Your iBooks price fixing credit is on its way
Don’t fret about your piece of Apple’s e-book price fixing settlement — the check is in the mail, virtually speaking. The attorneys behind the class action lawsuit have revealed that digital credits from the case will start reaching book buyers from various online bookstores (including Apple’s iBooks as well as Amazon and Barnes & Noble) as early as June 21st. What you’ll get depends on what you bought, mind you, and it’s not exactly a windfall.
You’ll receive a $6.93 credit for every title you bought on the New York Times bestseller list, and $1.57 for every e-book beyond that. While that’s twice the estimated losses from Apple’s alleged collusion with major publishers, you probably won’t go on a spending spree. It certainly won’t look as good as other tech-related settlements unless you snapped up a lot of e-books during the relevant period. Look at it this way, though: if you are a bookworm, there’ll likely be enough credit for a good summer read.
Via: MacRumors
Source: BusinessWire
E-Book Buyers to Start Receiving Credits on Tuesday as Part of Apple Price Fixing Settlement
Starting on Tuesday, June 21, U.S. customers who purchased e-books from Apple and other retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble will begin receiving payouts from the $450 million settlement Apple agreed to pay after being found guilty of conspiring to fix the prices of e-books.
Customers will be receiving a $6.93 credit for each book that was a New York Times bestseller, and a $1.57 credit for other e-books. Customers eligible for credits include those who purchased e-books between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012.
Attorneys say the process is uniquely simple for consumers — credits will be automatically sent directly into the accounts of consumers at major book retailers, including Amazon.com Inc., Barnes & Noble Inc., Kobo Inc. and Apple. Retailers will issue emails and put the credits in the accounts simultaneously.
If e-book purchasers requested a check in lieu of a credit, they will receive a check. If purchasers received a credit during the first round of distribution of publisher settlements, and they did not opt out, they will automatically receive a credit.
The U.S. Department of Justice first accused Apple and five other publishers — HarperCollins, Simon and Schuster, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, and Penguin — of colluding to fix the prices of e-books in 2010, suggesting they had worked to raise prices of e-books to weaken Amazon’s dominant position in the market and restructure the business model of the industry.
While all of the publishers settled early on, Apple fought the accusation for years and maintained its innocence, but ultimately, a ruling in 2013 found the company guilty of price fixing. A series of appeals were unsuccessful, and after the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, Apple was forced to pay a $450 million settlement.
$400 million of that $450 million is earmarked for customers who purchased e-books, with $30 million going towards legal fees and $20 million going to states who were also involved in the lawsuit.
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Apple might open stores in India thanks to relaxed rules
Apple might not have to bend over backwards to open stores in India: the country has loosened its rules on locally-sourced products in a way that gives foreign companies a shot. First-party retailers (that is, those that mostly sell their own products) will have a 3-year grace period where they don’t have to sell at least 30 percent products that are locally made. They can extend that window for another 5 years if they show that they’re making advanced tech that benefits from the relaxed rules — in other words, Apple. In theory, this gives outsiders a chance to get their local manufacturing in gear at the same time as they build up their brand.
The tech giant will have to apply for retail access again, and there’s no guarantee that it’ll pass muster. However, the terms appear to be tailor-made for Apple, whose CEO went on an extensive tour of India in May. The Indian government may have decided that allowing an official retail footprint for Apple and its kind would help the economy more than insisting on local manufacturing from the get-go.
Via: AppleInsider
Source: Bloomberg
Apple won’t assist the Republican convention due to Trump
Apple has made a number of firm political stands ever since Tim Cook took the helm, and it’s not about to back down any time soon. Politico sources (backed by in-the-know journalist John Paczkowski) say that Apple won’t provide funding or other support for the Republican Party’s July presidential convention due to Donald Trump’s policies. Reportedly, his attitudes toward immigrants, minorities and women are beyond the pale — although Apple has been willing to court Republicans in the past (Cook met with House GOP bigwigs in 2015), Trump is just too extreme for the company’s tastes. Apple has declined to comment to Politico so far.
Facebook, Google and Microsoft have so far said that they’ll support the convention, although that hasn’t precluded their leaders from vocally opposing Trump’s views. Mark Zuckerberg, for instance, is vehemently opposed to Trump’s approach to immigration. HP is one of the few tech giants to have refused support before now.
