‘Droid,’ Motorola’s Android 2.0 handset will launch Friday, Nov. 6, the handset maker announced Wednesday. Verizon Wireless will offer the smartphone priced at $200 (after $100 rebate), matching the iPhone 3G.
Verizon will charge $70 per month for a voice and data plan when purchased along with the Droid. A $100 mail-in rebate will reportedly also be available. Droid users will use Verizon’s EVDO Rev. A 3G, along with GPS and Wi-Fi.
Maybe Apple still needs Verizon. That seems to be the opinion of one analyst, who predicts Apple views the wireless carrier as a way to grab even more marketshare. The view is contrary to last week’s thinking Verizon’s ‘Droid’ phone had scuttled any chances of a post-AT&T deal.
“In our view, diverse carrier support is a key element to driving global penetration of the iPhone (from ~3% share today of the total handset market),” Broadpoint.AmTech analyst Brian Marshall told investors. “Therefore, we believe the chances are high the iPhone will find its way onto the VZ network in 2H10.”
Although Apple would suffer from the loss of what Marshall terms a “sweatheart” subsidy from AT&T, the Cupertino, Calif. company would make up the difference in volume. Experts believe Verizon could sell 14 million iPhones in 2011, garnering a cool $7 billion for Apple, which sells the handsets for $500 a pop.
Apple will “vigorously” defend itself against a Nokia patent infringement lawsuit, according to financial documents released Tuesday evening. The remarks are the first made by the Cupertino, Calif. company about a lawsuit by Nokia that could be worth up to an estimated $1 billion.
“The complaint alleges that these patents are essential to one or more of the GSM, UMTS and 802.11 wireless communication standards, and that the Company has the right to license these patents from plaintiff on fair, reasonable, and non-descriminatory (“FRAND”) terms and conditions,” Apple said in a 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “Plaintiff seeks unspecified FRAND compensation and other relief. The Company’s response to the complaint is not yet due. The Company intends to defend the case vigorously.”
In a complaint filed last week, Nokia accuses Apple of “attempting to get a free ride” off the Finnish company’s research efforts and not agreeing to licensing terms. Nokia alleges patent infringement covers iPhones since 2007 and includes GSM, 3G and Wi-Fi transmission techniques along with speech coding, encryption and security. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster believes Apple is seeking a 1 percent to 2 percent royalty, or $6 to $12 for each iPhone sold.
We’ve written about all sorts of ways to charge your iPhone or iPod. Except solar devices, all chargers have one thing in common: they use wires. That might be ready to change as Powermat announces it will start shipping its wireless charger. The Powermat uses inductive coupling to transfer energy to any device placed on the mat.
There are two versions: the Powermat Home & Office (which looks something close to a skateboard without wheels) and the folding Powermat Portable. Both versions let you recharge up to three devices at least as quickly as the traditional plug-in rechargers.
We close out the week with an abundance of apps, most courtesy of Apple’s App Store. Today we have two (count’em, two) free apps offers. Along the way, we check out some iTunes bargains and bargains on hardware, including iMacs. We round out our daily deals with an assortment of headphones and holders for your iPhone and iPod.
For details on these and other bargains (such as the Fantom Triple 1TB external HD), take a look at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.
A huge iPod touch billboard is at the center of a Boston controversy, with claims a mayor’s aide helped a political contributor install the ad over the wishes of city regulators. Despite being called “illegal” in 2007 by the Massachusetts Outdoor Advertising Board, a 13,750 banner ad touting the iPod remains in place.
The latest chapter includes a report suggesting Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino endorsed the billboard despite what the Boston Globe calls a “usual discouragement of new billboards.” A campaign aide has admitted helping a top political donor gain approval for the advertisement.
Apple’s Boot Camp reportedly will support Microsoft’s newly-released Windows 7 operating system by year’s end, but Macs produced in 2006 may be out of luck. The Cupertino, Calif. company informed retailers Boot Camp for Mac OS X Snow Leopard will exclude Windows 7 support for some iMacs, MacBook Pros and Mac Pros.
