Category: Business

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From Droid Life: Samsung Sells 30 Million Galaxy S3 Units in 157 Days

We expected the Samsung Galaxy S3 to be a hit, just like the Galaxy S2, but I’m not sure that anyone expected it to be this big of a hit. According to Samsung, they sold 30 million units in 157 days. If you look at their mini infographic, that number of phones is the weight of 100 humpback whales, the surface area of 12 Colosseums, and the height of 29 Mt. Everests. It’s also equal to one Galaxy S3 being sold every 0.45 seconds. So in the time you just spent reading this, another 100 or so are being activated.

I don’t know about you, but I see the Galaxy S3 in public as much as I do iPhones these days. You can tell that Samsung’s marketing efforts have paid off. In fact, my better half and I were at happy hour last week before the Blazers home opener, and the bartender was excited to see that we both had a Galaxy S3, because that meant we could do that “tapping together thing.”

Are you all still loving your Galaxy S3? I have to admit that it’s my favorite phone of the year, by quite a bit. After all of the phones that I have reviewed, I keep coming back to it.

Via:  Samsung Tomorrow

from Droid Life

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From Geeks are Sexy Technology News: Judge to Apple: Don’t get smart with me

Last week I commented that Apple’s attempts to take severe liberties when posting an official statement clearing Samsung of violating their patents were a “skillful piece of public relations writing.” It turns out the judge who ordered the statement to be published strongly disagrees.

Apple was forced to put the statement on its site after losing a court case in which it claimed Samsung’s products such as the Galaxy Tab infringed on the design of the iPad.

Once the appeals process was over and the case finally lost, Apple did so. But rather than just print the statement, it added a few choice extracts from the judge’s ruling in which he said the Tab wasn’t as cool as the iPad, along with a note that Apple had prevailed in similar cases in other countries, meaning that “… other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple’s far more popular iPad.”

Judge Robin Jacob didn’t see the funny side and — contrary to how I interpreted it last week — concluded that the notice didn’t meet the letter of his ruling. He said “I’m at a loss that a company such as Apple would do this. That is a plain breach of the order.”

Jacob and two fellow judges have now ordered that Apple publish the statement that Samsung was found not to have breached the patents — and nothing else. Apple must also include a link and notice on their UK homepage, in at least 11 point text, noting that the original statement has been corrected.

Apple asked for 14 days to make these changes. Jacob rejected that request and is quoted as saying “I would like to see the head of Apple make an affidavit setting out the technical difficulties which means Apple can’t [immediately] put this on their website. I just can’t believe the instructions [its lawyers] have been given. This is Apple. They cannot put something on their website?”

Crafty as its handling the original statement was, it does seem fair to say Apple is going to have to admit the game is up now and move on.

from Geeks are Sexy Technology News

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From Engadget: Disney acquires Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion, plans more Star Wars movies

Disney acquires Lucasfilm for $405 billion, plans more Star Wars movies

Disney is already one of the biggest media companies around, and it’s now set to become even bigger. The company announced late today that it’s acquiring Lucasfilm Ltd., currently 100 percent owned by founder George Lucas, for $4.05 billion in a cash and stock deal. That of course includes the rights to both the Star Wars and Indiana Jones film franchises, as well as Lucasfilm properties like Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound. What’s more, the press release announcing the deal also confirmed that Disney is now targeting 2015 for a release of Star Wars: Episode 7, and that its “long term plan is to release a new Star Wars feature film every two to three years.” No word yet on a proper release of the original, original trilogy.

Continue reading Disney acquires Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion, plans more Star Wars movies

from Engadget

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From Droid Life: Nexus 7 Sales Approaching 1 Million Units Per Month

According to Asus executives, sales of the Nexus 7 are approaching 1 million units per month. Speaking during their quarterly earnings call, their CFO mentioned that during the first couple of months it was 500K units, then 600K, then 700K, with the most recent month closing in on seven figures.

Up until now, we have only been able to guess what sales have been like, because Google refuses to provide sales figures. Some predicted that the number was sitting around the 800K-1M mark, but those predictions seem to be way off. This news from Asus paints a much brighter picture than I think even I was willing to predict. If you go back to launch and tally up those numbers, you are looking at close to 3 million Nexus 7 units sold. While that’s not on iPad level, it’s impressive for an Android tablet.

Now, with 32GB versions with 3G coming, a price drop of the 16GB model, and the holiday shopping season around the corner, those number should only continue to climb.

Are you surprised by these sales figures? I know I am.

Via:  WSJ

from Droid Life

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From Engadget: Apple publishes ‘Samsung did not copy’ statement through gritted teeth

Apple publishes 'Samsung did not copy' statement through gritted teeth

Whatever you think of the continual legal tussles between Apple and Samsung, a UK court’s decision to force the former into publicly acknowledging that the latter did not copy its design will have seemed a little egregious even to the most ardent sammy-sympathiser. Well, that post is now live — on Apple’s site at least — and as you might expect, is studiously manicured to almost not feel like an acknowledgement at all. The opening legalese notes that Samsung did not infringe “registered design No. 0000181607-0001,” before going on to point out in perfect lay-terms the positive comments Judge Colin Birss made about its own slates. While Apple does confirm that the UK decision was further upheld by the court of appeal, it is also keen to remind you that other European legal jurisdictions (namely Germany) don’t share this opinion. Head to source to read the statement in full.

from Engadget