Apple iPad 3 expected on 7 March following press event

Apple has announced an event on 7 March at which the company is expected to launch its latest iPad tablet.

Source BBC. 

possibly the new apple device

Invitations sent to journalists read: "We have something you really have to see. And touch."

While not officially confirming the product's launch, the message was accompanied by an image showing what looked to be an iPad touchscreen.

The iPad range, which first launched in 2010, has sold over 50 million units worldwide. It is not yet known when the new device will be available for sale. Last year, sales of the iPad 2 began in the US nine days after the launch announcement - which also took place in March.

Apple's first two versions of the iPad transformed the market for tablet computers and made it one of the fastest-growing sectors of the computer industry.

Patent woes

However, recently Apple's dominant position in the tablet market has been challenged by a string of tablets powered by Google's Android operating system.

Later this year, industry experts expect a new category of tablet devices powered by Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 8 operating system.

Microsoft will announce details for the consumer versions of Windows 8 at an event in Barcelona on Wednesday evening.

The tablet market - just like the smartphone market - has been subject to intense patent wars chiefly between Apple and its key challenger Samsung.

Apple is also embroiled in a dispute over the naming rights for the iPad with Asian electronics firm Proview.

Mobile firms announced new GSMA app privacy guidelines.

Some of Europe's biggest mobile phone companies have signed up to new privacy guidelines published by the GSMA.

private information apps access

The body which represents mobile operators hopes it will help users understand what personal information apps may "access, collect and use".

Several companies have said they are starting to implement the guidelines in apps they produce. The policy's publication follows concern that some apps were using customer data without permission.

Anxieties about smartphone app privacy were raised after the makers of Path and Hipster apps admitted uploading user contact data without explicit consent - they later apologised and changed their software.

Twitter also updated its privacy policy over concerns about how its mobile app used address book information. And recent reports have lead to similar fears about the way other some other apps accessed private information. "Consumers will ultimately seek out companies that pro-actively work to create a privacy-respecting experience," the spokesperson added.

Building privacy

The GSMA says the guidelines encourage the development of apps that respect "privacy by design". For example, before a phone user activates an application they should be told "what personal information an application will access, collect and use" and they should also be told "with whom it will be shared and for what purpose".

The guidance also covers how social networking apps retain data including when a user wishes to leave a service. The guidance states that users "must be able to delete their accounts, resulting in complete removal of all personal information and any content posted". The list of companies who said they were implementing the guidelines included Orange, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom.

But the guidelines only apply to their own apps. The GSMA said it hoped other app developers would apply the new principles.

"We strongly encourage all parties to consider the guidelines and how they might apply them in the interests of helping mobile users become familiar with the privacy implications of apps," a spokesperson said.

That was a view echoed by privacy campaigners.

"These guidelines are a good resource for app developers," a spokeswoman for Privacy International. "However, this is just the first step. We need the Big Three - Google, Apple and Microsoft - to develop technical solutions that prevent apps from having unwarranted access to personal information in the first place.

iPad trademark row Apple 'deception' alleged in Proview

Asian electronics firm Proview has accused Apple of "deception" in the way it acquired rights to the iPad name.

iPad UK Application Development

In Californian court filings, Proview claims Apple created a UK-registered "special purpose company", IP Application Development Ltd (IPADL).

The court papers allege that IPADL said the trademark was needed because "it is an abbreviation for the company name". Proview is seeking damages and to void a 2009 deal in which it sold its rights to the trademark for $55,000 (£35,000). A month after that deal, the court documents note, Apple launched the iPad. IPADL is also named as a defendant in the case, which represents a new front in a continuing legal battle between the two firms over ownership of the name.

Proview told the BBC the action followed an "extensive investigation". Apple has reiterated a statement accusing Proview of refusing to honour the trademark agreement.

IPAD or iPad?

The case filed by Proview Electronics in the Superior Court of California in Santa Clara on 17 February is a "complaint for fraud". The company is seeking damages, costs, the voiding of the 2009 trademark sale, and a ruling preventing Apple from using the iPad trademark.

Proview said it registered a number of iPad-related trademarks as a result of developing an "internet appliance" of the same name. In August 2000, technology news site Cnet described the device as, "an all-in-one internet terminal with a built-in 15-inch colour monitor".

'Misrepresented'

In court filings, Proview claims that in August 2009 Apple's lawyers created a "special purpose entity" - a UK-registered firm called IP Application Development Ltd (IPADL) with the sole purpose "to obtain the iPad trademarks while obscuring the relationship between Apple and the acquisition". It also accuses IPADL's agent of representing himself as Jonathan Hargreaves in emails when he was, the company alleges, later revealed to be an individual called Graham Robinson.

Mr Robinson works for a UK-based film specializing in intellectual property issues. It declined to comment on the case.

