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Talkcast tonight, 7pm PT/10pm ET: Mac Computer Expo edition!
It's Sunday again, which can only mean one thing! Well OK, it can mean two things, and the other one is the Talkcast! This week's news includes Appsung Drama, and some of the screen woes with the new rMBPs (making those of us with mere mortal machines feel a bit better about not picking one up), and whatever else comes up in the "preshow". Also tonight, we will be discussing the Mac Computer Expo with this year's organizer, Lorene Romero. Tonight will also mark the return of the Aftershow, previously put off for a variety of reasons. Join us to talk about ... whatever we end up talking about. You never know with the Aftershow. Now it's really all about you, the community, so join me won't you? To participate, you can use the browser-only Talkshoe client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for +5 Interactivity, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the Talkshoe Web button on our profile page at 4 HI/7 PDT/10 pm EDT Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (Viva free weekend minutes!): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8. If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free X-Lite or other SIP clients (aside from Skype or Google Voice), basic instructions are here. Talk to you tonight!
Judge Lucy Koh prompts Apple, Samsung CEOs to meet again
Ina Fried has been covering the Apple-Samsung patent trial for AllThingsD, and this morning she reported that Judge Lucy Koh has asked Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung executives Choi Gee-sung and Shin Jong-kyn to meet in an effort to strike a deal before the trial goes to jury. Koh is quoted as saying "I see risk here for both sides if we go to a verdict." She went on to say that if Samsung and Apple have intellectual property positions in the smartphone and tablet worlds, then "message delivered." Koh's message to both parties? "It's time for peace." The Apple and Samsung attorneys have agreed to arrange at least a phone meeting between the two parties, although previous meetings of the big wheels has resulted in no resolution. At this point, Samsung is delivering technical testimony about its patents covering core wireless technologies that it is accusing Apple of infringing. To quote Fried, "the jury has heard about such riveting topics as 'E-DPDCH transmit power gains." Testimony in the case is expected to finish tomorrow or Monday, with closing arguments scheduled for Tuesday.
Daily Update for August 14, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Apple rests its case in Samsung trial
After all of the disclosures, testimony, and legal maneuvering of the last several weeks, Apple rested its case in the patent infringement case against Samsung. Apple's last stand wasn't exactly without drama. Three of the Samsung phones that Apple had said were infringing on design patents -- the Galaxy Ace, Galaxy S i9000, and Galaxy S II i9000 -- were thrown out of the trial as they were not sold in the U.S. by Samsung. That's actually alright with Apple, as it had assigned those phones a total value of $0 in terms of their impact on Apple's sales of iPhones. On Monday, Samsung attempted to have Judge Lucy Koh issue a Judgement as a Matter of Law that Apple had not proven its case and that no reasonable jury would ever side with Apple. That would have ended the trial, but Judge Koh threw out the request and the trial will proceed. Apple also finished its testimony on the damages it is seeking from Samsung, which have grown from $2.5 billion to $2.88 billion. Samsung has started its defense, and it is expected that closing arguments in the case will be heard as soon as next Tuesday, August 21. After that point, it's all up to the jury to decide.
Daily Update for August 8, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Conan: Droll "Samsung response" to Apple claims of design theft
Thanks to a headsup from our friends over at Team Coco, we have a sneak peek at a fun clip from tonight's Conan O'Brien show. This is a video "released by a Samsung VP" showing how Samsung products are completely different from those made by Apple, proving the lawsuit is ridiculous. I can't wait to get my hands on that vacuum myself, it looks really powerful! Video embedded below... You can catch the rest of Conan's show weeknights at 11 pm on TBS. Until it shows up on television, you can kill time watching clips from other episodes on their site.
