Patently Apple

Apple Shifts its ARM Flip-Chip Biz from Samsung to Unimicron

BrightWire, a business-to-business resource for portfolio managers, has reported that the Taiwan based China Times has been told that Apple has shifted orders for its important flip-chip chip scale package for ARM chips from Samsung's SEMCO to Taiwanese printed circuit board maker Unimicron Technology Corp. It's another move by Apple to decrease its business with Samsung for slavishly copying their products. The report goes on to state that Unimicron had started small-scale shipments in 4Q 2012 and will shift into mass production when their new plant is launched sometime in 2013.  

Samsung's Good-Guy Routine Quickly Waning. In Fact it's Toast

Samsung, who likes to play up their poor little company routing in the press by continually stating that they just want Apple to stop suing them and focus on innovation rather than litigation, has stumbled on their own PR shoe laces of late. We reported earlier this week that the European Commission informed Samsung of its preliminary view that the company's seeking of injunctions against Apple for allegedly infringing "standard-essential" patents in the EU amounts to an abuse of a dominant position. Then the news came to light that Samsung launched a new lawsuit against Apple in a Korean court over software followed by a report that Samsung is now on the warpath against Ericsson requesting a ban on their products. Just looking back to late November and you'll also see that Samsung filed suit against LG Display claiming that seven of their OLED patents were invalid. Clearly Samsung's one time good-guy routine is quickly waning. Not only do they believe in offensive litigation as a viable strategic tactic against their competitors, they also believe in turning the knife in their backs by abusing their dominant position with essential patents as confirmed by the EU Commission. At the end of the day, Samsung's good-guy routine is officially toast.

Apple's iPad mini Expected to Catch Up with Demand in Q1 2013

In September, NPD DisplaySearch estimated that Apple would ship 8 million iPad mini units in 2012 and 20 million for all of 2013. Then earlier this week the news came to light that that Apple will greatly expand the iPad mini's production in 2013 due to bringing on more capacity via Pegatron. Today, DigiTimes is reporting that Taiwan-based supply chain makers confirm that Apple will indeed ship 8 million iPad mini units but could have shipped 12 million if Apple would have been able to secure enough displays. The good news is that Taiwan's supply chain suppliers expect Apple to ship 13 million iPad minis in Q1 2013 alone, which will easily sail past the 20 million mark for all of 2013 as forecasted earlier by NDP DisplaySearch.  

 

Apple Wins Patents Relating to a Super-Thin USB Connector, the iMac's Housing, 4G LTE Technology & 25 More

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of thirty-six newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our last patent report of the day we briefly cover patents relating to a super-thin USB connector and the iMac's housing. We also link to two 4G LTE patents that Apple gained form Nortel earlier this year and close out our report by providing you with a grand list of the remaining twenty five granted patents issued to Apple today.  

Apple Wins Strategically Important Micro SIM Patent

In April of this year we first reported on Apple's patent application for a Micro SIM connector. The timing of Apple's new micro SIM connector patent couldn't have been more perfect in light of the battle between Nokia and Apple over the design of future miniature SIM cards for mobile devices. It was even been reported that Nokia had threatened to withdraw 50 or so SIM card related patents from ETSI if the Apple proposal is approved. Well, in June Apple's design won that very battle. Today, Apple has been officially granted the patent regarding the Micro SIM card.  

Apple Wins Patents Relating to Multi-Touch Advancements & Processes for manufacturing iDevice Glass

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of thirty-six newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover two of Apple's patents. The first patent relates to Apple's ongoing work with advancing multi-touch displays which Apple first introduced with their iPhone in 2007. The second patent relates to new processes that Apple invented for shaping glass for iDevices like the iPhone and iPad so that they would be both esthetically pleasing while eliminating processes involving dangerous chemicals and gasses. 

Apple Granted a Patent for Popular Nike + iPod Application

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 36 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover Apple's latest granted patent relating to their popular Nike + iPod application. The patent covers the application's user interface which records the distance and pace of a runner or power walker. The application uniquely works in conjunction with an iPod that is able to stay in sync with a specialized sensor worn in or on top of one the user's running shoes.  

