Are you underage and in need of a drink? There used to be an app for that, but not anymore. Apple has pulled an app that created fake driver’s licenses after a U.S. Senator from New Jersey complained it “poses a threat to public safety and national security.” No more 19-year-old Al Qaeda members trying to sneak in on happy hour, I guess.
Samsung Shipped Six Times More Phones Than Apple, But What About Profits?
Here’s a great sleight-of-hand trick from Samsung: trumpet that you’ve sold 300 million phones through November. While everyone is amazed that the South Korean company pumped out nearly six times as many mobile phones than Apple, people will forget the iPhone maker rules smartphone profits. Nice try, but it won’t work.
Report: China Unicom To Sell iPhone 4S By Christmas
The iPhone 4S has finally been approved by Chinese regulators. Apple’s newest device today received its network approval, paving the way for carrier China Unicom to begin offering the smartphone in time for Christmas.
iPhone 3GS Is Still Hot: 2M Sold In December
In technology, two years can be a lifetime. It’s encouraging to learn the iPhone 3G is still going strong. According to reports, suppliers will ship 2 million of the handsets during the December quarter, making it the second best-selling iPhone behind the iPhone 4.
Words To Eat: Sharp Says They Aren’t Worried About Apple’s iTV
Japan’s Sharp, maker of huge-screen televisions, voiced confidence Thursday as it told reporters Apple isn’t much of a concern. What about the almost incessant chatter that the tech giant will enter the TV manufacturing market with an iTV in 2012? “It’s not something we’re studying very hard,” an executive claims. Unclear whether this is bravado or whistling past the graveyard, but perhaps Sharp missed class the day Apple mangled a whole string of industries thought to be untouchable.
Patent Wars: Apple Loses To Samsung And Moto In Germany, Australia
In the ever-changing patent wars, somedays you are the windshield and some days you are the bug. After coming up roses Thursday, Apple finds itself on the losing side against Samsung and Motorola.
Samsung Gets Thrown Out of French Court, Must Pay Apple’s Legal Bills
Samsung has a hit on its hands. Unfortunately, it involves being thrown out of court — this time in France. To add insult to injury, not only did a French panel call an attempt to ban iPhone 4S sales “disproportionate,” but ordered the South Korean smartphone company to pay Apple’s legal bills.
iTunes Match Won’t Be Very Profitable For Apple, But That’s Okay [Analyst]
When it comes to Apple’s iTunes Match, profit motive goes out the window — indeed it’s “immaterial.” Although Apple is most known for iTunes and the App Store, the Cupertino, Calif. company remains a hardware company — and very profitable one at that. The real value of the iTunes Match service is as the latest member of Apple’s vast iTunes ecosystem, acting as a honeytrap for hardware purchases.
The iMac Will Soon Lose The Title Of Best Selling All-In-One PC In The World.. Say What?
It had to happen: Apple’s workhorse, the iMac, is expected to relinquish its title as best-selling all-in-one computer in 2012. What with its success in smartphones, tablets and notebooks, Apple appears ready to throw the PC industry a bone — a very limited one, however.
Apple Will Sell A Crazy 30 Million iPhones This Quarter [Analyst]
Although AT&T provided few details on how many iPhones the carrier sold this quarter, several analysts are upping their estimates based on consensus that Apple will report record-breaking sales. The Apple smartphone has “general strength across the board” with sales hovering around 30 million units for the three-month period.
AT&T Starts Throttling Heavy iPhone Data Users To 2G Speeds
If you’ve been whining about why the iPhone 4S has no 4G, get ready for a real letdown — 2G speeds. The move by AT&T to throttle its top 5 percent of data users to a snail’s pace is an unwelcome Christmas present for many iPhone users.
AT&T Singles Out iPhone For Likely Record Smartphone Sales
AT&T appears to be the latest announcing higher iPhone sales. Continued “strong” demand for iPhone 4S likely will push the carrier beyond its previous single-quarter record sales of 6.1 million smartphones — and a month still remains before the end of the fourth quarter. The news isn’t too surprising, given in October AT&T activated 1 million iPhone 4S handsets in just five days.
Sprint Delays LTE Rollout To Late 2012, Just In Time For iPhone 5
Sprint may want to rename its “Now Network” to the “Later Is Better Than Never Network” after the carrier’s finance chief pushed back 4G LTE to late 2012. Although the new delay puts the third-place wireless carrier further behind Verizon and AT&T, the new rollout date for the faster network should coincide with Apple’s iPhone 5, expected to use LTE.
