Facebook today announced it now serves a billion active users monthly, one out of every seven people on planet Earth. Even more interesting, Facebook now has more than 600 million mobile users. Celebrating the milestone, CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who started the social networking behemoth in his Harvard dorm room eight years ago, posted a short notice on the company's blog alongside a promotional clip and a fact sheet with some interesting numbers...
As the wave of injunction motions and appeals requests continue in the aftermath of this summer's high-profile Apple vs. Samsung trial, another interesting tidbit has been brought to light.
According to recently-filed court documents, it looks like Apple tried to offer Samsung a cross-licensing deal involving 3G/UMTS patents back in April, hoping to avoid at least some litigation...
Speedier, smaller and even more power-efficient mobile chip designs are already in the works for future iOS devices so it comes as little surprise that Apple remains on a hiring spree, seeking talented semiconductor experts left and right.
As you know, Apple's current system-on-a-chip (SoC) modules found inside iPhones, iPods and iPads typically pack in several processing and graphic cores, in addition to the memory controller, RAM and the essential control logic - all onto a single piece of silicon die.
A new job posting reveals Apple is looking for an "SoC Modelling Architect / Lead" who will be tasked with managing its in-house team which designs next-generation processors for iOS devices...
There has been a whole lot of hoopla concerning Apple deploying NFC technology on iOS devices, especially prior to the iPhone 5's release last month. NFC, or Near-Field Communication, facilitates close-proximity wireless payments on mobile devices.
Marketing boss Phil Schiller explained Apple passed on NFC with this year's iOS devices lineup because "Passbook does the kinds of things customers need today", noting that "it’s not clear that NFC is the solution to any current problem".
In the reality, Apple is working behind the scenes, taking its time to put the pieces of the NFC puzzle together until an NFC-equipped iPhone and the associated service is fully baked and ready for public consumption. It doesn't come as a surprise then that Apple is working with Sydney-based Microlatch to develop fingerprint technology for NFC apps...
Since its release two weeks ago, Apple has taken an enormous amount of criticism over iOS 6. The bulk of the heat has come over the new, so-called inferior Maps application, but there have also been complaints of Wi-Fi and App Store issues.
In fact, according to a new report today, some major companies are urging their employees not to update their iOS devices to the new firmware. But it's not because of Maps or Wi-Fi problems. It has to do with a major Exchange bug...
The tiny Lightning connector that debuted on the new iPhone, iPod touch and iPod nano allows Apple to exercise a much tighter control over the accessories ecosystem, it has been revealed. According to a new report out this morning, all vendors seeking to make products bearing the 'Made for iPhone' (MFi) trademark must be approved by Apple.
Additionally, club Cupertino is requiring vendors to manufacture their gear in Apple-approved facilities. Apple is currently educating them on the new terms so don't expect first officially approved third-party Lightning accessories before late-October or November...
Nokia took issue with Apple's black and white iPhone color options in an interesting new commercial for its Lumia range of smartphones. The ad, included right after the break, sets the tone by depicting a gloomy world where mindless drones come to Apple Stores to buy iPhones. When a customer suggest color other than standard black and white iPhone options, hell breaks loose. The clip then switches to Nokia's recently refreshed Lumia lineup, available in a bunch of colors...
Bloomberg Businessweek has an interesting story up this morning which takes a look at Tim Cook's first year as Apple's CEO. The article also offers a few previously unknown tidbits related to late CEO Steve Jobs's role in the iOS 6 Maps project (originally an afterthought during the iPhone development). It also touches upon the retirement of hardware boss Bob Mansfield and his $2 million a month advisory agreement with Cook, Apple moving away from Intel, the iPad mini later this month and more...
Apple is allegedly crowd-sourcing its retail army to help improve iOS Maps, if a pair of reports out this morning are to be trusted. A pilot program, allegedly voluntary for employees, would have a team of ten employees at one store dedicate 40 hours of staff time per week toward manually examining melted bridges, street addresses that are off and other Maps inaccuracies related to their respective areas...
iDB discovered a week ago that Google is set to introduce street-level photography on the iOS platform in form of a web app in about two weeks. Today, The Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg made it a fact, claiming that the software is coming as early as Thursday, possibly tomorrow. The journalist had some hands-on time with the web app which includes both360-degree photographic street views and interior photographic views of certain businesses...
The Wall Street Journal lent its aura of credibility to the iPad mini rumor with a report out this morning declaring that Apple's manufacturing partners in Asia have started mass-producing the device, in time for a rumored October 17 announcement and early-November availability.
According to "people with knowledge of the situation", the device will indeed have a 7.85-inch liquid-crystal display with a lower resolution than the third-generation iPad with a 2,048-by-1,536 pixel Retina display, meaning the iPad mini will quite possibly run a 1024-by-768 display just as the original iPad and iPad 2 do...
Analytics firm comScore is out with new research data concerning the mobile landscape in the United States during August. Good news for Apple: the iOS is on the rise among smartphones, going from 31.9 percent during the three-month period ending in May 2012 to 34.3 percent in June, July and August.
During the same timeframe, Google's Android went from 50.9 percent to 52.6 percent smartphone market share. Better still, Apple grew at a faster clip than Google. Microsoft's Windows Phone, Research In Motion's BlackBerry and Symbian? All losing ground...