iLounge

Motorola Mobility has won a second patent ruling against Apple in Germany, even as the latter has been forced to remove some iPhone and iPad models from its online store thanks to the prior ruling. Bloomberg reports that the Mannheim Regional Court found that Apple infringed upon a Motorola patent used to synchronize email accounts with its iCloud service, a ruling that allows Motorola hold Apple liable for damage. “The court has come to the conclusion that the wording of the patent does cover functions that were at issue here,” said ruling Judge Andreas Voss. Apple “wasn’t able to convince the court that it isn’t infringing.” Apple spokesman Alan Hely said that “Apple believes this old pager patent is invalid and we’re appealing the court’s decision.”

In addition, Apple overnight removed some iPhone and iPad models from its online store in Germany in response to a ruling from December claiming that the products infringe upon a Motorola patent related to GPRS technology. Specifically, the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and all Wi-Fi models of the iPad are affected—according to BBC News—but not the iPhone 4S or Wi-Fi-only models of the iPad. “While some iPad and iPhone models are not available through Apple’s online store in Germany right now, customers should have no problem finding them at one of our retail stores or an authorized reseller,” Hely said. Apple has appealed the December ruling, arguing that Motorola refuses to license the industry standard patent on fair and reasonable terms.

Update: Apple has since been granted a suspension of the injunction against the iPhones and iPads mentioned previously. ”All iPad and iPhone models will be back on sale through Apple’s online store in Germany shortly” Apple told SlashGear in a statement. “Apple appealed this ruling because Motorola repeatedly refuses to license this patent to Apple on reasonable terms, despite having declared it an industry standard patent seven years ago.”

According to the latest data from IDC, Apple was the third-largest mobile phone maker in the world during 2011. In the fourth quarter of 2011, Apple’s 37 million unit shipments accounted for 8.7 percent of the mobile phone market, bested only by Samsung’s 22.8 percent and market leader Nokia, which accounted for 26.6 percent. For 2011 overall, Apple shipped 93.2 million iPhones, good for six percent of the market, again bested only by Samsung and Nokia; LG and ZTE rounded out the top five. Apple held the fifth-place spot as recently as Q3 2011.

China Telecom, mainland China’s third-largest carrier, is preparing to launch the iPhone 4S—perhaps as soon as February, according to a new report. Citing a news release from China Telecom subsidiary Beijing Telecom, China Daily reports that a version of the iPhone 4S compatible with the company’s CDMA network is likely to hit the market by the end of February or beginning of March. “China Telecom has already started preparatory work for the launch of the iPhone 4S,” said the release. Earlier this month, a version of the iPhone 4S compatible with China Telecom’s CDMA-2000 network received approval from the China Radio Management agency, clearing the way for its release. According to the report, no pricing details have yet to be disclosed; the iPhone 4S is currently available from China Unicom.

Apple has implemented a new lottery reservation system for iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S sales in Hong Kong that it hopes will help limit the efforts of scalpers. 9to5Mac reports that the new system should prevent the scalpers from using automated bots to overwhelm Apple’s reservations servers by requiring prospective buyers to give both a name and ID number, which need to match a government ID presented at the time of purchase. It is unclear if Apple plans to expand the use of the system to other areas and countries; the full text of Apple’s message regarding the change appears below.

“Due to high demand, we are accepting a limited number of iPhone reservations per day. To request an iPhone reservation, please choose your store and the iPhone you want. If we have an iPhone reservation for you, you’ll receive a confirmation email by 9:00 p.m. tonight that includes the time when you can pick up your iPhone tomorrow. A government-issued photo ID matching the name and ID number on your reservation is required for iPhone purchases. If you don’t receive an email, we were unable to reserve an iPhone for you, and you can try again another time. Only those who receive an email confirming their reservation will be able to purchase an iPhone; we will not be selling iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S to walk-in customers.”

After months of backlog, Apple appears to have finally reached a supply/demand balance on the iPhone 4S, at least in the United States. A quick check of the company’s online store shows all three iPhone 4S capacities—in both black and white—as “In Stock”, suggesting that new orders likely ship out as soon as the payment can be processed. During last week’s financial results conference call, Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed the overwhelming demand for the iPhone 4S, saying that the company made a “large bet” in building as many units as it did, but still “bet too low”, as it ended the quarter with a backlog of orders. [via Electronista]

Schneider Optics has announced its new iPro Lens System for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. The system includes a wide angle and fisheye lens, both of which use a bayonet mount to attach to the included iPhone case, which also offers open access to all ports and controls, as well as two attachment points for the included handle/lens case. The iPro Lens System for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S is available now and sells for $199; a 2X tele lens will be available in April and should sell for around $100.

