iWork.com on iPad

• Share documents on websites and social networks. iWork.com allows you to share a document by creating a public link. Use the link to share your document with large groups or on websites and social networks. There’s no need to set a password or send an invitation. Anyone with the public link can view your document but cannot add comments or notes.
• Improved Shared Documents page. Download documents shared on iWork.com without leaving the Shared Documents page. You can also track the number of views your publicly shared documents receive.
• Refined user interface. A redesigned Sign In and Shared Documents page for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch makes it easy to access your documents while on the go. The new interface and improved scrolling help you find your shared documents faster. Visit www.iwork.com from your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch to view your shared documents.

iWork.com was released as a public beta at Macworld ‘09 and provides a method of sharing uploaded documents via the web. iWork.com allows commenting on documents and downloading in a multiple of formats such as PDF and Microsoft office formats.

“We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”

Engadget offers a brief breakdown of the patents Apple claims HTC has infringed.

• The ‘331 Patent, entitled “Time-Based, Non-Constant Translation Of User Interface Objects Between States,” was duly and legally issued on April 22, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
• The ‘949 Patent, entitled “Touch Screen Device, Method, And Graphical User Interface For Determining Commands By Applying Heuristics,” was duly and legally issued on January 20, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘949 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit B.
• The ‘849 Patent, entitled “Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image,” was duly and legally issued on February 2, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘849 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit C.
• The ‘381 Patent, entitled “List Scrolling And Document Translation, Scaling, And Rotation On A Touch-Screen Display,” was duly and legally issued on December 23, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘381 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit D.
• The ‘726 Patent, entitled “System And Method For Managing Power Conditions Within A Digital Camera Device,” was duly and legally issued on July 6, 1999 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘726 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit E.
• The ‘076 Patent, entitled “Automated Response To And Sensing Of User Activity In Portable Devices,” was duly and legally issued on December 15, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘076 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit F.
• The ‘105 Patent, entitled “GMSK Signal Processors For Improved Communications Capacity And Quality,” was duly and legally issued on December 8, 1998 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘105 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit G.
• The ‘453 Patent, entitled “Conserving Power By Reducing Voltage Supplied To An Instruction-Processing Portion Of A Processor,” was duly and legally issued on June 3, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘453 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit H.
• The ‘599 Patent, entitled “Object-Oriented Graphic System,” was duly and legally issued on October 3, 1995 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘599 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit I.
• The ‘354 Patent, entitled “Object-Oriented Event Notification System With Listener Registration Of Both Interests And Methods,” was duly and legally issued on July 23, 2002 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘354 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit J.

Complete USITC and Deleware Court filings below.

Delaware Filing

USITC Filing

Earlier this week Apple COO Tim Cook who led the company during Steve Jobs’ time off in early 2009 spoke candidly about Apple. During the Goldman Sachs Technology & Internet Conference Cook gave a talk about Apple including some interesting details about the company’s products.

During the 40 minute talk—which can be listened to on Apple’s website and read in full below—Cook discussed how Apple TV remains a hobby to Apple and the company will use custom silicone in future products.

Cook also discussed Apple retail stores saying that new stores opening this year in London and Shanghai will “make your jaw drop.”

Paraphrased transcript courtesy of Silicon Alley Insider

4:08 Clapton’s “Change the World” is playing leading up the presentation. Now “Sunny Came Home.”

4:09 Getting underway. Tim Cook reads disclosure.

4:10 Q&A begins. Steve Jobs was very clear about leadership in mobile devices. Is that how we should think about Apple at this point? Tim Cook: Yes. Let me elaborate. If you look at Dec. quarter results, which included revenues of almost $15.7 billion, as we compared ourselves to every other company in the world, including Sony and Nokia and Samsung, which now have huge mobile device businesses, we found out we were the largest in the world, measured by revenues.

4:11 How are you channeling resources differently? Transition to mobile devices began in 1991 with first introduction of portable product for Apple with introduction of the TFT screen. During that time, the Mac business has become a predominantly mobile device business. Huge difference between us and the balance of the industry in portable share.

