Apple and Samsung courtroom mud slinging continues as new patent trial opens

Lawyers for Apple and Samsung exchanged barbs as a major new patent trial opened Tuesday, debating the role of a company not even part of the case — Google.


Apple’s legal team vowed to prove that Samsung flagrantly copied iPhone features and should pay more than $2 billion in damages, as the two smartphone giants squared off anew in a California courtroom.


Apple attorney Harold McElhinny opened his presentation with a video showing legendary Apple co-founder Steve Jobs introducing the first iPhone in 2007. By putting computing power in smartphones powered by fun software and easy to use touch-screens, Apple transformed the market, sending Samsung onto its heels, according to McElhinny.


The attorney told jurors in his opening statement that they would see internal Samsung documents and messages showing that the company felt it was suffering “a crisis of design” with the difference between its devices and the smartphone “a difference between Heaven and Earth.”


According to Cnet, Apple’s Phil Schiller sais, “I believe it has caused damage for Apple in the marketplace. It has caused people to question some of the innovations we’ve created and Apple’s role as the innovator. That challenge is made harder in the copying.”


Apple said evidence will show that the South Korean electronics giant sold more than 37 million infringing smartphones and tablets in the United States. California-based Apple would have demanded royalties of about $40 per device to license the patented technology to Samsung, according to McElhinny.


The overall amount being sought by Apple in damages from Samsung will top $2 billion, the lawyer explained. ”This case is not about Google,” McElhinny told jurors. ”It is Samsung, not Google, that choses to put these features into its phones.”


But Samsung’s lawyer told the jurors in the San Jose, California, court, that the case was indeed about Google, and Apple’s struggle against the maker of the Android operating system which is now winning in the global marketplace.


- An ‘attack on Android’ -


“It’s an attack on Android, that is what this case is,” attorney John Quinn said.


“Apple is trying to limit consumer choice and gain an unfair advantage over Google’s Android.”


Quinn contended that four of the five patents at issue in the trial are not used in Apple mobile devices, but because of features built into Android software by Google engineers litigation was pursued.


He promised jurors that Google engineers would be called to testify to how they independently designed Android software and did not copy Apple.


Samsung is the world’s leading maker of smartphones and tablets built using Google’s free Android mobile operating system.


Android smartphones dominate the global market, particularly in devices offered for lower prices than iPhones.


“Apple is an amazingly innovative company, but in some respects, Google’s Android has passed them,” Quinn said.


“Apple is trying to gain from you in this courtroom what it has lost in the marketplace.”


In August 2012, a separate jury in Koh’s court decided that Samsung should pay Apple $1.049 billion in damages for illegally copying iPhone and iPad features, in one of the biggest patent cases in decades.


The damage award was later trimmed to $929 million and is being appealed.


If this new trial goes in Apple’s favor, it could result in an even bigger award since it involves better-selling Samsung devices built with Google-backed Android software, such as the Galaxy S3 smartphone.


Quinn attacked expert witnesses Apple planned to call to back for its case to bolster its sky-high damages claim. The attorney contended the lawsuit extended from a war that Jobs declared on Google because of Android in 2010.


“A holy war on Android, that was Apple’s strategy,” Quinn said. “This lawsuit is part of a strategy to catch up with Google.”


Apple lawyers accused Samsung of going far beyond competitive intelligence to the “dark side” of intentional copying.


Jurors will also consider Samsung’s claims that Apple infringed on patents related to transmitting digital video and storing digital images.


The case concerns smartphone and tablet patents and is just the latest in a long-running feud between the two tech giants, who are battling for supremacy in a multibillion-dollar market.

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Apple’s ‘transparent texting’ feature could save you from running into pillars when texting

US tech giant Apple has filed a patent for new technology that aims to make texting while walking safer by replacing the text background with a live video feed of whatever is in front of the smartphone user.


Many smartphone users keep their eyes glued to the screens while texting and walking which can cause them to stumble over or bump into obstacles.


