Samsung: Plan Galaxy Phone Using Wraparound Display

According to Bloomberg,

A Samsung Electronics Co. Galaxy advertisement (Bloomberg)

Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) plans to release a Galaxy smartphone next year with a display that wraps around the edges so users can read messages or monitor stocks while looking from an angle, according to two people familiar with the plans.

The phone will use an upgraded version of Samsung’s technology called Youm, currently featured in the curved Galaxy Round handset, the people said, asking not to be identified because the plans haven’t been released. The three-sided display may be used in the S or Note series of premium handsets or may be the first in a new line, the people said. Samsung plans to have each side of the display operate independently.

The world’s largest maker of handsets is fighting with Apple Inc. (AAPL) to introduce innovative devices as they brace for a slowdown in the high-end smartphone segment, where Samsung sells about one of every three devices. Apple is developing new iPhone designs including bigger screens with curved glass and enhanced sensors that can detect different levels of pressure, a person familiar with the plans said Nov. 10.

“Samsung is the dominant player,” Lee Do Hoon, an analyst at CIMB Group Holdings Bhd in Seoul, said by phone today. “That gives it a competitive advantage over Apple in the race to make phones with bendable displays.”

Smartphone Saturation

Samsung doesn’t have a specific release date for the new device, the people said, with one person saying the handset is more likely to come out during the second half of next year. The Youm technology was shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. Chenny Kim, a spokeswoman for Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung, declined to comment.

The company is diversifying its product portfolio by expanding its use of flexible displays, unveiling the Galaxy Gear smartwatch and registering a design patent for eyeglasses that can answer phone calls while the user exercises.

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Microsoft To Buy Nokia’s Device Business in Deal Worth $7.17 Billion

Nokia devices (http://www.gsmarena.com)

All Things D’s Ina Fried reports that Microsoft announced late Monday that it is buying the majority of Nokia’s cell phone unit for 3.79 billion Euros ($5.0 billion) and spending another 1.65 billion Euros ($2.18 billion) to license Nokia’s patent portfolio for a total of 5.44 billion euros ($7.17 billion).

Once the deal is done, a number of Nokia executives will join Microsoft including Stephen Elop, a former Microsoft executive seen as among the top contenders to replace CEO Steve Ballmer. Also set to join Microsoft are Jo Harlow, Juha Putkiranta, Timo Toikkanen and Chris Weber.

For now, Elop is stepping aside as Nokia CEO to become executive VP of devices and services. Nokia Chairman Risto Siilasmaa will serve as interim CEO.

“For Nokia, this is an important moment of reinvention and from a position of financial strength, we can build our next chapter,” said Siilasmaa “After a thorough assessment of how to maximize shareholder value, including consideration of a variety of alternatives, we believe this transaction is the best path forward for Nokia and its shareholders.”

The move is a clear sign that Microsoft believes it can and must succeed in the phone business and that it cannot afford to leave the success in the hands of a partner–even one like Nokia that had bet its future on Microsoft’s phone software.

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Samsung’s smartphone sales boosted profit

Samsung Electronics Co. jumped to a record in Seoul trading after surging smartphone sales boosted profit and helped Asia’s largest consumer-electronics company keep pace with Apple Inc.

Fourth-quarter net income rose 17 percent to 4 trillion won ($3.6 billion), from 3.42 trillion won a year earlier, the Suwon, South Korea-based company said in a statement today. The average of 28 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg was 3.99 trillion won. Sales rose 13 percent to 47.3 trillion won, in line with a preliminary estimate announced Jan. 6.

Samsung shipped more smartphones last year than Apple did iPhones, with the popularity of its Galaxy models helping the Korean company sell a record 300 million handsets. Samsung, whose parent group plans a record investment this year, is introducing more phones and tablet computers to cushion slumping profits at its liquid-crystal display business amid a global economic slowdown.

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