Year: 2012

Korea orders its telcos ‘not to give excessive subsidies’ for the iPhone 5

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

As iPhone 5 availability continues to improve, Apple today confirmed plans to launch the handset in South Korea this coming Friday, followed by the global expansion into an additional fifty markets throughout the month of December. However, the company could face an unexpected roadblock as The Korea Communications Commission (KCC), the country's telecom regulator, has threatened to punish carriers SK Telecom and KT if they offer "illegal subsidies to attract more iPhone 5 customers".

Apparently, luring would-be buyers with aggressively subsidized hardware is against the law in the fifty million people country. It is no secret that carriers elsewhere are whining about high iPhone subsidy, with some even mulling dropping subsidies altogether amid tanking margins, like China Unicom. Others, like T-Mobile, complain that carrying the iPhone bears short-term risks due to huge upfront payments to Apple...

Apple: we knew nothing of jury foreman Hogan’s background

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 3, 2012

Apple and Samsung are scheduled to once again duke it out in the courtroom on the eve of Pearl Harbor Day, Thursday, December 6. And as the South Korean conglomerate last month alleged jury misconduct, claiming a foreman in the Apple v. Samsung lawsuit concealed information during the jury selection process, Apple is adamant it knew nothing of the foreman background.

Samsung is hoping to overrule the jury verdict which resulted in a $1.05 billion penalty on the grounds that it would have never approved jury foreman Velvin Hogan had it known of his prior involvement in litigation with a former employee Seagate, with which the Galaxy maker has a “substantial strategic relationship”...

The Daily closes after two years

Ed Sutherland ∙ December 3, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NIO41eDMQ-A

Rupert Murdoch's two-year experiment with an iPad-only newspaper will fade to black later this month. Murdoch's News Corp. announced Monday that top executives at The Daily will move to the New York Post December 15. After earlier this year slashing staff by a third, the magazine's Editor-in-Chief Jesse Angelo will become the Post's publisher. Daily publisher Greg Clayman will oversee digital efforts of a News Corp. spin-off company devoted to only Murdoch's publishing empire...

Angry Birds Seasons get 25 new wintry levels in 2012 holidays update

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tn3pgdnJNM

Angry Birds maker Rovio last weekend updated the Seasons game with 25 appropriately-themed winter holiday levels. As was the case with a similar update last holiday, each subsequent level becomes available every 24 hours, which is reliant on an internet connection as the game needs to talk to the Rovio cloud to unlock new content on a daily basis. If you do the math, the 25th level is scheduled for unlocking on the big day of December 25.

The winter-style environment features aurora borealis and includes three secret levels, a new slip and slide ice element and the usual amount of bird flinging and pigs popping. You'll also need to watch out for a special Harbin level, created in honor of the upcoming Angry Birds area in the Ice and Snow World in Harbin, China...

Apple announces that iPhone 5 hits Korea and 50 additional markets in December

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 3, 2012

Apple has just announced via a media release that the iPhone 5 will launch in South Korea this Friday, December 7, with 50 additional markets to follow later this month. Next week, the iPhone 5 will go on sale in Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, Grenada, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Macedonia, Malaysia, Moldova, Montenegro, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

The third wave of the global expansion will follow a week later, December 21, and will include Barbados, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Egypt, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St.Vincent & the Grenadines, Tunisia, Uganda and Vietnam...

Online iPhone 5 availability now improving to 2-4 business days

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 3, 2012

In another display of Apple catching up to iPhone demand, the company's online store in New Zealand is now quoting 2-4 business days for deliveries. It was only a week ago that the New Zealand store indicated shipping times were improving to one week. Prior to that, it took Apple about a month following the iPhone 5 launch to improve delivery times for online orders from 2-3 weeks to one week. The online US store gave us a one-week shipping estimate at press time but we're expecting international stores to follow suit and update estimates later in the day...

Apple holding an iTunes event in Russia tomorrow

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 3, 2012

Looks like Apple's iTunes music service is coming to Russia, if today's report is to be believed. According to a tipster, Apple has invited a small group of people to an iTunes event in Moscow on the evening of December 4. Rumors first began circulating of a possible iTunes launch in the country back in November, when a Russian blog spotted that iTunes music was starting to surface in the country, with a search in the App Store for music returning a link to what appeared to be an iTunes portal...

Some new iMacs say ‘Assembled in the USA’

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Apple has taken a lot of criticism over the years for outsourcing the manufacturing of its products to China and other countries. They're not the only one that does this — thousands do — but because of their size and influence, they always get singled out.

With this in mind, it's interesting to hear that a number of new iMac buyers are reporting that their machines have the words "Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in USA" etched into the back of them. Is Apple manufacturing in the US now?

Facebook reportedly in talks to acquire WhatsApp

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Facebook's been on a bit of a buying spree this year. Of course we all know about the $1 billion Instagram deal. Then there was the Acrylic buyout. And now the word is that it's in talks to acquire WhatsApp, the popular cross-platform messaging service that allows users to send and receive text, video and audio messages...

Weblin — yet another “Cydia alternative”

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

First, let me just say that this rant isn't strictly about Weblin. It's about any such service — past or future. Please read this before trying to create the next Cydia alternative.

I speak totally for myself when I say this, but I'm sick and tired of these so-called Cydia alternatives. They are usually slow, unresponsive, and serve no real purpose. Not only that, but they potentially leave you at risk security wise, and their legality falls somewhere in a grey area.

Weblin is yet the latest such "alternative". Now this review isn't meant to be harsh. Okay, who am I kidding, it is meant to be harsh, but it's in no way trying to disrespect an obviously talented developer behind the project. The problem is that these alternatives serve no purpose. They don't do anything that Cydia doesn't already do 100 times better, and for that reason they are pointless to me.

You'll see what I mean inside. Take a look as I take Weblin for a spin on video...

Analyst breaks down Samsung’s marketing expenses

Cody Lee ∙ December 2, 2012

"Just chalk it up to marketing." That's how a lot of pundits have explained Apple's success over the years, indicating that the company devotes a lot of its resources to, and greatly depends on, marketing to sell products.

But according to a new report from Asymco analyst Horace Dediu, Apple spends far less on marketing than the competition does. In fact, when it comes to these kinds of expenses, Samsung spends more than anyone...