Mobile computing wars pose tough choices for Internet publishers

SEATTLE | Tue Oct 2, 2012 - For Microsoft Corp, and Amazon.com, and the clutch of other companies that hope to carve out a big slice of a mobile computing business currently dominated by Apple Inc, the future depends on people like Scott Porad.

As chief technology officer of Cheezburger Network, a popular publisher of humor websites, Porad has to make the tough calls on which mobile devices merit the development of special software, or apps, that will make the company’s content shine.
Developing apps for the hot-selling iPhone might be a no-brainer, but that’s not the case when it comes to apps for Microsoft’s new Windows 8 software, or for the various versions of Google Inc’s Android mobile operating system, or for Research in Motion Ltd’s BlackBerry devices.
“We are a small company and we don’t have unlimited resources,” said Porad “We cannot afford to do it all, that’s for sure.”
Cheezburger, an independent publisher with 85 employees and about 16 million unique visitors a month worldwide, ultimately decided to go ahead with a Windows 8 app while passing on BlackBerry and some other platforms. But many other developers are taking a wait-and-see approach.
The caution extends not only to Windows, but also increasingly to Android as that software evolves in different ways on different vendors’ platforms. A Kindle Fire app is quite different from one built for, say, the Samsung Galaxy, even though both devices are based on Google’s Android.
Indeed, the explosion of competition in the tablet and smartphone markets may be providing consumers with plenty of choice, but it’s a decidedly mixed blessing for Internet content companies. They now have to develop as many as six different apps if they want to reach all their mobile customers, with each development project costing tens of thousands of dollars at a minimum, and far more to update the apps over their lifetime.
One solution is to rely on HTML 5, a software language that can support apps on many different platforms. It also enables developers to avoid the strict rules that Apple imposes on how iOS apps handle subscriptions and financial transactions.
But many argue strongly that HTML 5 apps are sub-par — a view that was endorsed earlier this month by none other than Facebook Inc CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who said his decision to focus on HTML 5 for Facebook apps was the biggest mistake the company had made.
Critics say that HTML 5′s one-size-fits-all approach will mean average experience across the board at the expense of excellence on individual platforms. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the standards body behind HTML 5, concedes the format may not be able to match native experiences, but says it is getting better as more developers adopt it.
“We are observing the common pattern where performance of new features improves as implementations mature,” said W3C spokesman Ian Jacobs.

I CAN HAS APPS
The decision Seattle-based Cheezburger faced over Windows 8 is emblematic of the dilemma facing hundreds of Internet publishers.
“Our framework for thinking about it is simple — return on investment,” said Porad. “The return is how much benefit we expect out of it and the investment is how long it takes to build, and the ongoing maintenance costs.”
With limited resources, Cheezburger debated long and hard on whether to make a Windows 8 app, but eventually decided the gamble was worth it, even though the return was uncertain.
“Microsoft’s put a lot of their muscle behind Windows 8. We think that by being there at the beginning when they launch this thing, that’ll be a benefit to us,” said Porad. “The counter-argument is that it could be Windows Vista. Nobody knows what’s going to happen here.” Vista was Microsoft’s widely panned 2007 version of Windows.
Cheezburger’s Windows app was produced by an in-house team of three developers in just over a month, with help from an outside design agency. Porad said the process was made easier by the fact its underlying code is written in Microsoft’s .NET programming framework.
The company has a virtual team of about 20 developers spread across the United States. The team also handles iOS and Android apps, both of which Cheezburger plans to update in-house rather than produce with outside developers, as it did with previous versions.
Porad agreed with Zuckerberg that native apps written specifically for each platform work better than those written in the HTML 5 web-based standard, at least for now.
HTML 5 is “completely unrealistic,” said Avi Muchnick, CEO and founder of photo editing software firm Aviary, which requires precise rendering for its products.
“There are still nuances for each browser and platform, and you end up with a product that will work 75 percent as well as it should across the board instead of 100 percent on each platform,” said Muchnick. “Everyone will need to have an HTML 5 version just to support something people can access from a browser, but the best apps will be developed natively.”

