The platform wars is over: Apple and Google both won. Microsoft wanted to be the third mobile ecosystem, and it has got clear solid third position, but quite small market share of overall smart phone market. Apple now sells around 10% of all the 1.8bn (and growing) phones sold on Earth each year and Android the next 50%, split roughly between say 2/3 Google Android outside China and 1/3 non-Google Android inside China. So Apple and Google have both won, and both got what they wanted, more or less, and that’s not going to change imminently.
Wearables and phablets will be the big device stories of 2015. I think that the wearables will be the more interesting story of them, because I expect more innovation to happen there. The smart phone side seemed to already be a little bit boring during 2014 – lack of innovation from big players – and I can’t see how somewhat bigger screen size and higher resolution would change that considerably during 2015. CES 2015 debuts the future of smartphones coming from all places – maybe not very much new and exciting.
Say good-buy to to astronomical growth in smart phone sales in developed countries, as smartphone market is nearly saturated in certain regions. There will be still growth in east (China, India etc..), but most of this growth will be taken by the cheap Android phones made by companies that you might have not heard before because many of them don’t sell their products in western countries. The sales of “dumb phones” will decrease as cheap smart phone will take over. Over time this will expand such that smartphones take almost all phone sales (perhaps 400m or 500m units a quarter), with Apple taking the high-end and Android the rest.
The current biggest smart phone players (Samsung and Apple) will face challenges. Samsung’s steep Q3 profit decline shows ongoing struggles in mobile – Customers sought out lower priced older models and bought a higher percentage of mid-range smartphones, or bought from some other company making decent quality cheap phones. Samsung has long counted on its marketing and hardware prowess to attract customers seeking an alternative to Apple’s iPhone. But the company is now facing new competition from low-cost phone vendors such as China’s Xiaomi and India’s Micromax, which offer cheap devices with high-end specs in their local markets.
Apple has a very strong end of 2014 sales in USA: 51% of new devices activated during Christmas week were Apple, 18% were Samsung, 6% Nokia — Apple and Apps Dominated Christmas 2014 — Millions of people woke up and unwrapped a shiny new device under the Christmas tree. It is expected that Apple also will see slowing sales in 2015: Tech analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted Apple will face a grim start to 2015 with iPhone sales plummeting by up to a third.
In few years there’ll be close to 4bn smartphones on earth. Ericsson’s annual mobility report forecasts increasing mobile subscriptions and connections through 2020.(9.5B Smartphone Subs by 2020 and eight-fold traffic increase). Ericsson’s annual mobility report expects that by 2020 90% of the world’s population over six years old will have a phone. It really talks about the connected world where everyone will have a connection one way or another.
What about the phone systems in use. Now majority of the world operates on GSM and HPSA (3G). Some countries are starting to have good 4G (LTE) coverage, but on average only 20% is covered by LTE. Ericsson expects that 85% of mobile subscriptions in the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa will be 3G or 4G by 2020. 75%-80% of North America and Western Europe are expected to be using LTE by 2020. China is by far the biggest smartphone market by current users in the world, and it is rapidly moving into high-speed 4G technology.
It seems that we change our behavior when networks become better: In South Korea, one third of all people are doing this ‘place shifting’ over 4G networks. When faster networks are taken into use, the people will start to use applications that need more bandwidth, for example watch more streamed video on their smart phones.
We’re all spending more time with smartphones and tablets. So much so that the “second screen” may now be the “first screen,” depending on the data you read. Many of us use both TV and mobile simultaneously: quickly responding to email, texting with friends, or browsing Twitter and the news if I lose interest with the bigger screen. Whatever it is I’m watching, my smartphone is always close at hand. There is rapid increase of mobile device usage—especially when it comes to apps.
The use of digital ads on mobile devices is increasing. Digital ad spend is forecast to increase 15% in 2015, with research saying it will equal ad spending on television by 2019. Mobile and social media will drive 2015 spending on digital to $163 billion, with mobile ad spending expected to jump 45%. “Almost all the growth is from mobile”
Mobile virtual reality will be talked about. 3D goggles like Sony Morpheus and Facebook’s Optimus Rift will get some attention. We’ll see them refined for augmented reality apps. hopefully we see DIY virtual reality kits that use current handsets and don’t cost thousands.
Google glass consumer market interest was fading in the end of 2014, and I expect that fading to continue in 2015. It seems that developers already may be losing interest in the smart eyewear platform. Google glass is expected to be consumer sales sometime in 2015, some fear consumer demand for Glass isn’t there right now and may never materialize. “All of the consumer glass startups are either completely dead or have pivoted” Although Google continues to say it’s 100% committed to Glass and the development of the product, the market may not be.
The other big headliner of the wearables segment was Apple’s basic $350 Watch. Apple invest its time when it released the Apple Watch last quarter, going up against the likes of Google’s Android Wear and others in the burgeoning wearables area of design. Once Apple’s bitten into a market, it’s somewhat a given that there’s good growth ahead and that the market is, indeed, stable enough.
As we turn to 2015 and beyond wearables becomes an explosive hardware design opportunity — one that is closely tied to both consumer and healthcare markets. It could pick up steam in the way software did during the smartphone app explosion. It seems that the hardware becomes hot again as Wearables make hardware the new software. It’s an opportunity that is still anyone’s game. Wearables will be important end-points both for cloud and for messaging. The wearable computing market is one of the biggest growth areas in tech. BI Intelligence estimates that 148 million wearable devices like smartwatches and fitness trackers will ship in 2019.
I see that wearables will be big in 2015 mainly in the form of smart watch. According to a survey by UBS, 10% of consumers said they were very likely to buy a smartwatch in 2015, even though so far, no smartwatches have resonated with consumers. I expect the Sales of fitness wearables to plunge in 2015 owing to smartwatch takeover. In the future you need to look at exercise and fashion products as being in the same space. Samsung, Motorola, LG, and Apple debuted or announced smartwatches in 2014, so it’s no surprise that smartwatches are expected to be huge in Las Vegas at CES January’s show.
The third mobile ecosystem Windows phone has some new thing coming as Microsoft ready to show off Windows 10 mobile SKU on January 21. But it does not well motivating to me. After all, the vision of a unified Microsoft world extending across all screens is great, and it’s what Microsoft has needed all along to make Windows Phone a winner. The problem that hits me: if you fail enough times at the same thing, people stop believing you. It’s not just that Microsoft keeps failing to integrate its mobile, desktop, and console products. But Microsoft keeps claiming it will, which starts to loose credibility.
Mobile will change on-line sales in 2015: Phones have already radically altered both the way Americans shop and how retail goods move about the economy, but the transformation is just beginning — and it is far from guaranteed that Amazon will emerge victorious from the transition (this will also apply to other “traditional” players in that space).
Mobile payment technology reaching maybe finally reaching critical mass this year. Long predicted but always seeming to be “just around the corner,” mobile payments may finally have arrived. While Apple’s recent Apple Pay announcement may in retrospect be seen as launching the coming mobile payment revolution, the underlying technologies – and alternative solutions – have been emerging for some time. Maybe it isn’t going to replace the credit card but it’s going to replace the wallet — the actual physical thing crammed with cards, cash, photos and receipts. When you are out shopping, it’s the wallet, not the credit card, that is the annoyance.
Mobile money is hot also in developing countries: ordinary people in Africa using an SMS text-based currency called M-Pesa. M-Pesa was invented as a virtual currency by mobile network provider Vodafone after it was discovered that its airtime minutes were being used and traded in by people in Africa in lieu of actual money. In Kenya, a critical mass was quickly reached, and today, over 70% of the 40 million Kenyans use M-Pesa.
Mobile security will be talked about. Asian mobiles the DDOS threat of 2015, security mob says article tells that Vietnam, India and Indonesia will be the distributed denial of service volcanoes of next year due to the profieration of pwned mobiles.
Intel is heavily pushing to mobile and wearable markets. Intel is expected to expand its smartphone partnership with Lenovo: Intel will provide both its 64-bit Atom processor and LTE-Advanced modem chips for the Lenovo phones. The 4G phones follow Intel’s announcement in October of its first 4G smartphone in the US, the Asus PadFone X Mini. Now Intel remains well behind Qualcomm — which controls two-thirds of the global mobile modem market — and MediaTek as a supplier of chips for smartphones and tablets. Intel faces tough competition trying to fight its way into mobile — a market it ignored for years. Intel in early 2015 will introduce its first 4G system-on-a-chip under the new SoFIA name. Such chips include both a processor and modem together and are sought after by handset makers because they’re smaller in size than separate processor and radio chips, and use less power (matching Qualcomm’s Snapdragon).
