Apple

790 'Apple' stories May 2011 - January 2013

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Court docs reveal email exchange between Eric Schmidt and Steve Jobs over poaching employees

Jordan Kahn Jan 23 2013 - 8:27 am PT

Earlier this month, a U.S. District Judge in California ordered Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and others to give depositions in an ongoing private lawsuit. Employees brought on the private lawsuit alleging “no-poach” agreements the companies entered would drive down wages. Today, new details have emerged after a request to keep court documents secrets was denied by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh.

While emails exchanged between Steve Jobs and former Palm CEO Ed Colligan have been the focus on the documents, The Verge also pointed us to emails exchange between Jobs and Google execs. Below we have an email form Jobs to Schmidt asking to put a stop to Google recruiting employees from its iPod team, as well as one where Schmidt discussed not wanting to create a paper trail:
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Samsung ‘fast follower’ mantra extends to marketing as well

Jordan Kahn Jan 22 2013 - 11:06 am PT

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nf5-Prx19ZM]

A story today from Fortune writer Michal Lev-Ram titled “Samsung’s road to global domination” tells an interesting anecdote about the company’s ad team on iPhone 5 launch day. The team, led by chief marketing officer Todd Pendleton with help from ad agency 72andSunny, sat in a Los Angeles restaurant following real-time updates from Tim Cook’s iPhone 5 unveiling.

Two hours later the team had crafted the now well-known ad campaign mocking iPhone line sitters:

They huddled around tables mounted with laptops and TV screens, carefully tracking each new feature and monitoring the gush of online comments on the new device via blogs and social media sites. As the data flowed in, writers from the company’s advertising agency, who were also camped out in the restaurant turned war room, scrambled to craft a response…

Two hours later, when Cook stepped off the stage, the Samsung group was already drafting a series of print, digital, and TV ads. The following week — as the iPhone 5 went on sale — the company aired a TV ad mocking Apple “fanboys” queuing up for the new phone. (“The headphone jack is going to be on the bottom!”) The 90-second commercial went on to become the most popular tech ad of 2012, garnering more than 70 million views online. More important, in the weeks following the launch of Apple’s iPhone 5, Samsung sold a record-breaking number of its own signature smartphone, the Galaxy S III.

Report: LG takes 2nd place from Apple in US handset market during December

Jordan Kahn Jan 21 2013 - 5:44 am PT

The iPhone may have recently captured a record 53 percent of the U.S. smartphone market. However, when it comes to its steady second place position in the U.S. handset market (smartphones and feature phones combined), a new report claimed LG bumped Apple to third position during December on strong sales of its Optimus G.

Yonhap News covered the report from Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Research, which said on Sunday that LG captured 13 percent of the U.S. market last month, bumping Apple to third place for the first time since the launch of the iPhone 4S. Apple recorded 12 percent of the market, which puts both Apple and LG well behind leader Samsung at 33 percent. LG recently announced sales of 1 million units for the Optimus G worldwide, but it’s unclear if the LG-made Nexus 4 from Google was a significant contributor to the company’s rise during December.

LG Electronics had maintained the runner-up position until the third-quarter of 2011 but fell to third place after Apple’s iPhone 4S hit the market… Market insiders attributed LG Electronics’ sales growth to the popularity of its latest Optimus G handset, with over 1 million units sold across North America.

Sony announces a 6.9mm thin 10.1-inch 1080P Tablet Z with 8-megapixel camera

Seth Weintraub Jan 20 2013 - 7:23 pm PT

From Sony Japan comes news of Sony’s latest and most impressive Android tablets. Apparently, the Tablet Z wasn’t quite ready for CES earlier this month, but it is, at 6.9mm thin, svelter than Apple’s iPad mini while using a “Bravia”, “Retina” 1080P display. Also a high point for a tablet, Sony will incorporate an 8-megapixel CMOS sensor.

The Z is no slouch in the CPU department, with a quad-core 1.5GHz processor and 2GB of RAM, and it will somehow support NFC and LTE within its 6.9mm thick constraints.

It will also come with Android 4.1, but hopefully Sony gets more serious about updating its Android devices here. Prices and shipping times are still not determined.

