Apple expert argues why Samsung owes Apple $2 billion in damages

In the second patent lawsuit between Samsung and Apple, an expert hired by Apple testified that Samsung’s use of Apple’s patented technology made Samsung’s devices more appealing to consumers, reports CNET. Without these features, Samsung would not have garnered the enviable market position it enjoys today. John Hauser, professor of marketing at the MIT Sloan School of Management, claims that Samsung clearly benefited from the use of features covered by Apple’s patents. “The features that were enabled by the patents at issue in this case have a measurable impact on consumer demand for Samsung devices,” Hauser said during his testimony Tuesday. Hauser based his opinion of a survey of hundreds of Samsung device users to determine which features appeal most to customers. He examined Apple’s patented features, like slide-to-unlock, as well as hardware options such as screen size, camera and GPS. He then calculated how much each consumer would pay for Apple’s patented features, a figure that climbed to $2 billion. Hauser did not consider brand, operating system, battery life, or LTE connectivity as factors that contribute a consumer’s decision to buy a phone. Samsung attorney Bill Price focused on these admissions, arguing that brand and operating system are perhaps the two most important factors when a consumer is shopping for a new device. In the first patent trial between Samsung and Apple, Samsung was order to pay Apple $890 million in damages for infringing on Apple’s patents. This latest suit focuses on a different set of patents and new devices including the Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy Tab 10.1, the iPhone 4/4s/5, the iPad 2/3/4, the iPad mini, and fourth and fifth generation iPod touch. Apple is nearing the end of its infringement case, with Samsung up next to present its infringement case against Apple, in which the Korean company is asking for $7 million in damages. The trial is expected to continue until the end of April, at which point the jury will begin deliberations. Continue reading →

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Analyst: Apple missing out on $63 billion opportunity by ignoring sub-$1000 notebooks

J.P. Morgan analyst Rod Hall believes Apple is missing out on a $63 billion market opportunity by not competing in the sub-$1,000 portable computing market, reports AppleInsider. Rather than lower the cost of its MacBook Air, Hall says Apple should develop a more full-featured version of iOS for devices that bridge the gap between the $500 iPad and the $1,000 MacBook Air. Hall believes Apple could flourish in the sub-$1000 market with a device that offers the touchscreen functionality of the iPad and the keyboard and trackpad of the MacBook Air. The device would run a version of iOS Halls calls “iAnywhere” and would outsell traditional Windows PC and possibly cannibalize sales of Apple’s low-end MacBook Air. Though Apple stands to lose some of its MacBook sales, it will make up for it with sales of this hybrid device, which could grab a significant portion of a market potentially worth $63 billion per year, argues Hall. “While some iPad owners are replacing laptops with the device, we believe that most use the iPad as a supplemental device to either a laptop or desktop PC,” Hall said. “If iAnywhere allowed these users to flexibly use an iPad as both a PC and a tablet, we believe that many would elect to own simply one device.” Apple already is successful in the tablet market and in the over-$1000 notebook market, with its MacBook line accounting for 40 percent of notebooks in that higher price range. This new device would target this in between market, but Apple already may have another product to fill that niche — the 12-inch iPad Pro. Earlier rumors suggest Apple was working on a larger-sized tablet that would appeal to professionals who want the slim form factor and apps of iOS, but a larger screen for work that requires more screen real estate. This iPad Pro was rumored to debut this year, but the latest reports suggest the device may not launch until next year. Would you be interested in a device that merged the best of iOS with the form factor of a MacBook Air? Let us know in the comments. Continue reading →

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Apple’s iPhone still popular among teens, iPad interest wanes

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster today released the results of his semiannual teen survey, which asked 7,500 teenagers about their device preferences. The results show that interest in the iPhone is growing, while the iPad starts to slow. According to Munster’s survey, 61 percent of teens now own an iPhone, up from 55 percent in October 2013 and 48 percent in Spring 2013. In the future, 67 percent of teens plant to buy an iPhone, up slightly from October’s figures. On the tablet side, tablet ownership slips slightly with 66 percent of teens owning an iPad, down from 68 percent in October 2013. 60 percent of teens who don’t yet own a tablet device plan to buy an iPad, while 40 percent expect to buy an Android device. These numbers hint at the growing competition offered by low-cost Android tablets like the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7 which offer web browsing, media capabilities and apps for under $200. [Via MacRumors] Continue reading →

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Amazon’s announces its Prime Instant Video service now bigger than Apple, Hulu

