Apple to iPhone users: don’t cover that little line
Late Thursday, Apple responded to widespread complaints about bad reception on the just-released iPhone 4 with responses to me and others in the media. The bottom line: there’s a problem with the line on the bottom.
Numerous buyers said that when they held the phone in their hand naturally, the 3G cell signal faded or vanished entirely. They posted videos to the Web proving it, though others had no such issues. Read more
If you were lucky enough to get past the technical glitches on the first day of pre-order sales, then you are most likely a proud owner of an iPhone 4, which was shipped to the comfort of your home on today’s launch.
For those of you who chose in-store pick up, we wish you good luck.
Facebook beefs up policy staff
Facebook is tangling with regulators around the world these days, and the company’s porous privacy settings have not escaped the ire of officials in Washington, DC.
So in an effort to cope with what is sure to be more international scrutiny, Facebook has hired a White House official to work with its policy team inside the Beltway.
Marne Levine, currently chief of staff at the White House National Economic Council, will join the world’s largest social network as vice president of global public policy. In her new role, she will help build and manage policy teams in Asia, the Americas and Europe. Read more
Another day, another raft of new patent infringement lawsuits. Thursday saw Apple file new claims against Taiwan’s HTC, this time alleging that the smartphone maker infringed patents including the technology for the “slide to unlock” start screen. Read more
How much capacity does Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company need? The world’s biggest contract chipmaker is, after all, already planning to spend $4.8bn this year alone on capacity expansion.
The answer, according to Morris Chang, chairman and chief executive, is a lot more still. Addressing an audience of TSMC clients yesterday, Mr Chang laid out for the first time his approach towards capacity-building. The chip making industry, he said, often oscillates between two states of imbalance – either demand outstrips supply, or vice versa. Read more
Sweden’s EPiServer plans IPO
Little by little, European technology companies are trickling back onto the market. The latest planned addition is EPiserver, a Swedish company that makes software that helps companies build and run websites.
The company is planning a listing on the Stockholm stock exchange on June 30th, worth up to £28.8m ($43.2m) if all the shares are taken up. It could value the company at up to £62.9m. Not, then, exactly a technology titan. However, the listing is encouraging for several reasons. Read more
Is this man the future of advertising?
Well, no, probably not. He’s just an American ad agency guy who is in Cannes filming himself doing anything – anything – the internet tells him to, with all the results pumped out live online.
The FT first encountered David Perez – or David On Demand as he has become this week – on the Croisette on Tuesday evening, as the gentlefolk of Cannes headed to the opening-night party, having his hair shaved. “The internet has been really mean to me today,” he wailed. The Leo Burnett planner from Chicago has also had the Twitter fail whale tattooed onto his arm.
David is a walking definition of “earned media” – the phrase agencies use to describe social-network chatter, as opposed to bought media (advertising) or owned media (companies’ own websites). And online at least, he is the talk of Cannes. Read more
Why Viacom ruling could take YouTube to profitability
The judge who today threw out Viacom’s $1bn copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube may just have given the video site the final lift it needs to reach profitability.
That is the less-noted result of judge Louis Stanton’s decision to grant a motion for summary judgment in the case. The reason: he has given YouTube an emphatic green light to start placing adverts against a much wider range of videos on its site. Read more
eBay acquires RedLaser
EBay just bought the hottest e-commerce app in the App Store.
RedLaser, which lets users scan product barcodes with their iPhone camera and then compare prices online, has been downloaded more than 2m times.
With eBay’s acquisition for an undisclosed price, it will be folded into eBay’s robust mobile portfolio and become free (it was $1.99). RedLaser technology will be incorporated into eBay’s existing shopping apps, and eBay listings will show up in RedLaser results. Read more
Early review – Droid X factor is HTC Evo-lution
As lines began to form for the iPhone 4 outside Apple stores on Wednesday, Motorola and Verizon Wireless tried to steal a little of the limelight with their unveiling of the next-generation Droid X.
However, the new smartphone seems more of a competitor to another Android phone – the HTC Evo, sold by Sprint. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
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