On November 14, 2013 the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals everything you want to know about the iPad's split keyboard. The invention places a lot of emphasis on a "candidate bar" next to the left side of the virtual keyboard as noted above. As a character input is received via the keyboard, the iPad may update the candidate bar to include various candidate characters that correspond to the received character input. The candidate characters may be individual letters or they may be words, phrases, numbers, or the like.

Back in 2005 the New York Times reported that co-founder and CEO of Apple Steve Jobs had met with PlayStation's creator Ken Kutaragi in 2004 to discuss using the Cell chip in future Apple hardware. But Jobs reportedly knocked Kutaragi back, claiming he was not impressed by the performance of the IBM-built Cell processor. Nine years later we see that Steve Jobs got it right as Sony ditches the Cell processor for the PS4.

Rueters is reporting today that a judicial source with direct knowlege of the matter has revealed that Apple is under investigation in Milan for allegedly hiding more than 1 billion euros ($1.34 billion) from the Italian taxman, confirming a local media report. Report Updated on Nov. 15.

A new report from Bloomberg's Adam Satariano claims that "Apple is putting a record $10.5 billion to work in new technology -- from assembly robots to milling machines -- that consumers will never see." The claim in-part is supported by a recent Apple patent filing revelation.

According to a new report this morning, Samsung Electronics and Apple will restart top tier efforts to try and meet a court-ordered Jan. 8 deadline to find an amicable solution to their patent dispute. U.S. federal judge Lucy H. Koh, who presided over the case, ordered such a meeting. Insiders close to the case added that Samsung's mobile chief and CEO Shin Jong-kyun and Apple's Tim Cook will meet soon.

In February we first covered Samsung's game plan to introduce Tizen OS in Q4 of this year. While Samsung later announced a delay in in their introduction of Tizen OS, they're now ready to launch it in Q1 2014. The Tizen Alliance held a developers' conference in Korea to promote the growth of the Tizen ecosystem. Tizen is quickly emerging as a third mobile OS as it becomes compatible with both Android and iOS by means of a new porting technology.

A new DigiTimes Research report states that there were 4.353 million consumer tablets sold in the China market during the third quarter of 2013, increasing 21.7% sequentially and 67.2% on year, according to Analysys International. Apple was the number one tablet vendor in China, as expected.

On November 12, 2013, The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 32 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover 3 patents. The first covers a cellular antenna for a future MacBook Pro. The second covers a two-level iDevice button and the third covers Apple's editing user interfaces and methods for iDevice. Apple was also granted two design patents today with one crediting the late Steve Jobs.

In February of this year we reported that Apple had struck gold in Japan with the iPhone taking top spot in Q4 2012. Tonight, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the iPhone was Japan's best-selling smartphone, with a 37% market share in the six months ended Sept. 30, according to Tokyo's MM Research Institute. Apple's iPad also garnered more than 50% of Japan's tablet-computer market in the fiscal year ended March 2013, said MM Research.

Last week we posted a new report titled "New Patent Sheds Light on the iPhone Created with Liquidmetal" wherein we presented the revelation that Apple's iPhone with metal bezel was actually a liquidmetal design. Since that time another two Liquidmetal patent applications have surfaced in Europe. One of them covers an customized injection mold for creating iPhone parts while the other addresses the creation of the iPhone's bottom portion with input/output port and jack created with a liquidmetal composition. The patent also restates constantly that the iPhone's housing is made from a bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy. In another segment of the patent Apple references a "glassy alloy" may be formed using a deeply undercooled glass forming liquid which strongly suggests that the backside of the iPhone is liquidmetal composite and not simply glass as their new TV ad presented.

Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published four of Apple's latest trademark filings for "iBeacon." iBeacon is an Indoor positioning system that Apple calls "a new class of low-powered, low-cost transmitters that can notify nearby iOS 7 devices of their presence" According to tech guru Steve Cheney, "Apple's push into iBeacon could enable it to run away in this market while still standardizing on a completely open platform and developer environment." Cheney also notes that iBeacon is currently in every single iPhone dating back two years. In addition to indoor positioning, Apple's trademark filings for iBeacon reveal a direct connection to future iWallet financial services.

According to a supply chain source, Apple has delayed the launch of their iPad mini with Retina because of a burn-in problem found in the LCD panel which is causing a malfunction of the TFT. This burn-in is not visible to the eyes of ordinary users, but does not meet the particular technological standards of Apple. So there was a yield problem. Primary suppliers are LG Display and Sharp. Particularly, rumor has it that Sharps' IGZO panel has a supply problem.

In January of this year we reported that the New York Times had revealed several new initiatives that were well underway at Disney to help the company's online business from bleeding cash. One idea includes another massive redesign of Disney.com, their third in five years. But another sounds far more radical. According to Robert Iger, Disney's chief executive, one of their new products is an ambitious and unannounced gaming initiative that is code-named Toy Box. The initiative is reported to involve a gaming console with extensive mobile and other online applications including various Pixar and Disney characters that will be able to interact with each other for the first time. Today we've learned that Disney has quietly advanced their Toy Box project by registering a new domain referring to their console. 

Our Patent Bolt blog began covering Samsung's patent applications for foldable devices/displays back in September 2011. We noted in a December 2012 report that it was becoming a trend in IP filings from Samsung, Microsoft, Sony and others. Months earlier we had noted that Samsung filed for a patent involving a tri-fold flexible/foldable display device. How real is this IP trend? Well, according to a new Korean report, Samsung is sticking their neck out on the line to announce that they'll deliver a foldable display device sometime in 2015. That's a two year window. So consider that to have been the starting gun sounding off to begin the race for the next generation of smartphone and tablet form factors.

On November 7, 2013, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's latest trademark application for "iPad Air" which debuted on October 22. Apple also filed three patent applications of minor interest today covering crack resistant plastic for the iPhone 5C, multi-step laser patterning and more.

A patent report that we published as far back as June 2010 pointed to the iPhone's glass and metal bezel using liquidmetal. Since that time we're reported on possible uses of liquidmetal including its ability to uniquely waterproof future iDevices. Yet the one constant perception in the marketplace today is that liquidmetal is something that's on the way; something that's just around the corner. In fact, on Monday Womencitizen published a report titled "iPhone 6 could feature Liquidmetal exterior." Yet a new round of Liquidmetal patents from Apple published in Europe on October thirty-first would appear to contradict that myth. Further proof came by way of new patent figures clearly spelling out the process of using Liquidmetal for the current iPhone with its classic metal bezel antenna. Our report covers the most definitive proof to date that Apple's current iPhone uses Liquidmetal and even reveals a possible new Apple accessory product that is shown to utilize this new material as well.

I wanted to take a moment to inform Patently Apple's fan base that I underwent emergency surgery on November 02, 2013. I'll be starting back with a reduced work schedule sometime next week until I get the green light to return full time from my surgeon. One specialty report that was all but finished prior to my surgery will be published later this week.

Thanks for your ongoing support.

Walt Mossberg noted on Tuesday that the new iPad Air is the best tablet he ever reviewed. In TechCrunch's review they stated that "Apple Makes Big Tablets Beautiful All over Again." The review emphasized the iPad Air's shedding of both size and weight and how could they not considering that Apple's own website spells it all out in detail. The iPad Air reduced the size of the glass, touch sensor, battery, unibody and its high-end Retina display as noted in our cover graphic. Today's report reveals the new technology and process that were applied to Apple's Retina display so as to allow it to be that much thinner and lighter.