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:
John Paczkowski / BuzzFeed:
The Apple Watch Isn’t A Watch, It’s An iPhone Sales Engine — The biggest news about Apple’s Watch today may be how many iPhones it’s going to sell.
The Apple Watch Isn’t A Watch, It’s An iPhone Sales Engine
The biggest news about Apple’s Watch today may be how many iPhones it’s going to sell.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnpaczkowski/apple-watch-its-not-a-watch-its-an-iphone-sales-engine#.jk9KQw6d
Let’s get this out of the way up front: Apple Watch is not a watch. It may well be, as Apple CEO Tim Cook says, “the most advanced timepiece ever created.” But “watch” is a misnomer, a branding sleight of hand.
The Apple Watch is not a watch in the same way that the iPhone was not a phone — or at least not what we knew to be a phone at the time. “Watch” is not the device’s primary functionality, just as “phone” was not the iPhone’s primary functionality. iPhone was an honest-to-god computer in your pocket — and Apple Watch is an honest-to-god iPhone on your wrist.
But there’s a big caveat: It’s an iPhone on your wrist that requires yet another iPhone in your pocket.
The Apple Watch is really an extension of the iPhone and one that Apple believes increases the value proposition of the main device — along with a rapidly expanding mobile computing experience that now includes payments, health data, and, crucially, authentication.
Tomi Engdahl says:
VR Gears Up for Prime Time
Samsung headset expected this fall
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1325963&
Samsung is expected to roll out this fall a consumer version of its Gear VR headset co-developed with Oculus, the next step in bringing virtual reality to the mainstream.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smartphone, Samsung in Trouble
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1325927&
With its Galaxy S6 announcement at MWC, Samsung and smartphones in general look to be in trouble and that’s bad news for the electronics industry.
It feels like trouble ahead for smartphones in general and Samsung specifically.
The view from Barcelona showed Samsung looking like king of the hill. It announced at the Mobile World Congress its Galaxy S6 handsets, the first in the world run on chips built in a 14nm FinFET process. So how can a company leapfrogging Apple in smartphones and TSMC in process technology be in trouble?
Analyst Robert Maire says the new Samsung phones don’t have enough panache to shift momentum away from the red-hot iPhone 6. What’s worse, he suspects Samsung’s 14nm yields are low, making the process in which rival Apple is said to be making its A9 SoC for its upcoming iPhone 7 unprofitable for many months to come
About the same time Samsung showed the Galaxy S6 to great fanfare in Spain, Gartner released the latest market share figures on smartphones. Samsung lost the top spot to Apple for the first time since 2012, and China suppliers Lenovo, Huawei and Xiaomi are nipping at Samsung’s heels.
Beyond the battle over market share, I’m most troubled by what I am not seeing – any signs from #MWC15 of a next big thing for smartphones.
With the Galaxy S6, Samsung threw in the kitchen sink. In an effort to regain momentum it built in a curved display (big deal), a fast-charging battery (nice but hardly a must-have), and a 14nm SoC (a ho-hum for users).
Tomi Engdahl says:
TechInsights: Overcoming Smart Glasses’ Performance Challenges
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1325858&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open Source Binary Wristwatch Is Professional Quality
http://hackaday.com/2015/03/08/open-source-binary-wristwatch-is-professional-quality/
If you want to proclaim to the world that you’re a geek, one good way to go about it is to wear a wristwatch that displays the time in binary. [Jordan] designs embedded systems, and he figured that by building this watch he could not only build up his geek cred but also learn a thing or two about working with PIC microcontrollers for low power applications. It seems he was able to accomplish both of these goals.
The wristwatch runs off of a PIC18F24J11 microcontroller.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MWC Wrap-Up: 15 Curious Things We Spotted
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325936&
Tomi Engdahl says:
MWC 2015 roundup: Strap on a wearable and cover your face in sickly VR goo
Get all El Reg’s Barcelona action here
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/08/mwc_roundup/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Unlock a Smartphone With Your Eyes, Thanks to Fujitsu’s Iris Recognition Tech
http://techfrag.com/2015/03/09/unlock-smartphone-eyes-thanks-fujitsus-iris-recognition-tech/
Just when we were getting accustomed to fingerprint ID’s to unlock our devices, a new and even better technology has emerged. Get this, users will be able to unlock smartphones with their eyes.
Fujitsu has developed a new Iris Recognition technology that’ll make this happen. So is time to say good bye to Touch ID? We’ll have to wait and see how well Iris Recognition is implemented by the company.
The new technology was shown during the recently held Mobile World Conference in Barcelona. Fujitsu is set to introduce this tech in one of its current range of smartphones and plans to fully commercialize it by the end of 2015.
Fujitsu’s new biometric identification technology uses infrared camera and LED to scan one or both of your eyes. The technology can be used to unlock smartphones, tablets or just an app if it contains personal information.
Iris pattern is unique like a fingerprint and can provide a higher-level of security.
You will have to hold the phone up, about 20cm away from your eyes for 8-10 seconds. Too long? Don’t worry as it is just a one-time process, once your iris pattern is registered with the device, it will take just a second to unlock.
