Mobile infrastructure must catch up with user needs and demands. Ubiquitous mobile computing is all around us, not only when we use smartphones to connect with friends and family across states and countries, but also when we use ticketing systems on buses and trains, purchase food from mobile vendors, watch videos, and listen to music on our phones. As a result, mobile computing systems must rise to the demand. The number of smart phones will exceed the number of PCs in 2014.
Some time in the next six months, the number of smartphones on earth will pass the number of PCs. This shouldn’t really surprise anyone: the mobile business is much bigger than the computer industry. There are now perhaps 3.5-4 billion mobile phones, replaced every two years (versus 1.7-1.8 billion PCs replaced every 5 years).It means that mobile industry can sell more phones in a quarter than the PC industry sells in a year. After some years we will end up with somewhere over 3bn smartphones in use on earth, almost double the number of PCs. The smartphone revolution is changing how consumers use the Internet: Mobile browsing is set to overtake traditional desktop browsing in 2015.
It seems that 4G has really become the new high speed mobile standard widely wanted during 2013. 3G will become the low-cost option for those who think 4G option is too expensive, not everyone that has 4G capable device has 4G subscription. How the situation changes depends on how operators improve their 3G coverage, what will be the price difference from 3G to 4G and how well the service is marketed.
Mobile data increased very much last year. I expect the growth to continue pretty much as projected in Mobile Data Traffic To Grow 300% Globally By 2017 Led By Video, Web Use, Says Strategy Analytics and Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2012–2017 articles.
When 4G becomes mainstream, planning for next 5G communications starts. I will expect to see more and more writing on 5G as the vision what it will be destined to be clears more. Europe’s newly-minted 5GPPP Association plans to launch as many as 20 research projects in 2014, open to all comers, with a total budget of about 250 million euros. The groundwork for 5G, an ambitious vision for a next-generation network of networks that’s still being defined, and the definition will go on many years to come. No one really knows today what 5G will be because there are still several views. Europe’s new 5GPPP group published a draft proposal for 5G. 5GPPP is not the only group expected to work on standards for next-generation cellular networks, but it could become one of the most influential.
The shifting from “dumb” phones to smart phones continue. In USA and Europe smart phone penetration is already so high levels that there will not be very huge gains on the market expected. Very many consumers already have their smart phone, and the market will be more and more on updating to new model after two years or so use. At the end of 2013 Corporate-Owned Smartphones Back in Vogue, and I expect that companies continue to shop smart phones well in 2014.
The existing biggest smart phone players will continue to rule the markets. Google’s Android will continue to rule the markets. Samsung made most money in 2013 on Android phones (in 2013 in West only Samsung makes money from selling Android), and I expect that to continue. In 2013 Apple slurped down enormous profits but lost some of its bleeding-edge-tech street credit, and I expect that to continue in 2014.
The biggest stories of the year 2013 outside the Samsung/Apple duopoly were the sale of Nokia’s mobile phone business to Microsoft and the woes of BlackBerry. BlackBerry had an agonising year and suffered one of the most spectacular consumer collapses in history, and I can’t see how it would get to it’s feet during 2014. Nokia made good gains for Windows Phones during 2013, and I expect that Microsoft will put marketing effort to gain even more market share. Windows Phone became the third mobile ecosystem, and will most probably keep that position in 2014.
New players try to enter smart phone markets and some existing players that once tried that try to re-enter. There are rumors that for example HP tries to re-enter mobile market, and is probable that some other computer makers try to sell smart phones with their brands. In the Android front there will be new companies trying to push marker (for example OPPO and many smaller Chinese makers you have never heard earlier). Nokia had a number of Android projects going on in 2013, and some former Nokia people have put up company Newkia to follow on that road. To make a difference in the market there will be also push on some smaller mobile platforms as alternative to the big three (Google, Apple, Microsoft). Jolla is pushing Sailfish OS phones that can run Android applications and also pushing possibility to install that OS to Android phone. Mozilla will push on with it’s own Firefox OS phone. Canonical will try to get their Ubuntu phone released. Samsung is starting to make Tizen powered smart phones and NTT DoCoMo could be the first carrier to offer a Tizen powered device. None of those will be huge mainstream hits within one year, but could maybe could have their own working niche markets. The other OS brands combined do not amount to 1% of all smartphones sold in 2013, so even if they could have huge growth they would still be very small players on the end of 2014.
As smartphone and tablet makers desperately search for points of differentiation they will try to push the limits of performance on several fronts to extremes. Extreme inter-connectivity is one of the more useful features that is appearing in new products. More context-aware automatic wireless linking is coming: Phones will wirelessly link and sync with screens and sensors in the user’s vicinity.
You can also expect extreme sensor support to offer differentiation. Biomedical sensors have lots of potential (Apple already has fingerprint sensors). Indoor navigation will evolve. Intelligent systems and assistive devices will advance smart healthcare.
Several smartphone makers have clear strategies to take photography to extremes. 40 megapixel camera is already on the market and several manufacturers are playing with re-focus after shooting options.
In high-end models we may be moving into the overkill zone with extreme resolution that is higher than you can see on small screen: some makers have already demonstrated displays with twice the performance of 1080-progressive. Samsung is planned to release devices with 4k or UHD resolutions. As we have seen in many high tech gadget markets earlier it is a very short journey to copycat behavior.
It seems that amount of memory on high-end mobile devices is increasing this year. To be able to handle higher resolutions smart phones will also need more memory than earlier (for example Samsung lpddr 4 allows up to 4 GB or RAM on smart phone as now high-end devices now have typically 2GB). As the memory size starts to hit the limits of 32 bit processors (4GB), I will expect that there will be some push for chip makers to start to introduce more 64 bit processors for mobile devices. Apple already has 64-bit A7 microprocessor in iPhone 5s, all the other phone-makers want one too for their high-end models (which is a bit of panic to mobile chip makers).
You will be able to keep your mobile phone during some flights all the time and browser web on the plane more widely. At some planes you might also be able to make phone calls with your mobile phone during the flight. Calls on flights have been theoretically possible, and United States has recently looked at mobile phone calls allow the flights.
In year 2013 there were many releases on wearable technologies. Wearable is a trend with many big companies already in the space, and more are developing new products. It seems that on this field year 2013 was just putting on the initial flame, and I expect that the wearable market will start to heat up more during 2014. The advent of wearable technology brings new demands for components that can accommodate its small form factor, wireless requirements, and need for longer battery life.
