Edible Apple

Last week, famed Apple icon designer Susan Kare took the stand to testify on Apple’s behalf about the striking visual similarities between Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s lineup of accused products.

While on the stand, Kare noted how even she herself was prone to confusion over the similarities between the two devices.

It is my opinion that the overall collection of graphic features that makes the overall visual impression could be confusing for a consumer. Partly I base that on my visual analysis. Partly, I remember when I was at the law firm about being a expert witness in this case there was a big conference table with many phones on it… I could see the screen and went to pick up the iPhone to make a point about the UI graphics, and I was holding a Samsung phone. I usually think of myself as someone who is pretty granular about looking at graphics, and I mistook one for the other. So, I guess in addition to my formal analysis I had the experience of being confused…

I found that the collection of features, graphical features that we just discussed, was present across all of these phones, to create in this set of screens the similar overall look that is confusingly similar to the phones on the left.

Kare had previously worked at Apple as a “Macintosh Artist” from 1982 through 1986, and since then, she has designed thousands of icons for hundreds of clients, including Apple, Microsoft, and even images she created for Facebook Gifts.

All told, Kare went on to say that Samsung’s accused products give off the same “overall visual impression” as Apple’s, from the look of the icons to the use of the anchored dock and the same use of a sans-serif font.

Further, Kare pointed out some icon gird alternatives that competing devices, such as the BlackBerry Torch were able to implement. In other words, Apple’s implementation is not the only viable implementation.

“It seemed to me,” Kare explained, “that all of these similarities… from phone to phone… was beyond coincidental… It seemed likely to me that Samsung used iPhone screen graphics as a guide.”

Below is an internal Samsung slide where they look to the iPhone for icon inspiration.

And as a point of interest, in case you’re wondering what kind of bank Kare is making by testifying on Apple’s behalf, she testified last week that she’s getting $550 an hour and has, to date, earned about $80,000.

More photos after the break.

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Apple last week released a new iPad commercial that’s more in line with its standard advertising fare – especially compared to its line of Mac Genius commercials which weren’t received all that favorably when they aired during the Olympics.

This ad is titled Do It All.

“Read it. Tweet it.
Be surprised. Be productive.
Make a sale. Make some lunch.
Make it movie night.
Play a game. Or an old favorite
Do it all more beautifully, with the Retina display, on iPad.”

By all accounts, Apple will unveil the iPhone 5 on September 12 to be followed by an official launch 9 days later on Friday, September 21. And along with some schmancy new hardware, we’ll also see the release of Apple’s next-gen mobile OS – iOS 6.

Apple in recent days has seeded the fourth beta of iOS 6 to developers, and MacRumors nots that a new addition to the OS is a “Wi-Fi Plus Cellular” setting which lets users toggle on and off the option to have a device use cellular data for data transmission when Wi-Fi connectivity is shoddy. This is a much welcome change as I’ve experienced myself the phenomenon of trying to download an app or listen to music via Wi-Fi on a spotty connection when some extra legwork from a cellular connection would certainly come in handy.

Less clear is the purpose of the series of controls below that. There are individual On/Off switches to use cellular data for iCloud Documents, iTunes, FaceTime, Passbook Updates and Reading List. Some believe these are a submenu setting for the Wi-Fi Plus Cellular control, allowing tasks such as downloading music from iTunes or syncing iCloud Documents to require the use of Wi-Fi — forbidding some apps from connecting via Cellular Data while others are allowed to.

via MacRumors

The treasure trove of documents from the ongoing Apple-Samsung dispute continue to flow on. The latest startling revelation touches on Apple and Samsung’s licensing discussions pre-litigation.

Now it’s already been revealed that Apple first approached Samsung about its concerns regarding various Android devices in late 2010. Indeed, we also were aware that Apple and Samsung engaged in licensing negotiations over the patents currently at issue in trial. But thanks to court filings that have recently been made public for the first time, we know now specifics as to what terms Apple was attempting to extract from Samsung.

Apple’s licensing overtures towards Samsung transpired in October 2010, about 6 months before Apple said “enough is enough” and initiated its lawsuit against Samsung. As part of its October 2010 licensing offer, Apple wanted Samsung to pay $30 per Android smartphone and $40 per Android tablet for the right to use Apple’s patents. What’s more, Apple also wanted Samsung to pay royalty fees for its other smartphones running other OS’s like Windows Mobile. Apple also indicated that it would wipe 20% off of its royalty asking price if Samsung was willing to cross license its own patents with Apple. Had Samsung agreed to do so, that would have yielded $24 to Apple for each Android smartphone sold and $32 for each Android tablet sold.

In its October, 2010 presentation to Samsung, Apple noted in part:

Samsung chose to embrace and imitate Apple’s iPhone archetype. Apple would have preferred that Samsung request a license to do this in advance. Because Samsung is a strategic supplier to Apple, we are prepared to offer a royalty-bearing license for this category of device.

Apple’s presentation also indicates that they were willing to give Samsung an even bigger discount if they began “migrating its industrial design away from the iPhone/iPad.”