In a memo, the company announced the following models “will not be supported for use with Windows 7 using Boot Camp”:
Psystar, already defending copyright infringement claims from Apple, Thursday announced it would sell software directly to consumers allowing PCs to run Mac OS X, including Apple’s Snow Leopard. The $50 software is in addition to selling to to OEMs.
The Psystar software supposedly supports systems using the Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, i7 or Xeon Nehalem.
There’s nothing new under the sun – particularly solar chargers. We’ve written about flexible solar chargers, solar chargers built into speakers and solar chargers shaped like trees. Now comes i.Tech and their SolarCharger 906.
This is your lucky day if you are looking for a good deal on either an iMac, MacBook or the previous version of a Mac mini. We have multiple offers on iMacs, ranging from 24″ 2.66GHz to 24″ 3.066GHz. Also, today’s deals include a couple 13″ MacBooks. If you aren’t looking for the latest mini desktops, Apple has a deal on a previous version of the system.
For details on these and other bargains (like the Boynq iCube II), check out CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.
Finnish cell phone giant Nokia has sued Apple, claiming the iPhone violates ten patents covering GSM, 3G WCDMA and WLAN technology. Nokia claims since 2007 the iPhone violated wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption. The lawsuit apparently stems from Apple’s refusal to license the technology from Nokia.
“By refusing to agree to appropriate terms for Nokia’s intellectual property, Apple is attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia’s innovation,” the company wrote in legal papers filed in Delaware’s Federal District Court. Forty companies, including “all the leading mobile device vendors” have agreed to Nokia’s licensing terms, according to the complaint.
iPhones comprised nearly three out of every four new cell phones activated with 3G and a QWERTY keyboard, according to AT&T’s quarterly statement. The carrier said it activated 3.2 million iPhones during the quarter – up from 2.4 million iPhones last spring.
Overall, AT&T added 4.3 million “integrated devices” during the quarter out of a total of 81.6 million cell phone customers the carrier now claims. Although rival Verizon has yet to announce officially, the new AT&T numbers appear to narrow the gap to a 6.1 million advantage for Verizon. Verizon has recently launched an advertising salvo against the iPhone, promoting its Android 2.0-based ‘Droid’ expected to be introduced in early November.
Apple’s exclusive U.S. carrier also announced nearly 40 percent of those new iPhone customers are also new to AT&T, an increase from 33 percent reported earlier this year.
Talk is swirling around a 2008 Apple patent that could point to an ad-supported version of Mac OS X. The patent, credited to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, would permit embedding “one or more” ads in an operating system in exchange for goods or services.
“The presentation of the advertisement(s) can be made as part of an approach where the user obtains a good or service, such as an operating system, for free or at reduced cost,” Apple explained in the application.
A day after Apple’s big announcements come the discounts. First on the list is the 24-inch 2.66GHz iMacs. We also have three more iMac bargains. Our top trio also features Apple’s new Bluetooth Magic Mouse and updates of the Time Capsule and Airport Extreme. Along the way we also include Apple’s new remote, plus a 90% off deal on iPhone cases.
For details on these and other Mac bargains, check out CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.
Europe is “not doing justice to the nano,” Apple’s general manager and vice president for the region told a British newspaper Tuesday. The comment came as Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said “customers love the iPod nano.”
“We believe it [the market] is not doing justice to the [iPod] nano, where for £115 ($190) you’ve got 8GB plus a camera,” Pascal Cagni told the Guardian newspaper.
“Our job is to better carry the message. We need to express it better so that people get convinced of what we do,” Cagni said.
New and updated iMacs, as well as Mac minis could turnaround sagging Apple desktop sales, providing a “tailwind” heading into the all-important December quarter, Wall Street analysts told investors. Desktop sales were down 16 percent during the quarter ended September 30, the Cupertino, Calif. company announced Tuesday.
In a note to investors, Piper Jaffray senior research analyst Gene Munster said the new iMacs is helping desktop sales reverse course. “The headwind that existed in the Sept. quarter due to aging Mac desktops has now been turned into a tailwind for Mac units in the December quarter.
