Latest News from iPhone Developer's Journal

Apple Said to Buy Half of Elpida’s Output

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:48:00 EDT

Hmm, apparently Samsung has pushed one too many of Apple’s buttons. According to DigiTimes Apple has bought up half of Elpida Memory’s total chip production of mobile DRAM rather than give the iPad and iPhone order to Samsung, its largest supplier, accused of ripping off its technology in courts throughout the world. Reuters said the report – citing unnamed industry sources – cost Samsung, the world’s biggest DRAM factory, $10 billion worth of market cap on Wednesday. Hynix also took a hit.

Report Tips Thinner, 15-Inch MacBook Pro

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:34:00 EDT

Apple is readying a brand-new, 15-inch MacBook Pro that will sport an ultra-thin design, a higher-resolution Retina display, and USB 3.0 ports, according to a new report.Citing unnamed supply chain sources, 9 to 5Mac said the updated laptop is currently in test production, and is slated to come out this summer. Read the full story [...]

Apple’s Siri Touts Nokia Lumia 900 as ‘Best Smartphone Ever’

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:42:00 EDT

Far from the first time Apple’s Siri has made headlines, new reports have suggested that asking the voice commanded service the seemingly self evident question “What is the best smartphone ever” has seen a number of surprising answers. Read the full story at T3.

Proview’s US Suit Thrown Out

Fri, 11 May 2012 08:00:00 EDT

A California Superior Court last Friday threw out Proview Electronics’ three-month-old infringement suit against Apple over the iPad trademark. The dismissal only came to light the other day. Proview claimed Apple duped it when Apple bought the iPad trademarks from it in 2009 for $55,000 because it didn’t disclose who its middleman was working for. The trademark was reportedly registered in 10 countries. Proview wanted the 2009 deal set aside and Apple stopped from using the iPad name. Proview Electronics is the Taiwanese subsidiary of Proview International Holdings, and a sister firm of the Chinese Proview that sued Apple in Mainland China claiming to still own the mark. In probably the kindest rendition of the facts the Taiwan company apparently sold Apple the Chinese trademark without authorization. Apple claims it reneged.

Apple in Settlement Talks with Proview over iPad Mark

Tue, 08 May 2012 08:15:00 EDT

Apple has made an offer to resolve the imbroglio over the Chinese iPad trademark according to Roger Xie, a lawyer representing the Proview Technology (Shenzhen), the bankrupt company that claims the mark wasn’t included in the rights Apple acquired from a sister company in 2009. Whatever amount Apple’s offered it apparently isn’t enough to satisfy Proview, which owes $400 million to Chinese banks. Apple has been under pressure from a Chinese appeals court to settle but has been reluctant to sit down. It is believed the court could uphold a lower court’s decision that Proview owns the trademark.

Why Does Enterprise Prefer iPhone over Android?

Tue, 08 May 2012 06:00:00 EDT

Mobile management and security vendor Good released its quarterly device activations report. The report states that iOS dominate Android four to one in the enterprise. This is in spite of Android devices having an equal or slightly larger market share compared to iPhone. Is it because iPhone is much better tailored for enterprise need? That is not a likely reason. If you do a feature comparison between iOS and Android the difference will only be marginal, not enough to account for such a large difference. To understand why it is so, we need to understand how enterprise manages new technology.

Apple Releases iOS 5.1.1

Mon, 07 May 2012 18:20:00 EDT

Apple has just released iOS 5.1.1 update for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. This update fixes a number of bugs, including a particular annoying one affecting the iPad 3 which resulted users losing access to their cellular data connection until they rebooted their tablet. Read the full story at ZDNet

Time for Apps

Sun, 06 May 2012 07:30:00 EDT

In my last post, I discussed how 2012 is the golden year for apps. And how many missed the boat when the Internet was the hot spot, and how many are seeing the opportunity that mobile apps are presenting now. I shared the prediction that I made in December 2011 that ‘by the end of 2012, app users will start to become app creators,’ and well, it’s already happening. It’s easy, fun, and profitable for almost anyone to make an app. Today, I would like to go beyond the app prediction that’s coming true as we speak, and discuss a theory with you. A theory that could be referred to as 3D Internet that follows what we could call ‘the deep then wide method.’

