It was perhaps the worst kept secret in Apple's recent history; Apple announced iPhone 4S on the 4th of October, but leaks within Apple's own iTunes code and from Vodafone Germany had all but given the game away. Early in the day on the 4th, before the launch, even Apple's own Japanese website was getting in on the leaks game.

Apple wasn't playing the delay game - the iPhone 4S was made available just two weeks after the announcement and not just in the United States. Australia was amongst the launch countries and the nature of the international dateline meant that that Sydney schoolboys Wil Batterham and Tom Mosca may have been the first two people sold an iPhone 4S after a 63 hour wait outside Sydney's Apple store. That can only be a "may", as carriers opened their doors at the same time with widespread walkup availability on launch day. Batterham's queuing was easily the most publicised, though. The iPhone 4S didn't quite live up to the rumour hype - although Stephen Fry did rather like it. The rumours centred around an iPhone 5 rather than the iPhone 4S, but that didn't stop it selling extremely well both internationally and locally, although there was frustration that one of its most-hyped features, the voice control system Siri had limited location functionality outside of the United States. It did a fair job of understanding the Australian accent, however. Equally, there was some frustration with carriers who offered pre-orders for the iPhone 4S and had issues dealing with customers not receiving phones before those who queued up.

New Apple CEO Tim Cook did the honours introducing the iPhone 4S, and a day later it was clear why Steve Jobs didn't make an appearance, as the former CEO and one half of the original Apple duo (if you discount early shareholder/deliberate vote-breaker Ronald Wayne) sadly passed away on the 5th after a long battle with cancer. Tributes to Jobs flowed from all over the planet. It was announced that Walter Isaacson's authorised biography would make its debut almost a month early on the 24th of October on the back of the Jobs' passing. Isaacson made an appearance on the US version of 60 Minutes, and the hype appears to have paid off; his biography of Jobs is tipped to be Amazon's best-selling book of the year.

iPhone 4S wasn't Apple's only launch in October, although it was easily the most hyped; later in the month Apple refreshed its Macbook Pro lines with processor and storage upgrades the notable new inclusions. While the iPhone 4S has arguably the same kind of thing happening, Apple made much less fuss about the new Macbook Pro lines.

Apple's long-standing legal spat with Samsung continued apace in the Australian courts. Samsung announced early in the month that it might scrap plans to sell its Galaxy Tab 10.1 product in Australia if it didn't win the court's approval. Samsung was rather left with egg on its face in a US court after its representatives couldn't tell the Tab and iPad apart at a distance, and locally Samsung did find itself subject to a temporary injunction on selling the device, although a hearing into its appeal against that injunction has been fast-tracked http://www.zdnet.com.au/samsung-contests-galaxy-tab-injunction-339325074.htm in recent days. Samsung, for its part has sought injunctions against Apple selling the iPhone 4S in Italy, France Japan and Australia. Apple's disputes with Samsung are largely at the patent level, and those who don't like Apple's leveraging of its patents would have been unhappy to hear late in the month that Apple had been granted a patent on the slide to lock function of iOS. Still, if you ever wanted proof that big companies can be, shall we say, a touch contradictory, it's also worth noting that Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung COO Lee Jae-yong met during the month to discuss long-term parts cooperation arrangements. Or in other words, Apple's seemingly happy with Samsung making some of the innards of its devices, but not ones that may look like them or possibly infringe patents.

Rumour Mill

With the iPhone 4S out of the way, the rumour mills had little to go on besides trying to work out when the new Macbook Pro models would launch, which happened towards the end of the month. The Mac Pro line is still waiting for updates - now suggested to be early next year. The Macbook Air is the new entry level, the Pros just got updated and the Mac Pro is not likely until next year, so where did that leave the rumour cycle? Floundering around for a while, aside from inevitable iPad 3 speculation until it latched onto an on-again off-again prospect - that of an Apple TV. Not the small box that Apple currently sells, but a fully-fledged Apple-branded television set.

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Stanford med student Raymond Tsai spent five hours carving a jack-o-lantern tribute to Steve Jobs. (Photo courtesy of Raymond Tsai)

Since the Oct. 5 death of Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, admirers the world over have memorialized him on posters and post-it notes, with flowers and apples. But Stanford medical student Raymond Tsai had a different tribute in mind.

Tsai has been carving intricate pumpkins since 2006 and decided to pay tribute to Jobs with this year’s jack-o-lantern creation. He has only tried carving a person’s likeness one other time, in 2009, after Michael Jackson died.