CAN CROSS-PLATFORM SOLUTIONS WORK?
Not everyone agrees that HTML 5 is a dead end.
Just over a year ago, the Financial Times became the first big news organization to launch an HTML 5 app that works across all formats after pulling its iOS app from Apple’s App Store.
Users access the FT site via the browser on whichever device is being used; an icon is installed on the start screen, essentially emulating the look and feel of an app but operating entirely in the browser.
The FT’s new app reader has 3.1 million users and has already outstripped downloads of its previous iPhone and iPad apps combined. Making an HTML app that matched the performance of a native app was hard work, but cost no more than developing the iOS app, said Mary Beth Christie, the Financial Times’ online product management director.
“For example, the swiping interactions, when you go between sections, to get the same level of quality as you have in a native app experience, we actually had to develop our own libraries for those interactions,” said Chris Smith, the FT’s product manager for emerging platforms. Rendering high-quality photos was also a challenge, he added.
The FT bought the development firm Assanka, which created its original iOS apps, earlier this year, and rebranded it as FT Labs. That team was already working on an HTML-based app, but it became the primary mobile strategy when the newspaper dropped out of Apple’s App Store after refusing to agree to Apple’s rules on how subscriptions were handled.
Exiting the app store and using HTML 5 means the FT can now control the financial transaction and data associated with it, a key issue for subscription-based businesses such as news media.
The Seattle Times has gone down a similar road, developing primarily in HTML 5, mostly for the same reason.
“Being able to control the commerce layer and keep that direct relationship with our subscribers, our readers, is a high value to us,” said John Frey, program manager for digital technology at the Seattle Times Co.
The good news for Microsoft is that porting an HTML 5-generated app into Windows 8 is relatively easy.
“We didn’t have to redesign from the ground up,” said Smith at the FT, which already has an app up and running in the preview version of Windows 8 and which will be there at launch on October 26. Another draw is that Microsoft does not control transactions with app users, avoiding the point of contention that drove FT away from Apple’s App Store.

ANDROID PAIN
Google’s Android platform is firmly ensconced alongside Apple’s iOS as a major player in the mobile market. But enthusiasm for Android is waning slightly, according to a survey of 5,500 developers last month by tech research firm IDC.
The study found that just 66 percent of developers were “very interested” in creating apps for Android tablets, the third time in four quarters that figure has declined.
That lags 83 percent who were “very interested” in developing for the iPad and is about even with the level of enthusiasm for HTML 5. Only 33 percent said they were “very interested” in designing Windows 8 apps.
Porad at Cheezburger calls Android “a giant pain.”
“Every manufacturer and every device is a little bit different,” he said. “It’s a strain on a small company to have a lot of different platforms to support. The other side of the coin is that is where the users are going.”

Source: Reuters

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Google races past Microsoft to number two tech firm

NEW YORK: Google soared past Microsoft in terms of market value Monday to become the second-richest firm in the tech world behind Apple.

Google shares gained 0.96 per cent to end at $761.78, giving the Internet giant a market capitalization of $249.1 billion. Microsoft meanwhile fell 0.91 per cent to $29.49, translating into a market worth of $247.2 billion.
Both remained well behind Apple, which shed 1.16 per cent to $659.39, meaning its market cap is just above $618 billion.
Google’s stock price has climbed steadily this year as the California-based company bolstered its positions in key Internet growth areas with its dominant search engine, Android mobile operating system and YouTube video venue.
The shares got a boost last week from a Citigroup note advising investors that the Google stock price could “rise significantly in the 12 months ahead.”
A note Monday from Trip Chowdhry at Global Equities Research said both Google and Apple have “strong momentum” in the mobile Internet sector while “developer interest in Windows Phone is almost non-existent.”
Chowdhry added that Google’s “innovation velocity far exceeds any other company.”
Enthusiasm for Microsoft has been lukewarm, despite its upcoming launch of the Windows 8 operating system and a push into the tablet and phone markets. (AFP)

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Samsung wins reconsideration of Galaxy Tab sales ban

 SAN FRANCISCO: A U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday that a lower court should reconsider a sales ban against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 won by Apple in a patent dispute with the South Korean electronics maker.

