Apple hits back against Nokia in patent row

Apple, maker of the iconic iPhone, hit back in a legal row with Nokia and countersued the Finnish telecom giant, alleging it had breached 13 Apple patents.

Apple accused Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, of infringing the patents held by the Cupertino, California company.

“Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours,” Apple vice president Bruce Sewell said in a brief statement.

The move came after Nokia in October accused its US rival of infringing 10 Nokia mobile phone technology patents with the iPhone.

According to Nokia, the patents cover “wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption and are infringed by all Apple iPhone models shipped since the iPhone was introduced in 2007.”

Ilkka Rahnasto, deputy head of Nokia’s legal department, accused Apple at the time of “attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia’s innovation.”

Apple countersued in federal court in the eastern state of Delaware, where Nokia filed its complaint against Apple.

Nokia is trying to buoy a sinking position in the mobile telephone market by getting its hands on iPhone technology and charging “exorbitant” fees for patented technology allegedly intrinsic to industry standards, Apple charged.

Apple denied infringing on Nokia patents and rejected the notion that technology at issue in the Finnish firm’s lawsuit is essential to any industry standard.

“Nokia’s demands appear to be driven by declines in its own mobile phone business,” Apple said in a 79-page counterclaim filed with the court.

“Nokia has been attempting to use its allegedly standards-essential patents to help regain what Nokia has lost in the marketplace.”

Nokia posted its first quarterly loss in a decade in October amid falling sales. Analysts said the poor results were partly due to the growing popularity of the iPhone and Research in Motion’s Blackberry over Nokia models.

Apple reported record quarterly sales of 7.4 million iPhones in October.

Nokia made agreements to let its patented technology be crafted into industry standards and now has a “hold-up” power that it “abusively seeks to wield,” Apple argued in court paperwork.

If the technology is critical to standards, Nokia is betraying a commitment to license it on “fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms,” Apple maintained.

Along with demanding steep royalties, Nokia is insisting on “grantbacks” that permit the company to use Apple technology, the iPhone maker said in legal documents.

Nokia is already using Apple smartphone technology without permission, the California firm charged.

“This attempt by Nokia to leverage patents previously pledged to industry standards is an effort to free ride on the commercial success of Apple’s innovative iPhone while avoiding liability for copying the iPhone and infringing Apple’s patents,” Apple said in its filing.

Apple is asking the court to award it unspecified financial damages and dismiss the suit filed by Nokia.

Nokia told AFP that it is studying Apple’s claim “and will respond in due course.”

War Zone 1.9 iPhone iPod games

War Zone is a battle strategy game. Player will encounter 24 different battle fields and 4 stages. The game can be played in Battle Mode and Story Mode. Battle Mode: Player plays a battle field at a time. The score will be recorded and player can enter another battle field.
Only the battle fields activated from Story Mode play can be chosen in Battle Mode. War Mode: Player will follow a pre-set story line and complete stages in sequence. Player will have 3 new lives for each stage. Players can resume from previous stopping point. Best scores will be recorded automatically.

Download

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Clarifi iPhone Case with Macro Lens

Protect your iPhone and take close-up macro photos to boot. The Clarifi iPhone Case with Macro Lens makes blurry photos of secret documents a thing of the past.
Simply slide the built-in lens over your iPhone's camera and take crystal clear shots of business cards, documents or any other close-up item. Then you can use those photos with some cool free iPhone apps like Snappr which scans barcodes in stores to find you the best prices, or Evernote which takes photos you shoot and creates a searchable picture database from any text in the photo.

$24.99 from Think Geek [Link]

In Lawsuit, Nokia Says iPhone Infringes Its Patents

BERLIN — Nokia, the world’s biggest cellphone maker, sued Apple on Thursday, claiming that Apple illegally used 10 of its patented technologies to make the iPhone, its innovative touch-screen smartphone.

Nokia said it had filed a patent infringement suit in United States District Court in Delaware. The complaint claims Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., illegally used Nokia’s patents for wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption to make its iPhone work on GSM, UMTS and WiFi wireless networks.

Nokia is an original contributor to the GSM wireless technology standard that was developed in Europe. Most cellphones run on GSM or UMTS networks. The iPhone, introduced in 2007, runs on a GSM network in the United States and GSM and UMTS networks in Europe and Asia.

