Chip Shipments Keep on Trucking Despite Apple/Samsung Verdict

As the dust settled on Friday's landmark US$1 billion ruling against Samsung in a patent lawsuit brought by Apple, Reuters analyzed what the decision means moving forward.  One facet of the saga: What happens to the Apple-designed -- and Samsung-supplied -- chips that help power the iPad and iPhone?  Samsung will continue to supply the chips, according to Reuters. There is a "strict internal firewall" separating Samsung's handset business -- the one slammed by Friday's U.S. court ruling -- and its components operations business, which is the sole supplier of some of the key components Apple needs to build its devices. An emergency meeting Sunday reiterated this divide.  The contract for the chips is worth billions to Samsung, according to Reuters. And regardless the outcome of its inevitable appeal, Samsung will likely be unwilling to jeopardize its lucrative parts deal -- which accounts for more than one-quarter of the component costs of the iPhone.  Friday's court ruling also had huge ramifications on the stock market. Samsung Electronic's shares dropped 7.5 percent Monday, while shares of Nokia -- which, along with Microsoft, stands to gain from Friday's decision -- leapt 10 percent.  Brit Arrested After Racist Soccer Tweets  A 22-year-old in Essex, England, was arrested on suspicion of a "racially aggravated public order offense" after racist tweets directed at a professional soccer player, according to The Guardian.  Forward Carlton Cole of West Ham was the target of the tweets, which were sent after West Ham lost Saturday to Swansea. Cole, who is black, retweeted the racist messages, which chided his performance using a racial epithet.  This is not the first time an English soccer players has been the victim of racist tweets. Nor, for that matter, is it the first time Cole has been the target of racism: Almost three years ago to the day, fans directed monkey chants at him. Foxconn's Higher Wages - and Possibly Fewer Jobs  Foxconn, the Apple supplier made famous over allegations of worker mistreatment, announced that it has raised wages for production-line workers in Zhengzhou by 16 percent, according to The Wall Street Journal.  Foxconn, which was lauded last week for following up on its promises to improve working conditions, has more than 1 million employees throughout China and about 150,000 in Zhenghou.  ZDNet had a different take on the Foxconn story. Citing a Chinese-language article, ZDNet pointed out that Foxconn's pledge to cut hours -- which it has indeed followed through on -- has actually been bad for some employees.  An unnamed employee said that most workers actually preferred to work overtime hours because it enables them to make the most amount of money in the shortest timeframe. Bugs Plaguing French Telecom  Orange, France's largest mobile network, has been hit by another bug that left hundreds of thousands of customers without access to their voicemail, according to Giga OM.  About 800,000 customers lost access to their voicemail for about four hours, according to Giga OM.  The company has reportedly fixed the problem, but outages are nonetheless turning into something of a pattern for Orange. It also had a massive outage in July which left millions without the ability to make call for about 12 hours.  Alas, outages might not even be Orange's biggest problem at the moment. The company is under pressure from increasing domestic competition, while the company's former CEO was indicted in July on charges relating to the suicides of more than 30 employees.

Samsung Waves Hello to Windows 8 With New All-in-One PCs

Samsung on Tuesday announced its new Series 7 and Series 5 All-in-One (AIO) PCs designed to run Windows 8 when the OS is launched later this year.  The PCs have high-resolution, 10-point touchscreens, as well as slim bezel displays, metal bases, and third-generation Intel Core processors.  The displays also have five hand gesture recognition features that work when the user is up to three feet away.  Samsung's new AIO PCs will be available in late October for between US$750 and $1,700.  Samsung "builds nice-looking products, but they have never been much of a force in [the PC] market," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld. 