Mobile chip leader Qualcomm will be going strong in 2015. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 is not only a killer part, it has raised the bar on what a mobile SoC has to be in 2015. It can power devices that drive 4K (3840 x 2160) TV, take 4K videos, run AAA games and connect to 5-inch HD display. There are finished, branded products just waiting to be released. I am convinced Qualcomm is on track to deliver commercial devices with Snapdragon 810 in mid-2015. I expect Qualcomm to be strong leader throughout 2015.
More material worth to check out:
New questions in mobile
http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2014/11/20/time-for-new-questions-in-mobile
What’s Next in Wireless: My 2015 Predictions
http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/issues-insights-blog/2015-predictions.htm
1,230 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cortana Coming To iOS, For 2000 Beta Testers
http://search.slashdot.org/story/15/11/29/1734234/cortana-coming-to-ios-for-2000-beta-testers
Tomi Engdahl says:
The iPhone 7 may not have a 3.5mm headphone jack and that’s okay
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2015/11/30/iphone-7-may-not-3-5mm-headphone-jack-thats-okay/
There are rumors afloat that Apple’s next iPhone might ditch the traditional 3.5mm headphone jack in favor of a Lightning connector. While that might sound like the end of the world to audiophiles, don’t worry, it actually seems more like Apple being Apple.
The company is known for leading the charge in killing off aging norms in hardware. It ditched the floppy drive from its iMac desktop in 1998 and killed off its own proprietary 30-pin iPhone connector to make way for the smaller, reversible Lightning connector in 2012. With the latest MacBook, the company included only a single USB-C slot in lieu of traditional USB ports.
Apple isn’t crazy for adopting a rip-off-the-band-aid approach to introducing new hardware standards.
With the rumored Lightning audio connector, headphones will be able to draw power from an Apple device, which means that they won’t require an internal battery of their own.
Philips already has a pair of Fidelio headphones available that use a Lightning connector, and says this ensures zero crosstalk for a cleaner signal and improved stereo separation.
older headphones and speakers will be able to connect to it using an adaptor.
Tomi Engdahl says:
My phone is finally replacing my wallet… and it’s brilliant
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/11/28/my-phone-is-finally-replacing-my-wallet-and-its-brilliant/
At some point in the past year, my phone went from ‘useful communications tool that I mainly use for email and Twitter’ to ‘truly viable wallet replacement.’
For years we’ve been promised a ‘mobile-first’ future of payments, where just about any transaction you need to do can be done most easily on a mobile phone. For me, it feels like that future has arrived.
At no point here did I open my wallet to pull out cash or a card (although I really should have given a tip to the food delivery guy). I’m getting to the point where I really can use my phone for at least 50 percent of my day-to-day transactions, and my phone suddenly feels 100 percent more useful.
Of course, the future isn’t evenly distributed. A lot of these transactions relied on me having a recent iOS device and living in the UK, where payments tech is pretty well advanced (even if there’s no Android Pay here yet). There are plenty of places where I couldn’t have done a lot of these things, but we’re slowly getting there in developed countries around the world.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Swatch teams up with Visa to let you pay with a flick of the wrist in 2016
http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2015/11/30/swatch-teams-up-with-visa-to-let-you-pay-with-a-flick-of-the-wrist-in-2016/
Swatch has announced that it has partnered with Visa to enable contactless payments in the US, Switzerland and Brazil using the Swiss watchmaker’s upcoming Bellamy timepiece when it launches early next year.
The company showed off the NFC-equipped Bellamy wristwatch in China back in October, with a sticker price of 580 yuan (US$91). It’s also set to roll out in China in the coming months.
Swatch says that ‘pay-by-the-wrist’ transactions require absolutely no energy from the watch itself, so the Bellamy will offer the same battery life as the company’s other products.
That sounds like an exciting proposition for watch wearers. Of the current crop of smartwatches, Android Wear-based devices don’t support NFC-based payment functionality. The Apple Watch and Samsung’s Tizen OS-based Gear S2 are exceptions; however, they all suffer from poor battery life.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tile is a tiny Bluetooth tracker that helps find your lost stuff in seconds. Attach, stick, or place Tiles inside everyday items and keep track of them in our easy-to-use app.
https://www.thetileapp.com/?utm_source=AdWords&utm_medium=CPC&gclid=CIeClN6OuMkCFaHbcgodrGUNmQ
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Pepsi Phone Is Here, But It May Not Reach Its Crowdfunding Goal
http://technode.com/2015/11/25/the-pepsi-phone-is-here-but-it-may-not-reach-its-crowdfunding-goal/
Last month we detailed the upcoming Pepsi smartphone, a mid-range smartphone model that would share the beverage brand for a China-only release.
The device launched on JD’s crowdfunding site JD Finance this month and has been live for a week, attracting significant media attention. However with only eight days left it’s yet to reach half of its 3 million RMB ($470,000 USD) goal.
Pepsi has chosen to partner with Koobee, a lesser-known Chinese smartphone vendor, to push the phone valued at approximately $250 USD (the price of the Koobee H7, which features virtually identical specs).
hose who got in early paid less than $78 USD for the a version of the limited edition phone, while early bird-options are still available for approximately $110 USD. After that users will have to pay $156 USD for the phone, or just over $200 USD for a combo including the phone and a selfie stick.
Limited release branded smartphones are not unusual in the Chinese market. This year ZTE launched an NBA version of their Axon Mini exclusively to the Chinese market
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple reportedly switching to OLED iPhone screens in 2018
http://www.geek.com/apple/apple-reportedly-switching-to-oled-iphone-screens-in-2018-1640640/
Apple has always used LCD display technology in the iPhone, but reports are now claiming the technology giant is planning a switch to OLED screens. Apple is reportedly meeting with suppliers to lay the groundwork for the switch, which could happen in 2018. That would be the iPhone 8 generation.
The current iPhone 6s Plus has a 1080p LCD, the highest among Apple’s smartphones. Android devices have moved to 2560 x 1440 LCDs in some cases, but these panels tend to be noticeably dimmer and use more power than lower resolution screens. OLED displays have the advantage here as the light is produced by the pixels themselves rather than a backlight.
The problem (and the reason Apple is said to be meeting with suppliers so early) is that Samsung is the only company that can produce OLED panels in significant volume. All of its high-end phones have Super AMOLED screens, which are the best displays available on a phone right now. LG is expected to expand production of OLEDs, which it has used on a handful of phones so far. Japanese display makers JD and Sharp might see their orders from Apple fall as Samsung and LG start supplying Cupertino with AMOLEDs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Angela Moscaritolo / PC Magazine:
Swatch partners with Visa to let cardholders in US, Brazil, and Switzerland “tap and pay” with upcoming NFC enabled Bellamy smartwatch — Swatch, Visa Make it Easy to Pay With Your Watch — The world’s largest watch maker will soon give those in the U.S. the opportunity to pay for items with a tap of their wrist.
Swatch, Visa Make it Easy to Pay With Your Watch
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2495803,00.asp
The world’s largest watch maker will soon give those in the U.S. the opportunity to pay for items with a tap of their wrist.
Swatch on Monday announced it has partnered with Visa to let cardholders in the U.S. as well as Switzerland and Brazil “tap and pay” for items with its upcoming Bellamy smartwatch. Slated to launch early next year, Swatch Bellamy can be used globally, in any location where contactless, near-field communication (NFC)-based payments are accepted.
First announced last month, the Swatch Bellamy features a built-in NFC chip beneath the dial that uses high-frequency radio waves to let you pay for items at compatible terminals with a simple swipe of the watch. It will be priced at about 91 Swiss Franc, “or more or less $100 USD,” a Swatch spokesman said last month.
“Pay-by-the-wrist transactions require absolutely no energy at all from the watch itself, meaning customers can expect the usual battery life of a Swatch,” the company said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Adobe brings Premiere Clip to Android, its first video editor for Android — Adobe releases its first video editor for Android — Adobe has been starting to pay more attention to Android, and that continues today with the launch of Premiere Clip, the first video editor it’s brought to Google’s platform.
