The War of Next Big thing Between Apple and Samsung

As per this article on WSJ.. nothing extra ordinary.. WSJ Author/reviewer in-fact urges customers to check out HTC-one instead defaulting to S4!!! That is biggest slap in a way for S4.. especially from my perspective.. couple of months back I had written off HTC as a company all-together.. Now.. it seems that HTC is emerging back.. So far I have heard great reviews about HTC One.. yet to read any single bad or below average review about HTC One..

In fact HTC was one of the first good, cheap smartphone manufacturer.. even before the launch of iPhone.. iPhone really spoiled their market.. But it seems that they are going back to their roots and building great phones and capturing some market back from both Samsung and Apple. I think even their alliance with FB is also helping them.. I am definitely going to test it.. one of my very good friend has bought HTC One recently and I would definitely borrow it for few hours... I am sure many of my friends will also get S4 as well :-)

Good news is that, this smartphone market pie is so big that there is room for many players at the same time and they can satisfy different type of customers with varied needs.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323735604578440824138699526.html

However, USA Today's review seems to be much more favorable.. Author/reviewer liked in particular Dual Action camera mode.. Capturing your own reaction for the event happening and also some drama mode where you can focus and follow one particular person..

Seems that they have fixed Display issue.Apparently, S3 had little bit dimmer screen.. This time S4's display has all the great reviews..

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/baig/2013/04/24/samsung-galaxy-s4-review/2104959/

Both the authors complain that S4 has lot of features and it seems overly complex and confusing. I think in a race to compete with iPhone, Samsung is injecting all kinds of features into their flagship phone.. Which may be true and applicable to many customers.. especially in Asia.. which is still solid stronghold of Samsung. They have really made it big screen and I would love to use it more as iPad mini kind of.. If I go with S4 or its equivalent, my primary reason would be screen size which I can use it as my iPad mini replacement.. So far I am okay..

However, in race to prove themselves better than iPhone.. they miss the whole point of iPhone's popularity.. it is simple and whatever feature they put in there.. it works and it works beautifully.. and most of the customers (including your truly!!) love it.. I am sure there must be many other customers who like all kinds of features offered by Samsung and HTC.

So far, I am still iPhone fan and have no plans to go back to Samsung or Android for that matter. However, I am really happy to see great phones from iPhone's competitors.. as it definitely raises bar for iPhone 5S and I hope to see super great iPhone 5S in near future..

Enough of this Patent War Nonsense..

Regardless of my personal feelings toward any of these latest smartphone companies like Apple/Samsung etc.. I think this is high time that they sit together and resolve or dismiss these patent war non-sense. Instead of focusing on patent war they better focus back on innovation and new development and make some good progress in technology and its usability. Both of them are great companies and have enough potential to grow beyond their own dreams. Pie is too big. there is place for everyone in it.

Even though, personally I am of Apple camp on device loyalty and kind of agree with their Patent claims.. but I hate them for initiating this patent war with Samsung and other companies. This is ridiculous and if they don't stop it soon.. my hatred can overcome the love for their devices and force me to change to Android camp.. Even though, I know that I will miss my iPhone or hate clumsiness of Android.. but still I will switch to Android to make a point.. and who knows.. after using couple of months, I may start liking Android so much that I may simply become Android camp person forever ;-) Android is not that bad either and they have cleaned it up a lot already to make it work like a charm..

I honestly don't want to hear such news about patent war anymore.. DONE.. Done..

APPLE LOSES IN JAPAN

An about-face in phone wars

Patent claims rejected as Samsung shows that battle is far from over

By Hiroko Tabuchi

New York Times

TOKYO — A Japanese court Friday rejected patent claims made by Apple against Samsung, a victory for the South Korean company after its crushing defeat in the United States last week and a reminder of the global scope of the patent war between the two technology giants.

With a judge in South Korea having handed down a split decision in a patent case earlier, Apple and Samsung remain neck-andneck in legal disputes spanning almost a dozen countries.

