to play.

Apple Sours

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 08:30:00 EST

Apple has cut component orders for the four-month-old iPhone 5 because of weaker-than-expected demand, the Wall Street Journal said Monday citing “people familiar with the situation.” It’s unclear if Apple initially over-ordered out of concern for potential shortages or if it is moving to introduce new phones more frequently. The company reportedly informed suppliers of the cuts last month according to Wall Street analysts, many of whom called it “old news.” The Journal’s story, which followed the Nikkei saying the same thing, briefly sent the “world’s most valuable stock” skittering below $500 before it staged a tiny comeback to around $504, down around 17 bucks.

Book Review: iOS 6 Programming Cookbook

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 08:30:00 EST

This is a massive cookbook with tons of recipes. It covers a ton of material and it covers it in depth. Although this book is more of a reference than a cover to cover read, every time I use it to look something up I find myself getting sucked in and reading several chapters. The author starts off with a really cool chapter called The Basics. It covers a ton of basics. Everything from packaging iOS apps for distribution to Objective-C language basics to loading data from bundles to using NSNotificationCenter to broadcast events. The rest of the chapter's recipes topics are reflected in the titles of the chapters. I have listed them all below.

Apple May Field Cheaper iPhone

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 08:30:00 EST

In what would be a major strategy shift Apple is reportedly considering selling a “lower-end” iPhone later this year to meet competition from Android, which has been eating Apple’s lunch with its multiple models. The Wall Street Journal said late Tuesday that the cheaper iPhone, which could impact Apple’s healthy margins unless it attracts the non-iPhone consumer, could look like the classic iPhone but come in a polycarbonate plastic case rather than the iPhone 5’s up-market aluminum housing. The paper also said “other parts could remain the same or be recycled from older iPhone models.” The company recently introduced an iPad mini that’s smaller and cheaper than the standard iPad but there’s only been one iPhone with different storage capacities since the dingus was first introduced.

Apple Has Paid App Store Developers $7 Billion

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 08:45:00 EST

Apple said Monday that, excluding re-downloads and updates, more than 40 billion iPhone, iPad and iPod touch apps have been downloaded from its App Store and that it has paid developers more than $7 billion. That makes nearly 20 billion downloads in 2012 alone, Apple said. Nine months ago downloads had hit 25 million and payments were at $4 billion, up from $2.5 billion the preceding July, so the download craze is on a roll. This past September Google Play downloads hit 25 billion. Apple’s App Store has over 500 million active accounts and had a record-breaking December with over two billion downloads during the month. There are 775,000 iOS apps, including 300,000 native iPad apps, available.

Apple Reportedly Niggles Over Price of Waze

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 09:00:00 EST

Apple reportedly wants to buy Waze to help fix its giant maps gaffe but according to what TechCrunch heard it doesn’t want to spend the $750 million asking price. It’s reportedly offering $400 million plus $100 million in incentives. The three-year-old Israeli-born Waze uses crowdsourcing to plot routes around traffic jams and in the process create real-time maps. It’s said to have shaved five minute off the daily commute in Israel.

Samsung Ordered to Post Big Bond

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 08:00:00 EST

Having found a bunch of Android-based Samsung widgets violate four Apple patents, the US International Trade Commission has ordered the giant Korean company to post a bond worth 88% of its US smartphones sales as well as 32.5 % of its media player and 37.6% of its tablet sales if it want to keep selling the things. The decision, which is largely backed by the agency’s staff, is preliminary, subject to the affirmation of the ITC’s six-man board of commissioners and the White House. The commissioners are supposed to decide by February 25 and the president 60 days later. At that point Samsung could be looking at an import blackout.

What Makes Steve Jobs Special?

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 03:42:00 EST

If James Watt had also invented the Deisel Engine … If Rudolf Diesel had also invented Electric Engine … If Guglielmo Marconi had also invented Telephony … If Alexander Graham Bell had also invented Mobile Phones … If Thomas Alva Edison had also invented the Fluorescent Lamp … If Edgar F. Codd had also invented the rules of post RDBMS technologies … Then they would be like Steve Jobs – the inventor of the next generation technology which supersedes his own invention. It was the MAC which had started the WlMP (Windows Icon Mouse Pointer) era. It was the iPhone and then the iPad which started the post WIMP era. Well … you may say that Steve Jobs did not invent the products alone. But then same thing can be said about all the name mentioned above.

Apple’s Flagship Paris Store Robbed

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:39:00 EST

Armed robbers pulled off a heist at the Apple store behind the Paris Opera in the center of town on New Year’s Eve. Reuters reports that they made off with over a $1 million worth of widgetry although Apple is still calculating the loss. Four masked thieves broke in about 9 o’clock at night, three hours after the shop closed, while the local gendarmerie was distracted by celebrations along the Champs Élysées. They escaped in a van.

Book Review: The Core iOS 6 Developer's Cookbook 4th Edition

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 07:00:00 EST

I did not look closely at the description of this book before acquiring it. I mistakenly thought it was going to be about the Core Frameworks iOS has to offer. I thought that because I own the previous version of the author's book The iOS 5 Developer's Cookbook: Core Concepts and Essential Recipes for iOS Programmers. It turns out the lineup is just being restructured and the iOS 5 Developer's Cookbook: Core Concepts and Essential Recipes for iOS Programmers is being broken into two volumes and a tutorial book. This is the first of a 2 volume cookbook set. I think the more appropriate and less confusing title should have been used like The iOS 6 Essentials Developer's Cookbook, or The iOS 6 Fundamentals Developer's Cookbook. Although it was not what I expected, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and found the all the content valuable.

