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 Engdahl says:
Users Have Low Tolerance For Buggy Apps – Only 16% Will Try A Failing App More Than Twice
http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/12/users-have-low-tolerance-for-buggy-apps-only-16-will-try-a-failing-app-more-than-twice/
The mobile app ecosystem isn’t poised to decline any time soon, according to a new study from Compuware, which finds that the majority of smartphone users (85 percent) still prefer mobile apps to mobile websites
Users believe apps to be more convenient (55 percent), faster (48 percent) and easier to browse (40 percent). That data isn’t shocking, of course – native experiences do tend to work better, after all – but what is interesting is how low users’ tolerances are for apps with problems. 79 percent report that they would only retry an app once or twice if it failed to work the first time.
Only 16 percent said they would give it more than two attempts.
That’s a low enough percentage to having mobile-first companies shaking in their boots pre-launch.
Today, more users have encountered problems with apps than those who have not. Compuware says that 62 percent of users had experienced a crash, freeze or error with an app or apps. Another 47 percent have seen slow launch times. And 40 percent said they’ve tried an app that would simply not launch at all.
Tomi Engdahl says:
61% of men around the world say their phone is the first thing that people notice about them
http://qz.com/62164/61-of-men-around-the-world-say-their-phone-is-the-first-thing-that-people-notice-about-them/
The status symbol for today’s man would appear to be his cell phone. When answering the phrase, “The first thing people notice about me,” 61% of men surveyed in over a dozen countries by the mobile video and media company Vuclip said they believed people noticed what type of phone they owned. Others said their car, watch, or clothing.
Women also ranked the phone highest of any of the traditional status items but to a much lesser degree: 38% of women (but 82% of those under the age of 18) believed others noticed their phones first.
The cell phone has taken an interesting path, from its origins as a “rich man’s toy” in the 1990s to its near ubiquitous use in emerging and developed economies today. But if the phone is now so common, why do so many believe it’s what catches people’s eyes first?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smartwatch Developers Rejoice! Pebble Will Release Proof-Of-Concept Watchface SDK In Early April
http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/16/smartwatch-developers-rejoice-pebble-will-release-proof-of-concept-watchface-sdk-in-early-april/
After much fanfare the Pebble smartwatch made the leap from fanciful concept to full-fledged product earlier this year, but now that units have started to ship and people have started to wear them, what’s Pebble’s next step?
The early SDK has been in testing with “hacker” backers — a group of about 100 people who pledged $235 or more for the privilege of early tinkering rights — for the past few months, and some of the apps they’ve created will be released alongside the SDK. The most notable new app? A low-res (and therefore faithful) reproduction of Snake that hearkens back to Nokia’s feature phone glory days.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3 Things Samsung Needs to Overtake Apple
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/03/things-samsung-needs-to-beat-apple/
The Galaxy S4 is an amazing phone packed with killer features, including one of the largest, sharpest displays ever seen on a handset. It stands head and shoulders above almost every other smartphone on the planet but one.
The Apple iPhone.
It is almost there.
To lure them away from iOS, Samsung must step it up in three key areas.
Industrial design
“Samsung’s biggest weakness is in industrial design, the look and feel of the device,”
Complete control over the consumer experience
“Apple has very tight control of its own ecosystem, and when you have tight control it’s easy to dictate the customer experience,” IBB Consulting’s Jefferson Wang told Wired.
Brand power
“Imagine an Apple event where they don’t tell you the price and date a product is shipping on, and what countries and what operators it will be available,” Golvin said. “That wouldn’t happen”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows Phone 8 support to end in 2014
Sign of Win Phone update or death knell?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/18/winphone_8_support_ends_july_2014/
If you’re shopping for a new mobe on a two year contract and like the look of a Windows Phone, chances are you’ll be compelled to undergo an OS upgrade or face using a handset that’s not supported by the end of your deal.
The Reg offers this advice with a tip of the hat to Italian site Plaffo, which pointed out a Microsoft support document that says Windows Phone 8 support ends in July 2014, just 16 months from now.
The document also says Windows Phone 8 is already past its “lifecycle start date”, aka the point at which Microsoft starts counting down to the end of support.
A more favourable and sensible interpretation could suggest the swift demise of Windows Phone 8 is actually a sign of strong ongoing support for Windows Phone, as if Microsoft already knows the day on which it will shut down support for Phone 8 it must have either Windows Phone 8.5 or Windows Phone 9 ready to go pretty soon now.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Samsung Galaxy S4 Is Completely Amazing and Utterly Boring
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/?p=133710
There’s a reason Samsung felt the need to put on one hell of a show for one hell of a phone — because, much like the Apple iPhone5, the S4 is in just about every way delightful but ultimately not that intriguing.
The Galaxy S IV may well be the greatest phone in the world right now.
And yet so completely boring.
Does that sound familiar? It should. We said it about the iPhone, too. And it is pretty much true of all high-end phones — at those least running Android or iOS. The wow factor of a few years ago is gone. And counterintuitively, that’s great.
