Apple

Eastman Kodak on Thursday announced that it has filed legal complaints against Apple and Research in Motion alleging patent infringement.

The photo company claims the camera technology used in Apple's iPhone and RIM's BlackBerry to preview images infringes on a digital imaging patent owned by Kodak. In a complaint filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), Kodak is asking that certain mobile phones with digital cameras be excluded from import unless the company can reach a fair method of compensation with Apple and RIM.

"In the case of Apple and RIM, we've had discussions … Read more

Market research firm Gartner released a report Wednesday showing U.S. market share for the top computer companies.

According to the report, Apple shipped almost 1.5 million Macs for the fourth quarter of 2009, up from the 1.2 million shipped during the same period last year. The 23.3 percent increase in shipments landed Apple the No. 5 spot in the top computer makers.

Apple's overall market share for the quarter dropped slightly from 7.7 percent in 2008 to 7.5 percent in 2009.

Apple wasn't the only company seeing gains in the fourth quarter … Read more

It's a pretty safe bet Apple will eventually incorporate Intel's latest processors into its MacBook lineup, though when that will happen is still unknown.

But on Wednesday, AppleInsider got its hands on an e-mail promotion sent to participants in the Intel Retail Edge Program (IREP)--a training program for Intel sales representatives--that hints something might be coming soon. The e-mail to participants includes this language: "January Prize Draw: Win a MacBook Pro. Pass this month's trainings for 2 chances to win one of 2 MacBook Pro laptops with the accelerated response of an Intel Core i5 processor."

Reached for comment, an Intel spokesman said, "There was an error on IREP and we are investigating."

It could have been a mistake in the language in the e-mail, or--and this seems more likely--the mistake could have been that it was sent out too early. MacBook Pros with Arrandale architecture, which includes the Core i5 processor, have been anticipated for some time, as my colleague Brooke Crothers wrote on Monday. Check out his post for more about what to expect if Apple does indeed add Intel's latest silicon to its notebook lineup.

After the jump is the full text of the IREP promo e-mail.… Read more

Who doesn't love a good rumor, especially when it might be true? We've been hearing talk about Apple releasing a new version of the iPhone this year, but we might see something real as early as April.

According to Fast Company via the Korea Times (sounds like the beginning of a good game of "Telephone," no pun intended), Apple and Korea Telecom "have reached a broad consensus to introduce the advance models as early as possible."

What can we (possibly) be looking forward to? Supposedly, some hardware goodies like better graphics chips, dual-core processors, … Read more

Apple's former software chief was pretty happy in retirement. But the opportunity to again influence the next generation of consumer technology lured Avie Tevanian back to work, this time on the money side.

Private equity firm Elevation Partners announced on Tuesday that Tevanian is joining its ranks. Shortly after the announcement, I had a chance to talk with Tevanian about a wide range of technology topics including his former employer, the biggest trends in technology, as well as whether he'll have to trade in his iPhone for a Palm Pre.

Here's an edited transcript of our conversation: … Read more

Former Apple software chief Avie Tevanian is becoming a venture capitalist, joining former Apple CFO Fred Anderson at Silicon Valley's Elevation Partners.

Tevanian, who helped lead Mac OS X's development at Apple, was also a board member at Tellme Networks when that company was acquired by Microsoft and currently serves as a director for Dolby Laboratories. At Elevation Partners, Tevanian will serve as a managing director aiming to spot new investment possibilities and help guide the firm's investment companies and strategy.

"Elevation Partners has put together an impressive investment team with the technological expertise and operational … Read more

MacBooks based on Intel's new Core i5 processors are expected to appear in the not-too-distant future. Here's some guesswork--updating a previous post--based on my discussions with Intel at the Consumer Electronics Show last week just after the chipmaker announced the new mobile chips.

Simply put, Arrandale is a Core i3 or i5 (update: or Core i7) central processing unit (CPU) package that includes graphics silicon. Until Arrandale, Intel graphics was in a separate package--referred to as the chipset. Making it part of the CPU results in lower power consumption and, consequently, better battery life. Arrandale's graphics also offers a step up in performance over the prior-generation Core 2 integrated graphics.

I should add that any laptop with a new Core i series processor is going to be faster than a laptop with the previous-generation Core 2 chip.

Turbo Boost: Why faster? For one, with the mobile Core i5 Intel's Turbo Boost is now available to mainstream laptops. This feature automatically overclocks a 2.26GHz Intel Core i5-430M processor, for example, to 2.53GHz on the fly as required by the application. (This is not possible with the Core i3 chip, however.)

One possibility is Apple getting an i5 (and/or i7, i3) made to order, as it did with the specially-packaged Core 2 Duo processor in the original MacBook Air. Or Apple could simply bypass Intel's integrated graphics by attaching an ATI or Nvidia graphics processor. The latter will likely happen in some form. Silicon Valley rival Hewlett-Packard is doing this already. Last week, HP updated its Envy 15 with the Core i5-540M Processor (2.53 GHz, 3 MB L3 cache) and Core i5-520M Processor (2.40 GHz, 3 MB L3 cache) and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5830 graphics chip from Advanced Micro Devices.

Of course, Intel is not revealing when and how Apple will use the new Core i mobile processors, but in an interview… Read more

Apple dominates the smartphone market today, allegedly because of its 100,000-plus applications. Does that mean it will be completely indomitable when it has 200,000? God-like at 300,000? And Microsoft-esque at 400,000?

Of course not.

As former Googler and current Apache Software Foundation developer Greg Stein points out, an app store's dominance has little to do with sheer volume of applications and everything to do with their relevance to you:

The [Google] Android Market is definitely behind--it is missing some nice applications. But not many! All the apps that I used to have on my iPhone … Read more

Apple has said nothing official about the tablet, but plenty of others have.

That group now includes France Telecom/Orange executive Stephane Richard. In an interview Monday with French radio station Europe1, Richard responded to a series of questions from journalist Jean-Pierre Elkabbach, giving the impression he was confirming the existence of an Apple tablet.

The conversation went like this (courtesy of Google Translate):

Elkabbach: "According to the weekly Le Point, a few days your partner Apple will launch a tablet with a webcam."

Richard: "Yes."

Elkabbach: "Is that Orange users will also benefit." … Read more