January 28, 2010 :: Posted by - SoSly :: Category - News

When Apple formally introduced its touchscreen tablet as the iPad Wednesday, it was not the first tech product to carry that moniker — Fujitsu released its own mobile, touchscreen ‘iPAD’ in 2002.

Speaking with The New York Times, Masahiro Yamane, director of public relations for Fujitsu, said it is the company’s understanding that they still own the name ‘iPad.’ Fujitsu is currently consulting with its lawyers over the next steps it may take.

It could become a similar situation to 2007, when Apple formally introduced the iPhone, only to be sued days later by Cisco, which owned the rights to the name. The Linksys iPhone was released just three weeks before the Apple iPhone was introduced at the Macworld San Francisco keynote in early January 2007. Read more…

January 19, 2010 :: Posted by - SoSly :: Category - News

New evidence suggests that Apple may in fact name its tablet, the iPad.

Recently, MacRumors discovered that Apple had acquired iSlate.com. TechCrunch then dug deeper and found that iSlate is a registered trademark of what is likely a dummy corporation used by Apple. Until now the name iSlate seemed the most likely candidate for Apple’s new device.

However, recent findings reveal that another name, iPad, may be the name of Apple’s imminent tablet.

A search in the Canadian trademark database reveals that Apple’s dummy corporation Slate Computing, LLC also applied for a trademark for “iPad” under the categories of handheld mobile digital electronic devices with a broad range of applications. This application was filed in July 2009 — much more recently than the original iSlate trademarks which date back to 2006-2007. Slate Computing, LLC did not apply for a similar trademark in the U.S. due to the fact that Fujitsu appears to control the U.S. trademark as it relates to handheld computing. Read more…

September 22, 2009 :: Posted by - SoSly :: Category - News

Live in Australia? Have an iPhone? Do you use the iPhone’s built-in Maps app, Navigon, or TomTom [iTunes links] to navigate? If you answered yes to all three of those questions, then I have some bad news for you: under the Australian Road Rule 8th Amendment, all use of the iPhone in your car is soon to be banned unless you buy a cradle for it, including using it as a GPS navigator.

An article from the Sydney Morning Herald initially makes it sound as though you won’t be able to use such apps at all, especially after reading this quote from a spokesperson for VicRoads, the traffic authority for the Australian state of Victoria: “A phone will only be allowed to be used for its primary purpose. If it’s a phone, it’s a phone.” But once you read farther down the article states, “Drivers will only be able to use mobile phones if they are placed Read more…