Samsung overtakes Apple in smartphone shipments

Samsung beat Apple to become the world's largest shipper of smartphones between July and September.

Analytics report showed that Samsung shipped 27.8 million smartphones in the last quarter as compared with 17.1 million from Apple and 16.8 million from Nokia.

The consultancy said Apple's growth was stopped because customers waiting for the launch of the new iPhone 4S.

Apple's number four slot in total handsets was taken by China's ZTE.

Nokia was the leading handset shipper with a 27.3% market share, followed by Samsung with 22.6% and LG with 5.4%.

ZTE took 4.7%, pushing Apple into fifth place with 4.4%.

This research came shortly after the announcement of Samsung's third-quarter results, which showed profit decreasing 23% as strong growth in its mobile phone business was overshadowed by a poor performance in the memory chip arm.

Handset profits more than doubled to 2.52tn won ($2.3bn; £1.4bn) on strong sales from its Galaxy smartphones.

"Samsung's rise has been driven by a blend of elegant hardware designs, popular Android services, memorable sub-brands and extensive global distribution," said Alex Spektor from Strategy Analytics.

"Samsung has demonstrated that it is possible, at least in the short term, to differentiate and grow by using the Android ecosystem."

A total of 117 million smartphones were shipped in the third quarter, up 44% from the same period last year.

Nokia's market share for smartphones decrease from 33% in the third quarter of 2010 to to 14% this time round.

"The transition from Symbian to Microsoft as Nokia's main smartphone platform has clearly been a very challenging process this year," said Tom Kang from Strategy Analytics.

"The recent launch of the new Microsoft Lumia portfolio has helped to increase Nokia's profile."

Apple halts Samsung sales of Galaxy tablet in Europe

Apple Inc won a great victory in its patent infringement battle against Samsung Electronics Co after a German court temporarily barred the South Korean firm from selling its flagship Galaxy tablet in the EU, except the Netherlands.

The court order announced a week after Samsung was forcefully asked to delay the Australian launch of its latest Galaxy tablet because of a similar lawsuit.

Apple has said Samsung’s Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets “slavishly” copied the iPhone and iPad. It has sued in the US, Australia and elsewhere. Samsung, whose tablets are based on Google Inc’s Android software, has countersued Apple.

Apple spokesperson Kristin Huguet confirmed that a court in the German city of Dusseldorf approved the preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1. It was not immediately clear why the order did not add the Netherlands.

“It’s a strategy Apple has adopted to completely prevent Samsung from putting its tablet into the market place,” said Nathan Mattock, an intellectual property lawyer at Marque Lawyers in Sydney.

Samsung’s mobile unit, which adds handsets and tablet PCs, generated 30 percent of the technology giant’s profit in the second quarter. The bulk of the rest comes from memory chips and televisions, sectors where Samsung is the global leader.

The South Korean company said it would challenge the court decision.

“The request for an injunction was filed with no notice to Samsung and the order was issued without any hearing or presentation of evidence from Samsung,” Samsung said.

Apple’s move also increase the stakes for Google, which has accused its biggest rivals of banding together to hamper its increasingly popular Android, after it lost a bid to buy thousands of patents from bankrupt Nortel.

Without patents, companies’ devices are vulnerable to challenges for royalties or, worse, demands from rivals to withdraw the products from the market place.

Samsung has been locked in a war 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.

Industry executives said Samsung could launch a new variation of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to get it on sale in Europe, as it plans to do in Australia, or settle the dispute by paying royalties to Apple.

In Australia, Samsung has agreed to show Apple an Australian version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 one week before its launch there, a Samsung spokesman said.

Samsung eyes InterDigital patent portfolio for mobile technology

Samsung is  interested in acquiring InterDigital Inc.’s patent portfolio, which retains a catalog of patents related to mobile technologies used to transform information.

However, Samsung is not the only one interested in making this deal. Both Apple and Google are also  bidders as well.

Lee Seung Woo, a Seoul-based analyst at Shinyoung Securities Co., told Bloomberg about just how serious this acquisition could be.