The injunction was put in place ahead of a month-long trial that pitted iPhone maker Apple Inc against Samsung Electronics Co Ltd in a closely watched legal battle that ended with a resounding victory for Apple last month on many of its patent violation claims.

However, the jury found that Samsung had not violated the patent that was the basis for the tablet injunction and Samsung argued the sales ban should be lifted. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh said she could not act because Samsung had already appealed.

In its ruling on Friday, the Federal U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington said Koh could now consider the issue.

The decision comes just a month before the South Korean corporation is expected to unveil the second generation of one of its most successful devices, the stylus-equipped Note.

The Galaxy 10.1 is an older model, but the ban still hurts Samsung in the run-up to the pivotal holiday shopping season.

The world’s top two smartphone makers are locked in patent disputes in 10 countries as they vie to dominate the lucrative market, which is growing rapidly.

A U.S. jury found during the just-concluded trial that Samsung had copied critical features of the iPhone and iPad and awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages. - Reuters

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Samsung launches new oversized smartphone

 SEOUL: Samsung launched the newest version of its oversized smartphone Galaxy Note on Wednesday, just a week after Apple’s iPhone 5 hit shelves, in an apparent bid to outpace its rival with a wider range of gadgets.

The South Korean electronics giant said the Galaxy Note II, first unveiled at a trade fair in Berlin last month, will eventually hit stores in 128 nations including the United States, where the firm’s recently lost a $1.05 billion patent case to Apple.
The gadget is slightly bigger than the firm’s flagship smartphone Galaxy S series and comes with a stylus “S pen” to write notes or draw on the screen.
“We believe global sales of Galaxy Note II for the first three months will be more than three times those of the previous version,” J.K. Shin, the head of Samsung Electronics’ mobile unit, told reporters.
The world’s top smartphone maker has sold more than 10 million units of the first Galaxy Note since its debut in November and more than 20 million of the latest Galaxy S III, which was launched in late May.
“It took us some time to establish this new product category in the global market… but now we get far better response than the past,” Shin said.
The launch comes after a flurry of new devices from major phone makers including Apple, whose iPhone 5 just days ago enjoyed a record launch weekend with sales topping five million.
Samsung’s smaller rival LG Electronics last week put on sale the new version of its headline Optimus G, hopes it will help the world’s number five phonemaker meet its goal to sell 80 million mobile phones this year.
Galaxy Note II, powered by Google’s Android software – is equipped with a new 1.6 GHz quad-core processor that helps run multiple applications faster than the dual-core processor of the previous version.
About 15.1 centimetres long, 8 centimetres wide, 9.4 millimetres thin and featuring a 5.5-inch touchscreen, it allows users to split the screen in half to view two programmes at once.
“You can exchange chat messages or take part in a video conference while checking e-mails, or take notes while watching a video speech by famous speakers,” said Shin.
Samsung has been embroiled in a long-running patent battle with Apple in 10 countries, including the United States and Germany, with the two rivals accusing each other of stealing design and technology.
Last month the South Korean firm was ordered to pay Apple $1.05 billion in damages for illegally copying iPhone and iPad features for its Galaxy S smartphones. - AFP

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Google launches Nexus 7 tablet in Japan

TOKYO: Google said Tuesday it was launching its Nexus 7 tablet computer in Japan, aiming to take on Apple’s iPad in one of the most lucrative markets in the world.