4:12 Ah, a history lesson. Going through all the mobile devices Apple has ever launched. Vast majority of Apple’s revenue now comes from mobile devices and content purchased for those devices. Believe we’re well positioned to do extremely well because we can seamlessly offer software and hardware.

4:13 Who are biggest competitors and who are biggest partners? Tim Cook: I wish the world were that simple. Many people you can’t cleanly put in one or another. Take Microsoft. In Microsoft, we love the Mac Office division. They do a great product and we partner with them and work with them very tightly. Most of the balance of Microsoft we compete vigorously against, in OS, in mobile OS, etc. If you look at Google, I would say Google is similar in that respect. We partner with them in maps, in search for most of our products, but we also compete with them in the mobile OS space and now in the hardware phone space. So, it’s difficult to put people in one camp or the other always. There are some companies like the media companies where we partnered with so well that Apple is now selling billions of dollars of digital content.

4:15 Also companies like carriers where we partnered with to bring iPhone to in 86 countries. Ones that draw the most attention are the ones that are more complex, where we’re both competitors and partners.

4:16 Apple TV is still a hobby. We’ve been very clear about that. The reason that we call it a hobby… if you look at the other businesses we’re in, these businesses are all in huge markets. The unit volumes in these things is huge. Apple TV is in a market that’s very small. Today. Apple TV did grow in the quarter we just finished by 35% in a unit basis year-over-year.

4:17 No interest in going into the TV market. But still think there’s something there. So we continue to invest in this as a hobby.

4:18 iMac is very key, will continue to be very key. I think people will continue to want a very gorgeous large screen, all-in-one, simple to use, very elegant machine, we’re going to continue to deliver it.

4:19 Where growth coming from going forward? Here’s the exciting thing. If you take a look at the Mac, the Mac has outgrown the market 20 of the last 21 quarters. 5 years in a row. Has outgrown the market. And in many of those quarters, outgrew it by multiple. The PC industry is over 300 million units per year. Last fiscal year, Mac did over 10 million units. Ceiling is far above. Continue to invest in enormous amount of energy and talent in the Mac. Doesn’t take Market growth. 50% of customers in Apple store are from Windows.

4:20 iPod touch has been a runaway hit, and it helps the platform that you’re talking about. If you look at the iPod touch, it grew 100% last fiscal year. 55% y/y last quarter. Each fuels more app sales, more developers. iPad? Haven’t sold one yet. A lot of interest in it. I’ve been using one for 6 months or so, I’ll tell you the experience is just absolutely incredible. Can’t wait to start shipping it.

4:21 iPhone, I feel we’ve just gotten started.

4:22 Over 3 billion downloads on app store, over 140,000 apps for sale, these are incredible numbers. Who would have dreamed of these? I see opportunity all over the place.

4:23 The word “complete” is not in our dictionary. We’re all about innovation. Many times that means we’re all about obsoleting ourselves. Going to continue to make things better and going to continue to innovate. I’d say the ecosystem is really good, the platform is really good. Certainly all the foundation is in place. Will it get better? Clearly yes. But great now.

4:24 iPad new use case or replacement for netbooks? We haven’t sold one. I’m a paranoid guy by nature, but I’m not losing any sleep over cannibalization, to be honest with you. Who would buy it? I’ve been very clear about my view of netbooks. I think they are an experience that most people will not want to continue to have. People were interested in the price and they got it home and used it and went ‘Why did I buy this?’ so I think when somebody looks at iPad and compares it to a netbook, I find it hard to believe that people are going to buy netbooks. Not everyone will make the comparison so I’m not suggesting that. But I think what I’d rather do with this question is report back to you.

4:26 iPad will launch in direct channel first, and indirect channels where we have assisted sales, such as store-in-store at Best Buy, and Internationally, Apple Premium Resellers. Initially, it will be around places with really great assisted sales. Over time, it will expand. Where it goes and how fast it goes, we’ll see.

4:27 Why so cheap? We didn’t want to leave pricing umbrella for competition. For those who haven’t focused on this, it has best browsing experience you could ever imagine. Very anxious to start getting it out.