Think about it. These are the requirements for entry for any high-end handset now: a great interface, a gorgeous pixel-dense display, great cameras front and back, a super-fast processor, 4G LTE, multi-carrier availability, a robust app store and superb industrial design. We’ve got the form factors pretty well dialed in, even if we’re still experimenting with sizes. Externally, the materials will change, and continue getting better and better. Software will continue to improve. And there will always be surprising new features, like Siri or S-Translate.
All of which means the bottom line is almost any flagship phone you buy today is going to be great, because it’s going to be an iterative device built on the shoulders of giants. No, it’s not going to blow anyone’s mind, or even raise a lot of questions from strangers. But that’s OK. In fact, you may not even want a super-interesting phone.
As we said in September, “revolution becomes evolution.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Meet the tiny, Florida-based phone maker that thinks it can beat Samsung
One cheap, high-end, unlocked smartphone at a time
http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/18/4100006/why-blu-products-can-beat-samsung
Sammy Ohev-Zion starts our chat with an economics lesson. It costs every company about the same amount to manufacture a phone, he says — the price of an Nvidia processor and a Sharp display is consistent whether HTC, Nokia, or Motorola is signing the check. But those costs are only a small piece of the price you wind up paying when you walk into a Verizon store and buy that phone — which either costs upward of $500 or requires a hefty two-year contract.
What if you could buy the same high-end phone from a company without all that cruft and overhead?
Ohev-Zion, CEO of Blu Products, a relatively unknown manufacturer based in Miami, Florida, says it would cost $299. That’s how much the company’s latest flagship phone, the Blu Life One, will cost unlocked from Amazon or a handful of other retailers when it’s available at the end of April.
Ohev-Zion believes there’s a huge and willing audience for unlocked phones, too. He pointed to the Nexus 4′s success — “it sells out in like five minutes whenever there’s stock available” — as evidence that people don’t want to be locked in to two-year contracts, and noted that thanks to MVNOs like Simple Wireless and Red Pocket, we’re no longer forced to accept AT&T’s brutal contract terms. If this becomes a trend, Ohev-Zion likes Blu’s odds. “A lot of other companies aren’t going to be able to keep up. It’s a cycle… right now I think it’s going to be very tough for the manufacturers who aren’t Samsung and Apple to keep selling at the high prices they’re currently selling.”
But Blu is growing — from 70,000 units in 2009, its first year, to 4.1 million last year
Tomi says:
Samsung Preparing Wristwatch as It Races Apple for Sales
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-19/samsung-preparing-wristwatch-as-it-races-apple-for-sales.html
Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) is developing a wristwatch as Asia’s biggest technology company races against Apple Inc. (AAPL) to create a new industry of wearable devices that perform similar tasks as smartphones.
“We are working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them.”
“The race is on to redesign the mobile phone into something that you wear,”
We’re going to see formidable competition coming from many different directions — from device makers, accessory makers, even fashion designers.”
Samsung and Apple are looking for new product lines as the $358 billion global market for handsets approaches saturation. Growth is projected to slow to 9.8 percent in 2017 from 27 percent this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Industries.
Tomi says:
Microsoft tempts Windows developers with $100 cash for new apps
http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/19/4124548/microsoft-paying-developers-cash-for-windows-apps
Microsoft wants Windows 8 and Windows Phone developers to create apps for its platforms, and it’s tempting them by offering up hard cash. In a new US marketing effort, Microsoft is offering developers $100 per app for newly published applications submitted to the Windows Phone Store or the Windows Store by June 30th. Developers can net $2,000 in total by submitting up to 10 apps to each store.
The terms and conditions are fairly straight forward.
the offer is limited to the first 10,000 qualified entries until June 30th. The promotion started earlier this month, but Microsoft has not yet been heavily promoting it.
The latest promotion could be a good way to generate interest in the platforms, but it’s questionable whether this will generate quality applications vs. quantity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
In the United States, doctors prescribe for smartphone applications as part of patient care. Also a number of Finnish companies have responded to the growth of the opportunities opened up.
Software development launched by the change underlines the role of the consumer in a new way in health care. Health technology development will create a new kind of super consumers who are more ways for their own health care and take on more responsibilities. Smart applications will help to obtain peer support and self-change.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/alypuhelinsovellukset+tulevat+laakereseptien+rinnalle/a888052?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-20032013&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Another radio, another set of apps
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/connecting-wireless/4410140/Another-radio–another-set-of-apps
In the effort to simplify and improve wireless communications for nonstreaming data, yet another standard is making inroads to the market. The near-field-communication (NFC) connection methodology, first standardized in 2004 by a consortium of wireless and RFID partners, was created to address burst-mode and small packet data with a minimum handshake. The communication protocol originated in the RFID industry and uses the same 13.56-MHz band as the mainstream tag industry while supporting both active-powered and passive communication products.
NFC products are unique in the variety of product spaces they address and in the extent of their development support. The three main markets for NFC are proximity/tap and go, secured access, and e-commerce/e-payment applications.
Passive cards for electronic-wallet applications and smartcards, including ID tags, dominate the e-commerce market. The volume market for NFC e-commerce cards is expected to exceed 1 billion units by 2015.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Disconnect: why Andy Rubin and Android called it quits
http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/19/4120208/why-andy-rubin-android-called-it-quits
Rubin created Google’s mobile operating system and outgunned the iPhone. So why is he moving on after almost a decade at the helm?
