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Research firm Gartner released its numbers today for “Worldwide Mobile Device Sales” during Q1 2012. There are not many surprises in the report when it comes to Apple, but Gartner estimated Samsung sold 38 smartphones during the quarter, which is less than the 42.2 million estimated by IDC earlier this month and more than the 32 million by IHS iSuppli. With Apple confirming 35.1 million iPhones sold during the quarter, Gartner’s numbers put Samsung as the both the No. 1 smartphone and overall mobile device vendor. The report also noted Samsung and Apple together accounted for 49.3-percent of the global smartphone sales, which is up from just 29.3 percent in Q1 of last year:

“The continued roll-out of third generation (3G)-based smartphones by local and regional manufacturers such as Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, Yulong and TCL Communication should help spur demand in China. In addition, the arrival of new products in mature markets based on new versions of the Android and Windows Phone operating systems (OSs), and the launch of the Apple iPhone 5 will help drive a stronger second half in Western Europe and North America. However, as we are starting to update our market forecast we feel a downward adjustment to our 2012 figures, in the range of 20 million units, is unavoidable.”

On the platform side, Gartner’s report estimated both Android and iOS accounted for 79 percent of global smartphone sales—up from just 53.3-percent in Q1 2011. Of that 80 percent, Android grabbed 56.1-percent, which is slightly higher than the 51 percent of the United States market, according to estimates from comScore earlier this month. Apple took in the remaining 22.9-percent, which is less than the 30.7-percent comScore estimated for the U.S. market:

Gartner analysts said the smartphone market has become highly commoditized and differentiation is becoming a challenge for manufacturers. “At the high end, hardware features coupled with applications and services are helping differentiation, but this is restricted to major players with intellectual property assets. However, in the mid to low-end segment, price is increasingly becoming the sole differentiator. This will only worsen with the entry of new players and the dominance of Chinese manufacturers, leading to increased competition, low profitability and scattered market share.”

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• comScore: Android and iOS grab 80 percent US marketshare, Apple passes Motorola (9to5google.com)
• NPD: iOS plummets to 29 percent of total US smartphone sales in Q1 (9to5mac.com)

PatentlyApple covered a number of Apple patents today that were recently published by the US Patent & Trademark Office. One of the 21 patents originally filed in Q1 2011 is for an iOS remote control that would clip onto a steering wheel. The remote shown in the patent drawings essentially looks like the iPod click wheel, but Apple described it as a touch-sensitive, rotatable faceplate:

Apple’s invention generally relates to remote controls. More specifically, certain embodiments of the present invention provide a steering wheel mountable wireless remote control for controlling a portable media player… The remote control device can also include a faceplate that is rotatably mounted on top of the base section that very much resembles Apple’s iPod clickwheel… The notable difference is that Apple states that the faceplate is touch-sensitive.

You can get full coverage on the patent at PatentlyApple…

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Update: Bloomberg has updated its story to say that Disney and Apple are actually NOT in talks to bring the WatchESPN service to the Apple TV.

No deal is imminent with Apple, said Amy Phillips, a spokeswoman for Bristol, Connecticut-based ESPN.

“We’re not having conversations with Apple about authenticating WatchESPN,” Phillips said.

According to a report from Bloomberg, which cites ESPN executive Sean Bratches, Apple is currently in talks with Walt Disney’s ESPN network to bring the WatchESPN app, currently available for iPhone and iPad and recently opened up to Comcast customers, to Apple TV:

ESPN subscribers with AppleTV would gain access to the network’s Internet service on their sets. The sports network, which today announced programming for the TV season starting in September, said a deal isn’t imminent.

Bratches spoke with Bloomberg in an interview today:

“We’re a platform-agnostic content company… To the extent that in the future there’s an opportunity with Apple to authenticate through the pay-TV food chain as we’re doing with Microsoft, that’s something that we will participate in.”

