Kelly Hodgkins

Several former Foxconn employees have been charged in Taiwan for allegedly accepting kickbacks from partner companies in Foxconn's supply chain, reports The Wall Street Journal. According to the report, a former general manager is being held on bribery charges and three former employees are released on bail. However, Apple and other Foxconn clients are not being investigated as authorities do not ...

Apple today added two new 30-second video advertisements, "Sound Verse" and "Light Verse," to its YouTube channel. The pair are part of Apple's new ad campaign that focuses on how people are using the iPad for music, mountaineering and more. The uploaded clips, which have been airing on television for several days, are shortened versions of the original 90-second "Your Verse" ad that debuted...

Apple will announce its next quarterly earnings on Monday, January 27, and ahead of the announcement analysts are releasing their iPhone and iPad sales estimates for this holiday quarter. As we noted earlier this week, analysts predict record quarterly sales of 55 million iPhones, a 16% increase over the same quarter last year. A follow-up report today from Philip Elmer-Dewitt of Fortune suggests ...

Apple slipped behind Samsung, Sony and Microsoft in a 2014 customer experience survey from Forrester Research (via The Wall Street Journal). This is the third annual survey, and the first time Apple has fallen behind these rival companies. The survey measures customer experience, which involves difficult-to-define criteria based on how a customer feels about his or her interaction with a...

Apple today was awarded U.S. Patent No. 8,633,916 (via AppleInsider), which describes a touchpad that utilizes force sensors and acuator feedback. The buttonless design uses an array of sensors and an actuator to mimic the function and tactile feedback of the current trackpad found in the company's MacBook product lines. Currently, Apple's trackpad technology is based on an integrated button ...

Verizon Wireless announced its earnings today for 4Q 2013, making it the first major U.S. carrier to release its financial statement for the quarter. But while many were hoping to get the first insight into holiday sales of the iPhone, the carrier failed to break out these numbers. This is the first time Verizon has not announced iPhone activations and is following AT&T, which also stopped...

Apple may be close to releasing iOS 7.1 beta 4 to developers, according to a report by BGR. The new beta is reportedly in the hands of testing partners and is slated to be released to developers as soon as tomorrow. The beta will be the fourth of a reported six planned developer builds for iOS 7.1. We are told there are various fixes in this latest version, including fixing keyboard issues,...

According to a report [Google Translate of cached version] from Korean publication Digital Daily that was published and then pulled (via G 4 Games), Apple has inked a deal with LG to provide flexible, plastic OLED displays for the company's iWatch product. LG is allegedly the sole supplier of the 1.52-inch panels for Apple's rumored smart watch device. Image from Apple's "bracelet" with ...

Previous rumors hinted that Samsung's next flagship device would leapfrog the iPhone 5s with new iris scanning technology, but that rumor may be inaccurate. A recent report from The Korea Herald claims the Korean handset maker instead is working on fingerprint sensor technology for its upcoming flagship Galaxy S5 phone."Among the different types of biometric sensors that Samsung is testing for...

Apple will announce its quarterly earnings for fiscal Q1 2014 next week on January 27, 2014, and in advance of the earnings report both professional and amateur analysts are releasing their iPhone sales estimates for the holiday quarter. Apple had two new iPhones, the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c, in its product lineup during the quarter, and supply of the phones was fairly strong after some...

Apple's long-awaited store in Brisbane, Australia finally opened its doors to customers today. The flagship store was announced in 2011, but problems with contractors and the historical nature of the site delayed completion. Customers started waiting in line almost 15 hours before the store was schedule to open its doors at 10 AM local time, with many hoping to score one of the limited...

Starbucks has released an update to its iOS app that safeguards customer's personal information stored on the phone. An earlier version of the app saved sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and location data, in a clear text format. Potential criminals who obtained physical access to a customer's iPhone could download these details with minimal effort. As announced by...

As outlined in our feature highlighting Apple's possible product plans for 2014, a number of rumors have suggested Apple may be working on a 12.9-inch iPad model that could launch later this year. The company is allegedly accelerating development on this device in response to Samsung's introduction of two competing 12.2-inch tablet models, with market sources cited by Digitimes claiming that...

A UK Court will allow a group of privacy experts to sue Google over the company's circumvention of privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser, reports Gigaom. Following this ruling, the activists can pursue a tort claim that alleges Google misused their private information. The Honourable Mr Justice Tugendhat writes in his decision: "I am satisfied that there is a serious issue to be tried in...

Google Now is a personal assistant service that is considered to be Google's counterpart to Siri. Available on iOS and Android devices, the service is now making its way onto the desktop via Chrome Canary, the experimental build of Google's Chrome web browser. As reported by the Google Operating System blog, the latest build of Chrome Canary allows users to receive Google Now cards directly ...

Apple's iBeacon technology based on the Bluetooth LE standard is being installed in Apple Stores and other retail outlets to assist customers and send them promotions while shopping, but as noted by Patently Apple, a newly published patent application suggests this technology could also be used to send secure mobile payments while making purchases. Patent application number 20140019367,...

Apple is creeping closer to opening a new flagship store in Toyko's well-known Omotesando district. Previously reported to be scheduled for a March 2014 opening, an image of the store published by Mac Otakara shows significant progress has been made on the store. Although wrapped in a black shroud, the exterior of the building is starting to take shape, with the building appearing to bear a...

Research firm DisplaySearch has once again tapped its sources in the display supply chain to assess what panel sizes and resolutions are currently under development, using that information to speculate on the display technology that may land in Apple's iPhone 6, new iPad and rumored iWatch. According to the firm's latest report, the iPhone 6 and iPad may receive size and resolution boosts in line ...