Report: FTC Investigating Apple Over Adobe iPhone Complaint
San Francisco – The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is
actively investigating Apple’s (NASD: AAPL) blocking of Adobe (NASD: ADBE) tools to create iPhone
applications, Wired.com reports, citing a denial of a Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) request for related documents.
Wired.com petitioned for the release
of documents related to a complaint Adobe reportedly submitted to the FTC over
Apple’s actions, but the FTC said the records were exempt "because
disclosure of that material could reasonably be expected to interfere with the
conduct of the Commission’s law enforcement activities."
Wired.com
postulates this denial "all but confirms" an FTC probe of Apple.
Apple
CEO Steve Jobs said in April that allowing third-party development software on the
iPhone "ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the
enhancement and progress of the platform…We cannot be at the mercy of a third
party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our
developers."
Related Links:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/08/ftc-apple-adobe-foia
Following UAE, Saudi Arabia Set to Block BlackBerry Services
Los Angeles – Days after the United Arab Emirates announced it would block
email and messaging services on RIM’s (NASD: RIMM) BlackBerry devices later this year, Saudi
Arabia said on Wednesday that it will halt BlackBerry instant messaging services
this week.
Local mobile networks Saudi Telecom, Mobily and Zain Saudi Arabia
were ordered by the Saudi government to suspend BlackBerry services on Friday,
which said the service does not meet regulatory requirements.
The countries are
thought to be wary of the encryption of BlackBerry data that is processed on
servers in North America.
In a statement, RIM maintains that it cannot provide
keys to unlock the encryption to governments who want to monitor communications
because it does not possess them.
The company is now reportedly in last-minute
talks with the Saudi government to avoid the BlackBerry service suspension
slated for Friday.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/25ggw9q
(Bloomberg)
Affiliate Links Start-up VigLink Acquires Driving Revenue
San Francisco – VigLink, the San Francisco-based developer
of a service that lets Web publishers earn commissions when site visitors make
purchases through embedded links, said on Tuesday that it has acquired
Chicago-based counterpart Driving Revenue.
Financial terms of the deal were not
disclosed.
The acquisition adds more than $100 million in revenue to the
company, which now will track over 2 million publisher clicks a day across more
than 12,000 merchant programs.
Combined customers include avsforums.com, Forum
Foundry, Huddler, Internet Brands, KickApps, Macworld, PCWorld, ReadWriteWeb,
Technorati, Tom’s Hardware and Posterous.
All employees of Chicago-based
Driving Revenue will be retained by VigLink and continue to work out of their
Chicago office, with Raymond Lyle assuming the title of president.
In addition,
Driving Revenue co-founder and CTO Jack Bafia will join the VigLink team in San
Francisco.
Related links:
http://tinyurl.com/25zyr9c
