Apple said to develop cheaper iPhone model for late 2013 [BLOOMBERG]

Apple, which had been working on a more affordable smartphone since at least February 2011, is weighing retail prices of $99 to $149 for a device that would debut in late 2013, at the earliest, according to the person, who asked not to be named because the negotiations are private. Apple has spoken to at least one of the top U.S. wireless carriers about its plans, the person said yesterday.

Exclusive: Valve’s Gabe Newell on Steam Box, biometrics, and the future of gaming [THE VERGE]

We’ve heard lots of rumors about the Steam Box, including that Valve’s own hardware would be “tightly controlled.” Can you tell us more about Valve’s own hardware effort?

The way we sort of think of it is sort of “Good, Better,” or “Best.” So, Good are like these very low-cost streaming solutions that you’re going to see that are using Miracast or Grid. I think we’re talking about in-home solutions where you’ve got low latency. “Better” is to have a dedicated CPU and GPU and that’s the one that’s going to be controlled. Not because our goal is to control it; it’s been surprisingly difficult when we say to people “don’t put an optical media drive in there” and they put an optical media drive in there and you’re like “that makes it hotter, that makes it more expensive, and it makes the box bigger.” Go ahead. You can always sell the Best box, and those are just whatever those guys want to manufacture. [Valve’s position is]: let’s build a thing that’s quiet and focuses on high performance and quiet and appropriate form factors.

Samsung’s big push for 2013: content corporates [REUTERS]

The South Korean electronics company is investing in devices that enterprise users like corporations will endorse, with a higher level of security and reliability than general users need. In doing so, Samsung is capitalizing on doubts about the longevity of the BlackBerry as its Canadian maker struggles to revive growth.

Samsung’s corporate market ambitions have advanced as the Galaxy SIII, its popular flagship smartphone, won the requisite security certifications from companies, said Kevin Packingham, chief product officer for Samsung Mobile USA.

T-Mobile CEO pokes the bears, calls AT&T’s network ‘crap’ and mocks Verizon [THE VERGE]

AT&T drew particular criticism, with Legere — like so many others before him — labeling Ma Bell’s network as “crap” in New York City. Verizon didn’t come out unscathed either, with Legere joking, “the way they covered those dust bowl states with LTE I think is admirable.” Shared data plans also came under fire. “A 5-gigabyte, 10-device shared data plan, when Joe Schmoe Jr. starts to watch porn on his phone, isn’t gonna work.” And even after crediting Verizon’s network as “beautiful,” he concluded “they’re not the cool company.”

LinkedIn hits 200 million users worldwide [TECHCRUNCH]

LinkedIn’s membership spans more than 200 countries and territories. The U.S. remains its biggest market, followed by India. Membership in its largest markets breaks down as follows:

• USA (74m)
• India (18m)
• UK (11m)
• Brazil (11m)
• Canada (7m)

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