Now admittedly Apple’s terms seem quite high. Indeed, you might recall that Microsoft is reportedly only seeking $10 per Android smartphone and $15 per Android tablet as part of its ongoing effort to secure licensing deals for its patented technologies used in Android-based devices. That said, perhaps Apple was feeling rather confident in its position given that the bulk of Samsung’s patents, or so Apple claims in its presentation, are for standards-based patents that Samsung is consequently obligated to license out on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms.

Also of note is that recently released excerpts from Scott Forstall’s deposition reveal that Steve Jobs himself approached Samsung about its allegedly infringing products. And speaking on the stand this past Friday, Apple patent licensing director Boris Tesksler added that Apple was shocked and taken aback by Samsung’s products which so closely mimicked Apple’s.

“We didn’t understand how a trusted partner would build a copycat product like that,” Teksler explained.

You can check out Apple’s full October 2010 licensing presentation/offer made to Samsung below.

Samsung Apple Oct 5 2010 Licensing

via All Things D

Apple Insider reports:

Internal configuration files in Mountain Lion make apparent references to yet-unreleased new generations of Apple’s iMac (iMac13,0) and Mac Pro (MacPro6,0), both in the context of USB booting options that indicate the new Mac desktops could, for the first time in nearly 20 years, lack built-in optical drives.

The discovery, made by an AppleInsider source, appears in a configuration plist file used by Boot Camp Assistant to designate the Mac model versions capable of supporting either a optical boot disc, or alternatively, a USB flash drive volume capable of installing Windows to a Boot Camp partition.

All Things D reports:

Documents filed by Samsung lawyers on Thursday reveal that, from June 2010 through June 2012, Samsung sold 21.25 million phones, generating $7.5 billion in revenue. On the tablet side, the company sold 1.4 million Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Tab 10.1 devices, producing $644 million in revenue.

In terms of individual phone models, the largest in units were the Galaxy Prevail with 2.25 million phones sold, the Epic 4G with 1.89 million phones sold and the Epic 4G Touch variant of the Galaxy S II, which sold 1.67 million units in the U.S. All told, Samsung sold 4.1 million Galaxy S II devices, when all models are included.

On the dollar side, the Epic 4G was the biggest revenue producer, generating 855 million between the third quarter of 2010 and the second quarter of 2012.

And then we have Apple.

From 2007 through the second quarter of 2012, Apple sold a total of 85 million iPhones in the U.S., worth a total of $50 billion in revenue, along with 46 million iPod touches producing roughly $10.3 billion in revenue. From its 2010 launch, Apple sold 34 million iPads, generating $19 billion in revenue.

During Scott Forstall’s appearance on the witness stand last Friday, an interesting piece of information regarding Apple’s internal discussion of a 7-inch iPad was brought to light.

Forstall at one point was shown an internal email from Eddy cue sent to a slew of other Apple executives – Tim Cook, Scott Forstall, and Phil Schiller.

The email is dated January 24, 2011 and relays Cue’s experience with a Samsung Galaxy and how he feels it’s a market Apple should get into.

Having used a Samsung Galaxy, I tend to agree with many of the comments below (except actually moving off the iPad). I believe there will be a 7-inch market and we should do one. I expressed this to Steve several times since Thanksgiving and he seemed very receptive the last time. I found email, books, facebook and video very compelling on a 7-inch. Web browsing is definitely the weakest point, but still usable.

Fascinating stuff, expecially considering Jobs famous quote about how tablets with 7-inch screens would effectively be dead on arrival.

Remember that Jobs was asked back in 2010 why Apple wouldn’t make a smaller iPad, to which the Apple co-founder responded.

The reason we [won’t] make a 7-inch tablet isn’t because we don’t want to hit that price point, it’s because we think the screen is too small to express the software. As a software driven company we think about the software strategies first.

Apple is expected to launch an iPad Mini sometime in the next few months and will repotedly save on costs by forgoing a Retina Display and using the same display technology it used on the iPhond 3GS.

via 9to5Mac

Apple’s new commercials involving an Apple genius didn’t exactly debut to rave reviews. Adding his name to the chorus of naysayers was longtime Chiat/Day advertising director Ken Segall who over the years worked very closely with Steve Jobs on a number of ad campaigns.

Segall wrote about the commercials on his blog, stating in part:

I know it’s hard to say after viewing the new batch of Mac ads that debuted on the Olympics. I’m still in a bit of shock myself.

Sure, Apple has had a low point or two in its advertising past — but its low points are usually higher than most advertisers’ high points.

This is different. These ads are causing a widespread gagging response, and deservedly so. I honestly can’t remember a single Apple campaign that’s been received so poorly.

Now, Segall recently sat down with Time’s Harry McCracken at a Computer History Museum event. Check out the video of the interview below followed by an interesting Q&A.

Make no mistake about it – T-Mobile desperately wants to carry the iPhone. Want proof? Look no further than this past February released its earnings from the fourth quarter of 2011. In that quarter, the carrier reported losing over 800,000 subscribers during the last 3 months of 2011. At the time, T-Mobile attributed the mass exodus of subscribers to the fact that it remains iPhone-less.

