As for the actual reason why this complaint was filed? It has to do with pagers:

Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. won a second German patent ruling against Apple Inc. over its iCloud service allowing the company to block sales of devices including iPhone and iPad if they use the software that accesses it.

The Mannheim Regional Court found Apple infringed a patent used to synchronize e-mail accounts. The ruling also allows Motorola Mobility to ask Apple for information about past device sales and holds Apple liable for damages, Presiding Judge Andreas Voss said today.

“The court has come to the conclusion that the wording of the patent does cover functions that were at issue here,” said Voss. Apple “wasn’t able to convince the court that it isn’t infringing.”

Motorola Mobility, the mobile-phone maker now being acquired by Google Inc., won a first injunction in December it is now enforcing against Apple over claims a cellular- communications patent was infringed. Overnight, Apple removed some older iPhones and iPad models from its online store in Germany in response. Motorola Mobility has filed multiple suits against Apple in Germany and they are entangled in patent disputes in the U.S.

“Apple believes this old pager patent is invalid and we’re appealing the court’s decision,” company spokesman Alan Hely said.

Also, related, the push email feature of iCloud could be disabled as a result of the ruling.

Customers can still get an iPhone 3GS or 4 or 3G-equipped iPad 2 from Apple’s resellers and brick-and-mortar stores. Still, this is just showing why Google acquiring Motorola is really going to help the industry.

Update: AllThingsD is reporting that Apple’s full lineup will be available soon and the takedown was temporary:

In a statement given to AllThingsD, Apple confirmed that the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and 3G/UMTS-based iPads should be returning to the shelves of its German online store in a matter of hours.

“All iPad and iPhone models will be back on sale through Apple’s online store in Germany shortly,” an Apple spokesperson told AllThingsD. “Apple appealed this ruling because Motorola repeatedly refuses to license this patent to Apple on reasonable terms, despite having declared it an industry standard patent seven years ago.”

Fixes include:

The OS X Lion v10.7.3 Update includes Safari 5.1.3 and fixes that:

• Add Catalan, Croatian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian, Slovak, Thai, and Ukrainian language support
• Address issues when using smart cards to log into OS X
• Address compatibility issues with Microsoft Windows file sharing 
• Address an issue printing Microsoft Word documents that use markup
• Address a graphics performance issue after sleep on some earlier iMacs that use ATI graphics
• Resolve a Wi-Fi connection issue when waking from sleep
• Address an issue that may prevent Safari from opening before joining a wireless network
• Fix a potential issue authenticating to an SMB DFS share
• Include RAW image compatibility for additional digital cameras

Directory Services

• Improve binding to read-only Active Directory Domain Controllers
• Improve binding and login speed for Active Directory users in a domain whose name ends in ".local"
• Improve reliability of Dynamic DNS (DDNS) updates by Active Directory clients
• Allow login with an Active Directory username that contains a space
• Improve compatibility with Active Directory schemas that have been extended with the "apple-user-homeDirectory" and "apple-user-homeurl" attributes
• Fix home directory Dock item for Active Directory users with mobile accounts
• Allow NIS users with MD5-hashed passwords to log in

For information about the security content of this update, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

As always, it’s available via Software Update or direct from Apple (use the links at the top of this post).

Apple today announced that John Browett will join the company as senior vice president of Retail, reporting to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Browett comes to Apple from European technology retailer Dixons Retail, where he has been CEO since 2007. Beginning in April, he will be responsible for Apple’s retail strategy and the continued expansion of Apple retail stores around the world.

“Our retail stores are all about customer service, and John shares that commitment like no one else we’ve met,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We are thrilled to have him join our team and bring his incredible retail experience to Apple.”

Prior to joining Dixons Retail, Browett held a series of executive positions at Tesco plc including CEO of Tesco.com. Earlier in his career he advised retail and consumer goods clients at Boston Consulting Group. He holds a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and an MBA from Wharton Business School.

Dixons Retail is a UK-based consumer electronics chain, comparable to Best Buy in the United States.

If you recall from the fourth quarter results in October, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer’s expectations for this quarter were higher than the last:

“Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 14 weeks rather than 13, we expect revenue of about $37 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $9.30.”

