Google Cloud now a preffered public cloud provider for Salesforce

Cloud-based software maker Salesforce.com Inc, said on Monday it has entered into a partnership with Google’s cloud platform G Suite, to support it’s rapidly growing global customer base. Salesforce shares were up 1.5 percent at $104 in extended trading.

Alphabet Inc’s Google will offer eligible Salesforce customers G Suite licenses at no additional cost for up to one year as part of the agreement. The partnership will also integrate Salesforce with Google Analytics, connecting sales, marketing, and advertising data across both platforms.

Salesforce, which already has a tie-up with Amazon.com Inc’s web services unit AWS, named Google Cloud as a preferred public cloud provider and said it plans to use it to support the company’s international expansion.

“Our partnership with Google represents the best of both worlds for our customers,” said Marc Benioff, Chairman, and CEO of Salesforce.

AWS will also remain its preferred public cloud provider, Salesforce said at its annual Dreamforce event in San Francisco on Monday

The big three cloud vendors — AWS, Microsoft’s Azure and Google Cloud — benefit from the decision by many enterprises to build their applications using more than one cloud vendor. Retailers Home Depot Inc and Target Corp, for example, told Reuters last month they use a combination of cloud providers.

And

Samsung's 'Active' branded smartphones have, for years, been an AT&T exclusive offering. However, the rugged Galaxy S8 Active looks like it'll be the first to leave AT&T and be offered by T-Mobile and Sprint as well.

According to a report from VentureBeat, it has access to marketing material that points towards the S8 Active heading to T-Mobile. However, there is no confirmed date or time frame for the same, which means it could be a while.

Also, Evan Blass recently tweeted an image of the S8 Active which signifies that the smartphone may also be headed to Sprint

And 

The US Supreme Court upheld a $120 million patent award Samsung was ordered to pay Apple in the latest ruling in a series of legal skirmishes between the top two smartphone makers. The US justices let stand without comment a 2016 appeals court verdict reinstating the award for Apple, which sued Samsung over patents for "slide to unlock" and other features used on smartphones.

The case is separate from a bigger patent court battle in which Samsung was initially ordered to pay $1 billion to the iPhone maker. That case is set for a new trial over some elements of the damages awarded. The ruling involved some smartphone features Apple alleged were copied by the South Korean electronics giant. Samsung had claimed these features were "obvious" and thus not able to be patented.

Apple had sought some $2.2 billion at trial, only to have a jury award the California-based company $119.6 million. An appeals panel overturned that verdict, but the full appellate panel reinstated the award in October 2016 by a vote of 8-3.

Samsung said in a statement its argument was supported "by many who believed that the court should hear the case to reinstate fair standards that promote innovation and prevent abuse of the patent system."

The company noted that one of Apple's patents at issue in this case has been invalidated by courts "and yet today's decision allows Apple to unjustly profit from this patent, stunts innovation and places competition in the courtroom rather than the marketplace."

Apple did not immediate respond to an AFP query on the decision.

Samsung and Apple agreed in 2014 to drop all patent disputes outside the United States, marking a partial ceasefire in a seemingly relentless legal war between the world's two tech giants. The companies have battled in close to a dozen countries, with each accusing the other of infringing on various patents related to their flagship smartphone and tablet products.