Weekly Highlights: Apple's iPod Problem, Galaxy S6 Leaks And More

Samsung's Galaxy S6 was thought to be a new chapter for the company's long-running smartphone series, but the leaked specs suggest otherwise.

"In terms of the screen size, I think Samsung is probably limited with what it can do [with the S6] because it must leave space above it for the Note, obviously, so it can't get too big," IHS Technology (NYSE: IHS) Senior Analyst Daniel Gleeson told Benzinga. "I think we're probably at the limit with all of the flagships next year that they won't increase in size massively."

Gleeson and Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry are worried that Samsung will become the next BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ: BBRY).

In what could be the most damaging piece of evidence yet, it was revealed this week that Apple actually deleted competing music files from users' iPods.

"It sounds damning initially," Kaiser Wahab, an attorney and partner at Wahab & Medenica LLC, told Benzinga. "It's very easy to say, 'Okay, it was deliberate, therefore it was evil.'"

"Steve Jobs was always saying, 'Hey, we don't want other vendors connecting to our devices,'" Craig Delsack, a business, media and tech attorney in New York City, told Benzinga. "I think even back in 2004 he was trying to go after RealNetworks."

Payola was traditionally associated with the music industry, but one analyst found a way to connect it to Apple.

"Part of the problem with becoming a super-huge market cap company globally is that you kind of become part of the payola scheme for governments and tax collectors and various entities," Sean Udall, CIO of Quantum Trading Strategies and author of The TechStrat Report, told Benzinga.

Microsoft maker picked up Acompli this week. The startup specializes in building email apps for iOS and Android.

"Email, by and large, hasn't changed much since Gmail," Sean Udall, CIO of Quantum Trading Strategies and author of The TechStrat Report, told Benzinga.

"When's the last time we really saw email had a root technology level change? We've basically gone a decade without any good improvement to email technology. I think email could be greatly improved. I think searching could be better. Microsoft -- to the degree that this greatly enhances Outlook or Hotmail -- [the acquisition] could be a good deal."

IBM has some interesting details about the way consumers shop.

The company recently told CNBC that while consumers typically use a smartphone to browse, they frequently turn to a tablet to actually make a purchase.

This suggests that consumers might still be more comfortable with a laptop-style shopping experience, which a tablet provides.

The preceding slideshow was just the beginning. Check out these other hot stories right here on Benzinga.

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