Samsung is the number one smartphone manufacturer in the world right now, and having yielded huge success with the Galaxy S and Galaxy S II, few could have foreseen the impact of the Galaxy Note, which although seeming to look far too large for most pockets, actually sold in impressive numbers.
With the well documented patent infringement court case between two mobile industry titans - Apple and Samsung - it's easy to forget amongst the bickering and finger-pointing, that the two companies share a pretty rich business relationship.
The patent fight has often been analogized as being like the Cold War, and it's a battle which Apple appears to be winning right now, given that Judge Lucy Koh recently ruled in favor of Apple in the well-documented San Jose fiasco. Samsung was hit pretty hard by the decision of the jury, and as well as losing a billion dollars plus (barring a successful appeal), the Korean outfit has been made to look like the inferior, copycat company.
The battles between Apple and Samsung have taken up a large chunk of blog-space this year, but whilst the Cupertino company may have recently prevailed in the courtroom over its bitter rival, back in the mobile market, it appears the Korean company is making very good headway.
The Galaxy S III handset brought with it a wide level of excitement from Android users who couldn't wait to get their hands on the powerful new device, but also from the wider technology loving community who couldn't wait to see which direction Samsung had taken with the successor to their insanely popular Galaxy S II smartphone. Judging from the sales figures of the S III, it doesn't look like consumers have been disappointed with the hardware, but there was one feature that was widely expected to be included, and was notably missing in action at release.
Samsung's UK arm is offering a free Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 to anyone who trades in one of a selection of smartphones, and upgrades to a Galaxy S III or Galaxy Note in the process. Free tablets? You betcha!
It is becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with what is going on with Apple and Samsung as they continue to battle it out with each other over the alleged infringement of various patents. We've already had the major trial and verdict in San Jose, with Samsung being told they are liable to the tune of $1.05 billion for breaching a number of Apple patents, as well as a Japanese court ruling in Samsung's favor in a separate case regarding a utility patent that centers around transferring data between two devices. Court rulings and alleged infringements in different markets all over the world make this a difficult one to get your head around.
The notebook industry is so large and diverse that there is always going to be a product out there that will cater for the tastes of all who are interested in purchasing one. Regardless of whether it's an upgrade to an existing product or the consumer’s first soiree into the laptop based computing world, you can be guaranteed that between the multiple manufacturers and operating systems out there, there will definitely be something to suit all requirements.
Although Samsung is still in the process of hiding in the shadows of the consumer technology industry in an attempt to lick their wounds that are a result of their rather large defeat against Apple in California, they have managed to present their case in a Japanese court and notch up what can only be classed as an extremely small victory over the Cupertino-based iPhone giants. Although the case is in no way as large as the recent happenings that have been going on in San Jose recently, a victory is still a victory and Samsung will walk away from this one with their heads held a little higher.
As we all know, despite constant pleas of innocence, Samsung was judged to have indeed infringed on several Apple patents, and a jury - overseen by Judge Lucy Koh - ordered the South Korean company to compensate its Cupertino rival to the tune of over one billion dollars.