4:28 Extended key partnership with AT&T. Can you talk about advantages and disadvantages of having exclusive agreement? The primary advantages on a single carrier model, and I’ll talk about the iPhone, is simplicity and in some cases, we’re able to innovate along with the carrier and provide a feature it would be difficult to work with multiple carriers and provide. We brought visual voicemail to market, which took innovation from Apple and carrier partner. On a multi-carrier model, the question is, can you sell more units? And so what that gets at is, in some countries, carriers have very sticky relationships with their countries, so having more carriers and more distribution allows you to sell more units. If you look where are from the end of our Q1 in December, if you looked at top 10 iPhone countries, 5 were single carrier countries. 3 of those we had a contractual exclusivity, 2 we can add carriers when we desire. Across 2009, we added carriers in France, UK, Singapore, several Scandinavian countries. A great deal of our work on distribution side was expanding carriers in existing countries. Pleasantly surprised that in every single country, our units increased significantly, and our share with it. Feel like we made really good decisions. Not saying we would do it in every country. But that was our experience with the ones we did it in 2009. We do it on country by country basis.

4:32 Would another carrier need to match pricing on iPad to become carrier for it? I think AT&T’s pricing is revolutionary. (Unlimited data for $30/month, 250 MB for $15/month.)

4:33 Talked a little before about virtuous cycle we have with devs. How do you protect user experience as developers go out and develop products? This is the privilege and curse of technology. Same as you’d see in PC world; at some point, if you include every hardware you’ve ever shipped, you stifle innovation. Because we’ve done this for so long, I feel like we’ve come to a really intelligent conclusion on these each time. I think that’s part of our knowledge and heritage as a platform provider.

4:35 Which way is OS market moving? I don’t see it as this or that — iPhone vs. Mac — or this over that. I think there is a place for both. What you’re seeing for Apple is that the Mac OS is very scalable. Huge competitive advantage for Apple. Use the Mac OS in a lot of products. Don’t think there’s another company that can use the foundation of their OS that way. Move at a fast speed with many fewer people than it would take if we were geographically north. (Slap at Microsoft.)

4:36 Our surveys indicate Mac and iPhone are attracting significant interest in enterprise. What are you doing?

4:36 For the iPhone, 70% of Fortune 100 companies in US are either deploying iPhone or currently testing for deployment. 50% of the FT 100 are doing the same thing. Huge uplift in interest as we went to iPhone 2.0 software and then 3.0 because we put a number of enterprise features in the software. We clearly see this continuing. On Mac side, amazing how many CIOs are now visiting Apple and are interested in the Mac. We haven’t put on a huge channel, and don’t have a huge sales force, but many CIOs that once thought standardization was the most important thing in life, they now look at salaries of people and the importance of having peoples’ creativity at peak, and are increasingly allowing employees to decide. This helps Apple immensely.

4:39 I think people in general and they think enterprise is bigger than consumer. But it’s not. In PCs, it’s 10%, which is sizable, but consumers are over 50%. Our heart and soul and DNA is in consumer. It just so happens there are consumers working in enterprises who want to use these products.

4:41 People are looking at this differently. At least the people with a lot of vision are.

4:41 Just short of 300 stores. Ron Johnson has built a retail team Bar None. We went into retail not as a test, not as pilot, but to sell to consumers, because many wanted it. We knew we’d never have enough stores to cover the world. So after we got going, we set a range of 25-50, reasonable range we could execute really well. Made a strategic call in 2008, we thought we’d see many more opportunities — some top properties would come on the market with better economics. And guess what? Now, there’s a lot of great properties on the market. So we’re going to do about 50 this year. We’ve always had the team to do 50. It’s not easy to do, it’s very hard to do. But we’re going to do it. We didn’t lower the bar at all. These stores are among the best we’ve ever done. If you haven’t been to NYC Upper West Side store, it will make your jaw drop. Next time you’re in Paris, go to the Louvre; it’s just amazing. Another store in China in Shanghai in the summer that is mind blowing. Another one in London that will also drop your jaw.

