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.
1,261 Comments
Tomi says:
How Vice’s Tim Pool used Google Glass to cover Istanbul protests
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jul/30/google-glass-istanbul-protests-vice
‘I want to show you what it’s like to be there as best I can, even if that ends with me running full-speed into a cafe and rubbing lemons all over my face after being tear-gassed’
Pool has been using Glass for his livestreaming coverage of recent protests in Istanbul, Cairo and Brazil for Vice in 2013, but he’s been doing what he calls “mobile first-person” journalism since 2011, and the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York.
His livestreams attracted more than 750,000 unique viewers in a single day at the height of those protests, when police were clearing people out of their Occupy camp and trying to keep professional journalists away.
“Vice were the first company to say ‘we know exactly what you do, we think it’s awesome, and we want you to do more of it.”
Tomi says:
Moscow Subway To Use Special Devices To Read Data On Passengers’ Phones
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/13/07/30/215231/moscow-subway-to-use-special-devices-to-read-data-on-passengers-phones
“‘The head of police for Moscow’s subway system has said stations will soon be equipped with devices that can read the data on the mobile telephones of passengers. In the July 29 edition of Izvestia, Moscow Metro police chief Andrei Mokhov said the device would be used to help locate stolen mobile phones.”
tomi says:
Smartphone Manufacturer threw in the towel
Japanese NEC does not intend to develop new smartphone models. The company also produces the current models are no longer only on request.
Retreats NEC smartphones, since it has become too small to start gambling market. The Company is unable to compete with prices, production volumes due.
NEC has been a small factor in the mobile phone business. Its products are mainly sold to the domestic market in Japan.
The Japanese manufacturer will nonetheless continue basic phones and tablet computers manufactured.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/alypuhelinvalmistaja+heitti+pyyhkeen+kehaan/a917703
Tomi says:
Google, piloted by Motorola Moto X takes the smartphone to be tailored to a new level
Motorola announced the new Moto X smartphone. It is the first fully developed after the phone when Google acquired the mobile phone manufacturer.
Outwardly, it resembles more a lot of Motorola’s previous Droid-range handsets.
A special feature is that the customer can freely choose from the usual style and features of their phones and not just the amount of storage space and removable case color. Moto maker online application can select the front and side of the recess will be buttons, camera lens ring.
Equipment is manufactured in the United States, in order to bring them to the client four days of order.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/googlen+luotsaaman+motorolan+moto+x+vie+alypuhelimien+raataloimisen+uudelle+asteelle/a918140
Tomi says:
Why Google is developing Chrome OS and Android in the parallel
I can see the future more or less like this:
1 Firefox OS is a pioneer in web-based mobile operating systems, but it is a little ahead of its time. In all of the applications developed in JavaScript and HTML has. Certified (or user-approved) apps get full access to the phone’s APIs.
2 Chrome OS is the first representative of the mainstream web based operating system, which will make extensive use of phones and tablets with you. Google is already the Chrome Web Store, which is intended for web-based applications for distribution.
3 Apple quickly to develop their own app Storeensa expansion of web applications, realizing the Chrome OS’s success. iPhone and iPad applications can be developed with JavaScript and sold without unnecessary wrappers.
4 Android hand, one does not develop such a modern web application platform because Google’s Chrome OS is interesting in, so Android will die out over time with the Java interfaces
5 Achieve the ultimate convergence of all three of the currently separate the strands (servers, applications, and browser-native application) together. They are all programmed in JavaScript (or CoffeeScript). The application components and data structures can be divided into an unprecedented smoothly when the exact same code works in every place. Java’s original, unworthy this promise, surprisingly JavaScript and HTML5.
(6 Microsoft does not understand the whole thing, but will try to continue their closed-SDK and proprietaaristen JavaScript interfaces offered)
Source: https://kfalck.net/2013/07/29/miksi-google-kehittaa-chrome-osaa-ja-androidia-rinnakkain
Tomi says:
Google appears ready to ditch Android over its intellectual property issues
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/07/29/google-appears-ready-to-ditch-android-over-its-intellectual-property-issues
By Daniel Eran Dilger
The discovery that Google’s new Chromecast web streaming device is based on Google TV code stripped of Android features provides additional evidence that Google is working to distance itself from the Android platform that the company developed under the management of Andy Rubin.
Tomi says:
Google appears ready to ditch Android over its intellectual property issues
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/07/29/google-appears-ready-to-ditch-android-over-its-intellectual-property-issues
By Daniel Eran Dilger
The discovery that Google’s new Chromecast web streaming device is based on Google TV code stripped of Android features provides additional
evidence that Google is working to distance itself from the Android platform that the company developed under the management of Andy Rubin.
Google’s shift from Android to Chrome on TV
Hackers’ discovery that “most of the Google TV code was reused” for Chromecast, specifically that “the bootloader, kernel, init scripts,
binaries, are all from the Google TV,” lends credence to a report by the Wall Street Journal that described an Android TV prototype
developed under Andy Rubin and shown in private at CES at the beginning of this year.
That project was reportedly abandoned this spring around the same time Rubin was demoted from running Google’s Android platform. He was
replaced by Sundar Pichai, who had previously worked on Google’s Chrome browser and led Chrome OS development.
Google’s Chrome-related branding for the new device makes sense, now that Android is under the direction of Pichai rather than Rubin. But
it also signals the beginning of an even more significant shift
company replaced Rubin himself as the leader of Android with Pichai, who represents Google’s other platform: Chrome OS.
