Apple Inc. is no alien to lawsuits and counter lawsuits. The most talked about lawsuit the company has been involved in is against Samsung. Time and again we hear that companies sue Apple for alleged infringement in the U.S.. However, this time Ericsson has beefed up its attempt to make Apple pay royalties by suing the company in Germany, the U.K, the Netherlands in addition to U.S. filings.

Kasim Alfalahi, Ericsson’s chief IP officer said, “Everybody needs to take a license for the technologies we are providing to them”. He further added, “It’s a very serious thing, regardless of who the company is.”

Apple Inc. had singed a licensing agreement with Ericsson and paid royalties for use of its intellectual property until the license expired in mid-January. Failed talks over renewal fees is likely the cause behind Ericsson now seeking court ruling in this matter.

When the news about this lawsuit broke Ericsson shared took a huge leap of 6.3 percent. The company ‘s market value has risen to $38 billion.

Apple in its complaint in January mentioned that Ericsson, “seeks to exploit its patents to take the value of these cutting-edge Apple innovations” and referred to their tactic as “abusive licensing practices.”

Legal battles aren’t new in tech industry and we will just have to wait and see how this one turns out. Many intellectual property activists have highlighted the need to reform patent litigation given the massive scale and implication of these lawsuits.

Apple took the lead from Samsung that sold 73,032 units during the same time period. For comparison in the year ago quarter Apple sold 50,224 units while Samsung sold 83,317 units. With iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus Apple captured the pent up demand for iPhone with a large screen.

Samsung continued to be the top smartphone vendor in the entire year selling 307,597 units while Apple sold 191,426 units. Samsung sells smartphones in almost all price categories from low-end to high-end and offers different options from budget phones to flagship phones.

Apple has continued to sell only one flagship phone each year until it introduced the iPhone 6 in two variations. iPhone 6 Plus has proved to be a major hit in the Asian markets where Samsung’s large Android phones were the bestsellers.

Samsung recently announced its two new flagship phones called Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, the design is strikingly different from anything that the company has offered before. With aluminium enclosure, glass back, no external SD card slot and non-removable battery it could be closest thing to owning an iPhone running Android.

It will be interesting to see what will be the impact on market share in Q2. Do you think Samsung will take back the lead from Apple? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

The holiday season has been dominated by Apple in the recent past and 2013 Christmas wasn’t any different. Apple’s gold iPhone 5s turned out to be the most popular smartphone during Christmas.

According to data published by uSwitch.com for December 2013 iPhone 5s won over Samsung Galaxy S4 for the third consecutive month. The data analysed was based on live searches, pre-orders and sales.

Samsung’s Galaxy S3 also saw some gains in popularity as it rose five places to become the third most popular phone in the UK during the holidays. Apple’s iPhone has been consistently popular with customers as it has topped the charts since March 2013 with iPhone 5 being the most popular phone for seven consecutive months which was later dethroned with the release of iPhone 5s.

In 2013 for the first time Apple released two new iPhone designs in the same year. iPhone 5c the colourful plastic version of iPhone 5c came in fifth in the popular smartphones list for December. Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at uSwitch.com said:

The iPhone 5S deserved to be the Christmas number one. As well as giving gleeful members of the cult of Apple hours of fun with its Touch ID feature, which can read more than just fingerprints, it also made gold the new black,

Doku further added that the battle for the top spot wasn’t an easy one. Galaxy S3 rise to the third spot was a surprise with the lower pricing acting as a key factor. Pricing of smartphones certainly act as an important factor since the technology leaps between two generations of products is becoming narrower.

The tech advancement from iPhone 4s to iPhone 5 is not the same as from iPhone 5 to iPhone 5s. Apple is expected to release iPhone 6 in 2014 which could have a new design and even feature larger screen according to many rumours in the recent past.

The price of iPhone 5c could also see reduction later this year as the device has not been as well received with customers as the company would have hoped for.

Did you buy iPhone 5s this holiday season? Which gadgets made it to your shopping bag this year? Let us know in the comments section below.