The WatchESPN iOS app currently provides access to live streaming for the majority of ESPN’s content to Bright House Networks, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon FiOS TV customers. The app offers content from nearly every ESPN channel including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, and ESPNU. A full list of features from the iOS app’s iTunes page is below:

The WatchESPN app features:

Live streaming access to the top events from the ESPN family of networks, including:
* NBA Regular Season and Playoffs
* Major League Baseball
* The Masters, US Open and The Open Championships
* College Football and Basketball
* Barclay’s Premier League, Spanish Primera Division and Euro 2012 Soccer
* All 4 Grand Slam tennis events
…and thousands more live events airing on the ESPN networks 

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• Apps & updates: Dolphin Browser, WatchESPN, Evernote, Expensify, more (9to5mac.com)

Last week, we revealed Apple’s decision to drop Google Maps in iOS 6 in exchange for its own in-house solution branded simply as “Maps.” At the time, we told you many versions of iOS 6 have been floating around Apple’s campus, which indicated Apple is likely on track for a mid-June unveiling at this year’s World Wide Developers Conference. Shortly after, references to an upcoming iOS 6 beta were found in the code strings of the iCloud.com beta website.

One app developer informed us today that it has recently noticed users running iOS 6 using its app. The developer observed the “iOS6″ string when collecting the OS version from analytics software. It has not been able to trace exactly when the iOS 6 users started appearing, but it was sometime over the past week. Other developers that we spoke to began seeing hits in late April. There is a good chance that this means Apple is amidst iOS 6 compatibility testing with higher-profile applications from the App Store. The process of next-generation versions of iOS appearing in developer usage logs occurred last year too.

Although Apple’s new Maps app and its 3D mode will likely be pushed as a major feature of iOS 6, we noted previously that anyone anticipating major home screen changes or Android-style widgets will likely be disappointed. Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported Apple was preparing to unveil an upgrade to iCloud at WWDC that would include new sharing and commenting features for photos, as well as video syncing capabilities that will likely be the Video Stream feature we told you about last year.

Apple is also set to unveil its new ultra-thin 15-inch MacBook Pro that we revealed earlier this week, and, according to reports, it will officially announce Mountain Lion’s release date.

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• iCloud beta website reveals plans for Notes and Reminders web apps, affirms iOS 6 beta coming soon (9to5mac.com)
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Sometimes it is important to apply just the slightest bit of logic and understanding of Apple and its ecosystem when taking stories from foreign publications and re-blogging them like brain-dead drones.

Thanks to either a bad translation, or simply a quote taken out of context, the latest Apple rumor floating around is that the next iPhone will include a flexible display. The rumor originated from The Korea Times, which quoted Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun. He allegedly said the company is receiving “huge” orders from interested customers. Kwon did not mention any specific companies, but claimed “industry sources” (aka analysts) said Apple is likely one of those customers. We are not buying it…

First, let’s examine this “huge” order. The report from the Korea Times rightly pointed out that it would be hard to imagine flexible displays included in the next iPhone, but it still speculated Apple could be behind this large order. Since Samsung plans to ship the displays to OEMs in large numbers around the same time Apple is set to unveil the iPhone this fall, we find it hard to imagine Apple will replace its flagship Retina display— and the marketing that goes with it—to rely on this new flexible tech from Samsung. If it is not included in the yet-to-be unveiled next-gen iPhone coming this October, why would Apple order “huge” numbers of flexible displays now for a device more than a year-and-a-half out?

Another concern is quality. In April, the Korea Times said Samsung could meet Apple’s demand to make the switch from LCD to OLED possible, but “technical problems” were likely preventing Retina-quality pixel density and color accuracy of currently used LCDs. Even the analysts the Korea Times quoted today noted Apple is unlikely to adopt the tech any time soon. Research firm Lux Research said the flexible displays will only be a $140 million market in 2017, which is a long way from the rumored $8 billion worth of displays and chips Apple purchased from Samsung during 2011.