Apple’s ‘transparent texting’ aims to solve this problem by overlaying messages on a live video feed from the rear camera of the smartphone. This will allow users to see what is happening beyond their phone and text at the same time.


“A user who is walking while participating in a text messaging session may inadvertently collide with or stumble over objects in his path because his attention was focused on his device’s display instead of the path that he was traversing,” according to the patent filed in the US.


The patent describes how the transparency feature could be activated by pressing a transparency button within a texting session that switches on the video feed.


The feature would then ensure text bubbles appear overlaid over the live background video. The text bubbles themselves could be opaque or semi-transparent, according to Tech Crunch.


The patent, originally filed in September 2012, details potential extensions of the concept of transparent texting, including replacing the background of a webpage with a live video feed, so that the text of a website is overlaid over whatever environments the device user is moving through.


“Alternative embodiments of the invention can be applied to virtually any computer-executable application in which text is presented over a background,” the patent application said.

A recent study by researchers from University at Buffalo in the US found that texting while walking may result in more injuries per mile than distracted driving.

The study found that though injuries from car accidents involving texting are often more severe, physical harm resulting from texting and walking occurs more frequently.

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Apple vs Samsung once again

As Samsung and Apple, head to court for a second round of their patent war in San Jose, California, Judge Lucy Koh of the US District Court of Northern California has overruled Samsung’s objection to an instructional video on the patent system that will been shown to the jury.


Recode, which first reported the story, says that Samsung saw the video as a plug for Apple and instead wanted the jury to see an older video which doesn’t include Apple products.


The report quotes Samsung’s motion as saying, “Because Apple’s alleged innovation is a central disputed issue in this trial, it would be highly prejudicial to Samsung to show the jury — before any evidence is introduced — an official instructional video that depicts Apple products in such a context.Doing so would raise serious concerns about Samsung’s ability to obtain a ‘fair trial’ by ‘impartial’ jurors,” which is one of the most ‘fundamental’ interests that exists under the Constitution.”


The latest list of offending items on the patent war includes have been expanded to include some newer devices.


Apple claims the following Samsung products now infringe on their patents: Admire, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy SII, Galaxy SII Epic 4G Touch, Galaxy SII Skyrocket, Galaxy SIII, Galaxy Tab II 10.1, and Stratosphere.


Samsung claims the following Apple products infringe on Samsung patents: iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad mini, iPod touch (5th generation), iPod touch (4th generation), and MacBook Pro.


Put in simple terms, Apple says Samsung stole five patents on newer devices, including Galaxy smartphones and tablets. In a counterclaim, Samsung says Apple stole two of its ideas to use on iPhones and iPads.

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What's Wrong With Apple's iOS 7.1?

 Apple's iOS 7.1 update was released on Tuesday, delivering a noticeable boost in overall speed and responsiveness. But it soon turned out that the update also delivered a few problems — and a surprising number of visual tweaks.

The most striking visual change is the telephone interface. Although the circular number key pads remain, the large square "call" button has been replaced by a small circle displaying a phone icon.

Those phone call interface changes have been carried over to the answer/decline screens as well. Now when your receive an incoming call, the screen will display two simple red and green button icons, instead of the large "answer" and "decline" button blocks in the previous version.


This change seems more like a designer flourish rather than a practical move, as hitting those large call/answer/decline buttons on the iPhone's touchscreen while carrying bags or multitasking is certainly easier than having to now aim for the tiny circles.

In addition to boosting the accuracy of the iPhone 5S Touch ID system, iOS 7.1 now gives the feature its own set-up menu in the Settings section. Not much has changed here, but it's a welcome update and it seems a bit odd that Apple didn't give Touch ID its own menu section from the very beginning.

When iOS 7 first debuted, one of the biggest complaints revolved around the parallax effect in Wallpaper, a dynamic that caused some prone to motion sickness to avoid the feature altogether. With iOS 7.1, Apple has included a handy "perspective on/off" option when selecting a new Wallpaper image.