Last week, Google announced that Andy Rubin, co-creator and chief of Android, a job he’s held since 2005, would be stepping aside to join a new secret project. The decision came as a surprise, even to his coworkers inside Google.
There has been speculation over whether Android is called “Android” because it sounds like “Andy.” Actually, Android is Andy Rubin — coworkers at Apple gave him the nickname back in 1989 because of his love for robots. Android.com was Rubin’s personal website until 2008.
Running the course
In under a decade, Rubin took Android from an idea on a whiteboard to the most popular smartphone platform on the planet. More than 750 million devices have been activated, more than 25 billion apps have been downloaded, and the little green Android robot now has brand recognition approaching Apple’s apple.
Even though three Android phones are now sold for every iPhone, Google has still yet to fully figure out how to leverage the open system to its advantage.
Rubin is a visionary and an architect, a hands-on hacker who worked as an engineer at Apple and a manager at Microsoft before founding and leading two innovative and successful startups, Danger and later Android.
“He’s a great talent, very inspiring. I’m not sure anyone else could have made Android happen.”
But Rubin was unwilling or unable to make big industry partnerships that could turn Android into a moneymaker for Google. While Samsung got rich off shipping phones built on Android, Google’s brand faded into the background and its influence was chipped away. “Andy is a solo artist who likes to run in a direction and ignore everyone else,”
Handing over the reins
Google is keeping mum about Rubin’s next move, but it’s been speculated that he will join the company’s edgy R&D lab Google X. Rubin is an inventor; he is credited on more than 11 patents and a slew of patent applications. He’s also obsessed with hardware, especially the kind that moves or takes pictures
“He likes cool things that you can touch.”
Page wants to streamline Google’s products under a cohesive strategy, but that day still may be far off for Chrome OS and Android. The two teams have separate roadmaps. The Android team is running at a breakneck pace under vice president of engineering Hiroshi Lockheimer, releasing software updates, bug fixes, and security changes in order to keep up with the fast-moving mobile market. A significant integration with Chrome OS would be a huge effort, and Google seems fine with having two independent operating systems, at least for now.
Tomi Engdahl says:
BlackBerry software ruled not safe enough for essential government work
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/mar/19/blackberry-software-not-safe-enough-government-work
CESG rejects BB10 software in new Z10 handset, dealing blow to Canadian firm in key market
BlackBerry’s new BB10 software has been rejected by the British government as not secure enough for essential work, the Guardian can reveal.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Your Next Smartphone Screen May Be Made of Sapphire
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/512411/your-next-smartphone-screen-may-be-made-of-sapphire/
Manufactured sapphire is incredibly strong and scratch resistant. Now falling costs and technology improvements could make it competitive with glass.
Manufactured sapphire—a material that’s used as transparent armor on military vehicles—could become cheap enough to replace the glass display covers on mobile phones.
That could mean smartphone screens that don’t crack when you drop them and can’t be scratched with keys, or even by a concrete sidewalk.
Sapphire, a crystalline form of aluminum oxide, probably won’t ever be as cheap as Gorilla Glass, the durable material from Corning that’s used to make screens on iPhones and other smartphones. A Gorilla Glass display costs less than $3, while a sapphire display would cost about $30. But that could fall below $20 in a couple of years thanks to increased competition and improving technology
Sapphire is harder than any other natural material except diamond
Virey says that all major mobile-phone makers are considering using sapphire to replace glass. “I’m convinced that some will start testing the water and release some high-end smartphones using sapphire in 2013,”
An alternative to using pure sapphire is to laminate an ultrathin layer of sapphire with another, cheaper transparent material
To make the sapphire, aluminum oxide is melted down in a specialized furnace and then allowed to slowly cool to form a large crystal. That crystal is then cut with a diamond-coated wire saw.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The sheer sadness of Nokia begging Instagram for a date
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57575501-71/the-sheer-sadness-of-nokia-begging-instagram-for-a-date/
It used to be that phones were sexy. Now, even good phones are resorting to begging for apps. Isn’t this a little demeaning?
Might this not be a lesson to all those who make hardware? Find a way to make wonderful apps too. Don’t rely on some egotistical, louche left-coasters to flick their quiff in your direction.
Indeed, rumor has it that Microsoft is getting around to building an Instagram of its own. But why think about this now? Why must Nokia debase itself? Make it part of the phone’s original experience instead. Don’t rely on idealistic, money-grabbing youths to hold you up in a dark alley.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Weblink Aims to Bridge the Nagging Smartphone-Car Disconnect
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/03/weblink-abalta-auto-apps/
While Ford and GM are opening their dashboards to developers to accelerate the creation of automotive apps, Abalta Technologies has introduced a solution for making app integration easier and faster with the launch of its Weblink platform.
Like LivioConnect, Weblink is essentially middleware that allows a vehicle’s infotainment system to connect and interact with mobile apps on a portable device over a Bluetooth, USB or Wi-Fi connection. Because the system is device and automotive OS agnostic, Abalta says Weblink can work with almost any automaker’s infotainment system. The company also says that since Weblink relies on apps on the device side, that means easy updates – a constant sticking point with apps integrated into cars.
