Apple Files Suits Against Counterfeit Stores; Patent in Works for 'Phallic' Charger

Every week, makes news with technology developments, business deals and, more often than not, controversies.

That’s where our weekly "Core Bytes" column on Apple comes in. We’ll relay the past week’s news highlights from our favorite backyard tech giant.

Controversies
Counterfeit Apple stores across the globe have impressed many by emulating the real deal. But they may be having the last laugh now that Apple is tracking them down with trademark infringement suits. The Big Apple brought 50 suits against individuals and stores ranging from “The Apple Story” in Brooklyn to a slew of Chinese knock-offs whose employees even don signature blue shirts.

New Products
Apple filed a patent for a wireless “inductive” charging system. But it caught some eyes for reasons other than its ability to charge batteries via electromagnetic fields. Techies claim the towering device appears phallic, says the technology website The Register stretching the metaphor. "It seems...hard to imagine that phallic charging towers will soon be erected on iPhone or iPod users' desks any time soon," it wrote.

Business Deals and Developments
Surprise, surprise. The primary global smartphone maker is once again Apple, who shipped 20.3 million smart phones in the last quarter, seizing 19.3 percent of the market. That’s a 141.7 percent increase from the same period last year, when the company shipped 8.4 million iPhones and claimed 13 percent of the market. A close second and third place went to Samsung and Nokia, who respectively share 16.2 and 15.7 percent of the market.

Apple may soon be partnering with China Mobile, the largest wireless carrier in the world, according to an alleged company filing. With 611 million subscribers, China Mobile is the largest wireless carrier in the world. A tech analyst with RBC said that the  partnership could equate to between two to three million new iPhones sold by the end of 2011, or between 8 to 12 percent of the total market.

Germany-based technology giant SAP is testing a product that will allow employees to send PGP-encrypted emails to fellow employers. Yet Apple told the company it can not do so from their iPads yet, due to not yet having the right interfaces with iOS. Apple recently ramped up its iPad security, such as creating a virus scanner for the devices, but industry analysts say it still has a ways to go.