Jordan Kahn

Update: Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves reached out to us with some clarification on his note to clients earlier today noting the “commentary in our note was our interpretation and our thoughts based on the meetings we had”:

Nobody at Apple said anything to us about future products. The commentary in our note was our interpretation and our thoughts based on the meetings we had. It’s ok if you say “Analyst does not expect a TV any time soon”, but its incorrect to attribute the commentary to Apple management, particularly in the title.

While recent reports claimed Apple is in deep negotiations with cable operators to create a new cable TV platform for Apple TV, many also tied the reports to the possibility of a full-fledged Apple HDTV. Jefferies analyst Peter Misek claimed just last week that Apple’s HDTV set is in full production, and he went as far as including 2 million units of the device at an average sale price of $1,250 in his model for early 2013.

According to a note to clients from Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves, who spoke with Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer and Senior Vice President for Internet Services Eddy Cue on Wednesday, Apple’s entrance into the HDTV world is “extremely unlikely in the near-term.” Fortune posted an excerpt from Hargreaves’ notes today following his meeting with Oppenheimer and Cue:

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We brought you an “iPhone 5 conversion kit” earlier this week that essentially allowed you to purchase a back plate mod kit resembling the leaked images of the white and black next-generation iPhone backs. Apple does not want you to get your hands on the new iPhone design just yet, so it not surprisingly issued a take down notice to the makers of the mod kit. The sellers still promise to accept orders for the next 48 hours and continue to ship to those who have already ordered. The full letter sent to the sellers is below:
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5z0Ia5jDt4]

Creator of Apple’s “Get a Mac” ad campaign, Scott Trattner, is leaving his role as executive creative director at TBWA/Media Arts Lab. He was responsible for the creative development of many Apple product ads from the iPod, iPhone and iPad to Mac, iTunes and iCloud. According to Ad Age, after years of focusing mostly on Apple campaigns at TBWA/Media Arts Lab, Trattner will take a new role at 72andSunny to work as one of three creative directors with clients, including Samsung, Xbox 360, Hewlett-Packard, Activision and Nike.

“Scott’s track record for creating colossal impact on behalf of his clients is second to none,” said 72andSunny CEO John Boiler in a statement. “His work has not only shaped one of the biggest brands in the world, but redefined industries.”

Most notably, 72andSunny was responsible for Samsung’s “Next Big Thing” Galaxy S II campaign that “launches the Samsung Galaxy S II by challenging blind allegiance to Apple’s inferior products”. 72andSunny is also behind many Call of Duty ads and campaigns for other Activision games.

Apple’s most recent ads featuring Apple Genius Bar employees, which aired during the Olympic Games in London, were not well received due to their lack of focus on an actual product and the fact they assumed customers were not knowledgeable. Apple later removed the videos from both their website and YouTube channel.

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J.D. Power and Associates is out with the second half of its 2012 “U.S. Wireless Network Quality Performance Study”, and Verizon once again come out on top for network performance in five of the six regions included in the report. Only second to U.S. Cellular in the North Central region, Verizon posted the best overall network performance among the other carriers in the remaining regions based on 10 key problem areas that could impact the customer experience.

For a 16th consecutive reporting period, Verizon Wireless ranks highest in the Northeast region. Verizon Wireless achieves fewer customer-reported problems with dropped calls, initial connections, transmission failures and late text messages, compared with the regional average. Verizon Wireless also ranks highest in the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest and West regions… U.S. Cellular ranks highest in the North Central region for a 14th consecutive reporting period. Compared with the regional average, U.S. Cellular has fewer customer-reported problems with dropped calls, failed initial connections, audio problems, failed voice mails and lost calls.

The study also covered the customer experience specifically for data-related problems. Not surprisingly, LTE device users experienced significantly less issues than older 3G devices like the iPhone:

The study finds that the number of data-related problems, especially those related to slow connection speeds, is significantly lower among customers using 4G LTE-enabled devices than among those using devices with older 3G/4G technology standards, such as WiMAX and HSPA+… For example, among customers with 4G LTE-enabled devices, the problem incidence for excessively slow mobile Web loading is 15 PP100, compared with the industry average of 20 PP100. Furthermore, the overall problem incidence for excessively slow mobile Web loading is even higher among customers with WiMAX and HSPA+ technology

Based on responses from over 26,000 U.S. wireless customers, the report explained how network performance was calculated:

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Angry Birds Space version 1.3.0: Continuing with a consistent line up of new content following the app’s initial release, today Rovio teamed up with NASA to release an updated Angry Birds Space with 20 new levels set on Mars. Also included is two antenna egg levels, a new astronaut pig, and “three hidden rovers and landers to open special bonus levels and discover more about the NASA missions!”

