Edible Apple

FOSS Patents reports that Apple and Samsung will soon partake in court ordered settlement negotiations here in the US ahead of their pending July court date centering on Apple’s allegation that a multitude of Samsung products infringe upon numerous Apple patents.

Apple and Samsung both indicated the following to the court:

“As directed by the Court, Apple and Samsung are both willing to participate in a Magistrate Judge Settlement Conference with Judge Spero as mediator. At Apple, the chief executive officer and general counsel are the appropriate decision-makers, and they will represent Apple during the upcoming settlement discussions. At Samsung, the chief executive officer and general counsel are also the appropriate decision-makers, and they will represent Samsung during these settlement discussions.”

So it looks like we have a CEO showdown taking place.

Sharp announced last week that it has begun mass production of new displays which makes use of IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide) materials. While some initial reports speculated that the recently released iPad would make use of IGZO, that never materialized.

But the latest rumor is that these displays may eventually find their way into the highly rumored Apple HDTV.

Sharp said the new technology allows for twice the detail of existing panels at the same transparency, which means high-resolution devices can be designed that require less power and space for backlighting. The company said the new displays cut power consumption by up to 90 percent versus those currently in use.

Less lighting and smaller battery requirements allow for thinner devices, and analysts have said Apple will use IGZO displays in its upcoming products, including its highly-anticipated entry into the smart TV market.

Of note, Apple’s top manufacturing partner – Hon Hai Precision Industry – recently invested close to $1 billion ($806 million to be exact) in Sharp, which many view as yet another indication that an Apple HDTV with Sharp panels are in the pipeline.

via PC World

The man who got the damn snakes off a plane and who expertly played Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction has settled down a tad. Yep, Samuel L Jackson can now be seen using Siri to help plan a date night for an oh so special lady.

The following commercial is a Verizon production, but it’s interesting nonetheless that Verizon for a change isn’t touting its network as a means to hock the iPhone, but rather taking a page out of Apple’s own marketing playbook and advertising a specific iPhone 4S feature.

But wait, there’s more!

Also getting in on the action is actress Zooey Deschanel who stars in her own Sir-centric iPhone 4S ad, this time with Sprint appearing as the producer.

Making sense of the madness, MacRumors is now reporting that these ads are, in fact, Apple produced and that each carrier is getting its own commercial with its own celebrity.

It’s pretty rare to see Apple use celebrities in ads, and save for “I’m a Mac/PC” series, the last celebrity we can remember Apple using in an ad was Jeff Goldblum.

That aside, what do you guys think of the commercials? Personally, they seem a bit cheesy to me, especially Deschanel’s commercial.

With earnings season getting underway (Google just released their Q1 2012 earnings yesterday), Apple is next on deck and will release their Q2 2012 earnings on April 24, 2012.

With that date fast approaching, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has updated his projections for Apple’s quarterly sales figures.

Specifically, Munster anticipates Apple will record sales of 33 million iPhones, 12 million iPads, and 4.3 million Macs. The consensus on Wall St. is that Apple will deliver 30.5 million in iPhone sales, 13 million iPads, and 4.4 million Macs.

During Apple’s last quarter (Q1 2012), the company reported record sales across its entire product line, selling upwards of 37 million new iPhones. Hitting the 33 million iPhone mark would be quite impressive given that the iPhone 4S is no longer the new kid on the block and that we’re well past the busy holiday shopping season.

iPad wise, it’ll be interesting to see how the newest iPad performed. Remember that the device got off to an incredible start this quarter, with Apple moving 3 million units in the first weekend of the device’s availability. What’s more, the new iPad roll out has been quite expansive, reaching a multitude of countries shortly after debuting in the US.

During Apple’s Q2 2011 quarter, the company reported earnings of $6.40 on revenue of $23.34 billion.

Product wise, Apple in the second quarter of 2011 sold 4.69 million iPads and 18.7 million iPhones.

In Q2 of 2010, the company reported EPS of $3.33 on revenue of $13.5 billion. In Q2 of 2009, Apple’s EPS came in at $1.79 on revenue of $8.2 billion.

via AppleInsider

Remember Lodsys, everyone’s favorite patent troll?

In 2011, a company named Lodsys began sending out letters to a number of iOS developers claiming that their apps infringed upon Lodsys’ patents. This of course created quite a stir in the iOS developer community and, by extension, creates quite a headache for Apple.

Consequently, Apple this past Summer filed a motion to intervene in the patent lawsuits Lodsys filed against a number of iOS developers. From Apple’s vantage point, because they are licensees to Lodsys’ patents, iOS developers, by extension, should be covered as well.

Lodsys, for its part, wasn’t keen on Apple intervening, noting that Apple’s only interest in the case is economic. Apple, meanwhile, contended that the issues at stake give rise to what it called a “sufficient property interest.”

Apple in its brief at the time wrote in part:

Apple’s License lies at the heart of this case, Lodsys has already sued numerous significant Apple customers and threatened dozens of others, and a boycott of some of Apple’s core products by App developers has been proposed.

In the interim, Lodsys has since upped the ante by going after bigger name development houses such as EA and Rovio.

In any event, FOSS Patents is reporting that Apple has finally been granted permission to intervene in the aforementioned legal disputes.

