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Posted by Joe Rossignol on Thursday, May 17, 2012 at 1:56 am.

Apple and Samsung control half of the global smartphone market

Research firm Gartner released its numbers today for “Worldwide Mobile Device Sales” during Q1 2012. There are not many surprises in the report when it comes to Apple, but Gartner estimated Samsung sold 38 smartphones during the quarter, which is less than the 42.2 million estimated by IDC earlier this month and more than the 32 million by IHS iSuppli. With Apple confirming 35.1 million iPhones sold during the quarter, Gartner’s numbers put Samsung as the both the No. 1 smartphone and overall mobile device vendor. The report also noted Samsung and Apple together accounted for 49.3-percent of the global smartphone sales, which is up from just 29.3 percent in Q1 of last year.

Apple and Samsung continue to be dominant leaders in the smartphone market, pulling further away from competing handset makers such as HTC, Nokia and Research in Motion.

Sprint Happy to Carry the iPhone, But Loses Money On It

Posted by Joe Rossignol on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 5:14 pm.

Sprint was extremely pleased when it reached an agreement with Apple to carry the iPhone on its network, but that deal is expected to cost the U.S.’s third-largest carrier a whopping $15 billion over the next four years. Nevertheless, Sprint’s chief executive Dan Hesse, who took a $3.25 million pay cut earlier this month to please shareholders, is optimistic about carrying the iPhone on the network he heads.

“We’re very happy with it,” Hesse said of Sprint’s deal with Apple, during the company’s annual shareholders meeting Tuesday. “Carrying the iPhone will be quite profitable.”

While the initial investment of carrying the iPhone has been rather burdensome for Sprint, the carrier expects to benefit from Apple’s handset in the future. Sprint is expected to continue losing money the iPhone until 2015, but Hesse notes that it will slow subscriber turnover and create a new class of high-value subscribers for the carrier. Read more …

DigiTimes Rumor Takes a Toll on Samsung, Hynix’s Market Cap

Posted by Jacob Penderworth on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 11:48 am.

It’s been known for some time now that DigiTimes is the most unreliable source of any news out there; their track record just can’t hold up. However, Time Techland really hurt them with some bad publicity the other day, showing the many readers of the blog that it’s far from reliable. What’s crazy is the fact that in the light of that, Samsung’s market cap went down due to the facts granulated at the rumor mill earlier this week.

Just yesterday, DigiTimes reported that Apple ordered a “huge” amount of DRAM chips from Elpida, which happens to be a competitor of Apple’s usual suppliers — Samsung and Hynix. With that, Reuters reported today that the latter corporations’ market cap dropped by a $10 billion with a 6 percent stock decline; Hynix is smaller than Samsung and dropped 9 percent. Read more …

Verizon Draws Plans to End All Unlimited Data with LTE Transition

Posted by Jacob Penderworth on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 11:23 am.

We all knew that unlimited data’s reign would end soon, and for Verizon Wireless, “soon” is closer than previously imagined. Fierce Wireless reports today that the carrier’s CFO, Fran Shammo announced at this years JP Morgan conference that Verizon Wireless would cease to provide unlimited data to grandfathered customers. They will instead be offering the data-share plan — something that will be announced towards the middle of this summer — to customers. Read more …

Verizon Expanding 4G LTE to 28 New Markets

Posted by Joe Rossignol on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 8:44 am.

Verizon Wireless has announced that it will be expanding its 4G LTE network to 28 new markets on Thursday, May 17, increasing its total network coverage to 258 markets across the United States. Over the next few days, Verizon Wireless will be rolling out 4G LTE coverage in the following markets… Read more …

Apple Fires Back Over Siri Lawsuits

Posted by Joe Rossignol on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 7:49 am.

Over the past several months, Apple has been slammed with a number of different lawsuits relating to the performance and functionality of Siri. But the iPhone maker is not caving in, requesting that the court throw out these Siri cases entirely.

In a filing with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Apple has requested that the court dismiss the class-action lawsuit against Siri, noting that plaintiffs made vague claims about their disappointment with the iPhone 4S voice assistant feature.

“Tellingly, although Plaintiffs claim they became dissatisfied with Siri’s performance ‘soon after’ purchasing their iPhones, they made no attempt to avail themselves of Apple’s 30-day return policy or one-year warranty, which remains in effect,” the company wrote in its motion filed last week, but discovered yesterday by the Wall Street Journal. “Instead, they seek to take an alleged personal grievance about the purported performance of a popular product and turn it into a nationwide class action under California’s consumer protection statutes.

WSJ: Next iPhone to Have Screen That is ‘At Least 4 Inches’

Posted by Joe Rossignol on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 7:18 am.