It is definitely possible that Apple is experimenting with flexible displays. A plausible scenario is that Apple is testing the flexible OLEDs with new, wearable form factors. Reports from The New York Times last December claimed Apple was developing secret wearable prototypes, one of which was described as “a curved-glass iPod that would wrap around the wrist.” It is much easier to imagine Apple experimenting with flexible displays as a future wearable iPod nano-like device—a scenario we said makes a lot of sense last August thanks to Bluetooth 4.0.

As for a flexible/bendable iPhone, Kwon admitted the OLED tech will not fully replace LCDs until 2015. Lux Research added the flexible displays “suffer from materials and manufacturing challenges and will have only a 15 percent share of the flexible display market” in 2017.

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• If Apple chose to move to OLED, Samsung now has the numbers. Quality still a consideration. (9to5mac.com)

After a number of reports and tweets from across the Web announced outages for iCloud mail this morning, Apple updated its system status page confirming the outage lasted from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. PDT and affected approximately 12 percent—or 15 million— of iCloud’s 125 million users. Unfortunately, Apple’s iCloud Support page was not updated until after service was restored, which left most users in the dark as to why they could not access Mail and Notes during the outage.

Anyone else having trouble sending iCloud email? I Keep getting password incorrect errors.

—
  (@markgurman) May 14, 2012

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According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Apple is about to unveil an upgraded iCloud service at WWDC in June. Citing the usual sources “familiar with the matter,” the report also claimed the features would include new photo-sharing capabilities for sharing and commenting on sets of photos. It also mentioned the ability to sync video to iCloud, which sounds a lot like a Video Stream feature that we mentioned last year. Perhaps this is the reason Phil Schiller no longer needed Instagram?

The new features, expected to be announced at Apple’s world-wide developer conference beginning June 11, will allow iCloud users to share sets of photos with other iCloud users and to comment on them, these people said. Currently, users can only store one set of photos in iCloud through a feature called Photo Stream, which is designed to sync those photos to other Apple devices, not share them.

We revealed last September that Apple was readying its Find My Friends network. At the time, we reported references to video streams that indicated Apple was likely considering a video syncing/stream feature similar to Photo Stream.

As we reported last week, The Wall Street Journal also confirmed today that the refreshed service would include access to Notes and Reminders through iCloud.com. At  its Q2 2012 earnings call in April, Apple announced iCloud has 125 million users, which is an increase of 25 million users since February.

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Fool me once(Tim Cook/Valve) shame on AppleInsider. Fool me twice(Terry Gou), shame on pubs republishing 3rd time, Loewe aquis., shame=mine

—
Up2Sec Apple News (@Up2SecApple) May 14, 2012

Less than a month after posting a false claim about Apple’s CEO Tim Cook visiting the Valve HQ, ole’ Danny Dilger claimed this weekend that Apple is moving to acquire a German TV manufacturer called “Loewe.” Again, we did not run with the story, because we preferred to mock it instead via Twitter. Not only has that story been debunked, but more allegations about Foxconn’s CEO Terry Gou having confirmed an Apple television are now being denied by the company. Oh, and Digitimes’ track record…

Just as Valve’s CEO debunked the previous claim, Loewe’s told German newspaper Hesse (via TNW) that “there was nothing to the rumor.”

Some originally even made connections between the Loewe’s rumor and recent reports from China Daily that quoted Foxconn’s CEO Terry Gou as claiming the company is preparing for an Apple television. As expected, Foxconn now confirmed to TNW that Gou “neither [confirmed] nor [speculated] about Foxconn’s involvement in the production of any product.”

It makes sense, as Fortune’s Philip Elmer-Dewitt pointed out, reports from Bloomberg, Reuters, and Associated Press all seemed to miss the quote. Even with denial from the companies, that is not stopping Loewe’s stock price from going crazy as markets open in Germany this morning.

As noted by PaidContent, Loewe’s stock price skyrocketed by a whopping 25-percent this morning on rumors of being acquired by Apple. At closing bell on Friday, Loewe’s market cap sat at €59.1 million. However, fast forward to this morning: It has increased by over €18 million to a cool €77 million. That is after Loewe’s PR denied any rumors of an acquisition and with the European market being slammed this morning.

