Samsung reveals new iPhone challenger, keeping heat on Apple

By The Associated Press - Friday, March 15, 2013 at 5:43 AM - 0 Comments

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Samsung Electronics is ratcheting up its rivalry with Apple with its new Galaxy S 4 smartphone, which has a larger, sharper screen than its predecessor, the bestselling S III.

Samsung trumpeted the much-anticipated phone’s arrival Thursday at an event accompanied by a live orchestra while an audience of thousands watched the theatrics unfold on a four-level stage at Radio City Music Hall. Summoning up a touch of Broadway, Samsung employed 17 actors to demonstrate the new phone’s features in a series of scripted vignettes.

The Galaxy S 4, which crams a 5-inch screen into body slightly smaller than the S III’s, will go sale in the U.S. sometime between the end of April and the end of June.

In the U.S., it will be sold by all four national carriers — Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA — as well as by smaller ones US Cellular and Cricket. All told, Samsung plans to offer the Galaxy 4 S through 327 carriers in 155 countries, giving it a wider reach than Apple’s iPhone 5.

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Smartphone Wars: Enter the Samsung Galaxy S4

By Aaron Hutchins - Thursday, March 14, 2013 at 10:04 PM - 0 Comments

Jason DeCrow/AP

China’s Huawei reveals ‘fastest smartphone in the world’

By The Associated Press - Monday, February 25, 2013 at 5:16 AM - 0 Comments

BARCELONA, Spain – Huawei, a Chinese company that recently became the world’s third-largest maker of smartphones, calls its new flagship product “the fastest smartphone in the world” and wants to use it to expand global awareness of its brand.

Parts of the presentation of the phone at a press conference Sunday in Barcelona, Spain, suggest that the company has some way to go in polishing its pitch for a global audience.

Richard Yu, head of Huawei’s consumer business group said the new phone can be programmed to display more than 100 different “themes,” or looks. This is important because “ladies like flowers, colorful things,” Yu said.

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Struggling Nokia presses on with cost savings plan by slashing 300 jobs, transferring 820

By The Associated Press - Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 7:25 AM - 0 Comments

HELSINKI – Struggling Nokia Corp. is downsizing by more than 1,000 jobs, part of a wide-ranging plan to cut costs and streamline operations.

The Finnish firm says it will lay off 300 workers in its IT sector and transfer “some activities and up to 820 employees to strategic partners,” India-based HCL Technologies and TATA Consultancy Services, which have operations in Finland.

Nokia said Thursday that the changes, mostly in Finland, are part of 10,000 job cuts and plant closures announced in June.

The former No.1 phone maker has been edged out by Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc.’s iPhone in the tough smartphone race and is aiming to save €1.6 billion by the end of 2013. Last week, Nokia said it expects to return to profitability as fourth-quarter mobile phone sales exceeded expectations.

Samsung promotes chairman’s son, a move putting him 1 step closer to the top post

By The Associated Press - Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 4:39 AM - 0 Comments

SEOUL, South Korea – Samsung Electronics Co. promoted its chairman’s only son to vice chairman, putting the 44-year-old closer to the top leadership position at the world’s largest maker of memory chips, mobile phones and TVs.

Samsung, South Korea’s largest industrial conglomerate, announced Jay Y. Lee’s promotion to vice chairman just two years after he was named president. He assumes his new post Wednesday.

Samsung said in a statement that Lee, who was also chief operating officer, had contributed to the growth of its smartphone and TV businesses.

Lee, a graduate of Seoul National University of Korea and Keio University of Japan, is a grandson of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull and the oldest child of current chairman Lee Kun-hee, South Korea’s wealthiest man.

Lee’s work has involved building Samsung’s relationships with suppliers and other companies it does business with while his reclusive 70-year-old father focused on mapping out big picture strategy for the group.

The promotion was surprising because candidates in South Korea’s Dec. 19 presidential election have been stepping up their pledges to curb the power of chaebol, the family-controlled conglomerates that operate a wide range of businesses from retailing to consumer electronics and heavy industries.

In South Korea, founding families of chaebol, such as Lee of Samsung and Chung of Hyundai, wield great power within their companies even though they hold only a minority stake in the group.

Some credit family ownership for enabling fast and bold decision making while others criticize conglomerates for putting too much emphasis on clan connections, stifling innovation and maximizing profit for the family rather than shareholders.

