Samsung plans to welcome the new year with a new look.
ChannelNews just published a report, citing sources in Asia, that claimed Samsung is working with Scott Bedbury, a brand-marketing wizard whose past experience includes Nike, to launch a “more vibrant International brand image alongside the likes of arch rival Apple.”
The new look, which apparently ditches the blue Samsung logo and fashion’s all-new advertising material with fresh colors that will compliment an overall brand identity for the company, is set to unveil at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The Guardian published a new report today that cited unnamed sources and throws around phrases like “not optimistic” and “unlikely event” in regards to Apple ever allowing a Google Maps iOS app.
The story claimed Google’s app is ready to ship by the end of 2012, but Google is torn about the likelihood of Apple ever giving an official go-ahead:
While one source indicated increased hopes that the dedicated Google Maps iOS app will eventually be approved now that Apple’s maps leader, Scott Forstall, has departed the company, another was less than enthusiastic about any increased prospects, citing industry politics and Apple’s need to save face as much as possible and “keep moving forward in an effort to make its obviously inferior product better”. Apple unveiled the section, which on Monday listed ten free and paid-for apps, to spotlight alternative mapping apps for iOS in an effort to placate users over response to criticisms of its own Maps app.
The Guardian specifically noted Apple’s reluctance to give Google Maps any attention in iOS. The company apparently went as far as to neglect apps in the “Find maps for your iPhone” section of the App Store that use Google Maps APIs:
Further, a source at Google told me the feeling is that those apps were purposely left out of the new section because they promote Google and its “superior product” – at a time when there is so much bad blood between the companies over the continuing smartphone patent litigation (following allegations from the late Steve Jobs that Google’s Android OS ripped off iOS). In other words, no matter how bad Apple’s Maps are, the company still wants its users to move on from Google – and forget about them. This doesn’t bode well for the approval of an official Google Maps app, the source says.
Despite the pessimistic outlook of the anonymous Google sources, the Guardian said Apple and the folks in Mountain View are in constant talks. So, the tide could potentially change without any notice. With that said, they firmly believe Apple will never again make Google Maps a default mapping solution in iOS.
Samsung announced today that it sold roughly 3 million Galaxy Note IIs since the phablet launched over a month ago.
The company specified to the Associates Press (via USA Today) that it took just 37 days to hit the sales figure:
The South Korean firm is pinning its hope on the Note II and the S III to maintain its market lead during the crucial fourth-quarter holiday season, when a number of new gadgets are vying for attention from consumers in the crowded market.
A new report by IDC gives support to Samsung’s unverified claims: the research firm revealed Samsung sat at No. 1 in terms of the global smartphone market for Q3 2012 with 56.3 million sales—doubling Apple’s 26.9 million in iPhone sales.
IDC is out with its latest report that covers the top six smartphone operating systems by shipments and market share during Q3 2012. In the study, IDC found Android on nearly 75 percent of all smartphones shipped during the quarter, giving Android 136 million units of the 181.1 million total smartphones shipped during Q3 2012. That accounts for 91.5-percent year-over-year growth, beating out 57.3- percent year-over-year growth for Apple, and an average market growth of 46.4-percent. Apple shipped 26.9 million iPhones, in comparison, giving the company 14.9-percent of the market in the third quarter. Samsung is once again the top Android vendor:
Android, having topped the 100 million unit mark last quarter, reached a new record level in a single quarter. By comparison, Android’s total volumes for the quarter were greater than the total number of smartphones shipped in 2007, the year that Android was officially announced. Samsung once again led all vendors in this space, but saw its market share decline as numerous smaller vendors increased their production.
iOS was a distant second place to Android, but was the only other mobile operating system to amass double-digit market share for the quarter. The late quarter launch of the iPhone 5 and lower prices on older models prevented total shipment volumes from slipping to 3Q11 levels. But without a splashy new OS-driven feature like Siri in 2011 and FaceTime in 2010, the iPhone 5 relied on its larger, but not wider, screen and LTE connectivity to drive growth.
Strategic Analytics released its latest report today that depicted global smartphone shipments growing to 162 million in Q3 2012, and it said Samsung led the charge with a record 35 percent global share.
“Samsung shipped 56.9 million smartphones worldwide and captured a record 35 percent market share in the third quarter of 2012. This was the largest number of units ever shipped by a smartphone vendor in a single quarter, ” said Strategy Analytics Executive Director Neil Mawston in a press release.
The report further mentioned Samsung successfully delivered “numerous hit models,” such as the Galaxy and Galaxy Note, despite competition in stores and courtrooms. Apple managed to grab second place in the report, however, with nearly 17 percent. Meanwhile, the remaining handset manufacturers, such as Nokia, fell into the “Others” category at 48 percent.
