Apple to Pay Nokia in Patent Settlement: The outcome of this intellectual property disagreement may end up being a net win for Apple because other Android-focused competitors likely will have to pay more on a per-unit basis as Apple has a more defensible patent portfolio, argues Florian Mueller.

The iTunes Store Costs $1.3 Billion a Year to Run: Based on the amount that Apple says it has paid out to developers at different points in time, Horace Dediu calculates that the company is now spending about $1.3 billion a year to run the store — assuming it’s breakeven. He bets that much of the extra margin is going into building out excess capacity by investing in data centers.

Facebook and Apple: Lost Connections — TechCrunch has dug through a wide variety of reports, pointing out just how close the two companies appeared to be to forming a partnership in past years, before Apple instead decided to partner with Twitter.

Instagram Crosses 5 Million Users With Just 4 Employees: Instagram’s co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have told us they finally need to start hiring. And with 5 million registered users, 95 million photos and 2,500 apps accessing their APIs, it’s about time. The company’s priorities are still mostly on growing the user base instead monetizing through advertising or in-app purchases.

Hewlett-Packard May Also Be Getting Into Mobile Payments Game With New Devices: Bloomberg is reporting that HP may introduce NFC-enabled phones and tablets by the end of the year. That would let users pay for items and receive coupons and loyalty points by tapping their phones on posters and grocery store cash registers.

The New York Times, OpinionLab Pre-Emptively Sues Lodsys: The alleged patent troll is getting a taste of its own medicine as others in the ecosystem challenge the validity of its patents. While it has filed three lawsuits, the Texas-based company is also facing four others.