By Shira Ovide and Ian Sherr

Microsoft Corp., struggling to dent the dominance of Apple Inc. and Google Inc. in the smartphone market, is stepping up efforts to court app makers like Hemi Weingarten.

Last fall, Microsoft aggressively recruited Mr. Weingarten to convince him to build his nutrition app Fooducate for its Windows Phone. Microsoft proposed putting a Fooducate engineer in Tel Aviv through a weeklong boot camp, and offered a new Windows-based Nokia phone for software testing.

Yet despite the enticements, Fooducate skipped the boot camp and chose not to develop a Windows Phone app.

“We decided to focus our energies on the bigger platforms” of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android, said Mr. Weingarten, the 41-year-old chief executive of Fooducate. He said he plans to develop for Windows Phone eventually.

His experience highlights how Microsoft is actively trying to woo developers to the Windows Phone—as well as the hurdles the software maker faces in getting app makers on board.

Last year, Microsoft hosted more than 850 sessions world-wide to coach developers on Windows Phone software design, more than triple the number the year before. Microsoft also has sped up the process of launching apps, expanded ways app makers can make money from selling their wares on Windows Phone and cut checks to some developers to help pay for apps.

Apple and Google also regularly cozy up to app makers. For example, Google said it recently began offering online classes and a training site for building apps. But developers say the scale of Microsoft’s efforts is unprecedented.

To read the rest of the story, either contact me directly or read more online at the WSJ: here. (subscription required)

(Originally published April 5, 2012, in the Wall Street Journal.)

By Ian Sherr

It used to be an easy call for the IT department when an employee’s BlackBerry was lost or stolen: If it contained sensitive information, technology teams at many companies had no qualms about remotely wiping all of the data on the device.

Today, however, there has been a flood of personal computing devices into the workplace, in the form of smartphones and tablet computers. Companies have begun installing their email, calendars and apps on devices that often already contain an employee’s family photos, music and emails.

This vast co-mingling of personal and company data has raised questions as to where responsibility for the security of the devices ultimately lies. And it puts the IT department in a new and ticklish situation, should a data breach be feared, because now a remote wipe of the device can delete an employee’s personal data as well.

The remote wipe is only one of the challenges raised by the recent and rapid merging of personal and work devices. There are security concerns as well. For example, any app downloaded to a smartphone or tablet might contain a virus or malware designed to steal company data on the device. The cameras and Bluetooth wireless transmitters found on most devices could make leaks more likely, too—inadvertent and intentional.

This vast co-mingling of personal and company data has raised questions as to where responsibility for the security of the devices ultimately lies. And it puts the IT department in a new and ticklish situation, should a data breach be feared, because now a remote wipe of the device can delete an employee’s personal data as well.

The remote wipe is only one of the challenges raised by the recent and rapid merging of personal and work devices. There are security concerns as well. For example, any app downloaded to a smartphone or tablet might contain a virus or malware designed to steal company data on the device. The cameras and Bluetooth wireless transmitters found on most devices could make leaks more likely, too—inadvertent and intentional.

To read the rest of the story, either contact me directly or read more online at the WSJ: here. (subscription required)

(Originally published April 2, 2012, in the Wall Street Journal.)

By Ian Sherr

The patient might have been under water too long. Only a few months old, the victim wasn’t responding.

A doctor, in green surgical scrubs, rushed to his sparkling clean operating room, hopeful the patient could be saved.

After thoroughly scrubbing and putting in some new parts, he tightened the last screw and pushed the power button. The familiar Apple Inc. logo filled the screen of the phone.

This doctor works at the iHospital.

 The chain of repair shops is one of many firms that have sprung up and build their business largely by repairing Apple devices. Far from the dingy, box-and-cord littered shops of the past, these businesses have taken on the Apple ethos with slick presentation and savvy brand building. Their customers come hoping to pay less for repairs than at Apple’s own stores.

“There are about 250 Apple Stores in the U.S., but there are millions of customers,” says Ross Newman, the 27-year-old founder of iHospital, based in Tampa, Fla. “They need somewhere to go to fix their products.”