Apple will launch the iPhone 4S in Indonesia and Costa Rica tomorrow. As noted by Mac Rumors, Telkomsel and XL in Indonesia, as well as Claro, Movistar, and Kolbi in Costa Rica will all be offering the iPhone 4S in their respective regions beginning tomorrow. As is typical with international launches, pricing varies widely based on the plan selected as well as the country. In addition, French carrier Free Mobile will also begin offering the iPhone 4S tomorrow; its current unlimited talk/text/data packages run €20/month—€15 for customers of the company’s internet service—but has yet to announce pricing for any plans that would be tied to subsidized devices.

The New York Times has launched a new series of articles, dubbed The iEconomy, which examine “the challenges posed by increasingly globalized high-tech industries”, and have focused specifically on Apple thus far. The first article, “How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work”, examines the favorable manufacturing conditions in China and other overseas locations that keep Apple from building its products in its home country, while the second, “In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad”, examines the sometimes brutal lives of those who build Apple’s products. Both articles are too lengthy to briefly summarize here; we present these only as articles of interest for those who want to know more about the inner workings of Apple and its competitors.

Announcing its fourth quarter 2011 fiscal results today, original iPhone carrier AT&T announced that it activated 7.6 million iPhones over the three month period. The majority of those sales were iPhone 4S units, according to the company, and overall, iPhone sales accounted for nearly 80 percent of AT&T’s 9.4 million smartphone sales in Q4. The sales helped the company add 717,000 net postpaid subscribers during the period.

Motorola Mobility has filed a new patent infringement lawsuit against Apple in the U.S. According to Reuters, the case, filed in a Florida federal court, claims that Apple is infringing upon six patents related to wireless antennae, software, data filtering, and messaging. Notably, Motorola said the patents cited in this suit are the same as those cited in a separate Florida suit against Apple, the difference being that the new suit names both the iPhone 4S and iCloud as infringing products. Google agreed to buy Motorola Mobility last August for $12.5 billion, and likely approved this latest suit as part of its purchase agreement with the company.

Apple was the world’s top purchaser of semiconductors in 2011, according to new research from Gartner. Apple last year purchased over $17.2 billion in semiconductors, up 34.6 percent from its 2010 total of $12.8 billion, and good for a 5.7 percent share of all semiconductor purchases on a per-company basis. Following Apple on the list was Samsung, with a 5.5 percent share, HP, also with a 5.5 percent share, Dell, with a 3.2 percent share, and Nokia, with a 3.0 percent share. “The major growth drivers in 2011 were smartphones, media tablets and solid-state drives (SSDs),” said Masatsune Yamaji, principal research analyst at Gartner; all three are major growth areas for Apple, including the iPhone, iPad, and the drives found in the company’s MacBook Air laptops.

AFP reports that Singaporean iPhone carrier M1 has begun selling special no-camera versions of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S designed to meet the requirements of Singapore’s defence ministry, where military personnel are banned from taking camera or other image-capturing devices into army facilities. M1 began offering the no-camera versions of the standard iPhone 4/4S models today via its web site and retail stores, in all available capacities and both black and white with the non camera versions selling for approximately $38 USD more than the standard models. Singapore’s military institutions instituted a ban on camera phones in 2007 following the online posting of several photos of sensitive training activities. The no-camera iPhone models are specifically designed with military personnel in mind but are available for purchase by any M1 customer. [via The Verge]

AT&T has announced new data plans for smartphone and tablet customers that will affect both iPhone and iPad users. The new smartphone data plans include AT&T Data Plus 300MB, which includes 300MB of monthly data for $20, AT&T Data Pro 3GB, which offers 3GB for $30, and AT&T Data Pro 5GB, which offers 5GB for $50 and also includes mobile hotspot tethering. Customers on the latter two plans can pay $10 per additional gigabyte, while Data Plus customers get an extra 300MB for $20. For the iPad, AT&T DataConnect 3GB includes 3GB for $30, while AT&T DataConnect 5GB runs $50 and includes 5GB of data. All five new plans will launch this Sunday, January 22; existing customers will have the choice of keeping their current plans or choosing from one of the new options.