Abalta is just the latest platform that aims to solve the in-car app problem. Automakers have leveraged native smartphone apps like Ford Sync’s AppLink, embedding apps and connectivity into the car like Mercedes-Benz mbrace2 or Honda and Porsche’s offloading of the task to a third-party platform Aha Radio. But this fragmentation is proof that automakers are still searching for an app strategy that sticks.
Abalta says Weblink solves this issue since its compatible with all major smartphone OSs and allows existing HTML5 apps to easily integrate into existing infotainment platforms.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Using Mobile Marketing To Improve Your Business’s Visibility4 Views
http://www.dipity.com/turkeyformat5/Using-Mobile-Marketing-To-Improve-Your-Businesss-Visibility/
The wonders of mobile marketing. There are also so many ways that somebody can promote their business via mobile devices. There are many different techniques, and you will have some studying to do to find out what would work best for your audience. Use the guidelines in this article as a launching pad.
Before mass producing your mobile marketing scheme to all your customers, do a test batch first to ensure that it is working as it should. Poorly worded messages will not help you in your marketing campaign.
Keep your mobile cues simple.
QR codes are great in sharing promotions, discounts and coupons.
If your company has any social networking sites geared to the business, make sure to put a link on your webpage.
Think about creating a free app for your customers.
Take advantage of your traditional web site.
Make sure that you add mobile friendly directions and maps to your website. Many consumers will turn to their mobile devices when they are trying to reach your store.
Be sure to check your messages for accessibility and ease of use.
Use different types of marketing pieces that provide detailed information all at once for the best effect.
Examine what techniques your competitors are using via mobile marketing. Follow them on Facebook and Twitter. It is important that you are distinguishable from your competition.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Internet Snacking’ Coming to GM Vehicles
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1395&doc_id=259961&
In the auto industry’s biggest move yet towards connected cars, General Motors plans to install wireless 4G data modems on millions of its future vehicles, enabling them to serve as Internet hotspots.
Although technical details are still scarce, GM said last week that it’s teaming with AT&T Inc. to equip most of its 2015 models with 4G LTE broadband, a global standard for high-speed data communication in mobile phones. In GM’s implementation, the vehicles would incorporate only the data modem, and not the display, battery, or other parts of a 4G phone. Since most vehicles are now sold with seven- or eight-inch displays in the center console, the 4G modem would work in conjunction with those displays.
“Let me be clear about one thing,” GM vice chairman Steve Girsky said in a prepared statement at the Mobile World Congress. “The technology will be built in, not brought in. And it won’t be phone dependent, either. It doesn’t matter what type of smartphone you have.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google’s Chrome, Android systems to stay separate
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/21/us-google-india-idUSBRE92K0D520130321
Google Inc’s Chrome and Android operating systems will remain separate products but could have more overlap, Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said, a week after the two came under a single boss.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google’s Android unit reportedly building a smartwatch
http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/21/4133428/is-google-building-a-smart-watch-of-its-own
According to a recent report from The Financial Times, Google might also be getting into the smartwatch game. And unlike Glass, which was developed in the company’s experimental X Lab, the watch (not pictured above) is said to be under development by the Android unit, possibly indicating that Google sees it as a more immediately viable product.
According to FT’s source, the Google watch is separate from Samsung’s recently-announced effort.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google applies for another Glass patent, thinks about controlling your garage door and fridge
http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/21/google-glass-patent-controls-fridge-garage-door/
the finished product might fuse together augmented reality (and wireless connectivity) to control objects around your house. The headwear will apparently using visual identification, RFID, infra-red, Bluetooth and even QR codes as methods for recognizing controllable devices.
These “superimposed controls” would then hover over the real-life objects (which would need to be WiFi-connected or otherwise), with garage doors and refrigerators both referenced as possibilities
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bluetooth headset garage door opener update
http://hackaday.com/2013/03/21/bluetooth-headset-garage-door-opener-update/
a link to his new video on using a Bluetooth headset as a garage door opener for your Android device. This isn’t a new hack, and we’ve actually seen him pull it off once before back in 2011. But we’re running this as an update for a couple of reasons.
Here’s how the hardware part of the hack goes. He removes the speaker from the headset and solders the base of a transistor in-line with a resistor to the red wire. The emitter connects to the grounded frame of the USB charging cable
The systems is secure based on Bluetooth pairing, which was done with his phone before starting the hardware hack.
Tomi Engdahl says:
It’s amazing how mobile devices are finding applications within the Industrial sector. The Smart Factory is definitely alive and well.
ConnectSmart App Monitors Solar Inverters
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=260691
You can expect to see a continuing wave of mobile apps for monitoring all types of industrial equipment over the next couple of years.
One example available now is the Danfoss SolarApp, which lets users directly access live production data (through a smartphone or tablet) for installations of its new DLX UL PV solar inverters.
All the user has to do is connect the inverter to the router in the home. If the app is turned on, users can view performance there, or they can use the free Web portal that connects to a Danfoss hosted service and website in Denmark. Historical information will be stored on that site for 30 years.
