MacRumors

In addition to yesterday's published patent applications from Apple describing tamper-resistant labels and accelerometer-based menu navigation, Patently Apple noticed a third interesting patent, this one covering a universal charging station with a moldable elastic surface surrounding the actual connector, capable of conforming to and supporting devices with varying form factors.

The patent application, entitled "Aesthetically pleasing universal dock" and filed on June 4th, 2008, seeks to improve on Apple's existing system for universal docks, which offers individual plastic inserts for each device form factor to allow them to fit snugly into the dock.

In one embodiment, a dock that supports a plurality of differently-shaped electronic devices includes a housing, a connector coupled to the housing, and a compressible support layer positioned at least partially about the connector. At least a portion of the compressible support layer compresses to the shape of at least a portion of an electronic device that is attached to the connector.

Apple suggests a number of possible options that could be offered on such a dock, including the ability to offer "lasting compression" that would retain the shape of the device mounted in it after removal, allowing for easy remounting of the device at a later time.

Apple also proposes a related support mechanism in which, rather than a support material compressing to fit a device, a thinner support material could rise in response to the mounting of a device, creating a support around the device. Apple also proposes the possibility of using mechanical or electrical signals and buttons to mold the support surface, allowing a user to create an appropriate surface for their device or reset an already-molded surface at the touch of a button.

Taking things even a step further, the application proposes that a method could be employed for the dock to automatically detect what kind of device is being mounted and conform its support surface accordingly. And finally, Apple proposes including an infrared remote sensor as in existing universal docks, allowing for control of devices mounted in the dock.

In a brief press release, Apple today announced that it has filed a countersuit against Nokia for infringement of 13 Apple-held patents. While the specific patents have not been identified, they presumably relate to wireless communications.

"Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours," said Bruce Sewell, Apple's General Counsel and senior vice president.

The move comes nearly two months after Nokia sued Apple, Apple claiming infringement of ten Nokia-held patents related to cellular and Wi-Fi technologies. Nokia claims that those patents, covering intellectual property related to "wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption", have been infringed by Apple's iPhone since its 2007 introduction. Apple noted soon after that it would "vigorously" defend itself against the charges.

Update: According to the court filing posted by Digital Daily, Apple accuses Nokia of demanding unreasonable licensing terms, including reciprocal access to intellectual property owned by Apple, for a variety of its patents.

Through the present suit, Nokia has asserted unfounded claims of infringement and breached licensing commitments it made to license on F/RAND [Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory] terms all patents that it claimed were necessary for a party to practice standards. Nokia has also violated those licensing commitments by demanding unjustifiable royalties and reciprocal licenses to Apple's patents covering Apple's pioneering technology -- patents unrelated to any industry standard. This attempt by Nokia to leverage patents previously pledged to industry standards is an effort to free ride on the commercial success of Apple's innovative iPhone while avoiding liability for copying the iPhone and infringing Apple's patents.

Apple denies that any of Nokia's patents cited in its own lawsuit are "essential" to standards, but even if a court should rule any of the contested claims valid, Apple should be granted F/RAND licensing terms, which Nokia has refused to offer.

In support of its claims that Nokia has already copied iPhone intellectual property, Apple points to comments made by a Nokia executive soon after the launch of the original iPhone highlighting Nokia's interest in copying Apple's inventions.

As Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia's Executive Vice President and General Manager of Multimedia, stated at Nokia's GoPlay event in 2007 when asked about the similarities of Nokia's new offerings to the already released iPhone: "If there is something good in the world, we copy with pride."

After a series of high profile complaints, it seems that Apple is making efforts to improve the App Store experience for their developers. After taking a hard line against the use of private application programming interfaces (APIs), iPhone developer Vimov reports that they have had a relatively positive experience in seeking approval for an update to their iSimulate app.

Despite inadvertently leaving in a programming call to a private API, they were pleased to find the update had still been approved and they were simply warned to address the issue in the next update:

Thank you for submitting your update to iSimulate to the App Store. During our review of your application we found it is using a private API, which is in violation of the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement section 3.3.1; 3.3.1 Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. While your application has not been rejected, it would be appropriate to resolve this issue in your next update.

In the recent past, such an oversight would have resulted in an automatic rejection that would have cost the developer weeks of time going through the re-approval process.

This past week, Apple made further efforts at improving the lines of communication with developers by offering an RSS news feed for developers with news and tips about App Store submissions.