The Internet of Things (IoT) will evolve into the Web of Things, increasing the coordination between things in the real world and their counterparts on the Web. The Internet is expanding into enterprise assets and consumer items such as cars and televisions. Gartner suggests that now through 2018, a variety of devices, user contexts, and interaction paradigms will make “everything everywhere” strategies unachievable.
Technology giants Google Inc. and Apple Inc. are about to expand their battle for digital supremacy to a new front: the automobile. The Android vs. iOS apps battle is coming to the automotive industry in 2014: car OEMs aren’t exactly known for their skills in developing apps and app developers don’t want to develop so many different versions of an app separately (for Ford, General Motors, BMW, and Toyota). I am waiting for Google’s response to Apple’s iOS in the Car. Next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Google and German auto maker Audi AG plan to announce that they are working together to develop in-car entertainment and information systems that are based on Google’s Android software. The push toward smarter cars is heating up: Right now, we are just scratching the surface.
For app development HTML5 will be on rise. Gartner predicts that through 2014, improved JavaScript performance will begin to push HTML5 and the browser as a mainstream enterprise application development environment. It will also work on many mobile applications as well.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
August is a fancy lock that could make you ditch your keys
https://gigaom.com/2014/10/14/august-smart-lock/
he August smart lock ships Tuesday, and for those wondering if you should spend $250 for a connected lock, the answer is yes. Especially if you are an iOS user.
For most people it’s going to take a considerable value proposition to get them to shell out $250 for a connected lock. The question that connected lock startup August needs to answer with its product hitting shelves today is whether or not it’s worth it. After playing around with it, the answer falls solidly in the yes category with a bunch of caveats.
The lock connects to your home network via Wi-Fi and to your phone via Bluetooth. Thus, you can see the status of your lock anywhere and use your phone to unlock your door. If your phone is dead or not on you, you can use your key, since the you only replace the inside portion of the deadbolt with the August lock. The outside remains the same.
But there are caveats. First is the big difference in how the lock works today for iOS users and Android users. Folks toting an iPhone get the benefit of being able to unlock their door using geofencing and Bluetooth, which means that it will unlock even if you don’t take your phone out of your pocket. Android users don’t have that feature for “another few months,” which means to unlock your door, you need to take out your phone and open up the app.
And if you are like me and you tend to forget your phone, I’m going to recommend you don’t use the Ever Lock feature that August has. As you can imagine, the feature automatically locks the door after it closes.
In short, for the people who purchased a Nest, the August lock is likely the next obvious gadget to pick up. It’s beautiful, highly functional and changes the way you think about an everyday object by adding connectivity. The plans are to integrate the August with HomeKit and a few other programs, including Nest’s as time goes by.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Flight Attendants Union Sues The FAA Over Use Of Electronics In Flight
http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/13/flight-attendants-union-sues-the-faa-over-use-of-electronics-in-flight/
About a year ago, the FAA gloriously adjusted their guidance regarding the use of portable electronic devices during takeoff and landing. For the first time in years, travelers could boldly and proudly listen to music or play Two Dots or mindlessly click into social apps (forgetting there’s no service in the sky) without fear of reprimand from flight attendants.
Turns out, the largest flight attendants union in the country aren’t enjoying the change.
The Association of Flight Attendants argued in court on Friday that the FAA didn’t follow the proper protocol in changing guidelines around use of portable electronic devices during takeoff and landing. According to the AFA, portable electronic devices are distractions during safety announcements and can become dangerous projectiles.
In response, a lawyer for the FAA (Jeffrey Sandberg) told judges that PEDs are no more dangerous than books that passengers have had out for years.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Man Treated for Google Glass Addiction
http://time.com/3508086/google-glass-addiction/
Doctors observed a “notable, nearly involuntary movement of the right hand up to his temple area and tapping it with his forefinger”
San Diego doctors have identified the first known case of “Internet addiction disorder” involving Google Glass, according to a new study.
The 31-year old patient is a service member who checked into the U.S. Navy’s Substance Abuse Program for alcoholism treatment, the study published in Addictive Behaviors said.
During his residential treatment program, the doctors identified that the man “exhibited problematic use of Google Glass,” which manifested in “a notable, nearly involuntary movement of the right hand up to his temple area and tapping it with his forefinger.” The motion is used to activate the wearable technology.
The man had worn the device for up to 18 hours a day, and told doctors he would become extremely irritated and frustrated without the technology’s assistance, the report said. He also reported having dreams where his vision appeared as though it was seen through the lenses.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google announces Android 5.0 Lollipop
Android’s latest is coming to devices as soon as this month
http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/15/6982167/google-android-5-0-l-lollipop-announcement-release
After an extended testing and preview period, Google has announced the final release of Android L, its latest version of the world’s most popular mobile platform. Android 5.0 Lollipop is debuting on three new Nexus devices — the Nexus 6 smartphone, Nexus 9 tablet, and Nexus Player streaming media device — and will be available on the Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, and Google Play Edition devices in the coming weeks.
Lollipop’s most obvious new features come in the form of visual enhancements and user interface changes, which Google has dubbed Material Design.
In addition to a visual overhaul, Lollipop brings over 5,000 new APIs for developers to tap into and lets multiple different Android devices with various form factors work better together. Google says that things such as songs, photos, apps, and recent searches can be seamlessly synced across various Android devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Think ahead when bringing mobiles into your small business
Face the future with confidence
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/15/mobile_4g/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel has long tried to get into the LTE phones on the market. Now this has finally happened. Forward Concepts Research Institute, the company’s Clover Trail Processor Plus and XMM 7160 modem can be found in the new Asus Padfone X Mini.
Padfone Asus X Mini is a hybrid device that combines LTE mobile phone and tablet. It is a low-cost end device, because without operator assistance is being sold for $ 199.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1922:intel-vihdoin-lte-puhelimeen&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Citrix: Wearables allow conference calls ‘while rocking a baby to sleep’
Hands up who still wants Android Wear? Not so many of you now, eh?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/16/citrix_join_a_conference_call_while_rocking_your_baby_to_sleep/
Citrix has decided that owners of Android Wear devices will want to log on to conference calls, and has tweaked its GoToMeeting client so it runs on the wearable kit.
Citrix says the app is a good idea because you can “Take a jog while you’re taking a meeting.”
Which sounds like it will work so very well, given that puffing and panting your way through a chat with a client is generally regarded as excellent customer service.
