Acer has no plans for 4G Intel smartphone

The Taiwanese company will be launching a 4G handset in Taiwan in the next quarter, but will be using chips from MediaTek and Qualcomm instead.

Despite Acer's partnership with chipmaker Intel for its Liquid smartphones for emerging markets in Asia, the Taiwanese company does not have plans to use Intel chips for its upcoming 4G handsets.

Instead, it will stick to using Qualcomm and MediaTek processors for its upcoming 4G smartphones that are due in the next quarter, when Taiwan rolls out its LTE network.

Acer also declined to reveal details on why the company has not chosen to further its partnership with the chip giant. Meanwhile, Asus has chosen to launch its range of Intel-powered smartphones, the ZenFone series, in Asia.

Intel's upcoming Merrifield Atom chip will support LTE, but this is using a separate LTE radio instead of being integrated into a single package like Qualcomm's offerings.

An integrated solution is not expected until the end of 2014, which could also be the reason why Acer is choosing to use other chipsets for now.

Will a larger iPhone steal sales from the iPad Mini?

Possibly, but the overall effect might be neutral, says analyst Gene Munster, as some Phone 6 buyers could opt for an iPad Air instead of a Mini.

How would Apple's iPad Mini fare in a world with not just one, but two, bigger-screen iPhones?

Apple is expected to bump up the screen size on its next iPhone. Recent rumors even claim the company will unveil two new models later this year -- one with a 4.7-inch screen, the other with a 5.5-inch screen. Assuming this prediction proves true, a certain amount of cannibalization of the Mini is likely. But Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster sees the overall effect on Apple as neutral.

In some cases, consumers might update to the iPhone 6 to score the bigger screen instead of keeping an older phone and buying an iPad Mini, Munster suggested in an investors note released Monday. In other cases, iPhone 6 buyers who want a second device might simply choose an iPad Air instead of a Mini.

Cannibalization concerns were also tossed around when Apple introduced the first iPad Mini in 2012. Apple watchers wondered if the new Mini model would steal sales away from its bigger sibling. In some ways, the point is moot. As long as overall demand and revenues stay strong, Apple benefits no matter which product is luring in the customers.

Apple announces its fiscal second-quarter results this Wednesday. Munster predicts that earnings will reach the higher end of Apple's own guidance with revenues close to $44 billion, iPhone unit sales of 38.5 million, and iPad unit sales of 21 million.

But the analyst doesn't have high expectations for the current quarter. Munster predicts only a 5 percent increase in Apple revenues this quarter over the same quarter last year. Wall Street in general is eyeing an 8 percent gain.

"We continue to believe that June numbers are too high given our expectation that there will be no new products in the quarter," Munster said. "We note that given the company's history with guidance, the high-end of Apple's guide is all that matters and we expect the company's high-end of guidance to imply no more than 5 percent [year-over-year] revenue growth."

And how big an impact will China Mobile have on Apple's iPhone results?

Last December, Apple finally cut a deal with China's largest carrier to offer the iPhone starting in January. Based on subscriber data from China Mobile, Munster estimates the carrier sold around 1 million iPhones during the first quarter of availability. But he expects the biggest year-over-year impact from the China Mobile deal to occur after the iPhone 6 arrives.

Steve Jobs wanted to 'further lock customers' into Apple's 'ecosystem'

That's according to an e-mail he sent to employees in 2010 that included "2011: Holy War with Google" as a talking point for an upcoming meeting.

Steve Jobs was convinced that if he could tie his company's products together, he'd be successful in locking them into Apple's device line, according to a newly shared e-mail from the late Apple co-founder.

Jobs wrote in an e-mail to employees in October 2010 outlining his itinerary for his company's annual Top 100 meeting -- an event attended only by Apple's top 100 employees to discuss the company's future -- that his goal would be to find a way to connect his firm's products in such a way that customers would have no choice but to stay with Apple.

