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iSuppli: Apple To Spend $27 Billion On Semiconductors In 2012

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:32:18 +0000

iSuppli’s head of electronics and semiconductor research Dale Ford is predicting that Apple will spend $27 billion on semiconductors in 2012. He presented his prediction at the company’s Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Summit. Apple is set to maintain a huge lead over Samsung through at least 2013. Apple went from being the third largest buyer of semiconductors in 2009 to the front in 2010. According to iSuppli, Apple spent $23 billion on semiconductors in 2011, which is over 50% more than their closest rivals. Ford also pointed out that Apple’s microprocessor spending has grown from $9 billion in 2009 to $27 billion this year. Ford is predicting that Apple will spend $29 billion on semiconductors next year.

Intel remains the largest chipmaker with a 15% marketshare of the semiconductor market. The market was estimated to be at $311 billion last year. Samsung has 9% of the market. When Apple acquired Intrinisty, the company designed the A4 system-on-a-chip processor that made its way into the original iPad and the iPhone 4. Apple also has a stake in Imagination Technologies, the company that provides graphic processors for the A-series chips.

Apple Files For Ban Of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 In The U.S. Again

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:51:46 +0000

This past Friday at 8PM PST, Apple filed a preliminary injunction to have the Galaxy Tab 10.1 banned in the U.S. The motion is based on a ruling by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). This is happening three calendar days before the two CEOs of the companies are having a court-moderated settlement talk in San Francisco. The company is asking Judge Lucy Koh to rule in their favor without a new hearing.

Samsung Receives 9 Million Pre-Orders For Galaxy S

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:20:54 +0000

According to the Korea Economic Daily, Samsung Electronics Inc. has received 9 million pre-orders for the third generation Galaxy S smartphone across 100 global carriers. In the first quarter, Samsung beat Apple as the world’s biggest smartphone manufacturer. The Korea Economic Daily cited an unnamed source at Samsung about the pre-order information. The Samsung smartphone factory in South Korea is also running at full capacity of 5 million units per month.

Samsung Loses $10 Billion In Market Value Due To Loss In Apple Business

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:41:34 +0000

Shares of Samsung Electronics Co. has dropped 6%, causing a $10 billion market value loss after it was reported that Apple was working with a rival company called Elpida for massive chip orders. Taiwanese news company DigiTimes talked to a source whom reported that Apple placed a large mobile dynamic random access memory (DRAM) order with Elpida’s plant in Hiroshima, Japan. This not only affected Samsung, but it also hit SK hynix whose stock closed 9% lower at a 20-week low.

Micron Technology Corp. is also in talks to acquire Elpida’s business in order to restructure. Micron and Elpida combined would pose a threat to memory chipmakers in South Korea.

“Samsung shares were already facing pressure since offshore investors began cutting back on risk during the latest streak of sell-offs, but the news surrounding Elpida was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Hyundai Securities analyst Rhoo Yong-suk in an interview with Reuters. “It was just unfortunate timing that coincided with jitters surrounding Greece.”

Apple Claims Samsung Destroyed Evidence

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:17:46 +0000

Apple has filed a motion in the Northern District of California alleging that Samsung had intentionally destroyed documents that they were ordered to hand over to Apple. Apple described Samsung’s actions as a “spoilation of evidence” and they want the judge to inform the jury that Samsung acted in bad faith in failing to meet their legal duties. A hearing for Apple’s motion is scheduled on June 7th. Samsung’s reply deadline is May 16th, but the company is already seeking an extension to May 29th. Samsung is hoping to have the hearing pushed back to July 10th.