Proview refuses to honour their agreement with Apple in China and a Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in this matter”

Apple spokesman

Proview claims IPADL's agents "intentionally misrepresented" why they needed the trademark by claiming that the firm wanted the trademark because it "is an abbreviation for the company name", and would not use the trademark to compete with Proview.

In an email quoted in the filings "Jonathan Hargreaves" wrote to Proview's Timothy Lo: "I can assure you that the company will not compete with Proview."

International dispute

This latest case follows a series of legal actions in China which have disputed Apple's right to use the iPad trademark in that country. The BBC asked Proview to explain why it had taken until now to bring this action in the US. Spokesperson Cal Kenney said: "The US legal action commenced well within the statute of limitations, after an extensive investigation and thorough due diligence."

In response to inquiries from the BBC, Apple reiterated a statement it had previously given in connection with cases being fought in China: "We bought Proview's worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 different countries several years ago.

"Proview refuses to honour their agreement with Apple in China and a Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in this matter. Our case is still pending in mainland China."

The company declined to make any further comment.

Oxfam's Shelf life links goods with past using QR Codes

Oxfam is trying out a mobile phone scheme called Shelf life that lets customers find out the stories behind second-hand goods it sells.

The Shelflife app

A Shelf life phone app links stories and pictures provided by donors to tags attached to the goods.

Browsers in Oxfam shops can scan the tags using the app to find out about an individual item's past.

The charity believes it can sell things more easily when they have stories attached to them.

"Someone might donate a record and add that it was the song that they danced to at their wedding to its tag," said Oxfam's Emma Joy.

"We hope the pilot will prove that items with stories are more valuable and establish the monetary value of a story," she said.

'Social museum'

Shelf life uses technology developed for a project called Tales of Things and Electronic Memory (Totem), a collaboration of academics at five UK universities. Totem has built a database of more than 6,000 objects which have been linked to their stories with tags.

Each Totem object has its own Twitter account, and tweets are sent out automatically to an object's "followers" every time its tag is scanned or new information is added to its story.

"We want to make every Oxfam shop into an interactive social museum," said Andrew Hudson-Smith, director of the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London and a contributor to the Totem project.

"Second-hand goods are essentially meaningless, but when they are tagged we give them meaning," he said. The Shelf life system uses QR Codes - black and white patterns designed to be read easily by mobile phones - printed on tags. The Totem project has supplied Oxfam with 10,000 tags with unique QR Codes for the Shelf life trial.

Oxfam customers use the Shelf life iPhone app - a similar Android app is in the works - to read the QR Codes and find out about an item or add to its history.

Oxfam is trying out Shelf life at 10 shops around Manchester, and the charity hopes to extend it to all of its shops if, as Oxfam expects, the pilot scheme shows that adding stories to them makes them more valuable. Shelf life will also be used to add stories to new products that Oxfam sells in its shops.

Nokia reveals 41MP camera phone MWC 2012

A 41-mega pixel Nokia smartphone was among the new technology on show during the opening day of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Nokia say the 808 will set a "new industry standard" for mobile imaging 

The 808 Pureview offers enhanced low-light performance as well as sophisticated image compression designed to help users share pictures.

Nokia hopes to regain ground lost to Google and Apple in the mobile market.

However, some have criticised Nokia's decision to use its own operating system, Symbian, on the device.

Nokia's other smartphones typically run on Microsoft's Windows Phone software.

Symbian, which first appeared on Nokia phones in the 90s, is widely regarded as inferior to the app and social media-driven Windows Phone system.

"The Pureview 808's Symbian Belle operating system might detract from its appeal to a broader market, where it deserves recognition," said Tony Cripps, a principal analyst with Ovum.

"It's a pity that Nokia was unable to combine the photographic prowess of the PureView 808 with the style of the Lumia 900.

"Such a device may well have been the first smartphone to truly deserve the title of 'superphone'."

'Breathtaking'

Nokia claims the 808 sets a "new industry standard" in mobile imaging devices.

"People will inevitably focus on the 41 megapixel sensor," said Jo Harlow, executive vice-president of Nokia smart devices.

"But the real quantum leap is how the pixels are used to deliver breathtaking image quality at any resolution and the freedom it provides to choose the story you want to tell."

The BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones said he expected some consumers would be surprised over the choice of platform.

"Nokia's put this on a Symbian phone, which will seem strange to people," he said.

"It's also pretty chunky, pretty heavy - but it does take amazing pictures."

China push

Also on show were new models in the company's Lumia range - including the 610, a cheaper device aimed at a "younger audience".

The firm also announced it plans to make the Lumia available in China "in the coming months".

Nokia's chief executive Stephen Elop said that introducing the cameraphone and entry-level smartphone were "the actions necessary to improve the fortunes of Nokia".

Once the mobile world's dominant player, Nokia has struggled to compete as sales of Google and Apple devices have soared in recent years.

Last month Nokia announced it was to stop manufacturing mobile phones in Europe, instead relocating to Asia at a cost of 4,000 jobs.