HTC recently agreed to pay Apple 300 billion won (US$276 million) in a settlement over a number of patent disputes, but Samsung's mobile chief has chipped in to remind us that his company has no intention of following suit. Apple recently announced the settlement of an ongoing patent dispute with the "quietly brilliant" Taiwanese outfit, which has seen both parties put pen to paper on a decade-spanning worldwide licensing agreement that not only covers patents currently in existence, but also future patents.
The iPad mini is a highly sought-after device, and if you thought the $329 starting price was a little steep, things just got a whole lot more expensive. London-based Gold and Co. has released a limited edition set of 250 24kt gold iPad minis, so if you have lots of disposable cash and want to offload it somewhere, this looks like a viable avenue.
Although, Apple essentially created the tablet market as we know it today with the release of the original iPad, they won't be sitting as easy as they have been in previous years as they watch other companies like Microsoft and Samsung release highly capable tablet devices that could potentially compete with the iPad for the first time since launch. Any tablet owner will be concerned with the display quality of the product that they have purchased, and for the first time, the Surface has been scientifically scrutinized alongside the other leading tablets on the market.
Scott Forstall was recently relieved of his post as Senior Vice President of iOS software at Apple, and will now serve in an advisory role until his eventual departure from the Cupertino in early 2013. While exact details as to why Forstall has been deemed surplus to requirements have yet to be properly revealed, it's widely believed he had a fiery personality which didn't sit well with some of his colleagues, and after allegedly refusing to apologize for the dire Maps app of iOS 6, it's thought Apple felt it better to remove Forstall from the executive team.
Apple should make iTunes available across the Android and Windows Phone platforms, according to the man affectionately known as Woz.
What with all the noise, hullaballoo and general excitement surrounding the release of the iPad mini, the slightly refreshed iPad 4 has found itself all but forgotten about. Replacing the existing iPad 3, or New iPad, the fourth generation unit is the same as the third bar some tweaks here and there, which may explain the lack of excitement. Still, if you've been waiting for the cellular versions of the tablet to be made available, then you won't have to wait much longer.
The iPhone 5 has now been with us for approximately seven weeks but if you thought you were going to be sitting at the cutting edge of smartphone technology for a substantial period of time, then a report coming out of China could pour some cold water on that thought. A story coming from the Commercial Times is suggesting that Apple have no intention of resting on their laurels when it comes to updating and upgrading their iPhone hardware and could be planning on initiating a trial production run of iPhone 5S handsets as early as next month.
It should be common knowledge by now that Apple has recently added iPad mini to their iPad lineup, and the unexpected addition of the fourth-generation iPad, coming only seven months after the introduction of the iPad 3. All of the signs point to the new miniature iPad being an extremely successful addition to the company's tablet range, and with LTE variants of the iPad mini beginning to ship this week, Apple has ramped up their promotional campaign with the launch of two new iPad mini commercials.
The patent wars that Apple have found themselves in over the last eighteen months are extremely well documented and have been covered all over the world as the Cupertino based company carries on the fight to protect what they believe is their registered property. The ongoing issues with Samsung and Motorola Mobility may not show any signs of coming to an immediate end but it looks like Apple may have one less thing to worry about after coming to a legal agreement with Taiwan based HTC regarding patents.
The legal battle between Apple and Samsung has spanned across many continents, and shows no sign of ending any time soon. The spat in the UK has turned particularly gruesome, too, with Apple being forced to go so far as to place apologies on its website after accusing Samsung of copying its hardware. That, obviously, didn't go down well in Cupertino.
