Apple to Launch Its First Wearable Device in October: Reports

Apple is preparing to sell its first wearable device this October, aiming to produce 3 million to 5 million units a month in its initial run, the Nikkei reported on Friday, citing an unidentified parts supplier and sources familiar with the matter.

Specifications are still being finalised, but the devices are likely to sport curved OLED (organic light-emitting diode) displays and sensors that collect health data from blood glucose and calorie consumption to sleep activity, the Japanese news service cited industry sources as saying.

Though the details of services have yet to be released, specs for the new product are being finalised, according to industry sources. It will likely use a curved organic light-emitting diode (OLED) touchscreen and collect health-related data, such as calorie consumption, sleep activity, blood glucose and blood oxygen levels. It will also allow users to read messages sent by smartphones.

Apple appears confident of the new product. According to a parts manufacturer, it plans monthly commercial output of about 3-5 million units, which exceeds the total global sales of watch-like devices last year. This confidence is backed by its partnerships with high-profile hospitals - it has teamed up with the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic, U.S. health institutes based in Minnesota and Ohio, respectively, to develop specific ways of analysing the collected data and applying it to actual health management.

Meanwhile, a report in Re/code corroborates this view:

People familiar with Apple's plans tell Code/red the company hopes to schedule a special event that month to show off the device, which is designed to make good use of the HealthKit health and fitness information-gathering app it recently showed off at WWDC. Could things change between now and fall? That's certainly possible. But right now October is the target date.

(Also See: Apple's Medical Talent Hiring Spree Hints at iWatch, Wearable Plans)

The industry has long expected Apple to unveil some sort of smartwatch, following the release ofSamsung Electronics' Galaxy Gear watches.

Wall Street is hoping to see a new Apple product this year to galvanise the former stock market darling's share price and end a years-long drought of ground-breaking devices. CEO Tim Cook has promised "new product categories" in 2014.

Apple Unveils HealthKit Platform for Mobile-Based Health Apps

Apple Inc took the wraps off a mobile application that can collect and analyze users' health data, part of a suite of new features outlined for its computing and mobile software, at its annual developers' conference on Monday. Called "Healthkit," it will pull together data such as blood pressure and weight, collected by a growing plethora of healthcare apps on the iPhone or iPad, Apple executives told developers.
The company will work in tandem with Nike Inc, a major player in fitness tracking, and the Mayo Clinic on the new feature, which will be included with the latest versions of Apple's mobile software.
"That information lives in silos," said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering. "You can't get a single comprehensive picture."
Apple, which will discuss new software features with the thousands of developers gathered in San Francisco this week, did not elaborate on Healthkit's features and capabilities.
The news follows arch-rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's announcement last week of a mobile health-data store called SAMI (Samsung Architecture Multimodal Interactions).
It is unclear how Apple will promote Healthkit. Samsung plans to market SAMI by hosting a developer challenge and setting aside a $50 million fund for early-stage digital health entrepreneurs.

Courtship
Monday's event in downtown San Francisco, an annual pilgrimage of sorts for the large and growing Apple developer community, was short of major surprises.
Apple has one of the most dedicated software communities in the tech industry, with more than 9 million registered developers. Every year, the iPhone maker and rival Google Inc, whose Android mobile devices comprise an estimated four-fifths of all smartphones sold globally, show the latest software enhancements to thousands of prospective developers.
Chief Executive Tim Cook, opening Apple's conference on Monday, said the iPhone maker has sold more than 800 million mobile devices. Some 130 million customers bought their first Apple mobile device in the past 12 months, he added.
Apple described how its latest "Yosemite" Mac software, which comes on the heels of its well-reviewed "Mavericks" release, will come with a new Internet storage application, and allow users to pick up calls and see text messages relayed to iPhones.
Computer users would also be able to call up maps, search for information or look up documents by typing directly onto their home screens

Apple developing 12-inch MacBook without fan assembly

If new rumours are to be believed, Apple may soon release refreshed MacBook Air notebooks, may be planning a new type of 12-inch notebook, may keep the release of updated MacBook Pro notebooks for later this year, and may not announce its iWatch anytime soon.

