Samsung delays Tizen phone release

iFone wins in Mexican trademark case

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's intellectual property agency said Friday it has ruled in favor of a small local firm's rights to the "iFone" name, saying that ads for Apple's iPhone have encroached on the trademark.

The Mexican firm iFone S.A. de C.V. registered the name in 2003 to cover specialized telephone service for call centers and businesses, well before Apple registered the similar iPhone moniker in 2007 for its popular mobile handset. iFone doesn't make mobile telephones.

Mexico's Institute for Intellectual Property ruled that the two names are phonetically identical, and thus there was a trademark encroachment.

The institute said several Mexican mobile phone carriers, including market leader America Movil, must pay a fine of about $104,000 and stop using "iPhone" as a promotional name for their calling plans.

But Apple is not specifically covered by the ruling, since it doesn't provide calling services, just handsets. Apple had previously argued the Mexican firm's trademark had lapsed.

The ruling can be appealed, but the institute said about 68 percent of its rulings are upheld on appeal.

Previous reports suggested the Mexican company might sue Apple for as much as $1.5 billion trademark infringement, but iFone executives did not return calls for comment on whether they planned to file any civil suit.

-- The Associated Press

Barnes & Noble, Samsung to team on Nook

NEW YORK -- Barnes & Noble is teaming up with Samsung to develop Nook tablets, the book seller said Thursday, as it focuses on its Nook software.

Barnes & Noble spent years investing heavily in its Nook e-book reader and e-book library but struggled to make them profitable. In December, the chain said it was evaluating the future of its tablets but still offered a new nontablet e-book reader during the holiday season.

The New York company has been trying to turn itself around as competition from discount stores and online retailers toughens, and as consumers shift away from traditional books to digital formats.

In its most recent quarter, Barnes & Noble reported a third-quarter profit as cost cuts at its Nook unit and elsewhere helped offset declining revenue across all of its businesses.

The new device will be a 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 co-branded as a Nook with Nook's digital reading software already on it. The tablet will be available at Barnes & Noble's 700 U.S. stores in early August. A price for the device will be announced then.

Barnes & Noble says it will continue to make and sell its $99 Nook GlowLight e-readers and provide customer support.

The company also says it is moving its Nook employees out of its Palo Alto, Calif., offices to save money. Employees are expected to move to a smaller space in nearby Santa Clara, Calif., by July.

-- The Associated Press

With app, Apple clears way for bitcoin

Apple Inc. has changed its policy to let software developers include virtual-currency transactions in their applications, paving the way for new forms of money like bitcoin to appear on iPhones and iPads.

While Apple didn't mention bitcoin specifically, its developer terms now allow for certain "approved virtual currencies," without saying what those were. Apps that use the digital money must comply with state and federal laws wherever they're designed to work, the terms say.

The change signals that Apple is warming up to virtual currencies after previously blocking programs like Blockchain.info from its App Store. Bitcoin is the most popular of the digital currencies, which governments are struggling to determine how to regulate because they exist only as software.

Developer Rob Banagale said he's planning to submit a new version of his app, called Gliph, which was kicked out of Apple's store last year because it let users send bitcoins to each other in instant messages. Banagale had to strip out that function for iOS devices; the app is only fully functional on phones and tablets that use Google Inc.'s Android operating system.

While bitcoin and other virtual currencies still aren't used by many retailers and service providers, they are gaining acceptance. Last month, satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp. said it will soon begin accepting bitcoin payments from subscribers.

Getting access to iPhones could help increase bitcoin's use, as Apple is the top U.S. smartphone manufacturer, with a 41 percent average share of the market in the three months ending in March, according to ComScore Inc. Until now, most users have had to use their PCs or Android phones to pay for goods and services with bitcoin at food carts, restaurants and stores.

-- Bloomberg News

Google presents tablet with 3-D tools

Google Inc. introduced a tablet computer Thursday designed to help developers build 3-D applications, as the company works to push the technology onto mobile devices.

The 7-inch device is part of an effort dubbed Project Tango, which Google rolled out in February to advance 3-D technology.