The feature also offers those who are fans of the feature a quicker way to test out how certain images will look with the effect before selecting that image as a new Wallpaper image.


The voice of Siri for U.S. users remains the same, but some international users will notice a warmer, more human-sounding digital assistant after upgrading to iOS 7.1. In particular, the British English and the Japanese voices of Siri offer noticeably warmer, less robotic sounding version of Siri. This "more human" touch has also been applied to the Australian English and Mandarin Chinese versions of Siri.

Another minor tweak to iOS comes in the operating system's Calendar and Weather apps. The new Calendar features a handy option that allows you to show special events and appointments right under the calendar view.

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Former Apple CEO John Sculley to launch smartphone brand in India; to sell handsets at Rs 12,000 and less

John Sculley, the man who fired Steve Jobs, is targeting India's growing smartphone market by selling handsets at Rs 12,000 and less, starting next month. InflexionPoint, an investment and acquisitions company promoted by Sculley, has hired Ajay Sharma, former head of smartphones at Micromax, to head the Indian operations. Sharma had earlier worked with HTC India.

Sculley, who was the CEO at Apple between 1983 and 1993, will fund the venture, Sharma told ET. The investments will flow into Dragon Technology, a distribution company owned by InflexionPoint in China. It will oversee production and supply chain of smart devices coming into India.

"Both of us were exploring opportunities and he (Sculley) thought that India is a good market for smartphones," Sharma said. "The name of the brand will be decided next week and the first of the Android smartphones will be launched by mid-April." An email sent to InflexionPoint seeking confirmation on Sculley's level of participation in the venture remained unanswered. Apple and Sculley's ventures may compete in different price bands and it will be interesting to see who wins a chunk of market share in the country.

Sculley's former employer, Cupertino, San Francisco-based Apple, which has handsets mostly in the higher price bands, is also trying to grow its share in India.


Smartphone sales grew more than two-and-half times to 44 million devices in 2013 from 16.2 million in 2012, according to research firm IDC India.

Apple has launched attractive installment and buyback schemes to boost its currently negligible share in the market dominated by Samsung and closely followed by home-bred handset makers Micromax and Karbonn.


Surging smartphone sales in India have been propelled by the introduction of low-end devices by international and local vendors.

Mobile company to stress on quality control

The introduction of low-end devices has narrowed the price gap between smartphones and feature phones, which offer basic Internet capabilities and are a notch above basic phones. Sculley and his team are targeting the affordable smartphones segment in India with devices that cost less than Rs 12,000.


Being based out of China, Dragon Technology will work with device makers in China on a daily basis ensuring quality control and production checks while working with suppliers to get the handsets into India. This will give the brand an advantage over others in India where most local smartphone makers only import completely built units for sale here without adding much value to the final product.

The smartphone brand won't be just another addition to the cluttered market as it will create a differentiation based on price, product, software and built-in services, Sharma said. "The smartphone share of the handset market in India will keep on rising. So everyone has scope to grow. We feel that it is the right time to launch a new brand as the market is set to explode," Sharma added.


Indians bought around 15 million smartphones in the October-December period, registering year-on-year growth of 181%, according to IDC. Samsung, Micromax and Karbonn cornered 64% of the sales in the three months through December. 

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Apple rakes in most profit per employee: Study

WASHINGTON: Apple reportedly makes the most money for its employees with half a million dollars for each of its 80,300 staff, among 18 of the biggest technology and media companies, according to a new study by BuzzFeed.

The company's net income at the end of its 2013 fiscal year in September amounted to $37 billion on revenue of $171 billion.

The results were concluded after gathering data from the companies' most recent 10-K reports and then dividing the fiscal year 2013 net income a company reported in its 10-K by the number of employees it reported.


The company said that as of September 28, 2013, it had 80,300 full-time equivalent employees.


Apple's $460,772 in profits per employee was followed by 21st Century Fox at $277,344, Google at $270,123, Facebook at $236,705 and Viacom at $230,000 per employee.


