CHINA: Teen Sells Kidney For iPhone

Five people in the southern China province of Hunan have been arrested and charged with intentional injury in the case of a teenager who sold a kidney so he could buy an iPhone and an iPad. The five included a surgeon, who removed a kidney from the 17-year-old boy in April last year. The boy, identified only by his surname Wang, now suffers from renal deficiency, the government-run Xinhua News Agency quoted prosecutors in Chenzhou city, Hunan province as saying.

According to Chinese news agency Xinhua, one of the defendants received about 220,000 yuan, $US35,00 to arrange the transplant. He paid Wang 22,000 yuan and split the rest with the surgeon, the three other defendants and other medical staff. The report didn’t say who received or paid for the kidney. Read the full article »»»»

SMARTEN UP: HTC One Family 2012

HTC’s new series of flagship smartphones in the form of HTC One X, S and V have overshadowed the competition in their launch at Mobile World Congress 2012. The quad-core smartphone from HTC apparently has almost everything to be the most desirable device on the smartphone market today? Among the three models showcased during the event, HTC One X is absolutely the top model of HTC’s trio of One series. HTC has packed an absolute monster in HTC One X delivering extraordinary performance. But can HTC take on the stalwart behemoths of mobile?

HTC launched the One Series in the hope of taking the fight to Samsung and Apple, the One Series, with it’s überfast graphic chips and advanced music and photography functions is hoped to dent a stitched up market. It’s a fight that HTC has been losing, sales slumped and investors dumped shares late in 2011 on concerns the firm had lost its edge.

The Taiwanese mobile tech maker is confident it’s new models – coming to market in April 2012 –  will turn around the ailing fortunes of the world’s No.5 smartphone maker, and help to boost its annual sales volumes above last year’s level. ”We are confident this year will be … a much better year,” Florian Seiche, chief of HTC’s European operations said, referring to the number of smartphones sold. ”Even with the Q1 not being the ideal fast start right out of the gate in January, which of course we would have preferred, even with that we are very confident,” Seiche told Reuters in an interview on sidelines of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Surprisingly the Ice Cream Sandwich operating system has jelled well with the phone and improvements to HTC Sense has made it a much cleaner, easier to use experience than the previous version. Read the full article »»»»

Motorola Wins Apple Wireless Patent Fight in Germany

A German court has found Apple in violation of a Motorola Mobility patent, ruling that Apple’s iPhone and 3G model iPads infringe on cellular communications, patents owned by Motorola Mobility that relate to General Packet Radio Service – GPRS – data packet transfer technology. The patent-in-suit is European Patent 1010336 [B1] on a “method for performing a countdown function during a mobile-originated transfer for a packet radio system”. This patent is one of the two patents at issue in the action in which a default judgment was entered against Apple Inc. It was declared essential to the GPRS standard. It’s the European equivalent of U.S. Patent No. 6,359,898, a patent against which Apple raised a FRAND defense in the United States and which is being asserted in an action that was just transferred from the Western District of Wisconsin to the Northern District of Illinois. Motorola said the ruling validated its “efforts to enforce its patents against Apple’s infringement”

Oops! Samsung Galaxy Table Banned Again?

UPDATE!! The behemoth that is Apple has won another temporary injunction to stop rival Samsung from selling its Galaxy tablet computer in Australia. On Wednesday – just 2 days ago – we reported that the Federal Court had lifted a previous injunction, meaning Samsung could start selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 at 4pm (AEDT) today. But Apple later launched an appeal to the High Court. The injunction means Samsung cannot sell the tablet computer until the case goes before the court on December 9. Apple says the South Korean company’s Google Android based Galaxy range of tablets and smartphones is too similar to its iPad and iPhone. The companies have been waging a battle in 10 countries over smartphone and tablet patents since April.

Apple vs Samsung: Samsungs Henka Move

In the war that has been Apple vs Samsung, the latter has won what could be the final slap-down. Samsung has won the right to sell its Galaxy 10.1 tablet in Australia after the Federal Court overturned a ban on the sale of the computer. Last month, the court slapped a temporary injunction on sales of the Galaxy 10.1 after rival Apple said the Galaxy range of tablets and smartphones was too similar to its iPad and iPhone. The tech behemoths have been waging a battle in 10 countries over smartphone and tablet patents since April. The Australian dispute centred on touch-screen technology. The court ruled the ban would have had the effect of killing off the Galaxy 10.1 tablet in Australia because of the short commercial life of new technologies.

Saga: Apple vs Samsung, A Galaxy of Litigation

We missed out on the Cretaceous Period, got our start in the Devonian Period,  woke up to ourselves in the Pliocene and have been running straight toward the Litigious Period. As megaliths and behemoths battle it out over who owns what patent, and which gadget belongs to who, the consumer is likely to be the victim in what looks to be a long and fierce battle. There seems to be the distinct possibility that more products will be blocked from sale. Samsung says its mammoth tit-for-tat patent battle with Apple could have been avoided if the latter wasn’t so trigger happy. This latest round sees the Korean behemoth attempt to ban sales of Apple’s iPhone 4S in Australia. In the Federal Court in Sydney this week, it was decided that the patent infringement case would go to an early full hearing in March 2012,  in return Samsung agreed to pause its attempt to temporarily ban the iPhone 4S between now and then. In an amusing turnaround – Apple has consistently argued it wants litigation NOW, and has repeatedly stated it wants this hearing to go ahead immediately – In this latest case, Apple has argued that it could not be ready for such an early final hearing. In what seemed like a replay of arguments in the Samsung vs Apple Galaxy Tab case, Apple, which wanted to ban the Samsung tablet from sale due to patent infringement, was seeking an early final hearing, while Samsung was arguing it could not be ready in time. This time the shoe was on the other foot. READ MORE