“I usually only carve people that I am inspired by or touched by,” Tsai said. “Steve Jobs, I think, is just an inspirational person for a variety of reasons. I’m not sure how to put it into words yet… but he’s like the epitome of resilience in terms of overcoming barriers to succeed. He was so talented and such a visionary and was able to change an entire industry.”

Tsai estimates that he spent five and a half hours creating his pumpkin masterpiece: two hours mapping the cuts and three and a half hours actually carving.

“It is just amazing, and such an inspiration, to be so good at something, and to love something so much that you persevere no matter what anyone else says about your work,” Tsai said of Jobs.

“As someone who is still trying to figure out what to do in my own life, [Jobs] is a great role model in terms of finding what you love to do, what you’re passionate about, and excelling at that so much so, that you make a really impact on society.”

Apple Inc. board member and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore said the issues related to Steve Jobs’s illness were handled appropriately and the founder planned for the future by nurturing talent.

“I thought it was handled absolutely correctly,” Gore said of Jobs’s medical condition at the All Things D technology conference in Hong Kong today. “I wouldn’t change a single thing” about how the board handled it.

Jobs, who built the world’s most valuable technology company by introducing products including the iPhone and iPad, died this month, eight years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. His replacement Tim Cook won’t face an exodus of executives because “their loyalty to the company is quite deep,” Gore said.

“I don’t think the executive team would split given Apple’s reputation and momentum in the market,” Alexander Peterc, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas in London. “For those who were thinking of leaving, they would have left already.”

Cook needs the company’s talent pool to maintain Jobs’ legacy of innovation amid rising competition from tablet computers and smartphones that operate on Google Inc.’s Android software. Companies led by Samsung Electronics Co. are introducing new models in the segments previously dominated by the products Jobs pioneered.

Apple fell in U.S. trading on Oct. 19 after profit missed analysts’ predictions for the first time in at least six years amid signs that customers delayed iPhone purchases before the release of the latest model.

Secret Treatments

Jobs received secret treatments for the illness while telling people he was cured, his authorized biographer Walter Isaacson told CBS News’s “60 Minutes,” according to excerpts released yesterday.

Gore, an Apple board member since 2007, said Jobs had counseled employees in their final years to put their own stamp on the organization after his passing. Jobs used to say Walt Disney Co. had struggled after the death of its founder because executives often asked “What would Walt do,” Gore cited Jobs as saying.

“Don’t ask what Steve would have done, follow your own voice,” Gore quoted Jobs as saying. Apple “had discussions at every single board meeting about cultivating talent.”

Jobs put off cancer surgery for nine months while he sought out spiritual and dietary therapies against the advice of his wife, Isaacson said. Once he had the surgery he told his employees about it while playing down the seriousness of his condition, CBS said.

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Taiwan-based case maker Catcher Technology plans to spend up to $3 million to upgrade the equipment and processes at its plant in China, which was ordered closed over environmental issues, so it can reopen by November.

Catcher is also mulling reducing its operating risk by diversifying its production bases, including an option to increase its investment in Taiwan, according to a report on DigiTimes.

Earlier, authorities in Suzhou, China ordered its operations there suspended amid complaints of odorous gas emissions by nearby residents.

However, DigiTimes said this is still not likely to make Catcher's clients switch their orders to other suppliers due to the company'sstrong production capacity and manufacturing technology,

Recently, Catcher ramped up production at its plant located at a technology park in Tainan, southern Taiwan.

It also completed the purchase of a 79,200-square meter lot in Tainan for future expansion.

A separate article on The Next Web said Catcher is one of the largest suppliers in the world of metal casings for Apple, Dell, Lenovo and Sony notebooks.

It noted Apple in particular sources 60 percent of its distinctive unibody cases from Catcher, including those for the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and iMac.

The Next Web also quoted Catcher’s president Allen Hong as previously saying the closure could bring down the firm’s output 20 percent in October and as much as 40 percent in November.

But with a resumption of operations looming in November, there would likely be no obstruction to the release schedule of Apple’s updated notebooks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After attending a memorial service in honor of the late Steve Jobs, Samsung's chief operating officer met with Apple CEO Tim Cook to discuss supplying the company with "even better parts" in 2013 and 2014, after its current contract ends next year.

Lee Jae-Yong, heir apparent to the family-owned Samsung Electronics empire, met with Cook for more than two hours after attending Jobs' memorial service on Sunday, The Korea Herald reports.

Arriving back in Seoul earlier this week, Lee told reporters that, despite the ongoing legal disagreement between the two companies, Samsung will continue to sell parts to Apple until 2012. On Monday, it was reported that Samsung will supply a next-generation quad-core "A6" processor to Apple next year.

Lee went on to suggest that he had talked with Cook how his company's supplier relationship with Apple will continue on after next year.