"Tie all of our products together, so we further lock customers into our ecosystem," Jobs wrote in a bullet list of items he wanted to discuss at Apple's 2011 Top 100 confab.

Jobs' e-mail was disclosed during opening arguments at the Apple-Samsung patent-infringement case in the US District Court in San Jose, Calif. Samsung obtained the e-mails during the Discovery phase of the trial, and promptly brought them before the jury to outline its belief that Apple's real issue is with Google and not Samsung -- a claim Apple has flatly denied.

That Jobs was eyeing ways in which he could "lock customers" into his firm's products is a double-edged sword. From an investor's perspective, keeping customers and forcing them to buy into Apple's products boosts revenue and profits. However, the practice of locking customers into products is a loaded term in the tech world that harkens back to IBM and Microsoft.

IBM was criticized for years over its practices with service agreements and warranties, stipulating that it would not support products that used non-IBM products. Microsoft has been the focus of antitrust debate for decades over Windows and Internet Explorer. Microsoft has also been criticized for its use of proprietary file formats, that some say, aim at keeping customers using its products and no others.

Apple is certainly no stranger to lock-in, either. The company has for years been criticized for its use of proprietary components and file formats, and Jobs' own desire to talk about lock-in adds more fuel to the fire.

Despite the criticism over alleged lock-in practices, they don't appear to be hurting the companies mentioned. All three firms -- Apple, IBM, and Microsoft -- are all posting huge revenue and profit figures and are showing no signs of those dropping significantly anytime soon.

CNET has contacted Apple for comment on the Steve Jobs e-mail. We will update this story when we have more information.

Apple shares are down 50 cents to $541.15 in early trading on Wednesday.

Alipay Moves Further Beyond Alibaba With Rakuten Tie-Up

Alipay, the electronic payment service affiliated with Alibaba Group, is broadening its business further through a tie-up with Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten.

Alipay has been expanding its role beyond Alibaba’s Chinese shopping sites in recent years, handling transactions for various bricks-and-mortar businesses as well as for international e-commerce operations.

The latest step in its expansion is its tie-up with Rakuten. Rakuten Global Market, Rakuten’s international shopping service, last week started accepting Alipay as one of its payment options, making it easier for Chinese consumers to use the Japanese company’s cross-border marketplace.

While Rakuten is a dominant player in Japan, its international operations are still relatively small. Rakuten’s Japanese marketplace has a total of 42,000 sellers, and about 10,000 of them also use Rakuten Global Market to sell their products to overseas customers. For now, only 250 sellers on Rakuten Global Market accept Alipay as part of the tie-up, but eventually all Rakuten sellers that can ship their products to China will accept Alipay, according to Alibaba.

Alibaba dominates China’s e-commerce market, and its shopping sites handle more transactions than those of Amazon.com and eBay combined. Both Alibaba and Rakuten operate marketplaces where many merchants sell their products to consumers — unlike Amazon.com, which for the most part is a direct seller of goods it keeps in its own warehouses.

Alipay was originally developed in late 2004 as a system to handle transactions on Alibaba’s Taobao marketplace, a shopping site that has hundreds of millions of users in China. But since then, Alipay has expanded far beyond Taobao. In China, consumers now use Alipay to pay for all kinds of transactions, from utility bills and restaurant meals to taxi rides. Alipay has also been trying to increase its international presence by offering its payment services to retailers in North America and Europe who sell their products to consumers in China.

Alipay’s tie-up with Rakuten comes as Alibaba is gearing up for an initial public offering in the U.S. Bankers and analysts say Alibaba’s IPO could raise more than $15 billion, possibly surpassing Facebook’s 2012 market debut as the largest technology IPO in U.S. history.

Still, Alipay won’t be part of the IPO because the payment affiliate is not part of Alibaba Group. Alipay used to be part of Alibaba Group, but Alibaba founder Jack Ma spun off the unit and brought it under his control in 2011, saying that the move was necessary because of Chinese government regulations that wouldn’t allow Alipay to continue its business as part of Alibaba Group.

