Two Chinese Lawsuits Filed Against Apple; Apple Publishes Patent for Water Damage

Controversies
Apple may have settled one Chinese lawsuit, but it now it’s up against another two. The company just agreed to pay $60 million to Proview technology regarding the trademark ownership of the iPad. But on Thursday, Apple was smacked with a lawsuit from Zhi Zen Internet Technology, claiming the company is infringing on its voice assistant patents through Siri. Another lawsuit was issued earlier in the week, claiming that the company infringed on its its Snow Leopard trademark through giving an OS released in 2009 the same name.

New Products
Admit it: many of us have inadvertently dropped our iPhones in a sink, washing machine or even toilet. This week, Apple published a patent to detect if a phone has experienced damage after being submerged in water. The system includes color changing tape with dye that absolves when exposed to water, and prevents humidity from triggering a false positive. Still, there’s no automatic fix if the phone is damaged: customers would still have to take their phone to a repair shop or send it back to the manufacturer. Apple’s iPhone warrenty does not cover water damage.

iPad fans, stayed tuned: Apple is preparing to launch a tablet with an even smaller screen. The current screen measures 9.7 inches, unchanged since the first model was released in 2010, whereas the new model is expected to have a screen size of eight inches.

Business Deals and Developments
In 2004, 56 times more PCs than Macs were sold. Yet now, less than 10 years later, analysts are predicting that the same number of people could be using iOS as Windows within a year.

Yelp shares are spiking amid reports that Apple will integrate it into its new mapping app, set to replace Google Maps as the default mapping service for iPhones and iPads. Yelp shares have nearly doubled in the past month, up 7.4 percent at $26.55. Apple is faring extra-well itself, with shares now up 2.3 percent at $612.87.

Apple is the second most valued brand in Asia, trailing behind the South Korean Samsung, according to a just released survey from Nielsen. Sony ended its four-year reign in the number one spot, slipping back to third place. Spanning 12 Asian countries, the survey asked 4,800 respondents to rank the best or most trustworthy brands across 18 service categories.