The Microsoft patent covers technology for “generating meeting requests and group scheduling from a mobile device.” Motorola can avoid the import ban by removing the technology in question or reaching a licensing agreement with Microsoft.
The import bans follows an earlier ruling last December that 18 of Motorola’s devices, including the Atrix and Droid smartphones as well as the Xoom tablet infringed, infringed the patent which Micrsoft says is related to its ActiveSync technology.
However the ruling may not be implemented immediately as it is subject to a 60-day presidential review by the ITC.
Technology patent analyst Florian Mueller says he thinks Motorola Mobility will end up licensing with Microsoft to settle the issue.
“I believe it won't take too long before Motorola will join many other device makers who have taken a license to Microsoft's many Android-related patents, such as Samsung (the undisputed market leader), HTC, and LG,” Mueller said in a blog post. “According to Microsoft, more than 70 percent of all Android smartphones sold in the United States now have a license to its patent portfolio. Motorola is the only Android device maker to be embroiled in litigation with Microsoft at this stage.”
The ITC dismissed an appeal by Google, which cited public interest considerations, against the ban. Google of course doesn’t want a ban on products that run its Android software. And more specific to this case, Google announced its massive $12.5 purchase of Motorola Mobility last year, but the deal is still waiting final approval by China’s antitrust regulators.
Mueller notes Google’s Android faces additional patent infringement claims, including from Motorola, that could threaten its free distribution model.
“Google can't impose its vision of everything being nominally free of charge (but advertising-financed) on the entire technology industry,” said Mueller. “It will ultimately have to play by the same rules as everyone else, and either have to respect other parties' intellectual property or pay for it, depending on the specifics of each case. Given that Microsoft is a licensing-oriented patent holder, it shouldn't be too hard to work out a deal with them.”
But unlike the notebook and PC areas, where Microsoft’s hardware partners compete effectively against Apple products on price, tablets are a different game.
The first iPad was released in 2010 at $499 (well below what many analysts had expected) and Apple’s maintained that price through two successive generations while keeping the iPad 2 on the market at an even lower $399.
Several reports this week indicate the first Windows 8 tablets won’t be price competitive with the iPad, though it’s not known how much more they might cost. From an IT perspective, a $599-$699 price range might not be a deal killer and Apple charges quite a bit more for iPad models with additional storage and cellular connectivity. For example, the 32GB iPad is $599 and the same model with cellular is $729.
Windows 8 tablets built on the ARM processor will also include a version of Microsoft’s Office suite.
The research firm IHS is forecasting an average selling price of $610 for ARM-based tablets, but analyst Rhoda Alexander says there’s a lot of leeway there.
“You’ll see a whole spread of price points higher and lower. And I expect some vendors will keep their price low to match the iPad even if it means a tighter profit margin,” Alexander told TabTimes. “There’s no question Microsoft wants products out there, media tablets that are priced competitively and we expect prices to drop quickly after the first release.”
Digitimes, a Taiwan-based publication that tracks supply chain manufacturers, says Windows 8 tablet makers are having trouble keeping costs down for 7- and 10-inch models. The target price for the total bill of materials is $150-$200 and $300-$350 for the two models, but the Digitimes article claims Microsoft’s licensing fee is pushing it higher than that.
However, Digitimes has a spotty track record and its claim that Microsoft is demanding a license fee of $90-$100 for Windows 8 has been called into question since Microsoft reportedly only charges about $50 for PC licenses and $30 for Windows Phone 7 devices.
Whatever the case, it is a cost Apple doesn’t have to incur for its internally developed iOS. Likewise, Android is licensed free to smartphone and tablet makers.
Analyst Nathan Brookwood says the higher license fee, if true, could be a function of the fact that Microsoft is including Office. The bigger issue from his perspective is how high Windows 8 tablets will be priced.
“If I look at an iPad for $499 and a Windows 8 tablet is $599, well, if I need Office on that device maybe I can rationalize it. It could be a non-issue for IT, unless they have a better volume licensing deal with Microsoft already,” said Brookwood, who heads the Insight64 research firm.
“When you’re coming into an established market it’s pretty important to match the leader’s pricing or have some really compelling story as to why you don’t,” he added. “Outside of bundling Office, Windows 8 tablets clearly don’t have that story.”
Cisco’s IBSG Horizon Study was released earlier this week, and took in the opinions of 600 IT and business leaders in the US on the ascent of workers bringing their own smartphones and tablets into the workplace.