Meanwhile, Microsoft reported $221,212 in profit per employee, Discovery Communications at $188,597, Time Warner at $108, 824, CBS at $96,460 and Netflix at $55,589 per employee, making it to the top ten companies.

The remaining on the list included Comcast at $50,000 in profit per employee, Disney at $34,857, DreamWorks at $25,045, News Corp at $21,083, The New York Times Co at $18,447, AOL at $18,118, Gannett Co at 12,310 and LinkedIn at $5,312 per employee.

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Apple introduces buyback discounts of up to Rs 40,000 on MacBook in India

After trying to penetrate the mid-range mobile segment with the outdated iPhone 4, Apple India has decided to offer buyback discounts on the MacBook if you are returning your old Apple laptop. According to the Cupertino-based company, you can expect discounts of up to Rs 40,000 if you trade-in your existing laptop for a new one under Upgrade to Mac promotional program.

Those who already own a MacBook can have it exchanged and expect at least Rs 20,000 off on the new one. And if you own one of these systems which is less than two years old, then you may be in for a discount of as much as Rs 40,000. Similarly, notebooks older than two years will fetch you Rs 30,000 and those bought 3 to 4 years ago can look forward to getting Rs 20,000 off.

Buyback schemes have already proved to be helpful for Apple products in the past. Such deals were introduced in April last year on the iPhone and again in September on the newer versions of the gadget. The iPad has also been the recipient of more attention from buyers due to the programs. And now it is the laptop’s turn.

It should be noted that Upgrade to Mac is only applicable on the MacBook. The Mac Mini, iMac and Mac Pro are not eligible for it. You can head over to the Apple stores or visit one of the authorized retailers such as Reliance Digital stores, Croma, Vijay Sales or more to make the most of the scheme. Make sure the MacBook you wish to exchange is in perfect working condition.

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Apple fixes security flaw for Macs

Apple issued a fix Tuesday for Mac computer users whose sensitive information could have been exposed to hackers.

The software update patches a security hole in OS X, the operating system for Apple computers. It comes four days after the same bug was fixed for iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches, which run on iOS software.


The issue was first disclosed on Friday when Apple released the security patch for mobile devices.

Security experts said there was no evidence hackers discovered the issue before Apple disclosed it, but Mac users were potentially vulnerable since then.

Left unfixed, hackers could potentially read private communications sent over Apple devices, including emails, instant messages, social media posts and even online bank transactions.

Those communications usually happen over secure channels. But an error in Apple's code could allow hackers on the same network as the user to view private information, security expert Dmitri Alperovitch told CNNMoney.

So for the most part, Apple users were vulnerable when using an unsecured network at places like a coffee shop or airport.


The software update was issued for both Mavericks and Mountain Lion versions of OS X. Older versions were not vulnerable to the security hole, according to an Apple spokesman.

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Samsung dumps Android, launches Tizen-powered smartwatches

Samsung has launched its next-generation smartwatch, the Gear 2 just ahead of its Unpacked event at the Mobile World Congress where it is expected to announce its flagship phone, the Galaxy S5.

The Gear 2 will be available in two variants, namely the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, with the latter being an economy version. Samsung has dropped the Galaxy branding as the new smartwatch does not run Android. Instead, it is powered by Tizen, the Linux based operating system developed under the leadership of Samsung and Intel. The Gear 2 is one of the first commercially available Tizen devices.

Just like the Galaxy Gear, the Gear 2 also sports a 1.63-inch Super AMOLED display(320 X 320p), and is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor and 512MB RAM. It has 4GB internal storage and features Accelerometer, Gyroscope and heart rate sensors. The Galaxy Gear did not have a heart rate sensor. It also features an IrLED port allowing it to be used as a universal remote control.

The Gear 2 sports a 2MP camera which is mounted on the front unlike the Galaxy Gear's camera which was placed on the strap. The Gear 2 Neo does not come with a camera. The Gear 2 Neo is made of plastic while the Gear 2 has a metal face.