For both companies, Japan makes up a far smaller proportion of sales than the all-important U.S. market. But the Tokyo ruling suggests that despite Apple’s victory in a San Jose federal courtroom — which included a $1 billion judgment against Samsung — jostling between the two companies for the upper hand in the fast-growing smartphone and tablet segments is just beginning. 

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TOMOHIRO OHSUMI/BLOOMBERG NEWS

Apple iPhones, left, and Samsung Galaxy smartphones sit side by side at an electronics store in Tokyo. After its huge defeat of Samsung in the U.S., Apple lost its patent lawsuit in Japan.

The Tokyo District Court ruled that Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones and tablets did not violate an Apple patent on technology that synchronizes music and videos between gadgets and servers. 

Apple had sued Samsung in Tokyo last year in a case that sought 100 million yen, or $1.3 million, in damages. 

Apple has filed other patent suits in Japan against Samsung, including one alleging the South Korean company copied Apple’s signature “bounce back” effect when a user scrolls to the end of a list on the iPhone and iPad. Apple has also asked for an injunction that would prevent Samsung from shipping some Galaxy smartphones to Japan. Samsung, as in other countries, has countersued Apple in Japan, saying both the iPhone and iPad infringe Samsung patents. 

In a statement, Samsung Electronics, based in Suwon, South Korea, said the ruling had validated its claims that it had not copied Apple. 

“Samsung has strongly asserted that its technology is altogether different and does not infringe on Apple patents. The ruling recognizes the legitimacy of Samsung’s assertions and is highly valid,” it said. 

Apple representatives could not immediately be reached for comment. 

Still wildly popular, Apple hardly needs a lift in Japan. Its iPhone was the top-selling smartphone in Japan in 2011, while Samsung’s Galaxy series trailed in the No. 5 spot — behind smartphones made by Sharp, Fujitsu and Sony Mobile, according to the MM Research Institute, based in Tokyo. Globally, Samsung is the largest smartphone-maker. 

But even in Japan, the operating system used by Samsung and other smartphone-makers, Android from Google, has grown steadily, posing a collective challenge to Apple. Android captured 58 percent of the Japanese market, compared with the 38 percent market share claimed by Apple’s iOS in the first quarter of 2012, according to the global research firm Nielsen. 

Many analysts see Apple’s suits against Samsung as a proxy battle against the Android platform, which Apple developers have derided as being an iOS copy. 

The patent war between Apple and Google has brought a debate about the future of technological innovation — one that intensified after the nine-member jury in California ruled in Apple’s favor Aug. 24. The jury said Samsung smartphone and tablet products violated Apple’s patents protecting designs and functions, including the rectangular shape and rounded edges of the iPhone. 

Some experts say such rulings will force smartphone-makers to focus on innovating rather than copying, while others say designers could now be stifled by the need to second-guess constantly whether new designs or functions violate other companies’ patents. 

Meanwhile, Japanese electronics- makers have figure d littl e in the smartphone patent wars, underscoring how negligible a threat they currently pose to either Apple or Samsung in the sector. 

Samsung, the world’s largest seller of smartphones, and Apple, the world’s second-largest, together control a little more than 50 percent of the global smartphone market, the research firm Strategy Analytics said in July. 

Japanese smartphone-makers like Sharp and Fujitsu, on the other hand, have little presence beyond Japan’s shores. 

What's up with this Stylus based Notes..

It is like going back to stone ages.. Honestly.. I can't understand rationale for huge success of Galaxy Note. It is good and seems useful but I still feel that stylus makes it really counter intuitive. I think that Samsung tagged on stylus with note mainly to circumvent around Apple patents. However surprising thing is.. it was huge success.. and mostly it is attributed to cool ads Samsung came up with tens of different unique use cases where stylus can be used.. It probably was very risky strategy but it worked.. Not sure, how many people are actually using these so Sam-Cool features. Personally I didn't liked that idea and couldn't imagine using stylus. I have few apps on iPhone/iPad where you can draw or write by free hand and finger works perfectly fine.

On the contrary, I liked form factor of Galaxy Note and could wish iPhone has bigger size.. I think iPhone5 will be slightly bigger for sure in all probability. Keeping my fingers crossed. Some day I will try Galaxy Note as well.. don't know when that day will come..

