Kindle customers may get credit via settlements - USA TODAY

Kindle customers are entitled to a credit on prior electronic book purchases made between April 2010 and May 2012 as part of a settlement with some major e-book publishers.(Photo: Mark Lennihan AP)

11:56AM EDT October 15. 2012 -

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon has alerted its Kindle customers in the U.S. that they are entitled to a credit on prior electronic book purchases as part of settlements between some major e-book publishers and the government.

In September a federal judge approved the U.S. Justice Department's settlement with Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, which were accused of conspiring in a price-fixing scheme.

Among other things, the agreement requires the publishers to abandon the pricing system that they had conceived with Apple before it released its iPad tablet in 2010. The publishers must also provide the funds for the Kindle credit.

"We think these settlements are a big win for our customers and look forward to lowering prices on more Kindle books in the future," the Amazon Kindle Team said in the email sent to customers.

Amazon told its Kindle customers over the weekend that they will be contacted when the credit is applied to their account if the court approves the settlement in February. Customers don't need to do anything to receive the credit.

Amazon said that while it doesn't know the amount of the credit until the court approves the settlements, the state Attorneys General estimate it will be from 30 cents to $1.32 for every eligible Kindle book purchased between April 2010 and May 2012. The credit can be used to buy e-books or print books, or customers can request a check in the amount of the credit.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

KAYAK: iOS Usage Is 3X Android Usage - Business Insider

Angel Jimenez, via Twitter

Here's another small, but interesting data point in the debate around iOS and Android.

Bill O'Donnell, who runs the mobile group at travel booking company Kayak, tells me, "iOS is 3X what Android usage is, in terms of downloads and in terms of daily unique users," though he adds, "Android is picking up lately."

We were speaking in preparation for our panel at Business Insider's Social Commerce Summit on how to get people to use smartphones to buy stuff. Kayak has done a very good job at cracking the problem. To find out how, you'll have to come to conference.

Back to iOS versus Android. O'Donnell's theory for the disparity is that when people buy an iPhone, they buy an iPhone. Whereas when they buy and Android phone, they're often times buying a smartphone.

He says he spends a lot of time in carrier's stores buying phones to test. And he often overhears people coming in saying, "Give me a smartphone." And the sales people push Android. These people end up with a smartphone, but aren't necessarily thinking of it as a little computer.

iPhone buyers, on the other hand, are coming in and saying, "Give me an iPhone." And they see it as a mini computer and they try to max out its capabilities, which means downloading lots of apps.

This trend could be changing, though. O'Donnell says this Christmas Kayak saw a boom in Android usage. It was disproportionate to iPhone.

Perhaps the tide is turning and Android users are now thinking of their phones as mini-computers that should be used just like iPhones.

Windows 8 Peaked In Early December And Then Went Flat - Business Insider

Microsoft's Window 8 peaked in early December, and then went flat according to data from ad network Chitika.

Chitika analyzed "a sample of hundreds of millions of Windows impressions" in the U.S. and Canada from October 15 to December 13 to see Windows 8 share of the overall Windows market.

As you can see, it climbed to almost 2.5 percent before falling back to 2.3 percent.

Chitika

It's tough to make a declarative statement about Windows 8 one way or another based on this chart.

We need to see what happens after Christmas, which will be when people (hopefully for Microsoft) get a lot of new PCs and Windows 8 devices.

This chart also lacks context. Where was Windows 7 at the same period in its lifecycle?

Chitika says Apple's newest OS update, Mountain Lion hit 3.2 percent of all OS X impressions after 48 hours. It's sort of an apples to oranges comparison though, because Mountain Lion was a $20 upgrade, and Apple's installed base is much smaller.

If you were to have a takeaway from the chart, though, it would be that things went flat a month after launch. That's not a good sign. And if you roll it up with comments from big PC makers like Asus and Acer that demand for Windows 8 isn't great, then there is reason for concern about Windows 8.

Apple to release cheaper iPhone by 2014 says analyst - TrustedReviews

Apple could develop a cheaper version of its iPhone handset within the next two years, according to business analyst Gene Munster.

Speaking with Emirates Business, Munster has predicted that Apple will bring out an unsubsidised iPhone model costing about $200 (equivalent to £125). However, it will most likely be aimed at developing markets in China and India. That's because the western business model of mobile network operators subsidising the cost of high-end smartphones and recouping the money through relatively costly monthly data plans doesn't really work in those territories.

The biggest selling smartphones in these newer markets are cheaper Android-based devices, and there could be billions of potential users who have yet to upgrade to any kind of smartphone.

That's why Munster believes that Apple will make a less expensive iPhone in 2014. It's just a theory, but it's an interesting one that also makes sense if Apple is to gain much share of the growing and potentially huge smartphone market in Asia.

Whether a 'cheap iPhone' would simply be an older model or a newly designed cut-price version is open to debate. On previous form, Apple isn't the kind of company to dilute its line-up with budget hardware. However, such a phone could help it fight back against Android, especially with the likes of the Google Nexus 4 doing well in the US and UK at a low up-front price without a mobile carrier's subsidy.