The idea behind wearables seems to be that watches are even more intimate devices than phones. One wears a watch everywhere and it’s therefore a convenient way to snack on information, or a usefully smaller device to collect data during activities like exercise.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Glass catches up with Android Wear with Notifications Sync
Explorers can now view all of their smartphone’s notifications in the viewfinder
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2375817/google-glass-catches-up-with-android-wear-with-notifications-sync
GOOGLE HAS ANNOUNCED that Glass owners will soon be able to view any notification from their Android phone in the spectacles’ viewfinder, thanks to a feature called Notification Sync.
Notification Sync is already available to those wielding an Android Wear smartwatch, and means that users can view all Notifications they receive on their phone, such as a WhatsApp message, on Google Glass.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Will.i.am announced a wrist computer – “This is not a clock”
American rapper and music producer Will.i.am has joined the race on wearable technology.
Artist on Wednesday announced at the Salesforce Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, Puls called the device. Wrist worn Puls has a gigabyte of memory, 16 GB of storage, 3G, WLAN and Bluetooth connectivity, a step, and accelerometers, as well as a slew of applications.
Puls can call and send text messages without connecting to your smartphone, which separates it from the majority of smart watches in the market.
“This is not a clock”, the artist emphasized the unveiling. “This is a new communication wrist.”
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/uutisia/william+julkisti+rannetietokoneen++quottama+ei+ole+kelloquot/a1020397
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Tale Of Two Users
http://www.theguardian.com/info/developer-blog/2014/jun/19/a-tale-of-two-users
Building a new mobile app for the Guardian was a journey of discovery on balancing the needs of both our editorial team and our readers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Glass addiction? Doctors report first case of disorder
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102088318#.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Executive Change Is Latest Hint of Chrome-Android Marriage
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/10/17/executive-change-latest-hint-of-chrome-android-marriage/
A management shift inside Google GOOGL -2.60% points to the possibility that the company’s two operating systems will come together.
Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google’s vice president of engineering for its Android mobile-operating system, is now also overseeing the engineering team behind Google’s Chrome operating system, which primarily powers personal computers, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Linus Upson, previously the top engineer for Chrome, has left that role, according to these people. It’s not clear what he will do next.
Through a spokeswoman, Lockheimer and Upson declined to comment.
Co-founder Sergey Brin said as far back as 2009 that Android and Chrome were likely to “converge over time.” Since 2013, both groups have reported to Sundar Pichai, Google’s senior vice president in charge of Android, Chrome and Apps.
There are signs of the two coming together. At its developer conference in June, Google announced an initiative for app developers to simplify the process of converting Android apps to run on Chrome.
Merging Google’s two operating systems would simplify work for software makers, who today have to create different versions of their apps for Google’s two different platforms. It also could also simplify Google’s marketing strategy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android Exec Says Google Will Loosen Reins on Watches, TVs and Cars Over Time
http://recode.net/2014/10/16/android-exec-says-google-will-loosen-reins-on-watches-tvs-and-cars-over-time/
Google is taking its versatile Android operating system into new places, like cars and watches and TVs. As part of that process, it’s also severely curtailing the degree to which hardware makers can tinker with the core parts of the software.
In the first crop of Android Wear devices, for example, software customization has been largely limited to a few custom watch faces. Google insists it doesn’t have some grand plan to lock down Android — a common concern among device makers and others in the mobile industry.
“It’s not some Google-way-or-the-highway kind of thing,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
To Siri, With Love
How One Boy With Autism Became B.F.F.’s With Apple’s Siri
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/fashion/how-apples-siri-became-one-autistic-boys-bff.html?_r=0
Tomi Engdahl says:
Taipei Electronics Show: Betting on the Smartphone as the Hub
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324300&
Apple’s announcement of the iPhone 6 last month nudged the smartphone one step closer to becoming the central hub of the Internet of Things.
And with some pundits predicting the demise of the PC in a decade or less, it’s no surprise that Taiwan’s ITC sector is busy seeking to create new growth opportunities beyond the PC and notebook industries that it dominates.
That was clear at last week’s Taitronics Taipei International Electronics Show, which featured an entire pavilion devoted to the Internet of Things, another for Cloud Computing, and a third for SmartLiving — plus scores of new products designed with the smartphone in mind — from a tiny chip antenna to cloud services.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Plans To Launch A Wearable Device Within Weeks
http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2014/10/19/microsoft-wearable-smartwatch/
Microsoft MSFT +2.08% is gearing up to launch a wearable device within the next few weeks, Forbes has learned. The gadget is a smart watch that will passively track a wearer’s heart rate and work across different mobile platforms. It will also boast a battery life of more than two days of regular use, sources close to the project say.
That could put it ahead of Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smart watch and Moto 360 which both need to be charged around once a day.
Forbes first reported in May that Microsoft was working on a smart watch that drew on optical engineering expertise from its Kinect division, and which would sync with iPhones, Android devices and Windows Phones. It is unclear what Microsoft will name the device, or what it will cost at retail.
A wearable would mark the company’s first foray into a new device category under CEO Satya Nadella. Wearable tech is still uncharted territory, despite offerings from Samsung and the forthcoming Apple Watch. It’s a market predicted to be worth $7.1 billion in 2015.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This is the Fitbit Surge, a $250 ‘superwatch’ with built-in GPS
GPS and heart rate monitoring headline Fitbit’s next flagship wearable
http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/19/7007345/this-is-the-fitbit-surge
Fitbit is preparing to launch three new fitness trackers in the coming weeks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft to enter the STRUGGLE of the HUMAN WRIST
It’s not just a thumb war, it’s total digit war
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/20/microsoft_watch_thumb_and_wrist_war_declared_with_apple/
The battle for the future of the human wrist entered a new phase on Monday after it was claimed that tech goliath Microsoft is planning to release its own wearable computer in the coming weeks.
If true, this would mean that Redmond’s smartwatch would hit stores some way in advance of Apple’s own wrist ‘puter, which is expected to be released at some point in the early part of 2015.
Remember the Microsoft Spot?
A peer back into the annals of history shows that once upon a time in 2003, Microsoft hatched plans to release a timepiece which could receive information about weather, traffic and goodness knows what else for the princely sum of $10. How did this technological marvel work? Using FM radio, which even in the early noughties was about as high-tech as the spinning jenny.
