Apple still pushing for patent on Wii-like Apple TV remote control
Even as new data shows that Apple TV is struggling to gain traction in the marketplace, Apple continues to push for a patent on a wireless "remote wand" for future versions of the streaming media device that would provide users with precise control over a cursor movement on TV screens and unlock three-dimensional controls similar to those offered by Nintendo’s Wii controller.
Apple likely to delay rollout of Windows 7 support
Apple is likely to miss a self-imposed deadline for delivering support for Microsoft’s latest operating system to Mac users running its Boot Camp dual booting software.
In October, the Cupertino-based Mac maker said it planned to deliver support for Windows 7 through an update to Boot Camp that would arrive be year’s end.
"Apple will support Microsoft Windows 7 (Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate) with Boot Camp in Mac OS X Snow Leopard before the end of the year," the company wrote in a support document. "This support will require a software update to Boot Camp."
Asked whether Apple still planned to make good on that promise, a company support representative fielding Boot Camp-related questions said his division has received no update on the matter and his belief was that the update was still undergoing tests.
The representative said it was very unlikely that the update would surface in the next 24 hours, adding that a release sometime early next year would be a safer bet.
Google’s Nexus One takes on Droid as Apple’s iPhone App Store grows
Expectations that Google would jump into the smartphone business itself and directly challenge the iPhone are being squelched by reports that indicate that the company is really only putting its name on a new HTC device to be sold by T-Mobile, which will compete against the Verizon Motorola Droid instead.
iGuide may be service tied to forthcoming Apple tablet
With evidence mounting that Apple is racing towards an early 2010 introduction of its much-anticipated multi-touch tablet, the guessing game over what name the company will use to market the device has kicked into overdrive, with yet another candidate surfacing this week in "iGuide."
It was reported last week that Apple set up a shell company by the name of Slate Computing, LLC three years ago in an effort to secure a trademark on the term "iSlate" without drawing the attention of its competitors and the media, similar to what it had accomplished through the shell company Ocean Telecom in regards to the "iPhone" mark.
Slate Computing, in addition to owning the iSlate mark, is also the listed register of the trademark on "Magic Slate." Both terms seem well-suited for an Apple tablet that would resemble a device akin to a jumbo iPod touch.
In particular, the former stands out as the most likely contender given that the editor of rumored Apple tablet content provider, the New York Times, made mention of an "impending Apple slate" during a presentation to the newspaper’s digital staff two months before word of Apple’s involvement with Slate Computing was brought to light.
"We need to figure out the right journalistic product to deliver to mobile platforms and devices," he said. "I’m hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate, or whatever comes after that."
Meanwhile, it surfaced Tuesday that Apple also appears to be behind another shell company by the name of iGuide Media, LLC, which has held a pending application on the "iGuide" trademark since December of 2007. MacRumors, which reported the connection, says the discovery may shed doubt on earlier assumptions that Apple may coin its tablet the iSlate because the trademark classifications for iGuide seems a better fit for the rumored device:
Computer hardware and computer software for accessing, browsing, searching, recording, organizing, storing, transmitting, receiving, manipulating, streaming, reproducing, playing, and reviewing audio, video, games, music, television, movies, photographs, and other multimedia content.
The classification also covers a wide variety of downloadable electronic content:
Downloadable electronic publications in the nature of books, magazines, newsletters, journals, and blogs in the fields of entertainment, sports, science, history, culture, celebrities, news, current events, politics, technology, and education;
TechCrunch, however, did some more digging and found no evidence that Apple owns any iGuide-related domain names. By contrast, it was also revealed last week that Apple has taken control of a handful of iSlate domain names.
The technology blog also points out that the description of goods and services given to iGuide Media in its filings weighs more heavily towards services than that give to iSlate. It therefore concludes that iGuide is more likely to be a service tied to the Apple tablet than the name of the device itself.
Still, there’s no concrete evidence that Apple will use any of the aforementioned names in relation to its tablet. The Cupertino-based firm has the capacity to set up any number of shell companies it desires, with very little effort or monetary resources. The only surefire assumptions that can be made from the past two weeks of discoveries is that the company at one time saw enough interest in the aforementioned terms to secure the rights to use them down the line if it so chooses.
Has the 'iSlate' Finally Moved Off the Drawing Board?
Talk of an Apple tablet has been floating around for years, with the bits and pieces of rumor and conjecture coalescing into a somewhat less-vague image of a potentially real product in the last six months or so. The latest excitement is over the purported device’s name, which could be "iSlate," its display, which could be a tough 10-inch glass panel, and its announcement date, which could be next month.
AT&T resumes online iPhone sales to New York City residents
AT&T has resumed taking iPhone orders from New York City residents through its website after blocking the sale of the handsets to New Yorkers this past weekend for reasons the carrier has been unwilling to explain in detail.