"For the 2013-2014 period, we discussed how best to supply even better parts," he said. Lee also mentioned that he and Cook had talked about past challenges and how to promote good relations between their companies in the future, the report noted.

The executive declined to comment on whether the meeting could lead to a resolution of the companies' legal dispute, saying only that his visit "was to attend the memorial service."

Apple was Samsung's second-largest client last year, behind only Sony, and is expected to take the top spot this year with an estimated $7.8 billion in component purchases.

As tensions have mounted between Apple and Samsung, rumors have swirled that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. would take over for Samsung in producing Apple's custom chips.
"There is a need to compete in a fair manner for the benefit of the consumer, and this stance existed in the past, is taking place now and will occur in the future," Lee said. According to him, the company is currently deciding whether to expand its legal actions against Apple or to hold off.

Apple first sued Samsung in April, alleging that the company had copied the look and feel of its iPhone and iPad. At present, ongoing lawsuits between the two companies number in the twenties and span more than a dozen countries.

Last month, the head of global marketing at Samsung said the South Korean electronics giant would be "more aggressive" in pursuing its rights after having held back because Apple was a client.

"We've been quite respectful and also passive in a way," the executive reportedly said. "However, we shouldn't be... anymore."

For its part, Samsung does appear to be taking steps to curb potential infringement of Apple's intellectual property. The company has indicated that, for the just-announced Galaxy Nexus smartphone, great efforts were taken to ensure that the device does not violate any known Apple patents.

"Now we will avoid everything we can and take patents very seriously," said Samsung's mobile president Shin Jong-kyun earlier this week.

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Google Android boss Andy Rubin and Microsoft's Windows Phone head Andy Lees have both publicly criticized Apple's new Siri voice assistant and questioned its usefulness.

Apple announced Siri alongside the iPhone 4S, billing it as one of the most exciting features for the new handset. The Cupertino, Calif., company built the virtual personal assistant feature into its new phone after purchasing Siri for $200 million last year.

According to a recent report, the Siri team at Apple is one of the largest software teams at the company. Siri's unique personality and sense of humor has even inspired the creation of numerous websites and blogs detailing its creative responses.

Though initial reviewers have called Siri the "standout feature" of the iPhone 4S, Rubin and Lees don't appear to view it as much of a threat, based on comments they recently made at AllThingsD's AsiaD conference in Hong Kong.

Rubin, who currently serves as Google's senior vice president of mobile, said in an interview on Wednesday that he doesn't "believe that your phone should be an assistant.”

“Your phone is a tool for communicating. You shouldn’t be communicating with the phone; you should be communicating with somebody on the other side of the phone,” he added.

According to the executive, who is a former Apple employee, it still remains to be seen whether customers will take to talking to a phone and not another person. “We’ll see how pervasive it gets,” said Rubin. He did point out, however, that one of the co-founder of Android had worked on a cellphone speech company. Google itself has already built a measure of voice recognition functionality into Android, though the technology is not as advanced as Siri.

“This isn’t a new notion,” he said. “In projecting the future, I think Apple did a good job of figuring out when the technology was ready to be consumer-grade.”

 

On Thursday, Microsoft's Lees said that he didn't think Siri was "super useful," as reported by Engadget. He also touted Windows Phone 7's own voice recognition implementation as harnessing "the full power of the internet, rather than a certain subset," because it uses Bing for its voice search feature.

It's unclear what exactly Lees meant by the comment, however, as Siri allows users to run searches on Google, Bing and Yahoo, in addition to providing access to a set of services, including Wolfram Alpha, Wikipedia and Yelp.

According to the report, Lees implied that Microsoft would avoid having its users speak commands to their phones in public.

 

While Apple's competitors may doubt Siri's usefulness, millions of customers have already voted with their wallets. During launch weekend, Apple sold a record 4 million iPhone 4S units. Company executives have said they are confident that the new device will set an all-time high for iPhone sales in the current quarter, which ends in December.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. said China has become its largest market after the U.S. as the iPhone, iPad and iMac computer maker opened an online store last year and six retail outlets in the past three years in the Asian nation.

China, the world's most populous country, accounted for 16 percent of Apple's fourth-quarter sales, or about $4.5 billion, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said on a conference call yesterday. Revenue in the nation was almost four times the year- earlier level, he said.

Demand in China was a bright spot in Apple earnings reported yesterday, which missed analyst estimates for the first time in at least six years as iPhone sales lagged behind targets. The Cupertino, California-based company's sales in the Asian country jumped to $13 billion in the year ended Sept. 24 from $3 billion the previous 12 months, Cook said.