And as to be expected, there were some strong figures in support for BYOD, with 95% of organizations allowing employee-owned devices in some form in the workplace, and 76% admitting that BYOD was great for businesses, even if it remains slightly challenging for IT departments.
Additional claims indicated that the average number of connected devices per worker is due to increase from 2.8 in 2012, to 3.3 by 2014, and suggested that around 40% of respondents said that having a choice over their device was the main reason employees want to use their smartphones and tablets at work. Cisco workers, in particular, are pretty keen on the bring-your-own-device trend, and are willing to spend $600 on average to purchase personal devices to help them work.
There was further good news for business owners too, with Cisco's research highlighting that businesses can save anywhere between $600 and $1,300 per employee, simply by migrating to a BYOD program.
However, despite all the acclaim for the trend, Cisco recognized in its report that this trend can be problematic for IT departments, with security and privacy the two big issues, along with the need for IT to support a collection of different mobile platforms. Furthermore, another issue would seem to revolve around who pays the service costs for these personally-owned devices, with Cisco stating that only 14% of BYOD costs relate to hardware.
Cisco stresses a key factor in the success of BYOD depends on IT departments being able to manage and track these personally-owned smartphones and tablets.
"As the number of devices being brought into work increases, organizations need a comprehensive mobility strategy," said Padmasree Warrior, senior VP and CTO for Cisco, in a statement.
The tablet is a good $34 cheaper than what we thought was the previous cheapest Android 4.0 tablet, the $99 Novo7 slate from Chinese rival Ainol, and has just launched in China. It is not yet known when this tablet will tip up in the US and Europe.
In terms of specifications, HuaYi’s tablet has a basic 800 x 480 resolution multi-touch display, a single-core 1GHz processor (which is based on ARM’s Cortex A8 architecture), 512MB of RAM and a front-facing 1.3MP camera. There’s also a micro USB port, and HDMI output.
This news is further evidence of the rise of the tablet manufacturing in China, and encouragingly suggests that budget Android slates are falling in price, while improving in terms of features, at least against the models that came to market as recently as 12 months ago.
Earlier this week, one developer, OpenSignalMaps, said that there were as many as 3,997 Android devices on the market, with a large majority of these coming from Asian vendors.
Steve Jobs’ disdain for the stylus was legendary, but that doesn’t mean that there’s no place for one in your workflow. While an Apple-designed stylus may never seen the light of day, there’s a wide range of products out there that’ll help you to write, draw, tap and swipe your way to greater productivity without ever having to place a finger on your screen. We rounded up seven popular styluses, judging each based on how comfortable they are to use, build quality, and the writing experience each affords.
Comfort: Thanks to it’s weight, and length, the Bamboo Stylus for iPad feels good in the hand, mimicking the heft and feel of a high quality ball point pen—perhaps too well. While the shaft of the stylus is comfortable to work with, we found that it’s pocket clip began to rub us raw after extended use. That said, the pocket clip can be removed. Rating: 3 out of 5
Build Quality: Simply put, the Bamboo Stylus for iPad feels solid. Composed of brushed aluminum, there are no evident cracks or exposed seams in the stylus’ shaft, save one near the top and one near the Bamboo’s rubber tip. Both seams exist to allow the user to modify the Stylus: the stylus’ pocket clip (also made of thick, high quality aluminum) and the tip can be removed or replaced. That said, we were unable to find any reference to replacement parts on Wacom’s website. Rating: 5 out of 5
Writing Experience: The Bamboo Stylus for iPad is one of the first styluses we worked with and it’s still one of our favorites. Its tip registered on the screens of our Asus Eee Pad Transformer, Playbook and iPads. Drag was minimal. Our only complaint is that the line it produces is a little thick for our liking.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
Comfort: You’d swear that you were holding a regular pen, and— well you are. Kensington has baked a ballpoint pen and a stylus tip into this single accessory. Since the stylus is the same length as a traditional ballpoint pen, it sits comfortably in the hand. The enameled finish was a little too slick, however. A bit of texture on the shaft’s exterior would be a welcome addition. Rating: 4 out of 5
Build Quality: Unremarkable. We had two issues with the Virtuoso: It’s enameled finish is easily scuffed and scratched from of daily use. More importantly we found that the pocket clip, built into the pen’s cap, is far too flimsy for our liking. It bent after a few week’s use, and cannot be replaced. Rating: 2 out of 5
