Samsung to widen smartphone gap with Apple this year -Strategy Analytics

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is expected to widen its lead over Apple Inc in global smartphone sales this year with 35 percent growth, helped by a broad product lineup, market researcher Strategy Analytics told Reuters on Friday.
Apple, returning the offensive, could roll out a smaller, cheaper "iPhone Mini" next year to grab market share by targeting demand from users of lower-end smartphones, Strategy Analytics said.
"We expect Samsung to slightly extend its lead over Apple this year because of its larger multitier product portfolio," Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics, said in an e-mail interview with Reuters.
Global smartphone shipments will jump 27 percent to 875 million this year, slowing from last year's torrid 41 percent pace as growth is easing in many key markets such as North America, China, the developed economies of Asia, and Western Europe, Mawston said.
South Korea's Samsung Electronics is forecast to sell 290 million smartphones this year, up from a projected 215 million in 2012, the research firm said. Apple's smartphone sales are projected to reach 180 million this year, up 33 percent from last year, slightly trailing Samsung's 35 percent increase.
This will give Samsung a 33 percent share of the 2013 smartphone market, up from last year's estimated 31 percent, while Apple will hold 21 percent, versus last year's 20 percent.
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Apple, the world's most valuable technology company, and Samsung Electronics, the most valuable in Asia, have battled fiercely in the global mobile device market, which they dominate, although Samsung is also a supplier to Apple.
Samsung may launch the Galaxy S IV, a new version of its flagship smartphone, in April, and the Galaxy Note III phablet and a series of other new smartphones over the course of this year, media reports and analysts have said recently.
"Samsung plays in more segments and this should enable it to capture more volume than Apple (assuming Apple does not launch an 'iPhone Mini' this year)," Mawston said.
Brian J. White, a researcher at Topeka Capital Markets, on Wednesday raised the possibility that Apple may launch a smaller and lower-priced iPhone - the iPhone Mini - to further penetrate markets such as China and India.
White said in a report that he believed Apple will launch the next iPhone, the iPhone 5S, in May or June, and offer more options in screen sizes. This would eventually open up the possibility for the iPhone Mini, he said.
But Mawston said the iPhone Mini was not expected to hit the market until after this year.
"We think Apple will have to launch an 'iPhone Mini' at some point over the next three years to address the hundreds of millions of prepaid users worldwide that cannot afford the current iPhone," he said.
"The iPhone 5 is growing fast and profitably right now, so there is little incentive for Apple to launch an 'iPhone Mini' this year.
"We expect the iPhone Mini to be more likely next year, in 2014 when ... Apple will be forced to discover fresh growth streams," he said.
Samsung Electronics, once a laggard in the smartphone market, has quickly surpassed Apple as the world's largest smartphone maker.
Strong smartphone sales have helped to lift both the company's shares, which hit a record high of 1.584 million won ($1,500) on Thursday, and its earnings, with a record profit expected for a fifth quarter in a row in the latest October-to-December period. The results are expected to be announced early next week.

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Huawei expects 2012 revenues to exceed $35 billion, up over 10 percent

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's No.2 telecom equipment maker, expects its 2012 revenues to exceed $35 billion, up 10 percent from a year earlier, its acting CEO Guo Ping said.
"Huawei's sales revenue for 2012 is expected to exceed $35 billion, with a net profit of about $2.4 billion, more than 10 percent increase year-on-year for both," Guo said in a 2013 New Year message to employees seen by Reuters.

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Indian court to rule on generic drug industry

