MacRumors

comScore today released the results of its monthly rolling survey of U.S. mobile phone users for the September-November period, finding that 18.5% of U.S. mobile phone subscribers are now using an iPhone, up 1.4 percentage points from the June-August period. Samsung continues to lead the market at 26.9% on 1.2 percentage point growth, while the remainder of the top five vendors all lost share.

Apple overtook LG for the second spot in last month's survey, and solidified its lead in the latest data on continued growth paired with a small decline by LG.

In looking only at smartphones, which now account for 53% of the U.S. mobile market, Android has continued to expand its lead and now holds 53.7% of the market. The iPhone 5 launch has, however, allowed Apple to continue its growth and the company now holds 35% of the smartphone market as the fall of RIM and Microsoft have increasingly turned the smartphone market into a two-horse race.

Notably, comScore's data tracks installed user base rather than new handset sales, making it more reflective of real-world usage but slower to respond to shifting market trends than some other studies.

In late December, it was reported that Apple was one of three companies, with Google and Microsoft being the others, in talks to acquire home automation firm R2 Studios. The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that Microsoft has acquired the firm to beef up its Xbox unit.

The company, id8 Group R2 Studios Inc., was created by entrepreneur Blake Krikorian in May 2011. Mr. Krikorian will be joining the Redmond, Wash., software giant with a small team. As part of the deal, Microsoft also acquired some patents owned by the startup related to controlling electronic devices.

The price of the deal couldn't be learned.

R2 has reportedly been working to expand its existing business focused on Android software to control Crestron home automation systems to develop technology for distributing digital media to television sets.

The report notes that Microsoft has been working hard to transform its Xbox platform into a digital media hub, striking deals with HBO, Netflix, YouTube, Comcast, and Time Warner for on-demand and Web video.

Apple is of course also rumored to be interested in the television market beyond its existing Apple TV set-top box. Apple has reportedly been working on both new set-top boxes and Internet-connected television sets as part of an effort to remake the television viewing experience, but progress has been slow due to complicated negotiations with content providers.

Apple today updated its investor relations page to note that it will announce its earnings for the first fiscal quarter (fourth calendar quarter) of 2013 on Wednesday, January 23. The earnings release typically occurs just after 4:30 PM Eastern Time following the close of regular stock trading, and the conference call is scheduled to follow at 5:00 PM Eastern / 2:00 PM Pacific.

MacRumors will provide running coverage of the earnings release and conference call.

The release will provide a look into the strength of iPhone 5 and iPad mini sales across their first quarter of widespread availability. Apple reported strong results three months ago with iPhone and iPad sales both up significantly year over year.

The company provided guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 for revenue of $52 billion and earnings per diluted share of $11.75. If it meets that guidance, it would count as the strongest quarter for Apple in history.

Some users discovered that the scheduling portion of the "Do Not Disturb" feature in iOS 6 failed to work after New Year's Eve. The scheduling would turn itself on as scheduled, but would fail to turn itself off again.

Apple reports in a support article that Do Not Disturb scheduling will begin working properly again after January 7, 2013.

Symptoms

After January 1st, 2013, Do Not Disturb mode stays on past its scheduled end time.

Resolution

Do Not Disturb scheduling feature will resume normal functionality after January 7, 2013. Before this date, you should manually turn the Do Not Disturb feature on or off.

To turn off the scheduling feature, tap Settings > Notifications > Do Not Disturb and switch Scheduled to Off.

Amazon has succeeded in having Apple's false advertising lawsuit over its "App Store" trademark thrown out, reports Bloomberg via The Next Web.

In early 2011, Apple sued Amazon over the latter company's new "Appstore" for Android devices, claiming the 'app store' name was trademarked by Apple and would cause confusion amongst consumers.

Apple claimed Amazon's "inferior" app store would tarnish Apple's reputation. Last year, a judge indicated skepticism over Apple's claims, saying Apple had not demonstrated "real evidence of actual confusion" between the various "app stores", and suggested that Apple was "not likely to prevail" in the case.

Microsoft also fought against Apple, arguing that 'app store' is a compound noun that is a generic characterization of the store itself -- a store for apps.

Update: The Verge has the complete court ruling, which actually addresses only the false advertising aspect of Apple's claims. The dispute over the alleged trademark infringement by Amazon remains active.

The Apple Store Opéra in Paris, France was robbed by four masked gunmen on New Year's Eve. The thieves made off with more than 1 million euros worth of iPhones and iPads.

Christophe Crepin, an Unsa police union official, told Le Parisien newspaper that 'the four hooded and heavily armed criminals made their move very quickly. Most of the police forces were being mobilised to monitor the Champs Elysees, so the robbers have clearly benefitted from this opportunity to strike.'

