Back in April, Samsung slapped back at Apple’s claims of patent infringement with a healthy helping of ten claims of its own. Now Bloomberg is reporting that Samsung quietly dropped its countersuit against the Cupertino-based company on June 30th, in an attempt “to streamline the legal proceedings.” Of course that doesn’t mean the saga is over: Apple’s smartphone infringement accusations stand, as do legal battles in South Korea, Japan, Germany, and the UK. Samsung says it will also continue to fight Apple’s accusations in the US in the form of a counter-claim. One down, one to go?
Update: To clarify, this does not mean that Samsung has abandoned its own infringement claims against Apple. Those claims have been rolled into counter-claims in the original suit.
Apple has denied updating the App Store rules regarding in-app purchases – and which Sony fell foul of with their Reader for iPhone app – claiming instead that it is merely enforcing a rule that has been in the guidelines for some time. “We have not changed our developer terms or guidelines,” Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller told AllThingsD. “We are now requiring that if an app offers customers the ability to purchase books outside of the app, that the same option is also available to customers from within the app with in-app purchase.”
The rule in question is believed to be 11.2:
11.2 Apps utilizing a system other than the In App Purchase API (IAP) to purchase content, functionality, or services in an app will be rejected
It, along with Muller’s statement, implies that Amazon could continue to sell ebooks via its current method – opening up the regular Amazon webpage in the Safari browser – but if so it would also be required to offer an internal system using Apple’s in-app purchasing system. Since IAP items are treated as just more app store content by Apple, that might mean Amazon had to individually submit each ebook for approval, as well as handing over 30-percent of the takings in an iTunes tithe. It’s also unclear whether Amazon would then allow Kindle users to re-download – from their own servers – the IAP content on Kindle ereaders or non-iOS versions of the app.
If anything, the clarification has made the situation a little more confusing; Apple looks to be pushing for a bigger cut of the content pie, and since Sony’s Reader app looks to have used the same browser-based purchasing system as Amazon’s, that implies Amazon may well have to tweak the Kindle app too. Apple has also been using rule 11.2 to crack-down on emagazine subscriptions; according to Monday Note, publishers have been told that they have a “grace period” up until June 30 2011 to enable the required IAP support:
“For existing apps already on the App Store, we are providing a grace period to bring your app into compliance with this guideline. To ensure your app remains on the App Store, please submit an update that uses the In App Purchase API for purchasing content, by June 30, 2011″
You may have heard a thing or two about Steve Wozniak’s white iPhone from the Engadget Show this past Sunday, and while you should really go and watch the entire amazing interview, we’ve broken out the iPhone conversation. Enjoy!
If flinging turds at island invaders hasn’t helped you get out your pent up aggressions, help is on the way. Soon you will be able to use a spiky catapult to fling cows at angry Englishmen in flimsy wooden huts, all on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. This is thanks to the popular physics puzzler, Monty Python Cow Tossing.
The game seems to be loosely based on the popular Angry Birds, but it has several additional features. For example, there are Holy Grail and other power-ups on each of the 80 levels of the game. You can also purchase upgrades for your catapult and use different types of animals for throwing, including the African swallow.
Monty Python Cow Tossing will be available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and select mobile handsets in the next few weeks. No price has yet been released.
Today Apple released the third beta of iOS 4.3, called 8F5166b, to developers for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. This is the third beta release from Apple in three weeks. Details were not immediately available as to what is included in the release.
The first release on January 12th featured the new Personal Hotspot feature which allows an iPhone to share its 3G Internet connection with up to 5 devices over WiFi, and allowed third party applications to use AirPlay for streaming video. It also included a software option to change the iPad hardware switch between mute and orientation lock.
The second beta issued on Jan. 19 was a preview of the new iPad multi-touch gestures, which included four-finger gestures to switch between multitasking operations or return to the home screen. This feature will not be enabled in the final release, but is planned for the future.
No word on what’s inside it just yet, but Apple has just released iOS 4.3 beta 3 (build 8F5166b) to developers, so we’re sure we’ll be getting plenty more details soon enough. If recent beta versions of the OS are any indication, there’s likely to be at least a few surprises in there.
Update: It turns out it’s not specific to beta 3, but App Advice has discovered that iOS 4.3 includes another new feature that hasn’t been documented so far: the ability to cancel App Store downloads.
