iLounge

A new report claims that Apple and Samsung are negotiating a component contract that would see the iPhone maker purchase $7.8 billion in parts from Samsung this year. Citing industry sources, the Korea Economic Daily, via the Wall Street Journal, reports that the massive contract would include LCD displays, mobile application processors, and NAND flash memory chips used in the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. The report notes that should the contract push through, Apple would become Samsung’s largest customer.

A number of major retailers are reporting short supplies of the iPod classic, leading some to speculate that the aging iPod model may finally see a refresh—or else be discontinued. iPodnn reports that estimated shipping times for the silver iPod classic have slipped from 24 hours to 1-3 business days on the Apple Online Store, while Best Buy’s website claims the player is backordered for 1-2 weeks, and Target has it listed as backordered for 2-4 weeks. Although the original report states that the supply issues are limited to the silver model of the iPod classic, Apple reseller J&R lists both the silver and black models as out of stock, and Amazon.com’s shipping times for the silver model are 1-3 weeks, compared to 2-4 weeks for the black model. The iPod classic was last updated in September 2009 with a modest capacity bump from 120GB to 160GB and was not mentioned at Apple’s annual iPod event for 2010, however, Toshiba recently announced a new line of hard drives in capacities up to 220GB that could be used in a next-generation model. Whether this shortage is temporary, a sign of an impending update, or a sign that Apple is discontinuing the model entirely is currently unknown.

More than $10 million in counterfeit iPods, iPhones, and other electronics have been seized in downtown Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times reports that the items were taken from a downtown warehouse operation as part of a theft case started by the Los Angeles Port Police. “This was a well-funded operation, and the counterfeits looked very authentic,” said Ron Boyd, chief of the L.A. Port Police force, who added that a buyer might not have noticed anything was amiss until he or she got home and tried to hook up with iTunes. Some of the products, which were shipped from Asia, were designed to resemble older Apple products such as non-touchscreen iPod nanos. Boyd said the case highlighted the lengths counterfeiters go to in hiding their activities, as the fakes arrived as parts meant to be reassembled and labeled before being sold. “Our layered, multi-agency approach to security and theft investigations led to success,” Boyd said. “We’re proud of the teamwork that happens on a continuous basis to thwart consumer fraud, keep our port safe and enable our agencies to pursue cases to fruition and criminal prosecution.”

Apple has added the ability for iPhone and iPod touch users to view iTunes Store Genius recommendations directly on their devices. The new option can be found inside the iTunes Store app under “More” and then “Genius.” Recommendations are available for music, movies, and TV shows, and of course require that you have Genius turned on for your iTunes account. Users are able to rate individual recommendations by swiping across them and tapping on either a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” icon.

Apple has released the third beta version of iOS 4.3 to its paid developers. Listed as build number 8F5166b, it is unclear what has changed in the new version from prior betas, which included the new Personal Hotspot Wi-Fi sharing feature and enhanced AirPlay support for Safari and third-party apps. In addition, the release is once again accompanied by a new preview build of Apple TV Software 4.3. Separate versions of iOS 4.3 beta 2 for the iPad, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, third-, and fourth-generation iPod touch are available as downloads for paid iOS developers from Apple’s iOS Dev Center.

For more information on iOS 4.3, see our Full Breakdown article.

Toshiba, a known supplier of hard drives for the iPod classic, has announced two new drives that could be used to bump the capacity of the iPod classic. The current iPod classic—which hasn’t seen an update since September of 2009, and even then only saw a capacity bump from 120GB to 160GB—uses a 5mm thick, 160GB drive. Toshiba’s new drives are also 5mm in thickness, but offer capacities up to 220GB in a single-platter design with a 16MB buffer for improved performance and the smallest power consumption levels of any SATA drive. According to the release (PDF Link), samples of the drives will be available for customers in February. Apple traditionally updates its iPod lineup once a year in September, but as noted by Mac Rumors, the abnormally long time period between updates for the iPod classic could lead the company to consider a mid-cycle update.

