iPhone 5c

Reuters is reporting that Samsung’s lawsuit against Apple in South Korea, aiming to ban Apple phones and tablets, has been lost. The case dates back to the patent wars of 2011 where Apple and Samsung sued each for patent infringement other around the world.

Samsung’s claims revolved around messaging and content display. The judge said Apple’s devices do not violate the claims. The court threw out the possibility of a sales ban as well as rejecting damages totalling just under $100,000.

Samsung is currently deciding whether to appeal. Unsurprisingly, Apple was pleased with the decision.

“We are glad the Korean court joined others around the world in standing up for real innovation and rejecting Samsung’s ridiculous claims,” Apple Korea spokesman Steve Park said.

GTA: San Andreas rolling out across the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

Benjamin Mayo Dec 11 2013 - 11:04 am PT

Update: The game is now available on the App Store worldwide.

After announcing that the iconic game would come to iOS last month, Rockstar is releasing GTA San Andreas today. The game is live in certain countries already, and will be available globally in the coming hours at this link. If the link does not work for you currently, it will do when the clock turns midnight in your region’s timezone. The game costs $7 and is compatible with iPhone 4s and later, iPad 2 and later and the fifth generation iPod touch.

Review: Castro for iPhone is a modern approach to an iOS 7 podcast client

Benjamin Mayo Dec 10 2013 - 8:00 am PT

10 Comments

Castro is a brand new podcasting app for the iPhone (available in the App Store for $2.99). It’s not an update to an existing podcast client. It’s a new app. It doesn’t have any legacy to anchor it down because it really is a fresh start.

Apple hires real-world radio executive for iTunes Radio, working on ad sales

Benjamin Mayo Dec 10 2013 - 6:25 am PT

Via AdAge, Apple has hired Michael Pallad for its iTunes Radio team. Pallad’s LinkedIn confirms the report, citing Apple iTunes as his current occupation.

corp-photo-pallad

AdAge says that Pallad joined Apple about a week ago and is in charge of international iTunes Radio sales. Pallad comes from Cumulus Media, a real-world radio organisation, as their Executive Vice President of Sales. As Apple’s initial round of iAd campaigns for iTunes Radios run out at the end of the year, it seems Apple needed someone versed in radio advertising sales to help setup its deals for 2014.

China Mobile iPhone preorders start from Thursday, ship from the 18th

Benjamin Mayo Dec 9 2013 - 2:44 am PT

A screenshot from China Mobile’s website, advertisng the 12th December preorder date.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that whilst China Mobile’s 4G services do not launch until the 18th, the carrier will open preorders for the iPhone from this Thursday, the 12th of December.

Apple dominated Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend sales, says analytics company

Ben Lovejoy Dec 5 2013 - 3:45 am PT

Analytics company Localytics said that of all the gadgets purchased across the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend, the iPad Air enjoyed by far the largest boost in sales.

Comparing activations with those for the previous weekend, 51 percent more iPad Airs were sold, with Apple also taking second and third places with the original iPad Mini and iPhone 5c. In all, Apple products took six of the top nine places.

According to Localytics’ data, a whopping 51% more new iPad Air devices were seen than the previous week. This is due to a combination of factors, including Apple’s promotion of giving gift cards with purchases of the iPad Air and iPad Mini (but not iPad Mini 2nd gen) devices. This, combined with a smaller base of iPad Air devices and the novelty of the iPad Air (released on November 1st) resulted in the iPad Air dominating on Black Friday weekend. Apple’s older iPad Mini model finished second, and the iPhone 5c took third. As previously reported by Localytics, the iPhone 5c is gaining on its more sophisticated cousin, the 5s, during the past couple months.

Localytics analysed figures for over a million devices to reach its conclusions.

Apple has also overtaken Dell as the desktop PC brand most shoppers intend to buy according to data from Park Associates (via CNET). Apple already topped the list for laptops, tablets and routers.

Some Apple Stores begin price-matching iPad Air & iPhone 5c

Mark Gurman Dec 3 2013 - 10:15 am PT

Weeks after launch, a number of Apple Stores in the United States have begun price-matching both the iPad Air and iPhone 5c. Sources say that the ability to price-match those new devices began earlier this week.

The price-matching will vary region-to-region, with some markets choosing to not conduct any price-matching at this time.

The stores that do support matching, however, will only match up to 10% off. So if your local carrier is offering the iPhone 5c free on-contract, don’t expect to get a free iPhone 5c at an Apple Store. Apple has not began price-matching the more expensive iPhone 5s nor the harder-to-find iPad mini with Retina display.

Apple briefly price-matched the iPad Air up to $479 at launch, but it then quickly stopped.

