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Samsung now more assertive in price negotiations over Apple’s hostile tactics

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 16, 2012

Apple appears to be resolving its legal woes with other Android backers such as HTC, reportedly seeking arbitration and even mulling a global settlement with Google's subsidiary Motorola Mobility. On the other hand, the company is to this date entangled in a complicated web of patent disputes with Samsung, from whom it sources components for iOS devices.

And as the frenemies seek to add new gadgets to their respective list of infringing products, one analyst believes Apple's hostile tactics has forced the Galaxy maker to divert from its original business strategy. As a result, the component arm of the South Korean conglomerate has become "more assertive" in price negotiations with Apple, refusing to invest billions of dollars in plants and manufacturing technology without long-term commitment from Apple...

Apple, Motorola seeking arbitration in patent wars as a prelude to global settlement

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 16, 2012

Shocker: Apple and Google's handset arm Motorola Mobility are looking to resolve parts of their global patent dispute pertaining to standards-essential patents deemed critical to smartphone technology. Bloomberg points us to a court filing saying Apple wants to end the patent spat "completely". Both parties are now seeking ways to resolve their differences through binding arbitration, hoping to perhaps reach a broad licensing agreement...

Android grabs 90 percent of China’s smartphone market

Ed Sutherland ∙ November 16, 2012

The world is full of ironies. The latest comes from China, whose government frequently blocks most of Google's properties. Yet, inside the country, more than 90 percent of smartphones run Android. Not laughing is Apple, with just a single-digit share of this enormous market. Specifically, Android's share hit 90.1 percent mark in Q3 2012.

At the same time, iOS recorded just a 4.2 share, new research finds. Seemingly at the heart of problem for Apple: price. While the average price of an Android-powered handset is $179, the iPhone carries a $726 average price tag. The iPhone 5 can't hit Chinese shelves too soon...

Apple hit with $29 million Aussie tax bill

Ed Sutherland ∙ November 16, 2012

Not even Apple can avoid taxes - although it tries. According to a Friday report, the Cupertino, California company owes the Australian Tax Office a nice 28.5 million Australian dollars in back taxes, or approximately $29 million in US currency. Apple's tax bill for the entire fiscal year 2012, which ended September 24, sits at $94.7 million on $4.9 billion in revenue in local currency. Earlier this week, the French government demanded Amazon pay $252 million in back taxes. The government charged the online retail giant operated a network of smaller units, including a Luxembourgh-based tax haven...

Talk of Apple getting into TV space is premature

Ed Sutherland ∙ November 16, 2012

The holidays are a season when people believe in the impossible. But just as a fat man and a string of reindeer criss-crossing the globe overnight is a stretch of the imagination, so is the belief that Apple is about to get into the TV business. Like children wanting to believe, analysts have renewed speculation that the Cupertino firm is set to enter the fractious TV sector.

Not so fast, says one season observer. What some on Wall Street interpret as the "imminent launch" of an HD TV bearing the Apple logo likely is the iPhone maker simply exploring the cable television terrain ahead of a new product...

CallBar v2 brings iOS 6 support and other new features to our favorite Phone app tweak

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

CallBar v2 is now available on Cydia's BigBoss repo, and it brings iOS 6 support and a host of additional new features to the popular telephony tweak for jailbroken iPhones. One thing I noticed by looking at the change log, and from using CallBar v2, is that it is a very refined experience. Elias Limneos and Joshua Tucker spent a lot of time stamping out bugs present in previous versions, and it shows.

While fixes are nice, new and improved features are even better, and CallBar v2 benefits from a number of them. First of all, there's true iOS 6 support built right in. I was able to test CallBar v2 on both an iOS 6.x and iOS 5.x device, and they both worked pretty much identical to one another.

For those of you who still may feel a little reluctant to upgrade to iOS 6, you'll no doubt appreciate how CallBar v2 brings many of the iOS 6 phone features to iOS 5.x. Options that are normally only available on the latest firmware like "Reply with Messsage" and "Remind me Later", are now available on iOS 5, and they work exactly as you would expect.