“Connections are managed using Danfoss’ Connect Smart technology, which works quickly and simplifies the process and walks the user through the steps to set up remote access to inverter data,” Haug said. “Before, the user had to manually configure the IP addresses to make the connection function properly.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Adblock Plus Doesn’t Need No Stinking Google Play Store
http://www.webmonkey.com/2013/03/new-adblock-plus-doesnt-need-no-stinking-google-play-store/
It may have been kicked out of the Google Play Store, but you can still get your Adblock Plus for Android.
A number of people in the comments on the Adblock Plus site have reported installation problems with various Android phones
Among the notable changes in this release are the automatic updates — which no longer require the Google Play version
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple buys ‘indoor GPS’ company WifiSLAM for $20M
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/03/23/apple-buys-indoor-gps-company-wifislam-for-20m
Apple recently closed a deal worth about $20 million to acquire WifiSLAM, a Silicon Valley firm focused on building technology that affords users positioning data while indoors.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google patent filing suggests Glass will be ULTIMATE REMOTE
Headset computing to control your life
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/22/google_glass_patent_display/
Google’s Project Glass computing specs could solve one of technology’s most enduring problems – finding where you put the remote control.
A patent filing from the Chocolate Factory shows that the firm wants to build control of everyday objects into its head-mounted hardware so that the wearer can use voice commands to order about other systems and get the know-how to use them when needed.
Google’s been promising the Glass spectacles for nearly a year
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft: No need for own-made Windows Phones, we have plenty of say over Nokia
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/50526/nokia-windows-phone-microsoft-boss
If you think Nokia is the one coming up with all the ideas for its range of Windows Phone smartphones, think again. Microsoft has told Pocket-lint that it has plenty of influence over what is and what isn’t included.
“Our relationship is so close we get hardware early and we have some say in how these things are designed.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
This Pill Bottle Is a Smartphone Wannabe
http://www.wired.com/business/2013/03/adhere-tech-smart-pill-bottle/
To help patients take their medications on time, AdhereTech is remaking that ubiquitous orange bottle and giving it a high-tech facelift with the addition of lights, speakers, a 45-day-long battery, 3G and LTE capabilities, and sensors that measure humidity and how many pills are left in the bottle.
“We’ve built cellphone technology into the bottle,” said Josh Stein, the CEO of the New York City-based startup. “The bottle [will be] constantly connected to the cloud, just like a cell phone. Patients don’t have to link it to WiFi or Bluetooth. They don’t have to set it up in any way.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mozilla Announces Firefox OS App Workshops, Along With Free Preview Phones For Attendees
http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/25/mozilla-announces-firefox-os-app-workshops-along-with-free-preview-phones-for-attendees/
The goal is to get small teams or individuals who have experience building software for PhoneGap, Chrome, webOS, BlackBerry WebWorks or other open web formats to get started on porting their applications to Firefox OS, and to help begin filling out the Firefox Marketplace ahead of the mobile operating system’s launch later this year in a group of nine pilot countries, followed by the U.S. in 2014.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android Tablets Challenge iPad on the Factory Floor
http://www.cio.com/article/730782/Android_Tablets_Challenge_iPad_on_the_Factory_Floor
iPads have become a staple in many factories, but cost-conscious plant managers are opening up to cheaper, and increasingly popular, Android tablets.
Android tablets are getting down and dirty on factory floors, and taking a bite out of Apple iPad’s dominance there, according to GE Intelligent Platforms, which provides solutions primarily for industrial environments and municipalities.
“At the tail end of last year, we started to see an increase in request for Android devices,” says Mark Bernardo, general manager of the automation software business at GE Intelligent Platforms. “It’s probably in the order of 80 percent Apple, 20 percent Android.”
It’s a significant shift considering that requests for GE Intelligent Platforms apps to run on Android tablets were nearly non-existent only a year ago.
A couple of years ago, plant managers saw the potential of mobility and seriously began looking at iPads.
Android tablets continued to lag far behind the iPad in industrial adoption. The problem was a cultural one: Plant managers have a tradition of quality assurance and strict processes, which plays well with Apple’s rigorous app-approval process and iPad’s walled garden, but not so well with Android’s openness.
“We’ve seen industrial customers prefer cheaper Android tablets over the iPad because of the cost.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Endlessly Disappoints With ‘New’ Windows Phone Apps
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/03/windows-phones-app-problem/
Microsoft has breathlessly announced several new game titles for Windows Phone 8. And once again, Redmond continues to disappoint.
But then, we’re used to it.
That’s the shame of Microsoft. Windows Phone 8 is a stunning operating system. It has matured in functionality since Windows Phone 7, and it is very easy to use. Microsoft has quality hardware partners, too.
The available third-party software is another story, and Microsoft’s core problem: Windows Phone 8 has an app ecosystem weaker than convenience store coffee. Today’s game announcement shows just how far behind it is. Microsoft is repeating the fiasco of its Windows Phone launch announcement, when everybody wanted (and expected) Instagram and got Pandora instead.
Microsoft announced that Draw Something had come to the Windows Phone Store, long after the Draw Something craze had passed. The crowds are gone.
The Windows Phone Store is only beginning to look like what the App Store did two years ago. That’s a problem. Windows Phone is going down a beaten path, one iOS and Android have long forgotten.