Apple vs. Samsung: Trial roundup
Under normal circumstances, the proceedings of a patent trial would be about as exciting as watching grass grow on TV, picture-in-picture, while paint dries on the main channel. However, Apple versus Samsung has been surprisingly fascinating so far, but less so for the legal wranglings than for the information surfacing during the trial. Evidence and testimony presented during the trial is giving us unexpected insights into Apple's inner workings. By now you've probably already seen the very early iPad and iPhone prototypes that were published last week and the giant iPad prototype from a week earlier yet. If not for the current patent trial between Apple and Samsung, it's unlikely these prototypes would have seen the light of day until many years from now, if ever. Yet we've learned that Apple was designing prototypes for the iPad as long as ten years ago. More bits of info have come to light in the past few days: Nearly 40 iPhone and iPad prototypes revealed in Samsung trial The Verge has galleries of prototypes for both the iPhone and iPad. Many of these images are of prototypes we already saw last week, but several new ones have surfaced showing yet more designs that Apple considered and ultimately rejected. Feast your eyes on the iPhones and iPads that might have been, but that's the best you'll be able to do for now; it'll be a long time before any of these walk out of Apple's labs and show up on eBay. Apple designer: iPhone crafters are "maniacal" Reuters describes testimony from Christopher Stringer, a veteran member of Apple's design team. Describing that team, Stringer says they are "a pretty maniacal group of people. We obsess over details." The team often discusses those ideas around a kitchen table, brainstorming design concepts before heading off to do some CAD mockups. According to Stringer, Apple's design process doesn't follow a linear idea-sketch-model-prototype path and, as the huge swath of prototypes proves, Apple isn't afraid to abandon a concept altogether if a better one comes along. Apple's Case Against Samsung in Three Pictures AllThingsD shows three photos Apple has entered into evidence to support its claim that Samsung has slavishly copied the iPhone's design. If you've seen any of those "Before the iPhone --> iPhone --> After the iPhone" images before, you'll find Apple's evidence very familiarly laid out. Apple's timeline shows that Samsung was in the Palm/Blackberry lookalike business during the early 2000s. The first few years after the iPhone was a time of transition for Samsung's designs, with several different form factors in play. In 2010, going by Apple's chart Samsung eventually said the heck with it and settled on a design stunningly similar to the iPhone -- designs that persist to the present day. Phil Schiller takes the stand in the Apple v. Samsung trial The Verge liveblogged Phil Schiller's testimony, and some of his remarks were revelatory. Schiller testified that each new model of iPhone has sold as many units as all the iPhones before it. That obviously includes the current iPhone 4S, the "disappointing" iPhone that multiple pundits insisted would be Apple's downfall last year. Fact-checking Schiller's statement proves he's right; the iPhone's growth has indeed been exponential so far. It may even be possible for the next iPhone to sell over 200 million units -- though don't count on it. If you do the math, you'll find that sort of growth isn't sustainable. Schiller called the iPad "a risk to our image" because the tablet category was essentially dead when the iPad was first introduced. Indeed, many people dismissed the iPad as frivolous and doomed to fail at its unveiling less than three years ago. Schiller also revealed that, contrary to previous statements, Apple does indeed engage in market research for its products via surveys and other methods. 85 percent of customers who purchased the iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 said the device's appearance was either important or very important to their decision to purchase it -- a key metric when attempting to prove that Samsung's similarly designed devices conceivably caused financial damages to Apple. "I was pretty shocked at the appearance of the Galaxy S phone and the extent to which it appeared to copy Apple's products," Schiller said. When he saw the Galaxy Tab and how similar it was to the iPad, he suddenly felt that Samsung intended to copy Apple's entire product line. Samsung's lawyer asked Schiller if Apple expected to change its design for the forthcoming "iPhone 5." To absolutely no one's surprise, Schiller declined to comment. Apple's Software Boss Reveals the Origin Story of iOS Senior VP of iOS software Scott Forstall took the stand after Schiller. He first described Apple's intentions for OS X, calling it "an operating system that could last for another 20 years." Looks like we can look forward to OS X Ocelot after all. The decision to develop the iPhone had a simple motivation: Apple's staff hated their cellphones. They'd already been working on the iPad project, so the team adapted the work it had done so far to a smaller product, which eventually became the iPhone. This team was segregated from the rest of Apple for years, and secrecy was paramount even by Apple's legendarily locked-down standards. Here's Apple's e-mail thread about a 7-inch iPad CNET shows off an email from Eddy Cue, described during Scott Forstall's court testimony, which shows Apple has indeed shown interest in developing a smaller version of the iPad. "I believe there will be a 7" market and we should do one," Cue said in a January 2011 email to Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, and Scott Forstall after using a Samsung Galaxy. "I expressed this to Steve several times since Thanksgiving and he seemed very receptive the last time," Cue said in the email, which contradicts claims Jobs made during an October 2010 financial call where he dissed the usability of smaller tablets. Cue found few usability problems: "I found email, books, facebook and video very compelling on a 7". Web browsing is definitely the weakest point, but still usable." Samsung presented this as evidence that Apple draws just as much "inspiration" from its competitors as Samsung has. Time will tell if Apple releases a smaller iPad that looks almost identical to the Galaxy Tab.