Cut the Rope version 1.9: All the versions of Cut the Rope have been updated today with the new “Spooky Box” bringing 25 new levels that feature “ghosts that morph into different gameplay elements.” Also included in the update is new superpowers allowing players to control candy within the game area and access a fourth star that unlocks additional levels.

ProCamera HD: The full-featured professional camera app previously only available for iPhone has finally made its way to the iPad with the release of ProCameraHD. The app is half off to celebrate its launch.

The iPad is an essential travel companion, especially when it comes to taking videos and photos. With the built-in iPad 5-megapixel camera you can take high-resolution photos and 1080p HD video (720p HD video on iPad 2). The new ProCamera HD app takes pictures and videos better and faster, and helps you get more out of your images with the expert mode and other tools! The SnapTrigger is perfectly adapted to the iPad: You decide where the control bar is located on the screen; this allows you to take photos and videos your way. The new internal library Lightbox allows you to delete, share, and export multiple photos and videos easily.

Doodle Jump version 3.0: A huge update to the popular Doodle Jump game from developers Lima Sky. In its biggest update yet, the game now includes a new Ninja theme with “all-new power-ups, monsters, obstacles (read: BEAR TRAPS), and COINS that you can collect.” The update also includes a ton of other new outfits, abilities, and upgrades.

Well version 1.1: This new social app —developed by former Digg, Blip.fm, and Rackspace engineers— essentially allows users to share their To-Do lists. A few key features include suggestions from friends, and the ability to re-list interesting To-Dos, as well as popular lists for discovering content and more. Visit http://well.io/ for more information.

TV Guide version 3.0: The official TV Guide iOS app received a complete redesign today with a bunch of new features for its over 7 million users. A full list of what’s new is below:
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While we certainly cannot vouch for the quality of this “iPhone 5 conversion mod kit” for iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, it appears to be a back-plate mod kit based on leaked next-generation iPhone designs. Available in both black and white, the kit is based on the next-gen metal iPhone backs that we first posted high-resolution photos of in May. The mod kit is currently shipping worldwide within seven days for $30. The sellers claim the kit uses “camera glass lens of same quality as original iPhone back panel,” while the back plate includes “glass-like acrylic” and aluminum.

The kit also comes with Phillips and Pentalobe screwdrivers. The iPhone 5 mod kit is available here, and a short promo video of the result is below. For comparison, images of the “real” thing are here.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDKjTMNZFJs&feature=player_embedded]

Following a string of teaser videos in recent months, Sony appears to have confirmed its Sound Forge Pro audio editing software will make its way to Mac. MacRumors pointed us to the video above, posted by FinallyOnMac, which shows the software running on a MacBook Pro.

We can see from the video above that the software has been redesigned for OS X, but we still do not know when the production suite will make its way to OS X or for how much. The PC edition of Sound Forge Pro 10 currently sells for around $375. Its obvious competition is Apple’s own Logic Pro 9 suite, which became a $199 Mac App Store app as of last year, down from the its old $499 Logic Studio offering. We are getting our hands on Sound Forge for Mac soon to give you our first impressions.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn6vv16Vq_I&feature=player_embedded]

As always, we’ll update this list throughout the day with notable app news…

Wild Blood: Gameloft has officially released the first full length gameplay trailer for its upcoming ‘Wild Blood’ title. The third person action game, Gameloft’s first powered by Unreal Engine, will feature a single-player campaign, as well as co-op and arena modes. VentureBeat has first impressions from an iPad demo:

Though you’ll start out with just one giant sword, your arsenal increases as you earn experience points; in the demo (shown on an iPad 3), a leveled up Lancelot dual-wields a pair of magical axes and shoots enemies from afar with his bow… Combat leans toward a simple combo system that feels very responsive and smooth as Lancelot dodges and rolles his way through a large group (around a dozen or so) of demons. In a matter of seconds, these creatures became nothing more than a fine bloody mist.

AutoCad WS version 1.5.2: A nice update for Autodesk’s free AutoCAD WS iPad app brings support for the new iPad’s Retina display in addition to a number of bug fixes.

Adobe Photoshop Express version 2.5.1: Adobe’s free Photoshop Express iOS app gets updated today with a new variant of the Film Emulsion border and a fix for a white colour issue with Film Emulsion. Adobe also noted it “emphasized the free Effects and Borders with separate free categories.”

