Apple Releases Podcasts App, Wins a Ban Against Samsung

We have known for quite some time that Apple intended to bring a standalone podcast application to iOS. The wait for that is over. Instead of waiting for iOS 6 to become available to release the app, Apple has already pulled the trigger. Podcasts is now available for download from the App Store (for free). Podcasts makes discovering and subscribing to new podcast shows easy. You have thousands of podcasts to choose from in over 40 languages.

Podcasts can handle audio and video podcasts. You can use it find top stations in a variety of categories. The Sleep Timer is pretty neat as it stops playing your podcast after a while when you are in bed. You can also sync your podcasts across your devices. Sharing on Twitter and via Messages or e-mail is supported. Podcasts for iOS has potential but we hope that Apple will take time to further improve how iTunes handles podcasts. We found a couple of bugs in the app as well. But that is to be expected considering this is only the first release.

The Podcasts app is not the only thing Apple has to be excited about. The company has finally gotten the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tab banned in the U.S. Apple has lost a couple of cases against its competitors recently. But now it is Samsung’s turn to fight sales ban in the U.S. (which was handed down by US district judge Lucy Koh). The ban does not apply to the latest edition of the tablet though.

Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly, by flooding the market with infringing products

explained the judge. Samsung is planning to fight this legally. These fights are far from over at this point.