Apple

Florian Mueller isn’t a patent attorney but he plays one on his blog FOSSPatents.  For better or worse, he’s often quoted in the ongoing mobile technology patent battles where the winner is often Apple.  He’s also German so he probably understands this new, disturbing ruling a lot better than us (Our German is “rostig”)

Apple knows what it’s like to win injunctions against rivals. It won four of them against Samsung (two in Germany, one in the Netherlands and most recently one in Australia; all of them preliminary). Now it seems that Apple has just come out on the losing end of a patent infringement lawsuit. I have received a copy of what purports to be a default judgment by the Mannheim Regional Court barring Apple from selling in Germany — the single largest market in Europe — any mobile devices infringing on two Motorola Mobility patents and determining that Apple owes Motorola Mobility damages for past infringement since April 19, 2003.

If true, this would be a Hindenburg-sized backfire for Apple’s legal efforts in Europe.

The two patents and their US equivalents, Statements from Apple and Motorola and an update from Mueller below:
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Just two days following the release of iOS 5.0.1 Beta 1 (which fixed bugs affecting battery life, enabled multitasking gestures on the original iPad and fixed the Smart Cover security flaw, among other things), and on the heels of yesterday’s release of iTunes 10.5.1 Beta 2, Apple today seeded its developer community with another point release, the iOS 5.0.1 Beta 2 software build 9A404 (the previous beta carries a build number of 9A402).

Developers should be able to download a standalone iOS 5.0.1. Beta 2 build through the iOS Dev Center, but we were having issues downloading the files at post time. Alternatively, registered developers can apply an over-the-air update directly on devices running iOS 5.0.1 Beta 1 by opening the Settings app, tapping General and then Software Update. Changelog is not available yet, but count on us to update the post accordingly.

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A delayed launch of Apple’s iPhone, which had been pushed back from the usual summer time frame to mid-October, affected slightly Apple’s earnings, but the effects were felt in the entire smartphone industry which experienced a lower-than-expected growth in the third quarter, research firm IDC reported yesterday. Vendors shipped 118.1 million smartphones during the September quarter, a 42.6 percent growth from the  82.8 million units a year ago. However, IDC’s forecast for the quarter was 49.1 percent and they attribute the difference to the iPhone launch delay:

Smartphone growth came in lower than expected due to the delayed launch of the updated Apple iPhone. In previous years, the introduction of a new iPhone resulted in a spike in shipment volumes during the third quarter. Western Europe and the United States, two key regions for the iPhone launch each year, still posted sizable year-over-year gains, but lower than anticipated.

“Broad and deep product portfolio” and “a welcome reception” of Bada-branded smartphones helped Samsung overtake Apple as the world’s leading smartphone maker in the third quarter, IDC said. But i’s bound to be a short-lived victory as “Apple’s fourth quarter launch of the iPhone 4S and lower pricing of older models will certainly boost volumes”, the research firm explained. But it’s when you drill Apple’s biz deeper when it really starts to come together. Read on…
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We’re hearing that there were some last minute delays but Apple Stores will soon be rolling out a lot more signs like the one above.  Customers will soon be able to pay for accessories at the Apple Store with their iOS device via camera and Apple Store App. Thanks Dylan!
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During their earnings call this afternoon, CBS’s Les Moonves made comment (via GigaOm) that the media company turned down a partnership with Apple for a streaming deal on the Apple TV. Moonves says that the deal was turned down because of the ad-split revenue that Apple was trying to reach an agreement over.

It has been long rumored that Apple has been working on reaching subscription deals with media companies. In Steve Job’s official biography by Walter Isaacson, it was revealed that Steve Jobs “cracked the TV”. Today’s comments reveal that Apple is indeed going after media companies for agreements. But why?

These types of agreements will be implemented into the rumored “iTV” that is supposedly coming in 2012. From the D8 conference:

Then you get into another problem. Which is there isn’t a cable operator that is national. There is a bunch of cable providers. There isn’t like a GSM standard like with phones. Every country has different standards, different government approvals. It’s very balkanized. I’m sure smarter people than us will figure this out. That’s why when we say Apple TV as a hobby we use this phrase.

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Update: Here it is! (Thanks Dapper!)

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Thanks Marty!

Apple has just started closing down its 5th Avenue Store which is usually open 24/7/365 where patrons are filing out of the GM building entrance.  It is preparing for a grand re-opening at 10am tomorrow where a newly-designed $6 million cube will be unveiled.  The number of panes in the cube will drop from 90 to just 15 (3 per side).

We’re simplifying the Fifth Avenue cube. By using larger, seamless pieces of glass, we’re using just 15 panes instead of 90.

