A federal judge has hinted she will deny a motion from Apple asking the court to prevent Amazon.com from using the term "Appstore" for its Android app marketplace while a lawsuit over Amazon's use of the term continues. Apple initially sued Amazon this past March.
Bloomberg quoted U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton saying Apple had not demonstrated "real evidence of actual confusion" among customers trying to differentiate between Apple and Amazon's stores, and this was a "stumbling block for Apple." The judge continued, saying she was "troubled by the showing that you've made so far, but that's where you're likely not to prevail at this early juncture."
There was no indication from the judge how quickly she intends to rule on the matter.
CNBC will run a one-hour special on Apple CEO Steve Jobs tomorrow night, Thursday June 23rd at 9PM EDT. The show, part of CNBC's Titans series, will offer a look at Steve within interviews from a number of observers, including John Sculley, the former Pepsi-Co exec who famously pushed Jobs out of his own company.
From his parents' California garage he launched the personal computer revolution and built Apple into the most envied, and valuable, technology company in the world. From the Macintosh and the iPod, to iTunes and the iPhone, Jobs has personally presided over the creation of dozens of transformational devices, battling hostile corporate boards, cutthroat competitors, and life-threatening illness while securing his legacy as one of the few visionaries who dared to "Think Different."
"CNBC Titans #6: Steve Jobs" will premiere on Thursday, June 23rd at 9pm ET. The show will repeat that evening at 10pm ET, 12am ET and 1am ET. The show will also repeat on Sunday, June 26th at 9pm ET.
M.I.C gadget notes that a reporter from Chinese newspaper First Financial Daily reported seeing Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook in the lobby of China Mobile's headquarters earlier today. According to the reporter, who was also able to snap a photo of Cook although it only shows him from the rear:
This morning, around 10, Apple COO Tim Cook is spotted in the lobby of China Mobile’s HQ, accompanied by 7-8 people. Probably Cook is talking with executives from China Mobile to discuss bilateral cooperation for the iPhone. Both China and America flags are seen in the lobby, and Cook seems to be happy.
China Mobile is far and away the world's largest mobile phone carrier with over 600 million customers, making it a major potential partner for Apple. The carrier has long been interested in offering the iPhone, but Apple has so far been unwilling to build customized hardware capable of running on China Mobile's homegrown TD-SCDMA network standard.
Reports last month indicated that Apple and China Mobile had reached or were nearing an agreement that would see a future iPhone developed for the carrier's TD-LTE 4G network. Reports have indicated that the same chips could be used for both LTE and TD-LTE, meaning that Apple could conceivably release a future iPhone capable of running on either standard. Complicating the issue, however, is a lack of full LTE coverage looking out over the next several years, and the consequent difficulties of providing fallback 3G compatibility for different standards.
If Cook is indeed in China talking to executives at China Mobile, it seems likely that significant discussions are underway. While any negotiations of this size would likely take place at the senior executive level, Cook's role as Chief Operating Officer currently in charge of Apple's day-to-day operations in the absence of Steve Jobs would suggest that his direct involvement signals negotiations of the highest importance.
Concurrent with the launch of Final Cut Pro X yesterday, Apple discontinued both Final Cut Express and Final Cut Server. Final Cut Express was Apple's "lite" video editing program, meant to bridge the gap between the free iMovie and $999 Final Cut Studio package.
With Final Cut Pro now priced at $299, Apple clearly felt that a bridge program was no longer necessary.
Both Express and Server are unavailable on the Apple Online Store, and their both of their old product pages on Apple.com redirect to the new Final Cut Pro page.
For nearly a month now, we've been following Samsung's request for access to Apple's next-generation iPhone and iPad hardware, a move obviously made in retaliation for Apple having demanded (and received) access to unreleased, albeit publicly-shown, Samsung hardware as part of the legal battle between the two companies.
As noted by FOSS Patents, a federal judge has now ruled that Apple does not have to turn its plans for the next-generation iOS hardware over to Samsung's lawyers.
The judge also ruled, however, that there is some merit to Samsung's claims that its own forthcoming devices claimed to be infringing on Apple's designs should be compared to Apple's next-generation hardware as opposed to the current-generation hardware, particularly in the case of the iPhone. With Apple expected to be releasing the next-generation iPhone within the next few months, the judge notes that the potential for customer confusion should be gauged against products on the market at the same time.