{via The Telegraph}

The new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c have proved to be a huge success for Apple with more 9 million devices sold during the launch weekend. This is the highest sales for the opening weekend the company has ever recorded. Apple launched new two new iPhones this year with iPhone 5s boasting faster processor, new Touch ID and camera improvements while on the other hand iPhone 5c had the same internals as iPhone 5 but with an all-new look.

According to a new report published by Canaccord, iPhone 5s sales figures topped at all the major U.S. carriers. Samsung’s Galaxy S4 had taken the top spot on Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile for a while however, in September Apple took over as the top smartphone company in terms of sales.

When Apple unveiled the sales figures it did not breakdown the figures for different models. However, this new report sheds some light on the performance of iPhone 5c. The new $100 cheaper iPhone with plastic body performed well on AT&T and Sprint at second position and came third on Verizon and T-Mobile.

Some analysts believe that out of the 9 million iPhone sales in the launch countries iPhone 5s figures could be around 7 million and the remaining could be of the iPhone 5c. With such impressive figures Apple’s strategy to grab more market share could certainly be seen as huge win.

In a market where cheap Android phones outsell the iPhone, Apple has become aggressive by selling two new iPhones this year. Instead of selling iPhone 5 for $100 cheaper the company created an all-new design which would appeal to the young and ‘colorful’. Those who were hoping to buy iPhone 5 at a cheaper price would now have to shell out more money to buy the flagship iPhone.

Apple has been long rumored to be working on a cheap iPhone model which would reportedly feature a plastic body. The company has put its recent efforts to make the iPhone available on all-major carriers in the U.S and worldwide. Its next efforts seem to be to introduce a lower-priced “cheap” iPhone to dominate the mid-priced smartphone range.

Samsung is a major competitor to Apple and the Korean giant offers smartphones at all price-tiers from low to expensive. Apple’s iPhone is also available at different price points with the iPhone 4 being free and iPhone 4S at $99 with a two-year contract. However, these models often do not run the latest software or all the features due to hardware limitations.

Apple’s aim to introduce a new cheap iPhone model could be to make sure the hardware is capable of running the latest innovations in the iOS but reduce the cost with the use of cheap materials or using lower-resolution cameras.

The web has been abuzz with reports of leaked images of the prototypes of cheap plastic iPhone model. Macrumors and Coccarese Design have gathered mock-up  images of the rumored iPhone which show the plastic iPhone in different color casing. These images are purely based on speculation and reports published by the media.

Apple is expected to unveil iPhone 5S later this fall and the company is also rumored to announce the cheap iPhone during the same event. Apple’s executives have on record mentioned that the company would never produce a “cheap” phone. The company has a history of denying certain products publicly but then later introducing the product as a surprise move to shock and confuse competitors.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung have been fighting the legal battle of patents in the courts in many countries. AAPL won a significant lawsuit against Samsung last year where the court awarded $1 Billion to Apple after finding that Samsung products infringed Apple’s patents.

On Wednesday the U.S International Trace Commission reached a decision {PDF} on Samsung Patent No, 7,706,384 described as “Apparatus and method for encoding/decoding transport format combination indicator in CDMA mobile communication system” and ruled that Apple had infringed on Samsung’s patent.

As a result of this ruling the ITC has issued a “cease and desist” order that would prevent Apple from selling the products that infringe the patent. The devices that would be affected are AT&T iPhone 4, 3GS, iPad 3G and iPad 2 3G.

Under the modified constructions, the Commission has determined that Samsung has proven that the accused iPhone 4 (AT&T models); iPhone 3GS (AT&T models); iPhone 3 (AT&T models); iPad 3G (AT&T models); and iPad 2 3G (AT&T models) infringe the asserted claims of the ’348 patent.

The Commission has further determined that the properly construed claims have not been proven by Apple to be invalid and that Samsung has proven that a domestic industry exists in the United States with respect to the ‘348 patent.

Apple would most definitely appeal this decision. The ban won’t come into effect immediately as this is a preliminary final ruling. Apple will take this matter up to the Federal Circuit Courts to review this decision.

The legal battles between tech companies in recent years is being viewed as a means to prevent competitors from grabbing a large market share by securing bans in the court. However, Apple’s view on its legal battle is to prevent Samsung from “blatantly copying” its products.

