Mobile data increased very much last year. I expect the growth to continue. If operators do not invest enough to their network and/or find suitable charging schemes the network can become more congested than before.
4G mobile device speeds becomes the new standard. As competition move to that end, there will be fast growth there. Shipments of ’4G’ LTE devices, that is handsets, dongles and tablets, reached almost 103 million units in 2012, according to figures published by ABI Research. It interesting that almost 95% of the devices shipped went to North America and the Asia-Pacific.
3G will become the low-cost option for those who think 4G option is too expensive. What is interesting to note is that not everyone who upgraded to an LTE-capable device last year took out an LTE subscription; in fact, only around half of LTE device owners also have an LTE subscription.
The shift to 4G can take many more than year to fully happen even in USA. ABI expects the rate at which 3G subscribers with LTE handsets upgrade to LTE connections will gather pace over the next two years. And even longer in Europe. Carriers should not be panicking. And 3G will live and expand besides 4G for quite a long time. For many of those living outside cities, 3G internet connections are still hard to come by.
Apple and Samsung will continue to make money this year as well as people rate Apple and Samsung more highly than ever. Accountant Deloitte predicts that Smartphone sales to hit 1bn a year for first time in 2013.
Samsung is currently the world’s leading seller of phones and televisions. Those leaders should be careful because competition is getting harder all the time. Samsung boss has given warning on this to employees. Remember what what happened to Nokia.
Android will dominate smart phone market even stronger than before. Digitimes Research: Android phones to account for 70% of global smartphone market in 2013.
Windows Phone 8 situation is a question mark. Digitimes predicts that Shipments of Windows Phones, including 7.x and 8.x models, will grow 150% on year to 52.5 million units in 2013 for a 6.1% share. There is one big force against Windows Phone: Google does not bother doing services for Windows Phone 8, Google’s sync changes are going to screw Gmail users on Windows Phone and there are issues with YouTube. Does Windows Phone even have a chance without Google? For active Google service users the changes are pretty that they get this phone.
Competition on smart phones gets harder. It seems that smart phone business have evolved to point where even relatively small companies can start to make their own phones. Forbes sees that Amazon, Microsoft, Google, will all introduce branded mobile phones.
Patent battles are far from over. We will see many new patent fights on smart phones and tablets.
Mobile phones still cause other devices to become redundant. Tietoviikko tells that last year mobile phone made redundant the following devices: small screen smart phones (4 inch or more now), music buying as individual tracks or discs, navigators (smart phone can do that) and a separate pocket size camera. Let’s see what becomes redundant this year.
Many things happens on Linux on mobile devices. Ubuntu now fits in your phone. Firefox OS phones from ZTE will come to some markets. ZTE plans to make Open webOS phone. Meego is not dead, it resurrects with new names: Samsung will release Tizen based phones. Jolla will release Sailfish phones.
Cars become more and more mobile communications devices. Car of the future is M2M-ready. Think a future car as a big smart phone moving on wheels.
Nokia seemed to be getting better on the end of 2012, but 2013 does not look too good for Nokia. Especially on smart phones if you believe Tomi T Ahonen analysis Picture Tells it Better – first in series of Nokia Strategy Analysis diagrams, how Nokia smartphone sales collapsed. Even if shipment of Windows Phone 8 devices increase as Digitimes predicts the year will be hard for Nokia. Tristan Louis expects in Forbes magazine that Nokia abandons the mobile business in 2013. I think that will happen this year, at least for whole mobile business. I have understood that basic phone and feature phone phone business part of Nokia is quite good condition. The problems are on smart phones. I expect that Windows Phone 8 will not sell as well as Nokia hopes.
Because Nokia is reducing number of workers in Finland, there are other companies that try to use the situation: Two new Finnish mobile startups and Samsung opens a research center in Espoo Finland.
Finnish mobile gaming industry has been doing well on 2012. Rovio has been growing for years on the success of Angry Birds that does not show slowing down. Supercell had also huge success. I expect those businesses to grow this year. Maybe some new Finnish mobiel game company finds their own recipe for success.
Late addition: Wireless charging of mobile devices is get getting some popularity. Wireless charging for Qi technology is becoming the industry standard as Nokia, HTC and some other companies use that. There is a competing AW4P wireless charging standard pushed by Samsung ja Qualcomm. Toyota’s car will get wireless mobile phone charger, and other car manufacturers might follow that if buyers start to want them. Wireless charge option has already been surprisingly common variety of devices: Nokia Lumia 920, Nexus 4, HT, etc. We have to wait for some time for situation to stabilize before we see public charging points in cafeterias.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
EU to end mobile roaming charges next year
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/telecoms/10119159/EU-to-end-mobile-roaming-charges-next-year.html
Consumers will next year be able to use their mobile phones across the European Union for the same price as at home, it is planned, after officials voted to fast-track major reforms of telecoms regulation.
Roaming fees for voice calls, texts and internet access will effectively be completely scrapped under the proposals, which are part of a broader effort to create a single European telecoms market.
The group of 27 European Commissioners voted in Brussels on Tuesday to drive the package through in time for the European elections in May next year, to come into force as soon as 1 July 2014.
“They agreed that this time next year we will have got rid of these charges,” a Brussels source said
Officials will draw up and publish detailed proposals in the next six weeks
They expect the death of roaming charges to typically wipe 2pc off mobile operators’ revenues, after several years of tightening regulations designed to put an end to shockingly high bills for holiday makers and business travellers. They argue that operators will gain in the longer term by customers using their mobiles more abroad, particularly to access the internet.
The reforms are designed to encourage radical consolidation of European mobile network operators.
“There are around 100 operators in Europe and only four in the US,” the source said. “That’s not sustainable if we’re going to have a single market and investment. Europe has less 4G mobile broadband than Africa at the moment.”
“Consolidation is not the aim. The aim is a single market, but if it means we get fewer, stronger operators, that’s good.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Smart ring’ revealed by upstart Chinese mobe-maker
Kiss the ring to your mobe and you’ll unlock something to share
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/18/geak_ring_smart_wearable_tech/
Glasses and smartwatches dominate talk about wearable technology, but there’s a new piece of binary bling to consider: a smart ring from new Chinese mobe-maker Geak.
The little-known company yesterday introduced the Android-powered Mars and Eye smartphones alongside the Geak Watch and Geak Ring.