Adobe releases its first video editor for Android
http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/30/9818802/premiere-clip-android-launched-announced-adobe-video-editing
Adobe has been starting to pay more attention to Android, and that continues today with the launch of Premiere Clip, the first video editor it’s brought to Google’s platform. Premiere Clip on Android is pretty much identical to Premiere Clip on iOS, which launched around this time last year: it’s an easy-to-use but surprisingly capable video editor that lets you assemble clips, adjust their look, and put music over them. For those who don’t want to do much editing themselves, the app can also automatically put together videos, matching your clips up to one of its built-in background tracks.
Though there’s no major feature updates in this release of Clip (it received a major update last month on iOS), its arrival on Android is a key step for Adobe. Adobe has been trying to make mobile tools that are as critical for creation as its desktop apps, and this is the first time it’s addressing video editing on Android.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung replaces chief of struggling mobile unit
http://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-replaces-chief-of-struggling-smartphone-unit/
Co-CEO JK Shin, who had headed up the unit since 2009, will remain as head of the company’s overall mobile business to focus on long-term strategy.
Samsung has named a new head of its mobile communications unit as the company seeks to reverse dwindling smartphones sales.
The South Korean electronics giant said during its annual personnel appointments announcement that Dongjin Koh will take over day-to-day management of the company’s smartphone business, replacing Samsung co-CEO JK Shin, according to Reuters. Shin, who served as the head of Samsung’s mobile communications business since 2009, will remain the head of the company’s overall mobile division to focus on long-term strategy.
The move comes as Samsung seeks to revitalize its smartphone business, which has suffered from declining profits and market share during the past two years. Samsung remains the smartphone king, but it has been hit hard by saturation in the high-end market and intensifying pressure on the low end.
Tomi Engdahl says:
If a picture tells a 1000 words about latency, Google won’t load it
Chrome Data Saver removes images on slow connections for the next billion
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/01/chrome_data_saver_removes_images_on_slow_connections/
Google’s tweaked the Data Saver in the mobile version of its Chrome browser, making images an opt-in luxury for those on slow connections.
“After the page has loaded, you can tap to show all images or just the individual ones you want, making the web faster and cheaper to access on slow connections,” Google says, claiming “up to 70 percent” of savings in data downloads.
For now, only subscribers in India and Indonesia – the world’s second and fourth most populous nations respectively – are getting this facility. Google promises the service will arrive in “additional countries in the coming months.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft launches PowerApps for businesses to create mobile and web-based apps without writing code on iOS, Android, and Windows
Microsoft takes wraps off PowerApps mobile-app creation service
http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-takes-wraps-off-powerapps-mobile-app-creation-service/
Microsoft is opening up a limited preview of its PowerApps service for creating, sharing and managing mobile business apps on iOS, Android and Windows devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dan Frommer / Quartz:
A review of Apple Watch 220 days in: apps ecosystem seems stalled, perhaps because the watch is so reliant on iPhone
220-DAY REVIEW
Half a year later, the Apple Watch feels like a stalled platform
http://qz.com/557652/half-a-year-later-the-apple-watch-feels-like-a-stalled-platform/
Seven months later, my Apple Watch is still the second thing I put on every morning. (Glasses first.) But while I still enjoy using it and recommend buying it, I’m starting to feel the limitations of what the first version of the watch can do.
The main issue: I’m still only using it for a few tasks, and those haven’t changed at all.
Here’s what’s working: I’ve learned to rely on the watch, without thinking, for a handful of functions. These are as basic as quickly telling time to as futuristic-seeming as watching my Uber approach on a tiny map before it swings around the corner.
Notifications, one of the early big-idea purposes of a smartwatch, are pretty reliable and, with some attention to their frequency, very useful.
I reply to a large portion of text messages from the watch, using customized quick responses. Tracking my exercise has helped me lose 10 pounds.
But that’s about it. And they are pretty much the same ways I used the watch when I first got it.
The platform simply feels stalled.
I don’t think I’m being lazy. I’ve searched for new and compelling new uses of the device, but they are nowhere to be found.
One of the big new features of watchOS 2 was supposed to be custom widgets for the watch face, called complications. But the few I’ve tried are very basic replacements of system complications, or they are impractical for daily use. (One I’d love to try, real-time sports scores during a game, still seems to be missing from the apps that could provide such a thing.) Games on the watch, meanwhile, still feel awkward and slow, despite gaining new access to the operating system.
It just doesn’t feel like the dawn of the iPhone app revolution in 2008, when that’s all people wanted to talk about. How does an Apple Watch app go viral?
Investors say they haven’t found any great Apple Watch startups yet.
It’s also now obvious that it’s going to take more time before great watch-native services appear.
Perhaps the problem is that it’s an iPhone accessory that wants to be an iPhone.
Overall, I still really like the Apple Watch, and will continue to wear it daily.
The Apple Watch seems to be selling well enough to earn the company’s continued attention and investment, at least for the foreseeable future. Apple has likely sold more than 5 million of them so far.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Saleable Wearables: A Surprising List
What the public wants
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328345&
The consumer electronics industry is feeling a little spooked by a drop of 4.36% in year-over-year demand — from October 2014-October 2015, according to Argus Insights — for a wearable market recently regarded as the next big thing.
Convergence vs. divergence
What do we know thus far?
John Feland, CEO, Argus Insights, told us, “Whereas the smartphone is the ultimate convergence product, we are learning that wearables are inherently divergent products.”
It turns out that super-duper smartwatches loaded with full-blown phone/email/camera/voice assistant capabilities together with all other bells and whistles are not necessarily winning the hearts-and-minds battle.
Leading up to Black Friday, Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch, despite its prolonged presence on the market, did not even make the top ten list of smartwatches favored by smartwatch users, according to Feland. “That sort of surprised me,” he said.
In contrast, Pebble has consistently excelled – ranked in the fifth place after Apple Watches. Pebble has arrived by understanding that smartwatches are about “information snacking and notification,” explained Feland. They aren’t about cramming all the smartphone functions into a watch. The market is proving that “this isn’t about a Dick Tracy watch,” he added.
The Apple Watch 38mm, Sport 38mm, 42mm and Sport 42mm occupied the top four slots on the Argus list.
Surprising winner
The most telling trend in the fitness band category is the emergence of Lumo Lift Posture and Activity Tracker as the top wearable device approaching Black Friday, 2015.
Lumo, after all, isn’t a fitness band at all. It’s a broochlike device that clips to a shirt, blouse or strapless evening gown, using a magnetic clasp.
Feland called Lumo Lift Posture and Activity Tracker “a surprise winner in the category.”
He explained, “While it received relatively less feedback than other more established brands, consumers were extremely pleased with its simplicity, ease of use, and instant actionable feedback of the clip on Posture Monitor.”
Another interesting trend is the consumer fascination with heart rates.
“Heartbeat monitoring has become the must-have feature for fitness trackers, leaving triathlon-friendly bands like Moov in the dust for this holiday,” noted Feland. This means, of course, that smartwatch purveyors better have a good heartbeat monitoring feature, he added.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Newsroom:
Samsung launches Internet for VR, its web browser for Gear VR, with Gaze Mode for UI navigation, on-screen keyboard, voice controls, more — Samsung Launches Optimized Web Browser for Gear VR — Samsung Electronics announced the web browser optimized for Gear VR.
Samsung Launches Optimized Web Browser for Gear VR
http://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-launches-optimized-web-browser-for-gear-vr
Samsung Electronics announced the web browser optimized for Gear VR. Samsung Internet for Gear VR is the latest virtual reality service along with a strengthened VR content ecosystem. The app now allows users to intuitively browse the web and enjoy content in a more immersive atmosphere without having to download content on to their smartphones.
“As a pioneer in the mobile VR industry, Samsung has continually worked to provide our users with a fully immersive mobile experience in the evolving world of virtual reality,
Through the Internet for VR, users can directly enjoy a variety of on-line content by browsing the web. It supports both 360-degree and 3D video streaming, as well as any HTML5 video from the web, allowing users to enjoy video content in a fully immersive environment.