4:45 New chip. Apple has been in silicon design business for years. Not new to us to be in silicon design business. As we looked at some of the products that we are doing like the iPad, and some we will do in the future, we felt that we had the best knowledge of what we wanted the silicon to do. And were in the best ability to deliver that ourselves versus going out to somebody else and buying something that wasn’t exactly what they wanted.

4:47 Acquisition strategy: Historically, we have acquired companies for technology and talent. And they have been on the small size. We’ve looked at large companies, but we have not had a large company pass a strategic and a financial test. We don’t let our money burn a hole in our pocket. Unless we find something that really makes sense for Apple shareholders, we’re not going to do it. The small ones have been incredibly valuable for us, mainly from the talent POV, but also from technology. If we find a large one, we won’t be shy about it. But we won’t do it to do it. We have never been about being the biggest, we’ve always been about making the best products. Not having highest market share or most revenue. Acquiring something that makes our revenue go higher wouldn’t be a reason why we’d buy a company.

4:49 How do you stop hubris from creeping in? Executive team in the company spends a lot of time thinking and discussing how to retain and recruit the best talent in the world. At the end of the day, I know it’s a cliche, but people are our most important asset in the world by far. It’s people who deliver innovation. We are the most focused company that I know of or have read of or have any knowledge of. We say no to good ideas every day. We say no to great ideas in order to keep the amount of things we focus on very small in number so that we can put enormous energy behind the ones we do choose. The table each of you are sitting at today, you could probably put every product on it that Apple makes, yet Apple’s revenue last year was $40 billion. I think any other company that could say that is an oil company. That’s not just saying yes to the right products, it’s saying no to many products that are good ideas, but just not nearly as good as the other ones. I think this is so ingrained in our company that this hubris you talk about that happens to companies that are successful and sole role in life is to get bigger, I can tell you the management team at Apple would never let that happen. That’s not what we’re about. Small list of things to focus on.

The first ad called “Hold Us” shows off the iPhones ability to multitask whilst on the phone, including purchasing from the App Store and playing games.

The second shows capturing video, sending it via an MMS message and conference calling with multiple people.

Previously Apps downloaded from the App Store would have to be downloaded using WiFi if over 10MB, this limit is now 20MB and is said to not only apply to Apps but podcasts and videos too.

The investigation is based on a complaint filed by Eastman Kodak Company of Rochester, NY, on January 14, 2010. The complaint alleges violations of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 in the importation into the United States and sale of certain mobile telephones and wireless communication devices featuring digital cameras and components thereof that infringe a patent asserted by Kodak. The complainant requests that the USITC issue an exclusion order and cease and desist orders.

Kodak alleges that the iPhone and Blackberry use technologies that infringe patents and has asked the ITC to ban the imports of units in the United State.

The USITC will offer a “final determination in the investigation at the earliest practicable time.”

iPhone 3GS | Image courtesy of Apple

Apple has been officially awarded the “IPHONE” trademark in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office under number 3,746,840 covering International Classes 9, 28 and 38.

Of interest from the award which covers both the name and logo is that the trademark includes classes 9, 28 and 38. The most interesting of the three being class 28 which covers “Handheld unit for playing electronic games.”

View the full patent certificate here, awarded on February 9, 2010.

According to comScore Apple’s share grew to 25.3% up from 24.1% in the previous quarter in the U.S. At the same time Research in Motions’s share fell to 41.6% from 42.6%.

IDC also reported that in the worldwide market Apple gained significantly to reach a 16% share during 4Q09 with unit shipments of 8.7 million. IDC also offered market share information for the whole of 2009 showing Apple in a dominant third place behind Nokia and RIM. During 2009 Apple’s market share almost doubled from 9.1% to 14.4%.

The executives also spoke about how they are still seeing benefits from the early exclusivity the carrier held over the iPhone. “It will take a long time before that goes away,” Dunne said.

In addition it is rumoured that O2 is in talks with Apple to offer the 3G iPad in the UK. Although it is also said that an exclusive agreement is unlikely despite AT&T currently having the device in the U.S.

The WiFi version of the iPad will debut in the UK in March with the 3G version following in April, according to Apple.