Update: Look already a spy video:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Mne8ddOmyAQ]

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Google Chairman Eric Schmidt ordered to give deposition in anti-poaching lawsuit

Jordan Kahn Jan 18 2013 - 6:22 am PT

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been ordered by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose to give a deposition related to an ongoing private lawsuit that claims Apple, Google, and others entered “no-poach” agreements, as reported by Bloomberg. Cook isn’t the only executive named in yesterday’s order. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt will also be deposed on Feb. 20, as well as Intel Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini later this month.

The judge said she was disappointed that senior executives at the companies involved hadn’t been deposed before yesterday’s hearing over whether she should certify the case as a group lawsuit. The class would include different categories of employees whose incomes, their lawyers argue, were artificially reduced because of the collusion. Koh didn’t rule on class certification.

At Koh’s request, the lawyers also agreed that Google Chairman Eric Schmidt will be deposed Feb. 20. Lawyers for the employees will depose Intel Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini later this month, lawyers said.

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comScore: iOS and Android continue move toward duopoly with 90 of US market in November

Jordan Kahn Jan 3 2013 - 9:05 am PT

According to the latest numbers from comScore MobiLens for the United States mobile phone market, Apple and Samsung both continue to gain marketshare as the leading OEMs as Android and iOS move closer toward a duopoly with a combined almost 90 percent of the market. ComScore’s latest numbers track the three-month period ending in November, which saw Apple jump from 17.1-percent in August to 18.5-percent of the U.S. mobile phone market. Samsung continued its lead jumping up 1.2-percent to 26.9-percent, while gains for both companies come at the expense of decreases in market share for LG, Motorola, and HTC.

As for the U.S. market by platform, iOS and Android both experience slight gains over August numbers. With a joint 88.7-percent of the market for Apple and Google, RIM is the closest competitor dropping from 8.3-percent of the market in August to just 7.3-percent in November. Microsoft dropped from 3.6-percent to 3 percent:

In November, 75.9 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device (up 0.3 percentage points). Downloaded applications were used by 54.2 percent of subscribers (up 0.8 percentage points), while browsers were used by 52.1 percent (up 0.1 percentage points). Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 0.9 percentage points to 39.2 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing was done by 33.7 percent of the mobile audience, while 28.7 percent listened to music on their phones (up 0.4 percentage points).

Google set to report Q4 2012 earnings Jan. 22 at 4:30 p.m. EST

Jake Smith Jan 2 2013 - 4:13 pm PT

Google has announced that it plans to report Q4 2012 earnings on Jan. 22 at 4:30 p.m. EST. The press release typically goes up a few minutes early, with a conference call taking place over on Google’s investor hub with top executives. As it does every quarter, the report gives us a look into how the folks in Mountain View are performing. Let’s just hope they don’t report earnings a little too early this time. Stay tuned!
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FTC updates online child privacy law to require parental consent for data collection, exempts Google Play

Jordan Kahn Dec 19 2012 - 10:23 am PT

The Wall Street Journal reported today that the US Federal Trade Commission has announced its decision to update its more than 10 year old law governing the privacy of children online. The changes will mean app developers and websites will be required to obtain parental consent when collecting photos, videos, geolocation information, or tracking behaviour of children 13 and under. However, as noted in the report, the updated rules have been altered since originally proposed in August and would not require third-party plug-ins, like Facebook Like buttons, or app platforms such as the App Store and Google Play to enforce the law:

in a departure from rule changes the government proposed in August, third-party “plug-ins” on websites—things like Facebook Inc.’s “Like” button and ads placed by advertising networks—will only have to meet child online privacy regulations if they have “actual knowledge” that they’re collecting information through a website or app that targets kids…

Apple made that point in five meetings with FTC officials in the fall. The FTC responded by explicitly exempting the Apple App Store and Google Play, the app store for mobile devices running Google’s Android software, from having to make sure that the apps they provided complied with Coppa.

Cross-posted on 9to5Mac.com

Google Music now features scan and match in the US

Jake Smith Dec 18 2012 - 10:16 am PT

Similar to iTunes Match, Google has updated its Google Music service in the United States with its new scan match feature that previously was only available in Europe. The feature is definitely welcomed, as it scans a user’s local library for songs and matches them in the cloud, doing away with any lengthy upload periods. Engadget reported that U.S. users who have already put their music library on to Google Music will begin seeing the process take place in the coming weeks, which means matched songs will be streamed at 320Kbps. Want to know the greatest thing about Google Music’s scan and match? It’s entirely free if you stay under 20,000 songs, unlike rival services.
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Kindle Fire HD review: Why can’t this just be an Android device?