Furthermore, in order to make text input intuitive and easy, Internet for VR provides voice recognition, along with on-screen keyboard. With Gaze Mode, users can select menus by simply gazing at them, without having to lift a finger.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TomTom warns cameras – for free
The navigator manufacturer TomTom has introduced the ranks of Android applications free application that tells you real-time alerts as well as fixed and mobile speed cameras on the location of the driver in use by itinerary.
TomTom Speed Cameras app sends the user’s smartphone alert you of upcoming fixed and mobile traffic cameras as well as providing a general speed limit information area. Solid traffic camera locations themselves are maintained by TomTom, the user community, in turn, reported the locations of mobile cameras.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3683:tomtom-varoittaa-valvontakameroista-ilmaiseksi&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft’s Surface Phone is coming in the second half of next year
http://uk.businessinsider.com/microsoft-surface-phone-is-coming-in-the-second-half-of-next-year-2015-12
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cellphones Really Are Not As Good As They Were 10 Years Ago At Making Calls
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/15/12/03/1441259/cellphones-really-are-not-as-good-as-they-were-10-years-ago-at-making-calls
If you ever thought that your cellphone does not make calls as well as the cellphone you had 10 years ago, you may be right. The UK’s Ofcom (roughly equivalent to the FCC) tested cellphones and found that many needed a much higher signal than the standards recommend in order to send and receive data. This applied to 2G, 3G and 4G connections.
Why your new £600 smartphone is probably not as good as your phone from a decade ago
Regulator refuses to name names as technical research finds top brands failing to meet standards
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/telecoms/12029524/Why-your-new-600-smartphone-is-probably-not-as-good-as-your-phone-from-a-decade-ago.html
Ever suspected that your £600, top-of-the-range smartphone is not as good for basic communications as the mobile you used a decade ago? Now there is official confirmation you are probably right.
A study commissioned by the industry regulator Ofcom has found that for all the technology packed into flagship devices by Apple, Samsung and others, a handset costing a fraction of the price typically provides better signal performance for voice calls and texts.
The research, conducted in controlled lab conditions on a selection of popular smartphones and non-smart phones currently on the market, found that on a 2G network the cheaper handsets were much better at picking up weak signals. Some smartphones require a minimum signal 10 times stronger than the best non-smart phone before they can make or receive a call, according to Ofcom’s research.
The experiments have been carried out as mobile operators come under pressure to increase coverage, particularly in rural areas where masts are typically further apart and provide a weaker connection to the network. But while network infrastructure investment is seen as key to improving coverage, handsets also play a significant role.
Ofcom’s findings will give weight to claims that the shift to smartphones encased in glass and metal rather than the plastic typically used in cheaper mobiles has contributed to calls being cut off. On average, the smartphones Ofcom tested required a minimum 2G signal seven times stronger than the average non-smartphone.
The research, due to contribute to more detailed mobile coverage maps, found smartphones performing below international standards for mobile broadband signal performance. On 3G networks the worst performer needed a signal nine times stronger than the minimum recommended by the GSMA, the mobile industry’s standards body.
On faster 4G mobile broadband the bottom of the class required seven times the recommended signal strength to send data back and forth.
For some smartphones the chances of being cut off also vary significantly depending on if it is held in the left or right hand, owing to the position of the antenna.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ballmer decries Microsoft’s financials and lack of Android apps
He only says these things because he ‘loves this company’
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2437746/ballmer-decries-microsofts-financials-and-lack-of-android-apps
BASKETBALL MAGNATE Steve Ballmer has been using fruity language to express his frustration at the way Microsoft is being run.
Ballmer also expressed his frustration at the app vacuum in the Windows Store
Ballmer successor Satya Nadella’s response was to talk about the appeal to developers of Universal Apps, which can be written once and used across the whole Microsoft ecosystem.
“That won’t work,” Ballmer commented as Nadella spoke. Instead, the company needs Windows Phones “to run Android apps”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The weirdest Windows phone in years comes from Japan
http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/1/9826028/nuans-neo-windows-10-mobile-japan
Microsoft’s first Lumia smartphones running Windows 10 Mobile have just landed, but we’re yet to see much in the way of third-party support for the new OS. That might not be much of a surprise; big-hitter Android OEMs like Samsung and HTC haven’t paid Windows Phone much attention in years, and they were some of its bigger supporters.
That’s not to say there won’t be any offerings beside Microsoft’s own, however, and the past week has seen some emerge from the unlikeliest of countries — Japan.
Windows Phone 7 handset from Toshiba and Fujitsu flopped, the entire platform has been dead on arrival. But two Windows Mobile 10 handsets have gone on sale in Japan in the past few days
But now there’s a Japanese Windows phone with a unique design, from a company that’s never even made a phone before. Meet the NuAns Neo.
The NuAns Neo doesn’t look like any phone released in the past few years. Its chunky 11.3mm-thick frame marks a deliberate attempt to step out of the thinness arms race, and its mix-and-match snap-on covers — in materials like wood and ultrasuede — make it clear that this is more than just a rebranded reference design.
The Neo is a really nice phone to hold. That’s not to say it feels expensive
But why is an unorthodox new Windows phone popping up in Japan, of all places? Surprisingly, it’s down to the company’s iOS heritage.
Simplism is one of the most well-known iPhone accessory brands in Japan, and Tent makes a variety of neat household items with a typically Japanese aesthetic.
The NuAns Neo will go on sale in January at ¥39,800 ($324), though that only gets you the Core unit
Windows 10 Mobile isn’t fully baked as an operating system, and its weak app support is even more pronounced in Japan, where the ecosystem has been dead for years.
NuAns Neo is at least a more original and inventive offering than what Microsoft itself cooked up with the latest flagship Lumias
Tomi Engdahl says:
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
IDC: Wearables grew 197.6% in Q3 2015, Fitbit beats Apple again while Samsung drops out of top 5
http://venturebeat.com/2015/12/03/idc-wearables-grew-197-6-in-q3-2015-fitbit-beats-apple-again-while-samsung-drops-out-of-top-5/
Smartphones and tablets may be dominated by big tech companies, but wearables are still led by the little guy. In Q3 2015, Fitbit narrowly stole first place again, keeping it ahead of Apple and Xiaomi. At the same time, Chinese vendor XTC, a subsidiary of BBK, beat out Samsung for fifth place.
Mobile companies shipped a total of 21.0 million wearables worldwide last quarter. That figure is up 197.6 percent from the 7.1 million units shipped in Q3 2014.
Because this is such a new space, you can expect the top five vendors will not only shift places, but come in and drop out on a quarterly basis.
As you can see above, Fitbit’s market share actually decreased by 10.6 percentage points (from 32.8 percent to 22.2 percent), despite shipping more than double the number of devices (4.7 million). From almost a third of the market to just over a fifth — that’s what happens when the market grows almost 200 percent.
Nevertheless, Fitbit remained first thanks to its popular Fitbit Charge and Fitbit Surge models, according to IDC. Its fast-growing Corporate Wellness strategy, which now has more than 70 Fortune 500 companies deploying Fitbit devices to its employees, also played a big part.
Apple meanwhile debuted at 18.6 percent, jumping straight into second place — where it also started last quarter. We can’t compare year-over-year growth, but shipping 3.6 million watches in Q2 and then 3.9 million watches in Q3
Xiaomi showed the most growth by far, thanks to its inexpensive Mi Band.
“The early stages of the wearables market have led to tight competition among the leading vendors, and Chinese vendors have seized upon market momentum to grab market share,” IDC’s Ramon Llamas said in a statement. “China has quickly emerged as the fastest-growing wearables market, attracting companies eager to compete on price and feature sets.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
BlueStacks hits over 109M downloads, 1B apps used per month, now supports multiple simultaneous Android apps on Windows
BlueStacks hits a billion apps used per month and launches new mobile platform
http://venturebeat.com/2015/12/03/bluestacks-hits-a-billion-apps-used-per-month-and-launches-new-mobile-platform/
In 2011, BlueStacks was a small company when it debuted its virtualization platform that enables people to play Android mobile apps on a PC. Now the company’s App Player has become surprisingly popular, with more than 109 million downloads of the BlueStacks player, which is used to engage with a billion apps per month. The Silicon Valley company announced those numbers and said today that it has launched its BlueStacks 2 platform with even better technology.
