For years, Apple has sold itself as the young, hip counterpart to the old fuddy duddies in the PC and mobile phone market. Now, Samsung is taking a page from the master’s book—and it's helping it gain some serious mobile market share.

When Samsung launched its Galaxy S3 last year, its "Next Big Thing" advertising took direct jabs at Apple’s iPhone and all the supposed earbud-wearing lemmings that bought the device—echoing the Apple-bashing theme of its Galaxy S II campaign. Now, as it releases its highly-anticipated Galaxy S4, it looks like the marketers at Samsung have decided to sit back on their heels and let the Apple bashing continue—and why not? 

According to Ad Age, Samsung’s market share in the fourth quarter of 2012 went up to 30% from 21% in 2011. Meanwhile, Apple’s share fell from 41% to 39% in that same window.Continue reading...

Ford tops Experian loyalty ranking as automaker earmarks "billions" for relaunching Lincoln — and may alter marque to please Chinese car buyers.

Apple stock slides on disappointing iPhone 5 sales.

Lance Armstrong creates buzz in advance of "emotional" TV confession with Oprah Winfrey.

Alibaba says founder is to leave CEO post.

BMW and Mercedes-Benz are chasing younger buyers.

Brandweek is being revived, at least in name.

Burberry says own-store sales rise but wholesale suffers.Continue reading...

The iPad is only about three years old but its success is so massive that if it were its own business, it would be No. 98 on the Fortune 500, higher than McDonald’s, which pulled in $27 billion last year, and Nike, which grabbed $20.9 billion).

The iPad made up 60% of the tablet market last year and snagged $32 billion, Fortune reports. Bernstein research analyst Toni Sacconaghi claims that iPad would be the 11th largest tech company in the U.S. if it were its own company separate from Apple.

The iPhone 5 is also ringing up sales, even though Consumer Reports doesn’t give it stellar scores in its new issue. In fact, CR calls iPhone 5 “the worst of the top smartphones.” It's in the bottom of the top three for both AT&T and Sprint and isn’t even listed in the top three for Verizon.

Apple needs iPhone to keep growing, but more bad reviews could hurt the brand over the long-term if similar problems pop up in the next version and Samsung’s Galaxy S III continues to be such a strong product. Discounting is also hurting the image of the iPhone sub-brand.Continue reading...

Apple's latest iPhone 5 commercial — starring U.S. tennis stars Venus Williams and Serena Williams — landed with a thud on January 1st, touting the iOS 6 "Do Not Disturb" feature just as users discovered bugs were still being worked out.

Apple's 2012 Thanksgiving TV commercial ("Turkey," above) highlights the iPhone 5 Shared Photo Stream function of iOS 6 ("it's as easy as pie"), with a music track that references its new "Orchestra" spot, below, and its earlier iPhone 5 commercials. The narrator is, once again, actor Jeff Daniels, whose HBO series The Newsroom returns in June.Continue reading...

AT&T sees end of copper-wire era, and agrees to pay fee to settle overcharging dispute.

McDonald's monthly sales drop for first time in nearly a decade.

Coca-Cola plans to boost corporate social responsibilty as growth key.

Burberry rethinks small-cities push.

CNN edges Fox News in overall election-night cable ratings.

Carlsberg says SAB Miller faces organizational "challenges" in Russia.

Dunkin' Donuts partners with Universal to tap into Latin music.Continue reading...

After the iPhone 5 blitz that hit store shelves last Friday, you’d think that employees in Apple’s Cupertino, California, headquarters would be taking a brief breather and maybe doing a few iJigs in the hallways. But there’s no rest for the weary, particularly for Apple’s legal department. In addition to the ongoing patent spat with Samsung, there's plenty of other legal business keeping them busy these days.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola announces Global Fund donation at Clinton Global Initiative meeting, teams up with Segway creator on clean water project and launches corporate blog.

GE's Jeff Immelt joins the few brave CEOs on Twitter.

IBM targets Amazon in the cloud.

AirAsia creates child-free quiet zones on flights.

Arby's sees gains under new owners.

Barnes & Noble plans to launch Nook video service.

Chase Bank tops customer-satisfaction study.Continue reading...