Mr Crepin said the robbers mainly took 'a lot of goods' and very little money. Early estimates were that the haul was worth well over 1 million euros, or close to 1 million pounds.

With Apple gadgets fetching such a high price on the secondary market, thefts of individual devices in muggings are common. However, organized robberies on Apple Retail Stores are more uncommon.

The Covent Garden location in London was attacked by a group of armed motorcycle riders in 2011, while an Apple Store employee was shot at a Virginia Apple Store back in 2009. Smash and grabs are more common, with thieves using vehicles to crash through the barricades at outdoor stores to steal merchandise.

TheNextWeb reports that Apple has struck a deal with wireless chip firm Broadcom that will see high-speed 802.11ac 5G "Gigabit Wi-Fi" come to the company's Mac lineup later this year.

While it’s believed that Apple’s 2013 Mac lineup will feature the same designs as their late-2012 counterparts, they are set to include a range of updated internal features and hardware. We’ve learned about one such chipset change – the inclusion of 802.11ac networking – providing Apple’s updated Mac range with super-fast WiFi connectivity.

Sources familiar with Apple’s plans have told The Next Web that Apple has struck a deal with chip maker Broadcom to outfit its new Macs with 802.11ac chips.

The report notes that 802.11ac will roughly triple the speeds seen with the current 802.11n standard, supporting up to 450 Mbps on one antenna and up to 1.3 Gbps when used with three antennas as on Apple's latest Macs.

According to our sources, the WiFi chip isn’t currently available and is still in development. As for availability, we have been told that if work goes according to schedule, they should be part of the new line of Mac computers. There is no word on whether Apple will introduce similar chipsets in the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Time Capsule or other products.

A similar report from nearly a year ago claimed that 802.11ac would be coming to Macs in 2012, but the development failed to occur as Broadcom has apparently continued to work on its chips supporting the forthcoming standard.

Citing "rumours flying around", TechCrunch reports that Apple appears to be investigating the possibility of acquiring Waze, the popular social turn-by-turn navigation company. Waze, which takes advantage of real-time info from users to help others keep up-to-date on the latest road and traffic conditions, is already a partner in Apple's new Maps app, and an acquisition could help Apple beef up its struggling mapping services.

The report suggests that an acquisition of Waze could be even more beneficial for Apple than a deal with Foursquare, which holds only a limited audience internationally.

Because Waze maps are built on the location of moving cars, it’s far more accurate than check-in apps. Outside of Google’s project to map cities with Streetview cars – something which has taken years to complete – and the real-world mapping undertaken by volunteers on the Open Streetmaps open source project, there has been little to match Waze’s approach. Waze turned mapping into not only a game, but also a way for drivers to be social, reporting road obstacles, traffic and police traps. It is properly useful.

It would also cost Apple northwards of $500M+ to buy Foursquare (which has raised $71 million is known to be raising another round), and gain, what? The location of restaurants, bars and airports? Given Waze has raised $67 million, Apple could acquire far better mapping data and a real driving app.

Waze was one of the iOS apps featured by Apple as an alternative to its own Maps app for users looking for another solution while Apple continues enhancing its offering. The service has over 30 million users across iOS and Android, and has proven popular as a free alternative to other turn-by-turn navigation services.

Update: TechCrunch has updated its article to note that Apple is offering roughly $400 million plus $100 million in incentives for Waze, but Waze is said to be holding out for something closer to $750 million.

Following up on a report last month from Jefferies analyst Peter Misek claiming that the next-generation iPhone could launch in the middle of this year with as many as 6-8 colors, Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White has issued a report today indicating similar information. White also believes that Apple could offer the device with multiple screen sizes.

Our checks indicate that the next iPhone will have more choices for customers. This entails an expansion in both the color patterns and screen sizes with the next iPhone (i.e., likely called the iPhone 5S) that we currently believe will be launched in May/June with certain supply production starting in March/April.

White believes that the addition of multiple color choices for the iPod touch late last year was a "testing ground" for Apple and that the company is now moving toward bringing similar option to the iPhone, and eventually to the iPad.

As for screen size, White believes that Apple may for the first time offer a brand-new model with multiple screen size options for different segments of the market.

Although Apple offers a 4-inch screen on the iPhone 5 and a 3.5-inch screen on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4, the Company has never offered multiple screen sizes for a single model. We believe this is about to change with the next iPhone offering different screen sizes that we believe will allow Apple to better bifurcate the market and expand its reach. This eventually opens up the possibility for a lower-priced iPhone (i.e., iPhone mini) with a smaller screen size that could allow Apple to further penetrate markets such as China and open up opportunities in India. At the same time, Apple could unveil a larger screen size compared to the recently updated 4-inch screen on the iPhone 5.