Other repair shops range from iHospital to Cupertino iPhone Repair in the San Francisco Bay area, to Orlando, Fla.-based uBreakiFix Co. which has stores around the country including in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Apple’s own warranties are considered among the best by Consumer Reports. But until recently the company charged a hefty premium to fix broken screens or water damage—all too common problems as people take their beloved devices almost everywhere, even to the bathroom. The independent stores say they can fix devices for roughly half the cost as Apple.

Apple doesn’t have any ties to the stores. An Apple spokeswoman said Apple’s new AppleCare Plus policy for the iPhone costs $99 and will cover up to two incidents of accidental damage at a cost of $49 each time. The service, which lasts for two years from the date of purchase, also includes technical support in Apple’s stores and over the phone.

Mr. Newman says he can compete. A new front screen for an iPhone would cost about $150, including the cost of signing up for AppleCare Plus and the incident charge. The iHospital charges roughly between $79 and $100 for that same repair, depending on the model. And, Mr. Newman added, his doctors offer tech support and a one-year warranty on repairs. Other repair shops offer similar prices and services.

Keith Fredrickson, 34, and his wife Margaret, 35, of Jersey City, N.J., each bought a brand new iPhone 4S a couple of months ago. A few days after Ms. Fredrickson got her phone, it slipped out of her back pocket in the bathroom. “She had already flushed the toilet, thankfully,” Mr. Fredrickson says.

 

To read the rest of the story, either contact me directly or read more online at the WSJ: here. (subscription required)

(Originally published March 22, 2012, in the Wall Street Journal.)

By Ian Sherr and Spencer E. Ante

Proview Electronics Co. has taken its legal battles with Apple Inc. to a U.S. court, claiming the iPhone maker used deception in buying the iPad trademark and shouldn’t be allowed to keep it.

The lawsuit, which was filed in the Superior Court of the State of California in Santa Clara County on Feb. 17 but previously unreported, claimed that Apple had committed fraud when it used a company set up by one of its law firms, called IP Application Development Ltd., to purchase the iPad trademark from Proview on Dec. 23, 2009 for 35,000 British pounds ($55,000).

Proview, which included U.S.-based Proview Technology Inc. as a plaintiff in the case, said in its filing that by acquiring the iPad trademark through IP Application Development, and not explaining its true purpose, Apple acted “with oppression, fraud and/or malice.”

An Apple spokeswoman reiterated the company’s claim that it had rightfully purchased the iPad name from Proview, adding “Proview refuses to honor their agreement with Apple in China, and a Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in this matter.” A Proview spokesperson declined to comment.

Part of the reason for the case, people familiar with the matter said, was that during negotiations between the two companies, Apple hadn’t shared enough information about how it planned to acquire the trademark and who approved the purchase.

In emails seen by The Wall Street Journal, a representative purportedly of IP Application Development told Proview that it wanted to acquire the iPad name because it was an abbreviation of its company’s title, and that its future products wouldn’t compete with Proview’s products.

(Originally published Feb 24, 2012, on the Wall Street Journal website.)

By Ian Sherr and Stu Woo

Apple Inc. pulled its iPad 2 tablet from the websites of some unauthorized merchants in China, including Amazon.com Inc.’s Chinese site, in the latest challenge for the consumer-electronics giant in a key growth market.

Apple requested that the iPad 2 be removed from online storefronts because the sites weren’t authorized to sell the device, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The people said that the removal wasn’t related to a long-running dispute over the iPad trademark in China.

In addition to Amazon’s China site, which has a relatively small market share, the country’s second-largest business-to-consumer e-commerce company by sales, Jingdong, also stopped offering iPads. Although listings for iPads still appeared on Jingdong’s shopping site, 360buy.com, attempts to purchase an iPad through any of those listings Thursday produced a message saying the seller is out of stock.

Like Amazon, Jingdong isn’t an authorized reseller of the device.

