Tech Industry

In April, Apple originally filed a lawsuit against Samsung saying Samsung’s Galaxy Tab copied the iPhone and iPad. Soon after, Samsung filed a counter-patent suit against Apple and asked to see the iPhone 5 and iPad 3. Seeing the unreleased devices was denied by a judge earlier this year. This week Samsung has dropped their counter-patent suit.

The suit was dropped on June 30th, but Samsung will continue to fight patents with an earlier counter-patent suit.  While Samsung dropped the suit in the U.S., it won’t affect other patent suits they have. Besides the U.S., Samsung has lawsuits against Apple in South Korea, Japan, Germany, and the U.K.

Samsung’s spokesperson Nam Ki Yung told Bloomberg the counter-suit was dropped “to streamline the legal proceedings”. Nam also told Bloomberg, “Samsung will continue to actively defend and protect our intellectual property”.

Google Analytics, which is used on millions of sites worldwide to show web publishers who is visiting their sites, today published its first report on Web traffic. Among other interesting tidbits was the above chart showing Windows losing a staggering 5.1% of its market year over year.

At the same time, the Mac OS actually gained almost a percentage point of the market.  But the groundswell was in the “Other” category which includes iPads, iPhones, Android and other non-Mac/Windows/Linux machines.  That category was up almost 5 %.

The “Post PC Era” seems to be fast approaching.

Google conveniently also found a 1% gain in Search Engine  referral traffic, below:

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A consortium including Apple Inc, Microsoft, EMC Corp, Sony, Ericsson, and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion bought bankrupt telecommunications gear maker Nortel Networks Corp’s remaining portfolio of 6000 patents for $4.5 billion, in an auction that began early this week.

RIM reportedly paid $770 million, Ericsson paid $340 million.  It wasn’t immediately clear how much Apple paid.

Google had originally opened bidding with a $900 million bid.  The consortium of strange bedfellows will split up the portfolio based on the split of the purchase price.

The sale is subject to Canadian and U.S. court approvals which will be sought at a joint hearing expected to be held on July 11.  Full press release follows:

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Droid Life got their fingerless Android paws on this shot of merchandising material from within Verizon.

What we’ve got in the image above, is a box full of new marketing materials for Verizon stores that mention the word “4G” and “iPhone” in the same sentence.  We’re not saying this means that an iPhone 4G is planned or on the way, but that could be one possibility.  Truthfully though, we’ve heard from two sources with the box that say it’s misleading as hell and that the materials included only mention the 3G iPhone.  So what we’re really thinking, is that this is the launch of a new campaign which will try to sell customers on the idea that a 3G iPhone 4 is better than any of the 4G Android offerings currently available.

Can’t wait.

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At this point, it seems pretty obvious that Google means business with the Google Plus platform. Besides all of the other areas Plus has engulfed, it looks like Google is heading into the gaming realm.  The above snippet was found in the Plus web page code

“have sent you invites and more from Google+ Games”

So now Google is taking on Microsoft’s Xbox and Apple’s Gamecenter? Perhaps Google might want to lower the barrier to entry.
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBISzVRmYIM]

Cross-posted from 9to5Google.

So why does Google+ look so good? It’s simple; it was designed by one of the creators of the original Macintosh. Wired’s Steven Levy is reporting that Andy Hertzfeld, one of the designers from Steve Jobs’ band of pirates, played an essential role in the design of Google+.

With colorful animations, drag-and-drop magic, and whimsical interface touches, Circles looks more like a classic Apple program than the typically bland Google app. That’s no surprise since the key interface designer was legendary software artist Andy Hertzfeld.

Google+ design really is excellent, especially for Google. It is invite-only at the moment.  We’re taking notes in the mean time.
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Apple has announced that their Q3 financial results conference call will be held on Tuesday, July 19. The call starts at 2 PM PST/ 5 PM EST. We’ll be providing live updates from the call. (via Setteb).

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwnJ5Bl4kLI]

You have to be intrigued by Google’s ambitious attack on Facebook here, in much the same way they are competing with Apple in mobile devices, Microsoft in DesktopOS and Office and Oracle/Microsoft in Enterprise Apps.  It feels like if there is a big market in technology, Google is there.

