The Loop » Links

∞ ∞ iOS games headed for $40? Not so fast, says dev

Peter Cohen — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 21:59:19 +0000

Take-Two Interactive Software CEO Strauss Zelnick raised eyebrows when he recently told Forbes that games for iOS would eventually hit $40, similar to the price that gamers pay for titles for Nintendo handhelds. Paul O’Connor of Appy Entertainment has a very different opinion.

“Prices on iOS game are compressed to free or $1 because this platform is at the center of the most competitive entertainment software market in history.”

∞ ∞ iOS 5 Safari faster than IE or Android

Jim Dalrymple — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 02:20:12 +0000

Apple’s mobile Safari Web browser may not have always done well against the competition, but the addition of the Nitro JavaScript engine certainly helped speed things up. According to new tests, the version of mobile Safari that will come with Apple’s iOS 5 is even faster, outdoing Internet Explorer and Android browsers.

Winrumors ran (and we confirmed – below) that the iOS 5 Beta’s Safari actually blows by the experimental IE 9 in Mango and scores a 31.

iOS 5 will probably

∞ ∞ Best Buy offering students $100 gift card with Mac purchase

Jim Dalrymple — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 01:56:18 +0000

Some people weren’t too impressed with Apple’s recently announced back to school promotion because it only offered a $100 gift card to the Mac App Store, instead of a deal on an iPod or other hardware. Best Buy hopes to fill that need by offering students $100 Best Buy gift card.

To qualify for the offer you need to be either a student, registered as a student for

∞ ∞ iOS 5 in an iPad classroom

Jim Dalrymple — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 23:41:53 +0000

With the announcement of iOS 5 at WWDC earlier this month, people got a view of what they can expect from Apple’s new mobile operating system. Features like AirPlay and iCloud have appealed to many, but Matthew Panzarino looked to Frasier Speirs, the Head of IT at Cedars School of Excellence in Greenock, Scotland to get an educator’s view on the operating system.

While I still don’t think we can (or would want to) give younger children accounts, the ability to back up and sync

∞ ∞ Apple deal bought Nokia much needed time

Jim Dalrymple — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:44:02 +0000

The patent infringement settlement between Apple and Nokia did more than stock Nokia’s pockets full of cash, it also gave the company some much needed time to change. Experts peg Apple’s one-time payment to Nokia at $650 million. Apple will also pay ongoing license fees.

“The payments from Apple may give Nokia more time to cope with a challenging portfolio transition before its capital structure, which is currently very strong, begins to erode,” Wolfgang Draack, Senior Vice

∞ ∞ RIM executive exodus continues

Peter Cohen — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 20:52:33 +0000

The Wall Street Journal reports that Research In Motion (RIM) has lost another executive: this time it’s Brian Wallace, VP of Digital Marketing and Media. Wallace has left RIM for Samsung, which confirmed he’s joined the company.

“Mr. Wallace’s departure comes amid a time of turmoil for Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM. The BlackBerry maker is bleeding market share in the U.S. as its aging product line struggles to compete against Apple Inc.’s iPhone and devices powered by

∞ ∞ Apple gets the trademark for AirDrop

Jim Dalrymple — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 19:36:58 +0000

One of the new features in Mac OS X Lion is called AirDrop. It allows users to easily transfer files to one another by simply dragging and dropping files on a user’s icon. As of today, Apple now owns the trademark.

The trademark application was submitted last year by Urban Airship, Inc and the AirDrop service was launched last year. The service was advertised as a way for Android app developers to easily promote their applications.

∞ ∞ Eight Skype execs leave after Microsoft purchase

Jim Dalrymple — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 18:08:57 +0000

Skype, Microsoft or the employees themselves have decided to make some changes to the management structure of Skype. While Skype has confirmed the departures, a spokesperson would not say whether they had been laid off or if they resigned.

The departures included David Gurle, vice president and general manager for Skype for Business; Don Albert, vice president and general manager for the Americas and Advertising; Doug Bewsher, chief marketing officer; Christopher Dean, head of

∞ ∞ Former Sony boss: 'Apple will be the games industry'

Peter Cohen — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:14:59 +0000

Phil Harrison, the man who launched the original Sony PlayStation console and later because president of Sony Computer Entertainment’s Worldwide Studios, recently offered his vision of the future of gaming to Edge Magazine. And Harrison sees Apple as ground zero of future game industry growth.

At this trajectory, if you extrapolate the market-share gains that they are making, forward for ten years – if they carry on unrestrained in their growth, then there’s a pretty

∞ ∞ Sega has 1.3 million customer records hacked

Jim Dalrymple — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 13:21:04 +0000

First it was Sony, and now Sega has its online customer database hacked. I guess if there is a positive side to this breach it’s that no credit card information was stolen when the accounts were hacked. According to Sega, payment information was stored with external service providers.