Both of the variants of the Gear 2 are IP67 certified water and dust resistant.

While the user interface of the Gear 2 looks similar to the Galaxy Gear in the press shots, it is not known if the Galaxy Gear apps will be compatible with the Gear 2. The watch has the ability to store and play music without being connected to a smartphone.

Samsung says the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo are compatible with more than "dozens of Samsung Galaxy smartphones at launch," suggesting wider compatibility compared to the Galaxy Gear which was compatible with a handful of high-end Samsung smartphones.

The Gear 2 will be available in Charcoal Black, Gold Brown and Wild Orange colours while the Gear 2 Neo will be available in Charcoal Black, Mocha Grey and Wild Orange colours. It will be available around the world starting April though Samsung has not revealed pricing information.

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Leaked images reveal how Android looks and runs on the Nokia X

Even as launch day for the much talked about Android based Nokia X approaches, the phone has been caught in live shots. The pictures of the device have been leaked online and show a Windows-Phone flavoured Android running on the device which has been codenamed Normandy.

Website Coolxap has a bunch of pictures of the Nokia X up, giving us a better glimpse into the phone’s colourful UI and build. The phone itself looks quite a lot like a Windows Phone but is slightly more bulky and not too sleek, given that the phone is aimed at the low-end segment, catering to Asha users.


The user interface of the phone is the most interesting of the leaks, though. Given how since the time the leaks started appearing, the attention was on the UI, the leaks do not disappoint, showing a tile-based interface. The phone will indeed be running Android 4.4 KitKat but a forked version of it, something like what Amazon uses for its Kindle Fire devices. A “Store” icon is clearly seen in the leaked images, confirming that Nokia will have its own version of the App Store for the phone rather than let Google Play run on it.


The Nokia X is all set to be revealed at the Mobile World Congress, to be held at Barcelona next week. The phone is being heavily teased by Nokia too, which released an image of four black arrows making one big “X” on the Android green colour.

The dual-SIM phone is set to be priced somewhere around $110 or Rs 6,800 if leaks are to be believed. Nokia X will come with a 512MB RAM and 4GB on onboard storage. It will also feature a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor and a 5-megapixel rear camera. Here’s all you need to know about the Nokia X or Normandy before the Finnish company officially announces the device at MWC.

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Apple just acquire a testing platform App

It looks like Adrian Perica, Apple's head of mergers and acquisitions,Apple has been having a busy couple of weeks.

This weekend, it got out that he’s been having meetings with electric automaker Tesla.

Today, TechCrunch is reporting that Apple has acquired Burstly, the developers behind a popular ad management platform and owner of app testing platform TestFlight.

While non-techies likely haven’t heard much about TestFlight, the platform is a huge tool for app developers.

App development platforms are a newly hot area: One of Facebook’s most important but little-noticed recent acquisitions was Parse, an app development platform that some say gives CEO Mark Zuckerberg a sneak preview of which apps are hot and which are not.


Even more than Facebook, Apple and its iPhones and iPads are dependent on having a rich environment of cool new apps for their customers to use. Burstly thus helps the company guarantee a supply of properly tested apps.

On the flip side of that coin, this move also hurts both Android developers and users: TestFlight’s support page notes that support for Android will end on March 21, 2014. That must come as a shock to any developers testing Android apps for release in the next few months.

In early 2012, Google Ventures partner and tech blogger MG Siegler wrote that TestFlight was used by nearly 70,000 developers to help test 130,000 apps when it was bought by Burstly in late 2011.

Since then, it’s usage numbers have likely moved significantly higher. Properly testing apps for bugs and interface feedback is more important than ever in the current app market — and thus far, Apple has been slacking on making that process easy for developers.


While its Developer Enterprise program gives app developers a number of tools that make it easy to distribute “in-house” apps to employees of the same company, developers under the traditional $US99/year program are limited to registering 100 devices for testing at a time and handling distribution of test versions themselves.