Protecting Android’s tainted intellectual property gets expensive
Tomi says:
Using Kickstarter data to predict Ubuntu Edge’s success
http://www.openanalytics.eu/blog/using-kickstarter-data-predict-ubuntu-edges-success
Armed with new data and information, we were able to explore some thrilling new hypotheses. Had the Ubuntu Edge campaign flatlined harder than the average crowdfunding effort in the “Dead Zone”? Given the end of campaign bump in donations, was there renewed hope in reaching the $32 million goal?
Compared to the average Kickstarter, we can see that the Ubuntu Edge rose more sharply in the beginning and flatlined harder when entering the “Dead Zone”. This is further evidence that would-be backers are turned-off by Canonical’s incremental pricing structure. As the price of securing a phone has ticked from $600 to the present value of $775, backing has slowed to a snail’s pace.
Further, the $22 million estimate may be generous, as the raw data currently sits below the Kickstarter projection line.
Tomi says:
FBI spooks use MALWARE to spy on suspects’ Android mobes – report
Spear-phishing: It’s not just for the bad guys
theregister.co.uk/2013/08/02/fbi_staff_admit_hacking_android/
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is using mobile malware to infect, and control, suspects’ Android handsets, allowing it to record nearby sounds and copy data without physical access to the devices.
That’s according to “former officers” interviewed by the Wall Street Journal ahead of privacy advocate Christopher Soghoian’s presentation at hacker-conflab Black Hat later today.
The FBI’s Remote Operations Unit has been listening in to desktop computers for years, explains the paper, but mobile phones are a relatively new target.
Tomi says:
Lost phone? Google’s got an app for that, coming this month
Free location and remote wipe service for Android devices
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/03/android_device_manager/
Google has announced that it will begin offering a free device location and security service for Android phones and tablets for the first time later this month, addressing a longstanding omission in Mountain View’s mobile OS.
According to a blog post by Android product manager Benjamin Poiesz on Friday, the forthcoming Android Device Manager (ADM) will be a combination of a mobile app and online services that will help Android customers both locate lost phones and protect their data when their devices can’t be found.
If your phone is nearby – behind the couch, say, or underneath that stack of old pizza boxes – ADM can let you know by telling it to make a godawful racket. Login to ADM via your Google account, press the Ring button, and the device will holler at its maximum volume, even if you had previously silenced it.
Failing that, unless your gadget is powered off, it must be someplace else. ADM can tell you where – via integration with Google Maps
ADM gives you the option of initiating a remote wipe of all of your phone’s data.
Tomi says:
Russia’s Massive Android Malware Industry Revealed
http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/mobile-security/314386-russia-s-massive-android-malware-industry-revealed
Mobile security company Lookout released a report today at DefCon that reveals the amazing size, scope, and complexity of Android malware operations in Russia. The report found the bulk of this Russian malware wasn’t coming from lone individuals in basements, but well-oiled malware producing machines.
Lookout discovered that 10 organizations are responsible for about 60 percent of the Russian SMS malware out there. These were centered around “Malware HQs” which actually produces the malicious apps. Once downloaded, these apps make use of SMS shortcodes that bill victims via their wireless carrier. In the U.S., we often see these attached to charitable organizations like the Red Cross.
Here’s how the scam works: The Malware HQ creates malicious applications that can be configured to look like just about anything. They also register and maintain the shortcodes with wireless carriers.
Victims find the affiliates website or social media spam and download the malicious applications. Once on the victim’s Android device, the malware sends out one or more premium SMS messages—usually costing the victim between $3 and $20 USD.
Because the Malware HQ owns the shortcodes, they get the money from the victim’s carrier. They take a cut, and give the rest to the affiliates, who are apparently paid like normal employees based off their performance.
Tomi says:
Android Dominates the Tablet Market in 2013 Q2
Strategy Analytics: Android Dominates the Tablet Market in 2013 Q2 with 67 Percent Share of Global Tablet Shipments.
http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=pressreleaseviewer&a0=5403
Tomi Engdahl says:
Following electrocution controversy, Apple to offer USB power adapter replacements
http://9to5mac.com/2013/08/05/apple-launching-third-party-iphone-usb-charger-replacement-program-following-controversy/
Following controversy in recent weeks regarding the safety of counterfeit and third-party USB charging adapters for the iPhone, iPod, and iPad, Apple has announced a new trade-in program for these adapters. The program will be held at both official Apple Retail Stores and Authorized Apple Resellers.
The replacement program will allow anyone who feels uncomfortable with their adapter to replace it with an official unit for a discounted price of $10.
Last month, an Apple customer reportedly passed away from electrocution due to a counterfeit charger used with an iOS Device. Immediately following this incident, Apple opened up a webpage to properly identify Apple-built adapters.
“Recent reports have suggested that some counterfeit and third party adapters may not be designed properly and could result in safety issues. While not all third party adapters have an issue, we are announcing a USB Power Adapter Takeback Program to enable customers to acquire properly designed adapters.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android is the new Windows – revolution in information technology
The era of the world’s most popular Windows operating system has passed. It has taken the position of Google’s Android – both good and bad. Disaster similar to the Windows start time, and the consequences are great.
Android’s position has been strong for quite some time. In recent months, it has gained a decisive upper hand.
Smart phones using Google Android captured the beginning of the year about 80 per cent share of the market. In the spring of Android seems to have taken a dominant share of the tablets. According to Strategy Analytics, Android accounted for almost 70 per cent, in spite of the popularity of Apple’s iPad.
Windows and Android, the benefits are the same. Android creates a common large ecosystem, open to all interested manufacturers can come up with. This has created a Windows-like a huge range of applications. Spectrum of the equipment is high. Android ecosystem, for example, offers all kinds of smart phones and tablets screen sizes.
Android also appear in the proliferation of the same disadvantages than in Windows. Software development and distribution of freedom is brought to malware problems. Pests are frequently distributed in Google’s own app store.
