Apple

Though still among the top five mobile phone vendors worldwide, Apple has conceded fourth place to China's ZTE, according to the "Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker" report released today by IDC.

Looking at the global market share of the top mobile phone vendors in the fourth quarter, Apple dipped from fourth to fifth place despite a record quarter for phone shipments, the report said.

The iPhone maker shipped 16.2 million units, a healthy boost from the 14.1 million units shipped in the third quarter and the 8.7 million shipped in 2009's final quarter. Apple's flagship phone sold especially well in developed countries, including North America and Western Europe.

Apple's global market share for the quarter slipped only slightly to 4 percent from 4.1 percent the prior quarter. But that combined with a surge in shipments for ZTE, which has sold mostly lower-cost feature phones, allowed the Chinese mobile phone maker to steal fourth place away from Apple.

Hitting the top five for the very first time, ZTE shipped 16.8 million units for the quarter, helping it win a 4.2 percent slice of the market.… Read more

Microsoft might not be selling Office in the Mac App Store now, but that doesn't mean it never will.

"It's something we are looking at," Microsoft's Amanda Lefebvre told All Things Digital's Mobilized blog in an interview yesterday. "It's something we haven't ruled out. We just have to see how that relates to our business."

The Mac App Store, which launched earlier this month, could provide Microsoft with another viable outlet to profit on its productivity suite on the Mac. However, there would be consequences to such an action.

For … Read more

Apple has released an update to iTunes that provides support for Verizon's CDMA version of the iPhone.

Made available yesterday, the iTunes 10.1.2 update offers the information in its "Read Before You Install iTunes" note: "iTunes 10.1.2 syncs music, movies, and more with iPhone 4 (CDMA model) and provides a number of important stability and performance improvements."

Though not specifically detailing the other changes in version 10.1.2, Apple noted that the 10.1 update had added the ability to sync an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch with iOS 4.… Read more

In the competition between native applications for mobile phones vs. Web applications, hardware support often makes native apps an obvious choice for programmers. But the World Wide Web Consortium is tackling one area, touch-screen support, in an effort that could help Web apps catch up.

The W3C published an editor's draft of a new touch-screen standard for Web apps today. The draft specification is designed also for devices such as drawing tablets that don't have a screen, but today's hot market for smartphones makes touch screens the more important focus.

A standard--if designed well and adopted--would make … Read more

The Apple TV has eclipsed the iPad in overall viewership of Netflix content, the movie-rental company said yesterday.

"Apple TV has done very well for us, and in just four months has passed the also-growing iPad in Netflix viewing hours," the company wrote in its letter to shareholders.

Netflix stopped short of providing exact viewer figures for the two Apple devices, but the very fact that the Apple TV is now leading the iPad is impressive. Apple has sold millions of iPads since the device launched last year, and it sold 7.33 million units in its last-reported … Read more

Apple may be preparing to update its high-end line of laptop computers as supplies of its MacBook Pros continue to tighten at retail locations.

Citing unnamed sources, MacRumors on Wednesday said retailers are running low on stock of Apple's MacBook Pro computers. The report specifically notes shortages in the 15-inch and 17-inch models.

"At least one major retail chain has reportedly notified its branches that it has been unable to fulfill replenishment orders," writes Eric Slivka for MacRumors.

While a shortage in supply in itself isn't necessarily an indication of new products, Apple history shows when … Read more

Apple outscored both Dell and Hewlett-Packard in overall satisfaction with tech support by phone, though its problem-resolution rates took a bit of a hit in a study released today by consumer feedback firm Vocal Laboratories.

Based on interviews with customers from July 2009 to December 2010, Apple's lead in phone support over Dell and HP dipped a bit in the second half of last year compared with the first half, according to the study from Vocal Laboratories (Vocalabs).

But Apple customers seeking tech support still proved the happiest, with 66 percent saying they were "very satisfied" with … Read more

News Corp. has chosen Groundhog Day for its launch of The Daily, a digital publication designed for tablet devices--and it's chosen New York, not the previously rumored San Francisco, for the February 2 event.

News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch will be making the announcement at the event at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and Apple Vice President of Internet Services Eddy Cue will join him. This is in contrast to News Corp.'s initial plans to hold the event at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in late January.

A source close to the matter had informed CNET … Read more

Verizon has broken AT&T's exclusive hold on the iPhone in the U.S. and is looking to tempt some of the latter's customers with an attractive trade-in offer.

Verizon reportedly sent an e-mail to corporate customers with details of a trade-in credit option: bring Verizon an old iPhone bought through AT&T and you'll be rewarded with a handsome credit toward a Verizon iPhone. Verizon is offering $60 for an original 16GB iPhone, $105 for a 16GB iPhone 3G, $160 for a 32GB iPhone 3GS, $280 for a 16GB iPhone 4, and $360 for … Read more