Sequentially, the decline in branded net contract customers was driven primarily by higher branded contract deactivations as a result of the launch of the iPhone 4S by three nationwide competitors in mid-October.

What’s more, the company also noted in its press release at the time that its contract business was “negatively impacted” by the iPhone 4S release. That T-Mobile would go so far as to make multiple references to a device it doesn’t carry in its earnings statement really speaks volumes.

Of course, some T-Mobile users do have iPhones, though they are of course limited to 2G/Edget data speeds. But just how many T-Mobile customers out there are using iPhones?

Well, in a recent AMA on Reddit, a T-Mobile RF engineer claiming to be “heavily involved” in the company’s upcoming LTE upgrades fielded a host of questions. Though as one might expect, many of them centered on the iPhone.

Q: Can you talk briefly about how much traffic on GERAN you see from iPhone customers? How much of a catch-22 is that situation for moving that PCS spectrum dedicated to it over to WCDMA?

A: We have about a million iphones on our network now. 99.9% of their traffic is 2G/EDGE only right now, so obviously their load is dwarfed by everything else. The iphone is a significant part of the modernization project. Once implemented, iphones will work on U1900 at much higher speeds.

via Reddit

About a week ago, AMD announced that Jim Killer would be returning to the company after previous stints at PA Semi, and later Apple after PA Semi was acquired back in 2008. Keller was an integral part of the AMD team that worked on the Athlon 64 and Opteron 64 projects.

In his new role at AMD, Keller wil be the corporate VP and chief architect of AMD’s microprocessor cores. And oddly enough, he’ll be reporting to Mark Papermaster who you might remember had a short lived stint at Apple as the company’s head of hardware engineering for both the iPhone and the iPod. Papermaster left Apple in 2010 amidst reports that he had lost the trust of Steve Jobs and had a tough time adjusting to Apple’s unique corporate culture.

In a press release on the matter, AMD stated:

“Jim is one of the most widely respected and sought-after innovators in the industry and a very strong addition to our engineering team,” said Papermaster.

“He has contributed to processing innovations that have delivered tremendous compute advances for millions of people all over the world, and we expect that his innovative spirit, low-power design expertise, creativity and drive for success will help us shape our future and fuel our growth.”

Keller was most recently a director in the platform architecture group at Apple focusing on mobile products, where he architected several generations of mobile processors, including the chip families found in millions of Apple iPads, iPhones, iPods and Apple TVs. Prior to Apple, Keller was vice president of design for P.A. Semi, a fabless semiconductor design firm specializing in low-power mobile processors that was acquired by Apple in 2008. While there, he led the team responsible for building a powerful networking SoC and its integrated PowerPC processor.

via AMD

Related:  Steve Jobs – Apple has 1,000 engineers working on chips

Samsung’s copying of Apple’s iPhone runs deep, and recent evidence introduced at the Apple-Samsung trial reveals the breathtaking extent to which Samsung modeled their own smartphones after Apple own designs and features.

The evidence in question is a massively large document compiled by Samsung engineers which shows 126 separate ways the company’s Galaxy S smartphone can be improved. And how might it be improved? By looking at a slew of iPhone features and copying them.

All Things D reports:

Authored by Samsung’s product engineering team, the document evaluates everything from the home screen to the browser to the built-in apps on both devices. In each case, it comes up with a recommendation on what Samsung should do going forward and in most cases its answer is simple: Make it work more like the iPhone.

In short, the evaluation report makes the case that the Galaxy (identified here as the “S1″) would be better if it behaved more like the iPhone and featured a similar user interface.

Check out the presentation below. You’ll be astonished.

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During a recent CBS earnings conference call, company CEO Les Moonves was asked about his feelings regarding putting up CBS content on an Apple TV.

He responded that it’s about the Benjamin’s baby. Or as Badger from Breaking Bad might say, stacking benjis until the rubber band pops.

Look, Anthony, you’ve — we’ve had this discussion many times before. You’re right, it depends what the terms are, it depends what we get paid for. It depends on what effect Apple TV would have on either our advertising, our syndication or our retrans, which are our 3 main buckets of revenue for our content. So if it sits in well, like Netflix did and Amazon did, we’re happy to discuss it. If it doesn’t and we’re — they’re using our content to build a business, we’re not quite as favorable to that. So the devil is in the details. I know it sounds like a pat answer, but it’s really true.

And speaking of Moonves, remember that back in March, the CBS CEO relayed a story about he initially rebuffed an overture from Steve Jobs to work together on an Apple HDTV.

Moonves told a conference audience that he met with Jobs, the late Apple CEO, and heard a pitch for what was billed as a subscription content service, but ultimately he said he wasn’t interested in providing CBS shows or films to the venture.

“I told Steve, ‘You know more than me about 99 percent of things but I know more about the television business,’ ” Moonves said, citing his concerns about providing content to a service that could disrupt CBS’ existing revenue streams. Moonves said Jobs, in characteristic fashion, strongly disagreed with his assessment.

While some reports have pointed to an Apple HDTV unveiling sometime in late 2012, that’s increasingly looking unlikely, what with new iPod, iPhone, and iPad models apparently on the way.

via All Things D