Updated Galaxy Note, with stylus, coming up

By Peter Svensson

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Fresh off a legal battle with Apple, Samsung is announcing a new version of the Galaxy Note, an offbeat, oversize smartphone that’s become a surprise hit. Samsung, the world’s largest maker of phones, is revealing the Galaxy Note II at a trade show in Berlin. The 5.5-inch screen is narrower but longer than on the first version. The processor is faster, and the software has been further adapted for the included stylus — the phone’s signature feature.

While Apple has been releasing a new smartphone model each year, Samsung makes several to target different types of customers. That includes low-end phones for priceconscious customers. As a result, Samsung has been selling more smartphones than Apple this year. The Note runs on Google’s Android operating system but isn’t among the phones that Apple is asking a judge to ban from the U.S., after a jury in California ruled last week that some of Samsung’s Android phones violated Apple patents. The jury awarded Apple $1 billion in damages in a high-profile case that could force Samsung and other Android phone makers to rethink their designs.

The Note is designed to work well with a stylus for jotting notes and drawing on a screen, while styluses for other devices tend to be an afterthought. The Note’s large screen also makes the phone more like a tablet and more suitable for playing games and consuming content. Samsung started selling a tablet version of the Note this month.

Samsung Electronics says it has shipped 10 million first-generation Galaxy Note smartphone in one year.

Now we race to get Ultra-HD TV

Wondering.. where this will end up. I think Ultra-HD resolution is more relevant for Ultra-Large Size TVs. I don't think that it will make much sense to make Ultra-HD TVs in 40-50 inch range. Not for now.. I am guessing that this is one of few last opportunity for Sony to come back in TV market where they lost big time to Samsung. They lost to Samsung not on quality but I guess more on price/performance ratio. Same will apply for these Ultra-HD TV launch. It is expected to be really highly priced. However, if they price it really Ultra-High-Price.

While pricing it, they should think about gaining customer confidence and changing their Ultra-High-Price TVs perception to good value for money TV. This good value for money perception is currently owned by Samsung and I am sure they will do everything to keep it that way. Sooner or later, Samsung will also launch these Ultra-HD 4K TVs. Sony has very short window of opportunity where they can think about customers instead of thinking their own profit and loss. Even though, there is no guarantee of Sony's turnaround but still there is some chance which has showed up after long time.

I am not planning to go and get these Ultra-HD TVs anytime soon. Though after watching them it may change. Though, again.. I am not sure how much content will be available for these 4K TVs. Only up-scaling is not going to justify higher resolution. They will have to come up with better Blu-rays. It is their chance to revive slowing down Blu-Ray disc sales which internet streaming is killing day by day. You can get 4K content on internet as well but it is going to need real fat pipe or some buffering and hence significant lag.

But then there is even bigger problem on disc based as they might need player upgrade which can be even more slower. This entire ecosystem is so messed up.. I wish that we had Gig Ethernet at home just like we have telephone line.. that would have solved most of these streaming bottlenecks and we could easily switch to complete streaming based solution rather transporting these discs all the places..


Sony to debut TVs with ultra-HD

Diagonal measure will be 84 inches, with ‘4K’ resolution

By Peter Svensson

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Highdefinition TVs roughly quadrupled the resolution of the sets that came before them. Now, the industry is poised to do it again. By December, U.S. stores will sell a TV set with four times the resolution of today’s best HDTVs, Sony said Wednesday. The set will measure 84 inches on the diagonal, making the screen area four times as large as the common 42-inch set.

Executives said Sony will reveal the price of the set next week. There is, for now, very little video content available that can take advantage of the higher resolution. With some work and know-how, a computer connected to the set can display video in the ultra-HD “4K” resolution.
The set will also do its best to “upscale” TV, DVD and Blu-ray movies, so they look better.

Phil Molyneux, chief operating officer of Sony Electronics, said the situation was no different from the launch of the cassette tape, the CD or the DVD.