Apple will spend the next 12 hours getting the store ready according to the 5th Avenue Store web page.

Attention:We’ll be closed starting at 10:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 3 and will reopen at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, November 4.

Apple began pulling the wraps off of the 5th Avenue Store Cube upgrade project this evening.  The above pictures shows the new seamless glass panels that will eventually look like this artist’s rendition, below:
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Update: Siri appears to be back online. Let us know in the comment below if it is working for you.

Many publications, including us, have found that Siri is experiencing its first extended outage across the United States. When users try to say a command or ask a question Siri responds back with,”there’s something wrong, and I can’t answer your questions right now. Please try again in a little while.”

Twitter users are weighing in experiencing the same issues for the better part of today. Siri does appear to be working in other countries, however. Apple has yet to comment, but we’ll keep you updated. Are you experiencing this too?

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Following the release of iOS 5.0.1 this afternoon to developers, Apple has released iTunes 10.5.1 Beta 2 to developers this evening. Along with being posted to the Developer Center, Apple has sent out the following email to developers. In the email Apple now reveals that iTunes Match has been made available for Apple TV. This update also includes a number of bug fixes. Sadly, iTunes Match still isn’t available to the public.

iTunes 10.5.1 beta 2 is now available and includes a number of important stability and performance improvements. iTunes Match is also now available for testing on Apple TV.

On your Apple TV, choose Music > Turn on iTunes Match.

Please remember to backup regularly and do not delete the music you add to iCloud from your computer.

How’s it looking on your Apple TV? Let us know; tips@9to5mac.com. Full email after the break:

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Square just pushed out quite an interesting update to their Square Card Case that we told you about back in August when it was first released. Taking full advantage of iOS 5’s geofencing capabilities, the updated app can now establish a tab at your favorite retailers when within a virtual boundary of 100 meters, essentially allowing for a frictionless, hands-free payment experience.

Imagine walking by your favorite retail shop and a tab with your name is automatically opened on the merchant’s Square app for iPad, just in case you happen to stop in and make a purchase. If you do stop in to make a purchase, the merchant can authorize the payment using a credit card or debit card already linked to the Card Case app on your iPhone. If you don’t stop at the shop, the tab will automatically be closed once outside of the 100 meter range.

This obviously allows you to bypass the need of removing your phone from your pocket and interacting with the Square card case app to establish a connection with a merchant. You’ll only have to confirm your name, while merchants will use the same authorization methods as before, confirming the user with an image of their face within the Square iPad app. You’ll of course have to authorize which retailers you wants tabs to automatically be opened for first.

Square director of product Megan Quinn had this to say about the new update in an interview (via Wired):

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Update: The reporters at Bloomberg are somehow using us as a source for this false rumor.  We’ve contacted them to correct but they’ve so far left it untouched.  Our report comes from iFoAppleStore and CultofMac (below)

Updated from Cult of Mac: Apple has gotten back to us a statement, reading: “The search for a replacement for Ron Johnson continues, and Apple has nothing to announce about this subject at this time.”

Updated: 2: Apple wanted to make sure it was clear that no decision has been made yet and the Cult of Mac story is without merit.

Ron Johnson has only been gone a few days but rumors are already swirling that Steve Cano will be replacing the new JCPenney CEO as head of Apple’s retail business. Cult of Mac reports separately from an earlier post by ifoAppleStore’s Gary Allen which seems to indicate that Cano will assume the position. Here is the full statement as released by the Apple Retail Workers Union:

Statement regarding Steve Jobs and the future of Apple

by Apple Retail Workers Union on Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 2:06am

The organizers of the Apple Retail Workers Union wish to express their condolences to the family of Steve Jobs. He was an inspiration to many, and will be regarded as one of the greats of our time. He followed his heart and did what he loved, which resulted in Apple becoming one of the greatest companies in the world. He surrounded himself with intelligent people who helped create technology that improved the way we live and share our lives.

With that in mind, we want to remind that while Steve and his teams created products and solutions to work “right out of the box”, Apple’s retail stores are still experiencing problems 10 years after launch. The messages we receive from workers illustrate a desire for improved compensation, consistent management policies and adherence to local, state and national laws. The feeling extends to the workers at Apple’s suppliers including Foxconn, Wintek, Samsung and others.

We wish much success to Tim Cook and Steve Cano, who will be leading Apple and its retail stores going forward. As word of our movement grows and workers become increasingly interested in finding solutions where management is unwilling or unable, we continue to take pride in the opportunity we have every day to provide our customers with enriching experiences. At our core, we simply want Apple to return to its roots and remind itself that their “most important resource… is our people”.

We can’t confirm that Cano has been promoted and in fact his role is still listed as Apple retail employee in Region XV. He’s certainly in the running, as one of Ron Johnson’s subordinates.

