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Posts tagged with "apple"

Apple Cracking Down On “Pay-Per-Install” iOS Apps?

Following speculation about Apple using a new App Store ranking algorithm to better promote apps by ratings and “active usage” rather than raw download numbers, TUAW reports today Apple is also effectively banning from the App Store the so-called “pay-per-install” apps – basically, applications (usually games) that let users get access to virtual goods by downloading another app, instead of paying a fee or unlocking features with in-app purchases. This practice has apparently caught the attention of Apple and the App Review Team, and several developers are reporting they’re being notified of the rejection of their software from the Store.

According to Tapjoy, several developers within their network are receiving rejection notices from Apple because their applications feature a pay-per-install promotion.

It appears Apple is somehow enforcing section 3.10 of the App Store Review Guidelines, which states:

Developers who attempt to manipulate or cheat the user reviews or chart ranking in the App Store with fake or paid reviews, or any other inappropriate methods will be removed from the iOS Developer Program.

Clearly, Apple isn’t happy with this freemium model of apps granting virtual currency and goods in exchange for another application downloaded from the Store, and we guess it’s for two reasons: a) the system inevitably “cheats” the App Store charts by inflating downloads of an app not because of quality, but because of promised benefits; b) Apple would rather see developers implementing in-app purchases, which return the company a 30% off every purchase.

As usual, Apple has every right to change the rules in its “walled garden.” In the meantime, Tapjoy, the biggest network for pay-per-install apps, says “the system is misunderstood” and that the model is actually “is beneficial to users, advertisers, and developers.”

Full Analysis Of Apple’s Lawsuit Against Samsung→

Full Analysis Of Apple’s Lawsuit Against Samsung

As we saw in the article about iPod touch, iPad and iPhone sales, Nilay Patel’s rundown of the Apple / Samsung lawsuit is an interesting read full of details. I’d like, however, to link back with a dedicated post – you really shouldn’t miss Patel’s detailed analysis of the lawsuit.

So now that Apple’s made its case, what does it want the court to do? Simple — it wants Samsung to pay up for the infringements in the past and stop infringing in the future. Specifically, Apple’s asking the court to permanently forbid Samsung and its various divisions and suppliers from ever infringing Apple’s claimed IP again, as well as triple damages for patent infringement, any wrongful profits Samsung might have gained from using Apple’s IP, some punitive damages, money for corrective advertising, and the cost of Apple’s attorney’s fees. That’s all pretty standard stuff, but it’s all very dependent on the claims themselves — and by the time a judge or jury is deciding on damages, the claims will have been argued into something very different. That’s years from now.

Much has been said about Samsung’s intention to “copy” the iOS style with is TouchWiz UI, and it’s pretty clear from the lawsuit that, even if Samsung is a key partner in Apple’s supply chain for iOS devices, Apple will do everything necessary to protect its intellectual properties and patents. The PDF of the document filed in the Northern District of California is available here.

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Apple Sues Samsung Over Galaxy “Look & Feel”

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Apple has filed a lawsuit against Samsung on April 15 in the Northern District of California claiming that the South Korean company copied the “look and feel” of iPhones and iPads with its Galaxy devices – smartphones, tablets and media players.  A very few details are provided in the original report, but the WSJ claims the lawsuit indicates products like the “Galaxy S 4G,” “Epic 4G,” “Nexus S” and “Galaxy Tab” are violating Apple’s intellectual property.

Rather than innovate and develop its own technology and a unique Samsung style for its smart phone products and computer tablets, Samsung chose to copy Apple’s technology, user interface and innovative style in these infringing products,” the lawsuit said.

