Apple's Legal victory over Samsung : Nokia,Microsoft likely to gain

The US Jury’s  landmark decision on  Apple-Samsung  lawsuit  this Friday took a decisive turn by slapping Samsung  1.05 billion $ fine and providing whatever Apple wished in this latest set of patent infringement case . A billion dollar + payment  to Apple and the possibility of  injunction against the sales of  infringing Samsung Tablets and Smartphones.

 

This verdict is one of the  50 + lawsuits that these two tech giants are embroiled in 10 countries across the Globe.  Impact of this litigation will not adversely affect Samsung’s  burgeoning  Global  sales of smartphones  as it doesn’t apply outside US and doesn’t apply to new Samsung devices like Samsung Galaxy 3,Galaxy Note 10.1 etc and also ,1 billion $ fine is a meager  1.5 % of Samsung’s Electronics annual revenue. Though it has challenged the verdict by taking this case a step forward  to a court in Washington which specialises in patent appeals and  vowed to fight in US Supreme court ,if necessary.

 

The patent enfringement ensuing between these  tech giants is mainly on two fronts :- Software and  Design.

On software, Samsung infringe :

(i)                Apple’s bounce-back effect when a user tries to scroll beyond the end of a list or image.

(ii)               Apple’s pinching and zooming scroll feature.

(iii)            Apple’s tap-to-zoom feature.

 

On design,  Samsung infringed:

(i)                Apple’s iPhone’s face, screen and speaker slot.

(ii)              the ornamental design and shape of the iPhone’s face, rounded corners and bezel.

(iii)            the icon arrangement on the home screen.

 

The detailed  perspective of  these patent violations and it implication for both the companies and its consumers can be understood by the video below:

 

 

 

Immediate reaction to Apple’s legal victory over Samsung was felt in stock prices and market capitalization of its competitors in capital markets across the world. Samsung’s share plummeted by 7.7 % wiping out 12 billion $ market value of this South Korean giant with Google sitting down on the same side with shares closing 1.4 % down at 699.22 $.

 

 

On the bullish side ,Apple stocks surged  by 1.9 % closing at 675.68 $ adding 12 billion $ to its market cap standing at 633.38 billion $ (World’s most valuable company).The potential beneficiary to this historic court ruling was Microsoft ,Nokia and Blackberry who will be the alternatives to Android platform plagued now by legal suits.

 

Nokia (betting on its revamped Windows mobile platform )rose 7.7 per cent to close at 2.68 euros in Helsinki. The stock is down 29 per cent this year. Microsoft climbed less than 1 per cent to $US30.69 in NASDAQ(biggest stock exchange for technology stocks).

 

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion gained 1.9 per cent to $US7.07 in NASDAQ, the first rise after falling for 10 consecutive sessions .RIM might lose out on harnessing this opportunity now as their new range of touch-only smartphones will release only in Q1 2013.

 

On the longer term ,this  legal verdict will be definitely impact the future design and features of  the smartphones ecosystem as it affects the position of a company financial stability and its positioning towards its consumer as a brand and service.

 

Android platform might face a dearth of developers in near future as it is maligned with its present legal complications  and  developers might start a shift of choice and application development for Microsoft and Nokia’s strategic partnership for mobile platform to challenge Apple and Samsung market dominance.

Mobile manufacturers will need to take design and software development with  utmost importance without flouting international patent laws and might find it difficult to launch new products and service in response to ban imposed by courts favouring a more innovative company. Consumers will be affected by higher prices which is passed on by mobile manufacturers due to high R&D costs in  complying stringent norms and will be limited by diversity of phones and tablets that the market has to offer.

 

London 2012 Olympics - A Retrospective Look

London 2012, was a major international multi-sport event, celebrated in the tradition of the Olympic Games, as governed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), that took place in London, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012.

The results of this Global sporting spectacle was in lines of the expectations of the experts and institutions all over the World with US emerging as the winner with total 104 medals ( 46 G,29S ,29B) ,China 2nd with 87 medals( 38G, 27S ,23S) and Great Britain achieved its highest tally of gold medals since 1908, finishing third in the medal table with 65 Medals(29G ,17S,19B).