Four companies produced SPOT-enabled watches: Suunto, Fossil, Tissot and Swatch. But the plan was a disaster and the SPOT was discontinued in 2008
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Microsoft Lumia’ Will Replace the Nokia Brand
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/14/10/21/1328243/microsoft-lumia-will-replace-the-nokia-brand
The last emblems of Nokia are being removed from Microsoft products. “Microsoft Lumia” is the new brand name that takes their place. The name change follows a slow transition from Nokia.com over to Microsoft’s new mobile site
Microsoft Lumia will replace the Nokia brand
An obvious choice
http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/21/7026427/microsoft-lumia-nokia-brand-replacement
Microsoft’s decision to drop the Nokia brand itself doesn’t mean that Nokia is going away fully. Nokia still exists as a separate company without its phones business, and the Finnish firm now focuses on mapping and network infrastructure.
Microsoft’s choice to use Lumia as the Nokia replacement won’t come as a surprise to many. Nokia’s Windows Phone apps have been rebranded to Lumia recently, and holiday ads will be pushing Lumia instead of Nokia.
What’s not clear is how Microsoft will handle the branding on its future Windows Phone.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia Maps for free on Android phones
The test version can be downloaded free of charge from Here website.
So far here has been a part of Windows phones in the standard range. It has also been pre-installed on Samsung’s Android phones.
HERE for Anrdoid Beta
http://here.com/beta/android/?lang=EN
HERE offers fast, accurate maps that are always ready to use, with or without an internet connection. Search for places, find routes and get turn-by-turn voice guidance wherever you are. Underground, on holiday, or even in the middle of nowhere: HERE just works, always.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple’s new iPADS have begun the WAR that will OVERTURN the NETWORK WORLD
It’ll get properly serious once Google comes in
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/17/this_is_war_apples_replaces_telco_choice_with_beauty_contest/
Analysis Well, Tim Cook has cried “havoc” and let slip the SIM dogs of war. For several years Apple has sought to replace the hardware SIM card, and hand itself ultimate control over which mobile network the consumer can choose. With the latest iPads, it has finally implemented the strategy.
It’s a colossal step, and if successful, the transition of the mobile industry will be complete. We’ll have gone from a world where operators choose what devices run on their networks, to a world where device manufacturers choose what network you can use on their devices – from a world where mobile networks were gatekeepers, to one in which Apple and Google are the gatekeepers. Before we examine this, let’s step back a moment and see how this came about.
For decades telephony in most countries was controlled by a state owned monopoly.
Then came deregulation, bringing with it the dangerous notion that the customer should choose what they used, and the equally subversive idea that competition might give the consumer more attractive choices than those a backroom technocrat might come up with. When European countries thrashed out digital mobile standards, device freedom using a SIM card was part of this.
Now let’s see how the world might look with Apple as that sort of gatekeeper.
The key difference in a soft-SIM world is that you select, via a “ballot screen” which network operator you’ll use. Who gets to choose who goes in this list? Apple does, from a pre-approved list chosen by Apple. In short, we’ve replaced the backroom technocrat at the General Post Office or Bell with a backroom technocrat at Apple – or, soon, at Google. But instead of a network monopoly choosing what device you’ll use, a device duopoly will choose what network you use.
So, what criteria will that backroom gatekeeper use? What are the rules of the beauty contest? Apple is fairly apolitical about networks, but Google isn’t: it’s highly political. In fact, it is in the network game itself (with Google Fiber for instance).
Apple just wants to sell you more stuff. Google’s vision is much broader: it wants to see a world where bits can’t be monetised by anyone else and so Google accrues the value of the data flowing over the world’s networks via its giant advertising and data processing business.
Another huge question is – how easily will Apple or Google permit you to switch? Can you switch without registering, which was the idea behind the SIM? Will you be able to switch daily?
The implications are enormous, for both incumbents and regulators. With Apple and Google in charge, telecoms industry best practice and standards could now be driven by two companies. The business of the operators could be completely upended. Their huge investment in retail presence, branding and services (BT, Sky) would potentially count for nothing.
No doubt some will rejoice, because Apple or Google can do no wrong, and every network provider is by definition wicked.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sensors for Wearables Market to Double in 2015
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324363&
Market analysis and forecast organization IHS thinks that Apple’s Watch, will stimulate and set a standard for fitness and health monitoring features on wearable electronics devices.
As a result the market sensors in wearable electronics is set to double in 2015, in terms of units shipped. This will likely benefit STMicroelectronics NV (Geneva, Switzerland), the market leader in sensors for wearables, IHS said.
So that’s 67 million units shipped in 2013 followed by about 85 million units in 2014. And next year the market will double to 175 million units before continuing its rise to 466 million units shipped in the year 2019, as presented in the figure below.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smartphone giant _____ puts citizens’ private data beyond reach of oppressive regime _____
And into the hands of _______ that also spies on people
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/22/xiaomi_global_data_centers/
Chinese Apple wannabe Xiaomi says it’s spent much of the past year migrating its online services out of its Beijing data centers so that it can better serve customers in international markets.
The Middle Kingdom’s smartphone upstart is virtually unknown in the West but is already outselling Samsung in China and has lately moved into Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Hugo Barra – the ex-Google product manager who was, last year, tapped to become Xiaomi’s global VP – said the company is moving into overseas data centers both to speed up its services and to better manage customer data.
Next, Xiaomi is moving its user accounts, messaging, and other cloud services to AWS data centers in Oregon and Singapore, which Barra said should further improve network speeds and latency, particularly in Malaysia and India.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Microsoft Garage Site Invites Public To Test a Wide Range of App Ideas
http://developers.slashdot.org/story/14/10/22/2142232/new-microsoft-garage-site-invites-public-to-test-a-wide-range-of-app-ideas
Microsoft today launched a new section on its website: The Microsoft Garage is designed to give the public early access to various projects the company is testing right now. The team is kicking off with a total of 16 free consumer-facing apps, spanning Android, Android Wear, iOS, Windows Phone, Windows, and even the Xbox One
New Microsoft Garage site invites public to test a wide range of app ideas
http://venturebeat.com/2014/10/22/microsoft-launches-garage-site-asking-the-public-to-test-a-wide-range-of-new-apps/
Microsoft Garage
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/garage/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google plans to open a Play app store like hardware store, which sells Ara Project smartphone modules.