“I've never seen a country with as many people rising into the middle class that aspire to buy products that Apple makes,” Cook said on the call. “China, the sky's the limit there.”

Apple has a network of more than 200 “Apple Premium Resellers” in the country that are focused on the company's products, Cook said. Combined with other types of resellers and partner China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd., the nation's only carrier now offering the iPhone with a service contract, there are 7,000 points of sale for the iPhone in China, he said.

Largest Market

Even at that rate, Apple isn't expanding fast enough in China, said Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group., a Shanghai-based company that advises retailers and other clients about doing business in the country.

“China should be Apple's largest market, and I think they are actually underperforming here,” Rein said. “They haven't opened enough Apple stores. Apple needs to accelerate store openings much, much more.”

The China market can sustain 100 or more stores “easily,” Rein said.

Carolyn Wu, a Beijing-based spokeswoman for Apple, said she had no comment on Rein's analysis beyond remarks made by Cook that the company is “continuing to make investments” in China.

China is the world's largest mobile-phone market by subscribers, with 940 million users registered as of the end of August, according to the nation's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

‘Feverish' Growth

The country probably overtook the U.S. as the largest personal-computer market in the second quarter, after three decades of American dominance in an industry pioneered by Apple and International Business Machines Corp., research firm IDC said in August.

Personal-computer shipments in China rose 14 percent to 18.5 million units during the second quarter, the first time they surpassed the number in the U.S., where they fell 4.8 percent to 17.7 million, IDC said at the time.

Apple sales in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan rose to 12 percent of the company's total last fiscal year, compared with 2 percent in 2009, Cook said on the call.

Revenue is growing “at a feverish pace,” in the region, making it the company's fastest-growing “by far,” he said.

Apple opened its first store in Hong Kong last month, as well as its third store in Shanghai. The company also has two outlets in Beijing.

“It's an area of enormous opportunity,” Cook said. “It has quickly become No. 2 on our list of top revenue countries, very, very quickly. We're obviously placing additional investment. We're building more stores there, as well as doing quite a few other things.”

Fourth-quarter profit was $6.62 billion, or $7.05 a share, compared with $4.31 billion, or $4.64 a share, a year earlier, Apple said yesterday in a statement. That missed analysts' predicted profit of $7.31 a share, the first time Apple disappointed in at least 26 quarters.

 

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Apple is also involved in legal wrangles with manufacturers other than Samsung. Taiwan-based HTC accused Apple of patent infringements a while back, claiming that Apple had copied four of its patents relating to power management and phone dialing.

 

While back in July the US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that Apple infringed on 2 of HTC’s patents, ITC Judge Charles Bullock ruled again on Monday, this time saying Apple did not violate HTC’s patents.

 

But Apple isn’t off the hook yet. More verdicts have been scheduled, with the ITC expected to decide on November 13 on the preliminary ruling that Apple infringed on 2 HTC patents. February will be a critical point for the two companies because the full commission will decide whether to accept or reject Judge Bullock’s decision.

 

And on December 6 the ITC will decide on a preliminary ruling that HTC violated 2 Apple patents. According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is trying to ban sales of HTC Android devices in the US, while HTC is hoping to gain a “cross-licensing agreement” via counter suits.

 

Consumers would love to see the two companies reach a middle ground. The mobile industry would be sorely deprived if HTC devices were banned.

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple is holding a private memorial service for employees to celebrate the life of company co-founder and former chief executive Steve Jobs.

The service, announced to Apple employees in an email by CEO Tim Cook, is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at company headquarters in Cupertino. It will also be webcast to employees worldwide.

Apple plans to close its retail stores for several hours so employees can watch the service online, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue, and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The service will take place in the campus' outdoor amphitheater, according to Cook's email.

The celebration is for employees to "take time to remember the incredible things Steve achieved in his life and the many ways he made our world a better place," Cook wrote.

The event follows a memorial at Stanford University last Sunday for friends and family. That service at Memorial Church reportedly brought out tech titans including Oracle chief Larry Ellison and Microsoft's Bill Gates, as well as politicians including Bill Clinton. U2 frontman Bono and Joan Baez reportedly performed.

Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Stocks rose a second day, the euro strengthened and bond risk fell amid speculation leaders will stem the region’s debt crisis. U.S. equity futures declined after Apple Inc.’s profit missed analyst estimates.

The MSCI All Country World Index rallied 0.5 percent as of 8:04 a.m. in London and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.4 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures dipped 0.5 percent and Nasdaq-100 Index contracts lost 1 percent. The euro gained 0.3 percent to $1.3792, while South Korea’s won led emerging- market currencies higher. The Markit iTraxx Asia index of debt default risk sank six basis points. Yields on German 10-year bunds increased two basis points to 2.03 percent.