The tablet, which will let developers create and test new programs, is loaded with cameras and other gear to help capture 3-D images of its surroundings, be that at home or in a business, opening up potential uses for game players, shoppers or the disabled. The tablet, which isn't aimed at consumers, will go on sale later this year for $1,024 and will be available only in limited quantities.

Google, which makes the Android software that is the No. 1 smartphone operating system, wants to expand features on mobile gadgets as rivals step up efforts to build 3-D devices. Facebook Inc. agreed to spend about $2 billion earlier this year to acquire virtual-reality goggles maker Oculus VR Inc.

Project Tango began with a smartphone that developers can access for building new applications.

Google is encouraging new applications that can include a wide range of services. For example, a smartphone could capture the images of a living room before a consumer heads to a furniture store to see how a sofa or coffee table would look back at home. New apps could also provide imagery and sensors for tracking locations inside a building, ensuring visitors won't get lost.

-- Bloomberg News

Emotion-reading robot debuts in Japan

TOKYO -- A cooing, gesturing humanoid on wheels that can decipher emotions has been unveiled in Japan by billionaire Masayoshi Son who says robots should be tender and make people smile.

Son's mobile phone company Softbank said Thursday that the robot it has dubbed Pepper will go on sale in Japan in February for $1,900. Overseas sales plans are under consideration but undecided.

The machine, which has no legs, but has gently gesticulating hands appeared on a stage in a Tokyo suburb, cooing and humming.

Son said Pepper has been programmed to read the emotions of people around it by recognizing expressions and voice tones.

The 48-inch-tall, 62-pound white Pepper, which has no hair but two large doll-like eyes and a flat-panel display stuck on its chest, was developed jointly with Aldebaran Robotics, which produces autonomous humanoid robots.

Besides featuring the latest voice recognition, Pepper is loaded with more than a dozen sensors, including two touch sensors in its hands, three touch sensors on its head, and six laser sensors and three bumper sensors in its base.

It also has two cameras and four microphones on its head and has Wi-Fi and Ethernet networking capabilities. Up close, it bears a resemblance to C-3PO in Star Wars, especially in its clueless look.

But a demonstration Friday at a Softbank retailer in Tokyo highlighted the robot's shortcomings as much as its charm.

Voice recognition takes a while to kick in, when its eyes light up in a listening mode after the robot stops talking, making for less than spontaneous dialogue, similar to the frustration one experiences talking with iPhone's Siri. Sometimes the robot failed to catch a speaker's words and would say: "I could not hear you. Could you say that again?"

But all its song-and-dance acts seemed to prove was that the machine needs to learn a lot more tricks to impress robot-savvy Japanese. The Softbank shop barely drew a crowd besides a pack of reporters with their cameras.

-- The Associated Press

Samsung delays Tizen phone release

SEOUL -- Samsung Electronics, the world's largest maker of mobile devices using Google's Android software, will release its first smartphone using the Tizen operating system about a year later than planned.

The Samsung Z will be available in Russia in the third quarter before expanding to other markets, the Suwon, South Korea-based company said in a Monday statement. The device will feature a high- definition screen, 2.3 gigahertz quad-core processor and a fingerprint sensor, the company said.

Tizen, which is being developed with companies including Intel and Vodafone, is an open-source alternative to Android, the most popular smartphone operating system. Asia's biggest technology company previously said its first phone using the platform would be released by the end of September 2013 as it seeks to spark consumer demand amid slowing shipment growth and competition from cheaper Chinese producers.

The new device enters a smartphone market where global growth is expected to slow to 6.2 percent in 2018 from 19 percent this year, research firm IDC said in February.

Samsung shipped 316 million smartphones last year, more than double the 153 million iPhones of second-ranked Apple, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from IDC.

Samsung's mobile-phone business, which accounted for 76 percent of operating income in the first quarter, posted the lowest sales in five quarters as Chinese producers gain in emerging markets with cheaper, feature-packed devices.

-- Bloomberg News

Business on 06/09/2014

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