MacRumors

In an interview in The Australian Financial Review (via AllThingsD), Blackberry CEO Thorsten Heins describes iOS as an outdated user interface, claiming that the iPhone is at risk of being replaced in the popularity stakes due to a lack of innovation.

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"Apple did a fantastic job in bringing touch devices to market ... They did a fantastic job with the user interface, they are a design icon. There is a reason why they were so successful, and we actually have to admit this and respect that," Mr Heins said.

"History repeats itself again I guess ... the rate of innovation is so high in our industry that if you don't innovate at that speed you can be replaced pretty quickly. The user interface on the iPhone, with all due respect for what this invention was all about is now five years old." [...]

"The point is that you can never stand still."

Heins has firsthand experience of this phenomenon, as BlackBerry has received significant criticism over its lack of innovation as its worldwide smartphone market share has fallen from nearly 20% to just 3.5% over the past three years. The company is hoping for a revival of its fortunes with the Blackberry Z10, which is launching in Australia and the United States in the coming days following debuts in several other countries in recent weeks.

Apple design chief Jonathan Ive late last year took over responsibility for software as well as hardware design following the departure of former iOS head Scott Forstall, generating great interest in the extent to which Apple may update the user interface in iOS 7.

Related Forum: iPhone

John Sculley, Apple's CEO from 1983 to 1993 and the man famously responsible for Steve Jobs leaving the company in 1985 to form NeXT, has said that although he considers Apple to be experiencing a "lull in innovation", he thinks this is an industry-wide issue and that Apple will be the first to spot the next big trend.

Steve Jobs
Interviewed in the Huffington Post
, Sculley was asked about his comments in a CNBC interview last month when he said he "wouldn't expect to see a creative leap from Apple for maybe a few years."

I don’t think that it’s because Apple has lost its ability to innovate. My guess is that it has nothing to do with Apple at all, but with the current stage of technology.

Moore’s law has been completely predictable for 40 years. You really need about a generation between each of [the] big innovations [but] there are just moments when all the stars are aligned for breakthrough products. Steve had a tremendous talent to be able to spot those ahead of everyone. The question is, who is going be the one to spot the next big trend, the alignment of stars? I’d bet my money on Jony Ive being the person to spot that.

Sculley downplayed talk of an Apple HD TV set but fueled speculation on a possible iWatch.

If [Steve Jobs] were alive today, I suspect he’d be really fascinated about what’s happening with sensors. When you look at the ability to capture all kinds of information with sensors and then customize services back to individuals, that is so Steve Jobs. That’s the kind of thing he’d have salivated over.

I think the next big area of product [innovation] is probably not around a television, as many are speculating -- actually, Apple TV is pretty good right now. I think it will be around wearable sensor-type products.

Steve Jobs hired Sculley from Pepsi in 1983, but the two clashed over management styles and priorities, Jobs focusing on future innovation and Sculley more on current product lines and profitability. A showdown between the two resulted in Jobs leaving Apple to form NeXT, which Apple acquired in 1996, bringing Jobs back into the company three years after Sculley left.

(Thanks, Arthur.)

Bloomberg reports that THX, the sound innovation company that traces its origins to George Lucas and Lucasfilm 30 years ago, has filed suit against Apple in U.S. District Court over alleged infringement of a speaker patent by the iMac, iPhone and iPad product lines.

THX holds a 2008 patent for a speaker unit that can boost sound output and attach to computers or flat-screen televisions, according to a complaint filed yesterday in federal court in San Jose, California.

THX is claiming that the infringement has caused it "monetary damage and irreparable harm" and is seeking either an order to stop the alleged infringement and a reasonable royalty or damages to compensate THX for any lost profit.

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The sound company alleges that undisclosed iPad and iMac models, as well as the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5, are infringing upon the patent. As noted by AppleInsider, the device that most resembles THX's patent is the newly redesigned iMac, which features long channels that allow audio to be projected from the thin bottom edge of the machine.

There is of course still a chance for the two companies to reach a settlement, as the deadline for Apple to meet with THX and its counsel over initial disclosure is May 14, with initial disclosures due on June 7 and the initial case management conference a week later on June 14.

If the two sides do not agree on a settlement, Apple's arguments in court will likely hinge on disputing the patent's validity.

Notably, Tom Holman, creator of the original THX standard, joined Apple in mid-2011 to provide "technical direction" on the company's audio efforts.

