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Samsung is Back with Galaxy Note II Phablet (Phone/Tablet)

August 29, 2012 by

Samsung Galaxy Note II

Samsung is back with its latest tablet the Galaxy Note 2, or to be exact, a hybrid device that is both a phone and a tablet featuring a 5.5-inch screen and all of the functionality of a smartphone. It was one of many announcements the company made at the IFA trade show in Berlin.

The release comes less than a week after Samsung lost its court case vs Apple is US District Court, a lose that could result in fines as large as $3 billion and cause the company to have as many as eight smartphones banned in the US. The court has said that it will hear Apple’s request for a permanent injunction for select Samsung smartphones on Dec 6.

The latest Galaxy Note has a slightly larger screen, 5.5-inches as compared to 5.3-inches, compared to its predecessor. It has been reported that it is Sa

msung’s second most popular smartphone after its Galaxy S lineup. The first generation Note was released last October and sold $10 million units, according to the company.

The device, often called a phablet due to its hybrid nature will feature the larger display that has 1280 x 720 resolution, which is also slightly thinner that the previous version. In addition it will feature a quad core 1.6GHz processor and an 8 MP camera, includes the Android Jelly Bean operating system and it uses a stylus. It has 2GB RAM, and is available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB storage versions.

There is competition in the phablet space with the LG Optimus VU and an expected one from HTC, the 6435LVW and considering the success that Samsung had with its first generation I would not be surprised to see more players join the field. I was very skeptical about them but I think that the customers that have purchased them simply envision them for uses in ways that I did not. Others also see the potential as market research firm AMI Research has predicted that annual sales for phablets will reach 208 million units globally by 2015

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Filed Under: 4G LTE, Android, Apple, Galaxy Note, HTC, iOS, iPhone, Lawsuit, Samsung, Smartphone Tagged With: , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Lots of Apple News- NASA uses Android

August 27, 2012 by


NASA satellites to operate using Android phones
Gizmodo is reporting that the brains that will operate a set of tiny asteroids that are being built by NASA will use the smartphones running Android. The satellites, called PhoneSats will be made from off the shelf materials and will only cost around $3,500.

The devices will be approximately 4 cubic inches and the next generation is expected to launch next year. NASA already has tested the first generation that uses a Nexus One smartphone for two way communications and other uses.

iPad Mini in October?
The rumor mill has been churning over the features and delivery date for the expected iPad Mini from Apple. The tablet is believed to be a 7-inch tablet, the first from Apple. Now Cnet is reporting that the device will officially see the light of day in October.

Original reports had the device coming to market along side the next generation iPhone, that is expected in early September but apparently Apple had different plans if the most current reports are correct.

IAC has purchased About.com for $300m
Internet conglomerate InterActiveCorp has reportedly purchased About.com from the New York Times in a $300 million cash deal. The Times was probably happy to rid itself of the money losing property, having taken a $194.7 million non-cash write down on the group last quarter.

However the Times originally purchased About.com for $410 million in 2005. About.com is similar to a property that IAC already owns, Ask.com, and is being positioned as a complementary property by IAC.

Samsung shares drop $12 billion after US Court verdict
Samsung, already stung b

y losing big in its court case against Apple in the US, with as much as $3 billion on the line took another hit after the verdict was read. Its stock dropped like a rock, with shares dropping 7.5%, resulting in a loss of $12 million in the company’s market value, according to a report from Reuters.

Apple still dominates tablet sales according to HIS iSuppli
Apple is slowly expanding its dominate market share in the tablet space according to market research firm IHS iSuppli, and now sells seven out of every ten tablets. Apple's 69.6 percent share in the April-June quarter is up from about 58 percent in the first quarter, helped by the release of a new model just as the quarter began.

HIS iSuppli’s top 5 in the second quarter of 2012Here are the top five manufacturers of tablets in the second quarter, as released by IHS iSuppli:
Apple 69.6 percent share
Samsung Electronics Co. 9.2 percent.
Amazon.com Inc. 4.2 percent
AsusTek Computer Inc. 2.8 percent
Barnes & Noble Inc. 1.9 percent
Other, 3 million, 12.3 percent
It will be interesting to see the next two quarters as the Microsoft Windows 8 show as well as the very popular Nexus 7 could have an impact on the standings.

ITC provides Apple with an additional win
The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled in Apple’s favor last week wjhen it stated that the company did not infringe on three of Motorola Mobility’s patents, in a complaint that has been ongoing since 2010. The ITC remanded the investigation of a fourth patent that is under dispute by the two to an administrative law judge.

