The United States Justice Department recently filed documents in its case against Apple and book publishers accusing Apple of helping to facilitate the collusion that led to alleged fixing of eBook prices. Apple has denied the DoJ’s allegations in a new response, however, claiming that book publishers had already colluded to fix eBook prices before Apple even launched its iBook product. More →
The countdown on Apple’s website stopped late Wednesday indicating that the company’s App Store has surpassed 50 billion downloads. The milestone comes just 14 months after Apple announced 25 billion apps had been downloaded from its popular marketplace. Apple launched the App Store in July 2008 and downloads have increased steadily over the past five years. The company’s first milestone came in January 2011 when the store surpassed 10 billion downloads, followed by 25 billion last March. Apple will reward the individual who downloaded the 50 billionth application with a $10,000 App Store gift card and 50 runners-up will each receive a $500 card.
Apple is expected to debut a new iPhone, iPad and iPad mini tablet later this year. Earlier rumors have suggested that the company’s popular 7.9-inch tablet would see a variety of improvements over the previous model. According to MobiLeaks, the second-generation iPad mini will be equipped with an improved Retina display with 2048 x 1536 resolution that works out to 324 pixels per inch, and it will feature Apple’s dual-core A6X processor as well. The device’s camera will reportedly be upgraded with an 8-megapixel sensor on the back and a 2-megapixel sensor on the front. The thickness of the next iPad mini is also said to be increasing from 7.2mm to 7.5mm, likely to make room for a larger battery. Apple is expected to release the second-generation iPad mini sometime this fall.
Apple is getting closer to launching the next version of the iPhone later this year. If the Cupertino, Calif.-based company wants to keep up with Samsung, Google and others, it needs to innovate. And fast. That’s where the tip of your finger comes in to play. More →
Sharp needs help. The consumer electronics company on Tuesday posted a worse-than-expected $5.4 billion loss for the previous fiscal year, and it released its plan to turn things around over the coming three years. For one thing, the company intends to tap banks for $1.5 billion in funds. Sharp also said it will look to boost smartphone display sales to Samsung as business with its top client Apple begins to slow. More →
Over the past four years, an obvious pattern has emerged with Apple’s iPhone lineup. First, a redesigned iPhone launches and then the following year, and iterative upgrade makes use of the same external hardware but includes several internal upgrades. But according to a string of reports, including one from an industry watcher with a solid track record, that familiar pattern may change with the iPhone 5S. More →
Apple on Monday submitted a list of 22 Samsung products to the U.S. District Court in California that it believes infringes upon its technology, The Verge reported. The list includes a variety of smartphones and tablets such as the Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy Note 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 2 10.1. The company also asked the court for permission to add the newly released Galaxy S4 smartphone to the case, claiming that it too infringes upon Apple’s patents. More →
When T-Mobile finally began offering Apple’s iPhone 5 last month it did so in dramatic fashion, undercutting AT&T by $70. The iPhone 5 could be had for a down payment of $99 with monthly payments of $20 for 24 months, totaling a competitive $579.99. The launch price was only part of a one-month promotional offer, however. According to a leaked document obtained by TmoNews, a 16GB iPhone 5 will now require a down payment of $149, totaling $629 after 24 months. T-Mobile would later confirm the report. Both the 32GB and 64GB models are also set to see down payment increases to $249 and $349, respectively, and monthly payments for all three models will remain unchanged at $20 per month.
Apple issued a software update last month to help bring unlocked iPhones to T-Mobile’s network. The update allowed unlocked GSM iPhone 5 handsets to access the carrier’s service, however some users reported experiencing slower than normal speeds on T-Mobile’s 1900MHz band. TmoNews reports that developers Joseph Brown and Sky Zangas were able to hack the carrier update and increase HSPA+ speeds to their normal levels. The update can be done to both unlocked AT&T iPhone 5 units and T-Mobile’s own iPhone 5, and it doesn’t require the device to be jailbroken. TmoNews put together step-by-step instructions that can be viewed at the link below.
Given that smartphone users seem increasingly drawn toward larger displays, Apple could be feeling some pressure to come out with its own “iPhablet” to offer its users a larger alternative to the 4-inch iPhone 5. But Barron’s points us to a recent Bloomberg TV interview with Jefferies analyst Peter Misek, who says that we shouldn’t get our hopes up for a larger version of the iPhone anytime soon. Misek says that based on his firm’s “research on Apple’s technology, we don’t think they can produce a larger screen iPhone until the middle of next year” at the very earliest, by which time Samsung will likely have already released new versions of both its Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lines of devices. Misek also says that “pressure for a larger-screen phone will continue to mount” in the coming months, especially if Samsung’s 5-inch Galaxy S4 sells as well as early projections have indicated.
Chinese smartphone shipments hit a heady 82 million units in the first quarter this year. This is more than three times the smartphone shipment volume in the U.S. market during the same period of time. These Canalys numbers dovetail well with Qualcomm’s regional 3G device shipment trends. Over the past year, Qualcomm has repeatedly lowered its North American device shipment estimates while hiking its estimates sharply in China and India. Smartphones are a narrower category than 3G devices, but by both counts Asia’s portion of global sales keeps rising faster than most people expected a few years ago. More →
The owner of the world’s most widely used search engine won’t get away with claiming that it’s too difficult to explain how it searches for its own documents. Bloomberg Businessweek reports that U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal, who is overseeing yet another Apple-Samsung patent trial, has ordered Google to “reveal how it’s searching for internal documents related to its Android operating system” that are being sought by Apple. Google had previously tried arguing that searching for such information, which relates to Android’s source code, was too burdensome. Grewal sounded fairly incredulous in his order that Google reveal its search methods and noted “the irony that Google, a pioneer in searching the Internet, is arguing that it would be unduly burdened by producing a list of how it searched its own files.”
