Today’s mobile news roundup features: Apple burns Samsung in UK ad; Samsung beats analysts’ expectations; and Surface RT now up for sale.

Apple burns Samsung in UK ad

In July, Apple lost in a UK battle against Samsung when the court stated that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 did not infringe the iPad, saying that it was “not cool enough“. As part of the ruling, the UK court ordered the fruity company to place an advert in both national newspapers and on its website that no infringement had occurred, to clear the South Korean company’s name.

Apple filed an appeal against the ruling, but in the end lost its bid.  Following this, they had no choice but to abide by the court’s orders, hence yesterday they places an ad stating that Samsung did not copy their designs.  Apple, of course, did not go down without a fight and carefully worded the ads in favor of itself.  It stated that though the UK court did not find Samsung guilty, others did.

“So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple’s far more popular iPad,” the last part of Apple’s statement read.

iPhone third quarter sales sky-rocket

In other Apple news, their fourth quarter report boasted sales of 26.9 million iPhones, bettering analysts’ expectations of somewhere between 24-25 million units.  But though iPhone sales were astounding, iPad sales trailed far behind, with only 14 million units sold, missing analysts’ expectation of 18.5 million.

Apple reported a total revenue of $36 billion, which is a 27 percent increase compared to last year’s, and a record for the third quarter.  Net profits were also up by 24.2 percent, at $8.2 billion.  But it wasn’t the numbers that surprised everyone; rather, it was CEO Tim Cook’s comment about Microsoft’s Surface RT.

“[From] what we’re reading … it’s a fairly compromised, confusing product,” Cook said of the $499 Windows RT tablet. “So I think one of the toughest things you do … is to make hard trade-offs and decide what a product should be. I suppose you could design a car that flies and floats, but I don’t think it would do all of those things very well.”

Samsung smashes analysts’ expectations

The South Korean electronics giant once again astounded analysts as it reported an operating profit of $7.4 billion for the third quarter, which up by a whopping 91 percent compared to Q3 2011.  The massive increase in profit is attributed to strong sales of their Galaxy line of devicesm such as the Galaxy SIII.  But analysts are expecting Samsung’s profits to drop during the fourth quarter, the holiday season, as their top competitor Apple recently released its new iDevices.  Still, Samsung is not fazed by these predictions.

“[We] will do our best to sustain our earnings momentum throughout the fourth quarter by implementing strategies we have developed for our businesses,” said  Robert Yi, senior vice president and head of investor relations at Samsung.

Surface RT now up for sale

Microsoft held two events yesterday, one for the official introduction of Windows 8, and for their partners to showcase their Windows 8 all-in-ones, Ultrabooks, tablets and hybrids; while the second event was reserved for the Microsoft-branded Surface RT tablet.

The Surface RT is available for $499, and if you want a Touch or Type Cover to come with your shiny new tablet, you have to pay an extra $119.99 or $129.99, respectively.

It features a 10.6″ ClearType HD Display with 1366×768 pixels and a 5-point multitouch functionality, VaporMg casing, Dark Titanium color, weighs 1.5 pounds, Quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3, 2GB RAM, Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0 technology, 31.5 W-h battery, two 720p HD LifeCams, front- and rear-facing, two microphones, stereo speakers, full-size USB 2.0, microSDXC card slot, headset jack, HD video out port, cover port, Ambient light sensor, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Compass and a 24W power supply.

Plus, it comes pre-installed with apps such as Office Home and Student 2013 RT Preview, Windows Mail and Messaging, SkyDrive, Internet Explorer 10, Bing, Xbox Music, Video, and Games.