Apple has been without relent in its pursuit of Google and Samsung, claiming patent infringements on a grand scale. Judge Lucy Koh last week dished out a ban on Galaxy Nexus sales to the Big G, and the web company duly obliged, removing the device from its Play Store. Earlier this week, the device returned, packing in Android Jelly Bean 4.1, a move which is said to amend any issues with regards to the claims Apple made in court, but having followed this Apple vs. Anybody debacle for quite a great deal of time, it should be of no surprise that the Cupertino company has not quite finished yet.
The rampant "iPad Mini" rumors have taken a slight recess in the past couple of days, making way for more talk of the next iPhone, which is expected to ship within the next few months. The rumor mill has been indicating a longer form factor, larger screen, smaller dock connector, modified speaker grills, and a repositioned headphone jack, and the so-called "exclusive" leak by KitGuru appears to suggest those changes will be implemented.
Apple and Google follow very different principles with their mobile platforms. Apple maintains a tightly closed system where they put their software on their own hardware whereas Google has a much more open policy. Google licenses Android to companies like Samsung, HTC and Motorola which manufacture their own hardware and run it on customized versions of Android. While Apple’s way has plenty of advantages there is one area where it lags behind Google: sheer units sold and total market share. Android smartphones as a whole have been dominating the iPhone in USA for quite some time now. In a latest report, its dominance has been reaffirmed. Check out the details after the jump.
Although most of the details with regards to Apple's much anticipated OS X Mountain Lion are already public domain, the Cupertino company has now revealed which specific Macs will be upgradable once the next iteration of its desktop operating system does emerge. If you're in ownership of a MacBook released prior to 2007, you'll be disappointed to learn that you'll need to grab yourself some new hardware if you wish to sink your teeth into Mountain Lion, since it's thought it will simply not run on 32-bit GPUs.
If you're not a keen follower of Apple rumors, you may want to look away now, for in breaking the continual flow of iPad Mini rumors comes an update on the state of play regarding the next iPhone. The device, which, unlike the iPad talk, is actually backed up by hardware "leaks", looks set to become a little longer, and the display, which has sat at 3.5-inches since the very first day it hit the market back in 2007, is expected to increase rather significantly, measuring in at nearer the 4-inch mark.
New rumors of a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro being on the horizon have begun doing the rounds, with claims that the device is real being backed up with benchmark results that have cropped up online. The as yet unannounced device is also expected to begin arriving in people's hands around October time, according to reports.
If it turns out there is no "iPad Mini" featuring a 7.85-inch display, it will surely go down as one of the most out-of-hand rumors in recent tech history. When the likes of Bloomberg and the WSJ corroborate stories circulating in the rumor mill, that usually means said murmur has some substance, but with conflicting reports and no real solid evidence, the jury remains out with regards to whether Apple is actually plotting such a tablet.
During the WWDC keynote last month, Apple announced that Mountain Lion - the upcoming version of OS X - will be available for download for Mac users in July. And just like we had expected, the Gold Master build of said OS has just been seeded to registered users of Mac Dev Center.
New code dumps of apps inside iOS 6 suggest that Apple may be bringing its new-style mapping software to the Mac, with Google's own maps set to lose out. With iOS 6, Apple will complete the transition away from Google's own mapping service and towards a new, in-house solution. By removing Google from the equation, Apple hopes to be able to iterate more quickly whilst remaining in complete control of the application which sits at the core of so many iOS apps.
The Apple versus Samsung dispute is not an isolated incident, and the continual court dates are occurring across the world as we speak. The Galaxy Tab, not really making too much of an imprint on the tablet market, has been banned from selling in numerous nations following court hearings with Apple, but in the United Kingdom, the law has decided the Galaxy Tab 7.7, Galaxy Tab 8.9 and Galaxy Tab 10.1 are not in breach of any Apple patents, and can continue retailing alongside the iPad.