The Nexus 7′s 16 gigabyte model, powered by the latest generation of Android software is available to order at Google Play starting Tuesday and will hit store shelves on October 2.
Priced at 19,800 yen ($255), it comes in around half the price of the lowest spec third generation iPad available in Japan.
Speaking at an event at a Tokyo hotel, executive chairman Eric Schmidt said the rapid-fire growth of its Android operating system would help Google’s seven-inch tablet catch on in Japan.
“Android has grown so fast it’s hard to keep up,” he said. “There are now more than 500 million Android users around the world.”
A survey Google conducted showed 75 per cent of Japanese smartphone owners use their devices for shopping, he noted.
“That points us to the next enormous growth business in Japan,” he said, adding there was “a new wealth that can be created around the Japanese shopping experience”.
Google’s Android operating system is the mainstay for many of Apple’s rivals in the lucrative smartphone industry, growing rapidly around the globe.
In a bold, and expensive, move to tap into that growth, Google itself paid over $12 billion to buy the Motorola Mobility handset business.
But that move raised questions over how Google would balance its own mobile device hardware with supplying the operating system for companies that are now rivals in the intensely competitive race to catch up with Apple’s hit iPhone.
Google has launched Nexus 7 in other markets such as Australia, Canada, Britain, and the United States.-AFP

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Pakistani student wins gold medal

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani student from Balochistan has bagged gold medal in an international contest held in Turkmenistan leaving all the countries like Germany, Canada, Russia, England, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka behind.

M. Ubaidullah son of Haji Talib Din, a rice trader, is a class ninth student of Pak-Turk International Schools and Colleges, has brought home a gold medal from the International Computer Project Olympiad (ICPO) held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
The competition was held on September 14 and 15 among students from 45 countries who presented 150 projects in the Olympiad.
Ubaidullah’s project that caught attention of participants, organisers and judges was regarding plant automation system; subsequently he was awarded 1st position in the hardware category.
His project P-Bot aims at saving plants in cold-flame or greenhouse setting, especially when someone wants to protect the plants at home in all the seasons. P-Bot automates the round-the-year tasks of plant care by means of its full-automatic cold flame and greenhouse routines.
The bot helps people save time in caring about plants and is power-thrift by powering itself by its solar cells. The microprocessors board optimizes the maximum energy possible to power the bot to fulfill its duties.
Upon arrival, Ubaidullah and project supervisor Halil Baris (Turkish teacher) both were received warmly because for their outstanding achievement that has brought pride and distinction to Pakistan.
Ubaidullah said: “International competitions are very important for the grooming of students. Tour of other countries not only gives confidence to the students but it also gives them opportunity to have interaction with students of other nations and learn from them.
“Although there is an impression that people of Balochistan are deprived of their rights but my success shows that if people would work hard, they can achieve anything in difficult condition,” he said.
Project Supervisor Halil Baris termed the success result of hard work and said that he was proud of his students.
It may be mentioned that ICPO is an international competition which brings the world’s best IT students together. It also serves to promote intercultural dialogue and cooperation, through the involvement of students and teachers from many different countries. - DAWN

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S. Korea’s LG Electronics launches new smartphone

SEOUL: LG Electronics launched on Tuesday its new flagship smartphone which will have to compete against a flurry of new products from rivals Apple and Samsung who currently dominate the global market.

