Here are your Apple rumors and AAPL news items for today:
Upgrade: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will will release an updated iPad Mini and a new standard-sized iPad in the third quarter of this year, MacRumors notes. The report comes from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who says the updated iPad Mini will feature a high resolution Retina touchscreen. The upgraded standard-sized iPad will be thinner and lighter than the current model. It will also have smaller bezels, moving toward a look similar to that of the iPad Mini. Kuo does not expect to see an Apple-branded TV set this year, but thinks one could arrive in 2014. He says that neither the iMac nor MacBook Air will get Retina displays in 2013.
Touch: The next generation iPhone that Apple will launch later this year will feature a fingerprint sensor concealed in the phone’s “home” button, AppleInsider notes. The senor will scan users’ fingerprints, allowing the phone to eliminate the need to input passwords and user names. That would give the iPhone a significant advantage over smartphones running Google‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system and Microsoft‘s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows 8 in secure transactions. Last year, Apple purchase fingerprint technology developer AuthenTec for $356 million, but did not disclose what AuthenTec technology it was interested in. A fingerprint reading home button could be integrated with secure apps like Passbook, leading to secure e-commerce payments.
Negotiate: A judge has ordered Apple and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) to enter into discussions to try and find a settlement to on-going trademark litigation over Amazon’s App Store, the San Francisco Chronicle notes. Apple sued the Internet retail giant over use of the term, claiming that it holds the trademark to the term App Store. It is seeking to stop Amazon from using the term for its online store, which sells apps for its Kindle tablets. U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte ordered the companies to sit down and attempt to find a resolution on March 21. The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in August.
For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors stories.