Build Your iOS App in the Cloud with Tiggzi Mobile App Builder

Tue, 01 May 2012 05:30:00 EDT

One of the really nice features we released in Tiggzi Mobile App Builder in April is the option to get iOS binary file for your app (similar to PhoneGap Build). Now you can create your mobile app in Tiggzi and instantly build the iOS binary file (or Android).

Can You See Apple in a Tooth Fairy Tutu?

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EDT

The Guangdong High Court in southern China that heard Apple’s appeal of a lower court decision awarding ownership of the iPad trademark in China to Proview Technology (Shenzhen), the financially desperate Chinese display maker that ostensibly sold Apple the trademark, is now reportedly trying to mediate a settlement between the two. Despite claims to the contrary, it’s unclear whether Apple is actually considering settling knowing full well it’s expected to buy its way out of a predicament it believes it’s on the right side of for some sky-high sum. Apple won’t say anything about it while Proview booster Ma Dongxiao, its chatty public-facing lawyer, claimed last week that “I don’t know if Apple has changed its attitude, but I believe that the key point now is the price.” (Yes, well then Apple’s attitude would have to have changed now wouldn’t it.)

Apple Taunts the Bears, Posts Blow-Out Quarter

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:30:00 EDT

After the bears lopped $70 billion off of Apple’s value in the last few days, the company went bear hunting Tuesday crushing estimates. Net profits in the March quarter were up 94% year-over-year to $11.6 billion returning $12.30 a share compared to estimates of $10.04 on revenues of $39.28 billion against projections of $36.81 billion. Apple sold a completely unexpected 35.1 million iPhones, up 88% and only two million short of Christmas, plus 11.8 million iPads – up 151% even though the new one was only released mid-quarter – and even a respectable 7.7 million iPods, down 15%. Macs, another spot that had the bears worried, were good for four million units, up 7% and in line with estimates, although Apple admitted they suffered iPad cannibalization. International sales accounted for 64% of revenue.

iPad3 vs Windows 8 - and the Winner Is...Cloud

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 05:15:00 EDT

As evident from various social media interactions, blogs, tech news sites and other Google searches, the two events that clearly brought the attention of every one happened in quick succession. Interestingly there are huge discussions about the issue of ‘Windows 8 vs iPad 3,' while the former is an operating system, latter is a tablet device, yet the discussions are pointing to the fact that Windows 8 will facilitate other non-iPad tablet manufacturers to pose a serious challenge to iPad3. Analysts claim that while Apple iPad3 is expected to increase the market size further in the tablet field, Windows 8 has enough features to induce a new Windows 8 tablet market that can pose a serious challenge to iPad 3. As it always happens in any kind of competition between innovative products, only time and their respective marketing strategies will provide the final results.

Samsung Sues Apple After Promising to Parlay

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:45:00 EDT

Right after agreeing at the court’s, um, insistence to sit down and parlay with Apple about settling, Samsung up and filed a countersuit claiming Apple’s iPhone infringes eight Samsung patents including a couple that are supposed to be standards-essential and FRAND-protected. (The European Commission, which is investigating Samsung for FRAND abuse, ain’t gonna like that.) The Samsung suit, which comes under the jurisdiction of the very same judge that’s having them try to settle with Apple, is a response to an Apple suit, filed in February, seeking to get Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus phone banned in the United States. FOSS Patents says, “So far, none of Samsung’s infringement claims against Apple has succeeded anywhere on Earth, despite efforts in nine different countries, but Samsung keeps on fighting.” The blog also thinks it’s not smart to provoke the EC.

Apple and Samsung to Take Stab at Settling

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 07:45:00 EDT

Apple and Samsung, the two leaders in mobile devices now suing each other in nine countries over Android, have agreed to sit down and try to settle a couple of US patent suits ahead of a trial due to start in late July. It’s not their idea. It’s the idea of federal court judge Lucy Koh, who drew the two Apple v Samsung patent infringement lawsuits, according to the FOSS Patents blog, which has been diligently following all the litigation. To at least look cooperative, the companies agreed to send their respective CEOs Tim Cook and Gee-Sung Choi along with their chief counsels to the San Francisco courthouse sometime in the next 90 days for settlement talks mediated by Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero.

