Linked List: October 3, 2014

Friday, 3 October 2014

Samsung Paid Microsoft $1 Billion Last Year ★

Ina Fried:

Microsoft’s lawsuit against Samsung was unsealed on Friday, revealing that the software maker believes it is owed $6.9 million in unpaid interest from last year.

Microsoft sued in August, asking a federal court to rule that its Nokia purchase didn’t breach the company’s contract with Samsung. That contract calls for the Korean electronics giant to pay Redmond a royalty for each Android phone and tablet it makes.

A lot is at stake in the case, as is made clear by the details unsealed Friday. Microsoft notes in the suit that Samsung paid it $1 billion last year under the patent agreement.

That’s incredible. In all seriousness, could Microsoft be profiting from Android more than Google is?

Chinese Media Reports 4 Million iPhone 6 Reservations, Even Split Between iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus ★

Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac:

Yesterday, Chinese iPhone 6 reservations were stated as 2 million in six hours, a rather stunning statistic. Today, an update from the Chinese media press Tencent now says that reservations have topped 4 million. If all these reservations convert into orders, China alone may beat out the iPhone 6’s launch numbers, which — at the time — were considered to be impressive.

What’s more interesting is that Tencent claims it has exact order numbers from one of the main companies offering reservations. This gives some insight into how sales will be split between the 4.7 inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5 inch iPhone 6 Plus. According to the report, Jingdong has seen 1,106,379 reservations for the iPhone 6 and 1,189,083 for the iPhone 6 Plus.

Now go back to Sunday, just five days ago, and try to make sense of this New York Times headline: “A Glum Sign for Apple in China, as Smuggled iPhones Go Begging”.

‘A Decent Lunch at a Fair Price’ ★

Lovely piece by Dan Sinker on Doug Sohn, who today closed his namesake Hot Doug’s hot dog stand in Chicago:

Chicago, they say, is a city that works, and Doug, if he has done nothing else, worked. He greeted every customer and took every order for 13 years, nearly without interruption — not even for a bathroom break. His devotion made the work inseparable from the person in that uniquely Chicagoan way.

This is why, despite offers from investors and pleading from fans, Doug would never sell the restaurant, or franchise it, or even open a second location. You do your best work when you put yourself into it, and for Doug that was always literal: The idea of the restaurant existing without him was a nonstarter. When he severely broke his leg a few years ago, the entire restaurant closed while he recovered because he couldn’t work the counter.