The wearable devices serve as companions to the phones. The ring, for example, unlocks the phone with a simple tap on its chassis. Kissing the ring against another Geak owner’s phone will allow sharing of photos and contact information, the Geaks say.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Old smartphones called in to save Indonesian forests
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829205.600-old-smartphones-called-in-to-save-indonesian-forests.html#.UcBQ2ZxsUik
A forest project that uses solar-powered smartphones hanging from trees to listen for the sounds of chainsaws could help stop illegal logging
At first, Rainforest Connection will use new phones donated for the trial, though White ultimately plans to use recycled handsets that supporters contribute when they upgrade to the latest model. The phones are outfitted with solar panels specifically designed to take advantage of the brief periods when light reaches the forest floor. Their microphones stay on at all times, and software listens for the telltale growl of a chainsaw, which triggers an alert.
Initially, only rangers will be notified, but White hopes to release a free app that lets anyone receive real-time alerts with the audio that the phones pick up and the location. “We want to make people feel like they are taking part in the dramatic events on the front lines of environmental protection,” he says.
Tomi says:
FT: The World’s the third-largest the smart phone manufacturer of “could be to consider the acquire the Nokia’s” – Nokia’s the share price rose
The world’s third largest smart phone manufacturer, the Chinese Huawei says the Financial Times * that it “could consider” buying Nokia.
Huawei has managed to climb the market’s third-largest smartphone manufacturer immediately after Apple and Samsung.
Financial Times reports that the company’s goal is to sell this year, EUR 55-60 million smartphones. Nokia’s Lumiasmart mobile phones was sold to the year in the first quarter of the 5.6 million of pieces
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/ft+maailman+kolmanneksi+suurin+alypuhelinvalmistaja+quotvoisi+harkita+ostavansa+nokianquot++nokian+kurssi+nousi+heti/a910256?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-18062013&
Tomi says:
South Korean mobile phone, TV, and other semiconductor giant Samsung’s share price has fallen by ten per cent after the investment bank JP Morgan estimated a month ago, the flagship phone Galaxy S4′s sales pushes back .
Instead of the estimated 10 million Samsung S4 sales, Samsung may be sold at the end of April came the phone available “only” seven million devices a month.
Samsung is a conglomerate, but 3/4 of its earnings are generated from mobile phones.
According to IHS iSuppli Samsung manufactures 63 per cent (by value) of the Galaxy S4 component itself.
Japanese bank Nomura, investors are counting on it that Samsung’s built on Android mobile phone sales to run aground.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/samsungin+osakekurssi+laskenut+10+prosenttia+kuukaudessa/a910205?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-18062013&
Tomi says:
Topping the charts and racing to the bottom
http://johnaugust.com/2013/topping-the-charts-and-racing-to-the-bottom
As someone who sells apps, I’d love near-real-time sales reports, link tracking and better management of promo codes.
But what I want most is for Apple to get rid of the charts.
The App Store’s best-sellers lists hurt shoppers, developers and Apple. The charts create a vicious circle that encourages shitty business models and system-gaming. They’re a relic of a time when data was scarce. They should go away.
How charts hurt consumers
Since most people are app-buyers, let’s start there.
These lists — a sidebar in iTunes, a tab on the App Store — show what’s downloaded the most. But let’s not mistake downloads for popularity. These are apps that people may have downloaded, used once, then deleted. What you really want is a list that shows what apps that people like you are using and enjoying. That’s the kind of information that companies like Amazon and Netflix are terrific at leveraging.
How charts hurt developers
The most popular paid apps are almost always the cheapest apps, which fosters a race to the bottom. Yes, you can set your price higher — and maybe should — but since the charts are one of the only ways to get visibility on the App Store, there’s a strong incentive to go low for exposure.
Let’s say your app is priced at $10, and you sell 100 per week. Cutting your price to $5, you discover that you sell 200 per week. Cutting your price to $1, you sell 1000 per week.1 In each case, you’ve made $1000. You’re making just as much money at each price point, but the $1 app would chart much, much higher in the App Store.
Tomi says:
Get Rid of the App Store’s “Top” Lists
http://www.marco.org/2013/06/17/app-store-top-lists
The “top” list is a cop-out by Apple: it’s easy to implement and cheap to operate, and its results appear impartial and incontestible. I’m sure Apple thought this was a sweet solution.
Since the “top” lists are featured so heavily in the App Store interfaces, many buyers appear to be buying from them as their primary store-browsing channel. These lists, and their mechanics, therefore deeply affect the entire app market in unsurprising ways.
The race to the bottom. Deceptive low-now, high-later pricing. Scam and clone apps. Shallow apps with little craftsmanship that succeed, but many high-quality apps unable to command a sustainable price. The “top” list encourages all of these — we’d still have them without the list, but to a substantially lesser degree.
Developers will optimize for whatever factor is being rewarded. The “top” list simply rewards developers for getting as many people as possible to buy or download the app once. There’s no reason to optimize for longer-term satisfaction or higher engagement after purchase.
It’s a lot like the Android market. Nobody — not Google, not the manufacturers, and certainly not the carriers — gives a shit if you hate your Android phone or put that cheap tablet in a drawer after a month. They’re optimizing for “top” lists, so they compete on price, flashiness, and huge retail incentives, usually at the expense of quality and long-term satisfaction.
Tomi Engdahl says:
LG to mass-produce flexible displays
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2013/06/133_137769.html
LG Display is expected to solidify its leadership in the display market as it will mass-produce a new flexible smartphone panel for major clients from the fourth quarter of this year.
Technicians and researchers at LG say this new development is an effort to meet growing demand for innovative business solutions.
Lee stressed upcoming flexible displays, which are bendable and unbreakable, could be the next innovation in display-making technology.
“We have completed the development of our first flexible displays. We will mass produce flexible displays from the fourth quarter of this year,”
LG Electronics, the major stakeholder of LG Display, plans to release its first flexible smartphone later this year.
LG’s competitor, Samsung Display, is reportedly working on a similar product.
Flexible OLEDs are just one part of LG’s plan to sweep the global OLED market by increasing its investment in various business projects.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Explored Deal for Nokia
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424127887323393804578555783340654630-lMyQjAxMTAzMDEwOTExNDkyWj.html
Microsoft Corp. MSFT -1.11% recently held advanced talks with Nokia Corp. NOK1V.HE +3.08% about buying its handset business, people familiar with the matter said, as laggards in the fast-moving mobile market struggle to gain ground.
The discussions faltered over price and worries about Nokia’s slumping market position, among other issues, these people said. One of the people said talks took place as recently as this month but aren’t likely to be revived.
