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EU hammers Google with record $2.7 billion antitrust fine for illegal search manipulation
Has anyone even looked at the facts? The litigants were primarily other US corporations. Including one who was a known abuser in the past, Microsoft.
Google is abusing its dominance in search to make its own services competitive where they would not be otherwise. So much for their motto, "Don't be evil."
The real issue isn't the fine. Google has 60 days to change their practices. If they don't, they will face additional fines which will be ongoing.
Amd Google is by no means finished. There is the tax issue which is similar to the one Apple faced and it will very likely result in much larger fines. There is also the issue of Android.
I personally never use Google search anymore. I do product searches on Amazon. For local services, I use Yelp. I do lots of voice searches using Siri or Amazon's Echo. I hope samsung brings Bixby to the Gear S3 line of watches. I will very likely be purchasing the HomePod when it is released for the superior acoustics. The Invoke by Samsung's Harman unit looks to be quite interesting also.
Other than an occasional instructional YouTube video, I don't have any plans to use any other Google products. I don't "need" them and most certainly don't want them.
Schmidt is worse than Gates even at Microsoft's worst. At least Gates has become a philanthropist. Schmidt does not even do that. And now he can try to figure out how to navigate Google out of the mess he has created.
Google search is going to be forced to adopt a new model. Android is going to go into irrelevance once the FTC and Apple are finished with Qualcomm. Samsung is going to displace Android with Tizen, using Bixby for search. Cutting edge mobile CPUs will belong to Apple and Samsung. It means that Android gets relegated to poorly performing mobile devices.
I for one won't miss Google when that day happens. Not one iota. -
Qualcomm asks ITC to block import and sale of Apple iPhone, iPad
boltsfan17 said:This looks like a publicity stunt by Qualcomm.
Qualcomm should be arguing the merits of their position to a judge. If the judge takes Qualcomm's side a judgment is rendered and Apple has to pay. If, however, the finding goes against Qualcomm, they stand to lose a great deal. Samsung will immediately cease using the inferiorn Snapdragon 835 CPU in favor of its own Exynos 8895 for the North American market.
A number of judgments have already been entered against Qualcomm. They lost a nearly billion dollar case in China. They lost again against Blackberry again to the tune of nearly a billion dollars. They most recently were fined by the South Korean government, you guessed it, to the tune againof nearly a billion dollars. Clearly, Qualcomm's licensing and terms are considered abusive.
They are well aware that they will likely lose in court. And so they resort to the tactic of attempting to bully Apple in order to compel Apple to drop the lawsuit.
It won't happen. QCOM is going to lose again. Judges also frown heavily on such attempts at bullying the other party to submit.
QCOM isn't interested in publicity. They are interested in trying to force Apple to acquiesce. It would send a message to the rest of the industry that their licensing model even if unfair is valid and they were able to force a company as powerful as Apple into submission.
Aple isn't disputing the fact that QCOM should be paid royalties. They just want a level playing field with respect to royalty payments. Samsung and Intel have also filed Amicus briefs in support of Apple.
QCom is in a lot of trouble. This is an act of desperation. -
FBI Director Comey calls 'emotion' surrounding Apple case unproductive, says encryption needs legis
Maybe Comey would like help in defecting to North Korea. I am certain he could gain great insight into what happens when a government has absolute control of their citizens with no privacy rights.
The North Korean government would have no compunction in forcing a company to wantonly violate any vestigial right privacy. Comey would feel right at home. Or he could defect to ISIS held territory.
And I would like to purchase a one ticket to Pyongyang for Senator Feinstein. If my own senator supports the notion of placing a backdoor into otherwise secure software, he will lose my vote forever also. -
Apple v. Samsung remanded back to court where legal battle began
rob53 said:Then Apple should win its lawsuit against Qualcomm who used the entire cost of the iPhone as the basis for FRAND calculations. If Samsung wins the reduced amount Apple should win a greatly reduced patent royalty charge as well as a return on previous charges. If the EU can collect in arrears then so can Apple. I doubt The cost of Qualcomm hardware is more than a few dollars per device at the most.
Apple has already likely made a decision to move to Intel for cellular modems and QCOM is going to suffer in the move to 5G and the loss of Apple's business. It means that they are going to have to make some awful choices. Continue to invest in baseband technology now competing with Intel, or invest in CPU technology and compete with Apple.
Competing with both simultaneously with reduced revenues is going to be awfully difficult.
Samsung is likely to be one the few winners with QCOM's loss of competitiveness. They make their own modems and SOCs. Huawei is also another beneficiary and perhaps LG if they successfully develop and release the Nuclun processor.
Google's Android will be the ultimate loser as Samsung, Huawei and LG demand concessions with the other OEMs reduced to low performance modems and CPUs from QCOM.
I don't expect much to come from the lawsuit. It doesn't really matter much as the landscape has changed dramatically from Steve Jobs' time at Apple.
What is interesting to watch is what Samsung does to Google over the next several years. The Pixel won't be competitive for long. Not by a long shot. And apart from the phone itself, Samsung runs their other electronics on Tizen.