The promotion of the younger Lee comes as Samsung’s chairman faces civil lawsuits filed by his older brother and two other family members who are claiming a bigger inheritance from the estate of the Samsung founder.

The inheritance battle might prevent Lee Kun-hee from transferring shareholdings that allow control over Samsung to his son. The first court ruling is expected next year.

The promotion of Lee was part of Samsung’s annual executive reshuffle. Samsung also promoted vice-presidents of mobile phone operations, Lee Don-joo and Hong Won-pyo, to presidents, recognizing the company’s growth in smartphones with the Galaxy brand.

Is this a make-or-break moment for Nokia?

By The Canadian Press - Sunday, October 28, 2012 at 11:46 AM - 0 Comments

HELSINKI – For Nokia, it comes down to this: Is Microsoft’s new phone software going to get it back in the smartphone race, or is it going to be too late?

After being the top seller of cellphones in the world for 14 years, Nokia failed to meet the challenge when Apple in 2007 introduced the dazzling iPhone that caught the imagination of design-conscious customers and rattled mobile markets.

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Samsung unveils smaller, cheaper Galaxy S III mini

By The Canadian Press - Friday, October 12, 2012 at 4:20 AM - 0 Comments

SEOUL, South Korea – Samsung Electronics Co. has unveiled a smaller and cheaper version of the Galaxy S III smartphone with the same screen size as the iPhone 5.

Samsung says the Galaxy S III mini features a screen measuring 4 inches diagonally, smaller than the Galaxy S III’s 4.8 inch display but the same as Apple’s iPhone 5, which was Apple’s first upgrade of the iPhone screen size.

Samsung said the mini will be launched in Europe later this month but kept mum on schedules for other countries.

Samsung’s German mobile shop lists the mini’s price at 399 euros ($516) versus 550 euros ($711) for the cheapest S III.

The mini is powered by the latest version of Android software but does not support faster fourth-generation wireless networks.

Taiwan asks Apple to blur satellite image of new early warning radar

By The Associated Press - Tuesday, October 9, 2012 at 5:29 AM - 0 Comments

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taiwan is asking Apple Inc. to blur a map image of its new $1.4 billion early warning radar station that can detect aircraft and missiles coming from as far as western China.

Defence Ministry spokesman David Lo said today that Apple should follow its rival Google in using only low-resolution satellite pictures to show sensitive facilities.

He acknowledged the military should also try to camouflage them.

The 10-storey high radar installation built with U.S. technology is expected to go online later this year. It’s near the Hsinchu Airbase in northern Taiwan.

The satellite picture that can be viewed with iPhones is believed to have been taken a year ago.

Local media say the radar installation can monitor targets, determine their speeds and fire missiles to intercept them.

YouTube releases iPhone app as Apple prepares to drop service

By The Associated Press - Tuesday, September 11, 2012 at 2:44 AM - 0 Comments

SAN FRANCISCO – YouTube is being reprogrammed for the iPhone and iPad amid the latest fallout from the growing hostility between Google and Apple.

The changes are being made because Google Inc. and Apple Inc. didn’t renew a five-year licensing agreement that established YouTube’s video service as one of the built-in applications in the operating system that runs the iPhone and iPad.

YouTube is being bumped from the menu of pre-installed apps on the next version of Apple’s mobile operating system, or iOS, which could be released as early as Wednesday when the latest iPhone is expected to be unveiled.

Google is making a pre-emptive strike on Tuesday with the release of a revamped YouTube application. The app is designed to make it as easy as possible for the tens of millions of iPhone and iPad owners to continue watching clips from the world’s most popular video site.

The new YouTube app will create more moneymaking opportunities for Google and video producers because it allows advertising to be shown with the clips. That’s something Apple hasn’t allowed on the pre-installed YouTube app. The ban on ads prevented many music videos and other widely watched clips from being shown in the iOS app because some copyright owners don’t allow their content to be shown if there is no way for them to be paid.

Removing the advertising limitations will mean users of the new iOS app can watch YouTube videos that already have been available on smartphones and tablet computers running on Google’s Android software said, Francisco Varela, YouTube’s global director of platform partnerships.

