Apple scored another legal victory against rival Samsung. In a UK court, a judge Wednesday ruled that the iPhone maker does not infringe patents held by the South Korean-based Android smartphone manufacturer. The court's decision marks more than two-dozen failed attempts by Samsung to claim it is owed royalties on standard-essential patents.
The company had alleged Apple did not pay royalties to use its 3G wireless technology patents in the iPhone...
Since Apple won its monumental case against Samsung in California last fall, things haven't really been going its way. Its billion dollar settlement has been nearly cut in half, and its request to ban Samsung's infringing products has been denied.
But it appears that Nokia, of all companies, has been watching the case closely. And according to a new report, it has filed a brief with the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on behalf of Apple, claiming that Judge Koh got it all wrong...
Here's some good news: research firm comScore Wednesday announced that during a three-month average ending January 2013 Apple crushed Samsung in United States smartphone sales. Specifically, the iPhone maker was the top US smartphone vendor with a 37.8 percent market share in January 2013, which was up 3.5 percentage points from October 2012. Samsung was second with a notably lower market share of 21.4 percent, a slight 1.9 percentage point increase from October 2012. All told, Apple's 3.5 percentage point gain was Android's loss as we see Google's mobile operating system dropping for the first time. So much about the supposedly "weaker than expected" iPhone 5 demand...
With Apple's market capitalization having fallen below the $400 billion mark, the first such drop since January 2012, many armchair analysts are observing on Twitter and elsewhere a worrying correlation between stock prices of Apple and its chief rivals Google and Samsung. Looking at the period from Apple's September 2012 peak, each time Apple went down, Google and Samsung seemingly rose.
And with this weird correspondence between Apple's lows and Google’s and Samsung's highs, some analysts are calling the Internet giant "the next Apple", estimating that Google is on its way to join the $1,000 a share club. What a difference a few months make: one analyst in April 2012 said Apple would become the world’s first $1 trillion company. While Apple's pain = Google's gain, luck in the stock market changes quickly...
Apple is Samsung's largest buyer of components, accounting for 8.8 percent of Samsung’s revenue. The two firms are also bitter enemies when it comes to litigation as they remain entangled in a complicated web of more than 20 lawsuits spanning continents.
As if that weren't bad enough, now comes the definite confirmation that the Galaxy maker pledged to spend $112 million to buy a three percent stake in Sharp, which has been struggling to stay afloat amid losses and low manufacturing yields.
The investment, a strategic move on the part of the South Korean conglomerate, is meant to give Samsung a steady supply of LCD panels from diversified sources. Apple, too, was rumored to have spent to the tune of $2 billion to prevent Sharp from going under.
Additionally, the iPhone maker is thought to have tried to save the Japanese giant through its preferred contract manufacturer Foxconn, which last year wanted to buy eleven percent of Sharp. The deadline for that transaction closes later this month, but the deal may have already hit the wall after Sharp's share price tumbled...
The tablet is taking an increasingly larger bite out of smartphones' share of mobile content. Devices such as the iPad consumed a respectable eighteen percent of mobile traffic in 2012. By the end of this year, tablets are expected to hit nearly one-third of all mobile device traffic, cutting into the dominant position now held by iPhones and similar smartphones.
According to mobile ad network Jumptap, tablets will consume 29 percent of mobile traffic this year, lowering the percentage of content delivered to smartphones to 70 percent, a drop from 2012's 78 percent...
United States District Judge Lucy Koh who oversees the Apple v. Samsung blockbuster trial, dropped a bombshell on Friday. Citing "an impermissible legal theory", she announced a drastic decrease of the $1.05 billion verdict from August 2012 by $450 million, leaving "poor" Apple with a rather "paltry" $599 million. She has also denied Apple’s request for an increase in damages and ordered a new trial for fourteen outdated Samsung products...
For the sixth year in a row, Apple was named the most-admired company in the world. In spite of a stock free fall and the Apple Maps gaffe, the iPhone maker topped rivals Google and Amazon, Fortune announced Thursday.
Described as a "financial juggernaut" which became the most profitable company on the globe, Apple was named the over-all most admired firm while also topping the list as the most admired technology firm of 2013...
The world of smartphones can essentially be divided into two camps: iPhone and Android. Sure there are some BlackBerry and Windows Phone users out there, but Apple and Google handsets make up most of the market.
And as in any situation where there are two dominant players, each platform has their own army of loyal fans. And I'm sure both sides have plenty to say about Samsung's Galaxy S III being named the Best Smartphone of 2012...
Remember a UK judge who took at face value the ruling that Galaxy devices didn't infringe any of Apple's patents because Samsung's tablets "are not as cool" as the iPad? The one who recently chastised Apple for lack of integrity and opined for the appeals court it should be ordered to apologize in newspaper ads for asserting Samsung's tablets had copied the iPad? Yeah, that guy.
A well-known patent blogger revealed Thursday that same judge is now receiving paychecks from Samsung as a legal expert through a law firm which represents Samsung Electronics in its case against Ericsson. Conflict of interest, much?
If you thought Apple had already been through a rough period, just wait. That's the message from one Wall Street analyst who predicts the iPhone maker is "facing a very rough two-year period."
Although Apple's chief executive Tim Cook spent Wednesday defending his company's horde of cash, those concerns could evaporate as Apple spends billions to prop up slowing iPhone sales and works to improve demand in emerging markets.
Apple could see capital expenditures double, according to Jeffries' analyst Peter Misek, forecasting billions in payments for supplier upgrades, emerging-market payment plans and expensive technology updates all while iPhone sales plunge...
Samsung has lost its patent lawsuit over Apple's iPhone and iPad in Japan as a Tokyo court ruled Thursday in favor of Apple. Needless to say, Samsung said it was disappointed by the court's decision and promised to conduct a thorough review of the ruling and "take the measures necessary to protect our intellectual property rights", Reuters reported this morning.
The Tokyo District Court said Samsung hadn’t negotiated “sincerely” with Apple over patents, also ruling the Galaxy maker now cannot seek damages from Apple...