MacRumors

Samsung is taking advantage of Apple's Australian Maps snafu, where several motorists became lost after Maps gave them the wrong directions to the city of Mildura, directing them instead to the middle of the Murray-Sunset national park.

To capitalize on Apple's mistake, Samsung released a new marketing campaign in Sydney, which was discovered by CNET Australia.

The display depicts a filthy, mud-covered white SUV alongside some camping equipment. A sign next to the car reads, "Oops, should have got a Samsung Galaxy S III. Get navigation you can trust."

On Monday, Apple repaired the Mildura mapping error, and it was discovered that the source information that Apple used from the Australian Gazeteer was inaccurate, which is what led to the issue.

Google Maps came under scrutiny today as well, after a Yahoo news report stated that police in Colac were concerned that similar problems in Google's maps were putting people's lives in danger along the Great Ocean Road and in the southern Otways.

Samsung's latest stunt is one of many ads and displays that aim to paint the iPhone in a negative light, like the ad that portrayed the iPhone as uncool, depicting a Galaxy S3 owner saving a spot in one of Apple’s iconic lines for his parents.

Apple and Samsung have had an ongoing feud since Apple accused Samsung of imitating its products. Most recently, Samsung was ordered to pay just over billion dollars at the conclusion of the U.S. trial, further souring the relationship between the two companies.

VR-Zone shares (via Engadget) what is claimed to be a leaked list of Intel's first wave of "Haswell" desktop processors. The 14 new chips are expected to debut in the spring of 2013 and will build new architecture on top of the 22-nanometer process used in the current Ivy Bridge chips.

Haswell will bring a number of enhancements to Intel's chip lineup, including faster performance and significant integrated graphics improvements delivered by the new Intel HD 4600 graphics package.

The Haswell desktop chips are likely to only make their way into Apple's iMac family, as the Mac mini uses mobile chips while the Mac Pro takes advantage of Xeon-branded server chips. Still, progress on Haswell sets the stage for further improvements to Apple's just-redesigned flagship desktop Mac, and mobile chips that will power most of the rest of Apple's Mac lineup should follow relatively soon after.

Earlier this month, we noted that the iTunes Music Store had gone live in 56 new countries, nearly doubling the number of countries with access to the store. At the time, Apple noted in its press release that movies were also being launched in Russia, Turkey, India and Indonesia with "select additional countries" also scheduled to offer the film content.

Beginning earlier today, a number of MacRumors readers began reporting that movies had gone live in their countries, and AppleInsider has compiled a list of 42 new countries where movies are now available.

- Europe: Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine

- Africa, the Middle East and India: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Botswana, Cape Verde, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Swaziland, United Arab Emirates, Uganda, Zimbabwe

- Asia Pacific: Micronesia, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan

- Latin America and the Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago

The new additions mean that just ten of the 56 countries that added music content earlier this month have yet to begin offering movies. Those countries include: Barbados, Bermuda, Burkina Faso, Fiji, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, and Uzbekistan.

Following their shipment earlier this week, the first orders of Apple's redesigned 27-inch iMac have now begun arriving at their destinations, with several MacRumors readers reporting that they have receiving their shipments today ahead of their projected December 13 delivery dates.

Apple announced the redesigned iMac at its media event on October 23, but noted that the 21.5-inch model would not begin shipping until November with the 27-inch models following in December. Apple began taking orders for both sizes on November 30, with the 27-inch models seeing 2-3 week shipping estimates at that time.

Availability remains tight as Apple reportedly works to achieve acceptable yields of the new display assembly, which laminates the display directly to the cover glass. With the larger 27-inch displays proving more difficult to assemble than their smaller siblings, supplies of the 27-inch iMac models are particularly tight.

Continuing the flurry of Apple television rumors in recent days following CEO Tim Cook's brief comments on the topic as part of an interview on Rock Center last week, The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is indeed testing designs for future television set products. The report adds little to existing rumors, but does indicate that work is continuing and keeps the topic fresh in the public's mind.

Officials at some of Apple's suppliers, who declined to be named, said the Cupertino, Calif.-based company has been working on testing a few designs for a large-screen high-resolution TV.

Two people said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., which assembles the iPhone and iPad, has been collaborating with Japan's Sharp Corp. on the design of the new television.

"It isn't a formal project yet. It is still in the early stage of testing," said one of the people.

The report notes that Apple has been testing television set prototypes for a number of years and that the company tests many different prototype products that never come to market, making clear that a launch is not imminent and that Apple could ultimately scrap its plans.

AllThingsD is reporting that contrary to earlier reports that Apple and Microsoft were arguing over a 30% cut of storage upgrade sales through Microsoft's SkyDrive cloud storage utility, instead the companies are negotiating over revenue Microsoft would bring in as part of its Office 365 subscription service.