“We have a deep partnership with Microsoft, and it is not uncommon for Nokia and Microsoft to meet on a regular basis,” a Nokia spokeswoman said
It isn’t clear how much money Nokia wanted for its handset unit. Nokia’s U.S. stock-market value is more than $14 billion, and the company generated nearly half of its €30.2 billion, or about $40.15 billion, in revenue last year from its mobile-phone segment.
Hardware and software suppliers, retailers, television networks and many other companies increasingly see smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices as fundamental to their futures. Consumers are spending more of their time glued to their phones—watching videos, shopping, keeping tabs on their friends and staying on top of work—than on the personal computers once at the center of the tech sector.
Nokia agreed to use only Windows Phone software to power its smartphones. Microsoft agreed to spend billions of dollars to give Nokia help with marketing and engineering.
But the partnership so far has failed to significantly lift the companies’ mobile fortunes.
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has continued to defend the promise of its phone software to become a major contender. But it remains a disappointment
Even with Microsoft’s new emphasis on homegrown hardware, it isn’t clear why Microsoft would be interested in owning Nokia’s devices business, which is mainly comprised of mobile phones. The companies’ existing partnership essentially made the Finnish company entirely dependent on Microsoft, without requiring Mr. Ballmer to buy Nokia outright.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia is combined with another company 40 percent chance in the next two years, estimates research firm Strategy Analytics.
Rumors of Nokia’s sales have been moving to another company for a few years. Research firm Strategy Analytics, the probability of Nokia’s combining with another company in the next two years is 40 per cent.
On Thursday, in turn, newspaper, The Wall Street Journal reported that Nokia and Microsoft were negotiating mid-June, the company store, where Microsoft would buy Nokia’s mobile phone business.
According to the newspaper trade fell through, inter alia, Nokia’s weak market outlook.
Source: http://www.iltasanomat.fi/digi/art-1288576070981.html
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Tomi Engdahl says:
The Apple obstacle for serious games
http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/21/4449770/the-apple-obstacle-for-serious-games
Making a serious game for iOS devices is not as easy as you’d think
When the iPhone launched in 2007, it changed the video game landscape in a way that no one could have predicted. Where gaming was once confined to PCs and consoles, millions of people — self-identified gamers or not — now had a device in their hands that could play games.
In the years since the device’s launch, the mobile app market has become saturated with games. The iTunes App Store charts are increasingly dominated by established studios, from large publishers like Disney and Electronic Arts to independent studios that experienced freakish success on the App Store like Rovio (Angry Birds) and HalfBrick (Fruit Ninja) and have been on a roll ever since. It’s a tougher market to be in, but the widely held belief is any developer, no matter how big or small, can still participate.
Except, that isn’t true.
In recent years, a number of “serious games” (games designed for a primary purpose other than to entertain) have been removed or outright rejected from Apple’s App Store for falling foul of its guidelines — guidelines that the developers we spoke to described as vague and subjectively applied.
Most people who use iOS devices aren’t privy to Apple’s curation process for its App Store, and very few are aware of the rejections that have taken place.
Apple’s guidelines for app developers seem straightforward on the surface.
According to the email, Apple found that the app “contain[ed] content or features that include people from a specific race, culture, government, corporation, or other real entity as enemies in the context of the game, which is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines.
“Specifically, we noticed your app includes a simulation with specific targeted enemies within Syria.”
“The guideline we broke was about how you’re not allowed to make apps that make specific groups the enemy, but that’s open to interpretation. You can see for example that an app about the second World War with Nazis as the enemy could theoretically be rejected, but some of those games are passed.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Disruptions: Medicine That Monitors You
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/disruptions-medicine-that-monitors-you/
SAN FRANCISCO — They look like normal pills, oblong and a little smaller than a daily vitamin. But if your doctor writes a prescription for these pills in the not-too-distant future, you might hear a new twist on an old cliché: “Take two of these ingestible computers, and they will e-mail me in the morning.”
As society struggles with the privacy implications of wearable computers like Google Glass, scientists, researchers and some start-ups are already preparing the next, even more intrusive wave of computing: ingestible computers and minuscule sensors stuffed inside pills.
Although these tiny devices are not yet mainstream, some people on the cutting edge are already swallowing them to monitor a range of health data and wirelessly share this information with a doctor. And there are prototypes of tiny, ingestible devices that can do things like automatically open car doors or fill in passwords.
“You will — voluntarily, I might add — take a pill, which you think of as a pill but is in fact a microscopic robot, which will monitor your systems” and wirelessly transmit what is happening, Eric E. Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, said last fall at a company conference. “If it makes the difference between health and death, you’re going to want this thing.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Device Shipments Up 6% To 2.4B In 2013, Driven By Android Smartphones, Tablets Amid More PC Decline
http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/24/it-device-sales-to-rise-6-to-2-4b-in-2013-driven-by-android-tablets-smartphones-pcs-continue-decline/
Gartner today has released its latest figures charting its overall predictions for how IT devices — from PCs to mobile handsets — are going to perform this year and in 2014.
As in years before, numbers will continue to climb: in 2013, total shipments will rise 5.9% to 2.35 billion, and will rise again in 2014 to 2.5 billion units, driven by portable, often less expensive, but just as powerful mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android will account for just over one-third of all devices this year, and nearly half in 2014. It’s an Android world after all.
Mobile devices will continue to replace PCs as consumers’ primary computing device, leading with smartphones, which will continue to be the most popular IT device sold. The 1.8 billion units in smartphones that that Gartner estimates will be shipped this year equates to about six times the number of PCs. And while tablets are still far behind both at only 201 million units, they will be growing the fastest, up some 68% on 2012.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sony unveils latest attempt at an Android SmartWatch
Meet the new boss, same as…
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/25/sony_new_smartwatch/
After some heavy-handed hints, Sony has used the Mobile Asia Expo 2013 to show off the latest version of its Android SmartWatch, intended to be the fashion item of choice for the mobile cognoscenti.
“Competitors are only now launching first generation devices, while we are already launching a 3rd generation device with all the insight gained from over half a million customers combined with Sony’s wealth of technology expertise to create the best ever smartwatch experience,” said Stefan Persson, head of companion products at Sony Mobile.
NFC is included for the first time, and Sony claims the watch is water-resistant – meaning you can splash the thing, but don’t submerge it.
