The Australian Communications and Media Authority has fined Nokia for sending spam-filled text messages to its customers. Nokia had been sending messages with tips on how customers could take advantage of their phones’ features, Reuters said Tuesday, but the government agreed Nokia should allow its customers to opt out of receiving the messages. ”Some businesses are still not getting SMS marketing right,” Australian Communications and Media Authority chairman Richard Bean told Reuters. “The same rules apply to SMS marketing as for email marketing, and the same rules apply to all businesses, big and small.”

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As Samsung continues to field repeated patent-related strikes from Apple in Australia and around the world, the Cupertino-based company’s aggressive stance seems to be having an unforeseen side effect in some cases. As Apple continues to inadvertently help Samsung advertise its products across the Australian region, market research firm IDC revealed on Monday that the South Korea-based electronics giant passed Apple in the third quarter to become the No.1 mobile phone vendor in Australia and New Zealand. Read on for more.

Achieving growth for the third consecutive quarter, Samsung phone shipments in Australia and New Zealand topped iPhone shipments last quarter as the region also saw a major shift in the smartphone space; Android overtook Apple’s iOS platform to become the most popular mobile operating system in Australia. Despite a strong iPhone 4S launch, Apple’s share of the Australian smartphone market totaled 36% in the third quarter while Android’s market share jumped to 49%.

“Collective efforts to expand brand presence from all Android manufacturers at all price points will increase consumer choice and drive demand, which in turn will help Android grow to at least 40% market share over the next 3 years,” IDC analyst Yee-Kuan Lau said in a statement. ”Samsung has climbed to the no.1 position as a result of a strong push for its Galaxy S II.” IDC’s full press release follows below.

IDC Q3 2011: Samsung Takes No. 1 position in the Australia and New Zealand Mobile Phone Market

19 Dec 2011

Sydney, Australia, 20th December 2011 – Samsung has now overtaken Apple and grew for a third consecutive quarter in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) overall mobile phone market, according to IDC’s ANZ Quarterly Mobile Devices Tracker (2011 Q3).

Overall the Australian mobile phone market dipped by 17% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) by shipments across both smartphones and feature phones categories. The smartphone market is now 65% of the total Australian mobile phone market, with Android taking over Apple iOS as no.1 position holding 49% market share. Apple iOS, in second place, holds 36% unit share as the market eased in preparation for the new iPhone 4S launched in October 2011.

“Collective efforts to expand brand presence from all Android manufacturers at all price points will increase consumer choice and drive demand, which in turn will help Android grow to at least 40% market share over the next 3 years. Samsung has climbed to the no.1 position as a result of a strong push for its Galaxy S II, “said Yee-Kuan Lau, market analyst for IDC ANZ. “HTC, being the no.2 Android vendor in Australia, continues to grow its market presence with its product portfolio expansion in the second half of 2011.”

New Zealand’s feature phone and smartphone markets, on the other hand, recorded a 55% QoQ growth. The smartphone market holds 43% of the total Q3 New Zealand mobile phone market, with Samsung overtaking Apple’s no. 1 position with a share of 28.5% of the smartphone market. Huawei, in second place, holds 20% of New Zealand’s Q3 smartphone market followed by Apple with close to 13% unit share.

“While Apple’s iPhone shipments slowed down in preparation for its new iPhone 4S launch in New Zealand, Samsung led the smartphone market for the first time with some of its flagship models such as Galaxy S II and Galaxy 5 performing very well. Huawei continues to expand its local market presence and contributed to the growth in sub-US$200 smartphones with its U8180 Ideos X1 model sold via Telecom,” added Ms. Lau.

“There is a gradual shift in demand by cost-conscious consumers to low-cost Android smartphones from feature phones across ANZ, as more low cost smartphones are becoming available in the market,” said Ms. Lau. “In Australia for example, the shift in demand from feature phones has helped boost sales in the sub-US$150 segment with low-cost Android smartphones such as Huawei U8180 Ideos X1, especially when 90% of feature phones were priced below US$150.”

“As we are inching closer to year end, 2011 is proving to be an intense OS battle particularly in Australia. IDC expects Android to win by a hair in the Australian smartphones tussle. In New Zealand, Android is expected to widen the gap and maintain the lead in the smartphones market,” concluded Ms. Lau. IDC expects close to 9.5 million smartphones to be shipped to ANZ channels by the end of 2011.

Samsung recently won a appeal lawsuit against Apple in Australia that overturned a ban on sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the country. An appeals court, which recently said the ban was “not terribly fair” to Samsung, explained that the original judge in a lower court had made a mistake in approving Apple’s request for an injunction against the tablet. “We cannot see how Samsung’s conduct in refusing the offer of an early trial could properly be weighed,” the appeals court said, noting that the original court “erred in principle” for basing part of its decision on a ban on that ruling. Samsung is allowed to resume sales of the tablet beginning on December 2nd, Bloomberg noted. “The ruling clearly affirms that Apple’s legal claims lack merit,” Samsung spokesman Nam Ki Yung remarked. Read on for more.