Samsung Acquires Mobile Entertainment Company mSpot

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 09 May 2012 23:28:10 +0000

Samsung Electronics has acquired mobile entertainment company mSpot. The financial terms were undisclosed, but it is rumored that the company was sold for $8.8 million. mSpot allows users to stream and watch full length movies on their mobile phones and on the web. mSpot has deals with Disney, Sony, NBC, Lionsgate, Warner, and several other companies.

mSpot also has cloud-based music services that lets you upload music to the cloud stream content from PCs, Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Androids. Last year mSpot launched a service that is similar to Pandora.

mSpot raised $2.3 million in funding from Trinity Ventures before getting acquired. Samsung plans to use mSpot to provide an “entertainment experience of music, video and radio services for users of Samsung devices, while extending mSpot’s cloud and streaming solutions to a broader base of global entertainment fans…mSpot’s entertainment services will be a key integrated offering on newly announced Samsung mobile devices.”

Apple and Samsung Drop Some Lawsuits Against Each Other

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:24:11 +0000

Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Inc. have dropped a large number of copyright infringement claims against each other. However the companies are still arguing about whether or not Samsung blatantly copied off Apple.

According to FOSS Patents:

Late on Monday by local time, Apple made a filing in its first California litigation with Samsung that offers a truly impressive narrowing of its infringement claims in that action, roughly cutting them in half, and five hours later, Samsung offered to drop five of its 12 asserted patents but argued that Apple’s case is still far too big to go to trial this summer. Apple’s filing accused Samsung of being uncooperative in the build-up to these filings, but Samsung puts all the blame on Apple and says the case still isn’t ready for a summer trial.

Samsung Galaxy S III Coming This Summer With 50GB Of Free Dropbox Storage

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:57:39 +0000

Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy S III at an event in London today. The Galaxy S III uses the new quad-core 1.4GHz Exynos processor. Other specs include a 4.8-inch display, HD Super AMOLED screen, 133g weight, and measures 8.6mm. The phone has the same physical home button that the Galaxy series is known for.

The front-facing camera is 1.9-megapixels. The rear camera is 8 megapixels with 720p HD video capture and the new camera app it uses has dual still video capture along with face tagging for existing contacts.

The Galaxy S III has a 2,100mAh battery with a wireless charging option. There is a microSD slot that complements internal storage options of 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. The connections supported by the Galaxy S III include Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi Direct, NFC and DLNA.

Another notable feature of the Samsung Galaxy S III is Smart Stay. Smart Stay uses the front-facing camera to monitor your eyes and maintain a “bright display for continued viewing pleasure.”

S Voice is a customized voice recognition system built into the S III. Samsung says you can say “snooze” to shut off your alarm when it goes off and say “direct call” to dial someone when you are in the middle of texting.

Dropbox will be giving 50GB of free storage to new owners of the Galaxy S III Android smartphone for two years.

No word yet on pricing, but we know that it will launch on May 29th with the 32GB model on Vodafone exclusively. It will arrive in the U.S. in June and the rest of the world by end of summer.

Apple and Samsung Settlement Talks Scheduled For May 21st

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 16:36:33 +0000

Judge Lucy Koh, the judge that is mediating the patent infringement settlement talks between Apple and Samsung, has set the date to May 21st and May 22nd in San Francisco. Samsung and Apple’s CEOs and chief counsels will be in San Francisco rather than the full trial San Jose venue. The two companies will have to produce statements by May 9th with “a candid evaluation of the parties’ likelihood of prevailing on the claims and defenses.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook has indicated recently that they are interested in settling, but he still argued that companies should stop copying from each other. Samsung vowed “no compromise” with Apple even though all of their lawsuits have been countersuits.

Samsung and Apple now have 50 lawsuits against each other across 10 countries.

Nokia Dethroned As Biggest Handset Maker By Samsung

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:52:40 +0000

Earlier this month I wrote about how Samsung may overtake Nokia as the largest handset maker. Today we have confirmed that it is true. After 14 years, Nokia is no longer then global leader in handset manufacturing.

Samsung shipped 93.5 million handsets in the first quarter, which is 36% more than a year earlier. Nokia shipped 82.7 million. The demand of Galaxy smartphones helped Samsung post a first quarter net income of $4.5 billion.

Nokia had been the largest mobile phone handset manufacturing company since 1998 after they beat Motorola. Apple is the third largest maker of mobile phones after their shipments rose 89% to 35.1 million last quarter.