Another problem is the hardware and software fragmentation. The Windows world is broken in many different versions and different devices jungle. Equipment manufacturers add additional software on their PCs, which increase and even reduce the load on the user experience. The same problems plaguing the Android world.
Android triumph of the biggest losers of Microsoft and Apple.
Source: http://www.tietokone.fi/artikkeli/uutiset/android_on_uusi_windows_mullistus_tietotekniikassa
tomi says:
IKEA’s Augmented Reality 2014 Catalog Lets You Preview Products in Your Apartment!
http://inhabitat.com/ikeas-augmented-reality-2014-catalog-lets-you-preview-products-in-your-apartment/
Instead of trekking down to the IKEA showroom with your measuring tape, camera, and color swatches, you can now shop comfortably in your own home without the fear of buying something that does not fit with the rest of your decor. IKEA’s upcoming 2014 catalog, which will be released on August 25, will allow you to preview products in your home using augmented reality to ensure that your purchase is the perfect size, style, and color for your interior. IKEA’s iOS and Android applications will let you preview over 90 products, and the catalog will feature 50 pages that can be scanned for additional information.
tomi says:
HERE and Qualcomm drive new indoor location-based experiences
http://conversations.nokia.com/2013/08/01/here-and-qualcomm-drive-new-indoor-location-based-experiences/
We’ve been providing venue maps to business partners like Bing for over a year. Today, we’re extending our indoor mapping partnerships to Qualcomm to help create new indoor location-based services.
All location-based services need two elements to work:
Positioning technologies, such as GPS, provide extremely precise location information.
Accurate maps then transform these numbers and coordinates into something we can all understand: a pin on a map.
This works very well when we’re outdoors. But when we’re inside a building (roughly 90% of our time), things get less detailed. Satellite signals can’t reach indoor locations and other technologies based on Wi-Fi or cellular networks aren’t as accurate.
The pin on a map becomes a circle.
indoors positioning within “3 – 7 meters is [all that is] needed for certain applications. In other situations, [such as] when you are trying to find a product at a specific shelf level, sub one-meter accuracy may be important.”
This is why Qualcomm’s IZat technology has been created for more accurate positioning indoors
At the same time HERE is mapping more and more venues
These two elements will inspire a new generation of location-based experiences indoors: app developers and venues will have new ways to reach people with personalized, relevant and contextual information.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Digital usage overtaking all legacy media
http://newsosaur.blogspot.fi/2013/08/digital-usage-overtaking-all-legacy.html
Americans this year are likely to spend as many hours consuming content on digital devices as the combined amount of time that they devote to gazing at TV and paging through print, according to eMarketer, a research-aggregation service.
After culling through reports from more than 40 institutions, eMarketer forecasts that the average amount of time likely to be spent on digital media this year will climb to five hours and 9 minutes (5:09), as compared with 4:31 in 2012.
If the prediction holds true, then the amount of time spent with digital media will for the first time surpass the roughly 4½ hours per day that Americans historically have watched television.
The digital surge is being driven by the explosive adoption of smartphones, tablets and other mobile media, which provide consumers with the sort of intimate and individualized experiences that are beyond the reach of the traditional broadcast and print media. In June, the Nielsen market research service reported that 61% of Americans own smartphones and Pew Research Center said that 34% of Americans own a tablet.
Given the rapid adoption of captivating devices that were nonexistent a few short years ago, eMarketer expects non-voice mobile activity to rise to 2:21 in 2012, as compared with 24 minutes as recently as 2010.
With the use of digital gear growing, eMarketer expects the consumption of newspapers and magazines will continue to fall in 2013, as they have for the prior three years.
Although the appetite for digitally delivered news may be high, the declining utilization of printed media spells further trouble for publishers who historically have generated the preponderance of their revenues from print advertising.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Teardown: What’s inside Google Glass?
http://www.edn.com/design/consumer/4418326/Teardown–What-s-inside-Google-Glass-
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows Phones susceptible to password theft when connecting to rogue Wi-Fi
Turn on certificate requirement before connecting to WPA2 networks. Now.
http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/08/windows-phones-susceptible-to-password-theft-when-connecting-to-rogue-wi-fi/
Smartphones running Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system are vulnerable to attacks that can extract the user credentials needed to log in to sensitive corporate networks, the company warned Monday.
The vulnerability resides in a Wi-Fi authentication scheme known as PEAP-MS-CHAPv2, which Windows Phones use to access wireless networks protected by version 2 of the Wi-Fi Protected Access protocol. Cryptographic weaknesses in the Microsoft-developed technology allow attackers to recover a phone’s encrypted domain credentials when it connects to a rogue access point. By exploiting vulnerabilities in the MS-CHAPv2 cryptographic protocol, the adversary could then decrypt the data.
The advisory comes a little more than a year after researchers devised an attack against the MS-CHAPv2 cryptographic scheme that made it trivial to break the encryption used by hundreds of anonymity and security services.
Microsoft doesn’t intend to issue an update to patch the hole. Instead, company officials recommend users require a certificate verifying a wireless access point before starting an authentication process from Windows Phone 8 devices.
The advisory also suggests turning off Wi-Fi connectivity in smartphone when not needed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung trademark filing for ‘Galaxy Gear’ hints at smartwatch
http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/06/samsung-galaxy-gear-smartwatch-trademark/
The evidence keeps piling up for a Samsung smartwatch that has yet to materialize.
Most recently, Dutch site Galaxy Club uncovered a US trademark filing for “Samsung Galaxy Gear” that was published at the end of July.
