MacRumors

Bloomberg reports that Apple is among 60 companies that have signed on to a filing that will be presented to the Supreme Court backing gay marriage in the United States. The court is currently weighing the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8, in which voters barred gay marriage in 2008. Apple had publicly opposed Proposition 8 at the time.

“No matter how welcoming the corporate culture, it cannot overcome the societal stigma institutionalized by Proposition 8 and similar laws,” the companies will argue, according to a copy of the brief provided by Orrick Herrington Sutcliffe LLP, the law firm representing the group.

The filing is part of an effort to convince the court that gay marriage has wide public support. Dozens of Republicans, including former presidential candidate and Utah Governor Jon Huntsman and former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, are also planning to file a brief backing such unions.

Only nine states explicitly permit same-sex marriage, and the companies signing the filing argue that workplace morale and recruiting are harmed in the other 41 states. Among the companies joining Apple on the filing are Intel, Facebook, Nike, Oracle, and Qualcomm. The Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments on the Proposition 8 case and a second one addressing the federal Defense of Marriage Act in late March.

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Hedge fund manager Doug Kass tweeted (via 9to5Mac) a short time ago that he is hearing rumors of an announcement regarding a stock split coming at Apple's shareholder meeting scheduled for tomorrow at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California. The stock has reversed course since Kass's Tweet, moving from down $5 to up $5.

Many observers, such as Fortune's Philip Elmer-Dewitt, are calling into question Kass's statements, noting the sequence of events that saw him announce a large position in Apple, float the rumor of a stock split, and then announce that he was selling off shares after the stock spiked. Kass has, however, defended his Tweet, saying that the rumors were "all over the Street".

While a stock split would not add any intrinsic value to Apple's market value, some have viewed a potential split as a positive for Apple under the perception that a company is more likely to split when it is confident that the stock price will rise in the future. Observers have also argued that high stock prices for companies like Apple and Google have kept them from being added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average given the outsized impact they would have on the price-weighted index.

Apple's last stock split came in February 2005, a 2-for-1 move that brought the price of a single share down to just under $45. Apple has refrained from splitting its stock since that time, with investors seeing the share price rise to over $700 before pulling back to the current level around $450.

AllThingsD points to a report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) revealing that 2012 saw the first growth in the music market since 1999, a milestone made possible by the strength of the digital music market.

Global recorded music industry revenues rose by an estimated 0.3 per cent to US$16.5 billion in 2012, the first year of industry growth since 1999. Digital revenues saw accelerating growth for the second year running, up 9 per cent, with most major digital revenue streams - downloads, subscription and advertising-supported - on the rise.

The report notes that download sales, a market dominated by Apple's iTunes Store, saw a 12% increase in volume. Downloads still represent 70% of the digital music market even as subscription services continue to make inroads and are expected to cross 10% of the digital market this year.

In particular, the report points to the rapid globalization of digital music access, with the number of countries having access to digital music growing from just 23 in early 2011 to well over 100 today. Apple's iTunes Store is a major part of that expansion, with the most recent move to add 56 new countries last December extending Apple's music reach to a total of 119 countries.

The report from IFPI comes just as research firm NPD notes that music file sharing in the U.S. fell sharply in 2012 as customers continue to embrace alternatives such as free streaming services from the likes of Pandora and Spotify. According to the report, the number of peer-to-peer (P2P) music download users fell by 17% last year to account for 11% of Internet users, down from 20% seven years earlier.

The volume of illegally downloaded music files from P2P services also declined 26 percent, compared to the previous year; however P2P wasn’t the only sharing activity to shrink. Music files burned and ripped from CDs owned by friends and family fell 44 percent, the number of files swapped from hard drives dropped 25 percent, and the volume of music downloads from digital lockers decreased 28 percent.

NPD's survey indicates that 40% of consumers who had illegally downloaded music in 2011 had either stopped doing so in 2012 or reduced the amount of downloading, with availability of free streaming services being cited as the primary reason for the shift.

