Apple, April 2013: ‘Consumers want what we don’t have’
The ongoing Apple-Samsung trial is unearthing some interesting behind-closed-door secrets on both sides. Something we hadn’t seen in the preceding legal tussles however, and presented by Recode, was a handful of slides from an Apple internal meeting in April 2013 regarding its plans for 2014. Alongside the slowing growth of iPhone sales, the research noted that overall smartphone growth was from cheap and large (well, larger than the current iPhone) devices — both of which Apple had nothing to compete with. As the slide put it: “Consumers want what we don’t have.”
The slide also includes some other reasons for concern, including the carriers’ “strong interest in capping iPhone” sales because of its already-high market share, a tough subsidy premium and some (not mentioned) “unfriendly” policies — consider that lack of carrier-sanctioned bloatware on your iPhone. Apple also admitted that the mobile competition had also “drastically improved their hardware and in some cases their ecosystems,” while at the same time, some Android phone-makers were spending “obscene” sums on advertising or carriers to gain traction. Now, which company could Apple possibly mean?
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, Samsung
Via: Recode
Source: Internal slides (Scribd)
White House has had legal talks with Samsung about that presidential selfie
It isn’t quite the selfie-retweeted-’round-the-world, but that hasn’t stopped the White House from answering questions about David Ortiz’s impromptu snapshot with the president. Obama’s senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer made an appearance on Face the Nation to talk about serious matters like the state of the Affordable Healthcare Act, but didn’t shy away from host Bob Schieffer’s questions about the above picture (those start around the 5:47 mark). Pfeiffer said that the president didn’t know anything about Samsung’s connection with Big Papi, and that whenever someone is using the president to promote a product, that’s concern for the White House’s counsel. On the topic of legal action, Pfeiffer said that the while the White House has spoken with Samsung, he’d rather leave the outcome of that conversation between the lawyers. “Maybe this will be the end of all selfies,” he said. We can only hope.
[Image credit: David Ortiz, Twitter]
Filed under: Cameras, Mobile, Samsung
Source: YouTube
Samsung Selfie Madness! Cyanogen Inc. Gets a New Logo! – The ManDroid Show
Happy Friday my friends. Time to talk a little Android with yours truly. Samsung definitely has a new marketing strategy that seems to work in their favor. Cyanogen Inc. is growing, which is crazy considering where they were a few years ago. Nice to see that once great ROM turn into something greater. Enjoy the show!
News Topics
Samsung Obama and Ortiz selfie
Cyanogen Inc. gets a new logo
CyanogenMod OS screenshots
Amazon announces FireTV
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Samsung Galaxy S5 comes late to Verizon, but on a 2-for-1 deal
Verizon often takes its sweet time getting the latest phones, and Samsung’s new alpha dog, the Galaxy S5, is no exception — AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint all nabbed it first. However, at least Big Red’s sweetening the pot on the 5.1-inch, Full HD, Snapdragon 801-equipped handset. While it’s now on pre-order at $200 for a two year deal or $600 sans contract, you can get a second GS5 (or other select models) for “free.” The only catch is that you’ll need to sign up for another two-year plan, so the phone is essentially half-price with two contracts. Still, you’d be able to chuckle at your Windows Phone-using pals, who’d pay the same price for essentially last year’s model.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung, Verizon
Via: GSM Arena
Source: Verizon
Samsung still makes Windows Phones: ATIV SE up for pre-order at Verizon
With Windows Phone 8.1 now free, we may start seeing more announcements like this: Verizon’s just put the Samsung ATIV SE handset up for pre-order. As we saw in an earlier leak, it’s essentially a high-spec Galaxy S4 with Windows 8 (not 8.1) instead of Android. Though that’s been superceded by the Galaxy S5 on Android, the internals are still not too shabby, especially for a WP8 handset: a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 quad-core CPU, LTE, 2GB of RAM, a 16 13-megapixel camera and a 2,600mAh battery. Naturally, Samsung’s also thrown in its own goodies whether you want them or not — though some, like the TV remote control app, actually look useful. Verizon says it’ll ship them out by April 12th at the latest and, if you go for one at $200 on a two-year contract, you’ll even get a second one free.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung, Verizon
Via: The Verge
Source: Verizon
Galaxy S5 Zoom leaked in new image
A leaked image that has found its way onto the web claiming to be the Galaxy S5 Zoom could be the real deal, offering the first look at the latest smartphone and camera hybrid from Samsung.
