Apple to pay $15 in class action lawsuit (USA)
Apple has settled the Antennagate class action lawsuit for a payment of $15 or a free bumper case to each customer who faced a problem with the iPhone 4.
Multiple lawsuits were filed against Apple alleging that the company misled the customers in its communication regarding the issue. The lawsuit was filed based on the complaints pertaining to the antenna issues leading to poor signals and dropped calls. Initially, Apple refused to comment on the issue, however, later on, the company offered refund on returning the iPhone 4 handsets.
The lawsuit was filed mainly on five grounds which included unfair competition, false and confusing advertising, breach of warranty, breach of Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act and a violation of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act.
According to the settlement, by April 2012, Apple will have to inform the customers whether they are entitled for a $15 check or a free bumper case. The settlement is applicable for those customers who did not opt for the refund or the free bumper case. Apple will be sending out e-mail notifications to the customers in the near future about the settlement.
For the smooth functioning of the settlement process, Apple has planned to launch a website namely, iPhone4Settlement.com.
Apple offers iPhone 3GS free when taken with a contract (USA)
Apple Inc. had reportedly slashed the price of its iPhone 3GS model to zero when purchased with a contract, with the launch of its latest iPhone 4S last month. According to reports, industry analysts believe that this move could help Apple in competing with the lower range devices running on Google Inc.’s Android software, without negatively affecting its profits.
While sources say that the two year old iPhone 3GS does not include the latest features such as the voice-activated assistant Siri, offered in the iPhone 4S, users would still prefer it over most of the rival handsets being offered in the market for the similar price.
As per reports, wireless carrier AT&T, which is the only operator selling the iPhone 3GS, sold out its entire stock of the handset after the price change was implemented saying that there has been tremendous demand for the same. Currently, Apple is selling its iPhone 4S between $199 and $399 while the iPhone 4 is being sold for $99. As per sources, Apple reported a total revenue of $11 billion from iPhone sale last quarter.
Telenet to sell iPhone 4 (Belgium)
Belgian cable operator Telenet has announced its plans to start the sales of Apple iPhone 4.
Few details of the offer are known yet, but the phone is already displayed on the company’s website.
Celcom to offer iPhone 4 in Malaysia
Celcom is planning to launch Apple iPhone 4 in the coming months.
iPhone 4 is 24% thinner than the iPhone 3GS and is made from stainless steel and glass. The stainless steel band is also part of the antenna system (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, UMTS, GSM) of the phone. iPhone 4 has secondary mic for noise cancellation.
iPhone 4 has two built-in cameras: 5 megapixel back-camera with LED flash and backside illumination sensor; a front camera for video calling. The back-camera is also capable of taking HD videos (720p) up to 30fps with audio.
With the new technology called Retina Display, iPhone 4 screen is 960—640 pixel with 326 pixels per inch, the highest resolution phone screen ever. Graphic and text would be super sharp.
Like Apple iPad, iPhone 4 is powered by A4 chip handle complex jobs, such as multitasking, editing movie on iPhone using iMovie for iPhone and, at the same time, maximizing battery life. The iPhone 4 has up to 40% longer battery life than iPhone 3GS.
iPhone 4 is the first phone with built-in 3-axis gyroscope for more motion gestures and greater precision for better gaming experience.
Apple asks SK Telecom not to publish iPhone sales figures (South Korea)
South Korea’s SK Telecom has started taking pre-orders for the iPhone 4 last week, and was publishing a counter of how many it was selling, until the tally was suddenly removed from its website.
It is reported that the company was ordered to stop publishing sales figures by Apple. The company had taken 28,000 orders in the first seven hours of sales on the 9th March before the sales figures were taken down. The company stated that it was required to consult with the maker before publicizing the number of preliminary orders.
As per sources, Apple is overly sensitive in announcing the updates of orders, insinuating that Apple had asked for the sales figures to be removed.
Part of the reason could be that initial sales figures may have actually been weaker than expected. It was hoped that sales would match the fever when the iPhone 4 was originally offered by rival operator, Korea Telecom, but fell far short of the 100,000 sales that were expected.
As per sources, it is evident that Apple took action because the performance of SK Telecom wasn’t satisfactory.
SK Telecom to begin offering iPhone 4 (South Korea)
South Korea’s SK Telecom Co. has announced that it will start offering Apple Inc.’s iPhone 4, signaling the end of the exclusive distribution of the touchscreen device by rival mobile operator KT Corp.
The company will later disclose the date for offering the phone along with the other details later.
The move comes amid SK Telecom’s continued efforts to broaden its product lineup to address the growing demand for smartphones. South Korean mobile carriers are making a big push into the wireless data services market in order to make up for declining revenue from voice calls as the local telecom market has become highly saturated. Greater usage of smartphone devices like the iPhone would boost their efforts.
According to KT, it introduced the iPhone 3GS, the model preceding the iPhone 4, in the domestic market in November 2009. Combined sales of the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 have surpassed 2 million since then.
SK Telecom is diversifying its smartphone offerings even as it enjoys strong sales of Samsung Electronics Co.’s flagship smartphone Galaxy S, which the carrier launched in June 2010. The firm is also planning to introduce around 30 new smartphones this year–60% of the company’s new phone lineup for 2011–in an effort to meet varied customer tastes and boost its wireless services sales.
To better address fast increasing demand for wireless data services, SK Telecom also declared in earlier January that it will launch mobile services based on long-term evolution technology in July, joining the other global telecom operators such as Verizon Wireless, NTT DoCoMo Inc. and CSL, the Hong Kong unit of Telstra Corp. that have moved to launch services based on 4G technology.