The report states that Pegatron Technology has been selected by Apple and will manufacture the next-generation iPhone alongside Foxconn.

The next iPhone is expected to be released along Apple’s normal timeframe around June time and the addition of another manufacturer could suggest that Apple is looking to increase output. Along the same lines Pegatron expects handset shipments to “grow substantially in 2010″.

In separate news with the release of a new iPhone SDK yesterday alongside the iPhone OS update revealed that Apple has begun referring to the next iPhone as “N89″. A contrast to a report that suggested the iPhone was referred to as “N90″.

iPhone OS 3.1.2 Software Update
This update for iPhone and iPod touch contains bug fixes and improvements, including the following:

• Improves accuracy of reported battery level on iPhone 3GS
• Resolves issue where third-party apps would not launch in some instances
• Fixes bug that may cause an app to crash when using the Japanese Kana keyboard

The update can be obtained using iTunes.

AT&T added another 2.7 million subscribers in the fourth quarter, with a 2009 total of 7.3 million bringing the carrier to 85.1 million subscribers in total.

“We had a solid 2009 and led the industry in the biggest growth driver — mobile broadband,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and chief executive officer. “Looking ahead, customer demand for connectivity, particularly mobile broadband and IP data, continues to be strong, and AT&T is well positioned at the center of this growth. Our fundamental outlook for the business is quite positive.

“Our significant investments in IP infrastructure — both mobile and fixed — provide the next-generation growth platforms for us,” Stephenson said. “Our leadership in mobile broadband will continue to set us apart as we roll out even faster 3G speeds this year and begin deploying 4G capabilities in 2011. Our IP-based U-verse service continues to scale nicely, improving our consumer revenue profile. And we continue to see solid growth from mobile broadband and IP data services in the business segment.”

AT&T’s revenue for the quarter was actually down on the previous years coming in at $30.9 billion compared with $31.1 billion in the year-ago quarter.

“The demand from both consumer and business customers has been phenomenal. They want an outstanding phone on an outstanding network and we’re delivering that,” said Vodafone UKCEO Guy Laurence.

Vodafone UK sold 50,000 units in the just first day.

According to BusinessWeek Apple and Google now consider each other primary enemies and that “Microsoft is now a pawn in that battle.”

BusinessWeek is bolstered by an additional report from the Wall Street Journal who states that “Apple was in serious discussions with Microsoft Corp. to incorporate its Bing search engine into the iPhone as the default search and map technologies.”

More interestingly the Wall Street Journal includes the following in its last paragraph:

Even if it’s consummated, an Apple-Bing deal may prove short-lived. The person familiar with Apple’s thinking says Apple has a “skunk works” looking at a search offering of its own, and believes that “if Apple does do a search deal with Microsoft, it’s about buying itself time.” Given the importance of search and its tie to mobile advertising — and the iPhone maker’s desire to slow Google — “Apple isn’t going to outsource the future.”

Towards the end of last year Apple also acquired mapping company PlaceBase.

The rumours which come from a “trusty” source are published by Boy Genius Report and go as follows:

• There will be multi-touch gestures OS-wide. (Would make sense for that as the rumored OS for the iTablet is close if not the same as the iPhone)
  “A few new ways” to run applications in the background — multitasking.

• Many graphical and UI changes to make navigating through the OS easier and more efficient. We haven’t had this broken down, but we can only hope for improved notifications, a refreshed homescreen, etc.
• The update will supposedly be available for only the iPhone 3G and 3GS, but will “put them ahead in the smartphone market because it will make them more like full-fledged computers” more than any other phone to date. Everyone is “really excited.”
• The last piece of information is the most vague, but apparently there will be some brand new syncing ability for the contacts and calendar applications.

Apple is holding a media event on Wednesday, January 27 in San Francisco and is widely expected to announce its long-rumoured tablet computer alongside discussions of iPhone OS 4.0 and accompanying SDK.

The move from Apple to ban the imports of Nokia mobile phones into the United States is identical to that of Nokia’s who last month filed with the ITC to ban the import of “virtually all” Apple products.

