Both Australia and New Zealand Online Apple Stores just went down for Black Friday updates. Here’s a pretty good idea of what’s coming. We suspect the rest of the world will shortly follow – feel free to update in the comments (Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving for those in the US!).
In Australia, as part of discovery, Samsung got access to Apple’s Qualcomm baseband source code for the iPhone 4S (lookout for battery issues while you are in there Sammy!).
Other matters appeared to be resolved, including Samsung’s access to the firmware used in the iPhone 4S’ baseband chip, supplied by Qualcomm.
A software expert had approximately two hours’ access to the firmware and would submit his findings by Sunday.
According to FOSSPatents, Samsung’s lawsuits against Apple in Germany are really heating up after a Mannheim hearing set a schedule for January 20 and 27 of 2012. It looks like Apple has a tough case, as the hearing leaned towards Samsung’s claims.
The two patents asserted in today’s litigations are
- EP1005726 on a “turbo encoding/decoding device and method for processing frame data according to QoS”, and
- EP1114528 on an “apparatus and method for controlling a demultiplexer and a multiplexer used for rate matching in a mobile communication system”.
Samsung’s third German complaint against Apple, which wasn’t at issue today, relates to EP1188269 on an “apparatus for encoding a transformat format combination indicator for a communication system”.
Below is a full rundown of the issues discussed at today’s hearing..
Apple just released iOS 5.0.1 build number 9A405, a minor update to its mobile operating system fixing (hopefully) the iPhone 4S battery woes. The software arrives just a day following the iOS 5.0.1 release to certain end-users for testing and a week following a developers-only version.
In addition to battery fixes, iOS 5.0.1 also enables multitasking gestures on the original iPad (go to Settings > General > Multitasking Gestures), fixes the Smart Cover security flaw, resolves bugs with Documents in the Cloud and improves voice recognition for Australian users using dictation.
You can update by connecting to iTunes and hitting the Check for Updates button in the Info pane or download an over-the-air update directly on the device (Settings > General > Software Update). Note that OTA update may not be available for everyone right away. If not, wait a little as these things take some time to propagate.
Full release notes and direct download links right below:
As it passes into Monday in Australia and across the World, the Steve Jobs bio is hitting the iBookstore (full shot below). It is still a $16.99 pre-order in the US but should become available at midnight tonight. It also hasn’t begun shipping in hardcover form from Amazon $17.88, but the Kindle downloads should be available at about the same time. We saw that some bookstores had begun stocking them prematurely yesterday and readers have been sending in lots of scanned pages since then (thanks).
Thanks Dean!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LM7edH6ZpE]
We stumbled across this video on YouTube… and Siri clearly should not yet be used by non-native speakers of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, France, or Germany. As you can see in the video, the speaker is talking in English but with a foreign accent, and Siri does not understand one command. “Read dick”.
Update: Australian accent tested by Gizmodo AU below:
Claiming Samsung copied the iPad’s design, Apple has successfully achieved their mission in getting an Australian judge to block Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 from being sold in Australia, reports Sydney Morning Herald. Apple says that Samsung is infringing on two patents, and the judge ruled until changes are made the Galaxy Tab 10.1 can’t be sold from this point on.
Apple and Samsung have current litigation continuing over in Europe and the United States. Apple has already successfully blocked the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany and hopes to do so elsewhere.
Samsung won’t start addressing the core patent issue (screen patent) with the Galaxy Tab 10.1 quite yet. They want to prepare a proper defense against Apple. Interestingly, Samsung has setup a temporary store across from a Sydney Apple Store selling Samsung Galaxy S IIs for $2, to detract from the upcoming iPhone 4S launch Friday. The fight continues…
Cross-posted from 9to5google.com.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Samsung has offered Apple a secret deal to sort out the mess surrounding the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet launch in Australia. The report has it that Samsung proposed a cunning solution that would allow them to release the device in the country next week. Apple’s legal counsel Stephen Burley allegedly told Justice Annabelle Bennett that Samsung’s “inconvenience would be diminished and we would be comforted” if the deal was accepted.
What incentive Samsung might have in store for Apple in exchange for releasing its tablet in Australia as early as next week is anyone’s guess. I asked patent expert Florian Mueller, who runs the FOSSPatents blog, about this. He responded on Twitter that Samsung “might promise not to infringe certain patents, make a payment, and perhaps also procedural concessions”.
Saturday, Apple will open its first Apple Store in the great state of Alaska which will be by far the most northernApple Store on the planet. It will be located on 320 West 5th Avenue (in the 5th Avenue Mall) in Anchorage, and doors open at 10 A.M.
You’d think this would make for an Apple Store in every state, but there are still seven (Arkansas, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming) without according to this map (thanks commenters).
Along with a store in Alaska, Apple will unveil four other stores worldwide Saturday:
Anchorage 5th Avenue Mall (Anchorage, Alaska)
Fashion Place (Murray, Utah)
Southland (Cheltenham, Victoria, Australia)
Conestoga: (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada)
I Gigli: (Florence, Italy)
With five stores opening this weekend, Apple still has 23 more stores to open to reach its goal of 30 new stores by September 30th. (via Macstories, Macrumors)
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In what is becoming a global trend, IDC found that Nokia uptake in Australia fell spectacularly from almost 50% in Q1 last year to less than 25% this year.
Its first quarter 2011 figures show that in just 12 months, Nokia has not only lost market dominance, its phone market share has halved: from 49.5 per cent in the first quarter of last year and 44.2 per cent in Q4, to just 24.6 per cent in the first quarter this year.
Perhaps even more scary for the people at Nokia, who are also jumping from their “burning platform”: Windows Phone 7 is actually dropping share year over year from the previous Windows Mobile.
Who is picking up the slack?
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