Apple appeals guilty verdict in eBook price-fixing case

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Apple appeals guilty verdict in eBook price-fixing case

In July, when Apple was found guilty of fixing eBook prices, the company released a statement maintaining that it was innocent of any antitrust violations. Apple was later hit with an injunction that forbade the company from entering into certain agreements with major U.S. publishers and that required Apple to be monitored to prevent the company from violating any other laws. In Apple's response to the verdict, the company said that it would "appeal the judge’s decision," and GigaOM reports that Apple has filed its appeal on Thursday. According to GigaOM, Apple will not have to submit its formal arguments until next year.

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Apple and Samsung are still the only smartphone companies winning in the U.S.

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Apple and Samsung are still the only smartphone companies winning in the U.S.

It's hard to make a case that any company other than Apple or Samsung has any momentum in the American smartphone market. The latest numbers from comScore show that the smartphone industry's heavy hitters further consolidated their hold on the United States smartphone market by growing to a combined 65% share of all U.S. smartphones by the end of August 2013. In all, Apple's share of the U.S. market grew from 39.2% in May 2013 to 40.7% in August 2013 while Samsung's grew from 23% in May to 24.3% in May. No other major vendor increased its market share over this period, as HTC, LG, Motorola and BlackBerry all saw their market shares either fall or stay stagnant. ComScore's press release follows below.

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Nobody wins in a government shutdown… except Netflix

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Nobody wins in a government shutdown… except Netflix

With around 800,000 federal employees on furlough due to the government shutdown, they'll have a lot more time to catch up on missed episodes of Mad Men and Breaking Bad. The Washington Post's Wonkblog notes that Netflix's stock price saw a big jump right after the government shutdown started on Tuesday morning, although it cautions that this could be due to a variety of factors such as the company's recent distribution deal with a Swedish cable company. At the very least, though, it's a striking coincidence and it will be interesting to see whether Netflix's overall traffic numbers have similarly surged since the start of the shutdown.

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Just in time for Android 4.4 KitKat, Jelly Bean adoption rate nears 50%

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Just in time for Android 4.4 KitKat, Jelly Bean adoption rate nears 50%

It's taken more than a year but Jelly Bean is finally approaching a 50% adoption rate among Android users. The latest numbers posted on the Android Developers website show that Android versions 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 now account for 48.6% of all Android devices in use, compared to the 20.6% that run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and the 28.5% that still run the ancient Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Although it's good that almost half of all active Android devices are now running on Jelly Bean, it comes at a time when Google is planning to roll out its next major release for its mobile platform, known as Android 4.4 KitKat. So while Google may finally be ironing out some of its past fragmentation issues, the company is getting ready to throw a new one into the mix whenever KitKat releases later this year.

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Apple moves closer to joining Google, Intel in the cable-killing game

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Apple moves closer to joining Google, Intel in the cable-killing game

We're starting to get a better sense of Apple's ambitions for television in the future. AppleInsider points out that Apple has now hired Jean-François Mulé, the longtime senior vice president of technology development of CableLabs, who writes on his LinkedIn page that he's up to "something big" with his new company. AppleInsider writes that "it is unclear what Apple may have in mind with its new hire, but the company has recently been aggressively updating Apple TV software to include more channels and content." What makes this more intriguing is that we've been hearing rumors that Apple has decided to negotiate directly with content providers to bring their shows to a new online television service that would mirror the services now being developed by both Google and Intel.

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REVIEW -- Samsung Galaxy Gear review: Samsung's smartwatch aims for the future but gets stuck in the past

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REVIEW -- Samsung Galaxy Gear review: Samsung's smartwatch aims for the future but gets stuck in the past

Samsung's smartwatch aims for the future but gets stuck in the past

Top smartphone makers have a bit of a problem. They got so good at selling smartphones that there aren't enough people left to buy them at the amazing pace the market has enjoyed over the past few years. The smartphone market is still monstrous, of course, but growth is key and growth is slowing. So for market leaders like Apple and Samsung, it's time to look for the next big thing. According to a growing number of industry watchers, that "next big thing" is smartwatches and annual sales are already projected to explode into the hundreds of millions of units in the coming years. But are all these companies just trying to make fetch happen, or are wrist-worn devices like Samsung's new Galaxy Gear smartwatch really the future of mobile computing?

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Sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Note lineup reportedly top 40M, including 30M Note II handsets

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Sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Note lineup reportedly top 40M, including 30M Note II handsets

Less than three weeks ago, Samsung announced that channel sales of its Galaxy Note lineup had topped 38 million units globally. According to a report from Focus Taiwan, Samsung has had a pretty huge three weeks. With the Galaxy Note 3 set to debut in the U.S. next week, Samsung has reportedly confirmed that Galaxy Note family sales have now reached 40 million units worldwide. Curiously, the site says that figure includes 10 million Galaxy Note handsets and 30 million Note II devices, which doesn't leave any room for Galaxy Note tablet shipments. Earlier sales figures announced by Samsung included smartphones and tablets like the Galaxy Note 8.0 and Galaxy Note 10.1. Samsung's next-generation Galaxy Note 3 launches on October 2nd alongside the new Galaxy Gear smartwatch.

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