Amazon’s streaming video service is picking up steam, surpassing even Apple and Hulu in the volume of video traffic it is logging from US broadband subscribers, announces Amazon citing a recent report from Qwilt, which tracks growth in online video usage. According to Qwilt, Amazon is now the number 3 video streaming service in the US, jumping over both Apple and Hulu in the past year. Amazon’s traffic volume has increased 94 percent year over year, with some operator networks seeing a 278 percent increase. Amazon now sits behind Netflix and YouTube according to Qwilt’s metrics. Amazon used this opportunity to promote its Prime Instant Video streaming service, which offers free and paid streaming content to Amazon Prime members. “We’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars in great TV shows and movies for Prime members and it’s working,” said Bill Carr, VP of Digital Video and Music for Amazon. “As part of their membership, Amazon Prime members can watch their favorite movies and television shows on an unlimited basis, and as we add original content like Alpha House, Bosch, The After, Mozart in the Jungle and Transparent, we have no doubt that customers will be even more delighted with the selection available. And now, with Fire TV, customers have the easiest way to access this content.” With the debut of its Fire TV, which ties into Prime Instant Video, Amazon is likely to see another spike in usage in 2014. It probably won’t surpass the large user base enjoyed by YouTube and Netflix, but it likely will maintain its number 3 position. Of course, Apple could shake up these metrics if it releases the rumored Apple TV, which may ship with support for an App Store, games, wireless controllers, and a possible tie-in with cable companies like Comcast. Which service do you use for online video streaming? Let us know in the comments. Continue reading →

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Apple’s US ad spend in 2013 up by 5%; brings it closer to top spender Samsung

A major part of Samsung’s success is attributed to its large marketing spend, but in 2013, Samsung’s ad spend in the US was down 10 percent year over year, while Apple’s US ad spend was up 5 percent. The result? The gap between Samsung and Apple’s advertising spend, which was $68 million in 2012, reduced to just $12 million in 2013. WSJ reports: Last year, Apple spent about $351 million on total U.S. wireless phone advertising, up 5% from $333 million, according to Kantar Media. It spent more on TV ads last year than its entire 2012 budget, spending $339 million on TV ads in 2013, up 15% from 2012 TV ad spending. Samsung spent about $363 million on all U.S. mobile phone ads, down 10% from $401 million, the only top device maker that cut U.S. ad spending. One explanation of Samsung’s high ad-spend in 2012 was that the company’s top priority in that year was to beat Apple, by increasing its “Galaxy branding” through ads. Some of Samsung’s ads were in fact good enough to attract praise from Apple exec Phil Schiller in private emails. Nokia was a surprise third in the rankings with spendings of $221 million, 15 times more than its spend in 2012. This increase perhaps has something to do with Microsoft’s purchase of the company’s devices division in September 2013. Motorola, another handset that was acquired, came in fourth with $189 million. BlackBerry and HTC followed with a spending of $90 million and $76 million respectively. The total ad spend by the 7 top smartphone makers in the US totalled $1.3 billion, up from $1 billion in 2012. Continue reading →

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New DisturbPlease Tweak Enhances iOS 7 Do Not Disturb Mode

With the release of iOS 7, Apple introduced a handy new feature called Do Not Disturb. Sadly, although the feature is much appreciated (as most new features are), Do Not Disturb is horribly under-powered. Basically, the only thing the feature can do is completely turn off notifications completely between certain times. With a new tweak called DisturbPlease, Apple’s Do Not Disturb becomes much more functional with a wide variety of new features. The tweak adds a couple of powerful new features, the first being the ability to turn off scheduling for specific days. While the default scheduling setting in the Do Not Disturb settings page applies for every day of the week, DisturbPlease allows you to turn off Do Not Disturb scheduling on days you actually want to be notified. For example, if you want Do Not Disturb to be active every day except Friday, simply uncheck Friday on the list of days. Secondly, DisturbPlease allows you also apply filters to Do Not Disturb that will allow certain contacts to actually disturb you if they send you a message. Inside of this setting page, you can select all contacts, no one, or only those on your favorites list to disturb you if they send a text or iMessage. Additionally, you can select a custom contact group that will always notify you of new messages regardless of whether or not Do Not Disturb is enabled. Sadly, creating a contact group can’t be done in the built-in iPhone contacts app. To do this, you’ll have to either use the contacts app on iPad and sync the contacts over to iCloud (and then download them on the iPhone), or create the group using a Windows or Mac contacts client such as Address Book on Mac or Outlook on Windows. To get the same effect on iPhone, though, simply use the “Favorites” option in the DisturbPlease settings; you can assign a contact to the favorites group using the built-in contacts app on iPhone. Overall, I’ve found that DisturbPlease allows me to more automate my Do Not Disturb schedule. While I definitely don’t want anyone disturbing me past midnight on a weekday, I found it annoying using Apple’s default settings that scheduling this meant missing notifications on the weekends as well. With this tweak, all I have to do is uncheck Saturday and I receive notifications as normal. Additionally, there are certain people in my life that I’m okay with disturbing me. This tweak lets me include exceptions for these people for texts and iMessages on top of the normal calls exceptions. You can get DisturbPlease on the Cydia store for $1.99, and be sure to let us know whether or not this is a tweak you’ll be getting! Continue reading →

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Spend $5 on iTunes or App Store and get $5 back with American Express cards

American Express is running an offer for all customers who spend $5 and up on the iTunes Store and App Store, where they’ll be given a one-time $5 statement credit. That’s essentially spending $5 and getting the $5 back, making what you purchased free. Here’s the offer text: Spend a total of $5 or more on iTunes using your enrolled American Express Card by 4/30/14 and get a one-time $5 statement credit. The offer is valid till the 30th of this month, and to avail the offer, you need to first opt-in on American Express’ website, and then make a purchase of above $5. The $5 bill credit will then be reflected in your next statement. Continue reading →

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