Nokia said it had invested more than 40 billion euros ($60 billion) over the last 20 years to develop the technologies, which it has licensed to 40 leading mobile phone makers.

A Nokia executive said it sued Apple after failing to come to terms with Apple over a licensing agreement.

“By refusing to agree appropriate terms for Nokia’s intellectual property, Apple is attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia’s innovation,” said Ilkka Rahnasto, a vice president of legal and intellectual property at Nokia.

Nokia said Apple’s alleged patent infringement extended back to the first iPhones sold in 2007. Nokia, based in Finland, is the global leader in smart phones, and Apple’s iPhone is its biggest competitor. Last week, Nokia said its share of the global smart phone market slipped to 35 percent in the third quarter from 41 percent in the second as competitors Apple and Research In Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry, gained.

An analyst said Nokia’s suit was part of a growing trend of telecom equipment makers being more litigious. Those makers are increasingly searching for new revenue as wireless markets become saturated and sales begin to stagnate.

“Where there is a hit, there is usually a writ,” said Neil Mawston, an analyst at Strategy Analytics in London. “I think the intellectual property rights wars are ramping up in the handset industry now. This fits in fairly nicely with that trend.”

Apple officials in London and Cupertino did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the suit.

Mystic Apple Tablet!

Steve Jobs said people don't read any more. But Apple is talks with several media companies rooted in print, negotiating content for a "new device." And they're not just going for e-books and mags. They're aiming to redefine print. Several years ago, a modified version of OS X was presented to Steve Jobs, running on a multitouch tablet. When the question of "what would people do with this?" couldn't be answered, they shelved it. Long having established music, movie and TV content, Apple is working hard to load up iTunes with print content from several major publishing houses across several media.

Two people related to the NYTimes have separately told me that in June, paper was approached by Apple to talk about putting the paper on a "new device." The R&D labs have long worked on versions of the paper meant to be navigated without a keyboard or mouse, showing up on Windows tablets and on multiple formats using Adobe Air. The NYTimes, of course, also publishes via their iPhone application. Jobs has, during past keynotes, called the NYTimes the "best newspaper in the world."

A person close to a VP in textbook publishing mentioned to me in July that McGraw Hill and Oberlin Press are working with Apple to move textbooks to iTunes. There was no mention of any more detail than that, but it does link back to a private Apple intern idea competition held on campus, in their Town Hall meeting area in 2008, where the winning presentation selected by executives was one focused on textbook distribution through iTunes. The logic here is that textbooks are sold new at a few hundred dollars, and resold by local stores without any kickbacks to publishers. A DRM'd one-time-use book would not only be attractive because publishers would earn more money, but electronic text books would be able to be sold for a fraction of the cost, cutting out book stores and creating a landslide marketshare shift by means of that huge price differential. (If that device were a tablet, the savings on books could pay for the device, and save students a lot of back pain.)

Apple also recently had several executives from one of the largest magazine groups at their Cupertino's campus, where they were asked to present their ideas on the future of publishing. Several mockups of magazines were present in interactive form. It is presumed that more talks took place after the introduction and investigatory meeting. Some magazine company is also considering Adobe Air as a competing option for digital magazines, but without a revenue/distribution system that iTunes has, it seems unlikely.

I haven't heard anything about traditional book publishers being approached yet, but given the scope of the rest of the publishing industry's involvement, it's not hard to imagine they're on board as well. (If you know something, please drop me a line.)

Another source corroborates that the January announce date others have reported is correct within the month, with this information heard from a high level.

Some I've talked to believe the initial content will be mere translations of text to tablet form. But while the idea of print on the Tablet is enticing, it's nothing the Kindle or any E-Ink device couldn't do. The eventual goal is to have publishers create hybridized content that draws from audio, video, interactive graphics in books, magazines and newspapers, where paper layouts would be static. And with release dates for Microsoft's Courier set to be quite far away and Kindle stuck with relatively static e-ink, it appears that Apple is moving towards a pole position in distribution of this next-generation print content. First, it'll get its feet wet with more basic repurposing of the stuff found on dead trees today.