{via MacRumors}

Apple’s next gen iPhone, widely rumoured to be called iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, is expected to be unveiled later this fall. According to a new rumor published on WeiPhone.com, iPhone 5S will carry twice as many pixels as iPhone 5. The hardware will reportedly receive minor makeover with a narrow bezel.

According to sources, iPhone 5S (or iPhone 6) or to have a more narrow screen frame, is now preparing, will ship in September. In addition, the product also has a screen 1.5 million pixels, compared to nearly 730,000 iPhone 5 the number of pixels, if not the screen size continues to increase, the resolution will be greatly improved.

Apple could be looking at increasing the pixel density in the next iPhone which would result in a resolution of 1704 x 960 with 489 pixels per inch (PPI). This could however, pose potential issues for developers who would be forced to change the app design to fit the increased pixel density by 1.5 factor in each dimension.

The design of iPhone has remained same for two generations such as in iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Rumor posted on WeiPhone is contrary to the popular belief that iPhone 5S / 6 will retain the same design as the iPhone 5. Apple invests a huge amount in researching and developing the hardware design and could possibly look at retaining the existing design.

Apple’s next iPhone will compete directly with Samsung’s Galaxy S4 which boasts a large screen of 4.99 inch and 441 pixels per inch with a Super AMOLED screen of 1920 x 1080 resolution. It is highly unlikely for Apple to introduce a new iPhone with a larger screen and it will be interesting to see how exactly does Apple plan to increased the number of pixels if this rumor indeed turns out to be true.

{via MacRumors}

China Mobile is looking to make its mark in the LTE market, with an announcement from the company noting that it is planning a major LTE push to improve its network and implement it more broadly.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the company is looking to spend $7 billion in order to improve its LTE network, setting up a structure to support the iPhone 5. Currently, China Mobile’s data speeds aren’t known to be the fastest and despite the company not offering the iPhone, there are a number of devices in use on the network.

This is similar to T-Mobile USA which does not officially offer the iPhone but allows users to unlock them and operate them on its network. Although recent reports have been suggesting that China Mobile will, in fact, offer the iPhone 5, the company did come out and say that there has been “no progress” on negotiations with Apple.

While China Mobile has been in talks with Apple for years over a potential deal to offer the iPhone, Chief Executive Li Yue said that there had been “no progress” to report. In January, Mr. Xi met Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook in Beijing and discussed cooperation, raising expectations that China Mobile would soon begin offering the iPhone.

China Mobile would be a key partner for Apple, which faces fierce competition from Samsung Electronics and other rivals offering smartphones powered by Google Inc.’s Android operating system.

It is unlikely that the iPhone 5 will remain off of China Mobile’s network for long, as it is common that Apple will eventually strike deals with major carriers that could potentially benefit them. China has been a major source of revenue for Apple, with the company experiencing heavy sales of its products in the region. Just last month, an analytics report suggested that iOS and Android devices were expected to hit 246 million units in the one month alone.

{Via MacRumors}

According to a report from Digitimes, Apple is looking into bringing wireless charging to the iPhone 5S as early as this year. Samsung and Apple are both reportedly exploring the option as a standard in their devices, following other companies such as LG, HTC, and Nokia which are all part of the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC). The sources note that Samsung, which is expected to introduce their Galaxy S IV, will include the Qi wireless charging technology, operated by Wireless Power Consortium (WPC).

The Qi wireless technology works via electromagnetic induction, with WPC hoping that they can make this a standard across the market with all types of devices. Despite the technology making charging easier for users, the Samsung Galaxy S IV and perhaps even the iPhone may not build in the technology, forcing users to buy compatible back covers which will induct the charge. It still remains unclear as to whether Apple will even include the feature.

Samsung’s adoption of the Qi standards may drive the technology to become mainstream for smartphones, outperforming those promoted by the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) and Power Matters Alliance (PMA).

It is quite possible that with advancements in technology progressing further each year, Apple would be able to build-in wireless charging into all of its devices in the next few years. Including the iPhone, iPad, iPod, and even the rumored iWatch. When looking at the progression of mobile devices as a whole, the smartphone industry was practically nonexistent 5-6 years ago. There is no reason why Apple or even Samsung shouldn’t be able to create the next big tech revolution.

