Australian retailer Kogan stops selling the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 after Apple threatens to sue

Despite selling iPads too, and at lower prices than others, since it gets them directly from the Chinese factories, the Australian retailer Kogan has been threatened with a lawsuit by Apple, if it continues to sell and market the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Samsung agreed to stop these activities Down Under until the court hearing on a possible patent infringement injunction against its Android tablet. Kogan was evidently engaged in marketing the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 heavily and received a letter from Freehills, Apple's Australian law firm, that it is infringing on patents held for the iPad with this behavior, so the retailer ceased all activity related with the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Apple also wanted to know which entity Kogan got Samsung's tablet from, but the electronics store denied the request. David Shafer, Kogan's executive director, has commented in a statement:

There is a fine line between legitimately enforcing your intellectual property on the one hand, and just trying to stifle competition on the other - in our view Apple is very precariously walking that line.

Still, Ruslan Kogan, the company's founder (pictured on the thumbnail), has said they caved despite believing they haven't violated any laws, because they don't need a legal battle with Apple on their hands: "All we are trying to do is to provide the latest technology at the best prices. Pointless litigation is not our specialty".

Samsung is countersuing Apple in Australia for violating its own patents related to the 3G standard, in which Apple says the Koreans have planted a time bomb, so we'll see what comes out of this tit-for-tat Down Under.

Apple officially announces the “Let's talk iPhone” event

Apple has officially announced that October 4 is indeed the day of the event that will be held at their company headquarters that will finally end all speculation by introducing the next-generation iPhone. 

The invite doesn’t say much. It shows four iOS icons that give away the date which of course is Tuesday, October 4, the time, which is 10AM PST, the location and topic of the event. Isn’t Apple so clever? The bottom of the invitation simply reads “Let’s talk iPhone.” 

There you have it folks. There isn’t much to be said other than in one week from today all of the madness regarding the iPhone 5, or iPhone 4S or whatever you want to call it will finally be put to an end. However, expect the madness to continue up until the very last minute as the rumor mill will surely continue to churn.

Apple inventory system now shows iPhone 4S

According to a tip from an anonymous source, Apple’s inventory system now has a listing for an iPhone 4S with the codename N90A that suggests they may be ready to show off two models at next week’s event. 

The iPhone 4 was associated with the codename N90. The addition of the A may mean that the 4S is the incremental update that it has been rumored several times to be. When Apple released the iPhone 4 in June of 2010, they also released an 8GB version of the 3GS model as a cheaper alternative. If Apple does announce a fifth-generation model of their flagship device during their event at company headquarters, then the 4S could simply serve the same purpose that the 3GS did just last year.

We still don’t know for sure that Apple will show off two iPhone models next week, but for now at least we know that the iPhone 4S does exist. The 4S is rumored to feature the same body style as Apple’s current offering but with some improved internals such as the dual-core A5 processor. It is also believed that the 4S could have a better camera but it is possible the rumored 8 megapixel shooter could be reserved for the iPhone 5. 

With only 6 more days before Apple’s “Let’s talk iPhone” event takes place, you can expect speculation to reach an all-time high. A new iPod Touch also showed up in the inventory system wearing the codename N81A. The fourth-generation of the iPod Touch sported the codename N81, suggesting that the iPod Touch may only be due for minor updates. 

AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II benchmark tests

With the GSM version of the Samsung Galaxy S II, we were introduced to a high flying smartphone that managed to put up some astronomical benchmark results– thus, catapulting it to the stratosphere as being one of the fastest smartphones on the market. Well, now it’s AT&T’s turn to show what its version of the Samsung Galaxy S II is capable of achieving.

In the short time playing around with the handset, it exhibits plenty of smooth and fluid executions with most tasks – like navigating around its homescreen and running apps. Of course, we’re not all that surprised to see it flawlessly radiating some tight responsiveness when navigating its homescreen, but our eyes perk up when the same response is evident when a live wallpaper is used. Generally, we tend to see a slight drop with performancewith this, but it’s very remarkable to see the AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II running so eloquently still.

	AnTutu Benchmark results		Quadrant benchmark results

Starting off with the Quadrant benchmark, the handset is able to whip up scores well into the 3,000 mark – but we’re blown away by the 3,733 score we’re able to get! Amazingly, that literally blows away the competition in the dust as others struggle to even top the 2,000 mark of late. Moving on, we’re given a total score of 5,773 with the AnTutu benchmark app, which is well in line to the figures obtained by the original handset. Nevertheless, it goes to show that AT&T’s version is still one beastly phone under the hood.

