Winning News on the Apple Front

First off, congratulations to Apple for becoming the sort of richest company on Earth, sort of.  When Apple set a new high stock price on the morning of Aug. 20, it surpassed the market cap of Microsoft before the dot.com bubble burst - making it the most valuable company ever (using that metric).  However, if you adjust Microsoft's previous high cap evaluation in 1999 for inflation, it still comes out on top.
  And if Apple's not yet on top, many analysts think it will soon be.  There are predictions that the iPhone 5 release will be the "biggest handset launch in history" (see below) - and with a new iPad Mini rumored to be in production, and predictions of iTV, a smart TV with gesture controls and content deals with AT&T and Verizon.  And then there's the Apple-Samsung patent fight over smartphone features and services.

The other big win of the day was in US Court, where Apple won its patent infringement suit against Samsung over various "look & feel" patents for smartphones.  The jury found that Samsung had infringed on four design patents and three utility ("use") patents held by Apple, and rejected Samsung's counterclaim that Apple had infringed on five patents owned by Samsung.  Apple was awarded $1.05 billion in damages - but had been seeking between $2.5 and $2.75 billion.

"This is a resounding victory, not for only Apple and its intellectual property portfolio, but also designers and design rights in general. This verdict strengthens strengthens Apple's design identity, which has arguably has been watered down as each new Apple-like device hit the market," said attorney Christopher Carani, chairman of the American Bar Association's design rights committee.
Rather than face the prospect of another Apple suit, rival phone makers will give the iPhone design a wide berth--yielding more space around its design elements than perhaps necessary, Carani predicted.

The case considered a total of 24 smartphone models from Samsung - and only three models escaped some or all of the infringement claims (the Galaxy Ace, the Intercept, and the Replenish).  The hot-selling Galaxy S models were found to have infringed the most, and Apple is said to be asking the court for an injunction that would prevent Samsung from selling infringing models in the U.S.  With Samsung a leader in the booming Android-OS smartphone marketplace, the case is expected to significantly impact on smartphone markets in the near term.

In the meantime, the IT rumor mills have been flourishing with talk of the iPhone 5 (expected to be released next month) and how it would stack up against the Samsung Galaxy S III.  With the patent case settled, the point may be moot - that is, there may be no Galaxy S III to compete with in the U.S.
   Anyway, various analysts expect the next iPhone to have:  a thinner, larger, screen - reportedly a 4 inch screen instead of the current 3.5 inch; a different docking pin (thinner and narrower); support for LTE (4G variant) networks on AT&T, and later Sprint (who's just now building out their LTE network); possible extension to T-Mobile networks; and NFC (near field communications) - which allows for services like digital wallets and sharing files between nearby iPhones or other devices.

Sources -   Apple becomes most valuable company in history - sort of,  SNL Marketweek
Apple Wins $1.05 Billion in Samsung Patent Case,  Information Week Mobile.
The top 5 iPhone 5 rumours: From plausible to outlandish,  FierceWireless