Japan

Japanese court confirms dismissal of Apple patent suit against Samsung

Ed Sutherland ∙ June 25, 2013

A Japanese court Tuesday denied an appeal by Apple over the iPhone maker's arguments Samsung infringed a patent. The Tokyo-based Intellectual High Court agreed with an earlier court ruling which found the South Korean firm had not infringed upon Apple's patent on syncing data with smartphones and tablets.

The appeal rejection comes just a week after another Tokyo court handed Apple a patent-infringement victory against Samsung. In that case, Apple used its separate "rubber band" patent to successfully claim earlier models of the Galaxy smartphone were at fault. Japan is one of the few markets where Apple leads its rival in both tablet and smartphone sales...

Tokyo court finds Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple’s ‘rubber banding’ patent

Cody Lee ∙ June 21, 2013

On Friday, a Tokyo court found a number of Samsung's legacy smartphone models to be guilty of infringing on one of Apple's patents. More specifically, it's the infamous 'rubber banding' patent, which Apple has used in a number of courtroom battles.

For those unfamiliar with the 'rubber banding' property, it covers the software action that triggers the bounce-back animation when a user reaches the end of a scrolling document. And the Japan court feels older Samsung handsets infringe upon it...

Sharp expected to begin iPhone 5S display production in June

Cody Lee ∙ May 8, 2013

Earlier this year, it was believed that the iPhone 5S would go into production in March ahead of an early summer release. But after rumors of manufacturing issues began to circulate, the handset's expected arrival time was pushed back to the fall.

And a new report out of the east this morning corroborates that theory. A Japanese newspaper is reporting that Sharp, one of Apple's primary panel partners, is gearing up to begin mass production of LCD displays for the iPhone 5S next month...

Alleged leaked Japanese carrier document claims iPhone 5S pre-orders start June 20

Cody Lee ∙ April 29, 2013

Tim Cook caused quite a bit of commotion last week when he told investors that Apple "has some amazing new hardware, software, and services coming this fall." Most folks took it as we aren't going to see anything new from the company until then.

But that may not be the case, according to a purported leaked document from Japanese wireless carrier KDDI. The internal note, meant for sales floor staff, offers up plan pricing information and some details about the upcoming iPhone 5S smartphone...

Alleged golden and gray iPhone 5S Nano SIM trays

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 9, 2016

Apple's iPhone 5 is now almost seven months old so fans are expectedly setting their sights on a next-gen model, the iPhone 5S. And as we're heading toward summer, new evidence indicates Apple is now lining up its Asian suppliers to source parts ahead of the actual manufacturing phase.

This could explain why we're increasingly seeing supposedly genuine parts cropping up all over Asia, such as this Home buttons and vibrator motors. Today's leak by Japanese parts shop Moumantai is thought to represent a SIM tray for the iPhone 5S.

It's exactly the same in shape and size to the Nano SIM trays used on the current iPhone 5, with one exception: the leaked ones are in gray and gold colors. This matches up nicely with reports of a colorized iPhone 5S, mostly sourced from analyst reports and supply chain people...

Apple updates iOS Maps in Japan with bug fixes and other improvements

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

Back in February, Apple seeded a beta version of iOS 6.1.1 to developers. The update featured a lengthy change log of some much needed fixes and improvements for its iOS Maps application in Japan.

Of course, Apple forewent that release in order to push out bug fixes for the iPhone 4S, and later Exchange. But it looks like Japan users finally got their new Map data that they've been waiting for today...

iPhone 5S production reportedly already underway at Foxconn

Cody Lee ∙ March 5, 2013

Talk of Apple's next-generation iPhone has really begun to pick up over the past few days, with two reports coming within the last 24 hours claiming that the company is set to roll out its new handset this summer.

And that continues to be the consensus, as another report has surfaced this evening corroborating the theory. Japanese blog Macotakara is claiming Foxconn has begun ramping up production of the iPhone 5S...

Apple says iBooks has been downloaded over 130 million times

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Following this morning's release of iBooks 3.1, which brought about expanded Japanese book support, Apple has posted a press release to make its move into the country's e-book game official.

The announcement includes further details about the Japan iBookstore launch, as well as quotes from Apple's SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue and various publishing firm executives...

iBooks gains Japanese iBookstore support, including manga and light novels

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 5, 2013

Apple this morning released iBooks 3.1, a minor update containing improvements for reading Asian language books and supporting paid books from the Japanese iBookstore representing many of the large publishers in the country, with content such as fiction, manga, light novels and more.

Previously, the Japan iBookstore only offered public domain content so it couldn't compete with local content stores from the likes of Kobo, Amazon and Sony.

Bloggers report iBooks 3.1 renders paid Japanese e-books nicely, along with the full character set and iOS Dictionary support, allowing users to highlight a word and pull its definition. Additionally, the books open right-to-left as they should so you can swipe right to advance through the pages.

Apple says the iBookstore in Japan now has "hundreds of thousands of books" available for purchase. This bodes well for Apple as to date, much of the e-book market in Japan has centered on graphical novels, such as manga...

Samsung fails in its bid to block iPhone and iPad sale in Japan

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Samsung has lost its patent lawsuit over Apple's iPhone and iPad in Japan as a Tokyo court ruled Thursday in favor of Apple. Needless to say, Samsung said it was disappointed by the court's decision and promised to conduct a thorough review of the ruling and "take the measures necessary to protect our intellectual property rights", Reuters reported this morning.

The Tokyo District Court said Samsung hadn’t negotiated “sincerely” with Apple over patents, also ruling the Galaxy maker now cannot seek damages from Apple...

Apple in 2012 topped Japan’s mobile phone market

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 21, 2017

Apple may have a slight market share problem in BRIC markets (Brazil, Russia, India and China), but over in Japan the company has moved the needle in a big way. According to Hong Kong-based market research firm Counterpoint Research, Apple for the first time ended Sharp’s six-year run at the top to became the first non-Japanese company to rule the Japanese mobile phone market with a fifteen percent share in 2012, a notable increase from its ten percent market share in 2011...

Nexus 7 believed to have outsold iPad in Japan over the holidays

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Apple unveiled two new iPads just before the holidays, and is expected, by many analysts, to report strong tablet sales for the quarter next week. But according to a new report out of Japan, that may not be the case.

Market research firm BCN surveyed some 2,400 consumer electronics stores in Japan throughout the month of December. And their results showed that the iPad was outsold during the period, for the first time since 2010...