Apple Loses Fight to Ban Samsung Widgets

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 04:00:00 EST

Apple late Monday lost its bid to get a permanent injunction barring 26 of Samsung’s Android-based widgets that a jury found infringed six of Apple’s patents from the American market. Concurrently, the court threw out Samsung’s bid for a new trial. The Korean company claimed the jury, which awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages, was misled by a foreman that 20 years ago was involved in a lawsuit with Seagate, his former employer and a company Samsung later bought into. The suit drove him into bankruptcy and he supposedly introduced “incorrect and extraneous legal standards” into the jury’s deliberations that may have produced a faulty verdict. The judge didn’t buy it. Samsung should have asked better questions during voir dire, she said. FOSS Patents says without the injunction the “jury verdict has little more than symbolic value.”

PTO Says Apple’s Pinch-to-Zoom Patent Is Invalid

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 08:00:00 EST

The US Patent and Trademark Office, which has been re-examining Apple’s pinch-to-zoom patent (US No 7,844,915) presumably at Samsung’s behest, said Wednesday that all 21of its claims are invalid on the basis of prior art, specifically for anticipation and obviousness. It’s a preliminary decision. As the Wall Street Journal says, the patent – well, at least claim 8 – was a cornerstone of Apple’s infringement case against Samsung, which filed the PTO’s decision with the federal court in San Jose, California that heard Apple’s infringement case this summer. Apple, which has called the patent the commercially most valuable of the three multitouch software patents-in-suit, is expected to appeal.

Do You Agree to the Terms and Conditions?

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 11:00:00 EST

Sometimes I wonder if anyone, in the entire history of computing, has every bothered to read and consider the contents of a typical End User License Agreement (EULA). Some Product Manager, I suppose (though truthfully, I’m not even sure of this one). The EULA, however, is important. It’s the foundation of an important consent ceremony that ends with only one effective choice: pressing OK. This much-maligned step in every software installation is the only real binding between an end user and a provider of software. Out of this agreement emerges a contract between these two parties, and it is this contact that serves as a legal framework for interpretation should any issues arise in the relationship.

Samsung Drops SEP-Based Apple Ban Attempts in Europe

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 08:15:00 EST

Samsung said Tuesday that it will drop its attempts to get Apple products banned anywhere in Europe using its standards-essential patents (SEPs). It’s not dropping its infringement suits, but will limit its SEP claims to monetary damages. It will still seek injunctions for Apple’s alleged infringement of its non-SEP patents. Samsung claimed its action was “unilateral and voluntary,” but FOSS Patents assumes that the European Commission, which has been investigating Samsung’s use of SEPs, leaned sufficiently on the Korean company for it to change its legal strategy ahead of a statement of objections (SO).

Apple Prophecies

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 07:45:00 EST

Returning from Asia Jefferies financial analyst and Apple follower Peter Misek said several iPhone 6 prototypes and an iTV, presumably integrated with Apple’s mobile ecosystem, appear to be floating around. There’s reportedly an iPhone model with a 4.8-inch Retina+ IGZO screen, 128GB of storage and a new A7 quad-core processor. Misek expects an iPhone 5S with a “new super HD camera/screen, a better battery and near field communications” to ship in June or July. It should come in six and eight different colors instead of just black and white. There may – heavy on may – be a cheaper iPhone, a “retooled iPhone 4” with a “scaled-down modem [and] apps processor,” targeting pre-paid and emerging markets, especially in Asia, that could sell for $200-$250. Foxconn could make 200k-300k a day. An iPad 5 could launch around June with an IGZO screen that would cut the thickness in half and significantly reduce the weight.

Google Maps Return to the iPhone

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 08:30:00 EST

Google couldn’t have picked a prettier time to release the upgraded version of Google Maps for iOS it’s been working on since Apple kicked it off the iPhone and iPad in September in favor of its own dodgy Apple Maps that couldn’t find the Eiffel Tower, utterly embarrassed the company, forced CEO Tim Cook to publicly apologize and fire the guy responsible. Google Maps for iOS hit the Apple App Store late Wednesday hours after the Australian police labeled Apple Maps “life-threatening” for misdirecting motorists into a desolate Outback desert where you’d better have a four-wheel drive, extra gas and a few canteens to survive. Seems Apple Maps misplaced the town they were headed for. Anyway, you can still hear the Halleluiah chorus that greeted the free Google Maps download. It’s already the top app, embarrassing Apple some more.

Apple Reported Testing TV Prototypes

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 10:00:00 EST

Well, there may actually be an Apple TV in our future. The Wall Street Journal says the company is working with Asian component suppliers and testing large-screen high-resolution TV prototypes. The testing is apparently in its early days and involves Foxconn, which assembles the iPhone and iPad, and Sharp. Apple has reportedly been testing TV prototypes internally for several years, but it’s unclear if it will bring such a thing to market. The Journal points out that such a move is likely to annoy Samsung, the world’s biggest TV maker by shipment and a major supplier of components to Apple. Their relationship is shot through with holes already because of their litigation over Android.