Seth Weintraub Dec 11 2012 - 9:38 pm PT

I (and, to be honest, more my kids) have used the Kindle Fire HD for over a month, and I thought I’d share some thoughts from an iPad/Android user’s perspective.

The hardware is excellent and a significant upgrade from the original Fire. It feels extremely solid and the 1,280-by-720 HD display looks great. The speakers are better than either the iPad Mini or the Nexus 7 and not barely — by a long shot. I wouldn’t go so far as to say they are “stereo speakers” (it is a 7-inch device obviously and there is little separation), but they are both louder and clearer than the competition. The HD is also noticeably thinner than the original Kindle Fire, but that comes at the expense of bigger bezels that give it a bigger footprint than the same-screened Nexus 7 and similar size to the bigger-screened iPad Mini. This is unfortunate because one of the nicest things about the size of a 7-inch tablet is either it can squeeze into a back pocket or, more likely, a coat pocket…and those inches count. Neither the iPad Mini nor the Kindle HD fit in my jacket pocket as well as the much more slender Nexus 7.

But, that’s not the biggest problem…

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Review: A month with the Samsung Chromebook

Seth Weintraub Dec 3 2012 - 8:40 pm PT

TL;DR: This is the first Chromebook effort that fulfills the ChromeOS mission: good quality, excellent (MacBook Air-like) design, low cost and functional, and easy to use. It won’t replace a mid-high end machine, but, for people with basic needs or who want an inexpensive second computer, this is a no brainer at $250.

Background:

Google’s Android and ChromeOS represent two different visions of the future of computing from inside the same company. The Android vision is a touch-enabled platform with apps that has been in vogue since the iPhone was released in 2007. The ChromeOS is the realization of the decades-old network client computer—which is just a browser as a user interface for a bunch of cloud services.

Android has clearly been popular on both phones and now tablets, but Chrome sales have been pretty lackluster until now. From my point of view, that’s due to a couple of reasons. For one, the devices, made by Samsung and Asus, were lackluster in speed compared to the Windows and Mac counterparts. ChromeOS devices should be faster than comparably equipped Macs and PCs because there is no overhead—it is just a browser. Yet the CR-48 and again with the second-generation Chromebooks weren’t noticeably faster than cheap netbooks. That’s the other problem: Chromebooks weren’t cheap – compared to similarly specced PCs, anyway. Often, you’d be able to find a cheaper Windows PC on sale that otherwise was the same or better.

So, to break it down: Chromebooks were overpriced and slow (and the design wasn’t very inspired).

Then came the third generation…

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Facebook HQ walls encourage employees to go Android

Jake Smith Nov 26 2012 - 4:38 am PT

Facebook’s philosophy was once to give its employees iPhones for day-to-day use; however, the company wants to use Android handsets instead now. TechCrunch gave more information on previous reports this weekend, reporting that Facebook’s big Android push is due to the company wanting to reform its mobile apps on the world’s most popular mobile operating system. “We’ve created more awareness that Android devices are available,” Facebook told TechCrunch. “There’s plenty of people here carrying around both devices, and not just engineers and not just mobile people.”

TechCrunch got their hands on several posters hanging throughout the hallways of Facebook that encourage employees to make the switch. To make the switch, employees are told to email their phone number, model, and carrier to Facebook help desk. Facebook calls it “Droidfooding.”

Once on Android, employees are forced to have the most current version of apps. Additionally, if they run into a bug on internal test apps, they can report it by violently shaking their device—known internally as “Rage Shake”.