According to Reuters, Nokia is now in support of Apple in its court battle against Samsung over a number of infringed products. Apple filed suit against Samsung to block the sale of products that were previously ruled as infringed. Nokia’s attorney Keith Broyles filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals, claiming that Judge Lucy Koh was wrong in when she ruled that Apple would have to justify the relationship between the patented feature and the demand for a product before an injunction could be filed.

Apple and Samsung have been locked in an all out legal war, after the two companies disputed over a patent in 2009, which was later settled through a licensing agreement. Nokia’s brief was not filed in direct support of Apple but was instead done under the terms that Koh’s ruling could potentially harm the United States patent protection operations. Without patents being rightfully granted and injunctions being rejected, Broyles believes that innovation could take a negative hit.

Nokia has recently been involved in numerous U.S. patent lawsuits, as both a plaintiff and defendant. Nokia is thus both a significant patent owner that might seek an injunction to protect its patent rights, and a manufacturer in an industry in which patent owners routinely issue threats of injunctions for patent infringement.

In recent months, Samsung has become a serious competitor for Apple in the mobile devices market, particularly with positive sales of its Galaxy S and Note devices. With the patent battle ongoing in court, and competition in the market heating up between the two companies, it is not surprising that a company such as Nokia would come out in support of Apple.

Without injunctions and some products being banned from sale, the innovative drive in the mobile devices market is lost, instead producing a number of clone copies of one device such as the iPhone.

{Via MacRumors}

Apple has been receiving stiff competition from companies such as Samsung, which quickly moved up in the market following its release of Galaxy S devices and anti-Apple advertising. Now, it seems that another company is gearing up to do the same thing, perhaps, after seeing it become a success with Samsung. A new ad from LG highlights OPtimus G Pro’s Panorama feature just like iPhone 4S and 5 TV ad, and then adds on to it.

By doing this, the ad shows that the company’s Optimus G Pro phone is more advanced and that the panorama feature is more expansive on this device. in Apple’s version of the ad, a person is taking a picture of children and uses the Panorama feature to sweep across the screen while saying an elongated “cheeeeese”.

The LG spot begins nearly identical to Apple’s, with the same classic white background, lineup of children, and use of the panorama feature. The narrator in the ad, also says the same phrase, “cheeeese” (“Kimchiiiiiii”) in Japanese. However, halfway through the ad, the Optimus G Pro begins to move all around the screen while capturing a number of different image points including the ceiling and floor. The children, which are organized horizontally in Apple’s ad, are active and running about in LG’s ad.

Google released the “Photo Sphere” feature with the JellyBean 4.2 update to the Android OS, meaning that users can automatically upload the photo to their other Google services. This isn’t the first time that one of Apple’s ads were skewed to show off a feature on another phone, however, these ads appear to be working in the favor of competitors, particularly Samsung.

{Via AppleInsider}

The mobile research firm revealed that 320,000 smartphone and tablet users in six countries participated in the poll. In the U.S Motorola Atrix HD came in at first followed by Motorola Droid Razr, HTC Rezound 4G, Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and then iPhone 5.

Sarah Quinn, marketing manager for OnDevice Research commented on the report and said, “although Apple created one of the most revolutionary devices of the past decade, other manufactures have caught up, with some Android powered devices now commanding higher levels of user satisfaction,”.

In the UK Apple comparatively did better where HTC One X came first, iPhone 5 second followed by Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini and Samsung Galaxy S3.

Perhaps the most interesting result of the poll was that among the rankings for overall mobile device satisfaction Apple came in first followed by Google, Motorola, HTC, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and then Samsung. The survey reached out to mobile users in the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Japan, and Indonesia and was conducted via the mobile Web.

The report does give an interesting perspective of users satisfaction however, it’s unclear how a device can rank low while the company selling the device rank higher in overall satisfaction.

{via CNET}

In the past year, rumors have suggested that Apple is working on a television set of its own to compete with the ‘Smart TVs’ out on the market from competitors such as Vizio and Samsung. Now, it seems that Apple is moving ahead with these plans and is beginning to make the rumored plans a reality.