Writing Experience: The Virtuoso Touch Stylus and Pen’s Parker ink cartridge provides for smooth writing, although we found that the ballpoint tip of the pen did gum up with ink after a few hours of use. The Virtuoso is surprisingly light, but is weighty enough to make long writing sessions with the pen or stylus end feel comfortable. Writing with the stylus end of the Virtuoso Touch proved to be an acceptable experience, but the rubber tip is a little too rigid, making it difficult to achieve the quality of lines and writing that we would have liked to have seen. Rating: 3 out of 5
Overall Rating: 3 out of 5
Comfort: Long, slender and constructed out of steel and aluminum, the Jot Pro Stylus feels good in the hand, especially since it’s sheathed with a rubber grip. It offers the most comfortable writing experience we’ve had with a stylus yet. Rating: 5 out of 5
Build Quality: Our only concern for the Jot Pro comes from the very thing that sets this stylus apart from just about all of it’s competitors: It’s tip. Instead of the rubber nubs that we usually associate with styluses for capacitive touchscreens, the Jot Flip Stylus uses a conductive plastic disc, which moves freely around a ball and cup style joint. Don’t get us wrong: there’s nothing flimsy about the disc’s construction. But it’s conceivable that the tip could get snagged on a pocket and break. At least there is a protective cap included with the Jot. Still, this quibble focuses on what could be, rather than on what is. We can’t deduct any points for that. As an interesting footnote to the stylus’ build, the Jot Pro can be attached to an iPad 2 or a third-generation iPad though the use of the tablet’s magnets—nice touch. Rating: 5 out of 5
Writing Experience: The Jot Pro allows for some of the thinnest, smoothest lines we’ve ever seen using a stylus. Moving across the screen feels smooth and natural on iOS and Android devices. However, by the company’s own admission, the Jot Pro isn’t compatible with some film-style screen protectors. Rating: 5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
Comfort: While individuals with smaller hands might find the Pogo Sketch+ to be a comfortable fit, we found it too thin to be used for an extended period comfortably. Its light weight was a bit strange as well: I felt the need to hold it tighter than I might have wanted to hold a stylus or a pen with more heft to it. The stylus’ pen clip, while considered to be a feature, actually detracts from stylus’ usability, as it dug into my hand while writing or drawing with the Pogo. Rating: 2 out of 5
Build Quality: It doesn’t get more spartan than the Pogo Sketch+. It's made from lightweight aluminum—strong enough to write on a tablet with, but we wouldn’t want to put it in an attaché case with anything heavy that might torque it. After using the Sketch+ for less than a week for general note taking and a few sketches, the Pogo's rubber tip was sitting well off center of where it had been when the stylus was brand-new. Rating: 1 out of 5
Writing Experience: A sub-par build quality and uncomfortable handling unsurprisingly make for a lousy writing experience. The lines produced by the Pogo Sketch+ are admittedly thinner than those created by other styluses. Unfortunately, the weak, overly-malleable tip is too inaccurate for tasks that require precision. Rating: 3 out of 5
Overall Rating: 2 out of 5
Comfort: The Alupen has changed very little since it was first released in late 2010, and It’s a great stylus. The thick hexagonal shaft feels significantly more comfortable than it looks. It’s not too light, nor not too heavy, and while it may not be the longest stylus on the market, it is long enough to work for most users. Rating: 5 out of 5
Built Quality: You’d have to work pretty hard to do any damage to the Alupen. With it’s thick aluminum shell and what appears to be a rubber core (or at least a rubber stopper on the stylus’ back end,) there’s not much that can go wrong here. Despite it’s simple, rugged build, the stylus ships with a storage sheath to keep it safe while it’s thrashed around with your pocket change or in your briefcase. Rating: 5 out of 5
Writing Experience: In our tests, we were surprised to find that the Alupen was almost as accurate to write with as the Adonit Jot Pro. However, the lines it produced were not quite as fine as those produced by the Adonit stylus. Rating: 4 out of 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
Comfort: Writing with the Glatt reminded us of using a carpenter’s pencil in shop class: It looks like it’ll be awkward to use, but ends up feeling quite comfortable. The thinner sides of the stylus’s rounded, rectangular shaft are perfect for perching your index finger on while writing or drawing. The longer flat sides of the shaft didn’t dig into our hand after extended use. Rating: 5 out of 5
Build Quality: As with Just Mobile’s Alupen, there’s not a lot that can go wrong here. The Glatt is a solid piece of kit with a single seam at the tapered end where the rubber tip is connected. TPE has built a magnet that’s strong enough to attach the Glatt to the side of an iPad 2 or third generation iPad. That makes it pretty hard to lose. The magnet is also capable of turning the iPad on or off when you pick it up or put it down, in the same manner that a Smart Cover turns your iPad on or off. Rating: 5 out of 5
