Lukáš Gondek It's the first week of 2015, in which the events in the world of Apple start again after Christmas. Below we have selected the most interesting news that happened in the last two weeks. For example, the online store has reopened in Russia and Steve Wozniak is well on his way to becoming an Australian citizen.
Steve Wozniak could become an Australian citizen (22/12)
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is often in Australia lately, specifically in Sydney, where he lectures at the University of Technology. Wozniak liked it very much among his opponents and is planning to buy a house here. Last weekend, he was granted permanent residence as a "distinguished person". This term is often used by countries for celebrities and speeds up the process of obtaining resident status by skipping various complicated formalities.
Wozniak's son is already a resident of Australia, because he married an Australian woman. Perhaps this is also why Wozniak would like to spend the rest of his life in Australia, as he was heard to say: "I want to be a significant part of this country and one day I would like to say that I lived and died in Australia."
Source: ArsTechnica
Apple had to significantly increase prices in Russia due to the ruble (December 22)
After week inaccessibility Apple reopened its Apple Online Store in Russia just before Christmas. The California-based company was waiting for the stabilization of the Russian ruble to set new prices for its products. Unsurprisingly, prices have risen, for example for the 16GB iPhone 6 by a full 35 percent to 53 rubles, which is approximately 990 crowns. This price change is the second that Apple has had to undergo in December due to fluctuations in the ruble.
Source: AppleInsider
Rockstar Patent Consortium Sells Remaining Patents (23/12)
San Francisco patent company RPX has announced that it has purchased over four thousand telecommunications patents from the Rockstar consortium, which is led mainly by Apple. Rockstar bought the patents from the bankrupt Nortel Networks and paid $4,5 billion for them. Companies such as Apple, Blackberry, Microsoft or Sony, which make up Rockstar, have distributed many of the patents among themselves. After several licensing failures, they decided to sell the rest to RPX for $900 million.
RPX is going to license the patents to its consortium, which includes, for example, Google or the computer company Cisco Systems. Patent licenses will also be retained by the Rockstar consortium. The result should be the licensing of most patents across the entire spectrum of companies and the reduction of numerous patent disputes.
Source: MacRumors
Sapphire for iPhones could be produced by Foxconn (December 24)
Although the Chinese Foxconn has no experience with sapphire production, the large number of purchased patents confirms that it is really interested in working with sapphire. However, a big obstacle for Apple remains the considerable capital it would have to invest so that the displays of future products can be covered with sapphire. However, Apple could share the initial capital with Foxconn. No information has been officially confirmed by Apple itself, but if the company wants to introduce devices with sapphire displays already this year, it must secure the buildings and equipment needed for production by spring at the latest. At the same time, the Chinese Xiaomi, which allegedly wants to introduce sapphire smartphones even before Apple, is hot on its heels.
Source: Cult Of Mac
Over half of the new activated devices at Christmas were from Apple (December 29)
Flurry monitored 25 app downloads in the week before Dec. 600 and said half of the newly activated mobile devices were from Apple. Far behind Apple with 18 percent was Samsung, even lower were Nokia, Sony and LG with 1,5 percent. For example, the popularity of HTC and Xiaomi did not even reach one percent, which can be connected to their popularity in the Asian market, where Christmas is not the main "gift" season.
Flurry also noted that phablets saw the biggest jump, thanks to the iPhone 6 Plus. The greater popularity of phablets reflected in the share big ones of tablets, which fell by 6 percent, less then on the sale of smaller tablets. Medium-sized phones such as the iPhone 6 remain dominant.
Source: MacRumors
Apple moves to launch Pay in UK as soon as possible (29/12)
Apple would like to launch its service Apple Pay in Great Britain in the first half of this year. Arrangements with local banks are, however, complicated, and at least one of the largest banks is said to be still reluctant to agree to an agreement with Apple. Banks are very reluctant to share their customers' personal and financial information with Apple, and some even fear that Apple could use this information to break into banking.
Apple Pay is currently only available in the United States, but job postings indicate that Apple is planning to expand its payment system to Europe and China this year. However, the worldwide launch is not limited by the technology itself, but by complex agreements with individual banks and payment card providers.
Source: AppleInsider
A week in a nutshell
The past week, the first of the new year, did not have time to bring much new. However, at Jablíčkář, among other things, we looked back at how Apple performed in 2014. Read a summary of events, a preview of new products and a new leader position.
Apple of 2014 - the most important thing that this year brought
Lukáš Gondek – a student aspiring to graduate from an American university
So... The education will be at the level of a Czech high school student... :-D