THX also has a presence on Apple's App Store for iOS devices in the form of THX tune-up, an app released in January that allows users to calibrate televisions and surround sound systems.

Apple today rolled out a new advertising theme for the iPhone on its website, highlighting a number of reasons why people love their iPhones. The campaign comes with all-new graphics, a new "Why iPhone" page, and an email promotion.

There's iPhone.
Then there's everything else.

What makes an iPhone unlike anything else? Maybe it’s that it lets you do so many things. Or that it lets you do so many things so easily. Those are two reasons iPhone owners say they love their iPhone. But there are many others as well.

The "Why iPhone" page shares a number of features and highlights of the iPhone, including its eight consecutive J.D. Power customer satisfaction awards, the attention to detail in the iPhone's design, the Retina display, battery life, powerful and efficient A6 chip, and more.

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Apple's new campaign comes just two days after Samsung introduced its upcoming Galaxy S 4 phone, the next flagship model for the leading Android handset manufacturer. Samsung has stepped up its advertising over the past year, and former Apple ad man Ken Segall is just of many who have argued that Apple needs to counter Samsung's effort with more inspired advertising of its own.

Samsung has been scoring points for its "people-based" ads while Apple has been focusing on the experience of using its products, but Apple's new campaign appears to be trying to bridge that divide somewhat by focusing on how the iPhone experience has drawn so many loyal and happy customers.

Related Forum: iPhone

ipadmini.jpgPaul Semenza, an analyst at market research firm DisplaySearch, tells CNET that an iPad mini with Retina display could debut in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

"We're seeing potential in the third quarter of panel production for a higher-resolution iPad Mini," DisplaySearch analyst Paul Semenza told CNET today.

"When would the Mini be available? Could be third quarter or fourth quarter," he said, adding that the speculation is DisplaySearch's best guess based on supply chain data.

Unsurprisingly, Semenza tells CNET that his data points to a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels for the Retina display iPad mini, giving it the same number of pixels as the full-size iPad but at a higher density of 324 pixels per inch. He goes on to note that it would be a challenge for Apple and its display partners to pair that kind of display with the current iPad mini chassis at just 7.2 mm thick, hinting that the company may need to increase the device's thickness somewhat as it did when the full-size iPad moved to a Retina display.

Semenza says that LG Display is the strongest candidate to make the display, but that AU Optronics, Sharp, and Japan Display are other possibilities. Japan Display currently produces the display for the iPhone 5, but Semenza says that the company is looking at getting into tablets.

DisplaySearch's report falls in line with what KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted in mid-January, and Kuo has been fairly accurate in the past with his Apple product predictions.

iMore's Rene Ritchie has also been relatively accurate, and he reports that Apple is set to debut the new iPad mini as soon as next month. Ritchie says, however, that a Retina display "doesn't sound imminent", suggesting that an April iPad mini would not contain the higher-resolution display. If Apple moves to a biannual release for its tablets, the company could announce an iPad mini in April and a new Retina iPad mini later this year, matching all three predictions.

Related Roundup: iPad mini
Buyer's Guide: iPad Mini (Buy Now)
Related Forum: iPad

Ashton Kutcher's Jobs has reportedly been delayed for an undetermined amount of time according to The Hollywood Reporter so distributors could have more time to market the movie. The film had a planned release of April 19 after it was screened at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

NewImage

Open Road Films is pushing back the release of Jobs, which was scheduled to hit theaters on April 19, the 37th anniversary of the founding of the Apple Computer. A new date has yet to be determined (the film was previously titled jOBS).

Reviews for the film were mixed, though Kutcher's performance was praised.

ifone 5Apple has lost an appeal over its use of the 'iPhone' trademark in Mexico, reports The Wall Street Journal. The case has been going on for some time, but does not appear to impact Apple's ability to sell the iPhone and related services in the country.

Apple sued to have the Ifone brand revoked on grounds it had expired for the Mexican company, but a federal court found that Ifone SA, registered in 2003, was making proper use of it. The Supreme Court this week rejected Apple's appeal against the decision at the request of Ifone.

Ifone's corporate lawyer Eduardo Gallastegui said the decision frees the company to continue with its claims, already submitted to the Industrial Property Institute IMPI, for damages resulting from the use of its name by Apple and by three Mexican mobile phone service providers: America Movil unit Telcel, Spain's Telefonica SA and Grupo Iusacell.