The documents submitted to Uncle Sam describe an object using the “Gear” moniker as such:
Wearable digital electronic devices in the form of a wristwatch, wrist band or bangle capable of providing access to the Internet and for sending and receiving phone calls, electronic mails and messages; wearable electronic handheld devices in the form of a wristwatch, wrist band or bangle for the wireless receipt, storage and/or transmission of data and messages and for keeping track of or managing personal information; smart phones; tablet computers; portable computers
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dragon Lady: An Investigation Into the Industry Behind the Majority of Russian-Made Malware
https://www.lookout.com/resources/reports/dragon-lady
Tomi Engdahl says:
Limbaugh: If you hate Apple then you’re a lefty blog-o-twat hipster
‘Pro-Samsung, Google, Android guys are faking news to make it look bad for Apple’
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/06/rush_limbaugh_apple_haters/
Conservative radio jock Rush Limbaugh has discovered the existence of bloggers and determined they hate Apple and, thusly, Republicans.
Limbaugh reckoned love for Android, Google and Samsung is the only thing that can explain why bloggers have been laying into the iPhone and iPad maker lately. Nine out of 10 tech bloggers are biased against Apple, Limbaugh predicted based on absolutely no factual data whatsoever and without having met “a blogger”.
Limbaugh is the most popular radio host in the US
Limbaugh added that the bloggers are probably Democrats
Here’s the “theory”: Apple is just like the Republican party in that the latter is a victim of a cruel bias in the “mainstream” media while Apple is similarly trashed online by bloggers, we’re told. So, according to Limbaugh, Apple fans are getting at a taste of what it’s like to be a Republican.
That’s the theory, anyway
According to a transcript published on Limbaugh’s website, here: “Apple is the equivalent of the Republicans on these blogs, and Google, Android, and Samsung are the equivalent of the Democrats.
Tomi says:
MS Office For Android: Pretty, But Woefully Incomplete
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/08/06/2328253/ms-office-for-android-pretty-but-woefully-incomplete
“The new Office 365 app for Android, launched a week ago, has a super nice UI, but lacks a bunch of basic features and has some really weird oversights — including a classic Microsoft dialog box that offers a choice that makes no sense. ‘Overall, it still feels like Microsoft is still trying to funnel people toward its own Windows Phone if they want a better experience.”
Tomi says:
GooPhone and LG to offer first tri-SIM smartphones using MediaTek chips
http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/05/goophone-lg-rolling-out-tri-sim-smartphones/
Dual-SIM phones are handy in regions where international travel and prepaid service are common, but even those devices aren’t always enough for jetsetters. Thankfully, GooPhone and LG have come to those customers’ rescue by launching the first smartphones based on a new MediaTek Triple-SIM chip.
Tomi says:
Microsoft Office Comes to Android, Linus Torvalds’ Dream Realized
http://hothardware.com/News/Microsoft-Office-Comes-to-Android-Linus-Torvalds-Dream-Realized/
Linus Torvalds once said that if Microsoft ever made applications for Linux “it means I’ve won”. Now that Microsoft has released a version of Office for Android, Torvalds’ dream has come true. Sort of.
It’s likely that Torvalds envisioned Microsoft Office on a desktop build of Linux, but that’s not exactly what has transpired. First, “Linux” in this case is Android, which is of course built on Linux but has been heavily Google-ized. Second, this isn’t a full version of Office by any means; instead, it’s more of a front end for users with an Office 365 subscription—a companion app.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Twitter’s Killer New Two-Factor Solution Kicks SMS to the Curb
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/08/twitter-new-two-facto/
When Twitter rolled out two-factor authentication back in May, it hinted that the SMS authentication would be merely a first step in a more robust security solution. Today, WIRED got a better look at the company’s just-announced new system that relies on application based authentication–which means it can provide a complete end to end security without relying on third parties or codes sent via SMS.
“When we decided to implement two-factor, we wanted something that was easy to use and didn’t follow the same formula everyone else was using,” explains Twitter security engineer Alex Smolen.
The new two-factor system works like this. A user enrolls using the mobile app, which generates a 2048-bit RSA keypair. The private key lives on the phone itself, and the public key is uploaded to Twitter’s server.
When Twitter receives a new login request with a username and password, the server sends a challenge based on a 190-bit, 32 character random nonce, to the mobile app — along with a notification that gives the user the time, location, and browser information associated with the login request. The user can then opt to approve or deny this login request.
If approved, the app replies to a challenge with its private key, relays that information back to the server. The server compares that challenge with a request ID, and if it authenticates, the user is automatically logged in.
On the user end, this means there’s no string of numbers to enter, nor do you have to swap to a third party authentication app or carrier. You just use the Twitter client itself. It means that the system isn’t vulnerable to a compromised SMS delivery channel, and moreover, it’s easy.
“Other two-factor systems rely on a shared secret,” explains Smolen. “We wanted to come up with a design where it is only stored on the client side; the secret’s only stored on the phone.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung is number one in smartphones myyntitlastoissa and Apple has a solid number two. The next two places Canalys, drawn up by the sales statistics go, however, surprisingly, China.
Canalys calculates that in the second quarter was sold to a whopping 238.1 million smartphones. Samsung grabbed a big slice of the sales by as much as 75.6 million phones. The difference between Apple and Samsung will continue to grow rapidly, in turn, Apple sold 31.2 million phones.
Surprising brands are the list of positions three and four. China’s Lenovo has increased its sales by as much as 131 per cent of a total of 11.3 million smartphone. Lenovo’s growth can be explained by China’s rapidly growing market, the company sold 95 percent of its phones in their home country.