The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games  used  a mixture of new venues, existing and historic facilities, and temporary facilities, some of them in well-known locations such as Hyde Park and other facilities were reused in their Olympic form,while others were  Horse Guards Parade.Some of the new facilities were reused in their Olympic form,while others were resized or relocated with the total cost of financing at 9.3 billion euros. A bird's eye view of the Olympic Park below.

The opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics was held on 27 July and called "Isles of Wonder". Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle was its artistic director, with the music directors being the electronic music duo Rick Smith and Karl Hyde of Underworld.

The Games were officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

 Months before Olympic flame lighting ceremony was done in a traditional Olympic style in Olympia,Greece on 10 May,2012.

The Olympic Cauldron was lit  at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games by a  group of young athletes nominated by British Olympic champions.

In total  4,700 Olympic and Paralympic medals have been produced by the Royal Mint at Llantrisant.They were designed by David Watkins (Olympics) and Lin Cheung (Paralympics).Virtually all the gold, silver and copper was mined in Salt Lake County, Utah in the U.S. Each medal weighs 375–400 g (13.2–14.1 oz), has a diameter of 85 mm (3.34 in) and is 7 mm (0.27 in) thick, with the sport and discipline engraved on the rim. The value of the materials in the gold medal is about $644, the silver about $330, and the bronze about $4.71 on the current market price.

The grandest highlight of the games was Michael Phelps ,US swimmer becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time with 22 medals.

British Olympic athlete Mo Farah clinching his twin Gold feat of 5,000 metre and 10,000 metre title.

Athletics became the centrestage of attention and action with  South African double amputee runner  Oscar  Pistorious  events of 100m ,200m ,400m & 4 * 100 m titles ,stupendous performance by British atheletes ,records smashed  by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt in all the events he had the competition with perfect lead and new Olympic records in the making.

Oscar Pistorius aka Blade Runner left behind a memory and inspiration to every athlete and spectator spellbound by his dedication and sporting spirit with which he dealt his atheletic events.

Usain Bolt became the first sprinter to retain all three sprinting gold medals at consecutive Olympics.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei entered female atheltes for the first time ,meaning every country has sent a female competitor to at least one Olympic Games.Sarah Attar ,the 1st Saudi field and track athelete in the Olympics.

Andy Murray ,the British tennis player winning Gold medal beating numero uno of tennis Roger Federer easily in the finals and becoming the  biggest reasons for host Britons to cheer about the London Olympics.

Hot favourites Russia winning the synchronised swimming gold mainitaning their total domination of this game in Olympic history.

India's Olympic campaign ending with 6 medals ,2 silver and 4 bronze medals doubling up the last Beijing medals tally .Amazing achievement by any scale for the Indians to proud of.

Era of Chinese domination in diving came to an end with world diving champion Qiu Bio beaten by American David Boudia.

Gabby Douglas becoming the first African-American to win Gold in women's all around Gymnastics event.

Perhaps ,on the downside there were some sad moments and happenings ,most talked about  among them being South Korean fencer Shin-a-Lam crying after losing a chance at the Gold.

This Olympics also symbolised a cohesion of World sporting fraternity with hardly any stray events of fights ,quarrels between sportspersons or any doping scandals throughout the event schedule.

Equestrian events dominated by European giants (Germans & Britons).

North Korea`s Kim Un Guk broke the world record in men`s 62 kg category weight-lifting on the way to win gold

Apart from the dazzling sporting events, there was the advent of interactive Google Doodle which ruled the hearts of every Olympic enthusiast whether it was basketball ,atheletics etc with Facebook wall posts and tweets galloping the internet space in no time .

Well every good thing/phenomenon needs to come to an end.So was it. The closing ceremony of the London 2012 Summer Olympics was held on 12 August 2012.

 The ceremony featured a flashback fiesta to British music with The Who along with other prominent Musicians and Celebrities finishing out the performance.

The ceremony also included a handover of the Olympic flag by Boris Johnson ,Mayor of London ,to Eduardo Paes ,Mayor of Rio de Janiero ,the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

   Bye London ,the sucessful hosts of Olympics 2012.

So catch the next level of Global sporting exuberance in 2016 at Brazilian city of Rio de Janiero with the Olympic flag already reaching the  host city this week.