MacRumors

A set of patent applications discovered by AppleInsider today suggests that Apple may be considering allowing customers to resell or lend iTunes Store content to other users in the same way they might sell a physical book, music CD or movie DVD.

Apple's system is similar to one outlined in a separate patent already granted to Amazon, although Amazon's approach requires transactions to be made via a central marketplace while Apple's proposed approach would also allow direct user-to-user transfers.

Techniques are provided for managing access to a digital content item (such as an ebook, music, movie, software application) to be transferred from one user to another. The transferor is prevented from accessing the digital content item after the transfer occurs. The entity that sold the digital content item to the transferor enforces the access rights to the digital content item by storing data that establishes which user currently has access to the digital content item. After the change in access rights, only the transferee is allowed access to the digital content item. As part of the change in access rights, the transferee may pay to obtain access to the digital content item. A portion of the proceeds of the "resale" may be paid to the creator or publisher of the digital content item and/or the entity that originally sold the digital content item to the original owner.

Restrictions are outlined to prevent abuse of the facility, such as allowing publishers to limit transfers to certain timescales (for example, requiring the user to have owned the product for a certain length of time before selling it), frequency (limiting how often someone could sell their content), price (enforcing a minimum price) and buyer (perhaps limiting sales to within the country of origin).

The patent covers gifting and loan as well as resale, and outlines an option for the content publisher to receive a cut in return for granting rights to transfer the content.

It should of course be noted that Apple files a huge number of patent applications, only a tiny minority of which ever see the light of day in an Apple product or service, but it is interesting to see Apple at least exploring the idea.

Reuters reports that Intel's move into contract manufacturing of chips for other companies suggests that Apple could become a future customer with its A-series chips for the iPhone and iPad, potentially reducing its reliance on arch-rival Samsung as a supplier.

A source close to one of the companies says Intel and Apple executives have discussed the issue in the past year but no agreement has been reached.

Intel has in the past always designed its own computer CPUs, which PC manufacturers like Apple then buy. Intel had previously expressed interest into moving toward some contract or "foundry" manufacturing of chips, although had indicated that it would be most interested in projects based on its existing technology.

But the growing trend away from PC and towards mobile devices continues to threaten Intel's core business, apparently prompting the company to more heavily consider acting as a foundry for distinct chip designs from third-party companies.

Sunit Rikhi, vice president and general manager of Intel custom foundry, told Reuters last week his group is ready to take on a potential large, unidentified mobile customer, although he declined to discuss Apple specifically.

Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said the chipmaker is in constant discussions with Apple, which buys its PC chips, but he would not comment on negotiations about a potential foundry relationship. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

Pat Becker Jr, of Becker Capital Management, believes the move would make sense for both Intel and Apple. "If you can have a strategic relationship where you're making chips for one of the largest mobile players, you should definitely consider that. And for Apple, that gets them a big advantage."

comScore today released the results of its monthly rolling survey of U.S. mobile phone users for the November-January period, finding that Apple's smartphone marketshare rose 3.5 percentage points between October and January, up to 37.8% of both U.S. smartphone platform and hardware sales.

Samsung was second in hardware makers with 21.4%, up from 19.5% three months earlier. HTC and Motorola both experienced significant drops in market share, while LG gained slightly.

Google's Android was the largest smartphone platform with 52.3% of smartphone platform share, down from 53.6% three months ago. Android, BlackBerry, Microsoft and Symbian all lost share, to the benefit of Apple. As a result, Apple and Google control more than 87 percent of the smartphone market.

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.

Tmonews reports that T-Mobile is prepping an anti-AT&T ad campaign in retaliation against the full page anti-T-Mobile ads that AT&T released last week.

AT&T's ads, which were posted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, criticized T-Mobile for dropped calls and slow download speeds.

T-Mobile's retaliatory ads question why AT&T attempted to buy the carrier if T-Mobile's network is so unsatisfactory.

The war between AT&T and T-Mobile began in January, when T-Mobile CEO John Legere called the AT&T network "crap," though the relationship between the two carriers soured after AT&T failed to purchase T-Mobile following objections from the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice.

T-Mobile is currently in the process of restructuring, with a plan to eliminate device subsidies and initiate lower monthly plan costs. The company plans to offer Apple products at some point in 2013.

According to Tmonews, the ads are proof prints that have been sent to T-Mobile for final approval, which means they could hit newspapers at any time.

Early last year, Apple launched a new initiative to more openly share information on worker rights and safety throughout its supply chain with working hours and mandatory overtime being a major focus of the effort. Apple's code of conduct specifies that workers may generally work no more than 60 hours per week, although the company does permit limited exceptions during periods of high demand.

That pattern was observed over the course of 2012, with Apple's efforts to track over one million employees showing peak compliance with the standard at 97% in July and August before dropping in the September-Novemeber timeframe as Apple launched a number of new products including the iPhone 5 and iPad mini. Compliance rebounded in December, and Apple today updated its supplier responsibility pages to note that its supply chain achieved record 99% compliance in the month of January.