Yulong delivered 10.8 million in the phone
Source: http://www.tietokone.fi/artikkeli/uutiset/lenovo_ja_yulong_yllattajat_alypuhelinten_karjessa
Tomi Engdahl says:
Application of supply deficiencies have been regarded as a major obstacle to the Windows Phone ecosystem, the road to success. Now, Microsoft is trying to attract software developers by providing a very simple tool and lowering the price of a developer license.
Apple, Google to Microsoft requires that software developers will pay the registration fee in order to make applications on their platforms. Apple asks 99 bucks a year, Google 25 bucks says ReadWrite . Microsoft has launched a campaign a couple of weeks time registration fee is $ 19.
The work of adhesion of the threshold to lower the beta stage of the Phone App Studio . It promises to be refined ideas quickly, as well as for testing the finished product in a few simple operations pre-made templates. Also, more advanced software developers are offered the opportunity to launch a final result at the level of source code.
Source: http://www.tietokone.fi/artikkeli/uutiset/microsoft_haalii_mobiilisoftia_helpolla_tyokalulla_ja_ale_hinnalla
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung co-CEO: We want Tizen to be on everything
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57597026-94/samsung-co-ceo-we-want-tizen-to-be-on-everything/
In an interview with CNET Korea, Samsung’s J.K. Shin talks about the opportunity for the upstart operating system to run on everything from smartphones to cars.
Samsung Electronics has broad ambitions for Tizen, an open operating system the company has taken a lead role in developing as it looks to wean itself off its dependence on Android and Google.
That’s according to Samsung Electronics co-CEO J.K. Shin, who runs the company’s IT and mobile communications division.
Tizen is important because it represents Samsung’s best attempt to push an operating system that it has more control over. Samsung’s surge to dominance over the smartphone market has been driven by its Galaxy S line of smartphones, which all run on Google’s Android software. While Samsung continues to say all the right things about its partner, it’s clear the Korean conglomerate would prefer to rely less on Google and more on home-grown software.
Shin brushed aside rumors that Samsung would drop Tizen, and maintained that the company considers it a key operating system alongside Android and Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform.
Beyond smartphones, Tizen could find its way into vehicles. Shin mentioned cars as one area where Samsung would like to be in, and partner Intel sounds similarly confident in the software’s ability to power in-car apps and systems. A person familiar with Intel’s work with Tizen said the operating system is well-suited to the auto industry’s need for differentiation. But the person said Tizen wouldn’t make its way to cars until 2015.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft launches Windows Phone web tool to let anyone create apps
http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/6/4595112/microsoft-windows-phone-app-studio-web-tool-create-apps
Microsoft wants Windows Phone developers and apps, and it’s launching a developer tool on Tuesday in its latest effort to secure apps for its ecosystem. A beta version of Windows Phone App Studio is now available, and it lets anyone create a Windows Phone app from the web without any knowledge of code. Essentially, it’s a set of templates that let developers quickly drag and drop text, content, and imagery into an web form to create an app.
Microsoft’s latest tool is a clear effort to make it easier for apps to be created for Windows Phone, but the resulting quality of these apps is questionable. While many third-party services offer similar tools, and Android has its own, Microsoft’s approach appears to be designed for individuals to create their own useful apps that might not necessarily make it into the Windows Phone Store.
alternative for customers to build very limited “homebrew apps” for use on their personal devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
On the Edge of failure: Ubuntu smartphone looks unlikely to reach crowdfunding goal
http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/7/4594714/canonical-ubuntu-edge-crowdfunding-campaign-may-not-reach-its-goal
The Edge, a smartphone that runs a mobile edition of the popular desktop OS Ubuntu, will only get made if would-be users pledge $32 million via the crowdfunding site Indiegogo. With a strict time limit of 30 days, this ambitious campaign needs to average more than $1 million per day, however the first half of that period has seen great initial momentum slow down to a crawl. In its 15 days on Indigegogo, the Edge project has attracted $8.3 million in pledges, leaving it nearly $24 million short.
Last week, The Guardian reported that statistical consultants at Open Analytics believe the campaign will top out somewhere between $18 million and $22 million — a massive $10 million off its target. But supporters of Canonical believe it’s not over yet. Perennial Ubuntu watcher Joey-Elijah Sneddon, editor of OMG! Ubuntu!, believes Canonical “could still pull it off,”
the handset was priced at $600 for the first 5,000 backers, and $625, $650, and $675 tiers were added shortly after — may have “possibly set unrealistic expectations about the cost of the device.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
(SLIDESHOW) The smartphone as photonic instrument
http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/slideshow/2013/07/the-smartphone-as-photonic-instrument.html
The combined optical and computing capabilities of smartphones give them the potential to do far more than record tourist photos and family videos; all that’s needed is the right software (and sometimes hardware). About a year ago, Laser Focus World covered a number of innovations that turned iPhones and Android phones into photonic instruments. Here, we revisit them and see how far they’ve progressed (if at all) in the intervening year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Signs of US Android net user decline
Aug 8, ’13 11:24 AM
http://www.asymco.com/2013/08/08/android-net-user-decline/
ComScore’s latest survey for US smartphone users showed that Android had 52% share of about 142 million users. That amounts to 73.84 million Android devices in use.
ComScore’s previous such survey showed that Android had 52.4% of about 141 million users. This amounts to 73.88 million Android devices in use. It also means that Android usage in the US went down for the first time.
The difference is surely within a margin of error so it’s not something to declare definitively, but the pattern of Android “peaking” has been evident for some time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
LG from an exciting solution – the new buttons on the back of the handset
The Korean electronics company LG has released a new flagship model in G2 about The company experiments with the smart phone and the most inventive and impressive strange idea: all of the physical buttons have been moved from the front and the sites on the back side of the camera lens below.