“(Apple) shipped 26.9 million smartphones worldwide for 17 percent market share, up from 14 percent recorded a year earlier,” Mawston added. “Apple had a solid quarter in the important United States market and this helped to strengthen its global performance.”
Samsung and Apple essentially shipped over half of all the smartphones worldwide in Q3—up from roughly one-third just a year ago. Strategy Analytic Senior Analyst Neil Shah therefore noted shipping volumes have “polarized” around the two brands.
The filing, as first discovered by Galaxus (translated), detailed a codenamed “ME370tg” ASUS device. This, of course, would point to Google’s ASUS-made Nexus 7.
Another noteworthy aspect to the filing is that the ME370TG will receive certification Oct. 29. This date should probably sound familiar, as it is also the day of Google’s upcoming New York City event.
Unfortunately, the 3G-enabled Nexus 7 does not appear to sport LTE connectivity.
While this non-final decision is not binding, there is a possibility that Judge Koh will be persuaded by this to grant Samsung’s Rule 50 (“overrule-the-jury”) motion to the extent it relates to the ‘381 patent. Even if Judge Koh is hesitant to overrule the jury on this and skeptical of a non-final action, the reexamination process will continue during the Federal Circuit appellate proceedings, so if the non-final findings concerning claim 19 are affirmed in subsequent Office actions, they will have more weight. And even after the appeals process, a subsequent final rejection of the relevant patent claim would make the patent unenforceable going forward.
The report noted an anonymous third-party challenged the validity of the patent earlier this year requesting a reexamination (Google looks up into space, begins whistling):
In late May, Scott Daniels, the author of the WHDA Reexamination Alert blog, discovered some new anonymous attacks on this patent and another famous Apple patent. I reported and commented on these findings. At the time I already listed the prior art references on which that ex parte reexamination request was based.
BusinessInsider pointed us to an interesting update to the Google Wallet website today: Google is now advertising “the next version” of its mobile wallet app and providing a link a to request an invite. The website has a link to “Request an invite” for when the new version is ready, but even more interesting is what happens after users do so. After clicking the link, Google asks users to select the type of mobile device they use. The three options include: Android, iOS, and Other.
There is no details regarding what might be included in the next generation of the Wallet service, but many are speculating Google might have plans to extend some portion of the Google Wallet app to iOS and possibly other devices. An iPhone version of Google Wallet would of course not include the NFC capabilities that have limited the service to select Android devices, but perhaps it could provide some type of integration with Apple’s Passbook feature on iOS? We have requested an invite to the new version of Wallet, and we will keep you updated when we learn more.
Google also announced today that Google Wallet is now available to Galaxy S III users on MetroPCS:
Beginning at 4:30PM EST, we’ll be getting the full break-down of Google’s earnings for the third fiscal quarter. In an odd turn of events, Google released its earnings early this afternoon due to a screwup with its SEC filing. The screwup caused Google to close down its stock for the better part of the afternoon, causing a steep drop. Google may discuss the situation on the call… stay tuned after the break:
We know Apple has had a lot of success pushing iPads in education, and during Apple’s Q3 conference call, CEO Tim Cook said the company would continue to be “very aggressive”. Apple’s iPad 2 sales in the K-12 market doubled y-o-y in Q3 thanks to a price drop to $399. In Q2, Apple said it sold about a million iPad units to the United States education market. With Apple’s upcoming iPad mini announcement possibly bringing an even lower price point for iPads in education, Amazon is announcing its plans today to get Kindle tablets into schools.
Reuters reported today that Amazon is launching a service, called “Whispercast”, aimed at allowing schools to easily deploy and manage multiple kindle devices:
Google just published a new edition of Think Quarterly—its own online magazine geared toward Google partners and advertisers—called “The Open Issue“.
The informative publication, which touts “insights and outlooks on the digital future,” appears to have 10 new sections in the current issue with the following ‘Open’-related theme:
Open systems of information and technology have completely altered how we live and work, unleashing unlimited opportunities. In fact, there’s never been a more exciting time to be ‘open’ for business.
A few of the spotlighted features include interviews with Wiki’s Jimmy Wales, Google Idea’s Jared Cohen, and American Express’ Susan Sobott. Check out “The Open Issue” online or download the PDF.
Samsung’s latest product video shows off how the Galaxy Note 10.1 is being used in education by visiting the Institute of Play:
The Institute of Play have only begun to effect sweeping changes to the way education evolves. With the help of Samsung and the Galaxy Note 10.1, we get a glimpse of the incredible impact the Institute’s revolutionary methods are making, and how the potentially bright the future is for students everywhere.