The South Korean electronics giant said the new gadget — called Optimus G — would hit domestic stores next week before sales begin in Japan in October and other regions including North America in November.
The launch comes days after Apple unveiled the much-anticipated iPhone 5 which garnered more than two million orders in just 24 hours.
Samsung Electronics, which has sold more than 20 million of its Galaxy S III smartphone launched in late May, is set to introduce the newest version of its popular oversized Galaxy Note smartphone in the market soon.
“It’s inevitable for these flagship products to compete head-to-head …but we are expecting very significant and surprising figures for this product,” Park Jong-Seok, head of LG’s mobile unit, told reporters.
He refused to elaborate on the sales target.
The Optimus G Powerhouse is built around Qualcomm’s  Fusion 3 Chipset which pairs a 1.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC (APQ8064) with a 2G / 3G / LTE radio (MDM9615).
The Optimus G houses a 4.7-inch 1280 x 768 True HD IPS PLUS display, 2GB of RAM, 32 GB of built-in storage, a 13-Megapixel autofocus camera with illuminated sensor with 1.1µm pixels, an f/2.4 autofocus lens and a single LED flash, a sealed 2100mAh Li-polymer battery rated for 800 charge cycles, NFC and runs Ice Cream Sandwich.
The overall simplicity and elegance in design is similar to their previous Chocolate and Prada models – it’s thin (8.45mm/ 0.33-inch) and relatively light for its size (145g/ 5.11 oz).
The Face of the Optimus G has a glass surface with three capacitive buttons and the back showcases LG’s Crystal Reflection process: an attractive patterned glass-like finish which gives the handset the ability to display different patterns depending on the viewing angle and lighting.
The folks at LG are placing a lot of emphasis on how the user experience benefits from the Optimus G’s quad-core Krait CPU and Adreno 320 GPU – something it calls “cross-tasking”.
This includes capabilties like QSlide Function, Live Zooming, Dual Screen Dual Play, QuickMemo, Screen Zooming, Application Link and Icon Personalizer, plus camera funtionality such as Time Catch Shot, Cheese Shutter, Smart Shutter and Low Light Shot and Noise Reduction.
The build quality and materials used are superb (superior to the Galaxy S III) and the Optimus G feels great to hold.
There is a Volume Rocker and a micro-SIM card slot on the left edge and the power/ lock key on the right. A standard headphone jack sits on the top side, with the micro-USB/ MHL connector on the bottom.
There is a front-facing 1.3 MP camera with a notification light next to it. The Display is definitely high quality but not mind blowing (the One X display is better), although it was expected that LG’s True HD IPS PLUS display together with Zerogap Touch Technology would trump most in the market. - DAWN

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PM orders immediate shutdown of Youtube services

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minsiter Raja Pervez Ashraf has ordered immediate shutdown of video-sharing website Youtube in the aftermath of protests against anti-Islam film “Innocence of Muslims,” which is still available on the website, 

In a directive issued to the Ministry of Information Technology, the PM stated that the decision was taken after Youtube decided against removing the film and the shutdown will remain effective until the website removes all content from the sacrilegious film.
In a statement released last week, Youtube said it would not remove the film as it does not violate its terms of use, despite pressure from the White House to review its decision.
At the filing of this report (2045PST) the website still remained accessible in Pakistan.
Protests against the film have broken out all across the Muslim world and have spread over Pakistan in the last few days, with one person being killed in violent protests on Monday.
While Youtube has not removed the controversial clip, it has blocked access to it in countries where violent protests have remained unabated. These include Libya, Egypt and most recently, India and Indonesia.
YouTube cited “very sensitive situations” in those two countries.
In its Friday statement, YouTube said that outside of Libya, Egypt, India and Indonesia, the video will remain on its website.
“We work hard to create a community everyone can enjoy and which also enables people to express different opinions,” the YouTube statement said.
“This can be a challenge because what’s OK in one country can be offensive elsewhere. This video – which is widely available on the web – is clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube. However, we’ve restricted access to it in countries where it is illegal such as India and Indonesia as well as in Libya and Egypt, given the very sensitive situations in these two countries. This approach is entirely consistent with principles we first laid out in 2007.”
Interior Minister Rehman Malik later on, while speaking at a press conference, said that a letter will written to the OIC chairman regarding the matter as well as the Secretary Interpol.

DAWN

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Apple did not violate Samsung patents

WASHINGTON: Apple did not violate patents owned by Samsung Electronics in making the iPod touch, iPhone and iPad, a judge at the International Trade Commission said in a preliminary ruling on Friday.