The number of workers we track has increased from over 500,000 in January 2012 to over 1 million in January 2013. In January 2013, we achieved 99% compliance to the 60-hour workweek across all employees we track.

The improvement in compliance comes as Apple appears to be reaching supply-demand balance for a number of its latest products, including the iPad mini and iMac.

Reports have indicated that Apple's major assembly partner Foxconn has reduced its hiring due to a higher-than-usual number of employees returning to the company after the recent Chinese New Year break. Some have suggested that changes to working conditions spurred by Apple may be at least partly responsible for increased worker satisfaction and thus higher retention, although in some cases workers seeking to maximize their income have expressed concern over limits on their working hours.

Swatch CEO Nick Hayek does not believe that the a potential iWatch could replace the iPhone, reports Bloomberg. At a press conference in Grenchen, Switzerland, Hayek implied that an Apple smart watch would be a flop because of its small display size.

"Personally, I don't believe it's the next revolution," the chief of the largest Swiss watchmaker said at a press conference on annual results in Grenchen, Switzerland. "Replacing an iPhone with an interactive terminal on your wrist is difficult. You can't have an immense display."

Hayek also mentioned that consumers buy watches as a fashion item and prefer versatility, a statement that may be off base considering the current popularity of smart watches like the Pebble.

Swatch used to sell its own version of a smart watch through a partnership with Microsoft. The Swatch Paparazzi offered users news headlines, sports, weather, horoscopes, and stock quotes.

The company has been in contact with Apple for several years, said Hayek, speaking about "materials for products and so-called energy harvesting technology that would generate energy from physical movement."

There are no concrete hints on what Apple's iWatch might look like, but a patent application suggests that Apple might be considering a wraparound design with a touchscreen and a flexible glass display. The watch is rumored to run the full version of iOS, but a release date remains unclear.

Apple has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that Apple has an illegal monopoly because the iPhone does not allow users to use alternative app stores by default, reports Bloomberg.

Attorneys who filed the suit in 2011 claim that a monopoly exists because an iPhone user who doesn’t want to pay what developers charge for applications available through Apple’s App Store can’t go anywhere else to buy them. Apple requires iPhone software developers to turn over 30 percent of what they charge for an application, increasing prices and excluding competitors from the iPhone “aftermarket” of applications, they claim.

Apple doesn’t set the price for paid applications, and charging a price for distribution of a product on a new and unique platform doesn’t violate any antitrust laws, said Dan Wall, Apple’s attorney, at yesterday’s court hearing in Oakland, California.

The plaintiffs argue that because a consumer can't buy Angry Birds for the iPhone from an alternative app store, Apple has an illegal monopoly and is reducing consumer choice.

This isn't the first time Apple has been accused of running an illegal monopoly. The iTunes Store and iBookstore have previously been the subject of lawsuits. This lawsuit was originally filed in 2011, in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (Oakland).

Apple will miss the lower end of its own revenue guidance figures of $41-43 billion for the current quarter by more than half a billion dollars, claim Citigroup analysts cited by Business Insider.

CNET has more on the research note, which says that reduced orders in Apple's supply chain suggest softening demand for both iPhone and iPad, and claims that there is "limited evidence" of an imminent low-cost iPhone.

In conducting our regular field work with the hardware supply chain, we again find evidence of reduced demand to Apple's suppliers for iPhone 5 related components. While production does not directly translate to sales (for example, we estimate Apple finished 1Q13 (Dec) with [around] 10M iPhone units in inventory), we suspect this is an indication of softer demand for iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S.

Citi's Glen Yeung predicts total iPhone sales of 59 million units in the first half of 2013, while the general Wall Street expectation is for around 69 million. He has also slightly downgraded his forecast Q2 iPad sales by 0.6 million to 19 million.

Yeung's team also warns against expecting revenue to flow from the low-cost iPhone rumored to be coming in August or September.

Despite much speculation amongst investors and third-party research, we find limited evidence of a low-end iPhone at this stage … We continue to expect iPhone 5S to be launched (albeit in early C3Q13 vs. late C2Q13) and anticipate a large-screen iPhone in late 2013/early 2014. But clear indications of a low-end iPhone remain elusive.

But while Citi is pointing to supply chain reports as the basis for its claims, Apple CEO Tim Cook has previously cautioned against reading too much into supply-chain rumors:

Months of rumors about order cuts and so forth, so let me take a moment to comment on these. No comment on any particular rumor as I'd spend my life doing that. I suggest its good to question the accuracy of any kind of rumor about build plans. Even if a particular data point were factual, it would be impossible to interpret that data point as to what it meant to our business. The supply chain is very complex and we have multiple sources for things. Yields can vary, supplier performance can vary. There is an inordinate long list of things that can make any single data point not a great proxy for what is going on.

However, Citi has been among the more accurate analyst firms in following the recent slowing of Apple's growth, and its statements are in line with previous observations by other analysts and commentators.