Sony is hoping that it’ll be apps, not accessories, that drive sales for the new wrist-mounted hardware.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft: we’re third place with Windows Phone, not afraid of BlackBerry
http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/26/4468510/microsoft-windows-phone-number-three-not-afraid-of-blackberry
Microsoft has focused on Windows 8.1 this week at its Build developers conference, but the company has a few sessions on Windows Phone too. Speaking to The Verge on Wednesday, senior Windows Phone product manager Larry Lieberman outlined the company’s perspective on Windows Phone 8′s progression. “We think we’re solidly the third ecosystem right now,” says Lieberman. “That’s a huge announcement in some respects.” In fact Windows Phone overtook BlackBerry in May, but it’s still very much a two-horse race with Android and iOS dominating.
The growth is small, but Windows Phone’s primary hardware partner, Nokia, is really pushing the pace of devices. The Finnish smartphone maker fleshed out its range fully earlier this year, but the Windows Phone software appears to be held back by Microsoft.
“Microsoft opts for shut up and ship approach”
Microsoft faces the age old problem of still needing devices in the market to attract developers and create a network effect. Liberman quipped “it’s chicken and egg, so we need to create the bionic chicken.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
This is Motorola Mobility’s new logo
http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/26/4466592/this-is-motorola-mobilitys-new-logo
Motorola Mobility is making changes to its well-known brand this week, switching to a new, all-lower-case typeface
The famous “M” badge persists
The tagline “a Google company” now appears below the logo as well.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia is expected to make public in July 11 on the new Windows Phone-phone , which is as much as 41 mega-pixel camera.
Evleaks Twitter account, which has previously been leaked in advance to the public a number of Nokia phones in particular, said Tuesday that the so-called EOS Nokia phone model number is coming in 1020.
Top Camera may be the kind of attraction that brings the device at least a considerable amount of attention.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/superkameralumian+nimi+paljastettiin/a911736?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-27062013&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Is Developing Android Game Console
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323689204578571992848684764.html
Google Inc. is developing a videogame console and wristwatch powered by its Android operating system, according to people familiar with the matter, as the Internet company seeks to spread the software beyond smartphones and tablets.
Google is also preparing to release a second version of an Android-powered media-streaming device, called Nexus Q, that was unveiled last year but not sold to the public, these people said.
The Internet giant hopes to design and market the devices itself and release at least one of them this fall, they added.
A Google spokeswoman declined to comment.
The hardware plans are the latest sign of Google’s determination to build on the success of Android, the software it launched in 2008 that powered 75% of all smartphones and 57% of tablets shipped globally in the first quarter, according to the research firm IDC.
Games that run on Android software have proved particularly popular, and they are growing more quickly than games made for the big-name consoles supplied by Microsoft Corp., Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co. The appeal of such games has prompted the development of new devices aimed specifically for Android by other hardware companies.
Google has also been watching the efforts of Ouya Inc., a startup that this week began selling a $99 Android-based console and game controller, one of these people said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Forget Angry Birds – More Developers Are Making In-House Apps For Companies
http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2013/06/26/forget-angry-birds-more-developers-are-making-in-house-apps-for-companies/
With more than 900,000 apps on Apple‘s App store and 800,000+ on Google Play, it’s probably no surprise that mobile developers are now changing their focus from building apps for consumers, to companies and their staff. What’s surprising is how significant the new demand is. A new survey from development platform Appcelerator shows 43% increase in reports of developers creating apps for businesses and their employees in the second quarter of 2013, with some 63% reporting “increased” or “greatly increased” demand for enterprise apps in the past six months.
The services range from cafeteria apps that tell workers what food is on offer on any given day, to expense management apps and portals for finding customer information.
Larger corporations also tend to require a broad range of staff apps, which vastly outweigh their requirements for customers.
Having built the services they need for consumers, many companies have accepted staffers will use their own mobile devices at work (the so-called BYOD phenomenon) and are applying the lessons learned about design and analytics to make apps for their own staff.
By and large enterprise apps are made first for Apple’s iOS platform, then Android, then everything else including the HTML5 standard.
Tomi Engdahl says:
World’s first Tizen tablet?
http://linuxgizmos.com/japanese-company-announces-first-tizen-tablet/
Japanese firm Systena Corp. announced the first Tizen-based tablet, which also appears to be the first Tizen product of any kind. The unnamed Systena Tizen tablet offers high-end features including a 1.4GHz, quad-core Cortex-A9 system-on-chip, 2GB of RAM, and a 10.1-inch, 1920 x 1200-pixel display.
Japanese carrier and major Tizen backer NTT DoCoMo will sell the device, according to a report by TizenExperts. Last month at the Tizen Developers Conference, NTT DoCoMo and Orange promised Tizen smartphone launches in 2013, presumably using upcoming Samsung Tizen phones, but mentioned nothing about tablets.
Tomi says:
Intel’s new CEO focused on mobile chips, cautious on TV
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/28/us-intel-ceo-idUSBRE95R0XK20130628
Intel Corp’s new CEO said on Friday he would speed up the rollout of chips for smartphones, tablets and wearable devices as consumers move away from personal computers.
In their first sit-down with reporters since their promotions in May, Krzanich and Intel President Renee James said wearable computing devices would become a key battleground for mobile industry players.
Krzanich, who mentioned he had Google’s Glass wearable device in his knapsack, said computing in the next few years would focus more on items for eyes and ears, as well as wristbands and watches.
Intel is anxious to make sure it does not fall behind in future technology trends.
Tomi says:
iOS 7 includes new head gestures to control your iPhone
http://venturebeat.com/2013/06/26/ios-7-includes-new-head-gestures-to-control-your-iphone/
Apple’s iOS 7 beta includes new head gestures that enable users to control their iPhones by moving their heads left or right.
The gestures are buried in Apple’s accessibility settings, and are currently only intended, it appears, for use by people who cannot access iPhone’s on-screen controls. Activating “Switch Control” allows a user to attach a left or right head movement to to highlight an on-screen option and select it.
More interestingly, however, this means that Apple has created camera-based gesture-sensing technology which could eventually find its way into apps and the operating system at large.
Currently, the leader in gesture control is Leap Motion, which has 200 times the sensitivity of a Xbox 360 Kinnect, and will be embedded into select HP laptops right out of the box.
Tomi says:
The smartphone changed festival into a game
Summer festivals and sporting events to participate in new ways smartphones. Digital games provide opportunities for sponsors.
Smartphone Apps to the summer festival guests find the right places and provide advice on these schedules. In the future, smart phone applications are still with little more into the public events.
“The viewer’s terminal can act as if the sound as the light source,” the researcher Kai Kuikkaniemi Aalto University School of Information Technology HIIT to believe.
Concert crowd smartphones can be, for example, a joint wavy sound barrier, or light sea.
The stage sound equipment in addition to the performers call can be routed directly to the public smartphones.