Discussion of a larger screen size is particularly difficult to believe, given that Apple just transitioned to a taller screen with the iPhone 5, the first time Apple has changed the screen size on the iPhone since its launch.

In considering how Apple might make the iPhone's screen even larger, essentially the same set of issues debated before the launch of the iPhone 5 appears: more pixels or same resolution at lower pixel density. The latter solution in particular likely offers little for Apple, as the company is almost certainly uninterested in lowering pixel density simply to offer the same amount of screen real estate at a slightly larger physical size.

As for the former, Apple increased only the vertical pixel count for the iPhone 5, allowing for a larger screen while still offering full compatibility with apps designed for the smaller screens of previous devices. It seems difficult to believe that Apple would undertake yet another increase in pixel count so soon after the iPhone 5 debut, particularly if it involved increases in both vertical and horizontal directions.

AFP reports on claims from Taiwanese newspaper Commercial Times indicating that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is set to begin trial production of Apple's A6X chip sometime this quarter. The chip is currently used in the fourth-generation iPad introduced in October.

The Taiwanese company has been contracted to manufacture the A6X chip, which drives Apple's iPad4 tablet, with trial production set for the first quarter of this year, Taiwan's Commercial Times reported.

The move is the latest in a strings of efforts by Apple to switch mass manufacturing contracts away from Samsung, it said.

Apple has been rumored for some time to be trying to switch to TSMC for production of its A-series chips, with some reports claiming that TSMC would be coming on board late this year for next-generation chips. More recent reports have claimed that TSMC could start production for Apple as soon as the second quarter, perhaps in line with today's rumor of trial production in the first quarter of the year.

TheNextWeb reports that at least one iOS app developer has already spotted references to the next iPhone and iOS 7 in their app logs.

One developer showed us that Apple has been testing hardware relating to a new ‘iPhone6,1′ identifier, powered by a device running iOS 7, which is expected to be released by Apple in the middle part of this year.

For reference, the current iPhone 5 carries an "iPhone5,1" and "iPhone5,2" identifiers. The specific entries were associated with Apple campus IP addresses, making it more likely they were legitimate entries.

Apple first announced iOS 6 at WWDC 2012 in June. iOS 6 was then released to the public in September. The iPhone 5 was also launched in September 2012.

There have been few hints about what might be expected in iOS 7 and the next generation iPhone, though there have been persistent rumors of Apple investigating the use of Near Field Communication for payments. Other rumors have suggested that the 2013 iPhone could arrive earlier than expected with a mid-year launch rather than later in the year.

Update: Letemsvetemapplem.eu let us know that they had seen iOS 7 in their weblogs. Looking at MacRumors analytics, we found that iOS 7 visits here starting in December:

Apple posted a new television ad today highlighting their "Do Not Disturb" feature. Professional tennis players Serena and Venus Williams are shown playing ping-pong against the narrator in a dream:

Ever had a really cool dream? I'm having one right now. I don't want to be disturbed. And I won't because before I went to sleep, I set this. Now my iPhone knows not to ring unless its important. Cause disturbing this would just be... Wrong.

Ironically, the new ad comes on the same day that a bug in the scheduled Do Not Disturb feature prevented it from turning off on many iPhones.

CES 2013 promises to be very television-centric this year, with Samsung teasing a mystery TV product after reports that Intel will be be launching a set top box and cable TV service at the trade show.

The strong TV-focus of CES 2013 comes amidst persistent rumors that Apple is testing the waters with its own full-sized television.

Samsung recently released a new pre-CES teaser video and image of an HDTV.

On the company's blog, there is a picture of a portrait-shaped TV that is taller than it is wide. The television is depicted against an uninterrupted snowy background, possibly suggesting that the display is translucent. "A true innovation of TV design is coming up with an unprecedented new TV shape and timeless gallery design," reads the caption.

The image is accompanied by a video that was recently added to Samsung's YouTube page. In the video, an array of standard 16:9 televisions are depicted, both flatscreen and CRT, before Samsung's new television is displayed, hidden behind a white sheet. A description accompanying the video again boasts of an innovative design.

"As Samsung prepares to unveil a new TV at CES that is unlike anything the world has ever seen, all the other TVs are rushing to see the new TV."

Samsung often reveals prototype products at CES, last year debuting its "Smart Window" technology, which featured a touch-controlled interface atop transparent glass. Samsung could be unveiling a similar product this year.

Multiple reports have suggested that Apple is exploring this market as well, though it is not clear when Apple will introduce its own television product. Apple does not attend CES and will not be making any official announcements at the trade show.

