A new study published by Distimo provides us with a granular app level look at revenues in the Apple App Store and Google Play. Distimo's report debunks some of the myths surrounding application level revenue in Google Play and the Apple App Store. One of those myths is that although the (free) download volumes in Google Play are impressive, developers still find it hard to monetize their apps on this platform compared to the Apple App Store. Distimo's latest report examines this statement by digging into the battle between Google Play and the Apple App Store.

According to a new report out today, equal monthly installments (EMI) and cash back schemes have worked wonders for Apple in India as iPhone's monthly sales have risen by 300% to 400% over the last few months. Apple has managed to dramatically push up its sales by figuring out trends of consumer demand and changing the iPhone's perception from being a high-end product to an affordable one.

According to a new report out of London, the US has eased restrictions on the sale of mobile phones and other communications devices, software and services to Iranians. The shift marks the first time Apple's iPhone can be exported legally to Iran.

While the latest web traffic stats published by Chitika Insights yesterday showed that Apple's iPad is still sitting on 81% market share, Samsung is hard at work to beef up their sales of tablets so as to become the "market share" leader in tablets by next year. Playing the "market share" game has been Samsung's game plan because the mainstream press and Wall Street love it, even when profits sag well below what Apple pulls in. According to a recent report, The Ratio of Profits to Market Share shows Apple with 3.12% versus Samsung with 1.30%.

Smartflash has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple. The patent infringement lawsuit basically concerns Apple's iTunes Store, the App Store, Apple TV, iOS and much more. A number of gaming developers are a part of this suit for using Apple's iTunes Store to sell their wares. Smartflash is claiming that Apple has allegedly infringed on their six standing patents which all relate to "Data Storage and Access Systems."

Every once and a while a very cool idea emerges in a patent that puts a smile on our faces just because we know that Jony Ive and his team (the Crazy Ones) have come up with yet another aesthetically minded industrial design. Today's little gem hits on a number of interesting things. Firstly, Apple has designed a display that could conceal or reveal hidden components behind a display such as a camera and strobe flash so that they could be eliminated as physical features on an iPhone, iPad or other computer. Apple states that "Placing components that would typically be found on the surface of an electronic device enclosure behind a transparent display may increase the surface real-estate of the enclosure for a larger display or additional components. Further, the aesthetics of the electronic device may be greatly enhanced by not cluttering the device enclosure with always-visible components, but instead creating a more seamless electronic device where the components are only visible when they are in use." Secondly, beyond the camera and strobe flash, there's an additional key component that Apple wants to conceal that's noteworthy, and that's a fingerprint scanner.

On May 30, 2013, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals a new manufacturing process relating to precision display setting on devices like an iMac, iPhone, iPod or Television. For those of you who happen to love industrial design and its associated processes as much as Apple's Jony Ive does, you'll appreciate Apple's latest invention. The second invention that we briefly touch on in our report relates to Apple's work on a 3D cursor. Considering that Tim Cook stated that a new Mac Pro would be coming to market later this year, perhaps we'll see this new feature pop up. Then again, don't count on logic being a guide for the timing of any Apple invention.

On May 30, 2013, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals a new flexible display invention. Apple has filed a number of flex display based patents over the last year including one for advanced concepts and features, another relating to the a next generation Smart Cover and yet another relating to unique functionality beyond the gimmickry of flex screen designs. Today's patent extends on the latter patent in that it ties a flex screen directly to an application such as Apple's GarageBand. In the future, playing the piano will be more realistic allowing the user to press the keys harder or softer to get the right sound that they're seeking. I'm sure that Apple is working on other applications for this new functionality but we'll just have to wait until they roll it out to see just how cool this could be.

On May 30, 2013, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals Apple's gaze detection technology. It should be noted that Apple's current patent is a divisional patent which means that Apple is breaking this aspect of their 2008 parent patent out as an individual patent. Technically, Apple had this technology in a patent prior to any other competitor including Samsung which actually implemented it first in their Galaxy S4 smartphone earlier this year. Apple also added gaze technologies to a January patent in context to an HDTV related patent and the likes of Sony and BlackBerry are working on similar features. Today, when you put your iPhone to your face the display is turned off. This is one of the technologies found in Apple's gaze detection patent. In the future, gaze technology will be able to stop a video when you look away or stop your tunes from playing based on this gaze detection feature. At the end of the day, Apple's gaze detection technology is really more about conserving power than it is about providing a flashy gimmick.

In the three years since Apple's iPad became the first modern web tablet available in the US, the tablet market has continued a steady growth. Tablets have worked themselves into both our daily and workplace lives, and the iPad in particular remains the king of this personal computer segment. New stats that were just released by Chitika, actually shows the iPad with a slight increase in April's web traffic over their competitors.

Apple reportedly plans to launch two models of its iPhone family in the third quarter of 2013 and has asked makers in the supply chain to prepare production capacity for 20 million units a month, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

According to Korea's ETNews, Apple is working on a new 12.9" iPad for some time in 2014. The new iPad, referred to as the iPad Maxi in the report, is supposedly being aimed at the educational market which requires a specific electronic textbook format.