Get Your Schema Off My Technology!!!

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 08:00:00 EDT

In the past few weeks, bloggers from BetaNews, Gizmodo and TechCrunch have ripped apart the Galaxy Note (and devices like it). You can find their posts here (1, 2, and 3). They have gotten slammed in the comment sections, but I am feeling the need to pile on a bit. Here’s my problem with it; when you write, personal/anecdotal evidence can only get you so far. At some point, you have to look for real, provable facts. 5M people have bought the Samsung Galaxy Note, it’s available worldwide (just like the iPhone) and is only available on a few networks. I personally have one, and it is completely different than any other smartphone I’ve ever used.

Book Review: Programming iOS 5

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 10:00:00 EDT

A little background so you know what type of experience I have. I have been a Microsoft .NET architect and developer since the first beta release. Before that C, C++, ColdFusion, ASP, JavaScript and of course HTML. Being a .NET developer has many advantages, but the one major disadvantage we suffer has driven me to Java and Objective-C over the past year. That one disadvantage? Microsoft themselves. They come off as completely lost and have wreaked havoc on .NET developer community the past few years.

[Update] DOJ Sues Apple, Five Publishers for Antitrust

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 10:00:00 EDT

The Justice Department sued Apple and five prominent book publishers Wednesday morning for colluding to fix the price of iPad-borne e-books. The suit was filed in federal court in Manhattan. Sixteen states have filed separate civil suits so far looking for money. Those charged include Macmillan, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, Hachette and HarperCollins. Simon & Schuster, Hachette and HarperCollins immediately agreed to settle and terminate their arrangements with Apple, clear any joint e-book ventures with the government and report any communications with other publishers to the DOJ for the next five years.

DOJ To Sue Apple: Multiple Reports Say

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 03:00:00 EDT

The Justice Department is fixing to sue Apple, Macmillan and maybe Penguin for antitrust maybe as soon as Wednesday by all reports. The iPad-centered charges are supposed to be collusion and fixing the price of that newfangled invention, e-books. The DOJ essentially destroyed Microsoft at the height of its powers a generation ago with its antitrust suit. Ironically Apple hit an all-time high Tuesday and for one bright shining moment had a market cap worth $600 billion. The DOJ’s got a burr under its saddle because Apple and Macmillan won’t settle – or even talk anymore about settlement.

Five Points the Mobile Info Worker Expects from Mobile Enterprise Data

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:00:00 EDT

Here is #5. Five points the Mobile Information Worker expects from their Mobile Enterprise Data. 1. Always available and on-demand access to information (off-line and on-line). 2. New ways to interact and display data. 3. Reduce data re-entry error, by synchronising data. 4. Capture new forms of data not available before. 5. Custom and or on demand reporting, for example Mobile Analytics.

Five Points on How Mobile Developers Improve Relationships with End Users

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 17:00:00 EDT

Here is #2. Five points on how Enterprise Mobile Developers can improve the Relationships with their End Users. 1. Live several days in the life of your user observing work locations and patterns. 2. Have end users in on the design panel as well as the usability and testing. 3. Get buy in from key stakeholders that are part of the end user team. 4. Learn from consumer applications that are popular with users. 5. Listen... The End User has the business expertise.

Apple Bubble Swells and Swells

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 05:00:00 EDT

Apple is having a heady time on Wall Street. Its stock pushed past $630 for a while Tuesday morning after its ax Gene Muster, the respected Piper Jaffray analyst recognized as having the most clout in the stock, pushed his 12-month price target from $718 to $910 a share. His call, which said Apple could go to a thousand bucks or better in 2014 and make Apple the first trillion dollar stock in history, came a day after Brian White, a “who’s he ?” analyst with Topeka Securities, thinking Apple TV and China, said Apple’s good for $1,001.

The New iPad is Number 1

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 05:00:00 EDT

Apple’s new iPad was named the best tablet computer in a ranking by Consumer Reports, two weeks after the magazine said the device runs “significantly hotter” than previous models. The new iPad’s high-resolution screen provides the best detail and color accuracy of all tablets Consumer Reports has seen, the publication said today on its website.