Edison, Bell … Samsung? Company Opens Innovation Museum

In 1837, Samuel Morse invented the telegraph.

In 1879, Thomas Edison introduced his light bulb to the world.

And in April 2014, the Samsung Innovation Museum opened at the South Korean company’s headquarters, which will house some of the modern era’s most iconic inventions, placing them in a narrative of innovation that culminates with Samsung’s smartphones, curved-screen televisions and semiconductors.

It is an audacious move, and it comes as Samsung squares off in patent court against Apple Inc., a bitter rival and competing claimant to Thomas Edison’s mantle.

The opening of the five-story museum, which occupies about 118,000 square feet (10,950 square meters) at Samsung Digital City in Suwon, South Korea, is the company’s latest move in recent days to burnish its public image as an innovator rather than as a “fast follower,” a label with which it is often tagged.

Just last week, Samsung launched a website aimed at establishing the company as a “design powerhouse” in the public imagination, liberally sprinkling the site with words such as “inspiration,” “meaningful,” “design philosophy” and “creative processes” to connote innovation.

The innovation museum takes this all a step further, physically placing Samsung in a centuries-long heritage of creativity and inspiration.

Visitors to the innovation museum–which the company has given the cutting-edge abbreviation “S/I/M”–will be presented with three exhibition halls.

The first, dubbed “The Age of Inventors,” covers everything from the 18th to the 20th centuries, featuring original models of a Leyden jar from the 1740s, an Edison filament lamp and a Maytag electric washing machine from 1911. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, will also get a prominent mention.

The second, called “The Age of Industry Innovation,” spans the invention of the transistor and the history of the semiconductor, culminating in the third hall, called “The Age of Creation” and dedicated to Samsung’s vision of the future.

Samsung isn’t trying to hog all the glory here. In addition to its own products, the company says that the museum will highlight pioneering products from storied technology names including Siemens, AT&T, Philips, General Electric, NEC, Sony, Intel, Sharp, Nokia and Motorola. (Notice anyone missing?)

The S/I/M will be open Monday to Saturday, with reservations required for weekday visits.

Square’s Losses Growing, Cash Shrinking

Jack Dorsey co-founded TwitterTWTR +1.31%, one of the most valuable social media companies in the world. His second act, Square, is proving tougher.

Losses have eaten up a big chunk of the money the mobile-payments startup raised from high-profile investors such as Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Rizvi Traverse.

Square representatives recently had acquisition talks with some of the company’s deeper-pocketed rivals. Earlier this month, it got a big credit facility from top Wall Street banks, led by Goldman Sachs

Microsoft reportedly plans to rename Nokia Oyj

New Microsoft Mobile Oy subsidiary will serve as the company's mobile devices division, according to a letter obtained by Nokiapoweruser.

When Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's devices and services business closes, the software giant plans to rename Nokia Oyj to Microsoft Mobile Oy, according to a letter sent to suppliers.

The new wholly-owned subsidiary will serve as Microsoft's mobile devices division, according to the letter, which informed suppliers that the terms and conditions of their contracts would not change when the deal is completed.

"Please note that upon the close of the transaction between Microsoft and Nokia, the name of Nokia Corporation/Nokia Oyj will change to Microsoft Mobile Oy," a copy of which was obtained by Nokiapoweruser.

CNET has contacted Microsoft for comment and will update this report when we learn more.

When Microsoft announced its plans to acquire Nokia's handset division and license some patents last September, the company said it expected the $7.2 billion deal to close by the first quarter of this year. However, Microsoft announced last month that antitrust reviews of the acquisition in Asia would delay the deal's closure until April.

Nokia became Microsoft's biggest and closest Windows Phone partner in a mutual bid for relevance in a market dominated by Apple's iOS and Google's Android.