DoCoMo: Apple Lawsuit Won't Block Japan Samsung Tablet - PCWorld

NTT DoCoMo's CEO said Thursday that the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Tab next month will not be affected by a patent-infringement lawsuit by Apple.

Such lawsuits from Apple, which allege patent infringements related to its iPad tablet, have blocked or delayed sales of Samsung's tablet across Europe, Australia, and Korea.

"We have heard from Samsung that there will be no obstruction to sales," said DoCoMo chief Ryuji Yamada. "We have been told that the patent situation is different in Europe and Japan."

Yamada spoke to reporters at an event to mark the launch of the tablet on its high-speed LTE network next month, along with a tablet from Fujitsu. He said tablets, until now grouped into the same product category as smartphones, will be a main focus for the company moving forward.

Apple has brought lawsuits against Samsung in courts around the world for patent infringments related to its smash-hit iPad tablet.

In Japan, Apple sued Japanese units of Samsung for damages of 1 billion yen ($13 million) in a Tokyo court, Japanese media reported.

Calls to Apple's Japan offices went unanswered. A Samsung employee that answered the phone at their Tokyo office said the company's spokesperson was unavailable Thursday evening.

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Apple taps Japan court to ban sales of Samsung phones (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) – Apple is seeking to ban sales of some Samsung Electronics gadgets in Japan, accusing its rival of violating patents relating to the iPhone and iPad, the latest salvo in a series of patent battles between the two companies.

Apple has filed a suit with the Tokyo District Court seeking the suspension of sales of Galaxy S and its sequel S II smartphones and the Galaxy Tab 7 in Japan, according to sources close to the matter. The first hearing was held on Wednesday, the source said.

Samsung has been locked in a battle with Apple over smartphone and tablet patents since April. The Galaxy gadgets are seen as among the biggest challengers to Apple's mobile devices, which have achieved runaway success.

In a global intellectual property battle, Apple has said the Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets "slavishly" copied the iPhone and iPad, and it has sued the Korean firm in the United States, Australia and Korea as well as Europe.

Samsung, whose tablets are based on Google Inc's Android software, has countersued Apple.

Samsung filed a suit against Apple in Japan in April and Apple countersued on August 23, Samsung said. Apple is seeking 100 million yen ($1.3 million) in damages, as well as the sales ban, according to Kyodo news agency, which reported the news earlier.

Samsung's Galaxy S outsold Apple's iPhone in Japan in January-March, according to data from research firm Strategy Analytics.

A spokesman for the Tokyo District Court said he could not comment on pending cases.

Last month, Samsung said it would delay the launch of its latest Galaxy tablet computers in Australia until after a court ruling in late September. Last week, a German court banned sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7.7.

Earlier on Thursday, Japan's top mobile carrier NTT Docomo launched Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 on its high-speed LTE network.

"We have heard from Samsung that it's all right," NTT Docomo President Ryuji Yamada told reporters at the launch when asked about the patent battles. "At this point we don't think it will harm our sales."

($1 = 77.325 Japanese Yen)

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds and Reiji Murai in TOKYO and Miyoung Kim in SEOUL; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Anshuman Daga)

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Apple Possibly Planning All New Mac Product - SlashGear

Straight from the horses mouth – the one that lives in Japan and isn’t exactly officially connected with Apple in any way, thusly a whole different breed, as it were, comes word that Apple will be releasing a Mac that’s “absolutely different from current products.” The source for this information is a group that also successfully predicted the March release of the iPad 2. What we’re expecting is that IF a whole new product is released, it could be a touch-central desktop computer to make use of the newest Mac OS Lion’s ability to push and pull in all directions for gesture-based action all day long.

The report here suggests that this new product to be released before the end of 2011 will be so very different from products of the past that it’ll be given a whole new name. Will there be an “i” in it? Will it be a Mac? Perhaps it’ll be an inductive charging tower better than any we’ve seen in the past, ready and willing to work with the iPhone 5! Maybe it’s something that’ll allow all future products to have integrated projectors for off-the-wall images galore.

Here’s another possibility that’s a little bit less likely: hover sensing for all products. Perhaps they’ll be changing the name of the mouse to allow multitouch gestures and etcetera on a miniature display. Strange! How about the 3D future of things in Apple products – a possibility? What I’d put my cash on is something to do with touches and gestures up the wazoo, whatever it is.

[via Macotakara.jp]

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Apple iOS 5 to include earthquake alerts for Japanese users (Digital Trends)

If you thought the most useful part of Apple’s upcoming iOS 5 mobile operating system was iMessage, then you might want to reconsider: According to 9to5Mac, Apple is incorporating early earthquake warning notifications directly into iOS 5.

The notification system will be directly connected to Japan’s highly-complex national earthquake early-alert system, which gained international attention for its sophistication after the devastating eathquakes and tsunamis that caused mass destruction to the Asian country during March of this year.

In fact, according to Time magazine, Japan’s earthquake early-warning system is the “most advanced” such system in the entire world. “[I]t detects tremors, calculates an earthquake’s epicenter and sends out brief warnings from its 1,000-plus seismographs scattered throughout the country, one of the most earthquake-prone nations on the planet,” writes Lucy Birmingham in Time.

As of now, the Japanese often rely upon third-party mobile applications like Yurekuru Call, which also sends alerts to users when an earthquake may be imminent. In iOS 5, users will be able to turn the notifications on and off, depending on preference. Why wouldn’t someone want to be warned if an earthquake is coming? Well, the system does quickly deplete the iPhone battery life, as it is constantly communicating with the national earthquake monitoring system to check for updates.

Matters of life and death aside, iOS 5 will be packed with a variety of awesome-looking features, including the aforementioned iMessage, which is an private messaging system between iOS device users, similar to BlackBerry Messenger. Another notable add-on is Twitter integration, which makes it easier for iPhone users to share everything from pictures and videos to contacts and maps.

We don’t yet have a release date for iOS 5, though it will likely become available with the release of Apple’s next iPhone (purportedly called iPhone 5), which is said to be set to hit stores in October.

Check out everything you need to know about iOS 5 here.

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