09/08/2013 World Business Report

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get some Samsung phones and tablets banned in the US for good.

Is China over the worst? Global markets look for signs of a

turnaround, after two years of Welcome to World Business Report.

I'm Alice Baxter. Also in the programme - is the smart watch set

to be the next must-have gadget? We start with these two. They are

archrivals in the shops as they battle for dominance of the

multibillion dollar market for smartphones and tablets. But for the

last couple of years, Apple and Samsung have also been taking their

fight to the courts in a massive legal conflict over four continents.

Apple claiming Samsung copied the idea for the iPhone and iPad.

Samsung counterclaiming that Apple infringed its technology patents.

Today is a major showdown - a court may ban some Samsung smartphones and

tablets from US stores, and the US International Trade Commission

decides whether to ban imports of certain Samsung devices to the US

altogether. Mariko Oi reports. Or wine lawsuit after another, Apple

and Samsung have been suing each other for the last few years,

literally around the world. -- won lawsuit. The accused each other or

stealing key designs and technology. The biggest penalty is having to

remove some of their products from stores like there's. All of them are

unavailable that American consumers. But if the International Trade

Commission rules against Samsung, some of the older models may have to

go. This legal battle is starting to get political. In June, the

commission decided to ban some Apple products. But the US government

overruled the decision, provoking much from South Korea. That is not

the only legal battle. Following a jury's ruling that some sun did copy

some elements of Apple's products, Apple and trying to get some

products banned as well. Is a good publicity? Having Sam some

acknowledged and cemented as Apple's main bidder is good Samsung.

-- competitor. It is a risky way of getting exposure in the market. The

fate of some popular products from Sam Song are now in the hands of the

US legal system. -- Samsung. So much for tablets and smartphones,

but is that really yesterday's battle? According to reports,

Samsung has applied in the last few days for US and South Korean

trademarks for a smart watch that connects to the Internet. This is

one prototype that Sony were showing off earlier this year. There have

long been rumours that Apple is working on its own watch but has

Samsung got there first? Let's talk to technology analyst

Larry Magid. He joins us via webcam from Palo Alto California.

Good to talk to you. Thank you for joining us. Talk me through the

smartphone. A mean, the smart watch. Will it be the next big thing? I am

thinking maybe Apple can see is Samsung for stealing the idea, which

is actually a room are. After all, since they had been rumours of,

maybe they have a law suit there. A jerking. Samsung may be able to beat

important. We are pretty sure Apple is moving in that direction. --

wearable. It is a chance for some other players. Sony launched its

prototype earlier. Talk me through what we are expected thing this

smart watch to be able to do. Will it effectively replace our phones

and other things? Most of the products are here talked about are

really parts to the smartphone. If the Samsung watch can connect with

an android phone, obviously a Samsung, you would not have to

reinvent everything. If you put all of the technology in the watch, I do

not think you will get much battery life. It could be done. I think

Apple, will also be thinking like that. Thank you. We will be waiting

to see the result. To China, where global markets are

looking for more evidence that the economy is recovering after two

years of slowing growth. On Thursday strong import and export figures for

July boosted hopes that the Chinese economy could be over the worst. In

the last few hours, we have had some inflation figures which have been

fairly positive. In an hour, we'll get the really important ones -

industrial production and retail sales figures for July. We will

bring order that in a little bit more detail. We will cross over to

Beijing. All of the indicators seem to suggest that after a rather slow

two years, things are moving in the right direction for China. That is

right. They are talking about a normalisation, a stabilisation of

the situation. Many will say it is unclear if we are seeing a full

recovery. What is happening here, China is having a larger slowdown in

almost 20 years. China's economy is still growing more than 7%. That

would be the envy of the world. Has been a drop in demand from America

and are. And also, China's new leaders want to see a rebalancing of

the economy. They have said they are willing to see a slower and more

sustainable growth. But the figure everyone talks about is 7%. The

leaders said they would not let economic growth drop below that

figure. It is the envy of many countries. Just to break down the

data that we have been getting. On Thursday, strong numbers coming out.

Exports have not picked up in the US or Europe. We had the inflation

numbers out today. We are expecting the retail sales and industrial

production to come out next. They are expected to be read to the

strong. Yes, relatively strong. There are a few areas. Demand

elsewhere is picking up. What else is interesting is the issue of

oversupply. Some industries have authorities trying to tackle back

issue. -- that issue. That could boost their output. There are

concerns that some state owned enterprises in the long run could go

to the wall. That will concern people, in particular, industries.

People seem to think the economic situation in China may be bottoming

out if these figures over the last few months are to be believed.

you. Let's stay in the region and had to Singapore. Singapore marks

its 48th Independence Day today and they're celebrating. The Prime

Minister has announced Singapore's economy is expected to grow

previously forecast. Sharanjit Leyl joins me from Singapore what has the

Prime Minister been saying? It is national day of stop --

national day. It means the Prime Minister gave an address on the

forecast of the year. He has raised the forecast. A sign that South East

Asia is benefiting from the global recovery. There is a lot of focus on

growth here because Singapore is incredibly small. It has no natural