Ed Colligan, the former chief executive of Palm, reportedly rejected an offer years ago from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs to agree to not hire each others’ employees.

The information comes from a U.S. Justice Department investigation that obtained communications between the two CEOs, according to Bloomberg. After rejecting the offer, Colligan reportedly told Jobs that what he proposed was “likely illegal.”

The conversation took place in August 2007, just after the launch of the iPhone, and when Palm appointed Apple’s former senior engineering VP, Jon Rubinstein, as executive chairman.

According to the communications between the two, Jobs told Colligan he was concerned that Rubinstein, as a former Apple employee, was recruiting existing Apple employees. “We must do whatever we

can to stop this,” Jobs reportedly said.

The documents say that Colligan told Jobs he considered the proposal, but ultimately decided against it.

“Your proposal that we agree that neither company will hire the other’s employees, regardless of the individual’s desires, is not only wrong, it is likely illegal,” Colligan said to Jobs, according to the communications.

However, Jobs’ specific proposal was not included in the communications. It was only referenced and discussed by the two executives.

“Jobs said Apple had patents and more money than Palm if the companies ended up in a legal fight, according to the communications,” Bloomberg reported. Apple spokeswoman Katie Cotton declined to comment on the matter and Jobs did not return e-mails (as expected).

A new report from Taiwan states that Microsoft intends to debut a touch interface for Windows Mobile 6.5 in early 2010, along with version 7 later that year to compete with the iPhone.

Citing sources at Taiwanese handset makers, DigiTimes reports that Microsoft will launch the latest upgrade to Windows Mobile on Oct. 1, 2009, but that a touchscreen upgrade will come in February of 2010. Following that, Windows Mobile 7 is also expected in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The two operating systems will reportedly represent a dual platform strategy from Apple’s rival to the north.

“Microsoft will not phase

out Windows Mobile from the market,” the report states, “but will lower the OS price when it launches Windows Mobile 7.”

Currently, Windows Mobile 6.5 doesn’t support capacitive touchscreens, but that may change in early 2010, if the report proves true. The upcoming version was always viewed as an interim product before the launch of Windows Mobile 7, which aims to provide an experience similar to that of the iPhone.

The strategy would allegedly allow the lower-priced Windows Mobile 6.5 to compete with the free, open source Android platform, while the premium Windows Mobile 7 option would be geared toward the iPhone crowd.

A report filed by a tipster claiming access to iTunes 9 says that it is “possible” the next version of Apple’s media player will sport both DVD import and playback as well as Facebook integration, allowing users to advertise songs and playlists with their friends.

The report and screenshots were published by the Boy Genius Report, which earlier in the month wrote that iTunes 9 is expected to allow organization of iPhone apps and iPod games and indicated some sort of social media integration was in the cards.

The latest report includes screen shots that depict a Facebook category in the iTunes Source list, allowing users to advertise new song titles and playlists in their Facebook profile. Also included is a screen shot of how advertised tracks would appear on Facebook.

BGR also presents a screen shot of iTunes 9 that suggests the capability to sync music, video, podcast, and photo content to third party device, a Samsung YH-J70xx MP3 player. Apple has previously only signaled a disinterest in supporting sync with third party devices, actively halting the Palm Pre’s attempts to identify itself as an iPod.

More interesting are the depiction of buttons in the lower right that allow for DVD

playback and import, suggesting that iTunes could do for DVDs what it got started doing for CDs. Were Apple to negotiate the right to rip DVDs, it would radically change the home movie industry in ways the industry has not demonstrated any interest in exploring. However, the addition of a “DVD Playback” button suggests that the screen shots are more likely to be fakes, as iTunes already has a playback button: “play.”

The studios have worked hard to thwart any commercial attempts to enable users to rip their own DVDs, recently filing an injunction against RealNetwork’s DVD Ripper software and even opposing a home theater installer from allowing users to rip their own DVDs for digital playback, despite the system not even producing an easy to distribute copy.

At Macworld Expo 2008, Apple announced having worked out a compromise with Twentieth Century Fox called Digital Copy for iTunes, which puts a mobile version of the movie on the DVD for use with iPods, the iPhone, Apple TV, and other media devices. Many new DVDs now include a Digital Copy of the movie, which doesn’t require any media ripping steps (transcoding and compression); instead, it simply initiates an iTunes download using a code included with the DVD.

The Globe and Mail reports that Rogers Wireless, the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in Canada has run out of stock of all iPhone models, notifying potential customers that they may have to wait several weeks before availability resumes.

“Rogers is advising shoppers that it is out of stock of Apple’s latest device, the iPhone 3GS, which was launched in June, as well as earlier models introduced last summer. The wireless carrier is telling visitors to its website that the newest device will be available again in the coming weeks. Rogers’ discount brand, Fido, is also out of stock, although some Fido stores said they had older devices, with significantly less memory, available.”

A Rogers spokesperson

notes that while the company does have additional stock coming in on a regular basis, that supply is primarily being used to fill back orders, leading to delayed shipments for those ordering at this time. Apple has reportedly maintained a steady supply of iPhones to its own retail stores in Canada, evidently taking care of its own needs as a first priority before distributing the remainder of its Canadian iPhone allocation to Rogers.

The report also notes that Australia has also run dry of iPhones in recent weeks as Apple struggles to satisfy demand. Apple noted on its most recent earnings conference call last month that supplies of the iPhone 3GS were constrained in the wake of robust demand.