Cameras is growing. The world public has been able to send messages or video for a concert or sporting event on the screen, which can be displayed in either a single or a camera to capture the myriad of images constructed mosaic.
So far technology has come against major public events telephone operators, data transfer capacity is not enough.
Use of mobile devices in connection with public events in Finland has been the most informed choice in advance or on site.
Source: http://www.3t.fi/artikkeli/uutiset/teknologia/alypuhelin_muuttaa_festarit_peliksi
Tomi says:
Smartphones, cameras are already available to print-ready images in daylight. Now, manufacturers seeking competitive advantage twilight description and zoom. Samsung already announced a novelty, the Nokia reveals his own in July.
Optical zoom is a rare treat for smart phones. Samsung Brings 10-times optical zoom, the new Galaxy S4 zoom model,
The lens extends from the upper end of the wide-angle 24 mm and telephoto 240 mm
Lens f / 3.1 to 6.3 in the focal length of the current small pocket-sized digital cameras levels.
Camera Phones aperture size increases, which means larger pixels and less noise.
“Finally, a smartphone with a compact zoom camera features,” enthuses Samsung camera products, the company’s sales manager Kari Pälli novelty.
Nokia has introduced the optical zoom handsets in 2007, presented N93i model after. According to Nokia, the optical zoom is unnecessarily increasing the camera’s size and is sensitive to impairment due to the moving parts.
“We believe that PureView 808-style true zoom technology is a good choice for the mobile environment,” says Samuli Hänninen.
Nokia Lumia 925 point in 920, and its predecessor, comes with a large f/2.0 the aperture size.
This means that the camera sensor can be, at least in theory, to get more light than a smaller hole size on the Samsung
Shooting in the dark is adapt to for new smartphones in the weakest part of the area, estimated fiction writer and Master of Science Petteri Järvinen. He describes both the Nokia Lumi below the long tube SLR cameras.
Lack of light is difficult to replace by raising the ISO sensitivity
“This small cells where the noise is too much,”
“Xenon-flash the advantage of LED lights compared to the speed. Moving Image may not really frozen, ”
Source: http://www.3t.fi/artikkeli/uutiset/teknologia/kisa_kovenee_kannykalla_saa_kohta_parhaat_kuvat
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Camera manufacturer Nikon is trying to develop a counter bet for smartphones. The company is rightly concerned about the popularity of camera phones, threatening, especially digital compact camera sales.
Nikon expects pocket cameras waning sales this year by 12 per cent, but at the same interchangeable lens cameras sold in the types of sales may grow by 9 per cent.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/nikon+pelkaa+alypuhelimen+tappavan+pokkarikameran/a913450
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nikon President Eyes Smartphone Users as Compact Sales Fall
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-07/nikon-president-eyes-smartphone-users-as-compact-sales-fall.html
Nikon Corp. (7731) (7731) is looking at ways to tap smartphone growth as a slump in compact camera sales may lead to weaker-than-forecast earnings.
Point-and-shoot camera sales across the industry dropped about a quarter in April and May from a year earlier, President Makoto Kimura said in a July 4 interview at Nikon’s Tokyo headquarters, citing third-party research. Smartphone shipments jumped 46 percent last year to 722 million units, according to Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC Corp.
“The number of people taking snapshots is exploding by use of smartphones that sold 750 million or so last year and are still growing,” Kimura said. “We’ve centralized our ideas around cameras but can change our approach to offer products to that bigger market.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia’s Lumia 1020 is a lot of camera in a high-end smartphone body (hands-on)
http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/11/4514064/nokia-lumia-1020-hands-on
At first blush, it’s impressive. The 1020 is handsome and sleek, rounded and not quite so boxy and large as some of the other Lumia phones we’ve seen. It’s not small, though: the 41-megapixel lens coming out the back is large enough that it props the phone up off a table when it’s laid down flat, and the 1020 certainly doesn’t match the sleekness of the 920. The device comes in black, yellow, and white – the yellow is as awesomely ostentatious as always, but we’re smitten with the sleeker black model too.
tomi says:
Nokia Lumia 1020 Hands On: This Actually Might Be Amazing
http://gizmodo.com/nokia-lumia-1020-hands-on-this-actually-might-be-amazi-745026393
The first question you’ll have about Nokia’s new Lumia 1020 is how the photos look. And yes, they’re so very sharp.
It’s not just light, it’s decidedly not unbearably ugly. That is a big deal, actually, because there was a chance it would be so impossibly misshapen that all the Finnish designers in the land couldn’t hide it. It’s not the most beautiful phone, but it’s just not-ugly enough to own.
And then the camera. It’s great, as you’d expect. Pushing in on areas of the screen for zoom is impressive, and the images are incredibly sharp for a phone. I’d believe that they were taken with a pretty good point and shoot if no one told me otherwise. And the screen’s color performance makes the images look great (maybe a little oversaturated, but that’s sort of the norm for good cameraphones now).
Zoom in video mode, stabilized only by the OIS, actually looks shockingly steady. Zoomed all the way in and walking around, the video looked perfectly acceptable, which is impressive.
Speaking of which: The Nokia Pro Camera might actually be just as much of a big deal as the camera itself. The dial controls are magnificent, and actually great UX. You just drag the shutter button to the left (you can thumb it) and it gives you all of the controls as dials. Exposure, focus, ISO, white balance, all of them. And then if you want to default back to auto, you just slide the shutter button to the left again.
You can also pop out individual settings by tapping on them at the top of the screen. It’s very, very fluid in practical use, and honest to god, it’s better than the crud companies like Nikon and Canon use on their touchscreens. Hey guys, this is how you do this.
Tomi says:
Stickers: From Japanese craze to global mobile messaging phenomenon
http://thenextweb.com/asia/2013/07/12/stickers/
apan-based mobile messaging company Line raised eyebrows in May when it revealed that it made $17 million from selling stickers during the first quarter of 2013. Last year stickers were all but unknown in the West, but today you will find rich emoticon-like stickers on Path, Facebook, Viber and a range of other services beyond the first messaging apps that helped popularize them in Asia.
What are stickers and why are people buying them?
Stickers are larger-scale emoticons which are primarily used for instant messaging (IM) chats. They are popular among some, particularly in Asia, because they help convey emotion, and are more visual than blocks of text. Stickers typically come in packs of up to a dozen, most of which are free to download and use, but some services charge $1/$2 for premium packs — which may be customized for brands, products or limited edition events.
Once downloaded or bought, they appear as an option in the text box, and are published when pressed.