A small startup company called Pixel Qi recently announced that they will start production of the first batch of their new LCD screens shortly. These new screens promise low power, easy readability in direct sunlight as well as support for full color and are expected to ship in quantity in Q1 2010. Regarding the screen's benefits:

The readability and legibility of our new screens rival the best epaper available today. What's new about our screens: fast video rate update (refresh), and fully saturated color at low pricing because we use standard manufacturing materials, processes and factories. Our screens use 1/2 to 1/4 the power of a regular LCD screen, and when integrated carefully with the device can increase battery life between charges by 5-fold. You can use our screens in laptops outside in bright sunlight.

Pixel Qi has been closely followed by the industry, as it was founded by One Laptop Per Child's (OLPC) former Chief Technology Officer Mary Lou Jepsen.

Techland.com had spent some time with a prototype screen back in May and were quite impressed. The screen offers two modes: a black and white "reflective" mode similar to e-ink and a more traditional emissive mode that offers full color. Unlike e-ink, however, the black and white mode is capable of full-motion video.

Over the past year, Jepsen has revealed that they have been in contact with "all the big laptop companies" and have seen a lot of interest. While there is no specific connection with Apple, it seems clear that Apple must be aware of this coming technology for their rumored tablet device. The readability and battery life savings would, of course, benefit any portable device, but especially one that has been rumored to publish magazine content and take on existing e-readers. Conveniently, the 3Qi screens are also multi-touch capable and can be "super-slim". The size of the screen has also been announced at 10.1 inches, which matches with some of the predictions for the Apple tablet's screen size.

Pixel Qi has revealed their screens will be going into specialized tablet devices with multi-touch in 2010, but has not yet announced specific partners.

The Wall Street Journal indicates that Apple and Google are becoming even more competitive than we had suspected. According to their sources, Google was also in serious negotiations with Lala Media for possible acquisition right before Apple won the bid. Meanwhile, we had previously reported that Apple was in serious talks with Admob immediately prior to Google's acquisition of that company.

The twin pursuit of the start-ups reveal that the two tech titans have further plans to move deeper into each other's business: Apple wanted to get into advertising, while Google sought a music service.

Apple and Google have become increasingly competitive which resulted in the resignation of Google CEO Eric Schmidt from the Apple Board of Directors. As Apple moves towards more web-based services and Google into the mobile phone market, the lines are continuing to blur.

The Wall Street Journal even indicates that Apple's interest in Admob may have been defensive, an attempt to prevent Google from learning details of the App Store economy. Apple is believed to be looking into more iPhone-related acquisitions.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today published over 20 newly-released patent applications from Apple, and AppleInsider highlights two of the more interesting ones covering tamper-resistant labels for detecting unauthorized opening of devices and accelerometer-based navigation of menus on Apple's handheld devices.

The first patent application, entitled "Tamper resistant label for detecting device openings" and filed on August 1st, 2008, addresses a unique type of tamper-resistant label that could be fixed across a seam in an electronic device such that twisting or bending the label beyond a certain point would damage the label, leaving evidence of unauthorized access to the device's internals.

The label can be arranged and affixed such that the label rips, tears or is otherwise damaged to a point that it cannot be repaired when the device is fully or at least substantially opened. The single device can become substantially opened when the first object is tilted with respect to the second object at more than a certain angle, such as an angle that is greater than about 10 degrees or greater than about 40 degrees. Alternatively, the single device can become substantially opened when the first object and second object are separated more than about one inch apart at any location where the first object and second object touch to form the single device. Such a rip or damaging of the label can then be readily noticed by an authorized technician or representative when the entire device is turned in for official servicing or repairs. In some embodiments, the label can remain intact when the device is only partially opened or "cracked open," such that it is possible to peek inside the device without damaging the label.

Apple appears to have been taking an increased interest recently in addressing circumstances which could result in a customer voiding their warranty due to misuse of or unauthorized access to the internals of their devices. Another recent patent application from Apple described methods by which a device could determine and record whether it had been exposed to a variety of conditions including liquids, extreme temperatures, excessive shock, and unauthorized tampering. Repair technicians could later access these recorded "abuse events" in order to determine what may have caused a given device failure.

The second patent application, entitled "Acceleration navigation of media device displays " and filed on June 28th, 2008, addresses the concept of using an accelerometer within a portable media device such as an iPod to navigate menus within the user interface.