“We are offering a better user experience to iPhone users,” Varela said of the new YouTube app. “We will now have content parity on all our mobile platforms.”

Apple had no comment on Google’s claims.

The new YouTube app is tailored for the iPhone, although it will work on the iPad, too. A retooled app specifically tailored for the iPad is supposed to be released in the next few months.

As has always been the case, YouTube’s videos also can be watched through Web browsers that work on iOS, including Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome.

YouTube could still end up losing some of its audience on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch because device owners will have to go to Apple’s App Store to download the free program. YouTube says mobile viewers collectively watch more than 1 billion clips per day.

Many of those YouTube viewers watch on Android devices that have become Apple’s bane. Before he died 11 months ago, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs told his biographer Walter Isaacson that he viewed Android as a “stolen product” and vowed to get even with Google and its partners for ripping off his company’s ideas.

The vendetta has spurred a series of lawsuits against Android device makers, including a case that culminated last month when a jury awarded Apple more than $1 billion in damages after concluding Samsung Electronics violated iPhone patents.

Apple has also lashed out by removing Google’s digital maps as the automatic navigation system on its family of mobile devices. That change will also occur when the next version of iOS comes out. The upgrade will feature Apple’s own mobile mapping system.

That switch could hurt Google because maps are a key piece of the company’s plans to sell more ads to local merchants.

Google wanted to gain more control over how YouTube worked on Apple’s products, a goal that led to a decision to give up YouTube’s prized status as a built-in app despite the potential loss in traffic. The licensing agreement allowed Apple to design the YouTube app for the iOS.

“They have been a great partner,” Varela said of Apple. “Together, we have absolutely changed the mobile ecosystem. This is just the next evolution in this partnership. We are the only people that can build the best YouTube app.”

Apple confirms it will reveal iPhone 5 on Sept. 12

By The Associated Press - Tuesday, September 4, 2012 at 1:15 PM - 0 Comments

Updated: Apple has confirmed in will unveil the iPhone 5 on Sept. 12, HypeBeast is reporting.

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Apple is inviting reporters to a news conference next week in San Francisco with a message that suggests that it will reveal the iPhone 5, as expected.

The email invitation shows a big “12,” for Sept. 12, casting a shadow in the shape of a “5.”

Various unconfirmed reports have pointed to Sept. 12 as being the day Apple Inc. shows off the new phone, which is expected to go on sale a week or two later.

The next iPhone is expected to have a taller screen and the ability to access the latest wireless data networks in the U.S. Analysts expect it to set sales records.

On Wednesday, Nokia and Motorola are holding events of their own, apparently to reveal their latest products ahead of the iPhone launch.

Apple vs. Samsung: Court asked to consider four more products

By The Associated Press - Saturday, September 1, 2012 at 6:35 AM - 0 Comments

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Fresh off its court victory over Samsung Electronics Co., iPhone maker Apple Inc. is asking a federal court to add four more of its rival’s products to the list of patent-infringing products.

Apple filed documents in San Jose federal district court on Friday asking a judge to end Samsung’s release of “copycat products,” and urged the court to pull Samsung products released after its lawsuit was filed in April.

The new products include Samsung’s new Galaxy S III smartphone.

Previously Apple had listed 17 Samsung products as patent violators, but the new filing lists 21.

Apple was awarded $1.05 billion by a jury on Aug. 24, finding Samsung had copied Apple’s design innovations.

A Samsung representative did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.

Tokyo court finds no Samsung infringement on Apple patent

By The Associated Press - Friday, August 31, 2012 at 7:58 AM - 0 Comments

TOKYO – A Tokyo court on Friday dismissed Apple Inc.’s claim that Samsung had infringed on its patent — the latest ruling in the global legal battle between the two technology titans over smartphones.

The Japanese court case addressed only the synchronizing technology that allows media players to share data with personal computers and was not comparable in scope to the much larger victory that Apple won in the U.S. last week.

Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea, the world’s largest maker of phones, welcomed the Tokyo District Court ruling that its technology that allows media players and personal computers to share music files and other content did not infringe on Apple patents as confirming “our long-held position.”

“We will continue to offer highly innovative products to consumers, and continue our contributions toward the mobile industry’s development,” the company said in a statement.

