Apple is set to open its largest Florida-based Apple Store yet in Greater Downtown Miami, according to a new report. Sources close to The Real Deal and South Florida Business Journal have confirmed that Apple has signed a lease with Miami’s new Brickell City Centre to open the new retail location.
Apple has been using murals created by well-known artists to launch new Apple Store a lot recently. In Hangzhou, China the company debuted a calligraphy mural alongside a new retail location, while a store in Chongqing, China got a similar treatment. Earlier this month, Apple revealed that its upcoming retail location in Miami would launch with a mural designed by internationally acclaimed artist HENSE. Apple this evening has updated its website with an image of the mural at its new Miami store, as well as specific opening information.
http://vimeo.com/83270004
inMarket, an in-store marketing platform that recently started rolling out iBeacons to retailers, today announced an interesting new twist for the platform: the first consumer packaged goods brand to take advantage of iBeacons in a retail environment. That means that rather than the retailer controlling the entire iBeacon experience and the location-based notifications that get beamed to shoppers, inMarket’s Mobile to Mortar (M2M) platform is giving that same opportunity to the individual brands on the store’s shelves. We’ve also learned it’s about to expand and continue its rollout of iBeacons in retail locations across New York, Boston, and Miami.
Expand
Expanding
Close
In an ongoing case in which Apple and Google’s Motorola have accused each other of infringing various mobile related patents since 2010, U.S. District Judge Robert Scola said in an order yesterday that the two companies have no interest in reaching a settlement. Bloomberg reports Scola said in his order that both companies are using the litigation as a “business strategy that appears to have no end”:
“The parties have no interest in efficiently and expeditiously resolving this dispute; they instead are using this and similar litigation worldwide as a business strategy that appears to have no end,” U.S. District Judge Robert Scola in Miami said in an order dated yesterday. “That is not a proper use of this court.”
“Without a hint of irony, the parties now ask the court to mop up a mess they made by holding a hearing to reduce the size and complexity of the case,” he wrote. “The court declines this invitation.”
The result is Apple and Google will now have a four month period to narrow their claims related to the case that now includes over 180 claims for 12 patents. Bloomberg notes that Scola said the case currently includes “disputes over the meaning of more than 100 terms,” and that the case would be put on hold until the disputes are resolved if the two companies are unable to come up with a solution before the four month timeframe expires.
Back in November there were reports that Apple and Google’s Motorola were considering a settlement and even submitted “proposals on using binding arbitration to reach a licensing agreement” for standard essential patents to courts in Wisconsin. At the time Apple said “such an agreement could lead to a global settlement of all of their patent disputes,” but the two companies couldn’t come to an agreement on the arbitration process.
Last year Apple and HTC announced they reached a global settlement in multiple patent-related cases that some analysts estimated could be worth as much as $180 million to $280 million annually. When it comes to Samsung, many reports quoted Samsung’s Shin Jong-kyun as claiming the company does not “intend to (negotiate) at all” following the HTC settlement.
[slideshow]
According to a report from Associated Press, orangutans at Miami’s Jungle Island zoo are taking a liking to Apple’s iPad in a new program that has six of them communicating with the device:
The software was originally designed for humans with autism and the screen displays pictures of various objects. A trainer then names one of the objects, and the ape presses the corresponding button… While other trainers have developed strong relationships with the orangutans, the iPad and other touchscreen computers offer an opportunity for them to communicate with people not trained in their sign language
Linda Jacobs, who is in charge of the mental stimulus program, explained the younger orangutans seem to immediately respond to the iPads:
Expand
Expanding
Close
Apple plucked a high-ranking executive from the folding Sony Ericsson Joint Venture, 9to5Mac has learned. President of Sony Ericsson U.S. and Head of Region North America Anderson Teixeira will be heading Apple’s Latin America region. He is leaving Sony Ericsson after a decade at the JV.
Sony is buying out Ericsson’s piece of the venture and the group is folding into Sony Electronics.
Teixeira started at Apple this month.
Internally at Apple, he is “Latin America General Manager,” but to the greater world he’s “Head of Latin America.” He will be operating out of Apple’s small Coral Gables Florida office at 1 Alhambra Plaza Suite 700. He has nine reports at that office.
A mid-2009 profile listed some background on his appointment at Sony:
Anderson Teixeira was based at the company’s US operations in Raleigh, North Carolina. A native of Brazil, Teixeira has been part of Sony Ericsson since the formation of the joint venture in 2001. He has led the company’s operations in Latin America, as Head of Region Latin America, based in Miami, Florida, and subsequently in Western Europe, based in Munich. As President of Sony Ericsson US, Teixeira will report to Sony Ericsson President Dick Komiyama. In his role as Head of Region North America, Teixeira will have overall responsibility for Sony Ericsson’s sales and marketing operations in the US and Canada.
It is not immediately clear who Teixeira will report to but we will update that information as it becomes available.
Apple’s Latin America presence has been growing with the iPhone spreading across carriers like wildfire and even a Foxconn iPhone production line opening in Teixeira’s native Brazil.
Videos of Teixeira discussing Sony operations are embedded below:
Expand
Expanding
Close
