Bloomberg reports that Apple is moving more of its TV advertising in-house. This means the company is loosening ties with Chiat\Day, the ad agency Apple has used for more than 30 years, best known for producing Apple’s 1984 campaign.
Apple told Bloomberg that Apple’s ‘Pencil’ iPad ad, pictured above, was developed by Apple’s internal advertising team and are now responsible for all other TV ads airing now.
Many of us were deeply disappointed when Apple discontinued the MacBook Pro 17. While the Retina MacBook Pro 15 introduced at the same time offered higher resolution, sometimes there’s just no substitute for physical screen size. Photographers and videographers in particular loved the combination of the sheer size and the option of a matte screen.
I loved mine enough to immediately sell the three-year-old one I owned at the time in order to replace it with the last model made, to maximize its useful life. I still love it enough that I’ve just laid out a thousand bucks on a 2.5-year-old machine to fit 2TB of SSDs, giving it the best of both worlds: lightning-fast performance combined with huge storage that allows me to have all my files with me when I travel.
There may not be too many others who’ll follow my admittedly extravagant example, but I do think it’s time for Apple to revisit its decision and bring back the mobile professional’s workhorse … Expand Expanding Close
Based on the most recent verdict in Apple v. Samsung, Apple is attempting to seek a permanent injunction against any Samsung device that infringes upon its patents.
While this includes the devices that were at the center of the latest court case, it also includes “software or code capable of implementing any Infringing Feature, and/or any feature not more than colorably different therefrom,” which could be construed to mean current and even future devices.
A Dutch appeals court today upheld a 2011 decision that banned the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy S II and Galaxy Ace phones, as noted by Re/code. The devices in question were found to have infringed on Apple’s design in an earlier ruling and blocked from sale.
Apple’s original intent was to get an injunction against all Galaxy devices, but the company was forced to settle instead for just the two devices listed above.
While FOSS Patents’ Florian Mueller may be confident of Apple and Samsung reaching an early settlement on their patent disputes, a court-mandated update on the talks seems to tell a different story, with each side explaining why talks were not going well, reports The Verge.
For Apple, that includes statements made by Samsung’s lead attorney John Quinn, who referred to Apple as a “jihadist” and called the protracted trial “Apple’s Vietnam” in a pair of interviews …
Korea Times (via Fortune) is reporting that Apple and Samsung are in talks designed to settle all future patent disputes out of court. FOSS Patents’ Florian Mueller believes that a settlement will be reached “very soon.”
“Things should come to an end during the summer. Apple doesn’t have an endgame strategy. Its agreement with Google shows that its management is looking for a face-saving exit strategy from Steve Jobs’ thermonuclear ambitions,” Mueller said …
According to a court filing discovered by Reuters, Apple and Google’s Motorola Mobility unit have agreed to settle their ongoing smartphone patent litigation battle against each other. In a statement, the two companies said that this agreement does not include the ability cross license each other’s patents, but rather the promise to “work together in some areas of patent reform.”
The two tech giants have been battling it out over various patents for several years now, both directly and indirectly. It’s important to note, however, that this agreement is solely between Apple, Google, and its Motorola Mobility unit. This does not apply to any lawsuits between Android device manufacturers, such as Samsung and HTC, and Apple. Although theoretically, it would apply to patents owned by Google that device manufacturers are licensing.
Apple’s deal with Japan’s largest carrier, DoCoMo, saw the iPhone’s market share in the country climb from 25.5 percent last year to 36.6 percent in the year ending March of this year, reports Bloomberg. This full-year figure underestimates the current position, as it reflects only six months of sales through DoCoMo.
Japanese companies Sharp and Sony took second and third places, with 13 and 12.3 percent respectively, while Samsung was in sixth place at just 5.7 percent.
Apple’s market share in Japan hit almost 70 percent when the iPhone 5S and 5C were made available on DoCoMo, as pent up demand was first unleashed. Since then it settled back to just under 50 percent last quarter, and we’re likely to see a similar number in the full-year figures in six months time.
iOS 8 is likely to supercharge the functionality of Apple’s iPad with a new split-screen multitasking feature, according to sources with knowledge of the enhancement in development. These people say that the feature will allow iPad users to run and interact with two iPad applications at once. Up until now, each iPad application either developed by Apple or available on the App Store is only usable individually in a full-screen view.