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Samsung has sold 5M Galaxy Note II units worldwide, selling 2M this month

Jake Smith Nov 26 2012 - 3:48 am PT

Samsung announced today that it sold a total of 5 million Galaxy Note II units worldwide, following its announcement earlier this month that 3 million were sold. That means the South Korean-manufacturer moved 2 million 5.5-inch phablets in just under a month —surely thanks to its availability in the United States on AT&T. Sales aren’t as high as the Samsung Galaxy S III that competes side-by-side with Apple’s iPhone 5; however, it is interesting that a large chunk of customers want a larger handheld experience. Being available in various parts of Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa, the 5.5-inch device will likely have a strong holiday quarter adding to this month’s strong sales. [Samsung]

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Google finally getting its own Open Airplay alternative

Jake Smith Nov 20 2012 - 4:50 am PT

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As the television race heats up, Google said it is working on an open alternative to Apple’s AirPlay—a technology first introduced in iOS 4.2 that allowed users to share photo, audio, and video to the Apple TV.

Google had a similar streaming product to the Apple TV this summer—the Nexus Q— that allowed for sharing of content via an Android device to the TV. However, the product flopped and didn’t see the light of day for many customers. Additionally, in Google’s move to try to compliment streaming to the TV, the folks at YouTube launched an AirPlay-like feature last week that allows users to beam YouTube videos from their Android device straight to the television.

Speaking to GigaOm, Google Product Manager Timbo Drayson made it clear that Google has big plans in the space and wants to move forward. “We really want to move the whole industry forward,” Drayson told the publication.

How will Google move the industry forward? It may just partner with as many partners as possible. It worked with Android, so why wouldn’t it work here? Drayson said Google is “actively working with other companies” to implement a new AirPlay-like standard. Remember, Google also has its Google TV platform that this could play nicely off.

Furthermore, GigaOm examined how Google plans to move past just beaming video:

And it’s not just about remote control functionality and beaming a video from your mobile phone to the TV we are talking about. The new protocol makes it possible for data to flow in both directions, Drayson explained, which would enable developers to build second-screen experiences that correspond to what’s happening on live TV as well. Also on the roadmap: beaming content from your laptop to your TV screen.

Related articles

YouTube’s Android app now steams video to Google TV from Android device (9to5google.com)

Adobe launches Photoshop Touch app for Amazon Kindle Fire devices

Jordan Kahn Nov 15 2012 - 10:47 am PT

Adobe just announced on its Photoshop blog that it is making the Photoshop Touch app available to Kindle Fire devices starting today for $9.99 in the Amazon Appstore. Adobe previously had version of the app available for other Android devices on Google Play, as well as an iOS version of the scaled down Photoshop app for Apple’s devices. The new app for Kindle Fire will be available on the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD, and the 7-inch Kindle Fire, and Kindle Fire HD models. The app is only compatible with devices running Android 4.0 and up, so it’s not available to first-gen Kindle Fire users.

We have worked closely with Amazon to enable Adobe Photoshop Touch on this device, and are proud to announce that it is available for purchase in the Amazon Appstore immediately for US$9.99… In addition, we are announcing support for the updated 7-inch Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD devices. This means that Photoshop Touch is optimized for both 8.9-inch and 7-inch screens, giving users a great experience on all recent Kindle Fire devices.

Gartner: Apple and Samsung capture almost half of smartphone market in Q3, Android passes 70 percent share

Jordan Kahn Nov 14 2012 - 5:54 am PT

Screen Shot 2012-11-14 at 8.37.44 AM

Worldwide Mobile Device Sales to End Users by Operating System in 3Q12

Gartner is out with its quarterly report for worldwide mobile device sales by vendor and OS for the third quarter. While reporting an overall 3 percent decline in mobile phone sales, the smartphone category hit 169.2 million units in Q3, a 47 percent increase from the year-ago quarter. While Apple is still third to Samsung and Nokia for total mobile device sales, Samsung and Apple remain the top smartphone vendors collectively, capturing 46.5-percent of the market. Meanwhile, Nokia slipped from No. 3 smartphone vendor in Q2 to No. 7 in Q3. This made room for RIM and HTC behind Apple and Samsung in the third and fourth positions.

With sales of 23.6 million units in the third quarter for Apple (up 36.2-percent year-on-year), Gartner reported Samsung has widened its lead on Apple with almost 55 million smartphones in the quarter and strong demand for its Galaxy line. Samsung once again takes the top vendor position for smartphones with 32.5-percent of the market:

Samsung’s mobile phones sales continued to accelerate, totaling almost 98 million units in the third quarter of 2012 (see Table 1), up 18.6 percent year-on-year. Samsung saw strong demand for Galaxy smartphones across different price points, and it further widened the gap with Apple in the smartphone market, selling 55 million smartphones in the third quarter of 2012. It commanded 32.5 percent of the global smartphone market in the third quarter of 2012.

