First the court, now Samsung beating Apple in Australia’s mobile market

Fresh from beating Apple in the court room in Australia — after the ban on its Galaxy Tab was overturned earlier this month — Samsung has leapfrogged its rival to take the top spot in the country’s smartphone market, according to new data released by ABI Research today. The Korean manufacturer now holds 49 percent of the smartphone market in Australia and 28.5 percent in New Zealand, which puts it ahead of rival Apple which holds 36 percent and 13 percent respectively. In New Zealand, Apple has even slipped into third place with Chinese manufacturer Huawei rising to 20 percent of the country’s smartphone market. According to IDC, the popularity of the Samsung Galaxy range is responsible for the firm’s growth, while a rise in the availability...

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ASUS Transformer Prime hitting Australian shelves in January

The ASUS Transformer Prime is said to be hitting the US before Christmas (December 19th?), but for Australian retailers – expect to see the device in early January of next year. The price is yet to be confirmed, but the Transformer Prime may end up seeing an instant OTA update to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) due to the delayed release. In my opinion, this tablet is the best announced thus far for the year – so once updated to ICS, the best will just get better. This news was gathered directly from an ASUS (Australia) tweet, so it’s official. We’re not sure the cause of the actual delay in the states to December 19th, but there had been rumors of WiFi issues. To give you a rundown on the tablet’s specifics, it will sport a 10.1-inch...

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Telstra Getting the Galaxy Nexus Tomorrow

Don’t look now, Verizon customers, but Telstra is set to offer their Australian consumers the Galaxy Nexus starting tomorrow. It will be in two of their flagship Melbourne stores as well as available online. Plans will start at $70 with three more options through $130. Be up bright and early to order online or to get to the locations listed at the source link. [Telstra, thanks to everyone who sent this in!]...

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Apple loses final Australia appeal, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is ready for a retail return

Early news out of Australia indicates that Apple has lost its appeal of a decision made in an Australian federal court, dismissing their patent case against Samsung and its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. AusDroid reports that the decision came early Friday morning. The two companies have been locked in a legal battle for months, culminating in a rejection by an Australian Federal court after a long period of injunction against Samsung. The High Court denied the appeal, meaning that there is basically no way for them to continue with the case on its current merits. The High Court chastised the original ruling granting a sales ban against the Samsung tablet, calling the judicial decision “replete with error” and saying that Apple won the original...

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Samsung Galaxy Tab ban extended in Australia

We had just received word two days ago that Samsung had prevailed over Apple from the Australian court ruling’s temporary ban. So much for that. It turns out court orders have banned the tablet another week from sale, more specifically until December 9th. The case remains open because the High Court of Australia was forced to extend the ban until it heard Apple’s special leave application. It seems as if Apple is just prolonging the ban even though their leave application will be turned down; and if I were in their shoes I suppose I would do the same. Apple has probably thrown a ridiculous about of money towards this case and it would be foolish not to get the most out of it. The extension is most likely to delay Samsung’s tablet...

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Apple beats Australian retailers into submission over Galaxy Tab sales

A while back we told you about independent Australian retailers refusing to honor the ruling from Apple’s civil case against Samsung. A small number of independent shops and websites skirted the sales ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 by importing them directly from China without buying them from Samsung first. Well it looks like Apple’s legal reach (not to mention gall) knows no bounds: the company has halted sales at all but one of the “rogue” retailers, in some cases using threatening letters to convince them of their position.The Australian news site was only able to find one website that’s still selling the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 down under, Dmavo.com.au. The sales injunction bans Samsung from selling its tablets to retailers and directly...

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Samsung Appeals Australian Galaxy Tab Ban

Not that anyone thought they wouldn’t, Samsung has formally filed to appeal an Australian court’s decision to ban importation and sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the country. The ruling was made after Apple took its global patent war down under, making claims that Samsung has infringed on Apple’s product design. As part of their appeal, Samsung counsel Neil Young — not the guitar-weilding folk singer, though his penchant for standing against social injustice would be fitting in this case– argued that Justice Annabelle Bennet, the judge presiding over the original trial, made her decision based on “irrelevant considerations.” Samsung has been granted an appeal hearing, which is expected to begin the week of November 21st. Regardless...

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Aussie retailers skirt Apple injunction to sell Galaxy Tab 10.1

Apple won a major victory in its “thermonuclear war” with Android in Australia, where the civil court upheld a sales injunction against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab based on Apple’s practical and design patents. But the courts are no obstacle for the determined, and a collection of crafty online retailers are still selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 down under. Like Prohibition smugglers they get their stock from outside the continent and sell the tablets as import items, exploiting a loophole in Australian law. Naturally Apple isn’t happy. The American company has forwarded copies of the injunction to eTail Solutions and and MobiCity, two of the online shops currently selling the contraband tablets. Other retailers currently offering the Galaxy...

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Samsung attempts to get iPhone 4S banned in Japan and Australia

We all know that Apple has been all over Samsung’s case over the past few months, requesting for preliminary injunctions to block sales of Samsung’s devices in countries all over the world. In retribution, Samsung has been doing the same thing as well, albeit with less success. The Korean electronics manufacturer has recently announced that it is attempting to get sales of the iPhone 4S banned in two more countries: Japan and Australi...

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Samsung Galaxy Note coming to Australia in early 2012

While the land down under isn’t getting the Galaxy Tab 10.1 any time soon, Australian citizens can be glad that they’re getting the much-anticipated Samsung Galaxy Note. Early tomorrow (or in U.S. terms, late tonight) Samsung announced plans to distribute the jumbo smartphone there in “early 2012.” Australia is only the second market confirmed to get the flagship device. The Samsung Galaxy Note was announced at IFA in Berlin. It’s a 2.3 Gingerbread phone that shares a lot of characteristics with the best-selling Galaxy S II – except in a couple of key areas. Those areas are a massive 5.3-inch screen pushing 1280 x 800 pixels out of a Super AMOLED+ panel and a beefed-up 1.4GHz dual-core processor. The Galaxy Note also features a capacitive...

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Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Gets Australian Victory, Apple Told by Judge to Provide Proof

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 inch Android Tablet may benefit from a long entrenched Apple Computing unwritten law to never reveal sales numbers unless absolutely necessary. Samsung’s latest tablet has been banned for sale in Germany until claims by Apple that Samsung infringed on their copyrights can be proved or disproved. A September 9 date for the final ruling by the Judge in Germany is set. Recently, Apple sued Samsung in Australia as well with the same claims that the design and physical appearance of the Apple iPad 2 Tablet were copied by Samsung for their thin, lightweight 10.1 Tablet. Don Reisinger of CNET.com reported that Apple is now being ordered by Australia’s federal court Judge Annabelle Bennett to show proof that the...

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