MacRumors

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that an Australian court has granted Apple's request for an injunction blocking the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 in that country, with the move apparently setting the stage for Samsung to cancel the device's release there entirely.

Justice Annabelle Bennett today said Apple had a prima facie case that Samsung had infringed two of its patents relating to touch screens and the gestures that control them.

Samsung had agreed several times to delay the Galaxy Tab 10.1 launch in Australia as the request for a preliminary injunction was considered, but noted last week that it would likely scrap the launch entirely if an injunction was granted. The injunction would essentially force the company to miss the holiday sales period and make the Galaxy Tab 10.1 relatively outdated by the time the injunction could be lifted through a full hearing on the matter.

In a statement, Samsung Electronics said it was disappointed with the ruling and would be seeking legal advice on its options.

"Samsung will continue its legal proceeding against Apple's claim in order to ensure our innovative products remain available to consumers," it said.

"This is a part of our ongoing legal proceeding against Apple's claim. Samsung is also confident it can prove Apple's violation of Samsung's wireless technology patents through a cross-claim filed on September 16, 2011 with the Federal Court of Australia, New South Wales.

Apple previously won an injunction blocking the sale of the Galaxy Tab in Germany, while a separate injunction targeting Samsung's smartphones in Europe had been set to go into effect tomorrow. Samsung has indicated, however, that it has addressed that issue by removing the infringing behavior of allowing users to swipe between photos.

Research firm Gartner today released its preliminary personal computer shipment data for the third quarter of 2011, offering up a picture of market performance during the quarter. Riding the strength of the MacBook Air, Apple experienced aggressive 21.5% year-over-year growth to take third place in a U.S. market that grew by only 1.1% overall.

Gartner's early study shows that Apple experienced the strongest growth among the top five vendors in the U.S. PC market. Apple's PC shipments increased 21.5 percent in the third quarter of 2011. The robust growth of the MacBook Air continued to lead Apple's overall growth in the U.S. market.

With the boost, Apple's market share in the U.S. grew to 12.9% during the third quarter, up from 10.8% in the year-ago quarter and 10.7% last quarter.

As usual, Gartner did not cover Apple's worldwide market share for the quarter, as the company does not rank among the top five vendors on a worldwide basis.

It's been an extremely busy day of software releases for Apple as the company has rolled out updates across all of its platforms to support iOS 5 and iCloud. To help summarize the events of today, we've put together this wrap-up to highlight the myriad of releases.

Apple Releases iOS 5 with Notification Center, iMessage, Twitter, and More

The highlight of the day was the release of iOS 5, bringing over 200 new features to Apple's recent iOS devices. While many of the features have been extensively profiled over the past few months as Apple has highlighted iOS 5 several times in presentations and developers have had their hands on the release for quite some time, the new operating system is finally in the hands of the public for use on a variety of devices.

For those interested in taking another look at the new features in iOS 5, TiPb has put together an extensive walkthrough full of details and screenshots.

Some users have been experiencing difficulties with upgrading to iOS 5, as Apple's servers have been slammed by heavy demand for the new release. The situation appears to be improving, however, and users should begin to have more luck getting through.

Other iOS-related releases making an appearance today include:

- Send Real Greeting Cards With Apple's New Cards App
- Apple Releases 'iTunes Movie Trailers' App for iOS
- Apple Launches Store for Text Message/Alert Tones

iCloud and Migration from MobileMe Services Now Live

The other major piece of today's launches is iCloud, Apple's new service for syncing and pushing content across devices. The extensive level of integration has driven the massive number of software releases today, as Apple has updated numerous software offerings to be compatible with the new service.

Headlining the iCloud compatibility releases is OS X 10.7.2, which brings iCloud support and a number of other fixes and enhancements, as well as bundling Safari 5.1.1, which itself brings a host of improvements.

Additional iCloud-focused releases for today include:

- Apple Releases Aperture 3.2 with Compatibility for iOS 5 and iCloud
- Apple Updates iMovie and iWork for iOS, Remote, Find My iPhone Apps
- Apple Releases iPhoto 9.2

Not to be left out, Apple also released a software update for the Apple TV, adding support for the Photo Stream feature of iCloud as well as a number of other improvements including live NHL games and video from The Wall Street Journal.