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Apple says security flaw could allow hackers to beat iPhone encryption

A major flaw in Apple Inc software for mobile devices could allow hackers to intercept email and other communications that are meant to be encrypted, the company said on Friday, and experts said Mac computers were even more exposed.

If attackers have access to a mobile user's network, such as by sharing the same unsecured wireless service offered by a restaurant, they could see or alter exchanges between the user and protected sites such as Gmail and Facebook. Governments with access to telecom carrier data could do the same.

"It's as bad as you could imagine, that's all I can say," said Johns Hopkins University cryptography professor Matthew Green.


Apple did not say when or how it learned about the flaw in the way iOS handles sessions in what are known as secure sockets layer or transport layer security, nor did it say whether the flaw was being exploited.


But a statement on its support website was blunt: The software "failed to validate the authenticity of the connection."


Apple released software patches and an update for the current version of iOS for iPhone 4 and later, 5th-generation iPod touches, and iPad 2 and later.

Without the fix, a hacker could impersonate a protected site and sit in the middle as email or financial data goes between the user and the real site, Green said.


After analysing the patch, several security researchers said the same flaw existed in current versions of Mac OSX, running Apple laptop and desktop computers. No patch is available yet for that operating system, though one is expected soon.


Because spies and hackers will also be studying the patch, they could develop programs to take advantage of the flaw within days or even hours.


The issue is a "fundamental bug in Apple's SSL implementation," said Dmitri Alperovich, chief technology officer at security firm CrowdStrike Inc. Adam Langley, a senior engineer at Google, agreed with CrowdStrike that OS X was at risk.


Apple did not reply to requests for comment. The flaw appears to be in the way that well-understood protocols were implemented, an embarrassing lapse for a company of Apple's stature and technical prowess.

The company was recently stung by leaked intelligence documents claiming that authorities had 100 per cent success rate in breaking into iPhones.


Friday's news suggests that enterprising hackers could have had great success as well if they knew of the flaw.

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Apple thinks cars and medical devices are good investments for increased revenue

Businesses naturally have to keep looking for ways to increase revenue and Apple believes cars and medical devices may hold answers. Because there comes a point of time when you can sell only so many smartphones and tablets. The world’s population may be rising at a quick pace, but people’s income sources are obviously not going to hold up if they buy iPhones and iPads to match that pace.

Apple’s deal-making executive, Adrian Perica, is reported to have met up with the Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, amidst much speculation. This happened during the same period when tongues were wagging about the tech giant planning to buy the electric car company.

But cars are not the only vehicles for taking Apple through the future, dripping with ever-increasing revenue. 


San Francisco Chronicle‎ even says that the company has called in the guns in order to discover means of predicting heart attacks by analyzing the sound blood makes at it pulses through arteries. We know what you’re thinking.

It seems rather off character for a brand which sells phones and tablets to be investing in medicine and automobiles.


It’s possible that Apple is merely looking to cut a deal with Tesla over in-vehicle infotainment systems similar to the pacts Samsung made with Tata Motors and BMW. As for medical devices, the wearables category is clearly the next big thing. What if Apple could engineer a cutting-edge smartwatch which can monitor the user’s vital stats better than any other rival’s products?

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Apple, Google Cracking Down On 'Flappy Bird' Clones

Both Apple and Google appear to be cracking down on new apps taking advantage of the demise of "Flappy Bird," the addictively simple casual game that became an unlikely sensation before its creator abruptly pulled it off the market last week.

Even before "Flappy Bird" topped the download charts last month, a cavalcade of knock-off games began appearing. A quick search for the word "flappy" in the Google Play store on Monday returned 250 results, from "Flappy Pig" and "Flappy Fish" to "Flappy Troll," "Flappy Cat" (yes, it's the Web's beloved Nyan Cat) and even "Flappy Bieber."


Then came Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen's abrupt announcement he was going to pull "Flappy Bird" from online stores. The resulting wave of publicity created even more demand for the game and others like it.