Based on all of the iPhone 6 dummy units we’ve seen, this rumored design closely resembles Apple’s fifth generation iPod touch, but that’s not all. As shown in the video below, the alleged iPhone 6 design looks very similar to another flagship smartphone released this year.
The HTC One M8 and iPhone 6 mockup look like cousins or long-lost brothers when it comes to their design. Of course there’s no confirmation that Apple is actually using this design for the iPhone 6, but almost all of these mockups have been manufactured based on “leaked” schematics and specifications.
The court battles between the two companies doesn’t seem to have harmed Samsung’s position as a key supplier of components to Apple. DisplaySearch figures show that Apple switched from LG to Samsung as the primary supplier of its display panels for iPad Air and iPad with Retina display last quarter, reports CNET.
Samsung Display reclaimed its position as the top iPad display panel supplier, shipping 5.2 million units of 9.7-inch panels with a resolution of 2,048×1,536, accounting for 62 percent of total shipments of that display size and resolution […]
LG Display […] saw its share of that display size/resolution plunge to 38 percent in the first quarter from about 61 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 …
The foreman of the jury that awarded Apple just 5.5 percent of the $2.2B it claimed Samsung owed for patent infringements said yesterday that Apple should sue Google rather than handset manufacturers, reports the WSJ.
If you really feel that Google is the cause behind this, as I think everybody has observed, then don’t beat around the bush,” said Tom Dunham, whose job at IBM was to oversee developers expected to file patents. “Let the courts decide. But a more direct approach may be something to think about” …
Both Samsung and Apple have slipped in smartphone marketshare globally during the first quarter of 2014 according to the latest numbers from research firm Strategy Analytics. While global smartphone shipments grew 33 percent to 285 million units in Q1 compared to 213.9 million in the same quarter last year, Apple and Samsung collectively dropped from over 50 percent of the market to 47 percent. The report cites strong growth of “second-tier smartphone brands” such as Huwaei and Lenovo and lack of entry-level devices in markets abroad from Apple as the main contributors to slowed growth for Samsung and Apple. As for Apple on its own: Expand Expanding Close
In the ongoing patent trial where Apple is claiming Samsung infringed five of its patents, and Samsung is claiming Apple did the same to two of its patents, it has been suggested that Samsung bought the two patents concerned specifically to sue Apple. The allegation was made by Apple’s attorneys, reports The Verge.
The original inventors on the video patent, for instance, originated in Oklahoma, and the gallery patent originally belonged to Hitachi. In the case of the video patent, Samsung disclosed that it paid $2.39 million to acquire it in 2010, the same year FaceTime debuted alongside the iPhone 4. Apple hopes that will stand in stark contrast with its five patents, two of which were filed the day the company introduced the iPhone, and all developed within the company …
While testifying in the Samsung vs Apple case on Tuesday, it was revealed that Google has agreed to help Samsung defend itself against Apple in its current patent-infringement case. According to a report from Re/Code, citing deposition testimony from Google lawyer James Maccoun, Google has also agreed to partially or fully indemnify Samsung for any loses it may suffer on its claims.
As part of its recent environmental campaign, Apple has taken out some tongue-in-cheek full-page print advertising in newspapers around the world today. The ad reads ‘There are some things we want every company to copy’. The ad was first spotted by David McClelland on Twitter. (Hi-res version below:)
Samsung and Apple may spend rather a lot of time arguing about who invented what in patent trials, but Samsung does at least acknowledge one Apple invention. The Samsung Innovation Museum, opened to mark the 45th anniversary of Samsung Electronics, includes an Apple II, described as “the first home computer.”
We learned yesterday from patent trial evidence that Samsung was worried about running ads that directly attacked Apple, wanting Google to do it for them. We now know that it was the death of Steve Jobs which prompted Samsung’s change of mind, running the Next Big Thing ads which directly mocked Apple customers.