Samsung is free to argue, for instance, that there is little likelihood of confusion because consumers will not encounter its products side-by-side with the iPhone 4 or iPad 2, but rather with Apple's next generation iPhone and iPad. Similarly, as to proximity, Samsung is free to argue that because the iPhone 4 and [iPad] 2 will soon be outmoded and reduced in price, they are not being sold (or very soon will not be sold) to the same class of purchasers who are likely to buy new Samsung products. By choosing to allege infringement only of its current products, Apple opens itself up to these arguments.
But while the judge admits that aspect of Samsung's argument, her ruling also reveals that she is unconvinced of an imminent release of new hardware from Apple, particularly in the case of the next-generation iPad. And regardless of Apple's timeline for a hardware release, Samsung's case does not hinge upon receiving early access to Apple's unannounced devices.
As briefly noted by Patently Apple yesterday, Apple has finally been awarded a key patent related to the iOS user interface as implemented on the original iPhone. Originally filed in December 2007, the patent application incorporated several previous provisional patent applications dating back to January 2007 when Apple first unveiled the iPhone six months ahead of its launch.
While the newly-granted patent does not reach the scale of "The iPhone Patent", a 358-page monster patent granted in January 2009 and carrying Steve Jobs' name as an inventor, it does specifically address some basic multi-touch functionality including providing users with the ability to pan around the screen while touching the screen with some number of fingers but panning around a specific frame within the displayed content using a different number of fingers. In essence, the patent describes the basic concept of navigating around webpages with a one-finger touch while also being able to to use a two-finger touch to independently scroll within an embedded frame.
PC Magazine takes a look at the implications of the granted patent, noting that the covered material is broad enough to pose potential problems for other smartphone manufacturers employing capacitive multitouch interfaces on their devices.
It gets quite a bit more technical in its full form, but there's one thing patent experts consulted by PCMag agree on -- Apple has been awarded an incredibly broad patent that could prove to be hugely problematic for other makers of capacitive touch-screen smartphones.
Apple's patent essentially gives it ownership of the capacitive multitouch interface the company pioneered with its iPhone, said one source who has been involved in intellectual property litigation on similar matters.
Apple's patent is also written broadly enough to apply to non-smartphone devices such as tablets and iPod touch-like media players, giving Apple significant clout in protecting its technology.
Apple has already filed infringement lawsuits against a number of its competitors in the smartphone industry including HTC and Samsung, making good on promises that the company would aggressively defend its intellectual property behind the iPhone.
Update: There has been some dispute over just how broadly-applicable Apple's patent is, with a number of readers taking exception to PC Mag's claims of the patent being "hugely problematic" to Apple's competitors. We agree that the scope of the patent is considerably narrower than it would appear from PC Mag's statements and refer readers back to our description of what the patent does in fact cover: the recognition of differing numbers of fingers used as input for scrolling or panning around displayed content either in its entirety or in a smaller subset embedded with a frame.
While the patent doesn't nearly cover the entire graphical interface and multitouch functionality of iOS, it is one more piece in a puzzle of patents that Apple has pieced together to protect a significant portion of the iPhone's functionality.
DigiTimes reports that Amazon is set to launch its own tablet device within the next few months, adding yet another iPad competitor to the mix, but one with the ability to deliver significant media integration due to its existing businesses in the music and video markets. According to the report, Amazon is trying to bring the device to market well ahead of the holiday sales rush and will be shooting for aggressive shipments of 700,000-800,000 units per month with a goal of selling four million units before the end of the year.
The timing of launch is to meet the peak sales period prior to Thanksgiving in the US and the year-end holidays in the US and Europe, the sources pointed out.
Amazon adopts processors developed by Texas Instruments, with Taiwan-based Wintek to supply touch panels, ILI Technology to supply LCD driver ICs and Quanta Computer responsible for assembly, the sources indicated.
The report specifically mentions that Amazon will integrate streaming movie services with the new tablet, although the company's new Cloud Player for music should also make it simple for tablet owners to listen to their music on the device. It is unknown what platform Amazon will use for its tablet, but most observers presume that the device will be based on Android considering Amazon's existing offerings for the platform such as its Appstore for Android.
While competitors have been slow to react to the iPad's success and even in aggregate have still been unable to dethrone Apple's tablet from its dominant market position, new tablets are now appearing on a regular basis with most of the major computer and electronics players staking out their positions. And like Amazon, other companies such as HP are doing what they can to duplicate portions of Apple's integrated iOS ecosystem by moving to cloud-based media services that will allow music and other content to be easily accessed across devices.
Bloomberg reaffirms the circulating rumors that Apple will launch a new iPhone in September of this year and is working on a high resolution iPad 3.