NEW DELHI (AP) — From Africa's crowded AIDS clinics to the malarial jungles of Southeast Asia, the lives of millions of ill people in the developing world are hanging in the balance ahead of a legal ruling that will determine whether India's drug companies can continue to provide cheap versions of many life-saving medicines.
The case — involving Swiss drug maker Novartis AG's cancer drug Glivec — pits aid groups that argue India plays a vital role as the pharmacy to the poor against drug companies that insist they need strong patents to make drug development profitable. A ruling by India's Supreme Court is expected in early 2013.
"The implications of this case reach far beyond India, and far beyond this particular cancer drug," said Leena Menghaney, from the aid group Doctors Without Borders. "Across the world, there is a heavy dependence on India to supply affordable versions of expensive patented medicines."
With no costs for developing new drugs or conducting expensive trials, India's $26 billion generics industry is able to sell medicine for as little as one-tenth the price of the companies that developed them, making India the second-largest source of medicines distributed by UNICEF in its global programs.
Indian pharmaceutical companies such as Cipla, Cadila Laboratories and Lupin have emerged over the past decade as major sources of generic cancer, malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS drugs for poor countries that can't afford to pay Western prices.
The 6-year-old case that just wrapped up in the Supreme Court revolves around a legal provision in India's 2005 patent law that is aimed at preventing companies from getting fresh patents for making only minor changes to existing medicines — a practice known as "evergreening."
Novartis' argued that a new version of Glivec — marketed in the U.S. as Gleevec — was a significant change from the earlier version because it was more easily absorbed by the body.
India's Patent Controller turned down the application, saying the change was an obvious development, and the new medicine was not sufficiently distinct from the earlier version to warrant a patent extension.
Patient advocacy groups hailed the decision as a blow to "evergreening."
But Western companies argued that India's generic manufacturers were cutting the incentive for major drug makers to invest in research and innovation if they were not going to be able to reap the exclusive profits that patents bring.
"This case is about safeguarding incentives for better medicines so that patients' needs will be met in the future," says Eric Althoff, a Novartis spokesman.
International drug companies have accused India of disregarding intellectual property rights, and have pushed for stronger patent protection that would weaken India's generics industry.
Earlier this year, an Indian manufacturer was allowed to produce a far cheaper version of the kidney and liver cancer treatment sorefinib, manufactured by Bayer Corp.
Bayer was selling the drug for about $5,600 a month. Natco, the Indian company, said its generic version would cost $175 a month, less than 1/30th as much. Natco was ordered to pay 6 percent in royalties to Bayer.
Novartis says the outcome of the new case will not affect the availability of generic versions of Glivec because it is covered by a grandfather clause in India's patent law. Only the more easily absorbed drug would be affected, Althoff said, adding that its own generic business, Sandoz, produces cheap versions of its drugs for millions across the globe.
Public health activists say the question goes beyond Glivec to whether drug companies should get special protection for minor tweaks to medicines that others could easily have uncovered.
"We're looking to the Supreme Court to tell Novartis it won't open the floodgates and allow abusive patenting practices," said Eldred Tellis, of the Sankalp Rehabilitation Centre, a private group working with HIV patients.
The court's decision is expected to be a landmark that will influence future drug accessibility and price across the developing world.
"We're already paying very high prices for some of the new drugs that are patented in India," said Petros Isaakidis, an epidemiologist with Doctors Without Borders. "If Novartis' wins, even older medicines could be subject to patenting again, and it will become much more difficult for us in future to provide medicines to our patients being treated for HIV, hepatitis and drug resistant TB.

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Chefs offer their take on Jerusalem

