MacRumors

Last month, we noted that the Swiss Federal Railways service was objecting to Apple's use of its iconic clock design for the new iPad clock app in iOS 6.

The Verge now points to a press release [Google translation] from the railway service announcing that a licensing agreement has been reached.

For the use of the SBB station clock on devices like iPad and iPhone, the Swiss Federal Railways SBB and Apple have agreed and signed a license agreement.

Terms of the licensing agreement, including payment and term length details, were not disclosed.

AllThingsD reports that Apple appears to be planning to hold a media event on Tuesday, October 23 to introduce the "iPad mini", Apple's smaller tablet device said to be carrying a display measuring 7.85 inches diagonally.

As AllThingsD reported in August, Apple will hold a special event this month at which it will showcase a new, smaller iPad. People familiar with Apple’s plans tell us that the company will unveil the so-called “iPad mini” on October 23 at an invitation-only event.

That’s a Tuesday, not a Wednesday, so this is a bit of a break with recent tradition. It also happens to be just three days prior to the street date for Microsoft’s new Surface tablet.

The location of the event is unconfirmed, but the report suggests that it is likely to be held at the company's Town Hall auditorium at its corporate headquarters in Cupertino, California.

AllThingsD has an excellent track record regarding Apple media event rumors, giving this claim a high probability of proving true. Given past history, Apple would be expected to send out invitations early next week if the event is to be held on October 23.

Update: The Loop's Jim Dalrymple weighs in, confirming the date with a "Yep."

The Wall Street Journal reports that former AMD chip designer and executive Jim Mergard has now moved to Apple after a brief stint at Samsung, marking a significant talent win for Apple in its efforts to build its own chips.

The gadget maker has hired Jim Mergard, a 16-year veteran of Advanced Micro Devices who was a vice president and chief engineer there before he left for Samsung. He is known for playing a leading role in the development of a high-profile AMD chip that carried the code name Brazos and was designed for low-end portable computers. [...]

It is not clear whether Mergard will work at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters or remain in Austin, where he worked for AMD and Samsung. Apple has long operated a customer support center in the Texas capitol, but the company has had a local presence in chip design as well since its 2010 purchase of the startup Intrinsity.

The report quotes former AMD executive Patrick Moorhead as saying that Mergard has expertise in both PC chip design and system-on-a-chip design such as that used for Apple's iOS devices. The company uses ARM-based designs for its A-series chips that power its iOS devices, and the new A6 chip found in the iPhone 5 appears to be Apple's first custom design.

Apple and Samsung of course have a complicated relationship, with the two rivals competing fiercely in the marketplace and the courtroom even as Samsung is one of Apple's primary suppliers. Apple's ARM-based chips are key components that are currently manufactured by Samsung.

Peter from Double Helix Cables has made a guest post on Gizmodo showing his work to tear down Apple's new Lightning to 30-pin Adapter that began shipping earlier this week. Apple has come under a fair amount of criticism for charging $29 for the basic adapter and $39 for one with a short cable, but Peter notes that based on the electronics inside and the durability of the adapter, the company may have good reason for its pricing.

Apple's Lightning connector uses a controller chip to dynamically assign functionalities to the eight pins found in the connector, enabling it to adapt to different situations. The Lightning to 30-pin Adapter is no exception, containing several chips required to allow that flexible functionality to be passed through to devices using the old dock connector design.

The chips look unfamiliar, but with the same metal finish and some have lasered text. They all appear to be custom and trying to figure out what does what is fruitless. I really took this apart for the DIY community to ascertain if the DAC [digital-to-analog converter] in this thing is actually good, but it's quite unclear. It's probably some integrated audio circuitry in a larger processing chip, that's how these things tend to be done now. One of the chips reads Apple on it with a very long serial number. Another reads 8533 23AP CAB.

Peter notes that underneath the plastic shell of the adapter is a significant amount of metal and glue holding the device together and providing strength and durability. The construction makes the adapter extremely difficult to crack open and does not bode well for those seeking to modify the adapter to add functionality.

I really had high hopes that I could get into this thing and attach an audio output cable, but I should have known better. This thing is even more fearsomely reinforced than the Lightning USB cord, by a factor of 10, surely to thwart those that want to hack it, and also so that it cannot break easily. Nobody should balk at paying $29 for this after they see what is inside, though.

