Apple Talk

Apple emerged as the top brand of 2011, according to an annual list put together by marketing strategy firm Davis Brand Capital.

The iPhone, iPad, and Mac maker topped the Davis list for the first time this year, ousting IBM, which had come in first in 2009 and 2010. Following those two are a handful of other technology companies including Microsoft, Google, and Hewlett-Packard.

"(Apple's) rise in this year's rankings was driven largely by its competitive performance and added brand value," Davis said in a press release.

So how does the company come up with these … Read more

commentary Samsung wants fanboys to leave Apple's lines...only to get into another queue?

That's the footnote on an otherwise entertaining TV ad by Samsung that aired during the Super Bowl yesterday.

As it's done before, Samsung's pitch was effectively "why wait in line when you could have this, and have it right now?!" going so far as to say "the next big thing is already here...again." In this case, the only problem with that is that the product being advertised is not out yet.

The Note, the gadget that's … Read more

You certainly can't call the past few days boring for Apple.

The company filled a vacancy left on its executive team, was handed a fairly major setback in a German court, and maybe had its next iPod's big trick unveiled in some alleged spy shots.

That was all on top of a petition from a third-party consumer-watchdog group demanding Apple improve working conditions at overseas factories where its products are made.

These events were joined by a juicy bit of news that came out during an interview with recording artist Neil Young, where Young casually mentioned that he … Read more

Apple has declared war on lookalikes in its App Store.

The company today removed a handful of iOS applications that bore a resemblance to more popular apps, and had climbed the charts as a result.

As spotted by TechCrunch, apps like Tiny Birds, Plants vs. Zombie, Numbers with Friends, and Temple Jump have been removed from the App Store. That's not to be confused with titles like Tiny Wings, Plants vs. Zombies, Words with Friends, and Temple Run, longtime crowd favorites and best-sellers that remain available.

The removals come on the heels of a report posted by The Guardian … Read more

Following controversy, Apple has made changes to the end user license agreement that binds its iBooks Author software.

The legal agreement sparked ire following the software's introduction last month for its stipulation that books that were created with the free software would have to be made available only through Apple's iBookstore if authors intended to charge for them.

In the new version of the software that went out to users this afternoon, the company has modified the original language to state that the only works subject to that rule are files in the .ibooks format, files that only … Read more

There may come a time when Siri can help you buy a new flat-screen TV from the comfort of your bed, but for now the gal's capabilities are limited.

For the misfits and troublemakers who have jailbroken their iPhone 4S, there's a new app that promises to change that. It's called MyAssistant, and for 99 cents on third-party app market Cydia, it gives Siri much deeper access to your system settings and software than Apple offers out of the box.

How deep you might be wondering? Once installed it lets you do things like reboot your phone, … Read more

The quality of Apple's tech support by telephone "declined significantly" from 2010 to 2011 according to a new customer study.

Vocal Laboratories (Vocalabs) this morning published findings from its National Customer Service Survey, saying that while Apple continued to beat out competitors like Dell and HP when it came to customer service on the phone, customer satisfaction dropped a full 10 percent since the firm surveyed customers in the first half of 2010.

The study, which ran from May 2008 to December 2011 was based on 4,852 telephone interviews made following calls to the support lines … Read more

Apple has weighed in on a controversial issue with its iMessage service that keeps accounts on devices even when the owner has wiped the phone.

A story posted by Gizmodo yesterday detailed the dangers of the issue after a reader sent the outlet photos and details of iMessage exchanges that appeared on their iPhone after having it serviced at an Apple store.

According to their story, it all stemmed from that employee using their own phone's SIM card as part of the repair, which linked up the customer's phone to that employee's iMessage account. That resulted in … Read more

The questionable rumor that Apple planned to hold a special iPad 3-related event this month has been amended by its source, who now says that said event is taking place in March instead.

Japanese Apple blog Macotakara today clarified its original report saying that the "special event" it heard about from an "Asian supplier and a source from the United States" that would bring the official unveiling of the iPad 3 is actually taking place next month.

The site added that Apple was still going to have a "strange" event sometime this month, without … Read more