LG believes that a traditional phone keyboard layout does not work anymore. When the screen size of smart phones continue to grow, the edges of the keys is always more difficult to use.
LG is sought to place the buttons so that they are easily supported by the index finger.
Source: http://www.itviikko.fi/teknologia/2013/08/08/lglta-jannittava-ratkaisu–uudessa-luurissa-nappaimet-selassa/201311022/7?rss=8
Tomi Engdahl says:
Moneybags pour shower of gold on new mega-precise GPS system
Makers: We’ll show where you are to within an inch for 1,000 bucks
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/09/centimetre_gps_goes_cheap_with_kickfunding/
A GPS-based satellite navigation system promises accuracy to within an inch by December this year – to those willing to stick a thousand dollars into the pot.
Swift Navigation, makers of the super-accurate satnav, say it uses existing Real Time Kinematic (RTK) navigation techniques to ensure its pinpoint accuracy. Rather than costing thousands of dollars, as existing RTK GPS units do, Swift’s proposal is based around a $500 board running open-source software – potentially bringing cheap super-precise GPS to the masses.
The team claim to have 25 units already built, and want $14,000 in Kickstarter funding to cover the software development. Yet the appeal has already raised more than $53k, putting the device on schedule for shipping before the end of the year.
RTK GPS systems, including Swift’s charmingly named Piksi, use the phase of the GPS signal to increase the system’s accuracy.
RTK GPS also uses a second GPS placed at a known location, to allow for atmospheric disturbance.
A second device, located within a few miles and at a known location, can provide a reference for current atmospheric effects, allowing the moving device to give an extremely accurate location.
The Piksi comes with a Zigbee module through which it can receive, or send, modifications to a second device within a kilometre or two.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple reveals payouts for parents of in-app purchase nippers
Full refunds and iTunes credits … now lock up that CREDIT CARD
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/25/apple_bails_out_inapp_purchase_addicted_kids/
Apple has released details of the compensation it will hand out to parents whose credit card took a pounding when their kids made ludicrously expensive in-app purchases.
The fruity firm sent an email notifying the 23 million people involved in a class action lawsuit what they were entitled to claim if their child went on an unauthorised spending spree.
Kids who play games like Smurf’s Village or Spongebob Moves In can buy all sorts of virtual junk such as vegetables, jelly, ammunition and clothes. But after parents complained that kids were able to buy this tat without reentering a password, Apple tightened up safeguards.
The most expensive ever in-app purchase is thought to be the £47,000 diamond chisel in Peter Molyneux’s Curiosity – What’s inside the Cube game.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook Moves Cautiously on Video Ads
CEO Zuckerberg Tries to Find Right Balance for Users and Advertisers
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323838204578654684050767080.html
Facebook Inc. FB has been planning for months to dive into the lucrative market for online video ads. The holdup: CEO Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t want to annoy its 1.1 billion members.
As soon as this fall, Facebook plans to launch a video-ad service that will show members 15-second-or-less clips on both smartphones and the Web, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Yet since earlier this year, Mr. Zuckerberg and his engineers have toiled over how to make the ads not so distracting and slow that they alienate users, according to current and former employees and advertisers. The videos will appear prominently on members’ homepage news feeds, the people familiar said.
One particular concern for Mr. Zuckerberg was that the video ads should load quickly. His engineers have toiled to develop the needed back-end technology for fast delivery, according to the people close to Facebook.
Facebook debated, for instance, whether to give users the option to stop the video ads from playing automatically—a sensitive issue for users on mobile phones, according to one person close to the company.
“Time will tell if this is viewed as intrusive or highly relevant and welcomed by Facebook users,”
Facebook joins a growing legion of traditional media and Internet companies, including Google Inc. and Twitter Inc., that are trying to grab money that advertisers currently spend on television, a decades-old medium.
Tomi says:
4g finally becoming more common in Europe
Nokia Solutions and Networks CEO says the awakening of 4G in the second half. Britain to prove his views on.
Britain’s four largest mobile operator offers three genuine 4G service this month.
While 4g lte is quite widely available in the Nordic countries, the rest of Europe is just starting next generation networks. This month, Britain gets two new 4G-operators
NSN’s CEO Rajeev Suri said Wednesday the news agency Reuters that the 4G LTE networks, which has been opened, above all, in Japan, South Korea and the United States, is expanding globally.
“I believe that Europe is starting to launch LTE networks substantially in the second half of the year,” Suri said the same day that the NSN became a wholly owned by Nokia and the company was named the Nokia Solutions and Networks.
According to the EU three out of four EU citizens can not get onto a 4g network in his hometown. 4G services in rural areas is not practical at all, write Expat Forum with reference to the EU’s report. 4g in the United States accounts for 90 percent of the population.
Source: http://www.tietokone.fi/artikkeli/uutiset/4g_yleistyy_viimein_euroopassa
Tomi says:
Why wearable computers will need advances in notification technology to thrive
http://gigaom.com/2013/08/09/why-wearable-computers-will-need-advances-in-notification-technology-to-thrive/
App makers say wearable computers will be just one of many screens we’ll use. And that means in the future they’ll be designing for the person, not a particular screen.
As we quickly move into an era where even our jewelry, vehicles and household appliances are connected to the web, one of the chief elements of the mobile computing experience as we know it now will undergo a stark change: the push notification. That alert, which pops up with a pleasant ding or annoying buzz to alert us to the latest Instagram like, message, email, reminder or voicemail, will have to adapt when every kind of display is suddenly a computer.
The most interesting advances in notification strategies being made today are with mobile productivity and personal assistant apps.