 The AIO Devices' Specs  Samsung's Series 5 AIO PCs have 21-inch screens, 500 GB hard drives and Intel Core i3-3220T CPUs, as well as Intel HD Graphics 4000 graphics processing units (GPUs).  The Series 7 AIO PC comes with a 23-inch or a 27-inch screen. The former has an Intel Core i5-3470T CPU and an Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU, and the latter an Intel Core i7-3770T CPU and an AMD Radeon HD 7850M GPU. Both have a 1 TB hard drive.  All the AIO PCs have screens with 1,920 by 1,080 pixel resolution. For connectivity, they all support Gbit Ethernet, WiFi and Bluetooth. All three have three USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI in/out port, an Ethernet port, and a 3-in-1 multicard slot. In addition to gesture recognition and touchscreen, they accept input from a wireless keyboard and mouse.  Hand gestures include a flick of the wrist from up to three feet away, swipes in either direction from a distance, rotating the palm clockwise or anticlockwise, closing the hand, and waving the hand.  The Series 5 AIO PC was designed to serve as a kitchen PC, Samsung said. It has a keyboard and mouse that fit in between the legs of its base so it takes up less counter space, and its screen is slightly smaller than that of its Series 7 counterparts. Another Nibble of the Apple  The Samsung AIO PCs will come preloaded with the company's own S Launcher widget, according to Mashable.  This replicates the functions of the old start button in Microsoft Windows, which Windows 8 did away with.  However, the widget looks a lot like the dock that Apple has used in its Mac OS X operating system for years, according to Boy Genius Report.  "They look almost identical," Enderle agreed.  Although Samsung was recently ruled to have infringed Apple's patents with its smartphones, it's "doubtful" that Samsung will pull the widget because "Microsoft backs them up on Windows, and Microsoft is both cross-licensed with Apple and has a significant patent portfolio," Enderle opined. "Still, I doubt even Microsoft will be that comfortable with how close this looks to a Mac."  A Samsung spokesperson was not immediately available to provide further details.

Apple/Samsung Feud Will Stay Burning Long After Calif. Verdict

A federal jury found Samsung guilty of infringing on several Apple patents Friday in a high-profile patent case that could mean a US$1 billion payout for Cupertino.  Jurors in the San Jose, Calif., court decided that Samsung copied certain design and utility patents, siding with Apple in the majority of the iPhone maker's complaints. As a penalty, Samsung must pay $1.05 billion in damages to Apple -- less than half of the more than $2.5 billion Apple sought.  However, that payout could be tripled since the jury found some instances in which Samsung willfully infringed Apple's patents.  The jury did not find Apple guilty of infringing on some of Samsung's patents.

 Speedy Verdict  The nine-person jury came to its conclusion after 21 hours of deliberation. The decision arrived sooner than generally expected, given the complexity of the court-issued verdict form, which had more than 700 points to discuss.  "The jury foreman spoke in great detail about the deliberations, and it was somewhat unusual to get a decision like that so quickly," Chris Rourk, partner at Jackson Walker, told MacNewsWorld. "Whether or not that may have resulted in any error or problems, it's hard to say, but that's one area where the verdict could really be attacked in an appeal."  Samsung expressed its disapproval at the decision, calling the verdict a loss not for the company, but for the "American consumer." The company said it would lead to "fewer choices, less innovation and potentially higher prices," according to a company statement provided to MacNewsWorld by Mira Jang, communications for Samsung.  AAPL soared in after-hours trading following Friday's decision. Its rise continued Monday, with the stock up about 2 percent to $677 around mid-day. Google, which makes the Android operating system that runs on many of Samsung's smartphones, dipped about 2 percent on Monday.  Apple did not respond to our request for comment. Not Over Yet  "At the end of the day, this is the jury verdict, but it's not the end of the story," said  Rourk.

Apple needs to file paperwork that could determine which Samsung products it hopes to ban, and another hearing on Sept. 20 will determine which smartphones and tablets can be kept off U.S. shelves.

In addition to cleaning up loose ends, though, another large-scale fight could ensue. Samsung indicated it will appeal the decision, which likely will lead to a flurry of additional legal wrangling.

"This may just be episode one in the drama that is this case," said Panzer. "Certainly Samsung will appeal. Almost as certain is that Apple will make a motion to enjoin Samsung from selling the infringing products in the U.S. Samsung will, of course, oppose that motion and -- if they lose their opposition -- make another motion asking the court to stay the injunction pending the outcome of the appeal."

In short, said Panzer, the two companies can keep throwing legal punches at each other in the U.S., including Apple's move for an award of its attorneys' fees in the instances of willful infringement. But if one court case couldn't force a settlement out of the two warring parties, the ongoing legal battle might, said Panzer.

"The most likely form is that the parties would agree on a payment from Samsung to Apple in exchange for a license to the infringed patents," he said. "Of course, because it would be a settlement, there would be no admission of infringement, but that's a footnote in the story."

Too Early to Call for Consumers

The range of potential outcomes makes it impossible to call how this could play out for consumers, said Panzer.

