Here are your Apple rumors and AAPL news items for today:
No Rush: Japan’s largest wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo (DCM) isn’t in any hurry to add Apple‘s (AAPL) iPhone to its network, the Wall Street Journal notes. The carrier has lost subscribers to smaller rivals that do carry the iPhone, but its Senior Executive Vice President doesn’t think that matters as much any more. In an interview, Kazuto Tsubouchi said that while some customers would continue to defect to other carriers over the iPhone, “things have changed from the time in the past when the iPhone looked like the god of all smartphones.” Tsubouchi added that DoCoMo was considering the iPhone, but noted that other Japanese carriers sold the iPhone at heavy discounts, increasing their sales costs. He also noted that Apple does not allow carriers to pre-install software on the iPhone and that some DoCoMo services were incompatible with the iPhone, which cannot be customized like smartphones running Google‘s (GOOG) Android. Tsubouchi said that Android phones had become much more competitive with the iPhone in the last year. “I don’t think it is indispensable for us to sell the iPhone,” he told the Journal.
Denied: Apple’s request to include Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 in its ongoing patent infringement lawsuit against the South Korean electronics maker has been rejected by a U.S. judge, CNET notes. In a ruling issued this week, the judge said that Apple had not provided sufficient grounds for adding the Galaxy S4. Apple has said that if the Galaxy S4 is not included in the current suit, it would have to file additional litigation to assert its claims against the phone. This marks the second time a judge has declined to add the Galaxy S4 to a patent suit against Samsung in the U.S.
In-App Cost: Apple has agreed to pay $100 million to parents hit by hefty charges when their children made purchases through gaming apps sold by the App Store, ABC News notes. Under a settlement agreement pertaining to a 2011 class action lawsuit, the company will issue a $5 iTunes store credit to parents whose children amassed charges of $30 or less. Parents whose children made charges above $30 will have to document and submit the charges through an Apple-established settlement website by August 30, 2013. Many games sold through the App Store allowed players to make in-app purchases of items that advanced their game-playing. A number of children ran up large bills — apparently unaware of the real world consequences of the purchases — even through apps that were downloaded for free. After the issue hit the media, government regulators began looking into the practice and several lawsuits were filed. Apple has since made it more difficult to make in-app purchases.
For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors stories.