Cano started with Apple ten years ago as the manager of Steve Jobs’s local Palo Alto Apple Store. He then rose through the ranks…

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Raising the stakes in the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Samsung over copycat accusations involving mobile devices, Samsung is upping the ante by asking to depose Apple’s iPhone designers, including Apple’s leading industrial design guru Jonathan Ive.

According to Josh Rosenthall of Edible Apple, depositions of Apple’s iPhone inventors Jonathan Ive, Douglas Satzger, Shin Nishibori and Christopher Stringer “will be taking place relatively soon” and ahead of the expedited trial between Apple and Samsung in the United States, scheduled for July 30, 2012.

According to Samsung’s motion, none of the aforementioned designers will be able to sit for deposition for various reasons. In the case of Jony Ive, the motion mentions “personal reasons”. Ive is especially important in this case. Jobs’s spiritual partner, it is said that no one could tell Ive what to do, at least until Jobs resigned. According to Jobs’s authorized biographer Walter Isaacson:

He called Jonathan Ive, Apple’s design chief, his “spiritual partner” at Apple. He told Isaacson that Ive had “more operation power” at Apple than anyone besides Jobs himself — that there’s no one at the company who can tell Ive what to do. That, says Jobs, is “the way I set it up.”

As such, Ive is the holder of Apple’s many secrets and inner workings, something Samsung is legitimately hoping to exploit ahead of the trial. And while Apple’s design guru really needs no introduction, here’s a brief overview of the others.

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Following our reports last week of Apple’s Ship to Store system being rolled out in San Francisco, we have learned this evening that Apple plans to rollout the new system to all regions this Thursday, November 3rd. The Ship to Store system will allow customers to place an order for a product on Apple’s Online Store and then pick up their purchase at their local Apple Store within the hour.

Customers will also be able to purchase cheaper products like cases on their own inside the store without having to deal with a sales rep, using their iOS device that has a camera. The processing of the purchase will be done through Apple’s updated retail app that will launch before Thursday. Internally this new system is being dubbed “EasyTheft”, based off a pun of Apple’s “EasyPay” system they use in-store to process sales.

We have also learned that Apple is holding an overnight tonight at their retail stores to talk specifics of the new “EasyTheft” system and rearrange accessories that will be available for purchase. We look forward to seeing the new systems in all U.S. retail markets this Thursday.

Thanks Danny!

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It wasn’t much of a surprise when Tim Cook said “Apple is not going to change” in his letter to employees as newly appointed CEO following Steve Jobs’ resignation. Not long after that, we published a story about what we called Cook’s first “anti-Jobsian move”. Of course many questions arose surrounding how Cook’s sales and operations background may influence his leadership style, and how it might differ from Jobs.

Today we get a look at just how the company has changed under Cook’s guidance with the Wall Street Journal publishing a story detailing the moves the new CEO has made since taking over in August:

In recent weeks, Mr. Cook has tended to administrative matters that never interested Mr. Jobs, such as promotions and corporate reporting structures, according to people familiar with the matter. The new chief executive, 50 years old, has also been more communicative with employees than his predecessor, sending a variety of company-wide emails while addressing Apple employees as “Team,” people close to the company said.

According to the report, Cook was also behind a recent restructuring of the company’s education division, a move which split the business (which until now operated “fairly independently”) into a sales and marketing structure and incorporated it into the company-wide sales and marketing divisions. The restructuring will place additional responsibilities on Apple execs Phil Schiller and John Brandon.

Citing “former executives” and others close to the company, the WSJ claims Cook will also “be more open with shareholders” and note he’s expressed desire to meet with investors more often than Jobs. After Cook’s statement that he’s “not religious about holding cash or not holding it” during Apple’s earnings call last month, it’s not much of a surprise many expect the new CEO to be more open to stock buybacks or dividends as well.

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C Spire confirmed via press release today after announcing it last month, that Apple’s iPhone 4S will be available on their network on November 11th in the Southeastern United States. C Spire will keep with Apple’s pricing, offering the 16GB version for $199, 32GB version for $299, and the 64GB version for $399. The carrier will be offering 4 plans with the iPhone 4S, outlined below. For those who don’t want to go with a data plan they can pay for it as they go for one penny per five kilobytes.

Plans 1 and 2 above, while they have unlimited data, somehow only allow 30 minutes of streaming video per month. Having the iPhone 4S available on CDMA C Spire is part of Apple’s plan to expand availability of the iPhone to almost everyone. C Spire currently has almost a million customers in Mississippi, Florida, and parts of Alabama and Georgia and Tennessee and boasts “the highest level of smartphone penetration among carriers in the US”.

