Uncommon Comparisons Between Apple’s App Store vs. Android’s Google Play [Infographic]::

The battle between iOS and Android has been a hallmark of the mobile device market for years – and the content stores for the two platforms are incredible competitive as well! But just how do they really compare? The folks over at Kinveyand  Beutler Ink have put together a great set of somewhat less common comparisons between the two stores – and they’ve compiled their findings in an easy-to-digest infographic!

From Kinvey:

Everyone likes a battle, and Apple’s App Store vs. Google Play is one of the more popular showdowns in tech. Every threshold crossed triggers a flurry of articles that pit one marketplace against the other. Which enjoys more downloads; which makes more money; which offers more apps. While these may be the most important metrics, they aren’t necessarily the most fun. So we found ourselves wondering about quirkier differences between the App Store and Google Play. What comparisons could we uncover that hint at the personalities of the app powerhouses?

A few tidbits from the comparison:

• In order to purchase Apple’s most expensive app (“VIP Black” for $999), you must verify assets or income in excess of £1 million before activating the service
• If you misspell “hotels” as “hotwls” in the App Store search, it returns 0 results, while Google Play returns 15,630
• 100% of iOS apps occasionally send unencrypted data (yet the public still perceives iOS as more secure than Android)
• Last year, the iPad experienced a 143% growth in revenue in Russia

Check it our for yourself below!

Full Scale image here

Kuo: iPhone 5S to be in Short Supply, Haswell iMacs and MacBook Pros, No New iPad Mini This Year::

9to5Mac reports that analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has issued a new report with his predictions for new products from Apple for the remainder of 2013. Kuo says the iPhone 5S will be in short supply, Apple will debut a budget iPhone, early September will see a new full-size iPad, but no new iPad mini model will appear until 2014. Kuo also sees new iMacs and MacBook Pros built upon Intel’s new Haswell platform debuting later this year.

iPhone

Kuo says the iPhone 5S will be in short supply at launch time. While some publications, DigiTimes, I’m looking at you, point to the much-rumored fingerprint sensor as the guilty party, Kuo merely says supply issues with new components will be to blame. He sees the iPhone 5S launching at the end of September, and supply beginning to free up by the October-November timeframe.

Kuo sees the budget iPhone with the plastic body arriving in early September, as it will be easier to produce than the iPhone 5S. The new model reportedly will have unspecified “novel” new features, have a price range between $450 and $550 off contract, and should cap at around 26 million units this year.

iPad

Kuo sees a redesigned fifth-generation full-sized iPad coming in early September, a thinner and lighter design is expected.

Kuo claims that Apple will not update the iPad mini this year, but he does see two new mini models in the pipeline. A Retina display model and a cheaper iPad mini with an A5 chip are on their way according to Kuo. The A5 model won’t launch until next year, says Kuo, due to production not beginning until December. He doesn’t see it as being much cheaper to produce than the current model.

Kuo says the Retina model will likely include an A7 chip, redesigned internal components, and will debut sometime in March/April 2014.

Mac

Kuo sees Haswell-related updates to both the MacBook Pro and iMac lineups this year. The new iMac should launch at the end of August, and the new Retina MacBook Pro models will reportedly see a mid-September launch window.

Researcher Says He Was the Apple Dev Portal Hacker – Says He Intended No ‘Harm or Damage’::

The “security researcher” who says he accessed encrypted data from Apple’s developer center says he meant no harm or damage, he merely wanted to see “how deep” he could go.

AppleInsider:

In a comment made on TechCrunch, Ibrahim Balic identified himself as a “security researcher” who attempted to point out serious issues to Apple about its Dev Center website. His comments came in response to an admission by Apple on Sunday that its developer website was hacked.

Balic says he found and reported 13 bugs to the company, and that he has no intention of accessing or using the encrypted data he obtained. Apple says the personal information on the registered developers is encrypted, and the company doesn’t believe the information can be accessed. However, Balic says he was able to obtain some user information as evidence to show Apple the apparent security flaw.

He claims to have taken the details of 73 users — all Apple employees — and forwarded them to the company as an example of the flaw.

Around 4 hours after Balic gave the user data to Apple, the company shut down its Developer Center website. The outage started on Thursday, and has continued ever since. Apple is reported to have been working “around the clock” to patch the security holes.

Balic’s comments are in an apparent effort to clear his name, as he’s “not feeling very happy” about how the situation has been portrayed, and he also fears legal action may be brought against him.