Holiday iPhone, Mac Sales Top Expectations, But iPad Demand Is ‘A Little Light’
Sales of the iPhone and Mac are topping analyst expectations for the holiday quarter, eating into Android marketshare. On the flip side, despite reaching new record sales, iPad demand is described as “a little light,” one analyst told investors Wednesday. In the kind of bad news rivals could only hope to have, iPhone demand continues to outstrip supply and those soft iPad figures are partly due to increased interest in another Apple product: the MacBook Air.
The iPhone Is About To Become The FBI’s Newest Crime-Fighting Partner [Exclusive]
The next time you are pulled over by police you may encounter a familiar face: your iPhone. Faster than you can say “Book ’em, Dano,” Apple’s handset is quickly becoming law enforcement’s favorite tool for identifying unknown fingerprints. The iPhone’s touchscreen will even be enlisted by the FBI to spot terrorism suspects.
Billionaire Richard Branson: Steve Jobs Broke All The Rules I Believe In
Don’t you go all warm when a billionaire able to pal around with lions and tigers jumps all over how Steve Jobs led Apple? Seems Richard Branson would roll differently as Apple CEO. No yelling at employees or being such a control freak. Yep, the Virgin Group CEO would create a kindler, gentler Apple right from the pages of “I’m OK, You’re OK.”
Apple Admits Samsung Is A Bigger Threat To Android Than iOS
We received some interesting insight into the contentious courtroom war between Apple and Samsung, thanks to a technical slip-up from the U.S. District Court in charge of the patent-infringement case. What was revealed appears more intriguing than the actual ruling denying Apple’s attempt to quickly block U.S. sales of Samsung’s Galaxy phone and tablet. Not so well hidden behind sloppy redaction was Apple’s own internal analysis finding Samsung’s devices would steal more Android than iOS users.
EU: Apple Is At The Head Of An E-Book ‘Cartel’!
Did Apple conspire with major publishers to increase e-book prices? The European Commission has launched an antitrust probe of Apple and five publishers amid claims the industry was “terrified” by Amazon’s $9.99 e-book push. At the heart is Apple’s iBookstore and the tech giant’s “agency model” that a California lawsuit charges inflated book prices.
Kindle Fire Will “Vaporize” Android Tablets, But Be Gateway Drug To iPad
Amazon’s Kindle Fire could be the gateway drug for iPad users. That’s the belief of one analyst who sees the $199 7-inch device as a way for consumers to get a taste for tablets and want more — like the iPad.
Apple Could Knock The World’s Biggest Android Maker Out Of The U.S. Tomorrow
HTC, the world’s largest maker of Android phones, is in all likelihood furiously rubbing rabbit’s feet and sweating buckets in the face of a potential trade ruling Tuesday that could slam the door on U.S. sales of all handsets using the Google mobile operating system. Experts already predict Android is in “serious trouble.”
Apple May Build Another Huge Data Super Center, This Time In Oregon
Apple appears to be in the final stages of deciding to create a second data center. The tech giant is reportedly eyeing 160 acres in Prineville, Oregon for a 31-megawatt facility. The location would make Apple neighbors with Google, Amazon and Facebook, companies also locating data hubs in the Northwest state known for enticing tech firms with lucrative tax breaks.
Windows 8 Tablets To Appear Without Desktop App [Report]
Microsoft appears more intent on gunning for Apple when the software giant unveils its Windows 8 ARM-based tablets sometime in early 2012. Reports today suggest Microsoft is throwing out its desktop app and will go finger-to-finger with the iPad’s touchscreen only interface.
New York City’s MTA Tells Grand Central Apple Store Critics: ‘Bring It On’
Earlier this week, we reported on a controversy surrounding Apple’s Grand Central Store, set to open Saturday. Critics are blaming New York City’s mass transit agency for inking a ‘sweetheart’ deal giving the tech giant a huge break on the lease cost. The MTA is now fighting back, telling those wanting an investigation into the Apple store to “bring it on.”
RIM To Eat $485M In Unsold PlayBook Tablets
Trying to compete against Apple’s iPad can be costly – especially if you are RIM and your PlayBook tablet went from design to discount bin in record time. Today the Waterloo, Ontario company announced it will take a $485 million charge for a growing number of PlayBooks it just can’t sell.
Ooh, Sick Burn! Kindle Fire Is The ‘Netbook of Tablets’ [Analyst]
Netbooks were the dodo birds of technology: ill-equipped to compete and eventually done in by a consumer form of natural selection — the iPad. After just about a week on the shelf, the Kindle Fire is being labeled the “netbook of the tablet market.” Analysts looking beyond the $199 price believe the Amazon tablet just can’t compete with the market-leading Apple device. Are Kindle Fire purchasers headed for a serious case of buyers remorse?