Apple doesn’t disclose how much of its sales come from China, but the company has repeatedly identified China as one of its most important growth markets. The wider Asia-Pacific region accounted for 17% of the company’s net sales in the fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 31 and 19% in 2011. Amazon’s Chinese site had a market share of 2.1% in the third quarter compared to 13.3% for Jingdong, according to research firm Analysys International.

Given the small market share and the fact that iPads remain widely available in physical stores in China, the removal of the devices from the online stores isn’t likely to significantly dent Apple’s China sales.

But the development also comes as the Cupertino, Calif., company is embroiled in a legal spat with a Shenzhen, China-based subsidiary of Proview International Holdings Ltd., a computer-display maker, which claims it has the exclusive rights to the iPad name in China. The conflict intensified Tuesday, when Proview said it filed a request with China’s customs bureau to block the import and export of iPads across China’s borders.

To read the rest of the story, either contact me directly or read more online at the WSJ: here. (subscription required)

(Originally published Feb 16, in the Wall Street Journal.)

By Ian Sherr

What’s in a name like iPad?

Apple Inc. agreed to pay Proview International Holdings Ltd. £35,000 ($55,494 at current exchange rates) for the iPad trademark, according to a cache of documents that includes emails and a contract detailing an agreement between the two companies.

The newly unearthed documents come as Apple has been battling Proview over whether it purchased rights to the iPad name from Proview in 2009—a key issue in a dispute between the companies.

Proview defended its claims to the trademark in China, and suggested on Friday that the company could be due as much as $2 billion from Apple.

A Hong Kong court sided with Apple last year, saying the agreement between Proview and an Apple subsidiary was valid. But a court in mainland China threw out Apple’s case.

Proview, a computer display manufacturer that filed for bankruptcy, claims it has the exclusive rights to the iPad name in China and has sought injunctions against the import or export of Apple’s tablet device. A ban on the iPad’s export from China could have wide-ranging implications for Apple, which relies on manufacturers in the country to make many of the devices it sells around the globe.

Proview earlier this month attempted to bar the sale of iPads within China through a complaint filed with a Shanghai court, alleging that an earlier deal with Apple for the iPad trademark didn’t include the China market.

To read the rest of the story, either contact me directly or read more online at the WSJ: here. (subscription required)

(Originally published Feb 19, 2012, on the Wall Street Journal website.)

By Geoffrey A. Fowler and Ian Sherr

Any geek can tell you that battery life hasn’t kept up with gadget innovations. But not to worry: Inventors are figuring out how to turn geeks into batteries, Ian Sherr reports on digits.

Any geek can tell you that battery life hasn’t kept up with gadget innovations. But not to worry: Inventors are figuring out how to turn geeks into batteries.

While most gadget lovers hunt for empty wall sockets to charge their devices, Kevin Bartholomew just plugs his cellphone into his hip. That is where he keeps a nine-inch device looped around his belt that converts the kinetic energy of his motion into enough power to keep his devices running.

Mr. Bartholomew’s tube-shaped personal energy generator, called the nPower PEG, can turn 15 minutes of walking into a minute of phone talk time.

It is a good alternative to finding a plug, depending on how much exercise you get, says the 31-year-old electrical engineer from Logan, Utah.

The latest in body-powered technology includes gizmos that absorb excess energy produced by motion, like the jiggle of a backpack or bend of a knee. There are T-shirts that capture the electricity in sound waves, boots that convert walking into energy and solar panels that attach to everything from pants to bikes.

A tech truism called Moore’s Law holds that computing power will grow exponentially, as transistors get smaller. But it doesn’t apply to batteries. Apple Inc.’s latest iPhone 4S comes with eight hours of talking time—exactly as much as the original iPhone model that came out in 2007.

The battery deficit has created a market opportunity for companies like Goal Zero, of Salt Lake City. It first started making personal-size solar panels in 2007 for cellphones in Africa, but found a need among gadget addicts closer to home, says President Joe Atkin. Last year, he sold some 200,000 foldable 14-inch solar chargers. “It is about freedom,” says Mr. Atkin.