Apple Gets in Dutch with Ozzie Regulator

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 07:00:00 EDT

Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) filed a legal complaint against Apple Wednesday charging it with misleading consumers in promoting its new iPad. It said Apple suggests the iPad with Wifi+4G can connect to an Australian 4G mobile network with a SIM card when it can’t. The regulator wanted financial penalties, corrective advertising, refunds for the consumers affected and possibly an injunction. The one 4G network in the country is reportedly part of the spectrum the iPad can’t reach but Apple is pushing to retain its 4G branding.

Smartphones Are Trending Up: Clear Winner is Google

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 03:01:00 EDT

Smartphones are trending up, they now account for almost 50 percent of mobile phones in the United States. And, not surprisingly, feature phones are trending down – four out of five new mobile phone purchases are for smartphones. The clear winner is Google, about 48 percent of smartphones are Android devices. iPhone is second with [...]

FLA Reports What It Saw in Apple Plants in China

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:00:00 EDT

The Fair Labor Association (FLA), which Apple hired to look into working conditions at Foxconn plants in China a few months ago, said late Thursday that it had interviewed 35,000 workers and found no instances of child labor or forced labor. What it did find was people working an unsafe 60 hours or more a week in violation of even China’s labor laws (49 hours) to make “quick money.” Foxconn has reportedly pledged to reduce overtime and hire and house tens of thousands more people by July of 2013, which the FLA called “an unprecedented commitment.” Workers weren’t always paid fairly for the overtime and 64% of the workers said the basic wage of a few hundred dollars a month was insufficient although more than the Chinese minimum wage.

Foxconn Buys into Sharp, Likely Thinking Apple

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 08:00:00 EDT

Apple’s contract manufacturer Foxconn and its Taiwanese avatar the Hon Hai Group are buying 9.9% of struggling Osaka-based electronics conglomerate Sharp. They’ll get $1.6 billion worth of new Sharp shares. It’s the biggest investment a Taiwan company has ever made in a Japanese company and Hon Hai will be Sharp’s largest stockholder. It’s a big comeuppance for Japanese industry. Sharp expects to lose $3.49 billion this fiscal year, which ends March 31. Hon Hai will also take half of Sharp’s 92.96% position in its losing LCD panel unit. At least until September Sony owns the rest but won’t put any more money in it. The failure of the four-year-old Sharp-Sony alliance is said to be the reason Sharp turned to Hon Hai, whose LCD operation is also losing money. Sharp’s IGZO screen technologies and production facility are leading-edge.

Apple CEO Meets with One of China’s Top Dogs

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 08:30:00 EDT

Apple CEO Tim Cook is in China, the company’s second-largest market, meeting with unnamed government officials as well as Vice-Premier Li Keqiang, who may be running the country next year. The Chinese said they chatted about IP issues and greater cooperation. Seems China wants to enhance its “innovation capacity,” nurture and develop “emerging strategic industries” and speed up “the building an innovative country.” Bloomberg says Apple in the last couple of days has been talking about “greater investment” in the country. The news service imagines that might mean catching up with its retail store plans. Apple’s behind its own forecast. It’s got two stores in Beijing, three in Shanghai and one in Hong Kong. It should have 25 according to a two-year-old plan. It could reportedly support 100.

OpenXava 4.4: Rapid Development of Web Business Applications for iPad

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 11:33:11 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. OpenXava 4.4 has some new interesting features such as: Totals, row count and add action in the collection frame when the collection is folded. The frames are folded using a slide effect. It's possible to filter by range in list and collections. Support for Java 7.

Getting Android Information Made Harder for Apple

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 07:00:00 EDT

Apple has failed to shake coveted information about Google’s development of Android and its $12.5 billion planned acquisition of soon-to-be Google satellite Motorola Mobility out of MMI. Circuit Court Judge Richard Posner, who will hear Apple’s patent complaints against Motorola this summer, said in a ruling the other day that Apple’s discovery motion was “vague and overbroad and Motorola’s objections are persuasive.” Apple will have to “narrow its request to a manageable and particularized set of documents” if it wants a new court order.