Should the iPhone remain a 'luxury' item or does the concept of a cheaper version appeal to you? Let us know on the Trusted Reviews Twitter and Facebook feeds or via the comments boxes below.

More Mobile Phones News >

Budget iPhone 5 will be plastic and 'ready for China' - Telegraph.co.uk

Reports elsewhere suggested that Apple is preparing to add a new iPad model, with 128GB of storage, some time this year, possibly as early as March.

Last week, Apple announced its record profits in its quarterly results but saw share prices fall amid analysts' disappointment over iPhone sales. Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, said iPhone 5 supply had been "very constrained for much of the quarter".

The company announced a record 47.8 million iPhones sold but Wall Street expected more. A cheaper version of the device is seen as essential by some analysts, particularly if Apple is to make inroads into the growing Chinese market.

In response to the results, Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research, said: "Apple will need to innovate. For Apple to renew growth they need to come up with new devices."

It appears that Apple is already thinking along the same lines. The earnings report reveals a 32 per cent increase in Apple's research and development budget in the final quarter of last year. Apple increased its spending on R&D to $1 billion, an increase of $252 million, compared with the same quarter in the previous year.

Apple's filing says: "The Company continues to believe that focused investments in R&D are critical to its future growth and competitive position in the marketplace and are directly related to timely development of new and enhanced products that are central to the Company's core business strategy.

"As such, the Company expects to make further investments in R&D to remain competitive."

Yesterday, Apple released iOS 6.1, the latest version of its mobile operating system. Announcing the release, Phil Schiller, Apple's marketing chief, said that 300 million Apple devices are now using iOS 6, which was released in September last year.

Apple to drop patent charges against Samsung Galaxy S III in US - Times of India

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple has agreed to withdraw patent claims against a new Samsung phone with a high-end display after Samsung said it was not offering to sell the product in the crucial US market.

Apple disclosed the agreement in a filing in US District Court in San Jose, California. Representatives for both Apple and Samsung declined to comment.

Last month Apple asked to add the Galaxy S III Mini and other Samsung products, including several tablet models, to its wide-ranging patent litigation against Samsung.

In response, Samsung said the Galaxy S III Mini was not available for sale in the United States and should not be included in the case.

Apple won a $1.05 billion verdict against Samsung earlier this year but has failed to secure a permanent sales ban against several, mostly older Samsung models. The patents Apple is asserting against the Galaxy S III Mini are separate from those that went to trial.

Samsung started selling the Mini in Europe in October to compete with Apple's iPhone 5. In its filing on Friday in US District Court, for the Northern District of California, Apple said its lawyers were able to purchase "multiple units" of the Mini from Amazon.com's US retail site and have them delivered in the United States.

But Samsung represented that it is not "making, using, selling, offering to sell or importing the Galaxy S III Mini in the United States." Based on that, Apple said it agreed to withdraw its patent claims on the Mini, "so long as the current withdrawal will not prejudice Apple's ability later to accuse the Galaxy S III Mini if the factual circumstances change."

The case in US District Court, Northern District of California is Apple vs Samsung Electronics et al., 12-630.

LG seeks ban on Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 sales in Korea - NDTV

South Korea's LG display said Friday it had asked a Seoul court to ban the domestic sale of Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet computer, citing alleged patent infringements.

The company, in the injunction filed on Wednesday, accused Samsung Electronics of infringing three of its patents on the liquid crystal display (LCD) panels used on the Galaxy Note.

"Through this action, LG Display seeks to completely stop the sale, manufacture and importation of the infringing Samsung product," LG Display said in a press release.

LG Display also said it would request compensation amounting to 1.0 billion won ($933,000) per day in the event of continued non-compliance.

The two companies have been in a patent row since September when LG Display one of the world's top flat-screen TV makers filed suits against Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display for allegedly infringing patents on seven organic light-emitting diode (OLED)-related technologies.

LG said that five of Samsung's products, including its global hit Galaxy S-series smartphones and tablet computer Galaxy Tab, infringed its patents.

Later the same month, Samsung filed a court complaint accusing LG of luring away senior Samsung OLED researchers even though they had signed contracts preventing them working for a rival.

Samsung is no stranger to patent battles. The company and its arch rival Apple have filed lawsuits against each other in around a dozen countries for alleged patent violations over competing products, in particular the iPhone and Galaxy S smartphones, as well as tablet computers.

Earlier this month, a US judge denied Apple's request to ban a set of Samsung smartphones from the US market after a jury found the South Korean electronics giant guilty of patent infringement.

Samsung, the world's top mobile and smartphone maker, was ordered by a US jury in August to pay Apple $1.05 billion (800 million euros) in damages for illegally copying iPhone and iPad features for its flagship Galaxy S phones.

Samsung has appealed the ruling. Since then, two separate rulings by courts in Japan and The Netherlands have dismissed Apple's claims of patent infringement.