Judge rejects Apple bid for injunction against Amazon (Reuters)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A U.S. judge rejected Apple Inc. 's attempt to quickly stop the online retailer Amazon.com Inc. from using the "App Store" name, according to a court document.

Apple, maker of best-selling iPhone and iPad tablet, filed a trademark lawsuit says that Amazon has improperly used the Apple App Store name recruit software developers throughout the United States.

Apple has also asked a federal judge in Oakland, Calif., a request for an injunction to stop Amazon from using the name that Apple says is trademarked. Amazon, however, argued that the concept is generic and therefore not protected.

U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton did not agree that the term is purely generic, according to an order released on Wednesday. But Apple has not shown "a likelihood of confusion" with Amazon's services to get a ban, says Hamilton.

Last Wednesday, the above statements, the spokesman Kristin Huguet Apple the company, which said that Apple has not asked Amazon to copy the name of the App Store because it will "confuse and deceive customers."

A representative of Amazon was not immediately available for comment.

In a ruling Wednesday, Hamilton set a trial date in October 2012.

In the case of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Apple Amazon.com Inc., 11-1327.

(Reporting by Dan Levine, edited by Carol Bishopric)

Hackers expose flaw in Apple iPad, iPhone software (Reuters)

BOSTON (Reuters) – Hackers have discovered a bug in the software from Apple Inc., security experts said could be exploited by criminals who want to gain remote control over the bumper and iPod Touch.

The security hole in Apple's IOS operating system was revealed Wednesday that the site www.jailbreakme.com released code that Apple customers can use to change the IOS operating system via a process called "Jail Break".

Some Apple customers choose to prison for breaking their devices so they can download and run applications not approved by Apple, or use iPhones on the network of airlines that are not Apple-approved.

Security experts warned that criminal hackers can download the code, reverse engineering to identify a hole in IOS security and build a piece of malware within days.

"If you're a striker, it is quite possible," says Patrik Runald, a senior researcher with Internet security firm Websense.

Apple has yet to release an update to IOS, which protects customers against malicious software that exploits the vulnerability.

Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said the company was aware of the problem.

"We are developing a patch that will be available to customers in an upcoming software update," Mueller.

Apple has long been vocal against Jail Break, which if done will void the warranty on their units.

A security flaw in IOS software – which runs Apple's iPhone, iPad tablet and iPod Touch – has the potential to affect millions of units that are the core of Apple's business.

Apple has sold 25 million iPads since its launch last year.The company more than 18 million iPhones sold only popular in the first three months of the year.

Hackers could exploit the vulnerability by using a malicious file IOS PDF documents. It would infect Apple devices when users open the document, according to Runald.

Once the device is infected, the hacker could "do what they want," said Runald. This includes the theft of passwords, documents and e-mails.

Comex, a hacker 19-year-old upstate New York who developed the tool to break into the jail, said that Apple may be able to use the software patch before hackers develop software that uses the error.

The last time I jailbreak a version of its software, Apple could issue a patch before someone takes advantage of the error for malicious purposes.

He said that Apple may not be able to respond quickly enough on this occasion.

"It's not so difficult to deconstruct," he said by telephone.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle, additional reporting by Poornima Gupta; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Anonymous hacker group hits Apple, publishes data (Reuters)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Internet vigilante hacker group Anonymous claimed that Apple Inc in a broken server and have released a small number of user names and passwords to an American technology company's website.

Anonymous said Sunday on his account on the microblogging site Twitter that Apple could be a target for hackers and released the information as part of the anti-Security, or "AntiSec" campaign.

"Not so serious, but … Apple may be objective, too. But do not worry, we do something else," Anonymous said on his Twitter feed, where she co-wrote a link to data on text-sharing site Pastebin.

Anonymous said data 27 user names and passwords for the site was www.abs.apple.com.

Apple website for online surveys used, on Monday will get an error message that the server was temporarily offline, said.

An Apple spokesman declined comment.

Anonymous has been linked to the security group of hackers Lulz at the end of June. LulzSec, the great recognition for the violation of the websites of Sony Corp., the Central Intelligence Agency and the British police unit that has among other objectives, said he was disturbing his mission, businesses and government agencies met for the entertainment.

Security experts who have researched the origins LulzSec say, that of Anonymous, who became famous for attacking companies and institutions, the group opponents WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange holds.

