Apple Pays $946 in Korean Lawsuit Over Location Data Collection, New Class Action Suit Coming

Reuters reports that Apple's Korean unit has paid out the equivalent of $946 after losing a lawsuit over the company's collection of iPhone location data. The judgment was issued in May, and Apple is said to have made the payment last month.
Apple Inc's Korean unit has paid compensation to a user of its popular iPhone after collecting location data without consent, lawyers and court officials said, the first payout by the U.S. company over these complaints.

In May, Apple Korea was ordered by the court to pay 1 million won ($946) in compensation to Kim Hyung-suk, a lawyer, two officials at Changwon District Court told Reuters on Thursday.

Emboldened by the successful lawsuit, Kim's law firm is now preparing a class action lawsuit over the location issue, and a website set up at sueapple.co.kr to allow interested users to sign on to the lawsuit has been overwhelmed by traffic.


Several lawsuits have already been filed in the United States over the issue, which was cast into the public light by independent researchers back in April. Apple responded to the controversy one week later, clarifying that the observed location data was actually nearby cell tower and access point data being downloaded to users' iPhones to assist with geolocation rather than the devices' actual locations as defined by GPS. Apple did, however, acknowledge several bugs in the way the location data was being handled, and addressed those issues with iOS 4.3.3 in early May.


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Source: http://www.macrumors.com/2011/07/14/apple-pays-946-in-korean-lawsuit-over-location-data-collection/

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Apple patents would improve voice control, audio feedback

Two newly-published Apple patent applications may hint at some aspects of the company's anticipated voice recognition system. One patent, Processing of voice inputs, looks to cope with lag problems in voice input. Apple remarks that with some other voice technologies, it can take too long for a device to register input, leading to issues like a person talking over a system prompt....

Source: http://feeds.macnn.com/click.phdo?i=4d549e7a997a988136dd5be12ba716e6

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Microsoft Planning 75 New Retail Stores to Take on Apple

While much was made of Microsoft's efforts to reenter the retail store market by going head-to-head with Apple, things have moved rather slowly for the PC software company, which has opened only eleven stores scattered around the United States over the past two years.


But Neowin reports that Microsoft today unveiled an acceleration of those plans at its Worldwide Partner Conference, targeting 75 new stores for opening over the next two to three years. The initiative will also include some international stores, mirroring Apple's own recent emphasis on international locations.

Apple has approximately 350 retail store locations and continues to open new stores on a regular basis, meaning that Apple will remain significantly in the lead in terms of total stores by the end of this push from Microsoft, but it is clear that Microsoft is making a significant commitment to the initiative after only dabbling in it for the past two years.

Microsoft has mimicked Apple's retail strategy of trying to create warm and inviting spaces prominently featuring wood surfaces throughout in order to draw in customers to interact with the products on display, while also including an "Answer Desk" very similar to Apple's Genius Bars for support purposes. The company has even worked to strategically place its locations in close proximity to Apple's stores in an attempt to target many of the same customers. And while Microsoft has to rely on hardware from its partners in order to show off its PC offerings, the company's new retail push seems indicate that it is intent on establishing a retail rivalry with Apple.


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Source: http://www.macrumors.com/2011/07/13/microsoft-planning-75-new-retail-stores-to-take-on-apple/

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Apple Adjusts International App Store Prices in UK, Australia, Japan and More


As part of its scheduled downtime, Apple has begun adjusting international App Store pricing to bring them in line with current exchange rates. The adjustments have resulted in both price increases and decreases depending on the geographic location. Here are pricing changes for the lowest ($0.99 USD) tiers:
UK: £0.59 -> £0.69
Australia: AU$1.19 -> AU$0.99
Japan: 115 -> 85 Yen
Mexico: $10 -> $12
Switzerland: 1.10Fr -> 1.00Fr
Norway: 6.00Kr -> 7.00Kr
The change reflects some recent complaints particularly pointing to the wide discrepancy in Australian App Store pricing as compared to the U.S. Not everyone is likely to be happy with the adjustments however, as the prices have gone up in the UK, Mexico and Norway.

As noted by MacStories, many of the countries affected were among those furthest out of line on pricing compared to the U.S.

The timing of the changes suggests that there may be some truth behind the recent claims that Apple will be adjusting international pricing on its soon to be announced hardware releases.


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Source: http://www.macrumors.com/2011/07/13/apple-adjusts-international-app-store-prices/

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Apple Introduces iCloud

Apple today introduced iCloud, a set of free new cloud services that work seamlessly with applications on your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content and push it to all your devices. iCloud services include new versions of Contact, Calendar, and Mail; iCloud Backup and Storage; Photo Stream; and iTunes in the Cloud. And for just $24.99 a year, iTunes Match will give you all of the benefits of iTunes in the Cloud for music you haven?t purchased from iTunes. iCloud will be available this fall, along with iOS 5. A free beta version of iTunes in the Cloud is available today in the U.S. and requires iTunes 10.3 and iOS 4.3.3.

Source: http://www.apple.com/icloud/?sr=hotnews.rss

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