According to the OLED Association, Apple has hired James (Jueng-jil) Lee, a senior researcher from LG Display, likely to help create a display much larger than any of Apple’s current products. At LG Display, Lee helped create a printed organic light-emitting diode (OLED) television and also has experience creating LCD displays at Samsung. Apple currently does not have any OLED products, and as a result, does not have any staff on board that is as knowledgeable about the technology as Lee.

Prior to joining LG Display, Dr. Lee was responsible for development at Cambridge Display Technology (CDT, now Sumitomo), the leading developer of solution-based polymer based OLED material. Dr. Lee is a part of the CTO’s organization and will draw on resources from Apple’s display group. He is no doubt more knowledgeable about OLEDs that any of Apple’s current staff, which is known to be quite strong.

OLED display technology is far superior to LCD technology, mainly because of its higher contrast ratio than LCD screens. OLED displays are typically thinner than LCD displays which affects Apple’s product line greatly as the company constantly strives to make its products thinner.

Apple has not released any details about whether or not it is planning to enter the television market anytime soon, however, CEO Tim Cook did note in an interview with NBC’s Brian William that this is “an area of intense interest”. By hiring Lee, it is made clear that Apple is looking into introducing a television set although an announcement timeframe remains unclear.

{Via GigaOm}

According to Strategy Analytics, Apple Inc. (AAPL) is the largest mobile phone vendor in the United States in Q4 2012. The Cupertino, California based company beat out Samsung to claim the new title and is the first time that the company is holding this spot. What makes this most interesting is the fact that AAPL only sells one smartphone, as opposed to the variety of mobile phones that Samsung currently has in the market.

The top 3 mobile phone vendors in the United States, which includes Apple, Samsung and LG shipped a total of 52 million phones in 2012. Of the 52 million, Apple alone shipped 17.7 Million, 17.7 million of them, Samsung shipped 16.8 million and LG, a weak 4.7 Million.

According to the Executive Director of Strategy Analytics reiterated some of the stats presented, noting Apple’s success is due to its integrated ecosystem, carrier subsidies, and the marketing surrounding the iPhone 5.

We estimate Apple shipped 17.7 million mobile phones for a record 34 percent share of the United States market in the fourth quarter of 2012. This was up sharply from 12.8 million units shipped and 25 percent share in Q4 2011. Apple has become the number one mobile phone vendor by volume in the United States for the first time ever. Apple’s success has been driven by its popular ecosystem of iPhones and App Store, generous carrier subsidies, and extensive marketing around the new iPhone 5 model.

Apple is expected to once again drop to number two, with rumors about Samsung releasing the Galaxy S4 surfacing on the web. Even so, Apple has also been rumored to be preparing a cheaper iPhone for launch, as well as an updated “iPhone 5S”, both of which will likely be released in 2013.

{Via MacRumors}

On Sunday, a report by research firm comScore revealed that Apple Inc. (AAPL) has officially surpassed LG to become the number two phone maker in the United States. According to the report, AAPL gained 1.5% in mobile subscribers from August 2012 to October 2012 to claim the second spot.

Samsung currently remains the number one phone maker in the United States with 26.3%, with Apple coming in second at 17.8%. LG isn’t too far behind, only .2% behind Apple at 17.6%, however, it did drop in percentage over the past several months alongside Motorola and HTC.

Apple poses a threat to Samsung which has fiercely been promoting its mobile phones to compete with the iPhone and gain new customers. In the past, Apple surpassed Motorola to claim the 3rd spot and now threatens to become the world’s leading phone maker. It is interesting to note that Apple only sells the iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, and limited supplies of the iPhone 4 and has been competing with LG and Samsung which produce hundreds of different cell phones.

comScore tracks the installed base for a phone maker, as opposed to sales figures, which allows them to accurately determine how many users a phone maker currently has. With Apple jumping two spots in less than a year, it is only a matter of time before they lead as the number one phone maker in the US.

{Via MacRumors}

In an interesting turn of events in the ongoing legal battle between Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Samsung a U.K court ordered the Cupertino based company to publish notice saying that Samsung didn’t copy the iPad.