But now, developers say both major mobile players are pushing back.

"This is just not my f---ing week: Rejected. 'We found your app name attempts to leverage a popular app'," Ken Carpenter of Mind Juice Media tweeted Friday. "Which app? FB doesn't exist!?!?!


Carpenter said he had submitted a game called "Flappy Dragon." Several developers responded to his post, saying they had gotten similar notices from Apple and Google.

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Apple, Samsung head to court after mediation talks fail

Apple and Samsung are reportedly heading back to court in the ongoing patent battle after their recent mediation efforts failed to bring any outcome. 

Apple and Samsung are reportedly heading back to court in the ongoing patent battle after their recent mediation efforts failed to bring any outcome.

The two tech companies were said to meet in order to find a solution to their patent issues before resuming their court trials in March.


According to The Verge, sources have indicated that the mediation effort was unproductive, similar to past talks held in 2012.

The patent battle between the two companies spans across continents and includes the use of certain technologies that both parties claim as their own.

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Apple Inc. seeking Sony camera sensors for new iPhone 6

iPhone manufacturing company—Apple Inc is apparently eyeing to incorporate Sony camera sensors for a new iPhone 6 which is expected to roll out as early as next year. 

According to the Japanese business daily Nikkei, the company has been in talks with Sony for development of sensors for the secondary camera on the front. Apple Inc currently uses parts from suppliers in the United States and elsewhere. 


Presently, Sony supplies nearly all of the CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) sensors for the current iPhone 5S's rear-mounted main cameras.


Describing the reason for Apple’s switch, the business daily said: “With more customers expected to use smartphones for video calls, Apple sounded out Sony about supplying more sensors.”

The daily has also asserted that Sony has laid the foundation by “buying new plant” in order to complete the order from Apple.

“A request from Apple Inc was the reason for its January decision to purchase a plant from Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics, according to a source involved in the negotiations,” the newspaper said.

According to Techno Systems Research, at present Sony holds the largest share of the global CMOS sensor market in 2012 with 32.1 percent. It supplies to the world's No. 1 smartphone seller— Samsung Electronics, and Huawei Technologies.

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Normandy may not be Nokia's only Android phone this year

Rumors of the Nokia Normandy are heating up, but new whispers say it may only be the first of a whole pack of Android-powered phones from the Finnish firm.

Word from an Artesyn Technologies source is that says the phone company will have more Android phones coming this year, including several higher-end models.


Supposedly this new slew of phones powered by Google's mobile OS will be revealed sometime between May and June.

The source says the phones will come at different price points, but there's no word if it will be able to reach the Play Store unlike Normandy.


But phones may stay low end : Microsoft, which is in the final stages of finalizing its purchase of Nokia, has reportedly put its new acquisition through the chop shop and leaving it with the low-end Asha and feature phone departments.


Meanwhile, teams involved with Nokia's more notable hardware bits including PureView cameras, HAAC microphones, and ClearBlack displays have been moved to Redmond.

Taking these technology shifts into account, its possible that a majority of Nokia's Android phones could come as budget handsets with the Asha overlay - essentially a faux-smartphone tiled, touchscreen interface.


Nokia's Android pathfinder : Thus far, the only Android Nokia handset we've seen evidence for is Normandy. The phone will reportedly debut at MWC 2014 and it's already shaping up to be an abnormal little droid.a

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Apple to venture into mobile-payments business

Apple is reportedly planning to expand into a mobile-payments business.

The company is planning to move beyond the dominion of digital goods in order to pave way for users to pay for physical goods and services with an iTunes account.


Talks are on between Apple executive in charge of iTunes and the App Store and industry executives to discuss its foray into the mobile payment business, Cnet reported.


Meanwhile, the company is reported to have shifted its long-time executive Jennifer Bailey, who has been running the company’s online store, to take care of its payment business.

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Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini Price Points and Specs Review – Best Android Phone Mini 2014?