BlueStacks is now the seventh-largest distributor of Android. The growth says a lot about the popularity of Google’s Android operating system and its apps, which people want to play on devices such as TVs and PCs. But it also shows how popular Android games and communications apps have become in places such as China, where BlueStacks is popular
“This is equally surprising to us that the organic growth continues to happen,” said Rosen Sharma, the chief executive of BlueStacks in an interview with GamesBeat. “It is driven by the popularity of Android.”
In places such as China, players have begun playing “midcore” games on Android devices. But they also want to play those games, such as titles like Crossy Road (pictured above), on bigger screens such as laptops or desktop PCs, Sharma said. To do that, they download the free BlueStacks app player to a Windows PC or Mac. The player lets people run most of the millions of apps (about 96 percent of them) and games (86 percent) available on the Google Play Store — on their computer. It does this through virtualization software.
Games account for 40 percent of usage. Another 30 percent comes from messaging apps as it is much easier to type messages on a PC keyboard than it is on a mobile device. The remaining 30 percent of usage is attributed to all sorts of Android apps, Sharma said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wall Street Journal:
Qualcomm signs patent-licensing deal with Xiaomi, quieting fears about China and causing stock to jump 5.6%
Qualcomm Inks License Deal With China’s Xiaomi
Deal quiets fears that chip maker’s woes in the Asian country would linger
http://www.wsj.com/article_email/qualcomm-inks-license-deal-with-chinas-xiaomi-1449073395-lMyQjAxMTI1MDA0MjMwMjIxWj
Qualcomm Inc. said it reached a patent-licensing deal with Xiaomi Corp., one of China’s largest smartphone makers, a sign of progress in easing the chip maker’s struggles in the country.
The San Diego-based company’s stock jumped 5.6% to $52.03 in afternoon trading on Wednesday in response to the announcement.
Qualcomm gets more than half its profit from licensing patents, and customers in China accounted for more than half of total revenue during the fiscal year ended in September.
The deal with Xiaomi follows announcements of agreements with China’s Huawei Technologies Co., TCL Communication Technology Holdings Ltd and ZTE Corp. Qualcomm was in negotiations with Lenovo Group Ltd. as recently as last month, people familiar with the matter said.
Qualcomm’s licensing business generated $6.6 billion in profit last year, compared with $3.8 billion for its chip business.
A pioneer in cellular technology, the company has long charged handset makers royalties to use patents associated with the third-generation cellular technology dubbed 3G. It also licenses patents on 4G technology
Tomi Engdahl says:
IDC:
Worldwide Smartphone Market Will See the First Single-Digit Growth Year on Record — Worldwide Smartphone Market Will See the First Single-Digit Growth Year on Record, According to IDC — FRAMINGHAM, Mass. December 3 , 201 5 – According to a new forecast from the International Data Corporation …
Worldwide Smartphone Market Will See the First Single-Digit Growth Year on Record, According to IDC
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS40664915
03 Dec 2015
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. December 3 , 201 5 – According to a new forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC ) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker , 2015 will be the first full year of single-digit worldwide smartphone growth. IDC predicts worldwide smartphone shipments will grow 9.8% in 2015 to a total of 1.43 billion units. IDC updated its previous forecast to reflect slowing growth in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan), Latin America, and Western Europe. The slower growth is expected to intensify slightly over the 2015-2019 forecast period and is largely attributed to lower shipment forecasts for Windows Phone as well as “alternative platforms” (phones running operating systems other than Android, iOS, and Windows Phone).
China has been the focal point of the smartphone market in recent quarters as its economic slowdown has dampened worldwide growth due to the sheer size of the market. However, IDC maintains its view that China has largely become a replacement market. As a result, shipment growth in China is only forecast to be in the low single digits. The Middle East & Africa (MEA) region will see the highest growth in 2015 with shipments expected to increase nearly 50% year over year, surpassing “hot growth” markets like India and Indonesia.
“The main driver has been and will continue to be the success of low-cost smartphones in emerging markets. This, in turn, will depend on capturing value-oriented first-time smartphone buyers as well as replacement buyers. We believe that, in a number of high-growth markets, replacement cycles will be less than the typical two-year rate, mainly because the components that comprise a sub-$100 smartphone simply do not have the ability to survive two years. Offering products that appeal to both types of buyers at a suitable price point will be crucial to maintaining growth and vendor success.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Stephen Hall / 9to5Google:
Google launches Unity plugin to help developers make Chromecast-compatible games — Google has today launched the Google Cast Remote Display plugin for Unity, in hopes that developers will now be able to more easily bring their mobile games to the TV. This is the same plugin that many games …
Google launches Unity plugin to help developers make Chromecast-compatible games
http://9to5google.com/2015/12/03/google-launches-unity-plugin-to-help-developers-make-chromecast-compatible-games/
Google has today launched the Google Cast Remote Display plugin for Unity, in hopes that developers will now be able to more easily bring their mobile games to the TV. This is the same plugin that many games on the Play Store — including Monopoly Here & Now, Risk, and more — already use…
Google says that, as of today, developers can download the new Remote Display plugin for Unity from both GitHub and the Unity Asset Store.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Derek Walter / Greenbot:
Google announces Best of Play Store lists for apps, games, movies, music, and more for 2015 — Google Play Store publishes lists of the best apps and best games of 2015 — Let the year-end roundups begin. Google is fully on board with this phenomenon, back again with the annual list of the best apps and games for the Play Store.
Google Play Store publishes lists of the best apps and best games of 2015
http://www.greenbot.com/article/3012084/android/google-play-store-publishes-lists-of-the-best-apps-and-best-games-of-2015.html
Even some Google competitors made the list, with Microsoft Word and Amazon’s Twitch among the honorees.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TAG Heuer’s Android smartwatch is (relatively) popular
http://wap.engadget.com/2015/12/05/tag-heuer-connected-outpacing-demand/
The watchmaker is stepping up Connected production, although it’s not about to make Apple or Samsung nervous.
TAG Heuer’s $1,500 Connected smartwatch may have been a big gamble, but it’s paying off… relatively speaking. LVMH watch chief Jean-Claude Biver tells Bloomberg that his company is upping production of the Android Wear timepiece to meet demand from retailers, and it’s even freezing online sales until May or June for the sake of giving physical stores a better shot. However, the numbers aren’t about to keep established smartwatch makers awake at night. Production is increasing from 1,200 per week to a not-so-whopping 2,000 — for context, IDC estimates that Apple sold 3.9 million smartwatches in the third quarter, or about 43,000 per day. TAG’s device is successful in the luxury world’s terms, but numerous smartwatch brands will easily outsell it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ian Sherr / CNET:
Facebook takes down Creative Labs webpage, removes Slingshot, Riff, Rooms from app stores — Facebook shuts down Creative Labs, apps — The initiative behind some of the company’s most experimental apps has gone away, along with the apps it produced over the past year.
Facebook shuts down Creative Labs, apps
http://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-quietly-shuts-down-creative-labs-and-apps/
The initiative behind some of the company’s most experimental apps has gone away, along with the apps it produced over the past year. Facebook says it will still encourage experimentation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dropbox is shutting down its Mailbox and Carousel apps
Better options have emerged for email and photos
http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/7/9862470/dropbox-shutting-down-mailbox-carousel-apps
Tomi Engdahl says:
Billy Steele / Engadget:
Adobe Lightroom mobile on Android is now available for free
http://www.engadget.com/2015/12/07/adobe-lightroom-mobile-android-free/
Adobe nixed the Creative Cloud requirement for its mobile photo-editing software.
Adobe ditched the Creative Cloud requirement for Lightroom mobile on iOS back in October, and now it’s doing the same for Android. With an update to version 1.4 for the Android app, the photo-editing software is now free to use.
Lightroom mobile offers handy tools, like the ability to copy and paste edits, to help streamline your workflow.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.lrmobile&hl=en
Tomi Engdahl says:
China Swarms into IoT
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328437&
The entry of dozens of Chinese manufacturers into smart watches is dropping factory prices of the products to a range of $15 to $55,
The watches, mostly incorporating a MediaTek Aster SoC or dual-core processor to provide 3G calling, run a basic version of Android Wear and simulate the interface of the Apple iWatch, the report said.
MediaTek and Qualcomm are the main suppliers for China’s wearable and home IoT offerings, according to the Credit Suisse report. Qualcomm is targeting new businesses in wearables, control and automation, consumer electronics, machine-to-machine and smart cities, the report said.