No word on what’s inside it just yet, but Apple has just released iOS 4.3 beta 3 (build 8F5166b) to developers, so we’re sure we’ll be getting plenty more details soon enough. If recent beta versions of the OS are any indication, there’s likely to be at least a few surprises in there.
Update: It turns out it’s not specific to beta 3, but App Advice has discovered that iOS 4.3 includes another new feature that hasn’t been documented so far: the ability to cancel App Store downloads.
A new federal class action lawsuit alleges that “AT&T’s bills systematically overstate the amount of data used on each data transaction involving an iPhone or iPad account.” The legal document submitted on behalf of plaintiff Patrick Hendricks, goes on to say that AT&T’s scheme is similar to a rigged gas pump that “charges for a full gallon when it pumps only nine-tenth of a gallon into your car’s tank.”
A two month study done by a consulting firm hired by the plaintiff ‘s lawyer discovered that web traffic was typically overstated by 7 to 14 percent and potentially in excess of 300 percent. For instance, if an iPhone user downloaded 50KB of web data that AT&T would bill that as 53.5KB and potentially as high as 150KB.
The suit also alleges that AT&T not only over bills but bills customers even when they aren’t using data. The consulting firm purchased an iPhone from an AT&T store and left it inactive for 10 days—no push notifications, locations services, email accounts or apps—and the account still received a billing for 2,292KB of data spread over 35 transactions.
AT&T has just responded with the following: “Transparent and accurate billing is a top priority for AT&T. In fact, we’ve created tools that let our customers check their voice and data usage at any time during their billing cycle to help eliminate bill surprises. We have only recently learned of the complaint, but I can tell you that we intend to defend ourselves vigorously.”
It’s been quite a while since Apple’s tight reins on the App Store were a subject worth discussing, but they’re back in the spotlight now following the company’s rejection of Sony’s Reader app for iOS. The reasons given to Sony were that Apple will not no longer accept applications that permit in-app purchases of content that don’t go through Apple itself, and, moreover, will not tolerate apps that access material purchased through external content stores. So the Sony Reader Store is out — but wait, doesn’t the Kindle app spend its time serving up Kindlebooks? No comment has been offered on the matter from either Apple or Amazon, while Sony’s Reader Store page describes the situation as “an impasse” and promises to seek “other avenues to bring the Reader experience to Apple mobile devices.” In the mean time, you can get the Reader app for Android or just read your ebooks on a device dedicated to that task.
Update: As noted by Harry McCracken over at Technologizer, it has actually been Apple’s longstanding policy to forbid in-app purchases — the Kindle and Nook apps send you to a browser — so Sony’s desire to do so will have been the major cause for the Reader application’s rejection. That doesn’t invalidate the second concern expressed in the New York Times article, that Apple will no longer tolerate content brought in from external stores, which is a displeasing development, if true.
Update 2: Looks like McCracken nailed it — Apple’s come out with a statement pointing out that the App Store guidelines require that apps that allow content purchases must also allow them in-app through Apple’s official iTunes-backed system. We can’t imagine that Sony is thrilled with the idea of cutting Apple in on Reader content, but if they want to play ball, they should be able to score an approval. Notably, Apple says that they are “now requiring” this even though the guidelines haven’t changed, suggesting they’re just now getting around to enforcing it; the effect on iOS’ Kindle and Nook apps isn’t yet known, but we wouldn’t be surprised if Apple started nudging them in the direction of pushing updates. More on this situation as we have it.
We have talked a couple times now about the GSLO Volt solar charger case for the iPhone that will be offered by GSLO in the US. The company has announced that it has received its first shipment of demo cases from the manufacturer for testing.
According to GSLO this is the last step before it can start marketing the cases and selling them in the US. GSLO is going to “thoroughly test” Volt units to ensure that the cases are manufactured well before selling them.
The Volt is a case with a battery packs that has a small solar panel on the back. The idea is that the solar panel will trickle charge the cases internal battery and help keep it charged up longer. The Volt is also the only battery pack I have heard of that will work with the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4. You can reserve your own Volt case here.
Apple has denied updating the App Store rules regarding in-app purchases – and which Sony fell foul of 