Ken Segall, the creative director behind the Think Different campaign and author of Insanely Simple, a book about his experiences of that time, has suggested Apple is losing its way in its current advertising approaches, with Samsung taking full advantage.

In a blog entry on his website, Observatory, Segall argues that Apple has stuck to its product-based ads while Samsung has been investing big-time in people-based ads and creating greater buzz than Apple.

Samsung has made remarkable inroads in a very short time, for two big reasons. First, it is spending a fortune to run its ads … more than Apple, more than HP and Dell, and even more than Coca-Cola … [Second] Samsung’s message has proven to be tremendously potent. The company continues to bash away at Apple, delivering ads that are well produced, well written and seem to be striking a nerve. In contrast to Apple, which has been sticking to its product-based ads, Samsung has been scoring points with its people-based ads — most of which play off some growing negative perceptions about Apple.

Segall had previously slammed Apple's short-lived Genius-based campaign which appeared to make its customers seem dumb. He notes now that Samsung invested in a two-minute Super Bowl ad, while Apple did nothing, and that Samsung created a new story for the Oscars while Apple ran a variation of its standard campaign approach.

Segall does, however, end on an optimistic note, expressing his faith that the "smart people" at Apple and TBWA\Chiat\Day won't "take this lying down" and will be working hard to rebound with their own advertising efforts.

(Photo by Doug Schneider)

In line with last week's confirmation from Staples executives, the office supply giant has now begun offering Apple accessories in its U.S. online store. While the chain has long sold Apple products internationally, this marks the first time it has been able to reach an agreement with Apple for U.S. distribution.

Products available through the online store are currently limited to accessories, but do appear to include nearly the full lineup of accessories such as Smart Covers, power adapters, cables, headphones, mice and keyboards. Several more expensive hardware accessories are also available, including the Apple TV, Time Capsules, and AirPort Extreme/Express base stations.

MacRumors heard last month that Staples retail stores in the United States would carry not only accessories but Apple's full lineup of Macs, iPads, and the iPhone 5. We've since heard that Apple's full lineup may be limited to select high-volume Staples retail stores, with rollout tentatively scheduled for late March to accommodate staff training and store setup. We've yet to hear whether Apple accessories have already begun appearing at retail stores alongside today's online store launch.

(Thanks, Magdalena!)

Apple has settled a lawsuit brought in 2011 after children ran up hundreds of dollars in spending on in-app purchases in freemium games.

The company will give iTunes credits to parents who claim their minor bought in-app items without permission and the option of cash refunds for claims over $30.

Reports GigaOm:

The proposed settlement comes after parents sued Apple in 2011 upon discovering that their minor children had racked up credit card charges in supposedly free games. The issue was the subject of a Daily Show feature about a father whose kids racked up hundreds of dollars to keep virtual fish alive in a game called “Tap Fish.”

[…]

In order to collect under the settlement, Apple users will have to attest that a minor bought “game currency” and that the user did not provide the minor with the Apple password.

The FTC looked into parental concerns over in-app purchases, but apparently let the lawsuit run its course before acting. The agency has examined other issues with kids using mobile apps, particularly around privacy. Late last year, the agency expanded the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act to cover mobile games and social media.

Apple will send email notices to the 23 million iTunes account holders who are affected by the settlement. The full settlement document is available on Scribd.

The company began requiring passwords for in-app purchases in iOS 4.3, soon after concerns over unauthorized purchases came to light. In-app purchases can now also be shut off entirely.

Speaking at an event with reporters, France Telecom-Orange CEO Stephane Richard said that Apple was "more flexible", "paying more attention to everyone else" and "a little less arrogant" than they had been in the past, reports AllThingsD.

“Apple has (become) more flexible, paying more attention to everyone else, probably a little less arrogant than they used to be,” France Telecom-Orange CEO Stephane Richard said during a dinner with reporters in Barcelona on Monday. Characterizing today’s Apple with the same company under Steve Jobs, Richard said, “I think they are probably a little more under pressure, and it is quite nice.”