As you might have guessed: yes, Apple has a vested interest in making Trump’s life difficult. His anti-immigration policy might hurt the company’s recruiting efforts. And remember, this is the presidential hopeful who swore he’d make Apple build products in the US (albeit without explaining how). Why back someone who’d go out of his way to hurt your bottom line?
With that said, Apple is ideologically opposed to Trump beyond pure economics. Trump rejects climate change science at the same time as Apple is making a big pro-environment push, and has opposed gay marriage when Apple both has a gay CEO and embraces the LGBT community. Whatever your views, it’s apparent that the two sides have very little in common — it would be more shocking if Apple did offer some help.
Source: Politico, John Paczkowski (Twitter)
iPhone 7 may keep the headphone jack and support dual SIMs
One of the most intriguing rumors about the upcoming iPhone 7 is that it’ll ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack, meaning users will have to get audio output via Lightning or Bluetooth. But according to a leakster, this may no longer be the case. Rock Fix, a smartphone repair shop based in China’s Ganzhou, has recently been posting photos of alleged iPhone 7 components. One of these is apparently the 4.7-inch model’s Lightning cable assembly which, contrary to what we’ve been hearing before, still has a headphone jack attached to it. And more recently, the shop shared photos of what it claims to be the next iPhone’s dual-SIM trays, which will be a first for Apple if true.
Other parts shown off by Rock Fix include some screen panels in the usual two sizes, some SanDisk memory chips of up to a whopping 256GB, plus a dual-lens camera for the larger model (hello, Huawei!). The shop owner also told us that there will be some changes to the antenna design, though he clarified that this won’t get rid of those antenna bands on the back of the phone; maybe it’s more to do with the rumored switch to Intel’s modem for the GSM models.
Despite such recent leaks, there’s still some uncertainty regarding the iPhone 7’s features. For one, just three days ago, an industry insider claimed he heard from a Foxconn source saying Apple had canned the dual-lens camera because the technology wasn’t ready, but the following day another insider shot this rumor down, as he had heard from multiple suppliers saying the tooling was already made and that it’d be too late to change it (a self-proclaimed Foxconn employee commented below this Weibo post to say mass production started last month). He added that Samsung, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi are also exploring dual-lens cameras for their upcoming smartphones, so it’ll be interesting to see what the mobile industry will offer in the coming months.
Source: Rock Fix (1), (2)
Tablo’s live TV and DVR features now work on the Apple TV
During CES Tablo promised its $200 box that tunes into and records OTA TV would eventually get an Apple TV app, and now it has delivered. It already works with boxes like Roku and Fire TV, and on the Apple TV it’s brought both live TV and DVR viewing, plus navigation by voice or touch with the Siri Remote. More features are coming in future updates, but if you already have a Tablo box (with the latest updates) and an active subscription you should be good to go. The only question left, is if you’d prefer Tablo’s setup or Sling TV, which also launched this week on the Apple TV.
The Tablo app for #AppleTV is now LIVE! Get the full scoop & download links on the Tablo blog: https://t.co/zKKyhKJ9V3 #cordcutter
— TabloTV (@TabloTV) June 18, 2016
Source: Tablo Community, Tablo Blog
Apple and Microsoft reportedly vetoed a rifle emoji
Like it or not, emojis are permeating our vocabulary and fast becoming one of the primary ways people communicate. But if you were looking to convey your thoughts on rifles or hunting, you’re out of luck.
Unicode, the organization that oversees and selects emojis across platforms, has removed the rifle from a list of potential additions to the emoji library. According to Buzzfeed, that decision “was led and championed” by Apple, a member of the Unicode Consortium with voting rights.
Buzzfeed’s sources said Apple told the consortium it would not support a rifle on its platforms and asked that it not be made into an emoji. Other tech titans like Microsoft and Google are also voting members of the consortium, and none of them appeared to have any objections to removing the glyph. Microsoft was even said to have spoken up against the additon as well.
The rifle appeared to be part of a proposed Olympic-themed set of emojis that included medals, boxing gloves, goal nets and drums. Most of these other items have been approved and added to the most recent version of the Unicode standard, which now includes different skin tones and professional women.