“We always get this question when we launch beautiful new technology: Where’s the content?” Molyneux told journalists at an event in New York. “Did we bring the content to market? Yes, we did.”

The resolution of the set is 3,840 by 2,160 pixels. It’s known as “4K” because it has nearly 4,000 pixels on the horizontal edge. That compares with 1,920 by 1,080 pixels in “1080p” sets. More pixels allow TV makers to make bigger screens without compromising sharpness.

Sony makes digital projectors operating at 4K resolution for movie theaters.

The TV industry has been looking for a technology that will get consumers to upgrade their HDTV sets. Sales are slumping after an initial wave of upgrades from standard-definition sets, and 3-D sets attract only a small number of consumers.

Apple has slowly been quadrupling the resolution of its devices, starting with the iPhone 4 two years ago. This year, it released iPads and MacBooks with ultrahigh- resolution screens.

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SONY VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sony’s new ultra-HD 4K TV sets with resolution of 3,840 by 2,160 pixels are scheduled to be in stores by December. Prices will be announced next week.

Do we really need to make note on tablet?

I don't know about you guys.. but I can't really think of lot of use cases where I will take out my pen (digital pen with tablet) and make notes on my tablet's content.. I think it is yet another trick or I should say another effort by Samsung to try to differentiate with iPad. I hope it works and keeps up bar for Apple high so they continue to build better tablets instead of taking it easy..

Biggest advantage of Apple products in general is User Interface (UI). from rendering to ease of use to intuitiveness to simplicity.. to smoothness to... to.. to... I am real hardcore fan of their UI and will continue to so till I see something better.. which I am yet to see.. on top of it.. Apple's ecosystem and ease of using their devices with TV or otherwise as well are superb..

Let us see how Samsung's new Note does it.. It's price point is attractive.. just slightly below comparable iPad with promise of better processor power and memory.. I don't know if it also has retina display or its equivalent.. I am sure it  must be close..

I guess, Samsung should come up quickly into area of Digital Media Player like Apple TV and complete integration of their devices with HDTV and many more comparable features of Apple TV. Apple TV, once dark horse of Apple is slowly coming up and becoming household thing.. It extends most of the Apple products thru itunes media play.. If Samsung can't come up with good hardware then they should talk to Roku or someone established player in this field. Google's Apple TV equivalent was more or less flop with significant higher prices.. let us see.. what is next from Android side..

Let me know if you use Galaxy Note tablet and ifyou can compare it with iPad.. for now, I don't have any plans to buy it..


Newest Galaxy tablet has pen

By Youkyung Lee

Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea — Samsung Electronics is taking another shot at the dominance of Apple’s iPad with a tablet equipped with a digital pen and a faster processor at the same price tag. The Wi-Fi-only version of the Galaxy Note 10.1 will go on sale in the U.S. on Thursday. The price starts at $499 for the basic model with 16 gigabytes of storage and $549 for the 32-gigabyte model, expandable with an external memory card. Apple’s latest iPad starts at the same price but the Note 10.1 offers some features that the iPad doesn’t have, while its screen resolution is lower than the iPad’s. It is Samsung’s first Android tablet equipped with a digital pen and can run two applications side-by-side on a screen divided in half. The split screen, made possible by the quad-core processor and 2 gigabytes of RAM, can be useful when taking notes while watching a video or surfing the Internet.

Analysts said this capability of the Note tablet is intended to attract business and education customers, a strategy that could be more effective than going all out against the iPad, which already dominates nearly 70 percent of the worldwide tablet market.

Samsung released about a half-dozen Android tablets in the past two years under the Galaxy Tab series but none of them has been as popular as the iPad. Analysts say Android tablets are less successful because of a dearth of applications and higher prices. But with the Note 10.1, the South Korean company believes it has a product that will find favor with corporations and schools despite the iPad’s rich pool of applications and sharper screen.