According to the latest research from Nielsen, the launch of the iPhone 4S had an “enormous impact” on the percentage of new smartphone purchasers who bought an iPhone. Among recent acquirers—those who said they got a new device within the past three months—44.5 percent of those surveyed in December said they chose an iPhone, compared to just 25.1 percent in October. Interestingly, the same metric for Android buyers dropped over that same period, from 61.6 percent in October to 46.9 percent in December. In addition, 57 percent of new iPhone owners surveyed in December said the bought an iPhone 4S. Overall, 46 percent of U.S. mobile consumers had smartphones as of Q4 2011, with 60 percent of recent purchasers choosing a smartphone over a feature phone. [via Fortune]

Speaking with Cnet, Keith Lampron, associate director of device marketing with Verizon, has said that the company will require LTE on all new smartphones and tablet devices launched on the network in the future. Calling LTE a “hard requirement”, Lampron said the only exception will be for phones on Verizon’s push-to-talk network, which will be 3G-only until further notice. Apple has yet to announce any LTE-compatible devices, but the statement by Verizon strongly suggests that any future iPhone and iPad devices with cellular data capabilities will be able to connect to the 4G network.

Apple’s planned Chinese iPhone 4S launch was marred by an unexpected delay, leading to angry crowds and vandalism. Bloomberg reports that a crowd of shoppers outside Apple’s main store in Beijing began pelting the store with eggs after a man announced that the phone would not go on sale today. The announcement came roughly 15 minutes after the store was scheduled to open, giving the crowd—which was waiting in sub-20 degree temperatures, and began chanting “Open the door!” and “Liars!”—no explanation for the delay. The delay was not country-wide, however, as Apple’s store in Shanghai opened an hour earlier than scheduled to begin selling the device.

Update: Apple has since released a statement on the matter. “The demand for iPhone 4S has been incredible and our stores in China have already sold out,” an Apple spokeswoman told Reuters. “Unfortunately, we were unable to open our store at Sanlitun due to the large crowd. And to ensure the safety of our customers and our employees, iPhones will not be available in our retails stores in Beijing and Shanghai for the time being.”

An iPhone 4S model compatible with China Telecom’s network has been approved by regulators. The Wall Street Journal reports that an Apple device, model number A1387 — the same number as current iPhone 4S models — was approved by the national telecom regulator’s China Radio Management agency, and is listed as being compatible with CDMA-2000, the same 3G network technology used by China Telecom. As noted in the report, the device must receive other certifications, including a network access license, before it can be sold in the country, but the approval does signal that the handset should be available on China Telecom in the near future. Currently, China Unicom is the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in China; it will launch the iPhone 4S this coming Friday.

Apple this morning seeded its registered iOS developers with the third beta version of iOS 5.1. According to Apple’s sparse release notes state simply that the release contains “bug fixes and improvements”. The update is currently available as an OTA Software Update for devices already running iOS 5.1 beta 2, and will likely be available shortly to registered iOS developers from the iOS Dev Center.

Corning has, as promised, announced details of its new Gorilla Glass 2 material, the second-generation of the damage-resistant cover glass used in iOS devices. According to the company, Gorilla Glass 2 enables up to a 20 percent reduction in glass thickness, while retaining the same damage- and scratch-resistance as the original. Corning claims that the new material will allow for slimmer devices, brighter images, and greater touch sensitivity. While Gorilla Glass 2 will debut on Windows-based PCs, the company claims that a number of its global customers are expected to unveil new devices using it in the coming months.

New code found within iOS 5.1 suggests that Apple is currently working on iOS devices with quad-core chips. According to 9to5Mac, iOS 5.1 includes updated processing-core management software that makes references to an option of “/cores/cores.3”, which according to people with knowledge of iOS’ inner workings, refers to a four-core chip, as “cores.0” refers to a single-core device, and “cores.1” to a dual-core chip. As noted in the report, the presence of this reference in iOS 5.1 suggests that the next-generation iPad, which is likely being tested using the software, will feature a quad-core processor. iLounge’s Editor-in-Chief Jeremy Horwitz, citing a reported yesterday that the device is likely to be launched around the same time as the iPad 2 was a year ago; the iPad 2 was launched on March 11.