Indeed it can be regarded as being the king of the hill right now, especially when its dual-core 1.2GHz Exynos processor with 1GB of RAM is able to deliver such joy.  Still, we’ll be testing the handset further to see what kind of performance it’s able to provide us in the long term – though, we’re mightily impressed so far!

AT&T to Release Mango for Windows Phones Tomorrow

AT&T plans to release Mango to Windows phones, including the HTC  Surround, LG Quantum and Samsung Focus, starting on Tuesday.

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"Customers with qualifying Windows Phones -- HTC HD7S, HTC Surround, LG Quantum and Samsung Focus -- will receive notices when the update is ready for download," an AT&T spokesman said. "Since the update will occur in stages, customers will receive the notices on a rolling schedule with different phones being updated at different times."

The Dallas, Texas-based carrier said Samsung Focus devices running on hardware revision 1.3 will get the update on September 27, but owners with version 1.4 will receive an upgrade later in October.

"There's a lot to look forward to," a Microsoft spokesperson said. "We are excited to share more very soon."

Microsoft released Windows Phone last year, and Mango marks the software maker's first major update. Improvements include multitasking capabilities, an updated version of Internet Explorer and deeper integration with Facebook.

By beefing up the platform, Microsoft aims to better compete with new versions of Android, dubbed "Ice Cream Sandwich," and Apple's expected iPhone 5, running iOS 5.

Analyst: Apple cut iPad 2 orders for fourth quarter by 25%

Apple is allegedly cutting orders for iPad 2 parts by as much as 25% for the fourth quarter, says one report from JP Morgan, which indicated parts suppliers received fewer orders this quarter than previously. The company shipped 17 million units in the third quarter, and this news means Apple would ship just 13 million in Q4, though vendors have yet to confirm this information. Even if it turns out to be true, that’s still an impressive number for a tablet.

A drop in orders could signal multiple changes. Apple might be pulling a strategic move by ordering less to meet the bare minimum in demand. On the other hand, demand for the iPad 2 could be slowing down as people choose to wait until the holiday season to make their expensive purchases. Plus the iPad 2 is about half-way through its lifecycle, with the iPad 3 due early next year. Earlier rumors of a third-generation iPad this fall have for the most part been squashed.

Analysts aren’t all that worried though. Mark Moskowitz of JP Morgan is standing by his prediction of 10.9 million to 12 million iPad shipments for Q4. Quite frankly, Apple shouldn't be worried either. Even if it lowered iPad 2 orders down to 10 million for the last quarter 2011, the competition still don’t stand a chance. To pick on RIM as always, only 490,000 PlayBooks were sold in Q3.

Shortly after this news broke this morning, Apple’s stock fell from the $403 area down to today’s current low of $391.30. Now it’s back up and staying around the $398 mark. Not too shabby.

Samsung Galaxy S II hits the 10 million sold mark with no help from the U.S.

It took the Samsung Galaxy S II one less month than the original model to reach 10 million in sales. And that total, compiled over 6 months, does not include any sales from the U.S. where the phone only recently was launched on Sprint as we reported. Considering the pent-up demand for the phone Stateside, and the great response that those who purchased the Samsung Galaxy S II, Sprint Epic 4G Touch have had to the device, the 10 million sold figure is going to rise sharply by the time Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T are all done selling the device in the States..

Earlier this month, we told you that in Samsung's own backyard (Korea), the phone had sold 3.5 million units and daily activations of the phone outnumbered those for the Apple iPhone by 7 to 1.  According to Samsung, globally sales of the phone have doubled over the last 8 weeks from a total of  5 million units sold, which is quite an amazing pace. JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung's mobile Communications Business said, "In just five months the Galaxy S II has seen tremendous growth, reflecting its tremendous popularity with customers around the world, who in selecting the Galaxy S II as their device of choice have driven the device’s strong market position globally."

As we informed you, the AT&T variant of the Samsung Galaxy S II will be launched on October 2nd for $199.99 with a signed 2 year contract. This version has a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED Plus display and a 1.2GHz Exynos dual-core processor under the hood. Sprint's already launched version has the same processor with a larger 4.52 inch screen. T-Mobile has yet to disclose a launch date for it's version of the phone which will have a 4.52 inch display, but is rumored to offer a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm chip inside.