Often referred to as the godfather of the iPod, Tony Fadell recently explained why Apple’s design process sets it apart from the pack.

Fadell explained that a key and yet often overlooked difference between Apple and other tech companies is that Apple ships 99% of the products that pass certain internal milestones. By way of contrast, during Fadell’s tenure at Philips – where he was charged with overseeing the company’s audio strategy – the iPod guru noted that Philips would axe 9 projects out of 10, even if a particular product was about to ship.

Nine times out of ten, or 99 times out of 100, they would kill the project, either at the beginning, the middle or right before the product was supposed to be shipped.

That can’t be good for morale and certainly lends itself towards creating a corporate culture where employees feel as if their work doesn’t really matter all that much.

“When you’re in a culture that has a point of view, and drives to launch everything it does, you know you’re on the hook and you better bring your best game every time,” Fadell explained.

By all accounts Google is riding high on the success of Android. More than three-quarters of all new phones shipped are running Google’s mobile operating system, and that gives Mountain View access to a ton of user data, and avenues to promote its services. However, Google’s business decisions over the last few years could be coming back to bite Android as China becomes the world’s largest mobile market. Even though Android is big in China, its benefit to Google is minimal.

Google’s Chinese Android problem is multifaceted, but most of the concerns stem from the search giant’s avoidance of mainland China.

If Android had been a force in mobile computing at the time, Google might have reconsidered. Dropping out of China doesn’t mean Android won’t continue to find its way into the hands of Chinese consumers — it just means Google won’t be involved. Plenty of companies are taking Android, which is open source, and modifying it to suit the Chinese market, sans Google.

Companies like Xiaomi have gone so far as to completely fork Android, building variants for use in China. As much as we get annoyed with OEM skins that change the experience and cause us grief, it’s nothing compared to what happens to Android in China.

You could make the argument that Android is open, and Google should have seen this coming, but I doubt the company expected an entire nation to take the Google out of Android.

Indeed, the overwhelming majority of Chinese Android handsets have not a hint of Google on them. Even search services are swapped out for Baidu, which powers search on 80% of Android handsets in the country.

In a darker twist, Google’s absence from the Chinese mobile market has resulted in dozens of replacement app and content stores appearing online to service Android users.

A federal judge late Monday dealt Apple a major blow in its landmark battle with Samsung, denying the company’s request to ban U.S. sales of smartphones from the South Korean electronics giant.

“Apple’s evidence does not establish that any of Apple’s three design patents covers a particular feature that actually drives consumer demand,” Judge Koh wrote in the order.

“The Court further found that though there was some evidence of loss of market share, Apple had not established that Samsung’s infringement of Apple’s design patents caused that loss,” the judge wrote.

The iPad Mini appears to be on its way to eclipsing the Retina iPad, according to NPD DisplaySearch.

Apple had originally expected to sell 6 million iPad Minis in 2012. But that’s turning out to be a laughably low forecast, according to DisplaySearch analyst David Hsieh.

Now, Apple is asking display panel makers to “ship more than 12 million” iPad Mini displays in the fourth quarter, Hsieh said in a research note.

“It seems people especially like the size…[it's] lighter, slimmer and easier to carry.”

And that’s despite having a relatively low-resolution non-Retina display and older silicon than the iPad 4. So, it appears that price, starting at $329, and the chic, lightweight design are driving demand.

“In 2013, it is likely that Apple will adjust its product portfolio to meet the strong demand for the iPad Mini. We believe that Apple is targeting total iPad shipments of 100 million in 2013, half accounted for by the iPad Mini,” Hsieh wrote.

No more than three years ago, Samsung was considered a minor player in the handset industry, lagging in sales and stature behind companies such as Nokia and Motorola.

When Apple entered the fray with the introduction of the iPhone, eventually taking over as the leader in smartphone sales, many industry insiders felt that Samsung would never be able to make up the ground to be considered influential to the market.

Samsung itself understood the uphill climb that it was facing. Instead of waving the white flag and exiting the market, Samsung chose to jettison its approach to design and immediately ceased being complacent with its R&D model.

Are we all becoming fanboys? If you broaden the term beyond those who favour Apple products to encompass folk keen on Samsung kit, the answer appears to be yes.

At least that’s what data from Strategy Analytics, a market watcher, suggests.

“These survey findings suggest that the 12-month outlook for both Samsung and Apple remains rosy,”

By releasing new versions of Google Maps and Gmail for iOS this month, Google helped make the iPhone the best mobile phone on the planet. Why is Google, the owner of Android and Motorola, helping its ostensible rival?

The answer boils down to advertising. Google’s smartphone operating system, Android, has always been incidental to Google’s ad business, the source of virtually all the company’s profits, and Google’s Motorola handset division is, for now, a similar sideshow.

Google doesn’t particularly care what operating system you use to view its ads or engage with its sites; it just wants to pull you in. Google pumps money into Android mainly to ensure that companies like Apple and Microsoft can’t push its properties off of smartphones.

“Google doesn’t make money off of Android which is open source; they make money when people use Google services,”

Understanding Google’s strategy is especially important now that a wide range of companies, including not only Apple and Google but also Facebook and Twitter, are carefully calibrating how they ship and host software.