MoGo Talk for iPhone unveiled

So you’re extremely happy with your new iPhone 3GS, and are actively searching for means and ways to enhance your iPhone experience regardless of where you are. Newton Peripherals could have the answer, where they will lend their expertise in integrated mobile peripherals to come up with the new MoGo Talk for the iPhone. Just in case you were wondering what a contraption known as MoGo Talk for iPhone is, this is touted to be the first ultra-thin integrated Bluetooth headset in the world, measuring no thicker than 5mm while being stored on the back of your iPhone. In addition, it will also have its batteries charged up in the process, giving users the convenience of a charged headset at all times. This has led me to think though, won’t charging the MoGo Talk sip even more juice from your iPhone’s battery, which leaves you with less battery than before to carry out conversations? Well, at least we do know the MoGo Talk’s minimalist design will allow one to fold the headset flat easily, snapping it in and out of its protective case in a jiffy.

It isn’t all flash with the MoGo Talk for iPhone as it will feature a potent combination of patent pending SoundShape noise blocking, comfort fit ear tips, high fidelity balanced armature audio drivers and rich SmartAudio processing to provide you with the best audio quality possible whenever you’re holding a conversation. When combined, these elements will do away with previous nuinsances such as noise, echo and wind interference. The MoGo Talk’s patent pending folding boom also makes sure the headset can be folded flat to a mere 5mm low-profile for easy and convenient storage – just don’t forget you’ve placed it in your wallet and sit on it accidentally.

You will get up to 4 hours of active noise compensation talktime with this, where it can standby for up to a week. Expect MoGo Talk for iPhone to retail for $129.99 when available.

Coming Up Next ?

Nokia

Some companies face headwinds. Nokia has been slouching into a gale. Apple’s move this week to make the iPhone available through Vodafone and Orange in the UK in addition to original mobile network partner O2 is the latest bad news for the Finnish group. As operators compete to lure iPhone customers, Nokia may have to lower prices to maintain market share, putting further pressure on operating margins that shrank to 12 per cent in the first half, down from 20 per cent in the second quarter of 2008.

Two years after Apple shook up the handset market with the launch of the iPhone, Nokia remains mired in a mess of its own making. Struggling at the high end, it faces a new threat at the low end from white-label manufacturers, which are preparing to roll out cut-price smartphones based on a new generation of low-cost chips. With little margin improvement expected in the second half, investors could be forgiven for wondering whether Nokia’s profitability is gone for good.

That may be overstating it. Nokia’s days of 20 per cent margins may be over but Bernstein thinks margins could edge up into the mid-teens next year, assuming no further deterioration in market share, as shipments bounce back and the company is able to use its huge scale to its advantage.

With a global market share of about 38 per cent, not much changed from its high of 41 per cent last year, Nokia is far from a broken company. Its recent investments in software and services – a key component of the iPhone’s appeal – are the right ones. But with those efforts unlikely to bear fruit before the end of next year, in the meantime it is hard to see much reason to prefer its shares over those of similarly rated peers.

Apple’s New Nano - World’s Smallest Camcorder

Every year at about this time, Apple hosts an auditorium full of reporters and reviewers in California to unveil the new holiday season’s iPod/iTunes line—and yesterday was it.

There were lots of refinements to the free iTunes software, to the iTunes store, to the iPhone’s 3.0 software (now 3.1), and to the iPods themselves.

So what was everyone’s reaction? I tell you, man, it’s all about your expectations.

Already, there’s been a lot of grumbling about what Apple didn’t deliver. According to the rumor blogs, there was supposed to be a new iPod Touch with a camera. The Beatles catalog was supposed to come to the iTunes store. There was supposed to be an Apple Tablet, basically a giant-sized iPod Touch.

None of it was there.

What Apple did unveil, though, was a new iPod Nano model, which has enough new features to last for—well, until *next* September.

It’s exactly the same size as the previous one: 3.6 x 1.5 x 0.2 inches. That is, it’s a wafer-thin, rounded-edged slab that comes in 9 metallic colors.

But it now has a microphone. And a speaker. And an FM radio. And a voice recorder. And a pedometer that counts how many steps you walk or run. And a camcorder.

It sounds like a lot to cram onto a (slightly larger) 2.2-inch screen. I’ve taken it for an 18-hour spin, and this is how it works.