The phone is expected to be tested in the market next year. Google is developed on the three prototypes with different size screens. The basic model costs $ 50, or about 40 euros
Anyone can develop modules and put them in the upcoming hardware store sales.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/uutisia/googlen+uudessa+kaupassa+ostetaan+legomaisia+puhelinkomponentteja/a1022537
Tomi Engdahl says:
Etsy Introduces Credit Card Reader to Go Beyond the Web
http://recode.net/2014/10/23/etsy-introduces-credit-card-reader-to-support-sellers-in-physical-world/
Online marketplace Etsy will start offering free credit card readers to some of its U.S. sellers as part of an effort to extend its reach beyond the Internet.
The dongles, which can be plugged into a smartphone or tablet, will be used in conjunction with an Etsy app to allow sellers to accept credit card and debit card purchases while hawking their wares at craft fairs and in other retail settings. Etsy says more than a third of the people who sell goods on its online marketplace who are based in the U.S. also sell their products at craft fairs.
With the launch, Etsy will for the first time start earning a cut of transactions that happen away from its digital platform. Sellers using the credit card reader will pay Etsy 2.75 percent of each transaction. The readers are only available to sellers who use Etsy’s own payments platform, called Direct Checkout, to accept credit and debit card purchases on Etsy.com and on the Etsy app. Etsy declined to provide information that would be helpful in figuring out how many of its current sellers would qualify to receive the free reader.
The new product will pit Etsy against other reader providers such as Square, PayPal and Amazon. Square charges the same 2.75 percent fee as Etsy while PayPal charges 2.7 percent. Amazon is taking just a 1.75 percent cut on purchases through the end of 2015, but will raise the fee to 2.5 percent after that.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google to build Play-like hardware store for Project Ara
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2837732/google-to-build-playlike-hardware-store-for-project-ara.html
Drawing inspiration from its Play Store, Google will create a hardware store in which users can buy and sell Lego-like hardware modules for the customizable Project Ara smartphone.
Project Ara is Google’s upcoming build-your-own smartphone that allows users to mix and match features. The $50 configurable smartphone will come with a basic frame, and users can add or remove features by simply snapping on or taking off modular parts.
For example, users will be able to individually swap out screens, cameras, antennas and CPUs, which could be a cheaper way to replace parts than buying new smartphones. Google is pursuing biometric modules, and independent hardware makers have mulled creating temperature, input, gaming, antenna and medical sensors. Modules can be designed with Google’s Module Developers Kit (MDK), which contains reference designs, specifications and guidelines.
“Anybody can create a module per the specifications of the developer’s kit and put it in the Ara module marketplace, which is analogous to the Google Play Store, and sell directly to consumers,” said Paul Eremenko, head of Project Ara at Google’s ATAP (Advanced Technology and Projects) division, during a question and answer session at Purdue University earlier this month.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple to Continue Evaluating GT’s Sapphire Production Progress, Looking for New Uses for Arizona Plant
http://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/23/gt-apple-sapphire-comments/
Earlier today, GT Advanced Technologies officially announced its settlement with Apple, which will see the two companies dissolving their partnership, ending their production agreement, and eliminating contractual ties that kept GT from selling its sapphire to other parties.
Under the agreement, GT Advanced will be selling off its remaining sapphire, along with 2,000 sapphire furnaces, with much of the proceeds going to Apple to repay the $439 million loan it provided to get the operation underway.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Amazon Takes $170 Million Writedown on Weak Fire Phone Sales
http://recode.net/2014/10/23/amazon-takes-170-million-writedown-on-weak-fire-phone-sales/
Amazon said in a conference call following the release of a disappointing third-quarter financial report that it would take a $170 million charge “primarily related to Fire phone inventory valuation and supplier commitment costs.” Translation: The Fire phone has been a disappointment.
The company’s first phone came on the market at $199 but the price was quickly cut to 99 cents with a two-year subscription with AT&T, the exclusive carrier for the phone.
Tomi Engdahl says:
LG Gets Into the Smartphone Chip Game With Nuclun, an Eight-Core Processor
http://recode.net/2014/10/23/lg-gets-into-the-smartphone-chip-game-with-nuclun-an-eight-core-processor/
Korea’s LG confirmed on Thursday night that it is indeed getting into the business of making its own mobile processors.
While most phone makers get their processors from companies such as Qualcomm and Nvidia, a number of players also have homegrown options. Archrival Samsung has its Exynos chip, used in some Galaxy models, while Huawei also has its own processor.
LG’s entry is an eight-core processor called called Nuclun (pronounced NOO-klun). It, like rival chips, is based on a processing core licensed from ARM. Specifically, it uses ARM’s Big.little approach, pairing four A15 processing cores and four A7 cores for less intense demands.
Tomi Engdahl says:
At Austin airport, Wi-Fi predicts how long the security line will be
Using signals from passengers’ devices, the system collects data that can help travelers plan ahead
http://www.itworld.com/article/2837781/at-austin-airport-wi-fi-predicts-how-long-the-security-line-will-be.html
The Internet can ease travel concerns in many ways, including flight-delay information, maps of road congestion, and ride-sharing apps. But a Wi-Fi network at the Austin, Texas, airport can now answer one of the great unknowns: How long will I have to wait in line at security?
That information is available thanks to fairly simple technology implemented on a Cisco Systems network run by global Wi-Fi provider Boingo Wireless. It’s an early example of how the so-called Internet of Things can make some parts of life easier.
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport got the nation’s first airport Wi-Fi network in 2000, according to Boingo, which has run the airport’s Wi-Fi since 2008. Now it’s become one of the first airports to implement Passpoint, the standard that lets users of some devices get on networks and roam between them without entering a username and password. The Cisco network that supports Passpoint can also use location technologies for additional services.
Travelers don’t even need to get on the network to take advantage of the security-wait warning system.
Here’s how the system works: Wi-Fi devices with standard settings turned on constantly send out signals looking for nearby Wi-Fi devices and access points. Access points near the security checkpoints detect those signals and the unique MAC (media access control) addresses associated with them. Using that data, the system determines when that device entered the area of the queue and when it reached the other end of the checkpoint, after the owner finished with security.
In some areas, the airport does the same thing with beacons that detect Bluetooth signals emitted by users’ devices. The unique Bluetooth ID identifies each device, so it works the same way as a MAC address. In some areas, the system uses both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Despite using a unique identifier for each device, the system doesn’t identify the person carrying that device
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Developer Says Apple Sent Him Screenshots Of Porn In Order To Confirm How Easy It Is To Search For Porn With His App
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-sent-someone-porn-in-order-to-confirm-how-easy-it-is-to-search-for-porn-2014-10#ixzz3H3Iub5XA
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple’s Porn Policy
Do as we say, not as we do.
https://medium.com/@carlsmith/apples-porn-policy-27d5ef1c86ab
It was a typical Monday morning. Cup of coffee and catching up with the team when I saw this snippet of a conversation in HipChat:
“Don’t be naughty like Apple!”