Apple is still accusing Samsung of copying its products. “This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we’ve said many times before, we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas,” an Apple spokesperson wrote in an email to Bloomberg. Apple is also seeking to ban the Galaxy Tab 10.1N in Germany, a tweaked model that was released after the original was banned, and similar lawsuits between the two companies are taking place in a number of countries around the globe.

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An appeals judge in Australia recently said that a ruling which banned Samsung’s local subsidiaries from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was unfair to Samsung. “The result looks terribly fair to Apple and not terribly fair to Samsung,” federal court justice Lindsay Foster said on Friday. Samsung’s lawyer Neil Young said the lawyer in the original case, federal court justice Annabelle Bennett, failed to take into consideration the “dire consequences” that the ban would have on Samsung during the holiday shopping season. “We contend that the primary judge made a series of fundamental errors in her disposition of the interlocutory application,” a Samsung attorney said. “They were all errors of principle.” Samsung hopes to hear whether or not the injunction will be lifted early next week. Samsung’s Australian counter suit against Apple, in which Samsung is seeking a ban on Apple’s iPhone and iPad products, will be held in March. The two companies have legal battles ongoing around the world, including in Germany, The Netherlands, France, Japan and the United States.

Read [Bloomberg] Read [Sydney Morning Herald]

Australian Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett has ruled that Apple must show Samsung its contracts with Vodafone, SingTel and Telstra if it cannot reach an agreement on Samsung’s accusations that the iPhone maker contractually forces the carriers to subsidize the iPhone. Samsung has also argued that the Apple iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and iPhone 3GS infringe on its patents, and has sought to ban sales of the devices in Australia. Apple, however, has already successfully banned Samsung’s Australia-based subsidiaries from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. “We will resist any attempts by our friends to push us into a corner,” Apple lawyer Andrew Fox said. “This is quite clearly a fishing expedition.” Earlier this month, Samsung requested the iPhone 4S source code and, according to Bloomberg, Apple provided the company with 220 pages of code, but left out one file. Samsung also has ongoing lawsuits with Apple in Japan, Germany, France and the United States.

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Samsung recently asked Apple to provide it with source code for the the firmware used in its iPhone 4S, ZDNET reported on Tuesday. The South Korea-based phone maker also asked for details on Apple’s subsidy agreements with Australian carriers Vodafone, Optus and Telstra. The moves were part of an ongoing lawsuit in which Samsung has accused Apple of infringing on three of its patents. Apple believes Samsung has no need to access the information, but Samsung’s lawyer argued that there are fewer subsidies available for Samsung’s products if subsidies are given for the iPhone 4S. Additionally, the source code may be just as important in proving that Apple is infringing on patents. Read on for more.

“Based on the accompanying firmware, [an expert] can tell how the chips are working in the phones,” Samsung counsel Cynthia Cochrane explained to the court. “To form a final view on whether patent 621 is infringed, [an expert] needs to see the documents that set out the source code for that firmware.” Earlier this year Apple accused Samsung of creating “copycat” devices and successfully banned Samsung’s Australian subsidiaries from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Similar lawsuits are ongoing around the world, including in Japan, the Netherlands, France and the United States.

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Samsung has appealed a ruling by an Australian court that prevents it from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the country in an effort to get the tablet on store shelves in time for the holidays. Samsung attorney Neil Young accused Justice Annabelle Bennett of making “irrelevant considerations” and “making errors of law in her approach” to the injunction. The request for an appeal hearing will be granted by Justice Lindsay Foster, likely for the week of November 21st, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Samsung and Apple are currently locked in a number of legal battles around the globe. Apple has successfully blocked Samsung’s local retailers in Australia and The Netherlands from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1. In addition, similar lawsuits are ongoing in the United States, Japan and France.

Samsung recently filed lawsuits in Japan and Australia in an attempt to prevent Apple from selling the iPhone 4S. In addition, Samsung is seeking to block the sale of the iPad 2 and the original iPhone 4 in Japan, Bloomberg said Monday. In September, the South Korea-based phone maker also filed motions to ban the iPhone 4S in France and Italy. “Apple has continued to violate our patent rights and free ride on our technology,” Samsung said. “We will no longer stand idly by and will steadfastly protect our intellectual property.” Apple filed similar lawsuits against Samsung in the United States, Australia, Japan, France and the Netherlands. The iPhone maker successfully prevented Samsung’s local subsidiaries from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia and the Galaxy S, Galaxy Ace and Galaxy S II in the Netherlands. Samsung recently announced that it will tweak its the aforementioned smartphones in an effort to dodge the European sales ban.

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Apple won a patent infringement lawsuit it brought against Samsung in Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Thursday. The ruling prevents Samsung’s Australia-based businesses from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 locally. Samsung had originally agreed not to sell or advertise its tablet in Australia until the court issued its ruling on the matter. In late September, the South Korea-based phone maker proposed a secret deal with Apple, in which it would tweak the parts of the tablet in order to avoid infringing on the iPhone maker’s patents, but Apple subsequently shot down the deal. Similar lawsuits are ongoing around the globe, including in Japan, France, the Netherlands and the United States.

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The Apple iPhone 4S goes on sale in Australia on Friday and Samsung is ready to give it some competition from the get-go. According to The Sydney Herald, the South Korea-based phone maker set up a temporary pop-up shop two doors away from an Apple Store in Sydney, Australia. It then began to offer the Galaxy S II for just $2, which is valid for the first 10 people in line each day. It appears as though Samsung even has representatives trying to lure people away from the line that has been starting to form outside of the Apple Store. “There’s this guy who has come up to us trying to convince us to buy the Samsung Galaxy S II two days in a row now,” one person in Apple’s line said. “And he’s an idiot.” Samsung and Apple are currently fighting out a legal battle in the country, which has temporarily prevented local Samsung subsidiaries from selling or advertising the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet until a final court ruling.

[Via Engadget]

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Apple denied Samsung’s proposed deal in Australia that would allow the South Korea-based company to begin selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet there. Apple believes Samsung’s products are “copycat” versions of its iPad and iPhone, and that the touchscreen technology used in the Galaxy Tab 10.1 infringes on its patents. According to Reuters, Apple attorney Steven Burley said, “The main reason we are here is to prevent the launch of [the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1] and maintain the status quo.” Samsung agreed not to sell or advertise the tablet in Australia until the court reaches a decision, but time is running out. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be “commercially dead” if Samsung cannot get the tablet on the market by mid-October, in time for the holiday season, Samsung said. If that happens, the company’s lawyer Neil Young noted that Samsung will take its time preparing a case and will continue to fight into next year. Apple has successfully banned Samsung’s German subsidiary from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and there are similar lawsuits around the globe in Japan, France and the United States. 

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Samsung recently offered Apple a secret deal in Australia that could potentially allow the South Korea-based phone maker to put its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet on store shelves as soon as next week, The Wall Street Journal said Friday. Samsung’s lawyer David Catterns discussed the deal briefly in the Federal Court in Sydney but did not divulge the details of Samsung’s offer. However, Apple lawyer Stephen Burley suggested the iPhone maker may be interested in taking Samsung up on the offer. Samsung’s “inconvenience would be diminished and we would be comforted” if the deal was accepted, Burley explained. Apple and Samsung are locked up in multiple patent-related lawsuits around the globe, as Apple has accused Samsung of creating “copycat” versions of its iPad and iPhone. An injunction has not been leveled in Australia just yet, but Samsung has agreed not to sell or advertise the Galaxy Tab 10.1 until a judge rules whether or not Samsung is in violation of Apple’s patents.

Steve Jobs made contact with Samsung in an effort to resolve a patent argument last year, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. However, Jobs did not participate in the discussions that eventually took place and deteriorated, Apple’s patent attorney Richard Lutton explained during a hearing in an Australian court. “Samsung is an important supplier with whom we have a deep relationship” Lutton said while being questioned by a Samsung lawyer. “We wanted to give them a chance to do the right thing.” Samsung and Apple are locked up in multiple patent battles around the globe. Samsung’s German arm has been banned from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, its Australian branch cannot sell the device until a judge rules whether or not it is infringing on Apple’s patents, and lawsuits are ongoing in the United States and Japan. Apple has accused Samsung of creating “copycat devices,” and has targeted Samsung’s Galaxy S family of smartphones, the Galaxy Tab, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and various other products in the United States.

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Samsung has again delayed the launch of its GALAXY Tab 10.1 Android tablet in Australia amid an ongoing patent dispute with Apple. This time, Samsung has stated in court that it will not market or sell its 10-inch Honeycomb tablet until September 30th at the earliest. While the repeated launch delays are no doubt victories for Apple, which claims the Tab 10.1 infringes on multiple Apple-owned patents, Samsung won’t stick to a defensive stance for much longer. Samsung in a statement confirmed that it “intends to file a cross claim against Apple Australia and Apple Inc regarding the invalidity of the patents previously asserted by Apple and also a cross claim against Apple regarding violation of patents held by Samsung by selling its iPhones and iPads.” The next hearing in Apple’s case against Samsung in Australia is scheduled for September 26th.

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The Düsseldorf regional court in Germany announced on Tuesday that it is partially lifting its original injunction that banned Samsung from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in all of the European Union except for the Netherlands. Samsung is now allowed to sell the tablet in the whole of the European Union except for Germany. According to The Wall Street Journal, a court spokesperson said that it was unclear if it was even possible for the German court to stop Samsung from selling its tablet outside of Germany. Despite the ruling, which allows Samsung Electronics to sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in most of Europe, Samsung’s German arm still cannot sell the tablet in Germany or anywhere in the European Union. Samsung is presumably still scheduled to appeal the ban on August 25th. Apple also recently blocked Samsung from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia until a court there rules whether or not the tablet is infringing on 10 of Apple’s patents. On Monday, reports surfaced suggesting that Apple has doctored its evidence in is patent case about Samsung, although the legitimacy of those claims remains unclear.