An email trail shows that Samsung America’s VP of U.S. sales Mike Pennington cynically described the death of Jobs as “the best opportunity” to run the campaign, as consumers might be worried about Apple’s future product innovations following the death of its famous co-founder.
Sorry to continue to push this issue, but I have seen this far too long and I know this is our best opportunity to attack iPhone …
Apple has agreed to back a new initiative along with a host of Android manufacturers and all of the major U.S. cellular carriers that would require all smartphones manufactured after July 2015 to come with specific anti-theft features. The program is the latest attempt to prevent theft of smartphones, which some have blamed for increasing crime rates.
To this end, Apple introduced a first-of-its-kind system in iOS 7 that blocks freshly-restored iPhones from being used until the original owner logs in with the Apple ID associated with the device. Today’s agreement between the carriers and handset manufacturers essentially states that all parties will ship this exact type of system on new phones.
Specifically, the required anti-theft measures are broken into four kinds: Expand Expanding Close
With Apple in the midst of its second major court battle with Samsung over alleged patent violations, and all but one of the five claims relating to Android rather than to anything Samsung-specific, it’s gotten me wondering whether further cases of this kind are truly beneficial to Apple.
I understand it emotionally, of course. It’s galling to work hard on a hugely popular hardware design or user-interface only to see someone else copy parts of it, and the desire to hit back at that is a natural one. But I’m not sure that it makes too much sense rationally … Expand Expanding Close
Another interesting revelation from the ongoing Apple vs Samsung patent trial: concerned about launching attack ads on a company that was a customer as well as a competitor, Samsung sought to persuade Google to “launch a campaign against Apple.”
The then CEO of Samsung Telecommunications America, Dale Sohn, emailed his chief marketing officer to ask:
As you have shared previously, we are unable to battle [Apple] directly in our marketing. If it continues to be Samsung’s position to avoid attacking Apple given its status as as a large customer, can we go to Google to ask them to launch a campaign against Apple based on the many better Android products available in the market for Q4?
Apple software designer Greg Christie testifies during the Samsung trial
Apple has made its case against Samsung in the patent lawsuit that never ends, and the company’s attorneys rested today after an expert witness testified that Samsung should pay the full $2.191 billion in damages. As CNET reports, Quantitative Economic Solutions economist Christopher Vellturo told the court today that Apple’s claim to over $2 billion is valid based on estimated profits lost to Samsung’s infringing devices as well as royalties owed to Apple for use of its protected software designs.
John Hauser, another of Apple’s expert witnesses, testified earlier this week that Samsung’s mobile phones would have been much less appealing to the public if they had lacked features that Apple created, such as the ubiquitous “slide to unlock” gesture. Together the two experts weaved a tale of desperation in which Samsung is depicted as having ripped off Apple’s design when it failed to create a compelling product that could stand its own against the juggernaut of the iPhone.
This case is really only halfway over, though. Samsung’s attorneys will now have a chance to defend against this narrative, providing testimony and evidence to support its own view and argue against the legitimacy of Apple’s software patents. Of course, it’s likely that once this case is over the two rivals will just find another reason to sue each other.
Ad Age reports that Apple is planning to hire as many as four new digital ad agencies. Evidence presented in the latest Samsung-Apple lawsuit earlier this week revealed that Phil Schiller, the Cupertino company’s SVP of marketing, was shaken up by Samsung’s recent ad campaign and furious with Media Arts Lab, Apple’s current advertising company, to the point that he considered finding a new ad firm.
The four companies being considered for addition to the company’s lineup include Huge, AKQA, Area 17, and Kettle, according to the report. Apple already works with several smaller digital agencies, so adding four more doesn’t necessarily mean that Media Arts Lab is going anywhere anytime soon.
Apple has suffered from a string of less-than-stellar online promotional material recently with its “isee5c” line of ads. Hiring a new digital agency could help turn things around for the company in that arena. If the above statements from Schiller are any indication, Apple is taking a long, hard look at revamping its current advertising plans in order to better stack up against competitors like Samsung.
