Tag Archives: italian

Apple faces Chinese patent infringement lawsuit over Siri

Posted on March 27, 2013 by admin

Lawyers for Apple appeared in a Shanghai court earlier today at the start of a lawsuit over the company’s Siri voice command system, according to Agence France-Presse. Zhizhen Network Technology alleges that Siri violates a patent on voice recognition, used in the company’s Xiao i Robot software, that dates back to 2004. Siri is said to have been first developed in 2007. After buying out Siri’s creator, Apple folded the technology into iOS in October 2011…. Continue reading →

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Apple’s misleading warranties must be punished, says EU Commissioner

Posted on March 19, 2013 by admin

The European Commission must take a larger role to monitor and coordinate consumer protection laws, Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said Tuesday, citing Apple as a prime example of the need for the Commission to get tougher. “In at least 21 E.U. countries, Apple is not informing consumers correctly about the legal warranty rights they have,” Reding said at the European Consumer Summit in Brussels. “This is simply not good enough.” Reding wrote to consumer ministers in all E.U. countries last September, urging them to take action after Apple was fined by Italian authorities, but she received replies from only 15 out of 27 member states. Apple was fined $1.16 million by the Italian Antitrust Authority for not providing consumers with information regarding E.U.-protected warranty rights, instead misleading customers and pushing their own paid-for warranty, Applecare. Under E.U. consumer law, buyers are automatically entitled to a free minimum two-year warranty. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Continue reading →

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Apple Adjusts Warranty Coverage in Australia to Comply With Consumer Protections Law

Posted on March 18, 2013 by admin

Australian law requires that sellers of products offer warranties for “a reasonable period from date of delivery until the failure becomes apparent”. This has been interpreted as two-years for computers. Apple’s standard warranty on all products runs for one-year, while AppleCare extends coverage to three years on Macs. The Sydney Morning Herald writes of the warranty requirements , including that Apple Retail Store employees and authorized resellers have been notified of a change in how Apple handles warranty claims in the country. On Friday, Apple’s Australian retail store staff and authorised Apple resellers were notified about a change to Apple’s internal policy on how it handled standard warranty claims. Until now, many Apple consumers have reported on forums that store staff have only ever discussed with them a standard 12-month manufacturer warranty when selling, fixing or replacing Apple goods. Apple has now changed this from 12 months to 24, which appears to bring it in line with Australian Consumer Law. The consumer protection law, which Apple details in a page on its website , requires purchasers to contact the seller of a product for a warranty claim rather than the manufacturer. This means that if a Mac is purchased from a non-Apple retailer, that retailer is responsible for satisfying the requirements of the Australian law. It also means that Apple is responsible for warranty claims on third-party products purchased at Apple Retail Stores. Apple notes that consumers can receive warranty coverage under the Australian consumer law, Apple’s standard one-year warranty, or AppleCare, whichever is applicable. The company had previously gotten in trouble over its AppleCare practices in Italy — that country has a similar consumer protection law and Apple was fined more than a million dollars because it did not sufficiently notify customers about the standard warranties available to them under Italian law. Continue reading →

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Al Gore purchases $29.6 million in Apple stock for $441,000

Posted on January 18, 2013 by admin

A US Securities and Exchange Commission filing was made on Thursday, showing that Apple board member Al Gore purchased 59.000 shares of Apple stock worth over $29.6 million dollars. As a result of his board membership, Gore paid $7.475 per share, paying $441,000 out of pocket for the shares…. Continue reading →

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Belgium to sue Apple over AppleCare warranty marketing

Posted on January 15, 2013 by admin

Apple’s practice of selling AppleCare extended warranties by advertising that it covers the unit for “an additional two years” has once again gotten the company in trouble in Europe, where local laws automatically extend warranties to two years. A lawsuit has been filed in Belgium that mirrors a case Apple lost in Italy over the issue. Apple changed its policy in Italy and paid a fine as a result of the ruling, but hasn’t changed practices in all EU countries…. Continue reading →

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Mac Gems: ForgetMeNot keeps you from forgetting email attachments