With the crippling of QCOM, Google won't have many options left to exploit. -
DRAM, NAND supplies for 'iPhone 8' tight in global shortage of components
Apple absolutely needs to bury hatchet when it comes to Samsung.
Samsung just announced that they are planning their enterprise v-NAND product, built on an industry leading 64 layer process to be released for the consumer market. Apple could lock up that product for the iPhone. SK Hynix and Toshiba are now a generation behind Samsung and Samsung is accelerating the pace of development for their leading edge v-NAND product.
Dont get me wrong. I like Apple products. I like them a lot. But when I can get three days of battery life out of the Gear S3 smartwatch and my friends struggle to get full day from the Apple Watch, samsung is a very capable company.
There is no way for Apple to leave Samsung as a components supplier. And it is going to worsen in the future as Samsung pulls further and further ahead. Hence, Apple needs to work with Samsung. The two companies will dominate the mobile OS landscape anyway. And the presence of the other company ensures that anti-trust issues are kept to a minimum.
I don't get all of the anti-Samsung bias. They are a very capable and very respected company. It was Google that ripped off iOS with Schmidt having access to all of the high level discussions with respect to the iPhone.
I think very highly of both companies. I think quite negatively about Google. And Samsung is assaulting Google with respect to Android. Android won't disappear immediately but the market will move on, much like the case with Windows.
SK Hynix and Toshiba are out of their league in competing with Samsung. Apple should abandon their products and set up exclusive deals with Samsung for memory like OLED panels and like they have with TSMC. -
Apple iPad decline continues with 19 percent drop in holiday quarter
The iPad is a very nice machine. Very long lived too.
I still use my original iPad on occasion. I only upgraded just last year when the large screen iPad Pro was released.
My next upgrade will be to a MacBook Pro. I am waiting for Intel to get on the ball regarding their 3D XPoint memory product. And I will likely upgrade the iPad also when Apple includes the NVM memory product in the device also.
The iPad lasts and lasts. Such a great product. It makes for a light upgrade cycle and the likely reason for the sales declines. It is far better than anything from the competition. -
Apple A10 iPhone 7 speeds past Samsung Galaxy S8, Google Pixel, LG G6 & BBK 3T (with 2x RA...
Samsung has a huge advantage over the other Android makes. They make all of the components.
Google's real problem regarding the Pixel's poor sales is the fact that they can't get hold of any more OLED panels. And with Apple in the picture purchasing massive quantities of OLED panels, Samsung is going to kick Google to the curb so to speak. It's no secret that Samsung wants to move away from Android and over to Tizen. With their lock on high end hardware, they have the means to do so. It is going to take LG some time to ramp up OLED production and they will not be able to achieve the same economies of scale that Samsung now has.
It means that Google will be paying more for those OLED panels. They can either charge more or watch their margins disappear.
The A11 on 10 nm is going to scream. The GPU will enable levels of game play the Android market can only dream about. The A11 is going to even put a hurting on Intel's Portable Core i7 line.
In the end, there will be only two. Apple and Samsung. Google is going to have to double down on YouTube. Because Samsung is going to take the Android market from Google. -
Samsung Galaxy fire blamed in evacuation of Southwest flight
tzeshan said:sog35 said:This is friken RIDICULOUS.
All Samsung phones need to be confiscated from all flights. PERIOD.
They need to be collected and stored in an air tight/fire proof safe for the entire flight.
These phones are as dangerous as dynamite.
Why the HELL is the govt not doing anything?
Fast charging lithium batteries is fraught with risk anyhow. It was even a problem for Boeing's 787.
Android much superior to iOS. LOL. That's a good one. -
With Bixby still MIA, Samsung scrambling to build Apple HomePod competing smart speaker
Samsung's Harman Kardon unit is building a unit prioritizing acoustics. It is the Invoke but will apparently run Cortana although Samsung could eventually bring Bixby to the unit.
Samsung will work out the hiccups with Bixby. They are a very capable company. They just passed Intel in chip sales. They are on a roll with respect to NAND and OLED technologies. Bixby is software and software is easier to build than cutting edge hardware components.
My Korean friends are quite enamored with Bixby. If Samsung duplicates that experience in English, and they very likely will, given their dedication and focus, it will be a game changer as it is integrated into the Samsung's flagship phones. Much like Siri is in the iPhone.
The HomePod is interesting and I will very likely purchase one. However, I very much like my Samsung Gear S3 with LTE. If Samsung continues to build hardware like this, they are a real force to be reckoned with.
Samsung and Apple are outstanding companies. They will be competitors, but together they will dominate mobile computing. Google is slowly losing android as a dominant platform as they have no answer to the hardware Samsung is planning. Microsoft is incapable and the Chinese manufacturers aren't even in the game anymore. They will be relegated to the lowest end of the market with limited memory, LCD panels, poor performance and poor battery life devices. That is the realm that Android is going to play in. Even Samsung's low end Tizen phones will have better capabilities. -
Android Oreo exits developer beta program, coming to Google's Pixel, Nexus soon