After early reports that Apple removed the popular photography app without much notice, Apple says it had to after receiving complaints of possible child pornography. 500px disputes the claim. Read more »
All signs point to Apple reporting a great holiday quarter. But sinking investor confidence about Apple’s future will hang over the earnings call. Read more »
Apple’s vision for selling its devices in emerging markets in Asia is bigger than Greater China. Indonesia’s capital city is reportedly set to get the country’s first Apple retail store. Read more »
The company behind the popular Steam online gaming platform is definitely not impressed by the latest Windows version and is instead pushing Windows developers to Ubuntu Linux. Read more »
Delivering and managing the web experience isn’t just about mobile. Companies are also faced with new challenges in the desktop environment, including browser fragmentation, network evolution, and client-side technologies. They must invest in both the desktop environment as well as to create an optimized experience for mobile. Read more »
Apple’s biggest competitors — Facebook, Google and Amazon — are getting really good at finding ways to systematically insert themselves between Apple and its customers. Read more »
Need a dock to charge and sync your iPad mini? Apple doesn’t make one so this inexpensive pass-through dock may be the solution. It’s only $10.60 with shipping included. Read more »
Is the iPad mini eating into iPad sales? It’s difficult to tell since Apple doesn’t break out sales of different models. But Sharp is cutting 9.7-inch display production, possibly due to lower demand for the iPad. Read more »
So far, the only publisher participating is Hearst. There’s no set standard for how early a look each Newsstand issue will offer, Hearst told AllThingsD. Read more »
Is the power of the digital pen mightier than the sword? We may find out next month, when Samsung is reportedly launching the Galaxy Note 8.0, an Android 4.2 tablet similar in size to Apple’s iPad mini. Read more »
Amazon is getting more aggressive in its attempt to muscle into the online music space. On Thursday, it announced a HTML5-based MP3 store that allows consumers to buy and play songs on their Apple devices. Read more at paidContent »
In the fourth quarter, the traditional pay-TV industry began to show signs of severe internal stresses after having held off the immediate challenge of over-the-top video. Meanwhile the music industry fell into an internal battle over performance royalties. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Apple is now offering payment plans, including some that are interest-free. It’s a part of a series of moves starting more than a year ago at Apple to make its products more palatable to customers in China. Read more »
Former VP of Retail Jerry McDougal was said to be a candidate for SVP. His departure may indicate he was passed over and that Tim Cook is getting closer to appointing a new head of retail operations. Read more »
The mobile platform wars heated up in a big way as 2012 came to a close. Among other trends, Microsoft launched Windows Phone 8, Android’s dominant market share grew, and mobile commerce reached record highs during the holidays. Read more »
After several years as a devoted Apple iPhone user, I have been tempted by the dark side — I am considering giving up my beloved iPhone for an Android device, and the main attraction is the openness of the ecosystem that Android takes advantage of. Read more »
While a 50 percent cut in demand does sound big, at least one Apple analyst is urging perspective with regard to Apple’s typical fiscal second quarter sales. Read more »
The fourth quarter in cleantech saw attention paid to two prominent, publicly traded companies: EV maker Tesla and newly minted public listing SolarCity. It remains a transitional period for the sector as investment declines, with a shift toward those companies able to scale with little additional capital. Read more »
Apple stopped developing Java for OS X in late 2010 and no longer includes it as pre-installed software on new Macs. But for those who manually installed the plug-in, Apple has blocked Java 7 for now. Read more »
Straight Talk, the $45 a month no-contract provider that resells wireless service from major U.S. carriers, has finally embraced the iPhone 5. Walmart is selling the phone with Straight Talk service and $25 a month no-interest financing. But there’s one major caveat to the deal. Read more »
Tim Cook told China’s state-run news agency that he sees the country becoming its largest market. He’s not just flattering his hosts: the greater China region represents about 15 percent of Apple’s total revenue, bringing in $23.8 billion during Apple’s fiscal 2012. Read more »