This is not the first time that Apple has run into trademark issues with its products. Previous court cases in Brazil and China have ended in settlements.

The iOS app for this year's March Madness tournament is now available, giving access to live game audio and video streams for all 67 games in the tournament. [Direct Link]

Unlike last year, when iOS viewers could make a $3.99 in-app purchase to watch all 67 games, for 2013 they are required to authenticate with their pay-tv provider logins before they can watch games that air on TBS, TNT and truTV. Games aired on CBS will not need authentication. However, users will get a four-hour 'preview' window to watch games without authenticating. Live streaming will be available over 3G, 4G, and Wi-Fi.

Ncaagame
Mac users will be able to watch all the CBS-broadcast games for free on NCAA.com. Games aired on TBS, TNT and TruTV will be again only be available to authenticated users.

Watch every game with NCAA® March Madness® LIVE on your iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and iPad Mini! Download to follow the tournament bracket, check schedule and scores, fill out your bracket, set game alerts, listen to live game radio, and track social activity around all the games. Log in with your TV provider to enjoy unlimited access to live streaming video of all 67 games of the 2013 NCAA® Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV. A 4 hour live video pass will be available prior to logging in.

Catch all your favorite rivalries, upsets, and buzzer beaters, starting with the Selection Show on March 17th through the Championship game on April 8th. Don’t miss any of the action with live game alerts and notifications for your favorite teams, possible upsets, overtimes, and close games!

NCAA March Madness Live is a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Following Wednesday's news that Google would be shutting down its RSS aggregation platform Google Reader in July, personalized magazine company Zite today announced that it had built a functional replacement that does not utilize Google's infrastructure.

Zite has long included support for Google Reader, using the platform to allow readers to import customized feeds into the app. Zite’s replacement for Google Reader was built in just six hours and is simple to set up.

Users are able to link a Google Reader account to the app and then access those feeds through the app's Quicklist section.

googlereaderfeeds
Zite notes that the current hastily pulled together implementation of Google Reader offers just basic functionality, which will be improved in the future.

Note that this is a basic feed reading only. There are definitely some limitations:
-The "Google Reader" section will only appear after you’ve restarted the app or added another category (something we’ll fix in the near future)

-Not every RSS feed is currently indexed by us, which is something we’ll be working on.

-There’s no way to edit your feeds (something we hope to add an interface for, probably on the Web)

-No folder support (we’re thinking about the best way to implement or eliminate the need for folders)

-No ongoing syncing with Google Reader (you can force a sync by re-linking, though)

-No prominent count of unread articles (just kidding, this is a feature!)

Other companies are also planning to release Google Reader alternatives. Digg has announced that it will be creating a reader of its own and Feedly has developed a clone of the Google Reader API called Normandy, which will allow users to seamlessly transition to the service.

Universal app Zite, which received an update earlier this week, is available for download from the App Store. [Direct Link]

MaildropboxPopular email management app Mailbox has been acquired by file-sharing and storage service Dropbox.

Terms weren't disclosed, but the company plans to keep Mailbox as a standalone app, though the companies plan to extend both their platforms going forward, reports The Wall Street Journal.

"We felt we could help Mailbox reach a much different audience much faster," said Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, who said both companies shared the goal of making people’s lives easier.

He said Dropbox will keep the Mailbox service running as a stand-alone app, and over time Dropbox will also use Mailbox’s technology to enhance Dropbox features, like email attachments. The deal came together, he said, after the companies started talking about email attachments a few months ago.

The thirteen Mailbox employees will join Dropbox, but continue working on the Mailbox app. Mailbox is now delivering 60 million messages per day and has taken 1.3 million reservations for its free service.

Following Chipworks' examination of the new A5 chip found in Apple's tweaked Apple TV, AnandTech has performed its own analysis of the device. While many of the A5 chip details have already been covered, AnandTech focuses more on the device as a whole, and interestingly finds that the internal changes have yielded a significant decrease in power consumption compared to its predecessor.

The power savings are nothing short of significant. The previous generation Apple TV wasn’t really a power hog, with platform power maxing out at around 1.6W, but the new model tops out at just a watt. Overall the power savings seem to be around 800mW across the board.

With no change to process technology, I can only assume that the reduction in power consumption came from other architectural or silicon optimizations.

apple_tv_3_power_consumption
Of course, AnandTech also notes that the power savings are essentially invisible to users given how little power the set-top box used to begin with.