The speculated information comes from an established tipster on Weiphone.com forum, as discovered by MacRumours . The tipster says Apple is working on a 12-inch notebook with a button-less trackpad, and without a fan assembly. This last detail indicates the 12-inch model will be a part of the ultra-slim MacBook Air line-up.

As the report points out, Ming-Chi Kuo, a KGI Securities analyst, predicted the same back in October 2013 supporting the rumours regarding the 12-inch notebook.

"We expect the unprecedented 12" model will boast both the portability of the 11" model, and productivity of the 13" model. The high resolution display will also offer the outstanding visual experience of the Retina MacBook Pro. The offering will likely be lighter and slimmer than the existing MacBook Air to further highlight ease of portability in the cloud computing era," Kuo had said.

The 12-inch notebook's trackpad is said to be button-less, packed with sensors and an actuator to mirror the functions of the current trackpad. This information, as the report notes, goes in line with therecent patent acquired by Apple that describes how the button-less trackpad would work.

The tipster adds that while Apple will be releasing the refreshed version of its MacBook Air notebooks soon, it won't release the new MacBook Pro models until September this year.

Speaking of Apple's rumoured iWatch device, the tipster says that while the smartwatch is real, it is still in the prototype stage and won't be announced anytime soon

Apple loses bid for permanent ban on Samsung smartphone sales in the US

A U.S. judge on Thursday rejected Apple's request for a permanent sales ban in the United States against some older Samsung smartphones, a key setback for the iPhone maker in its global patent battle.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, ruled that Apple Inc had not presented enough evidence to show that its patented features were a significant enough driver of consumer demand to warrant an injunction.

Apple and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd have been litigating for nearly three years over various smartphone features patented by Apple, such as the use of fingers to pinch and zoom on the screen, as well as design elements such as the phone's flat, black glass screen.

Apple was awarded more than $900 million by U.S. juries but the iPhone maker has failed to sustain a permanent sales ban against its rival, a far more serious threat to Samsung, which earned $7.7 billion last quarter.

The ruling on Thursday comes ahead of another patent trial set to begin later this month involving newer Samsung phones, and could frustrate any further attempt by Apple to bar the sales of those models as well.

(Also see: Apple wins $1 billion in patent case against Samsung)

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on the order.

In a statement, Samsung said it was pleased with the ruling. "We ... agree with its observation that a few software features alone don't drive consumer demand for Samsung products - rather consumers value a multitude of features," the company said.

Even though Samsung no longer sells the older-model phones targeted by the injunction request, Apple has argued in court documents that such an order is important to prevent Samsung from future copying with new products "not more colorably different" than the defunct models.

Samsung, meanwhile, argued that Apple was trying to target new Samsung phones in order to instill fear and uncertainty among carriers and retailers.

Samsung's phones use the Android operating system, developed by Google Inc .

A Northern California jury found that Samsung infringed several Apple patents after a widely watched 2012 trial. Following the trial, Koh rejected Apple's request for a sales ban, but in November, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ordered her to reconsider Apple's evidence of market demand.

(Also see: Apple seeks ban on Samsung phones, tablets in the US)

In her ruling on Thursday, Koh wrote that a consumer survey by Apple likely inflated the value that customers place on the patented smartphone features in dispute.

"A multitude of other survey evidence not prepared for the purpose of litigation," Koh wrote, "indicates that numerous features that were not tested - such as battery life, MP3 player functionality, operating system, text messaging options, GPS, and processor speed - are highly important to consumers."

Apple must demonstrate more than an insignificant amount of lost sales due to Samsung's copying, Koh wrote, and Apple's survey is "unpersuasive" evidence on that point.

In a separate order, Koh entered final judgment against Samsung for about $930 million in damages stemming the 2012 jury finding of patent infringement. Samsung said it would appeal that decision.

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is Apple Inc vs Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, 11-1846