The sales suspension drew hundreds of headlines from technology websites on Monday, fueling suspicions that the move was yet another sign that the exclusive US iPhone carrier was unable to support the brunt of the handset’s popularity in dense metropolitan areas.
That sentiment was fueled by a comment from an AT&T online customer service representative by the name of Daphne who told a journalist that the iPhone was no longer available for purchase online by New York City residents "because New York is not ready for the iPhone."
"[Your area doesn’t] have enough towers to handle the phone," the rep added.
AT&T’s corporate spokespeople would later say the sales blackout was a result of the carrier periodically modifying its promotions and distribution channels, while online service rep Daphne jettisoned her earlier explanation in favor of blaming the move on "increased fraudulent activity" in New York City and the surrounding areas.
In recent months, AT&T has come under fire from customers and larger rival Verizon Wireless, who’ve combined to charge the carrier in a series of lawsuits and television spots with making false promises regarding the capacity and reach of its mobile 3G network.
The Dallas-based firm has yet to provide a clear explanation for this weekend’s sales stoppage.
Consumer groups ask FTC to block Google’s AdMob deal
Consumer Watchdog and the Center For Digital Democracy have requested that the Federal Trade Commission block Google’s $750 million acquisition of AdMob on both anti-trust and privacy issues.
According to a report by TechCrunch, The FTC has already been actively reviewing the AdMob acquisition over the past weeks since Google announced its plans to buy up the mobile advertising.
Apple had started talks to acquire AdMob just weeks before Google announced its deal, ostensibly in an effort to prevent Google from obtaining detailed information about Apple’s iPhone App Store.
Other smaller competitors in the fledgling mobile advertising market have also raised concerns that Google could leverage its existing AdSense and DoubleClick programs to effectively monopolize the emerging market for mobile ad placement within third party apps.
Google’s $750 million purchase of AdMob is the third-largest acquisition in its history, behind only the $3.2 billion purchase of DoubleClick in 2008 and the $1.65 billion takeover of YouTube in 2006.
Monopolizing mobile ads without privacy protection
The new complaint filed by the consumer groups echoes those concerns, saying the deal would, "substantially lessen competition in the increasingly important mobile organizing market," and that, as it is proposed, "would be harmful to consumers, advertisers and application developers."
However, the complaint goes beyond antitrust issues to note that mobile ads provide deep and significant information to the company managing them, potentially including the user’s location and detailed record of their behavioral history, age, ethnicity, gender and other information.
"U.S. consumers currently do not have meaningful safeguards protecting their privacy online, including with behavioral targeting. This is particularly true of the mobile Web where there are no meaningful federal policies to effectively protect privacy," the complaint stated. "Permitting the expansion of mobile advertising through the combination of these two market leaders without requiring privacy guarantees poses a serious threat to consumers."
Managing the news
AdMob has regularly reported aggregated statistics culled from its network of ad views, which has provided reporters with new insight into the rapid increase in the influence of the iPhone as a platform.
Following its planned acquisition by Google, the monthly AdMob report almost entirely ignored any detailed mention of iPhone, which AdMob only noted in passing as having achieved half of all data traffic and a third place 18% of unit sales, to instead detail metrics related to Google’s distantly fifth place Android platform, which it said represented an 11% share of data traffic and just 3% of unit sales.
Apple also behind Slate Computing, filings suggest
Records indicate that Apple may be behind Slate Computing, LLC - the company currently in possession of the iSlate trademark.
Slate Computing, owner of the "iSlate" trademark may be a shell company set up by Apple to quietly obtain U.S. trademark protection for the name. According to legal filings, Slate Computing obtained the trademark for "iSlate" in November of 2006, and the signatory was Apple’s Trademark Specialist, Regina Porter. The only real piece of information on Slate Computing that can be found online is in the description of the business found in the filing. These findings were obtained by TechCrunch and MacRumors.
According to TechCrunch, Slate Computing had also filed trademark for the term in the European Union through the same law firm that Apple has worked with in the past to trademark other product names such as the iPhone. Apple used a corporation based in Trinidad &Tobago, where Apple has registered European Union trademarks in the past, to register for the trademark.
As reported by fscklog, Slate Computing is also the owner of the "Magic Slate" trademark, which follows the same naming conventions as the latest release of Apple’s "Magic Mouse."
Apple’s ownership of the iSlate.com domain was originally brought to light by Mark Gurman of AppleRejectedMe.
Rumors of a potential tablet device from Apple have been swirling for many years and recent reports have all hinted at an early 2010 launch. The tablet has reportedly been the number one focus of CEO Steve Jobs since returning to his company this summer.