Writing Experience: Unfortunately, we didn’t enjoy the experience of writing with the Glatt as much as some of the other styluses. The stylus tip didn't move as smoothly as others over our iPad’s screen, especially when drawing lines in an upward motion. Additionally, if your writing style has you holding your stylus close to the surface you’re writing on, you might find the Glatt’s wide body clicks against the screen on occasion. Rating: 3 out of 5
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
Comfort: With its wide diameter and rubberized exterior, the Cosmonaut rivals the Jot Pro for comfort. The stylus’ thick circumference adds to its already pleasant handling. For anyone with arthritis, or any conditions that make it difficult to grasp a pen or stylus, this could be the tablet accessory you’ve been looking for. Rating: 4 out of 5
Build Quality: Studio Neat’s chunky, rubber-bound stylus has an aluminum core, providing it with just enough weight to feel like you’re getting your money’s worth. The rubber tip of the Cosmonaut is the same color as the rubber covering the rest of the stylus, giving it a unique look. Unfortunately, as comfortable as the stylus’ rubber exterior feels to the touch, it’s something of a dust and lint magnet. The grippy rubber exterior—plus the Cosmonaut’s thick diameter—also makes it difficult to pull out of a pocket, which can be a bit impractical. Rating: 4 out of 5
Writing Experience: Sized like a dry erase marker, the Cosmonaut feels good to write with for a brief notes and diagramming, but we found it a bit short, making it somewhat less comfortable to work with for longer writing sessions. That said, the stylus’ tip performed admirably on every tablet we tested it with. Rating: 4 out of 5
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
For it’s combination of excellent build quality, comfort, style, accuracy and ease of use, the Jot Pro has our vote for the best stylus , although the Alupen by Just Mobile came in a close second, and is recommended if you're looking for a thicker stylus.
Wacom Bamboo Stylus for iPad
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
Price: $29.95
Kensington Virtuoso Touch Stylus and Pen
Overall Rating: 3/5
Price: $24.99
Adonit Jot Pro Stylus
Overall Rating: 5/5
Price: $29.99
Ten One Design Pogo Sketch+
Overall Rating: 2 out of 5
Price: $14.95
Just Mobile Alupen
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
Price: $24.95
Essential TPE Glatt Magnetic Snap Stylus
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
Price: $21.99
Studio Neat Cosmonaut
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
Price: $25
According to Ad Age, this lump sum will see your ad campaigns run for two months, and will also see your ad included in Amazon's own “Special Offers” advertising, which doesn't seem an awful lot giving the price.
But there’s more. Ad Age says that agencies willing to splash out up to $1 million will get even more ad inventory in the "Special Offers" section and will also be included as part of Amazon’s “public-relations push”, which - for all we know - could be anything from a couple of press releases to a full-blown marketing campaign.
In fairness to Amazon, giving the popularity of the $199 Kindle Fire, the firm may yet get some business, which would be handy given Jeff Bezos' firm sells the device at a loss. Advertisers might also be attracted on the back of reports from the likes of Millennial Media and Jumptap, who have both reported strong figures for the Fire in regard to tablet ad traffic.
Meanwhile, in related Amazon news, new rumors surfaced this week on when the next Kindle Fire will come to market. Previously, there have been reports of as many as four Kindle Fires, in a variety of sizes, being launched before the end of the year, although this latest report only indicates one model as to being ready for release later in 2012.
On desktop computers, address book groups are a quick way to keep different subsets of your contacts in the loop. Unfortunately, iOS Mail doesn’t recognize groups on your iPad. You can of course manually create fake contacts with multiple addresses. The process is tedious, however, and managing more than a few address groups quickly turns into a time-consuming mess.
Mail Groups Plugin ($0.99, iTunes) simplifies creating group contacts, and makes it easy to add and delete contacts as needed. Even better, the groups are native iOS Contact records, so they sync with iCloud, and are available to any app that integrates with Contacts.
SchemerGoogle’s latest foray into social networking has finally landed on iOS. Schemer (Free, iTunes) is all about doing stuff. Use it to find ideas for things to do, “schemes” in Google parlance. Options range from the practical (learning a programming language, eating more vegetables) to trying out that new restaurant around the corner, or learning how to make a new cocktail.