Apple Partners with New Metal Injection Moldings Supplier for iPad & iPad Mini

BrightWire, a business-to-business resource for portfolio managers, is reporting this morning that Taiwan's United Daily News is reporting that Apple has chosen Taiwan-based Chenming Mold Industry as a second supplier of metal injection moldings (MIM). Apple's main supplier at the moment is Hon Hai Precision Industry. The report states that shipments from Chenming Mold began sometime in October. The source claims that Chenming also aims to provide similar products to Apple relating to the production of the iPad and iPad mini in 2013. This isn't much of a surprise considering that Apple is preparing for explosive growth for the iPad mini in 2013.

Sharp Ends IGZO LCD Panel Supply to Apple

BrightWire, a business-to-business resource for portfolio managers, is reporting this morning that a report published by Tokyo's daily newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun is stating that Sharp has officially ended small to mid-sized IGZO LCD panel supply to Apple due to low profitability. At this time it's difficult to assess whether their public reasoning is factual or just a face saving measure due to Apple dumping the IGZO display due to production delays.

Apple's 36 Patent Wins Include Original MacBook Air & iPod touch

Santa, who is a secret agent of The US Patent and Trademark Office, officially dropped thirty-six shiny new granted patent certificates down Apple's chimney this morning at 12:05 A.M., according to Elf 101 who is Santa's official spokesperson. The Elf told Patently Apple that there were two special patents of interest. The first one was for the fourth generation iPod touch's design which may have been one of the last design patents for a product that lists the late Steve Jobs as one of the inventors. The second patent is for the MacBook Air which the late Steve Jobs proudly introduced back in 2008. Apple's patent, which isn't a design patent, covers many aspects of the MacBook Air's design. The MacBook Air is one of the best notebook designs on the market today. So much so that Intel and their band cloners have copied Apple's design form factor and called it the "Ultrabook."

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from Patently Apple

Patently Apple would like to wish all of our fans, friends and industry colleagues from around the globe a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Whatever is beautiful; whatever is meaningful; whatever brings you happiness; may it be yours this holiday season and throughout the coming year. Cheers!  

Apple to Greatly Expand iPad mini Production in 2013

Taiwan's Pegatron is expecting to grow a whopping 40 percent in 2013. Insiders speaking with China Times have stated that the dramatic increase is directly due to their growing partnership with Apple. Pegatron, the one-time Asus spinoff, currently has three plants manufacturing the iPhone and iPad mini.  

Cries of Apple's Patents Being Found Invalid a Nice Pipe Dream

Many Patently Apple fans emailed me wondering why we weren't covering the "big story" about Apple's "pinch to zoom" patent being deemed invalid. The bottom line for not covering it was because there was no definitive ruling. Most sites were claiming that Apple's pinch-to-zoom and rubber-banding patents had been found to be invalid; that the US Patent Office outright rejected Apple's patents. Yet that's not what took place in the last week, and these wild claims will eventually be seen as little more than a pipe dream crafted by the anti-Apple camp. There's nothing new to that old story.  

Apple Sued over OS X, iPhone Infringing General Electric Patent

A Patent Troll or Non-Practicing Entity by the name of Princeton Digital Image Corporation has been assigned a 1987 patent by General Electric that they're using to sue Apple with. In the last fifteen months, the company has also sued HP, Intel, Facebook, Eastman Kodak, Canon and others. 

Samsung Sues Apple in Korea over iOS Notifications Feature

For some time now I've been hearing the Android community complain about Apple copying their notification feature. PCWorld noted in 2011 that Google's notification system was first introduced in Android OS 2.0 and was one of five Android features that Apple ripped off. CNET noted in that same year that Apple lifted the notification feature from Android. More recently, Android developers were openly complaining about this in the XDA Developers forum. One topic was titled "Since Android came out with the notification shade first why can't Samsung/Google sue Apple?" Well, today that question is being answered. Samsung is suing Apple over notifications.