AAPL lost a patent lawsuit against Samsung in a London court on July 9 and Judge Colin Birss ordered a ruling which stated that Samsung’s Galaxy tablets don’t infringe Apple’s iPad design. The Judge has now ordered Apple to post the notice on it’s U.K website for a period of six months and also run advertisement in several newspapers and magazines to correct Samsung’s impression in the eyes of the customers.

Bloomberg was first to report on the developing story and has published a statement by Richard Hacon, a lawyer who is representing Apple in the U.K courts.

The order means Apple will have to publish “an advertisement” for Samsung, and is prejudicial to the company, Richard Hacon, a lawyer representing Cupertino, California-based Apple, told the court. “No company likes to refer to a rival on its website.”

The latest development in the international patent lawsuits between the two tech giants comes as an embarrassment to Apple as the company has repeatedly said that Samsung ‘slavishly’ copied it’s iPad and iPhone. Apple is free to appeal the decision and will most likely do so.

Competition in the tablet market is heating up as Android market share is on the rise and Galaxy Tablets finally beginning to see some success. Apple is clearly in the lead with its iPad being a major success in all major international markets however, the ruling by U.K judge could put some pressure on Apple and think of alternate ways to tackle and defend it’s intellectual property rights.

It will be interesting to see how Apple lawyers respond and appeal this decision in the U.K. This ruling could also be seen as first major victory for Samsung. The South Korea-based company had to face injunction against its Galaxy Tab in Australia and the U.S.

Apple’s iPad is one of the leading tablet computers out on the market, and rumors in recent months have suggested that the Cupertino, Calif., company is planning to unveil a smaller “iPad Mini” to take on 7” tablets from other competitors such as Google and Samsung. Gotta Be Mobile has posted images of a physical model of what the iPad Mini may look like. The model looks to be similar in size to the rumored 7.85” display and sports the new smaller dock connector previously seen on leaked parts of the next generation iPhone 5.

The model is not made of materials that would likely appear in the final device, however, it does appear to be a case mold and shows the shape of the rumored device. It is unclear whether this could point to a finalized shape and size, but that could be subject to change based on Apple’s decisions on screen size and technology inside. Case designs are normally accurate but can also provide misleading information as cases can be made entirely off of speculation and based on rumors being reported on the web.

Image Credit: Gotta Be Mobile

The report mentions that in a measure of pixel count from the model, the iPad Mini will be approximately 213 mm by 143 mm, slightly thinner than the full size 9.7 inch iPad which comes in at 185.67mm wide, 241.3mm tall, and 9.39mm thick.

Google’s Nexus 7 tablet has a width of 120mm which means that the iPad Mini, if our calculations are close, might be around 23.67mm wider than the Nexus 7. The Nexus 7 tablet measures in at 198.5mm high which means that the iPad Mini may be a little taller than Google’s 7-inch tablet.

If rumors about iPad Mini turn out to be true then we could expect the release date to be around October timeframe same as the next generation iPhone 5 and the public release of iOS 6.

{via MacRumors}

Earlier today a German court ordered two patent rulings which involved Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Samsung. In Mannheim Regional Court Judge Andreas Voss tossed the third lawsuit in a row in which Samsung claimed that AAPL infringed on 3G/UTMS patent.

Samsung has already announced that it will appeal the dismissal of its case. In addition to the ruling in Apple’s favor the German court, according to Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents, tossed one of two suits filed by Apple against Samsung over slide-to-unlock.

Apple has seen some success in its legal battle against Android as the Cupertino, Calif. based company won preliminary injunctions against Samsung, however most of them were subsequently lifted.

Samsung still hasn’t been able to enforce any intellectual property right anywhere on this planet against Apple

Mueller on his blog explains that today’s decision does not reduce chances of Apple’s success in other slide-to-unlock lawsuits.

[T]he whole issue here that made Apple lose, for the time being, the slide-to-unlock patent case against Samsung is just the interpretation of certain key terms (“predefined”, “displayed”, “path”). The slide-to-unlock utility model has a large number of claims, and some of those are much broader and don’t have the related limitations.