Despite the complexity of the adapter evidenced its $29 price tag, integrated electronics, and sturdy construction, the device has also been receiving criticism for incompatibility with a number of accessories. Users have been reporting mixed results in using the adapter with their 30-pin accessories, and users hoping to plug in the adapter with a case on their iPhone 5 may find that the adapter's bulk prevents it from working with all but the thinnest cases or cases with nearly fully open bottom edges. As a result users with cases on their iPhones may prefer to opt for the more expensive cable-equipped adapter that uses a standard-sized Lightning connector assembly rather than embedding the connector directly into the bulky adapter.

Prior to Apple's patent trial win over Samsung, the company was awarded an injunction by Judge Lucy Koh barring U.S. sales of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone. As noted by The Next Web, a federal appeals court today reversed the ban on the grounds that Apple would not be sufficiently harmed by the alleged infringement.

The appeals court found that the feature was indeed not integral to the success of the Galaxy Nexus, ruling that the lower court "abused its discretion" in issuing the original injunction. The Next Web notes:

The preliminary injunction on the Samsung smartphone had been granted as of June 30th by U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh, who eventually conducted the Apple v. Samsung patent trial. The ruling was based primarily on the 8086604 patent, which is defined as a “universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system.” The full patent appears to relate to a unified search tool that can be used to find a variety of different items via one indexed database. This could also refer to a unified spoken word interface like Siri, or Google’s voice search.

At the time, Koh said that “Apple has articulated a plausible theory of irreparable harm” due to a “long-term loss of market share” and “losses of downstream sales.”

The appeals court, however, disagreed with Koh's ruling that Apple had shown adequate threat of irreparable harm.

Samsung and Google developed a software workaround or the patent in question and deployed it shortly after the injunction went into effect. With the ban now lifted, the workaround appears to no longer be necessary. The full order [PDF] is available from the U.S. Courts website.

Update 11:51 AM: Our initial report seems to have generated some confusion over the exact rationale for the appeals court's decision to overturn the injunction. The appeals court ruled that Apple did not sufficiently show that sales of the Galaxy Nexus benefited from the inclusion of the unified search feature that is the subject of the patent. Given that view, the lower court was ruled to have overstepped its bounds in issuing the injunction on the belief that Apple would be caused irreparable harm by allowing sales of the Galaxy Nexus to continue.

In other words, it may very well be that the accused product would sell almost as well without incorporating the patented feature. And in that case, even if the competitive injury that results from selling the accused device is substantial, the harm that flows from the alleged infringement (the only harm that should count) is not.

The appeals court's decision was not based upon Samsung's earlier argument that sales of the Galaxy Nexus had been so "minuscule" as to not be a threat to Apple. We have also removed a quote from The Next Web's report that when taken out of context suggests that this was at least a partial reason for the overturning of the injunction.

The teardown experts at iFixit have turned their attention to Apple's fifth-generation iPod touch, moving quickly to examine the internals of the company's redesigned device.

The teardown reveals few surprises, but offers a good look at how Apple has been able to pack all of the components into a body that has 20% less volume than the iPhone 5. With a lack of cellular communications technology, the iPod touch carries fewer components and consolidates them into just a handful of parts. Most notably the logic board and battery are smaller than seen in the iPhone 5 and carry a top-and-bottom layout as opposed to the side-by-side layout seen in the iPhone.

One aspect of the teardown that did catch our eye is the Lightning connector and headphone jack assembly, which contains a long ribbon cable extending from those ports at the bottom of the device up to the logic board at the top. This part was seen several times back in August and was at the time claimed to be for the "iPad mini".

Those claims led to confusion over whether the iPad mini's headphone jack would be located at the bottom as on the iPhone 5 and the iPod touch or on the top as in the full-size iPad and as seen in mockups and cases reportedly based on leaked iPad mini design specs. With the appearance of this part in the iPod touch, the discrepancy has now been resolved and signs are pointing to the iPad mini's headphone jack being along the top edge of the device.

