NAVIGON’s head of iPhone development from Germany, Bernd Hahn, Read the full story

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Last week we learned that Apple had acquired music streaming service Lala. Now information is out saying how much they paid for it, and it was no small sum, to be sure. According to multiple sources, Apple paid no less than $80 million for their acquisition of Lala. The sum is less than half of what investors valued the company at in 2008, yet it’s more than the $35 million Lala brought in during their existence.

Interestingly, Warner Music Group invested $20 million into Lala, but wrote down $11 million in March, so it’s unknown if they will regain their $20 million or just the amount after the write-down.

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Before the iPod touch, an iPhone-without-the-phone seemed like the obvious thing to do simply because not everybody would want (or be able to afford) buying a new smartphone. Mobile analytics firm Flurry, however, offers a different perspective on why the iPod touch makes sense in a market where Apple’s goal is to sell as many iPhones as possible.

Flurry argues that the primary role of the iPod touch is to get the younger generations hooked on Apple’s touchscreen devices as sort of a gateway-gadget to the iPhone, with the hopes that they will Read the full story

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Following a customer complaint to Phil Schiller, Molinker, maker of more than a thousand junk iPhone applications, has been banned from the App Store and had their applications pulled after it was discovered that they had been faking positive reviews. Apple discovered that they were trying to play the system, with many of their 1,011 apps having more than 50 five-star reviews, all written in Read the full story

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Ever wonder what the big wigs at Apple have on their iPhones? Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, has shared what his favorite apps to use are with the world. It’s no surprise that many of them are ones that Apple has been pimping for some time now, but he does list a few that have spent a little less time in the limelight.

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Sometimes there’s better news, especially in the wake of slow iPhone sales in China. In its first day of availability at the end of November, the iPhone sold an estimated 60,000 units in South Korea, giving Apple one successful Asian debut. Wireless carrier KT Corporation reported the number, which now represents 15% of 400,000 total smartphones sold in the country in the third quarter of 2009.

“In spite of the fact that the Korean market offers one of the most advanced set of mobile products and services in the world, smartphones only represent about 1% of the total mobile market,” a recent Read the full story

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