Updated report graphs Apple’s dedication to supporting older iPhones vs. Android

Jordan Kahn Dec 3 2013 - 7:29 am PT

22 Comments

Fidlee-iOS-vs-Android-Adoption-Support

We hear a lot about adoption of iOS updates vs the fragmentation that Android users are forced to deal with, but just how far behind are the top Android devices compared to iPhone when it comes to getting support? To answer that question, Fidlee.com has updated a chart that it first put together a couple years back in order to see if Android has become any better in recent years. It hasn’t.

In the chart above we see that many once flagship Android devices— the Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy S3, LG G2 etc— have still not received the latest Android 4.4 KitKat update. Most of the devices on the list have been an upgrade or two behind since launch or not long after. In comparison, only the iPhone 3GS fives years after its release doesn’t support iOS 7. We also get a look at how much longer Apple devices generally stay available for sale and continue receiving support– nearly twice as long as Android in most cases.

Not only did Apple claim iOS 7 was “the fastest software upgrade in history” with more than 200 million devices installing the OS less than a week after launch, but analytics firms also noticed adoption was much higher than previous releases. Currently iOS 7 sits at about 77% of users, according to the latest data from Fiksu’s iOS Usage Monitor. While the chart above is only for devices released last year, things aren’t much better for newer Android devices. In comparison to iOS 7 adoption, Google reports that its latest release, Android 4.4 KitKat, is at just 1.1% weeks into launch. The previous release, Android 4.3, is at just 4.2%, while the majority of users remain on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean first released in July 2012.

A couple more charts below from Fidlee showing just how bad things are on Android:
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Filemaker releases new version for 2013 with HTML5 data entry, new iOS features and tightened security

Benjamin Mayo Dec 3 2013 - 6:00 am PT

5 Comments

Filemaker, a subsidiary of Apple, has just announced its 2013 version of its popular database application. The new version focuses on bringing desktop database solutions to the browser. New in Filemaker ’13, projects can now be managed through a centralized web dashboard, with options for partner portals and file hosting. More importantly, data entry can now be taken in a web interface — HTML5 powered forms enable businesses to manage their deployments on any PC or Mac, as there is no longer a reliance on having the native applications installed.

Apple offering 0% financing on online hardware purchases in most European countries, ends 10th January

Benjamin Mayo Dec 2 2013 - 3:07 am PT

Today, Apple has launched a promotion for online purchases, offering 0% financing on any purchase above £449 (or €400). The deal is on offer across most of Apple’s European websites, including the UK, France, Italy and Spain.

In the UK, for instance, a customer can buy any product above that value and spread repayments across ten monthly instalments with 0% interest. In other countries, such as France or Spain, the repayment is window is slightly longer at twelve months.

Judge formally dismisses user privacy lawsuit regarding location services and App Store data collection policy

Benjamin Mayo Nov 28 2013 - 3:04 am PT

Reuters is reporting that Lucy Koh has today dismissed a data privacy lawsuit against Apple that dates back to 2011. The plaintiffs were suing on the basis that (in iOS 4.1) Apple collected WiFi hotspot and cell tower location data even though Location Services were disabled.

T-Mobile, regional carriers offering iPhone 5s and 5c for $0 down on Black Friday

Jordan Kahn Nov 27 2013 - 8:27 am PT

9 Comments

iPhone-5s5c-deals

Update: It turns out this deal doesn’t provide much of a savings in the long run. T-Mobile is raising the monthly installment from $20 to around $27, so while you won’t have to put any money down up front, you’ll still be paying off the full cost of the device over the 24 month installment plan period.

According to a leaked internal memo posted by TmoNews, T-Mobile is going to be dropping the upfront price of both the iPhone 5s and 5c to $0 down on its usual instalment plans for Black Friday. That cuts the usual down payment for the iPhone 5s down from $149 and the iPhone 5c from $49. The deal will officially kick off on Friday and last through Sunday, but the report notes that “a select number of stores will be accepting orders from Thursday evening.” After getting your iPhone for $0 down, you’ll pay around $20 a month for 24 months on T-Mobile instalment plans.

Some regionals carriers are also gearing up for big discounts this Friday. Appalachian Wireless announced it will offer the 16GB iPhone 5, 5C or 5S for a penny on contract today only and nTelos will also have the iPhone 5c for $0 on Friday. Appalachian is also advertising the penny deal for Black Friday on its site, but no word if iPhones will be included after today. T-Mobile definitely beats Walmart’s best deal with the iPhone 5c for around $45 on contract, but we’re thinking other retailers and carriers might announce iPhone discounts for Black Friday too.