Representatives of Apple and Samsung didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Samsung is one of the big players in the current Android landscape – the company came out last year with a 7-inch tablet and recently announced two new models (Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1) that will also support Android’s Honeycomb 3.0 update. The relationship between Apple and Samsung is quite complex, as the South Korean tech giant makes the processors that go into iPhones and iPads sold by Apple. Several rumors in the past pointed to Apple willing to move the production of A4 and A5 CPUs away from Samsung (the iPad 2’s A5 CPU comes from Samsung), and this lawsuit might be a sign of things changing between the two companies. This lawsuit could also imply Apple is targeting Android indirectly by suing OEMs instead of Google itself – manufacturers like HTC, Samsung and Motorola are free to use Android, but they usually apply their custom graphical skins to differentiate their products. Apple is suing Samsung, a manufacturer of Android-based devices which applied its custom TouchWiz user interface to Android. TouchWiz, however, was also used on proprietary and Bada-based devices, but Apple is suing over the “look & feel” of the Android Galaxy line. The Wall Street Journal doesn’t specify whether or not TouchWiz was mentioned in the lawsuit.

A few weeks ago, Apple also sued online retailer Amazon over the usage of the term “App Store” in its new Android digital marketplace. Read more

iHub: A USB Hub with Apple Appeal

M.I.C. Gadget is now selling the second revision of their iHub; a small, 4-port USB hub with a bit of Apple branding on it. The iHub has a light-up Apple logo on top that’s reminscent of many Apple laptops. Version 2 of their iHub looks very nice and could almost pass for a legitimate Apple accessory, even the packaging looks familiar.

Video and another picture after the break. Read more

Rejoice, The Easter Update To Angry Birds Seasons Is Here!

Remember hearing about that “amazing” Easter update for the Angry Birds Seasons game? Well just a few hours ago that update for Angry Birds Seasons went live (for the iPad version too) with version 1.4.0 and its full of 15 new Easter-themed levels, and of course some more of those golden eggs!

The new Easter-themed levels (jump the break for screenshots and a video) look just like you would expect with the strong prominence of the Spring sun, chocolate eggs and of course Easter bunnies. Intriguingly the update also brings the ability to send some Angry Birds and Easter themed cards to others.

EASTER EGGS FOR ANGRY BIRDS!
Spring is upon us and the time is ripe for some chocolate eggs and easter bunnies! So shed the winter gear and get in – Easter Eggs have never been this delicious! If you think St. Patrick’s Day was a blast, well, you ain’t seen nothing yet! This episode will again prove that Angry Birds is the most generous update giver of them all!

New Features in version 1.4.0:

- 15 LEVELS FULL OF SPRING
- NEW THEME TO FIT THE MOOD
- GOLDEN EGGS A-PLENTY
- LISTEN TO THE TWITTER OF BIRDS TO GET MORE

Read more

Apple Supplier Cirrus Reports Manufacturing Issues with New Audio Component

Cirrus Logic, a component manufacturer that supplies analog chips for audio applications in Apple’s iPad and iPhone, are reporting manufacturing issues with a new component presumably slated for its biggest customer. In May 2010, Seeking Alpha reported that the bulk of Cirrus Logic’s revenue was derived from iPad and iPhone sales, followed by September rumors that the company could be acquired by Apple. This morning, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that a new component is having initial manufacturing problems off the line:

Cirrus late Thursday said it had determined an earlier test for a particular function of a new audio product–which analysts assume is for Apple–was insufficient to guarantee that all products met a certain standard. After a more rigorous test was developed, Cirrus found fewer working chips than previously expected, with that yield loss rising as volumes increased.

Capstone Investments analyst Jeff Schreiner said the yield issue was exacerbated by the fact the device was for Apple, which ramps new products very quickly and at high volumes.

While Cirrus has told reporters that they’ve developed a fix to mend product problems, Apple shares dropped $2 to $330.24.

[Wall Street Journal via 9 to 5 Mac]

Image via: chipworks

Apple Poaches Microsoft’s Datacenter GM→

Apple Poaches Microsoft’s Datacenter GM

Timmons left Microsoft this week and the company has confirmed his departure, though it declined to say why he left or where he was headed. But sources in position to know confirm he’s hired on with Apple.

When Microsoft hired Timmons in 2009, his responsibilities were briefly detailed by Technet:

In addition to bringing Kevin on board, we’ve recently restructured our Infrastructure Services team within GFS. In mid May we aligned the organization around five teams: Shared Infrastructure, Programmable Infrastructure, Platform Hardware and Standards, Global Network Services, and the Data Center Services team that Kevin now heads up.