Consumer Reports confirm Verizon iPhone 4 defect (USA)
Consumer Reports have revealed that the Apple Inc. iPhone 4 carried by Verizon Wireless suffers from a problem similar to the one that plagued AT&T Inc.’s version — it may result in dropped calls in certain areas.
After testing the phone, which was released this month, Consumer Reports stated that it won’t include the device on its list of recommended smartphones.
According to Consumer Reports, published by Yonkers, New York-based Consumers Union, the Verizon iPhone 4 closely resembles the original AT&T iPhone 4 in many positive respects which includes offering great multimedia functionality, a sharp screen and the best MP3 player they have seen on a phone. Unfortunately, it also shares with its sibling the possibility of compromised performance in low-signal conditions when used without a bumper or a case.
The group added that the iPhone, which first hit stores in 2007, has become Apple’s best-selling product. It accounted for 39% of $26.7 billion in total sales in the most recent quarter. Calls may be dropped when the phone is gripped in a way that affects the phone’s signal strength.
Consumer Reports also stated that the device performs superbly in most respects and using a case can fix the signal.
Consumer Reports similarly didn’t recommend the iPhone 4 when it was released for AT&T last year, citing an antenna design flaw that led to dropped calls. Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs apologized and offered customers free cases to help fix the problem with the AT&T phones.
Apple iPhone battery explodes
Apple iPhone has reportedly exploded when resting on a desk – with burn marks visible on the table after the phone had cooled down.
According to iPhone 4 owner Omar Huartas, his Apple smartphone actually explodedâ€.
The iDevice apparently became really hot while his wife was holding it, causing the battery to swell, the back cover to dislodge and the smartphone to catch fire. After being frightened near to dear, Huertas’ wife dropped the device on a table where it left visible burn marks. While most reports like this are usually a hoax, it actually appears true, with the moment being caught on camera.
Huartas has contacted Apple to see if, perhaps, he can get a new iPhone.
Visa teams up with Wireless Dynamics to develop iPhone-Based Payment System (Europe)
Visa Europe has teamed with Canadian company Wireless Dynamics to develop an iPhone-based contactless payment system for consumers across Europe.
According to Visa, it has sponsored consumer research in Italy, Poland, Turkey and the United Kingdom that supports demand for mobile contactless payments, with 41% of those polled stating that they definitely or probably would use a payment system from the credit-card provider. iPhone users seem even keener, with 57% responding similarly.
Visa will control an iPhone accessory called the iCarte. The accessory can be attached to the devices to make payments when used together with a Visa Mobile application for iCarte App available in Apple’s iPhone App Store.
The iCarte accessory uses Near Field Communication (NFC) technology and embedded security that stores a person’s Visa card. Once coupled with the iCarte mobile application, people can make payments by touching the iPhone on any compatible point-of-sale terminal across Europe. Users don’t need to enter a PIN to use the service.
iCarte is compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 3G S and iPhone 3G on iOS 3.1 or higher, and people can use multiple Visa accounts with it.
The first deployment of the service is in Turkey in collaboration with Yapi Kredi bank and Turkey’s largest mobile operator, Turkcell.
Mobile payments are being touted as the next wave in how people make purchases, and there are a variety of ways providers are using to payment-enable devices.
Visa’s approach is similar to an SIM-enabled one, which also uses NFC and stores information on a device’s SIM card for use with POS machines. People also can use their phones to send a payment request via text message and have the money taken out of their phone bill or an online payment system.
While the idea and technology for a mobile payment service has been around for about 10 years, 2011 is the year it’s expected to catch on in a big way, especially across Europe and Asia.
Apple, RIM and HTC win big in 2010 mobile handset race
In nearly all parts of the world, consumers’ appetite for purchasing the very latest handsets has not abated. Quite the reverse: research estimates 390 million handsets and smartphones were shipped in 4Q-2010, up 15.6% year-on-year. Overall, that takes the 2010 total of handsets shipped to 1.36 billion. This is a remarkable turnaround given that just one year ago, 2009 shipments had contracted 4.4% YoY.
Nokia’s market share slid marginally to 31.7%, because its revamped smartphone portfolio has yet to gain traction. Samsung made marginal gains in market share to 20.7%. Samsung’s smartphones, including the Galaxy-S, have helped to strengthen its competitiveness in the smartphone sector, but in the overall handset market, this vendor is treading water. Apple’s iPhone 4 continues to capture a growing chunk of the smartphone market (4.2%). RIM also showed respectable gains (3.6%) due to a refreshed lineup of keyboard smartphones as well as a hybrid touch-screen/keyboard smartphone, the Torch. Other overall handset market share winners include HTC, Huawei, ZTE and TCL.
LG (7.8%), Sony-Ericsson (2.9%) and Motorola (2.9%) contracted in global handset market share. However, Motorola has continued to show quarter-on-quarter growth.
A number of vendors have jettisoned their global handset market-share aspirations and are instead focusing their resources and expertise on growing their high-end smartphone market share. Over time, a number of Chinese and Indian handset vendors will corner an increasing slice of the global handset market. They are introducing aggressively priced handsets and smartphones that cater to the needs of emerging market consumers as well as mobile operators looking for operator-branded handsets.
According to sources, Huawei, ZTE and TCL/Alcatel Mobile are being joined by Indian vendors Micromax and Spice Mobile as regional and global handset movers and shakers.
Handset vendors are not the only beneficiaries: chipset companies ARM and Qualcomm have had one of their best financial performances due to the smartphone boom, while MediaTek is angling to capture the low-end smartphone segment.