It turns out Apple thought the best way to tell us our app could be used to surf porn was to surf for porn using our app. Then send us some pictures and say take a look at these! Except they said, “Please see the attached screenshot for more information.” So with no warning…
Apple sent us pornography without trying to mask it and with no warning of what we were going to see.
There is a much better way to protect people from offensive material. It starts with not violating your own policy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Design strategies for the wearables market
http://www.edn.com/design/consumer/4436331/Design-strategies-for-the-wearables-market?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20141023&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20141023&elq=62d1f85d98224ea6b14e2070eb893277&elqCampaignId=19813
Wearable devices, from smart watches to portable health and fitness trackers, are changing many aspects of our daily lives. The desktop revolution of the 1980s ushered in an era of unprecedented personal productivity for the Information Age. The advent of laptops in the 1990s, coinciding with the expansion of the Internet, freed us from the tethers of power cords and Ethernet cables. Then the explosive growth of cell phones and smartphones brought us unprecedented mobility and wireless connectivity. Today’s “wrist-top revolution,” coupled with the meteoric rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), is taking mobility to a whole new level: wearable computing.
The wrist-top revolution is rewriting the playbook for designing portable electronic products. In this article, we’ll examine the concepts behind the user-experience-driven design methodologies that are being used to create some of the most successful wearable products on the market. We’ll also consider the features and functions that drive a wearable product’s energy budget and computational requirements including the selection of microcontrollers (MCUs) that meet the product’s design requirements.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CVS and Rite Aid reportedly disabling NFC in stores to shut down Apple Pay and Google Wallet, as they prepare to roll out MCX’s rival payment system
CVS Stores Reportedly Disabling NFC to Shut Down Apple Pay and Google Wallet
http://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/25/cvs-disabling-nfc-apple-pay/
Earlier this week, pharmacy chain Rite Aid shut down unofficial support for the Apple Pay and Google Wallet mobile payments systems, resulting in an outcry from users who have been testing out Apple’s new system since its launch on Monday.
Multiple reports on Twitter and the MacRumors forums have indicated that CVS has sent an email to its stores indicating that NFC support is to be turned off. It is still relatively early in the day in the U.S., but we are now starting to see reports of NFC indeed being turned off at CVS stores.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CVS joins Rite Aid in blocking Apple Pay in “CurrentC” plan to collect more customer data
http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/10/25/cvs-joins-rite-aid-in-blocking-apple-pay-in-currentc-plan-to-collect-more-customer-data
Two major U.S. drugstores have turned off their NFC payment terminals to stop Apple Pay transactions in an effort to make their own “CurrentC” app-based payment system—which is designed to collect and track information on their customers—the only option, even though it’s not actually finished yet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Health Startups Are Unfit, Says MD
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324360&
Forget all those crowd-funded startups promoting wearable health and fitness products, says Gregory Kovacs, a serial entrepreneur with degrees in electrical engineering and medicine. The big opportunities belong to major players who can create broad ecosystems around what ultimately will become FDA-approved devices, the Stanford professor said.
“There are many opportunities in consumer health but there is no startup model that has the scope and scale it will take — this won’t be a Kickstarter project,” said Kovacs who has co-founded two medtech startups. “The major medtech companies are all looking at this area carefully, but the people who build mobile devices have the most to lose, so I am hoping for joint ventures between medtech and consumer companies,” he said.
Today’s products “create awful data without validation” in part because many measure from the wrist which is a relatively poor area to choose.
He lampooned the health startup market as “a ridiculous space.”
“These startups are built to sell their companies not products,” Kovacs said. “They think a Google or Apple will buy them” whatever they do, he said, predicting “financial carnage” in the sector.
The good news is “There is a huge opportunity to make money here” for larger companies with resources which take a smart approach to products.
Kovacs provided a wealth of tips to design teams pursing this space, including:
Measure meaningful physiological parameters
Make accurate measurements
Suggest beneficial behavior changes
Fit into the flow of a user’s life
Be designed to look good
Monetize products through data analysis, not hardware
Although it’s possible to find or invent proprietary sensors that provide product differentiation, general algorithms, not sensors, are the key to success.
Specifically, he said smartphones can make intelligent inferences by combining information about a user’s movements, location, and calendar, such as a meeting with a boss. “If you have a heart rate of 180 beats/minute while running that’s great, but if you have it at 3am while in bed that’s horrible,” he said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How iPad’s soft SIM lets Apple pit carriers AGAINST each other
He who holds the SIM holds the power
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/27/ipads_soft_sim_is_the_thin_end_of_the_wedge_for_carriers/
The SIM card is the most potent instrument of control in the mobile carrier’s hands, controlling the relationship with the customer and giving it unmatched information about how its users behave.
The humble SIM has enabled mobile operators to assert control over important areas which were not initially in their kingdom, such as security, Wi-Fi access (via EAP-SIM authentication) and possibly payments (via integrated NFC). No wonder, then, that Apple has consistently sought to seize some of that SIM-based power for itself – and now it has taken an important step in that direction, with the announcement of its own ‘Apple SIM’, which allows iPad users to switch between operators without juggling multiple SIM cards.
Announced along with the new iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 tablets last week, the soft SIM may seem a matter purely of convenience for consumers, many of which are used to having multiple SIM cards, particularly to get cheaper deals when abroad.
“The new Apple SIM is pre-installed on iPad Air 2 with Wi-Fi + Cellular models,” the company states. “The Apple SIM gives you the flexibility to choose from a variety of short term plans from select carriers in the US and UK right on your iPad.”
This means that, more than ever, the consumer’s primary relationship is with Apple not the cellco. Connectivity can be viewed far more like that in public Wi-Fi – picking the best deal for a particular situation from a menu of scarcely noticed provider logos.
That would seem to be a way to reduce the importance of the cellco channel, by keeping a particularly attractive option exclusive to the Apple stores and websites.
With the multi-operator SIM, Apple could even start to pitch the carriers against one another, presenting special deals at the sign-up stage, suggested one analyst, Ian Fogg from IHS. “The software-managed Apple SIM model moves Apple into a mediation position because for operators to be present on the Apple SIM, operators must negotiate terms direct with Apple, rather than offering their own carrier iPad SIM direct to any end user,” he wrote in a research note.
