HTC completes the long-going purchase of S3 Graphics-- gaining access to a portfolio of around 270 patents in the process. 

The intent to purchase S3 for $300 million was originally announced back in July 2011, but was delayed by patent-related legal battles between S3 and Apple. 

On November 2011 S3 lost the case, causing HTC to "reevaluate" the purchase-- until now, as HTC CEO Peter Chou says buying S3 is part of a wider strategy of investing in patents at the right price. 

Once a big player in the GPU business (at least back in 1997) S3 has licensed patents to the likes of Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. 

HTC has its own legal battles against (who else?) Apple. Will the S3 patents provide valuable amunition?

Go Taiwan's HTC Boosts Patent Back, Not Worried Over Disputes (Reuters)

Nokia faces more than a lowered outlook for Q3 2012 as it completes transition to Windows Phone-- it is also slashing jobs and restructuring senior leadership in order to "sharpen strategy."

The company says the Smart Devices unit is negatively affected by "competitive industry dynamics" by "greater extent than previously expected," and thus expects Q2 2012 non-IFRS Devices and Services operating margin to be lower than Q1 2012.

In cost-cutting (or "rescaling") efforts, Nokia is also slashing jobs-- 10000 global postition by end 2013, with reductions in Devices & Services, the closure of facilities in Finland (manufacturing), Germany and Canada (R&D) and the streamlining of IT, corporate and support functions. 

Leadership also sees changes, as Nokia appoints Juha Putkiranta as executive vice president of Operations, Timo Toikkanen as executive vice president of Mobile Phones, Chris Weber as executive vice president of Sales and Marketing, Tuula Rytila as senior vice president of Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer, and Susan Sheehan as senior vice president of Communications.

Meanwhile Jerri DeVard, Mary McDowel, and Niklas Savander step down from the Ladership Team as from June 30 2012. 

"These planned reductions are a difficult consequence of the intended actions we believe we must take to ensure Nokia's long-term competitive strength, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop says. "We do not make plans that may impact our employees lightly, and as a company we will work tirelessly to ensure that those at risk are offered the support, options and advice necessary to find new opportunities."

Go Nokia Sharpens Strategy and Provides Updates to its Targets and Outlook

Now both of the two contenders for world leadership in consumer electronics have new leaders. While Tim Cook inherited Apple's top job after the death of Steve Jobs,  Dr.  Oh-hyun Kwon [shown in photo] will step into the job as Samsung's CEO after Gee-sung Choi steps down.

But the CEO job that Kwon accepted will not be the same job Choi had. Nope. Not at all.

Chairman Kun-hee Lee, third son of the Samsung founder, oversees all at Samsung with an iron hand. He wants to separate the consumer and component segments (with consumer product division leaders, such as TV and phones, not reporting to the new CEO.)

Why? Obviously, Samsung like many Asian suppliers is a tangle of OEM and branded products. On one hand, they supply you parts and pieces...on the other hand, they bash your brand and push their own in world markets. Imagine Apple's position: as a component supplier to Apple, Samsung knows almost every move Apple will make before public, press and other competitors. Today Apple is about 5% of Samsung's total business and Samsung is Apple's Number One competitor in the marketplace...

A new competitor drives into the luxury mobile device market-- Lamborghini, with 4 devices in varying levels of gaudy soon launching in Russia (and maybe elsewhere).

The Lamborghini lineup includes an Android smartphone, a tablet and 2 gold-plated feature phones.

The Tl700 smartphone has a metal and crocodile skin body and sapphire glass protecting the display-- not too shabby for what otherwise is a very basic Android 2.3 device with a 3.7-inch 800x480 display, 4GB internal storage and 5MP rear-facing/0.3MP front-facing cameras.

The tablet is also rather basic. It runs on Android 2.3 and carries a 1.2GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB storage (plus memory card slot), 2 cameras (2 and 5MP) and a 9.7-inch 1024x768 sapphire-glass protected display. It appears to lack the flashy construction typical of such "luxury" devices, though.

Lamborghini promises Android 4.0 upgrades for both devices.

Finally there are the 2 feature phones-- the TL688 Spyder and the TL820 Spyder 2. Both are as average as they are flashy, with hand-crafted gold-plated cases and very little else.

Lamborghini gives no word on releasing its mobile offerings outside of Russia-- but with Nokia's Vertu facing an uncertain future, it might find a niche in the luxury market.

Go Lamborghini Mobile Device Lineup (Hi-Tech.Mail)