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.”

Since this Mac in question became a bit of side-project, I put finding a keyboard off for awhile, but finally got one. Although I’ve been a Mac user for years and can rattle off facts and figures in my sleep, it struck me how simple the keyboards on the first few Mac models were.

I managed to track down a Mac Plus keyboard, which still works with the old 128k, but features a numeric keyboard and has cursor keys. It’s a little less rare, but still works to complete the system—for now. The computer itself actually has a 512k motherboard (which was an Apple-sanctioned upgrade), so it didn’t matter that the keyboard wasn’t 100% original either. Anyway, pulling it out of the box and setting it on my counter next to my aluminum wireless keyboard (which gets quite a bit of use on my iPad), I found it quite amusing that it seems the complicated versus simple continuum is heading back in the simple direction. It’s amusing that Apple even used Helvetica (or something close) for the hardware labels before completely adopting Apple Garamond as the typeface (Helvetica also happens to be the iOS system font of choice).

While today’s Mac are getting increasingly complicated (well, they have been ever since OS X hit the scene, maybe even earlier than that), powerful, and more user-friendly with some of the features in Mac OS X Lion, they still are a far cry from the goal of the original Mac, and certainly overkill for many who just want a basic computer for entertainment or communications. Don’t get me wrong, Apple’s hardware lineup is probably the best value it’s ever been, and the designs are top-notch.

Two Years On

In light of the iPad’s second birthday (January 27), I started reflecting on what this has meant for the tech world, and am surprised some people still question the iPad’s long-term success. I wonder if the Mac community had this feel in 1986—excited about a product growing in popularity, but a bit apprehensive about its future. I vaguely recall some early comparisons of the iPad to the original Mac—simple, appliance-like, closed. Much like the original Mac, the iPad could’ve been a bit more powerful, didn’t offer multitasking until a couple of software versions later, and was sealed. Mix in the App Store, and you have a completely Apple-controlled experience. Critics say the App Store limits the “openness” of software choice, but the original Mac was lacking software options simply by the pure number of developers wanting to take a stab at a new platform. Eventually they came, but not in droves like the App Store.

The iPad is a very personal product—it makes it difficult for multi-user environments, such as classrooms, but it begs not to be shared even more than a Mac. I like the idea that everything on it is yours and all yours, although a “guest mode” might be nice for sharing something—much like booting off of a fresh system diskette on the original Mac.

But back to that keyboard…

Missing Keys

For some reason, looking at that aged, yellowish, oversized, yet small Mac Plus keyboard got me thinking where it all came from. Take away the extra keys that were added for the Plus and you had a keyboard that was almost identical to the on-screen keyboard on the iPad, except for a separate row for numbers. Things like Escape, Control, Function, F-keys, Eject, and even cursor keys that adorn our Mac keyboards were nonexistent. To the left of the space bar is simply Option (for alternate characters) and Command (to simplify tasks). While some may say that you’d at least need arrow keys, the idea was that there was one or two ways to do a task and that was it. Uncluttered.

I hope that the iPad continues to develop as a competent standalone computing platform, especially with the introduction of iOS 5. The iCloud/iTunes Match model is much different than the Mac has ever been, but if you buy in (or start from scratch) it works quite well. While the computer geek side of me will always want something with more features, tweaks, and power, the user side of me wants something that is simple, uncluttered, and will always work as expected. The Mac faced the “PC-ification” of becoming more complicated, conforming to standards, and offering more flexibility—all of which are not bad, but today’s Mac models are vastly different than the original goal and experience of the first Mac. I hope the iPad can stay true to form as it grows up and be a nimble, reliable, appliance computer that it is.

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.