News from category ‘Other’

Apple has reportedly added revised iPhone 4 and iPod touch models to its internal inventory database.  There are three new iPod touch models under the codename N81A that are suggested to be the new white iPod touch in three different capacities. As we know, the original black iPod touch has a N81 codename. The white iPod is expected to have the same SPU as the current model, an improved ambient light sensor and the addition of an oleophobic coating. The new iPod touch is likely to be released on October 13th or 14th.

The revised iPhone 4 has appeared in Apple’s inventory database under N90A codename, suggesting a minor change over the existing N90 device. That might be the rumored "iPhone 4S" that has been seen in a number of parts leaks and bearing a nearly identical appearance to the iPhone 4.

According to TUAW, Apple is about discontinuing the iPod classic and iPod shuffle as a part of “product transition”  this year.

It seems that the "product transition" Apple mentioned on the last earnings call could very well be within the iPod line. Specifically, if you want to buy an iPod shuffle or iPod classic from Apple, you should do it sooner rather than later. We've heard those two iPods are getting the axe this year.

The iPods now only make up for 8% of Apple’s total revenue. As the below graph shows, iPod sales have been falling over the last few quarters and although Apple doesn’t break these figures down model by model, its believed the iPod touch is what has held iPod sales up. The iPod nano also appears to be safe for the time being. The last official word about the iPod Classic came from Steve Jobs over a year ago. He said that they had no plans on discontinuing the iPod Classic at that time. Now, it seems they have changed their plans.

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Facebook is expected to launch its long-awaited iPad application at the media event that Apple is going to held on October 4th alongside iOS 5 and the next-generation iPhone 5.

Facebook will launch its long-awaited iPad app at Apple’s iPhone 5 launch event on Oct. 4, Mashable has learned. In addition to the iPad app, Facebook is also expected to release a revamped version of its iPhone app and may unveil an HTML5-based mobile app marketplace.

Apple and Facebook worked together to integrate Facebook into iOS but due to disagreement, final release of the application was postponed. Now the companies seem to reach consensus. Last week, Robert Scoble also revealed that he had heard that Facebook would be releasing its iPad app at Apple's event on October 4th.  Facebook is also likely to introduce a revamped iPhone application.

Apple has reportedly sent out invitations for a media event set for October 4th. As far as we know the event will take place at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino. If you look at the invitation posted above, it becomes clear that this media event will obviously focus on the next-generation iPhone - the tagline for the banner is “Let’s talk iPhone”. The invitation also includes four Apple’s applications:  Calendar, Clock, Maps, and Phone. We suggest that all applications may be connected with the new system of voice recognition that Apple is focusing on now – Assistant that is waited to appear on the iPhone 5.

Apple is expected to unveil two iPhone's during this media event. The next iPhone 5 is rumored to feature the company’s A5 processor, 1 GB of RAM and a 8-megapixel camera, iOS 5 with iCloud integration. The iPhone 4S is expected to be a low-price smartphone.

The event will begin October 4th at 10:00 am PT.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has denied an Apple’s application for a trademark on the term Multi-Touch, applied by the company on January 9, 2007, the day the iPhone was introduced. Receiving deny, Apple appealed to the Appeal Board. The board also refused to grant the trademark, noting that the term "multitouch" has taken on generic meaning, being used by a wide variety of publications to describe the touchscreen technology on Android phones, tablets, and notebooks.

Thus, from the foregoing, we find that “multi-touch” not only identifies the technology, but also describes how a user of the goods operates the device. Based on the evidence discussed above, as well as other evidence in the record, we agree with the examining attorney that MULTI-TOUCH indeed is highly descriptive of a feature of the identified goods. We now consider whether applicant has submitted sufficient evidence to establish acquired distinctiveness of this highly descriptive term.

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Blurred screenshot of PDF file deployed by OSX/Revir.A

Late last week, a new trojan threat has targeted Mac users. It consists of two parts, with the first being a trojan downloader known as "OSX/Revir.A" that downloads and opens a PDF document containing "offensive political statements" written in Chinese, and installs a a backdoor known as OSX/Imuler.A that allows to get access to the user's machine.

When the backdoor is installed, it will set up a launch agent on the system that is used to continually keep the malware active on the system. It will then connect to a remote server and send the system's current username and MAC address to the server, after which the server will instruct it to either archive files and upload them, or take screenshots and upload them to the server.

Apple has quickly responded having updated its malware definitions for Snow Leopard and Lion systems so that they can recognize the trojan.

CNET has also reported that another trojan horse, known as OSX/flashback.A, has been discovered. The new trojan masquerades as a Flash Player installer to trick users into installing the package.

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The fourth fiscal quarter ends on this Saturday, September 24th, and as usual Apple will hold its conference call webcast to announce results, this year on October 18th.

Apple’s conference call webcast discussing Q4 – 2011 financial results will begin at 2:00pm PT/5:00pm ET on Tuesday, October 18, 2011.

Please note that comments made during this call may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. For more information on the factors that could influence results, please refer to Apple’s SEC filings.

In Q3 2011, Apple managed to earn $28.57 billion of revenue with net profit of $7.31 billion, sold 20.34 million iPhones, 9.25 million iPads, and 3.95 million Macs. The previous quarter was record for Apple, especially comparing with the results of the year-ago quarter, when Apple posted revenue of $20.34 billion with 3.89 million Macs, 14.1 million iPhones and 4.19 million iPads sold during the quarter.