In a comment to Bloomberg Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant said that the company “will study the complaint when it is received and continue to defend itself vigorously.

“However this does not alter the fact that Apple has failed to agree appropriate terms for using Nokia technology and has been seeking a free ride on Nokia’s innovation since it shipped the first iPhone in 2007.”

The battle between Apple and Nokia started in October last year when Nokia alleged that the Apple iPhone infringed 10 of its patents. Apple countered this claim by filing a lawsuit against Nokia claiming that the company had infringed 13 of Apple’s patents.

In addition Kodak has filed two sperate cases against Apple saying that the iPhone infringes patents related to “digital cameras and certain computer processes.”

“Kodak has a long history of digital imaging innovation and we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars creating our industry-leading patent portfolio,” said Laura G. Quatela, Chief Intellectual Property Officer, and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company. “In the case of Apple and RIM, we’ve had discussions for years with both companies in an attempt to resolve this issue amicably, and we have not been able to reach a satisfactory agreement. In light of that, we are taking this action to ensure that we protect the interests of our shareholders and the existing licensees of our technology.

“Our primary interest is not to disrupt the availability of any product but to obtain fair compensation for the use of our technology,” Quatela said. “There’s a basic issue of fairness that needs to be addressed. Those devices use Kodak technology, and we are merely seeking compensation for the use of our technology in their products.”

Kodak’s complaint to the ITC against Apple and RIM is a limited exclusion order preventing the importation of infringing devices, including certain mobile telephones and wireless communication devices featuring digital cameras.

“We remain open to negotiating a fair and amicable agreement with both Apple and RIM, which has always been our preference and our practice with other licensees,” Quatela said. “We seek to avoid litigation in our licensing programs whenever possible. But when the infringement is persistent, we will act to defend the interests of our shareholders and licensees, and to promote the fair compensation that is the bedrock of innovation.”

The 50,000 units were ordered by customers who signed up ahead of the launch said Vodafone UK chief executive Guy Laurence.

Vodafone UK is offering the 8GB iPhone 3G for £59 on a 24-month contract that features 300 minutes, and unlimited texts and 1GB of data. On a £35 month contract the iPhone 3G is free alongside 600 minutes. iPhone 3GS 16GB is free on a £45 a month, 24-month contract offering 1200 minutes and unlimited texts with 1GB of data.

In an interview with the Financial Times O2 executive director Ronan Dunne admitted that some customers in London were unable to make or receive calls and the transfer of data was slow and unreliable because of pressure placed on O2’s network from smartphones.

O2 stated that the situation occurred in the second half of the year and has now been rectified with a £30 million investment in the capital during December to help improve network capacity. Detailing the improvements further O2 said that it was working with its infrastructure supplier Nokia Siemens Networks on software modifications, installing 200 additional mobile base stations in London. O2 will also liaise with smartphone manufacturers to become aware of heavy usage applications.

In the article O2 failed to recognise a country wide issue with multiple outages occurring across the country during 2009.

“Where we haven’t met our own high standards, then there’s no question, we apologize to customers for that fact,” said Dunne. “But it would be wrong to say O2 has failed its customers en masse.”

“We started preparing our network over a year ago so that iPhone customers will really feel the advantage of being with Vodafone,” said Guy Laurence, CEO, Vodafone UK. “We will offer an outstanding iPhone experience wherever our customers live, work and travel, delivering speed and reliability – something our customers have told us they really value.”

“We’re especially pleased to offer iPhone to business customers from launch, both directly and through a network of 20 dealers across the country – clearly demonstrating that Vodafone is the natural home for small business.”

Vodafone UK pricing for the iPhone remains in line with the likes of Orange and O2 who already sell the iPhone in the UK. The cheapest contract available is a 24-month £30/month with iPhone handset prices at £59, £149 and £239 for the iPhone 3G 8GB, iPhone 3GS 16GB and iPhone 3GS 32GB respectively. The £30 per month tariff offers 300 minutes, unlimited text messages, unlimited WiFi but only 1GB of network data transfer.