Apple and Samsung have taken their bruising patent disputes to some 10 countries as they vie for market share in the booming mobile industry. Apple won a landmark victory last month after a US jury found the South Korean firm had copied key features of the iPhone and awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages.

ITC Judge James Gildea said on Friday that Apple did not violate the four patents in the case. Samsung had accused Apple of infringement in a complaint filed in mid-2011. It asked for the infringing products to be banned from sale in the United States.

The full commission is due to decide whether to uphold or overturn its internal judge's decision in January.

"We remain confident that the full Commission will ultimately reach a final determination that affirms our position that Apple must be held accountable for free-riding on our technological innovations," Samsung said in a statement.

Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The patents in the complaint are related to 3G wireless technology, the format of data packets for high-speed transmission, and integrating functions like web surfing with mobile phone functions.

Apple has a parallel complaint filed against Samsung at the ITC, accusing Samsung, a major Apple chip provider as well as a global rival, of blatantly copying its iPhones and iPads. The ITC judge's preliminary decision is due in mid-October.

Samsung was the top-selling mobile-phone maker in the second quarter of 2012, with Apple in third place, according to data from Gartner Inc.

Samsung's Galaxy touchscreen tablets are considered by many industry experts to be the main rival to the iPad, though they are currently a distant second to Apple's devices.

Apple has waged an international patent war since 2010 as it seeks to limit the growth of Google's Android system. The fight has embroiled Samsung, HTC and others who use Android.

Google's Android software, which Apple's late founder Steve Jobs denounced as a "stolen product," has become the world's No. 1 smartphone operating system.

The ITC judge's decision comes just weeks after the most closely watched patent trial in years. A jury in a California federal court ordered Samsung to pay $1.05 billion in damages after finding that Samsung had copied critical features of the iPhone and iPad and could face an outright sales ban on key products.

Samsung has said it will contest that verdict and work with carriers to modify its products to keep them on the US market.

The case at the International Trade Commission is No. 337-794. - Reuters

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Google rejects White House request to pull anti-Islam film clip

 SAN FRANCISCO: Google Inc rejected a request by the White House on Friday to reconsider its decision to keep online a controversial YouTube movie clip that has ignited anti-American protests in the Middle East.
The Internet company said it was censoring the video in India and Indonesia after blocking it on Wednesday in Egypt and Libya, where US embassies have been stormed by protestors enraged over depiction of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as a fraud and philanderer.
On Tuesday, the US Ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed in a fiery siege on the embassy in Benghazi.
Google said it was further restricting the clip to comply with local law rather than as a response to political pressure.
“We’ve restricted access to it in countries where it is illegal such as India and Indonesia, as well as in Libya and Egypt, given the very sensitive situations in these two countries,” the company said. “This approach is entirely consistent with principles we first laid out in 2007.” White House officials had asked Google earlier on Friday to reconsider whether the video had violated YouTube’s terms of service. The guidelines can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/t/community_guidelines.
Google initially said on Wednesday that the video was within its guidelines. US authorities said on Friday that they were investigating whether the film’s producer, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a 55-year old Egyptian Coptic Christian living in Southern California, had violated terms of his prison release. Basseley was convicted in 2010 for bank fraud and released from prison on probation last June.

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Samsung unveils Windows phone, new Galaxy Note

BERLIN/SEOUL: Samsung Electronics became the first handset maker to announce a smartphone using Microsoft's latest mobile software, making its surprise, hurried announcement just days before the highly anticipated launch of Nokia's version.

The brief announcement on Wednesday at a Berlin electronics show comes amid expectations that smartphone makers may turn increasingly to Windows devices after a U.S. jury decided many of Samsung's Google Android-based phones infringed Apple Inc patents.

"It looks like a good phone, and seems like a pre-emptive announcement ahead of Nokia," said Sid Parakh, an analyst at investment firm McAdams Wright Ragen, of the Samsung phone.