Instead of sprinting ahead, the company looks more and more like a poorly stocked used bookstore. Worse, Microsoft is trying to bill its app releases as something “new.” It wants you to think these refurbished-for-Windows Phone games and apps mean its store is on par with the App Store or Google Play, and its phones compare to the best iOS and Android handsets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
When did begin your smartphone recession?
PC market has reached maturity, there is still things happening in the mobile market place.
Tablets and smartphones have become more common at a furious pace. At the same time device capabilities have expanded
Rapid pace of development has increased the interest in the mobile industry.
PC market sexiness lasted around 10-20 years. In the last stage, the focus was primarily for mobile devices (desktop popularity dropped significantly).
Perhaps the same fate is in the smart phones, but a faster cycle.
What’s next?
The next generation of communication devices are already around the corner. Last year, Google introduced their vision of smart glasses to counterbalance a large extent, the current smartphones. Another recently emerged a serious contender for the smart watch.
If the smartphone trend will continue in the future to kill their balance sheets, breeding ground for new revolutionary products will be reached quickly. Consumers excited, even the price of a new technology does not matter: the tens of millions of users are already paying top smartphone models substantial amounts of money.
Source: http://blogit.tietokone.fi/tietojakoneesta/2013/03/milloin-alkaa-alypuhelintaantuma/
Tomi Engdahl says:
German investment bank does not see any more good reasons to invest in shares of smartphone manufacturers. Bank urged clients to sell Apple, Nokia and Samsung shares.
Cheap, about 40-50 dollars (30-40 euros) priced Android smartphones are still a “massive” challenges for handset manufacturers such as Nokia. This predicts a German investment bank Berenberg.
Search engine company Google’s operating system utilizing cheap smartphones have taken over the market share, especially in China.
- It is of course possible that Nokia to Android at some point in use “to protect itself from” low-cost phones.”
Berenberg also points out that Android is not just helping other phone manufacturers to raise the bottom line – with the exception of Samsung.
Berenberg analysts’ recommendations, the sale may be justified, when you remember the whole situation of the market. The smartphone market has reached its zenith, and do not grow any more in pace, analysts estimate. This situation leads to the fact that more and more manufacturers will compete with cheaper smartphones, which eventually eats all manufacturers’ margins.
- Placement of smart phones is gone, long live the smartphone trade, including the analysts concluded.
Source: http://www.digitoday.fi/mobiili/2013/03/28/pankki-tylytti-nokian-applen-ja-samsungin–sai-palauteryopyn-oikeasti/20134681/66?rss=6
Tomi says:
Major Chinese Smartphone Makers Face Production Difficulty Due to Components Shortage
http://micgadget.com/34250/major-chinese-smartphone-makers-face-production-difficulty-due-to-components-shortage/
Chinese handset vendor Yulong, better known as Coolpad, is worried that the company will be unable to meet the heavy demand for its products because its suppliers will not be able to produce enough components. Coolpad may be a virtual unknown in the west, but in China here, it’s a major smartphone maker besting Apple’s iPhone and Nokia in 2012. The problem stems from the unexpectedly strong sales of smartphones in Chinese market. Many domestic phone makers have begun seeking a 5-inch hi-definition (1080p) screen for their phones
Tomi says:
Major Chinese Handsets Fail to Meet China’s Safety Standards
http://micgadget.com/34366/major-chinese-handsets-fail-to-meet-chinas-safety-standards/
The Zhejiang Provincial Administration for Industry & Commerce of China has announced the result of its spot check for 36 different mobile phones in the market. Twenty-seven of them were unqualified, failing to pass the battery heating test which is one of the critical safety benchmarks.
Several international mobile phone brands, such as Samsung, HTC, SONY and Nokia did not pass the inspection too, the same problem on battery overheating. Tests ordered by the authorities found that these products are substandard and can cause fires and explosions. The unqualified handset are mostly low-end model
Tomi says:
How Mobile Devices Kill Your Creativity
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/13/03/30/1941241/how-mobile-devices-kill-your-creativity
“ReadWrite has posted a thought-provoking piece on how mobile devices killing our boredom may also be killing our creativity. Quoting: ‘Numerous studies and much accepted wisdom suggest that time spent doing nothing, being bored, is beneficial for sparking and sustaining creativity. With our iPhone in hand — or any smartphone, really — our minds, always engaged, always fixed on that tiny screen, may simply never get bored.”
The iPhone Killed My Creativity
http://readwrite.com/2013/03/29/the-iphone-killed-my-creativity
Tomi says:
Windows Phone sees big gains at the expense of BlackBerry and Symbian
http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/01/windows-phone-sees-big-gain/
Alright, so Microsoft is in no danger of toppling iOS or Android anytime soon. But the analytics firm Kantar has seen significant growth for Windows Phone, largely at the expense of BlackBerry.
In practically every major market WP8 has started to chip away at its competitors, growing from 6.2 percent to 6.7 percent share in the UK in just one month.
Even in the US Windows Phone is seeing steady, if hardly eye-popping growth.