China’s Rockchip is diversifying into smartphones for IoT, and with its partner Intel, is promoting the SoFIA 3G-R, integrating a 64-bit Atom quad core, a 600 MHz ARM Mali GPU, a 3G modem and support for WiFi, 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS.
Rockchip has also launched the RK6321 smart watch SoC including customized sensors, Infineon baseband from Intel, low power Bluetooth and WiFi.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm Is Accused of Violating Antitrust Rules in Europe
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/technology/qualcomm-is-accused-of-violating-antitrust-rules-in-europe.html
The European Commission on Tuesday filed antitrust charges against the chip maker Qualcomm, the latest in a growing number of competition investigations targeting American technology companies.
Europe’s antitrust officials in Brussels said that Qualcomm, one of the world’s largest makers of chips, had abused its dominant market position in the region by offering financial incentives to smartphone and tablet manufacturers that agreed to buy equipment solely from Qualcomm.
Qualcomm was also accused of unfairly setting prices below manufacturing costs to force competitors from the market. The company’s chips are widely used in smartphones and other mobile devices that have become central to many people’s daily lives.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:
Apple debuts $99 Smart Battery Case for iPhone 6/6S, extends talk time to 25 hours, LTE browsing to 18 hours, available to order online now
$50-$100 off: all Apple Watches + a free $50 B&H Gift Card
Free Apple TV: with all 2015 MacBook Pros (plus discounts)
Listen: AI podcast talks headphones jacks, 4″ iPhones
iPhone: Apple rumored to ditch 3.5mm jack in 2016
iPad Pro v. MacBook: Which is right for you?
Review: Apple’s 12.9″ iPad Pro with A9X CPU
Buyer’s guide: iPhone accessories for film & photo
Deals: The best leftover discounts still available on Apple gear
Rumor: New 4″ iPhone to feature Apple Pay, A9 CPU
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Apple debuts Smart Battery Case for iPhone 6s, extends life up to 25 hours
http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/12/08/apple-debuts-smart-battery-case-for-iphone-6s-extends-life-up-to-25-hours-
In a surprise release on Tuesday, Apple debuted the Smart Battery Case for iPhone 6s and 6, the first integrated battery pack to come out of Cupertino since the original iPhone launched in 2007.
According to the item’s description, the Smart Battery Case is designed specifically for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6 devices, offering users a high level of protection and up to 25 hours of extended usage.
Like Apple’s current lineup of custom-fit iPhone cases, the battery-packed version is made from soft touch silicone and comes lined with microfiber material. A special elastomer hinge design allows for easy insertion and removal, suggesting the case itself is somewhat pliable.
Apple fails to specify exact battery capacity information, but claims talk times can increase up to 25 hours, Internet browsing over LTE up to 18 hours, and audio and video playback up to 20 hours.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google Turns On Safe Browsing In Chrome For Android
http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/07/google-turns-on-safe-browsing-in-chrome-for-android/
Google’s Safe Browsing technology is now enabled by default on Android to protect mobile Chrome users from accessing phishing sites and web pages that harbor malware.
deceptive_mob_interstitial (2)Until now, Safe Browsing was only available to desktop users, as well as for Chrome users on Android who turned on Google’s optional data compression service. Indeed, for those mobile users, Safe Browsing has already been enabled for almost two years.
So why did it take Google so long to enable this feature for all of its mobile users on Android? According to the company, it’s far harder to keep a long list of potentially harmful sites on a mobile device than on the desktop. With the data compression service, all your unencrypted web traffic is routed through Google’s servers, where Google can then easily check URLs against its blacklist. On mobile, it’s not that easy.
“Bytes are big: our mantra is that every single bit that Safe Browsing sends a mobile device must improve protection,” Google’s Safe Browsing team members Noé Lutz, Nathan Parker, and Stephan Somogyi said in today’s announcement. “Network bandwidth and battery are the scarcest resources on a mobile device, so we had to carefully rethink how to best protect mobile users. Some social engineering attacks only happen in certain parts of the world, so we only send information that protects devices in the geographic regions they’re in.”
If you’re a Chrome user on Android, chances are you already use Safe Browsing. Google enabled this with its latest Google Play Services update.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:
In places where data is more expensive, ad blockers help manage the cost, for customers and carriers
The Ad Blocking Industry: Global, Large, Threatening
http://www.mondaynote.com/2015/12/06/the-ad-blocking-industry-global-large-threatening/
First ignited by anti-advertising zealots, ad blocking is now a growing business involving an “interesting” set of players. These range from opportunistic startups intending to leverage the power of cell phone carriers, to large multinational groups wanting to control the ad supply aimed at the Internet’s Next Billion.
When European or American publishers rant about the ad blocking plague, they tend to focus on browser extensions such as AdBlock Plus that eat a sizable part of their business. But the scope of the problem does vary with territories and demographics. At a European gaming site, 90% of users run an ad blocker, and a major German publisher recently stated that 40% of its monetization evaporated for the same reason. In the news business, roughly 30% of desktop users watch contents with no ads
Google gathered a couple of hundreds of its advertising partners, 23% of the audience admitted using an ad blocker. The very same crowd that sells or buy ads eliminates them while browsing the web. Interesting.
As big as it already is, this might in fact just be the tip of the iceberg. The ad blocking picture in even more startling when considered on a global scale and when the mobile internet enters the picture. There, new players are staking strategic positions.
In countries such as India, China and Indonesia (altogether 1.1 billion internet users), mobile browsing is much more prevalent that in Western countries. As one of my interlocutors explained, new digital users often go online with smartphones that don’t have sufficient capabilities to accommodate a large number of applications. In addition, data plans are expensive. In Asia, owning a mobile phone eats about 5% of the average salary, vs. 1% or 2% in Western countries (where the data consumption is at least three times higher.) Once an Indian user gets a new phone, s/he won’t go online to get his apps but go to a local store that will connect the handset to a cable and load a small number of programs. The process is often repeated as churn rates are high in these markets.
These peculiar economics make the task of selling ads on mobile quite hard. As an engineer who works in Asia told me: “It’s difficult, especially if you consider local market conditions, prices [of ads] are so low that they can fall below the cost of the data that transport them…”
Hence the appeal of adblockers.
In India (and in most Asian markets), the n°1 mobile browser, UC Browser, commands a 51% market share, leaving its competitor in the dust
Here is the catch: UC Browser comes with an ad blocker set to “on” by default. This browser promises to consume 79% less data than its competitors…
Even more interesting, UC Web is part of Alibaba Group, the giant Chinese e-commerce site: with the the equivalent of $248bn in revenue, Alibaba is bigger than Amazon and eBay combined. Hence the question: What is the n°1 e-retailer in the world doing in the ad blocking business?
It could be two things. One is that Alibaba sees ads as deteriorating the mobile browsing experience so much that they hurt e-commerce revenue. This makes sense: Google found that 49% of people leave a mobile web site if it takes longer than 6 to 10 seconds to load. The other reason could be that Alibaba wants to control the flow of advertising, to favor its own. Operating a largely deployed ad blocker means retaining a tight grip on ad filters, that is manipulate UC browser settings that selectively let “good” ads go through.
This is happens to be the very model at the core ad blocking business Eyeo GmbH, the creator of AdBlock Plus. The company might say it puts the consumer first, but when an advertising player decides to pay up, Eyeo’s virtue yields to cash.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Anick Jesdanun / Associated Press:
Apple says Apple Maps is used 3X more often than its next leading competitor on iOS, now logging 5B requests per week — Apple Maps, once a laughingstock, now dominates iPhones — 3 photos — NEW YORK (AP) — Apple Maps quickly became the butt of jokes when it debuted in 2012.
Apple Maps, once a laughingstock, now dominates iPhones
http://bigstory.ap.org/df90458e58564f19b4b7c8510f9baa67
Apple Maps quickly became the butt of jokes when it debuted in 2012. It overlooked many towns and businesses and misplaced famous landmarks. It marked New York’s Madison Square Garden arena as park space because of the word “Garden.” The service was a rare blunder for a company known for simple, easy-to-use products.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Mozilla Will Stop Developing And Selling Firefox OS Smartphones — Farewell Firefox OS smartphones. Mozilla today announced an end to its smartphone experiment, and said that it would stop developing and selling Firefox OS smartphones. It will continue to experiment on how it might work …
Mozilla Will Stop Developing And Selling Firefox OS Smartphones
http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/08/mozilla-will-stop-developing-and-selling-firefox-os-smartphones/
Farewell Firefox OS smartphones. Mozilla today announced an end to its smartphone experiment, and said that it would stop developing and selling Firefox OS smartphones. It will continue to experiment on how it might work on other connected devices and Internet of Things networks.