The Wall Street Journal reports that production is set to begin next month on larger screens for the next-generation iPhone, which measure at least four inches diagonally. The current iPhone screen measures 3.5 inches diagonally, which has been the de facto display size for the iPhone since the original model was introduced in 2007. Apple is said to be increasing the screen size on the iPhone amid growing competition from Samsung and its myriad of smartphones with larger screens. Read more …

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is the Worst, Says Forbes

Posted by Jacob Penderworth on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 2:42 pm.

Forbes yesterday published a list of the five CEOs who should have gotten the boot by now. While those of Cisco, GE, Sears, and WalMart are great and all, the number one spot went to Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer — and for good reason. Forbes says that “without a doubt” he is the “worst CEO of a large publicly traded American company today.” Well then Microsoft, that hurts, doesn’t it? If you wonder why he got such a terrible rank — if you could even call it that — watch the video above and keep reading. Read more …

Report Claims Google Chrome Will Debut on iOS

Posted by Jacob Penderworth on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 1:40 pm.

Since coming to Android back in February, Google Chrome has become a very popular mobile browser among the many Android users out there. Shortly following the release, many wondered whether the browser would ever be brought to iOS. Business Insider today pointed to a report that Macquarie analyst Ben Schacter published this morning — the report claims that a “Google Chrome browser for iOS is coming.” Schacter even says that Apple “may already be reviewing” the app, asserting that it could release as soon as Q2 of this year. If not released then, he says to expect it sometime this year for sure. Read more …

Rumor: Retina Display Also Coming to the MacBook Air

Posted by Joe Rossignol on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 10:19 am.

Yesterday, it was reported that Apple will release a new MacBook Pro with a high resolution Retina display as one its leading features. Then, this morning, a report surfaced from ABC News that suggested Apple will also release new iMacs with Retina displays as well. And now we have yet another report, this one by Mark Gurman for 9to5Mac, claiming that the next-generation MacBook Airs will also be equipped with Retina displays. Read more …

Nokia Accuses Apple of Rigging Siri

Posted by Joe Rossignol on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 9:22 am.

Finnish handset maker Nokia has accused Apple of intentionally changing Siri to suggest that the iPhone is the best smartphone when asked. Previously, the voice assistant feature had been claiming that the Nokia Lumia 900 was the best smartphone available, but it now answers “the one you’re holding” or “you’re kidding, right?” when asked that question. Nokia believes that Apple is unfairly changing the Siri programming to alter its responses.

“Apple position Siri as the intelligent system that’s there to help, but clearly if they don’t like the answer, they override the software,” Nokia spokeswoman Tracy Postill said in a statement sent to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The responses that Siri provides are almost entirely based off information from third-party service Wolfram Alpha, which is where the Nokia Lumia 900 result came from. Wolfram Alpha would have claimed the Nokia Lumia 900 as the best smartphone based on Best Buy reviews and other aggregated information about the handset. Do you think that it is unjust for Apple to be tinkering with Siri to have the responses weigh in its favor, or is that something the company is entitled to because its their own product?

[CNET]

Redsn0w 0.9.11b4 Released, Jailbreaks Older Devices on iOS 5.1.1

Posted by Joe Rossignol on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 8:34 am.

The iPhone Dev-Team has released an update to redsn0w for OS X and Windows, bringing the popular jailbreaking utility to version 0.9.11b4. The update includes tethered jailbreak support for older devices running iOS 5.1.1, such as the iPhone 4, fourth-generation iPod touch, and original iPad.

Update #3: Version 0.9.11b4 completes the tethered JB support for 5.1.1 on A4 devices and earlier, including proper “Stitching” and “Custom” creation of NO_BB IPSWs.

Up until now, iOS hacker MuscleNerd had reminded everyone that the same iOS 5.1 tethered jailbreak available for older devices could have been applied to devices running iOS 5.1.1 by simply pointing the older version of redsn0w to the iOS 5.1 IPSW file. With this update, that process is no longer necessary.

Rumor: New iMacs Will Also Have Retina Displays

Posted by Joe Rossignol on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 7:46 am.

Joanna Stern for ABC News has briefly noted that, in addition to the MacBook Pro, the iMac is also set to receive a “very, very high resolution” Retina display when it is updated in the near future. Apple equipped the third-generation iPad with a Retina display, boasting that the tablet has one million more pixels than an HDTV set. The iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, and fourth-generation iPod touch also feature Retina displays. Read more …

iOS 5.1.1 Jailbreak Drops in Just a Few Weeks

Posted by Joe Rossignol on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 7:13 am.

Infamous iOS hacker pod2g has provided more news about the iOS 5.1.1 untethered jailbreak that he is working on. To begin with, he has posted a series of tweets to confirm that the jailbreak works successfully with the iPhone 4S, iPad 2, and original iPad.

