Reports that Google has entered a bidding war with Facebook over the social-mapping service Waze may be just a gambit by the company to force a better deal, but there are compelling reasons why Google should make a bid. Read more »
Apple is said to be planning new looks for basic iOS apps that are mostly black and white and uniform in look. Functions like slide-to-unlock will also get a facelift. Read more »
Apple and the federal government met on Thursday for a final hearing before their trial, which is set to begin on June 3, and features several high profile witnesses. Read more at paidContent »
Having a larger presence in the nation’s capital and making friends with the policymakers that can wield great power over its reputation and fortunes may just be something Apple has to do. Read more »
Apple and the federal government are about to go to trial over an alleged conspiracy to fix ebook prices — but recent court filings show that Amazon will play a large role in determining the outcome. Read more at paidContent »
An article from Data Center Knowledge points to things robots can do to increase efficiency in data centers. But hurdles lie ahead, and data centers will still need administrators, the article suggests. Read more »
Roughly half a dozen new mobile operating systems will come to market over the next 6 to 12 months. Many of these look to be more sophisticated than the older ones controlled by Apple and Google, for whom serious competition could be just around the corner. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The reason for Apple’s being singled out for common U.S. tax minimization practices wasn’t completely explained by a U.S. Senate subcommittee Tuesday. But Tim Cook handled the grilling before Congress easily. Read more »
Cook will call for a revenue-neutral reform of the corporate tax code that does away with all tax expenditures, lowers tax rates and establishes a “reasonable” tax on companies’ earnings from overseas. Read more »
The iPhone maker has been tweaking its pricing strategy and incentive offerings in markets where smartphone ownership has only recently begun to take hold. In India it’s offering discounts for trade-ins and a cash back offer. Read more »
Reports indicate Apple is still working out the licensing details with music publishers for its “iRadio” service. Read more »
It’s an unfamiliar role for an Apple executive to be in. But Tim Cook will say that while he believes 35 percent is too high of a corporate tax, he also doesn’t think “zero” taxes on that money is reasonable. Read more »
Apple announced a big milestone in app downloads on Wednesday, the same day that Google’s I/O developer conference kicked off in San Francisco. The app store has now seen 50 million downloads so far. Read more »
Apple’s exposure in a closely-watched price-fixing case over ebooks looks more serious as the CEOs of major publishers — which have already settled with the government — will testify about Apple’s role in the case. Read more at paidContent »
A new lawsuit claims the iPhone4 has a defective on-off button. The national class action claims Apple knew about the defect but didn’t disclose it even as it worked with AT&T to sell 2 year contracts. Read more »
Philips is giving its connected Hue light bulb an update that connects it to IFTTT so people can tie their light bulbs into existing web services. It’s also adding a location-aware feature and scheduling. Read more »
Video has long been the driving force behind our growth in broadband traffic. The latest Sandvine report shows us that’s still the case and offers clues on how ISPs may cope. Read more »
iTunes’ increasingly good quarterly sales demonstrates how the long-rumored Apple video and “iRadio” subscription services the company has over the years tried to bring to fruition could become significant revenue sources. Read more »
While things are not quite what they used to be, Apple does still have a shot at impressing its seemingly forgotten Mac Pro customers by putting the power back into its Macs. Read more »
Something Amazon is really good at and something Apple is not: the cloud. Amazon hones in on its competitors’ cloud-based photo territory on Apple’s own platform with a new app. Read more »
The Financial Times is the latest publisher to strike a partnership with Flipboard. The deal is interesting because the FT recently left another third-party platform, iTunes. Read more at paidContent »
When Apple says it sold 37.5 million iPhones and 19.5 million iPads this is often interpreted as Apple declaring that 37.5 million iPhones and 19.5 million iPads have been purchased by customers. That’s not quite the whole story. Read more »
News reports out of Israel say Facebook is in talks to acquire traffic-information service Waze for as much as $1 billion, but Google will be making a big mistake if it doesn’t try to top that offer. Read more »
Apple has won one of its many lawsuits involving “i” products — a federal judge threw out a case in which a New York publisher claimed that it, not Apple, has the rights to use “iBooks.” Read more »
Google is helping third-party iOS app makers send their users to Chrome instead of the default Safari browser. It’s yet another step in the company finding ways to reach its users on Apple’s own platform. Read more »
Foxconn isn’t looking for ways to reduce its dependence on Apple; it’s really looking for ways to rely less on the iPhone. Read more »
The key to Apple’s growth is finding international carriers that will sell the iPhone to new smartphone users. But, as Bloomberg points out, that’s getting harder to do because of Apple’s requirements. Read more »
Europe’s antitrust authorities have invited Motorola to defend itself over its use of essential patents as legal weapons against Apple, despite Apple’s willingness to pay what it considered a reasonable royalty rate. Read more »
The U.S. smartphone story didn’t change too drastically in the first quarter of 2013: Android is still used by more than half of all smartphones and the iPhone is still by far the most popular smartphone in the U.S. Read more »
Should Apple roll out a version of iOS with a new and fresher design language this fall, third-party iOS app makers will very likely follow suit. Read more »
Tablet sellers had a really good first quarter. As a result, Apple’s overall share of tablet sales is slipping. Read more »
It may not be the iPhone 5 they buy — the iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S may prove more attractive — but that’s OK. Read more »
Rushing to finish an overhaul to iOS 7 has meant Mac team members have “been roped in to help the mobile software group finish the job,” Bloomberg reports. Read more »
A report on Tuesday indicates Apple has bigger plans for the car beyond a hands-free assistant app: teaming up with carmakers to offer Apple Maps and Siri on a car’s in-dash system. Read more »
Saturated markets and a slumping global economy shrank sales of mobile phones in 2012. But demand for smartphones will help restore growth moving forward, as shipments of smartphones worldwide will surpass those of feature phones in 2013. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
With the sunset of UDID this coming week, a major barrier to mobile ads will fall. The new system for iOS will benefit advertisers while still protecting consumers, and will become a revenue juggernaut for Apple. Read more »
A decade after the launch of iTunes, Apple is still the king of digital music. But as attitudes about music ownership continue to shift, the software’s next 10 years will likely be more challenging than its last. Read more »
Smartphone shipments eclipsed those of feature phones for the first time ever, says IDC. Who’s the current smartphone king, based on the numbers? Samsung is, with a strategy that started in 2010. Read more »
The second-ever AltWWDC conference, an alternative to Apple’s WWDC developer conference, is seeing lots of interest as organizers line up speakers. Read more »
Instead of waiting weeks after the conference is over, Apple says it will be posting the training session videos online as the conference is going on. Read more »