Apple and Google have both sought to reduce their reliance on operator distribution before, notably when the latter launched its first Nexus model, selling it only via a special website on which customers could choose a carrier plan.
The fear of being left out of an Apple initiative is a powerful way to get operators to swallow bitter medicine, but the iPhone maker is more cautious than it sometimes has been in the past. After all, this scheme only applies to the iPad, not the iPhone (so far), and tablets have always been more about short term data deals than handsets, and are less likely to be subsidized than handsets.
However, outside the US, Apple had underestimated the continuing resilience of the cellcos, a mistake it is not making this time around. Four years ago, it quickly backed away from the embedded SIM idea, before it had even made it official, because MNOs – especially in Europe, where the scheme was expected to appear first – produced their trump card when they threatened to withdraw subsidies and prioritise other smartphones over the Apple device in their marketing.
“Apple has long been trying to build closer and closer relationships and cut out the operators,”
The logical next step, if Apple is brave enough, would be to embed the Apple SIM in all iPads and even iPhones, cutting out the operators’ beloved SIM card and all the business models that drives. Given past history, we would not expect this move to happen in the short term – perhaps not until embedded SIMs are becoming the norm anyway, driven by the very different needs of the internet of things (IoT).
When connected devices number billions not millions, the job of provisioning, authenticating and managing them will be very different, and most of the products will have the SIM cards embedded inside them.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mozilla hopes to challenge Raspbian as RPi OS of choice
Project to port Firefox OS to Raspberry Pi is under way
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/27/mozilla_hopes_to_challenge_raspbian_as_rpi_os_of_choice/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lenovo quietly unveils Smartband fitness tracker for ‘young people’
Step outta the way, oldies
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2377973/lenovo-quietly-unveils-smartband-fitness-tracker-for-young-people
LENOVO HAS QUIETLY UNVEILED its first fitness tracker, the not so imaginatively named Lenovo Smartband, which appeared on the Chinese firm’s website without its muttering a word
Originally spotted in an FCC filing earlier this month, the Lenovo Smartband SW-B100 is a wearable with a wrap-around design that we’ve seen somewhere before. Think a Samsung Gear Fit and a FitBit Flex combined.
However, rather controversially, Lenovo is touting the Smartband as a fitness tracker “for young people who take care of their personal health and are interested in new tech trend products”.
Nevertheless, if you are “young” enough to buy the Lenovo Smartband, you can expect it to do all the things every other similar device does, for example, track daily exercise, sleep and heart rate.
Lenovo joins a throng of technology companies developing wearable fitness tracking devices. Wearables haven’t been around for long, but the market is already feeling pretty cramped, which is rather funny considering that their feature set is still rather limited.
It could even be argued that what they do, they don’t do very well. Earlier this year, we slated wearables for their inability to track activities correctly during a 135-mile charity hike alongside a group of technology journalists, who all carried similar devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Half of YouTube’s views now come from phones and tablets
More people are watching videos on smaller screens
http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/28/7080917/half-of-youtubes-views-now-come-from-phones-and-tablets
Where are people watching videos on YouTube? A little while ago, the majority were on desktop, but now the company says that half are tuning in from mobile devices like phones and tablets. On stage at the Code Mobile conference, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said that metric’s grown alongside the popularity of its app on places like Apple’s App Store, where it ranked among the top apps last year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lenovo’s first fitness tracker looks a lot like the Fitbit Flex
http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/26/7072947/lenovo-reveals-its-first-fitness-tracker
Everyone wants a piece of the fitness tracker pie. Lenovo has quietly revealed its entry into the market, a Fitbit Flex-like device called the “Lenovo Smartband SW-B100.” It appears that the product has accidentally hit the web — there’s no official announcement from the company. Instead, a small product page has just popped up on the Chinese computer giant’s website. The page is somewhat transparent about the company’s goals for the device: “the Lenovo Smartband is for young people who take care of their personal health and are interested in new tech trend products.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Eyes New Uses for NFC Beyond iPhone Payments
https://www.theinformation.com/Apple-Eyes-New-Uses-for-NFC-Beyond-iPhone-Payments
Consumers are just starting to use Apple Pay to make purchases at cash registers and online stores. But Apple representatives have also talked to potential partners about using the technology behind Apple Pay for other sorts of transactions, including building security access and accepting tickets at public transit turnstiles.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ARM unveils a trio of graphics chip designs for mobile media processing
http://venturebeat.com/2014/10/27/arm-unveils-a-trio-of-graphics-chip-designs-for-mobile-media-processing/
When it comes to mobile graphics, ARM wants to cover all the bases. The Cambridge, England-based chip design company is announcing three new graphics processing unit (GPU) chip designs based on its Mali mobile graphics architecture.
ARM is coming up with multiple Mali GPUs because mobile is becoming a much more segmented market. The company’s Cortex microprocessors and Mali GPUs cover the gamut from feature phones to premium smartphones. The categories in the mainstream market include entry-level smartphones, mid-range tablets, mid-range smartphones, and premium tablets.
“We have products from the very low end to the high end,” Steve Steele, senior product manager of media processing, told VentureBeat.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fitbit Joins the Smartwatch Race, and Replaces the Rash-y Force With a New Wristband
http://recode.net/2014/10/27/fitbit-joins-the-smartwatch-race-and-replaces-the-rash-y-force-with-a-new-wristband/
After complaints emerged last February that the Fitbit Force was causing skin rashes for some wearers, the San Francisco-based health and fitness company was forced to recall the device, and promised the Fitbit-wearing community it would share news about a next-generation tracker “soon.”
Seven months later, Fitbit is back in full, um, force.
The company has just announced a new line-up of activity-tracking devices, including one “smart” fitness watch. Two of the new wearables include optical heart rate sensors, something new to Fitbits.
The Fitbit Charge is being marketed as the “Force reinvented,”
The Fitbit Charge HR is basically the Charge wristband but with a combination of heart rate sensors that Fitbit is calling PurePulse.
And finally, there’s the $250 Fitbit Surge. This is the company’s first foray into connected-watch territory. It has a backlit LCD touchscreen display and eight different sensors: A tri-axis accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, ambient light sensor, GPS and heart rate. It records granular data around specific activities like running and cross-training, placing it firmly in the fitness-watch category, but will also cycle through the typical “smart” watch notifications like text alerts and incoming calls, provided a smartphone is in range. It’s water resistant, but isn’t meant to track swimming. Expected battery life is around seven days. Like the Charge HR, this one won’t ship until sometime in 2015.