Symbian and BlackBerry are obviously the biggest losers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Size Matters for Connected Devices. Phablets Don’t.
http://blog.flurry.com/bid/95652/Size-Matters-for-Connected-Devices-Phablets-Don-t
Flurry now detects about 1 billion smartphones and tablets in use around the world every month. In the last 30 days, we saw activity on more than 2,000 unique device models.
five groups emerged based on screen size:
1. Small phones (e.g., most Blackberries), 3.5” or under screens
2. Medium phones (e.g., iPhone), between 3.5” – 4.9” screens
3. Phablets (e.g., Galaxy Note), 5.0” – 6.9” screens
4. Small Tablets (e.g., Kindle Fire), 7.0” – 8.4” screens
5. Full-size tablets (e.g., the iPad), 8.5” or greater screens
Starting from the left, 16% of devices have screen sizes that are 3.5 inches or fewer in diagonal length. 69% of devices are between 3.5 inches and 4.9 inches, which includes iPhone.
Notice that while 16% of the device models in the market are small phones, they account for only 7% of active devices once users per device are taken into account and 4% of overall app sessions.
Consumers Signal Preference for Smartphones & Tablets
As OEMs experiment with an ever-expanding array of form factors, developers need to remain focused on devices most accepted and used by consumers. From our study, consumers most prefer and use apps on medium-sized smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy smartphones and full-sized tablets like the iPad.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Your Next Smartphone Screen May Be Made of Sapphire
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/512411/your-next-smartphone-screen-may-be-made-of-sapphire/
Manufactured sapphire is incredibly strong and scratch resistant. Now falling costs and technology improvements could make it competitive with glass.
Sapphire, a crystalline form of aluminum oxide, probably won’t ever be as cheap as Gorilla Glass, the durable material from Corning that’s used to make screens on iPhones and other smartphones. A Gorilla Glass display costs less than $3, while a sapphire display would cost about $30.
Sapphire is harder than any other natural material except diamond; by some measures, it’s three times stronger than Gorilla Glass, and it is also about three times more scratch resistant.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook to See Three in 10 Mobile Display Dollars This Year
http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Facebook-See-Three-10-Mobile-Display-Dollars-This-Year/1009782
Mobile advertising will reach $7.29 billion in 2013, and Google will take home more than half of it
Following explosive entrances by Facebook and Twitter to the marketplace, as well as a strong performance from Google, US mobile advertising spending grew 178% last year to $4.11 billion, according to a new forecast by eMarketer, and spending is expected to rise a further 77.3% to $7.29 billion in 2013.
Google, thanks to its dominance of the mobile search market and strong showing in mobile display, is by far the largest player in the space with 93.3% of US net mobile search ad dollars going to the company last year. Overall, more than half of total US mobile ad revenues will go to Google this year, and its share will grow by nearly 3 percentage points by 2015.
eMarketer believes further mobile monetization of YouTube will contribute the lion’s share of incremental growth to Google’s mobile display revenues, while search ad revenues will continue to rise rapidly.
Facebook, the No. 2 mobile ad publisher in the country, accounted for 9.5% of mobile ad revenues in 2012 and is expected to take 13.2% this year. In the mobile display market, however, Facebook is on top, projected to grab nearly three in 10 dollars this year.
Both Facebook and Twitter have benefited from their use of so-called native ad formats that are seamlessly integrated within the core user experiences of their respective products. The resulting ability for both companies to deliver mobile ad impressions at much higher volume than many traditional ad publishers has helped them capture market share very quickly.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung taps Absolute Software for mobile security on Knox, Galaxy S4
http://www.zdnet.com/samsung-taps-absolute-software-for-mobile-security-on-knox-galaxy-s4-7000013412/
Summary: Headed for Samsung Knox when it debuts this year, Absolute asserted that Samsung mobile devices will be the first to offer “constant, tamper-proof security connection for tracking, wiping, recovery and IT servicing.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft threatened as smartphones and tablets rise, Gartner warns
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/apr/04/microsoft-smartphones-tablets
PC market begins to slip and tablets will outsell desktops and laptops combined by 2015, as Android ascendancy means challenge to relevance of Microsoft, research group warns
Microsoft faces a slide into irrelevance in the next four years unless it can make progress in the smartphone and tablet markets, because the PC market will continue shrinking, warns the research group Gartner.
It says a huge and disruptive shift is underway, in which more and more people will use a tablet as their main computing device, researchers say.
That will also see shipments of Android devices dwarf those of Windows PCs and phones by 2017. Microsoft-powered device shipments will almost be at parity with those of Apple iPhones and iPads – the latter a situation not seen since the 1980s.
For Microsoft, this poses an important inflexion point in its history, warns Milanesi. “Winning in the tablet and phone space is critical for them to remain relevant in this shift,” she told the Guardian. “We’re talking about hardware displacement here – but this shift also has wider implications for operating systems and apps. What happens, for instance, when [Microsoft] Office isn’t the best way to be productive in your work?”
For Microsoft, income from Windows and Office licences are key to its revenues: per-PC Windows licences generate about 50% of its profits, and Office licences almost all the rest.
But while it dominates the PC market, it is a distant third in the smartphone and tablet markets.
“Android is going to get to volumes that are three times those of Windows,”
“From a consumer perspective, the question becomes: what software do you want to have to get the widest reach on your devices?”
