According to an exclusive report from Reuters, Google CEO Larry Page and Apple CEO Tim Cook have been chumming it up,engaging in behind-the-scenes talks over each of their company’s intellectual properties. It wouldn’t be the worse idea we’ve heard and sure,we’d like to see Google rise up off the ground like a sleeping giant,crushing Apple with patent violations and injunction rulings,but offensive legal action isn’t typically how Good Guy Google plays ball.

Apparently,the two megacorps are simply keeping the lines of communication open, despite Apple’s trial win against Samsung last week over trade dress and design patents. It was said both CEO’s have spoken over the phone with future phone meetings scheduled for a later time. But it’s not just the chief executive officers,discussions are also being conducted by lower-level officials as well.

So what exactly is being discussed? Well,that can only be speculated. But in my mind’s eye I can see Larry Page making the first move, calling up Tim on his direct line,asking if there’s some kind of mutual middle ground that can be reached. Tim would respond with an astronomical number pulled out of thin air and perhaps that’s when the convo ended.

It’s been suggested Google should simply do what they can to quell Apple and get back to doing what they do best —innovating. I’d be inclined to agree but still,if there’s one thing I’ve learned about trolls from my short time writing on Android blog,it’s that sometimes they can’t be appeased… and a swift ban-hammer is the only way to deal with the situation.

Apple is actively investigating the possibility of allowing multiple user accounts for iPad users, a company developer has revealed. 

The iPad has traditionally been a one-per-user device in terms of iTunes accounts, apps, email and more, but the company is now looking to respond to fan and developer demands to have more than one log-in per iPad.

In an emailed reply to a developer from a member Apple’s Worldwide Developer Relations group, purportedly says the issue is known to the company and a solution could be in the works.

“After further investigation it has been determined that this is a known issue, which is currently being investigated by engineering,” the email reads.

Allowing more than one log-in would give each user their own set of applications as well as content from iTunes. Users could also log-in to their own Facebook and email accounts without the risk of snooping from other members of the household.

The response will also lead to speculation that Apple plans to introduce such a feature at WWDC on June 11 when the company is widely expected to launch iOS 6 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Sascha Segan writes that although Verizon adamantly denies steering customers away from Apple’s iPhones in favor of 4G LTE-enabled Android devices, he is convinced that Verizon has a strong reason to push buyers away from the iPhone. ‘Here’s the problem,’ writes Segan. ‘Verizon has spent millions of dollars rolling out its massive LTE network’ but the carrier can’t easily add capacity on its old 3G network. Since the iPhone isn’t a 4G, phone sales of Verizon iPhones just crowd up their already busy 3G network while their 4G network has plenty of space. ‘The iPhone is a great device. But it’s making a crowded network more crowded. Until the LTE iPhone comes along, to rebalance its network, Verizon may quietly push Android phones.

It’s always refreshing to hear the head of a major corporation cop to past mistakes — particularly in front of a large crowd of on-lookers. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson admitted some misgivings about the way the carrier handled iPhone data, telling a crowd at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in Los Angeles, “My only regret was how we introduced pricing in the beginning, because how did we introduce pricing? Thirty dollars and you get all you can eat.” Stephenson drove the point home by adding, “Every additional megabyte you use in this network, I have to invest capital.”

And, for the record, that certainly wasn’t the only thing about the iPhone that kept the exec up at night. Stephenson again,

You lie awake at night worrying about what is that which will disrupt your business model,” he said. “Apple iMessage is a classic example. If you’re using iMessage, you’re not using one of our messaging services, right?

No one ahead said it was easy being the chief.

Apple has been the subject of a number of provocative comments of late, including the Forrester CEO’s prophecy that Apple is doomed to fall into decline following the passing of the company’s co-founder and former head Steve Jobs.