Stickers are just one line of revenue used by Line, Kakao Talk and others, which includes in-app games, other virtual items, business accounts and more. Focusing back on stickers, the companies make money from them in a number of ways.
The idea of time-saving stickers is a concept that Facebook used when it rolled out a ‘thumbs up’ icon to its messaging service.
Based on figures from its Taiwanese business, Line charges around US$35,000 (TW$1 million) to allow 8 stickers to be available for download for one month; users have up to six months to use them before they disappear. It’s not clear if that charge covers the design and development of the stickers, or whether that is additional, but that price is entry level and many firms spend much more on a campaign.
Tomi says:
Why mobile web apps are slow
http://sealedabstract.com/rants/why-mobile-web-apps-are-slow/
I’m going to do in this post is try to bring some actual evidence to bear on the problem, instead of just doing the shouting match thing. You’ll see benchmarks, you’ll hear from experts, you’ll even read honest-to-God journal papers on point. There are–and this is not a joke–over 100 citations in this blog post.
Tomi says:
Attention, Shoppers: Store Is Tracking Your Cell
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/15/business/attention-shopper-stores-are-tracking-your-cell.html?adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1373868399-Q5cZRpR3BHVoBhy37HPvIg
Like dozens of other brick-and-mortar retailers, Nordstrom wanted to learn more about its customers — how many came through the doors, how many were repeat visitors — the kind of information that e-commerce sites like Amazon have in spades. So last fall the company started testing new technology that allowed it to track customers’ movements by following the Wi-Fi signals from their smartphones.
“We did hear some complaints,” said Tara Darrow, a spokeswoman for the store. Nordstrom ended the experiment in May, she said, in part because of the comments.
Nordstrom’s experiment is part of a movement by retailers to gather data about in-store shoppers’ behavior and moods, using video surveillance and signals from their cellphones and apps to learn information as varied as their sex, how many minutes they spend in the candy aisle and how long they look at merchandise before buying it.
But while consumers seem to have no problem with cookies, profiles and other online tools that let e-commerce sites know who they are and how they shop, some bristle at the physical version, at a time when government surveillance — of telephone calls, Internet activity and Postal Service deliveries — is front and center because of the leaks by Edward J. Snowden.
“Way over the line,” one consumer posted to Facebook in response to a local news story about Nordstrom’s efforts at some of its stores.
“The idea that you’re being stalked in a store is, I think, a bit creepy, as opposed to, it’s only a cookie — they don’t really know who I am,”
Cameras have become so sophisticated, with sharper lenses and data-processing, that companies can analyze what shoppers are looking at, and even what their mood is.
For example, Realeyes, based in London, which analyzes facial cues for responses to online ads, monitors shoppers’ so-called happiness levels in stores and their reactions at the register.
Nomi, of New York, uses Wi-Fi to track customers’ behavior in a store, but goes one step further by matching a phone with an individual.
When a shopper has volunteered some personal information, either by downloading a retailer’s app or providing an e-mail address when using in-store Wi-Fi, Nomi pulls up a profile of that customer
If these methods seem intrusive, at least some consumers seem happy to trade privacy for deals.
Tomi says:
Apple ‘Aggressively’ Hiring for Smart Watch Project, Looking Toward Late 2014 Launch
http://www.macrumors.com/2013/07/14/apple-aggressively-hiring-for-smart-watch-project-looking-toward-late-2014-launch/
Financial Times reports that Apple is “aggressively” hiring new employees to help with its smart watch effort, suggesting that the company needs additional expertise to tackle the project’s challenges. Sources also indicate that the “iWatch” may not appear until late next year, as has been previously rumored.
Tomi says:
Microsoft details new Windows Phone 8 update, but real fixes won’t come until 2014
http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/12/4516894/microsoft-windows-phone-8-updates
Microsoft published details of its upcoming Windows Phone 8 update on Thursday, revealing the minor changes that are due to roll out shortly. Known as General Distribution Release 2 (GDR2),
According to sources familiar with Microsoft’s Windows Phone plans, the company is in a “shut up and ship” mode. We’re told that the lack of significant changes is due to the focus on Windows Phone’s “Blue” update. The future update, expected in early 2014, looks set to include a notification center, improved multitasking, and changes to built-in apps.
We’ve learned that Microsoft had planned to roll out a number of Windows Phone updates more frequently, but delays in testing new chipsets and bugs in some of the GDR updates have slowed down feature additions. One particular bug with unbranded devices not sold by carriers is said to have affected the way a handset is identified on a network. We’re told that Microsoft had a hard time fixing this particular problem, resulting in delays to other planned work.
We’re told that most of the focus for Windows Phone software improvements is related to hardware release and refreshes. The future GDR3 update will include support for 5- and 6-inch Windows Phones with 1080p resolutions, and quad-core chipsets.
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Tomi says:
Smartwatch makers: You need apps to beat Apple
So be nice to developers and give them good tools
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/19/watch_watch/
In many ways, Metawatch’s platform remains a better bet for iDevice owners than the better-known Pebble. It delivers more notifications from iPhone to smartwatch than Pebble currently does, and provides more information look-up apps – Weather and Stocks, for instance – than Pebble does on any platform.
Contrast that with Pebble, which has an SDK you can download – registration is required – and provisional APIs for on-watch apps and for phone-hosted apps. Pebble claims to have shipped more than 93,000 of its smartwatches in 2013 alone, and has just begun selling its kit through US retail giant BestBuy.
The Pebble device doesn’t work as well with Apple handsets as it might, but Pebble is promising to fix that in a couple of months’ time – it’s awaiting iOS 7, presumably.
Establishing a solid user base as soon as possible is crucial for small companies like Pebble, Metawatch, Martian and Agent Watch if they’re to keep their heads above water when Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Google and other big names jump into the pool – if indeed they do. The smartwatch market is still a very long way from maturity, so appealing directly to developers in order to make sure ordinary users can get apps and customisations is critical at this stage.
The likes of Pebble, Agent Watch and Metawatch appeal primarily to techies – there’s no evidence yet that the smartwatch is sure to become The Next Big Thing and tomorrow acquire the ubiquity the smartphone enjoys today. Despite a hype-filled forecast from Canalys, a market watcher – five million smartwatches to ship next year, anyone? – there’s little sign that existing big-name players Sony and Motorola are making a mint with their smartwatches, despite being market leaders in 2012.
Pebble has that, with its Mac OS and Ubuntu toolchains. So does rival Agent Watch, which has built its – preview thus far – development tools around Microsoft Visual Studio, C# and .Net. Agent stormed past its own Kickstarter funding target last month with the promise of a wirelessly charged, rugged-look smartwatch. It’s not due to go into production until the autumn.
