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Apple has asked a European telecommunication standards body to set basic rules governing how companies license their industry-standard patents. Citing a recently disclosed letter from Apple to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, the Wall Street Journal reports that Apple said the telecommunications industry lacks consistent licensing schemes for the many patents necessary to make mobile devices, and offered suggestions for setting royalty rates.

In addition, the company claimed that the lack of clear guidelines for the licensing of patents on a fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory basis — otherwise known as Frand— has led many companies to demand abnormally high royalty rates from one another, and has thus led to patent infringement lawsuits. “It is apparent that our industry suffers from a lack of consistent adherence to Frand principles in the cellular standards arena,” wrote Bruce Watrous, VP and Chief IP Counsel with Apple. Apple has asked the body to set “appropriate” royalty rates for technology, relative to the number of industrywide patents required to make a device, and has also said that royalties shouldn’t be beyond a common base. Earlier this week, it was revealed that Motorola asked Apple to pay a royalty of 2.25 percent for sales of some iPhones and iPads, a deal that would have been worth over $1 billion in 2011 alone.

Announcing its fourth quarter 2011 financial results, newly-added iPhone carrier Sprint revealed that the launch of the handset boosted revenue and subscriber numbers, but also led to a large net loss for the quarter. According to the company, it sold 1.8 million iPhones in the quarter, 40 percent of which were purchased by new customers. That number that helped the company add 1.6 million net subscribers during the quarter, it’s best quarterly result in six years. Operating revenues for the quarter were $8.7 billion, or up five percent over the prior and year-ago quarters, which helped to offset “the impact of increased equipment net subsidies and sales expense associated with the successful launch of the iPhone”. Overall, the company reported a net loss of $1.3 billion for the quarter.

Apple quietly lost one of its most important iPhone and iPod executives late last year, according to a new report. Citing anonymous sources, 9to5Mac reports that David Tupman, Apple’s Vice President of iPhone and iPod engineering for over a decade, left the company late last year. Tupman was hired by the company shortly before the introduction of the original iPod, and was soon promoted to vice president of iPod engineering, a position that saw him help in the development of every iPod released to date. Tupman was also tapped to help build the iPhone, and, as a result, his title was expanded. In addition, Tupman is listed on around 70 Apple technology patents, including filings related to power and battery life management, noise-canceling ear buds, iPhone power adapters, and interaction with accessories. According to the report, a successor has yet to be named, but Apple is said to be actively pursuing a replacement from inside the company.

Motorola asked Apple to pay a potential royalty of 2.25 percent of sales for some iPhones and iPads last year, according to a new report. Citing a letter filed in a California court last month, the Wall Street Journal reports that Motorola had “demanded” the royalty for a license of its patents. According to the report, some consider the royalty—which would have accounted for more than $1 billion based on iPhone sales in 2011 alone—to be rather pricey, with IP consultant Florian Mueller saying that the high rate was likely offered only because Motorola is required to offer licenses on its industry-standard patents. “[Motorola] wants Apple to refuse it so they can pursue injunctions against Apple,” said Mueller. Notably, the letter does not specify which devices would be affected nor whether such an agreement would be retroactive.

AT&T has started to throttle—or downgrade the data speeds of—customers on unlimited data plans that go over 2GB in data usage for the month. As AT&T customer John Cozen wrote on his blog, “I received a message during my last billing cycle, warning I was in the top 5% of my region and would experience reduced data speeds next time I reach that level of data use. I immediately checked my data usage on the AT&T iOS app. 2.1 GB. Less than I expected considering AT&T offers a 3GB plan for $30 a month. The same amount I’ve paid for the unlimited data plan since signing up with them many years ago. AT&T no longer offers an unlimited data plan, anyone still on it has been grandfathered in.”

“Data consumption by all smartphone customers, including the top 5 percent of smartphone data customers, varies by month and by market,” said Emily Edmonds, Director, AT&T Corporate Communications. “As of August 2011, the average data use across the country by the top 5 percent of AT&T smartphone customers was 2 GB per month.”

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.