Thursday 18 August 2011

Apple Wants All Samsung Galaxy Devices Banned From Sale    [ 18-08-2011 18:50 ]

Author: Irina Turina   Source: thenextweb     Translation by: Paul Smith     

The Apple vs Samsung war is continuing unabated with Apple now said to be pushing for a complete sales ban on all Galaxy devices. That would mean no more sales of devices such as the Galaxy S II, Galaxy S, etc. So far the ban on sales has been limited to the Galaxy Tab 10.1, which was banned from sale in Australia and the European Union (although the latter ban now only applies to Germany).

The crux of the dispute is Apple's claims that Samsung has been copying its designs, a claim that led to the first salvo in the war between the two being fired back in April. Apple has already scored a victory with the Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales ban and this latest move is obviously designed to increase the pressure. The new complaint from Apple, filed at The Hague, reads:

Apple demands that Samsung and its subsidiaries send a "letter of request" to all their European clients to recall all infringing products from stock "within 14 days" and offer compensation of the purchase price as well as transport costs. Apple demands that Samsung's letter should include a statement saying that if clients don't comply, that they themselves violate Apple's intellectual property rights.

The decision on this latest complaint isn't due until 15th September, but if Apple is successful it could have massive ramifications for Samsung. We're willing to bet that Samsung won't take it lying down.

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Apple Accused Of Cheating Customers, Lawsuits Filed    [ 18-08-2011 18:34 ]

Author: Irina Turina   Source: BGR     Translation by:     

Whilst Apple is busy suing Samsung Chinese consumers are busy suing Apple. In two separate lawsuits filed in China customers claim that Apple have been selling refurbished iPhones as new devices. The customers filing the suits only discovered that the handsets were refurbished models when the manufacturer warranty was found to expire after less then a year from the date of purchase. To add insult to injury one of the customers involved claims that when she returned to the Apple store to confront them over the matter the staff there tried to trick her. She claims that they attempted to modify the warranty expiration date.

Wang Hai, a leading consumer rights campaigner who is helping organise the lawsuits, said "It's cheating to sell refurbished products as new ones. It'll be discrimination against Chinese consumers if the case turns out to be true as refurbished cellphones are also sold in other countries, but at a cheaper price". Four more customers in Beijing have now come forward saying that they too have been fooled into buying refurbished iPhones, but at the time of writing they haven't filed lawsuits against Apple.

The images below shows a customer receipt with the purchase date and the date the warranty expires.

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Top 50 Android Apps Account For 61% Of Usage    [ 18-08-2011 18:25 ]

Author: Ivanov Konstantin   Source: Nielsen     Translation by: Paul Smith     

Some very interesting figures have been coming out of U.S. ratings firm Nielsen on the usage patterns of Android customers. Nielsen installed monitoring software on thousands of Android devices in the U.S. (with permission of course) so these figures are far more accurate than previous results, which relied upon surveys.

One of the headline results from the figures is the fact that Android users time spent using apps was centred around the top 10 apps in the Market. Those top 10 apps accounted for an incredible 43% of total app usage despite the fact that the Android Market has hundreds of thousands of apps. Indeed the top 50 apps saw the figure rise to 61%, almost two thirds of total app usage. That leaves the remaining 99% of Android apps accounting for just 39% of usage.

Those figures obviously have implications for advertising given that develoeprs whose apps aren't in the top 50 are competing against a very large pool of rival apps for less than half a user's app usage.

The figures also revealed that Android users were spending approximately twice as long using apps as they were browsing the web. That certainly fits the trend in recent years of apps becoming the 'go to place' for users' needs rather than the web. That at least may bolster devs morale a little after they've seen the figures for app usage.

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Nokia CEO Concerned Over Google-Moto Deal    [ 18-08-2011 18:14 ]

Author: Irina Turina   Source: Reuters     Translation by: Paul Smith     

Google's recent acquisition of Motorola's mobile division sparked something of a love-in from Android manufacturers. They queued up to welcome the move and heap praise on Google for acting to protect Android. You would expect there to be some naysaying though and you would be right, but not from Android manufacturers. No, the criticism has come from Nokia.

Speaking at a seminar in Finland Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop had this to say on the deal:

If I happened to be someone who was an Android manufacturer or an operator, or anyone with a stake in that environment, I would be picking up my phone and calling certain executives at Google and say 'I see signs of danger ahead'".

What are those signs of danger? Elop didn't say specifically, but the insinuation is clear, namely that Google owning its own mobile division will mean that it comes into conflict with its manufacturing partners. Elop went on to say "The very first reaction I had was very clearly the importance of the third ecosystem and the importance of the pertnership that we announced on February 11, it is more clear than ever". In other words Elop seems to be saying that he is concerned Google has gained a major advantage and can leverage that to increase their market domination with Windows Phone potentially acting as a counter-balance. Of course that last part remains to be seen ...

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