The Galaxy S5 Zoom is expected to feature a 20-Megapixel camera with 10x optical zoom, Xenon flash and OIS (optical image stabilisation), together with a quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 4.8-inch 720p display.
Whilst it’s difficult to judge the physical dimensions of the new Galaxy S5 Zoom it is thought it will resemble the same size of the Galaxy S4 Zoom but the lens won’t protrude quite as much as it did on the earlier model.
The Galaxy S5 Zoom is expected to be released sometime in May.
The post Galaxy S5 Zoom leaked in new image appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Samsung promises truly flexible electronics sooner with graphene breakthrough
Graphene. It was going to reinvigorate the electronics industry. Better than silicon, flexible yet more durable than steel and with high heat conduction, it all sounded like The Dream for thinner components and wearables.. but it kinda faded away. Well, it’s back, according to Samsung. In a partnership with Sungkyunkwan University, it reckons it’s solved the tricky issue of manufacturing “large area, single crystal wafer scale graphene,” or simply: big, thin sheets of it. Manufacturing methods in the past have reduced the electric and mechanic benefits associated with the material — one reason it’s taken so long to be commercialized and, you know, appear in for real, for sale things. Samsung’s involvement should mean it could actually happen.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables, Science, Samsung
Source: Samsung
Samsung scores again with selfie of David Ortiz and Barack Obama
First it was Ellen’s Twitter selfie at the Oscars, and now, David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox has taken a selfie with the big man himself, Barack Obama, and posted it to Twitter. The selfie of David Ortiz and Barack Obama was snapped during the Red Sox’s visit to the White House and was taken by none other than a Samsung Galaxy Note 3, courtesy of Samsung.
Earlier this week, it has been reported that Samsung and Ortiz signed a deal, along with some other members of the Red Sox, to promote Samsung’s devices. The image was retweeted by Samsung with the hashtag #GalaxyNote3, and although the image hasn’t quite reached the Twitter-crashing viral nature of Ellen’s tweet, it’s still serving as a big part of Samsung’s marketing and advertising machine.
What do you think of all these celebrity endorsements for Samsung’s devices? Do you think they’ve figured viral marketing out for 2014? Let us know what your thoughts are in the comments.
Source: The Boston Globe via TalkAndroid
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Premium Samsung Galaxy S5 rumors surface yet again
Despite Samsung’s insistence that it is not working on a premium Galaxy S5 experience, the rumors of said device aren’t going away. Details found on GFXBench indicate that the SM-G906S could be a variant of the flagship device. The difference, however, is that this model packs in twice the screen pixels and a different (2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805) processor.
At 5.2-inches, the 2560×1440 pixel screen would be the company’s first 2K display. It’s not a coincidence that this is the same resolution rumored for the premium Galaxy S5 (Project F, Samsung Galaxy F). For what it’s worth, we’ve also heard chatter that this device could employ a curved display.
Other specifications listed in the benchmark website show the phone as running Android 4.4.2 and featuring a 16-megapixel rear camera and front-facing 2-megapixel camera.
The model number very closely resembles that of the Galaxy S5 so we’re inclined to believe this is a twist on the standard model. We don’t see Samsung introducing a new line of products anytime soon.
The post Premium Samsung Galaxy S5 rumors surface yet again appeared first on AndroidGuys.
White House miffed after Samsung uses an Obama selfie as an ad
Did you catch the selfie that the Red Sox’s David Ortiz took with President Obama? That was a great instance of cultural zeitgeist, wasn’t it? However, Samsung also has a deal with Ortiz that let it use the shot (taken with a Galaxy Note 3) in a Twitter ad — and the White House isn’t very happy. The administration tells CBS that it didn’t realize the baseball star’s photo could be used as an Oscars-style marketing ploy. Officials aren’t asking anyone to take pictures down after the fact, but they hint that they might not have approved the photo if they’d known about the possible financial incentives. For his part, Ortiz insists that it was a sincere, spur-of-the-moment shot — while Samsung pays him, he couldn’t exactly promise an Obama photo op. We’re inclined to believe Big Papi, but something tells us that the President may be a little more camera shy in the future.
[Image credit: David Ortiz, Twitter]
Big Papi, Big Selfie. RT @DavidOrtiz What an honor! Thanks for the #selfie, @BarackObama pic.twitter.com/3I7ckLjquf
– Samsung Mobile US (@SamsungMobileUS) April 1, 2014
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Samsung
Source: CBS Boston, Samsung Mobile US (Twitter)
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