Samsung’s Harman acquisition may go through by Q1 amid uncertainty

Samsung announced its intention to acquire Harman International for $8 billion in November last year. This is the biggest acquisition that the company has ever gone for and is reportedly a pet project of vice chairman Lee Jae-yong who wants to grow the company’s market share in the automotive parts business. There has been some speculation about the future of this deal but the latest reports out of Korea suggest that amid all this uncertainty, the company is convinced that it will be able to close the Harman acquisition in the first quarter of this year.

Samsung has agreed to acquire Harman International for $112 per share which represents a premium of almost 30 percent over the company’s market capitalization based on the share price at that time. Some minority shareholders filed a class action lawsuit against Harman International’s CEO Dinesh Paliwal and the company’s board last week as they believe that the company was sold at too low a price. They won’t be voting for the acquisition at the shareholders meeting.

Reports suggest that Harman CEO Dinesh Paliwal has met with the company’s top investors and they appear to be happy with the premium that Samsung has offered. The majority shareholders are likely to vote in favor of the acquisition so it appears unlikely that the minority will be able to hold up the deal. The shareholders meeting is expected to take place within the first quarter.

Samsung is having to deal with uncertainty on another front as well. The company is embroiled in a big corruption and bribery scandal in South Korea which has already led to the impeachment of the country’s president and may even lead to the arrest of Samsung vice chairman Lee Jae-yong. The company and its investors are anxiously waiting for Wednesday when a court will decide whether or not the Samsung leader should be arrested in connection with this scandal.

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Samsung’s offering new Galaxy S7 edge owners in the UK a complimentary Gear Fit 2

To coincide with the promotion it’s holding in the United States, Samsung has announced that it’s awarding all new Galaxy S7 edge owners in the United Kingdom a complimentary Gear Fit 2. The promotion kicked off towards the latter part of last week and will run through Tuesday, February 28.

It’s worth noting, however, that not all third-party retailers in the region are participating in the scheme — so if you’re planning on picking up a Galaxy S7 edge from an independent store, it would probably be best to ask a member of staff if you’ll be eligible to receive the free Gear Fit 2 before you hand over the cash.

Once you’ve managed to track down a retailer enrolled in the scheme, you simply need to purchase the handset, then head over to Samsung’s website and hit the ‘Claim Now’ button. Now all that’s left to do is fill in the form and wait for a confirmation email. As soon as that arrives, your Gear Fit 2 will be dispatched and will be at your door within 1-4 working days.

 

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Samsung is revolutionizing in-store retail operations with Fujitsu

Samsung has teamed up with Fujitsu to revolutionize in-store retail operations. At the National Retail Federation’s Big Show in New York City, Fujitsu launched a new software solution that creates a secure two-way collaborative digital communication platform between the company’s U-Scan Self-Checkout (SCO) or Fresco Point-of-Sale (POS) touchscreen systems and Samsung’s smartwatches. This new system promotes enhanced staff responsiveness and overall store efficiency in convenience, grocery and retail environments.

This patent pending system enables retail staff to perform their core duties while having hands-free access to important alerts and messages in order to make sure that the in-store operations are running smoothly. The system can push alerts manually and automatically from SCO and POS units to Samsung Gear smartwatches for scenarios in which a price check is needed, when sensitive items need to be retrieved from a locked case and when age verification is required for a customer purchasing alcohol or tobacco products.

The alerts are sent to Samsung Gear smartwatches with a haptic, hard to ignore notification that also includes action-oriented details that are prioritized so that staff members know which pressing issues they have to address first. Actions that need physical input from the manager in current retail environments will be handled directly on the smartwatch once this system is adopted by retailers.

Intercom systems will also be replaced by this system as it will rely on Fujitsu’s wearable alerts system to discreetly notify staff members when sensitive tasks like replenishing a cash register need to be handled. All two-way communication between SCO and POS units as well as Samsung Gear smartwatches are secured by Samsung Knox.

It’s unclear at this point in time when this system will go live in retail stores across the globe.

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Samsung quietly announces the Galaxy C7 Pro in China

Samsung has quietly taken the wraps off the long-rumored Galaxy C7 Pro in China. The handset, which will be available in three colors — Arctic Blue, Maple Leaf Gold and Rose Pink — carries a price tag of 2,799 Yuan ($405) and is expected to be available to pre-order in the region later today, though that’s unconfirmed at present.

With regards to specifications, the Galaxy C7 Pro sports a 5.7-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display, a 2.2GHz Snapdragon 626 octa-core CPU, 4GB of RAM, 32/64GB of expandable internal storage, a 16MP front/rear-facing camera and a 3,300mAh battery. It’ll also ship running Marshmallow, but is expected to receive the Nougat update.

You may recall that in addition to exclusively revealing that Samsung was working on the Galaxy C7 Pro a little more than four months ago, we also announced that it was working on a more compact, mid-range variant, dubbed the Galaxy C5 Pro. Unfortunately, it’s unclear when the smaller device will hit the shelves, but we’re guessing it will be sooner rather than later.

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SideSync app receives update for macOS, brings improved security

The SideSync app from Samsung, which allows users to share data and screen of their Galaxy devices with PC and Mac, has received an update to version 4.7.0.17011_7. The update, which is meant for macOS, brings improved security and ability to block notifications individually.

After the new update, whenever a device requests a connection, users should confirm a six-digit passkey before the connection is established. Moreover, users can block individual app notifications from appearing on their desktops, and this is an important feature for people who don’t want all their notifications to be mirrored.

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Samsung opens first-ever Experience Store in Malaysia

Samsung has been setting up its Samsung Experience Store retail locations across the globe as one-stop shop solutions to serve customers who are looking to purchase its products, particularly its mobile devices. The strategy has been working very nicely for the company and it’s pressing ahead with it in new markets as well. Samsung Malaysia has opened the company’s first-ever Samsung Experience Store in Malaysia located in Genting Highlands.

Samsung’s first Experience Store in Malaysia has been opened at the Sky Avenue Mall in Genting Highlands. The store is going to offer a wide variety of Samsung’s mobile products as well as its wearable devices. Samsung Malaysia Electronics, IT & Mobile Business Unit vice-president Lee Jui Siang said that the opening of the first Experience Store in Malaysia is a step forward in the planned expansion of Samsung’s retail outlets in the country.

Malaysia’s first Samsung Experience Store is located at Lot T2B-57, Level T2B, Sky Avenue, Genting Highlands Resorts. The store will be open daily from 10am to 10pm local time.

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Apple vs Samsung patent case reopened by US appeals court

Samsung scored a major legal victory last year when the United States Supreme Court ruled that the company can’t be forced to fork over all of the profits from a device found to be infringing on design patents when it may only be infringing on some and not all components. The case was sent back to the lower court for further proceedings.

Apple and Samsung have been fighting this battle for more than five years now. Samsung was accused of copying the original iPhone’s design, particularly elements like home screen layouts and bezels. Apple was originally awarded $1 billion in damages but this amount was significantly reduced to $399 million in retrials.

As a result of the Supreme Court order, the Federal Circuit has reopened the Apple vs Samsung patent dispute. The appeals court has reinstated Samsung’s appeal in a one-paragraph order that also vacates a 2015 Federal Circuit decision that ordered Samsung to pay Apple $399 million in damages as its devices were found to infringe on parts of patents that protect the iPhone’s design. The Federal Circuit is now going to decide how much Samsung really owes in damages.

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