Tomi Engdahl says:
An incredibly shrinking Firefox faces endangered species status
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2893514/an-incredibly-shrinking-firefox-faces-endangered-species-status.html?google_editors_picks=true
Desktop browser continues to bleed user share; combined desktop + mobile share falls under 10%
Firefox’s total user share — an amalgamation of desktop and mobile — was 9.5% for February, its lowest level since Computerworld began tracking the metric nearly six years ago,
Mozilla faces a double whammy: Its flagship desktop browser continues to bleed share, while the company has been unable to attract a significant mobile audience. Although the company has long offered Firefox on Android and its Firefox OS has landed on an increasing number of low-end smartphone makers’ devices, its February mobile share was less than seven-tenths of one percent, about four times smaller than the second-from-the-bottom mobile browser, Microsoft’s IE.
Apple, which had long trailed Mozilla in desktop + mobile browser user share, has leapfrogged its rival because of Firefox’s decline: Safari on desktop and mobile had a cumulative 11.8% user share, down half a point from July 2014. More than two-thirds of Apple’s total was credited to Safari on iOS.
Google has been the biggest beneficiary of the losses suffered by Mozilla
Last month, it had a combined desktop/mobile user share of 27.6%, 5 percentage points higher than seven months ago.
Together, the aged stock Android browser and its replacement, Chrome, accounted for 41.5% of all mobile browsers by Net Applications’ count. Google’s pair remained behind Apple’s Safari on mobile, but has narrowed the gap.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android Wear will get Wi-Fi support, gesture control in next software release
Faster, easier access to apps and contacts is also on the way
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/10/8181069/android-wear-update-wi-fi-support-gesture-control
Google isn’t standing still with its wearable platform now that Apple has given the press a chance to use the Apple Watch. A source knowledgeable with Android Wear’s product road map tells The Verge that the next software release will turn on Wi-Fi support, meaning that features like notifications and Google Now will work when a Bluetooth connection is unavailable. Most Android Wear watches already have Wi-Fi built in, so a simple software update should activate the feature for them.
Along with the Wi-Fi update, there will be at least two additional, smaller updates. The first is gesture control. Users will be able to flick their wrist to scroll through notifications and Google Now cards, rather than needing to use their other hand to swipe on the screen. The UI will also get some tweaks, with easier access to both Android Wear applications and contacts. Finding applications in Android Wear right now requires either spoken commands or digging through an extra layer of menus.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple announces ResearchKit to help medical researchers collect data
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2015/03/09/apple-announces-researchkit-to-help-medical-researchers-collect-data/
At Apple’s March event today, the company announced ResearchKit, a software framework that allows medical researchers to get data directly from iPhone users.
The company said that users can sign up to participate in medical research and use their iPhones as diagnostic tools.
One example the company gave is a study for Parkinson’s disease that asks the user to perform quick tests on their phone to help diagnose it.
Hands on with the first medical apps using ResearchKit
http://9to5mac.com/2015/03/09/hands-on-with-the-first-medical-apps-using-researchkit/
As part of ResearchKit, Apple’s new foray into medical research, five brand new apps have been launched in conjunction with leading medical institutions that utilize the new capabilities of ResearchKit. These first apps cover the areas of asthma, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, breast cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. Below is a first look at some of the new application’s capabilities.
Each application comes with a relatively standard setup process, with only minor differences between the apps. You’ll first be prompted with a series of simple questions that determines if you’re eligible for the study. If you aren’t, the app won’t be very useful to you.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Suzanne Kapner / Wall Street Journal:
Apple Stores drive mall traffic and lift sales by 10%, enabling company to demand lower rents
Apple Gets Sweet Deals From Mall Operators
As a traffic magnet, iPhone maker is able to negotiate lower terms for rent
http://www.wsj.com/article_email/apple-gets-sweet-deals-from-mall-operators-1426007804-lMyQjAxMTI1NzEyMDkxOTA0Wj
Apple Inc. ’s huge gravitational pull on mall traffic is distorting the market for mall rents, winning the iPhone maker sweetheart deals and putting upward pressure on other tenants’ leases.
Apple draws so many shoppers that its stores single-handedly lift sales by 10% at the malls in which they operate, according to Green Street Advisors, a real-estate research firm.
In the past, malls typically operated according to a straightforward bargain. Department stores that anchored the ends of the malls either owned their own stores or paid almost nothing aside from fees to maintain common spaces in exchange for drawing much of the traffic, while specialty retailers in the smaller spaces between the anchors typically paid the bulk of a mall’s rent.
Apple has upended that model by using its bargaining power to pay no more than 2% of its sales a square foot in rent. That compares with a typical in-line tenant, which pays as much as 15%, according to industry executives.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Plans Force of Touch Technology for New iPhones
Apple’s Force Touch technology can distinguish between a light tap and deep press
http://www.wsj.com/article_email/apple-plans-force-of-touch-technology-for-new-iphones-1426035015-lMyQjAxMTE1NjE0MDIxNjAyWj
HONG KONG— Apple Inc. plans to add sensors to detect how hard a user is pressing on a screen to its next iPhones, incorporating a technology used in its forthcoming MacBook and Apple Watch, according to people familiar with the matter.
Apple’s Force Touch technology can distinguish between a light tap and deep press, allowing users to control a device differently depending on how hard they push on a surface.
The touch technology is one of the changes that Apple plans for the next versions of its iPhones due for release later this year, these people said.