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Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Google, iOS, iPad, Kindle, Lawsuit, Microsoft, Nook, Samsung, Tablets, The New York Times, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , ,

Apple Beats Samsung in Court: Will Microsoft Benefit as Well?

August 27, 2012 by

The mammoth Apple vs. Samsung case has been decided and Apple has emerged a strong victor as the jury ruled that Samsung copied Apple’s iPhone look and feel and awarded Apple $1.049 billion. An appeal is expected on Samsung’s part.

Apple is expected to ask the judge to triple the damages, to roughly $3 billion since the jury unanimously found that Samsung willfully violated Apple’s patents. Among the technologies copied were the ability to zoom text at the touch of a finger and to “bounce back” when scrolling off the page.

The judge has set a late September date for hearing Apple and Samsung’s points, including Samsung’s request to throw out the verdict and Apple’s request to ban importation of a range of Samsung devices.

The victory is widely viewed as having the potential to provide a damper on the smartphone and tablet markets which have seen explosive growth in the past few years by increasing licensing costs and slowing the adoption of new technologies.

The company that appears to be the most impacted by the decision is not Samsung but rather Google, who provides the Android ope

rating system that features some of the technologies that were at issue in the case. The question that many are wondering now is will developers seek indemnification from Google to shield them from potential Apple lawsuits?

The flip side of this is that a potential winner, aside from Apple, is very likely Microsoft, which will soon be pushing its new operating system for smartphones. Microsoft has a patent licensing agreement with Apple that also features an anticloning caveat that prevents Microsoft from delivering a knockoff of Apple’s look and feel.

There are plenty of comments now that this will have a tremendous impact on the market, and could hamper the growth of smartphones as developers have to find ways to either skirt Apple’s patents in their own development or work out licensing agreements with the company.

However the other side of this seems to me that it also opens the door to additional innovation, by forcing developers to look at the issues from a new point of view. This hopefully could lead to a new wave of products that offer features that might not be available today.

The case, originally filed in 2011, revolved around several issues. Apple claimed that Samsung violated a number of its patents and that Samsung closely copied its iPhones and iPads. The jury came down heavily in Apple’s camp, finding a wide range of devices, but not all, had violated a number of Apple patents.

Samsung had its own suit against Apple, claiming that Apple used its wireless technology improperly and was asking for $399 million. It lost its suit. This will obviously not be the end of this as the two have lawsuits against each other in South Korea, Germany, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain, France and Australia and Samsung is set to appeal the verdict if the judge does not.

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Filed Under: Android, Apple, Google, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Lawsuit, Samsung Tagged With: , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Apple/Samsung Jury Forms, NFL Cutdowns, Kindle Loses Big Sale

August 24, 2012 by

Major League Baseball

Now that it has decided to test expanded replay, Major League Baseball is testing a pair of systems to see which will better meet its needs which will now include examining fair/foul calls and trapped balls.

MLB will have one system installed at Yankee Stadium and the other at the Mets' Citi Field in order to conduct tests. The systems are expected to be up and running by the end of this month and will be used in September games, according to Yahoo Sports.

Google Nexus 7 sales to hit 7 million
A report has surfaced from Tech-thought.net that said it estimates that Google will sell as many as 7 million of its Nexus 7 tablets this year, an amazing feat that would put it in among the leaders in tablet sales.

That number would be more than twice what Google had originally estimated it would sell, but demand has been strong and in the first weeks it sold out of its entry level model that starts at $199.

Look to Awful Announcing for your NFL broadcast news
Now that the NFL season is around the corner its time to look at one important aspect of the games — the announcers. I find most announcers to be pretty grating and often watch games on mute rather than expose myself to their blather.

Some brave souls not only listen, but rate them with the pros. So head over to Awful Announcing and lend a hand. The site also does nice work covering many aspects of sports.

Microsoft to build 3 million Surface tablets in 2012?
Market research firm IDC said that it expects Microsoft to build 3 million Surface tablets in 2012, according to an interview run in C/net. The estimate includes tablets that run Windows 8 Pro and Windows RT.

In the interview with IDC analyst Bob O’Donnell C/net reported that he believed that the entry level price of at least one version of the tablets would be in the $199 range, putting it in a head to head price competition with the smaller 7-inch tablets and making it much less expensive than offerings from Apple and Samsung.

America’s Cup World Series mishaps
One captain at this week’s America’s Cup World Series races predicted carnage due to the sailing conditions on San Francisco Bay. Well the San Francisco Chronicle has done a nice job of providing a photo essay on that topic.

Dell not as enthusiastic on Surface sales
Dell executives said that the company expects that Microsoft’s Surface tablets will represent a very small percent of the overall PC units in the next year. Michael Dell, founder and CEO said that he expects the numbers to be between 1% and 2%.