Mac OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard

That Apple’s latest release of Mac OS X is not accompanied by hyperbolic claims of “300 new features” should be a wakeup call to even the company’s most ardent followers. Mac OS X 10.6, or “Snow Leopard,” is a refinement of the previous release, Mac OS X 10.5. And sure enough, Snow Leopard, like Leopard before it, is a fine OS, a rock-solid and capable computing foundation. It’s just that when compared to what’s happening on the Windows side, Snow Leopard is sort of a letdown. There’s just not much going on from an end-user perspective.

As it turns out, this is by design. Mac OS X, like the Windows systems with which it competes, is now a mature operating system. But that doesn’t excuse the pricing. Had Microsoft released such an update for Windows, they would have called it a service pack and delivered it gratis. But Apple being Apple, they’re charging for the update ($29 to $169 depending on which version of OS X you’re currently running). In Apple-land, that’s a bargain. And of course Mac folks can point to the $99 to $299 pricing on Windows 7 and claim Snow Leopard is a bargain by comparison. In this case, you get what you pay for.

The first thing you’ll notice is that Apple’s cryptic Setup routine–which takes two to three times as much time to do its thing as Windows 7 Setup–will not ask you if you want a clean install or an upgrade if you boot off the DVD; that’s probably OK for many users, but if you’re looking to do a clean install, as I was, you might be surprised to see the upgrade kick off with nary a warning. The trick is to use the advanced menu-based tools to trigger anything other than the default install type.

Once you’ve got Snow Leopard up and running, you won’t notice much difference compared to its predecessor. Apple has forgone sweeping UI changes in this release and has instead focused solely on internal refinements, simplifications, and performance improvements. For example, Snow Leopard picks up multicore functionality that Windows has had for years, making the system more responsive on the Intel Core 2 Duo-based systems Apple is now shipping. The Mac’s version of Windows Explorer, called Finder, has been also brought into the 21st century and rewritten, and thus is speedier and more responsive.

Like Windows 7, Snow Leopard offers a simpler taken on its predecessor. The sole default desktop icon in Leopard, representing your Mac’s hard drive, has been removed. (Windows 7, by contrast, now has a single desktop icon by default, representing the Recycle Bin.) But I find the Finder’s Sidebar to be far less user friendly than the navigation bar in Windows 7’s Explorer; it’s not obvious how you can add often-needed locations to it, for example, while doing so is easy in Windows.

Snow Leopard takes another page from the Windows 7 playbook with a new feature of the Exposé window management tool. In previous versions of Mac OS X, Exposé was very much a power user feature, and you could really only use it effectively via the keyboard, an oddity in the mouse-focused OS X interface. With Snow Leopard, however, Exposé has been improved to work with individual applications, just like the taskbar preview feature in Windows 7. That is, you can now access each open window of any running application using Exposé via the Mac OS X Dock. It’s a great feature, and it’s hard to imagine using it otherwise. (That said, it can’t handle individual tabs in Safari, as is possible with IE 8 taskbar previews in Windows 7.)

Snow Leopard expands on the icon preview functionality in Windows 7 in dramatic if somewhat unnecessary ways. You can now instantly preview the contents of many document types right in the icon for those documents in the Finder. I’ve used this feature to watch H.264 movies and flip through PDF files, for example. But the sheer number of ways in which you can access documents and other data files in Snow Leopard borders on the ludicrous. In addition to these in-icon previews, you can also use a new Quick Look utility to preview documents full screen (curiously using the spacebar on your keyboard as well). Or you can just open the documents normally with whatever default application. Three levels of document viewing? Really?

Snow Leopard’s various bundled applications have all been updated, sometimes in very nice ways. The system includes the latest version of Apple’s web browser, Safari 4, which seems a lot less unnecessary on the Mac than it does on Windows. Mail, iCal, and Address Book have been updated with Exchange Server support, which is a big feature, sure, but none of them can do automatic configuration, so you’ll need a slew of server information, which isn’t the case in, say, Outlook on Windows. The nicest application update, perhaps, is QuickTime X, which like Windows Media Player in Windows 7, now supports a cool Now Playing mode in which all the surrounding player chrome disappears automatically so you can focus on the content. On the other hand, QuickTime X continues Apple’s hypocritical waltz into inconsistency, as this application bears absolutely no resemblance at all to any other Snow Leopard applications. I was hoping this would be the version where Apple reined that in. (QuickTime X does include additional functionality around recording audio and video which could prove quite useful. And it’s worth noting that this version appears to have abandoned the need to pay for a Pro install that has additional functionality, which is also welcome.)