With the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, Samsung has taken its popular flagship S4 and scaled back the features and size to make a good midrange phone. While it is not as big or powerful as the S4, the Galaxy S4 Mini is the perfect little phone for lots of users who don’t require all the fluff and extras that S4 takes so very far. Here are the details on this solid little performer.

Display & Design : Size wise, the S4 Mini is similar to an iPhone 5, although the screen on the Mini is larger, measuring 4.3 inches. The overall design is identical to its big brother, the S4, but in a smaller package. Outside features include power and volume buttons, a charging port, a headphone jack, and an infrared blaster. Like the other Samsungs, this device has a user removable battery as well as a microSD slot. The display is a 960 x 540 pixel resolution AMOLED screen, which is reasonably bright and clear.

Operating System & Processor : The S4 Mini runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean out of the box, and the processor is the 1.7 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400. On board storage is either 8 GB or 16 GB. The TouchWiz user interface gives us all we’ve come to expect from the newer Galaxy devices, including S Memo, S Voice, Group Play, and Smart Stay. You can also use the infrared blaster to change channels on your television, a fun little extra that keeps you from remote hunting.


Camera : While the S4 carries a full 13 megapixel camera on board, the S4 Mini’s 8 megapixels are still nothing to sneeze at, especially for a midrange phone. Video can be captured in 1080p, making it very good as well. The flash is good, and you will be able to take decent pictures with this camera even in low light situations. This as well as the editing features earn the Mini’s camera two thumbs up.

Battery : The battery of the Samsung Galaxy S4 has a 1,900mAh battery and boasts a talk time of 12 hours, which is really not too bad for most users. If you decide to do a lot of clicking and searching, you may find that the battery drains more quickly than you would like, though.

Price Points : While full price is $399.99, Sprint users will enjoy the S4 Mini for free with a two year contract. Verizon customers will pay only $49.99 for the phone with a similar plan, or about $16 for the Verizon Edge payment plan.


All in all, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is a great little phone with a few extras that will keep budget users happy without sacrificing too much quality or performance. It is certainly not comparable to the flagship phones from Verizon or other companies, but then again, it isn’t designed to be. While nothing to write home about, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini remains a solid contender in the midrange market which is able to keep up with the other minis on the market.

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Metis Learning launches Android based tablet Eddy for kids at Rs. 9,999

Metis Learning has launched an Android based learning tablet Eddy for kids, in India. With a price tag of Rs 9,999, the tablet is aimed at children aged between 2-10 years.

It features a 7-inch (1024x600) IPS display Eddy is powered by 1.6GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, It comes with internal memory of 8GB, expandable up to 32GB via a microSD card. The tablet also has an HDMI port. The tablet is available on eddytablet.com and amazon.in.
 

It has a 0.3 megapixel front camera and a 2 megapixel back camera and packs in a large 3200 mAh battery which can last for more than 4 hours.


Eddy comes with educator-selected learning content, a kid-safe environment and high-quality hardware. It also has a kid-safe browser, which only permits access to reliable websites. Not only can parents set time limits for their children to play on Eddy, they can decide which subjects their children should focus on.

Meanwhile, world’s leading Chipset maker Intel has launched a 10-inch 'Intel Education Tablet' for school students. It will come loaded with a range of educational apps. 

'Intel Education Tablet' design run Android 4.2 and is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core Intel Atom Z2520, with an Intel GMA powering 1080p video playback; have 1GB or 2GB of RAM. It comes with up to 32GB of Flash storage. It also has front and rear facing cameras. It will have 12 hours of battery life and Wifi and 3G as connectivity options.


Intel also introduced the 10-inch Intel classmate PC based on the Intel Celeron processor N2806. It is powered by Windows 8.1. A Windows 7 version. It said that a Linux version based on Intel Celeron processor N2805 will be launched later this year.

Both the devices have features such as a snap-on magnification tool and a temperature sensor probe allowing users to view microscopic and macroscopic images and measure and analyze environmental data.

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