In a world awash with Apple iPhones, Samsung Galaxys and Nokia Lumias – not to mention scores of Asian tech garofalo fish feeding at the global feet of smartphone sales – can the launch of a new BlackBerry still knock it out of the park for Research in Motion? E&T has the latest on the UK launch of the BlackBerry z10.
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RIM banking on BlackBerry 10
With the world positively agog at the release by Apple of its iPhone 5, and with similar gadgets from the likes of Nokia and Samsung wowing the masses lately, it seemed an apposite moment to share this graphic about the issue of conflict minerals potentially used in their production.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has ruled that companies like Apple must scrutinise the sources of four metals used in the production of such shiny high-tech trinkets and baubles as the iPhone 5, in order to determine that human rights abuses are not being committed during their mining. Tin, Tantalum, Gold and Tungsten are the four metals in question.
Click on the graphic for an expanded view.
Conflict minerals in smart phones
We’ve just uploaded a Special Report (note grandiose use of Title Case, it’s that good) on the future of mobile phones, featuring fantastic forecasts from famed futurologist Jonathan Mitchener. Plus this cool period photo of Captain James T Kirk looking snappy in mustard polyester. Check it out!
"When will I finally be allowed to make another record?"
‘iPhone brings Star Trek to the modern world’ claims the Times story headline:
Apple has placed video calling at the centre of its new iPhone, [a feature that] that got the 5,000 crowd at the Worldwide Developers Conference most excited. Steve Jobs, founder and chief executive of Apple, introduced the new service to whoops of delight when he called to Jony Ive, the company’s British-born designer. “I grew up with The Jetsons and Star Trek, just dreaming about video calling. Now it’s real,” Mr Jobs said.
However, as any Trekkie know, the handheld devices features in the cult sci-fic series were not actually videocall-capable, as better-informed people at Trekmovie.com make clear, but it did show a kind of desktop videocalling system. And the same applies to The Jetsons:
What goes best with a lawsuit? Why, a counter lawsuit, of course. Those wacky hair-trigger litigators of America have been at it again, as Nokia sues Apple and Apple sues Nokia right back. What’s it all about? Good question, glad you asked. Patent infringement. You know how it is: one gadget dude comes out with something spiffy and another gadget dude claims that actually they invented half the cool stuff in the other gadget dude’s spiffy new device, so he gets the US International Trade Commission in to decide who’s right and who’s wrong.
And so it is with Apple vs Nokia, the big smartphone smackdown. Nokia started it last October, sueing Apple over the iPhone allegedly using its patented technologies without paying for them. Apple failed to see the funny side and countersued Nokia, claiming that some of Nokia’s mobile devices infringe upon nine Apple patents. Where does it go from here? Only the ITC and a platoon of highly paid lawyers can decide. [JW]
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