Anonymous started earlier this month dozens of e-mails from private data and other Web site of the police in Arizona. LulzSec first dozens of internal documents from the website of the Arizona police themselves, published in June.

(Reporting by Marius Bosch in Johannesburg and Pournami Gupta in San Francisco, Mount Gary Crosse)

Fusion-io shares jump in market debut (AP)

NEW YORK – Shares of Fusion-io, a manufacturer of instant, is chip-based "hard drives" for servers, climbing on their market debut after IPO priced above expectations.

Shares cost $ 19 each in early expectations of $ 13 to $ 15 This price valued the company at $ 1,480,000,000th The Company and its shareholders sold 234 million U.S. dollars in stock.

Fusion-io Inc. 's flash memory products enables companies to store more data and access it quickly. Retailers include Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM Corp. Facebook is the biggest customer. Stephen Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Inc., Fusion-io's "Chief Scientist".

It is the latest U.S. technology to trigger a strong demand from IPO investors.

Shares are up almost 29 percent to $ 24.47 in midday trading.

ZTE to launch Microsoft Mango-based smartphone in Europe in Q3 (Reuters)

SHENZHEN (Reuters) – ZTE Corp, China Manufacturer No. 2 networking equipment, plans to launch smartphones based on operating system, Microsoft Corp. Mango in Europe in the third quarter of this year, executives said.

"We are already working on a smartphone based on mango and it will be launched in Europe," Jeffrey Fan, vice president of ZTE terminal equipment unit, told Reuters during a company event on Wednesday.

Microsoft has released an update to its Windows software, code-named Mango telephone Tuesday, hoping a lot of new features it will fill the gap on leaders Google Inc. and Apple Inc. smartphone

Chinese rivals ZTE and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., traditionally within the network, has been aggressively into fast growth in mobile devices by inserting smart phones and tablet PCs.

ZTE provided for more than 80 million handsets this year, an increase of one third from 60 million units a year ago, an executive told Reuters earlier this year.

Shipments of smartphones, that Google Inc's Android operating system running, would rise to 12 million units from 3 million last year, ZTE said.

In the fourth quarter of last year, ZTE became the fourth largest handset manufacturer by units throughout the world, ranking behind Nokia and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., LG Electronics Inc., a market research group IDC.

(Reporting by Lee and Huang Yuntao Chyen Yee, editing by Chris Lewis)

Apple investors brush off China blast impact (Reuters)

SAN FRANCISCO/TAIPEI (Reuters) – Shares of Apple Inc regrouped on Monday after Wall Street brushed off the impact of an explosion last week that shut a Foxconn factory in China producing its popular iPad.

Production at the plant in the southwestern city of Chengdu was suspended by Foxconn Technology Group, Apple's biggest manufacturing partner, after three workers died in a Friday blast blamed on combustible dust in a duct.

The incident stoked fears that production of the seminal tablet — already constrained by shortages of components and rabid demand — would again be disrupted.

But the impact should be minimal because of Foxconn's ability to rapidly shift output elsewhere in its sprawling network, coupled with Apple's relying mainly on other locations, investors and analysts said.

Shares in the world's largest technology company by market value closed down 0.24 percent at $334.40, after slipping as much as 1.7 percent in morning trading.

"This seems to be a manageable situation," said Channing Smith, Managing Director at Capital Advisors Growth Fund, which owns Apple shares.

"The evidence of that is in the share price today."

Foxconn — whose main listed flagship is Hon Hai Precision Industry — plans to resume operation at the plant after it completes an investigation. No timeframe was given.

Market research firm IHS iSuppli forecast that production of half a million iPads could be at risk if the shutdown continues until the end of June.

Foxconn's plant in Shenzhen, which is seen as the main assembly plant for the iPad 2, may not be able to make up for the production loss at Chengdu, iSuppli said, which expects 7.4 million iPad 2s to be shipped in the second quarter.

The Shenzhen plant has the capacity to produce 7.5 million units during the quarter and so tablet shipments could fall short of expected levels — which are slightly higher than forecast to account for damages and higher demand — by between 300,000 and 600,000 units, the research firm said.

Apple sold 4.69 million iPads last quarter and is scrambling to meet staggering demand, coping with what company executives have called "the mother of all backlogs." Some analysts predict more than 6 million could ship this quarter.