Amazon is offering consumers a free digital copy when they buy a CD. It makes perfect sense to do the same for books — alas, it’s not going to happen. Here’s why. Read more at paidContent »
If Apple decides to make and sell an iPhone whose full, unsubsidized cost is less expensive than previous models, it’s going to sell it as a different iPhone that’s “more affordable for users,” not “the cheaper iPhone.” Read more »
Good news for anyone who owns CDs — Amazon is now selling music on a two-for-one basis that gives every customer a digital and a physical version of an album. The company just raised the stakes in its fight with Google and Apple over “music lockers.” Read more at paidContent »
China Mobile is the world’s largest carrier with 650 million subscribers. China is one of the fastest-growing markets for Apple devices. As Apple looks to expand its customer base, this one carrier alone could help it make faster inroads into China. Read more »
Some of Apple’s gain appears to be RIM’s loss as Blackberry sales dropped off at both carriers. The remaining pickup by Apple may have come from new customers, or from upgrades from Android devices, which lost share year over year between mid-October and late November. Read more »
A U.S. non-practising entity is using an old BT patent to attack Apple, Google, Motorola, HTC, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and others. However, BT denies any connection with the suit, saying it sold away all rights around the broad patent. Read more »
Amazon stock is up, up and away yet again — here’s the latest news and a chart that shows the company’s gravity-defying growth. Read more »
Apple releases iOS app sales stats from a pretty impressive holiday sales month. Plus, the company gives a broader status update about the health of its App Store: there are now 775,000 apps for sale for iOS devices. Read more »
After eight consecutive years of covering the International Consumer Electronics Show, it’s interesting to see how technology has evolved; this year I’m taking less gear than ever before and yet, I’ll likely be more productive. Here’s a glimpse of my CES gear bag over time. Read more »
Specialist networks cater to diverse consumer segments, but Facebook’s sheer ubiquity means 94 percent of all social networkers use it. The bottom line: If any generalist network is going to gain mass-market traction, it will be at the expense of Facebook, not in addition to it. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
There were no Fight Club posters, no cutesy codes names for the team building Apple’s web browser, just a dedicated group who valued extreme secrecy, according to Don Melton, the guy who led the Safari and WebKit projects at Apple. Read more »
As the iOS App Store nears the half-decade mark, one of the biggest changes we’re witnessing is how app developers are beginning to go their own way in terms of design. Some of the most forward-thinking designers are bucking Apple’s traditional look for cleaner, simpler interfaces. Read more »
CEO Tim Cook recently said the company is fixing its Maps app through software updates, but also vaguely mentioned a “huge plan to make it even better.” What is that plan? Maybe a smart acquisition of a small social navigation company. Read more »
The internet of things is set to be a hot topic this year at CES, but before going gaga over the latest connected device, there are some hard questions industry watchers should ask — or at least think about– when evaluating the latest announcements and gadgets. Read more »
One of the most popular Linux distributions will arrive on smartphones this year: Canonical is bringing Ubuntu to the small screen. But this isn’t a special version of Ubuntu; it’s the actual desktop software platform with touch-friendly mobile interface that could be a disruptor. Read more »
The claims of trademark infringement and unfair competition are still pending. But Amazon’s small win could prove to be very important as the company continues to turn its mobile content and hardware business into a more direct competitor of Apple’s. Read more »
Reports about Apple and TSMC striking a contract for mobile chip production have floated around since summer. In October, supply chain analysts in Asia said Apple was moving to TSMC. Now, reports peg the Taiwanese chipmaker with a first-quarter 2013 production trial for the A6X. Read more »
Apple will launch a fully fledged iBookstore in Japan this year. Kobo, Kindle and Google all launched Japanese ebookstores in 2012 — greasing the wheels for Apple’s launch in a country that has been slow to embrace ebooks. Read more at paidContent »
2012 wraps with a year-end mobile tech podcast that looks both forward and back. With hardware cycles advancing rapidly, neither host is expecting blockbuster news out of the Consumer Electronics Show. Matt is looking deeper into uses for NFC, while Kevin is addicted to TuneIn Radio. Read more »