In other debunking news, TIME’s Harry McCracken today put Taipei-based Digitimes under the microscope; when it comes to its Apple rumor track record, the publication is “wrong most of the time.” The result of the report, which breaks down the accuracy of some of the website’s biggest past claims, is that “Digitimes rarely does anything other than to simply pass along gossip it’s heard.” You can read the full breakdown here.

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Following a breakout of malware on Mac OS X that some experts estimated could have infected up to 600,000 Macs, research firm Kaspersky made claims late last month that Apple was 10 years behind Microsoft in terms of security, while claiming roughly 140,000 Macs were still infected. Today Kaspersky CTO Nikolai Grebennikov confirmed with Computing that the company has begun researching the security of OS X at Apple’s request:

“Mac OS is really vulnerable… and Apple recently invited us to improve its security. We’ve begun an analysis of its vulnerabilities, and the malware targeting it… Our first investigations show Apple doesn’t pay enough attention to security. For example, Oracle closed a vulnerability in Java, which was a target for a major botnet several months ago… Apple blocked Oracle from updating Java on Mac OS, and they perform all the updates themselves. They only released the patch a few weeks ago – two or three months after the Oracle patch. That’s far too long… This botnet, which the security community identified, is a huge sign that Apple’s security model isn’t perfect…  

Grebennikov continued by claiming he expects to see similar issues with malware making its way to iOS devices over the coming year, although none has been discovered:

“Our experience tells us that in the near future, perhaps in a year or so, we will see the first malware targeting iOS.”

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Previously available only to Android users, Adobe released its Adobe Collage app to iPad users today for assembling “modern, conceptual moodboards.” It also released the Adobe Proto app for iPad that allows you to create prototypes of websites and mobile apps.

The Collage app allows users to import content from select Adobe Creative Suite applications, including PDFs, PSDs, and AI files, as well as upload and access existing content stored in your complimentary 2GB Adobe Creative Cloud account. Once you have content imported from Adobe apps or the Web, the app provides a canvas, multiple pen types, text tools, various fonts, and other tools for incorporating images, video, text, and drawings into a collage-style piece of art.

Adobe’s Proto app allows you to “sketch website and mobile app wireframe layouts with simple finger strokes on your tablet’s touchscreen” using a CSS grid system, WebKit preview, jQuery support, and the ability to sync wireframes to Creative Cloud and to Dreamweaver CS6.

The Adobe Collage app for iPad is available on the App Store now for $9.99, and the Adobe Proto app is available for the same price (here). Adobe also updated its Photoshop Touch iPad app today with a ton of new features including new 2,048-by-2,048 resolution settings, auto-sync for Creative Cloud, new languages, and much more. A full list of features for Proto and Collage is below:

Adobe Collage:

-Create modern moodboards with mixed media.
-Import PDF, PSD, and AI files.
-Search and import content from Google, Flickr and YouTube.
-Increase the size of your canvas as needed to add assets.
-Multiple pen types allow for varied look and feel.
-Add text with a variety of fonts.
-Leverage existing content library in Adobe Creative Cloud*
-Free membership to Creative Cloud* gives you 2GB of cloud storage plus the ability to sync between tablet and desktop, access files from the web, and easily share with others.

Adobe Proto:

-Sketch website and mobile app wireframe layouts with simple finger strokes on your tablet’s touchscreen.
-Insert interactive wireframe components from the component toolbox, including menus, tabs, accordions, and more, to quickly capture your design idea.
-Build wireframes using well-known CSS grid systems.
-Take advantage of the WebKit preview and jQuery support.
-Sync your wireframe to Adobe Creative Cloud to easily access for further refinement using Adobe® Dreamweaver® CS6.
-Free membership to Creative Cloud* gives you 2GB of cloud storage plus the ability to sync between tablet and desktop, access files from the web, and easily share with others.

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