It was the week that saw the arrival of the LTE iPad, as NSN offloaded another chunk of its business and Telstra finalized its restructure deal.
Apple unveiled its long-awaited iPad 3 this week, only it’s not called the ‘iPad 3”, but “the new iPad”.
The iPad supports LTE (albeit mainly for US networks offering LTE on the 700-MHz and 2,100-MHz bands), and uses a dual-core A5X processor and a quad-core GPU. The device will be launched in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Switzerland, UK and the US Virgin Islands next week.
Meanwhile, Dow Jonesreported this week that Apple is considering softening its stance in its patent assault against the Android OS, seeking royalty payments from certain vendors instead of pursuing legal battles. However, the report cites unnamed sources, and Samsung is reportedly uninterested in Apple’s offer.
Bonus Apple-related news this week: China Mobile said it now has 15 million iPhone-using customers, despite not yet having an agreement letting it sell the device, and despite none of them supporting its TD-SCDMA network. China Mobile will be the only Chinese mobile operator not to officially offer the iPhone, once China Telecom starts selling the iPhone 4S today.
In non-Apple news for the week, Nokia Siemens Networks unloaded another non-core business unit – namely its proprietary fixed-wireless broadband business Expedience, which is now the property of Spanish technology holding firm CN Tetragen.
No financial terms were disclosed, but the deal covers all assets of NSN’s fixed-wireless division, including active customer and supplier contracts.
NSN also announced this week it is transferring 240 R&D stafffrom its Finnish OSS and SDM facilities to IT services firm Tieto, as part of its restructuring plan.