All of today's software releases are of course leading up to Friday's official launch of the iPhone 4S in the United States and several other countries around the world. With shipments underway and a few lucky customers having already received their orders, users with pre-orders are eagerly awaiting delivery of the iPhone 4S while others are making plans to camp out at their local Apple retail stores to try to obtain one first thing Friday morning.

Alongside today's release of iOS 5, Apple also pushed out version 4.4 of the software for its iOS-based Apple TV set-top box. As noted by Macworld, the update brings a number of new features to Apple TV.

- AirPlay Mirroring: Now with video mirroring – wirelessly stream what's on your iPad 2 screen to your HDTV.

- Photo Stream: View photos recently taken on your iOS device and pushed to your Photo Stream in iCloud.

- Trailers: A whole new way to browse and view hundreds of the latest theatrical trailers.

- National Hockey League: Watch live games. View highlights, scores, and more.

- Wall Street Journal Live: Watch up-to-date news, business commentary, and financial analysis from leading experts.

Macworld also notes that Apple has added support for subtitles in Netflix and three new slideshow themes: Photo Wall, Flip-up, and Shifting Tiles.

With iOS 5 and OS X 10.7.2 rolling out to users, Apple has officially flipped the switch to turn on iCloud for all users. The iCloud site lost its beta label earlier today and MobileMe users are now able to migrate their accounts to iCloud once they have upgraded their devices OS X 10.7.2 and iOS 5.

The migration process for MobileMe users will move Mail and Calendars to iCloud, and MobileMe users will continue to be able to use Gallery, iDisk and iWeb publishing through June 30, 2012 even though those services are not making the transition to iCloud. A number of syncing services that had been available for MobileMe, including Dashboard Widgets, Dock Items, Keychain, Mail Accounts, Mail Rules, Signatures, and Smart Mailboxes, and Mac OS X Preferences, will become unavailable immediately upon moving to iCloud.

In line with Apple's announced schedule calling for a release today, iOS 5 is now available to download for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch users. Users can obtain the update by connecting their devices to iTunes and clicking the "Check for Update" button. It may take a few minutes for the update to propagate to all users, however.

iOS 5 brings more than 200 new features, including Notification Center, iMessage, Newsstand, Reminders, and systemwide Twitter integration.

iOS 5 is compatible with the iPad 2, original iPad, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and third- and fourth-generation iPod touch. It will also ship on the iPhone 4S, which launches on Friday. An iOS 5-based version of the Apple TV software, labeled software version 4.4, is also available.

As part of Apple's rollout of its iCloud service today, Apple has just released OS X 10.7.2. The new update includes support for iCloud and will ensure that users have full access to their iCloud-hosted data across all of their devices.

OS X 10.7.2 brings number of new enhancements beyond iCloud compatibility, including Safari 5.1.1 and ten featured improvements.

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Yesterday, Macworld reported that Sprint would be selling the iPhone 4S with an unlocked micro-SIM slot, potentially allowing users traveling abroad to simply slip in a local micro-SIM card and avoid high roaming costs.

Ars Technica now reports that Sprint has reached out to deny this report, indicating that the iPhone 4S will not work with international micro-SIMs.

However, while Sprint will now support international roaming on GSM networks with the appropriate monthly plan, the company will not be selling the phone unlocked for use with international microSIMs. Ars asked Michelle Mermelstein, a Sprint wireless device public relations representative, to confirm that the Sprint iPhone 4S would not work with international microSIMs. “That is correct,” Mermelstein said. “I believe Verizon’s device works the same way.”

Sprint customer service agents have also been offering similar information in response to questions about international travel with the iPhone 4S.

iPhone 4S has World Mode Capabilities with the pre-inserted SIM card. However, you will not be able to use non-Sprint SIM card with it, due to technology differences. If you purchase iPhone 4S you will be able to use it internationally with Sprint Services.

Note: International capabilities will be locked and you will have to call Sprint to activate.

The iPhone 4S, officially set to launch on Friday, is a world-mode device capable of supporting both GSM and CDMA networks, but carrier locking and other requirements will substantially limit that flexibility for customers purchasing subsidized versions of the device.