There remains a 1- to 2-week waiting period for iPads in most major regions. Production had been expected to ramp up during the present quarter to meet demand with the Chengdu plant seen as a newer base for the assembly.

Stern Agee analyst Shaw Wu played down the impact on Apple. saying even at the Chengdu location itself, production was spread out among assembly lines in several unaffected buildings.

"This is definitely a setback," Wu said. "At the same time, it's not that big a deal."

HON HAI SHARES FALL

While the impact on Apple is deemed minimal, investors in Hon Hai were worried about the fallout of the blast on the electronics supplier.

The incident marked the latest worker deaths at Foxconn, which last year grappled with a barrage of criticism after a spate of suicides tore the lid off what some called dismal conditions for its mostly migrant labor population.

A potential loss of orders from Apple could amp up the pressure on Hon Hai, which is already facing rising costs.

Shares of Hon Hai in Taipei closed nearly 3 percent lower on fears Apple may shift orders to its rivals. They had dived as much as 5.2 percent following the news of the blast, to their lowest since late August.

"Foxconn Group makes 70-80 percent of Apple's parts, and Apple may reconsider concentrating production with one contract maker," said Hua Nan Securities Chairman David Chu. "This could hurt Hon Hai in the long run."

But the brokerage said the explosion happened in a machinery room for cutting metal and, given that no assembly line or inventory was involved, the blast was unlikely to cause any meaningful production disruption.

Hon Hai said Monday the company was assessing the damage and local authorities were investigating the explosion. The plant would resume operation once the investigation finished, it added in a stock exchange filing.

"A majority of iPad2 production is still done in Shenzhen, and that even if the whole Chengdu iPad2 production line is damaged, the impact should be less than 20 percent of iPad total production," UBS said in a research report.

The Chengdu facility was set up late last year in an effort to lower labor costs which are cheaper in the inland areas.

Chengdu city government has said last October that Foxconn Technology Group would invest $2 billion on a new plant in Chengdu.

Many manufacturers, including PC contract maker Quanta Computer Inc and Compal Electronics Inc, have also been moving operations in China away from coastal regions such as Guangdong and Fujian to inland areas.

(Additional reporting by Faith Hung and Argin Chang; Editing by Edwin Chan, Lincoln Feast, Bernard Orr and Sofina Mirza-Reid)

IBM passes Microsoft’s market cap after 15 years (Reuters)

SEATTLE (Reuters) – International Business Machines edged past old rival Microsoft Corp in market value for the first time since April 1996, marking the latest twist in the fluctuating fortunes of two of the world's most storied technology companies.

The move marks another unhappy milestone for Microsoft, which has failed to persuade investors that it can dominate the future of technology as it did in the past, and has seen its share price stagnate over the past decade.

An investor putting $100,000 into both stocks 10 years ago would now have about $143,000 in IBM stock and about $69,000 in Microsoft stock.

Microsoft is now the third-largest U.S. tech company by market value, after a resurgent Apple Inc roared past a year ago to take first place.

IBM ruled the computer industry for decades until it hired the tiny, unknown Microsoft to provide an operating system for its new range of personal computers in the early 1980s.

Bill Gates parlayed that breakthrough into industry dominance — proving his theory that software would be more valuable than hardware — so that by the end of 1999, Microsoft's market value was three times that of IBM's, and bigger than any other U.S. company.

Throughout Seattle-based Microsoft's rise, IBM was pilloried as an old-fashioned, immobile Goliath that could not keep up with the computing revolution. The Armonk, New York-based company known as "Big Blue" was losing billions of dollars a year in the early 1990s and was close to a break-up before a turnaround engineered by CEO Louis Gerstner.

Since the Internet technology bubble burst in 2000, the tables have been reversed. Despite more than doubling sales and profit in the last 10 years, Microsoft's stock has stalled, leading to criticism of CEO Steve Ballmer's 11 years at the helm.

Although it still dominates the operating system market, Microsoft lost out to Google Inc in the new market for Internet advertising, let Apple lead the way in smartphones and tablet computing, and is struggling to make an imprint on the popular web in the way of Facebook or Twitter.

In the meantime, IBM has refashioned itself as a specialist in business software, servers and consulting, jettisoning its PC business along the way, under the leadership of Sam Palmisano since 2002.