Everyday Apps by Everyday People

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:45:00 EDT

The butcher, the banker, the drummer… everyone can create apps, and so many are saying, ‘why not?!’ and giving it shot. Everyday people all over the world from all different backgrounds are going beyond simply being an app consumer to being an app creator. A fundamental change in power and organizational structures is currently taking place; it’s an exciting revolution. It’s fast-paced, too. At the beginning of January, my #1 top prediction for apps in 2012 was that, “By the end of 2012, people will begin to switch from being App Consumers to App Creators!” Well, it’s already begun! It’s APPENING, now.

Three Million New iPads Sold over the Weekend

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 06:00:00 EDT

After Apple said early Monday that it would start paying a $10.60-a-year dividend and buy back stock to spend down its massive cash horde – something some people say Steve Jobs would never have done – and after its stock closed at over $600 for the first time ever – you watching this up there, Steve – the company put a figure on the initial sales of the new iPad, something it wouldn’t do during the dividend call. It said it sold three million of the slabs since they went on sale Friday. Worldwide marketing chief Philip Schiller called it a “blockbuster – the strongest iPad launch yet.”

Apple to Pay Dividend

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 07:45:00 EDT

Breaking with tradition – and changing the definition of a growth company in the process – Apple Monday morning said it would start paying a quarterly dividend of $2.65 a share in the September quarter. At $10.60 a year that would currently be about a 1.8% yield, putting it among the highest dividend payers in the US, but disappointing analysts who thought it could easily afford 3% or more. It will also start buying back shares in the December quarter. It means to buy back $10 billion worth of its shares over three years. Many people regard buybacks as a waste of money. Apple’s got more than $100 billion in the bank – twice what Google had at the end of last year – and equal to somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 a share – but two-thirds of it is offshore in the Cayman Islands where it’s paying next to nothing in taxes.

Apple-MMI Licensing Talks Come to Naught

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 08:30:00 EDT

For some reason that isn’t clear, Apple and Motorola Mobility took a shot at negotiating a cross-license that might have covered all the Android OEMs late last year. So says the European Commission’s decision to clear the Google-MMI merger that Bloomberg pointed to Monday. The 38-page document indicates that Apple demanded what the EC called “carve-outs,” and FOSS Patents thinks that means exclusions on any portfolio-wide cross-license so Apple can keep its special distinguishing features to itself.

Apple Says It Was Snookered

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 07:15:00 EDT

In the chattiest Apple’s been about the iPad trademark mess it’s in in Mainland China it said Tuesday that the financially squeezed Shenzhen Proview Technology, which claims to still own the mark there, insisted on selling the IP in 2009 through its Taiwan affiliate so its many creditors wouldn’t know it got the money. Apple claims it was snookered into dealing with the Taiwan subsidiary, which represented that it controlled two iPad marks in China even though they technically belong to Proview Shenzhen.

New iPad Reported Goes on Sale 8am Friday

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 05:00:00 EDT

The Mac Blogosphere has the new iPad going on sale in retail stores at 8am Friday morning March 16. 9to5Mac has got pictures of some Apple signage showing the time.

Chinese Banks Reportedly Claim to Own iPad Trademark

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 07:45:00 EDT

It was just a matter of time before this elephant stomped into the room. The big Chinese banks that Proview Technology Shezhen – the Chinese company that claims to own the iPad trademark – owes a pot full of money to claim they relieved Proview of the Chinese rights to the mark in early 2009 when they seized its assets. That was nine months before Apple says it bought the trademark off a supposedly authorized Proview (Taiwan). This message comes from a consulting company called Hejun Vanguard Group that claimed to speak for the banks in an e-mail to press.

Apple Gets Android Secrets

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 07:00:00 EDT

US Circuit Court Judge Richard Posner, probably America’s most eminent jurist, ordered Google and Motorola Mobility to turn over information Apple has been seeking about Google’s acquisition of Android Inc, the development of the Android operating system and the pending $12.5 billion Google-MMI merger. His order Monday reads, “Motorola shall be expected to obtain full and immediate compliance by Google with Apple’s liability discovery demands.” The discovery is supposed to help Apple calculate damages. As you might expect, MMI resisted Apple’s laundry list of demands, arguing that Google isn’t party to the lawsuit and can’t be compelled to turn over documents. It will probably put up further resistance but FOSS Patents figures it’s possible Apple might find a smoking gun even if the broad discovery it’s been granted is curtailed.