They cite two people "familiar with the plans" who indicate that the new iPhone will carry a faster processor and more advanced camera:
The device will include the A5 processor, the more powerful chip that Apple added to the iPad 2 earlier this year, along with an 8-megapixel camera, up from the 5-megapixel model in the iPhone 4, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details aren’t public.
The new iPhone is said to closely resemble the iPhone 4. As expected, the new iPhone will run iOS 5 which is reportedly codenamed "Telluride".
Bloomberg's sources also report that Apple is testing a version of the iPad that has a "higher resolution screen, similar to the one now used in the iPhone 4". From here, Bloomberg references older rumors that Apple might be working on a cheaper iPhone aimed at attracting customers in developing countries. They seem to believe that work is continuing on this low-end iPhone.
Finally, they report that the resolution of the new iPad would be "about one-third higher" than the iPad 2. Such a small increase would be a surprise as Apple's method for increasing resolution on the iPhone was to double each dimension to offer simple scaling for apps. It's been expected that Apple might adopt the same technique in the iPad 3, though technical hurdles may exist for such high resolution displays.
iPhone 4 owners who purchased on or soon after launch day last year (June 24, 2010) will soon see their factory warranties expire. Warranties on most Apple products are good for one year.
Current iPhone 4 owners can look up exactly when their warranty is up can do so at Apple's Support site, simply by entering their iPhone serial number on Apple's website. That online form will tell you exactly when your warranty expires.
That date is notable as its the last chance customers are able to purchase AppleCare for their iPhone 4. For $69, AppleCare extends the original iPhone factory warranty to two years total and includes unlimited phone support. The one year anniversary is more notable this year as Apple has not introduced a new iPhone to take the iPhone 4's place.
While the merits of any extended warranty are always up for debate, if you're interested, the process to buy AppleCare can be done entirely online, as long as the original factory warranty hasn't expired. In the past, Apple has been known to offer warranty coverage to users for a limited time after the factory warranty expires, but generally not for more than a few weeks.
Earlier today, Apple launched the much anticipated Final Cut Pro X (FCP X) to the Mac App Store. Originally described as a "dramatic and ambitious" change, it represents a complete rewrite and reimagining of Final Cut Pro, leading to some apprehension amongst professionals.
Since the initial release, several walkthroughs and impressions have been posted across the web and on our forums. Like the App Store ratings (shown above), the response has been mixed.
Philip Hodgetts provides an extensive blog post in question and answer form about what is and isn't included in Final Cut Pro X. He specifically reveals upcoming features that Apple has told him are coming. These include:
• "Multicam will come in a future release, when Apple decide[s] how best to implement it within the new application and architecture." • "As of Version 1 and today’s release there is no direct import capability for [Final Cut Pro 6/7] projects. My understanding is that there will be an Apple-provided utility for importing XML from older projects to Final Cut Pro X." • "the Apple folk made it abundantly clear that the ecosystem was very important to them, and that there will be a new, and much improved, replacement for the current XML workflow."
Larry Jordan who has been frequently quoted for his early comments about the Final Cut Pro X also weighs in. Jordan points out several of the improvements and disadvantages of the new system. He also points out that Apple is planning a quicker upgrade cycle for Final Cut Pro than they have in the past now that its in the App Store:
In the past, Apple used a 18 month, or so, cycle between updates. Now, Apple is telling me they are hoping to do an update once or twice a year.
Ultimately, despite the limitations, he expects that within the next 18 months practically all Final Cut customers will be running Final Cut Pro X due to the overall improvements.
Mozilla has transitioned to a rapid release cycle for Firefox, offering more full-featured releases more quickly than previously. Firefox 4 was released just this past March.
The company claims 1,000 improvements and enhancements are present in this version of Firefox, including support for "more modern Web technologies that make it easier for developers to build amazing Firefox Add-ons, Web applications and websites." See full release notes for more information.
DailyTech revives a long running rumor that Apple may be getting into the TV set business. (via 9to5mac) These rumors have been running for years with previous claims even specifying that Apple would release 42" and 50" Plasmas displays for sale in Apple Stores. Both Apple's Steve Jobs and Tim Cook have dismissed the possibility of an Apple TV set before. In 2010, Cook responded to questions about the Apple TV set top box at a Goldman Sachs Conference:
Q: Where do you see things going with the Apple TV? A: It's still a hobby, but our gut tells us there's something there. The go-to-market model is difficult, and we have no interest in being in the TV market. But we have continued to invest in the Apple TV and will keep doing so.
According to DailyTech, a "former Apple executive" has revealed that the company has entered into a partnership with an unnamed consumer electronics manufacturer to build Apple-branded television sets that will come with Apple TV and iTunes functionalities built directly into the television set.