As for the race between Android and iOS, Gartner’s numbers show Android increased its marketshare nearly 20 percentage points in the quarter to 72.4-percent of the market, up from just 52.5-percent in the year-ago quarter. In comparison, Apple now accounts for 13.9-percent of the market, down from 15 percent last year, but Gartner expects that to change in Q4 thanks to the continuing iPhone 5 roll out:
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Watch Google Voice Search go up against Siri in speed test (Video)

Élyse Betters Nov 5 2012 - 12:47 pm PT

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/52497584 w=600&h=500]

So, in case you were wondering what is the main advantage of Google Voice Search over Apple’s Siri, watch the video above. The most notable difference between the two speech-recognition services —by far— is the response time.

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Google/Motorola says Apple’s patent claims thrown out ‘with prejudice’

Jordan Kahn Nov 5 2012 - 11:53 am PT

According to a report from Reuters, Google issued a statement that a Wisconsin federal court has decided to dismiss Apple’s “patent lawsuit with prejudice.” The report explained this particular case was brought on by Apple in part to determine what the courts considered fair and reasonable licensing terms for the patent portfolio Google acquired when purchasing Motorola.

Google said in a statement that it is still interested in making a deal with Apple “at a reasonable and non-discriminatory rate in line with industry standards”:

“We’re pleased that the court has dismissed Apple’s lawsuit with prejudice,” a Google spokeswoman said in an emailed statement on Monday…”Motorola has long offered licensing to our extensive patent portfolio at a reasonable and non-discriminatory rate in line with industry standards,” Google said in its statement. “We remain interested in reaching an agreement with Apple.”

Reuters explained the case being dismissed with prejudice means it is officially over at the trial court level. However, Apple can still appeal:

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Samsung to start 2013 with new brand unveiling at CES?

Élyse Betters Nov 5 2012 - 9:55 am PT

Samsung plans to welcome the new year with a new look.

ChannelNews just published a report, citing sources in Asia, that claimed Samsung is working with Scott Bedbury, a brand-marketing wizard whose past experience includes Nike, to launch a “more vibrant International brand image alongside the likes of arch rival Apple.”

The new look, which apparently ditches the blue Samsung logo and fashion’s all-new advertising material with fresh colors that will compliment an overall brand identity for the company, is set to unveil at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

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Report profiles Google’s internal feelings over whether Apple will approve Google Maps app

Élyse Betters Nov 5 2012 - 9:13 am PT

iOS 5 Maps with Google’s backend

The Guardian published a new report today that cited unnamed sources and throws around phrases like “not optimistic” and “unlikely event” in regards to Apple ever allowing a Google Maps iOS app.

The story claimed Google’s app is ready to ship by the end of 2012, but Google is torn about the likelihood of Apple ever giving an official go-ahead:

While one source indicated increased hopes that the dedicated Google Maps iOS app will eventually be approved now that Apple’s maps leader, Scott Forstall, has departed the company, another was less than enthusiastic about any increased prospects, citing industry politics and Apple’s need to save face as much as possible and “keep moving forward in an effort to make its obviously inferior product better”. Apple unveiled the section, which on Monday listed ten free and paid-for apps, to spotlight alternative mapping apps for iOS in an effort to placate users over response to criticisms of its own Maps app.

The Guardian specifically noted Apple’s reluctance to give Google Maps any attention in iOS. The company apparently went as far as to neglect apps in the “Find maps for your iPhone” section of the App Store that use Google Maps APIs:

Further, a source at Google told me the feeling is that those apps were purposely left out of the new section because they promote Google and its “superior product” – at a time when there is so much bad blood between the companies over the continuing smartphone patent litigation (following allegations from the late Steve Jobs that Google’s Android OS ripped off iOS). In other words, no matter how bad Apple’s Maps are, the company still wants its users to move on from Google – and forget about them. This doesn’t bode well for the approval of an official Google Maps app, the source says.

Despite the pessimistic outlook of the anonymous Google sources, the Guardian said Apple and the folks in Mountain View are in constant talks. So, the tide could potentially change without any notice. With that said, they firmly believe Apple will never again make Google Maps a default mapping solution in iOS.

