Quick Followups

• GTAT Developments
  • Apple agrees to less from GTAT to keep bankruptcy proceedings on track - www.macobserver.com/...
  • GTAT wants to pay executives $6M in bonuses despite being in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection - www.macobserver.com/...
• Apple raised $20M for product RED with it's campaigns last month - www.macobserver.com/...

Notable Numbers

• Having stagnated a while, Apple's dashboard show iOS 8 use on the rise again, now at over 2/3 - arstechnica.com/...
• Analyst estimates that Android profit is down by half for 2014 - recode.net/...
  • RELATED - Samsung closes London flagship store because of falling sales - www.theverge.com/...
• According to mobile analytics firm Flurry Analytics, Apple sold a little over half of the smartphones activated world-wide between December 19 and 25 - arstechnica.com/...
• Business Insider released an interesting infographic showing where Apple makes its money - businessinsider.tumblr.com/...

Legal Latest

• Apple's appeal of its eBooks price fixing conviction goes to court - two if the three judges SEEM to see things Apple's way during questioning - asking why the DOJ did not investigate Amazon with their market dominance - www.macobserver.com/...
• The iPod Anti-Trust Case:
  • Judge rules last plaintiff did not buy a qualifying iPod - orders prosecution to find a new plaintiff - www.macobserver.com/...
  • A new plaintiff is found allowing the case to continue - www.macobserver.com/...
  • Jury finds Apple not-guilty in the iPod DRM case (an appeal is promised) - www.theverge.com/...
• On the basis of a US Supreme Court ruling, a judge has dismissed a lawsuit Apple employees had filed demanding they be paid for the time they spend in forced security checks - www.macobserver.com/...
• Rockstar Consortium will sell off most of its remaining patents in a move seen as a further de-escalation of the on-going patent war in the mobile sector - www.macobserver.com/...

Main Stories

• The BBC exposes abuses in Apple's supply chain, Apple Fights Back:
  • BBC releases "Apple's Broken Promises" as part of their Horizon documentary series - www.macobserver.com/...
  • Apple respond strongly - www.telegraph.co.uk/...
• The Apple+IBM Partnership yields its first apps - arstechnica.com/...
• EU App Store customers get free trials by the back door - all purchases (except for gift vouchers) can now be returned within 14 days for a no-questions-asked refund (brings Apple inline with EU directives) - arstechnica.com/...
• Apple Pay Momentum Continues:
  • More banks and retails sign up to Apple Pay - www.macobserver.com/...
  • Cards with Apple Pay support not represent 90% of US transaction volume - arstechnica.com/...
  • Disney World accepting Apple Pay from December 24th - www.macobserver.com/...
  • An Apple job posting hints at worldwide expansion of Apple Pay - www.macobserver.com/...
  • Rumours/Leaks suggest Apple is in negotiation with UK banks to bring Apple Pay to that country, but at least one bank appears to be reluctant to share the amount of information Apple is looking for - www.macobserver.com/...
  • RELATED - Samsung reported to be working on an Apple Pay competitor - recode.net/...
• The Business world honours Tim Cook:
  • The FT names Tim Cook person of the year - www.ft.com/...
  • CNN names Tim Cook CEO if the year - www.macobserver.com/...

Quick Stories

• Apple patch NTP bug in OS X automatically - this is the first time Apple have pushed an update to users systems pro-actively - arstechnica.com/...
• Apple adds PayPal support to online store - thenextweb.com/...
• Blackberry releases a 'new' phone - www.bbc.com/...
• TAG Heuer announces plans for a mechanical smart watch - www.macobserver.com/...