Information taken includes names, birth dates, e-mail addresses and passwords, according to e-mails sent by Sega to affected customers. The information taken was part of Sega’s “Sega Pass”

∞ ∞ Apple to bid for Nortel patents

Jim Dalrymple — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 00:10:16 +0000

Apple will join Intel, Ericsson and Google in bidding for the patents being sold by bankrupt Canadian company Nortel. The patent sale will be held on June 27, 2011. There are reportedly about 6,000 patents and patent applications on the auction block.

The patents include intelligence on wireless Internet technology and social networking. Nortel, which filed for bankruptcy in January 2009, has already sold most of its physical assets.

∞ ∞ Analysts downgrade RIM, shareholders dissatisfied with co-CEOs

Jim Dalrymple — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 18:14:09 +0000

After reporting disappointing results for its fiscal first quarter, four analysts downgraded the company. One analyst said “it appears RIM has slipped into eroding mismanagement.” Large shareholders of the company’s stock are also demanding RIM split the CEO and chairman roles, which are currently shared between Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie.

Northwest & Ethical

∞ ∞ Oracle says Google owes $1.4-$6.1 billion in damages

Jim Dalrymple — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 14:06:07 +0000

Nobody really knew the scale of Oracle’s patent lawsuit against Google, but this week the numbers came out, and they are huge. According to Oracle, damages it suffered due to the patent infringement by Google range between $1.4 billion to $6.1 billion.

Google’s letter complains about “an unprecedented fifty percent royalty rate” (on a certain base). Since a recent Oracle filing denies that claim, I hope that future filings by Oracle and/or Google will shed light on that particular

∞ ∞ FTC approves Microsoft's purchase of Skype

Jim Dalrymple — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 02:10:17 +0000

The Federal Trade Commission on Friday gave the thumbs-up to Microsoft’s bid to purchase Skype. The two companies announced the $8.5 billion cash sale in May. Microsoft said that Skype will support Microsoft devices including Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and others, and Microsoft will connect Skype with Linc, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities.

Microsoft’s interest in the money-losing, but popular service highlights a need to gain new customers for its Windows and Office

∞ ∞ Apple adds more Samsung devices to lawsuit

Jim Dalrymple — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 18:03:06 +0000

Apple amended its complaint against Samsung, adding new devices it contends are infringing on its patents. Apple called Samsung’s attempt to get access to unreleased iOS devices as an “attempt to harass” and said those devices were irrelevant to this case.

In addition to the original 15 Samsung models cited in Apple’s lawsuit, the following models have been added: Droid Charge, Exhibit 4G, Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Prevail, Galaxy S (i9000), Gravity, Infuse 4G, Nexus S 4G, Replenish,

∞ ∞ Gruber, Arment and honesty in publishing

Jim Dalrymple — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:49:04 +0000

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber and Instapaper founder Marco Arment took two prominent Web sites to task for recent articles they wrote. My interpretation of their critiques come down to one thing — honesty in publishing. Having a difference of opinion is fine and expected, but not being honest with your readers to make a company happy is not right.

Gruber on David Pogue’s New York Times piece suggesting we should

∞ ∞ Negative Duke Nukem reviews bring threats from PR firm

Jim Dalrymple — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 21:59:28 +0000

The PR firm responsible for Duke Nukem got itself in hot water today as it made veiled threats to Web sites who delivered poor reviews of the game. (From what I’ve seen, that would be all of them). It got so bad that 2K Games fired the PR firm this afternoon.

That is, until the Redner Group’s official Twitter account posted something you almost never see: an open threat stating that outlets who reviewed Duke Nukem Forever poorly may not receive review copies of games in the

∞ ∞ TUAW's unlocked iPhone FAQ

Jim Dalrymple — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 22:36:04 +0000

If you are wondering about the difference between an unlocked phone and a jailbroken phone, you should have a look at TUAW’s unlocked iPhone 4 FAQ. There’s a lot of useful information, from basic explanations to new pricing plans from AT&T. Certainly worth a look.

Unlocked iPhone FAQ, including AT&T plan info

∞ ∞ More malware on the Android store

Jim Dalrymple — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:08:36 +0000

No matter how much Google does to convince consumers it is good and open, continued reports of malware will hurt its reputation. Google already had to remove apps containing malware once and a report in May said malware on the store grew 400 percent. Now, Google removes more malware.

Unlike other code embedded in apps that have appeared in the market, Plankton doesn’t rely on a

∞ ∞ Lawyer says Apple may settle iCloud lawsuit

Jim Dalrymple — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 08:05:53 +0000

After announcing its iCloud service last week at WWDC, Apple was slapped with a lawsuit from Arizona-based iCloud Communications. Apple bought iCloud.com from Xcerion and has 11 applications registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Apple also owns the existing U.S. trademark formerly registered to Xcerion. However, that may not be enough.

“If iCloud Communications’ claims are accurate — that it’s used the mark since 2005, and used it widely — Brad Salai, a partner