Appletell

Apple has been granted four new patents today by the US Patent & Trademark Office. The patents cover four inventions that relate to Apple’s multipurpose dock, QuickTime’s transmission of differently formatted media, measuring network bandwidth between two computers, and a communication between media servers and media clients.

Stand invention (US Patent D567800) does not offer a detailed explanation as to why this dock is much different than other docks on the market. Apple only provided a one sentence explanation in the patent filing: “The stand, which can be utilized as a dock, is used to support an electronic device, such as a media player, media storage device, cellular phone, PDA and/or the like.”

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Let’s face it, Apple gets a TON of publicity.  So much so that some sites has made feeds that exclude all articles dealing with Apple.  This article will discuss two things dealing with all this publicity, why it happens and what it does for Apple.

Why does this happen? Apple makes their hardware and software themselves for the most part.  This means every time one of these products gets updated, there is news about it.  With so many products, many updates are bound to happen, which means more publicity.  Also, Apple knows how to market a product efficiently and increase the publicity even more.  They make the announcements of the devices they create huge and develop tons of hype.  All this hype around the device causes it to be heard about all over the internet, news shows, etc which is bound to lead to good things.  But, what are those goods things?  Read on to find out.

What does it do for Apple? Publicity brings customers and customers bring money.  And behind every sale there is, obviously, money.  With so much hype around all of their products, even people not in the tech field are bound to hear about them.  Heck, even my local news station was reporting about the iPhone.  All these potential customers seeing these great products causes them to look more into and, in some cases, even buy it.  Apple has mastered this and is why their market share continues to increase.  People hear so much about their products that they begin to get curious, just what Apple needs to drive a sale.

What are you thoughts?  Is this publicity good for Apple, or just annoying?

According to a report by Fortune today, AT&T Inc. will subsidize $200 of the purchase price for new iPhones purchased this summer, reducing its cost to as low as $199. Although Apple wouldn’t be particularly happy, they wouldn’t be able to object either, due to increasing iPhone sales through AT&T.

Fortune claimed in its report that AT&T will subsidize the price of new iPhones capable of accessing the 3G data network that the carrier is currently expanding in the United States. AT&T’s $200 price cut would likely be limited to customers who sign a two-year contract, and would not be available directly through Apple. Apple and AT&T now sell the iPhone for $399 for the 8 GB model and $499 for the 16 GB model, and the expected 3G models are estimated to have the same list prices. Several weeks before the new 3G iPhone is to be released, Apple will stop supplying the current iPhone models to reduce inventory, according to Fortune.

Both Apple and AT&T declined to comment on the report, with representatives from both companies stating that they do not comment on speculation.

Read [Fortune’s Report]

Apple’s update of the iMac line on Tuesday is really beginning to show the direction that Apple is taking in its computers. Most significantly, Apple seems to be showing signs of preparing its Macs for the world of gaming.

Some evidence of this is the new 3.06GHz processor option for the 24-inch iMac, which is suspicious only because Apple is working the current technology to get 3.06GHz out of something designed to only give 2.8GHz. Another piece of evidence is the GPU, which seems to be a stock nVIDIA 8800M GTS (even though Apple calls it an 8800 GS, but Apple also called Mobility HD 2600 XT parts HD 2600 Pro). This is a very high-end GPU and offers much more power than most Mac users currently need from the iMac.

Implementing the overclocked processor and a high-end nVIDIA GPU in an iMac is a suspicious move for Apple to make. Whether Apple is starting to optimize Macs for gaming using Boot Camp with Windows, or even preparing Mac OS X-based gaming, no one can be sure. Either way, it appears that Apple is taking a step forward towards a future of gaming in its Macs.

If you can’t beat ‘em, develop for ‘em!  At the moment, that it what Research In Motion, producer of the BlackBerry, may be doing.  The company has seen falls in sales of elephantine proportions since the introduction of the iPhone, and they seem to be in a hole out of which they cannot be dug.  Some analysts even predict the iPhone to totally make the BlackBerry an after thought in the world of SmartPhones. 