Google is sponsoring an upcoming hackathon by Hattery Labs that is awarding two grand prizes to innovators using Google Maps API.
The “Reroute/sf” hackathon runs from Oct. 19 to Oct. 21 at The Hattery, according to its Facebook page, and it aims to “improve transportation in San Francisco with technological innovation, and work with the City to make it real.” The three-day event essentially invites engineers, designers, and entrepreneurs to “make San Francisco a better place.”
The hackathon will host three challenges, i.e., “Collect the right data,” “Plan a trip anywhere – on-time,” “See what’s broken and watch it get fixed,” while senior representatives from the City of San Francisco and the technology community will determine who wins the following four prizes:
Best Innovation using Google Maps API | $7,500 Grant
Runner-up Innovation using Google Maps API | $2,500 Grant
Best Public Transit Innovation | $500 Clipper Card credit
Best Collaboration | 3 free General Assembly classes per team member
Aside from Google, the Hattery, the San Francisco Mayor’s Office, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, Waze, Google Maps, and the General Assembly sponsor the hackathon. The Hattery is a collection of experts ranging from designers and engineers to investors and brand marketers, and some of their most notable collaborative work under Hattery Labs includes giving people clean water and helping Haitians rebuild schools through WellDone and Haiti School Project, respectively.
Google just landed the No. 1 spot on LinkedIn’s fresh list of most “inDemand” employers from around the world.
The occupation-aimed social network pinpointed the most attractive companies for job seekers, and it subsequently broadcasted the list, along with its new Most InDemand Employers website, at the Talent Connect event in Las Vegas this afternoon. LinkedIn further detailed a few insights regarding the results, including: tech/software as the most represented on the list, consumer brands ranked highly, and 50-percent of the top 100 companies had under 7,000 employees.
Google also earned first-place in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Meanwhile, students, recent graduates, marketing professionals, and software engineers perceive it as the best possible employer overall. A few other repeated names on the list include Apple, Walt Disney, and Microsoft.
Check out more details in the infographic below, or read LinkedIn’s blog post to learn more about list’s ranking metrics.
U.S. Judge Lucy Koh granted Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction against Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus smartphone in June, and the decision resulted in the temporary removal of the device from Google Play pending a software fix with Android 4.1. Today, Reuters reported that Apple’s U.S. injunction on the Galaxy Nexus has been reversed.
TheNextWeb got its hands on the official order. Samsung argued that its product would “sell almost as well without incorporating the patented feature” :
Samsung argued, somewhat humiliatingly, that the sales of the Galaxy Nexus were so poor that they didn’t pose a threat to Apple’s iPhone and that the unified search feature was not essential to the success of its device. The appeals court apparently agrees, as it states in its official order:
…it may very well be that the accused product would sell almost as well without incorporating the patented feature. And in that case, even if the competitive injury that results from selling the accused device is substantial, the harm that flows from the alleged infringement (the only harm that should count) is not.
According to Reuters, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled the court “abused its discretion in entering an injunction” and will send the case back to the California court for consideration. Expand Expanding Close
Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt sat down for an AllThingsD talk last night with Walt Mossberg. Among other topics, they not-surprisingly discussed Android and his thoughts on Apple. Much of the talk centered around Schmidt’s thoughts on the Android-Apple platform fight, which he called “the defining fight in the industry today.” He also noted there is a “huge race specifically between Apple and the Android platform for additional features,” and he commented on Apple’s Maps situation:
The Android-Apple platform fight is the defining contest. Here’s why: Apple has thousands of developers building for it. Google’s platform, Android, is even larger. Four times more Android phones than Apple phones. 500 million phones already in use. Doing 1.3 million activations a day. We’ll be at 1 billion mobile devices in a year.
At the 17:30 mark, Schmidt began to talk about Apple’s new Maps app controversy: “Apple should have kept with our maps”… Expand Expanding Close
As Google has done with past updates to its products, it appears to be testing a redesigned version of its mobile homepage with a small group of users. A 9to5Google reader noticed the change on Android. There were also reports of iOS users noticing a new UI. As highlighted in the image above, the updated Google mobile website includes a redesigned top toolbar that looks similar to the desktop version. The redesigned toolbar also provides access to a slide-out sidebar that contains quick links to all of Google’s services as opposed to a top bar containing just a few tabs for “Images”, Maps”, “Places”, “more”, etc. The toolbar provides links to the “Web” and “Images”, as well as Google+ notifications and profile information. It is possible Google will push the redesigned UI to all users soon.
In May, Google opened up the ability for developers to include subscriptions in their apps. It is a feature that has been available on Apple’s App Store for quite sometime.
