With Apple standing firm andrejecting a settlement offerin its ongoing dispute with Samsung in Australia, the Cupertino-based company’s hard line could see its Korean rival scrap the launch of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 device in the country, unless it can win approval within the next two weeks,Bloomberg reports. Samsung lawyer Neil Young told Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett in Sydney that the company would consider scrapping plans to launch its new tablet because a further delay would the device launch being “dead” so close to the holiday season....

Reports that Samsung was due to release a total of nine smartphones and two tablets have been publicly denied by the Korean vendor this morning, which hasgone on recordto say that whilst it is working on new devices the “details being cited are not accurate in this case”. On Thursday, a Lithuanian retailer posted details of seven new Android smartphones, two Honeycomb tablets and two new Bada handsets, with one device drawing considerable interest thanks to its Nexus-like hardware specifications....

Earlier in March, electronics giant Samsung took to its Facebook page tostart teasingwhat reports suggest will be its new 8.9-inch Galaxy Tab. Today, the company has dropped a new image, giving us a first glimpse at what we can expect the device to look like. The reverse of the Galaxy Tab is shown in the image, showing a slightly raised top which hides a 3.5mm headphone jack. Other than that, Samsung remains quiet on what we can expect, simply advertising a launch date, coinciding with its “Unpacked” event at the CTIA event, held in Florida....

We have officially started the month of February and that means that Mobile World Congress is less than two weeks away, providing companies like Samsung the opportunity to announce its new handsets, most notably the new Samsung Galaxy S II. Whilst handset specifics not yet confirmed, Samsung is doing its part in generating buzz around the handset, sending out press invites for its upcoming MWC launch event, possibly playing a part inleaking its event schedulethat all confirmed the smartphone (and a new tablet) were to get top billing at the event....

Responding to accusations that it had copied designs of rival smartphone vendor Apple, Samsung has amended its answers, defences and counterclaims, deciding to drop its countersuit in the US to better focus on fighting its rivals original complaint. FOSSpatents reportsthat Samsung had originally filed a countersuit two weeks after Apple filed its complaint with the same district court. Thursday’s notice of voluntary dismissal put and end to the suit after the judge had suggested using them against Apple in its original defence....