After being blocked by Apple in their Australian release of their Galaxy Tab 10.1, Samsung pushed for their New Zealand release.  The company believes that the injunction filed against them in Australia has no effects on their New Zealand release of their tablet.

“[Apple’s] injunction application only relates to the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the Australian market. The undertaking given in Australia does not affect any Samsung tablet or smartphone available in New Zealand. Samsung expects to launch the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in New Zealand in the near future,” the company said.

And though Apple seems relentless with their case against Samsung, the company doesn’t seem to be fazed by this.  They released a new software update, the TouchWiz UX, during their Samsung event in New York City, launching it in a unique way.  Before the start of the event, Galaxy Tab users were asked to deposit their tablets and were promised that at the end of the event their tablets will be returned to them with the update.  Those who purchased the Wi-Fi version of the tablet will have access to the update starting August 5.

So what does the TouchWiz UX update have to offer?  Some of the new features included in the update are The Live Panel, and the first thing that you will notice is all about colorful widgets it brings to your screen.  It’s a ‘magazine-like’ interface for your aesthetic pleasure.  The home screen features the time, weather and an image that you can customize to your liking.  And when you swipe right, it will bring up a large, rotating visual newsfeed, while swiping to the left will bring up the Social Hub, which allows you to view your various social network updates.

The Mini Mode Tray, which can be accessed by tapping a small Up arrow in the middle of the taskbar on the bottom of the screen, pops up  the most commonly used apps.  The update also adds a basic photo editing feature. It also comes with a Music Hub, Samsung’s 7digital-powered version of iTunes, which gives you access to millions of downloadable tracks, which appear to be mostly priced at between $0.99 to $1.49 a pop.  The Media Hub is an extremely slick entertainment app that gives users access to downloadable videos from NBCUniversal, Paramount, Warner Bros., Fox, CBS, and MTV.  And finally, the upgrade also includes Cisco VPN and WebEx, device encryption, and Exchange ActiveSynch version 14 support.

Samsung is really taking the tablet war seriously, launching their tablet update shortly after HP released an update for its TouchPad software.  The company also launched their 470 Series consumer SSDs that comes bundled with a full version of Norton Ghost 15 software that delivers the latest backup and restore technology from Symantec Corp.

“SSDs have long been the drive of choice for power-users, but 2011 is the year they are entering the mainstream. Their speed, reliability and energy savings are simply too compelling to pass up,” said Reid Sullivan, senior vice president of mobile entertainment marketing, Samsung Electronics America.

“With this new software and desktop installation kit, we’re making it easier for consumers to experience those benefits by simplifying the SSD installation process.”

And Samsung is also taking a closer look at InterDigital Inc.’s patent portfolio after they were approached to make a bid.  If they do take part in the bidding, they would be going up against Apple and Google over all or parts of  the 8,800 patents on inventions used in devices, ranging from the iPhone to Google’s Android-based handsets, and Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM)’s BlackBerry.  Samsung currently ranks second against Nokia in mobile shipments and if they win the bid, this could easily propel them to the number one slot.  And another thing for Samsung to celebrate is that their Galaxy Tab has made its debut in the UK market as Currys and PC World locations have an exclusive deal to carry the tablet for its first month of availability.

As for Samsung rivals, Digiarty Software, Inc., the developer of Air Playit and also a multimedia software provider, announced the release of Air Playit iPad edition especially for iPad users.  Apple is not taking Samsung’s tablet update lightly and with this release, they just prove that they are not to be toyed around with.  But try as they may, Apple can’t stop Samsung from unleashing their product to the world.