Are Samsung drones trolling Apple?

By Ed Sutherland on Apr 24, 2013

We don’t usually go in for conspiracy theories, but one is drawing quiet a bit of attention – and factual basis. Has corporate giant Samsung, stung by its more than $1 billion patent lawsuit loss to Apple in 2012, waging war on the iPhone maker? A number of signs point to the affirmative, including an apparent tactic to swamp any critics with pro-Samsung comments.

Along with blatant examples of the business press spinning news against Apple and for Samsung, there has been reports of fake Samsung product reviews. Additionally, we’ve seen up-close attempts by pro-Samsung ‘trolls’ to dominate comments… Read More

 

Hero devices help LG join Apple and Samsung at the top of the smartphone food chain

By Ed Sutherland on Apr 11, 2013

LG is now the No. 3 smartphone maker, for the first time, as sales of its higher-end handsets lift it above HTC and other brands scrambling for the scraps left by Apple and Android. Although Samsung and Apple combined for 71.4 percent of the market, sales by the South Korean LG rose to 3.2 percent as HTC fell to fourth place on word of disappointing profits, according to research firm Strategy Analytics… Read More

 

German court invalidates Apple’s slide-to-unlock patent, but it’s not big deal

By Ed Sutherland on Apr 5, 2013

A German court ruled invalid Apple’s patent for a sliding touchscreen unlocking image, marking another win for allies of Google’s Android mobile operating. In its ruling in favor of the Google-owned Motorola, the country’s Federal Patent Court slammed the iPhone maker’s slide-to-unlock patent as devoid of “technological innovation.” Still, a long-running patent dispute which began in 2011 may still live on as Apple’s legal team prepares for a round of appeals, according to Friday reports… Read More

 

Facebook Home for iOS? Talk to Apple, Zuck says

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 4, 2013

Facebook has found a new home on Android, so to speak, as the social networking giant at a news conference earlier today unveiled a Home launcher, a new feature for select Android devices which marries cherry-picked Facebook applications to a beautiful user interface described as putting “people first in an app first world.”

Alongside the new software shell, Mark Zuckerberg and HTC’s Peter Chou announced the HTC First, an Android smartphone born out of the collaboration between Facebook and HTC which runs the Home interface. Zuckerberg confirmed his company will be rolling out the new launcher to select Android devices beginning April 12, as a free app download from Google’s Play Store.

But what about iOS? iPhone users are unfortunately shut out. Initially hiding behind ‘Apple’s walled-garden’ argument, Zuckerberg in wide-ranging interviews with Forbes and Wired.com shed more light on the matter… Read More

 

HTC shows off new ‘First’ smartphone running Facebook Home

By Cody Lee on Apr 4, 2013

Facebook’s media event just ended and as expected, most of what was talked about had to do with a new Facebook experience on Android. The social network unveiled a new ‘people first’ launcher, or shell if you will, for Android devices called Facebook Home.

But software wasn’t the only topic of discussion today. Right before ending the press conference, Mark Zuckerberg pulled a Steve Jobs’-like ‘one more thing,’ and called HTC’s CEO Peter Chou on stage to introduce the long-rumored HTC First smartphone… Read More

 

Is this Facebook’s upcoming smartphone?

By Jeff Benjamin on Apr 2, 2013

A new image of what is purportedly the upcoming Facebook phone has been leaked on Twitter. The image, first posted by @evleaks, shows off a generic looking Android device made by HTC.

It’s widely expected that Facebook will announce its first real foray into the hardware business on Thursday, this, by means of a partnership with handset manufacturer HTC. Last week, Facebook sent out invites that stated: “Come see our new home on Android.” It looks like that was more than just an invitation, as it also reveals the purported name of the device: Facebook Home. Read More

 

Facebook reportedly preparing to launch a smartphone

By Cody Lee on Mar 28, 2013

Just a little bit ago, Facebook sent out press invitations for a media event next week. The keynote will take place at 10:00am PST on Thursday, April 4, at the company’s headquarters on 1 Hacker Way in Menlo Park. What is it going to be talking about? Maybe its new smartphone.