Wearable computers: just another screen
It’s tempting to think of Google Glass or a smartwatch as the “new” smartphone, but that’s wrong, according to Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote. “It’s totally different than the transition from PCs to mobile, which is the paradigm most app makers and users are working from. “Mobile to wearables is a much bigger deal in how you think about making products,”
“Certain signals are very high value and some are very noisy,” Singh said, depending on how you’re using a device. “‘More data is better’ is not very true.”
r. With wearable devices, a product or an app has to know and interact with multiple devices at the same time — your computer, smartphone, car, etc.
When that happens, the mission changes: you have to design for the person, not a particular screen
Notifications for mobile screens in many ways are shrunk down from the kind that appeared on larger desktop displays. But for wearables, screen size isn’t what will dictate what notification goes on what screen. It’s time.
“It’s a half second or a second or a second and a half,” says Libin. “With productivity software it seems ridiculous: you can’t do anything in a second and a half, but you can: you have to imagine it.”
So, how do we build these new notifications, for the kind of apps that live on a half a dozen different screens and need to talk to each other through the cloud but also differentiate between screens of varying importance? That picture is still coming into focus — like the hardware they’ll eventually run on.
The current tools for building apps, using storyboards and wireframes, “don’t work if you’re not focused on one screen,”
“The single interaction flow is not across one device one screen, it’s across multiple.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Buying Apple Products Is a Form of ‘Narcissism’
http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/08/buying-apple-products-is-a-form-of-narcissism/
Early computer advertisements rarely showed the user. The experience of using a computer was portrayed as a disembodied one, the mind of the user fusing with the computer to accomplish tasks.
In Apple’s 2002 “Window” ad, however, the active presence of a user suggests the integration of the self, the body, and the machine
In the ad, a man is looking at himself just as much as he is looking at the impish machine. This recalls the Greek Narcissus myth where the young man is transfixed by his own reflection in the pool of water but does not recognize the reflection as himself.
The attraction of technology stems in part from our admiration of ourselves; personal technology points us back to ourselves. The man sees the computer as a separate entity, and yet the computer responds to his every move as if he were looking in a mirror. The computer symbolizes an extension of human thought, communication, and memory.
The marrying of human and machine consciousness in the “Windows” ad — where man comes to realize his admiration for the machine is due in part to how well it mirrors himself — was first suggested by the 1999 print ad
In a 2007 ad, PC appears dressed in a surgical gown,
These ads rely on a metaphor that equates the human actors with the hardware and software of their respective computer systems. This biological analogy between computer parts and the human body reminds us that the metaphors that guide computer development come from our own human faculties, particularly cognition and memory.
The Apple ads, therefore, not only speak to the way in which technology has been personified (and extended as mirrors for the self), but also to the ways in which humans have been technologized. As Marshall McLuhan put it, “We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
NBC News Scooping Up Mobile Video Site Stringwire
http://allthingsd.com/20130811/nbc-news-scooping-up-mobile-video-site-stringwire/
The notion that anyone with a phone who witnesses news is a potential source for news video has been around for a while.
CNN, for example, has long had its iReport app. Twitter itself has become the go-to source for many kinds of widely witnessed breaking news, such as protests and plane crashes.
NBC News is now looking to get into the act, scooping up startup Stringwire. The deal is set to be formally announced on Monday, though the company spilled all the beans to the New York Times for a piece that was posted on Sunday.
“You could get 30 people all feeding video, holding up their smartphones, and then we could look at that,” NBC News digital chief Vivian Schiller told the Times. “We’ll be able to publish and broadcast some of them.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Study: Mobile news “snacking” is up sharply, but tablets are the killer news devices
http://pandodaily.com/2013/08/08/study-mobile-news-snacking-is-up-sharply-but-tablets-are-the-killer-news-devices/
People are turning to their mobile devices to read news more than ever before, but they’re spending less time in news apps on each visit, according to new figures from mobile and Web apps analytics company Localytics.
The number of times people open their news apps has grown by 39 percent year-over-year, according to Localytics, from 18 times per month to just more than 25 times per month. Simultaneously, however, session lengths have decreased by 26 percent.
Localytics’ figures supplement those of Pew Research, which has found that Americans’ daily news-reading habits are becoming increasingly mobile in general, with half of the country’s smartphone owners and 56 percent of tablet owners using their phones for news in 2012.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ITC Ban Deals Blow to Samsung in U.S.
U.S. Restriction Could Hurt the South Korean Firm’s Market Share in Near Term
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424127887323477604579003700665769122-lMyQjAxMTAzMDEwMTExNDEyWj.html
The International Trade Commission’s ruling to ban the import and sale of some Samsung Electronics Co. products into the U.S. will sap growth momentum for the South Korean behemoth just as it has overtaken Apple Inc. AAPL as the U.S.’s biggest smartphone maker.
Samsung said that its products would continue to be available in the U.S. despite the ruling, indicating it has already made some changes to models to avoid infringing on Apple’s patents.
But the ruling could lead to Samsung losing market share in the near term, according to analysts, even though the impact on its earnings won’t be significant because the company will make modifications to existing models or launch newer versions of its mobile phones so it can continue to sell its devices in the U.S.
“It remains to be seen whether Samsung can comply with today’s limited exclusion order in the ways that don’t make its Android-based smartphone and tablet less attractive,” wrote Florian Mueller, an intellectual property analyst at Florian Mueller Consulting, in a blog post. “The commercial significance of the exclusion order depends on the viabilities of the workaround.”