This week turned out to be great for Apple as the company scored significant victories in German courts. In one of the lawsuits the court ordered that Motorola Mobility cannot enforce standard-essential patent injunction against Apple during its appeal. This suggests that Apple has strong chances in succeeding. We recently reported that in another lawsuit against Motorola, Apple won German injunction over its Photo Gallery patent which enables Apple to enforce the ruling and ask for any infringing product to be destroyed.

Apple is all set to unveil the iPad 3 at a keynote event on March 7th as the company has already sent out media invitations for the launch event. According to the photos of iPad 3 display parts which appeared on the web the third generation iPad will feature high resolution retina display.

Retina Display on iPad 3 will have a resolution of 2048×1536 pixels and now a new report published by DigiTimes suggests that Apple’s display suppliers have been slow in ramping up their production. If this turns out to be true then Apple could face shortages and be unable to meet the demand for its new iPad. This could further impact Apple’s plan for international roll out.

Apple may not unable to ramp up the supply of its next-generation iPads (iPad 3), which are expected to be launched at a company event on March 7, due to insufficient supply of high resolution displays, according to industry sources in the supply chain.

The report goes onto mention that Apple would only be able to ramp up the product assembly around the second quarter of 2012. The Cupertino, Calif. based company has been careful in selecting suppliers of QXGA display panels and replaced Chimei Innolux (CMI) with Sharp while Samsung Electronics and LG display continue to supply the high resolution panels.

the whole supply chain has failed to substantially ramp up the supply of QXGA panels, the sources revealed.

Apple has been faced with product shortages post release date of a new device as the demand has mostly surpassed the company’s projected sales figures. As the supply chain struggles to ramp up production shipping time of iPad 3 may be pushed to 4-5 weeks time frame.

iPad 3 keynote event will kick off at 10 am Pacific at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and we will bring you live all-in-one coverage of the event.

{via MacRumors}

Steve Dowling, a spokesman for Cupertino, California-based Apple, said today that the purchase had been made, while declining to elaborate. The statement confirmed a December report from in the Israeli newspaper Cacalist.

“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” Dowling said in a telephone interview.

A credible purchase price has not been revealed, but reports suggest that Apple paid anywhere from $400-500 million for Anobit. It is also reported that Anobit operates key flash memory controllers for the iPad and iPhone. It can be assumed that Apple acquired Anobit for control over the in-house production of iPhone and iPad flash memory.

Apple currently develops its own low power A5 chip in house, but acquires parts from other companies such as Samsung. With Anobit, Apple would have far more control over speed, production, and manufacturing of the flash memory for both iOS devices and Macbook Air.

{via MacRumors}

According to a new report published by The Korean Times Samsung “is seeking a complete ban” on iPhone 5 sales in Korea even before the device is released in the market.

Just after the arrival of the iPhone 5 here, Samsung plans to take Apple to court here for its violation of Samsung’s wireless technology related patents. For as long as Apple does not drop mobile telecommunications functions, it would be impossible for it to sell its i-branded products without using our patents. We will stick to a strong stance against Apple during the lingering legal fights.

The publication claims that Samsung’s executive is very confident about “a big breakthrough” provided the Korean giant wins in Germany.

Apple is Samsung’s largest customer for NAND flash memory and custom-built A4 and A5 processors. The Cupertino, California-based company has been reportedly looking at alternative suppliers and considering TSMC for future supplies.

Apple has been quite aggressive when it comes to patent litigation by calling companies “copycats” and suing for any possible patent infringement. It’s very interesting to note that Samsung is planning to target an unannounced product with it’s wireless technology patents. Samsung will certainly try to put pressure on Apple to settle the matters out of court.

The Dusseldorf court in Germany recently ruled that Sumsung must cease sales of Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet as it was found to be very similar and a copy of iPad’s design.

In a recent report Reuters also suggested that Samsung could be looking at being awarded an injunction against iPhone 5 in Europe.

Samsung Electronics Co is considering legal action to ban sales of Apple’s new iPhone, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, in what could be its strongest step to defend against claims by the U.S. firm that the South Korean firm had copied its product designs. The source declined to elaborate further on where Samsung planned to take legal actions and the Maeil Business Newspaper reported that the South Korean firm may seek injunction request on Apple’s new iPhone in Europe.