As we normally tend to do, we've created a video walkthrough that showcases some of the new features present in CallBar v2. We invite you inside to take a look at our video, along with more details concerning the new upgrade...

Warner’s new iOS app streams paid TV shows the day after airing in the US

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

Aptly named Day After US, a new mobile application for iPhones and iPads by Warner Bros. brings you the goodness of the studio's prime television shows, provided you can wait 24 hours after the episodes aired on television. A free download from the App Store, it works natively on any iPhone, iPod touch and iPad with iOS 4.3 or later. You can download individual episodes directly to your device over Wi-Fi for offline viewing. Warner Bros. is throwing in the first episode of each show free of charge. Want more? Have your credit card handy...

AT&T’s LTE coverage doubles in 2012

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 16, 2012

Just in time for latest LTE iPads that Friday morning hit online and brick-and-mortar stores of AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and Best Buy, the nation's #1 carrier AT&T announced its 4G LTE is now available in 24 new markets in the United States. More importantly, the company claims to have doubled its LTE coverage in 2012 versus the end of 2011.

Specifically its LTE now covers more than 150 million people in a total of 103 markets. As part of its ambitious $14 billion LTE network expansion project, AT&T's LTE will expand to 250 million people by year-end 2013 and to 300 million by year-end 2014...

Judge rules Apple and Samsung may add Jelly Bean and iPhone 5 to patent suit

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 16, 2012

Bloomberg reports that a federal judge has ruled that Apple may add Jelly Bean, the latest and greatest version of the Android operating system powering smartphones and tablets, to its patent infringement claims asserted against Samsung. At the same time, the South Korean conglomerate was allowed to add the iPhone 5 to its suit as the company looks to retaliate for losing $1.05 billion in damages by targeting Apple's latest handset. Though U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal allowed Apple to target the Jelly Bean software, the scope is limited to Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus devices...

New LTE iPads hit AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and Best Buy

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Cody told you earlier this morning that U.S. carrier Sprint started selling Apple's iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad with Retina display in its retail stores. Not to be outdone by the nation's #3 telco, carriers AT&T and Verizon announced that both Wi-Fi and cellular versions of the two tablets are now available across their retail and online stores in the United States. Additionally, we are hearing that Best Buy has the tablets and will begin selling them later today. Both carriers are offering the iPad mini and the fourth-gen full-size iPad with or without shared data service, with Sprint of course having the upper hand with its unlimited data offering (and limited 4G coverage).

The devices have also arrived in Apple's retail outlets. Some customers who pre-ordered their units saw their shipment delivered as early as yesterday or are seeing their packages out for delivery...

China iPad sales up 80 percent on ProView deal

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 16, 2012

Following the successful trademark dispute resolution with ProView over the iPad moniker, Apple's tablet sales in the 1.33 billion people market surged 80 percent, a new survey has it. Apple, as you know, back in July ended its legal spat with China's bankrupt monitor maker by paying $60 million in exchange for ownership of the iPad name in China.

That deal has paved the way for the July 20 iPad launch in the country. According to an IDC research note issued Friday, iPad shipments in China nearly doubled following that deal.

An estimated 2.07 million units of the iPad were sold in China during the third quarter of this year versus the 1.15 million shipments in the previous quarter. Lenovo is a distant second with 278,000 tablet shipments. Samsung? It's ranked as third with only 143,000 units moved...

Woz worries Microsoft is now more innovative than Apple

Cody Lee ∙ November 16, 2012

When he's not co-starring in video games, Steve Wozniak is known for being an outspoken gadget-lover. Of course, one of his favorite subjects is Apple. And despite his affiliation with the company, he never seems to hold back his criticisms.

This proved true once again during a recent interview with the Woz at a TED event in Belgium. The Apple co-founder told TechCrunch that he's worried that Microsoft has surpassed the fruit company in innovation over the past few years...