BlackBerry lost its third place position in a race for major smartphone platforms. Even with the launch of the latest mobile operating system and some new smartphones, BlackBerry still keeps on failing to establish a major smartphone platform that could be behind the lead of Android from Google and iOS from Apple Inc.

The US Court of Appeals renewed the patent claims that Apple filed against Google's Motorola Mobility.

Samsung would benefit from its failure to block the US imports of Apple products. Samsung Electronics Co. 's failure to block the US imports of Apple Inc's iPhone 4 and iPad 2 would still benefit the South Korean company.

Xiaomi Tech has overtaken Apple's market share in China with 0.2% lead. Xiaomi Tech, a Chinese smartphone manufacturer, has already surpassed Apple's market share in China.

According to analysts, Apple should focus on the growing smartphone markets like China and India. Canalys, a research firm, said China and India were important countries that Apple needs to focus in terms of growth in the smartphone market.

Analysts said Apple must make its own smartphone trade-in program to boost its sales. According to Apple Insider, Apple's CEO Tim Cook is currently considering the possibility of adopting the trade-in program of AT&T and T-Mobile.

Steve Milunovich, an analyst from UBS, said Apple's iPhone M would outsell the company's flagship smartphone iPhone 5s next year.

Microsoft launched a new tool that would help it increase the number of apps in its mobile platform.

Samsung lost US$1 billion in market value after the US President Barack Obama vetoed the import ban on Apple's products.

South Korea expressed its concerns regarding the Obama administration’s decision to overrule a sales ban of Apple’s iPhone 4 and iPad 2.