Apple is widely expected to announce the release date for iPhone 5 during a media event rumored to be held on October 4th. The fifth-gen iPhone according to speculation and previous reports will feature 8 megapixel camera, dual-core A5 chip, higher RAM and a radically thinner design.

{via 9to5 Mac}

The latest suit was mentioned in Apple’s complaint against Samsung and later discovered by FOSS Patents. Apple filed a complaint with the same court over the design of the Motorola XOOM. However, it’s worth noting that the filing doesn’t state whether it includes a request for preliminary injunction.

There isn’t a clear statutory limit, but German lawyers usually discourage such motions unless they are filed within one month of finding out about an infringement. It’s possible to get permanent injunctions even against older products, but for preliminary ones there must be a particular sense of urgency. It’s possible that Apple has also been aware of the Xoom for too long to file for a preliminary injunction at this stage.

Apple is potentially making it difficult for Android smartphone manufactures to sell their devices as patent infringement, if proven, could result in high licensing fees.

It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out between Apple and Motorola.

Apple surpassed Nokia’s Symbian OS in order to claim the 2nd spot, directly behind Android. In the second quarter of 2011, Apple held the number one spot for world’s largest individual smartphone manufacturer, because of Android’s fragmented manufacturing process and the availability of its OS on multiple hardware.

The problem for Nokia is that demand for its Symbian-based smart phones has dissipated very rapidly, particularly in operator-led markets, such as Western Europe, where it’s been strong in the past. It badly needs the first of its Windows Phone devices to launch as soon as possible to arrest a decline and, hopefully, silence its critics.

Nokia is trailing behind both Samsung and Apple with only 16.7 million units last quarter. Google’s Android, Apple, and Samsung are now the leaders of the smartphone operating system and are setting their foot down.

Apple is shipping iPhones much more rapidly and increasing iOS usage around the world. Apple has now penetrated every major market and is experiencing major success with it’s host of iOS devices.

Apple has the ability to lead ahead of Android if it continues to experience this growth and adoption of iOS in it’s suite of mobile products. With the rumored iPhone 5 expected to be introduced this fall Apple could leap ahead in the third quarter.

{via AppleInsider}

Apple in its complaint alleges that Galaxy Tab 10.1 infringes 10 patents which include copying the “look and feel” and touchscreen technology of the iPad. Steven Burley, Apple’s lawyer, told Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett in Sydney that the company wants to seek an Australian injunction and stop Samsung from selling its tablet in other countries too.

Samsung, based in Suwon, South Korea, agreed to stop advertising the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia and not to sell the device until it wins court approval or the lawsuit is resolved, according to an accord reached by lawyers during a break in the hearing. Should Apple lose its patent infringement lawsuit, it agreed to pay Samsung damages, which weren’t specified.

Apple had filed a patent lawsuit against Samsung in April in which it alleges that the company has copied Apple’s products to mislead people and even infringes on several technology patents.

Bennett has scheduled a hearing for August 29th to review the case. It will be interesting to see how this case further unfolds.

According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, Apple Inc. (AAPL) overtook Nokia in global smartphone market share during the second quarter.

Apple has now become worlds largest smartphone manufacturer as Nokia slipped to number three and Samsung coming close at second position. The global smartphone market saw 110 million units being shipped which represented 76% growth. 

Apple shipped 20.3 million units and controlled 18.5% of the smartphone market whereas Samsung came very close with 19.2 million units in the same quarter. Nokia witnessed major drop as its market share fell from 38.1% to 15.2%.

Expansion in China and other Asian countries helped Apple’s growth in global smartphone market and analysts view the company’s ability to quickly expand in Asian markets as an important factor to retain the momentum.

As Nokia’s Ovi Store failed to gain traction and the fact that the company announced that newer handsets would support Windows platform caused the Finnish giant to lose major market share. 

Samsung on the other hand has shown very positive results as Android platform continues to grow. However, it’s worth noting that even though Apple ships just one new model every year the company has been reporting superb results year over year.

Apple is expected to announce iPhone 5 in September which could help the company post stellar results yet again in Q3 and Q4. With iOS 5 and iCloud iPhones would not need a computer to set up which will help in much higher sales especially in Asian countries.