Last Friday, it was noted that the Jobs family's new yacht had been confiscated by the authorities of the Netherlands as a result of the dispute over design payment in favor of the famous French designer Philippe Starck. Stark asserted that he should have received the payment in the amount of 9 million euros for designing yacht, however the Jobs family reported that agreed rate was equal to 6% of the yacht valued in the 105 million euros. Stark said that his fee will be lower by about 3 million euro.
According to information from the Wall Street Journal, Apple, Microsoft and Google are potential buyers of home automation system firm R2 Studios, part of the id8 group, founded by Blake Krikorian. He was the founder of Sling Media, maker of the SlingBox, which was subsequently sold to EchoStar/Dish Network.
The recently released update of IOS 6.0.2 for the iPhone 5 and IPad mini, could solve some of the issues associated with Wi-Fi, but some users say that the software reduced battery life.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Google is developing its own phone via its recently acquired Motorola Mobility unit. The smartphone, which the company plans to release next year, will compete more strongly with Samsung’s Galaxy line and iPhone, than Motorola’s current line of smartphones.
In late November, research company Kantar Worldpanel reported that strong debut of the iPhone 5 allowed Apple to retake the lead in the U.S. sales from Android. Over the August-October timeframe, Apple's share of the market was assessed at 48.1% compared to Android's share of 46.7%.
At the time, the company predicted that IOS share would continue to increase and Apple would hit a record high for market share on the strength of iPhone 5 sales over the following two 12-week periods.
Passbook was one of the main features added to iOS 6, enabling companies to deliver loyalty cards, gift cards, coupons, tickets and other items to a centralized digital wallet for the iPad touch and iPhone.
Although the feature is handy addition that utilizes time and location-based awareness to help you use Passbook passes when needed, it is not a true digital wallet based on hardware technologies such as field communications (NFC).
Google added to its Google Play music service a new song matching service that is similar to iTunes Match. This means that users will no longer have to spend plenty of time uploading gigabytes of music as it was previously.
It is worth noting that users do not have to pay subscription fee for Google's matching service like with Apple and Amazon’s services. Last month this service was released for European Google Play, so this launch is new for U.S. users.
Brazilian electronics manufacturer IGB Electronica SA announced a new line of Android-based smartphones under the IPHONE trademark, which was applied for in Brazil back in 2000. Reuters notes:
According to the report from The Wall Street Journal, Apple is in preliminary discussions with Foursquare, company behind popular location-based app, for a data-sharing deal. The report notes that Apple SVP Eddy Cue is participating in negotiations with a view to improve the app that has failed to meet Apple’s expectations. WSJ said:
Digitimes reports that Apple will center next iPad mini’s improvements around the tablet’s display resolution. The report said:
“The sources have yet to specify whether the device will use Apple’s Retina Display technology to enhanced resolution, but market observers said it is highly likely based on the development of past Apple products such as the iPhone and 9.7-inch iPad series.”
A new survey of more than 800 United States buyers found that more than half of those ones who planning to buy a smartphone in the next three months say they will buy the new iPhone 5 by Apple. The poll conducted by Piper Jaffray, revealed that 53.3% of consumers say they plan to buy the iPhone 5 in the near future. This is close to a number of buyers constituting the 54.9 percent who have already chosen the iPhone 5 in October and a little more than 47.7 percent who said they would choose Apple in September.
VR-Zone reports (via Engadget) about what is purported to be a list of Intel’s first "Haswell" desktop processors. The fourteen new chips are expected to launch in the spring of the next year and will build new architecture based on 22 nm process that is used in the Ivy Bridge processors.
In the recent days the flurry of Apple television rumors does not subside. Apple's CEO Tim Cook gave brief comments in the interview at Rock Center last week, The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is really testing samples of future television production. A bit is added to the existing rumor, but there seems to be that a work is in progress and the subject remains topical.
Last week, Tim Cook revealed that the television was an area of intense "interest" for Apple. Today, analyst Katy Huberty from Morgan Stanley shared the results of the survey.
"11% of respondents said they would be "extremely interested" in buying an Apple-branded TV set, which translates into 13 million units in the U.S. alone. 36% said they would be "somewhat interested," which could translate into another 43 million units.