Apple Loop: iPad Naming Rights, App Store Fix and Going on Holiday in Cupertino - Forbes

Keeping you in the loop on some of the things happening around Apple this week.

Cost for iPad Name in China: $60 Million. Apple said it reached a settlement over the iPad name in China, paying Proview Shenzhen $60 million to end the trademark dispute and allow it to start selling the third generation of the tablet (released in March) in its fastest-growing market. That ends a long-running legal battle over the iPad name and paves the way for Apple to reap billions in sales of its tablet from China, which now accounts for 20 percent of revenue. Some background: Apple said it bought all trademarks for the iPad name in December 2009 from a Proview Group subsidiary for £35,000 (or about $55,000). But after the iPad was announced in January 2010, Apple was informed the China trademarks were in fact owned by another Proview subsidiary â€" and that this time the company wanted $10 million for the China trademarks to the iPad name. A Hong Kong court sided with Apple in July 2011, but then a court in mainland China ruled in Proview’s favor. The two finally came to terms and now iPad 3 sales can go ahead.

App Store Fix. Kudos to Marc Arment, co-founder of Tumblr, for finding a major bug on the App Store that caused and update to his Instapaper app â€" as well as more than 100 other apps that were updated July 3 to 5 â€" to crash immediately after users tried to launch them. The culprit was Apple itself, which was serving up corrupted install files (You can read Arment’s tale of the crash, which he also publicized in numerous tweets, here.) After saying it a “temporary issue” that affected a “small number of users,”  Apple, to its credit, removed the low-ratings that many apps received unfairly because of the problem. Arment wrote on his blog that he was especially happy that Apple republished “updates” to the corrupted versions of the app updates, which he says helps users avoid deleting them and losing their data.

iPad Mini? The stories and analyst notes about a new small form-factor iPad in the works are picking up, with speculation focused on a device that’s 8-inches or smaller (compared to the current 9.7-inch version) and that will sell for $250 to $300 (the iPad 3 starts at $499, while the iPad is $399). Brian White, of Topeka Capital Markets, has dubbed it the “iPad Mini” in his reports over the past several months, and expects it to make its debut in September or October â€" around the same time that Apple releases the iPhone 5. As Google, Microsoft and Amazon ready new tablets to challenge the iPad, it makes sense Apple might be at work on a device designed to appeal to cost-conscious buyers, especially in big markets like China, and offer a smaller form factor device.

Says White, “a 7.85-inch ‘iPad Mini’ would likely prove less obtrusive during social outings and more easily tucked into a purse or jacket than a 9.7-inch iPad. Finally, we believe the education market is well suited for an ‘iPad Mini’ as a smaller, more portable device would prove more suitable for younger children, while schools would appreciate the lower price point given the growing budget constraints.” After a week playing with Google new Nexus 7, the $199 Android tablet it introduced at its developer conference last week and which will go on sale later this month, I can honestly say that having less screen real estate than the iPad didn’t bother me at all. The HD resolution of the Nexus 7 is really nice. The problem with the Nexus 7 â€" and I’m sure with the upcoming Microsoft Surface â€" is the lack of apps and content. Apple’s App Store, with more than 650,000 apps, and the iTunes store with millions of songs, movies, TV shows and podcasts means these rivals have a whole lot of catching up to do.

Getting a seat at the Genius Bar. Anyone who has visited an Apple store lately knows they’ve become quite the gathering place, especially for customers who want to pick the brains of Apple experts serving up wisdom at the Genius Bar. Well, Apple is apparently experimenting with the design of the Genius Bar to make more room at the table for those in need, according to ifoAppleStore.com, which has before and after photos of what it looks like at Apple’s retail outlet in Los Gatos, Calif. Trivial stuff? Maybe. But when you think that same-store retail sales at some of the U.S. biggest retail stores disappointed in June â€" they rose 2.4 percent, compared with an 7.7 percent gain a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters â€" then Apple’s overcrowding problem at its more than 240 retail stores in the U.S. is yet another sign of continuing demand for its gadgets and gear.

Apple Glass? A patent does not mean a product is in the works, as the folks at The Next Web rightly point out. Even so, it’s interesting that Apple was granted a patent called “Peripheral treatment for head-mounted displays” that “centers around techniques for projecting an image onto the eyes of a user via a viewable display. Much in the way that Google’s Project Glass appears to work.” You can read all about it here. The Next Web also notes that there’s been talk for a while that apple has been working on “wearable computing” efforts, including hiring a wearable computing engineer in 2010 and has filed for patents starting in 2008 related to wearable computing technologies. “This patent definitely does not mean that Apple is in the process of producing a piece of wearable ‘iGlasses’ or anything of the sort, but it definitely does show that some very smart people at the company are thinking about ways to make wearable computing more accessible and immersive. And that’s exciting enough for me.” Me too.

iVisited. For some, vacation is all about going to the beach. For others, it’s about heading out to a museum. And for still others, it’s about journeying to Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, and having your picture taken in front of 1 Infinite Loop and visiting the Apple company store on the campus there. While you can’t buy a Mac (they’re only on display, though), you can pick up all sorts off i-accessories, hats, coffee mugs and computer bags. The slogans on my two favorite t-shirts: “iVisited” and “Siri, is it warm enough to wear a T-shirt today?” Enjoy the weekend.