Assuming you’re using the Apple TV for watching video 8 hours a day, every day of the year, you’d save about $0.26 per year on your power bill (assuming $0.11/kWh). You’d break even on the $99 cost of a new Apple TV in about 385 years. Maybe by then we’ll actually have a true replacement to cable TV.

AnandTech also measured Wi-Fi performance on the tweaked Apple TV given that Apple has moved to a new Broadcom Wi-Fi chip and gone back to a one-antenna layout from the two-antenna configuration used in the previous model. Testing revealed that Wi-Fi range and performance is essentially identical between the old and new hardware.

Apple's reasons for introducing a brand-new chip design for the relatively low-volume Apple TV remain unclear, with AnandTech summarizing some of the recent speculation that Apple may be trying to shave costs by stripping out unnecessary components of the A5 or testing the new chip ahead of a broader rollout in other products.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is reiterating his claims that Apple's low-cost iPhone will have a 4-inch screen, plastic casing, and be available in a range of colors similar to Apple's iPod lineup, sharing a few new details in a report highlighted by AppleInsider. In particular, Kuo shares offers some information on the device's plastic and fiberglass casing.

The new, less expensive iPhone model is said to have a "super-thin plastic casing mixed with glass fiber." The material will make it stronger, thinner and lighter than typical smartphone plastic casings, Kuo said.

He expects the thickness to be between 0.4 and 0.6 millimeters, which is thinner than the average plastic casing at between 0.7 and 1 millimeter.

13.01.16-iPhone_2013
Kuo had previously suggested the phone would be available in a range of six colors, but is now being more cautious in suggesting "between four and six."

Key Apple supplier Foxconn will manufacture complete phones, he says, while Green Point will make additional casings for phones that will be assembled by Pegatron. The analyst has previous suggested that Apple is looking to diversify suppliers, and that Pegatron would be responsible for assembling the majority of the low-cost iPhones.

Related Forum: iPhone

As noted by 9to5Mac, Apple yesterday added the latest iMac to its Employee Purchase Program, supporting earlier suggestions that production constraints have now eased.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook had warned in a January analyst call that iMac shipments would be constrained through Q1, but improving shipping estimates and the company's decision to allow employees to purchase them at a discount suggests that the issue has now ended.

Current and retired Apple employees are allowed to buy Apple products for personal use at a 25% discount, and last year Apple added an additional layer to the program by offering employees $500 off the purchase of a Mac once every three years, on top of the 25% discount.

Related Roundup: iMac
Buyer's Guide: iMac (Buy Now)
Related Forum: iMac

john_browett_headshotApple's short-lived head of retail, John Browett, said this week that he had learned "humility" and "become a kinder person" as a result of his six-month stay at Apple.

Browett's appointment had raised eyebrows in his native UK due to his pedigree as the boss of Dixons, a UK consumer electronics chain with a reputation for cost-cutting rather than customer service. Despite CEO Tim Cook describing him as "the best [candidate] by far", Browett departed Apple later that year before finding a new role as CEO of a low-cost UK fashion and accessory retailer.

Apple has yet to name a successor to Browett, with the company's retail team currently reporting directly to CEO Tim Cook.

Browett admitted in an interview at the Retail Week Live conference (via The Independent) this week that he "just didn't fit" with Apple's culture.

Apple is a truly fantastic business. The people are great, they've got great products, it's got a great culture and I loved working there, it's a fantastic business. The issue there was that I just didn't fit within the way they run the business. It was one of those things where you're rejected for fit rather than competency.


Browett said that working for Apple had been one of the best things that had happened to him, and that he had learned a lot about how he is and what he's like to work for.

Career site Glassdoor today released the results of its annual CEO approval rating survey, showing a four percentage-point drop for Apple CEO Tim Cook that resulted in a decline from the top spot in last year's survey to 18th in this year's version. Glassdoor's results are based on over 500,000 company surveys submitted by employees over the past year that ask whether they approve of how their CEO is running the company. Based on an average of ratings over the past year, Cook dropped from a 97% approval rating in the 2012 survey to a 93% rating this year.

glassdoor_ceo_approval_2013
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg surged to the top of this year's list, seeing a 14-point rise in his approval rating to 99%.

While Apple has continued to perform well financially since Cook's ascension to the CEO position in August 2011, the company's growth has been slowing in recent quarters and its stock price has declined by roughly 40% from its highs amid concerns over increasing competition and how well Apple will be able to tap new products and markets to drive future growth.

