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News tagged ‘U.S.’
Apple interested in swappable iPhone camera lenses
Apple offers a new concept of an improved iPhone camera system that would allow users to reconfigure or replace camera lenses. The details of Apple’s new invention were published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday.
The filing notes that as the quality of digital images taken with highly compact devices increases, users seek even more sophisticated features typically only found with high-end digital cameras. Features such as supplementary lenses and filters, optical zoom, and optical image stabilization are not typically found in multifunction devices that include a camera.
Future iPhones could broadcast preferred communication mode, network status
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Offices published on Thursday an Apple patent filing which details a system that could notify other users of preferred methods of communication based on their current network status and relative signal strength. Determining which methods of communication are available, the system simplifies the decision whether to call, text message, FaceTime or iMessage another user.
Apple MacBook Air design patent could disrupt Ultrabook rollouts
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued on Tuesday Apple Design Patent No. D661,296 which covers the asymmetrical wedge-like or so-called "teardrop" shape first introduced in the company's MacBook Air line of computers. Such patent may cause problems for Ultrabook manufactures, replicating the MacBook Air's look.
Despite the fact that the patent describes design details, it gives also schematic illustrations that provide an exhaustive look at how the MacBook Air's body differs from existing thin-and-light PCs.
Apple changes name of "iPad WiFi + 4G" to "iPad WiFi + Cellular"
Following a string of complaints across the globe (especially in Australia and the United Kingdom) regarding Apple’s branding of the 4G-LTE compatible iPads, Apple has tweaked the name of their cellular-connecting iPad in some regions. The new name is simply “iPad WiFi + Cellular” and this is a shift from the former “iPad WiFi + 4G” branding. The source of the criticism of the 4G third-generation iPad models is the fact that the 4G LTE only functions in the U.S. and Canada, on a total of five carriers.
Apple did not simply make this iPad name change in the affected Australia and UK regions, but they changed it in the UK, Australia, the U.S., Canada, UAE, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, Ireland, and Hong Kong.
Apple rumored to be in talks to acquire German HDTV maker Loewe
AppleInsider’s source claims that Apple is said to be negotiating to acquire Loewe AG, a manufacturer and distributor of televisions, audio components and integrated entertainment systems. Loewe "has been advised by its financial advisor to accept the offer and a final decision is scheduled to be announced internally before 18 May 2012."
This person said Apple is confidentially offering 87.3 million euros (about $112 million U.S.), a slight premium over the firm's last closing share price of 4.519 euros (giving it a market cap of 58.79 million euros or $76 million U.S.). Loewe's primary shareholders currently include Sharp (28.83 percent) and LaCie (11.17 percent).
Loewe entered the TV market in 1929, and now employs around 1,000 workers worldwide in 50 countries. The company has seen its sales fall by 11 percent over the last year, generating a loss of 10.5 million Euro ($13.57 million USD) in 2011.
Apple rockets up Fortune 500 list, still trails HP
Fortune has recently published its annual ratings of the 500 largest corporations in America and placed Apple on the 17th place. That means that the company managed to leap 18 spots from the last year 35th place.
According to Fortune, the iPhone maker's performance in the "Computers, Office Equipment" industry was topped only by Hewlett-Packard, which finished 10th overall. HP's revenue totaled over $127 billion compared to Apple's $108 billion, however the percent of change from 2010 was a stark contrast between the two companies which grew 1 percent and 66 percent, respectively. Apple's profit skyrocketed to nearly $26 billion representing an 85 percent change from 2010, while HP saw negative growth of 19 percent with a little over $7 billion in profits.
iOS Dropped To 29 Percent Of US Smartphone Sales In The First Quarter
CNET that iOS U.S. market share dropped by 12 percent in the first quarter, which enable Google’s Android to take almost two-thirds of the market.
According to market research company NPD Group, Android was able to capture 61 percent of the U.S. market, which is a considerable gain from the 49 percent registered in last year’s fourth quarter.
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Apple's iPhone climbs to 31% share of US smartphone market
comScore released on Tuesday quarterly data from its MobiLens service, which surveyed 30,000 mobile subscribers users, revealing that the iPhone made up 30.7 percent of the U.S. smartphone market and 14 percent of the mobile market in the first quarter of 2012.
Apple's share of the smartphone market grew 1.1 percent when compared to the fourth quarter of 2011. The figures were up 0.5 percent from Apple's three-month average from February.
Australian Parliament Asked Apple To Justify Increased Prices For Australians
Apple and some other companies will soon have to explain to the Australian Parliament why content from iTunes is more expensive for Australian consumers that for consumers in U.S. The Sydney Morning Herald, the Minister for Communications Stephen Conroy has approved a parliamentary inquiry that will be held sometimes this year.
One in four iPad purchases are made by first-time Apple owners
The NPD Group has found that about 25 percent of buyers in the U.S. have made the iPad their first-ever Apple product.
"iPad sales are growing much faster than any other Apple product has this soon after launch," said Ben Arnold, director of industry analysis at NPD. "In fact, one-in-five Apple owner households has one— nearly equivalent to the number that own an Apple computer. This demonstrates the appeal of both the new form factor and Apple’s app ecosystem."
A majority of the U.S. households that do have Apple products — 67 percent — own an iPod, and 82 percent of iPod owners polled said the media player was their first Apple product.
New iPad arrives to 21 more countries soon
Apple just published a press release that confirms the new iPad 3 will launch in 12 additional countries this Friday, April 20. Along with the 12 countries listed below, Apple confirmed an April 27 international launch date for nine more countries:
In addition to South Korea, the new iPad also will be available beginning on Friday, April 20 in Brunei, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, Panama, St Maarten, Uruguay and Venezuela. Beginning on Friday, April 27, the new iPad will be available in Colombia, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, South Africa and Thailand.
Official press release:
U.S. Sues Several Publishers And Apple Over E-Book Pricing
Bloomberg, today the U.S. Department of Justice sued Apple and several book publishers over using agency model for e-book pricing. Reportedly, Apple and the publishers were unwilling to meet the demands of the Department of Justice.
AT&T Will Start Unlocking Off Contract iPhones
AT&T has announced that it will unlock off contract iPhones.
Here AT&T's statement:
Beginning Sunday, April 8, we will offer qualifying customers the ability to unlock their AT&T iPhones. The only requirements are that a customer's account must be in good standing, their device cannot be associated with a current and active term commitment on an AT&T customer account, and they need to have fulfilled their contract term, upgraded under one of our upgrade policies or paid an early termination fee.
This is excellent news for the many U.S. customers with locked iPhones.
Apple may soon begin selling iPad 2 units built in Brazil
According to a tipster who spoke with MacRumors, Apple may start selling the Brazilian-built iPad 2 soon, because the locally assembled 16-gigabyte iPad 2, which sells for $399 in the U.S., has received the proper certification to go on sale in Brazil.
The Brazil-built iPad 2 units are expected to be available alongside regular units built in China, also by Foxconn. Apple's new third-generation Retina display iPad has apparently not yet received approval for sale, whether assembled in Brazil or China.
'Flashback' trojan estimated to have infected 600K Macs worldwide
Russian antivirus company Dr. Web issued a report on Wednesday noting that hundreds of thousands of Macs are infected with the Flashback Trojan, with more than half of them in the U.S. alone. The attack takes advantage of an old Java vulnerability that Apple just patched this week. The malware self-installs after you visit a compromised or malicious webpage.