Tech Industry

The settlement details on the California part of the trial are out.  It looks like Psystar is throwing in the towel in California: 

Psystar’s agreed to be deemed liable for illegally copying OS X Leopard, bypassing the OS X kernel encryption in violation of the DMCA, and breaching Apple’s EULA, all to the tune of $2,675,050. In return, Apple’s dropping its various trademark and unfair competition claims, and has promised to hold off on collecting any cash until the various appeals have run their course.

A company that hasn’t sold 1000 machines is going to come up with $2.67 million in cash?  We think we hear another bankrupcy filing coming on. 

And the courtroom fun isn’t over yet!  The lawyers move onto Florida, Psystar’s stomping grounds, where the Snow Leopard part of the trial is going on. 

Here’s how it will probably end:  Apple will win big again in Florida. Psystar will go bankrupt and after settling debts with Apple legal will continue selling the Darwin Bootloader for people to make their own Hackintoshes…using the open source tools that are already out there.  They will sell a few thousand a year…

But, you know, the lawyers got to get paid, and Psystar wants to keep its name in the news for marketing purposes…so, see you next time a court document is filed in this case.

According to Computerworld, a deal may have been struck in the Apple vs. Psystar case which may enable Psystar to keep selling systems, albeit without Mac OS X pre-installed.   In other words, Psystar would just become a much smaller Dell. 

Psystar would presumably make their systems easier to make into Hackintoshes, however, by preloading their Rebel EFI DUBL bootloader onto their systems. 

Computerworld also mentioned that Psystar would continue selling the Rebel EFI bootloader as a stand alone product, signaling a shift in Psystar’s business model.

Apple is expected to dump its exclusive iPhone deal with AT&T next year. Speculation is the firm will ink a second US distro deal with Verizon – but now fresh speculation has emerged suggesting it will be T-Mobile, rather than Verizon, that emerges as Apple

One thing you won’t be able to pick up this CyberMonday is TechCunch founder Michael Arrington’s Crunchpad.  In a public note today posted on TechCrunch, Arrington says that his partners have tried to renegotiate the terms of the deal and they’ve given up.  Arrington’s stance is that their hardware partners are playing hardball and trying to steal their intelectual property.  They have no choice but to back out and sue (Arrington is a lawyer).

While this could also be a negotiating tactic by Arrington, the bad blood between him and his hardware partners look like the end to the project.  The tablet – shown at right and below – has a very sleek body and 12-inch capacitive touch display.  According to Arrington, it ran Linux incl. Chrome and would even run Windows.  Therefore we know it was probably based on x86 (Intel Atom?)

Arrington’s description of the OS is remarkably similar to Google’s Chrome OS which was basically just a BrowserOS. 

The hardware looks sexy enough to sell, perhaps Google or some other company will buy out the rights to the project and hit the streets with it.

Apple is being accused of employing its bulk purchasing position to manipulate flash memory prices in Korea today.

An article in the Korea Times cites industry sources, principally chipmakers, who seem to be frustrated because Apple will place a large order for the component but then subsequently buy less than originally demanded, generating market saturation and suppressing prices.

The article notes Apple

We’ve known for awhile that Google’s Chrome browser is getting set to go into GoogleBeta

Apple appears to be making plans to add a dash of Cupertino magic to mapping and is searching for an iPhone Software Engineer to join the iPhone and iPod touch Maps team, MacRumors informs.

Seems the new post is all about taking Maps to the next level, or, as the ad explains:

Apple products account for three of the top four slots in Amazon

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Thanks to Gizmodo, here

Sony may have come up with a pretty good gaming smartphone of its own, in the form of the new Satio smartphone – which at least one games developer says

Apple

Zowch.  According to Computerworld, Mac Clone-maker, Psystar, never got close to its investor estimates of 70,000 – 130,000 machines for 2009.   Their estimates of millions and tens of millions for 2010 and 2011 respectively would then seem a little off the mark as well.

Under its conservative projections, Psystar told investors it would sell 70,000 computers in 2009, 470,000 systems in 2010 and 1.45 million machines in 2011. The firm’s aggressive growth model, however, put those numbers at 130,000, 1.87 million and 12 million during 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively.

In fact, an economist hired by Apple found that it might not have even reached the 1,000 computer mark from April 2008- August 2009.

“Psystar produced incomplete financial records,” Dr. Matthew Lynde, who works as an economics consultant for Cornerstone Research, said in a declaration submitted to Alsup on Monday. After digging through invoices, purchase orders and other documents, Lynde was able to pinpoint only 768 sales of machines with Mac OS X pre-installed. “Psystar has not challenged my analysis of its financial records,” Lynde added.

Strangely, Psystar also thought that their litigation with Apple would insulate them from competition from other would-be cloners.

Global flash memory supply has improved as Apple has seemingly reduced its orders for the component with Samsung in response to lower-than-anticipated iPhone sales in China, a report suggests.

Samsung distributor, Supreme Electronics, has claimed supplies of flash memory chips from Samsung

Leading telecoms and media analysts, Informa Telecoms & Media, today offered ten predictions for the year ahead in the telecoms and media sectors – suggesting Apple

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iPhone developer, Joel ‘iFart‘ Comm has added his voice to the throng of vexed iPhone developers in demanding consistency, clarity and a little more transparency from the App Store rejections process team. In this video he appeals directly to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, begging the boss to intercede and sort the App Store team out.
Comm

Apple’s iMac line is now selling at a pretty serious clip.

Don

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This is priceless – Microsoft and New York department megastore Saks are together engaged in a big Christmas promo for Windows 7. Part of which includes the OS powering the store

iPhone users are happier to pay for digital content than the wider online population; while Mac users are more creative and individualistic, a pair of surveys released this morning claim.

Media law firm, Olswang, has its eye on the iPhone users which it highlights in its 2009 Convergence Survey, released today. It shows that the iPhone population is a new opportunity for media firms.

According to the research:

• 58% of people would pay to access online a film just released in cinemas,
• 52% would pay for access to a film that will not be on DVD for at least two months
• 40% would pay to access a film which is already on DVD or pay-TV.

However, within the iPhone users demographic, those figures jump to 73%, 67% and 54% respectively.

• 41 percent of iPhone users (as against 30 percent of the general online population) would already be willing to take out subscriptions to access their favourite TV shows.
• 19% of iPhone users surveyed said they access on-demand TV on their handsets
• 37% said they want to access on-demand TV on their iPhone in the future. 

The survey also shows 30% of people (42% of iPhone users) would pay for an online book; 32% (43% of iPhone users) would pay for an extract from a travel guide; and 29% (38%) would pay for a magazine.

Olswang surveyed over 1,000 adults and over 500 13-to-17-year-olds about their digital habits. John Enser, partner in its media, communications and technology team, said,

Apple

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Visual Voicemail has already seen Klausner Technologies seize a licensing deal from Apple for use of the technology within the iPhone, now it seems Research In Motion and Motorola may soon be forced to cough-up some cash to implement such features in their smartphones.
Patent-holding inventor Judah Klausner has filed suit against Motorola and Research In Motion, alleging infringement of technology patents related to visual voicemail. As we all know, that

Apple has beaten previous leader Google into second place in this year