Apple has fallen short of analyst expectations several times in recent quarters, but has always met its own guidance, although that guidance has long consisted of low-ball figures that Apple felt it could easily meet. Starting with this quarter, Apple is now issuing a range of guidance numbers that it believes it will fall within, significantly altering the landscape for analysts seeking to predict Apple's performance.

Samsung has paid $112 million for a 3% stake in LCD screen manufacturer Sharp, a key supplier of LCD screens to both Samsung and Apple, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Sharp currently holds the technical lead in the manufacture of large-screen LCD panels, enabling it to produce TV screens bigger than 60 inches at a lower cost than other manufacturers. Despite this advantage, the company has been struggling financially over the last 18 months, laying off 11,000 staff and mortgaging key assets.

Sharp has been desperately seeking external financing to keep itself afloat, having received bank bailouts and receiving a $120 million investment from Qualcomm late last year. Foxconn was also set to make an investment in Sharp, but that deal has fallen apart as Sharp's financial picture has continued to deteriorate.

Sharp supplies LCD panels to both Apple and Samsung, including both iPhone and iPad screens, and a WSJ blog suggests that Samsung may gain priority in future supply deals.

Monex market analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama said a Samsung-Sharp tie-up could "help Sharp to at least raise the efficiency of its panel-producing plant, as it will ship products to Samsung, whereas it had prioritized supplying components for Apple."

Samsung’s bid to turn Sharp, once a major competitor, into an ally, shows how serious it is in winning a global battle with Apple for dominance in the lucrative market for mobile devices.

Samsung has been focusing its own screen manufacturing efforts on OLED technology, with analysts observing that closer ties with Sharp would help the company outsource more of its LCD production.

A few times a year, MacRumors partners with MacUpdate and MacLegion to promote their Mac application bundle deals. Today, both sites have launched their latest deals which each bundle 10 Mac Apps for a discounted price for $49.99.

MacUpdate

MacUpdate's latest bundle delivers 10 Mac applications for $49.99 (a $618 value if all purchased separately). Notably, it includes Parallels Desktop 8, virtualization software that lets you run Windows side-by-side with Mac OS X.

The full bundle includes (retail value in parenthesis):

- Parallels Desktop 8 ($79.99) - Run Windows on your Mac.
- DEVONthink Pro ($79.95) - Information manager.
- Prizmo ($49.95) - Scan any file to create editable documents.
- MacUpdate Desktop ($10.00) - Keep your Mac software updated.
- MotionComposer ($149.00) - Design animated and interactive Web content.
- 1000 OpenType fonts Collection ($99.00) - OpenType Fonts.
- iStat Menus ($16.00) - Monitor your Mac from the menubar.
- PhotoStyler 6 ($29.99) - Stylize your photos with filters, presets, more.
- DiskAid 6 ($29.90) - Flexible file transfer tool for iOS.
- Mac Internet Security 2013 ($29.99) - Macware and anti-virus utility.

MacUpdate Total: $49.99

MacLegion

MacLegion's latest bundle delivers 10 different Mac applications for $49.99 (a $393 value if all purchased separately).

- Toast ($99.99) - Burn CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray.
- Set for iWork ($69.00) - Designs/Templates for Pages, Numbers and Keynote.
- Launchbar ($35.00) - Keyboard driven utility to control your Mac.
- TasksBox ($24.99) - Task manager.
- Animationist ($29.99) - Title art animations for your videos.
- iFinance ($29.99) - Manange your finances.
- Habits ($19.99) - Create new habits and resolutions.
- MainMenu Pro ($9.99) - Maintenance tool for your Mac.
- Corel Paint it! ($39.99) - Transform photos into paintings.
- Stationery Pack 2 ($24.99) - Turn photos into greeting cards.

MacLegion Total: $49.99

MacRumors is a promotional partner with MacUpdate and MacLegion. Bundle sales through these links benefit MacRumors financially, and provide a way for readers to directly support this site.

Apple executives met with Beats Electronics CEO Jimmy Iovine in January to discuss a potential partnership with Beats' announced music subscription service called "Project Daisy". CEO Tim Cook and SVP of Internet Services Eddy Cue reportedly expressed interest in the service's "business model and its rollout plans" according to Reuters.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook met with Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine during a visit to Los Angeles in late February to find out more about Beats' "Project Daisy", a music subscription service the company announced in January but with scant detail, the sources said.

Apple's Internet products chief Eddy Cue, a key player in setting up its iTunes Music Store, also joined the meeting, at which Cook expressed interest in Daisy's business model and its rollout plans, although the two did not discuss specifics of a deal, the sources said.

Iovine pitched Steve Jobs on a subscription music service a decade ago, but Jobs felt the prices record companies were charging were too steep and would eventually come down.

There have been rumors for nearly five years about Apple developing a subscription music service, though more recent reports have suggested that Apple is aiming to release its service sometime in 2013.

Bloomberg reported in October that Apple was aiming for a first quarter launch, but record labels have suggested that negotiations were hung up over licensing fees.