Apple isn’t changing the size of the displays in the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhones and plans to keep the resolution similar
Apple is considering the changes as it tries to follow up on the tremendous success of its iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Apple said it sold 74.5 million iPhones during its fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 27 after introducing the two new larger-screen iPhones, fueling the most profitable quarter of any American company ever.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Google Calendar launches for iPhone with Schedule View, Events from Gmail, and Assists, which make suggestions that save you time creating events
http://venturebeat.com/2015/03/10/google-calendar-for-iphone-updated-with-events-from-gmail-assists-schedule-view-and-more/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Xiaomi enters Europe with accessories store – but no phones yet
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/mar/04/xiaomi-enters-europe-with-accessories-store-but-no-phones-yet
Chinese smartphone manufacturer dubbed ‘China’s Apple’ enters European market with headphones, fitness bands and battery packs
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi is taking its first step into Europe by opening an online store this year, the company has announced.
The five-year-old company – dubbed “China’s Apple” – recently became the third largest smartphone manufacturer despite only selling its phones in China. In Europe it will start selling its Mi Band fitness tracker, headphones and battery packs, but not its eagerly anticipated smartphones.
If Xiaomi begin selling smartphones such as its well-received Mi Note 4 phablet in the US and Europe, the company would be likely to face legal challenges over patent infringement.
Lin Bin, Xiaomi co-founder, recently said that intellectual property was “not the most important matrix”. However, it was one factor that he and CEO Lei Jun use when planning country-launch strategies.
“It’s going to be a different Mi.com experience from what we have in our markets in Asia, because we’re not selling phones,” Xiaomi’s global vice president and former Google Android executive Hugo Barra told the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, adding that the firm planned to sell items including fitness trackers, headphones and power banks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Xiaomi dipping its toe into the US with accessories but not smartphones
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/13/xiaomi-dipping-its-toe-into-the-us-with-accessories-but-not-smartphones
‘China’s Apple’ makes its first significant move into the west as part of its plan to be the world’s number one smartphone manufacturer within five to 10 years.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Finds New Chip Partner In MediaTek
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/samsung-chip-partnership-mediatek-mobile,28700.html
According to a report from Taiwan, MediaTek is trying to become Samsung’s new chip partner, now that Samsung has begun distancing itself from using Qualcomm’s chips. MediaTek didn’t say much about its deal with Samsung, but the company’s Deputy General Manager, Zhu Shan-gzu, admitted their relationship with Samsung has been improving lately.
MediaTek has already announced some new chips at MWC 2015 this week, one of which includes the brand-new Cortex-A72 CPU core, which is the successor to the Cortex-A57 core seen inside chips such as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 and Samsung Exynos 7420.
MediaTek has been making bigger advancements with new chips at the high-end of the market, as demand for these chips has increased. In China, MediaTek is already a strong competitor to Qualcomm, because many Chinese manufacturers prefer to use its chips. MediaTek’s chips have also appeared in some low-end and mid-range phones from Sony, HTC, Asus and other known mobile companies, although MediaTek’s chips are in much fewer smartphone models than those of Qualcomm.
As Samsung is looking to differentiate itself from other smartphone OEMs who tend to default to using Qualcomm’s chips, the closeness to MediaTek may become inevitable.
At the same time, this is a big opportunity for MediaTek to conquer more of the western markets, where we’re seeing much of Samsung’s success.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sony is closing its failed PlayStation Mobile platform
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/11/8189455/playstation-mobile-closing
PlayStation Mobile, Sony’s initiative to build a store for indie games and PlayStation classics that could be played on both the PS Vita handheld and certain Android phones, is coming to an end. No further content will be published after July 15th, and come September 10th you won’t even be able to re-download any games you’ve bought in the past. Sony ceased support for the Android side of the platform last year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Corinne Gretler / Bloomberg Business:
Swatch Co-Inventor: Apple Will Succeed and an Ice Age Is Coming for Swiss Watches
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-10/swatch-co-inventor-sees-apple-causing-ice-age-for-swiss-watches
(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. may soon sell as many timepieces as all of Switzerland, threatening the country’s four-century-old industry, the co-inventor of the Swatch predicted.
The Apple Watch may reach sales of 20 million to 30 million units annually in the first few years, Elmar Mock said by phone on Tuesday. Switzerland exported 28.6 million watches in 2014. The Apple Watch will be available next month starting at $349 for a Sport model, $549 for a midrange version, and $10,000 for the high-end Apple Watch Edition.
“Apple will succeed quickly,” said the 61-year-old, who helped create the low-price Swatch in the 1980s. “It will put a lot of pressure on the traditional watch industry and jobs in Switzerland.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
With $2M In Funding, Bento Creates A Smart And Personalized Android Home Screen
http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/11/bento-labs/#gypjlZ:h1HD
If you’re like most smartphone users, organizing your apps is a little bit of art and science — picking those which you’re most likely to use and putting them on your home screen, while bundling the others into easily navigated folders or pages. Even if you manage that, the apps you most commonly use don’t know a whole lot about you — except, that is, what you do while you’re in that app.
A new Android home screen app called Bento aims to provide a more personalized way of interacting with their phones. By putting the services that they use most frequently front and center, as well as exchanging information between them, the app maker believes it can surface more relevant information and also save users time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thousands Have Already Signed Up for Apple’s ResearchKit
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-11/apple-researchkit-sees-thousands-sign-up-amid-bias-criticism
(Bloomberg) — Stanford University researchers were stunned when they awoke Tuesday to find that 11,000 people had signed up for a cardiovascular study using Apple Inc.’s ResearchKit, less than 24 hours after the iPhone tool was introduced.
