On the heels of Google’s $199 Nexus 7, Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves is predicting that Apple will introduce a 7.85-inch iPad in October: “We anticipate an entry-level 7.85″ iPad with 8GB of NAND capacity to price at $299 with an initial gross margin of 31%. We estimate Apple will sell 10.0 million 7.85″ iPads …

In October 2010, Steve Jobs explained in detail why a 7-inch iPad, or iPad Mini, wasn’t in Apple’s future. “Apple has done extensive user testing and we really understand this stuff…There are clear limits on how close you can place things on a touchscreen, which is why we think 10 inch is the minimum screen size to create great tablet apps,” …

SAN FRANCISCO — As Facebook has been colonizing the planet, approaching a billion users for its social network, Zynga has been drafting in its wake. The social-gaming company, which launched July 1, 2007, with a poker game, accounts for nearly 15 percent of Facebook’s first-quarter revenue and has more than $1 billion in revenue annually on its own. But lately, …

Microsoft gave a fairly good imitation of Apple in debuting its Surface tablets. The event, held at an artsy Los Angeles studio space, was shrouded in mystery, and Microsoft executives were properly dressed down for the occasion.  The famously leaky company was mostly able to surprise the assembled press with the multicolored array of Surface tablets and ultrabooks. But Microsoft disregarded …

Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome, speaking at Google I/O in May 2011. Stephen Shankland/CNET Google’s senior vice president of Chrome and Apps, Sundar Pichai, gave Microsoft some credit for innovating with its new Surface platform. “I think form factors need a lot of innovation,” he said in reference to Surface. “It looks like they put serious effort into …

In the last century, while Steve Jobs was anguishing over the look of a bevel on the Macintosh, Bill Gates, rocking back and forth, figured out how to achieve world domination for Windows. Gates handily won, applying his business-friendly, partner-with-PC-makers formula to render Apple a bit player. Even today, Microsoft has more than 90 percent market share of desktops, compared …

For several weeks, U.S. District Judge William Alsup showed that he was the smartest person in the courtroom as high-priced lawyers for Google and Oracle pleaded their cases. On Thursday afternoon, he basically slammed the door in Oracle’s face, explaining in a 41-page ruling that the 37 Java APIs used in Google’s Android platform do not fall under U.S. copyright …

NEW YORK — Social networking has finally come to the aid of drivers ceaselessly circling in hopes of finding a parking spot on Union Street or North Beach in San Francisco. Here at TechCrunch Disrupt, KurbKarma launched an iPhone app that could take the pain out of parking. A user ready to vacate a parking spot publishes his or her …

For the jury evaluating testimony by the cast of Oracle and Google in their ongoing legal slugfest, the blog post by former Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz is one of the more prominent, and less technical, points of contention in the trial. In both the copyright and the current patent phase of the trial, the blog post has been central to …

Three amigos: Sun and Google were Java allies in October 2005, when Sun’s then-president Jonathan Schwartz, left, and CEO Scott McNealy, center, joined Google CEO Eric Schmidt to tout a partnership involving the Google Toolbar and Java that ultimately fizzled. (Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET) During testimony at the Oracle v. Google trial last week, former Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz and co-founder …