Just last week, the hacker confirmed that the jailbreak also works with the iPhone 4 and new iPad. Unfortunately, he noted that the jailbreak does not yet work with the third-generation iPod touch or iPhone 3GS with newer bootrom because the kernel vulnerability did not work.

Nevertheless, with most of the testing out of the way, pod2g has posted a FAQ on his iOS blog to clarify the status of the iOS 5.1.1 untethered jailbreak. Most importantly, the FAQ says to expect the jailbreak to be released in a couple of weeks. Check it out all of the questions and answers just ahead. Read more …

Thinner MacBook Pros Launching at WWDC

Posted by Joe Rossignol on Monday, May 14, 2012 at 3:11 pm.

Bloomberg has confirmed an earlier report about Apple working on thinner MacBook Pros with Retina displays, suggesting that the company will release the new notebooks at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) from June 11th to 15th. If this is true, then the new MacBooks might not launch with OS X Mountain Lion pre-installed, as Apple has routinely stated that the operating system will not be publicly released until late summer. Read more …

Would You Buy the 4-inch ‘iPhone 5′?

Posted by Joe Rossignol on Monday, May 14, 2012 at 2:48 pm.

Ciccarese Design has once again teamed up with MacRumors to provide concept designs for the unreleased ‘iPhone 5,’ basing its mockups off rumors of a taller iPhone with metal casing from iLounge. These renders show what an iPhone would look like with a 4-inch display, at the same time proving that Apple could theoretically add a fifth row of icons to the device’s home screen. The mockups also feature a smaller dock connector and metal casing on the back of the iPhone, two features that line up with the iLounge speculation. Read more …

Intel to Manufacture Chips that Apple ‘Can’t Ignore’

Posted by Jacob Penderworth on Monday, May 14, 2012 at 10:55 am.

It has long been wondered why Apple never used Intel’s microarchitecture in their iOS devices and instead used them only in their Mac computers. Last Thursday, during Intel’s yearly investor day in Santa Clarita, CA, the CEO of the CPU vendor said that they are working very hard to see that Apple recognizes them as an alternative to the ARM architecture in their iOS devices’ CPU chips. Read more …

Kaspersky Lab CTO Says Mac OS is ‘Really Vulnerable’

Posted by Jacob Penderworth on Monday, May 14, 2012 at 10:14 am.

As reported by Computing, Apple has requested that security corporation Kaspersky advise it on the security of the Mac OS. It has been publicly advertised that OS X is the most secure operating system available today, but Kaspersky Lab CTO Nikolai Grebennikov begs to differ. Apparently the OS is actually much more insecure than most would believe and Grebinnikov told Computing exclusively that it’s “really vulnerable.” Read on for additional details. Read more …

New MacBook Pro and iMac Models Surface on Geekbench

Posted by Joe Rossignol on Monday, May 14, 2012 at 6:12 am.

As noted by MacRumors, new MacBook Pro and iMac entries have surfaced on Geekbench’s benchmarking database. The first item is a new MacBookPro 9,1, which corresponds to the new MacBook Pro that has been rumored about for months. The second entry is the new iMac13,2, which appears to be a new 27-inch iMac model. It is almost definite now that Apple plans to refresh its Mac lineup, and we’re likely only a matter of weeks away.

This new MacBook Pro is listed as carrying an Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3820QM quad-core processor running at 2.7 GHz. That processor has long been viewed as the natural successor to Apple’s current offerings in high-end 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models. With the i7-3820QM being a 45-watt chip, it is extremely unlikely that Apple would be using it in a new 13-inch MacBook Pro model.

Apple to Launch New 15″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display and USB 3

Posted by Joe Rossignol on Monday, May 14, 2012 at 4:42 am.

Mock-up: New ultra-thin, 15-inch MacBook Pro (left), current 15-inch MacBook Pro (right)

As we get closer to the launch of new MacBooks, we have slowly learned more details about what to expect in the new notebooks. This morning, Mark Gurman for 9to5Mac has shared some significant details about what to expect of Apple’s new MacBook Pro lineup in particular. Gurman, citing trusted sources in Apple’s supply chain, claims that Apple is currently working on a new 15-inch MacBook Pro with a Retina display, ultra-thin design, and super-fast USB 3 technology for release this summer.

Apple is putting the finishing touches on an entirely new 15-inch MacBook Pro that is the outcome of years of research and development in ultra-thin mobile computing and super-high-resolution displays. According to trusted sources in Apple’s supply chain, who have handled prototype components and casings for the new Apple notebook, the computer is currently undergoing test production rounds. The new 15-inch MacBook Pro is coming this summer, and it features an ultra-thin design, a “jaw-dropping” Retina Display, and super-fast USB 3.