Samsung Files New Suit Against Apple

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 08:30:00 EST

Hours before Apple introduced its new third-generation iPad Wednesday Samsung said it filed a new suit in South Korea charging the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 with trifling with three of its patents. Samsung told the Korea Times there would be “no compromise” with its single largest customer. That was after the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Apple had offered Samsung a license for $5-$15 a device (more of this anon). And to kinda prove Samsung’s point, the Korea Times said that Samsung has upped the budget for its worldwide court battle with Apple from $200 million to $260 million. Anyway, Reuters says the new charges relate to the way data is displayed, the user interface and short text messages.

Apple Calls the New iPad...the New iPad

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 07:30:00 EST

Apple unveiled the new iPad Wednesday calling the third-generation device simply the new iPad, not iPad 3 or iPad HD. The dingus does, however, have that to-die-for high-resolution retina display it was rumored to have. It also has a souped-up A5X chip, and a new five-megapixel iSight camera. The new chip includes quad-core graphics said to be 4x better than a Tegra 3 or 2x better than the performance of the iPad 2. The camera’s advanced optics can capture 1080p HD video and includes a new video image stabilization feature that removes the bumps and shakes typically seen when filming with a handheld device. The screen, the same 9.4-inch size as the iPad 2, offers 264 PPI, which means the human eye can’t see an isolated pixel. The resolution, as expected, comes in at 2,048 by 1,536, or 3.1 million pixels, a million more than HDTV.

The New iPad vs. iPad 2: What’s New?

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 04:45:00 EST

We know everything about the new iPad but the name. After Wednesday’s hour-plus-long launch event in San Francisco, Apple CEO Tim Cookies and team unveiled details about the company’s new tablet, simply calling it the “new iPad” throughout.

Not iPad 3, iPad HD: Reports

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 07:45:00 EST

There’s no iPad 3, CNET said Tuesday, hours before the dingus is supposed to be unveiled Wednesday. It’s going to be called iPad HD after the gadget’s reported new retina-like 2,048 x 1,536 screen. CNET got it from a developer “who’s previously provided reliable information with respect to things Apple.” VentureBeat, using similar sourcing, is saying the same thing, following Gizmodo last week and the Verge last July. VentureBeat says, “ The higher-resolution display will not only make text and pictures sharper, it’ll also make the iPad HD the only tablet to support 1080p high-definition at its full resolution (1,920 by 1,080). Expect Apple to market the hell out of that feature.” Then it added, “Android tablets have been sporting 720p HD displays (1,280 by 720) for some time now, but if the reports are true, the iPad 3’s display will blow Android slates out of the water.”

Apple App Store at 25 Billion Downloads

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:08:00 EST

Apple’s App Store hit 25 billion downloads Saturday. That’s up 10 billion since July and 15 billion since last January. The App Store opened in July of 2008 so it’s not yet four-years-old. It now stocks 500,000 iPhone apps and 140,000 iPad-specific apps. Google’s Android Market, which opened a few months later in October 2008, had wracked up 10 billion downloads this past December, when the Mac App Store, which opened in January of 2011, had 100 million downloads.

Apple Wins Second Injunction Against MMI

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 07:00:00 EST

Apple Thursday won an injunction in Germany against all Motorola Mobility devices that infringe a photo gallery patent. If Apple enforces it, MMI will have to destroy all the implicated widgets in its possession and recall those out in the channel. That currently means the Xoom tablet and two smartphones. The FOSS Patents blog says MMI’s only recourse is to modify the Android operating system, drop the zoom-in feature and degrade the user experience. MMI successfully defended the zoom-out mode. It’s the second injunction Apple has won from the same Munich Regional Court against Motorola in the last two weeks, making Apple’s score two for two. It’ll cost Apple a €35 million bond to enforce both injunctions.

Exporting and Building HTML5, jQuery Mobile, PhoneGap App for iOS

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 06:30:00 EST

One of the really great features in Tiggzi mobile app builder is that you can quickly export the app as mobile Web, Android or iOS: For Android, you can get a ready for the app market binary file (Release binary). Just take the file and upload it to Android Market. It’s that simple.