Schemer hooks into your Google account, and shows you what your Google+ contacts doing. It also leverages Location Services in iOS to show you what people around you are up to.
It’s like a low-pressure social to-do list. Schemer is also a great way to find local recommendations from Google+ contacts and perfect strangers when you find yourself in an unfamilliar place. There's not much interaction with other users on Schemer yet, it's more of a list for now, but Google will surely be filling out the feature set in future updates.
Fera HD for FacebookFacebook is a fact of life. But Facebook’s iPad app leaves a lot to be desired. Fera HD ($1.99, iTunes) reimagines Facebook in a slick tabbed interface that also adds tons of features.
Support for multiple logins makes it easy to keep business accounts separate from your personal posts, and there’s integrated Twitter support, and inline translation for reading posts from faraway friends. Upload tools let you add photos in the background, and you can download your Facebook albums straight to your iPad.
Android device makers may be getting frustrated with being locked into making uniform, generic devices with no competitive differentiation from each other and getting their rear ends handed to them by Apple in the process.
The problem has been around for a while. More than a year ago, Bloomberg first reported that Google was coming down hard on licensees who it felt were fragmenting the operating system.
These "non-fragmentation clauses" give Google the final say over the platform tweaks from OEMs, which had them up in arms. Google has also dragged its feet, splintering the versions of Android all over the place, but update schedules vary from one vendor to the next. As a result some devices are on version 2.2, others 2.3, some 3.0, and others 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Meanwhile, most every Apple product on the market has the latest iOS 5.1.1.
That fragmentation cuts across a lot of devices. A recent report by OpenSignalMaps indicates there are 3,997 distinct Android devices. Meanwhile, Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of Android released last year, is only installed on less then 10% of Android devices.
For vendors, Google's rules about how Android can be implemented on their hardware in order to be blessed with the "compatible" label has resulted in a lot of lookalike tablets and smartphones.
The one Android success story on the market, the Kindle Fire, features a heavily-modified version of Android that's primarily used as an outlet to buy Amazon products. As a result, the only apps for the Fire come from Amazon and not the Google Marketplace.
Ted Morgan, CEO of Skyhook Wireless, said he is hearing discontent from more than a few OEMs (the companies that build devices) on this issue. Skyhook provides geolocation services for OEMs, so he's talking to players across the ecosystem.
"This is a real trend and it includes more than one major player. It really is only logical when you think about how critical it is to own the ecosystem of your platform in order to be able to compete," said Morgan.
He went on to say he doesn't think the major players will fork Android too much (as Amazon did) because they want as many apps as possible to work on their devices.
“I also think it will be interesting to see how Google reacts in order to keep the manufacturers on board their version of Android. In fact we have already heard stories of them offering to pay manufacturers large sums of upfront money to stick with their services," he said.
It should be noted that Morgan hasn't exactly been friends with Google. He's sued the company twice, once alleging that Google used its relationship with mobile manufacturers “as a club" to sabotage Skyhook's relationships with vendors, and another alleging that Google is infringing on several of its patents.
Also, the rules of the game changed with Android revisions, which undoubtedly left OEMs grumbling. Google never open sourced Android 3.0 and OEMs were barred from modifying it. So the only option they had was to use Android 2.3 if they wanted to customize the OS.
With version 4.0, Google returned the open source license and since then, there have been some high profile Android 4.0 launches, including the Samsung Galaxy S III.
Laptop vendors have been complaining about the same problem with Microsoft for more than a decade, notes Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies. "It was inevitable with Android that same problem would come up. That particular frustration from hardware guys has been there from the beginning," he said.
There's been no give on Google's part in this issue, "and I doubt you will see any give. The way they operate is everybody gets the same thing," said Bajarin.
Still, this might end up helping Microsoft with its tablet strategy if it shows a little more flexibility with Windows RT than Google. Microsoft will probably be just as strict as Google, Bajarin notes, but x86 tablets will have the lure of backwards compatibility with existing apps. "That could be a big draw, especially in the enterprise," he said.
Vendors need to take a wait and hold attitude on advancing their Android versions and see what happens with the Windows versions. "I don't know if you will have mass abandonment because of so much software on Android. I know the frustrations there. I just don't know if we are at the breaking points yet," said Bajarin.