Law360 reports (via 9to5Mac) that a Retina MacBook Pro owner has launched a would-be class action lawsuit against Apple, alleging that the widely reported ghosting issues are the result of defective LG screens and that Apple has been "tricking" customers into buying these by not distinguishing them from models sold with Samsung screens.


Ghost images of previous content have been widely demonstrated on some Retina MacBook Pros, as in the above video. A support thread on apple.com on the issue currently runs to over 7000 posts across almost 500 pages. Apple uses displays manufactured by both Samsung and LG in its Retina laptops, and it has been strongly indicated that the issue affects mostly machines with LG screens. Apple has so far made no statement on the issue beyond a support document in which it describes "image persistence" as a characteristic of IPS displays and gives some advice on minimizing the effects.

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The lawsuit has been filed in a Federal court in California by Retina MacBook Pro owner Beau Hodges, who says that Apple should have disclosed the issue and allowed customers to choose between machines with LG and Samsung screens.

The electronics giant must know about the differences between the two versions because it spent a considerable amount of time testing the products during research and development and has been inundated with complaints from customers about the LG screen’s problems, according to the suit.

“The performance disparity between the LG version and the Samsung version is particularly troubling given that Apple represents the MacBook Pro with retina display as a single, unitary product, described as the highest quality notebook display on the market,” the complaint said. “None of Apple’s advertisements or representations discloses that it produces the computers with display screens that exhibit different levels of performance and quality.”

A class action lawsuit is one in which an individual or small number of people file a claim representing a larger group of individuals in similar circumstances.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Buyer's Guide: MacBook Pro (Neutral)
Related Forum: MacBook Pro

Samsung tonight announced its flagship iPhone competitor, the Galaxy S 4, at an event at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The new smartphone is set to launch in April on all four major U.S. carriers.

The new phone gets a slight screen size increase to 5" from 4.8", with a 1080p display at 441 pixels per inch (compared to iPhone 5's 326 ppi) that Samsung is calling "Full HD Super AMOLED." The phone also houses 2 GB RAM, a 2600 mAh battery, a micro SD card slot for expanded storage (in addition to the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB variations) and a rear 13-megapixel camera. There is also a front-facing camera that can record 720p video.

galaxys4

Image via The Verge

Samsung has also added a host of software features, including a navigation app called S Voice Drive that works similar to how Siri and Apple Maps do. Other new software features include a translation app, much like Google Translate, "Air Gestures", and new camera modes. The "Air Gestures" allow a user to flick through photos or preview photos without actually touching the phone.

New camera modes include Cinema Mode, which creates still images with moving backgrounds, Drama Burst, which creates animated GIFs, and Sound and Shot mode, which marries audio to a still photo.

Gizmodo was one of several outlets that received hands-on time with the Galaxy S 4 before Samsung's event, and noted the prevailing sentiment that the device feels like more of the same as an evolution of the Galaxy S III rather than a major leap forward.

There has been a ton of hype and build-up to this device, and ultimately, it left us feeling cold. The S IV feels uninspired. There are small spec bumps from the previous generation and there's a ton of software which will largely sit unused. There's just no wow-factor here.

Samsung did not announce a price for the Galaxy S 4.

Update: Samsung announced at its media event that the Galaxy S 4 will ship with Android 4.2.2, the latest version of the operating system software. Apple's Phil Schiller had slammed Android and Samsung in a Reuters interview earlier this week, in part by suggesting that the Galaxy S 4 would ship with an outdated version of Android.

Schiller said the fragmentation, or the number of versions of the Android operating system out in the marketplace, is a problem.

"And that extends to the news we are hearing this week that the Samsung Galaxy S 4 is being rumored to ship with an OS that is nearly a year old," he said. "Customers will have to wait to get an update."

SnowleopardApple today released Security Update 2013-001 for Snow Leopard, Snow Leopard Server, Lion and Lion Server users, on the heels of the release of OS X 10.8.3.

The company didn't specify what changes were made, other than saying it was recommended for all users and it improves the security of Mac OS X.

Apple's website that details the contents of security updates has yet to be updated with the fixes that are contained in Security Update 2013-001.

The updates for Snow Leopard, Snow Leopard Server, Lion and Lion Server are available from Apple's Software Update website, or select Software Update in the Apple Menu.