The company has reported that its PC and mobility sales were down 14% for the most recent quarter and sees tablets as eroding that space. The company will be among the hardware developers expected to deliver Windows 8-based tablets in the fall.sales have been

ESPN bids on BCS playoffs
Now that the BCS has altered its championship format to now feature a playoff, the next step is of course to sell the rights to broadcast those games. ESPN has been broadcasting the BCS Championships the past few years and it has the opportunity to continue.

It has been reported that starting Oct 1, ESPN will have an exclusive 30-day window in which to purchase the playoff rights from the BCS. The BCS is also working on a new revenue-sharing plan to work out how the playoff money will be divided.

BCS Championship

Think you are well informed re Apple vs Samsung — look at Jury form
The form that the jury is using for the case is 20 pages long and looks like a college exam. I really feel sorry for the jury and expect that they will need to constantly have to get refreshers on what all of the varied elements are in the case.

Huge U.S. Government Kindle purchase killed
ITWorld is reporting that the U.S. Department of State has canceled a large order for Amazon’s Kindle Touch tablets along with additional content. The order was valued at $16.5 million over the course of its lifetime.

The department said that it was taking a second look at the requirements of the program and was conducting additional market research. The contract originally called for an initial 2,500 e-readers and 50 titles of content.

NFL roster reductions start Monday
For NFL fans some of the most interesting days, prior to when they actually start playing, will be coming up over the next week as teams will have to reduce rosters from the current 90 player level to 53 by Aug. 31.

Teams will be looking to shore up perceived weak areas as a flood of players hit the market with the first cut down next Monday to 75 and then again later in the week. I wonder how many might find a place in the USFL or other alternative leagues?

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Filed Under: Android, Apple, Awful Announcing, Baseball, BCS, Dell, ESPN, Kindle, Major League Baseball, Microsoft, NFL, Samsung, Smartphone, Surface, Tablets, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: HP, Lenovo tablet plans, Apple/Samsung go to Jury?

August 20, 2012 by

Apple and Samsung met to try and narrow their dispute in the ongoing patent case that is now being heard in a federal courthouse in San Jose, Calif. At the judge's request the two met but could not come to any resolution in narrowing the scope of the case.

With this failure the case is likely to be handed over to the jury for deliberation this week. Apple wants the ban on Samsung tablets to be continued and that the ban also expend to Samsung’s smartphones, both of which it claims infringe on its patents.

Kodak patent sale gets complicated
Kodak, faced with an industry that does not hold its patents in quite the esteem, or at least the dollar value that it does, is said to be considering keeping the over 1,000 patents that it had put up for auction. Once believed to be worth several billion, bids came in significantly lower than it has expected, in the $150-$250 million range, according to reports.

Another rumor making the rounds is that Apple will team with Google to buy the patents from Kodak. Considering the animosity between the two this seems hard to believe. Both have huge cash reserves and at the current expected cost of the patents it would be no hardship for either to purchase them by themselves.

Google/Motorola seek US iPhone ban
The long running battle between Apple and Google/Motorola has witnessed a new front open as Google is seeking to get a ban on iPhone and iPad devices claiming that they violate select patents that Google owns.

The complaint, filed with the US International Trade Commission, claims that Apple violates seven patents including e-mail notification and location reminders. The two have been fighting in court since licensing talks ended two years ago.

HP to focus on consumer tablets, report said
The Verge has been touting an internal memo it has received that shows that Hewlett-Packard’s future tablet plans will inc

lude a big focus on consumer tablets and the group will be led by former Nokia exec Alberto Torres.

As many remember HP delivered its first tablet last year, the Touch Pad, and then quickly killed it off and the division, only to reignite the effort some months later. The previous tablet was based on technology it gained it its Palm acquisition, the new generation is expected to be based on Microsoft’s Windows 8.

Lenovo believes RT tablets will be a hot item
Lenovo said that the pricing on operating systems will allow hardware OEMs that build tablets using the Windows RT version of Windows 8 to offer significantly less expensive tablets that the OEMs that use the Windows 8 models.

According to Bloomberg the tablets will be $200-$300 less, resulting in RT tablets in the $300-$400 range while the Windows 8 tablets will be in the $600-$700 range. Lenovo has already talked about its Windows 8 tablet here.

LG Optimus Vu headed to stores globally next month
The hybrid tablet/smartphone that LG first showed back in February is expected to reach the market sometime in September. The Optimus Vu will sport a 5-inch display with an Nvidia processor, 32GB of storage and a 5MP camera. Pricing and exact availability are not yet known.

