Apple-Samsung

Apple is starting to catch up to Samsung Electronics when it comes to smart connected devices, or total sales of desktop PCs, laptops, smartphones, and tablets.

That's according to IDC, which pegged leader Samsung at 21.2 percent of the market for smart connected devices as of the end of 2012, with No. 2 Apple just behind it at 20.3 percent.

Given the premium price on its products, Apple already dominates Samsung from a revenue perspective. Apple captured 30.7 percent of the industry's total revenue, to Samsung's 20.4 percent share.

The smart connected devices … Read more

Ever since a New Jersey psychiatrist wrote to tell me he was a fan of my work, I've been feeling rather disturbed.

Usually there's only one thing that can lift my spirits from such a malaise: data.

It's always such an uplift when one can find numbers that make one question the validity of humanity. As well as, of course, the validity of numbers.

Thankfully, Business Insider galloped to my rescue with some data it had gleaned about those who claim to be fans of Apple and Samsung.

It seems that there may be psychological differences between … Read more

Apple isn't the only company itching to get its hands on the wristwatch market. A Samsung executive tells Bloomberg that it too has been working on wearable devices that act like smartphones.

"We've been preparing the watch product for so long," Lee Young Hee, executive vice president of Samsung's mobile business, said during an interview with Bloomberg in Seoul. "We are working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them."

Lee offered no specifics when it came to features, … Read more

Apple and Samsung both have to wait a couple more months for the U.S. International Trade Commission to decide whether iPhone and iPad sales should be banned due to patent violations.

One of countless legal disputes between the two companies, this particular case kicked off in August 2011.

Samsung had filed a complaint with the ITC accusing Apple's iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch of violating four of its key patents. As such, the Korean phone maker requested that the products be banned from being sold in the United States.

Last September, a judge for the ITC issued a … Read more

There are those who adore playing Zynga's online games.

What else are they going to do? Work? Live? Love? Naked handstands in public?

Yet somehow the fascination of managing your own farm for fun has never seemed entirely entertaining to me. It's always felt like a social carbuncle.

Zynga VP Dan Porter, however, managed to entertain Wednesday night at a panel discussion in New York.

As Quartz so helpfully reports, he offered this rather beautiful nugget of joy: "Zynga is often accused of copying games, which is mostly true."

Porter was clear to explain what he … Read more

With Apple reportedly trying to reduce its reliance on Samsung, things just got a bit harder with the Korean company investing $111 million for a 3 percent stake in another big Apple supplier: Sharp.

While Samsung says it won't get involved with Sharp's business management in "any way or form," it will be getting a "steady" supply of LCD (liquid crystal display) panels used for smartphone and tablet displays. And it probably will get a line of sight into Sharp's future products and customers, as … Read more

A judge who favored Samsung in a recent court case is now working for the company. But apparently that's perfectly OK in the U.K.

U.K. Judge Robin Jacob served on the bench last year in a case that forced Apple to publish an apology notice asserting that Samsung did not infringe on the design of the iPad for its own tablet.

Though Jacob had retired a year earlier, U.K. law allows for ex-judges to still sit on the bench.

The case itself was notable for going several rounds.

First, Samsung objected to the notice that Apple … Read more

Samsung is on the losing end of yet another legal decision in its ongoing patent war with Apple.

The Tokyo District Court today rejected Samsung's request for a ban on Apple devices in a dispute over data transmission patents.

The court found that Samsung hadn't "sincerely" negotiated with Apple over the patents in question and therefore had no right to seek damages, according to BusinessWeek.

A Samsung spokesman told CNET that the company is "disappointed by today's court decision, and following a thorough review of the ruling, it will take the measures necessary to … Read more

If you're sitting at Apple HQ, you must be very aware of Samsung.

There must be such a temptation to offer a public swat or two at the fly that has cleverly positioned itself as the challenger to your own emotional supremacy.

Yet, with two new iPad ads that Apple has just released, Cupertino is stoically continuing to pretend that its tablet exists in a world all of its own.

Here, to vaguely jazzy music, we see words flash across the screen at lightning speeds. Not one of these words is "patent," "lawsuit" or "… Read more