Google has been ordered to pay €500,000 to Bottin Cartographes, a French company that filed a lawsuit against Google France after it began providing its free Google Maps services to customers. Google is also responsible for paying an additional €15,000 in fees. The court found Google “guilty of abusing the dominant position of its Google Maps application,” Economic Times said Thursday. ”We proved the illegality of [Google's] strategy to remove its competitors… the court recognized the unfair and abusive character of the methods used and allocated Bottin Cartographes all it claimed,” Botton Cartographes lawyer Jean-David Scemmama said. “This is the first time Google has been convicted for its Google Maps application.” Google said it will appeal the decision. “We remain convinced that a free high-quality mapping tool is beneficial for both Internet users and websites,” a Google spokesperson said. “There remains competition in this sector for us, both in France and internationally.” Google was also fined €100,000 in France last year after a court found it guilty of collecting private information for the Street View feature of Google Maps.

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Microsoft will reportedly not launch the highly anticipated follow-up to the Xbox 360 this year. Cedrick Delma, Microsoft’s marketing director in France, recently told Le Point that he was “certain” the Redmond-based company would not release a new Xbox this year. Gamers shouldn’t give up all hope on at least getting a glimpse at Microsoft’s next-generation console this year, though. BGR exclusively reported last June that Microsoft has plans to unveil its Xbox 360 successor during this year’s E3 gaming show in Los Angeles. A few Microsoft patents recently suggested that the “Xbox 720″ might double as a set-top box complete with DVR functionality, and a rumor last week also suggested that the new console will be six times more powerful than the Xbox 360.

[Via The Verge]

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Whether or not competing products do in fact infringe on Apple’s patents, Apple may have another reason to attack its rivals so aggressively in France and Germany: the company is losing ground. New data from Kantar Worldpanel released on Thursday shows that while the launch of the iPhone 4S was a huge hit in the United States and the United Kingdom, smartphone users in key markets like France and Germany were seemingly not as impressed with the handset. Read on for more.

Reactions to the iPhone 4S were mixed when it was unveiled in October. The handset shares a number of features with its predecessor, as did the iPhone 3GS when it launched, and hype surrounding a rumored iPhone 5 that would offer a design overhaul left a number of onlookers wanting more. When the phone launched later that month, Apple sold 4 million units in the new iPhone’s debut weekend alone and talk of “disappointment” was, for the most part, laid to rest.

To put those figures in perspective, Apple sold 25% more iPhone 4S handsets to end users in three days than Samsung’s Galaxy S II line of smartphones sold — into sales channels — during the its first two months of availability.

Demand was clearly through the roof for Apple’s new smartphone in some markets, but as it turns out, this may not be the case in all regions. Market research firm Kantar Worldpanel’s data shows that Apple lost significant ground in at least two key markets despite the launch of its new smartphone. Coincidentally, perhaps, those two markets are also regions where Apple is focusing a tremendous amount of effort on using the patent system to ban sales of rival handsets.

From September through the end of November this year, Apple’s share of the smartphone market in the U.S. ballooned to 36% from 25% during the same period in 2010 according to Kantar. The iPhone’s performance in the U.K. was equally impressive, pushing Apple’s market share to 31% between September and November compared to 21% a year earlier.

In Germany however, where Android holds 61% of the market and Samsung’s Galaxy S II remains the top-selling handset, Apple’s share slid from 27% during the three-month period ending in November 2010 to 22% during the same period this year. The iPhone lost even more ground in France, where Apple’s share dropped to 20% from 29% over year-over-year. The weakening European economy and sinking prices of competitors’ smartphones are cited by Reuters as likely factors contributing to slowed iPhone sales.

As Android grows more popular in the region, Apple’s patent strategy has seemingly grown more aggressive as well. Germany and France are among the countries where Apple’s patent infringement complaints have been most abundant, targeting competitors such as Samsung, HTC and Motorola. While Apple’s sliding position in these markets is certainly not the only reason the Cupertino, California-based technology giant is attacking its rivals over patents — Apple has also filed numerous complaints in the U.S., where some retailers are still struggling to keep the iPhone 4S in stock — it remains a possibility that Apple’s aggression in France and Germany is fueled at least in part by slowed adoption of its smartphones.

Samsung on Monday confirmed that it recently filed a new complaint against Apple in France, alleging that the Cupertino-based company’s iPad and iPhone devices infringe on three Samsung-owned patents. Unlike the case that recently saw a German judge ban sales of Samsung’s GALAXY Tab 10.1 tablet by the company’s local arm, Samsung’s complaint in France covers patents rather than the physical design of the devices in question. The suit targets Apple’s iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G as well as the iPad and iPad 2, and the patents in question cover the UMTS communication standard according to AFP. The complaint was first filed in July and a preliminary hearing will take place in December.

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In May the World Health Organization published a report that said cell phones are “possibly carcinogenic.” Last month The Economist published a different report suggesting it simply wasn’t possible for the radio waves emitted by a cell phone to cause cells to mutate. Now, another group of research experts from Britain, the United States, and Sweden — who have studied the WHO report — are also arguing that there’s no connection between cell phones and cancer. “Although there remains some uncertainty, the trend in the accumulating evidence is increasingly against the hypothesis that mobile phone use can cause brain tumors in adults,” the group said in a recent report published in Environmental Health Perspectives. According to Reuters, a number of other studies have also been unable to find a link between increases in brain tumors and cell phones in the 10 years since cell phones have become commonplace. “This is a really difficult issue to research,” David Spiegelhalter, the Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge told Reuters. Spiegelhalter was not part of the study but said that it’s “clear that any risk appears to be so small that it is very hard to detect — even in the masses of people now using mobile phones.”

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1PlusV, a French search company, has filed a lawsuit against Google asking for 295 million euros ($421 million). “Between 2007 and 2010, no less than 30 vertical search engines created by 1plusV were black-listed, some of which showed significant business potential,” the company said in its lawsuit. According to Reuters, 1PlusV plans to file the official complaint on Tuesday or Wednesday with the Paris commercial court. Google has been taking a lot of legal heat recently. In the United States, Google recently addressed the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s investigation into its business practices, and it has also faced a similar lawsuit in Europe. In March, Microsoft announced that it was filing a complaint against Google with the European Trade Commission.

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Yankee Group is set to release its European Mobile User Study next month and the research firm has just provided a quick glimpse into its early findings. Reportedly, 40% of European smartphone buyers plan to purchase an iPhone as their next device. 19% plan to purchase an Android powered device, 17% have their eye on a BlackBerry, and 15% plan to buy a Nokia smartphone. “These findings highlight the continued strength of Apple in the European smartphone market and, in particular, its phenomenal brand appeal,” Yankee Group research vice president, Declan Lonergan, said. “The data also highlights the enormous challenges faced by Nokia and RIM to retain mind share and market share in this increasingly dynamic and competitive marketplace.” In addition, the firm found that employees argued they are 58% more productive while on long-distance travel trips when they have a tablet in tow. Yankee Group also argues that consumerization is taking over the workplace and that four times more employees are now using tools designed for the consumer market for work purposes — with IT’s approval, of course. The survey involved 5,000 consumers, 2,250 employees and “IT decision makers” in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Read on for the full press release.

Yankee Group Unveils New European Mobile User Study

New survey offering finds 40 percent of smartphone buyers plan to choose an iPhone.

London, U.K. Jun 22, 2011 – Yankee Group today announced the 2011 European Mobile User Study, which is designed to help both European and global firms make better product, pricing and segmentation decisions. The new study polls 5,000 consumers and 2,250 employees and IT decision-makers across five European countries: France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K.

Available in July, this new survey offering provides key insights into European mobile user behavior, attitudes and purchase plans. For example, it finds 40 percent of consumers who intend to buy a smartphone as their next mobile device will choose an iPhone. Android-based devices come in second (19 percent), followed by BlackBerry (17 percent) and Nokia (15 percent).

“These findings highlight the continued strength of Apple in the European smartphone market and, in particular, its phenomenal brand appeal,” said Declan Lonergan, research VP at Yankee Group. “The data also highlights the enormous challenges faced by Nokia and RIM to retain mind share and market share in this increasingly dynamic and competitive marketplace.”

Other study findings include:

• Consumerization is taking over the enterprise. Four times more employees use consumer tools for work purposes with IT’s explicit approval.
• New devices spur productivity. Employees say they are 58 percent more productive during long-distance travel when they have a tablet.
• Mobile users are multi-device-savvy. Most users have more than one device and they access the same services and content via the screen best suited for the time and place.

In addition to the new study, Yankee Group also announced that Simon Rodd is joining the firm as portfolio manager within the company’s European sales team (see accompanying release). To learn about additional open Yankee Group positions in Boston, London and other locations, visit http://www.yankeegroup.com/careers.do

Nokia has announced that it will hold its annual Nokia World conference from October 26th through the 27th in London. Given Nokia’s recent announcement that it’s still on-track to launch a Windows Phone this year, it’s entirely plausible that Stephen Elop will take the stage during Nokia World and do just that. An October announcement could mean that the new phone will land on store shelves right in time for the holiday season, too. Nokia has listed France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, England, and Spain as the first six countries that will receive the first Windows Phone, so it may not land in the United States as quickly. The Finnish firm also said it will launch 10 new Symbian devices over the next 12 months, and we’ll likely hear more about those devices soon, too.

[Via PCMag]

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According to AllAboutPhones, Nokia will launch its first Windows Phone handsets in six European countries this year. Oddly, Finland will not be one of them. The Finnish phone maker has said that it plans to launch the new devices by Q4 2011, and the first six countries named include France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands. If your country isn’t on that list, fear not. Nokia has said that it plans to launch as many as a dozen Windows Phones throughout 2012, some of which will pack dual-core processors. We’re looking forward to Nokia bringing its drop-dead gorgeous hardware to U.S. store shelves, too.

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Following a report issued late last month by the World Health Organization suggesting cell phones may be carcinogenic, The Economist has published a response column dismissing the report as overblown. According to the report, low-frequency microwaves such as those emitted by cell phones simply do not have enough power to produce anything but extremely low levels of heat. ”No matter how powerful the transmitter, radio waves simply cannot produce ionising radiation,” the column reads. “Only gamma rays, X-rays and extreme ultra-violet waves, which operate in the far (ie, high-frequency) end of the electromagnetic spectrum, along with fission fragments and other particles from within an atom, and cosmic rays (those particles’ equivalents from outer space) are energetic enough to knock electrons off other atoms to break chemical bonds and produce dangerous molecules called free radicals. It is these highly reactive free radicals that damage a person’s DNA, causing mutation, radiation sickness, cancer and death, depending on the dose.” The energy carried by these microwaves, the report contends, is approximately one million times too weak to produce free radicals.

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RIM has announced that the company’s first BlackBerry tablet will go on sale in sixteen new countries over the next month, including Australia, France, Germany, India, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. Its unclear if RIM has any carrier partners lined up or how much the device will retail for abroad. In the United States, Sprint most recently announced that it will begin selling the Wi-Fi PlayBook, and it also has plans to sell a 4G WiMAX version of the tablet this summer. Read

According to a new report from the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, “radio frequency electromagnetic fields” are “possibly carcinogenic to humans based on an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer associated with wireless phone use.” The agency met with with 31 scientists from 14 countries from May 24th through May 31st, 2011 to assess the potential carcinogenic hazards of cell phone usage. The report said that the results were “evaluated as being limited among users of wireless telephones for glioma and acoustic neuroma,” and that it was not relevant to finding conclusions for whether or not cell phones can cause other types of cancers. “Given the potential consequences for public health of this classification and findings, it is important that additional research be conducted into the long-term, heavy use of mobile phones,” IARC Director Chrisopher Wild said. “Pending the availability of such information, it is important to take pragmatic measures to reduce exposure such as hands-free devices or texting.” The full report will be published on July 1 in The Lancet Oncology.

Read [The Washington Post] Read [WHO report (PDF)]

Apple has reportedly submitted a proposal for a new industry stand for SIM cards that would drastically reduce their size. According to Reuters, Apple’s new SIM design is even smaller than the micro-SIM the company currently uses in its iPhone 4 smartphone and iPad tablets. The new SIM card, which has already been backed by France’s Orange and other carriers, would allow cell phone manufacturers to build devices that are much thinner as a result of the smaller, thinner SIM readers that could be included in phones and tablets. “We were quite happy to see last week that Apple has submitted a new requirement to (European telecoms standards body) ETSI for a smaller SIM form factor — smaller than the one that goes in iPhone 4 and iPad,” Orange’s head of mobile told Reuters. “They have done that through the standardization route, through ETSI, with the sponsorship of some major mobile operators, Orange being one of them.” Neither Apple or ETSI have commented on the the proposed SIM.

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An image procured by French site FrAndroid suggests that HTC’s unannounced — but well documented — Pyramid handset may be scheduled for a European release in very the near future. This site’s source indicated that the 1.2GHz, 4.3-inch handset should be landing on French carrier SFR sometime in “late-May.” HTC recently announced an April 14th media event, and the Pyramid is popular announcement prognostications from technology pundits. It does seem unlikely that this particular handset will ever make its way Stateside, but a blogger can dream… can’t he?

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It seems as though French mobile carrier SFR has shed some light on the unannounced Palm Pre 2. According to the telecom company’s website, the device will rock a 1 GHz processor, have 512 MB of RAM, and run the very sensual webOS 2.0. There isn’t any indication of when a potential launch could occur, but the fact that SFR has published – unintentionally or not — details of the Pre Deuce has to be a good sign. What do you think webOS fans? Is this good news or are you looking for a little bit more hardware creativity from HP and company?

[Via PreCentral]

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