Edible Apple

Randsinrepose writes about the departure of Scott Forstall and how it may signal the beginning of the demise for Apple. Whether or you agree or not, it’s certainly an interesting point worth pondering.

Forstall, however, was old school. In my years at Apple, the Caffe Macs chatter about Forstall was that he was the only legit successor to Jobs because he displayed a variety of Jobsian characteristics. Namely:

• He was an asshole, but…
• Success seemed to surround him, and…
• No one was quite sure about the secret recipe to achieve this success.

While I’d continued to hear about the disdain amongst the executive ranks about Forstall after I left Apple, I was still shocked about his departure, because while he was in no way Steve Jobs, he was the best approximation of Steve Jobs that Apple had left. You came to expect a certain amount of disruption around him because that’s how business was done at Apple – it was well-managed internal warfare. Innovation is not born out out of a committee; innovation is a fight. It’s messy, people die, but when the battle is over, something unimaginably significant has been achieved.

Apple’s first advertising effort with the iPad Mini. The ad is called “Piano.”

Apple issued a press release this weekend announcing that all of their currently pending litigation with HTC has now come to an end. You might recall that HTC was the first company Apple went after in its ongoing fight against Android.

The press release reads:

HTC and Apple have reached a global settlement that includes the dismissal of all current lawsuits and a ten-year license agreement. The license extends to current and future patents held by both parties. The terms of the settlement are confidential.

“HTC is pleased to have resolved its dispute with Apple, so HTC can focus on innovation instead of litigation,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC.

“We are glad to have reached a settlement with HTC,” said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. “We will continue to stay laser focused on product innovation.”

MacRumors reports that Apple paid $21 million for the rights to use the Swiss Railway Design that it apparently misappropriated without permission on the clocks app on the iPad.

Tages-Anzeiger now reports [Google translation] that the licensing agreement resulted in Apple making a payment of approximately 20 million Swiss francs ($21 million) to the agency. The report indicates that amount has been leaked by several sources, but the Swiss Federal Railways and Apple have refused to comment on the situation.

The report also suggests that the licensing agreement may not provide any compensation to watchmaker Mondaine, which has been the sole consumer-focused licensee of the design. Mondaine is reportedly happy that Apple has provided increased visibility for the clock design, but remains in discussions with the Swiss Federal Railways over the issue in order to ensure that it is resolved to the satisfaction of all parties involved.

Looks like Samsung is trying to argue that jury foreman Velvin Hogan may not have been as forthright as he should have been during the initial questioning given to prospective Jury members.

Specifically, Samsung claims that Hogan withheld information pertaining to a lawsuit he was involved in with Seagate, one that ultimately led to him filing for bankruptcy.

A hearing is scheduled for early December 2012.

Koh’s order reads in part:

On October 30, 2012, Samsung filed a motion to compel Apple to disclose the circumstances and timing of Apple’s discovery of certain information regarding the jury foreperson. On November 2, 2012, Apple filed an opposition. At the December 6, 2012 hearing, the Court will consider the questions of whether the jury foreperson concealed information during voir dire, whether any concealed information was material, and whether any concealment constituted misconduct. An assessment of such issues is intertwined with the question of whether and when Apple had a duty to disclose the circumstances and timing of its discovery of information about the foreperson.

The WSJ reports that the iPhone 5 may be coming to China sooner than later. Though the iPhone 5 first launched in September, Apple’s next-gen smartphone has been awaiting government approval before carriers such as China Telecom and China Unicom can begin selling it. And it’s just as good considering that Apple is just now catching up to surging iPhone demand given the complexity of the iPhone 5 manufacturing process.

Government officials haven’t offered guidance on when the iPhone 5 might win final approval. But China Telecom Chairman Wang Xiaochu said Friday in a brief interview on the sidelines of the Communist Party’s 18th Party Congress in Beijing that the phone should be by early December if not sooner.

9to5Mac reports that the impending release of iOS 6.1 will bring with it a new Siri feature – namely the ability to purchase movie tickets via Fandago.

To purchase movie tickets, a user simply needs to ask their iOS device to buy tickets for a certain movie.