“The patents that are being asserted by Apple against Samsung are in a different category and therefore not apparent that there will be the same opportunity for Samsung,” said Mark Summerfield, a patent attorney at Watermark in Melbourne
“Litigants such as Samsung would have to now start to look and say, can we build more of our strategy around non-standard essential patents,” that would not be subject to the debate of fair and reasonable licensing issues, Mr. Woods said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How BlackBerry Fell
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/08/blackberry-sale-announcement-iphone-smartphone-market.html?currentPage=all
Shares in the Canadian maker of BlackBerry smartphones peaked in August of 2007, at two hundred and thirty-six dollars. In retrospect, the company was facing an inflection point and was completely unaware. Seven months earlier, in January, Apple had introduced the iPhone at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Executives at BlackBerry, then called Research in Motion, decided to let Apple focus on the general-use smartphone market, while it would continue selling BlackBerry products to business and government customers that bought the devices for employees. “In terms of a sort of a sea change for BlackBerry,” the company’s co-C.E.O Jim Balsillie said at the time, referring to the iPhone’s impact on the industry, “I would think that’s overstating it.”
Six years later, BlackBerry’s stock is worth just over ten dollars a share, and on Monday it announced that it has formed a “special committee” to explore ways to sell the company or form a joint venture with another business, among other options. This was a striking declaration: although BlackBerry has been in trouble for some time—it underwent a public “strategy review” of its business plan a year ago—its decision to put up a giant, blinking for-sale sign suggests it has become especially desperate. If BlackBerry sells itself, the buyer’s biggest gains will be a pile of cash, a big portfolio of patents, and some security technology. In other words, one of the companies that pioneered the smartphone market may soon end up selling itself as scrap.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple to support third-party USB power plug trade-ins beyond U.S. & China
http://9to5mac.com/2013/08/12/apple-to-support-third-party-usb-power-plug-trade-ins-beyond-u-s-china/
Last week, we reported that Apple, will soon kickoff a trade-in-program for third-party or counterfeit USB power adapters in its retail stores and select authorized resellers. The program will allow anyone with an unofficial USB power adapter for iOS Devices to exchange that adapter for an Apple-built unit at a discounted price of $10 dollars.
The program comes in response to a couple of controversial situations in which people in China reportedly passed away or became injured due to faulty, counterfeit charging adapters…
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook Acquires “Mobile Technologies”, Developer Of Speech Translation App Jibbigo
http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/12/facebook-acquires-mobile-technologies-speech-recognition-and-jibbigo-app-developer/
Facebook’s latest acquisition could help it connect users across language barriers. It has just announced that it’s acquired the team and technology of Pittsburgh’s Mobile Technologies, a speech recognition and machine translation startup that developed the app Jibbigo. From voice search to translated News Feed posts, Facebook could to a lot with this technology.
Facebook tells me “We’ll continue to support the [Jibbigo] app for the time being.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android is better
How I fell in love with Android and how you can too
http://paulstamatiou.com/android-is-better
How I fell in love
It started with the larger and wider screen. I read a lot on my phone, particularly in Chrome. Responsive sites look fantastic. The Android back button makes this browsing experience even more pleasurable when going back and forth between pages on news sites.
Then I got used to the Google Calendar widget I placed on my home screen. Then it was the glorious Gmail app. It’s much better on Android and more frequently updated.
But when it comes down to it my love of Android lies heavily with the way Android handles notifications.
There really is an app for that
Tomi Engdahl says:
Firefox mobile phone will soon be available for sale on eBay
Chinese ZTE Firefox based on the Open handset will soon be available for sale online on eBay. Price of the phone will be about 69 euros.
Open announced last February at Mobile World Congress. It has already gone on sale in Spain, Venezuela and Colombia.
The device has a 3.5-inch screen, Qualcomm’s one-gigahertz processor, a 3.2-megapixel camera, WLAN, 256 MB RAM and 512 MB of internal memory. In addition, it is, among other things, fixed the Facebook and Twitter integration.
According to Mozilla’s Firefox OS operating system developed specifically for the acquisition of the smartphone needs in mind.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/firefoxpuhelin+tulee+pian+myyntiin+ebayssa/a920711
Tomi Engdahl says:
US To Standardize Car App/communication Device Components
http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/08/12/1751209/us-to-standardize-car-appcommunication-device-components
“The U.S. Department of Transportation has high hopes of standardizing the way autos talk to each other and with other intelligent roadway systems of the future.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why BlackBerry’s Biggest Strength Isn’t Smartphones
http://www.wired.com/business/2013/08/killing-the-blackberry/
BlackBerry has been dying for a while, but the throes are particularly hard to ignore today. The company that pioneered the transformation of mobile phones into internet devices announced it might sell itself or enter a joint venture, a tacit admission that better smartphones from Apple and Google have left the company cornered and bloodied.
Trouble is, Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android are far ahead of BlackBerry’s mobile platform in number of available apps, performance, and ease of use. BlackBerry reacted late to the rise of touch-based mobile devices and simply couldn’t catch up. The stock has fallen to less than one-twelfth its level five years ago, and now, pundits are suggesting it might be sold for parts, including its patent portfolio.
If there’s salvation for the company, it most likely lies in the back-end software and services it offers to large companies. Much of BlackBerry’s initial success was built on its ability to provide software and services that could run mobile email systems, and now, it also sells software that lets corporate IT managers tightly control passwords, apps, and other tools on iPhones and Android devices. This software, known first as BlackBerry Mobile Fusion and now BlackBerry Enterprise Service, faces stiff competition from Microsoft, Sybase, and others. BlackBerry’s secure messaging related services face similar competition, particularly as BlackBerry handset use declines.
Software and services accounted for just 29 percent of BlackBerry’s revenue in the most recent quarter, with just 3 percent coming from software. The rest came from hardware.
But margins in software and services tend to be better than those in hardware, and BlackBerry has explicitly disclosed that its gross services margins are higher than its hardware margins.