The smartwatch arena is like the early 1980s computer market: there are no standards, and fortune will come to those with with the biggest, broadest software libraries. Phones have taught users that they want downloads.
Tomi says:
Microsoft’s Making More Money From Phones, but a Lot of That Is From Android Patent Payments
http://allthingsd.com/20130718/microsofts-making-more-money-from-phones-but-much-of-that-could-be-from-android/
As part of its disappointing earnings report on Thursday, Microsoft noted that it is making more money from mobile phones.
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean Windows Phone is raking in the bucks. The company chose to lump together its phone software revenue with the patent royalties it gets from makers of Android devices.
“Windows Phone revenue, reflecting patent licensing revenue and sales of Windows Phone licenses, increased $222 million for the quarter,”
Indeed, it seems likely that Microsoft’s gains are coming largely on the back of Android, as the company has now signed per-unit royalty licenses with much of the industry
Nokia, meanwhile, said it had its best-ever quarter for Windows Phones. But with total Lumia sales of 7.4 million units
Tomi says:
Samsung overtakes Apple as ‘most profitable phone firm’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23463111
Samsung has become the most profitable mobile phone company in the world, overtaking Apple, a report says.
Samsung’s handset division had an estimated operating profit of $5.2bn (£3.4bn) in the second quarter of 2013, according to Strategy Analytics.
Apple’s iPhone operating profit was estimated at $4.6bn, with the iPhone range “underperforming”.
Total mobile phone shipments were 386 million in the April-to-June period, 4% up on the same time last year.
In all, 27.7% of phones shipped were made by Samsung. Separately, Samsung, which is also the world’s biggest TV maker, reported second-quarter profits of $7bn for the entire company.
“This was the mobile phone industry’s fastest growth rate since the second quarter of 2012,” said Neil Shah, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics.
“Strong demand for entry-level Android devices in Asia and Latin America drove much of the growth. Samsung continued to dominate, shipping 107 million mobile phones worldwide.”
At the same time, global smartphone shipments hit 230 million in the quarter, 47% higher than in the same period of 2012. Of those, 33.1% were manufactured by Samsung.
However, Apple’s share of the smartphone market, at 14%, was its smallest for three years.
Tomi says:
T-Mobile US: Go ahead, PAY NOTHING up front for any device
Summer promotion bids adieu to down payments
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/26/tmobile_us_go_ahead_pay_nothing_up_front_for_any_device/
Fourth-ranked US wireless carrier T-Mobile has hit back at its competitors’ phone-upgrade plans with a new summer promotion that does away with down payments on all new devices.
In March, T-Mobile announced that it was eliminating traditional device subsidies in favor of a model in which customers either pay the full price of a new device up front, or else pay a down payment and then make up the rest over 24 interest-free monthly installments.
The carrier followed that up earlier this month with Jump!, a plan that allows customers to trade in their phones for new ones up to twice a year, for an additional monthly fee of $10.
Verizon and AT&T, the two largest US carriers, wasted no time countering those offers with pay-as-you-go, device-swapping plans of their own. But unlike Jump!, neither Verizon’s Edge nor AT&T’s Next requires customers to put up a down payment for a new device.
Tomi says:
Nokia’s new Bluetooth ‘Treasure Tag’ will prevent you from ever losing your keys again
http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/29/4567234/nokia-treasure-tag-bluetooth-nfc-proximity-sensor-windows-phone
Nokia is preparing to launch a proximity sensor accessory for its range of Lumia Windows Phones. Sources familiar with Nokia’s plans have revealed to The Verge that the Finnish smartphone maker will debut a “Treasure Tag” accessory that combines Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC to track items from a phone. The Treasure Tag will pair with Lumia Windows Phones via NFC, and Nokia will ship the device with a loop strap to attach it to a set of keys.
The basic idea is to let Windows Phone users track items with a special application and the small square Treasure Tag accessory. Tile, a recently funded Kickstarter project, is very similar in concept to Nokia’s device, and works with Apple’s iPhone. Nokia has built a Treasure Tag application for Windows Phone that will let users manage the sensor and locate it when it’s lost.
Treasure Tag is designed to be “always on,” and includes a battery that will last for around six months of use.
Tomi says:
This tiny device helps you find misplaced keys, phones, even kids
http://www.electronicproducts.com/Digital_ICs/Communications_Interface/This_tiny_device_helps_you_find_misplaced_keys_phones_even_kids.aspx
We’re human. We lose stuff all the time. Now, intelligent connected device company “I Found It!” iFi Systems has attempted to solve that problem of finding misplaced items with an iFi Smart Tag.
The iFi Smart Tag, released back in January, looks like an ordinary keyless entry remote that you’d find on your keychain. It has only one red button that could save you a ton of time when you’re looking for something you’ve just lost.
How it works
In order to use the tiny device, you have to download a free app (the iFi smart tag is compatible with an Android or iPhone device). Once that’s complete, just hold down the red button for three seconds, wait for your cellphone to locate the tag’s signals, and you’re in.
You can sync up to six Smart Tags with your cellphone and then attach them to whatever you lose a lot (keys, wallet, kids, etc.) When you’ve gone beyond a 30-foot radius, you will hear an unmistakable pinging noise that will notify you.
“Where did I have them last?” is a common question when on the hunt for something that’s gone missing. The iFi Smart Tag will answer that question for you by e-mailing you a Google map indicating the last place you had your item before you two got separated.
Tomi says:
8 Technologies that should’ve ended yesterday
Unnecessary gadgets that are still hard at work
http://www.electronicproducts.com/Computer_Systems/Standalone_Mobile/8_Technologies_that_should_ve_ended_yesterday.aspx
1. The Fax Machine
Replacement: E-mail; billions of e-mails are sent out every day, so why stand around a bulky machine when you can shoot over a quick message in cyberspace?
2. The Pager
Replacement: Cell-phone alerts
3. Cable Television
Replacement – Hulu, Netflix, and other Internet streaming websites;
4. The CD
Replacement: iPods; who would’ve thought that a 4-inch box could hold up to 160 GB of music and videos.
5. The Roll of Film
Replacement: Smartphones; with a camera up to 13 megapixels, smartphones are easily accessible, thin, and fast for sharp picture taking.
6. The Portable Radio
Replacement: Smartphones; these slabs of plastic can do it all from streaming an AM/FM station, to plugging into speakers, and connecting to Twitter and government alerts for important messages.