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Samsung’s Galaxy Note II hits 3M in sales since launch

Élyse Betters Nov 2 2012 - 10:55 am PT

Samsung announced today that it sold roughly 3 million Galaxy Note IIs since the phablet launched over a month ago.

The company specified to the Associates Press (via USA Today) that it took just 37 days to hit the sales figure:

The South Korean firm is pinning its hope on the Note II and the S III to maintain its market lead during the crucial fourth-quarter holiday season, when a number of new gadgets are vying for attention from consumers in the crowded market.

A new report by IDC gives support to Samsung’s unverified claims: the research firm revealed Samsung sat at No. 1 in terms of the global smartphone market for Q3 2012 with 56.3 million sales—doubling Apple’s 26.9 million in iPhone sales.

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IDC: Android is now on 3 out of every 4 smartphones sold

Jordan Kahn Nov 2 2012 - 7:37 am PT

IDC is out with its latest report that covers the top six smartphone operating systems by shipments and market share during Q3 2012. In the study, IDC found Android on nearly 75 percent of all smartphones shipped during the quarter, giving Android 136 million units of the 181.1 million total smartphones shipped during Q3 2012. That accounts for 91.5-percent year-over-year growth, beating out 57.3- percent year-over-year growth for Apple, and an average market growth of 46.4-percent. Apple shipped 26.9 million iPhones, in comparison, giving the company 14.9-percent of the market in the third quarter. Samsung is once again the top Android vendor:

Android, having topped the 100 million unit mark last quarter, reached a new record level in a single quarter. By comparison, Android’s total volumes for the quarter were greater than the total number of smartphones shipped in 2007, the year that Android was officially announced. Samsung once again led all vendors in this space, but saw its market share decline as numerous smaller vendors increased their production.

iOS was a distant second place to Android, but was the only other mobile operating system to amass double-digit market share for the quarter. The late quarter launch of the iPhone 5 and lower prices on older models prevented total shipment volumes from slipping to 3Q11 levels. But without a splashy new OS-driven feature like Siri in 2011 and FaceTime in 2010, the iPhone 5 relied on its larger, but not wider, screen and LTE connectivity to drive growth.

Samsung shipped record 57M smartphones worldwide in Q3, capturing 35 percent global share

Élyse Betters Oct 26 2012 - 7:04 am PT

Strategic Analytics released its latest report today that depicted global smartphone shipments growing to 162 million in Q3 2012, and it said Samsung led the charge with a record 35 percent global share.

“Samsung shipped 56.9 million smartphones worldwide and captured a record 35 percent market share in the third quarter of 2012. This was the largest number of units ever shipped by a smartphone vendor in a single quarter, ” said Strategy Analytics Executive Director Neil Mawston in a press release.

The report further mentioned Samsung successfully delivered “numerous hit models,” such as the Galaxy and Galaxy Note, despite competition in stores and courtrooms. Apple managed to grab second place in the report, however, with nearly 17 percent. Meanwhile, the remaining handset manufacturers, such as Nokia, fell into the “Others” category at 48 percent.

“(Apple) shipped 26.9 million smartphones worldwide for 17 percent market share, up from 14 percent recorded a year earlier,” Mawston added. “Apple had a solid quarter in the important United States market and this helped to strengthen its global performance.”

Samsung and Apple essentially shipped over half of all the smartphones worldwide in Q3—up from roughly one-third just a year ago. Strategy Analytic Senior Analyst Neil Shah therefore noted shipping volumes have “polarized” around the two brands.

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Nexus 7 variant pops up in FCC filing with 3G

Élyse Betters Oct 25 2012 - 9:18 am PT

A French website just dug up a Federal Communications Commission filing for a 3G variant of the Nexus 7.

The filing, as first discovered by Galaxus (translated), detailed a codenamed “ME370tg” ASUS device. This, of course, would point to Google’s ASUS-made Nexus 7.

Another noteworthy aspect to the filing is that the ME370TG will receive certification Oct. 29. This date should probably sound familiar, as it is also the day of Google’s upcoming New York City event.

Unfortunately, the 3G-enabled Nexus 7 does not appear to sport LTE connectivity.

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