Deposition reveals iPhone prototype with curved glass
Among the many images of iPhone, iPad and iPod prototypes being used by Apple in its patent infringement case against Samsung, one stands out as something completely different from any other device we've seen -- an iPhone prototype with curved glass on the front and back. Network World's iOnApple reports that Apple's first witness in the case, former designer Christopher Stringer, described the prototype as being too costly to produce -- "The technology in shaping the glass, the cost relative to shaping the glass at the time, and some of the design features of this specific shape were not liked." Stringer noted that the technology at the time wasn't amenable to mass production at a reasonable cost. Another prototype that resembles a large iPod mini (below, left) was also revealed during testimony, but apparently didn't make the grade since the extruded aluminum case wasn't comfortable and "you can't get antennas to work properly in a fully enclosed metal jacket." While the legal maneuverings of Samsung and Apple are about as exciting as watching paint dry or listening to dead crickets, the continued parade of iPhone designs that never made it to production is fascinating. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Opening statements delivered in Apple vs. Samsung trial
Apple and Samsung hit each other hard Tuesday during the opening statements of the patent trial between the companies, the Associated Press reported. Highlights of the first day's court session: Apple charged Samsung with choosing to copy the iPhone and iPad rather than innovate after the iPhone was announced in 2007. To counter Apple's argument, Samsung said it pours billions into research and development, pointing out that patents have been filed for rounded rectangle designs similar to Apple's. Apple designer Christopher Stringer testified about his role in creating the iPhone and iPad. Stringer has been with Apple for 17 years. After overcoming a number of obstacles to release both products, Stringer said he was upset to see Samsung's products on the market. "We've been ripped off. It's plain to see," he said. Stringer goes into detail with how products are developed, literally designing around a kitchen table. As the trial opened, a juror pleaded to be released after finding out that her employer would not continue to pay her salary while she served. The request was granted. Meanwhile, the Verge reports that Judge Lucy Koh is pretty angry with Samsung for sending the press evidence that didn't make it into the trial. Among that evidence was information showing Sony influences on iPhone prototypes. It's interesting to note as the trial moves ahead that Apple is essentially trying to avoid what happened to the Fender Stratocaster guitar, which was so influential on guitar designs that it transformed the industry -- but Fender did not pursue the copycats promptly, and by the time it did take up the cause decades later the design had already become synonymous with a generic guitar (as pointed out by Matt Panzarino). The trial will be on hiatus until Friday, when Apple senior vice president for marketing Phil Schiller is expected to testify. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Daily Update for July 30, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Samsung objects to "gratuitous images" of Steve Jobs in Apple's slides
If you haven't had enough of the Apple vs. Samsung battle royale, in addition to Judge Lucy Koh's ruling about iPhone prototypes yesterday, she also decreed that showing Steve Jobs in Apple's opening statement slides are "relevant to Apple's iPhone design patent and trade dress claims and is not unduly prejudicial." The five slides in question involve the announcement of the iPhone in 2007, the iPad in 2010 and Steve Jobs' patents. Samsung argued that if the court allowed Apple to use these slides that Samsung be allowed use quotes from Jobs in its arguments. Koh ruled against Samsung using the Jobs quotes against Android on July 18, saying at the time, "I really don't think this is a trial about Steve Jobs." [via FOSS Patents]
Court rules Samsung can't show Sony's influence on iPhone; Apple reveals 2005 prototype