"If the parties don't agree on a settlement, Apple would essentially be fighting for the death of Samsung's tablet and smartphones as the market knows them," he said. "A full-blown win for Apple on appeal could very well lead to an injunction preventing Samsung from bringing the infringing devices into the U.S. as they currently stand. Samsung would still be allowed to import its devices if it took out all of the infringing features, but what would that do to their ability to compete with the iPad and iPhone?"

If the companies settle, though, the product offerings wouldn't differ, said Panzer, and it's possible consumers might not notice a slight price increase to cover licensing fees, he added.

However that plays out, the high-profile case -- along with the media coverage and stock highs and lows that accompany it -- might make all of the telecom industry even more cautious, said Rourk.

"It's possible it will make competitor versus competitor litigation perhaps something that parties consider more seriously," he said. "It's always risky when you assert your core patents, because that opens the door to allow a lot of competitors. And every party that's accused of infringement can defend their patents. When you've got a lot of competitors, you could win in one courtroom and feel like you can go down that road with each competitor. That's not unusual, but with two big competitors in a big market displaying that, it's a big verdict."

 

Apple's Futuristic Flying Saucer HQ Already Out of Date

In Silicon Valley where Apple is located, burglaries are up more than 30 percent, largely because police have stopped responding to them. If you are reasonably well off, particularly if you are Asian, and you like nice stuff, the chance you'll get burglarized near Apple's new headquarters is approaching 50 percent odds. If things continue, it will be virtually certain by the end of the decade.  Apple employees are solidly in this demographic and they won't be able to concentrate on work if they are constantly wondering if their stuff will be on the Internet for sale before they can get home. Nor will the rest of us living here.  Steve Jobs' home was just burglarized, probably one of the most protected homes in the valley. While his family likely still has a special relationship with the police force -- which is why his burglar was caught -- the normal Apple employees won't be so lucky.  This implies that Apple's new flying saucer headquarters is already out of date, because it doesn't provide protected living space for employees.

I think it is time to revisit the idea of an arcology. That may be the only way Apple employees and the rest of us will be safe by mid-century. It is also what I think Mountain View wanted Steve Jobs to build and perhaps what Tim Cook and other technology CEOs should now consider building.  I'll close with my product of the week: the weapon that could both protect your home and make your food taste better.

Chinese Counterfeiters Get the Jump on iPhone 5

China's well-known market for counterfeit goods, electronic and otherwise, has upped the ante: Now you can get knock-offs of products that haven't even been publicly revealed yet.  As Mashable points out, a Chinese company called "Goophone" is advertising a device that it calls the "iphone 5."  The actual iPhone 5 -- the real one, the one made by Apple -- has not been released yet. And even though the Internet is rife with images of mock-ups and supposedly leaked parts, Apple hasn't officially shown the world what the real device will look like.  One safe bet for the real iPhone 5: It most probably will not run Android, like this Goophone does.

New iPad now available in Nigeria

Nigerians will soon be abe to get their hands on Apple’s new iPad, as Core Group Africa, the Value Added Distributor (VAD) for Apple in Nigeria, announced that the device has officially been launched in the African country.

The launch of the new iPad in Nigeria will form part of the next global rollout by the technology giant, and it will also be the first time that it will be available through the official Apple channel in Nigeria.

According to Apple, 'it features a stunning new retina display, Apple's new A5X chip with quad-core graphics and a 5 megapixel iSight camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video. The new iPad delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life, is amazingly thin and light and runs almost all of the over 650, 000 apps on the iTunes App Store.'

The new iPad with Wi-Fi and iPad with Wi-Fi and 3G will be available in black or white in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models.

Google eBooks

Google eBooks (formerly Google Editions) is an e-book program run by Google , originally set to open in mid-summer 2010.] It was opened on December 6, 2010 to customers in the United States. It offers universal access and non-restrictive copying. The store is headed by Dan Clancy, who also directs Google Books.[  Google eBooks purchased at the Google eBookstore (Google eBooks' online store front) or other retailers are stored online and linked to the customer's Google account.] They can then be read online, or downloaded to a cache for offline reading. Holding purchased books on Google's server theoretically allows Google to serve books to users under a variety of formats, including new formats that might not be available at the time of purchase.

Reception

  Reception of eBooksStore at launch was mixed. Reviewers noted that it was still glitchy, and that books lacked reviews even for those that were centuries old. Also others remarked that Google touted the EBookStore as "open", but that it was still using Adobe's Adept eBooks Digital rights management.  Salon also remarked that searching for books was ironically not easy, and that integration with the older Google Books service was awkward. It also found that the interface was poorly done