Galaxy S III Sales Shoot for the Stars

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Galaxy S III Sales Shoot for the Stars

By David Vranicar
TechNewsWorld
06/25/12 10:34 AM PT

Today in international tech news: Things are looking up for Samsung after the company releases sales projections for the Galaxy S III. Also: Wikipedia's founder is fighting the United States' extradition request for a British 24-year-old; Bain Capital plans to spend $1 billion to acquire half of a Japanese TV shopping company; and Google TV is going to expand beyond the U.S.

Samsung expects its latest smartphone, the Galaxy S III, to sell more than 10 million units by July.

The announcement, made by the head of Samsung's mobile division, Shin Jong-kyun, and relayed by the Financial Times, suggests that the Galaxy S III will soon become the company's best-selling phone to date. The previous two models of the Galaxy S sold a combined 50 million units, according to FT.

The Galaxy S III went on sale in 28 European countries in late May and in the U.S. last week. It is expected to be introduced in 147 countries by July.

Major competition is on the horizon, though -- the next iPhone is highly expected to arrive this fall.

Bain Capital, which was cofounded by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, will acquire 50 percent of TV shopping company Jupiter Shop Channel, according to Bloomberg.

The deal is worth more than $1 billion, according to an unnamed source in the Bloomberg article.

Jupiter Shop, which controls 30 percent of Japan's TV shopping market, plans to tap into Asia's growing middle class, particularly in China, according to the article.

Investors, however, weren't impressed. Stock for Jupiter Telecommunications, of which Jupiter Shop is an affiliate, fell the most in more than two years after news of the deal broke, according to BusinessWeek.

Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, has asked British politician Theresa May to stop the extradition to the U.S. of 24-year-old Briton Richard O'Dwyer, according to The Guardian.

Wales, who along with other Wikipedia editors famously blacked out the site in protest of antipiracy legislation such SOPA and PIPA, had a guest column in The Guardian explaining his involvement in the case.

O'Dwyer, a student at Sheffield Hallam University, founded TVShack.net, a popular website that provided links to places where users could watch pirated TV shows and movies. He is wanted on copyright infringement charges and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted in the U.S.

Wales is also utilizing a Change.org petition. As of Monday morning, the petition had more than 21,000 signatures.

Sony (NYSE: SNE) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) are teaming up to bring Google's interactive TV service to the UK and around the world, according to the BBC.

The device, which will be released in the UK in July for about pounds 200 (or roughly $310), allows users to browse the Internet through their TVs and offers a wide range of apps.

The Google TV product will soon be available in slew of countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and more.

Google TV's biggest competitor is Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) TV, which is already available in the UK and which currently costs about half the expected pounds 200 price tag for Google TV.