No Samsung Galaxy 10 inch in Europe (only in Netherlads)

Apple did win for now against Samsung and therefore Samsung is not allowed to sell their Galaxy tablet in Europe Union besides Netherlands.

The main reason why Apple did not want to have the Galaxy sold, is the too similar design to the iPad.








I think there is more behind than cloning the iPad. The Galaxy does look little similar but is it not normal when creating a tablet? Should have Samsung put handles on the Galaxy or external antennas or maybe made it round that it does not look like the iPad?

There is not much vendors can do when the goal is to have a 10 inch tablet, very light and sophisticated looking. Look at desktop computers. They all look similar, even notebooks are now closer to Apple notebooks.

Honestly I don't like neither that many japanese cars look like Mercedes or BMW, but it is as it is. If the price is lower or quality better then we buy it.

I understand that Apple has patents (not that I agree on our patent system in the US) and did spend a lot of money and research to make the iPhone as a 9.7 inch device. But Steve, you honestly do not think we believe you that it is about the design.

Europeans have usually a less brand affiliation than Americans and sometimes they even tend not to buy a leading brand, because the brand has too much market share and control.

But more important is the picing strategy from Apple, that usually a device in Europe costs the same as in the US but in Euro which makes the poducts 30% more expensive. Apple is in the most part following this price philosophy and therefore the other vendors can score very easily by reduced prices.

And then, Apple does have in Europe much less stores than in the US.
The iPad maker has 52 stores in the region, compared to 238 in the United States.
Acerbic, Asus, HP, Motorola, Samsung and the other tablet companies have a much better and deeper experience dealing with local distributors. If Samsung would be able to sell the Galaxy they could have the device in thousands of stores over night.

Right now there is no competition on the horizon and Apple might be holding major of the tablet market till 2015. The biggest mistakes the other vendors did, was to build and sell 7 inch tablets. Surveys did show that the consumer does prefer 10 inch because 7 inch is too small as a tablet. As a result all other vendors starting to build 10 inch versions of their tablets.

There is a big chance that Apple will in 12 months not anymore dominate the European market like they do it in the US. Already now, Apple iPad has in Europe only 70% market share but in the US 80%.

I remember when I went in 2005 to Germany to visit my family, that only one of 4 mpg players were iPods. But in the US almost everybody had iPods. so I asked some people why they don't have iPods? Two standard answers. Either because iPods are just too expensive and don't do more than other mpg players, or because they did not want to support a big arrogant company.

Apple had with the iPhone in 2010 in Europe only 18% market share, but in the US 28%.








The same could happen with the iPad.

Now we know why Samsung is so eager to get into Europe market with their Galaxy and why Apple does not want this to happen.

I am disappointed that Apple is playing the patent card instead of doing what they are the best. Keep building new toys which have best usability, best battery live and do look just perfect. Even if the Galaxy looks not much different, the battery life is shorter, the usability is not as good as the iPad and it is still heavier. If Apple does fear this, then I don't know what will come next.

I am actually right now pretty annoyed about all these patents fights going on. Apple against Samsung, Google against Microsoft, Microsoft against Motorola and so on.

It is time that our patent rules a getting changed.

(info and statistics from Forrester, The firm surveyed nearly 14,000 online consumers throughout Europe to find that between 2 and 7 percent of consumers surveyed own a tablet and 10 to 14 percent are interested in buying one. Tablet ownership was highest in Spain and lowest in France. Interest in tablets was highest in Germany.).

Samsung is not allowed to sell the Galaxy in Europe, but i am wondering if I could sell them from the US through my online store to Europe? Could be the big deal. I should start to count my winnings.

Let me know what your thoughts are about the whole patents fights?

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Location:Spinning Wheel Ln,Brooksville,United States

An iPad nightmare

Apple introduced last week the iPad 2. A few weeks ago my friend sold his iPad over craigslist knowing he will buy the new iPad 2. He got 75% of original price.
I did not think i want to sell and did not want to be 3 weeks without my iPad, but changed my mind after the keynote. One hour before the keynote gazelle.com did buy the iPad 64GB 3G for $590 which would mean the owner will still get $650 (original $829) for their big iPad 3G selling it private or over eBay.