Liv Games has released Legendary Wars, a new hybrid fantasy game for the iPhone and iPod touch. A blend of traditional real-time strategy, RPG and castle defense play, Legendary Wars takes the player through five mystical and tumultuous zones of Lengendaria as they set out to unravel the secrets surrounding the mysterious Sunstones. The game provides a varied set of arcade mini-games, three unlockable game modes and an immersive storyline set in a vibrant, lighthearted fantasy world. An assortment of playable characters range from Elven Archers to Magical Unicorns and each unit has upgradable stats and unique combat abilities that players use against hordes or Netherworld creates and bosses to lead their army to victory. Players can choose from a variety of gameplay styles such as castle defense, castle siege, ambush and free build and must mine resources and recruit units to send into battle, direct units to perform special attack or defensive moves and collect gems in battle to fority defenses, improve resource production and upgrade units. Legendary Wars requires iOS 3.1.3 or later and is available from the App Store for $3.

Google has announced that it has launched a beta version of its Google Cloud Print service for mobile documents and Gmail for mobile. The feature will allow users to print documents from Google Docs, or emails and attachments from Gmail, directly from their browser. The service will require users to connect their printers to Google Cloud Print—something which currently requires a Windows PC—and will be rolling out today and tomorrow for English speaking users in the US. According to Google, the new mobile Cloud Print feature will work on most phones that support HTML5, including devices running iOS 3.0 or later.

The second beta version of iOS 4.3 has been shown to offer further evidence of a camera-equipped iPad, as well as hints of a new cloud-based media sharing and syncing service, a new app, and Push Notifications for an existing service. Mac Rumors reports that the new beta includes an image of an iPad home screen with icons for FaceTime, Camera, and Photo Booth pictured, offering further evidence that the next iPad will include at least one camera. According to the report, the image is used to show a preview of the user’s wallpaper selection; it also suggests Apple is porting its standard Mac OS X Photo Booth app to its portable devices.

Also found in iOS 4.3 beta 2 and reported by AppleInsider is a mention of a new Photo Stream image sync feature, which appears to make MobileMe Gallery sharing automatic, which was found inside a “Media Stream” folder. “Photo Stream uploads and stores the last thirty days of your photos on MobileMe and downloads them to all of your devices,” reads the text found in the beta. Finally, 9 to 5 Mac reports that Ping has received the ability to send Push Notifications under iOS 4.3 beta 2. Apple has yet to set a public release date for iOS 4.3, and as with all betas, features are subject to changes and/or removal prior to the official release.

Apple has released the second beta version of iOS 4.3 to its paid developers. Listed as build number 8F5153d, it is unclear what has changed in the new version from the first, which brought AirPlay functionality to Safari and third-party apps, the Personal Hotspot Internet sharing feature, an option in the Settings app to choose whether the iPad’s side switch acts as a screen rotation lock or as a mute switch, and new four- and five-finger gestures for the iPad. Notably, documentation released alongside the new beta indicates that the aforementioned gestures will not be part of iOS 4.3’s public release, but are instead included in order to gain developer feedback, and the release is accompanied by a new preview build of Apple TV Software 4.3. Separate versions of iOS 4.3 beta 2 for the iPad, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, third-, and fourth-generation iPod touch are available as downloads for paid iOS developers from Apple’s iOS Dev Center.

For more information on iOS 4.3, see our Full Breakdown article.

During Apple’s first-quarter 2011 financial results conference call today, Apple COO Tim Cook made several statements that suggest the company sees display technology as a potential component investment for the future. When asked about Apple’s long-term investments on components, Cook mentioned the company’s prior $1 billion flash memory investment as something that was important across the product line, and added that the company has identified a similarly important area in recent quarters. Cook said that the company has come into pre-payment agreements in this new area for parts, equipment, and tooling in hopes of achieving a specific competitive advantage. While Cook didn’t directly mention it, separate reports from the same week in December claimed that Apple was expected to supply a portion of the investments required for a new Toshiba LCD plant and Sharp LCD production line, respectively. Both reports specifically mentioned that as a result of Apple’s investment, the new factory and new production line were expected to produce displays primarily for the Cupertino-based company. Given Apple’s reliance on touchscreen technology in its iOS devices, it seems likely that these were the agreements to which Cook was referring during the call.

Update: The investment is worth $3.9 billion dollars over two years, and involves three vendors. Apple made pre-payments of $650 million during the last quarter, and expects to make $1.05 billion in payments during the March quarter.