LONDON (AP) — Two London-based chefs with roots in Jerusalem one day. The next, poster boys for peace.
Such has been the reaction to "Jerusalem," a bestselling cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi, an Israeli, and Sami Tamimi, a Palestinian, built on their memories of a shared city and its delicious food.
"Regardless of all the trouble, food is always there," Tamimi said.
The men run gourmet delis and restaurants in London and have written an earlier cookbook together. They were known not for politics, but for saving some chic London neighborhoods from culinary boredom with Mediterranean-based recipes infused with fresh, exotic flavors.
That changed with the publication of "Jerusalem," as observers took note of their unusual partnership.
An Anglican minister used the chefs as an example of interfaith dialogue in a commentary on the BBC's influential Today program. The New Yorker piled on with a profile titled "The Philosopher Chef." Britain's Daily Telegraph featured the partners on its news pages — no recipes attached.
Suddenly it wasn't just about how much garlic goes into hummus. It was about them.
"We've been very successful at attracting (attention)," Ottolenghi said. "We didn't go out there declaring a political stance. All we did is say, this is the food that we like."
The book contains a mixture of Palestinian and Jewish food, and the authors occasionally discuss what bothers them about their hometown, with its largely Jewish west and predominantly Arab east.
"We would both like to see the city divided more equally between its peoples so it's not a one-sided story as it is at the moment," Ottolenghi said. "And it's controversial. People can be offended or upset. But I don't think they are, and I don't think (they) should be."
Their lucrative collaboration, built around five establishments carrying the Ottolenghi name, would have been harder to pull off in the city that gives the book its title. There is little social interaction between Jews and Palestinians in Jerusalem, and business partnerships are very rare.
London was a different story. Perhaps largely because of its postwar history of appalling cuisine, the city was ready for them. Unlike other European countries that find it hard to stray from celebrated local specialties, London has long been willing to experiment, offering a welcoming home to this political odd couple.
Their establishments quickly gained attention with a high-flying crowd that wanted the staff to know their names when they picked up their cappuccino in the morning or their seared tuna at night.
They don't prepare comfort food in the traditional sense, but it is certainly comfortable to those whose food horizons are open to offerings such as roasted eggplant with feta yogurt, caramelized onions, crispy kale, sumac and lemon zest or chargrilled fillet of English beef with sweet coriander-mustard sauce
The company now employs some 200 people, a dozen of whom were beavering away recently at their London test kitchen and bakery tucked into the arches that form the base of a railroad bridge in the borough of Camden. While trains rumbled overhead, flour-covered bakers stacked pastry circles and rolled out breadsticks one by one under a corrugated steel roof.
Ottolenghi moved to London in the late 1990s after escaping a career path to academia and began to work as a pastry chef. In 1999, while riding his scooter, he happened upon the elegant deli Baker & Spice, and found all the things he loved: Fresh greens, rotisserie chicken and a California feel.
Tamimi had created the concept, and the two bonded over their love of food. Ottolenghi ended up working there, and when he started his own place in 2002, he asked Tamimi to join him.
The men, both 44, never met in Jerusalem, but they have shared interests. Their recipes trace their adventures, like the time Tamimi and a childhood friend crept onto the roof of his friend's house to snatch the figs laid out to dry. The roasted sweet potato and fresh fig salad recipe evokes this memory.
Joan Nathan, author of "Jewish Cooking in America," says she was drawn to the book's personal touch. The book isn't the definitive work on the region's cuisine, she says, pointing out for example that the famed Palestinian chicken dish Mousakhan is not included. But she says that doesn't hurt its appeal. Nathan, who lived in Jerusalem in the 1970s, likes the way the book encompasses both east and west.
"It struck a chord with me," she said.
Though the two men stress their book is about food, they expected people to talk about its context. Politics touches everything in — and about — Jerusalem. Even food is contentious. There have long been arguments, with political overtones, about the origin of that Middle Eastern staple, hummus, with both Arabs and Jews claiming credit.
The chefs would prefer to prepare and enjoy hummus rather than analyze its history. But they know it's impossible to avoid politics.

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Iran says talks with big powers to be held in January

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Iran has agreed to hold talks with six major powers about its atomic program in January but the date and venue has yet to be decided, the country's top nuclear negotiator said on Friday.
The six powers want to rein in Iran's uranium enrichment program to ensure it is geared only for civilian energy, through a mix of diplomacy and sanctions. Iran denies Western assertions it is seeking nuclear weapons capability.
"We have accepted that these talks should be held in January, but until now, the details have not been finalized," Jalili said through a translator during a trip to India.
The six powers - the United States, Russia, France, Britain, Germany and China - have failed to achieve a breakthrough in three rounds of talks since April. But neither side has been willing to break off totally, partly because of concern this could lead to war if Israel attacked its arch-foe.
The powers last met Iran for talks in Moscow. That meeting was followed by low-level technical talks in Istanbul.
Jalili is the second member of Iran's nuclear team to visit India in the past month. He said he welcomed the two countries' strong ties but said India had no particular role in getting nuclear talks restarted.

