Samsung Stops Supplying Batteries To Apple

The feud between Apple and Samsung has led to a loss of battery sales. According to a new report inChina Business News Samsung has refused to supply Apple Macbook and iPad devices with its battery technology, instead forcing Apple to seek out new batteries from Chinese tech firms Amperex Technology Limited and Tianjin Lishen Battery.

The Samsung SDI division (the group responsible for battery manufacturing) is only the latest group at Samsung to turn away from Apple. Recently Samsung announced that it would stop providing Apple with displays for its tablet and smartphone device. Before the display pullout Samsung was Apple’s largest display partner. At the time Samsung said Apple’s stringent demands and unfair pricing practices made the relationship too difficult to maintain.

Apple has also been busily suing Samsung while countersuits have been filed. Samsung was recently ordered to pay Apple $1.1 billion in a forfeited US lawsuit.

In a recent conference call Apple CEO Tim Cook called Samsung a “crucial supply partner” but that crucial partnership is waning. For example, Apple has begun designing its own A-series processor, leaving Samsung to simply manufacture the new chipset rather than design all of its components.

The only reason Samsung does any business with Apple at this time appears to come down to scale. Samsung is the only partner Apple can find that is capable of manufacturing millions of components in a very short period of time.

Both company’s continue to work side-by-side because honestly they have no choice. Until other manufacturers build more facilities and train a massive number of new employees Apple simply can’t abandon Samsung. While Samsung would like nothing more to end all ties with Apple it also needs the business to keep its own staff employed.

Do you think the relationship between Samsung and Apple will soon drawn to a close?

Apple, Google And Microsoft In 2012

The three major players in our technology today, Apple, Google, and Microsoft have given us a lot to look at, think about, and own in 2012.  Here is a look back, a glance forward, and wrap up of where the companies are at.

Apple

Apple has lived through some big changes in its first full year without Steve Jobs at the helm.  The company has introduced the first 7” tablet in the iPad Mini, a concept that Jobs was against.  However, it has done reasonably well in its first few weeks on the market.

There is also the new iPhone 5 that was released to the public with plenty of excitement and hoopla.  Unfortunately, the issues with Apple Maps have dampened the enthusiasm to some extent.

Apple still leads the world of technology, but has lost some of its sense of direction.  It needs to get that back to remain the definitive leader of what consumers should want to own.

Google

Google arrived on the scene of the tablet market and has won numerous fans with its Nexus 7 this year.  It has also gained ground on Apple’s iPhone dominance with the new Samsung devices.  Google has gotten involved in almost every area of technology and has proven to be a worthy competitor.  It has also shown it can compete in software with Microsoft thanks to Google Docs.

Google hasn’t stopped with traditional technology but has been developing the concepts of Google Glasses and driverless cars to combine technology with everyday objects.

Microsoft

Microsoft has been in the background as the other companies battle it out on the mobile phone and tablet competition for some time.  However, it has decided that late is better than never to throw its hat in the ring.  And while there have been some criticisms of the new Surface, Microsoft’s first attempt at a tablet has been relatively successful in showing that the company can evolve.  The Windows Phone has also demonstrated that it can be competitive.

The competition is going to be fierce in the next few months and on into next year.  Google and Microsoft will be working to topple Apple’s reign while the leader will finding new ways to stay on top.  In the end, it’s the customers who benefit most from the competition with new and innovative products.

Ice Cream Sandwich now powers 25 percent of all Androids

The number of Andriod devices running version 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, has risen to 25.8 percent. According to data released every month by Google on the Android Developer site, 2.7 percent of all Android devices run the latest flavour of the Android operating system, Android v4.1 Jelly Bean. 

Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean are showing slow but steady growth in the rate of adoption. The number of Android smartphones running Ice Cream Sandwich increased in October by almost two percent from September’s 23.7 percent, while Jelly Bean showed a growth of almost one percent from its September figure of 1.8 percent.

ICS slowly but surely eating up Gingerbread

As has been the case for a long time now, Android v2.3 Gingerbread is dominating the Android market with its 54.2 percent share. This has, however, fallen by more than one percentage point since September’s figure of 55.5 percent. 

The number of devices running Froyo hasn’t fallen as much as Gingerbread, though. Froyo is now at 12 percent, down from the September figure of 12.9 percent. All of these figures are based on the number of Android devices that have accessed Google Play over a 14-day period.

The slow growth in the number of Jelly Bean devices is not so surprising considering the low number of devices compatible with the operating system, but the snail’s pace at which Ice Cream Sandwich adoption is growing indicates how big a problem fragmentation is for the Android platform. Unlike Apple, there is too much of a variation in the hardware Android devices run on for manufacturers to simply push an update once Google makes it available. It also seems casual users aren’t too bothered with updating their devices either.

Apple’s latest operating system for its mobile and tablet devices, iOS 6, has shown quite some growth in its rate of adoption. According data compiled by Chitika Insights on the iOS 6 rate of adoption, barely six weeks after its launch, iOS 6 accounts for 61 percent of all iOS traffic in Canada and the US. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook also revealed at the iPad mini launch last month that between iPads, iPods, and iPhones, 200 million devices have upgraded to iOS 6 since its launch.

However, the sheer number of Android devices out there is staggering. According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, the total Android smartphone shipments worldwide reached 136 million units, accounting for 75 percent of the 181.1 million smartphones shipped in the third quarter of 2012. The 91.5 percent year-over-year growth was nearly double the overall market growth rate of 46.4 percent, the report states. 

The report states that Android, having topped the 100 million unit mark last quarter, reached a new record level in a single quarter. By comparison, Android's total volumes for the quarter were greater than the total number of smartphones shipped in 2007, the year that Android was officially announced. Samsung once again led all vendors in this space, but saw its market share decline as numerous smaller vendors increased their production.