The Apple lawyer present at the courthouse declined comment, and the company said later it had no comment, including whether it intended to appeal. In the past, Apple has accused Samsung of copying Apple products.

In a session lasting just a few minutes, Judge Tamotsu Shoji said he did not think Samsung products fell into the realm of Apple technology and dismissed the lawsuit, filed by Apple in August last year.

Apple, the Cupertino, California-based maker of the hit iPhone and iPad, is embroiled in similar legal tussles around the world over whether Samsung smartphones, which rely on Google Inc.’s Android technology, illegally used Apple designs, ideas or technology.

In one such case, a jury in California ruled last week that Samsung products illegally used such Apple creations as the “bounce-back” feature when a user scrolls to an end image, and the ability to zoom text with a tap of a finger.

The jury awarded Apple $1 billion in damages, and a judge is now evaluating Apple’s request to have eight Samsung products pulled from shelves and banned from the U.S. market, including popular Galaxy model smartphones. Samsung’s latest hit, Galaxy S3, was not part of the U.S. ruling.

Friday’s ruling was the first held in Japan in the Samsung-Apple global court battle, but other technology is being contested by the two companies in separate legal cases in Japan.

Seo Won-seok, an analyst at Seoul-based Korea Investment & Securities, said the Tokyo verdict showed that the lawsuits around the world are largely isolated and may not be affected by Apple’s major victory in California.

“The favourable ruling for Samsung convinces me that lawsuits in other countries may play out differently from the one in the U.S.,” he said.

Apple products are extremely popular among Japanese consumers, but major Japanese carriers such as NTT DoCoMo sell Samsung smartphones as well. Japanese electronics maker Sony Corp. also makes smartphones and tablet devices similar to Samsung’s, using Android technology.

Samsung has sold more than 50 million Galaxy S and Galaxy S2 smartphones around the world. The legal battle also involves Samsung’s Tab device, which Apple claims infringes on patents related to the iPad tablet.

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AP Technology Writer Youkyung Lee in Seoul contributed to this report.

$1-billion question: What does Apple’s victory mean for smartphone industry?

By The Associated Press - Sunday, August 26, 2012 at 7:09 AM - 0 Comments

Ahn Young-joon/AP

Paul Elias, The Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. – It was the $1-billion question Saturday: What does Apple Inc.’s victory in an epic patent dispute over its fiercest rival mean for the U.S. smartphone industry?

Analysts from Wall Street to Hong Kong debated whether a jury’s decision that Samsung Electronics Co. ripped off Apple technology would help Apple dominate the U.S. smartphone market over Android rivals, or amount to one more step in a protracted legal battle over smartphone technology.

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Nokia’s new phone was meant to herald the company’s revival

By Chris Sorensen - Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at 10:57 AM - 0 Comments

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

It was one year ago that Finland’s Nokia Oyj joined forces with Microsoft Corp. in a last-ditch effort to secure a foothold in the booming smartphone industry. With its once-dominant global market share in free fall and losses piling up, Nokia faced a grim future as customers increasingly took a pass on its high-end devices and opted instead for Apple Inc.’s iPhone or those running Google’s Android software—a situation not unlike the one beleaguered BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. faces today. Just prior to revealing a bold plan to replace Nokia’s new smartphone operating system with Microsoft’s, CEO Stephen Elop wrote a memo to employees that compared Nokia’s precarious situation to a man standing on a burning oil platform in the North Sea. There were two options, said Elop: stay the course or jump into the unknown. Nokia jumped.

It didn’t take long for the massive shift in strategy to show signs of promise. Prior to going on sale in North America this month, there was an unmistakable buzz around Nokia’s new Lumia 900 touchscreen, which runs the new Windows Phone OS and can operate on fourth-generation, or LTE, wireless networks. The phone won “best of” accolades at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show and was touted from a marketing standpoint as AT&T’s biggest-ever device launch—including its 2007 launch of the iPhone.

But then reality sank in. The company recently warned investors that it will post losses for the next two quarters, sending its stock plunging to around $4, a level not seen since 1998. Then came reports that the Lumia 900 was marred by an embarrassing software glitch, and that several big European carriers didn’t think it was worthy enough to compete with the iPhone or Samsung’s Galaxy phones. Some have even questioned whether Elop bet on the wrong horse by hitching Nokia’s fortunes to Microsoft’s.

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