“To get 10,000 people enrolled in a medical study normally, it would take a year and 50 medical centers around the country,” said Alan Yeung, medical director of Stanford Cardiovascular Health. “That’s the power of the phone.”
With ResearchKit, Apple has created a pool of hundreds of millions of iPhone owners worldwide, letting doctors find trial participants at unprecedented rates. Already five academic centers have developed apps that use the iPhone’s accelerometers, gyroscopes and GPS sensors to track the progression of chronic conditions like Parkinson’s disease and asthma.
At the same time, other researchers caution that potential flaws in the information gathered through ResearchKit may make the data less useful.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia relaunches its HERE maps and navigation app for iOS
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/mar/11/nokia-here-maps-navigation-app-ios
First app for Apple devices was pulled in late 2013, but all-new version is returning to the App Store after 4m downloads on Android
Tomi Engdahl says:
Re/code:
Apple Stops Selling Jawbone Up, Nike FuelBand in Stores — Making Way for the Apple Watch — Apple has removed competing fitness bands from its retail stores as the company prepares to ship its own wearable, the Apple Watch.
http://recode.net/2015/03/11/apple-stops-selling-jawbone-up-nike-fuelband-in-stores-making-way-for-the-apple-watch/
Kevin Rose / TechCrunch:
Apple Watch Edition won’t appeal to the technologist, the collector, or the gold lover, only the douchebag — The Gold Apple Watch Is Perfect For Douchebags
http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/11/rose_gold/
Tomi Engdahl says:
1 in 3 Airline Boarding Passes to be Issued via Mobile Devices by 2019
Hampshire, UK – 11th March 2014: New research from leading analysts, Juniper Research, finds that over 1.5 billion boarding passes will be delivered via mobile by 2019, compared to approximately 745 million boarding passes estimated to be delivered this year. This means that mobile boarding passes will represent 1 in 3 boarding passes issued by airlines at the end of 2019.
It notes that mobile boarding passes are increasingly used by frequent flyers, but less used by leisure passengers who are less likely to be familiar with the technology. According to SITA, the airline IT specialist, 53% of airlines have already implemented mobile boarding passes via apps which is expected to rise to 91% by 2017.
The new research, Mobile & Online Ticketing: Transport, Events & NFC 2015-2019 found that the majority of airlines have implemented boarding passes via apps, and the industry is witnessing rapid adoption in markets such as the US, Far East and Europe. Some of the early adopting airlines are recording double-digit growth for boarding passes delivered via mobile.
However, the success of mobile barcode boarding pass adoption has meant that the transition to NFC will be delayed.
Sources:
http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/2015-03-12/Mobiililippu-korvaa-lennoilla-paperin-yh%C3%A4-useammin-3217231.html
http://www.juniperresearch.com/press/press-releases/1-in-3-airline-boarding-passes-issued-via-mobile
Tomi Engdahl says:
Michael Davidson / Xconomy:
DHS launches Emerge accelerator program for startups bringing wearable tech to first responders
Feds to Back Wearable Tech Startups With New Accelerator Program
http://www.xconomy.com/texas/2015/03/11/feds-to-back-wearable-tech-startups-with-new-accelerator-program/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Of these, Finnish companies can rise to the new Nokia – Finnish can get in smart watch market even double jackpot
Smart watch markets are emerging markets, so competition is the tip of the places is not practical yet even begun. Fair 30-year matkapuhelinmarkkinakin remind you that the changes can be large and fast.
Finnish, known as a heart rate monitor Polar Electro doing well in this market, it is the number of applications the ninth largest manufacturer (around same size as Withings and Asus). Polar smart watches are based on its V800 and M400 heart rate monitor.
From this perspective, Polar is therefore on the same line with other brands. Not Nokia Neither had known and respected brand name before it rose to a phone rule. At least in the early stages of smart watches buy health-conscious kuntolijat which Polar is already familiar with the brand.
Suunto has added smart features to it’s Ambit sports watch.
Both Polar and Suunto’s advantages can not count that they are not directly linked to anysmartphone brand. As such, they can rise through the top applications that start really interested in large buyer of the masses. If the Polar and Suunto succeed, Finnish can expect double jackpot.
Who are the main players in the smartwatch market? Like the smartphone market, Samsung is going to be Apple’s main competitor. The South Korean technology behemoth sold approximately 1.2 million units in 2014, ahead of second placed Pebble with 700,000. The top three was rounded off by Fitbit who sold 600,000 smartwatches.
Last year, 89 companies sold a total of 6.8 million älykelloa around the world. Their average price was 174 euros. This year, we are talking about a completely different class figures. Dozens, perhaps hundreds of millions of sales will go broke.
Sources:
http://www.kauppalehti.fi/uutiset/naista-suomalaisyhtioista-voi-nousta-uusi-nokia/NiDrAEGq
http://www.statista.com/chart/3290/samsung-leads-the-smartwatch-market/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart Glasses Go To Work
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326016&
Industrial users, not consumers, may be the first to give wearable computing some traction, according to exhibitors at the Wearable TechCon event here. Smart glasses from Epson, Google and Sony are among those seeing some early adoption with business users, they said.
The event showcased a handful of smartwatches, smart glasses and components for wearables including printed and stretchable electronics. To date, the category has been more sizzle than steak, with projects such as Google’s Project Glass recovering from early hopes of big consumer markets.