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Skype version 4.1: Both Skype’s iPhone and iPad apps were updated today with the ability to send and receive photos (with no file size limit) in addition to a number of other enhancements. Also present is updated privacy settings, a fix for issues related to Bluetooth and calls, and “Minor visual improvements across the app.” Skype also explained how it’s made the app “less battery hungry” and improved overall performance:

We’ve also improved the overall performance of Skype’s mobile apps. We’ve made them less battery hungry when running in the background, so you’ll now be able to answer Skype calls throughout the day when they come in. And, as you’ll be able to keep Skype open, you can respond to or send IMs to friends and colleagues all day long. In addition, we’ve tried to make the app start and contact list load even faster, so you can do all the things you love to do with Skype more quickly.

ooVoo Video Chat version 1.2.0: The free 12-way HD video chat app was updated today with a bunch of notable features including 4 pane video chat support on iPhone 4S, push notifications for chat messages and incoming video, and much more. You can also now send chat messages during a video call, start chats from the IM tab, and view a history of past text and video chats.

Plants Vs. Zombies Sequel: PopCap has confirmed it is working on a sequel to the extremely popular Plants Vs. Zombies title slated to launch sometime in late spring 2013. With the success of its iOS version of the first title, there is no doubt part two will be landing on iPhones and iPads when it arrives next year. We don’t have many details yet, but PopCap said the game will include “a bevy of new features, settings, and situations, designed to delight the franchise’s tens of millions of fans around the world.” We are also promised “hordes of new plant and zombie types.”

“Spring is crullest curlie ungood time, and plantz grow dull roots,” noted an unidentified spokesperson. “So, we are meating you for brainz at yore house. No worry to skedule schedlue plan… we’re freee anytime. We’ll find you.”
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When we checked in at the end of last week, AAPL was at an all-time high with a market cap passing $600 billion and closing at 648. As noted by MacRumors, Apple has become the most valuable publicly traded stock in history after passing Microsoft’s record set in 1999. Apple’s stock price hit $660.73 with a market cap of $620.50 billion today. That is compared to Microsoft’s market cap of $618.89 billion in December 1999.

However, with inflation, MacRumors noted Microsoft’s cap in 1999 would be worth roughly $842.5 billion today. It is also noteworthy that Microsoft has paid dividends for roughly a decade, while Apple announced its program just this year. Microsoft is now worth approximately one-third of Apple’s valuation.

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Update: The tactic worked. Facing disclosure to a jury that both Apple and Samsung failed to uphold document retention laws, the two companies struck a deal to keep the matter private.

Bloomberg reported today that Samsung chief Kwon Oh Hyun and Apple chief Tim Cook will speak on the phone today ahead of jury deliberations in the ongoing Apple v. Samsung trial in San Jose. Another update in the case comes from paid blogger Florian Mueller (most recently funded by Microsoft and Oracle), who reported a previous ruling from Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal, to only provide an adverse inference jury instruction against Samsung, was overruled by Judge Lucy Koh in a decision late yesterday.

Therefore, instead of the jury hearing only a statement regarding Samsung failing to preserve evidence, jurors will also hear the same statement related to Apple. According to Mueller, Samsung claimed that “Apple’s duty to preserve email must have arisen no later than Samsung’s duty.”

Samsung pointed out that Apple neglected to provide emails from former CEO Steve Jobs mentioning the patent trial from 2010 until his resignation and death in 2011. That was apparently enough to convince the judge.

The instruction the court plans to give the jury before deliberations on Wednesday —unless Apple can get Koh to change her decision in a hearing today— is below.

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[tweet https://twitter.com/SammyWalrusIV/status/236448797008490496]

Following reports from The Wall Street Journal this week claiming Apple is in negotiations with cable TV operators for a new Apple TV set-top-box, today a report from Jefferies analyst Peter Misek claimed Apple’s much rumoured HDTV is “in full production”. The report is covered by Forbes and Barron’s.

While referring to the platform as iTV, Jefferies added Apple is planning to partner with Verizon and AT&T in addition to selling set-top-boxes for cable providers such as Comcast. According to the report, Apple will offer a “premium Apple television” offering content from Verizon and AT&T, as well as giving users an option for just a cable box for Comcast and possibly other cable operators.

Content for users outside of the US was not discussed in the report. Jefferies is now including 2 million iTVs in its model for early 2013 with an average sale price of $1,250.