Overall, Snow Leopard is a better Leopard than Leopard. But it certainly doesn’t offer any added incentive to make the switch from the Windows side. Compared head-to-head with Windows 7, it’s clear that Microsoft’s is the most substantial offering, as it provides the same kinds of internal updates as Snow Leopard but also offers major updates to the user experience. Looked at a different way, maybe Windows needed more fixes to begin with. That’s certainly what a Mac user would tell you. They may have a point.

All that said, I’m not sure Snow Leopard justifies even its vastly reduced price. That won’t stop eager Mac users from flinging their wallets open and throwing their credit cards towards Cupertino. You gotta envy Apple that kind of hold over its users.

Bottom line: Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard” is a nice refinement to an already solid OS offering. But it’s almost too evolutionary to get excited about.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard upgrade Warning!

Are you planning to upgrade your mac OS to Snow Leopard(Mac OS X)? According to theregister.co.uk, after upgrading to Snow Leopard, latest update version of Flash would be downgraded with out the user's knowledge.

User's will be exposed to Flash based attacks if left unnoticed of such downgrade. So before exploring the web after upgrading to snow leopard just immediately download the latest version of Flash

Cool Apple App Wall

Check out these cool pictures and video of an Apple App Wall from Apple’s WWDC event in San Francisco using cinema display monitors mounted together.

Today at Apple’s WWDC event in San Francisco, Apple had a bunch of Cinema Display monitors mounted together on a wall showing what looked to be some sort of pulsating canvas. But a closer look revealed that it was actually a huge collection of icons for many of the apps available in the App Store, arranged by color. Apparently, when someone purchased one, that app’s icon would pulsate, creating the effect.

Check out the video!

While it wasn’t quite real-time, nor was it entirely representative of all the more than 50,000 apps in the App Store, the visualization was pretty damn cool. Prettier than the Google Holodeck and it gave off less heat. Not surprisingly, onlookers were mesmerized by the pulsating apps.

Vajacases ivolution SP iphone 3G Case

This is a cool sporty looking iPhone case and you can make your own custom color and texts.


Price: $85 [Link]

Gold Diamond-Encrusted iPhone Case

Got too much money and not sure what the hell to spend it on! Well here is your chance to waste your money!

You will get this real diamond encrusted case for your iPhone and reach the bornrich social status. Price: $20.000 [Link]

Otterbox Armor Waterproof Case for iPhone

Unparalleled iPhone protection - Otterbox provides the safest way to store and use your handset. With iPhone insurance expensive, making sure yours is protected from the elements, being dropped etc is a good idea and this case will protect you.
£29.99 from iWorld [Link]

Dexter iPhone Case

Made by Speck, Dexter-branded hardshell cases come in tiny cardboard boxes and sit snug in a bed of foam splattered in blood.
Made by a company called Speck and I have spotted these iPhone cases being sold on Ebay [link]

Tactile iPhone Case

Apple iPhone case for visually impaired: It works in tandem with an app to allow special accessibility functions like text to speech and moon type tactile feedback.

Metallic Slider Case iPhone Case

The case is engraved with modified bas-relief buttons each corresponding to a modified home screen on the iPhone [link]

Chocolate iPhone Case

A very cool and creative Apple iPhone case that chocoholics will love!

Chocolate iPhone Case

Costing $24.99, it is a great choice for chocoholic iPhone lovers. [Link]

GoGo iPhone Case

Stylish iPhone case made from polycarbonate which provides excellent soft touch feeling. It is available for all iPhone generations; all functions are accessible without removing the case.

GoGo iPhone Case

Despite its softness, GoGo case is very hard to break. [Link]

Tire Tread Pattern iPhone Case

Great looking protection for you iPhone with tire-tread pattern. You can buy this cool iPhone case from Amazon [Link]

Tire Pattern iPhone Case