As part of their ongoing desire to produce innovative and truly remarkable products which push the boundaries of an already progressing industry, Apple has filed a patent application for a cover attachment that comes with an embedded flexible display. The application has been brought to public attention by the United States Patent Application Office that published it on their website this morning, but the interesting thing about this application is that it was filed originally in August of last year, only five months after the release of the initial Smart Cover with the second-generation iPad.
We should all know by now that Apple and Samsung are locked in a trial centered around a patent infringement case that has been bubbling away for the better part of the last eighteen months. With various allegations being made from either side, the dispute is primarily focused on the alleged patent and design infringements, with Apple said to be looking for $2 billion in compensation from the Korean electronics giants. As is usually the case with trials that center around this kind of thing, nothing is ever straight forward with Samsung vehemently disputing the claims and making their own accusations aimed at Apple.
Despite Apple's incessant efforts to win an injunction banning sales of Google's Galaxy Nexus, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has rejecting the Cupertino company’s claims, and the device - manufactured by South Korean electronics giant Samsung - will continue to retail.
As is always the case a month or two prior to a new iDevice release, the next-generation iPhone is currently the talk of the tech world, with analysts, bloggers, fans and insiders speculating what Apple has up its sleeve this time around.
There has been enough back and forth over the last eighteen months between Apple, Samsung and the courts to ensure that we have heard the words patent and infringement enough times to last us for the rest of our lives. It hasn't been a secret that the two companies have been in major conflict over various technologies and features that have been included in Samsung's tablet and smartphone products, as well as some questions over the design of their releases. Samsung obviously hasn’t taken the situation lying down and although Apple is one of their largest component customers, they have chosen to fight the allegations head on, with it eventually ending up at trial this week.
It may come as a surprise given the handset's rip-roaring success, but Apple's iPhone very nearly didn't make it out of the company's development labs, according to a man who would know; Apple Senior VP of Design, Jony Ive.
Although the Apple TV is becoming increasingly popular as time goes on, the company is still refusing to publicly acknowledge the product’s existence as a major player in their product arsenal, with Tim Cook and his executive team still referring to the set top box as a "hobby" project at every possible moment. Hobby or not, Apple TV is an extremely attractive product for millions of people and with the sales numbers going up every quarter, Apple has to start taking the product seriously sooner or later.
We’ve discussed and shown you plenty of prototype iPhones and iPads from 2006 and earlier here at Redmond Pie recently. These design documents have made their way onto the web thanks to the aggressive Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit that started yesterday; both companies are forced to reveal classified information about their already released or upcoming products in order help the Court make a just decision.
New sources have confirmed that Apple will announce the iPhone 5 on September 12th, with a release date coming just nine days later on the 21st of the same month. It would appear that the assumption that Apple would release the next iPhone in October may have been a little off, with the news that the unannounced handset is all-but confirmed to arrive on September 21st.
Now that the wait is finally over and Apple have released OS X Mountain Lion on the official Mac App Store for mass consumption, we can all sit back and relax safe in the knowledge that our beloved Mac machines are running the latest and most advanced operating system in the world. Apple's words, not ours. The initial popularity of Mountain Lion is there for all to see, with the positive App Store reviews mounting up and the general social chatter painting OS X 10.8 in a positive light it looks like Apple have a winner on their hands.
