HTC
Say it ain't so, Samsung
April 16, 2013: 12:04 PM ETAccused of hiring students to post negative comments about rival HTC's phones.
FORTUNE -- Readers who post comments critical of Apple (AAPL) in this space are often accused of being shills for Samsung, provocateurs paid to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt about Samsung's chief U.S. competitor.
With rare exceptions -- a guy who called himself The_Truth_Hurts comes to mind -- I prefer to assume those charges are false. There are plenty of people who have good reason to dislike Apple, and who will happily bash the company for free.
But it doesn't help their cause that, as the BBC reported Tuesday, Taiwanese fair trade authorities are investigating reports that Samsung hired students to criticize rival phone maker HTC -- posting fake benchmark reviews and made-up reports of HTC phones "constantly crashing."
According to PC Advisor, Samsung's Taiwanese subsidiary has admitted that the incidents occurred. It called them "unfortunate" and put a statement on its Facebook page promising to "cease all marketing activities that involve the posting of anonymous comments."
If found guilty of false advertising, Samsung could face fines of up to of 25 million Taiwanese dollars ($836,000).
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HTC's comeback hinges on fickle consumers
Will the One save HTC, the Android manufacturer that once seemed most likely to succeed?
by Kevin Kelleher, contributor
FORTUNE -- This is how quickly fortunes change in the smartphone industry. In 2006, Nokia (NOK) still controlled more than half of the share of the smartphone market. The iPhone wouldn't appear until the summer of 2007. And no one was making Android phones. Android Inc., bought by Google (GOOG) in 2005, wouldn't emerge MORE
Apr 16, 2013 5:00 AM ET -
4 lessons for Apple in the Facebook phone
As Apple prepares iOS 7, it could stand to learn a few things from Facebook Home.
FORTUNE -- Now we know: The Facebook Phone is neither a phone, nor an operating system. Instead, Zuckerberg unveiled a downloadable collection of apps, available April 12, that will be supported on select Android phones to start, including the $99 HTC First, the first device to come pre-loaded with it. Home, as the whole kit MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Apr 5, 2013 6:42 AM ETPosted in: Android, Apple, Facebook, Facebook Home, Facebook Messenger, Google, HTC, iOS, iOS 7, iPhone, Jony Ive, Mark Zuckerberg -
Today in Tech: HTC's bolder approach to, well, everything
Also: Yahoo's $30 million acquisition; BlackBerry's mysterious million-smartphone partner.
HTC's marketing chief takes bolder approach [THE WALL STREET JOURNAL]
"We have a lot of innovations but we haven't been loud enough," said Mr. Ho, a Singaporean who is HTC's third marketing chief in less than two years. The new approach, he says, will be bolder.
Customers were treated to a sneak peek of the new strategy when HTC fielded teams to demo the One outside the MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Mar 26, 2013 3:00 AM ET -
Apple v. HTC: What's the deal with Delaware?
Is there no delaying tactic that doesn't work in this U.S. district court?
FORTUNE -- On March 2, 2010, Apple (AAPL) filed lawsuits against HTC at the International Trade Commission and the U.S. district court of Delaware -- the first of what would be dozens of patent infringement suits against the manufacturers of smartphones and tablets based on Google's (GOOG) Android operating system.
In the press release that announced the 2010 suit, MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Oct 2, 2012 2:37 PM ET -
Apple loses two skirmishes in its patent war with HTC
First in Washington, then in London
FORTUNE -- Apple (AAPL) may be on a winning streak with Samsung, but this week it lost two courtroom skirmishes with HTC -- the first smartphone manufacturer to be sued in Steve Jobs' "thermonuclear" war against Google's (GOOG) Android operating system.
On Monday, the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington refused to grant the emergency ban on 29 HTC smartphones that Apple had requested in June.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jul 5, 2012 7:17 AM ET
On MORE -
Apple bites Android: Customs halts U.S. sales of HTC phones
Two models held for inspection after a December patent ruling in Apple's favor
FORTUNE -- In what is believed to be the first tangible effect of the two-year-old proxy war Apple (AAPL) has waged against Google (GOOG) though the makers of Android phones, U.S. Customs officials have delayed shipment of two of HTC newest models pending inspection.
The delay is indefinite, but may turn out to be brief.
In December Apple won a MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - May 16, 2012 7:12 AM ET -
With 8.8% market share, Apple has 73% of cell phone profits
Among the major vendors, Samsung captured 26%, HTC took 1%, and the rest lost money
FORTUNE -- Asymco's Horace Dediu on Thursday updated his quarterly review of mobile phone profits, and the news for everyone but Apple (AAPL) and Samsung is not good.
Apple is in roughly the same position it was last quarter, with an 8.8% share of the market in terms of units shipped (according to IDC) and a share MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - May 3, 2012 7:48 AM ET -
Barcelona blues: Apple reaps most of the cellphone profits
Just in time for this week's Mobile World Congress, a snapshot of where the money goes
To get a sense of what Apple's (AAPL) competitors are up against in Barcelona this week as they unveil their new mobile phone models for the 2012 season, consider the relative size of the solid color profit (and loss) bars in the chart above.
It's the money shot in a series of eye-opening graphs that the inimitable Horace MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 27, 2012 7:24 AM ET -
Where are the smartphones of yesteryear?
The Samsung Moment? The Motorola Cliq? The HTC Magic? The BlackBerry Tour?
Maybe I don't spend enough time shopping for Google (GOOG) Android phones, but I always get a kick out of the Top 20 Mobile Phone lists -- measured by ad impressions -- that Millennial Media posts each year.
In the 2011 report issued Thursday there weren't many surprises at the top of the list.
Apple's (AAPL) iPhone, the No. 1 best MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 24, 2012 10:24 AM ET