Other aspects of the device are fairly standard, with the logic board revealing Apple's A5 system-on-a-chip, flash storage from Toshiba, and the usual assortment of chips for handling Wi-Fi, touchscreen functions, gyroscope, and more.

Overall, iFixit found the new iPod touch to be difficult to repair, with many components soldered together and the device held together with adhesives and clips that make it difficult to open. The revelation is not a surprise, as Apple does not intend its mobile products to be user-serviceable and the company's efforts to push the limits of design and size reduction have led it to sacrifice accessibility.

The Verge reports on an article from Japanese business newspaper Nikkei claiming that the country's third largest carrier, SoftBank, is close to acquiring U.S. carrier and iPhone partner Sprint Nextel. The report indicates that SoftBank is looking to acquire at least a two-thirds share of Sprint in a deal that would exceed ¥1.5 trillion ($19.2 billion).

The Wall Street Journal follows up with its own claims along the same lines, although it pegs the purchase price at over ¥1 trillion ($12.81 billion).

Sprint executives have said they want to participate in the industry's consolidation. The approach from Softbank comes as Sprint is making progress stitching together its various network technologies and stemming declines in its revenue and subscriber base following a 2005 merger with Nextel.

The deal would mark a massive gamble by Softbank, the country's third-largest carrier by subscribers, to expand its business outside of Japan. Softbank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son has made big bets in the past, including acquiring the Japanese arm of Vodafone Group in 2006. It paid for the deal through a leveraged buyout, which vaulted the company in the mobile-phone business.

The U.S. mobile carrier industry has been looking at significant consolidation in recent years, particularly at the top of the market as Verizon and AT&T have jockeyed for the top spot and Sprint and T-Mobile USA have sought to gain ground on the two leaders. Following the failed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile last year, T-Mobile just last week announced that it would merge with MetroPCS, the country's fifth-largest carrier, although Sprint was rumored to also be considering making a bid.

Sprint became the third of the four major U.S. carriers to offer the iPhone upon the release of the iPhone 4S in October 2011, with company executives moving to "bet the company" on the iPhone in committing to purchase more than 30 million iPhones worth $20 billion over the first four years of the partnership. The move has impacted Sprint's financials over the short-term, but the carrier believes that the long-term effects of having the iPhone will be positive.

With the new iPods shipping, Apple has posted their television ad for the new iPod touch, nano and shuffle.

The ad premiered during the media event introducing the new iPods. The iPod touch now carries the taller 4" screen and comes in several different colors. The new iPod nano is radically redesigned with a 2.5" multi-touch screen and front home button. Finally the iPod Shuffle was upgraded with new color choices.

Research firm Gartner today released its preliminary personal computer shipment data for the third quarter of 2012, providing a picture of just how weak market performance was during the quarter. While Apple actually experienced a year-over-year unit decline of 6.1% in the United States, other top vendors with the exception of Lenovo posted even steeper declines, giving the overall U.S. market a 13.8% decrease in shipments.

Apple's share of the U.S. market rose to 13.6% for the third quarter on the strength of the back-to-school market, which is typically drives Apple's best performing quarter. The figure allowed Apple to maintain its comfortable hold on the third position in the U.S. market behind HP and Dell and marks Apple's best performance in recent years in beating out the company's 12.5% share in the third quarter of 2011.

As usual, Gartner did not cover Apple's worldwide market share for the quarter, as the company does not rank among the top five vendors on a worldwide basis. PC shipments experienced an 8.3% year-over-year decline on a worldwide basis, with Lenovo's 9.8% growth enabling it to take the shipment title away from HP.

Update 2:04 PM: IDC has also released its estimates for the quarter, pegging Apple's share of the U.S. market at 12.5% on a shipment decline of 7%. According to IDC, the overall U.S. market shrank by 12.4%

On a worldwide basis, IDC estimates that HP was narrowly able to hold off Lenovo for the top spot.

With Apple having just begun shipping out its new fifth-generation iPod touch and seventh-generation iPod nano, The Verge has already posted reviews of both devices, weighing the positives and negatives of the substantially redesigned iPods.

The Verge's iPod touch review notes that the device is a major upgrade over its predecessor, which essentially dated to September 2010, with across the board changes in display, processor, and camera all housed in a sleek new body.

