The International Financial Review reports that Apple wowed the debt markets on Tuesday with the largest non-bank bond deal in history, offering a whopping US$17bn for sale as the US computer giant switches strategy to placate restless shareholders.

Three brothers living in Texas who own a 2002 patent titled "Communication and proximity Authorization Systems," are suing Apple for patent infringement. According to their document filed with the court, Apple's AirPort and AirPort Extreme products infringe on their intellectual property. If Apple is found guilty, the plaintiffs are seeking a "reasonable" royalty from Apple.

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 43 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we uncover a major surprise. Apple has been granted a major multiplayer gaming patent that emphasizes the integration of chat sessions over mesh and focus networks. Two of Apple's engineers that are listed on this patent have worked extensively on other FaceTime and/or iChat patents in the past which gives this aspect of the patent credibility. Last week we covered Apple's patent filing for new pivotal-styled buttons for a game controller and a secondary granted patent published today covers techniques for controlling gaming accessories on an iDevice. With Apple's CEO talking about new product and service categories being in the pipeline over the next two years, it would appear that advancing gaming to a whole new level may be one of the top ones coming our way. Without a doubt, today's gaming patent is by far the most detailed of them all to date. To top off our report we provide you with a full list of the other patents that were granted to Apple today.

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 43 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we briefly cover two granted patents. The first relates to a multitouch display while the second relates to automatically installing software for transferring and sharing photos. The later appears to be one the first patents that Apple acquired from Kodak.

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of four design patents for Apple today covering their iPod nano (seventh generation), the iPod Touch (fifth generation), their new EarPods and iPod nano Lanyard called "The Loop." While it's rare to see design patents get fast tracked as these have today, it's a trend that should continue being that we're in an era of quick design turnovers.

In a new patent filing from Samsung we learn that they're trying to patent a shadow effect for turning an eBook page. Androiders love to complain and rant about what they perceive to be Apple's frivolous patent filings. I say to them, take a long look in the Samsung mirror and say, what? Samsung is trying to patent the creation of a shadow for turning an eBook page? Is this really worthy of a patent?

A relatively unknown player to North Americans by the name of China Wireless is seen as a serious challenger to Apple in China. The little unknown was in the number three spot last year behind Samsung and Lenovo but well ahead of Apple who came in the sixth position. Wireless China isn't worried about Apple, even if their more economical iPhone is in the pipeline. While China Wireless is only a fraction of the size of Apple, their latest smartphones called the Coolpad is outselling the iPhone due to their fuller range of lower priced models and much closer ties to Chinese Carriers. While Apple enjoyed the best quarter ever in China, we thought that we'd put a face on one of Apple's tougher competitors in China with a video from Bloomberg.

Sometimes it's good to use humor in ads. Apple's long standing "I'm a Mac and I'm a PC" series of ads used humor to scoff at Windows. Now Microsoft and Nokia are trying to show that the Apple-Samsung feud is out of control in a humorous light. Of course it's all being filmed on a Lumia 920 smartphone with Windows.The campaign's message is simple: Don't fight switch to Nokia. 

The International Financing Review is reporting today that Apple is set to begin investor calls today led by Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs, a source familiar with the situation told IFR, and filed SEC paperwork for a debt offering.

As tablet players are turning their focuses from the 10-inch segment to 7-inch for the second half of 2013, sources from the upstream supply chain believe the competition between Apple iPad mini and 7-inch Android tablets will become fiercer than before.

Zhengzhou Foxconn is currently producing Apple's iPhone 5 and is preparing to manufacture Apple's new products. It was at this plant where 2 employees plunged to their deaths late last week.

Here are three simple stories worth noting on Saturday April 27, 2013.