“Google didn’t cancel the program they just stopped giving it to consumers and they are still working on the next version,” said Tero Aaltonen, chief executive of Augmenta, a startup developing gesture and control software for smart glasses.
The Google smart glasses along with Epson’s Moverio and eyewear from Vuzix are finding real uses in business applications, said Aaltonen. For example, a pilot project at DHL found workers were 25% more efficient identifying and sorting packages using Glass than their usual handheld computers.
“I think smart glasses will see use in logistics applications first,” he said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Study: Apple’s clock fate is resolved in China
Farnell element14 community of developers commissioned a study on the basis of which China solves smart watch fate. Up to 50 percent of Chinese plans to acquire smart watch the next five years. It is time to several hundred million smart watch.
The study included 3,500 adults in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. In the English and the Americans, only 16 per cent are considering smart watch purchase. Also in Australia (18%), France (19%) and Germany (26%) of the interest is lower.
Most interest is in India, where 53 per cent planning to buy the device within five years.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2546:tutkimus-applen-kellon-kohtalo-ratkeaa-kiinassa&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
OpenSignal:
State of LTE worldwide: South Korea has best coverage, US speeds rank among slowest overall
The State of LTE
http://opensignal.com/reports/2015/02/state-of-lte-q1-2015/
We found that not all LTE networks are created equal, with big differences between countries and networks.
Spain has the fastest mobile network speeds in the world, averaging 18 Mbps. Spanish network Vodafone ES comes out the fastest of our eligible networks, with impressive speeds of 25.2Mbps. Last year’s fastest country, Australia, has fallen to 14th with all of the networks recording similar speeds between 12-15Mbps. T-Mobile are the fastest network for LTE in the US, although US LTE speeds rank among the slowest in the world overall.
Saudi Arabia is the slowest country for 4G LTE, with all three of its networks recording speeds below 5Mbps.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ben Thompson / stratechery:
With its design prowess, retail stores, and customer base, Apple is best positioned to make the wearable market
http://stratechery.com/2015/apple-make-wearable-market/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bill Rigby / Reuters:
Microsoft’s Cortana digital assistant coming to iOS and Android devices as a standalone app
Exclusive: Microsoft’s digital assistant to head to Android, Apple devices
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/13/us-microsoft-einstein-exclusive-idUSKBN0M914D20150313
(Reuters) – Microsoft is working on an advanced version of its competitor to Apple’s Siri, using research from an artificial intelligence project called “Einstein.”
Microsoft has been running its “personal assistant” Cortana on its Windows phones for a year, and will put the new version on the desktop with the arrival of Windows 10 this autumn. Later, Cortana will be available as a standalone app, usable on phones and tablets powered by Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) iOS and Google Inc’s (GOOG.O) Android, people familiar with the project said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TechCrunch:
How ResearchKit minimizes obstacles to participation, enabling transformative medical research
ResearchKit An “Enormous Opportunity” For Science, Says Breast Cancer Charity
http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/14/researchkit-share-the-journey/
This week Apple bundled a big announcement inside it’s long awaited Apple Watch ‘Spring Forward’ event. Namely the launch of ResearchKit: an iOS software framework that lets people, currently U.S.-based only, volunteer to join medical research studies. This is arguably a lot more interesting than expensive, Internet-connected wrist wear.
While the question of what problem the Apple Watch specifically fixes continues to preoccupy commenters, ResearchKit’s raison d’être is clear: medical research needs data, and iPhones offer the promise of a populous pipeline that can get more data flowing to the scientific community.
The first group of apps developed using ResearchKit — and announced on stage at Apple’s event — are for studies on asthma, breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.
ResearchKit is open source. Apple says it intends to release the framework next month, allowing researchers to contribute to specific activity modules, such as memory or gait testing within the framework, and share them with the global research community to advance disease research.
The consistency of iOS hardware (when compared to the far more diverse Android ecosystem) is likely to be helpful in a research scenario — certainly to some types of studies that rely on taking measurements from mobile device sensing hardware. ResearchKit apps work on iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and the latest generation of iPod touch devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:
Evolution of the smartwatch, like the smartphone, will be a multi-year, multi-vendor effort, with Apple Watch now contributing app-centric approach and Wi-Fi — Apple’s contribution to the smartwatch: An app-centric approach and Wi-Fi — Key differences make Android Wear and Apple Watch two very different platforms.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/03/apples-contribution-to-the-smartwatch-an-app-centric-approach-and-wi-fi/
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Google Now open API is in the works… and support for theme park ride queue times
http://thenextweb.com/google/2015/03/14/a-google-now-open-api-is-in-the-works-and-support-for-theme-park-ride-queue-times/
oogle Now will one day be able to work with information from all of the apps you use. Expanding on the current pilot program that works with 40 third-party services, the plan is to offer an open API in the future, that anyone can build into their apps.
Chennapragada also said that while some types of notification are applicable to everyone, Google Now could do more to identify and respond to personal tollerances, such as how long before a flight people like to arrive at the airport. The focus for the Google Now team over the next few six-to-twelve months is to marry Google’s understanding of the world with personal circumstances.
