Overnight, Apple had its quarterly earnings call, where the company decided to drop the news that OS X Mountain Lion will be made available in the Mac Store for $19.99. The OS X update has, among its features, the new notification centre, Facebook integration, Gatekeeper, and the new bundled Messages app.
During the call, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer called out the strength of the US dollar, a weak Europe, and economic factors in resource-rich countries for the lack of growth in the company’s revenue. The company still posted a net income of US$8.8 billion, and sold 26 million iPhones in the quarter.
Calling out the resource-based economies of Australia and Canada does invoke some head scratching. Looking at the below graph, presented by Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Glenn Stevens yesterday, it’s clear to see that Australia and Canada are a drain on the world economy.
Now moving on to the ongoing legal battles between Apple and Samsung, Cupertino has cited US$2.5 billion as the dollar figure that will settle its patent disputes in the US with Samsung. The calculation was made using a figure that totalled the damages on patent infringments by Samsung to US$31.14 per handset.
Meanwhile, back home in Australia, Apple said that it isn’t infringing on one of Samsung’s 3G patents, because its implementation is different.
So, Apple’s 3G isn’t Samsung’s 3G, and it isn’t Australian 4G, either.
We’re waiting to see whether the judge will decide if thinking differently on 3G will save Apple’s blushes.
In the meantime, enjoy your Mountain Lion upgrade tomorrow.
