Today’s mobile news roundup features Apple and Samsung’s orders to settle their legal dispute, RIM hoping to gain users in Asia, HTC clearing rumors and more.

Apple-Samsung Truce?

It looks like Apple and Samsung are both open into settling their patent dispute as they both agreed to appear in a settlement conference ordered by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh.

The CEOs of both companies, as well as their general counsels, will appear before a federal court in San Jose,California.  Samsung confirmed that both parties agreed to participate in the settlement agreement and stated that it would happen within 90 days. The conference will be presided by Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero.

Although both parties agreed to the settlement conference, they won’t be raising any white flags as they’re both aiming to narrow the case for an August 15 trial.  The two have 30 legal cases filed against each other in various courts all over the world.

Asia may be BlackBerry’s savior

Research in Motion launched the BlackBerry Curve 9220 in India in the hopes of reviving their business in the Asian market.  RIM also wants to help people transition from feature phones to smartphones by offering a cheaper smartphone.

“We’re really trying to build on and help those people who are moving from feature phone to smartphone. We believe we can be successful in that,” Patrick Spence, RIM’s global sales chief, said in a telephone interview with Reuters.

The BlackBerry Curve 9220 features the BlackBerry OS 7.1, QWERTY keyboard, 2 MP rear camera, 2.44-inch display with 320×240 pixel resolution, dedicated BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) key and the camera integration allows direct BBM avatar update, the longest battery life among all BlackBerry Curves but it’s not a 3G phone since it’s a lower-end smartphone.  It also comes with a radio and is available in black, white, teal and fuchsia.  The smartphone will start selling in India tomorrow, April 18, for Rs 10,990 or about $200+ and will start rolling out in other Asian countries soon.

HTC clears rumors regarding executive shuffle

HTC announced that they will be replacing Winston Yung as Chief Financial Officer with Chia-Lin Chang and Yung transitions to a “corporate development role.”

Executive shake-ups aren’t that surprising these days, but with HTC’s lackluster sales, some were quick to conclude that the partnership with Beats By Dre, which Yung spearheaded, led to the company’s low Q1 revenue, and replacing Yung was some form of a punishment.  Reports also purport that Beats will no longer be incorporated into HTC devices.

HTC’s CEO Peter Chou put those rumors to rest and stated that their partnership with Beats is not dwindling down.

“Media speculation that ties this announcement to HTC’s partnership and investment in Beats By Dre is categorically inaccurate,” said Chou. “HTC and Beats have made impressive progress in innovation and brand awareness and the integration of the Beats brand and technology in the new HTC One series is a clear indication of our commitment to this partnership.”

European carriers not happy with Nokia Lumia

Nokia was so intent in making a US comeback that they seem to have forgotten about all the other markets.

Four major European carriers voiced how unsatisfied they were with the Lumia line, which launched before Christmas last year.  One executive even stated that the Lumia phones were overpriced for a non-innovative product.  Some carriers also stated that consumers went to their store looking for Apple iPhones or Samsung Galaxy phones but not Nokia phones.  Phones running the Windows Phone platform isn’t that popular and stated that if the Nokia Lumia came with the Android platform, people would be clamoring for it.

The Nokia Lumia 900 recently launched in the US, and the company says they’re experiencing positive outcome.  But the device is getting mixed reviews.  Some love their Lumia 900 while others want to replace it with either an iPhone or an Android-powered Samsung Galaxy.