Analysts partly attributed stock gains to a Guardian newspaper report that said Germany and France agreed to boost the region’s rescue fund, even after a person with direct knowledge told Bloomberg News no deal has been reached and Moody’s Investors Service cut Spain’s credit rating. While Apple’s income trailed the average estimate by 3.5 percent, Bank of America Corp. swung to a profit and Intel Corp. forecast fourth-quarter sales that topped some analyst predictions.

“Whatever progress we get out of the euro zone will certainly help add some calm to the market,” Kelvin Tay, the Singapore-based chief investment strategist at UBS Wealth Management, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Investors will still remain “very wary” before leaders meet this weekend to discuss the crisis, he said.

More than four shares rallied for every one that fell on the Stoxx 600, which snapped a two-day, 1.3 percent drop. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.8 percent, helping the gauge rebound from a 2.4 percent drop yesterday that was the steepest since Oct. 3.

Stocks Climb

Commonwealth Bank of Australia gained 1.2 percent after Reserve Bank Assistant Governor Guy Debelle said the nation’s banks are benefiting from rising domestic deposits and U.S. investment in their debt, shielding them from stresses experienced by European lenders. TPK Holding Co., a supplier of touch panels for Apple devices, retreated 6.9 percent in Taipei.

Futures signal the S&P 500 may give up some of yesterday’s 2 percent rally. Among the 38 index members that have released quarterly results since Oct. 11, more than 60 percent have beaten analysts’ profit estimates. Apple, the world’s largest company by market value, sank 6.7 percent to $394.05 after it missed analyst estimates for the first time since at least 2004. The maker of iPhones and iPads makes up about 15 percent of the Nasdaq-100 Index’s value.

Morgan Stanley will release its third-quarter results before the start of U.S. trading today.

‘No Conviction’

“There’s just no conviction that seems to survive,” John Carey, a Boston-based money manager at Pioneer Investments, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees about $250 billion. “Apple’s results have disappointed some people. People are wondering where the economy is going, what earnings will look like and whether Europe will work its way through this crisis.”

Treasury 10-year yields were little changed at 2.18 percent before U.S. data today that may show consumer prices rose 0.3 percent in September, the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. That would follow a 0.4 percent increase in August. Separate figures may show housing starts climbed to 590,000 last month from 571,000 in September.

The Markit iTraxx Asia index of 40 investment-grade borrowers outside Japan fell six basis points to 201 basis points, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc prices show. That would be the lowest closing level since Sept. 20, according to CMA, which is owned by CME Group Inc. and compiles prices quoted by dealers in the privately negotiated market.

Won, Ringgit

The won rose 1.2 percent to 1,132.30 per dollar after South Korea and Japan said they will increase a currency-swap accord to $70 billion. The Malaysian ringgit strengthened 0.8 percent to 3.1080 and the Taiwan dollar added 0.3 percent to NT$30.099.

The euro strengthened against 11 of its 16 major counterparts. The shared currency appreciated yesterday after the Guardian said Germany and France agreed before a weekend summit to boost the 440-billion euro ($604 billion) European Financial Stability Facility to 2 trillion euros.

The two nations are also in favor of recapitalizing the region’s banks to meet a 9 percent capital ratio that may be required by the European Banking Authority, the newspaper reported. A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel declined to comment.

Germany and France have yet to agree on how to bolster the European bailout fund as they seek to overcome technical hurdles and to complete a plan to stem to debt crisis, said a person with direct knowledge of the talks. FTSE 100 Index futures jumped 1.3 percent.

‘Premature’

The reported increase in “the European Financial Stability Fund is really significant and the market viewed that as a high positive,” said Tim Schroeders, who helps manage $1 billion in equities at Pengana Capital Ltd. in Melbourne. “Still, at this stage, it looks all premature and nothing has been agreed.”

Oil for November delivery decreased 0.1 percent to $88.26 a barrel in afterhours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures advanced 2.3 percent yesterday to settle at the highest price since Sept. 15, helping the S&P GSCI Index of commodities to a 0.7 percent gain.

Three-month copper declined 1.3 percent to $7,352.50 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange, a third day of losses. Wheat for December delivery advanced as much as 1 percent to $6.3175 a bushel before trading at $6.275.

--With assistance from Nick Baker and Rita Nazareth in New York, Sarah McDonald in Sydney, Ranjeetha Pakiam in Kuala Lumpur and Nick Gentle in Hong Kong. Editors: James Regan, Linus Chua