7. The Land Line
Replacement: Cell phones; portable phones can be used for in-house and out-of-house calls.
8. The PDA
Replacement: Cell phones; with a calendar just waiting for appointments to be booked and an address book allowing the user to set pictures and ringers for that contact there is no need for a PDA.
Tomi says:
Nokia Lumia 1020 review
Its 41-megapixel camera is great but still eclipsed by iPhone and others
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2013/07/nokia-lumia/index.htm
Nokia is making a lot of noise about the 41-megapixel camera on its Lumia 1020 smart phone, so the camera experts here at Consumer Reports tried out a press sample to see whether it lived up to the hype. It does, but only to a point. Though the Lumia 1020 takes the sharpest still pictures of any smart-phone camera we’ve seen, with phenomenal performance under low-light conditions, color accuracy was an issue. And video quality was only fair under low-light conditions, far below the performance of phones such as the iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, and Samsung Galaxy S 4.Nokia is making a lot of noise about the 41-megapixel camera on its Lumia 1020 smart phone, so the camera experts here at Consumer Reports tried out a press sample to see whether it lived up to the hype. It does, but only to a point. Though the Lumia 1020 takes the sharpest still pictures of any smart-phone camera we’ve seen, with phenomenal performance under low-light conditions, color accuracy was an issue. And video quality was only fair under low-light conditions, far below the performance of phones such as the iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, and Samsung Galaxy S 4.
Tomi says:
Strategy Analytics: Android tablet shipments up to 67% in Q2 2013, iOS fell to 28.3%, and Windows secured 4.5%
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/07/29/strategy-analytics-androids-tablet-shipments-up-to-67-in-q2-2013-ios-fell-to-28-3-and-windows-secured-4-5/
Global tablet shipments in Q2 2013 reached 51.7 million units, up 43 percent from 36.1 million in Q2 2012. Breaking those numbers down, Android secured a whopping 67 percent global share, Apple’s iOS grabbed 28.3 percent, and Windows secured 4.5 percent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Taiwan’s Asus Aims to Enter U.S. Smartphone Market Next Year
http://allthingsd.com/20130729/taiwans-asus-aims-to-enter-u-s-smartphone-market-next-year/
Asus has made a business out of finding niches where other computer makers had yet to see them. But in trying to crack the U.S. smartphone market, the company could face its hardest test yet.
The American market is known for being among the world’s toughest, a place where even big global brands like Sony and LG have struggled in recent years.
The high end is dominated by Apple and Samsung, while the low end is filled with competition from longtime players and from up-and-comers such as Huawei and ZTE.
“For the phone, frankly speaking, we are still the latecomers,” Shih told AllThingsD in an interview after the release of the Nexus 7 last week. “We are making progress.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android top US smartphone platform with 52% of sales, Windows Phone charts highest growth: Kantar
http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2013/07/29/android-top-us-smartphone-platform-with-52-of-sales-windows-phone-charts-highest-growth-kantar/
Analyst firms have already pored over smartphone industry figures for Q2 2013 — noting that top guns Apple and Samsung lost market share to lesser rivals — and now Kantar has released its sales figures for the US spanning the three-month period ending June 2013.
Kantar estimates that 40 percent of all iOS devices sold went through Verizon — fractionally ahead of the 39 percent attributed to AT&T — and it is estimated to have captured more Android- and Windows Phone-based sales too.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Relaunches Zagat’s Website And Mobile Apps, No Payment Or Registration Required
http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/29/google-relaunches-zagats-web-site-and-mobile-apps-no-payment-or-registration-required/
Google today gave Zagat, the restaurant review service it acquired in 2011, a set of new mobile apps for iOS and Android, as well as a complete facelift on the web. For the first time, Google says, all of the service’s ratings and reviews are now available for free and without the need to register.
Tomi says:
Android Fragmentation Visualized (July 2013)
http://opensignal.com/reports/fragmentation-2013/
Fragmentation is both a strength and weakness of the Android ecosystem. When comparisons are made between Android and iOS the issue of different API levels, and the vastly different devices running them, is often emphasised. In this report we examine the extent of Android fragmentation and analyse its impact on both users and developers.
Android devices come in all shapes and sizes, with vastly different performance levels and screen sizes. Furthermore, there are many different versions of Android that are concurrently active at any one time, adding another level of fragmentation. What this means is that developing apps that work across the whole range of Android devices can be extremely challenging and time-consuming.
Despite the problems, fragmentation also has a great number of benefits – for both developers and users. The availability of cheap Android phones (rarely running the most recent version) means that they have a much greater global reach than iOS, so app developers have a wider audience to build for.
Tomi says:
Nvidia Shield review
Is Android ready for a portable game console?
http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/31/4573596/nvidia-shield-review
The only time I actually pick up the iPad, sadly, is to play video games. Perhaps the saddest part is that my iPad isn’t a very good game system. It’s bulky, the touchscreen controls are pretty crappy for navigating 3D worlds, and the graphics are merely okay. But where “real” game systems like the PlayStation Vita are struggling to build a library of game titles, the iTunes App Store continually tempts me with addictive, artsy new games. I wanted the best of both: the physical controls to explore immersive worlds, and a store to convince developers to build them. I wanted the equivalent of a PlayStation Vita running iOS.
Then, the next best thing came along: Nvidia announced the Shield at CES. For $299, the graphics giant promised the most powerful hardware we’d ever seen in a portable console, running stock Android, with what basically amounted to a built-in Xbox 360 controller at the helm. Nvidia even promised it would stream games from my home gaming PC. I was jazzed.
Console, tablet, smartphone
The Shield comes with stock Android 4.2.1, and can run practically every app in the Play Store. And Nvidia’s Tegra 4 processor, backed by 2GB of RAM, makes Android run exceedingly quickly, no question about it. There are some limitations, though.
There’s no cellular radio, so you’ll need Wi-Fi wherever you go. Jelly Bean also supports multiple users, so if you’re sharing a Shield with your household each person can have their own accounts and apps at the ready.
The Nvidia Shield is a fantastic first effort for Nvidia, a seriously impressive piece of hardware, and a chance for Android gaming to be taken seriously if enough gamers buy in. The Shield is riding a wave of interest in controller gaming, and I’m hoping the dearth of good Android controller games will be short-lived.
The Shield is a capable device for $299, but honestly the $229 Nexus 7 is a better short-term bet. You’ll even have $70 left over to buy yourself a PlayStation 3 controller and a pairing app, or to save towards the next Shield, which will come with an even more capable Tegra chip.