In response to the device being physically moved, circuitry of the device can receive acceleration data generated by one or more accelerometers. The circuitry can be configured to respond to the acceleration data by presenting a second display. The second display can be, for example, another menu in the menu hierarchy or the same menu with a different option highlighted. Highlighted, as used herein, includes any means or method for emphasizing one option in relation to another. Common forms of highlighting one or more options include, for example, a bolder font, a colored-in-area around the option, a line around the option, etc. A cover flow type of approach (using, e.g., album covers or other clip art) can also be used to highlight an option.

The patent application describes the use of "flicking" accelerations in various directions to navigate user interface menus and select options. Under certain circumstances, accelerometer-based input could be configured to require that a physical button be held down before being registered, reducing unintentional input.

Apple uses accelerometers in variety of products, including its iPhone, iPod touch, and iPod nano, in order to sense device orientation for such tasks as automatically rotating screen display between portrait and landscape mode, as well as for application input. Other Apple devices, such as the company's notebooks, incorporate accelerometers to sense when they have been dropped, allowing sensitive components such as the hard drive to deactivate and brace for impact, limiting potential damage.

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that Taiwanese LCD manufacturer Chi Mei Optoelectronics has agreed to pay a $220 million fine to address criminal charges stemming from extensive price fixing in the LCD industry from 2001 through 2006 that affected a number of companies, including Apple. Chi Mei becomes the sixth company to plead guilty in the conspiracy over the past year.

The department said the conspiracy affected some of the world's largest computer and television manufacturers, including Apple Inc. (AAPL), Dell Inc. (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ).

Prosecutors said Chi Mei and its co-conspirators participated in meetings in Taiwan, South Korea and the U.S. in which they agreed to fix LCD prices. The companies later shared sales data with each other to ensure all conspirators were adhering to the price-fixing agreement, prosecutors alleged.

Prosecutors didn't say how much the price-fixing victims might have paid in inflated LCD prices.

The criminal charges were brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, which has levied a total of $860 million in fines against the six companies.

Chi Mei has been a supplier of LCD displays for several of Apple's notebook models, and just last month agreed to a merger with rival Innolux, itself a subsidiary of long-time Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn. Apple, however, partnered with LG early this year on a five-year deal to lock in a long-term strategic alliance with what was already Apple's largest LCD supplier.

The Wall Street Journal claims that Apple is looking at an "overhaul of the way it sells and stores music" and how to extend that service into the web. According to "people familiar with the matter", Apple is considering using Lala's recently acquired engineers and technologies to accomplish that.

Lala currently allows users to buy and listen to music through their web browser. An Apple version of the service would operate the same way, with music being streamed to users from a central server. This is in stark contrast to Apple's current iTunes model, where songs are purchased and downloaded locally. Record company executives are said to be optimistic about the prospect, but wary at giving Apple more power.

Such a move, however, would be a big departure for Apple, who has previously insisted that customers wish to own their music. This on-demand streaming raises issues of long-term ownership as well as technical issues if rights holders or providers go out of business in the future.

Overall, the article adds little new information but does seem to confirm much of the speculation that Apple might translate Lala's exact business model over to iTunes.

Despite some paltry sales during the first weekend, China Unicom announced today that they have now sold more than 100,000 iPhones since the October 30th launch in China.

These results indicate sales picked up since the opening weekend which only had 5000 in sales reported. Still, analysts report that the 100,000 figure remains disappointing given China Unicom's 144 million subscribers.

High price, lack of Wi-Fi, and a strong gray market for iPhones in China seem to be contributing to the relatively low carrier sales.

One of the touted features of Google's Chrome browser, which finally saw the release of an official beta version for Mac yesterday, has been its speed in loading and rendering pages. In investigating that aspect of its performance, Computerworld has found that, while Chrome performs extremely well in the SunSpider JavaScript benchmarking test, it only comes in a close second to Apple's Safari browser.

According to tests run by Computerworld, the Chrome beta, which Google launched yesterday, is the second fastest of four Mac browsers tested. Chrome renders JavaScript 10 times faster than Opera 10.10 and almost twice as fast as Firefox 3.6 Beta 4, the most recently-released Mac version of Mozilla's open-source browser.

But Chrome can't match Safari 4.0.4's speed: Apple's browser is approximately 12% faster than Google's beta.

This contrasts with the Windows platform, where Computerworld previously found Chrome to be the top performing browser in the same testing suite, clocking in at 30% faster than Safari for Windows.