Windows 8 is here!

Microsoft, often accused of being unable to anticipate or respond to people's changing needs, has decided it's time to do something dramatic. Traditional desktop and notebook PC sales have stagnated over the past year or so, while over a hundred million iPads alone have sold in the same time. The threat is no longer OS X or Linux, but an entirely new category of devices. Faced with the prospect of becoming somewhat irrelevant, Microsoft has decided to prioritise touchscreens over mice and portability over power. Windows 8 could be the biggest risk the company has ever taken, and for better or for worse, there are no half measures anywhere.

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We've spent the last six months using Microsoft's official previews as well as the final version of Windows 8, which was released to manufacturers in August. We've also been able to spend a few weeks with a Samsung XE700T1A tablet running Windows 8 to get an understanding of how it works on such a device.

The new Start screen with Modern UI elements

By now, the look of the "Modern" user interface (formerly named Metro) is quite familiar to us. The Start screen, with its big flashing tiles and stark colours, was first unveiled over a year ago. Members of the press and public have been able to use beta versions of the new OS for at least six months now. Even so, it takes a lot of time before it will feel natural. It's hard to give up on 17 years of learnt behaviour and habit, but we've tried not to hold this against Windows 8 for the purpose of evaluating it on its own merits.

When we previewed the Consumer Release version earlier this year, we were left with the impression that Microsoft was trying its hardest to do justice to its new ideas without the risk of alienating the massive Windows user base. It seemed as though users would be trapped between two worlds, primarily because the Modern UI and apps were just not enough to satisfy anyone who wanted to be productive or multitask the way they've been used to all along. Since that time, Microsoft has improved the quality and functionality of the built-in apps and many more viable ones have made appearances in the Windows Store.

We had to authorize our PC before automatic syncs happened

Getting Started

Installing Windows 8 is surprisingly quick and painless. Downloading it from Microsoft's website is the primary new method of distribution, which makes sense in an age of slim laptops without DVD drives. If you're installing on top of an existing version of Windows, you'll have to run through a compatibility checker which will let you know if any software or hardware might not work smoothly. One important thing to note is you'll need to type in your product key before the installation actually begins.

Windows 8 is designed to be tied to an online account. Any Microsoft account will do, including your Hotmail, Windows Live, Xbox Live, Passport or MSN which are all now known as Microsoft Accounts. Keep in mind that everything associated with that ID, most likely an email account but also possibly your links to Facebook, etc, will end up integrated into the Windows 8 environment. You'll also use this ID to access the Windows Store, which means saving your credit card details somewhere down the line. You'll also most likely end up using SkyDrive a lot more. For those reasons, you'll want to use a very strong, unique password even though it will make logging into your computer multiple times a day more annoying than it should be. If you're worried about privacy or the security of anything in your online accounts, it's probably a good idea to create a fresh ID.

All apps view and search bar

You can still choose to use Windows 8 offline, though apps will then constantly remind you to sign in or risk living without various features. You'll also have to use separate work and personal accounts if you use the same device everywhere.

Whether or not you use a Microsoft account, you have the option of signing in with a "Picture Password". This involves choosing any image and then defining taps, circles or sliding gestures over it. You have to create a sequence of three gestures and then repeat them each time to log in. A Picture Password could be great for many people, especially on a tablet or PC with a touchscreen and no physical keyboard. On the downside, watching someone perform these gestures and then repeating them to gain access to their computer is child's play.

As your account is being set up, you'll be led through a short animated sequence that attempts to explain some of Windows' new conventions, including the Start screen, gestures and the Charms bar. What confused us was that the instructions involved a mix of tapping, clicking, pointing, dragging and swiping but no direction as to when each action is appropriate. It would have been better if Windows had been able to detect the presence or absence of a touchscreen and then display appropriate tips.

Apple publishes compliant apology to Samsung in UK newspapers

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British court had recently directed Apple to publish its apology to arch rival Samsung Electronics on its UK website and the local newspapers. After Apple published the apology last week on its website, the court found it to be non-compliant. A day later, Apple has published a compliant version of its apology on UK’s newspapers, The Next Web reports. As had been directed by the court earlier, the apology is in the Arial font of size no less than 14pts. Interestingly, Apple even removed the apology that it had placed on its website earlier and is moving it to the front page for prominence. “Apple was required to alter and change the positioning of its statement from a small linked page, to an apology on the front page of its website, which needs to be printed in 11-pt Arial font,” added the report.

Apple apologises to Samsung

Reports over the past week had confirmed that Apple had been directed to publish an apology to Samsung, after the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled that the latter’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9, and Tab 7.7 did not infringe upon Apple’s iPad designs. As directed, Apple has published its apology to Samsung using the Arial font with its size being no less than 14 points on its official website. Apple begins it apology by noting that, “On 9th July 2012 the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled that Samsung Electronic (UK) Limited’s Galaxy Tablet Computer, namely the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9 and Tab 7.7 do not infringe Apple’s registered design No. 0000181607-0001.” 

In its public apology to Samsung, Apple added that the judge noted that Apple’s designs of the iPad bore extreme simplicity that was striking. “Overall it has undecorated flat surfaces with a plate of glass on the front all the way out to a very thin rim and a blank back. There is a crisp edge around the rim and a combination of curves, both at the corners and the sides. The design looks like an object the informed user would want to pick up and hold. It is an understated, smooth and simple product. It is a cool design," it noted further. Samsung’s designs for its Galaxy tablets, on the other hand were deemed as not being as cool as Apple’s, since from the front they appeared to belong to that family of which Apple's design was a part. Samsung products, however, were found to be very thin, "almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back. They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool".