Last week, technology news website CNET reported that an Apple employee lost at a tequila bar in San Francisco in July a prototype of iPhone 5, a new version of the company’s mobile phone expected to be released in September or October.

The San Francisco Police Department said in a press release that after the missing device was tracked using GPS technology to a San Francisco house, four police officers and two Apple employees visited the home.

“Apple employees called Mission police station directly, wanting assistance in tracking down a lost item,” the statement said.

“The two Apple employees met with the resident and then went into the house to look for the lost item,” it said. “The Apple employees did not find the lost item and left the house.”

Police did not say exactly what Apple had lost, but media reports found the file of San Francisco police’s Friday press release about the hunt was named “iphone5.doc” — an apparent hint of the new mobile device.

A 22-year-old resident of the home, identified by SF Weekly as Sergio Calderon, told the newspaper that he has visited the bar where the phone was reportedly lost but he did not have the device.

Calderon said the search of his house took place in July when police had traced the phone to the house using satellite positioning software on the device, but did not find anything in the house.

Apple has declined to comment on the matter.

Last year, an employee of the company lost a prototype iPhone 4 in a Redwood City bar before it was released. The details of the phone ware then unveiled by technology blog Gizmodo.

Criminal charges have been filed against the man who found the prototype and another who brokered the deal to sell it to Gizmodo. Both men pleaded not guilty on Thursday. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2011-09/06/c_131103018.htm

A man tries out Apple’s new iPad after its launch event in San Francisco, California, the United States, Jan. 27, 2010. ©Xinhua

BEIJING, Sept. 14 — Apple Inc. plans to begin official sales of its iPad tablet computer this Friday in China, the company announced on Monday.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the Wi-Fi models of the iPad will be available to customers through two Apple stores in China and through authorized resellers.

The beginning of the sales will start on Friday at 10 a.m., according to the newspaper.

The iPad’s price will be higher in China than in the United States. It will charge from 3,988 yuan (about 590 U.S. dollars), for the 16-gigabyte iPad, to 5,588 yuan (about 827 U.S. dollars), for the 64-gigabyte model, the newspaper said.

The prices of the two models in the U.S. are 499 and 699 U.S. dollars respectively.

Before this users in China had been buying iPads brought into the country by traders on much higher prices. The Wall Street Journal said they run as much as 1,000 U.S. dollars.

The iPad first went on sale in the U.S. on April 3 this year, and became available internationally in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and Britain on May 28.

On June 21, Apple announced it had sold three million iPads worldwide. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2010-09/14/c_13493792.htm

Devine, 37, was charged in a federal grand jury indictment last Wednesday with 23 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and accepting kickbacks. Each count may bring him a 20-year prison sentence.

In court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Kane objected to releasing Devine on bail, saying there is a risk he will try to flee.

There are no bond conditions that can assure his appearance for trial, Kane told U.S. Magistrate Judge Howard Lloyd, who set a bail hearing for Aug. 18.

Both Kane and Devine’s lawyer declined to comment after court.

In a separate civil lawsuit, Apple accused Devine of receiving more than 1 million U.S. dollars in payments and bribes over several years from companies that supplied iPhone and iPod accessories.

An employee at Apple since 2005, Devine has used his position at the technology company to obtain confidential data that he shared with Apple suppliers to help them negotiate favorable contracts with the company, Apple’s lawsuit said.

The alleged scheme began to unravel this April, when Apple launched an internal investigation and found a cache of emails between Devine and the suppliers.

Devine used a chain of foreign and domestic bank accounts, along with one front company, to receive payments, according to court papers. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2010-08/17/c_13448610.htm

Chrome had 8.97 percent of the U.S. browser market in the week that ended June 27, topping Safari’s 8.88 percent, said analytics company StatCounter.

“This is quite a coup for Google as they have gone from zero to almost 10 percent of the U.S. market in under two years,” StatCounter chief executive Aodhan Cullen said in a release.

Figures also show that 52 percent of U.S. users surfing the Internet with IE. Free and open-source browser Firefox remained the second most popular with 28.48 percent of people using it.

StatCounter said its statistics was based on an analysis of 3.6 billion page views, 874 million of them in the U.S., captured from its network of counters embedded in the pages of three million websites.

Outside the U.S., Chrome remained in a solid third place with 9.4 percent of the browser market while Firefox had 31 percent, and IE 52.8 percent. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2010-06/30/c_13376697.htm

Ahead of Tuesday’s start of Computex trade show in Taipei, Asustek said its new device will be on sale in the first quarter next year.

The touch-screen tablet PC will use Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system and Intel Corp.’s Core processor, according to Asustek.

“We looked at how we could best address the needs of users from all walks of life, and I believe this is the product,” said Asustech Chairman Jonney Shih.

Asustek was also working with Intel and Microsoft to push out its own version of an application store, trying to beef up their software offerings to compete with Apple, Shih said.

Asustek will sell a 10-inch Eee Pad for 399 to 449 U.S. dollars. No price tag was given for a 12-inch model.

Last week, the world’s second largest PC vendor Acer unveiled a 7-inch touch-screen tablet that runs on Android, an operating system distributed by Google. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2010-06/01/c_13327306.htm

The Apple iPhone 3GS is shown at the company’s retail store in San Francisco, California in this June 19, 2009 file photo. ©Reuters

BEIJING, May 25 — Wal-Mart said it will slash the price of Apple’s 16GB 3GS iPhone to 97 U.S. dollars this week, according to media reports Tuesday.

Beginning Tuesday, the new price will save customers more than 100 U.S. dollars on the Apple’s handset, which currently sells for 199 dollars.

“It is our commitment to always lead on price,” Mehrdad Akbar, Wal-Mart’s senior category director for wireless, said in a statement.

But the deal requires the phone be purchased with a two-year contract from AT&T, iPhone’s exclusive service provider.

Apple is expected to unveil its next-generation handset next month, when Chief Executive Steve Jobs will deliver an opening keynote for the annual Worldwide Developers Conference on June 7.

Apple sold 8.3 million iPhones last quarter, more than twice the amount sold during the same period a year ago. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2010-05/25/c_13315186.htm

The video posted on the popular video-sharing website YouTube shows the 499-dollar device being dropped on the floor, stamped on, thrown, and smashed with a baseball bat.

More than 500,000 people have watched the clip since it was posted online Saturday, the day when iPad made a market debut in the U.S.

According to The Los Angeles Times, the video, titled “Brand new iPad getting smashed by a baseball bat”, was made by Justin Kockott, a 19-year-old high school student.

“I wanted to be the first one to do it before other people did it,” Kockott was quoted by the newspaper as saying, “it was just something to do.”

But Kockott denied holding a grudge against Apple, saying, “I do not at all hate Apple. I love Apple, actually.”

Apple reportedly has sold more than 300,000 iPads on the first day of its availability. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/odd/2010-04/06/c_13239699.htm

Owning 4 percent of an “embedded base of all subscribers” from Jan. to Oct. in the U.S. market, Apple’s device tops a list that includes several competing handsets such as RIM’s BlackBerry and mobile phones made by LG, Motorola, and Samsung.

iPhone 3G’s accumulative sale is just past the BlackBerry 8300 series (3.7 percent), followed by the RAZR V3 series (2.3 percent) and the LG enV2 (2.1 percent).

Though this Apple handset ranks first on the list, both LG and RIM hold a higher total market share when all of their handsets are combined.

Apple also scored in the top 10 of the most accessed brands over mobile phones, said Nielsen. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/23/content_12693151.htm

Levinson’s move averted a regulatory probe into overlapping directors in the two companies.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had been investigating whether Levinson’s double duty on the boards of both Google and Apple would lessen competition between the two companies.

Levinson’s serving on both boards had raised antitrust concerns at the FTC because the companies increasingly competed in the same markets.

“The investigation is over. This allows the companies to move on and do what they do best, which is to make better products,” said FTC Chairman Jonathan Leibowitz.

Two months ago, Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt stepped down from Apple’s board for the same issue.

Google and Apple have expanded into each other’s market over the past two years. Both companies offer mobile phone software and Internet browsers, and Google is developing an operating system for personal computers.

Google didn’t mention whether it will fill Levinson’s vacancy. Levinson’s resignation leaves Google with nine directors, including Eric Schmidt. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/13/content_12221897.htm