The laptop was more mobile than the desktop, but with the tablet and smartphone, there’s a bigger embrace of the cloud for sharing and for access to content. It’s also more biased towards consumption of content rather than production.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hot Gaming Startup Supercell Is Closing A Round Above $100M At Valuation Around $800M
http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/28/supercell-2/
Supercell is a very quiet, humble mobile gaming company out of the very quiet and humble city of Helsinki, Finland. Unlike their brasher, Angry Birds-making brethren a 15-minute drive away in Espoo, they don’t like to talk much about anything beyond making games and about the company culture they’re deliberately cultivating.
All of this belies what has become a phenomenal business over the last nine months — one that makes around $1.3 million per day off two iOS games called Clash of Clans and Hay Day.
Supercell declined to comment on the financing round. “We simply will not comment on market rumours,” said spokesperson Heini Vesander. “We’ve never really done that and will not do that now.”
Supercell didn’t find its hits until two years after it was founded. Before it unveiled Clash of Clans in the middle of last year, it had to kill several early projects like Gunshine and Battle Buddies that weren’t testing well.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook Home – a new operating system?
Facebook Home is not the operating system. It is an application.
Facebook Home is a reasonably simple-sounding Android phones coming application that integrates phones, Facebook, Address Book contacts, and that the resulting combined staff posts, status updates and photos.
Characteristics to Facebook Home is quite a snappy sounding. But what is so special about this thing? Windows Phonet have done so for ages.
It’s nice that Android Phone for Windows gets a little off, but these features do not have any earth-shaking.
But the media’s view seems to be that they are something special.
Source: http://blogit.tietokone.fi/ossi/2013/04/facebook-home-uusi-kayttojarjestelma/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Zuckerberg Beamed as He Announced Facebook Home for Android
http://techonomy.com/2013/04/why-zuckerberg-beamed-as-he-announced-facebook-home-for-android/
he believes the so-called “Facebook Home” for Android means Facebook has nailed an important piece in its evolution toward becoming central to the communications systems for all the people of the planet. That is, after all, his goal, as it has been since roughly late 2004.
Facebook Home could put substantial pressure on Apple. It could, oddly, benefit Google substantially even as it points up significant weaknesses in that company’s own mobile software approach.
Facebook is shedding its past as a system for PCs and wholly embracing a new role for a new era—a provider of information and experiences for people moving throughout the world, not sitting still.
From Zuckerberg’s point of view, it advances his longstanding campaign to build software that reflects how he thinks people experience the world—through their relationships with other people. That is why Facebook exists. He sees our era’s great opportunity for technology to be to facilitate a human and friend-centric approach to daily life. Turning to phones now in earnest, he sees even greater opportunity. As he put it as the press conference opened, “What if our phones were designed around people, not around apps?”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Facebook Home bothers me: It destroys any notion of privacy
http://gigaom.com/2013/04/04/why-facebook-home-bothers-me-it-destroys-any-notion-of-privacy/
Facebook’s history as a repeat offender on privacy, and playing loose and easy with our data means that need to be even more vigilant about privacy issues, thanks to this Home app/faux-OS.
The new Home app/UX/quasi-OS is deeply integrated into the Android environment. It takes an effort to shut it down, because Home’s whole premise is to be always on and be the dashboard to your social world.
But there is a bigger worry. The phone’s GPS can send constant information back to the Facebook servers, telling it your whereabouts at any time.
So if your phone doesn’t move from a single location between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. for say a week or so, Facebook can quickly deduce the location of your home. Facebook will be able to pinpoint on a map where your home is, whether you share your personal address with the site or not.
This future is going to happen – and it is too late to debate. However, the problem is that Facebook is going to use all this data — not to improve our lives — but to target better marketing and advertising messages at us. Zuckerberg made no bones about the fact that Facebook will be pushing ads on Home.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Devices To Outsell Windows For First Time Ever In 2013
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/04/05/2311216/apple-devices-to-outsell-windows-for-first-time-ever-in-2013
“research firm Gartner shows just how important the mobile market has become. According to the firm’s estimates for 2013, Apple devices will outsell Windows devices for the first time this year.”
Tomi says:
UN reports mobile phones are more popular than toilets
http://www.electronicproducts.com/Computer_Peripherals/Communication_Peripherals/UN_reports_mobile_phones_are_more_popular_than_toilets.aspx
That’s right, a recent United Nations report revealed that more people have access to cell phones than proper sanitation.
Out of the seven billion people in the world, six billion of them have a cell phone, while only 4.5 billion have access to toilets.
Not only do cellphones allow traditional verbal communications, but they also allow for residents (without toilets) to have Internet access.
Tomi says:
Electronic Products looks at the forecast for low-end smartphones and the top suppliers of baseband ICs
http://www.electronicproducts.com/Analog_Mixed_Signal_ICs/Communications/Infographics.aspx
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gartner: RIP PCs – tablets will CRUSH you this year
Bad luck, Windows – you’ll do better in 4 more years
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/05/gartner_2012_pc_sales/
PC sales are in terminal decline thanks to the continued popularity of tablets and there’s nothing an anticipated surge in ultramobiles can do to stop it.
That’s according to beancounters at Gartner, who reckon the outcome will be anaemic growth rates for Microsoft’s Windows in 2013 as Google’s Android blows the doors off.