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NewsWatch features Hyatt Hotel and The Michael Mondavi Family's "Canvas Art of Wine" iPad App on AppWatch

NewsWatch, a nationwide television show, recently aired a news segment about “Canvas Art of Wine”, a new app by Hyatt Hotels and the Mondavi Family. The segment aired as part of “AppWatch”, a weekly review of the top apps in the marketplace.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) December 26, 2012
NewsWatch, a nationwide television show, recently aired a news segment about “Canvas Art of Wine”, a new app by Hyatt Hotels and the Mondavi Family. The segment aired as part of “AppWatch”, a weekly review of the top apps in the marketplace.
Hyatt Hotels and The Michael Mondavi Family teamed up to create Canvas Wines, the signature wine brand of the hotel chain. The app allows users to take photos of their travels, share experiences, and mail customized postcards to their friends and family.
The Canvas Art of Living Postcard app offers the ability to create digital and print postcards to share with family and friends. Users can capture everyday moments or special occasions with the Canvas Art of Living Postcard app!
To download the app, users should visit http://www.canvaswines.com/living or at their next stay at a Hyatt, order a glass of Canvas wine. When they receive the glass of wine, the Hyatt Hotel bartender will provide a coaster that will include a QR code. This code will automatically direct a mobile phone’s web browser to the Canvas Wines website. From the site, users can download the Canvas Art of Living app and start sharing their many travel and wine experiences!
Once users have downloaded the app from either the iTunes Store or Google Play, they can select one of the many postcard designs inspired by Canvas Wines, upload a photo from their smartphone or take a new photo, create their own personalized headline and custom message, then send the card. All finished postcards are automatically saved to a user’s personal gallery.

A user’s digital postcards can be shared via email, text message or on Facebook. Users can convert their digital postcard into a printed postcard to share with family and friends. This customized postcard will be printed and mailed for just $1.99.
For more information or to download the “Canvas Art of Living” app, go to Canvas Wines.
NewsWatch is a weekly 30-minute consumer oriented television show that airs on the ION Network Thursday mornings at 5:30am across the nation. NewsWatch regularly features top travel destinations, health tips, technology products, medical breakthroughs and entertainment news on the show. A recent addition to NewsWatch, AppWatch is a weekly segment that provides viewers app reviews and game reviews of the latest and hottest apps and games out on the market for iOS and Android devices. The show airs in 180 markets nationwide as well as all of the top 20 broadcast markets in the country, and is the preferred choice for Satellite Media Tour and Video News Release Distribution.

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Victims: I. Coast stampede caused by barricades

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Two survivors of the New Year's stampede in Ivory Coast that killed 61 people say barricades that were set up unofficially created the crush of thousands of people who were leaving a fireworks display.
The two survivors, who are hospitalized at Cocody Hospital, said Wednesday that after the fireworks they were prevented from moving along the Boulevard de la Republic by wooden barricades. Newspapers in Ivory Coast have speculated that the roadblocks were set up so pickpockets could steal money and mobile phones.
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, who declared three days of national mourning starting Wednesday, has ordered an immediate investigation into the causes of the stampede. He said the government would open a crisis center to help families find missing people and to take testimony from witnesses.

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Angola: Stampede kills 13 at religious gathering

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The death toll in a stampede on New Year's Eve at a sports stadium in Angola has risen to 13, and some of the victims were children, Angolan media reported Wednesday.
Officials said about 120 people were also injured in the incident, which happened when tens of thousands of people tried to enter a stadium in the capital, Luanda, for a religious gathering, according to Angop, the Angolan news agency.
Faustino Sebastiao, spokesman for the national firefighters department, said those who died were crushed and asphyxiated.
The event in the southern African nation was organized by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, an evangelical group founded in Brazil.
In western Africa, a crowd in Ivory Coast stampeded after leaving a New Year's fireworks show early Tuesday, killing at least 60 people and injuring more than 200.

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C. African Republic leader dismisses son

DAMARA, Central African Republic (AP) — The embattled president of Central African Republic has dismissed his son as the country's defense minister.
The move late Wednesday comes as President Francois Bozize faces a coalition of rebel groups who are seeking his ouster.
National radio announced that his son Francis Bozize will no longer be the defense minister.
Chief of Staff Gen. Guillaume Lapo is also leaving the government, according to the announcement.
Francois Bozize has been in power since 2003 and in the past month he has faced a growing threat as rebels have seized 10 towns across the north.
Bozize has announced he's willing to negotiate with the rebels but he said he will not leave office before his current term ends in 2016.