To read the rest of the story, either contact me directly or read more online at the WSJ: here. (subscription required)

(Originally published Feb 7, 2012, in the Wall Street Journal.)

By Ian Sherr

SAN FRANCISCO—Apple Inc. has asked a telecommunications standards body to set basic principles governing how member companies license their patents, an increasingly contentious topic for rivals in the smartphone industry.

In a letter to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, Apple said the telecommunications industry lacks consistent licensing schemes for the many patents necessary to make mobile devices, and offered suggestions for setting appropriate royalty rates that all members would follow.

Many mobile technology companies, such as Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., hold patents that became part of industrywide standards. Standards bodies often require the patent holders to offer to license their patents to any company on a basis known as Frand, or fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory. Questions about such commitments have arisen amid a flurry of patent suits between rivals in the mobile-device market.

Apple said in its letter—which was dated Nov. 11 but not previously disclosed—that the lack of clarity on what is fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory has led many companies to ask unusually high rates and sue one another, claiming they infringed on one another’s patents.

“It is apparent that our industry suffers from a lack of consistent adherence to Frand principles in the cellular standards arena,” wrote Bruce Watrous, Apple’s intellectual property head.

Apple’s move to solidify how industry-essential patent holders should act comes at a tumultuous time. The Cupertino, Calif., company has been battling rivals such as Samsung, Motorola and HTC Corp. in patent suits spanning courtrooms across the globe.

To read the rest of the story, either contact me directly or read more online at the WSJ: here. (subscription required)

(Originally published Feb 7, 2012, on the Wall Street Journal website.)

By Ian Sherr

Vizio Inc., which shook up the market with inexpensive high-definition televisions, now wants to become a computer manufacturer.

The Irvine, Calif., company, which ranks as one of the top sellers of televisions in the U.S., plans to show a line of thin laptop computers and all-in-one desktop PCs running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows software next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Vizio, which also produces Blu-ray players and a tablet, says it worked on its computer designs for two years in attempts to offer an aesthetic that competes with Apple Inc.’s popular products but at a lower price.

Vizio says it spent months, for example, shaving millimeters from its desktop computer so the central processing chip could hide in a sleek base while the screen stands attached to its thin aluminum neck.

“It doesn’t look mechanical or industrial,” said Matthew McRae, Vizio’s technology chief. “The industrial design is something we sweat.”

The closely held company said it is well aware it is entering an already crowded market. Hewlett-Packard Co., Lenovo Group Ltd., Dell Inc., Acer Inc., Toshiba Corp. and Asustek Computer Inc. are among the competitors that have staked out nearly all of the computer market. Most compete for attention from either price-conscious consumers or value-focused corporate customers.

To read the rest of the story, either contact me directly or read more online at the WSJ: here. (subscription required)

(Originally published Jan. 7, 2012, in the Wall Street Journal.)

By Ian Sherr

Apple Inc.’s claims that some smartphones running Google Inc.’s Android software copy its inventions are approaching their first big judgment day in the U.S.

The International Trade Commission in Washington on Wednesday is expected to rule on whether some phones made by HTC Corp. violate Apple’s patents. The ruling could lead to a ban on handsets sold by the Taiwanese company, which uses the Android operating system and had the second-largest share of smartphone subscribers in the U.S. market for the three months ended in October, according to research firm Nielsen.

HTC isn’t alone. Apple has been tangling in courts with other prominent Android device makers, including Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. The cases reflect the Cupertino, Calif., company’s belief that many competing smartphones violate features that Apple popularized with its iPhone and iPad tablet computer.

Apple isn’t the only one complaining. The smartphone market has experienced a surge in patent litigation over the past few years as large and small players seek to hobble competitors or take share of their success through damage awards or negotiated settlements.

It’s an attractive opportunity. More than 645 million smartphones are expected to be sold world-wide next year, according to research firm Gartner Inc., jumping nearly 40% from this year’s forecast. By comparison, sales of personal computers are expected to grow 4.5% to about 370 million units next year.