Weekly News Roundup – 11 January 2013

Once again the week is coming to an end and that means it’s time for a roundup of the past weeks news!

Google Launches iPhone App Coordinate – Google on Thursday released a new iPhone app called Coordinate. You can download it now from the official Apple App Store, but you should note that the mobile workforce management tool is targeted at businesses and requires a Google Coordinate license to work, meaning it does not work with consumer Google accounts.

Beats CEO Tried To Sell A Music Subscription Service to Steve Jobs 10 Years Ago – Jimmy Iovine is the CEO of Beats, Dr. Dre’s bumpin headphone line. Iovine has a long history in the music industry, and he previously ran Interscope records. Back in the early days of iTunes, Iovine visited Apple to pitch his idea for a Spotify-like music subscription to Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs fought to keep ousted CEO Mark Hurd at Hewlett-Packard – In an in-depth expose on Hewlett-Packard’s past, present and future, it was revealed that late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs reached out to Mark Hurd shortly after his ousting in an attempt to return the CEO to power and save HP from entering a death spin.

Walmart To Offer iPhone 5 Off Contract, Unlimited Service For $45 Monthly – Straight Talk, Walmart’s pre-paid cell phone service, is operated by TracFone Wireless Inc. and offers consumers no-contract monthly service for data, text, and talk. The catch, as with most pre-paid services, is the full priced upfront cost of the phone. In this case, Apple’s 8GB iPhone 4 will retail for $449, and the 16GB iPhone 5 for $649.

Apple’s Schiller: A cheaper iPhone? Um, no – In an interview with a Chinese newspaper, Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, says there’s no truth in reports that Apple will make a cheaper iPhone.

Former Anobit CEO Discusses Acquisition by Apple, Contrasts Cultures of Apple and Intel – Just over a year ago, Apple acquired Israeli flash memory firm Anobit, and now that Anobit founder and CEO Ariel Maislos has left the company to start his next venture he has been able to share some details on his experiences with Apple.

Apple expects China to overtake US as biggest market – Apple expects China to overtake the United States as its biggest market, the company’s chief executive has told a Chinese government news agency

Easily Tranfer Files Between Your Mac and iDevice With This Thumb Drive [CES 2013] – This is one of those simple ideas were surprised no one has come up with before. The PhotoFast i-FlashDrive HD is a flash drive with two different interfaces at each end — one 30-pin, one USB — that makes it super-easy to tranfer files between a desktop and anything with a 30-pin connector

Apple’s Mac shipments decline in U.S. as PC market slows – Preliminary PC shipment estimates released on Thursday from market research firm IDC show an overall contraction of 4.5 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2012, and Apple followed suit with a 0.2 percent negative growth rate.

Russia Commemorates Steve Jobs with Giant iPhone in St. Petersburg – An enormous iPhone has been unveiled in St. Petersburg, Russia, as a tribute to former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who passed away in October 2011 from pancreatic cancer.