Tomi Engdahl says:
7 wearables that stood out at MWC
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/brians-brain/4438831/7-wearables-that-stood-out-at-MWC?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_funfriday_20150313&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_funfriday_20150313&elq=6412832c9cf943e298e665f2a168b1a2&elqCampaignId=22069&elqaid=24776&elqat=1&elqTrackId=29d34c26655b4141931ade0866514af3
here are 7 wearables that stood out at MWC, all for various reasons:
Pebble Time & Time Steel and LG Watch Urbane
Huawei Watch and TalkBands
Monohm Runcicle and HTC Vive
Xiamoi Action Cam
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fujitsu’s thin heat pipe could let smartphone chips run cooler
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/570335/fujitsu-thin-heat-pipe-could-let-smartphone-chips-run-cooler/
While it won’t eliminate heat, this heat pipe could spread it out better and reduce extremes of temperature on the surface of smartphones
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Watch: Only 30 percent of units reportedly are free of defects
Smartwatch could be in short supply when it goes on sale next month
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2399576/apple-watch-only-30-percent-of-units-reportedly-are-free-of-defects
THE APPLE WATCH could be in short supply when it goes on sale next month, after Apple experienced a defect-free rate of just 30 percent.
That’s according to Gisforgames, which reports that Quanta, the company putting together the Apple Watch, is seeing a defect rate of over 70 percent.
Quanta has reportedly enlisted the help of 3,000 workers from Foxconn to solve the manufacturing problems and improve the yield rate.
It’s unclear what is causing the Apple Watch units to be deemed unfit for sale, and neither company has yet commented on the rumours.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Galaxy S6 vs S5
We see whether Samsung’s redesigned smartphone can turn its fortunes around
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/review/2398206/galaxy-s6-vs-s5
THE LONG-AWAITED, LONG RUMOURED Galaxy S6 debuted at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC), a phone which Samsung has been keen to point out has been “redesigned from the ground up”.
That’s probably because the 2014 Galaxy S5 didn’t do as well as Samsung had hoped, shipping 40 percent fewer units than the firm had expected, and allowing Apple to become the world’s top smartphone manufacturer after four years of trying.
Overall
The Galaxy S6 is a clear improvement over last year’s model, with a much more luxurious metal and glass design, a less overbearing version of Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface and a market-leading QHD screen.
However, it also has its downfalls, such as the lack of microSD support and non-removable battery, so we’ll reserve full judgement until we put the Galaxy S6 fully through its paces.
MWC: Galaxy S6 hands-on review
With its QHD screen and metal design, this is the smartphone to beat in 2015
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/review/2397485/mwc-galaxy-s6-hands-on-review
Tomi Engdahl says:
Passwords are always in danger of being outsiders. When others strengthen the security of a two-step authentication, Yahoo completely divest its personal passwords.
The company calls its technology “on-demand password” under the name. The user requests a service to send the phone password, which then acts as authentication.
A New, Simple Way to Log In
http://yahoo.tumblr.com/post/113708272894/a-new-simple-way-to-log-in?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma
We’ve all been there…you’re logging into your email and you panic because you’ve forgotten your password. After racking your brain for what feels like hours, it finally comes to you. Phew!
Today, we’re hoping to make that process lessanxiety-inducing by introducing on-demand passwords, which are texted to your mobile phone when you need them. You no longer have to memorize a difficult password to sign in to your account – what a relief!
We’ve made the steps easy to follow
On-demand passwords is now available for U.S. users.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cyanogen Said to Raise $110 Million Round Without Microsoft
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-13/cyanogen-said-to-raise-110-million-microsoft-passes-on-funding
(Bloomberg) — Cyanogen Inc. is close to an agreement on a new $110 million round of financing, people with knowledge of the matter said, as the startup seeks to get its version of Android software into more smartphones.
Cyanogen develops an Android-based interface for smartphones that lets users customize their devices and content.
The round could value Cyanogen at $500 million or more
Microsoft Corp. decided not to invest after negotiations, although it may still be interested in a commercial deal to get its software onto Cyanogen’s mobile operating system, one person said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This high-school dropout built a $1 billion business selling phones nobody wanted
http://uk.businessinsider.com/pcs-wireless-ben-nash-built-a-billion-dollar-company-2015-3?r=US
PCS Wireless is anticipating $1 billion in sales this year, it says, all because its then-teenage founder had a gift for selling cell phones. Especially the phones that nobody else wanted.
It was the year 2000 when a high-school kid named Ben Nash dropped out of boarding school and got a job at a wholesale distributor in Manhattan selling cell phones to retailers.
“I was 17 and I was the company’s top salesperson,” Nash, now 32, told Business Insider.
many perfectly good but unwanted phones were sitting in backrooms and warehouses.
Everyone had overstock. Some of the phones didn’t sell well and had been dropped by the carrier. Some had been returned practically new but without the original stickers. Other gently used phones needed minor repairs.
So an 18-year-old Nash and his buddies founded PCS Wireless to buy those phones, fix them up, and come up with creative ways to sell them. One market was companies that wanted to buy cheap phones for employees. Another was retailers who were interested in selling them at a discount.
The business took off
“We were profitable in the first month,” Nash recalled. “We paid back the investment in less than a year.” Within a couple of years, Nash said, he bought out one of his partners and all of his investors.
Flash forward to 2014. The company hit $740 million in sales, about double its 2013 revenue, and will cross the $1 billion mark this year, Nash said.
“If we only do a billion in 2015, I’ll be really disappointed,”
“We had guys sitting outside all the Apple stores telling people, ‘We’ll give you exactly $200 cash to take your old phone,’”
PCS Wireless says it will buy, process, and resell about 10 million new and used phones and tablets in 2015, across more than 20 countries through a network of 2,500 distributors.
