August 2012

Apple's victory could mean fewer smartphone options

Analysts from Wall Street to Hong Kong debated whether a jury's decision that Samsung Electronics ripped off Apple technology would help Apple dominate the U.S. smartphone market over Android rivals, or amount to one more step in a protracted legal battle over smartphone technology.

Many analysts said the decision could spell danger for competitors who, like the South Korean Samsung, use Google's Android operating system to power their cellphones. A loss to the Android-based market would represent a big hit for Google as well. "I am sure this is going to put a damper on Android's growth," New York-based Isi Group analyst Brian Marshall said, "It hurts the franchise." Other companies could choose to pay Apple licensing fees for access to the technology or develop smarter technology to create similar features that don't violate the patent — at a cost likely to be passed onto consumers.

Apple lists 8 Samsung devices it wants banned from US market, including Galaxy S 2 smartphones

Apple gave U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh a list of eight Samsung products it wants pulled from shelves and banned from the U.S. market. Judge Koh asked for the list after a jury slammed Samsung with a $1.05 billion verdict, finding that the South Korean technology giant had “willfully” copied Apple’s iPhone and iPad in creating and marketing the products. The products Apple wants banished from the United States are all smartphones: Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S2 AT&T, Galaxy S2, Galaxy S2 T-Mobile, Galaxy S2 Epic 4G, Galaxy S Showcase, Droid Charge and Galaxy Prevail. The judge has scheduled a Sept. 20 hearing to discuss Apple’s demands for the sales bans.

Jurors in Apple-Samsung case delved into e-mails, other evidence

Jurors who awarded Apple more than $1 billion in its intellectual-property battle with Samsung pressed through deliberations without any formal coffee breaks, worked through lunches, and continued their discussions for an hour longer than scheduled on two of the three days, jury foreman Velvin Hogan said.

The panel of seven men and two women went through a "meticulous" process in determining that Samsung infringed Apple's products, said Hogan, 67. When it came time to consider whether a violation was "willful," or intentional, "we knew where we had to go in the evidence," he said, referring to e-mails introduced at the trial. One pivotal document was an internal 2010 Samsung e-mail describing how Google asked the South Korean manufacturer to change the design of its products to look less like Apple's. "Certain actors at the highest level at Samsung Electronics Co. gave orders to the sub-entities to actually copy," Hogan said. "So the whole thing hinges on whether you think Samsung was actually copying. The thing that did it for us was when we saw the memo from Google telling Samsung to back away from the Apple design."

Apple's Samsung Win Slams Asian Phone Makers

Samsung wasn’t the only Asian smartphone maker to suffer through a Black Monday.

In Hong Kong, for instance, the share price of ZTE, the largest publicly traded maker of smartphones in China, fell 7.1 percent. In Taiwan, the shares of Samsung rival HTC, already beaten down 47 percent this year after enduring patent battles of its own against Apple, fell another 2 percent. “In general, it seems the Android camp is losing the patent wars,” says Dennis Chan, an analyst in Taipei with Yuanta Securities. But for some Chinese phone makers, there may be short-term opportunity in the ruling, as well.

FCC eyes USF fee on Internet service

The Federal Communications Commission is eyeing a proposal to tax broadband Internet service. The move would funnel money to the Connect America Fund, a subsidy the agency created last year to expand Internet access. Last year, the FCC overhauled a $4.5 billion portion of the Universal Service Fund and converted it into a broadband Internet subsidy, called the Connect America Fund. The new fund aims to subsidize the construction of high-speed Internet networks to the estimated 19 million Americans who currently lack access. FCC has long argued that Universal Service is a fee that the providers choose to pass on to consumers and not a tax.

United States of Connectedness: What works for Internet of Things

Today you can buy an alarm clock, a pill bottle and even a scale that connects to the web. The question is, should you?

There are three things any connected device should offer in order for its connectivity to justify the (generally) higher price for that item:

Ecosystem: Is the connected device a platform or part of a platform you are currently using?
Convenience: How much value the connected device offers ties into its ecosystem, but is also its own issue because the connectivity needs to allow you to do things you couldn’t previous do without connectivity. Adding connectivity to devices should make them smart but also make them easier to use.
Data: The biggest value connected data-gathering devices can offer is the ability to grab far more data than a human could and deliver this data in real-time. If a device has the intelligence to act on that data, then the connectivity is even more worth the expense.

US phone companies are losing their voice

Mobile phones and the rise of broadband means that fewer and fewer people need a landline. The Baby Bells are feeling the impact and here are two charts that highlight this precipitous decline. Of course, cable guys are doing fine, thanks to triple play offers.

FAA to study allowing more electronic device use during flight

Flight attendants may one day not have to ask airline passengers to turn off all their portable electronic devices after the cabin doors are closed on airplanes, depending on the outcome of a new Federal Aviation Administration study.

The FAA said that it was launching a study group to review its policies regarding electronic devices, which have been criticized by airline passengers in recent years as they reluctantly unplug in an increasingly plugged-in society. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said that federal regulators who have issued the requirement for many years understand the increasingly important role electronic devices play in modern life. Cellphone users should not completely rejoice, however. The FAA said its study would not include consideration of allowing "voice communications" during flights.

Comcast stalls FCC order to change Tennis Channel number

A federal court has sided with Comcast, blocking a decision by the Federal Communications Commission that would have forced Comcast to put the Tennis Channel in the same tier as its own sports programming.

The FCC ruled last month that Comcast, which owns NBC, improperly discriminated against the Tennis Channel by relegating it to a lower tier of programming. Comcast had included the Tennis Channel as part of a specialty sports package, but the FCC ordered the company to offer the channel in the same tier as its own similar channels, including the Golf Channel and NBC Sports Network. Comcast sued to overturn the ruling, arguing that the decision was "arbitrary and capricious" as well as a violation of its First Amendment right to free speech. The company also filed an emergency motion asking the court to delay the implementation of the FCC's order pending the outcome of the case. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted Comcast's motion for a stay on August 24.

New York Times to sell About to IAC

The New York Times has reached an agreement to sell its About Group (About.com, ConsumerSearch.com and CalorieCount.com) to IAC/InterActiveCorp for $300 million in cash.

Benton

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