Misek notes that recent data out of Sharp, Hon Hai and other specialty chemical and TV component suppliers support this.

[tweet https://twitter.com/SammyWalrusIV/status/236460817334284289]

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Update: The full Dow Jones article is now available (here). According to the story, which cites communication between Apple’s new Senior Vice President of Retail John Browett and the company’s retail store teams, Apple was testing a new retail formula:

In a communication with store leadership teams, senior vice president of retail, John Browett, who took the reins of Apple’s retail stores in April, said that the company had been trying a new staffing formula for its retail stores, leading some employees to see their hourly shifts cut and retail locations to be understaffed. This happened for a few weeks before the company decided to revert to its older system, hoping to rectify the problem…He instructed leadership teams to tell employees, “We messed up,” according to two people who were aware of the communication, which also stressed that while shift schedules were affected, no one was laid off. He also wanted employees to know that it was hiring new staff, these people said.

With several reports in recent weeks claiming Apple is cutting hours and increasing layoffs of recently hired staff in some of its retail stores, today Dow Jones reported that Apple is claiming the stories are “misleading” and stores continue to hire new employees. As highlighted in the tweets above, many reports speculated Apple’s new retail SVP was possibly the source of the changes, which according to reports, included fewer workshops, no overtime, fewer hours for full-timers, and even cuts of recently trained employees. In today’s upcoming report from Dow Jones, Apple confirmed, “retail staff changes were a mistake and staffing changes are being reversed.”

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkFo_6kIwkI]

Cory Moll, the leader of the Apple Retail Workers Union, created the video above sharing his thoughts on the situation.

The story is yet to be published, so we do not yet have all the details. The story is now available online. (via BusinessInsider):

[tweet http://twitter.com/SammyWalrusIV/status/236116742328438784]

[tweet http://twitter.com/SammyWalrusIV/status/236118064842817536]

[tweet http://twitter.com/SammyWalrusIV/status/236119034016460800]

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As always, we will update our list of new apps and updates hitting the App Store and Mac App Store throughout the day:

Angry Birds Seasons version 2.5.0: New content for Rovio’s “Seasons” edition of Angry Birds rolled out today (including the HD version). The update includes 20 new schoolyard levels, bonus levels, a new pink bird, and new theme music for the playground levels.

Amazon Instant Video version 1.1: Amazon’s iPad app provides access to over 120,000 videos from the Amazon Instant Video store and thousands more Prime Instant Video titles, and it was updated today with a couple notable features. First—a new search function has been added to find specific titles from Prime. Also included in the update are an improved navigation bar and a number of bug fixes.

Shazam version 5.0.6: All of the versions of the song recognition app Shazam were updated today with an improved recognition rate and faster application startup time. The update also went to the $5.99 RED edition.

Dunkin’ Donuts version 1.0: Dunkin’ Donuts officially announced the release of its first mobile app today that allows customers to pay from the app using a virtual barcode-based DD card scanned by the cashier. Other features include a store locator, nutritional information for items on the menu, the ability to send virtual DD cards, and Facebook and Twitter integration.

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We told you in July that Apple was acquiring 230-employee mobile security company AuthenTec. At the time, we mentioned the company holds 200 patents covering security solutions such as fingerprint sensors, and we noted Apple could possibly use the tech in a future wallet application. We get a little bit more insight into the deal today with an SEC filing (via TNW) that reveals some specifics about the merger.

The document detailed that Apple negotiations began in late 2011 when AuthenTec approached “several leading consumer electronics companies” about acquiring a new technology. After an agreement with Apple made in February 2012 to acquire the new technology fell through, Apple ultimately offered to buy the company:

On May 1, Apple decided it wouldn’t be satisfied with a commercial agreement and notified AuthenTec’s representatives of its proposal to acquire the company instead. Apple offered a price of $7.00 per share, valuing AuthenTec at a 115% premium over the closing price of its common stock as a day previous, pricing that Apple believed “other potential buyers would be unwilling to pay.”

Before the deal closed, Apple argued its offer was “very attractive” since a deal with other companies would require developing for “dozens of different smartphone platforms, in contrast to Apple’s unique narrow product platform, which allows for unity of design in component parts across significant unit volumes.” As for the new technology that Apple was presumably after, it appears to be fingerprint related. While there is no specific description of “the new technology,” the filing explained that the IP agreement part of the deal is where Apple reserves the right to the “commercialization of 2D fingerprint sensors for use in or with Apple products”:

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