"Microsoft or Windows never got their best teams, never got their best designs, just because Android was doing so well. With the change in the legal environment, there's a case to be made that Samsung will likely shift some of those resources to broaden out or diversify their own exposure."

Nokia, the ailing Finnish mobile firm, once the world's leading producer of phones but now struggling to reverse losses, is due to unveil its new Lumia line of smartphones using Windows Phone 8 in New York on September 5.

Samsung's new phone called ATIV S -- tacked onto the end of a long news conference in Berlin that focused on other products -- may elevate expectations for the Lumia. Samsung's ATIV S Windows phone sports a high-end 4.8-inch display, Corning "Gorilla" glass, and an 8-megapixel rear camera and 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera, Microsoft posted on its official blog on Wednesday.

"Expectations for a 40 megapixel or possibly 20 megapixel camera model are running high. If Nokia does not unveil a monster camera handset next week, many will be disappointed," said Tero Kuittinen, analyst at mobile analytics firm Alekstra.

But "this leaves Nokia plenty of room to draw a clear contrast with its upcoming announcement."

Samsung's Windows-based smartphone, introduced on Wednesday, marks the first in a "big lineup of new hardware" from the South Korean company based on Microsoft's software, Microsoft executive Ben Rudolph said in a blog posting.

Analysts say the introduction of Samsung's Windows phone may be designed to assuage concerns that Microsoft will favor Nokia, whose Chief Executive Stephen Elop -- himself a former senior Microsoft executive -- has staked its future on the Windows platform.

"The fact Samsung was allowed to be the first to announce is Microsoft's backhanded way of letting other vendors know that Nokia is not getting special treatment," Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart said.

But Jack Gold, an independent mobile consultant who runs J. Gold Associates, argued Samsung had signalled its commitment to Windows for a while, but Nokia will remain the primary driver of the new breed of Microsoft-powered devices.

"Samsung has crossed the start line first and set the bar for Nokia's launch," said Geoff Blaber, analyst at CCS Insight.

STEALING A MARCH

Microsoft gave a preview of its Windows Phone 8 software in June, and promised the first phones would be on the market by the autumn.

Windows Phone 8 looks similar to, and is built on the same core code as Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 operating system, but is not the same product. Windows 8, which will run on tablets and PCs, is scheduled to launch on October 26.

Samsung said the ATIV phone would hit stores in the October-November period but did not give an exact start date.

On Wednesday, the Korean corporation also showed off a slew of tablets using Windows 8 software and the second generation of its popular Google Android-based Galaxy Note phone-cum-tablet "phablet" in downtown Berlin.

Samsung has sold some 10 million of its original Galaxy Note devices, creating a new product category which has smaller screen than tablets, but bigger than smartphones.

"I am pretty confident it will even outsell its predecessor," said JK Shin, Samsung's chief of mobile business.

Samsung hopes the new device will take the focus away from its loss of the court case. Apple is now seeking speedy bans on the sale of eight Samsung phones, moving swiftly to turn legal victory into tangible business gain.

Samsung hopes the phablet upgrade will lift any post-Apple gloom. The new version of the Note features a thinner and slightly bigger 5.5-inch screen, quad-core processor, the latest version of the Android operating system called Jellybean, and improved stylus function.

"There won't be huge innovative changes in design, but the Note 2 will feature quite a few improvements and enable Samsung to carry on its strong sales momentum in the category," said Lee Sun-tae, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities. "With the launch, Samsung will also be trying to turn around downbeat sentiment after the U.S. legal defeat."

Apple did not include the Note and other newly unveiled Samsung products in its original lawsuit. But the company and its lawyers are expected by many legal experts to try and use last week's legal victory to go after future gadgets, especially because the jury found infringing features in Samsung phones such as pinch-and-zoom and bounce-back -- common in Android.

Shares of Microsoft finished up 2 cents at $30.65 on Wednesday. -- AGENCIES

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