There’s 
no question the iPhone 5 will be a roaring success when it goes on sale Sept. 21. But the latest smart phone from Apple could also give certain game publishers a significant boost.
Gaming has increasingly been an important part of the Apple ecosystem – and while video game companies only made token appearances at Wednesday’s press event, at least one says it views the new phone’s release as a major catalyst for the industry.
Apple 
might have scored a key courtroom victory against Samsung late last week, but the fight is hardly over between the two tech giants.
Samsung unveiled Wednesday the second generation of its Galaxy Note, a phone/tablet hybrid that saw its first incarnation sell more than 10 million units in just nine months.
Every 
Thursday, I join Chris Salcedo and Lori Lundin on the mid-day edition of America’s Radio News Network to discuss trends and news in the technology and video game space. This week’s topics were New York City’s installation of free WiFi in pay phone kiosks, Aereo’s recent court win, which green lights streaming of live television to your iPhone and an update on some of the most anticipated television sets of the year.
There 
was no new iPhone, no new iPad and certainly no news about the long-rumored TV set, but Apple still had plenty to say at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference Monday.
CEO Tim Cook announced a refresh of the company’s laptop series, a forthcoming series of advances to the iOS operating system and the long-awaited arrival of Siri on the iPad.
Every 
industry has down cycles, but for several companies in the videogame space, 2012 can’t end soon enough.
While the year is likely to finish stronger than it started, with the launch of Nintendo’s Wii U console and the return of popular franchises like “Halo 4” and “Call of Duty Black Ops 2,” pretty much everything that could go wrong in the first half of the year has.
Remember 
when Amazon.com was just an online bookstore?
As the Internet has evolved, Jeff Bezos and company have transformed with it. And while the site is certainly a retail powerhouse and dominates the publishing (and ePublishing) industry, Amazon has become a company with deep interests in other forms of entertainment — and those efforts are starting to bear fruit.
One 
of the last studio holdouts for Apple’s iCloud service has joined the fold.
Films from Universal Pictures purchased via iTunes can now be re-downloaded through the tech company’s iCloud program. That leaves only Fox among major studios not participating — a stance that’s expected to end in the near future.
As the 
industry devours any scraps of gossip about the next Xbox or PlayStation, Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris wonders if Microsoft and Sony are paying enough attention to Apple’s threat to the living room.
As the next generation of console systems looms, and the industry devours any scraps of gossip about the next Xbox or PlayStation, I’m starting to wonder if Microsoft and Sony are paying enough attention to Apple – and the threat it presents to their living room dominance.
While Steve Jobs never had a big interest in the gaming world, the app store quickly made the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch portable gaming powerhouses – albeit using a vastly different model than Nintendo and Sony. These days, Tim Cook is running the show – and he’s not an executive who’s going to ignore a $60 billion-plus industry.
While 
Apple has a well-earned reputation as the inventor of new markets, it’s also something of a serial killer.
The company’s advances in digital music players made the Walkman an afterthought. The introduction of iTunes sounded a virtual death knell for many record retailers. The iPad cut the legs out from under the once fast-growing netbook PC market. And the iPhone has put Motorola in a fight for its life.
As 
Hollywood continues to expand its options for how and where auds access its content, Apple is amping up the capabilities of the devices on which they consume that content, announcing Wednesday the forthcoming release of a 4G-compatible iPad, a high-def version of its Apple TV device and the expansion of its iCloud storage service to include movies.
Following much speculation regarding what innovations the next-generation iPad would feature, the company revealed that the new tablets will harness the next generation of 4G networks of Verizon, AT&T and other carriers worldwide and feature the Retina display that’s now part of the iPhone.
Chris Morris: Journalist 