The announcement was made earlier today at Mozilla’s developer event in Orlando, “Mozlando“, and several people were tweeting the basics of the news. Now Mozilla has provided us with a full statement from Ari Jaaksi, Mozilla’s SVP of Connected Devices.
“We are proud of the benefits Firefox OS added to the Web platform and will continue to experiment with the user experience across connected devices. We will build everything we do as a genuine open source project, focused on user experience first and build tools to enable the ecosystem to grow.
Firefox OS proved the flexibility of the Web, scaling from low-end smartphones all the way up to HD TVs. However, we weren’t able to offer the best user experience possible and so we will stop offering Firefox OS smartphones through carrier channels.
We’ll share more on our work and new experiments across connected devices soon.”
Firefox OS was first unveiled in 2013, with the aim of targeting the developing world and late adopters with low-cost handsets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Instagram Now Lets You “3D Touch” Photos On Android
http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/12/08/instagram-now-lets-you-3d-touch-photos-on-android/
The highlight feature of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus is something called “3D Touch” — a way of interacting with the phone by pressing harder on the screen than you regularly would.
This is not to be confused with “Force Touch,”
The point of 3D Touch (and Force Touch, for that matter), is to provide quicker access to options or common actions with fewer taps. To put it bluntly, it’s really just a glorified long press or right click. That doesn’t mean it’s not without its advantages, but it’s more of an evolutionary feature than a revolutionary one.
One of the first apps to jump on the 3D Touch bandwagon was Instagram, letting users preview an image in search results by pressing harder on it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wearables Show New Wrinkles
More conductive yarns, weavers emerge
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328393&
The good news for wearables is many new conductive yarns and people weaving with them have emerged in the last 18 months. The bad news is there are no standards for their electronic properties, especially after a few cycles in the washing machine.
“I’m seeing a proliferation of conductive fibers, but I still can’t tell yet which are the best fit because we have no standards,” said Cath Rogan, principal of Smart Garment People, a consulting firm in Lancashire, UK. “I’m going to testing houses to help develop benchmarks because when they say a [conductive yarn] is washable, I ask ‘at what temperature, how many times and does that include a spin cycle,’” she said.
“The level of complexity for clothing is daunting, [adding electronics] is three times the complexity of adopting a new material like Gore-Tex because it’s not just materials but sensors and electronics,” said Davide Vigano, chief executive of Sensoria which makes socks and shirts that track exercise data. “We are the Gore-Tex of wearables, and we hope to show if we can do it, Nike and Adidas can do it, too,” Vigano said.
“The knowledge we are building every day is amazing, and were filing patents on it,” he added.
“Different kinds of conductive yarns are out there now, even conductive inks for printing, so more options are coming,” said Nadia King, chief marketing officer of AIQ Smart Clothing Inc., a new e-textiles division of a 30-year old garment company based in Taiwan.
At the event, AIQ showed sports garments with a packaged version of 316L stainless steel fabrics sewn into their seams.
But a big issue looms on the horizon. No one has a killer app that can be created at a small premium over today’s garments.
“Premium brands are incredibly cost conscious, they are very cost oriented and this is a big challenge,”
“Some of the [clothing] brands right now are in an early adopter and trial phase, but if we don’t bring the costs down it won’t go anywhere,” he added. “Making data useful is key to getting customers to come back, so data analytics companies are critical,” he said.
The potential is huge. An estimated 60 billion garments are sold every year, about a third of them for sports, said Rogan. With annual revenues of about $3.8 trillion, textiles are the world’s third largest industry, growing at about 4% a year, “but it’s fragmented,” said Vigano of Sensoria.
Japan Aviation Electronics Industry Ltd. showed its printed electronics bonded on shirts. The components can bond to textiles using mechanical processes and UV light rather than thermal processes others use that can damage the electronics. “Printed electronics will be big in e-textiles,”
Sensoria puts Bluetooth Low Energy in an ankle-worn transceiver (above) and both BLE and ANT+ in a device worn on a shirt. The socks (below) have flexible pressure sensors woven into the heels.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Basis, Misfit investor on wearable sea change, disdain for Apple Watch and unicorns
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2015/12/basis-misfit-investor-on-wearable-sea-change.html
Casper de Clercq, promoted this month to general partner at Norwest Venture Partners, has had a good run with consumer-focused wearable companies.
He also invested in Burlingame-based Misfit Wearables, which was acquired this year by Fossil for about $260 million.
But he is most excited these days about wearable and wellness companies that have a medical focus, several of which he is now on the board of: San Francisco-based iRhythm Technologies, Maryland-based Telcare, Southern California-based Crossover Health and San Francisco-based Omada Health.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Galaxy S7 to get pressure-sensitive screen, fast charging and expandable storage
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/samsung-galaxy-s7-get-pressure-sensitive-screen-fast-charging-expandable-storage-1533256
The Samsung Galaxy S7 will have a press-sensitive screen like the iPhone 6s, along with a new high-speed charging port. It is also believed to feature a retina scanner and will be available in four versions when it launches in early 2016.
Samsung is understood to be producing four versions of the new Android handset. There will be the Galaxy S7 and larger S7+, both with flat screens, plus the Galaxy S7 Edge and S7 Edge+, with screens that curve on both the left and right edge.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Pay remains an interim technique
Every second consumer to use a couple of years to get a smartphone or wearable device purchases to pay. This is the forecast research institute Gartner. Pay-Apple, Samsung and Android Pay-Pay services is displayed Research Institute does not predict a long life.
Mobile payments are finally taking the momentum in North America, Japan and some European countries. According to Gartner, mobile payers is growing at the end of 2017 to 50 per cent in these countries.
According to the Institute currently offers three types of mobile payment technology. The smartphone is a device promising, but alongside it is a mobile wallet offered by banks and credit card companies. In addition, many retailers -like Starbucks – offering customers their own mobile wallets.
The must not service must not be connected to any devices, Gartner estimates. Instead, a cloud-based mobile payment services have the potential to reach a much larger user base.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3756:apple-pay-jaa-valivaiheen-tekniikaksi&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
More Responsive Tapping on iOS
https://webkit.org/blog/5610/more-responsive-tapping-on-ios/
WebKit on iOS has a 350 millisecond delay before single taps activate links or buttons. WebKit has this delay because we also allow users to double tap to zoom, which is a great way to zoom in on content that is well-sized for large desktop displays, but appears too small on mobile devices. However, when a user has tapped once, WebKit cannot tell if the user intends on tapping again to trigger a double tap gesture. Since double tapping is defined as two taps within a short time interval (350ms), WebKit must wait for this time interval to pass before we’re sure that the user intended to tap only once.
We know that responsive tapping is really important to web developers — so much so that many are willing to employ JavaScript frameworks to avoid the delay using touch handlers.
Instead of waiting for WebKit to fire a click after a delay, these libraries prevent the default behavior of the touchend event and call click() immediately so that the element is clicked the moment the user stops touching the element. While this may make a link feel fast, it can also reduce responsiveness in other ways, including page load time and scrolling.
we’ve implemented a mechanism for removing the delay for single taps by disabling double tap gestures
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile developer report shows growing back-end challenge, weak Windows support
Never mind the app, it’s integrating with data that counts
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/17/mobile_developer_report_shows_growing_backend_challenge_weak_windows_support/
IDC and Appcelerator have published a survey of 5,778 mobile developers which highlights integrating with back-end data as the biggest challenge in app development.
Appcelerator’s product is a cross-platform mobile development tool, so note that the survey may not be representative of all mobile developers.
Among this crowd though, 33.9 per cent spent more than half their development effort on back-end integration. This effort includes creating and debugging APIs, finding documentation for existing APIs, and orchestrating data from multiple sources.