In 2014, PCS launched Posh Mobile, a line of new Android phones, phablets, and tablets. It has expanded the line this year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Josh Lowensohn / The Verge:
Neptune Suite aims to power phones, tablets, TVs and more from its hub smartwatch
One company is trying to sell a smartwatch that powers phones, tablets, TVs, and more
Neptune’s goal to replace your phone with its watch is wildly ambitious
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/16/8227547/neptune-suite-smartwatch-hub-project
Near the end of 2013, a company called Neptune came out with a crazy idea: build a playing card deck-sized smartwatch that could run without a smartphone. It accomplished that feat at the expense of being large and ungainly, making Android Wear behemoths like the Moto 360 look svelte by comparison. Now the company is back with a much more ambitious, yet equally crazy project to reimagine not just the smartwatch, but your phone and tablet too.
Neptune is calling its new project the Neptune Suite. At its most basic, it’s six different pieces of hardware that Neptune promises will work seamlessly with one another.
In the middle of it all is a wrap-around, water-resistant smartwatch called “the hub,” which has a 2.4-inch capacitive touchscreen, a 3G/LTE modem that works with nano-SIM cards, and runs Android 5.0 Lollipop. Joining it are a “pocket screen” and “tab screen,” which expand the screen on the hub using super-fast, short-range wireless standard 802.11ad WiGig. Adding to that are three accessories: a keyboard that can turn the tablet into a notebook of sorts; a dongle with HDMI that will let you push what’s on your hub to other screens (like Google’s Chromecast); and last but not least, a set of wireless headphones.
Neptune’s big idea here is that you can jump from device to device, depending on what your task is.
On that note, Neptune is promising all six of these devices for $899, and at a reduced price of $599 for early backers of its Indiegogo campaign where it’s trying to raise $100,000. Both figures are strikingly low for all the hardware Neptune’s promising. Especially compared to the $349 price tag of its previous smartwatch effort, the Pine.
While possibly too ambitious, the idea of putting all the brains and power of mobile computing into something attached to your body (instead of in a pocket or bag) continues to be wildly attractive.
Neptune Suite – Your Computing Life, Now Seamless
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/neptune-suite-your-computing-life-now-seamless#home
Tomi Engdahl says:
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Microsoft Band expanding to Amazon, Target and Best Buy, launching in UK, with increased supply
http://www.geekwire.com/2015/microsoft-band-expanding-to-amazon-target-and-best-buy-launching-in-u-k-with-promise-of-increased-supply/
Microsoft will expand the availability of its Microsoft Band wearable device, boosting inventory at its own online and physical retail stores and offering the device through third-party retailers — Amazon, Best Buy and Target — for the first time, starting today. Microsoft Band will also launch April 15 in the UK, its first international market.
The announcements this morning follow several months of limited availability of the device, a $199.99 fitness and health tracker that offers notifications and lightweight apps, integrating with Android, iOS and Windows Phone.
Microsoft initially took a cautious approach to the release of Microsoft Band, which is the initial flagship device for the company’s Microsoft Health platform. The limited supply made the device difficult to find.
With the broader availability, Microsoft Stores “will receive larger shipments than before, on a more regular basis,” said Matt Barlow, Microsoft’s general manager of new devices, in a blog post announcing the news.
Tomi Engdahl says:
China’s Li Ning to team up with Xiaomi on ‘smart’ running shoes
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/16/us-li-ning-xiaomi-idUSKBN0MC0WZ20150316
(Reuters) – China’s Li Ning Co Ltd is teaming up with Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi [XTC.UL] to produce a new generation of “smart” running shoes this year, in the sports brand’s latest effort to revive its waning fortunes.
Li Ning’s efforts to recapture its glory days by appealing to a younger generation have been evident in its product design and high-profile marketing campaigns.
“Smart” chips are to be placed in the soles of Li Ning running shoes. The “smart” running shoes will be connected to a Xiaomi mobile app, allowing runners to keep track of their progress and results, analyse their form, and monitor their achievements.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jordan Pearson / Motherboard:
‘Sirius’ Is the Google-Backed Open Source Siri
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/sirius-is-the-google-backed-open-source-siri
Sirius, a Google-funded open source program similar to Apple’s Siri or Google’s Google Now voice recognition application, could finally democratize the virtual assistant.
RIght now, virtual assistants are a game for the big kids of the tech world—Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google itself all have their own versions. Sirius, developed by researchers at the University of Michigan’s Clarity Lab, aims to do what those programs can with an open source twist.
Other backers include the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the US military’s research wing, and the National Science Foundation.
The idea is that anybody can contribute to the program on GitHub, a site for coders to collaborate. It’s also being released under a BSD license, documents on the project’s GitHub indicate, meaning that it will be completely free for anyone to use or distribute. Researchers will be able to use it to explore the possibilities of virtual assistants, according to a university statement, and eventually, anybody can put it on their own homebrew device.
Right now, it’s only been tested on Ubuntu desktops, but it could one day make it onto phones and other devices. Jason Mars, the researcher that headed up the project, describes Sirius as a Linux-like version of Siri.
Sirius already has capabilities lacking from its corporate counterparts. For example, you can take a picture, feed it to Sirius, and ask a question about it. Siri can’t do that. But, unlike Siri, Sirius isn’t exactly elegant; it’s a patchwork of other open source projects that, when stitched together, give Sirius its capabilities.