The beat goes on in the emerging battle between Internet giant Google and Apple. The latest volley comes in the form of a report claiming the Mountain View, Calif. company is preparing an iTunes rival possibly called “Google Audio.”
Google has spent the “last several weeks securing content for the launch of the service from the major music labels,” claims TechCrunch, citing several unnamed sources.
Canon Tuesday released its EOS-1D Mark 4, a $5000 DSLR aimed squarely at Nikon’s line of D3 pro shooters. The central attraction for the EOS-1D Mark 4: video. The camera can capture either standard or high-definition video at 50 or 60fps. Nikon’s equal-priced DS3s only shoot 720p video using jpeg files.
Also of interest, 39 of the 45 autofocus points are low-light sensitive compared to 15 of the DS3’s 51 AF points.
We start our daily deals with a package of bright, shiny iMacs hot off the Apple rumor mill. The new 27″ and 21.5″ iMacs include 3.06GHz processors along with Apple’s new Multi-touch Magic Mouse. If a previous iMac is more your style, we have bargains on those, as well. Along the way, we check out a 50%-off deal on iPod touch accessories and dip into the latest App Store price drops.
For more details on these and other gadgets, check out CoM’s “Daily Deals” page.
Apple has upgraded its current line of Mac mini computers, plus added a server version. The base mini ($599) gets a slightly faster Core 2 Duo processor (2.26GHz versus 2GHz), double the previous memory (2GB, up from 1GB) and a beefier hard drive (160GB versus 120GB.)
Apple, often in the vanguard of coolness, is just now catching up with Internet social-networking. The Cupertino, Calif. company since March has joined the ranks of a multitude of companies seeking to boost awareness through Twitter. Apple is using Twitter to promote iTunes movies, music and podcasts. The oldest account, iTunesTrailer, has gained 1.2 million followers, reports said Tuesday.
Apple’s Twitter presence also includes iTunesMusic, iTunesMovies, iTunesTV and iTunesPodcasts. The Twitter accounts have made only a few tweets and attracted “thousands” of followers, collectively. One of Apple’s latest tweets, in iTunesMovies, promoted “Away We Go,” a movie by “Where the Wild Things Are” co-screen writer Dave Eggers.
Don’t get out the party hats and sparklers yet, Apple may not have a big announcement today or tomorrow. At least that’s the word from an anonymous source claiming to know Cupertino’s intentions.
“Nope,” was the one-word comment Stuff got when the site attempted to confirm or refute the various rumors swirling online of some hardware announcement.
When Apple’s recently reported in-app feature was unveiled, it was largely taken as a way to head-off piracy. However the ability to let users of free apps easily upgrade to paid versions may instead by seen as a way for Apple to keep developers in an increasingly competitive arena.
Unlike in the past, developers can permit owners of a free iPhone app to upgrade to a paid version within the application. Previously, upgrading to a paid version required a second trip to the App Store, another download and more hassles for iPhone developers.
We start the week with an Apple Store deal on MacBook Pro laptops. This price cut comes as a $200 Amazon discount on Mac Pro desktops is being reported and talk of an imminent hardware refresh remains in the air. Also on tap: a deal for on-the-go iPod touch owners with a deluxe armband, plus in-car bluetooth that gets its energy from the Sun.
As always, for details on these and other bargains (like App Store freebies), check out CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.
Has Verizon lost all hope of gaining access to Apple’s profitable iPhone? That seems to be the message in the aftermath of the carrier’s advertising blitz promoting the upcoming release of the Motorola-built Droid cellphone using Google’s Android 2.0 operating software.
Verizon takes dead aim at the iPhone with its “iDon’t Droid” advertising campaign kicked off over the weekend:
iDon’t have a real keyboard
iDon’t run simultaneous apps
iDon’t take night shots
iDon’t allow open development
iDon’t customize
iDon’t run widgets
iDon’t have interchangeable batteries
Everything iDon’t
DROID DOES
Unsaid but very clear is that the commercial burns any bridges Verizon might have had to offer the iPhone.