With that in mind, RIM may be hedging their bets in terms of an BlackBerry fallout.  A recent company memo called for applicants for a special team, and although the exact memo is nowhere to be found, an unidentified RIM employee did leak the following to Electronista. 

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A few weeks ago I wrote about a possible rumor that Canada may be receiving the iPhone.  Now, it has been confirmed.  Although the statement from Roger’s was extremely short, with no details about a release date or model, it is now certain that the iPhone is heading north.  All the statement read was:

“We’re thrilled to announce that we have a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to Canada later this year. We can’t tell you any more about it right now, but stay tuned.”

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that Roger’s won’t bother releasing the iPhone until they have the 3G version.  In my opinion, it would only make sense to wait for that device as I’m sure all the customers are.  However, the point is that Canada will be getting the device, so all of our Canadian friends can now start saving their pocket change.  Congratulations guys, it has been a long wait, but you will find it well worth the time.

BBC America TV shows have just been added to the US iTunes Store. There are only three shows at this point in time, but expect more to be on their way:

• Torchwood (Series 1 and 2)
• Little Britain (Series 3 only)
• Robin Hood (Series 2 only)

This small collection of shows is available for the usual $1.99 per show - buying entire seasons can vary in cost, but is usually slightly cheaper than buying episode-after-episode. This is still very limited, and what I would call not worth paying for. But I guess if you don’t have access to the BBC World channel, or you want it on your computer/iPod/iPhone - then this is the way to go. If you’re in the UK, you’ll have a much wider variety of choice; including the BBC’s own iPlayer - which lets you catch-up on shows every 7 days. This service is also available for streaming on iPhones and iPod Touches in the UK.

Via [TUAW]

According to Henry Milan, owner of patent number 6,991,483, Apple is infringing on his patent for a method to connect a Flash memory device to a connection port on another device, such as a computer.  This would affect devices such as the iPod Touch and iPod Nano, but Information Week has mentioned that, surprisingly, the iPhone is not mentioned in this report although it could be added.  The lawsuit wants to receive damages for the infringement as well as an injunction against the sales of the devices.  However, the law firm, Butzel Long, is not sure whether or not they want to pursue the injunction yet.

I’m sure Apple’s lawyers are busy over in Cupertino trying to get this straightened out, and I hope the lawsuit is settled quickly and efficiently for both sides.  I find it highly unlikely that the iPods will have to stop being sold, but that’s fairly obvious.  What are you thoughts on this patent dispute?  Is Mr. Milan on to something here?

Funnily enough, I was just waiting for Apple to release this. Since I just installed Woopra, a new statistics tracking software, on my website - and it requires Java SE6 on the Mac. Unfortunately, the latest Java SDK doesn’t run on 32-bit Macs - which means my Core Duo MacBook won’t be able to run it. However, all of Apple’s newest products are Core 2 Duo, and are 64-bit (if running Leopard). The update is available for download from Apple’s website or Software Update if you have a compatible Mac.

This latest update adds support for Java SE 6 version 1.6.0_05. This update does not replace your current install of Java on your Mac, it just adds support for SE 6. It requires a 64-bit Intel Mac with Mac OS X 10.5.2

Via [TUAW]

Reports from the Chinese news site, Commercial Times, say Apple has asked Foxconn Electronics to begin producing between 24 and 25 million 3G iPhones and to have them ready by June.  The sources for this report come from component suppliers and investors in Taipei.  In case you forgot, throughout the world at this point Apple has sold about 6 million iPhones, which is a bit off from their 10 million device expectation for June.  However, the specs for the 3G device could be what everyone was looking for, which would skyrocket iPhone sales worldwide.  There has already been news of companies, such as TIM, signing deals with Apple for this device, and I think it’s going to be a huge announcement.

One thing is for sure, this device has been hyped like none other, and Apple really needs to nail the official specs for it.  If they do, the 2nd generation of the device will be a huge success, not only with individuals, but with companies.  I can’t wait for WWDC just because of the iPhone announcement that will likely take place, can you?