When you finally get it out of its impossible-to-open plastic packaging, it almost feels like you left part of it behind. It really is only a quarter-inch thick, though, and it really does weigh only 3.1 ounces. Remarkably, it doesn’t feel cheap or flimsy — it’s certainly a far cry from the incredible craftsmanship of the iPhone 5, but its aluminum back panel still feels quite solid and the slightly rounded edges are comfortable in your hand.

The move to using the same 4-inch display found in the iPhone 5 is a huge upgrade for the iPod touch, given that the previous model used a display that was inferior to the one used in the iPhone 4, albeit still of Retina resolution. As for the new 5-megapixel camera in the iPod touch, The Verge found that it performs adequately for still photos and "gets the job done" for 1080p video, but still falls short of even point-and-shoot camera quality.

Overall, The Verge found a lot to like about the new iPod touch, but questions whether the $299 starting price is enough to really entice customers given Apple's history of positioning the device as a "gateway drug" into the iOS ecosystem.

With no cheaper entry-level option, the touch is far from an impulse purchase. Selling the last-generation model for $199 isn’t a good compromise, either: it has a terrible camera, a much worse screen, and seriously outdated internals. If you’re looking for a device like the iPod touch, buying this year's model is an absolute no-brainer, but I’d bet more people are going to think twice before laying out $300.

In its iPod nano review, The Verge came away noting how hard it was to write a review about a device that doesn't do much more than play audio files. The lack of support for iOS features such as iCloud syncing leaves users stuck in the traditional iPod setup of having to manage their music files via iTunes, a concept dating back over decade.

You want to listen to music with an iPod nano? Then you better get ready to open iTunes and plug in a cable and transfer some hot nasty files. It’s like taking a time machine to 2010, before Apple itself started pushing everyone away from files and towards iCloud.

If you’re cool with managing files, the new iPod nano is the best dedicated music player on the market. It’s the sort of product that only Apple can make; a seamless slice of metal and plastic that feels essentially inevitable once you hold it.

In its wrap-up, The Verge reiterates its view that the iPod nano is hampered by a lack of many of the features that have brought significant improvements to the iPhone and iPod touch, pointing to Apple's new Lightning connector as an example of missed opportunities.

When [Phil Schiller] introduced the smaller Lightning connector last month, he noted that “so many of the things we used to do over the wire, we now do wirelessly.” After listing Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, what did Schiller describe as “best of all”? Oh, that’s right. “With iCloud, we can download all our content wirelessly.” The new nano might have Apple’s connector of the future, but everything else about it clings tightly to the past — to a world in which iTunes is still the center of the digital media universe, not a bloated relic badly in need of a fresh start and new ideas.

When it comes down to it, The Verge suggests that the iPod nano's $149 price tag will limit its market to those consumers interested in the cheapest available iPod with a screen or for whom size and weight is a major consideration, with a $50 jump to the fourth-generation iPod touch making more sense for many consumers.

The Verge reports that a Microsoft product manager today confirmed that the company is working on versions of Microsoft Office for both iOS and Android, targeting a March 2013 release. The comments were made to Czech site IHNED.cz [Google translation] at a press event in that country.

The Verge also notes that it has seen a press release from Microsoft's team in the Czech Republic confirming the launch plans.

"In addition to Windows, Office will be also available on other operating systems, Windows Phone, Windows RT, Mac OS, Android, iOS and Symbian," says Microsoft, while separately noting that there will also be a new version of Office Web Apps too. [...]

The press release also mentions that Office 2013 will be made available to businesses in December, with a consumer launch scheduled for the end of February 2013. "Office 365 services and other Office products for mobile (phones and tablets) will be released from March 2013," says Microsoft.

There has been considerable confusion over the possibility of Office for iOS, with The Daily having claimed in February that it had hands-on time with a working prototype of the software but Microsoft denying the report's details. In May, a pair of reports narrowed the release of Office for iPad (and possibly iPhone) to November of this year, with November 10 being floated as the actual date. It now appears, however, that the iOS launch may track more closely with the broader Office 2013 release.

Update 8:29 AM: IHNED.cz's Otakar Schon has followed up to let us know that there was a miscommunication with the Microsoft representatives and that the timeline for an Office release on iOS and Android is "after March".