According to Reuters data, Apple's market value stood at $309.2 billion on Monday, IBM at $203.8 billion and Microsoft at $203.7 billion.

IBM is now ranked fourth in terms of market value in the United States, behind oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp at $397.4 billion, Apple, and industrial and finance conglomerate General Electric Co at $205.6 billion.

IBM shares ended down 1.1 percent at $168.26 while Microsoft fell 1.3 percent to $24.17.

(Additional reporting by David Gaffen and Rodrigo Campos in New York; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Tim Dobbyn)

AP Source: Apple nears music deal with labels (AP)

LOS ANGELES – Apple Inc. is committed near safe with all four major record labels for music service that allows users to stream songs stored on a remote server, presumably made for a range of Apple portable devices, a person close with the matter said Friday.

This service would take care of people with a wide range of music on-the-go to transfer without connecting most of limited space and the need to physically different tracks devices.

Universal Music Group, a division of Vivendi SA, is going to give that agreement, Apple will have the right to sign songs for its current customers, though, is how exactly the service function remains unclear, the person said.

The music service is likely to cloud the annual Apple developers conference in San Francisco, which is the way to the Sixth Announced in June.Agreements with units of record songwriting royalties collected that are still ongoing, but should be completed soon, said the person.

The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the business and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Universal would be the largest record company and the last, a cloud with Apple to face the music after the creator of iPhone and characters iPads section looks at arm's Sony Corp. 'music, EMI Group and Warner Music Group Corp. Ltd. , said the person.

A spokesman for Apple declined comment.

Bloomberg News reports that Apple had earlier agreements with Sony, EMI and Warner, Universal and satisfied that it was close to an agreement.

Over the past two months, Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. both music and Cloud had submitted plans, but does not deal with the label provided.The services appeared to have limited functionality and was giving people access to content is uploaded.

Apple deals with companies allow music downloading, streaming and mobile use – and can offer a more complete service, said the person. But it is also unclear how much Apple will charge for these possibilities, and if people would pay per song or subscribing to a common plan.

Amazon offers free storage for up to 5 gigabytes of storage clouds, but the fees, which start at $ 20 per year for 20 gigabytes and more. Google service by invitation and is free to use during the test.

___

AP business writer Rachel Metz in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Carriers to revamp tablet service pricing (Reuters)

An Apple store employee gives a class on how to use the new iPad 2 during the China launch at an Apple Store in central Beijing

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Mobile service providers are reworking charges for wireless connections on tablet computers to lure in customers put off by costly fees.

Carriers see tablets like Apple Inc's iPad as key to revenue growth. But high prices for the devices and more fees on top of phone plans are seen pushing consumers to bypass the cellular network and rely on free Wi-Fi services.

This is expected to result in a drop in the percentage of tablets supporting cellular, potentially making operators less relevant as tablet distributors than electronics stores.

"The tablet's more natural point of sale is retail," Nvidia Chief Executive Jen-Hsun Huang told the Reuters Global Technology Summit this week. "The question is whether carriers will find a reason to bundle tablets with other services and create a subsidy model that is really appealing."

Today, carriers limit cellular Web use on tablets by charging for each gigabyte (GB) of data downloaded. For example, Verizon Wireless charges $20 per gigabyte and AT&T Inc charges $25 for two. Sprint Nextel subsidizes tablets but charges more per gigabyte and requires long-term contracts.

Such arrangements will gradually result in more consumers opting for Wi-Fi-only tablets, according to iSuppli, which sees sales of tablets with cellular connections falling as low as 30 percent of the total in 2015 from about 60 percent in 2010.

To avoid being sidelined, some operators are planning changes.

France Telecom says it will be ready to change pricing "soon." Verizon Wireless said it would make changes eventually but was careful not to provide a timeline. Orange, France Telecom's mobile service, is looking at offering a data plan shared between smartphones and tablets.

"Shared bundles may be an answer for these customers who don't know how much they will use on the go," Anne Bouverot, head of mobile services for Orange, told the summit in Paris.

Verizon Communications sees its mobile venture Verizon Wireless taking the concept a step further by letting families share data service plans across different devices in the same way that today's voice service plans allow family members to share a bucket of phone call minutes.

"I think it's safe to assume that at some point you are going to have mega-plans (for data) and people are going to share that mega-plan based on the number of devices within their family," Fran Shammo, Verizon's chief financial officer, said at the summit in New York. "That's just a logical progression. When we get there, I have no idea."