Tweetbot 3.2 brings night theme, account switching shortcuts

Benjamin Mayo Nov 27 2013 - 8:19 am PT

2 Comments

Today, Tapbots has released Tweetbot 3.2 to the App Store, the latest version of their highly-popular Twitter client. Tapbots have been pretty relentless in updating their flagship app with version 3.1 arriving only two weeks ago.

Tweetbot 3.2 brings a long-awaited night theme to the app, offering another theme choice to users who may not like the stark-white default look.

The theme can be set to adjust automatically based on time or manually set as the default look. The application theme can also be changed via a hidden gesture; simply swipe up and down with two fingers to toggle between the light and dark theme.

iPhone 5s and 5c take lions share of Japan smartphone sales in October

Benjamin Mayo Nov 27 2013 - 7:26 am PT

Kantar World Panel is reporting that Apple took 76% of total smartphone sales in Japan during October. This means Apple outsold other manufacturers by about 3:1 in the country.

[tweet https://twitter.com/KWP_ComTech/status/405288467141115904]

The strong sales performance is likely due to the addition of DoCoMo to the iPhone carrier lineup in Japan. Until this year, DoCoMo has resisted accepting the iPhone. However, with the iPhone 5s and 5c, customers could buy Apple’s flagship devices from the carrier at launch. DoCoMo is Japan’s largest carrier, with over 60 million subscribers. According to Kantar, the iPhone accounted for 61% of DoCoMo’s total smartphone sales during October.

‘Toaster’ dual-iPhone charging dock appears on Kickstarter

Benjamin Mayo Nov 26 2013 - 4:35 am PT

3 Comments

The Foaster is a new novel charging dock for your iPhone and the creators are currently running a Kickstarter to put this neat dock into production. As you can tell from the video, the novelty here is the fact it resembles a toaster. The creators say that the kitchen is one of the most common places where people charge their phones, so they thought they would design a dock to suit.

Report: Apple kicks off aggressive trade-in program in India to boost iPhone 5c sales

Jordan Kahn Nov 20 2013 - 8:42 am PT

2 Comments

Apple-India-Monthly-Plans

According to a report from The Times of India, Apple is kicking off an aggressive new trade-in program in India after a successful pilot of the program earlier this year. The new offer will see customers trading in the iPhone 4 for big discounts on the new iPhone 5C and the iPhone 4S. The news comes from sources that say Apple met with executives from its retail partners in the country last week to discuss the new program.

Apple is going to be offering a minimum Rs 13,000 (approx. $207) in trade-in value for the iPhone 4, allowing customers to get their hands on 16GB and 32GB iPhone 5C for Rs 28,900 (approx. $460) and Rs 40,500 (approx. $650) down from the Rs 41,900 and Rs 53,500 the devices normally sell for. Users can also get an iPhone 4S for Rs 18,500 (approx. $300), down from the usual retail cost of roughly $500.
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Game on! MOGA officially announces its iOS 7 compatible game controller, available tomorrow

Benjamin Mayo Nov 19 2013 - 4:09 am PT

MOGA have been making gamepad accessories for Android devices for a while. Today, they have announced on their website an adapted version compatible with iPhone and iPod touch. The company is the first to officially announce availability of an accessory that works with iOS 7’s GameController API (but not the last this week ;).

Logitech, ClamCase and others have hinted that they have competing accessories nearing release, but MOGA is the first company to openly announce available. The accessory will be available tomorrow — priced at $99 — from the Apple retail stores and the Apple Online Store in addition to MOGA’s site.

9to5Toys Last Call: LifeProof iPad mini giveaway, Logitech iPad keyboard cases, Seiki 4K UHDTVs, MacBook Air Haswell, more

Nov 18 2013 - 10:00 am PT

Take a few minutes out of your lunch to cash in on some incredible deals. Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Giveaway: LifeProof iPad mini frē case ($100 value)

Refurb. Logitech protective keyboard folio for iPad mini $33, full-size iPad w/ FabricSkin $25

Seiki 39″ 4K UHDTV $500 shipped (Reg. $700), 50″ $722 w/ free pickup (Reg. $1,500)

13″ Haswell MacBook Air: $975 shipped, $925 for .edu email addresses, Apple SuperDrive $70

50% Off Popular AT&T Smartphones: iPhone 5s $100, 5c $50, more

$50 iHop or Applebee’s gift card for $40, perfect stocking stuffers! http://t.co/Mer6Rl1QfB

— 9to5Toys (@9to5toys) November 18, 2013

Other great deals from today:

New! Black Friday Deal Frenzy at eBay Deals: iPad mini $239, Target gift card 10% off, COD: Ghosts $40, more
New! 3M portable wireless projector w/ Roku streaming stick $150 shipped (Reg. $300)
New! Game/App Deals: $50 GC from Toys R Us w/ 3 Xbox purchases, 2 for $40 3DS games, iOS freebies, more
New! Logitech Bluetooth Wireless Boombox Speaker Refurb. $49 shipped (Reg. $99)
New! 2 sets of Logitech Ultimate Ears 200vi noise-isolating earphones: $18 shipped (Reg. $38)
New! RCA 32″ LED HDTV with Built-in DVD Player $200 shipped (Reg. $350)
New! On-Ear Wired Headphones: Sennheiser HD $25 shipped (Reg. $60), Beats by Dre $175 shipped (Reg. $250)

The best deals that are still alive:

Free voucher to save 50% on Apple accessories from Incase
ASUS RT-N56U Dual-Band Gigabit Wireless N Router $85 shipped (34% savings)
RAVPower Element 10400mAh external power bank $26 shipped (Reg. $38)
Adobe Photoshop Elements 12 (Mac/PC) download $50 (Reg. $100)

Black Friday:

Seiki’s new 55″ 4K UHD TV will drop to $850 on Black Friday ($650 off!) or 39″ for $520 right now at Amazon.
Staples Black Friday: Nexus 7 2nd gen 16GB $199, Toshiba 1TB $50, ZAGGkeys Pro $50, more
Black Friday H.H Gregg ad leaks w/ $249 iPad mini & big deals on TVs, cameras, & smartphones
Walmart will credit YOU $30 to get an iPhone 5c on contract this Black Friday
Best Buy & Walmart Black Friday ads bring the year’s best Apple deals
Target Black Friday Ad: iPad Air w/ $100 gift card $479, iPad mini w/ $75 gc $299, Apple TV $89, HDTVs, games, more
Guitar Center’s Black Friday ad leaks: instruments, Sennheiser headphones, iRig Pro, 15% off store-wide, more
Leaked Dell Black Friday Ad: Windows 8 laptops, monitors, HDTVs, memory, more
Target’s PS4 launch week ad leaks: will offer buy 2 get 1 free on PS4, Xbox One games, others
Toys R Us Black Friday ad leak reveals early start time and ample video game deals
Radio Shack Black Friday ad leak: Beats Pill, Apple TV, Roku 2, PS3/Xbox 360 consoles

New product announcements & reviews:

PlayStation 4 launches tonight at midnight, reviews from around the web
The best gets better: reVOLT 12W + 12W Dual USB Car Charger for iPod, iPhone and iPad $30 shipped
Onkyo’s new headphones line-up boasts slick metal design, in-line controls and iOS app integration

Review: Studio Credence leather & felt book-style iPad case (and iPhone sleeve)

Ben Lovejoy Nov 18 2013 - 7:20 am PT

While I may be known for my addiction to all things anodised aluminum, I also have a love of natural materials, wood and leather especially. My MacBook Pro and MacBook Air both travel in BookBook leather cases (reviewed here by Jordan), so when Studio Credence announced a book-style case for the iPad, I decided to take a look.

First impressions

Studio Credence is clearly going for a bit of a rustic look. The packaging is undyed cardboard, with the case itself in a muslin-type drawstring bag. Open this, and what you have inside is a very similar approach to the BookBook range …
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Foxconn stops iPhone 5c production at one factory, switches capacity to 5s

Ben Lovejoy Nov 18 2013 - 5:47 am PT

9 Comments

Photo: Sunday Mirror

Foxconn is ceasing production of the iPhone 5c at one of its factories in order to boost production of the iPhone 5s, according to sources cited by Digitimes.

Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) will stop production of the iPhone 5c at its factory in Zhengzhou, northern China, and shift the capacity to iPhone 5s, according to industry sources.

Digitimes is not the most reliable of sources, but this one gels with other reports suggesting that Apple is cutting back on production of its plastic handset in order to keep up with demand for the iPhone 5s.

The reports can, of course, be viewed as indicating either success for the 5s or failure for the 5c. Given the numbers reported last month, following on from record opening weekend sales, it seems pretty clear that while Apple got its predictions wrong, the reason is good news rather than bad: more people than expected opting for the high-end handset.

Mint refreshes its iPhone and iPad app with iOS 7 design, brings Trends to mobile

Benjamin Mayo Nov 14 2013 - 6:18 am PT

The Mint mobile app is rarely updated with new features, but it’s not like it has been abandoned — it receives maintenance updates every few months. Today, though, Mint has pushed version 2.7 to the App Store which does bring more than just bug fixes.