Source: Buzzfeed
Google’s GIF-searching Gboard app is now available in the UK
Although Google often includes the UK in launch plans for a new product, its new web-searching and GIF-finding Gboard extension wasn’t one of them. But now that the app has been out for roughly a month, Google has had more enough time to get it ready for the British public. That’s right, Google’s slick third-party keyboard is now available to download in the UK.
If you’re not familiar with Gboard, it works like this. Download the extension from the App Store like you would any other app and Google will walk you through the installation process. Once it’s the default option, Gboard will place a circular button at the top-left of the keyboard, allowing you to perform web searches without having to leave the app you’re in. It’ll also do the same for GIFs and let you type the name of your favourite emoji so you don’t have to spend valuable time scrolling through trying to find it.
During its WWDC 2016 keynote, Apple announced a number of new features that cross over with Google’s Gboard app, including an emojifier that can detect specific words and replace them with the relevant emoji. With web and GIF search, Google still maybe has an edge over its rival, but it’s good to see both companies implementing more keyboard-centric features on iOS devices.
#Gboard for iPhone is here. No more app switching; search and send, right from your keyboard https://t.co/qNpPdrghGp pic.twitter.com/x5nkMhaxW6
— Google UK (@GoogleUK) June 17, 2016
Via: Google UK
Source: Gboard (App Store)
There’s more money in on-demand taxis than going to Mars
NASA’s annual budget for the 2015 fiscal year is $18.5 billion, a figure that you should bear in mind when we talk about the ride-hailing app business. It’s because Didi Chuxing, more commonly known as the Uber of China, is now worth $28 billion, or 1.5 2016 NASAs. The ride-hailing service you only know about because Apple invested in it has recently closed yet another funding round. This time, it’s convinced investors to pump a further $7.3 billion into its war chest, setting itself up nicely for the transportation arms race that’s to come.
In the other corner is Uber, which is now valued at $62.5 billion (or 3.37 NASAs) and has also spent this month adding to its war fund. On June 1st, it secured $3.5 billion in cash from Saudi Arabia in what’s being called the largest single investment made into a private company. Now, the firm is looking to raise a further $2 billion in long-term loans, putting its estimated cash hoard at around $10.5 billion. That’s a lot of moolah for a service that lets you hail a ride when you’ve spent too long in the bar.
All of this cash is going to be spent pursuing a single goal, which is to make sure that whenever you want a ride, it’s with one of these two. Both will likely attempt to hire more drivers, cut ride fees and generally make sure that nobody else can compete with them. The Guardian reports that, when Uber wanted to “conquer” London, it handed out a £99 ($140) a week stipend to encourage drivers to ditch their current employer. Cynics might also add that Uber’s (alleged) playbook of dirty tricks, previously used to undermine Lyft, could also get trotted out again.
The goal here is dominance in China, with a booming population, sheer size and money makes it a worthy prize for the winner. Uber’s Chinese division has raised $1.2 billion in funding on its own, although that’s dwarfed by the size of Didi’s new fighting fund. Oh, and it’s also worth noting that this battle is a proxy war that’s being fought by the tech industry’s biggest names. After all, Uber is backed by Baidu, Google Ventures and Microsoft, while Didi is bankrolled by Alibaba, Tencent and Apple. Imagine how hotly-contested this battle will get when self-driving cars, a passion for many of these businesses, finally hit the streets.
Source: WSJ, Ft
Chinese firm claims Apple copied its design for iPhone 6
It’s tough for foreign companies to do business in China, so much that even Apple is having a hard time. After the iTunes Movies and iBooks Store ban back in April, the previous generation of iPhones have recently been accused of infringing the design patent of some random Chinese company’s “100C” smartphone under the “100+” brand. Don’t laugh, because the Beijing Intellectual Property Office has since ordered Apple to stop selling its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in Beijing, with the reason being the general consumers won’t be able to tell the “minute differences” between Apple’s design and the 100C. No, really.
Of course, Apple and its distribution partner aren’t having any of this, so they have initiated an administrative litigation to reverse the ban. But given Apple’s previous failed attempt in China, they’re going to need a lot of luck to win this fight.
Source: Beijing Morning Post, TENAA
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