Apple

iPhablet to be pricey due to costly sapphire screen?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 29, 2016

SEC filings have confirmed that Apple partnered recently with a company called GT Advanced which operates a manufacturing facility in Mesa, Arizona that makes sapphire components. We also know for a fact that Apple prepaid more than half a billion dollars to buy sophisticated furnaces and equipment for the plant, securing multi-year output of sapphire parts on an exclusive basis.

Manufacture of sapphire components commenced recently, according to sources. Now, industrial-scale production like this points beyond sapphire components for the Touch ID sensor and the iSight camera lens protection.

Watchers speculate that Apple's phablet - an iPhone 6, if you will - has a massive sapphire-hardened 5.5-inch screen. But, a new post on China's micro-blogging platform cautions that the rising cost of sapphire display production may hinder Apple's ability to roll out the technology across its entire iOS device lineup...

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Warner Bros releases Godzilla: Strike Zone for iOS

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Warner Bros has unleashed its Godzilla movie tie-in unto the App Store. Titled Godzilla: Strike Zone, this iOS game invites you to join a squadron of military heroes who must face the mighty Godzilla, a kaiju-class monster that has become something of an international pop culture icon starring in nearly three dozen feature films.

The game implements a few memorable scenes from the upcoming movie that premiers in theaters on May 16, like a high-altitude sky jump where you air-drop into a devastated San Francisco.

The iPhone and iPad title is available free of charge in the App Store, no in-app purchases required whatsoever...

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Apple to host iPhone upgrade event this week

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

Folks looking to purchase a new handset soon may be interested to hear that Apple is expected to host an iPhone upgrade event this week at its retail stores. The news comes from 9to5Mac, who says the company will begin emailing owners of older iPhones tomorrow, notifying them of the program.

According to the report, the move is part of a larger effort to boost handset sales and the promotion will kick-off on May 8th. The deal will be offered in a number of states across the US, and will 'blend nicely' with Apple’s retail store-based iPhone trade-in program it introduced in August of last year...

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Apple’s new retail chief Angela Ahrendts awarded $68 million in stock

Cody Lee ∙ May 5, 2014

Talk about a signing bonus. After officially joining Apple last week, word got out today that Angela Ahrendts has already received 113 thousand units of restricted stock. At today's prices—remember, APPL is back up around $600—the shares would be worth roughly $68 million.

This makes the company's new SVP of retail and online stores one of the highest-paid executives in the industry, but of course, she'll have to wait to cash in. According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the full amount won't be available until 2018...

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Samsung employees allegedly swallowed documents containing legal evidence

Jake Smith ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Following Apple winning its second trial in the US against Samsung for patent infringement, Vanity Fair is out with a piece extensively detailing the Apple and Samsung smartphone war that has been raging on for years.

It details the back-story behind the two smartphone giants and the public trial, like misconduct at Samsung revolving price fixing, then COO Tim Cook expressing his concern over infringement to Samsung president Jay Y. Lee in August 2010, and theorizes why Apple may win the battles but still lose the war...

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Apple stock crosses $600 per share for the first time since 2012

Jake Smith ∙ May 5, 2014

Investors are liking Apple's direction lately, pushing the stock to $600 per share for the first time since 2012. Shares of AAPL closed at $600.96 each on Monday, a nice hike up from the under $400 price the stock was sitting at in April 2013.

Apple's shares were up more than $8 for the day to reach the 52 week high, bringing the Cupertino-based company's market capitalization to a hefty $517.65 billion.

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Recalculated damages in Apple vs. Samsung suit leaves $119M award unchanged

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

After finding Samsung guilty of infringing upon three of the five Apple patents included in the second Apple vs. Samsung suit in California and awarding the iPhone maker maker a paltry $119.6 million in damages, the jury on Monday found that the Galaxy maker did not owe Apple any additional money.

Therefore, the original verdict has stayed intact.

Judge Lucy Koh asked the jurors to recalculate the damages after Apple's legal sharks complained that one infringing Samsung device was left out of the final tally. Hit the jump for the full details...

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Apple donates $500,000 to San Francisco anti-poverty charity

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Apple has joined SF Gives, a local San Francisco anti-poverty initiative, and has donated half a million dollars to the charity, sources revealed to Forbes Monday. SF Gives was set up by the CEO of non-profit Tipping Point, Daniel Lurie, and Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff.

It was established in March to help fight poverty and fund charitable programs in the Bay Area.

Apple is one of many companies supporting the cause. Other corporate contributors include Google, LinkedIn and Zynga, to name a few...

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Reuters: Apple creating full-blown health and fitness services platform akin to App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 5, 2014

We "know" from rumors that Apple with iOS 8 is planning to introduce a new application called Healthbook said to aggregate health and fitness data pulled from a variety of sources, be it third-party fitness/health apps found in the App Store, dedicated tracking accessories or more.

But that could be just the tip of the iceberg.

According to a mobile health executive who spoke to Reuters, the iPhone maker is looking to create a full-blown health and fitness ecosystem inspired by the App Store...

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#AmazonCart lets you add stuff to your shopping basket without leaving Twitter

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

Are you a frequent Amazon shopper and a heavy Twitter user? If so, you'll be delighted to know that you can now add products to your shopping basket without ever leaving Twitter. It couldn't be easier: simply find a tweet containing an Amazon product link, reply with #AmazonCart and voilà - the product in question gets quickly saved in your Amazon shopping basket.

You can add as many products as you want this way before checking out at your convenience later. #AmazonCart is currently available in the United States and in the United Kingdom, where it's called #AmazonBasket...

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Watch maker Swatch not happy about Apple’s yet to be announced iWatch

Sébastien Page ∙ May 3, 2014

Swiss watch maker Swatch is not happy about Apple's iWatch. To be more specific, the company is not happy about the fact that Apple's wearable may be called iWatch, a name that definitely sounds a lot like iSwatch, a trademark registered by the watch maker for one of its lines of watches.

Nevermind the fact that Apple has yet to unveil the iWatch, which by the way might not even be called iWatch, Swatch is going on the offensive...

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