IDC also asked about target platforms: iOS and Android dominate, as you would expect. The most popular targets are iPhone and iPad, which grab the interest of between 80-90 per cent of developers, up a little from this time last year. Android phones have declined from 75 per cent to around 70 per cent.
The disappointment for Microsoft is that all its hoopla about the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) does not seem to resonate here.
What about making money? Only just over 60 per cent of those surveyed are primarily out to make money from apps themselves, with others aiming for goals such as customer loyalty and brand awareness.
Of those with a profit motive though, 43.1 per cent said that in-app purchases are the most effective method, followed by advertising at 23.9 per cent and app purchase at 19.2 per cent.
2015 Appcelerator / IDC Mobile Trends Report: Leaders, Laggards and the Data Problem
http://www.appcelerator.com/blog/2015/12/2015-mobile-trends-report/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook and Uber Follow Asian Rivals in Plan to Enhance Messenger App
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/17/technology/facebook-and-uber-follow-asian-rivals-in-plan-to-enhance-messenger-app.html?_r=0
For years, Asia’s technology giants have been one step ahead of Western companies in how they treat messaging apps.
Instead of the relatively simple programs that Americans use to send messages and photos to friends, popular Asian services like WeChat have become digital Swiss Army knives: People can use them to hail a car, shop for games, buy virtual stickers to send to friends and even shop for physical goods.
But recently, Facebook, the world’s largest social network, has begun to emulate its Asian rivals, making its Messenger service — with 700 million users — more of an all-purpose platform.
On Wednesday, Facebook announced a partnership with Uber, the ride-hailing service, that will for the first time allow users in the United States to summon a vehicle from within the Messenger smartphone app. It is a significant move for both companies, which are expanding aggressively beyond their core markets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How LTE Modems Make or Break a Smartphone
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1328506&
If you’ve ever gone through prolonged Web abstinence and found it debilitating, you should appreciate what modems do for one’s well-being.
Modems (modulator/demodulators) are the cellphone devices that keep us connected to cyberspace. In advanced smartphones, LTE modems are required. Without modems, smartphones would be little more than personal information managers or personal digital assistants (PDAs)
Smartphones consist of two main components: Modems and application processors. As mentioned, modems are your access to the outside world while application processors are basically CPUs that provide computation, video, graphics and sound associated with gaming, productivity and processing your outside world data. The measured performance of each of the two main components provides measures to assess the performance value of a smartphone. Of course, there are other concerns in purchasing a smartphone, like appearance, screen size, weight and even snob appeal.
Application processor performances of several smartphone brands are widely published, because off-the-shelf benchmarks are readily available for ARM or X86-based devices. But application processors with 4, 6, 8 or even 10 CPUs become irrelevant if the “on-the-air” performance is hindered by poor LTE modems
But LTE modem performance measures are much more difficult for the average purchaser to assess. It takes $100s of thousands in test equipment to assess modem performance, not something that the average engineer has in his office.
There are 5 LTE smartphone modem chip makers currently shipping in mobile devices and besides U.S.-based Qualcomm, they include: HiSilicon (China), Intel (U.S.), Leadcore (China), MediaTek (Taiwan), Samsung (Korea), and Spreadtrum (China).
Modem throughput is important in the uplink for things like sending those Instagram pictures or uploading to cloud storage. Downlink throughput is important for fast Web browsing, YouTube videos or receiving those Instagram pictures.
Since the primary purpose of a cellphone has to be for speech calls, voice quality and better call experience is very important. Most people don’t realize that their LTE smartphones revert to circuit-switched voice since voice over LTE (VoLTE) is not yet common.
Consumers have generally ignored the importance of connectivity in smartphone purchases, but device performance and positive user experiences are driven by best-in-class connectivity. By that I mean cellular (LTE) and Wi-Fi. Your smartphone without connectivity is essentially your device in airplane mode.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile device proximity sensor manages RF exposure while maintaining network connectivity
http://www.edn.com/design/analog/4441005/Mobile-device-proximity-sensor-manages-RF-exposure-while-maintaining-network-connectivity-?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_analog_20151217&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_analog_20151217&elq=d12dd8e834824a76b07718f8c0c94273&elqCampaignId=26204&elqaid=29946&elqat=1&elqTrackId=068fa04921544e41b98b287fee5ad5af
The FCC last set U.S. mobile phone RF exposure limits in 1996, recommending a maximum of 1.6 watts per kilogram specific absorption rate (SAR). Back then, the Motorola StarTAC was the industry’s best selling phone, less than 20% of the country had mobile devices and when they did they wore them away from their bodies in belt holsters.
A lot has changed now that we are in the smartphone era, starting with much higher RF power levels to support higher data rates and a more extensive range of smart mobile devices including smartphones, phablets and tablets. Usage of these devices is increasing dramatically. In a 2014 survey of consumers, research firm Nielsen discovered that American consumers spent 34 hours on average per month using the mobile apps on their phones – which is more time than they spent online via PC.
This increased RF power and increased exposure has caused the industry to anticipate ways to better manage SAR reduction. Proximity sensors are one tool that have long been used in tablets to detect a user’s body before the device comes closer than the minimum distance (dmin) for safe use as defined by the FCC. Once the device reaches dmin, the proximity sensor can then trigger a reduction in RF power to limit the user’s RF exposure
SAR and RF radiation have made headlines (2) recently with several high profile brain cancer deaths, even though there is not a scientific link between the two.
city of Berkeley, Calif., recently passed a “right to know” law (3) that all cell phones sold in the city must be labeled with the SAR level and a warning. These headlines have raised some customer concern,
One solution for managing SAR is to build a capacitive proximity sensor into a mobile device that can determine when the device is close to being in contact with parts of the body and can optimize the RF power to a level that reduces overall SAR, yet still lets the device stay connected to the network.
Tomi Engdahl says:
An update to our Windows 10 app
http://techblog.netflix.com/2015/12/an-update-to-our-windows-10-app.html
We have published a new version of our Windows 10 app to the Windows Store. This update features an updated user experience that is powered by an entirely new implementation on the Universal Windows Platform.
Using the Universal Windows Platform
Over the last few years we have launched several applications for Windows and Windows Phone. The applications were built from a few code bases that span several technologies including Silverlight, XAML, C#. Bringing new features to our members on Windows platforms has required us to make changes in several code bases and ship multiple application updates.
With the Universal Windows Platform, we’re able to build an application from a single code base and run on many Windows 10 devices. Although the initial release of this application supports desktops, laptops and tablets running Windows 10, we have run our application on other Windows 10 devices and we will be adding support for phones running Windows 10 in the near future.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hands-On With Microsoft’s HoloLens, One Year Later
http://www.wired.com/2015/12/hands-on-with-hololens-groundbreaking-potential-for-ar/
One year after showing off HoloLens, Microsoft’s augmented reality rig remains very much a work in progress. It’s not a virtual reality rig, it’s something entirely different. Just what it is, though, will be up to the software developers who’ll truly define the device.
That’s why Microsoft is launching the HoloLens Developer Experience Showcase, a two month hands-on event next door to its flagship store in Manhattan. This is the first time Microsoft’s let the public play with HoloLens, and hopes to get people excited about it and working on killer apps.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile display will be more accurate than eye
Few enjoys a 4K-quality image even in his living room, but by the end of next year, the same accuracy can be your smartphone. ETSI is preparing for development.
Standardization Organization has set up a working group that seeks solutions UltraHD box to scale the technology for small devices.
ETSI CCM working group (Compound Content Management) already had time on Wednesday, the first meeting of the French in their own “Silicon Valley”, ie in Sophia Antipolis. Its purpose is to find a decoding technique, which would solve the fitting of 4K content to mobile phone screen, including the next generation of receivers.
ETSI, such a scalable 4K signal requires a very high dynamics (HDR, high dynamic range), as well as the WCG wider color space (Coloc Wider gamut). Such HDR / WCG techniques has only slowly been add to TV broadcasting. Yet the future of decoding must also be backwards compatible with all the devices that use older decoders.
One can of course ask whether UltraHD- or 4K image are planting a cell phone make any sense. Display Manufactured by Sharp pn already announced that it would launch 4K-level mobile phone available in the screen during the next year. The idea is that the first 4K-mobile phones come to market by the end of next year.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3773:kannykan-naytosta-tulee-silmaa-tarkempi&catid=13&Itemid=101