The battle royale begins in a California courtroom today, as jury selection begins in the case of Apple vs. Samsung. As part of the last-minute legal maneuvering before the trial started, Samsung attempted to show how certain iPhone prototypes were influenced by Sony designs. However, Judge Lucy Koh ruled yesterday that Samsung's lawyers could not bring up the topic in opening arguments. AllThingsD's Ina Fried reported on the decision on the eve of the beginning of the trial. Samsung wanted to have ex-Apple designer Shin Nishibori testify in the case, although Nishibori insistence that he will not appear as a witness. Nishibori made a mockup of a Sony-inspired iPhone (nicknamed "Jony" in honor of Apple's Industrial Design Senior VP Jony Ive) during his time at Apple, and Samsung wanted to use that design as proof that the iPhone design is not unique. The Sony-like design may be a moot point anyway, as Apple revealed a design code-named "purple" (seen in the image at the top of this post) that pre-dates it by several months. Purple looks surprisingly like the iPhone 4 design -- according to court documents (PDF document), Nishibori testified in regard to the "Jony" design "that the design exercise was to be an 'enjoyable' side project and that he merely applied details, 'buttons and switches,' to express the Sony style on a model phone Apple had already developed." In case you're confused about all of the courtroom craziness that has gone on so far, Fried has produced a "cheat sheet" that will hopefully make sense the insanity surrounding the case. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; } #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Apple reveals 'Purple' phone prototype in court filing, to prove it didn't copy Sony
The previous batch of sketches revealed during Apple v Samsung suggested the iPhone may have actually borrowed ideas from Sony, but a new filing goes back even further into history to show that's not the case. The Verge spotted that the latest raft of paperwork includes a "Purple" prototype [above left] that was made around August 2005 and bears several hallmarks of the iPhone that finally appeared. The Sony-styled prototypes came later, and were apparently just an "enjoyable side project." AllThingsD has also drawn together around 100 prototypes from Apple's deposition, which offers some interesting insights into what the iPhone could have looked like.
Apple v. Samsung court filings reveal Sony-inspired iPhone, kickstand-equipped iPad and other prototypes
There's no telling how much more we'll see once the big Apple vs. Samsung trial finally gets underway in a San Jose federal court next week, but today has already seen the release of a swath of new documents full of surprises. Most notably, that includes a range of previously unseen Apple prototype devices, including various renderings of both the iPhone and iPad. One standout is an iPhone 4-esque device that quite literally wears its Sony influence on its sleeve (in one instance with the logo changed to "Jony," a la Apple's Jony Ive). According to the filing, it was designed by Apple's Shin Nishibori, and was apparently up against another more metallic, iPod-style device at one point (ultimately winning out despite some protestation). But those are far from the only iPhone prototypes that have been revealed. There's also an elongated device identified by the codename N90, seemingly with a small screen and space for a keypad or input area of some sort below, plus a device with squared off corners somewhat reminiscent of the Motorola Photon 4G. Another prototype goes in the opposite direction, with sharp corners and a slightly rounded back. As for the iPad, we've gotten a look at some more recent prototypes than the early 2000-era model that surfaced earlier this month. While there's no stylus in sight, there are a couple of iPad prototypes with kickstands built into the back of the device, and a number of considerably different designs than what Apple ultimately settled on. Dive into the galleries below for a closer look at the whole lot. Michael Gorman contributed to this report. %Gallery-161208% %Gallery-161207%
German court guns down third Samsung patent lawsuit, plus one from Apple
Mannheim judge Andreas Voss is nothing if not decisive. FOSSPatents reports he's just thrown out a third Samsung v. Apple patent lawsuit relating to use of the 3G/UMTS standard. Not to be one-sided, he's also rejected the first of two Apple v. Samsung cases involving slide-to-unlock patents. Weirdly, this latter decision appears to contradict a recent ruling by a Munich court that upheld a similar slide-to-unlock claim by Apple against Motorola, but Judge Voss and his trigger-finger aren't bothered. Keep it up old boy, and maybe we can have this whole thing nailed by the summer. Oh wait, no, both sides are expected to appeal.
