In Walter Isaacson's biography simply titled "Steve Jobs," Issacson penned, "Jobs hated to cede control of anything, especially when it might affect the customer experience. But he faced a problem. There was one part of the process he didn't control: The experience of buying an Apple product in a store." Even when Jobs initially presented his vision for Apple retail stores to the Company board, Issacson writes, "the board was not thrilled." Although they finally got on board with Steve's vision, it goes to prove that even Jobs had to fight internal head winds on getting some of his ideas approved. The video we present to you below can't be viewed without saying to yourself, this is the house that Steve built. This is one of his greatest contributions to the " Total Apple Experience." If you've ever been in an Apple Store, then you know it's one of the greatest retail experiences bar none.
The EU Patent & Trademark Office officially published two Apple trademark applications for "Lightning" under numbers 011399821/862. What's interesting about this filing is that it clearly illustrates that Apple had acquired the trademark from Harley-Davidson which is still protected until 2013. One of the documents indicate that the transfer may have officially occurred yesterday, November 24, 2012, the date that it appeared in the EU's public trademark database.
Last month we posted a report titled "Apple, Google & Others Preparing for the Coming Glass War." Today, we follow through on that report by taking a deeper look at this emerging trend that could very quickly be the next "iPad" in terms of sheer market impact. Various tech industry players are now revealing some of their inventions for a next-gen video headset like Google's "Project Glass" to help us understand how this first generation wearable computer could appeal to us. Although there are a number of known drawbacks to such a device becoming mainstream quickly, I believe it'll eventually become a device that we'll all be drooling for over time. It carries that certain futuristic-appeal that excites our senses and with a few essential applications, like it doubling as your next smartphone, it's going to be a very hot device category. For some, the question is simple: will Apple lead or follow in this future glass projects market?
According to China Business News, Apple has reportedly shifted its battery production orders for the iPad and MacBook to Chinese battery makers Amperex Technology Limited (ATL) and Tianjin Lishen Battery, as the original manufacturer Samsung SDI has stopped supplying Apple. This could explain one of the supply chain problems Apple has been experiencing with Hon Hai's production line slow down. The news out of China didn't fill in the blanks regarding the status of iPhone batteries.
As many Macites will be enjoying Apple's Black Friday Specials today, I just wanted to take a moment to wish our loyal US fan base and industry colleagues a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving.
Yesterday Samsung's mobile chief Shin Jong-kyun stated that without Samsung-owned wireless patents, it's impossible for Apple to produce the iPhone. Yet within the last 24 hours, another Korean news source now admits that Apple has been found to actually be ahead of Samsung in the number of registered US patents directly related to LTE. An American intellectual property consulting firm by the name of TechIPm analyzed the LTE patents along with ETN. The results were surprising.
On November 22, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published several patent applications from Apple that relate to their retail store signage and table-top device security. One patent discusses management of multiple dynamic signage devices that could be coordinated within and across stores, and an interactive floor-map creation system incorporating dynamic signage devices that could facilitate changing the associations between products and dynamic signage devices. If retail based technology happens to be of interest to you or if you're just curious as to how Apple designs their in-store signage, our report will point you to four distinct patents that you'll be able to research to your heart's content.
On November 22, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals a new customer service application specifically designed for iDevices. The project was spearheaded by Benjamin Vigier Product Manager - Mobile Commerce at Apple. Mr. Vigier who came to Apple in 2010 has valuable NFC experience having worked with French mobile operator Bouygues Telecom, an early backer of NFC. Today's revelations show us that for those fortunate enough to live in a city where there's an Apple Store, the newly designed customer service form will help to check users in to see a Genius Bar representative or a workshop/event in a more convenient way. The form will activate automatically on iDevices as they near an Apple Store and provide customers with queue times and other reservation information. Apple's online and in-store service is the very best in the industry today hands down. It now it appears that it's about to get even better.
Five extremely detailed patent applications pertaining to the iPhone 5's new camera App called "Panorama" have been published by the US Patent Office today. Technically speaking, panoramic photography may be defined generally as a photographic technique for capturing images with elongated fields of view. An image showing a field of view approximating 160 degrees wide by 75 degrees high may be termed "panoramic." Additionally, panoramic images generally have an aspect ratio of 2:1 or larger, meaning that the image being at least twice as wide as it is high. Technicalities aside, Panorama is one of the coolest iPhone apps to date and if you love taking pictures, then you're going to love the ability to take shots like you've never been able to do before. Taking photos at concerts, of the Rocky Mountains, of a downtown street festival or just a large group of graduating friends is going to take on a complete new dimension that was unavailable on an iPhone, until now. Today, you'll be able to explore Apple's five new patent applications that reveal how they've designed this app.
Looking beyond OS X Mountain Lion, Apple introduces us to their vision of a future 3D Multi-Level Dock that could take on the appearance of glass shelving or a bookshelf like iBooks. The multi-level dock will allow users to easily customize, search and/or label levels so as to better organize and quickly access their files, photos and applications. It sounds like it could be a great organizational advancement for a future desktop.
Apple's iMessage was first introduced by Scott Forstall at their World Wide Developer Conference in June 2011.Then in February 2012, Apple announced that iMessage was going to replace iChat in OS X Mountain Lion. Today, the US Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple two Registered Trademarks for iMessage that were originally filed for in September 2011.
Business Insider is claiming today that shipping times are continuing to improve from three weeks to two weeks for the iPhone 5 when you order it online directly through Apple. While that might be great news for US consumers wanting to get their hands on the iPhone 5 for gifts under the Christmas tree this year, the same can't be said in China. According to the Taiwanese Press last week, the iPhone 5 was due to arrive on November 27. Today, several Taiwanese sources are now revising the iPhone 5's launch to sometime in mid-December. The news could be even worse in other parts of Asia. Our November seventh report pointed out that supply remains very tight for the iPhone 5 due to excluding Samsung for crucial iPhone 5 parts like displays. Other delays stemmed from problems in Hon Hai's iPhone 5 production line. In the end, we'll only have to wait until January to find out if Apple's shipping problems were due to supply chain problems or simply demand outstripping supply.