When a user asks for movie tickets for a certain movie, the applicable showtimes and theater information will be shown. Then, a user can click the buy movie tickets button and they will be routed to finish their purchase via the Fandango app from the App Store. If the user does not have Fandango installed, Siri provides a button to download the Fandango app.

Apple says that the feature is currently exclusive to users in the U.S. Additionally, developers who have used the feature say that it is not compatible with all theaters. Compatible theaters listed by Siri are accompanied by a small movie tickets icon.

Over the past weekend, Apple sold over 3 million iPad Minis and 4th gen iPads. Not too bad for a company that some pundits have alleged is sinking following the recent executive shakeup that saw Scott Forstall get his walking papers.

Apple’s press release reads:

Apple today announced it has sold three million iPads in just three days since the launch of its new iPad mini and fourth generation iPad—double the previous first weekend milestone of 1.5 million Wi-Fi only models sold for the third generation iPad in March. The Wi-Fi + Cellular versions of both iPad mini and fourth generation iPad will ship in a few weeks in the US and in many more countries later this year.

“Customers around the world love the new iPad mini and fourth generation iPad,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We set a new launch weekend record and practically sold out of iPad minis. We’re working hard to build more quickly to meet the incredible demand.”

 Interestingly, Apple chose not to breakdown the divide between iPad Mini sales and regular iPad sales, but suffice it to say that 3 million units of anything in a weekend is a strong start. Especially when the previous record was just 1.5 million units set by the third generation iPad this past Spring.

Microsoft’s new Surface tablets mark a fundamental shift in the company’s long standing philosophy wherein they focus on the software and let their partners deal with the hardware. Microsoft, it seems, is slowly coming to the realization that has been part of Apple’s DNA for decades – a premium user experience is more likely when one company controls both the hardware and the software. Indeed, Google is also coming to that realization as well.

That said, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft’s efforts to have greater control over the hardware that runs its mobile software is manifesting itself in a Microsoft smartphone.

Microsoft is working with component suppliers in Asia to test its own smartphone design, people familiar with the situation said.

The move suggests the computer-software giant is increasingly adopting a variation of a business model favored by rival Apple Inc., AAPL -3.31% which designs computers and phones along with the software that powers them.

Officials at some of Microsoft’s parts suppliers, who declined to be named, said the Redmond, Wash.-based company is testing a smartphone design but isn’t sure if a product will go into mass production.

Microsoft of course hasn’t seen much luck with its partnership with Nokia. Nonetheless, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer toed the party line when asked to comment on the company’s plans to potentially come out with their own smartphone.

“We’re quite happy this holiday going to  market hard with Nokia, Samsung and HTC,” Ballmer explained. “Whether we had a plan to do something different or we didn’t have a plan I wouldn’t comment in any dimension.”

At a certain point, much like the impetus behind the Surface tablets, Microsoft will have to swallow its pride and realize that the Windows era way of doing business just doesn’t apply to the smartphone and tablet market.

AppleInsider reports:

Gene Munster and his team at Piper Jaffray polled 70 Apple Stores to check on availability of the iPhone 5. They found that supply is generally constrained for the more popular AT&T and Verizon models, though inventory is said to be improving for Sprint.

Piper Jaffray also conducted a poll this week of 738 U.S. customers which indicated demand for the iPhone 5 is increasing. A poll conducted prior to the iPhone 5 announcement found that 48 percent of customers who planned to buy a smartphone would choose Apple’s next iPhone, while this week’s poll found that 55 percent of those surveyed chose Apple’s iPhone 5.

Square Trade undertook some drop and water submersion tests with the iPad Mini, Nexus 7, and a full sized iPad. Check the video to see how they all performed.

CNET reports:

Apple has reissued and updated its Samsung “apology” statement on its British Web site after a U.K. Court of Appeal found it to be “untrue” and “incorrect.”

It comes of weeks of back and forth from the U.K. courts after Samsung scored a rare legal win over Apple, after the iPhone and iPad maker lost an iPad design patent suit it brought to the British court against rival tablet maker Samsung…