While Apple makes one new model for the iPhone and iPad every year to meet demand from all around the world, Samsung releases multiple mobile products with variations in prices, screen sizes, hardware and operating systems. This strategy helped Samsung edge pass Apple in smartphone sales but hasn’t paid off in the tablet area, probablybecauseSamsung’s previous tablets were not differentiated enough from the iPad. Samsung’s secondquarter market share in the global tablet market fell to 9 percent, while nearly seven out of 10 tablets in the market were emblazoned with Apple logo, according to IHS iSuppli.

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MARK LENNIHAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Samsung's new Galaxy Note 10.1 goes on sale in the U.S. on Thursday, starting at $499 for the 16gigabyte model and $549 for the 32GB tablet.

Is this going to be part of iPhone5?

Seems interesting technology.. though nothing new as we have seen it in many laptops and some Android phones.. I am sure Apple will come up with something much more beyond than security aspect of it.. This article mentions about mobile payment.. which is going to be another big round of new technology wars in mobile space.

Question is.. will it be part of iPhone 5 already or it will take some time for them to integrate it. I am sure they must be working on it for some time and must already have some kind of OEM deal already.. if they are going to use in iPhone5.. otherwise we will have to wait for iPhone 5S or something like that to see this in effect.

However, Samsung will have to find another partner to provide this service.. and also get ready to be hit by Apple's patent suit in this area. I am sure Authen-Tec must have some interesting patents in fingerprinting security area..

$356 MILLION DEAL

Apple buying fingerprint sensor maker

Purchase of AuthenTec may help bring mobile pay market to the U.S.

By Sinead Carew and Himank Sharma

Reuters

Apple will buy fingerprint sensor technology developer Authen-Tec for about $356 million, in a deal that could put its iPhone at the center of the emerging mobile payments market.

Apple is paying $8 a share, a 58 percent premium, for Melbourne, Fla.-based AuthenTec, which counts South Korean mobile device maker Samsung Electronics among its big customers.

AuthenTec — which makes fingerprint sensor chips used in personal computers and mobile devices — is one of the very few public companies that has been acquired by Apple, a company that rarely does acquisitions and tends to buy mostly startups when looking for cutting-edge technology.

Shares of AuthenTec surged $3.35, or 66 percent, to $8.42 on Nasdaq in Friday’s trading. Apple stock was up $10.28 at $585.16.

AuthenTec, which was spun off from Harris Semiconductor in 1998 and went public in 2007, provides mobile security software licenses to companies like Samsung, and fingerprint sensor technology to computer makers such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell.

Its fingerprint technology, which is also used in mobile phones in Japan for authentication of mobile payments, could help Apple bring those services to markets such as the United States, where mobile wallet services have been slow to catch on.

Some analysts expect the next version of the iPhone to include some form of mobile payments technology. 

An Apple spokesman declined to comment on how Apple plans to use Authen-Tec’s technology. 

While companies such as Google already have mobile payments offerings, such services are not widely used in the United States and have been dogged by security concerns. 

“To have security behind it would give people peace of mind. It could be a major differentiator for them,” said Dougherty & Co. analyst Charlie Anderson, who noted that fingerprints are more secure than passwords because they cannot be copied or stolen. Anderson said Apple was buying a rich portfolio of patents from AuthenTec that could help it dominate mobile payments. 

Mobile wallet users will want to be sure their money is safe and would like something more secure and easier to use than passwords that have to be typed in, analysts said. 

“If you’re storing credit card information in your phone for mobile payments, it would be more secure if it has fingerprint authentication rather than just a password protection,” BWS Financial analyst Khorsand Hamed said. 

Anderson said Apple may continue to offer Authen-Tec’s existing products to its rivals to help gain regulatory approval but it may keep future developments for its own products. 

BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis said AuthenTec technology could potentially help Apple combat problems such as theft of its more portable products such as iPhones. 

“If they could have a way where they could tie the phone to a user more tightly, that would make sense for them,” he said. 

He described the price tag for AuthenTec as a drop in the bucket of Apple’s cash pile of $117.2 billion, and noted the company had not been as acquisitive as some other technology businesses. 

“We’ll see if it’s a one-off or if Tim Cook will start to level his cash balance and acquire talent,” Gillis said, referring to Apple’s chief executive. 