Yes, I know. We’ve heard this rumor enough now that it’s almost meaningless. But it sounds like it’s for real this time. A new report says the handset, which is being built by HTC, has a 4.3-inch display, an iPhone-like Home button and is running a forked version of Android… Read More

 

HTC targets iPhone users with new data migration software

By Cody Lee on Feb 26, 2013

If you’re HTC, I’d imagine you’d try anything at this point to drum up buyers for your new flagship handset. After suffering steep losses over the last several quarters, the Taiwanese electronics giant desperately needs the HTC One to be a hit.

And it’s latest effort isn’t a half-bad one. In an attempt to make it easier for iPhone users to make the switch to the One, HTC has enabled it to extract data from backup files. This will allow for automatic transfers of photos, videos and more… Read More

 

HTC unveils its new flagship, the One

By Christian Zibreg on Feb 19, 2013

Earlier this morning, Taiwanese handset maker HTC at a high-profile media event in London introduced its latest flagship handset, the One. In terms of speeds and feeds, this Android LTE device seems a winner: it sports a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor with 2GB of RAM, has front-facing speakers complete with a dedicated amplifier that play Beats Audio and boasts a 4.7-inch 1080p display coated with Gorilla Glass 2.

Encased in an Apple-like aluminum-clad chassis, the phone is bound to turn heads with its sleek appearance measuring 0.37 inches thick and weighing in at 143 grams. On the software front, the One runs HTC’s Sense 5 UI layer on top of Google’s latest Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean operating system.

And borrowing from Windows Phone, there’s a new feature called Blink Feed, basically a glorified Flipboard-like aggregator that turns your home screen into an endless stream of social updates, email messages and news articles. More tidbits and a few press shots right after the break… Read More

 

HTC to host huge media event tomorrow morning

By Cody Lee on Feb 18, 2013

HTC has sent out invitations for a huge media event tomorrow morning. How huge? Huge enough to spread across two continents. The handset-maker will be hosting simultaneous keynotes in both London and New York.

What’s on the menu? Well, it’s no secret that the company has a new flagship handset in the wings. And word has it that it’s readying a new version of its ‘Sense’ Android shell. But the real question is: does anyone care? Read More

 

Apple, Samsung took 103% of 2012 handset profits

By Ed Sutherland on Feb 7, 2013

We have often written how the handset market is essentially a duopoly of operating systems – iOS and Android – as well as brands: Apple and Samsung. Yesterday came even another way the two are dominating the mobile world – profits. Apple and Samsung accounted for 103 percent of handset profits in 2013, a figure made possible by the zero or negative growth by six of the eight leading handset makers. Apple held 69 percent of handset profits earned in all of 2012, more than double that of the South Korean Samsung, which hauled in 34 percent of phone profits last year, according to Canaccord Genuity… Read More

 

The Apple-HTC settlement allows for this?

By Christian Zibreg on Jan 16, 2013

What you’re seeing here isn’t one of the early iPhone 5 prototypes. Instead, that’s apparently a leaked rendering of an upcoming HTC handset, called the M7. Recognize the familiar two-tone design with the distinct stripes alongside the top and bottom, with a large metal backplate in between?

Funny, we thought the ten-year Apple-HTC cross-licensing deal didn’t include rights to the iPhone 5 design. Count us surprised! Read More

 

Millennial: iPad growing, Samsung rises to 46% of Android app use

By Ed Sutherland on Dec 19, 2012

For the second day, Samsung has been named the new leader. After Tuesday unseating Nokia as the top cellphone maker in 2012, the Galaxy vendor today topped HTC as the Android maker which gets most used to access mobile ads. According to ad firm Millennial, Samsung had 46 percent of Android app use, double the 26 percent of 2011.

HTC – which is bleeding money and is rumored to have cut in half shipments and delayed new devices – fell to #2, dropping 30 points behind Samsung. But for Apple, perhaps the best news is what the Millennial end-of-year report did not find… Read More

 

Samsung publishes redacted version of Apple-HTC settlement

By Cody Lee on Dec 6, 2012

Both Apple and HTC have been very quiet about the details surrounding their surprise patent settlement they announced last month. We don’t know who paid who what, or what patents were included in the 10-year cross-licensing agreement.

