Apple’s two-step verification rolling out to additional countries: Canada, Argentina, Netherlands, Russia, Mexico, Poland, Brazil, more

Jordan Kahn

Two-step-verification-apple-ID

Update:  Mexico, Germany Netherlands, Russia, Austria, Brazil, Belgium, Portugal, Italy & Poland too. Let us know in the comments if the feature is now available in your country.

Apple appears to have recently started rolling out its new two-step verification feature for Apple IDs to users in additional countries. When Apple first launched the service in late March, it was initially only available to users in  U.S., UK, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. Today we’ve confirmed that Canadian users now have access to the feature, while we’ve also received tips from users in Argentina & Pakistan signalling that the feature is beginning to roll out in other countries as well.  Read more

Pegatron CEO says Bloomberg reporter made up report of ‘falling iPad mini demand’

Jordan Kahn

iPad_mini_inHand_Wht_iOS6_PRINT-600x688

Yesterday we decided not to run with a story published by Bloomberg that Pegatron’s forecasted 25 percent to 30 percent drop for second-quarter revenue was due to “falling iPad mini demand.” It seemed a little far fetched that an Apple supplier would be giving up specific information on product demand, something we know suppliers in Apple’s circle typically remain tight-lipped on. Today CEO of Pegatron Jason Cheng has confirmed our suspicions in an email to Fortune claiming that Bloomberg reporter Tim Culpan made the iPad mini angle up.

While quoting an analyst’s expectations for iPad mini demand in Q2, Bloomberg’s Tim Culpan offered the following quote from Pegatron Chief Executive Officer Jason Cheng as proof:

A decline in revenue from the iPad Mini “is more on demand, while price has been stable. Not just tablets, also e-books and games consoles, almost every item is moving in a negative direction.”

Pegatron chief Jason Cheng says he wasn’t referring to iPad mini specifically, but rather all of its products including all tablets and game consoles, while noting that “clearly refused” to answer Culpan’s questions related to specific products. Here’s what he had to say about the Bloomberg piece: Read more

Apple expands 3D Flyover coverage in Maps to Paris, France and surrounding areas

Jordan Kahn


3D-Flyover-Paris-FranceApple has steadily been making improvements to its Maps data following a controversial launch. Last year Apple pushed out major updates to its 3D Maps coverage, adding a number of new cities in the US, UK, France, and Canada, while just last March it quietly pushed out some big improvements to Maps data in Japan. Today our friends over at igen.fr point out that Apple has just pushed out another big update to its 3D Flyover mode, this time bringing new content to more locations across France. Some of the new coverage areas include Paris, Versailles, Aulnay-sous-Bois, Disneyland Paris and to The Hay-les-Roses. Currently, Apple only lists support for 3D building coverage for Lyon, France.

We can’t be sure that France is the only location to get new 3D Maps data today, so let us know in the comments if you notice any additions in your city.

In somewhat related Maps news, TechCrunch has confirmed earlier reports coming from Israeli publication Calcalist that Facebook is currently in discussions with mapping company Waze to acquire the company for close to $1 billion. You might recall that Apple is currently using Waze data in its Maps application and for a brief while was rumored to be in talks to acquire the company. Apple could presumably replace Waze’s free crowd-sourced map data with another Maps provider that offers similar data, but it’s unclear at this point how important Waze is as a Maps source or if an acquisition might affect Apple’s Maps app.

Leak causes flood at Fifth Avenue Apple Store, employees blame recent construction

Jordan Kahn

Apple-store-flood

The New York Post reports that the flagship Fifth Avenue Apple Store in Manhattan was flooded following heavy rain in the city this morning due to a leak in the retail store’s roof. The flood apparently began shortly after opening at approximately 8 a.m while around 15 customers were shopping in the store. According to reports from NY Post, employees blamed construction completed on the location last year for the leak: Read more

Apple requests Android source code documents from Google in ongoing Samsung patent suit (update: Apple wins)

Jordan Kahn

Google IO 2011 (Vic Gundotra in front of anti-Apple slide)

Update: Bloomberg reports Apple has now won an order granting its request for Google to provide more information about its process of turning over documents in an ongoing lawsuit with Samsung:

U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal in San Jose, California, ordered Google within two days to disclose what terms it’s using to find documents Apple has requested in pretrial information sharing, and to tell Apple which Google employees those documents came from. Google had argued the collection of information would be too burdensome.

“The court cannot help but note the irony that Google, a pioneer in searching the Internet, is arguing that it would be unduly burdened by producing a list of how it searched its own files,” Grewal wrote in his order.

Bloomberg reports that Apple has requested Google turn over documents related to Android’s source code in an ongoing patent-infringement lawsuit with Samsung in California. According to the report, Apple took issue with Google’s process of turning over requested pretrial documents claiming Google is “improperly withholding information” and that Android “provides much of the accused functionality” in the infringement claims related to several of Samsung’s Galaxy products: Read more

T-Mobile USA moves half million iPhone 5′s in first month, spurs first subscriber growth since 2009

Seth Weintraub

T-Mobile just released its first earnings report since it started officially carrying the iPhone on April 12th and ‘coincidentally’ the first where it has picked up customers in 17 quarters. The carrier had accumulated 2.1M iPhone users without even carrying the iPhone up until it launched in April, which is up from 1 million in 2011.

T-Mobile tallied approximately 500,000 iPhone 5 sales in the first 30 days which is stronger than you might initially imagine, especially off a launch cycle. Other US carriers who have reported iPhone sales in the millions over 3 months note that about half of their sales are iPhone 5 (the other half are cheaper iPhone 4 and 4S).

The US #4 carrier saw its subscriber base increase by  579,000 customers, a number likely directly correlated to iPhone sales. In addition, T-Mobile will be adding 9 million MetroPCS users over the coming quarters to its ranks. T-Mobile also ran into some legal problems last month and was forced to change its marketing terminology with regards to ‘no-contract plans’ and was forced to offer customers refunds.

T-Mobile launched its subscription-based T-Mobile TV on iPhone last week.

Read more