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...
Another arena has opened for Apple and Samsung to compete for the crown of 'most cool': advertising. For some time, the iPhone maker has had the ad market sewn up, producing luscious videos of products while creating family-friendly spots so sweet they make your teeth hurt. However, it appears the South Korea-based Samsung is giving Apple a run for the money, its Galaxy S III spot being named the most popular tech ad in 2012.
Apple's promo video of the iPhone 5 starring Jony Ive & Co. didn't even break into the Top 5, the seven-minute ad reaching #6 with 18.4 million views on YouTube and elsewhere. The #1 Galaxy S III ad takes Apple to task as a brand past its prime, drew 71.8 million views...
Apple has an anti-licensing policy in place that strictly forbids licensing its inventions, sans standard-essential patents, to its competitors. That's the gist of court documents patent blogger Florian Müeller uncovered today. He notes the upcoming hearing concerning the Apple-HTC settlement could bring some more clarity about how Apple structures licensing deals and which exceptions and carve-outs it actually imposes.
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, though the general public won't be able to have a peek at confidential material.
While Apple's previous briefs did deny that its prized iPhone patents are in fact broadly licensed, Apple struck a far-reaching cross-licensing agreement with Nokia before and, as of recently, with HTC. And the plot thickens...
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...
Will Samsung once more take advantage of the looming Super Bowl opportunity to ridicule Apple, like it did last year launching a campaign which poked fun of the folks who'd wait in line for the iPhone? Given the fifty different lawsuits spread across four continents, it's difficult to imagine otherwise. Samsung has already secured a spot in the big game, but Apple, unfortunately, has again passed on the opportunity to convey its message to Super Bowl's huge audience.
Ad prices have increased every year, with advertisers paying as much as $3.5 million for a thirty-second spot during Super Bowl XLVI in 2012. But ad rates don't concern Apple and Samsung, both big spenders when it comes to advertising. SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller revealed during the Apple v. Samsung trial that Apple in fiscal 2010 spent to the tune of $346.6 million advertising the iPhone and iPad in the United States.
That's peanuts compared to what Samsung spends advertising its gadgets. The Galaxy maker, according to independent analyst Horace Dediu, has an annual budget of nearly $12 billion for advertising, commissions and sales promotions...
Apple and Samsung are scheduled to once again duke it out in the courtroom on the eve of Pearl Harbor Day, Thursday, December 6. And as the South Korean conglomerate last month alleged jury misconduct, claiming a foreman in the Apple v. Samsung lawsuit concealed information during the jury selection process, Apple is adamant it knew nothing of the foreman background.
Samsung is hoping to overrule the jury verdict which resulted in a $1.05 billion penalty on the grounds that it would have never approved jury foreman Velvin Hogan had it known of his prior involvement in litigation with a former employee Seagate, with which the Galaxy maker has a “substantial strategic relationship”...
"Just chalk it up to marketing." That's how a lot of pundits have explained Apple's success over the years, indicating that the company devotes a lot of its resources to, and greatly depends on, marketing to sell products.
But according to a new report from Asymco analyst Horace Dediu, Apple spends far less on marketing than the competition does. In fact, when it comes to these kinds of expenses, Samsung spends more than anyone...
Internet analytics company comScore has released a new report on the US mobile and smartphone marketshare landscape. And according to their data, Samsung is still the top mobile OEM in the country. But Apple is gaining ground, and has just passed up LG for second place...
Apple's two-year attempt to get the iPad design patented in the Russian Federation hit a dead-end, when regulators ruled there was nothing "distinctive" about the tablet's makeup. The company had appealed an April rejection by the Russian Patent Office. This most recent rejection by the Russian Chamber for Patent Disputes seems to close the door on gaining a patent for the best-selling tablet.
In its response to Apple, written in Russian, the chamber ruled the iPad patent application - which describes rounded corners, a flat surface and round button beneath the screen - involves a design that is "traditional for modern communication devices, manufactured by different vendors"...
If the global picture of mobile devices were a soap opera, it would be called "As the World Turns". A constant stream of numbers show how demand and usage is shifting away from the U.S. and to China. The latest figures show the Asian country will soon top the United States with the most active iOS and Android smartphone users.
While China's 167 million iOS and Android users currently puts the nation slightly behind the US at 181 million, that ranking will change in early 2013 as China's triple-digit growth rate easily outpaces America's maturing smartphone market, according to a new report released Wednesday by a mobile analytics firm...
Remember the days when analysts and Wall Street observers believed the iPad would continue to lead tablet sales for years, and Android competitors still needed work? Funny how time flies. Although Apple isn't laughing, there is talk Google could overtake Apple in 2013. The problem is the iPad's lead over a pack of Android alternatives is shrinking to that when the Apple tablet was introduced in 2010.
Also, remember all those non-Android slates from HP and RIM? Yeah, neither does anyone else. That's the other problem...
Apple's been distancing itself from Samsung for quite some time, by purchasing components elsewhere. The company recently added new display and battery providers to its supply chain.
This summer, it started increasing spending on Elpida memory chip at Samsung's expense.
But as Apple increasingly sources major components from other suppliers, it has yet to make a switch to a non-Samsung silicon foundry. According to the latest chatter from Asia, Tim Cook and Co. remain adamant to take Apple's chip making contract to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) as early as possible.
But though TSMC, the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, has enough capacity to make the 200 million+ processors Apple needs annually for iPhones, iPads and iPods, such a move bears a significant risk of upsetting TSMC's major buyers such as Nvidia and Qualcomm...