Will verdict in Apple’s favor change market?
The New York Times has a piece that speculates that a victory by Apple in its lawsuit could have one interesting consequence; it could force rival tablet and smartphone makers to truly differentiate their products.

The opposite could also be true if Samsung emerges victorious, with a lot of manufacturers doing Apple knockoffs with no real fear of legal action by Apple. One would hope that developers would try to differentiate on their own, but after looking at vanilla PCs for a decade you know it is not true.

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Filed Under: Android, Apple, FTC, Google, iOS, iPad, Lawsuit, Mashable, Samsung, Smartphone, Tablets, The New York Times Tagged With: , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Olympics a Big Win for NBC

August 13, 2012 by

The Pew Research Center has done a study on the Summer Olympics in London and U.S. viewership and the numbers are truly amazing, and must make the bean counters at NBC very happy indeed since it invested $1.12 billion for the broadcast rights.

According to the report 78% of Americans were watching the game either on broadcast television, online or on social media. TV is head and shoulders above any other option as the most popular viewing medium with 73% watching the big screen.

The approval ratings are very high as well, with 76% giving the broadcasts either an excellent (29%) or good rating (47%) with 13% said it was fair and 5% said it was poor. Looks like the “vocal minority” (as NBC execs called them) criticizing the games and the broadcast schedules on Twitter didn't keep their friends from watching.

Google gets $22.5 million fine over privacy breakdown
The Federal Trade Commission has come down hard on Internet search giant Google, hitting the company with a $22.5 million fine, the largest ever from the FTC, for its manipulation of Apple’s Safari browser.

Google has developed a method for tracking people Safari users and gather data on their activities, even though the company had promised not to do anything along this line. The move violated Google’s settlement with the FTC on a different issue, it concluded.

I wonder how this will impact Google’s current testing of using information garnered from users’ gmails to help come up with search results. I know that if this becomes a mainstream feature I am off gmail.

Nokia sheds app unit- puts more eggs in Microsoft’s basket
Nokia is parting way with its QT app tools unit, agreeing to sell the unit to Digia Oyj, Bloomberg reported. Nokia purchased the tool company back in 2008 when it needed its expertise to help create apps for two operating systems that Nokia owned at that time — MeeGo and Symbian.

It has since curtailed those operating system efforts and has been focusing on delivering phones that run on Microsoft’s operating systems. With that in mind it can now leverage the ecosystem that Microsoft is growing in terms of app development without a self funded effort.

Android and iOS dominate smartphone OS
The latest report from market research firm International Data Corp. s

hows that between Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS operating system the two own 85% of the smartphone OS market. I don’t think that this comes as much of a surprise to anyone, but it is great to see hard numbers on the issue.

Overall in the second quarter of 2012 IDC found that Android phones had 104.8 million units shipped good for a 68.1% market share while Apple’s iOS had 26 million iOS products shipped, good for a 16.9% share. Samsung appears to be the big winner, accounting for 44% of all Android phones in the second quarter of this year. BlackBerry came in third at 7.4 million units and a 4.8% market share.

Facebook settles privacy issue with FTC
The Federal Trade Commission has reached a final settlement with Facebook over what users’ personal data Facebook can expose. The company will now need an explicit ‘opt in’ from the user before it can change the types of information that it will make public. Facebook will also face an audit every other year for the next 20 years to ensure compliance.

Apple vs. Samsung Week 2
Nothing earth shattering has come out of this lingering case. It looks like an iPhone, it does not look like an iPhone. Does Samsung’s products confuse consumers or are they already confused? One interesting piece of information was the total iPhone sales in the platforms five years of existence. In the US market the company has sold 85 million iPhones, good for a hefty $50 million. It sold 34 million iPads in the US market in the last two years, good for $19 billion in revenue. It appears Apple warned Samsung in 2010 that it believed that Samsung was infringing on Apple patents and that it wanted between $30-$40 per device in licensing fees.

Smartphones pay off for Microsoft, just not how you would expect
Microsoft is still seeking to establish a major presence in the smartphone space, trailing Android, iOS and even Symbian-based devices, but if a report from Trefis is correct, it still rakes in the big dollars in the smartphone market.

The reason is patents, and some of the most successful players in the smartphone space including Samsung and HTC, pay Microsoft a bundle in royalty payments each quarter. According to a piece in Yahoo news, Microsoft made approximately $792 million in the second quarter of 2012 just from the two companies mentioned.

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Filed Under: Android, Apple, Facebook, FTC, Google, HTC, iPhone, Lawsuit, Olympics, Samsung, Tablets, Yahoo Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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