Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2012/04/13/quotw_ending_april_13/
'Selling your citizens to foreigner is not acceptable!'
Plus: 'This will be the most significant iPhone upgrade'
Posted in Bootnotes, 13th April 2012 09:23 GMT
QuotW This was the week when flagging Finnish phone firm Nokia had a few fumbles.
First, its US Lumia 900 launch didn't go quite as smoothly as it had hoped, when excited American early adopters who rushed out to snap up the mobe on the first weekend found a wireless data bug.
Nokia quickly said that models were now being manufactured with a fix, that a patch for existing phones is coming soon but they'll exchange them if you want, and American consumers who bought one before 21 April on an AT&T two-year deal will get a $100 rebate on their AT&T bill. Which is a lot, since the smartphone costs $99.99 on a two-year AT&T contract.
Before the firm could even draw breath after that snafu, it had to announce a revision to its first quarter results, since it is now expecting lower profits for the start of this year. The news sent Nokia shares sliding by 16 per cent on Wednesday and they haven't recovered since.
This was also the week when Apple's new iPad was facing a slew of complaints from frustrated fanbois over the fondleslab's "unstable" 3G and 4G connectivity.
Cupertino forum threads are full of "Me, too!" answers to posts about the tablet's dodgy connections.
One discussion-starter said:
3G icon is visible and signal is strong but safari tells no connection (other programs don't have connection as well). Switching to airplane mode and back doesnt help and reset (off and on) always helps, but problem appears again after some period.
Users from Russia, Poland, Norway, Australia, the Czech Republic and elsewhere all answered: "Same here".
And if you thought that the launch of the new iPad might mean a let-up in the onslaught of Apple rumours, think again! This week, it's all about the iPhone 5, which (stop the presses!) will have a unibody casing like the MacBook Pro. Ooooooh!
Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White reckons:
This will be the most significant iPhone upgrade with a four-inch screen and a new, sleek look that we believe will require a Unibody case. This new, sleek look will be the most important reason that consumers decide to upgrade.
Apple was also making headlines over its current legal troubles, namely the US Department of Justice's decision to sue the fruity firm along with five publishers over alleged ebook price-fixing.
The DoJ reckons that when the six firms moved over the agency pricing model, where the publishers set the prices and the reseller gets a percentage, they also agreed between them what prices should be in that model.
In its filing, the department claimed:
Together, Apple and the Publisher Defendants reached an agreement whereby retail price competition would cease (which all the conspirators desired), retail ebook prices would increase significantly (which the Publisher Defendants desired), and Apple would due guaranteed a 30 per cent commission on each ebook it sold (which Apple desired).
The court document also alleged that the publishers, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Macmillan, Penguin and HarperCollins, and Apple had many chats to organise this conspiracy, in person and via email, and took steps to "avoid leaving a paper trail".
And speaking of legal matters, Twitter, which was probably feeling a bit left out of all the patent litigation, has filed suit against five firms for selling tools that send out spam tweets and clog up its network.
TweetAttacks, TweetAdder and TweetBuddy, plus James Lucero of Justinlover.info and Garland Harris of Troption.com are all in the little blue bird's line of fire.
Twitter said on its blog:
With this suit, we're going straight to the source. By shutting down tool providers, we will prevent other spammers from having these services at their disposal. Further, we hope the suit acts as a deterrent to other spammers, demonstrating the strength of our commitment to keep them off Twitter.
In the UK, BT said it was upping broadband speeds for its Infinity customers, following in the footsteps of a Virgin upgrade not too long ago. However, BT Infinity customers don't just get to sit back and await high speed surfing any minute now – they have to sign up to a new contract to get the faster uploads and downloads.
A BT spokesperson explained to The Reg:
The customer will first need to order a regrade from the company before extending their contract to another 12 or another 18 months. The new term starts from when we upgrade their service.
Meanwhile a Virgin spokesperson sneered:
This is good news for Britain that BT is trying to 'Keep Up' with Virgin Media ... We've now completed our roll-out of 100Mbit/s to 13 million homes and now we're boosting our customers' speeds up to 120Mbps – that’s some 50 per cent faster than BT's top speed.
Also here in Blighty, Anonymous hit government websites with disruptive denial of service attacks and traffic-flooding assaults to protest the extraditions of Gary McKinnon, Christopher Harold Tappin and TVShack's Richard O'Dwyer.
All three are going to be handed over to the US to face various computer crime charges, which has caused controversy in the UK over why they can't face trial there.
Anonymous (Anon_Central) tweeted:
#OpTrialAtHome, because selling your citizens to foreigner is not acceptable! We are #Anonymous, We do not forget, We do not forgive. #UK
The hacktivist group also promised more attacks on sites like the Home Office, the official website of the UK prime minister, number10.gov.uk, the UK's Ministry of Justice and GCHQ.
UKAnonymous2012 tweeted:
#OpTrialAtHome EXPECT US...!!! Every Saturday as this is just the beginning KEEP FIRING.
®