According to a new posting on the Android Developers’ website, a new feature is landing today for the in-app subscription service Google offers. The team in Mountain View has rolled out the ability for developers to set a free trial period, allowing users to try a subscription before buying. A user will be required to give payment information when signing up for the free trial, but it will not be charged. Like most free trial services, a user will be charged after the trial period is over. As for the changes that developers need to make…. Expand Expanding Close
Motorola Mobility apparently yanked all tablets and most smartphones from its German store.
According to the company’s online German store (translated), just three devices are available for purchase: the Motorola Razr I, the Motorola Razr HD, the Motorola Gleam+. Meanwhile, there are absolutely no Motorola tablets for sale through the website (translated).
Tech news website ZDNet first noticed the lacking selection of Android-powered devices from Google-owned Motorola, and it blamed the insufficient stock on “aggressive and successful litigation” against the company in recent months:
The mobile hardware maker has suffered a series of defeats in German courts after the firm was accused of patent infringement by software giant Microsoft. However, Motorola recently batted one victory to the back of the cage proving that Microsoft’s litigious advances were not fool-proof.
A German regional court ruled earlier this week that a patent belonging to the Redmond, WA.-based company was not infringed by Motorola. In spite of Motorola’s recent victory against Microsoft’s claims, the previous injunctions remain in place.
Apple also had a hand to play in the ongoing playbook against Motorola after the phone maker infringed a European patents belonging to Apple, a software feature described as a ‘rubber-banding’ patent.
Another day, another patent filing. Better yet—another watch patent.
Between the Pebble, Sony, Nike, and even Apple’s spin on the wearable Nano, there are plenty of smart watches going around these days. Google—however—wants to kick it up a notch. A new patent surfaced recently that depicts a Mountain View-branded wristwatch with Google Glass-like capabilities.
The timepiece, according to design filings with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, features a transparent display that doubles as a second screen when flipped up from the base. The displays give access to Google apps, such as Gmail and Maps, and they provide real-time data for directions, notifications, products, etc.
Yes, this also means Google would have another platform for serving up ads. Enter the Google Glass similarities. The patent filing indicated the smart watch could track users’ surroundings, and it would then offer related products, points of interest, information, or practically anything else aggregated and related to the watch’s GPS coordinates.
A new survey by research organization Pew Internet & American Life Project depicts how Android rose from 15 percent in 2011 to 48 percent in 2012, in terms of U.S. adult tablet ownership, due to the higher-priced iPads steadily losing traction.
Over the last year, tablet ownership has steadily increased from 11% of U.S. adults in July of 2011 to 18% in January of 2012, according to PEJ data. Currently, 22% own a tablet and another 3% regularly use a tablet owned by someone else in the home. This number is very close to new data, released here for the first time, conducted in a separate survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project on July 16 through August 7 2012 that found 25% of all U.S. adults have a tablet computer.
The growth in tablet adoption is likely related to the advent of the lower-priced tablets in late 2011. Overall, about two-thirds of tablet-owning adults, 68%, got their tablet in the last year, including 32% in 2012 alone. That has lessened Apple’s dominance in the market. Now, just over half, 52%, of tablet owners report owning an iPad, compared with 81% in the survey a year ago.
Android-based devices are now at 48 percent overall: approximately 21 percent own the Android-forked Kindle Fire, 8 percent own the Samsung Galaxy, and the remaining is a mix. It is worth noting Android would only hold 27 percent without the $199 Kindle Fire.
The survey did not include Google’s Nexus 7 or Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD, however, as they were not yet introduced. The final numbers also mirror world sales data, according to Pew, which place the iPad at 61 percent and Android at 31 percent.
Check out Pew for more related information on smartphone ownership and operating system loyalty.
Google trailed Microsoft by $19 billion earlier this year. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company closed the Market cap gap in just 10 months, however, forcing the once-goliath Microsoft to now walk in the footpaths of Google and Apple as the world’s most valuable tech companies.
Microsoft currently boasts a $3 billion lead over Google, according to Business Insider, which cited Yahoo Finance, but their points are bound to sway if Google continues to swell.
We are going to keep loving developers at Research In Motion, all the way to BlackBerry 10 and beyond. Watch our leadership team for developer relations bring back the band: Alec Saunders, VP Developer Relations & Ecosystem, Chris Smith, VP Application Platform & Tools, and Martyn Mallick, VP Global Alliances & Business. Thank you to those devs who are working hard, and for those jumping on board every day.
Samsung just released its latest ad mocking iPhone line sitters, right on time for the release of the iPhone 5 this week. The ad is quite similar to its old “The Next Big Thing” Galaxy ads bashing iPhone customers waiting in line at the Apple Store, but this time the commercial is of course for its latest device, the Galaxy S III.