More coverage at 9to5Google.com
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Apple is set to release their own accessory for data transfers and display connections between Thunderbolt Macs. The accessory is coming in the form of a cable with both ends featuring connectors for the Thunderbolt I/O port. As we already know, this port is the same size as the Mini Display ports on current and past generation Macs.

These Thunderbolt cables are perfect for data migration between Thunderbolt Macs (currently the iMac and MacBook Pro) as well as for display connections. Although Apple’s LED Display supports Thunderbolt Macs, this new cable might be a hint at a new Apple LED Display with a Thunderbolt port. Perhaps today’s Thunderbolt update has something to do with the new cord.

Additionally, this new cable comes ahead of new MacBook Airs, Mac minis, and Mac Pro with Thunderbolt I/O in the coming weeks.

Thanks, Mr. X!

Update: Apple has officially released the new cable. It’s $55 AU, £3,9.00 in the UK, and… $49 in the U.S.

Thunderbolt technology supports blazing-fast data transfer with two independent channels of 10Gbit/s each. Use the Apple Thunderbolt cable to connect your Thunderbolt-equipped peripherals to your new iMac or new MacBook Pro.

Apple Thunderbolt cable can also be used for Target Disk Mode between two Macs that support Thunderbolt, or to use a new iMac as a display for a MacBook Pro equipped with Thunderbolt.

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It looks like the report that Apple has a lock on Light Peak technology for a year was wrong.  Sony has gone ahead and announced their first Light Peak product in Europe and perhaps most interestingly, it contains an External GPU.  TIMN summerizes:

The vertically standing peripheral (pictured above) uses Intel’s Light Peak (yes, the same thing as Apple’s Thunderbolt) via a proprietary port and USB 3.0 socket to connect to the laptop. And not only does it provide an AMD Radeon HD 6650M with 1GB of VRAM, but also allows you to connect up to three additional displays via its HDMI and VGA ports.

One of the promises of Thunderbolt was External GPU video cards.  Imagine hooking your Thunderbolt-equipped, Sandy Bridge MacBook Air (with crappy integrated Intel GPU) to an external Thunderbolt GPU which drives a few 27-inch screens?

I like where this is going.

More shots below:
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We haven’t gotten official word on this but the Economic Times of India is reporting that Apple changed its return policy on Apps from minutes to 7 days.  We reported earlier this month that Taiwan gave both Apple and Google two weeks to comply withits consumer protection mandate.

An official said the lack of a return and refund mechanism violated the Consumer Protection Act. In an example of the problem the city government is trying to prevent, Yeh cited a case of software bought on Apple Store on Thursday that did not work, but left the buyer without recourse.

It appears that Apple has complied (Google, less so):
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We’ve known for many weeks now that a refreshed line of MacBook Airs is incoming, starting with rumors about Airs with Sandy Bridge processors way back then, our report that the current SKUs are constrained across the globe, and a report from Asia that pinpoints a late June launch of the new ultra-thin notebooks. Now, we’ve noticed that major Apple reseller Best Buy is joining the MacBook Air rumor mill.

The retail outlet’s online component recently has placed all four of the current MacBook Air models on not available for shipping. This typically means that supplies are so constrained that they have to focus their remaining inventory on their popular physical retail stores. BestBuy.com does not provide a date for when they will be shipping the notebooks again, but these types of things are usually indicative of a product refresh. Even more so because we know one is coming very soon. Additionally, a number of stores have indicated to us that they are exceptionally low on MacBook Air stock.

Best Buy has recently been the scene of new Apple product indications. For example, the company often places “DUMMY SKUs” in their system ahead of refreshes. Although they usually do not always know the precise release dates, they seem to be aware that new gear is incoming. The “not available for shipping” stance works in a similar fashion. An example of this would be iLife no longer being available for shipping in the weeks prior to the iLife ’11 unveiling and release. In addition, supply of the MacBook Air is tight – compared to other products – at Canadian retailer Future Shop.

On a final note, we’ve been hearing some whispers about the new MacBook Airs launching the week of July 4th. Although these whispers are backed up by past trends, they are unconfirmed.

Update from reader Doug:

On bestbuy.co.uk you can only order to collect the 128GB MBA in store and it’s only in stock in a few stores. The other MBA’s are totally out of stock.