CES will begin on January 8 and last until January 11, 2013.

The Daily Mail is reporting that new NPD research has found that consumers want more access to online video services like HBO Go rather than "smart" features like social networking access on their TVs. The research comes a day after it was reported that Intel was planning to launch a TV service and set top box in 2013 that focused on content.

NPD said that a big problem is that TV owners are confused because too much choice is creating a complex user experience.

'To counter this, OEMs and retailers need to focus less on new innovation in this space and more on simplification of the user experience and messaging if they want to drive additional, and new, behaviors on the TV."

Luke Peters, Editor of T3 Magazine, told MailOnline that Smart TVs will only become mainstream when they're as easy to use as changing a channel. Peters also notes that most Smart TV user interfaces are too complex for most people and that the content isn't good enough and that social networking doesn't make a lot of sense on TVs.

Apple has long been rumored to be interested in creating a TV that focuses on content as well in addition to features that could change human-to-TV interaction with Siri, Facetime and motion control. Apple was also rumored to be in talks with cable services like Comcast and Time Warner Cable in mid-2012, although no content deals have materialized yet.

Apple, like Intel, has largely had problems negotiating with content providers because of contractual limitations with cable providers, which may be why Apple's TV offering hasn't appeared yet. Although Intel's offering is set to debut January 7 at CES there's no telling if or when Apple's may debut, although recently it's been rumored that Foxconn is currently testing television set designs in the 50 - 55 inch range.

Some iOS 6 users who use Apple's scheduled "Do Not Disturb" feature may find that their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch hasn't automatically disabled the feature on New Year's morning.

The issue was reported on Whirlpool forums as well as our own MacRumors forums. The "Do Not Disturb" feature silences calls, alerts and notifications when it is enabled. Users may optionally schedule "Do Not Disturb" to activate between specific hours. This allows you to automatically disable calls and notifications while you sleep.

It's this scheduling feature that appears to be misbehaving on New Year's Day. MacRumors reader Spacesamurai posted about his experience:

I am in Japan so it is 2013, and I am finding that my iOS devices (iPhone 4 and iPad 2) are showing "Do Not Disturb" even though it is outside of the time I set for them. Not sure if this is related to the new year. Reloading the devices does not help and the software is up-to-date.

Spacesamurai's experience has been echoed by others, but not everyone.

Apple has had other bugs in the past related to New Year's day. In years past, Apple has had issues with alarms not going off into the new year. Fortunately, the "Do Not Disturb" feature does not disable alarms set with Apple's built-in Clock app.

Intel has signed off on active fiber optic cables made by Sumitomo Electric Industries, the first of their kind to go into mass production.

The cables can be up to 30 meters (just under 100 feet) long, and provide full 10Gbps throughput with little performance degradation even when pinched by up to 180 degrees or tangled in knots. The cord is the same thickness as current standard Thunderbolt cables, but the connector size is slightly longer.

As ZDNet points out, these currently unpriced cables could be used to put Thunderbolt data storage devices like the Drobo 5D in a soundproofed closet, away from the host Mac.

There have been a number of reports about the development of fiber optic Thunderbolt cables over the past year, with no official timeline laid out for their availability. Pricing is also unknown, but given the more advanced active fiber technology in the cables, it's possible they could be significantly more expensive than current cables.

One significant difference between the optical cable and the metal is that the new optical Thunderbolt cables do not carry on-board power. Any devices connected with them, like smaller portable hard drives, need external power supplies to work. They cannot be bus-powered.

For those who already own a Thunderbolt-enabled Mac, Intel notes that the existing Thunderbolt ports will be compatible with both copper and fiber optic cables, ensuring cross-compatibility once the new cables arrive.

As noted by iDownloadBlog, popular iOS pirated app community Hackulous has announced that it is shutting down, taking down the Installous jailbreak tool used to install pirated apps on iOS devices. A statement from Hackulous reads:

We are very sad to announce that Hackulous is shutting down. After many years, our community has become stagnant and our forums are a bit of a ghost town. It has become difficult to keep them online and well-moderated, despite the devotion of our staff. We're incredibly thankful for the support we've had over the years and hope that new, greater communities blossom out of our absence.

As iDownloadBlog observes, it is almost certain that other piracy tools, both existing and new, will rise in prominence to fill the void left by the removal of Installous, as there is certainly no shortage of users seeking to cheat developers out of their app fees.

Piracy is a major problem for many iOS app developers, and there have been several instances of piracy forcing developers to remove their apps from the App Store. One such case earlier this month saw Hunted Cow shut down its multiplayer title Battle Dungeon after piracy rates of roughly 90% made it impossible to handle the game's server load based on the revenue generated through legitimate sales.