Posts Tagged ‘Samsung’

HP TouchPad Already on Sale – This Weekend Only

If price is the thing keeping you from becoming a tablet owner, HP may have the incentive you need to take the plunge. This weekend only, HP is offering a $100 price reduction on its TouchPad, bringing the 16GB version down to $400 and the 32GB version now available for $500.

This drop in price has a lot of people speculating the motivation behind it. Surely it is meant to spur sales, but it also means lower margins for HP. But with finances aside, it may be a wise move. With many feeling that the TouchPad was prematurely released, some initial reviews were harsh and unflattering. A recent update to webOS apparently stabilized and improved the TouchPad quite significantly, so if the boost to sales is successful this might be a second chance for the device.

The concept of putting tablet devices on sale is one that isn’t shared by all manufacturers. While Samsung did eventually discount their Galaxy Tab 7, their newer Galaxy Tab 10.1 is still full price. Motorola brought down the price of the Xoom but not nearly this fast. To date, Apple and RIM have stayed firm with their pricing.

Is cost enough of a reason to choose a webOS device over the more popular iOS and Android powered models? For those users looking for a personal device used mainly for web surfing and e-mail, the difference is likely negligible, but with webOS apps only numbering in the hundreds there is no comparison with the App Store and Android Marketplace –at least not yet.

This sale comes just in time for back to school, a time when many people are evaluating their computing needs –and these days tablets are becoming a near-necessity, with more textbooks and learning resources available than ever before.

I actually wonder how many people will hit the stores this weekend with intentions of picking up a TouchPad and be persuaded into an iPad or Android device?

» Related posts:

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• EA iPad Games on Sale this Weekend
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Microsoft to Unveil Windows 8 Powered Samsung Tablet at BUILD

For the first time in what feels like forever, all eyes are looking toward Microsoft. All indications point to the release of a Windows 8 powered device as a late entry into the tablet game, produced in cooperation with Samsung. The announcement is expected to take place at the Microsoft BUILD conference happening next week and if rumors are to be believed it sounds as if attendees may even be given a device while they are there!

What I can help but feel is that this news raises more questions than it answers. What will it look like? What will it cost? Will it prove to be a real contender and breathe new life into Microsoft in an area besides their highly successful console gaming division?

The tablet itself is expected to feature a quad-core ARM processor, but the rest of the details are scarce. Even if it has enough juice to run Windows 8, it won’t mean anything if the display isn’t stellar and it’s too heavy or bulky. So for the moment we’ll wait and see.

This new version of Windows is expected to be universal: running on every and all capable hardware. This should mean that any applications you have on your desktop can be run on your tablet or even your phone, something it seems Apple is also trying to move toward with their evolution of MacOS to be more and more like iOS.

It has been my long-standing belief that the only company currently capable of unseating Apple at the corporate table is Microsoft. I may be proven wrong, but I just don’t see the corporate world embracing Android or any other open source style operating system as a whole, and any newcomer to the game would have to do considerable work to establish trust and reputation in order for the big checks to be written. Microsoft may have made mistakes and delivered a few lemons in the past, but in the end they are still the company we love to hate. (and hate to love)

My instinct says that if they waited this long, they wouldn’t release a device until it was ready and it was exceptional. But with this said, Microsoft has done a sprint to the end before. Either way, this is a tablet I’m very interested in taking a closer look at.

» Related posts:

• Microsoft Planning Its Own Windows 8 Tablet
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• Microsoft Readies For Big Tablet Push

padgadget.com

Apple Prevents Samsung from Selling Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia

Sorry, Australians. If you guys were looking forward to buying the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, you’re out of luck. Samsung will not be able to sell the new version of its tablet until Apple’s patent lawsuit against the South Korean company is resolved in Australia.

According to the lawsuit, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 infringes on 10 of Apple’s patents. Apple lawyers were in Sydney yesterday to file an injunction with Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett.

This dispute first began in April, when Apple filed a suit against Samsung in the United States, for gross imitation of Apple design and technology used in the iPhone and the iPad. Soon after, Samsung filed lawsuits in South Korea, Japan, Germany, and the U.S., and the two companies have been battling ever since.

Samsung and Apple attorneys reached an agreement during a break in the Australian hearing, and Samsung agreed to stop all advertising of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia, and not to sell the tablet until the lawsuit is resolved. If Apple loses the lawsuit, Samsung will receive damages in an unspecified amount.