MobileCrunch offers some analysis pointing towards aggressive advertising via print and TV adverts and competitive pricing from the exclusive carrier Softbank.

The comment comes after company Wednesday Marbridge Consulting reported that Unicom had sold only 10,000 units. This figure has now been confirmed to have been a typo.

Further on in the interview Xiaobing criticised the media for focussing on the high price of the contract-free 32GB iPhone 3GS which sells for an equivalent value of $1033. The chairman also refers to previous reports that China Unicom purchased 5 million units from Apple which Xiaobing describes as “not entirely accurate”.

The data specifically comes from Pinch Media who provides analytics for apps like iBart which provides a public transportation guide for the San Francisco mass transit system, the data Pinch Media provides contains the individual hardware identifiers for iPhone models, for example the first iPhone released in 2007 was iPhone1,1 and the latest iPhone 3GS is labelled iPhone2,1.

Evidence of iPhone3,1 was first found in August just after the release of iPhone OS 3.1. Now with the discovery of iPhone3,1 in the wild it would suggest that Apple has begun field testing the new iPhone.

Few rumours have begun circulating about the next iPhone but some have suggested that Apple could begin using processors being developed by the acquired P.A. Semi arm of Apple.

Tesco is not currently offering any pricing or tariff details. But did describe the pricing as “competitive”.

Tesco Mobile which is a joint venture with O2 will be offering the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in Tesco Phone Shops and online through Tesco Direct in the UK.

Apple offers developers for the iPhone and iPod touch a list of public application programming interface (APIs) which are free to be used and well documented. Apple also has a collection of private APIs which only Apple is allowed to use and generally don’t inform developers about. There are several reasons why Apple doesn’t want private APIs being used; security reasons, consistency reasons, or that the API is subject to change potentially breaking the app in the future.

Many apps currently on the App Store already use private APIs but as finding them is incredibly difficult they often slip through the strict Apple approval process but now Apple has added an automated search of app code to find such banned APIs.

The automated process is already creating stories of apps being rejected for use of private APIs which developers are denying.

Korea Communications Commission issued a statement on Wednesday saying that it will grant Apple a license that will allow the collecting of information about location and provide services such “as map, phone locating and related marketing.”

KT Corp is rumoured to be the carrier that has been selected to sell the handset in South Korea with some Korean newspapers suggesting that a launch could be as early as next week.

Orange announced via a Twitter account that it had sold 30,000 iPhone units today, what it claims was a UK record for handset sales in the UK.

Meanwhile O2 was today allowing customers to unlock their iPhones for use on other networks although existing contracts will have to be seen through.

“As part of its ongoing mobility strategy, RadioShack is pleased to announce that it will introduce Apple’s iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in a limited number of company-owned stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth and New York City metropolitan areas beginning later this month. RadioShack expects to introduce iPhone in stores nationwide in 2010. For more information about exact store locations and product availability, visit www.radioshack.com. For more information about iPhone, visit www.apple.com/iphone.”

When asked about how O2 was handling losing the exclusivity of the iPhone Key responded by saying that O2 will allow current iPhone owners to unlock their iPhones for use on other UK networks.

, we will allow O2 customers to unlock their iPhones, although of course they will still need to honour any outstanding contract period they have. At the end of their contract period, they are entirely free to move to another operator

Additionally when asked about poor 3G network coverage across the UK Key outlined some of O2’s future plans for network capacity expansion. In particular in London where capacity has been stretched severely in the last few months. The O2 boss said that the UK carrier had seen an 18-fold increase in data usage over the last year and would start by investing £30 million to “address capacity issues in London alone between now and Christmas and I’m confident that we’ll see much improved levels of service as a result.”

AT&T and Apple currently offer an older 8GB iPhone 3G but this move would represent a complete departure from the iPhone 3G.

Reuters reports that Unicom Chairman Chang Xiaobing said his company expects to add a million new 3G subscribers each month and that it was satisfied with iPhone sales so far.