Bandsintown, the webapp that offers personalized concert recommendations, is out with an iPhone app that not only shows what’s playing nearby with geo-location, but scans your music to recommend like-minded artists.

Bandsintown’s web facilities have gotten an overhaul recently, adding Pandora to its Last.fm account syncing, social features, streaming tweets and pictures from concerts as they happen, and the ability to track nearby concert venues in addition to artists and music types. The iPhone app, however, is the convenient tool for finding interesting live music when you’re on the go, running through your iTunes tracks and using your location to pull picks from its impressive database of ticket providers and music venues.

Bandsintown’s site and iPhone app are free to use.
App details are here: http://www.bandsintown.com/iphone

No, we aren’t kidding. There are iPhone cases in Japan going for $1,000 a pop. Because that’s exactly where the Japan Texture cases from SoftBank BB are going on sale.

But really, this is ridiculous—these things don’t even have diamonds, crystals or gold on them. So why so high?

The Japan Texture line of cases are all handcrafted and have referential nods to significant moments and concepts in Japanese history and culture. That’s wonderful and all, but $1,000?

The forces/people behind these events would be ashamed at the fleecing of its own people. Othernations have been fleeced in similar ways, so this isn’t strictly a Japanese phenomena.

There are actually fancy covered phones that cost even more, admittedly, but many of those have something precious on them besides paint and historical scenery. To each their own, we suppose; people are free to spend their money how they like.

Here’s the (Japanese; may need Google translation) site’s press announcement: http://www.softbankbb.co.jp/ja/news/press/2009/20090814_01/index.html

The much-awaited TomTom for iPhone GPS navigation app has popped up in the New Zealand App Store with a reported asking price ranging from about $81 to $125. The app price does not include the TomTom iPhone car kit.

According to MacRumors, the four-flavored app covers the U.S. & Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and, naturally, New Zealand. Pricing:
- U.S. & Canada: NZ $124.99 (US $84.41)
- Western Europe: NZ $179.99 (US $121.55)

- Australia: NZ $104.99 (US $79.90)
- New Zealand: NZ $119.99 (US $81.03)

Earlier this month, UK retailer Handtec let slip that the equally anticipated TomTom for iPhone car kit would sell for about $195, a GPS-boosting receiver, windshield mount, car charger and speakers. That news, and the perhaps premature New Zealand launch this weekend, would seem to indicate a global release is imminent.

It’s been talked about and delayed a number of time, so it’ll be nice to finally set it available for purchase.

eBay’s iPhone app has received an upgrade to version 1.4.0 and now includes push notifications and the ability to pay with PayPal directly from the app.

The new push notification feature can let users know when they have been outbid or when the auction of a watched item is about to end.

The App Store description officially lists the following new features:

- Optimized for 3.0 OS
- Integrated Pay with PayPal support

- Push notifications for outbid events and watched items
- Recent detailed seller feedback
- Completed items search
- Description search

Push notifications became available with the iPhone 3.0 firmware update that was released on June 17th. Since that time, a number of apps have been updated to take advantage of this new feature, including instant messaging apps AIM and Beejive, Zillow Real Estate, and others.

The eBay app is free and is available in the App Store right now.

Sales of iPhones increased more than sixfold during the second quarter of 2009, helping Apple maintain its ranking as the third largest smartphone maker worldwide, according to a new report.

In an international review of mobile phone and smartphone sales, Gartner research director Carolina Milanesi reports that Apple sold more than 5.4 million iPhones in the second quarter of 2009. That number is well up from the 892,000 sold during that period in 2008, and represents the largest expansion of any smartphone maker. That growth brought the handset maker from a 2.8 percent market share to a 13.3 percent share of second-quarter sales in 2009.

In all, 40.9 million smartphones were sold during the period, representing 27 percent growth from 2008. Nokia was the worldwide leader, moving 18.4 million smartphones during the period, up from 15.2 million a

year prior. Even with that increase, though, Nokia’s market share dropped from 47.4 percent to 45 percent, demonstrating that the smartphone market is becoming even more crowded and competitive.

Second globally was Research in Motion, which captured 18.7 percent of the market, selling 7.6 million phones. In fourth was HTC with 6 percent share, and Fujitsu was in fifth with 3 percent.

Apple initially moved into third place globally in the third quarter of 2008, as the iPhone has continued its expansion internationally. The impact of the recently launched iPhone 3GS will not be seen until the second half of 2009, the Gartner analysis said.

“Apple’s expansion into a larger number of countries in the past year has produced a clear effect on sales volumes, as have the recent price adjustments on the 8GB 3G iPhone,” the report states.

Emails can be unique, but sometimes you just need to tell the boss you’re “Running 10 minutes late,” or ask a spouse what they need from the store.

Pastie makes sending common text blocks to contacts fast and easy.

Pastie gives you a space to type out common messages, then decide whether you want to assign those messages a specific contact and delivery method (email or SMS),

or decide when you click the “Pastie.” For non-email and SMS purposes, Pastie also allows for quick clipboard copies of your text snippets to be pasted into any other app. The free/Lite version limits users to three text blocks, while the $1.99 full version does not do this.

Pastie Lite and Pastie are free and $1.99 downloads, respectively, and both require an iPhone running at least 3.0 firmware.