Some U.S. sales of Samsung smartphones will "probably be" banned, said Vel Hogan, the Foreman of the California jury in Apple's successful patent-infringement lawsuit against its South Korean rival. On Friday, the U.S. District Court awarded $1.05 billion in damages.
Although at first the jury was "inundated with evidence" and faced a stalemate, Hogan told Bloomberg TV momentum swung toward Apple after he had an "ah-ha" moment while considering the case at home.
Want to know the secret behind Apple's highly-regarded retail experience? Then today's you're lucky day. The company's 'Genius Training Student Workbook' has just leaked onto the internet.
The contents of the book are quite fascinating, essentially telling Geniuses-in-training how to think and what to say in nearly every kind of customer situation, and how to "sell gadget joy."
Despite thoughts of a service call as akin to a root canal, iPhone maker Apple has turned service into a selling point. Nearly 60 percent of current Apple device owners say they'll buy another product from the Cupertino, Calif. company as the result of in-store service.
According to a survey by NPD Group, almost 90 percent of consumers who used Apple's Genius Bar tech service rated the experience extremely or very satisfying. "A major part of their satisfaction came from the fact that only a small percentage actually paid for their service. According to the report, 88 percent of Genius Bar consumers said their service was free compared to 78 percent of all consumers."
In addition to its worldwide patent battle with Samsung, Apple has also locked horns with Motorola in courtrooms around the globe. It's a familiar scenario: Apple has accused Motorola of stealing its innovations, and Motorola has used its large collection of wireless patents to fight back.
Motorola has actually won a handful of notable victories in the battle, mostly in Germany, successfully winning bans on products and knocking iCloud email push offline. But it looks like the two sides have called a ceasefire, as they've just reached a major patent license agreement...
Samsung's $1 billion loss to Apple last week may have widespread repercussions, including Google's Android software. What previously was a proxy cold war with cell phone makers, the stand-in soldiers, could heat up dramatically and place the Mountain View, Calif. firm squarely in the middle of Apple's legal radar and making Steve Jobs' threatened "thermonuclear war" over Android a reality.
That legal war "is drawing closer to Google's doorstep," reports the New York Times. The court ruling that Samsung violated Apple patents related to changing a screen's view or tapping to zoom closer are all part of Android. Indeed, Google just recently removed from Android a feature that bounces your iOS screen to indicate you've reached the bottom. Dumping that feature from Android was more out of "design reasons" than Samsung's courtroom defeat, a source told the Times.
Bad news today for folks who were hoping that near field communications technology, or NFC, would make it into the new iPhone. It looks like the tech is a no-go for Apple's next smartphone.
Theories for the tech picked up steam yesterday when a square chip inside a leaked iPhone 5 part was identified as an NFC sensor. But according to a new report, it's not happening this year...
Apple kicks off its annual iTunes Festival in London next month, which will include 30 days worth of free concerts. Several notable stars are expected to perform at the event, including Usher, OneRepublic and David Guetta.
And here's how you can watch the whole thing for free...
Earlier this year, we heard reports that the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was looking to relax its policies regarding the use of electronic devices on airplanes.
At the time, the Administration had started allowing pilots to use their iPads in the cockpit. And now it looks like it's ready to start making changes for the passengers as well...
Last week, T-Mobile announced that it was going to begin offering truly unlimited data plans on September 5th. It says the plans will work in conjunction with 4G data speeds, and promises that users will never be throttled.
Well, good news today for current or potential iPhone customers on the network. According to a new report, the carrier is about to start offering 4G micro SIM kits, compatible with its unlimited plans, for unlocked iPhone users...
Last week, a jury found several of Samsung's devices to be guilty of infringement on Apple's patents. The damages awarded thus far total around $1 billion dollars, but Apple is seeking much more than that.
The Cupertino company has filed a notice with the court today identifying which of Samsung's infringing products that it would like banned from US sales, including several Galaxy S and SII models...
If Google wants to find somewhere not dominated by Apple's iPhone, they'll have to leave planet Earth -- which is exactly what's being planned. NASA will launch the Android-powered Nexus One smartphone this fall as the brains of a tiny nano-satellite.
The Android phone will be at the heart of PhoneSat, a 4-inch cube space agency engineers are building using off-the-shelf parts with a $3,500 budget. Turns out, the Android phone has all of the basic features to power what NASA hopes will be an orbiting ring of tiny satellites. Along with the Android operating system, the Nexus One has a fast processor, communications gear and a nifty camera with which to snap photos of Earth from space.
Over the weekend, it was reported that AT&T employees were seeing a blackout on vacation dates in late September, likely due to the new iPhone launch. Apple is widely expected to roll out the handset on September 21.
The information seemed spot-on, considering the timeframe matched up with both Verizon blackout dates and previous reports. But it looks like, for whatever reason, AT&T is denying the employee blackout rumors...