JavaScript performance has become a key indicator of browser speed in recent years, with Computerworld noting that the release of Firefox's TraceMonkey JavaScript engine last year set the stage for an arms race in JavaScript performance, one that is currently being led by WebKit-based browsers such as Safari and Chrome.

Silicon Alley Insider reports on a research note from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who cites fellow analyst Chris Larsen as giving Apple a 70% chance of launching an iPhone on Verizon sometime next year. According to Silicon Alley Insider, there are a number of good reasons to expect Apple to make the move to Verizon:

- Because Verizon is the biggest U.S. carrier, and could help Apple sell millions more phones per year.
- Because Apple is no doubt aware that AT&T, its current iPhone partner, is majorly flaking on network quality in big markets like New York and San Francisco.
- Because Verizon would otherwise continue to invest heavily in Apple rivals like Google Android and RIM BlackBerry.
- Because the smartphone market is a platform land grab and Apple can't afford to lose ground -- even at the risk of complicating their product line or back-end systems.

There are, however, a number of reasons why such a deal may not occur in 2010, such as difficulties reaching a revenue sharing agreement, increased handset subsidies from AT&T to maintain its exclusivity agreement, and the apparently tenuous relationship between Verizon and Apple as the iPhone maker stands by its U.S. partner AT&T in its ongoing spat with Verizon.

Reports have also centered on the need for Apple to produce different iPhone hardware if it wishes to offer 3G connectivity on Verizon's network due to differences between Verizon's system and that used by all current iPhone carriers. Some speculators have claimed that Apple would be more likely to wait for the converged roll-out of 4G technology that would allow for a single type of hardware across all providers, possibly delaying a Verizon iPhone roll-out until 2011 or 2012 when the carrier achieves broad 4G coverage.

But Silicon Alley Insider notes that even then the iPhone would almost certainly need the capability of falling back to 3G networks where 4G is not yet available, necessitating multiple hardware models or possibly a multi-mode hybrid chip currently under development by Qualcomm that could support both types of 3G networks.

Offering a different perspective on Piper Jaffray's report, Fortune points to other strategies Apple could be looking to employ for the 2010 revision of the iPhone: battery improvements and RFID-enabled payment technology.

-Give the iPhone a battery that lasts longer than one day. "Apple has introduced advanced battery technology with its portable Macs," he writes, "and we expect the company to dramatically improve the iPhone battery life with the next several hardware launches."
-Turn the iPhone into a digital wallet. Munster predicts that future iPhones will have built-in RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology, allowing them to make retail payments with a single swipe.

Patently Apple points to a new trademark application from Apple filed on November 30th regarding the "Think Different" advertising slogan used by the company from 1997 until 2002. While the application follows close on the heels of a renewal of an earlier trademark issued for the slogan and could conceivably simply be related to Apple looking to preserve its long-standing trademark, the report notes that Apple's new application specifically extends coverage of the trademark to music players such as the iPod and other electronic devices that could conceivably include a future tablet device.

In 1997 there wasn't an iPod and this may be one of the main reasons for Apple's new trademark application for Think Different. However, Apple's International Classification 009 now covers the iPod under MP3 audio players in addition to generically covering "Portable and handheld digital electronic devices" so as to cover any future tablet Apple may be contemplating in the future. Is Apple gearing up for something?

Beyond the new trademark application, 9 to 5 Mac notes that Apple has begun using the "Think Different" phrase on the packaging of its new 21.5" and 27" iMac models. While the change may again simply be a result of Apple moving to exhibit continued commercial usage of the trademark in support of its renewal applications for protection, 9 to 5 Mac also reports on unconfirmed chatter out of Apple's ad agency TBWA/Chiat/Day regarding the slogan, although no specific word of a related ad campaign has surfaced.

TechCrunch reports that Apple has rolled out a new feature through its iTunes Facebook page allowing users to create customizable digital gift cards. The feature, which is currently limited to U.S. iTunes Store customers, allows gift givers to choose from six digital gift card designs and iTunes credits ranging from $5 to $50. Gift givers can then enter a gift message and specify a delivery date for their recipient to receive their gift card electronically.

This appears to be one of the only ways to purchase a digital iTunes giftcard -- the Apple site itself only offers physical versions, and sites like Gifts.com and Giftcards.com don't have them either. Aside from this Facebook app, the only place we're seeing the option is from within the iTunes desktop app itself.

The report notes that the Facebook application's interface was designed by GroupCard, while the back-end is driven by Blackhawk Network, which has a long-standing relationship with Apple and is a prominent player in the gift card processing industry.