AuthenTec, which also counts Lenovo and Fujitsu as customers, has annual revenue of about $70 million. 

I think, real reason is iPhone5 wait..

In my view it is all non-sense.. I think lot of customers are simply waiting for iPhone5. Samsung's Galaxy III turned out to be bummer and wasn't able to generate any new refresh cycles.

Nevertheless, ATT, should pour in some of these profits back and improve system health and call quality and poor coverage.. Otherwise whatever they do they won't be able to survive for long..

AT&T posts record profit for wireless

NEW YORK (AP) — AT&T on Tuesday posted the best profitability ever in its wireless arm, paradoxically because it sold fewer smartphones.The largest telecommunications company in the U.S. said its subscribers are now holding on to their phones longer: The rate of upgrades to new phones was at a record low in the second quarter. That’s good news for the company because it subsidizes each smartphone by hundreds of dollars to be able to sell it to customers for $99 or $199. iPhones, in particular, are expensive to sell, because Apple charges AT&T an average of about $650 apiece. In March last year, AT&T started telling subscribers they had to stay on contract for 20 months before they would be eligible for a new phone at the fully subsidized price. Before that, some high-paying customers had been eligible for upgrades after just 12 months.

“It appears our policy is working,” John Stephens, AT&T’s chief financial officer, told analysts on a conference call. He said another big contributor to the low upgrade rate was that many people upgraded late last year, when the latest iPhone debuted.

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CX MATIASH/ASSOCIATED PRESS

A low rate of upgrades by smartphone users helped boost profit for AT&T’s wireless division.

Is Samsung Galaxy S3 really iPhone Competitor?

S3 is getting great reviews so far and is considered to be most formidable competitor of iPhone 4S. Looking at its feature set it seems to be really great machine. Biggest differentiation seems to be screen size and quad core processor on hardware side and numerous extra features related to touch on software side.

I haven't tried it yet, but I am not big fan of extreme processors. Unless processor power is properly channeled and used all the extra cores are merely nice to have. So it will be really good to see how the marriage between hardware and software is.. that you can figure out only after using it out. all the specs and number are merely marketing gimmicks.

Having said that, I am sure it will put more pressure on Apple to launch bigger screen size iPhone. At least variant with bigger size. For all practical purpose, iPhone is my lifeline and I don't see any problem with screen size as well. But I think there is scope for some extra real estate on phone side. let us see what is in store for iPhone 5. We should be knowing it soon... I guess, June or July?

Coming back to Samsung, it is always good to see great competition in the market. that is what drives innovation. I hope that S3 will turn out to be great phone in market as well. Sad that it is not getting launched in US first.. In my view they should have launched in US as well. They could have taken some advantage of iPhone 5s pending launch and could have gathered lot of iPhone customers who are ready for upgrade cycle, which is typically 20 or 21 months. Assuming, these people upgraded within couple of months of iPhone launch, they would be ready for upgrade and could have opted for S3 instead of waiting for iPhone 5. I am sure Samsung's genius marketing guys must have thought about everything..


Samsung’s latest model emerges as iPhone competitor

Phone will sell in 145 countries, company’s biggest launch so far

By Peter Svensson

Associated Press

NEW YORK — The latest phone in Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy line, which has emerged as the biggest competitor to Apple’s iPhone, will go on sale in Europe on May 29 and in the U.S. this summer, the company said Thursday. The Korean company showed off the phone at an event in London Thursday. It has a high-definition touch screen that’s nearly twice the size of the iPhone’s, but thinner and lighter than Apple’s phone. Samsung said the phone will go on sale in 145 countries with 296 phone companies, making it the company’s biggest launch so far.

In the U.S., Japan and Korea, the phone will use fourthgeneration, or 4G, networks for faster data downloads. Samsung didn’t say which carriers would sell it, but the previous Galaxy model was sold by all four national U.S. wireless carriers: Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.

Like previous Galaxy phones, the new S3 will run Google’s Android software. The processor, or “brains” of the device, will be upgraded to include four computing cores. The iPhone and most other high-end phones are “dual-core,” but there are some quad-core devices on sale already.