Only hours after the announcement of the new iPad, the price at gazelle.com went down to $550 and now the price is $530 if your iPad is brand new, but don't expect to get the full price, they almost never pay it. Gazelle.com will even only pay $387 if the iPad has a few scratches on the back. In this case it is better to sell at eBay, because you will still get in average $530.







However i decided that I want to save the high eBay costs and posted it on craigslist.
$650 64GB 3G with 60 original DVDs.
Within minutes a potential buyer emailed me. However the email was suspicious. The buyer said he wants to send with his courier a certified personal check but i have to give him my full address. I decided not to, it looked like scam.



Even craigslist is warning for frauds like this.

A few hours later somebody asked my through craigslist if I send to Rochester NY. I replied of course but the mailing would be high because of the heavy DVDs. I got an answer it is fine and I shall send my paypal address. I did and I looked every half hour in my paypal account. Did not see anything but was happy to get a descent price for my iPad. 3 hours later i get an email from paypal that I have $750 funds in my account. I almost clicked on the email link to go to my paypal account but i saw that the address (i should send my iPad to) is in Nigeria. The person did send at the same time an email saying her husband got already an iPad for her and she does not want to disappoint me and therefore I should send the iPad to her sister.
Looking longer on the paypal email i recognized that the sender email address is paypal@service.com and not service@paypal.com. My mail program just showed the alias "Paypal Service" but right clicking on the email address gave the real email address. On my iPad it is better, it does not resolve the alias. Outlook makes it really easy for scams.




Email was convincing and lucky wise I look always directly in my account and don't click on emails links. But i guess many people don't do and then suddenly their account is compromised because they gave this person their password.
Really clever.
I did send the emails to spoof@paypal.com and should get within 24 hours an answer of their investigating.
I bought a lot of things at craigslist but never sold anything. And i will never sell anymore electronics or high end stuff through craigslist the scam is too high.
At the end you don't save anything. eBay is still the best way to go, high costs but at least all secure.

The only option for me is now Germany. Thanks to Apple. They release of the iPad is in Germany two weeks later.




I get right now for my iPad 64GB 3G around $550 with cover at eBay Germany. And the $ is so bad that I actually make almost 80% from my original price.




The buyers are willing to pay the shipping which is only $10 without insurance. If you insure the iPad then the buyer has to pay import taxes which does make the deal not attractive. I am a lucky person and a friend of mine is traveling next week to Germany and can take my iPad with him.

If you think you want to sell your iPad than hurry. Don't use craigslist or gazelle.com but try to sell it over eBay in countries where the dollar is weak and the iPad 2 does not come out soon. Just go to apple.com and look which country would work for you.

It s unbelievable that the iPad is already, after just one week, the most used sold electronic good. Gazelle.com did buy in average 1500 iPads a week. Since the keynote it is 2000 a day. eBay is since then selling more mobile pads than ever. It seems every pad owner (iPad, Xoom, Galaxy) wants to sell their pad to get the new iPad 2.

And Apple is smart, because of new form factor all accessories like covers or stands etc will not work anymore with the new iPad and we have to buy all new. At least a few hundred bucks extra to the iPad price.

I once switched to Apple because their products kept long a high resale price, Apple did change the form factor only every 3 years. The only thing which changed was processor and memory. I could easily use an Apple device three years and sell it to a good price. Since iPhone and iPad the time is over.
Apple releases every 12 months a new device with so much new that nobody wants to pay a high price for used. However the iPhone is still easier to sell to higher price, but because the people can save a lot of money buying a used one without contract and jailbreak it.
I know many who buy the iPhone and not have an expensive data plan. There it makes sense to buy to a higher price an used iPhone. A data plan is at least $720 for two years, and who really needs a data plan. Wifi is now almost everywhere.
The iPad does come without data plan, therefore nobody wants really to pay more only to get one with 3G. If so then they buy it new.

If you consider to buy the iPad 2. Think twice about the 3G model, it will lose more if you want to resell it after twelve months, as long the providers are charging still way to much for data. I am going to get the wifi only model (if i can sell my iPad) by knowing I will never be able to use it as a GPS device.

I might end up not to sell my iPad if i don't find a buyer to my conditions. Unfortunately we have already 2 iPads and I might need to wait till September when iPad 2.5 is coming out.

Let me know if you want to buy mine with original Apple cover and 60 DVDs for $650.



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