Posted on January 4, 2013 by admin

We’ve all experienced the embarrassment of sending someone an email referencing an attached file or document, only to receive a reply that, despite our claims, nothing was attached. It’s a frequent-enough problem that a few years back, Google added a feature to Gmail that would alert you if you forgot to attach a file referenced in your message. ForgetMeNot alerts you if you’ve forgotten to attach files. Though OS X’s Mail app doesn’t include this convenient feature, ChungwaSoft’s $6 ForgetMeNot is a nifty mail plug-in that seamlessly adds it. Install ForgetMeNot, and whenever you attempt to send a message using Mail, the plug-in first scans the text of that email for specific words indicating that you meant to include an attachment. If ForgetMeNot detects one of those words and the message indeed includes an attachment, the message goes through; if the message is missing attachments, you see an alert. You can then choose to cancel sending, add the attachment, or send sans attachment. ForgetMeNot includes default keywords for each of seven languages: Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. For example, for English, the plug-in watches for the words attachment , attaching , attached , and attach . You can also add your own words to a language’s list—I’ve added image , images , file , and files to the English group—and you can disable languages you don’t use. However, you can’t add new languages: To add a list of keywords in a different language, you must add those words to one of the supported languages (which means ForgetMeNot will use that language’s stock keywords in addition to the keywords you add). ForgetMeNot’s word lists ForgetMeNot’s keyword-based intervention generally works well, although it’s of course limited by the list of words it watches for. If your message says “Check out this hilarious photo of Nancy!” and you haven’t added photo to the list of keywords, ForgetMeNot won’t alert you if you forget to include a hilarious photo of Nancy. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Continue reading →

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Apple Fined Another $260,000 By Italian Regulators Over AppleCare Practices

Posted on December 21, 2012 by admin

Italy fined Apple $1.2 million in late 2011 , after its Competition and Market Authority found that Apple was not providing customers with sufficient information about the two years of free product warranty that is required under Italian law. Instead, Apple was pushing the sale of AppleCare, which overlaps with the inherent Italian product warranty. After being fined and losing an appeal, Apple added disclosures to its Italian online store, but authorities were not satisfied and considered additional fines and even a potential ban on Apple products in the country. Apple today was fined another $264,000 by Italian regulators (via setteB.IT ) after not fully complying with the Consumer Code set place in 2012, from March 28 to November 10. Authorities have released a statement detailing Apple’s exact violations. From March 2012 onward, the above measures continued to trigger additional requests for intervention that reported the repetition of the unfair commercial practices. In specific, consumers complained that they were meeting with difficulties when seeking to apply the legal guarantee and were encountering incorrect procedures in the promotion of the App. Though Italy levied another fine against Apple, regulators have since determined that after sufficient modification, Apple’s website is no longer confusing for Italian customers. The changes went into full effect on November 10, and Apple also ceased selling its AppleCare products in Italian stores. Apple may have settled its differences with Italian regulators, but it is still facing potential fines from other European countries , which also have a two-year warranty rule. In October, European Union officials called on member states to scrutinize Apple’s warranty advertising practices, stating that the Cupertino-based company may not be adequately informing EU customers of the extra warranty. Continue reading →

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Kantar: Apple gets over half of US smartphone sales

Posted on December 21, 2012 by admin

The phenomenal sales of Apple’s iPhone 5 helped boost the Cupertino company to its highest ever share of US smartphone sales over the past 12 weeks. This according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, which released a new analysis of the US smartphone market over the past three months, finding that the release of the iPhone 5 caused Apple’s share of sales to jump to 53.3 percent in the United States, and this largely at the expense of iOS’ main competitor, Google’s Android platform. Year-over-year, iOS sales share was up 17.5 percentage points, while Android’s share dropped 10.9 points…. Continue reading →

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Kantar: Apple gets 53.3 percent of US smartphone sales

Posted on December 21, 2012 by admin

The phenomenal sales of Apple’s iPhone 5 helped boost the Cupertino company to its highest-ever share of US smartphone sales according to stats from over the past 12 weeks. Kantar Worldpanel ComTech released a new analysis of the US smartphone market in the current quarter, finding that the release of the iPhone 5 caused Apple’s share of sales to jump to 53.3 percent in the United States, largely at the expense of iOS’ main competitor, Google’s Android platform. Year-over-year, iOS sales share was up 17.5 percentage points, while Android’s share dropped 10.9 points…. Continue reading →

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Apple refurbs: iPad 2 for $379, MBA for $1099, more

Posted on December 21, 2012 by admin

This week Apple’s online store has a wide selection of refurbished iPad models available at discounted prices. The refurb. 3rd generation 16GB iPad with Wi-Fi in white carries the lowest price tag at only $379 after a $70 price cut. The 3rd gen. 32GB iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G in white or black with AT&T or Verizon is available for only $479 after a $150 price drop. For $100 more, $579, is the refurb. 64GB iPad 2 with Wi-Fi + 3G, also available in white or black…. Continue reading →

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