US ruling won't affect Samsung's Tab sales - Korea Times

Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Tab 10.1By Kim Yoo-chul

Samsung Electronics said Tuesday it will continue to sell its 10.1-inch tablet PCs ? Galaxy Tab ? in the United States despite an appeals court’s ruling Tuesday that revived Apple’s bid to bar the sales of Galaxy Tab there.

Samsung, the world’s biggest technology company by revenue, simply downplayed the effects of the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for the sale of its tablets and stressed the company will push its distribution channels to sell the devices.

The court ruled Monday that Apple could push for its bid for an immediate injunction to bar the sale of some tablet computers made by Samsung Electronics. It sent the case back to the district count for further review.

``The decision doesn’t mean that Samsung should stop selling the Tabs, immediately. This isn’t a preliminary injunction,’’ said Samsung said in a statement.

``We don’t think the latest ruling from the United States is unfavorable for us. We will prove that Apple’s claims are totally groundless by using all our legal power. Samsung will keep our intellectual properties,’’ according to the statement.

This isn’t the first time that the Cupertino-based Apple tried to block the sale of the Samsung tablet, with a previous case in Germany, which led to Samsung modifying the tablet and another in Australia.

Earlier, a German court made a favorable ruling to Apple. Shortly after, Samsung changed the bezel, location of speaker grills and name of the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 as part of its strategy to avoid the injunction in Germany.

It’s uncertain whether Apple will demand an immediate block on Samsung tablet sales.

If Apple presses for a ban, that could be seen as a signal that it will continue litigation against Samsung. But if Apple holds off, it could imply that Apple is willing to compromise with Samsung, ending the patent war.

Apple spokesman Steve Park declined to comment on the issue.

Since last year, Samsung has been engaged in a legal battle with Apple in 10 different countries and 30 different cases after Apple claimed that Samsung copied the design of Apple’s iPhones and iPads.

Although Samsung was late in the market for smartphones, the Korean company rose to become the world’s biggest smartphone maker last year thanks to Samsung’s undeniable competitive edge in manufacturing.

Samsung has confirmed that its Chief Executive Choi Gee-sung will meet Apple CEO Tim Cook on May 21 in a San Francisco courtroom to discuss a possible patent settlement.

If the companies fail to reach an agreement, the case will proceed to trial in late July, according to Samsung officials. A Samsung spokeswoman declined discussing the possibilities of the settlement, however, added there could be some breakthrough from the top meeting.

``We call Samsung’s current `mass customization’ strategy is far better than Apple’s `single customization’ strategy as the market for smartphones is booming. Therefore, chances are low that Apple will press its ban on Samsung tablets,’’ said Lee Sae-chul, an analyst at Meritz Securities.

Lee said Apple has stronger intent to sign a peace treaty in order to collect royalties from Samsung as early as possible as Apple’s top management believes a continued fight with Samsung is only going to hurt its business strategy.

The local brokerage said Samsung will continue its status as the world’s top smartphone vendor in the second quarter thanks to Samsung’s expanded product lineup.

Likewise, Apple is soon to release its next iPhone, which may or may not be the iPhone 5, in the latter half of this year, according to officials.

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Weak computer sales trim Microsoft 3Q profit - msnbc.com

Microsoft Corp beat Wall Street's profit forecast as personal computer sales held up better than expected, lifting its shares 2.5 percent after hours.

The results buoyed optimism around the world's largest software maker, which is lining up a new tablet-friendly version of Windows for later this year and is looking to make a dent into Apple Inc and Google Inc's domination of the mobile market this holiday shopping season.

"The results were a fair amount better than we were looking for," said Rick Sherlund, an analyst at Nomura Securities. "Overall revenue growth was 6 percent, and this is before the new product cycle, which should come around October."

Microsoft - whose shares hit a 4-year high of $32.95 last month - has not said when its Windows 8 system will be released, but most in the industry expect it on devices from around October, offering an alternative to Apple's runaway iPad. New Windows smartphone software is expected around the same time.

"Next year at this time we should be talking about Windows 8 mobile and how it's contributing or not to the company," said Kim Forrest, analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group. "But we really need Windows 8 to come out on all devices, to see if it's going to have that synergy or not."

The Redmond, Washington-based company reported fiscal third-quarter profit of $5.11 billion, or 60 cents per share, compared with $5.23 billion, or 61 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter when it posted a one-time tax gain.

Profit beat analysts' average forecast of 57 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales rose 6 percent to $17.41 billion, driven by strong demand for its server software products and Office application. Analysts had expected sales of $17.18 billion.

Worldwide personal computer sales rose a modest 1.9 percent in the quarter, according to tech research firm Gartner Inc. That was better than expected in a market facing hard-drive shortages from Thailand and the onslaught of Apple Inc's iPad.

That helped Microsoft, which supplies the operating system for 90 percent of PCs, to post a 4 percent increase in sales of Windows, still its main product.

"The Windows beat was a positive surprise, looking at about 4 percent growth, versus expectations for about a 4 percent decline," said Josh Olson, an analyst at Edward Jones.

"We also had solid business and server performance as well. The Big Three, if you will, in terms of the revenue drivers, were all a little bit better than expected, with Windows a lot better than expected."

On the downside, Microsoft's usually profitable entertainment and devices unit posted a quarterly loss due to falling sales of its aging Xbox console and increased research and marketing costs for its new Windows smartphone software.

"There was weakness in entertainment and devices," said Sid Parakh, an analyst at McAdams Wright Ragen. "If that were to have come in in-line, it would have been a pretty nice beat."

Traditional console sales are down across the board this year - hurting Microsoft, Sony Corp and Nintendo Co Ltd - as Apple's iPad and other tablets grab a slice of the lucrative market.

Microsoft shares rose to $31.87 in extended trading, after closing at $31.01 on Nasdaq.

The stock is up 20 percent so far this year, outpacing the tech-heavy Nasdaq's 16 percent gain, and a 10 percent rise in the Standard & Poor's 500.

But it is still below levels of 10 years ago, as investors worry about the company's ability to match Apple and Google in online and mobile technology. Apple's market value is now comfortably twice that of Microsoft, and its sales of iPhones last quarter exceeded Microsoft's overall revenue.

Microsoft is the cheapest of the big tech stocks, with a price hovering around 10.7 times expected earnings for the next 12 months, or about 14 percent lower than its peers, according to StarMine.

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp

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