Apple has satisfied each of the four requirements for intervention as a matter of right under Rule 24(a)(2). The Court finds that permissive intervention is also appropriate under Rule 24(b). To avoid any potential prejudice to Lodsys rights under the License Agreement such intervention shall be and is hereby limited to the issues of license and patent exhaustion. Apples Motion to Intervene is GRANTED-IN-PART to the extent and as specified herein. Motions terminated: [4] MOTION to Intervene filed by Apple, Inc.. Signed by Judge Rodney Gilstrap on 4/12/12. (ehs, ) Modified on 4/12/2012 (ch, ).

Notably, some companies hit by Lodsys’ seemingly BS patent suits have already settled, realizing that getting into a protracted legal dispute with Lodsys would be the wrong business move to make.

In light of the recently initiated lawsuit against Apple, the lead counsel that brought the suit in the first place, Steve W. Berman of Hagens Berman, issued the following statement last Wednesday.

“We are pleased that the U.S. Justice Department and Attorney General Holder agreed with our analysis that Apple and some of the nation’s largest publishers engaged in anticompetitive practices.

We’ve long held that Apple and this group of book publishers formed a cabal with the sole intent of extinguishing any competitive influences in the e-book marketplace.

While Attorney General Holder’s actions, if successful, will put an end to the anticompetitive actions, our class-action is designed to pry the ill-gotten profits from Apple and the publishers and return them to consumers.

One of the main engines of our economy today is technological innovation, including devices such as the iPad and Kindle. Any company – or conspiracy of companies – trying to illegally limit the benefit of these technologies is guilty of more than anticompetitive behavior. They are guilty of stanching future innovation in the marketplace.

We are eager to move forward with our civil action against Apple and the publishers, and to show the court and the public the depth and breadth of the conspiracy they concocted at the expense of consumers.”

Well, the chorus of reports pointing to an iPad mini continue to grow. Most recently, Kotaku relays a report from the Chinese net portal NetEase which claims that Apple will release a smaller version of the 9.7-inch iPad some time during the third quarter of 2012.

NetEase claimed that the device will be released around the third quarter of this year to “counter attack” the upcoming Windows tablets. The report further claims that the devices will cost anywhere from US$249 to $299 and that there will be an initial 6 million units ready for launch.

And just last week, if you remember, Daring Fireball’s John Gruber claimed on the Talk Show podcast that he had been informed by “numerous” people that a smaller version of the current iPad remains something Apple is toying with and considering.

When asked about the prospects of a smaller iPad hitting the market, Gruber responded:

Well, I don’t know. What I do know is that they have one in the lab…a 7.85 inch iPad that runs at 1024×768… it’s just like the 9.7″ iPad shrunk down a little bit. Apps wouldn’t need to be recompiled or redesigned to work optimally on it. It’s just the iPad smaller.

Previous reports have claimed that the iPad Mini won’t feature a Retina Display and that it will likely be priced in the $249-$299 range, which of course, is what the NetEase report claims as well.

With the iPad essentially owning the tablet market, it makes sense that Apple would now expand the line into a new size with a more agressive price point to cover all its bases and to prevent competing tablets like the Kindle Fire from gaining any real and significant foothold in the marketplace.

Lastly, a number of iPad Mini reports have all pointed to a device with a 7.85 inch screen.

Ever wonder what goes into an iPhone, where all the costs are allocated? Well wonder no more, this nifty infographic explains all.

Created by MBAonline.com

There’s an interesting problem with Apple inventory that’s paying dividends to iPhone 4 owners. According to a report from 9to5Mac, Apple is experiencing unusual shortages of its 16GB iPhone 4 replacement units. As a result, iPhone 4 owners who come in with phone problems and would ordinarily receive an iPhone 4 replacement are now being upgraded, at no extra cost, to the 16 GB iPhone 4S.

This iPhone 4S would be a refurbished white iPhone 4S 16GB. This situation will not affect all customers and Apple Stores, but it seems like many white iPhone 4 16GB owners seeking hardware replacements may get Siri, an A5 chip, and an eight megapixel camera out of their next Genius Bar appointment.

The report notes that this issue is only prevalent in US and Canadian Apple retail stores.

via 9to5Mac

Some Friday humor for ya’ll, and a lesson for all you ladies. If you see your man’s eye’s straying, don’t be so quick to judge. The streets are always full of surprises!

AppleInsider is reporting that Apple CEO Tim Cook was recently spotted paying a visit at Valve Corp’s headquarters in Bellevue, Washington. Valve, if you’re not familiar, is the company behind the Steam distribution network where users can download popular game such as Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2, for both the PC and Mac.

It remains unclear just what Cook was doing at Valve, but the presence of Apple’s top executive there suggests that some significant cooperation between the two companies may be in the works.

Apple has finally issued an official comment regarding the US Justice Department’s antitrust suit against them regarding allegations that they conspired with publishers to raise the price of e-books.

Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told Peter Kafka of All Things D:

The DOJ’s accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true. The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. Since then customers have benefited from eBooks that are more interactive and engaging. Just as we’ve allowed developers to set prices on the App Store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore.

The DOJ’s initial suit included Apple and 5 publishers, 3 of whom (HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster) all decided to settle. Apple, MacMilan, and the Penguin Group, however, chose not to and will fight the US in court.

Interestingly, legal experts have weighed in on the suit saying that the DOJ will have a tough case to make pinning an antitrust verdict on Apple. As far as they can tell, the extent of the “collusion” was to use an agency model, not to automatically raise prices. I, for one, find it interesting that Apple is at the heart of this investigation when Amazon is the company that holds a monopoly in the e-book market.