The iPhone was released in China last Friday, the top end iPhone 3GS is available without a contract for 6,999 yuan, or $1,024. No iPhone handsets currently have any Wi-Fi capabilities but new models are expected to be released before the years end with Wi-Fi built in. The discrepancy reportedly comes from the Chinese governments ban on Wi-Fi which was lifted in May, after the current models were manufactured.

Although many were expect Orange to compete heavily with O2 in the UK, the carrier appears to have decided to be very much in line with the current O2 pricing.

Orange’s cheapest 24 month pay monthly contract is £29.36 compared to O2’s cheapest which is £34.26 with the former offering far fewer minutes and texts but is offering a free iPhone 3G 8GB handset.

The iPhone will be sold by Orange in the UK in Orange shops, Orange on-line, Orange HMV concessions, Carphone Warehouse, Phones4U and more. A number of Orange stores across the UK will be celebrating the launch of iPhone on Orange with early opening times from 7am on November 10th, with other stores across the country keeping their doors open until late.

“The excitement for the iPhone is immense, and this is a great day for our customers, our company and our employees. Since we announced the iPhone on Orange we have already seen more than a quarter of a million customers register their interest on our website. We will be matching their enthusiasm with a 3G mobile broadband network that covers more people in the UK than any other operator, a commitment to deliver the best 3G experience on the iPhone and best-in-class applications and plans. Earlier this year we stated our ambition to become the destination brand of choice for high end mobile users in the UK. With the launch of the iPhone on November 10 we’re pleased to be fulfilling that ambition.” Stated Tom Alexander, CEO of Orange UK in a press release today.

Nokia claims that the iPhone breaches certain patents related to “one or more of the GSM, UMTS and 802.11 wireless communications standards” and seeks unspecified compensation or other relief.

Apple’s response to the case is not yet due but intends to “defend the case vigorously.”

Further reading: Apple’s 2009 Form 10-K.

The Times also adds that over 200,000 people have pre-registered their interest in buying the iPhone from Orange. Orange declined to comment on the launch date of pre-registration figures.

Vodafone will also begin selling the iPhone in early 2010 while 3 has confirmed to the The Times that it expects to begin selling the iPhone in mid-2010.

Currently no pricing for handsets of tariffs is available from Orange, Vodafone or 3.

Nokia claims that Apple is infringing ten patents related to Global System for Mobile communications, or GSM; wireless local area network, or WLAN; and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, or UMTS.

“The basic principle in the mobile industry is that those companies who contribute in technology development to establish standards create intellectual property, which others then need to compensate for,” said Ilkka Rahnasto, Vice President, Legal & Intellectual Property at Nokia. “Apple is also expected to follow this principle. By refusing to agree appropriate terms for Nokia’s intellectual property, Apple is attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia’s innovation.”

Nokia says that it has agreements with around 40 other mobile phone manufacturers allowing use of Nokia’s technologies but Apple is not one of them.

AT&T’s third-quarter integrated device growth included 3.2 million iPhone activations, also the company’s largest quarterly total to date, with nearly 40 percent of the activations for customers who were new to AT&T.

AT&T also reported that iPhoned accounted for 74% of total postpaid activations of “integrated devices” offering either a physical or virtual keyboard in addition to voice capabilities. 40% of iPhone activations were from customers who were new to AT&T.

AT&T received two million subscribers during the quarter, the highest third quarter in the carriers history.

9 to 5 Mac states that the project has been delayed while Apple works out how to implement the iTunes Store to allow easy purchasing of songs being played on the radio. Additionally all iPods and iPhones are said to already have hardware capable of receiving FM signals.

This update contains bug fixes and improvements, including the following:

- Resolves sporadic issue that may cause iPhone to not wake from sleep
- Resolves intermittent issue that may interrupt cellular network services until restart
- Fixes bug that could cause occasional crash during video streaming

The update does not make any mention of improvements to battery life issues which have plagued some iPhone users since updating to iPhone OS 3.1.

Both Telus and Bell revealed today that the iPhone 3G and 3GS would be available in November. No pricing of handsets or tariffs was disclosed.

Further pricing will be available nearer the time.

O2 who is currently the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the UK is expected to lose its exclusivity of the device at the end of November.