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Ivory Coast stampede survivors blame barricades

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Survivors of a stampede in Ivory Coast that killed 61 people, most of them children and teenagers, after a New Year's Eve fireworks display said Wednesday that makeshift barricades stopped them from moving along a main boulevard, causing the crush of people.
Ivory Coast police said unknown people put tree trunks across the Boulevard de la Republique where the trampling took place.
"For security, because there were so many important people at the event, we closed certain main streets," said a police officer who was overheard briefing Ivory Coast President Alassane Outtara on the incident. The police officer said the tree trunks were put out unofficially by people who are not known.
"After the fireworks we reopened the other streets, but we had not yet removed the tree trunks from the Boulevard de la Republique, in front of the Hotel Tiana near the National Assembly (parliament) building," she said. "That is where the stampede happened when people flooded in from the other streets."
Ouattara ordered three days of national mourning and launched an investigation into the causes of the tragedy.
Two survivors, in interviews with The Associated Press, indicated why so many died in what would normally be an open area, the Boulevard de la Republique. An estimated 50,000 people had gathered near the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium and elsewhere in Abidjan's Plateau district to watch the fireworks. As they streamed away from the show some encountered the blockades.
"Near the Justice Palace we were stopped by some people who put blockades of wood in the street," 33-year-old Zoure Sanate said from her bed in Cocody Hospital. "They told us we must stay in the Plateau area until morning. None of us accepted to stay in Plateau until the morning for a celebration that ended at around 1 a.m.
"Then came the stampede of people behind us," she said. "My four children and I were knocked to the ground. I was hearing my kids calling me, but I was powerless and fighting against death. Two of my kids are in hospital with me, but two others are missing. They cannot be found."
Another hospital patient, Brahima Compaore, 39, said he also was caught in the pile of people stopped by the roadblock.
"I found myself on the ground and people were walking on me," said Compaore. "I was only saved by people who pulled me onto the sidewalk."
Local newspapers are speculating that thieves put up the roadblocks so that pickpockets could steal money and mobile phones from the packed-in people.
Ouattara pledged to get answers. Some observers wondered why police did not prevent the tragedy.
"The investigation must take into account all the testimonies of victims," he said Wednesday. "We will have a crisis center to share and receive information."
Ouattara also postponed the traditional New Year's receptions at his residence, which had been scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
The leader of a human rights organization said that deadly incidents were predictable because the police and civil authorities had not taken adequate protective measures.
"The situation is deplorable," said Thierry Legre, president of the Ivorian League of Human Rights. "It is our first tragedy of 2013 but in 2012 we could already see possibility of such a tragedy because there are not adequate authorities patrolling our roads and waters."
Legre said the New Year's stampede "exposes our weak and dysfunctional civil protection system. This must be corrected immediately. The government cannot invite people to this kind of public gathering without taking adequate precautions to protect their safety and their lives."
He called on the government "to implement measures to avoid such tragedies in the future by reinforcing the civil protection system."
The government organized the fireworks to celebrate Ivory Coast's peace, after several months of political violence in early 2011 following disputed elections.
Just one night before the New Year's incident, there had been a big concert at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium where American rap star Chris Brown performed. That Sunday night event was for the Kora Awards for African musicians. No serious incidents were reported from that event.
In 2009, 22 people died and over 130 were injured in a stampede at a World Cup qualifying match at the Houphouet Boigny Stadium, prompting FIFA, soccer's global governing body, to impose a fine of tens of thousands of dollars on Ivory Coast's soccer federation. The stadium, which officially holds 35,000, was overcrowded at the time of the disaster.
Another African stadium tragedy occurred on New Year's Eve in Angola where 13 people, including four children, died in a stampede during a religious gathering at a sports stadium in Luanda, the capital.
Angop, the Angolan news agency, cited officials as saying Tuesday that 120 people were also injured. The incident happened on New Year's Eve when tens of thousands of people gathered at the stadium and panic ensued. Faustino Sebastiao, spokesman for the national firefighters department, says those who died were crushed and asphyxiated.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed "deep sorrow" at the heavy human toll and put "a medical team and all available logistical means at the disposal of the government," to help deal with the situation, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

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