Update 2X:

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iUvuaChDEg]

TechUnwrapped is reporting that famous jailbreaker George Hotz, known as Geohot, is now working at Facebook. You may know Geohot for getting in a lawsuit by Sony for his Playstation hack and his jailbreaking tools like purplera1n, blackra1n, and limera1n. In recent months Geohot has been off the map after the Sony ordeal, but it appears now he is back (unfortunately not as a rapper).

Techmeme’s Gabe Rivera did some digging on Geohot’s Facebook to confirm TechUnwrapped’s story. It appears Geohot joined Facebook as a Software engineer in May, but he announced the news June 17th. June 22nd he said, “is Facebook is really an amazing place to work…first hackathon over.” What do you think he is doing as a Software Engineer? Perhaps he’s working on the secret Project Trojan…er Spartan.
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The infamous hacking group Lulzec finished their fifty day string of high profile hackings with the release of some AT&T internal documents. Jonathan at iFans discovered a section of the documents that discusses AT&T’s 4G LTE rollout. Of note, a particular document slide points to an LTE-capable iPad.

Pre-LTE scenarios. Testing will include iPad new activations HLS using the new rate plan, as well as a regression on netbooks and dongles.  During validation E2E execution should ensure all functionality new and current is still functioning properly by validating account set up, provisioning, usage and notifications.

•SBP ST scenarios.  Testing will include activations, add stacked plans, add international plans, perform customer service functions using the LTE devices.  Testing will validate device is being provisioned and the proper policy from PCRF are being enforced.  Usage should be added to decrement the account when needed in order to show RTDUNS are functioning properly.

Specifically, as you can in the LTE slide above, AT&T will be testing (or already tested) “iPad new activations HLS using the new rate plan.” This document was found in a November 2010 filing by AT&T, so we are unsure if this was testing in November 2010, or that document referenced the 2011 roadmap as well. The document itself is very unclear.

Additionally, if this November and December testing is in 2011, the rumors of a September iPad 3 with LTE can clearly be ruled out. An analyst reported earlier this month that according to supply chain sources, Apple is preparing a next-generation iPad with an improved display and LTE data. If the iPad gains LTE capabilities in 2012, the 6th generation iPhone in 2012 will likely also gain LTE data speeds.

Update: iFans found a page that might backup September iPhone 5 rumors. We definitely don’t think it means an LTE iPhone this year, though.  Full presentation linked here.

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It sure seems like it.

A guy named Jordan from 97th Floor, a company that represents Adobe’s SEO interests, asked us to “fix/make a link to Adobe.com” in one of our posts.  The post had nothing to do with Adobe, but the terms “photo editing program” were desired link terms for Adobe which appears to be trying to juice its search engine rankings.

As far as I know, this is a no-no.  I think Bing and Google frown on this type of behavior. 

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The rest of the exchange is below:
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Following a report from earlier this week that claims that Apple is gearing up to launch a new Mac Pro in late July or early August, a reliable source tells 9to5Mac that Apple has referenced a mid-2011 Mac Pro in multiple internal documents. This, of course, is reference to an unreleased Mac Pro. Apple has not upgraded their professional desktop Mac since July 2010. Additionally, these internal documents are said to tout four new core Mac Pro models: 6 cores, 8 cores, 12 cores, and for the first time, 16 cores. This is likely in addition to some custom configurations.

If these internal documents jibe with what Apple will be soon releasing, Mac customers will be able to get their hands on a super-fast 16-core Mac. In addition to these specifications, we hear that Apple has already begun the process of assembling product manuals for the new Mac Pro, corroborating previous claims of a late July or early August launch. Our sources could not confirm if the new rack mountable design, which we detailed, will make its way into the 2011 model.

On a final note, a certain Apple executive has reportedly said the following in an email we’ve seen:

“Apple is investing heavily into Mac Pro”

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M1wC0pS_No]

Nokia really tries to hide its secret project.
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image via BGR

As AT&T tries to swallow up the American wing of the German telekom, many have wondered whether Apple would allow T-Mobile to carry the iPhone.  Apple’s answer so far is a no*, but that hasn’t stopped T-Mobile customers from adopting iPhones.  In huge numbers.