New code found within the first iOS 4.3 beta suggests Apple is planning to incorporate the POWERVR SGX543 GPU from Imagination Technologies into an upcoming product or products. Mac Rumors reports that the SGX543 is said to deliver seven million more polygons per second and double the fillrate of the older SGX535 that is found in Apple’s A4 chip. In addition, the new GPU offers support for the Apple-backed OpenCL specification, which allows applications to tap unused GPU processing power for general computing tasks, as well as support for multi-core configurations. Notably, a rumor from late 2009—the chip itself was announced that January—suggested that Sony was interested in using the chip as the graphics processor for its second-generation PSP handheld gaming console, suggesting that Apple and Sony are on a similar path when it comes to portable gaming.

Unlike prior releases of Apple’s iOS operating system for iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad devices, the iPhone 3G and second-generation iPod touch were notably absent from the list of devices for the beta version of iOS 4.3. While no official announcement has been made on the subject, it is likely that Apple has decided not to release further OS updates for the two devices, which previously missed out on key features added to iOS 4. The iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2G were left out on new iOS 4.0 features like multitasking and Home screen backgrounds, then didn’t receive support for AirPrint; the iPhone 3G was snubbed with the launch of Game Center and AirPlay, and exhibited crippling slowdowns in performance with iOS 4.

Apple has released iOS 4.3 beta 1, the first beta version of its next major point release for iOS, to its paid developers. According to notes accompanying the release, the beta includes a pre-release version of future Apple TV Software so that developers can test AirPlay functionality with their 4.3 apps, meaning that users should be able to send video from apps or websites to the Apple TV under the new software. A prior report also indicated that the Personal Hotspot Internet sharing feature debuting on the Verizon iPhone 4 will make its way to other models under iOS 4.3, although it is unclear whether the functionality is included in this update. Separate beta versions of iOS 4.3 for the iPad, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, third-, and fourth-generation iPod touch are available as downloads for paid iOS developers from Apple’s iOS Dev Center.

Update: TUAW reports that the new beta also includes support for new four- and five-finger gestures on the iPad. “This beta release contains a preview of new Multi-Touch gestures for iPad,” reads Apple’s developer page for iOS 4.3. “You can use four or five fingers to pinch to the Home Screen; swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar; and swipe left or right between apps. We are providing this preview before releasing them to the public to understand how these gestures work with your apps. Test them and give us your feedback on the Apple Developer Forums.”

Update x2: Mac Rumors notes that the new beta also offers an option in the Settings app to choose whether the iPad’s side switch acts as a screen rotation lock or as a mute switch. The iPad originally shipped with the switch acting as a screen rotation lock, but Apple changed its behavior in iOS 4.2.

Skype Software has released an update to its popular voice-over-IP telephony app for the iPhone and iPod touch adding much-anticipated support for Skype-to-Skype video calls. Skype 3.0 now allows Skype users to make two-way video calls between other video-capable Skype apps over either Wi-Fi or 3G. iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and fourth-generation iPod touch users can place bi-directional video calls to other compatible iOS devices or Skype desktop users on Mac OS X or Windows. Users of the iPad and older iPod touch devices are able to receive one-way video calls from video-capable Skype clients but cannot send video due to the lack of a camera on these devices. Video calls are supported in both portrait and landscape orientations and requires a device using iOS 4.0 or later. Skype video is not supported on the iPhone 3G. Skype 3.0 is available from the App Store as a free download.

Samsung has announced its upcoming Galaxy Player (Translated Link), an Android-based device that will serve as a competitor to the iPod touch. According to the press release, the Galaxy Player will feature both front- and rear-facing cameras—VGA and 3.2 megapixel, respectively—between 8GB and 32GB of internal storage with a MicroSD slot for expansion, a 4-inch “Super Clear” 800 x 480 LCD display, a 1GHz CPU, GPS with a free 3D navigation app, Bluetooth 3.0, a removable 1200mAh battery, HD video playback, Wi-Fi, and SoundAlive audio enhancing technology. The report claims that the device will run Android 2.2 Froyo—not the newer 2.3 Gingerbread version that runs on Google/Samsung’s new Nexus S smartphone—and will have Android Market and Samsung Apps access. Notably, while the screen’s size is larger than that of the iPod touch, its resolution falls short of the fourth-generation model’s Retina Display, as does its top internal storage spec. North American availability and pricing have yet to be announced, but will likely be revealed next week at the 2011 CES, where the device is expected to be showcased.