But thanks to Apple’s dispute with Samsung, we’ve been given a glimpse inside the accord. Following a court ruling that said patents in the deal must remain unsealed, Samsung has submitted a redacted copy of the pact into public record… Read More

 

Judge says patents involved in Apple-HTC deal must remain unsealed

By Cody Lee on Dec 4, 2012

In a ruling late last night, US District Court Judge Lucy Koh ordered that the patents Apple and HTC are cross-licensing as part of their settlement are to remain unsealed, suggesting that the public will eventually get a look at this information.

The order comes two weeks after US Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal granted Samsung’s motion to compel, forcing Apple to disclose the terms of its deal with HTC to its legal team. But now it looks like we’ll all get a peek inside the pact… Read More

 

Apple’s patent pact with HTC auto-terminates if either party is bought

By Christian Zibreg on Nov 24, 2012

Apple’s worldwide patent settlement with HTC is set to automatically expire should either firm get acquired by a third-party, patent blogger Florian Müeller discovered combing through court documents. Even more so, a so-called “change of control” clause is mostly beneficial to Apple given its $110+ billion cash pile making Silicon Valley’s most powerful company literally unlikely to be snapped up any time soon.

But if HTC gets bought, Apple’s prized iPhone patents licensed to the Taiwanese handset maker remain encumbered. What’s more, in case of such an outcome Apple is theoretically free to reassert its claims. The settlement also involves HTC subsidiaries S3 Graphics and VIA technologies, both of which were asserting patents against Apple in the past… Read More

 

Judge orders Apple to reveal full HTC patent deal to Samsung

By Cody Lee on Nov 21, 2012

On Friday last week, Samsung asked the court to force Apple to turn over the full details of its recently announced patent settlement with HTC. It feels the terms of the deal could be useful in its ongoing legal battle with the iPad-maker.

Apple has since agreed to allow Samsung to see the pact in a heavily redacted document — leaving all of about 33 words. But tonight, a judge has granted Samsung’s motion to compel. So Apple will have to reveal the entire agreement… Read More

 

Apple agrees to show the heavily redacted HTC patent pact to Samsung

By Christian Zibreg on Nov 21, 2012

Samsung is more than welcome to take a peek inside Apple’s ten-year patent pact with the ailing handset maker HTC, but key data will be blanked out. South Korea-based Samsung last Friday filed a motion to compel, seeking to obtain the settlement and patent license agreement with HTC, saying it’s relevant to its patent battle with the iPhone maker.

As things stand now, a version Apple promised to provide will be marked as “Highly Confidential – Attorneys’ Eyes Only” and will contain 33 redacted words. Apple’s generosity knows no boundaries… Read More

 

CEO says HTC is happy with Apple settlement, but denies details

By Cody Lee on Nov 20, 2012

On Saturday, November 10, Apple and HTC announced that they had reached an unprecedented settlement that would effectively end their nearly 3 year-long patent war. The deal also included a 10-year cross-licensing agreement.

Other than that though, details surrounding the treaty have been fairly scarce. Analysts have opined that HTC agreed to pay Apple between $6-$8 per Android handset sold. But according to the company’s CEO, that’s not the case… Read More

 

Samsung wants to take a peek inside Apple’s patent settlement with HTC

By Christian Zibreg on Nov 16, 2012

Always on the lookout to possibly improve its legal position in the ongoing stand-off with Apple, Samsung on Friday filed a court order seeking to force Apple to turn over a copy of the HTC agreement. As Cody told you, Apple and HTC settled litigation with a ten-year licensing agreement worth nearly $3 billion.

Neither company has released the specifics of the deal, leaving Samsung to wonder whether the agreement includes the famous iPhone software features that Apple successfully asserted against Samsung. You know, the stuff like rubber-band scrolling, pinch zoom and other iPhone perks… Read More

 
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