In a meeting with T-Mobile spokespeople today ahead of the NYC Pepcom event, I received word that there are actively over a million Apple iPhones currently on T-Mobile’s network.  When asked for a breakdown, the spokesman said the majority were pre-iPhone 4 but that a significant amount of people had “taken the scissors” to their T-Mobile SIM cards.  T-Mobile doesn’t currently offer a Micro-SIM solution for Apple’s iPhone 4 so people who want to use the iPhone 4 must modify their SIMs into MicroSIMs.  Those using iPhone 4s also won’t receive T-Mobile’s 3G or 4G data speeds because of the radio differences between the networks.

*Apple started selling unlocked iPhone 4s in the US for the first time earlier this month.

When asked to elaborate further on Micro-SIMs, the spokesman told me they are in the works but there was no time frame for release.  Why not wait until the deal with AT&T is over to make MicroSIMs?  Perhaps we’ll have a little surprise come September.

When asked specifically about the possibility of a T-Mobile USA iPhone, T-Mobile said they have nothing to announce at this time.
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Bloomberg reports that Apple’s request for the courts to ban Amazon’s use of the App Store term will probably be denied. Amazon uses the term App Store as the header name for their online store that sells and markets applications for Google’s Android platform. Apple sued Amazon in late March of this year over possible confusion over App Stores.

Amazon, in March, responded to Apple’s claims of confusion, saying:

Based on their common meaning, the words ‘app store’ together denote a store for apps, such as the app stores operated by Amazon and Apple.

The judge on the case, Phyllis Hamilton, seems to agree, reporting that Apple is yet to provide sufficient evidence for their claim that users are (or will be confused) over Amazon’s usage of the App Store name; a name that Apple has used since 2008 to market their iOS application store and most recently their Mac App Store.

Apple’s difficulty demonstrating real evidence of actual confusion among consumers is a stumbling block for Apple, Hamilton said in court. I’m troubled by the showing that you’ve made so far, but that’s where you’re likely not to prevail at this early juncture.

The case’s judge says she will “probably” deny Apple’s request, but Apple still has the opportunity to throw more evidence into the case.

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AllThingsD reports on a study by BTIG Research which shows that customers at Verizon and AT&T are pretty skewed toward iPhone, even over Android (Blackberry and WP7 are rounding errors).  In fact, if the two biggest carriers in the US are so skewed toward toward iPhone, how is Android outselling iPhone?

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FOSS Patents reports that the judge overseeing the Samsung vs. Apple case has ruled in Apple’s favor regarding Samsung’s request to examine Apple’s next-generation, high-profile mobile devices: the iPhone 5 and iPad 3. Although this is good news for Apple (and expected news), Apple might still have to wait on obtaining preliminary injunction against Samsung’s ability to sell their devices in question in the United States.

This possibility comes from this key line from the judge on the case:

Samsung is free to argue, for instance, that there is little likelihood of confusion because consumers will not encounter its products side-by-side with the iPhone 4 or iPad 2, but rather with Apple’s next generation iPhone and iPad. Similarly, as to proximity, Samsung is free to argue that because the iPhone 4 and iPhone 2 will soon be outmoded and reduced in price, they are not being sold (or very soon will not be sold) to the same class of purchasers who are likely to buy new Samsung products. By choosing to allege infringement only of its current products, Apple opens itself up to these arguments.

Essentially, Samsung can argue that they should not be banned from selling the devices in question in the United States (like the Nexus and Galaxy devices) as these devices – both tablets and smartphones – are currently up against the iPhone 4 and iPad 2. Samsung could argue that Apple’s next-generation devices will be different in appearance, resolving Apple’s argument that the appearance of their devices has been copied by Samsung. Apple, of course, will not reveal the design and features for unreleased products.

If Apple can present the iPhone 5 to the court and show that the alleged problem of “consumer confusion” is essentially the same as currently (in terms of similarities between the Galaxy handset and the iPhone 4), Apple’s motion for an injunction is no less likely to succeed (though it’s clear that Samsung would try to overstate any possible differences in design).

FOSS Patent’s Florian Mueller closes his report by noting that Apple would have the best chance in accomplishing injunction against Samsung if they only motion for injunction when the iPhone 5 arrives in September– or when Apple wants to show their next-generation smartphone to the court (which will likely never happen prior to the public reveal):

If Apple would rather avoid this kind of impression, it might want to proceed cautiously and wait with a preliminary injunction motion until the iPhone 5 can be shown, or present only a tablet-related motion in the very near term and a smartphone-related one a little later.

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