Multimedia Patent Trust (MPT), a subsidiary of telecom firm Alcatel-Lucent, has filed suit against Apple, Canon, LG, and TiVo, claiming patent infringement. Paid Content reports that MPT is claiming the companies violate four of its patents relating to digital video compression technologies, including MPEG-2 and two different varieties of MPEG-4. The company is seeking royalty payments on all “video-capable” Apple products, including iPods, iPhones, iPads, and Macs. As the report notes, the MPEG-LA was set up to collect royalties on all relevant digital video patents, but that doesn’t stop companies such as Alcatel-Lucent from suing for royalties years after negotiations are completed.

An executive at Flextronics, a parts supplier to Apple, passed on secret information about the iPad and iPhone 4 before their announcements, according to a new report. Citing a 39-page legal complaint lobbied against Walter Shimoon, a senior director of business development at Flextronics, and three other men, the Wall Street Journal reports that Shimoon shared information about Apple’s iPad, iPhone, and iPod with an unnamed government informant. “They [Apple] have a code name for something new…It’s, it’s totally…it’s a new category altogether. And, uh, I speculate, it doesn’t have a camera in it, what I figured out. So I speculated that it’s probably a reader…Something like that…I believe it’s called…K48,” Shimoon told the informant in October 2009, nearly four months before the iPad’s introduction. During the same call, Shimoon said that Apple was working on a new version of the iPhone that would include two cameras; the iPhone 4 was launched eight months later. Shimoon is also said to have provided information about Apple sales figures for the iPhone for the third quarter of 2009, and sales forecasts for the iPhone and iPod for the fourth quarter of 2009.

Nokia has filed a total of 13 new patent complaints against Apple in Europe, representing the latest chapter in a legal battle that started over one year ago. According to a Reuters report, the new complaints were filed in Great Britain, Germany and the Netherlands, and accuse Apple of infringing on Nokia patents related to several technologies, including touch user interfaces, on-device app stores, signal noise compression, and modular structure. “The Nokia inventions protected by these patents include…a wiping gesture on a touch screen to navigate content, or enabling access to constantly changing services with an on-device app store, both filed more than ten years before the launch of the iPhone,” Paul Melin, vice president of Intellectual Property at Nokia, said in a statement. “These actions add 13 further Nokia patents to the 24 already asserted against Apple in the U.S. International Trade Commission and the Delaware and Wisconsin Federal courts.”

Nokia first filed suit against Apple in October 2009, claiming that the iPhone infringes on several Nokia patents; Apple filed a countersuit claiming patent infringement in December. The lawsuits were followed by a U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) complaint from Nokia near the end of the year, alleging that Apple infringes on the Finnish company’s patents “in virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players, and computers.”

The ITC launched an investigation into Nokia’s claims against Apple in late January; it announced a similar investigation into Apple’s claims against Nokia in February. In March, a federal judge in Delaware signed an order halting litigation between Nokia and Apple pending resolution of the companies’ respective claims with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC); Nokia then sued Apple again in May, alleging that the iPhone and iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G infringe on five of its patents. The ITC case between the two companies is ongoing, but ITC staff issued a pre-trial memo stating that Nokia shouldn’t be found liable of infringing upon Apple’s patents. A recent report indicated that Apple has been bolstering its legal team ahead of key battles with Nokia, as well as HTC and Motorola.

Google has released an update to its official Google Voice app adding compatibility with the iPod touch and iPad. Originally released with iPhone support only, the new version can now be used on other iOS devices to send and receive text messages, receive Push Notifications and listen to voicemail. Users can also now place calls using Google’s Click2Call feature to connect the call via a nearby phone. Although not a universal or native iPad app, Google Voice can also run in iPhone compatibility mode on the iPad. The update also adds several other improvements including access to the Do Not Disturb setting, disabling of text forwarding when Push Notifications are enabled and improvements in Address Book and SMS integration. Google Voice is available from the U.S. App Store as a free download. A free Google Voice account is required to use the service.