Update 10:51 AM: Microsoft head of PR Frank X. Shaw released this statement on Twitter:

The information shared by our Czech Republic subsidiary is not accurate. We have nothing further to share.

Bloomberg takes a look at the situation surrounding scratching and scuffing of the iPhone 5's aluminum shell, an issue we noted just hours after the device's launch. According to today's report, Apple has indeed increased quality control standards to reduce the number of devices that are delivered with scratches right out of the box, but the move has slowed production on the new iPhone.

The scrapes, which sparked complaints with the iPhone's debut last month, are due to Apple's decision to use a type of aluminum that helps make the smartphone thinner and lighter. Senior Apple managers told executives at Foxconn near the end of September to tighten production standards, said the person, who asked not to be named because the matter was private.

Stricter benchmarks have hampered production of the iPhone 5's anodized aluminum housings, forcing Foxconn's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. to idle factories, the person said.

Specifically, the report claims that Foxconn had to halt assembly work at one of its plants on October 6 because of a lack rear shell parts.

The tightened quality control standards have increased stress on workers responsible for manufacturing the parts, with Foxconn employees interviewed for the story noting that every single step of the manufacturing and assembly process has the potential to scratch the soft metal, resulting in a significant number of the metal iPhone bodies not making it through the process cleanly.

The increased tensions among workers reportedly led to thousands of Foxconn workers briefly going on strike over the issue late last week, although Foxconn denied that there was any such action.

According to a report in the Guardian, Apple is planning to revise the full-size iPad with LTE support for the United Kingdom, something that was missing when the device was released earlier this year.

Additionally, the paper says the iPad mini will only support Wi-Fi. However, that claim seems slightly more suspect. This part leak of what is purported to be the rear shell of the iPad Mini includes both the plastic covering for a cellular antenna at the top of the device, as well as a SIM card slot on the lower right. The leaked part could be fake, but it appears to be well-machined and is more polished and detailed than a typical fake.

Apple's expected "iPad mini" will only come in a Wi-Fi version – but there will also be a revised version of the iPad with 4G connectivity compatible with the UK's Everything Everywhere network, and sporting the new "Lightning" connector, industry sources have told the Guardian.

[…]

Multiple sources contacted by the Guardian have indicated that they think the announcement of the "iPad mini" is imminent, with retail sources saying that they anticipate new products in November.

The paper also links to photos posted by Australian writer Sonny Dickson that are purported to be photographs of the iPad mini, though the photos linked are mockups. The model number is from a current-generation Wi-Fi iPad, and it appears that the serial number is as well.

There have been rumors of a full-size iPad refresh, potentially updating the device with better battery life or a Lightning connector, but the rumors of added LTE support for international markets is new. It makes sense, however, given the support for international LTE networks in the iPhone 5.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster today released a report outlining the results of his semi-annual survey of U.S. teenagers, revealing that iPhone and iPad usage continues to surge among the demographic. The survey of over 7,700 teenagers shows that 40% of respondents currently use an iPhone, up from 34% in the last survey conducted just six months ago.

We believe it is a positive sign for the power of the iPhone among younger users that Apple was able to expand its market share with teens despite no new product launches between our Spring and Fall 2012 surveys.

Apple also appears well-positioned with teenagers going forward, with 62% of survey respondents stating that they plan to obtain an iPhone as their next phone.

On the topic of tablets, Munster found that 44% of teenagers now have a tablet device of some sort, with 72% of those using an iPad. Roughly 35% of survey respondents who do not yet have a tablet (20% of total respondents) are planning to obtain one in the next six months. Of those, 74% are planning to purchase an iPad.

Apple's rumored "iPad mini" also appears to be a strong potential draw for teenagers, with 43% of those planning to purchase a tablet reporting that they would be more likely to do so if Apple launched a smaller iPad priced at $299.

Munster notes that attracting young users is a key part of Apple's strategy, as moving them into the Apple ecosystem at a young age helps lock them in for the future. The iPod touch has long been seen as a gateway device to attract younger users into the Apple ecosystem, but with the iPhone and iPad gaining in usage among these young users as smartphone and tablet prevalence continue to grow in general, many are moving into Apple's higher-priced devices at younger and younger ages.