The added computing power will be put to use in the S3’s expanded voice-command features. When the phone screen is off, owners will be able to “wake” it up by saying “Hi, Galaxy.” They can then give further spoken commands. When Apple launched the iPhone 4S last year, it also made advances in voice recognition a central selling point.
Samsung doesn’t release phone shipment figures, but most analysts believe its smartphones outsold Apple and its 35.1 million iPhones in the January-to-March period. Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley believes Apple and Samsung together accounted for virtually all the profits in the phone industry in the first quarter, with three-quarters going to Apple by virtue of its singular focus on the high-priced iPhone.

Can Samsung takeover Apple in Smartphone Segment as well?

Samsung is already number one in overall cellphone market share. First time they overtook Nokia in World's largest Cell phone manufacturer. Nokia is trying a comeback and it would be interesting to see in next couple of quarters, how this will shape overall cellphone market. Along with Nokia & Samsung, it is Microsoft as well, whose future is at stake. Cell phones are already accounting for close to 50% of revenues of companies like Samsung and Apple.

As of now, Samsung is clear winner in overall Cellphone market. However, they face uphill battle with Apple's flagship iPhone. It will be difficult to compete with iPhone in terms of overall value and satisfaction. Unless, Apple goof's up big time in coming years, which they can as Steve Job's is not around and I am already feeling that new management is more focussed directly on share prices instead of customer satisfaction, usability and attention to details. We have to accept that nothing is permanent and current iPhone's dominance will go down sooner or later.

At the same time, Samsung is coming up with really great phones with really cool and great features and trying to compete hard with iPhone. However, in my view they need to focus more on some really great selected features and make them really easy and standardize across the board. They also need highlight and focus where Apple restrict's iPhone... and moreover, build some really cool and easy to use ecosystem. Bring some standardization across the devices so accessories can be useful. One feature which I really envy from Android phones is simplicity to play HD videos (1080p) directly to HDTV using HDMI cable.. But still, it has clumsy UI, especially as compared to iPhone. They need to work on reduction in number of clicks needed to accomplish things..

I haven't played too much on Samsung phones except to my stone age Blackjack long time back. Which was really clumsy phone based on Windows CE (or whatever it was called) and voice quality was so bad that I took a vow to never use Samsung phone. Only feature which I used to like was tethering of it which used to give me great internet connectivity to my laptop. However, with iPhone, 99% of time you don't need tethering, you can literally do everything on it, despite its lower screen size. I hope my nephew who works in Samsung is reading this and will soon send me some great samsung phone to try so I can write better review ;-)

Hope to see real good competition in coming days.. which should result in really cool phones for all of us. I hope, Motorola/Google will also churn out great phones in coming days.. so will Nokia with their MS collaboration... future seems to be great!!!


Samsung cellphones beat out Nokia’s

By Andrea Chang

Los Angeles Times

Samsung in the first quarterbecametheworld’s largest cellphone brand for the first time, overtaking longtime market leader Nokia. In the smartphone segment, Samsung remained in second place behind Apple, according to market research firm IHS iSuppli.

The South Korean electronics giant shipped 92 million cellphones worldwide in the first quarter, compared with 83 million for Nokia. While Samsung’s shipments declined by 13 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011, Nokia’s dropped by 27 percent.

In the smartphone segment, Apple shipped 35 million units in the first quarter compared with 32 million for Samsung. Apple’s smartphone shipments declined 5 percent from the fourth quarter, compared with 11 percent for Samsung. First-quarter declines in the shipments of smartphones and cellphones reflect normal seasonal patterns, in which sales decrease after the peak holiday period in the fourthquarter. “With cellphones now accounting for more than 40 percent of Samsung’s overall revenue, it’s clear that the company’s continued investments in smartphone hardware and software R&D are paying off,” said Wayne Lam, senior analyst of wireless communications at IHS. Lam noted that Samsung’s performance was even more impressive because its latest Galaxy S III handset has yet to be launched, with shipments set to start in May. “This indicates Samsung is likely to make further progress in market share in 2012,” he said.