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Apple likes to maintain tight control over its image and that extends to any outwardly-facing public social network, especially Facebook.

Sure, the Cupertino firm maintains its own Facebook pages and Twitter channels, basically outlets to spread news about new iTunes content, product updates, support documents, etc. in a tightly controlled manner. But If you thought each Apple employees is his or her own person and entitled to express opinion about the brand, you’re in for a surprise: Tweet/post/blog negatively about Apple and you’ll get fired. Period.

One employee in the UK went on to berate Apple “privately on Facebook”, arguing the posts were not public. ifoAppleStore.com has the story of an Apple employee named Crisp who appealed to the UK labor after being fired for “gross misconduct”:

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As noted by MacRumors, Apple’s self-imposed end of October deadline has come and gone without the promised public launch of iTunes Match. The service will scan your local iTunes library and fingerprint songs in order to make them available for download (or was it streaming?) via iCloud to all authorized devices – for $25 a year flat fee, no strings attached. It’s unknown what’s behind this unusual setback. Could be last-minute backend issues that needed sorting out. Be that as it may, we’re keeping our fingers crossed for Tim Cook to keep a tight rein on his team now that the ultimate micro-manager is gone.

It’s worth mentioning, however, that Apple removed support for iTunes Match from the public release of iTunes 10.5 even though it’s been present in prior developer betas. iTunes Match resurfaced in iTunes 10.5.1 beta that was seeded to developers on October 11 and subsequently expired. Apple also last week sent notices informing developers their cloud libraries will get wiped out, another sign of an imminent launch.

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We’ve gotten word that inside Apple there are Apple TVs running the Hulu Plus app natively. The app is feature complete and ready to roll out to Apple TV users on current builds. In fact, it has been ready for at least a month and development is now on hold.

While there are no technical issues standing in the way of the Hulu Plus release on Apple TV, there appear to be some political ones. At some level at Apple, there appears to be some consideration that the Hulu Plus app could eat into iTunes TV sales on the Apple TV. Where Netflix tends to run older programming, iTunes is the Apple TV’s only outlet for current TV programming.

Hulu Plus is available on the iPad and other iOS devices but unlike many other content apps, you can’t AirPlay them to an Apple TV like Apple’s own iTunes videos. Additionally, you can use an HDMI cable to watch the iOS Hulu Plus through an iPad on your HDTV, but mysteriously only in Standard definition, not the native HD Hulu or iTunes quality. Plus, who needs an HDMI-tethered solution?

Adding to the political troubles, Hulu was recently trying to sell itself to players including Apple competitor Google (and Apple itself) but no bidders were willing to bid high enough. Perhaps Apple wanted to make sure that Hulu Plus didn’t turn into a Trojan Horse for one of its competitors?

Hulu Plus was originally barred from all TV platforms, but giving hope to Apple TV users, it recently appeared in HD on the $59 Roku (above) and even a few smaller platforms like the very capable Western Digital’s TV Live (pictured below).

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You know the non-existant “iTV” that Steve Jobs hinted about in the Walter Isaacson Bio? Yeah, it is already getting “mocked up” by one of our favorite artists Guilherme M. Schasiepen on Flickr. Check the gallery below.

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This week, we are co-sponsoring iPhone 4S + Monster Accessory Pack giveaways with Monster Cable. You can win the iPhone 4S + Accessory Pack from Monster Cable by liking their Facebook page and entering their contest here: https://www.facebook.com/monstercable. Enter once for a chance to win every week until December 23rd.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtILiyMGl84&start=360]

Gates defends himself slightly but seems smart enough (and secure enough) not to handle the tough words head on.

“Well, Steve and I worked together, creating the Mac. We had more people on it, did the key software for it.”

“So, over the course of the 30 years we worked together, you know, he said a lot of very nice things about me and he said a lot of tough things. I mean, he faced several times at Apple the fact that their products were so premium priced they literally might not stay in the marketplace. So, the fact that we were succeeding with high-volume products, including a range of prices, because of the way we worked with multiple companies, its tough.”

“At various times, he felt beleaguered. He felt like he was the good guy and we were the bad guys. You know, very understandable. I respect Steve, we got to work together. We spurred each other on, even as competitors. None of that bothers me at all.”

It is getting harder and harder to hate Bill.

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From 9to5Toys.com:

Looking to get a free Audio copy of the Steve Jobs book (or any book for that matter)? If you don’t feel like shelling out the $35 in addition to whatever you paid for the paper/digital version, Audible.com offers a free audio book with a 14-day membership which allows you to pick up the book for free.

The 3x110MB download is DRM free and can be played on any iOS device or in iTunes among others. Audible.com does offer many membership benefits…

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