No iPhone 5 - and Now No iPhone 4S?

Samsung has filed patent infringement lawsuits in France and Italy stating that iPhone 4S should be 'barred from sales' - due to infringement of wireless patents held by the Korean company.

Samsung picked those countries for 'local legal processes,' said a spokesperson. Samsung alleged, 'Apple has continued to flagrantly violate our intellectual property rights and free ride on our technology. We believe it is now necessary to take legal action to protect our innovation.' The company refused to rule out further lawsuits.

Meanwhile, Apple also saw its stock fall because of disappointment about the upgrade unveiled last night. Its stock fell more than 4 percent in afternoon trading before rebounding to close at $372.50, down 0.6 percent.

Apple suppliers were also hit by general disappointment in iPhone 4 - the Taiex exchange in Taiwan fell 0.8 per cent overall. Tech stocks generally rose 2.63 per cent in yesterday's trading.

A Samsung executive told the Korea Times, 'When the iPhone 5 arrives here, Samsung plans to take Apple to court here for its violation of Samsung's wireless technology related patents.'

Colin Fowler, at IP law specialists Rouse said, 'This marks another step up in the war between the two biggest smartphone producers.'

'If Samsung is successful in obtaining injunctions in the courts of Milan and Paris, Apple will be concerned about which countries are next on its hit list for similar claims. Germany, for example, has some courts which take a tough line.'

This is in response to Apple's continued legal action against Samsung's Galaxy family of touchscreen tablets and smartphones - some of which are currently illegal in Europe, thanks to Apple lawsuits claiming they are 'slavish' copies of iPhone and iPad.

It was Cook's first launch since he took over as CEO from Apple founder Steve Jobs - and seen as a test of his leadership. So far, reaction to iPhone 4S has been lukewarm.

The new iPhone is iPhone 4S, not iPhone 5 - looking very similar to the current model, but voice-controlled (full hands-on first impressions are below). The phone launches on October 14.

The feeling inside the tech community was of general disappointment, though. There was no redesign, no 4G version, nothing to put Apple as far ahead of its competitors as iPhone 4 was.

The new handset will have a dual core A5 processor like the one in iPad 2, and an eight-megapixel camera - all of which puts it in competition once again with rivals such as Samsung.

The most talked-about feature, though, was the phone's new 'artificially intelligent' assistant.

The feature, called Siri, will allow you to 'talk' to your iPhone like you talk to other people - for instance, you can ask the phone 'What is the forecast today?' while holding down the Home button, and it will bring up a weather forecast.

You can also simply say, 'Wake me up tomorrow at 8am,' and the device will set an alarm for you. You can even dictate your messages to the phone. The idea is that you will speak to Siri as if to a human being (see fact box, below). At launch, Siri will work in English, German and French.

The battery life has been improved - offering a reported 8 hours talk time. The phone will be compatible with fast HSPA+ networks (not 4G, but offering faster data speeds than current networks). Only around 20 phone networks offer this service worldwide, however.

[Source : daily mail]