Apple more than beat those estimates this quarter, as per the press release:

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2012 first quarter which spanned 14 weeks and ended December 31, 2011. The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion and record quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion, or $13.87 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $26.74 billion and net quarterly profit of $6 billion, or $6.43 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 44.7 percent compared to 38.5 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 58 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

The Company sold 37.04 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 128 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 15.43 million iPads during the quarter, a 111 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 5.2 million Macs during the quarter, a 26 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 15.4 million iPods, a 21 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

“We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.”

“We are very happy to have generated over $17.5 billion in cash flow from operations during the December quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 13 weeks, we expect revenue of about $32.5 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $8.50.”

CNNMoney reports:

Apple’s market cap is higher than the gross domestic product of Greece, Austria, Argentina, or South Africa. (For more comparisons, check out this excellent blog: Things Apple is Worth More Than.)

Despite its size, Apple is still one of the fastest growing technology companies. The company will report its finances for the past quarter next week, and analysts expect Apple to announce that its sales grew by 45% compared to last year, according to a survey conducted by Thomson Reuters.

When we were using Titanium PowerBook G4s and iMacs with CRTs, things were just a bit different:

Apple’s growth is a stunning achievement for a 35-year old company that had a market cap of just $10 billion a decade ago.

The company’s turnaround began with the launch of the iPod, and growth really skyrocketed after the iPhone’s release in 2007. Apple is forecast to have sold a record 30 million iPhones last quarter, following the launch of the iPhone 4S in October.

Looks like there was something to that iPod halo effect…thanks, SchwarzTech in 2004.

iBooks 2 & Textbooks

First up, Apple demonstrated its own take on the electronic textbook. These will currently be available for high school courses, at $15 or less each. Apple partnered with the biggest textbook publishers, McGraw Hill, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Pearson, who control 90% of the market. As expected, the textbooks feature quite a bit of interactivity, including video, diagrams, quizzes, photos, and updates.

Although you lose out on selling used books, the lower prices mean that a whole collection of books for classes still will probably be cheaper. Furthermore, over the course of a couple of years, the savings will more than pay for an iPad.

iBooks Author

Next, we got to see a new product from Apple, called iBooks Author. It’s found on the Mac App Store and is free. The basic idea is that you can drag and drop content into templates—or create your own—to produce textbooks. Based on the demos, it looks quite a bit like Pages-meets-Keynote-with-a-little-iWeb thrown in. The Verge even said that was like a modern-day HyperCard—we agree.

No word on reading iBooks on the Mac, though…

iTunes U

Finally, iTunes U got a much-needed update. Now, there’s an app where students can browse courses, much like iBooks, but also download or stream video and download materials to go along with the course. Additionally, K-12 schools can get in on the content creation.

Hardware

Although no announcement was made, one can hypothesize that the biggest cost of this push are the devices themselves. The Verge spoke with Phil Schiller about the topic:

The company had no announcements to make (and that sentiment didn’t change when I pressed reps for comment), but it will be an interesting question to see answered in the coming months. If Apple wants school districts to buy an iPad for every student, it’s going to take more than just a great presentation. When we spoke to Phil Schiller, he told us that he thinks the numbers work out favorably for school districts if you weigh the costs of textbooks and classroom computers against iBooks content and iPads. “It’s affordable for schools,” was the message.

The company did tell us that it works with districts to lease iPads on a four-year schedule — so that will potentially ease the strain on budgets.

If you want to see the event yourself, Apple has posted it.

Just as the prior plans, AT&T also gives unlimited access to AT&T Wi-Fi Hotspots, to encourage more people to get their data from somewhere other than a tower. The new smartphone plans consist of:

• DataPlus 300MB/$20: Extra 300MB for $20.
• DataPro 3GB/$30: Extra 1GB for $10.
• DataPro 5GB/$50: Extra 1GB for $10, also includes tethering/mobile hotspot

The iPad’s plans are similar:

• Existing 250MB Plan/$15: Extra 250MB for $15.
• DataConnect 3GB/$30: Extra 1GB for $10.
• DataConnect 5GB/$50: Extra 1GB for $10.

The change will take effect starting Sunday for new customers or those who elect to switch. As always, current uses can keep their plans, as long as they never switch to the new ones.