Samsung has announced that they’ll start selling modified Galaxy handsets after they were ordered to stop selling infringed products like Galaxy S, Galaxy S II and Galaxy Ace in Netherlands.

The amount of modification or other details on the handsets are unknown but Samsung spokesperson has confirmed they’ve created these “smartphones using alternative technology.”

These smartphones will only be sold in the Netherlands market as the parent company can still sell the said phones in rest of Europe.

The ban will be effective from tomorrow.

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It seems that Samsung is in aggressive mode with Apple on legal patent disputes. Recently, Samsung filed preliminary injunction motions to stop iPhone 4S sales in Paris and France. Now in a fresh wave of legal dispute, Samsung has asked an European Union agency to nullify Apple’s exclusive rights to the iPad design in Europe.

“Apple claims that the iPad’s design is exclusively its own, but the design existed long before the iPad,” said Samsung spokesman Kevin Jeong. Samsung has not been able to launch the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the Australian market and is feared to miss the Christmas season which may hamper the sale.

A Spain-based agency, Alicante, oversees rights for trademarks and designs in the EU countries. The registered community design, which gives an entity the exclusive rights to make, market, import or export products, stays valid for five years and can be renewed up to a maximum of 25 years.

iPad’s community design has been filed on May 2004, this means the Cupertino giant still has the exclusive rights to use the design and to prevent others from using it within the European Union.

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Samsung today divulged its monthly sales figure for the month of September. Accordingly, Samsung captured a market share of 57.3 percent, which is couple of percent lower than last month but fifth consecutive month with market share of over 55 percent.

Samsung also confirmed some sales figure of Galaxy smartphones. Cumulatively, Samsung has sold about 3.8m Galaxy S II units, 3.2m Galaxy S and 600,000 Galaxy Tabs to channels. Overall, Galaxy range has surpassed 10m units in South Korea.

Samsung has announced to follow a new nomenclature for the Galaxy smartphones. The Galaxy range will now be segregated in five different categories and further sub-categorized in three variants.

“S” (Super Smart) will be the given to top-end device of Samsung Galaxy smartphones. It will be the flagship phone. Moving down the ladder will be “R” or Royal, which will be a premium model with a combo of power, design and productivity.

“W” (Wonder) will be high quality strategic models whereas “M” (Magical) phones will boast decent performance at affordable price. Finally the “Y” (Young) range will be targeted at a younger crowd with entry-level price tags in emerging markets.

Samsung will further differentiated their phones with three sub-classes. For instance, “Plus” will indicate an upgrade to an existing model, “Pro” will add a QWERTY keyboard and “LTE” will signify the presence of LTE support in the device.

Samsung also announced four new phones under the newly announced W, M and Y Series.

Samsung unveils Galaxy W
Samsung announces Galaxy M Pro
Samsung announces Galaxy Y and Galaxy Y Pro

Samsung is sending out invites to US-based journalists and bloggers about an upcoming event on May 24. While the invite does not say what the New York will be about but considering the background image, it has got to do something with the Galaxy.

So what do you think? New Galaxy Tabs, Galaxy Players or Galaxy S II?

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If leaked prices of Galaxy S II are any indication, the Samsung flagship won’t go for cheap. However, it looks like Samsung is preparing a smaller, lower spec’d version of Galaxy S II for those who don’t want to spend much.

Behold the Galaxy S II Mini that looks similar to the Galaxy S II but has a smaller 3.7-inch WVGA touchscreen display and 1.4GHz processor. The phone is slated for an April launch and will have 21Mbps HSPA support, Android 2.3 OS, 5MP autofocus camera with LED flash, GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth.

As for consumers waiting for the Galaxy S II, Three indicates the phone will be out in May in UK.

Galaxy Ace (S5830) is the top-end model from today’s announcement that features Android 2.2 OS, 3.5-inch HVGA display, 800MHz processor, HSDPA, 5MP auto focus camera with flash, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, microSD card slot and 1350mAh battery. Ace is bundled with a 2GB microSD card and is priced at Rs. 18,290. Flipkart on the other hand is selling for Rs. 15,000.

Galaxy Fit (S5670) is spec’d lower than Ace with a slower processor and smaller screen. Rest of the features include a 3.31-inch QVGA display, 600MHz CPU, Android 2.2 OS, HSDPA, 5MP auto focus camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 1350mAh battery. Its pegged at Rs. 12,860 but you can get in the retail market for somewhere around Rs. 10,000.

Finally, it’s the Galaxy Pop (S5570). Pop has been developed to give consumers a taste of Android at affordable price. The phone comes with the same 600MHz processor but has a smaller 3.14-inch QVGA display, 3MP camera, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3MP fixed focus camera, microSD card slot and 1200mAh battery. Its official price is Rs. 11,198 but market operating price hovers around Rs. 9,000.

Samsung has announced Galaxy Ace (SHW-M240S) for its domestic market. The phone that was on showcase at the MWC will now sell in South Korea via SK Telecom. Galaxy Ace for South Korea is similar to the international variant that comes with a “Hyperskin” battery cover to make it aesthetically pleasing and at the same time improve grip and features a 3.5-inch display, Android 2.2 OS, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi, T-DMB, 5MP camera with LED flash, DivX playback support, microSD card slot (up to 32GB), 3.5mm audio jack and 1500mAh battery.

Galaxy Ace will sell in two colors – Onyx Black and Ceramic White for 600,000 won.

As promised, Samsung has launched its Android-based Ch@t application. The app allows Samsung users to keep in touch with each other for free and in return earn usage points that can be redeemed for airtime on South African operators like MTN, CellC or Vodacom.

The app will soon be available in the Samsung Apps store but you can download the app from below via the QR code.

Do note that this app works only with Samsung devices. You’ll be greeted with a message (below) if you try to run it in a non-Samsung phone.

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South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo is reporting that Samsung might look to unveil the Galaxy S successor at the Mobile World Congress in February 2011. MWC is the world’s largest mobile communications expo and it makes more sense to reveal the phone there than at the CES expo.

New Galaxy S is rumored to run Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS and have a dual-core processor, NFC support and gyroscope.