JPMorgan analysts have recently predicted that Apple slashed its fourth quarter iPad production plans by 25%, suggesting significant price cut. But The Wall Street Journal believes that such argument is insufficient to make these predictions. Other analysts not that Apple appears to have actually accelerated production ahead of the holiday shopping season. Sources also indicate that Apple plans to begin production of the iPad 3 at the end of the fourth quarter or early in 2012, so accelerating production now, the company tries to ease that transition.

We believe chatter regarding iPad production cuts are misleading – we have seen pull-ins, not cuts. We have noted recent comments by competitors discussing iPad production cuts for 4Q. Our recently published AAPL supply-chain checks noted a sequential decline in 4Q iPad builds from 17 mln-19 mln units in 3Q to 11 mln-13 mln units in 4Q. However, the 4Q sequential decline was accompanied by an increase in 3Q builds, leading us to conclude that production was likely pulled-in from 4Q to 3Q.

Some analysts suggest that the fourth quarter production cuts may be connected with shifting some production to Brazil by the end of the year.

9to5Mac reveals features of the "Assistant" voice-powered personal application that will appear on the next-generation iPhone. The site claims that Assistant allows users to handle scheduling, reminder, and messaging tasks by voice. The system will be also capable to ask user questions to clarify what is being said.

The system will actually speak back and forth with the user to gain the most information in order to provide the best results. The user essentially can hold a conversation with their iPhone like it is another human being. For example, if a user is making a meeting with me, they will say “setup meeting with Mark” and the first “bubble” of the conversation thread will say that. After that, the system will speak back: “which e-mail address should Mark be notified at, work or personal?” This question will both be spoken out loud by the iPhone Assistant and shown as a new “bubble” in the conversation thread. The user will then respond with the email address they want to notify me at, and the appointment will be made. The iPhone will even show a quick glance at a calendar view to confirm the appointment. If the Assistant was sending an SMS, as another example, a mini SMS view would appear so the user has a quick glance at the SMS thread.

Assistant will also integrate with WolframAlpha that will help users receive answers to factual, and  "Find My Friends" service and speech-to-text transcription from Nuance. Of course, such power-consuming application will require more powerful hardware, suggesting that Apple will integrate  A5 chip and RAM to 1 GB to support the heavy workload into the new iPhone.

The first hearing over Samsung’s claims that Apple’s iOS devices violate the Samsung’s wireless patents has already begun in The Hague.The Korean company requested to ban Apple’s devices in The Netherlands.

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John Paczkowski at AllThingsD claims that the next keynote, where Apple is rumored to announce its next-generation iPhone, will be held on Apple Campus in Cupertino, rather than the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, where Apple usually holds its fall media event. We’ve heard various rumors that Apple might work on two iPhone models: completely redesigned device and a minor update unofficially dubbed “iPhone 4S”. It is widely believed the new device will come with iOS 5, pre-installed and ready to be configured with iCloud.

Perhaps, the company felt a more intimate venue was best for newly installed CEO Tim Cook’s first media event. Perhaps YBCA was simply already booked. Whatever the reason, the world will get it’s first look at the next iPhone at Apple’s Town Hall Auditorium in early October.

Apple has already used Town Hall Auditoriumon several occasions to preview upcoming versions of iOS, OS X, Lion, iLife ’11 and announce updated MacBook Air models.

Comcast, the U.S. largest internet and cable provider, plans to release a television streaming service for iPads. The company will compete in this market segment with Time Warner and Cablevision. The details of this product and its release dates haven’t been disclosed until now.

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Apple has joined the Digital Due Process coalition, which is focused on pressing Congress to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA).

ECPA was passed by Congress in 1986, before the World Wide Web was even invented and when cell phones were still a rarity. Yet to this day, ECPA is the primary law governing how and when law enforcement can access personal information and private communications stored by communications providers like Google, Facebook, your cell phone company or your ISP.

The aim of the Digital Due Process group is to "simplify, clarify, and unify the ECPA  standards, providing stronger privacy protections for communications and associated data in response to changes in technology and new services and usage patterns, while preserving the legal tools necessary for government agencies to enforce the laws, respond to emergency circumstances and protect the public." Digital Due Process highlights email, mobile location, cloud computing and social networking as new technologies that need to be included in the law. Other coalition members include Amazon, Intel, AT&T, Google and many more.

Investment research firm UBS conducted a study of 515 iPhone and Android users in order to judge consumer loyalty based on whether they plan to make their next purchase from the same manufacturer as their current handset. 89% of iPhone users report that they will purchase another iPhone. For other vendors such percent is falling rapidly. The second place was taken by HTC with 39% and the third one – by Samsung with 28%. Android phones in general are at 55 percent. 31% of Android users plan to switch to iPhone. Only 33% of current BlackBerry users planning to purchase another BlackBerry, down from 62% a year and a half ago. In overall 50% users of smartphone plan to move to Apple and only 10% of iPhone users prefer to stitch from Apple. The survey may not be terribly accurate due to a small sample size, but it helps understand market trends, demonstrating high loyalty of iPhone users.

Taiwnese company VIA Techologies has reportedly filed a patent lawsuit against Apple. VIA Technology accuses Apple of infregement of patent rights by using processors in Apple’s iOS devices.

Via, a semiconductor maker based in Taipei, seeks a jury trial and an order to prohibit Cupertino, California-based Apple from selling products containing the inventions in the U.S., according to a complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware.

“The products at issue generally concern microprocessors included in a variety of electronic products such as certain smartphones, tablet computers, portable media players and other computing devices,” Via said in the complaint.

The lawsuit is targeting Apple’s ARM-based A4 and A5 processors used in iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 4, iPhone 4 CDMA, iPod touch 4th generation, and Apple TV 2nd generation.