According to source Apple plans to "blow Netflix and all those other guys away" by bundling Apple TV + iTunes inside physical television sets. According to the source Apple is teaming up with a major supplier (our guess would be Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (SEO:005930)), to provide the physical televisions, which will be rebranded as Apple television sets.
While the televisions would be manufactured by the partner company, they would be branded and marketed as Apple products. Apple is understood to be shooting for a fall release, although the debut may slip into early next year.
Apple's own Apple TV set top box has seen limited success since its launch with Apple describing the entire business as a "hobby". Selling an all-in-one solution could address one of the hurdles that Steve Jobs discussed when talking about Google's entry into the same market:
"Subsidized set-top boxes have squashed innovation because no one wants to pay for separate boxes...ask TiVo, Roku, us, Google in a few months. The set-top box needs to be torn up and redesigned to get people things they way they want them.
DailyTech hasn't been a recent source of Apple-related rumors, so it's hard to gauge their accuracy on the topic.
Following its release this morning, the first hands-on videos from Final Cut Pro X are beginning to trickle out. Here's a first look from Matt's Macintosh channel on YouTube as Matt explored the new Final Cut:
Civilian and military flight crews are increasing looking to the iPad to replace bulky maps and flight manuals, saving weight and ensuring that crews always have the most up to date materials.
In the past month, both American Airlines and Alaska Airlines have begun distributing iPads to their pilots to reduce the number of paper maps flight crews must to carry around and fly with. The switch saves paper, and thus fuel, by reducing the weight of pilots' flight bags which can weigh several dozen pounds.
iPads are also seeing action in war zones. DVIDS reports how Marine Corps aviators are using iPads in Afghanistan:
"iPads allow close-air support aircrew several advantages," said Maj. Marc Blankenbicker, the lead fire control officer for the Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron Harvest Hawk detachment at Camp Dwyer, Afghanistan. "First is the ability to carry 500 large charts, known as gridded reference graphics, on one electronic tablet."
Currently, a handful of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward) squadrons use Apple's iPad in Afghanistan. This includes crewmembers for AH-1W and UH-1Y light attack helicopter squadrons, AV-8B Harrier pilots and the crew of the Harvest Hawk equipped KC-130J.
Each of these aircraft provides close-air support for Marines, Afghan forces and other combined team ground troops in Nimroz and Helmand provinces. Marine aviators said the electronic tablet helps them quickly access maps and other data they can use to ensure precision strikes are targeted at enemy positions.
The U.S. Navy is using iPads as well. The image at the top of this article shows U.S. Navy Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Michael Tolbert uploading "geographical data onto tactical Apple iPad tablets to be used for combat operations aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson at sea April 19, 2011."
Apple has just posted a new support document noting that updating to Mac OS X 10.6.8 is "strongly recommended" for users running any of the new Final Cut Pro X applications released earlier today.
Updating to Mac OS X v10.6.8 or later is strongly recommended when using Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, or Compressor 4.
Mac OS X 10.6.8 is of course not yet publicly available, although it has been in developer testing for some time, with Apple appearing to be winding down development as evidenced by a pair of developer seeds released just a few days apart last week.
While Mac OS X 10.6.8 isn't technically a requirement for Final Cut Pro X and users are successfully running it today under Mac OS X 10.6.7, the strength of Apple's wording in the support document suggests that the software update should be making an appearance very soon to get users of the company's professional-level video production software on firm footing.
In order to perform a "clean install" of Lion -- on a new hard drive or when restoring a machine to sell it, for example -- users will need to install Snow Leopard first, according to an email forwarded to MacRumors, purportedly from Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
We have inspected the raw header information included in the email and believe it to be genuine, but these emails must always be taken with a grain of salt.
On Jun 20, 2011, at 9:57 PM, xxxx wrote:
Steve,
I'm really exited about Lion, but I'm a bit anxious about the absence of any physical media in the event of a crash where I need to do a clean install. Will Lion still provide a way to make a bootable image in the event that I need to start from scratch?
And Steve's typically short response:
From: Steve Jobs Subject: Re: Lion clean install Date: June 21, 2011 7:55:05 AM PDT To: xxxx
You can clean install Snow Leopaard [sic] first.
Sent from my iPhone
If this is true, it seems likely Apple will continue to sell Snow Leopard for the foreseeable future for users upgrading from Leopard and to perform clean installs.
Apple still sells Leopard for users who wish to upgrade their pre-Intel PowerPC Macs. Leopard is $129 and only available through 800-MY-APPLE, not the Apple Online Store or the retail stores. The company could offer Snow Leopard in the same surreptitious manner.