The latest statements however come from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who told the technology news blog aNewDomain that he thinks the interface for Apple archrival Microsoft’s Windows Phone is more beautiful than that of Apple’s best-selling and much-lauded iPhone.
More Beautiful
“I’m shocked, every screen is much more beautiful than the same apps on Android and iPhone,” he said. “The iPhone has a lot of beauty and simplicity, and you don’t get lost as much in it, but it is more awkward to use (than Windows Phone 7.5 Mango). I’ll be carrying the Windows Phone with me almost everywhere.”

The comments kicked off an intense debate in the technology community, as gadget aficionados prepare for the impending release of the Windows 8 operating system and the expected launch of the iPhone 5 sometime this year. Wozniak later clarified his comments with a post about the interview that added a new dimension to the controversy, giving love to Apple and at the same time adding more provocative comments as to how the Windows Phone operating system came to be so polished.

“iPhone is my favourite phone. I did give my opinion that the Windows Phone had superior visual appearance and operation cues that were also more attractive. In my opinion, it sets the mark for user interface. I would recommend it over my Android phones, given that it doesn’t yet have the breadth of apps,” he wrote. “I surmise that Microsoft hired someone from Apple and put money into having a role in the UI and appearance of some key apps. I also surmised that Steve Jobs might have been reincarnated at MS due to a lot of what I see and feel with this phone, making me think of a lot of great Apple things.”
Apple Decline?
The comments come on the heels of a blog post by Forrester’s CEO George Colony, who compared Apple’s future to that of Sony, a tech giant that struggled to find a clear vision following the end of co-founder Akio Morita’s run at the company’s helm.

Colony, who wrote an 25 April blog post titled “Apple=Sony,” which concluded that without Jobs’ “singular charismatic leadership,” risk-taking prowess and “unparalleled ability to envision and design products,” the company was likely to coast for a period of 24 to 48 months, and then fall into decline.

The blog post has generated a serious online response, with many technology observers attacking its premise and its conclusions about Apple in the post-Jobs era.

While it’s hardly a surprise, Apple has removed the ability to search for Android apps from its recently-acquired Chomp service.

Back in February, Cupertino snapped-up the San Francisco-based start-up, with a view to improving application search and discovery within its own App Store.

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SInce then, the web-based version of the service has still allowed users to search for Android applications as well as iPhone and iPad apps.

Not anymore.

The Chomp application has also been removed from the Google Play store.

It is still unclear what Apple plans to do with Chomp long-term, but the company will surely find a way to integrate the tech within the App Store and perhaps improve Genius recommendations.

For as long as we can remember, there have been rumors circulating around the internets that Apple was going to build a low cost iPhone for cost sensitive consumers. Later we found out that Apple’s strategy to reach more users was to simply keep on selling the older models, but at a significant discount. Take the iPhone 3GS for example. When it launched in the summer of 2009 it cost $599 if you were buying it unlocked. Now it can be yours for around $380 straight from Apple’s website. But let’s be honest with ourselves, the low cost market is defined as devices that can be purchased for less than 200 EUR, which is roughly $265. How exactly is Apple going to enter that space? According to the China Times, Apple is definitely going to make a cheap iPhone this year, and we a theory as to how it’s going to happen.

Let’s assume for a moment that the next iPhone is called the iPhone 5. It likely won’t be, but whatever. Anyway, the iPhone 5 will have a larger screen. That’s pretty much confirmed. How much larger? Some say 4 inches, some say 4.6 inches … it really isn’t important. What’s important is that Apple will deviate from the 3.5 inch form factor they’ve maintained since they first demoed the Jesus Phone in January 2007. But why not keep the 3.5 inch form factor around and simply call it the iPhone nano? Instead of making the iPhone 3GS until the end of time, why not simply shove modern guts inside, redesign it so it’s thinner and sexier, and boom, there’s your low cost option. The larger iPhone become “the new iPhone”, and that’s that.

What do you think? Is such a scenario likely to take place? Would you want to stay with the low cost iPhone just because it’s smaller or would you man up and get the bigger model because you need to have the best hardware specifications available?