Here are your Apple rumors and AAPL news items for today.
Motorla Wins Injunction Against Apple, 3G Devices Pulled in Germany: Motorola (NYSE:MMI) struck a blow against Apple in the mobile patent infringement wars on Friday. The Manheim Regional Court in Germany found that wireless technology used by Apple for iPhone and iPad access to the company’s iCloud service violated patents held by Motorola. The future Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) subsidiary then successfully blocked Apple from selling all of its handheld electronics that use 3G technology in Germany, with the exception of the recently released iPhone 4S. By late Friday morning, though, Slashgear reported that all iPhones and iPads were back on sale in Germany, as Motorola is obligated to license the disputed technology to Apple under FRAND (fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory) terms, which are agreed to by members of organizations that set technical standards including those that are adopted for wireless technology.
New Patent Describes Apple’s New Nike Competitor: A Thursday report by 9 to 5 Mac cited a recently published Apple patent titled “Interfacing Portable Media Devices and Sports Equipment,” which suggests Apple may start its own fitness social network, akin to Nike‘s (NYSE:NKE) Nike+ network. The technology would let people track their workout information via their iPhone and then post their performance to a network so it could be compared with that of their friends. It’s somewhat surprising to hear that Apple is preparing its own fitness social network, as Nike’s Nike+ program is heavily dependent on a partnership with Apple that sees the two companies’ products working in tandem.
Kindle Fire Users Spending with Amazon, Dissatisfied with Tablet: Research firm ChangeWave released the results of a recent survey collecting data from North American consumers, including users of Amazon‘s (NASDAQ:AMZN) iPad competitor, the Kindle Fire. The report has both good and bad news for Amazon. On the one hand, 29% of Kindle Fire owners said they plan to spend more on Amazon.com over the next 90 days, whereas just 20% of shoppers overall say they’ll be making online purchases. That said, just 54% of Kindle Fire owners reported being satisfied with the device, compared to a 74% satisfaction rate among iPad users. The rumor is that Amazon is preparing a second Kindle Fire model for release in the near future. It better hurry up, lest Kindle Fire users decide to jump ship when Apple releases its iPad 3.
As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned stocks. Follow him on Twitter at @ajohnagnello and become a fan of InvestorPlace on Facebook. For more from the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors stories.