There's no denying that Apple has mastered the art of PR. They've got the kind of media profile that companies pay top dollar for, and they do it largely by strictly controlling the flow of information. Well, that and regularly creating new products that manage to be the exact thing you want, before you even know you want it.
With the kind of secrecy that cloaks everything that Apple does, the rumor mill responds with a fervor that few other companies can match. Everyone wants to know what the next blessed widget to come from Cupertino will be. As a long-time user of Apple products, and a tech journalist, I've seen and heard rumors of all shapes, sizes, and levels of credibility.
I've even had poorly-Photoshopped "spy shots" land in my inbox on the eve of product launches. While the constant speculation can be exciting—even when the rumors are patently ridiculous—it's usually wrong.
The same goes for the latest rumors of a forthcoming iPhone with a 4-inch screen. But even though this one has managed to go beyond the tech blogs into the pages of The Wall Street Journal, I'm not quite ready to believe it. Years of covering Apple has taught me a few things.
For starters, Apple likes a streamlined product line. They sell a few desktops, a few laptops, a few phones, and a few tablets. Rather than trying to appeal to every possible user with a million different variations on the same thing, they stick to a couple of options across a few product lines. Like the iPads and MacBook Airs themselves, Apple likes even their store inventory to be clean and streamlined. Not to mention that they like the user experience to be unified, a goal that wouldn't be served by introducing new screens in different sizes and resolutions (although they did it recently with the Retina Display on the third-gen iPad...so just maybe...).
When it comes to the 4-inch iPhone rumor, they already have a bigger iOS device. It's called iPad, and it's selling like gangbusters. And Apple has proved time and time again that they don't need "new" to move tons of units, just "improved." Every product cycle, Apple users, some bloggers, and journalists (myself included at times) have dinged Apple's latest device for not being compelling enough. Then doubters are proven wrong as the latest gizmo flies out the doors of Apple Stores all over the world.
So I'm not sure I'm ready to buy into this 4-inch iPhone, literally or figuratively. Apple doesn't compete on specs, and they're not the kind of company that moves a particular way because they have to keep up with the Joneses, or the Samsungs. I could be wrong—it's certainly happened before—but a bigger iPhone for the sake of a bigger iPhone just isn't something that Apple does.
The same goes for a smaller iPad. Those rumors have been circulating for years, and Apple has stuck by their 9.7-inch screens. They've improved the display—along with the rest of the iPad's components—in successive updates. But the form-factor remains more or less unchanged.
Apple is nothing if not mysterious, and they've surprised me before. But until I'm holding an iPhone mega (or an iPad mini) in my hand, these speculations are staying confined to the rumor pile. And if Apple does prove me wrong, I won't hold it against them. I'll be too busy poking around under the hood of their latest device.
The company claims the point of ElcomSoft Phone Password Breaker is designed as a forensic tool investigators can use to get at files faster as part of the evidence gathering process.
“In a sense, Phone Password Breaker becomes an alternative way to get access to iOS devices’ content”, said ElcomSoft CEO Vladimir Katalov in a release.
The company says its iOS Forensic Toolkit is only available to “forensic customers” and specifically mentions “law enforcement and intelligence organizations with live access to users’ online backups” though it’s not clear if there are any kind of credentials check. For the software to work, an investigator does need to know the user’s original Apple ID and password in order to gain access to online backups.
But in an ironic bit of timing, assuming the news is unrelated, AppleSider reported today that a small number of iCloud accounts may have recently been compromised. The article sites a thread in the Apple Support Communities forum, where several iCloud users voiced concern.
One of the affected people, with the username "solargaze," said their Me.com e-mail address was hacked into and began sending out spam on Wednesday. Apple has yet to comment publicly on the matter.
ElcomSoft said once access is achieved using its software the user’s data is downloaded directly onto investigators’ computers (PC) from Apple remote storage facilities in plain, unencrypted form.
Also, if a user owns more than one iOS device registered with the same Apple ID, ElcomSoft says its program will also recover all of those online backups from iCloud as well.
The company notes that other recovery methods require direct access to the iPhone or iPad or at least access to device backups. “This is not the case with iCloud,” said Katalov. “With valid Apple ID and a password, investigators can not only retrieve backups to seized devices, but access that information in real-time while the phone is still in the hands of a suspect.”
Apple says its iCloud service, which lets users synchronization email, contacts, bookmarks, pictures and other information, has, over 100 million users. The company is rumored to be set to unveil a major upgrade at its WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) next month that would include major photo-sharing enhancements.
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