“I did not done this research to harm or damage,” Balic said in his comments. “I didn’t attempt to publish or have not shared this situation with anybody else. My aim was to report bugs and collect the datas for the porpoise (sic) of seeing how deep I can go within this scope.”

Samsung Shamelessly Rips Off Apple’s iPad mini Design With Galaxy Tab 3::

Once again proving that they’d rather copy Apple than innovate with their own products, Samsung has once again returned to ripping off Apple’s designs – and this time, they’ve set their sights on the iPad mini. As noted in the below image, highlighted by Obama Pacman (via The Loop, Daring Fireball), Samsung has copied Apple’s new slimmer bezel, which was introduced with the iPad mini, with their Galaxy Tab 3 device.

The site also makes the claim that the new thinner side bezel design is anything but obvious – Apple was the first to employ the design, and every other 7-8 inch tablet on the market that I’ve seen employs a thicker side bezel, resembling the original iPad. The below image puts things nicely in perspective:

Just in case anyone was wondering why Apple continues to be up in arms against Samsung (and why the ongoing lawsuit between the two companies has no end in sight), you need look no further. Apple significantly changed the design of smaller tablets, and Samsung quickly took advantage of Apple’s design changes in their own products.

This gem from the original post over at Obama Pacman is equally insightful and amusing:

For two years, Samsung slavishly copied the overall iPad design, including the screen to border ratio. But the Korean copying company didn’t understand the design philosophy behind the iPad borders.

The full sized iPad is designed with “thick” borders so that thumbs can grip the tablet without accidental taps. (Yes, people who did not try to print one of these full sized iPad papercraft mockups complained after Steve Jobs introduced the Apple tablet).

When you change the physical size of the device, the borders are no longer useful because it’s too narrow for most people’s fingers. But that was not “obvious” to the SameSung copy machine until Apple released the iPad mini.

Ouch. Great job, Samsung. One can’t help but think you enjoy getting reamed by Apple’s legal department…

Security Experts and Government Officials Testing iOS 7′s New Activation Lock Feature:

CNET reports that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón will today test Apple’s Activation Lock feature to see how it holds up against thieves.

MacRumors:

First introduced at WWDC, Activation Lock is designed to prevent Find My iPhone from being deactivated, which keeps stolen iPhones from being wiped and reactivated. The feature is included in iOS 7, which is expected to be released to consumers this fall.

Security experts from the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center are being brought in by Schneiderman and Gascón to make attempts to bypass Activation Lock to try and gain access to an iPhone. The same team will also test the Lojack for Android software on a Samsung Galaxy S4.

“While we are appreciative of the efforts made by Apple and Samsung to improve security of the devices they sell, we are not going to take them at their word,” Schneiderman and Gascón said in a joint statement. “Today we will assess the solutions they are proposing and see if they stand up to the tactics commonly employed by thieves.”

Schneiderman and Gascón have pushed for more stringent anti-theft measure from phone manufacturers after a spike in mobile device thefts. Both men have stated that they believe Activation Lock is an inadequate theft deterrent, and have urged Apple to implement a “kill switch” that would permanently disable a stolen iOS device.

Results of the Activation Lock and Lojack testing are expected to be released later today.

Nokia Officially Unveils the 41-Megapixel Lumia 1020 – Available July 26th at AT&T for $299:

To no one’s surprise, Nokia unveiled their next smartphone this morning, showing off the Lumia 1020 Windows Phone. The device will be available for $299 as of July 26th in the U.S., exclusively at AT&T. Other countries will see a release “this quarter.”

TNW:

On stage in NY, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop called this release “the next chapter in smartphone photography.” While photography is clearly the focus of this announcement, Nokia also touted the 1020′s video capabilities — it’s shake stabilization features in particular. The company also claims it has “reinvented zoom.”

The 1020 features a 41 megapixel Pureview sensor, with optical stabilization. Its 6-lens Zeiss optics, and xenon flash make it the centerpiece of the phone. The device can shoot still images at 38-megapixels in 4:3 and 16:9 aspect rations. While taking the high-res image, it also captures a 5-megapixel image to allow for easier sharing via messaging, email and social networks.

The Lumia 1020 also supports 1080p video capture, with 4x zoom and 6x at 720p. A 4.5-inch AMOLED display, 32GB of storage, and 2GB of RAM are also standard.

Nokia’s Lumia 1020 will exclusively debut on AT&T in the US for $299.99 with a two-year service contract. AT&T will begin taking preorders on July 16th, with the full launch following on July 26th. The device will be available in matte black, white, and yellow. For more information, visit www.att.com/Lumia1020.