Apple

Samsung copies Apple’s Passbook

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 21, 2017

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXSQicmVOtg

Samsung on Wednesday unveiled its own mobile payment solution called Samsung Wallet that looks quite a lot like Apple's Passbook app which is part of iOS 6. Just like Apple's Passbook, Samsung's Wallet too lets you manage your coupons, boarding passes, various tickets and loyalty cards all in a single app and redeem these at a point of sale by showing the digital barcode to a clerk.

Again, just like Passbook, Samsung's solution supports real-time notifications when, for example, event details change or your flight gets rescheduled. Even the Samsung app's icon resembles the look and feel of the Passbook icon...

3 out of 4 phones in enterprise bear the Apple logo

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Remember the days when corporate IT departments looked at the iPhone as some kookie West Coast toy bound to mess up their networks? You know, when RIM - that is, BlackBerry - had a lock on big biz. Those days are definitely gone. Today, more than three out of four mobile phones in enterprises bear the Apple logo.

What's more, Android's presence in business has fallen to the point where Microsoft is nibbling at its heels. During the fourth quarter of 2012, Apple's corporate presence rose to 77 percent of mobile device, up from 71 percent during the same period in 2011, according to Good Technology. Even better for Apple executives, the iPhone and iPad took five of the top five mobile devices in businesses...

Samsung confirms March 14 Galaxy S IV event

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 25, 2013

The South Korean conglomerate Samsung has confirmed that a major media event will take place on March 14 in New York, about two weeks after the currently-running 2013 Mobile World Congress wraps up in Barcelona, Spain. The company confirmed to Reuters that the press conference is a launchpad for a Galaxy S III successor, the Galaxy S IV.

Samsung Monday morning sent out invites to select members of the press to "come and meet" the next Galaxy at the March 14 Unpacked event. The somewhat reliable Jefferies analyst Peter Misek estimates Samsung's enormous build plan calls for a hundred million Galaxy S IV shipments from a March-April launch until the end of the year...

Meet Apple TV’s newest competitor, the Samsung HomeSync

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

As you've probably noticed by now, we're huge fans of the Apple TV here at iDB. Apple's set-top box is inexpensive, easy-to-use, and it integrates perfectly with our iOS devices. Plus, older versions of it can be jailbroken.

The device has been doing remarkably well for Apple, despite the fact that it has several competitors. But we'll see if that hot streak can continue now that Samsung's throwing its hat in the ring with its new HomeSync...

Apple’s iPhone push in India: wider distribution, new marketing and installment plans

Ed Sutherland ∙ February 25, 2013

After describing India as having less potential than China, Apple is increasing efforts to compete in the world's second-largest cellphone market. The iPhone maker is now hoping installment payments, coupled with increased marketing can turn single-digit market penetration into a weapon against low-cost Androids.

In full-page ads in the Times of India, Apple calls its unsubsidized $840 iPhone 5 "your dream phone" available for a $93 first payment. Why the big push? The nation's smartphone market is expected to grow five-fold by 2016, setting the stage for the next battle between Apple and Google's free mobile software...

Kantar: discounts help Android pass iOS in US smartphone sales

Ed Sutherland ∙ February 25, 2013

Oh, what a difference a month makes. That could be the message from new research giving Android the lead in U.S. smartphone sales during the three-month period ending in January 2012.

Apple's iOS had held the U.S. smartphones sales lead up through December. The new data gives Android 49.9 percent of domestic smartphone sales, with iOS taking second place with 45.9 percent.

The new standings means Google's mobile software added 6.4 percent of U.S. sales, compared to a year ago. Meanwhile, the lock on U.S. smartphone sales fell 4.7 percent from the same period in 2011. The flip-flop on the No. 1 and No. 2 spots was linked to a Sprint price cut for Samsung's Galaxy S3 during the final three months of 2012...

Why I loathe an iPhablet

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 24, 2013

Talk of an Apple phablet dates back to March 2012 when a pretty credible Japanese blog mentioned an unreleased iOS device with a five-inch 1,600-by-960 Retina screen which may or may not be the 4.8-inch iPhone 6 some analysts see coming in 2014.

The phablet, I'm sure you know, was popularized against all odds by Samsung of South Korea, its jumbo-sized Galaxy Note devices selling millions of units (ten million as of August 2012).

Just yesterday, the company released its latest iPad mini contender, the eight-inch Galaxy Note. In addition to the S-Pen, an IR blaster and a quad core processor, Samsung's baby outsmarts the iPad mini with its ability to make phone calls over cellular networks. The question is, would you dare use such a giant 'cell phone' - and I'm using the term loosely - in public?

IDC: 2012 a race between Samsung ‘juggernaut’ and ‘resurgent’ Apple

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

Reports quite rightly label 2012 'The Year of Samsung.' The South Korean smartphone and tablet maker is described as a 'juggernaut' with triple-digit growth last year, making it the top producer of smart devices, according to a Friday report. But if you thought Apple was ready to retire, you'd be wrong - thanks largely to monster holiday sales and that dynamic duo: the iPhone 5 and iPad mini.

Samsung saw its market share for all of 2012 jump nearly 120 percent, to 20.8 percent from 12.3 percent in 2011, according to research firm IDC. Meanwhile, Apple used the traditionally busy fourth quarter to move within about 1 percent of its South Korean rival...

Millennial: tablet use skyrockets, led by iPad mini and Kindle Fire

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

Millennial Media becomes the latest to release research showing 2012 was a year of rising adoption of tablets and smartphones. Apple continues to lead the charge in tablets - particularly the iPad mini - while Samsung has become the popular face for the family of Android alternatives.

Apple held on to its tablet lead with 58 percent of the market. About a half-dozen Amazon tablets helped Google's mobile operating system capture 41 percent of tablets, with Samsung the most significant player...

Samsung’s outrageous VoiceOver suit against Apple stayed in Germany

Cody Lee ∙ February 22, 2013

Samsung has taken another hit in its patent war with Apple today.A Mannheim Regional Court in Germany ordered a stay of its infringement suit against the Cupertino company, pending a validity challenge on the patent-in-suit.

On the surface, this case looks just like any other Apple-Samsung court battle. But it's grabbing a significant amount of attention this morning due to Samsung's patent in question, as it's used in the iPhone's VoiceOver feature...

Is Apple losing its coolness edge to Microsoft and Android?

Ed Sutherland ∙ February 21, 2013

In the contest for coolness, the amorphous concept potentially driving young consumers to smartphones, tablets and other devices, Apple has some competition. While the iPhone maker is seen as cooler now than previously by 60 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds, even more people point to Android as the king of cool.

Even more surprising is Microsoft apparently isn't your father's software giant. The Windows maker - long viewed as buttoned-down and behind the technology curve - has revamped its image, thanks largely to the firm's smartphone and Surface tablet...

Strategy Analytics: iPhone 5/4S are world’s two most popular smartphones

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 24, 2016

Just as investors are (again) punishing the Apple stock on talk of Foxconn freezing recruitment in China amid weakening iPhone 5 demand (or perhaps because the iPhone 5S is entering production in March?) comes a new survey of the smartphone market by research firm Strategy Analytics. And the numbers look good: the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S each outsold Samsung's Galaxy S III during the all-important 2012 holiday quarter.

This makes the iPhone 5 the world's bestselling smartphone, but what's really eyebrow-raising is that the 16-month old (and now discounted) iPhone 4S also overtook Samsung's flagship device...