Update: To clarify, the original question and Jobs' answer seem to be focused on a situation in which a user is presented with a bare hard drive such as after an upgrade or a replacement after drive failure. OS X Lion does create a separate recovery partition to enable clean installs from a working system, but in the event of a full drive failure and no available backup, Apple's officially-sanctioned reinstallation policy appears to involve first installing Mac OS X Snow Leopard. For machines that ship with Lion installed and thus do not have Snow Leopard to fall back on, Apple will presumably provide some other recovery solution, perhaps in the form of a USB key as is included with the MacBook Air.
Update 2: The website Emails from Steve Jobs yesterday posted a similar email from Steve addressing the same topic:
Dear Mr. Jobs,
I just wanted to know if there will be a way to install Lion on a new HDD/SSD without previously installing 10.6?
RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky today published a report sharing the results of a new survey of iPhone users, unsurprisingly revealing that 76% of surveyed users are planning to take advantage of Apple's free iCloud services. More significantly, the survey offers the first look at the popularity of iTunes Match, with 30% of respondents indicating that they are somewhat likely or very likely to utilize the $24.99/year service.
Extrapolating the survey results across Apple's iOS ecosystem, RBC notes that Apple could see 150 million users on its free iCloud services with 60 million of those also participating in iTunes Match, a figure that would see Apple pulling in an extra $1.5 billion per year in gross revenues. With Apple reportedly keeping 30% of iTunes Match revenue with the rest being passed on to music labels and publishers, Apple would see about $450 million in revenues from the program.
Those figures are likely on the optimistic side, however, as only 10% of surveyed iPhone users registered as "very likely" to sign up for iTunes Match, with the other 20% pegging their interest at a lower "somewhat likely" level. Approximately 15% offered no opinion on whether or not they would use the service.
The survey also finds that 73% of surveyed users are somewhat likely or very likely to use Apple's new iMessage service in iOS 5. Together, iCloud and iMessage are seen to "enhance loyalty and stickiness" for Apple's customers, potentially encouraging iPod touch users to stick with the iOS platform rather than defecting to Android or another platform when it comes time to purchase a smartphone.
RBC's data appears to come from a subset of approximately 450 iPhone users within a larger survey containing nearly 1,500 respondents.
With Apple having released Final Cut Pro X and associated Motion and Compressor versions today, more details are starting to come out.
We previously pointed to Macworld's "First Look" feature that outlines many of the new functionalities in Final Cut Pro X, and a full review from Macworld is set to be posted soon. Other users who were given early access to Final Cut Pro X have also been speaking out to fill in some of the blanks now that they can speak publicly about the release.
While Apple is offering Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, and Compressor 4 through the Mac App Store, where they have quickly become the top grossing applications, the company has also pushed out some ancillary updates via Software Update for users who have already installed the core applications. Among the add-ons:
- Sound Effects: Over 1300 rights-free sound effects installed into the Audio Browser of Final Cut Pro X. - Audio Effect Presets: Additional preset effects for the Space Designer plug-in.
- Motion Templates: A variety of professionally-designed, customizable templates. - Motion Library Content: Animated vector graphics, backgrounds, template media, sample Motion projects, and royalty-free still images. - Motion Sample Media: Clips and images for use with Motion Help examples and tutorials.
This update adds the following video codecs for use by QuickTime-based applications:
- Apple Intermediate Codec - Apple ProRes - AVC-Intra - DVCPRO HD - HDV - XDCAM HD / EX / HD422 - MPEG IMX - Uncompressed 4:2:2
Apple has also released details on graphics card requirements for Final Cut Pro X, noting that at least 256 MB of VRAM on an OpenCL-capable graphics card or Intel HD Graphics 3000 or later integrated graphics package are required. The support document also lists a number of graphics cards and their corresponding machines that are not compatible with the release.
Finally, Apple has also published a database of cameras that are supported on Final Cut Pro X. In addition to a wide variety of still cameras and camcorders, the iPhone 3GS/4, iPad 2, and fourth-generation iPod touch are also supported.
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7 with Liquid Glass, plus new Apple Intelligence features and improvements to Messages, Phone, Safari, Shortcuts, and more. Developer beta available now ahead of public beta in July.
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7 with Liquid Glass, plus new Apple Intelligence features and improvements to Messages, Phone, Safari, Shortcuts, and more. Developer beta available now ahead of public beta in July.
Apple has just posted a new 
In order to perform a "clean install" of Lion -- on a new hard drive or when restoring a machine to sell it, for example -- users will need to install Snow Leopard first, according to an email forwarded to MacRumors, purportedly from Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