Richard went on to talk about the some other issues affecting the telecom industry, including the "very difficult" time Windows Phone will have competing with entrenched operating systems like iOS and Android, particularly because the platform doesn't yet have a "'wow' effect".

The upcoming iOS 6.1.3 update, which was seeded in beta form to developers last week, will put an end to new versions of the evasi0n jailbreak.

Forbes reports that evad3rs team member David Wang (aka planetbeing on Twitter) tested the patch over the weekend and found that one of the five exploits the hack uses was repaired.

Wang tells me that he's analyzed the 6.1.3 beta 2 update and found that it patches at least one of the five bugs the jailbreak exploits, namely a flaw in the operating system's time zone settings. The beta update likely signals the end of using evasi0n to hack new or updated devices after the update is released to users, says Wang, who says he's still testing the patch to see which other vulnerabilities exploited by the jailbreak might no longer exist in the new operating system.

Despite evasi0n's record number of downloads, hitting seven million installs just four days after release, Apple has been relatively slow to patch the bugs that make evasi0n possible, compared to some previous jailbreaks.

The Cupertino-based company pushed the iOS 6.1.2 update six days ago, without a fix for evasi0n, which has now been available for download for three weeks. According to Forbes, it took Apple just nine days to fix Jailbreakme 3.0, the jailbreaking tool for the iPhone 4.

Wang is predicting that the iOS 6.1.3 update might take as long as a month to be released, and he also mentioned that the evad3rs have discovered additional bugs in the operating system, which could lead to a new jailbreak in the future.

iOS 6.1.3 will bring improved Maps to Japan along with a fix for the Passcode bug that was discovered after iOS 6.1.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster today issued a new research report sharing data from research firm NPD covering Apple's U.S. Mac sales for the month of January. According to NPD's data, Mac sales were up a strong 31% year-over-year for the month.

Munster attributes the strong performance to Apple finally being able to roll out orders of the new iMac, even as the company remains significantly constrained with multi-week waits for new orders through its online stores. Apple announced the new iMac in late October of last year, but did not begin taking orders until the end of the November with the larger 27-inch models not arriving until several weeks later.

We have analyzed domestic NPD retail data for the month of January which suggests Mac sales were up 31% y/y through the first month of the March quarter. We believe the reason for the significant improvement in the sales data is primarily due to Apple catching up with iMac supply, which the company noted to be constrained in the December quarter. CEO Tim Cook noted that iMac sales were down 700k units y/y in December (we note iMac sales are likely far less impacted by iPad, thus the vast majority of the y/ y unit decline is likely supply).

It remains to be seen if the strong sales will hold up for the remainder of the quarter, and thus Piper Jaffray is maintaining its estimate of a 5% year-over-year decline for the full quarter when global sales are considered.

NPD's data also reveals a bit of a surprise for the iPod, showing U.S. unit sales up 3% year-over-year and revenue up 2%. Piper Jaffray has been modeling for a 17% decline in total iPod sales for the quarter as the device continues to lose favor with consumers shifting music consumption to smartphones. But even a strong showing for the iPod is unlikely to have a significant impact on Apple's bottom line, as the line represented just 4% of Apple's sales in the holiday quarter, typically the strongest one for iPod sales.

Following the leak of several "iPad 5" cases late last week supporting claims that the device will take some design cues from the iPad mini to become significantly narrower and slightly shorter than the current models, AppleBitch notes that these cases and a several others are now available for order through multiple distributors on Chinese e-marketplace Alibaba.

All of the cases contain holes in the bottom edge designed to accommodate a Lightning connector and speaker grilles on either side of the connector, as seen on the iPad mini. The current full-size iPad design contains a single speaker grille on wrapping from the bottom edge around to the back side of the device.

One case design shows an open left edge, presumably to accommodate a Smart Cover hinge.

The cases also appear to show an extra hole at the top center of the rear of the device, and it is unclear exactly feature of the redesigned iPad the hole is intended to accommodate. The hole was initially thought to be for a microphone, which is currently located along the top edge of the iPad, but a hole in that location appears to still be present on these new cases, leaving the "extra" hole on the rear unaccounted for.

