Apple has been trying to product-block competition in the US as well as other countries, riding a case for patent infringement.  They were successful in some instances, but their competition doesn’t easily backdown.  Apple has been in hot pursuit of Samsung and HTC as their top Android-based competitors.  But Android products aren’t the only ones they have to worry about, as BlackBerrys are out for revenge too.

Apple

Apple was recently allowed to start selling gaming apps in their Apple iTunes Korea, which propelled gaming apps to quickly become the highest selling app category in the app market.  A small victory for some, but the South Korean market does wonders for Apple–the country is one of the top when it comes to purchasing mobile devices.

Though they might be doing well in South Korea, Apple is faced with the possibility of having to change one product name, the iPad, in China.  Apple tried to sue Proview Technology for allegedly infringing the name ‘iPad,’ in which the Chinese company countered that that they have lawfully registered the name ‘iPad’ back in 2000, years before Apple’s iPad even existed.  As a result, a court in southern China rejected Apple’s lawsuit.  Proview is seeking 10 billion Yuan or $1.5 billion in damages from Apple.

On a lighter note, Apple announced that their Apple Store in Grand Central Station in New York will open on December 9th, Friday, at 10AM.  The Apple Store is located at 45 Grand Central Terminal, on the east balcony of the main terminal, where the restaurant Metrazur was previously located.

Samsung

Just after their victory over Apple’s attempt to block sales in the US, the South Korean multinational electronics company named Kwon Oh Hyun, its computer-memory chip business head, as vice chairman.  Kwon is known for playing a critical role in leading the company out of the slump.  Kwon will continue to oversee chip and display operations at Samsung Electronics.

“Samsung has quickly shifted away from PC chips to specialty chips, so they’ve been relatively unaffected by market conditions,” Kim Young Chan, a Seoul-based analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp., said by telephone. “Going forward, they’ll keep focusing on chips going into mobile products.”

Samsung is seeking approval from the Chinese government to set up a flash memory manufacturing plant in the country.  Samsung’s decision to setup shop in China stems from the fact that they have cheaper manufacturing costs and the government encourages foreign investment in the sector.

“In the past, our key customers were largely based in the U.S. or in Europe, but demand for NAND-based devices from China is expected to rapidly expand in the next few years and we can’t hold back our plans,” Samsung spokesman James Chung said.

Back in July, rumors were flying around that Samsung is releasing a different kind of smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Skin which features a flexible screen and body along with 3D/hologram technology.  Though there were evidences provided for its existence, the technology seems to be years from now.  But, it looks like everyone loves the idea of a flexible smartphone, and now there’s this video going around about a Samsung tablet that has a transparent, flexible screen also capable of 3D/hologram feature.

HTC

If Samsung escaped a possible product ban in the US, HTC may not be so lucky.  In a case filed by Apple against HTC for allegedly infringing two of their patents, HTC may be banned in the US during the most crucial time of the year – the holiday shopping season.  It’s currently the leading smartphone vendor with 5.7 million smartphones shipped in the US during the last quarter, with Samsung and Apple trailing behind.  HTC’s shares continue to plummet as they reported a 30% drop in sales last November.  HTC performed fairly well at the start of the year, but as more people purchase Apple and Samsung products, their declining numbers continue to unsettle investors.

But HTC isn’t ready to give up yet, maintaining a positive outlook for the coming year.

“We will focus on the product next year, better and more competitive,” Chief Financial Officer Winston Yung said.  “Other than new LTE phones for the U.S. market, we also have phones for the global market. We will launch some worldwide flagship products. We’re confident in them.”

RIM

In October, Research in Motion announced BBX, the next generation OS for BlackBerry smartphones and tablets that is a hybrid of the BlackBerry, QNX and HTML5 which already faced its first hurdle even before it became available as Basis International, a global software company, holds the trademark forBBx, a computer language that enables programs to run in any software.

When the issue was first brought to light, RIM stated that they haven’t received any complaints from BI and that their product name would not cause any confusion.

The latest update is that on Tuesday, a federal judge in New Mexico approved a temporary restraining order which prevents RIM from using the name BBX.

“RIM doesn’t typically comment on pending litigation, however RIM has already unveiled a new brand name for its next generation mobile platform,” RIM said in the statement, saying the new name will be BlackBerry 10.