Aaron Sorkin, writer behind the forthcoming film about Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, has today revealed exactly what kind of format the motion picture will take. Sorkin already revealed it wouldn't simply play out like your archetypal life story, and today, has revealed it will be separated into just three scenes - each lasting thirty minutes.
Although preceded by Windows Phone 7.x, the perception is that Windows Phone 8 is Microsoft's first real stab at today's mobile market. The experimental phase has now passed, and the Redmond company is all set to launch its assault on Android and iOS with its new improved ecosystem and to begin with, the Surface. Naturally, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has stepped out and criticized his two main rivals, and while he calls the Android ecosystem "wild" and "uncontrolled," he also states Apple's iOS is is as highly-priced as it is controlled.
The release of the iPhone 5 has, by and large, gone without major incident. The Antennagate scandal of two years ago with the iPhone 4 was regarded as the biggest tech fail of that particular year, and while the battery issue plagued a few iPhone 4S handsets back in October 2011, the software-related Maps app has been the only real issue this time around. With that said, not everybody has had such a great first two months with their shiny new device, and while a couple of complaints have arisen with regards to scratching of the anodized aluminum, some have had to contend with the altogether more pressing issue of poor Wi-Fi performance.
Apple and Samsung may require the help of a courtroom, judge and jury settle many of their differences, but when you consider what is at stake, perhaps the number of court cases and lawsuits isn't so disproportionately high after all. The two titans of the smartphone market now account for a whopping 46.5 percent of global smartphone sales according to a quarterly report by analytics firm Gartner, and in bad news for rivals, it doesn't look as though the dominance is about to plateau any time soon.
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.