With the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 scheduled for release any day now, this Australian injunction is unlikely to be the last that we see. Apple is actively working to stop Samsung from selling the device in other countries as well.

[via Bloomberg]

» Related posts:

• Samsung Sells A Million Galaxy Tabs
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Verizon Releases Discount Promotion for Phone and Tablets

Recognizing that the tablet market has become more crowded than New York City at rush hour, Verizon today announced their new month-long promotion to entice consumers to buy their next tablet.

Apple has dominated the market with the iPad and iPad 2. Amazon’s upcoming Android tablet will be competing with the Nook Color, and the company will later aim directly at the iPad. RIM and Samsung are also forcing their way in. No surprises, when we see Verizon wanting a part of every tablet out there.

Verizon’s reaction comes at a proper time for the tablet market. Verizon’s strategy is to entice consumers to buy a smartphone on a two-year contract between August 1 and 31. Anyone who buys a smartphone during that time will get a $50 discount towards buying a 3G or 4G tablet at the same time, including the iPad 2.

However there is caveat. The first generation iPad and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi are not included in this deal.

There is no question the tablet market in the U.S. has increased drastically. The question is – will this new deal convince you to buy an iPad 2, a Galaxy Tab 10.1 or any other 3G or 4G devices?

[via Droid-Life]

» Related posts:

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iPad Maintains Lead In Global Tablet Shipment

Strategy Analytics reported today that Apple’s iOS accounted for 61% of the market share for tablet shipment in the second quarter of 2011.

According to Peter King, Director of Strategy Analytics, the global tablet market shipped 15.1 million units in Q2 2011, a more than 300 percent increase from only 3.5 million units in the same quarter of 2010.

According to the company’s analysis, the iOS’s share went down from 93 percent in Q2 2010 while Android increased to 30% this past quarter. Apple’s iOS is only available in one device, the iPad, while Android can be found in numerous tablets such as Samsung, Acer, Asus, Motorola and others, all of which failed to make significant headway against iOS. This is partly due to the fact that no vendor seems to have been able to produce a tablet that does it better than the iPad.

Amazon’s rumored tablet may give Android the big push it needs to catch up to iOS, but it will have to offer a fairly outstanding product if it wants to make a dent in Apple’s ever-increasing lead.

Interestingly, Microsoft out-shipped RIM by nearly two percent. Windows 7 shipped in just under 700,000 tablets, or 4.6 percent, in Q2 2011 while RIM’s QNX platform only eked out 3% of the market share, shipping 500,000 units.

[Via: Business Wire]

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Apple Switches to Samsung Display Driver in iPad 2s

According to iFixIt, a site known for tearing apart gadgets to check out their guts, new versions of the iPad 2 are being shipped with a new display driver IC. iPad 2s that date back to March 2011 have a chip that’s labeled as SW0627B, which is an LG display driver.

The newest iPad 2s are using a different Wise-View chip, that seems to be developed by Samsung. Unfortunately, very little information is known about the new chip, and there’s no information on the Samsung Semiconductor site about the display driver product line. 

iFixit isn’t sure how long the new display driver has been shipping in iPads, but according to pictures, the driver has changed significantly, an odd change since the old drivers haven’t had any problems.

New Wise View Driver

Original iPad 2 Driver

The new Wise-View chips may be showing up in iPad 2s because of a simple supplier switch, or they could potentially herald the release of an upcoming iPad with a higher resolution screen. At this point, there’s no telling why a change has been made, but it’s likely that more information will be discovered in the near future to reveal the reason behind the swap.

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Samsung Clarifies Smart Cover Flub

The smart case, above, has been pulled from Anymode’s website. 

Yesterday we wrote about Anymode Corporation’s blatant copy of the Apple Smart Cover, and their suspected ties to Samsung, who endorsed the “Smart Case,” for the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Today Samsung has released a statement to distance itself from Anymode Corp, who produced the Smart Cover clone, claiming that Anymode was not given Samsung’s approval and that the offending cases will not be sold. 

According to a statement on their blog, Anymode used the “Designed for Samsung Mobile” mark without approval.

“As a general practice, Samsung Electronics reviews and approves all accessories produced by partners before they are given the “Designed for Samsung Mobile” mark.

In this case, approval was not given to Anymode for the accessory to feature this official designation. We are working with Anymode to address this oversight and the product has already been removed from the Anymode sales website. The product has not been sold.”