Data Center Knowledge reports that Timmons was incredibly efficient at building scalable data center solutions on a budget, saving Microsoft $250 million in an initially estimated 500 million dollar project as Microsoft constructed a new data facility in Chicago (and later Dublin) in 2009.

At Microsoft, Timmons oversaw the deployment of massive new data centers in Dublin and Chicago shortly after his arrival in mid-2009, but then moved to streamline the company’s data center design and cost structure. Timmons said his goal is for Microsoft’s data center network to be “incredibly scalable at awesome cost effectiveness,” and said his team was on target to slash data center costs by 50 percent.

Some of Microsoft’s innovations during Timmons’ tenure are on display in its latest data center in Quincy, Washington, which is the culmination of years of design work at Microsoft Global Foundation Services, and offers dramatic reductions in cost and resources.

Apple has reportedly ordered up to 12 petabytes of storage from Isilon Systems, with Instor and Electrostak providing custom mounting, cooling, and power equipment to host the new influx of new blades Apple will deploy in their data center. Ideally, if Apple was going to build a rumored parallel data center in North Carolina, Timmons could oversee the remainder of the work and efficiently scale to deploy new services (whether it be for media or not).

[via Macgasm]

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Intel To Support Both USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt with Ivy Bridge

Yesterday, Intel confirmed they will support both USB 3.0 and the recently-introduced Thunderbolt technology in 2012. USB 3.0 – evolution of a widely adopted standard in PCs, mobile devices and tablets – failed to gain support by chipset maker Intel in 2010 and early 2011 as the company only enabled it in desktop motherboards powered by a NEC chip, thus focusing on finalizing the development of Light Peak instead, now known as Thunderbolt. USB 3.0 promises data transfers 10 times faster than USB 2.0, but it can’t reach the 10 Gbps capabilities of Thunderbolt – implemented by Apple and Intel in the latest MacBook Pros, and expected to come to more OS X computers and desktop peripherals in the near future.

Intel is going to support USB 3.0 in the 2012 client platform. We’re going to support Thunderbolt capability. We believe they’re complementary,” said Kirk Skaugen, a vice president at the Intel Architecture Group, speaking at Intel’s developer conference in Beijing today. The event was streamed over the Web.

With the 2011 MacBook Pro refresh, Apple used Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors to increase the performances of the new line and implement Thunderbolt, which allows for multiple connections (daisy-chaining) and high-speed data transfers with a variety of external devices. A report published a day before Apple launched the new MacBook Pros with Thunderbolt and Sandy Bridge processors suggested the 2012 refresh would be a big milestone release for Apple, with a completely new design and breakthrough features. If Intel will manage to get Ivy Bridge chipsets available in the market by the first quarter of 2012, some speculate Apple might consider supporting both Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 as well – it’s worth noting that Intel is indeed telling developers and manufacturers to support both standards. [via Cnet, Engadget]

Sydney Hotel Deploys iPad 2s In Every Room

After the deployment of iPads in The Plaza hotel and others, The Establishment Hotel in Sydney Australia has become the world’s first to provide iPad 2s in every guest room of their hotel. The hotel, located in the financial district of Sydney, acted quickly to purchase enough iPads for their more than thirty rooms as they went on sale in Australia on March 25th and has since implemented them earlier this month.

The iPads, which are provided free of charge to all guest rooms, include a selection of music, movies and apps. In particular the hotel includes a welcome video to the hotel, a broad selection of international newspapers on the iPad, travel applications such as Trip Advisor, a Merivale bar and restaurant guide and of course Angry Birds. The hotel also features unlimited free WiFi for all guests and an Apple TV with surround sound system in each of their rooms, letting guests AirPlay content from the new iPads to the TV or sound system in their rooms.

Merivale CEO Justin Hemmes has said that they are looking at what they can do next and how they can bring “innovation to our guests”;

Now that we have the hardware, we are only limited by our own imagination. Well, maybe also by the software developers’ abilities but seriously, we will be looking at ways in which we can integrate this technology further into the whole guest experience