Fitbit’s mobile app, which works on iOS, Android and Windows, will also be updated to include heart-rate measurements.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Taking the Census, With Cellphones
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/14/10/28/003200/taking-the-census-with-cellphones
If you want to figure out how many people live in a particular part of your country, you could spend years conducting home visits and mailing out questionnaires. But a new study describes a quicker way. Scientists have figured out how to map populations using cellphone records — an approach that doesn’t just reveal who lives where, but also where they go every day.
Taking the census, with cellphones
http://news.sciencemag.org/math/2014/10/taking-census-cellphones
“This is the first time people have provided statistical evidence that population data produced from cellphone records are of really good quality,” says applied mathematician Renaud Lambiotte of the University of Namur in Belgium, who was not involved in the study.
Ninety-six percent of the world’s people have active cellphone subscriptions. In developed countries, the number of mobile phone subscribers has surpassed the total population as some individuals own more than one phone, and subscription rates continue to rise in developing countries, reaching as high as 90%. That’s great news for census scientists, because they can locate the calls by identifying the cellphone towers that send and receive them and use call density around the phone towers to estimate the local population density.
As part of WorldPop, an open-source project mapping detailed population information from countries around the world, a team of researchers led by geographer Catherine Linard of the Université Libre de Bruxelles and data scientist Pierre Deville of the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium used mobile phone data to estimate population density in France and Portugal. For each country, they obtained aggregate, anonymized call records from major carriers containing more than a billion calls.
Using the call records, the researchers developed a model to estimate population density around every phone tower from call density, taking into account variations in phone usage between high-coverage and low-coverage areas.
With the ongoing Ebola outbreak, cellphone records could provide a valuable tool for tracking population movements, says co-author Andrew Tatem
Tomi Engdahl says:
Even a broken watch is right twice a day. But not an uncharged Apple Watch
Plus: One million sign up to Apple Pay
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/28/apple_watch_needs_daily_charging_admits_tim_cook/
The Apple Watch will require daily charging thanks to its dismal battery life, Apple CEO Tim Cook has revealed.
The daily maintenance is reminiscent of the bad old days when timepieces needed to be wound up to keep them ticking.
Speaking at a live Q+A, the Apple boss said: “We think people are going to use it so much you will end up charging it daily.”
One million Americans have now signed up for Apple Pay, Cupertino’s bonk-to-pay system.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The two biggest drivers of change in business computing today are multi-device computing and cloud. Multidevice and cloud are driving a rapid evolution in application architecture toward more powerful front ends and more flexible back-ends.
Mobile devices are becoming important gateways to business data and applications. Cloud back-ends – often implemented as rich API service points – are fast becoming the back-end complement to this new wave of applications.
The last five years there has been an explosion of innovation in web and native technologies.
Source: http://subscriber.emediausa.com/Bulletins/BulletinPreview.aspx?BF=1&BRID=75461
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wanna hop carriers with your iPad’s Apple SIM? AVOID AT&T
Unless you want your network-swapping tech disabled for good, that is
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/24/looking_forward_to_hopping_carriers_with_your_ipads_apple_sim_dont_hop_to_att/
If you’re pumped about using the new iPads’ multi-carrier Apple SIM in the US, don’t pick AT&T as your first choice – or you’ll lose the ability to switch to another operator altogether.
Cupertino’s marketing claims the new, flashable Apple SIM that comes in the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 allows customers to “choose the plan that works best for you – with no long-term commitments.”
But it seems that’s not always the case.
According to an Apple support FAQ, not only is top-ranked US carrier Verizon not participating in the Apple SIM program, but although AT&T has signed on, it has done so specifically to undermine the tech.
“When you choose AT&T on iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, AT&T dedicates Apple SIM to their network only,” the FAQ explains.
Got that? When you select AT&T for your cellular data account, AT&T disables the Apple SIM’s carrier-switching feature and grabs your iPad for good, and you’ll need to pay Apple money to wriggle out of its clutches.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why CurrentC will beat out Apple Pay in the end
http://www.itworld.com/article/2839251/why-currentc-will-beat-out-apple-pay-in-the-end.html
Apple pay was released to the public just over a week ago and it’s stumbling out of the gate. Reports of technical issues like double charging are spreading, and retailer participation is low. If you’re lucky enough to have found a place to use your iPhone 6 for payment, chances are you were pretty impressed with the process. Unfortunately the payment system may be doomed to fail.
By all accounts, Apple has created the smoothest, most technically advanced payment solution yet. Working closely with VISA, Apple has solved many complex security issues making in person payments safer than ever while simultaneously making mobile payments easier than ever. No small feat.
Lurking in the shadows however is a competing solution called CurrentC which has recently gained a lot of press as backers of the project moved to block NFC payments (Apple Pay, Google Wallet, etc.) at their retail terminals.
The strength of the merchants designing or backing CurrentC is enormous.
It reads like a greatest hits list of retail outfits and leading the way is the biggest of them all, Walmart. The retailers have joined together to create a platform that is independent of the credit card companies and their profit-robbing transaction fees.
CurrentC will use good old ACH to transfer money from your account to the merchant’s bank account at little to no cost (fees can vary but are generally flat-rate pennies rather than a percentage of the transaction).
This is huge for the merchants who are losing a significant amount of money on every credit card transaction. The biggest players like Walmart, Target, Exxon, CVS, Lowes, RiteAid, Kmart etc. (all backers) operate on huge volume at low margins which makes the fees crippling to their profits. If you don’t think that credit card processing fees can have that much of an impact, read the first section of this post. Walmart for instance has a profit margin or 3% – 3.5%, imagine what saving 2% on credit card fees would mean to their bottom line.
What it boils down to is the fact that one technology is designed for the users (Apple) and the other is designed for the merchants (CurrentC). Normally I’d say that the product with the most user appeal will win but the power and size behind the CurrentC group is too big to ignore. People aren’t reliant on mobile payments at this point so stopping Apple Pay out of the gate is a strong move as almost nobody will miss it.
At the same time, the CurrentC backers can roll out proprietary incentives through their platform that a shopper can only take advantage of by paying with CurrentC.
Apple Pay has the better technology but they lack the retail support to dominate.