Uh oh. Sounds like someone’s in trouble with uncle (allegedly, Anymode CEO Sang-yong Kim is the nephew of Samsung Chairman Kun-Hee Lee). Hopefully, in the future, Samsung and the companies working with Samsung can come up with a new cover that’s truly innovative and not just another variation of an Apple design, now that they’ve been called out for their copycat ways on the Internet.

» Related posts:

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Samsung Copies Another Apple Design

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but so far, Apple has been unimpressed with Samsung’s blatant copies of Apple products. In fact, Apple and Samsung are currently in the middle of a lawsuit, because Samsung, according to Apple “imitates the appearance of Apple’s products to capitalize on Apple’s success.”

Today, in what may prove to be a regrettable decision, Samsung has given the green light to a new line of covers for the Galaxy Tab 10.1, covers that look conspicuously similar to Apple’s Smart Cover.

The covers, called “Smart Cases” (because Smart Cover is trademarked), are available in five pastel colors, and they fold up exactly like the Smart Cover does. Essentially, they are total Smart Cover clones.

The Smart Cases for the Galaxy Tab are produced by Anymode Corp., and allegedly, Anymode CEO Sang-yong Kim is the nephew of Samsung’s chairman Kun-Hee Lee. In fact, Anymode’s LinkedIn page describes the company as having a “strong affiliation with Samsung Electronics for key accessories supplier globally.”

Apparently, Samsung simply can’t get enough of Apple’s designs, and they’ve turned to another blatant copy to try to help promote their thus far unsuccessful Galaxy Tab. Are they expecting people to get the Galaxy Tab confused with an iPad? They aren’t fooling anyone, and they may very well be opening themselves up to yet another lawsuit from Apple.

[via 9to5Mac]

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Samsung and Apple Headed Towards Major Smackdown

We’ve been following the escalating conflict between Apple and Samsung, and now it’s taken a turn for the worse. Last week, Apple filed another patent lawsuit against Samsung in South Korea, once again claiming that Samsung had copied the design of the iPhone 3G. And there is absolutely no disputing that Samsung’s Galaxy line bears a strong resemblance to Apple products.

Yesterday, Samsung responded by filing a complaint against Apple with the International Trade Commission (ITC), asking for ITC secretary James Holbein to investigate “certain mobile electronic devices, incluing wireless communication devices, portable music and data processing devices, and tablet computers.”

By filing with the ITC, Samsung is requesting an import ban against the iPhone, iPad, and iPod. This could happen if the ITC decides that a patent is being infringed, and Florian Muller of Foss Patents believes that it’s highly likely that the ITC will proceed with the investigation against Apple.

The court has up to 18 months to make a decision on Samsung’s request. Apple has not responded by filing their own ITC complaint, but it seems like a logical next step Samsung’s request.

So far, Samsung is still making chips that are used in Apple’s products, but with rumors abounding that Apple’s going to change suppliers, that may soon be at an end. It looks like the death of a long manufacturing relationship is imminent.

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No, Mine’s the Best! Is Apple Really a Benchmark?

Have you ever noticed that when a new tablet or smartphone hits the market, the first news to hit the stands is how it compares to an Apple product? Everybody is trying to ‘beat’ Apple. Everybody is trying to ‘show’ Apple. The remarkable thing is that by doing so they have turned Apple into the de facto benchmark to which all devices are compared. When will people start evaluating their electronics by deciding which device does the best job for their needs instead of worrying about who it is outselling or outperforming?

Marco Arment seems to get it. In a recent blog post he evaluated a review of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 by saying the things we’ve all been thinking. Does news that the Galaxy tab is 2% thinner have you running to the stores? Do you care that it is 6% lighter? Of course not. If you could prove to me that these kinds of details make the difference to consumers, I’d eat my hat.

The industry is seemingly obsessed with manufacturers trying to be the one to sway Apple users away from Apple. What they seem to be forgetting is that Apple is selling a culture more than any single device, making it very difficult to compete. Will I buy an Android tablet if I already have an iPhone? Maybe. But sell me on Android as much as your device. Why is it so great? How is it better? Sell me on the experience instead of fractional statistics.

Should you own an iPad? Sure! Maybe! No! What about a Kindle? Or a Playbook? The answer lies in another question: what are you going to do with it?

My point here has nothing to do with any specific device, nor their perceived weaknesses or strengths. It’s to say to all of the manufacturers: innovation means creating something new –not creating something that’s pretty much the same thing only 2% thinner!

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