Proview Sues Apple in US, Tells Ripping Good Yarn

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 08:15:00 EST

Here we are on the cusp of the iPad 3 introduction next week and Apple, whose market cap has now passed a half-a-trillion dollar, as in trillion – finds itself in the ludicrous position of being sued by a bankrupt Chinese company on the verge of being delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange over the iPad trademark. Proview may be flat broke but it seems to have money enough for lawyers and press agents and that may be because Proview’s assets including the trademark was seized by three big Chinese banks in 2009 after it defaulted on a $400 million loan. Anyway, Proview has opened a legal front in the US where it is now suing Apple in California’s Superior Court in Santa Clara for fraud and unfair competition. It figures it was snookered because Apple used a third party to buy the trademark rights, a common enough device in both the US and China, but Proview alleges fraud by intentional misrepresentation, fraud by concealment and fraudulent inducement.

iPad 3 Launch Looks Set for March 7

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 09:15:00 EST

Apple Tuesday sent out an invitation for what is assumed to be the iPad 3 unveiling next week on Wednesday March 7. The festivities will be held in San Francisco, not New York as CNBC put out there for a while. The invite makes no mention of what Apple’s announcing. It just reads: “We have something you really have to see. And touch.” All the signs of course point to the next-generation tablet that may or may not be called the iPad 3. The device could be based on souped-up new Apple-made dual- or quad-core ARM chip. The rumor mill had also suggested it will be 4G LTE-capable, with a higher-resolution screen and camera and perhaps function as a new stage for Siri to beguile. First deliveries are reputedly set up to start March 9.

Windows Hits the iPad

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 07:00:00 EST

An outfit called OnLive has put a virus-free Windows 7, not 8, 7, plus the whole Office suite, Adobe Reader and a one gigabit-a-second Internet connection with the data sized to fit, on the iPad. It works virtually through a remote computer farm sort of like GoToMyPC writ large. Microsoft’s helping since its Touch Pack add-on makes Windows iPad-friendly, or at least stylus-friendly. The service, which, by the by, can run Flash content (think Hulu), runs five bucks a month. There’s also a cut-down free version with two gigs of storage and someday a $10-a-month service that puts any Windows program you license on the iPad.

ITC Absolves Apple of HTC Infringement Charges

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 06:45:00 EST

The International Trade Commission has thrown out the first of two HTC infringement complaints against Apple, the one filed in May of 2010. ITC commissioners last Friday upheld the findings of the agency’s administrative law judge last year. He found that Apple doesn’t infringe any of four asserted HTC patents. HTC only appealed on one of the patents. Patent follower Florian Mueller observes that “Smartphone-related patents have a very high drop-out rate at the ITC. In my observation, only about one out of 20 asserted patents is deemed violated. The challenges that patent holders face at the ITC have contributed to the popularity of certain German courts, especially the Mannheim Regional Court and the Munich I Regional Court, among patent plaintiffs.”

Apple Gets Injunction Against MMI in Germany

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:00:00 EST

A Munich court Thursday found Motorola Mobility guilty of infringing an Apple patent and handed Apple a permanent injunction against two Android smartphones. Apple can enforce the injunction after posting a bond lest MMI succeed in invalidating the slide-to-unlock patent (EP1964022) that opens a device with a gesture on an unlock image. Patent watcher Florian Mueller, who was in court for the trial in December and again on Thursday when the decision came down, apparently expected the court to stay its hand pending a decision on the patent’s validity but evidently Apple’s post-trial pleadings persuaded Judge Peter Guntz that the patent would ultimately stand. Guntz only upheld Apple’s complaints against MMI’s phones, not its complaint against MMI’s Xoom tablet.

Chinese Company Wants China’s iPad Exports Halted

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:00:00 EST

The Chinese company that claims it owns the iPad trademark says it plans to seek a ban on iPad exports out of China, threatening global supplies. According to what a lawyer for Proview Technology (Shenzhen) Co Ltd told Reuters, the firm is petitioning Chinese customs to stop shipments of the tablet in and out of China. Customs has reportedly not responded to the request. A Chinese court last year found Proview owned the trademark. Apple, which claims it bought global rights to the name from Proview a few years ago, appealed and a final hearing is now set for February 29, Reuters said. Apple says a Hong Kong court supported its position, but that apparently doesn’t mean much.