SHARED/SESSION PRICING

Other pricing options will involve the sale of tablet connectivity for limited time periods, an executive for Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 U.S. mobile provider, said.

"What you'll see is the ability to buy sessions — a day, a month or a week pass," David Owens, vice president for product development at Sprint told Reuters ahead of the summit. The industry could move this way in the coming months, he said.

Because consumers use tablets more sporadically than smartphones, the plans need to reflect this.

"This is not a product like a handset where you have to always be tied to a network connection," Owens said.

Other operators like AT&T Inc, which will become the biggest U.S. mobile provider if its plan to buy T-Mobile USA succeeds, were less vocal about the need for change.

John Stankey, AT&T's head of business solutions said AT&T's tablet plans are already "very consumer friendly" because while the operator does not pay a subsidy to reduce the price of the device, neither does it require a long-term contract.

But he said AT&T could possibly provide subsidized tablets in future to consumers who subscribe to a long-term contract.

Analysts say operators need to make changes, either by making the device or the service cheaper.

"In the absence of higher subsidies or lower connection fees, the logical channel is not the carrier," CCS Insight analyst John Jackson said, ahead of the summit.

Tablet makers, trying to challenge the dominance of Apple's iPad, could also be hindered if the carriers charge too much. Rival tablet makers include Samsung Electronics Co and Motorola Mobility and computer makers like Huawei Technologies and Dell Inc.

Even if carriers subsidize iPad rivals, "consumers might not want to lock themselves into an iPad competitor" that could end up being upstaged by the next iPad, Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg said. "The carriers have a long way to go to figure out the right business model."

(Additional reporting by Leila Abboud in Paris, Noel Randewich and Poornima Gupta in New York; Editing by Gary Hill)

Apple probes blast at Chinese plant (Reuters)

Firemen arrive at a Foxconn factory in Chengdu, Sichuan province

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc (AAPL.O) is investigating an explosion that killed two people, injured 16 and forced a production halt at a Foxconn Technology Group factory in China said to produce the popular iPad 2.

Foxconn, whose flagship unit is Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industries (2317.TW) group and Apple's main manufacturing partner, said in a statement the explosion happened at about 7 pm local time (1100 GMT) on May 20.

"Production has been suspended at the site of the explosion until the completion of the investigation," Foxconn said in a statement.

"The safety of our employees is our highest priority and we will do whatever is required to determine and address the cause of this tragic accident."

It did not name the affected plant or say what it made, but China's official Xinhua News Agency said it was the Hongfujin Precision Electronics plant in a high-tech industrial zone west of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province.

Hon Hai spokesman Edmund Ding said the company is still evaluating losses. He could not say whether group founder and chairman Terry Gou had gone to the site.

IPAD AFFECTED

Apple shares closed down 1.56 percent at $335.22 on the Nasdaq, which saw a broad sell-off on euro-zone debt worries.

The explosion could affect the supply of iPads and investors were watching closely. Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said the company was assessing the situation.

"We are deeply saddened by the tragedy at the Foxconn plant in Chengdu and our hearts go out to the victims and their families," he said. "We are working closely with Foxconn to understand what caused this terrible event."

Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White said the factory makes a lot of iPads because some production had been shifted to the facility from factories in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

Apple's iPad 2 commands 80 percent of the burgeoning tablet market in which Motorola Inc (MMI.N) and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) also compete.

Apple sold 4.69 million iPads last quarter and is scrambling to meet staggering demand for the mobile device, but is heavily backlogged. Executives had expected production to ramp up during the present quarter to meet demand.

The plant explosion is the latest setback for Foxconn, the world's largest contract manufacturer.

The company made headlines last year after reports emerged about poor working conditions at factories in southern China, which critics say may have helped drive several employees to suicide.

The company pledged to improve employee welfare.

Facing higher wages in the southern China manufacturing belt, the scene of labor disputes last year, some Taiwanese manufacturers have opted to shift some operations to the country's interior, where costs are lower.

Foxconn also has plants in North America and Mexico, as well as in European countries, including Slovakia and Poland.

(Additional reporting by Clare Jim in Taipei; Editing by Edwin Chan, Lisa Von Ahn, Richard Chang and Andre Grenon; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)