Leaks from case makers have in the past proven accurate on a number of occasions, including with the iPad mini, although companies have sometimes been fooled as was seen with the tapered iPhone design back in 2011. But with rumors, rear shell photos, and now cases all consistently pointing toward an iPad mini-like design for the fifth-generation iPad, evidence for a significant overhaul of the full-size iPad is becoming stronger.

Two years ago, HP was viewed as potential major tablet competitor for Apple and the iPad, with the company's 2010 acquisition of Palm allowing it to debut its webOS-based TouchPad in early 2011. The TouchPad turned out to be a flop, however, until the company lowered pricing to $99 in order to clear out stock, and HP quickly decided to exit the smartphone and tablet markets and turn webOS into an open source project.

HP is now jumping back into the tablet game, announcing yesterday an April U.S. launch for the HP Slate 7, an Android-based tablet carrying a $169 price tag.

With a 7-inch diagonal screen and weighing 13 ounces, the HP Slate 7 is an ideal trusted personal companion, featuring a stainless-steel frame and soft black paint in gray or red on the back. It also is the industry's first tablet to offer embedded Beats Audio, for the best-sounding, richest audio experience available on a tablet. [...]

Powered by an ARM Dual Core Cortex-A9 1.6 GHz processor, the HP Slate 7 is fast and responsive. Integrated wireless allows customers to access email, the internet and key applications, while the High-aperture-ratio Field Fringe Switching (HFFS) panel offers wide viewing angles that provide easy viewing of documents, games, photos and videos—even in outdoor lighting conditions.

The HP Slate 7 includes a 3-megapixel camera on the back and a VGA camera on the front for chatting, videos and photos.

As noted by The Verge, HP's new Slate 7 is just the first of many tablet models set to launch this year, with HP recognizing that it needs to be in the rapidly growing tablet market if it wants to retake the lead from Apple in the increasingly combined PC/tablet market.

"HP is the number one PC manufacturer in the world, and we want to be the number one computer vendor in the world. That means we need to be in the tablet space."

That's Alberto Torres, the man tasked with making it happen. [...]

"On the tablet side, it's entirely our intent to have a broad set of products on the market... to cover more segments of the market we'll need more products, and you'll see us aggressively pursue that over the year."

HP's return to the tablet market with Android comes just as the company has agreed to sell webOS to LG, which plans to use the operating system for its smart televisions, as reported by CNET.

With the deal, LG obtains the source code for WebOS, related documentation, engineering talent, and related WebOS Web sites. LG also gets HP licenses for use with its WebOS products, and patents HP obtained from Palm. The financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

LG remains focused on Android for its smartphones, but views webOS as a promising platform for television. According to an October report from webOS Nation, LG and Gram, HP's subsidiary set up to oversee webOS, had already been working together on the webOS television project, and it now appears solid enough that LG has decided to acquire webOS entirely.

Thalmic Labs has announced a $149 armband called MYO that detects motion and muscle movements to allow control of a Mac, PC, or other device using gestures (via The Next Web).

The demo video shows someone scrolling by waving two fingers in the air (mimicking the standard OS X trackpad gesture), snapping fingers to start iTunes playing, rotating a fist to increase the volume, holding up a hand in a 'stop' motion to pause a video, gesturing backwards to rewind a video and snapping fingers to play the video. The demo also illustrates a variety of other uses for the device, from delivering a presentation to controlling a remotely-operated vehicle.

Unlike Microsoft Kinect, no camera is required, but the armband approach means it will work only with gestures made with one hand rather than detecting whole-body movements.

Very cool and impressive. I hope this finds its way into our future soon - Steve Wozniak

MYO, which connects via Bluetooth, claims to work out of the box with Mac and Windows machines with APIs promised for iOS and Android developers.

The MYO is available to pre-order with limited quantities available for a late 2013 launch.