Office has long been a cash cow for Microsoft and extending the platform to iOS will undoubtedly fatten it further. It will also bring significant benefits to Apple’s mobile platform, ones for which Microsoft feels it is owed a discount on that 30 percent cut that Apple would otherwise command on Office 365 subscriptions sold to iOS users through it. The apps are just part of a subscription that includes desktop access.

So the company has been pushing Apple to adjust the 70/30 revenue split in its developer license agreement. Predictably, Apple has refused to comply. It’s not yet clear what sort of concession Microsoft is seeking, but whatever it is, Apple’s evidently not willing to consider it. Indeed, I’m told it’s taken a “the rules are the rules” stance, which would suggest it’s not at all willing to negotiate a different split. Apple’s position: If a customer comes through its gateway, it feels it is deserved the commission outlined in 11.12 of its developer license.

Apple, for its part, says that App Store rules are fair and are applied equally to all developers, big and small.

Office for iOS has been rumored several times over the past year, but now seems closer to fruition than ever -- if Apple and Microsoft can come to some agreement. Yesterday, Microsoft leaked references to 'Office Mobile for iPhone', 'Excel for iPad', and 'PowerPoint for iPad'.

Last week, Tim Cook shared that television was an area of "intense interest" for Apple, stoking the rumor mill once again that the company will come out with a TV at some point. Today, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty shared results from a proprietary survey of 1,568 U.S. heads of household from September. Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt shares some of the results of the survey.

11% of respondents said they would be "extremely interested" in buying an Apple-branded TV set, which translates into 13 million units in the U.S. alone. 36% said they would be "somewhat interested," which could translate into another 43 million units.

The 47% who were either "extremely" or "somewhat" interested is more than twice the 23% who said they were interested in buying an iPhone and the 21% who were interested in an iPad before either of those products were released.
Respondents who owned at least one Apple device were nearly four times more interested in buying an iTV that those who did not.

46% of respondents were willing to pay over $1,000 for an iTV and 10% were willing to pay over $2,000. On average, respondents were willing to pony up $1,060, a 20% premium over the the average $884 they paid for their current TV set.

Further, Huberty lays out three strategies for Apple to fix television. The company could become a "full-blown virtual cable service provider"; partner with existing pay-TV carriers and replace their set-top box with its own; or Apple could "bundle the TV set with its existing Apple TV" box.

Of course, there have been years of speculation about a potential Apple TV. Following the release of Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, in which Jobs said he had "cracked" television, rumors have taken on a more fervent tone.

The Next Web reports that Apple and Microsoft are currently engaged in a dispute over Microsoft's SkyDrive cloud storage app that was launched in the App Store a year ago. According to the report, the dispute is related to Microsoft's move to roll out the ability for users to purchase paid storage upgrades on their iOS devices without going through Apple's in-app subscription mechanism that provides Apple with a 30% share of revenues. As a result, Apple has refused to approve any updates to the SkyDrive app.

Microsoft, TNW has learned, has a new version of the application ready to go, including a key bug fix that would rectify a crashing bug, but cannot get it through.

Microsoft does not appear keen to pay Apple the 30% cut, as it lasts in perpetuity, regardless of whether a user continues to use an iOS device or not, as the billing is through their Apple account.

The report claims that Microsoft has offered to remove the subscription options from the SkyDrive app, but Apple has still declined to allow updates to the app. It is unclear why Apple would have refused such an offer, as many similar apps such as Dropbox operate under this model.

The Next Web goes on to note that the dispute between Apple and Microsoft is also affecting third-party developers who have integrated SkyDrive into their applications, as the login pages for SkyDrive displayed by these apps contain a "sign up" link that runs afoul of Apple's guidelines.

In short, applications that wish to integrate with SkyDrive cannot, until Microsoft bows to Apple’s demands, and retools SkyDrive to allow for it to be integrated with the technology firm’s payment system by which the firm would garner a fee for the length of the account. A user could go into their Apple account, cancel their subscription, and then re-purchase it outside of the Apple ecosystem, but as that would save them no money, few, if any, will.

It is unclear just how and when the dispute between the two companies may be settled, but for the time being both SkyDrive app users and both developers and users of third-party apps relying on SkyDrive are finding themselves increasingly affected by the standoff.

Update 11:04 AM: Engadget reports that Microsoft has issued a statement acknowledging a "delay in approval" for its SkyDrive app.

Similar to the experiences of some other companies, we are experiencing a delay in approval of our updated SkyDrive for iOS. We are in contact with Apple regarding the matter and hope to come to a resolution. We will provide additional information as it becomes available.