Tomi Engdahl says:
YouTube for Kids: the App Gives Children a Non-Internet Internet
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/youtube-for-kids-the-app-gives-children-a-non-internet-internet?trk_source=recommended
YouTube recently developed a mobile app specifically for kids. Imagine a babyproofed version of YouTube, where the sharp edges have been covered in bubble wrap and all the pills are out of your child’s reach. This may seem like a no-brainer, slam dunk, A+ win for technology and kids alike.
YouTube Kids, in theory, is a sound concept. There is a discrete number of videos accessible and searchable, carefully curated by adults. Playlists include Sesame Street and Thomas the Tank Engine, and there is no ability for kids to upload their own videos.
Children are not ready for the full-fledged power of the internet, and exposure to unlimited YouTube videos could lead to actual, documented cases of Premature Web Exposure Syndrome. But I don’t think this is the way to do it.
People my age, who grew up with the internet, are now making babies of their own. They need to figure out a way to introduce the internet to their child. A kid-safe app lets a parent toss their kid an iPad and leave them alone to explore.
A separate, sheltered app deprives kids of the opportunity to connect and participate in the zeitgeist
This gated-off playpen YouTube is exposing kids to all terrible parts of the internet, with none of the good. Kids will still be exposed to blue light, which can affect sleep patterns and circadian rhythms. The app still fosters antisocial tendencies, if not more so than YouTube, as an adult can leave a child alone with their YouTube Kids app, unsupervised.
As the generations that grew up on the internet begin procreating, there should be a plan. We need to start having this conversation. There needs to be a determination on where the responsibility lies. Is it in the technology itself, like a YouTube Kids App? Or is it still in the human? Is it “Mommy and Me” YouTube classes?
Tomi Engdahl says:
With Ultrasonic Fingerprint Sensing, Google’s Security Could Beat Apple’s
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/with-ultrasonic-fingerprint-sensing-googles-security-could-beat-apples?trk_source=recommended
Qualcomm announced an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner for its Snapdragon chip—widely used in Android phones—this morning. The tech promises to both end the struggle of trying to get Apple’s Touch ID to recognize your bare, shivering thumb in subzero temperatures and make transactions more secure on Android Pay, Google’s newly announced payment platform, according to reports.
If the two technologies are meant to go hand-in-hand, it means that the race for supremacy in the device-based transaction market between Apple and Google is on, with biometric security at the center.
Apple Pay is already in front after being the first phone manufacturer to include fingerprint ID tech in its devices
But security flaws in Apple’s Touch ID have been demonstrated by hackers, and ultrasonic fingerprint scanning is considered to be more secure than the kinds of optical scanning
Ultrasonic fingerprint scanning has been of interest to law enforcement and the military for decades longer than the private sector; a testament to how secure the tech is considered to be.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Amir Efrati / The Information:
Facebook to announce ad performance measurement tool on its own and third party apps next week
Mobile Ad World Braces for Facebook’s Move Into Measurement
https://www.theinformation.com/Mobile-Ad-World-Braces-For-Facebook-s-Move-Into-Measurement
Facebook next week is expected to announce a tool to help mobile app developers measure whether an ad caused people to download an app, a move designed to help entrench Facebook’s tech across the online ad industry.
Several people briefed about the technology told The Information about the service, which is expected to be announced at Facebook’s major developer conference beginning March 25. One of the most interesting aspects of it is that it will determine how ads perform whether they are bought on Facebook or other apps.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ams and ST Team Up to Secure NFC Mobile Payments
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326056&
There are some potential problems with paying via NFC.
Users of near field communication, especially for making payments and storing credit card information, are understandably concerned about the security their private information. Methods that thieves use in typical security attacks include eavesdropping, data corruption or modification, interception attacks, and physical thefts.
Here are some methods used in NFC technology that usually works to prevent such security breaches from occurring:
Two methods are typically used to prevent eavesdropping.
Since the devices must be fairly close to send signals, the thief will have a limited range to work in for capturing your signals.
When a secure channel is established, the information is encrypted and only an authorized device can decode it.
Data corruption and manipulation is when a criminal is able to corrupt the data being sent to a reader making it useless when it arrives. To prevent this, secure channels have to be used for communication.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Forked Android: Sign of Trouble or Creativity?
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326057&
The electronics industry is acutely aware of the growing fragmentation of Android devices. But what about a forked form of Android OS that appears to be proliferating in China?
On one hand, this shows the ingenuity of Chinese smartphone vendors. They’ve grown more aggressive in creating their own variations on the open-source Android OS. On the other hand, security experts are concerned about safety and security for corporate data as the BYOD (bring your own device) trend expands among employees working at multi-national corporations.
Forked but incompatible
Meanwhile, there is an unmistakable push in China to develop “a forked but incompatible version” of Android OS. A case in point is the Yun OS from Alibaba Group Holding’s subsidiary AliCloud. Reportedly, Alibaba developed the Yun OS in an effort to drive users to Alibaba’s e-commerce applications and other services.
At this point, it’s not known how many Android smartphones developed and made in China are actually passing Google’s compatibility test suite (CTS) and complying with Google’s compatibility definition document (CDD). Security experts caution that without compliance to Google’s CTS or CDD, devices can be shipped with known security vulnerability (prevented in Google certified versions).
According to the original Bluebox report, Xiaomi was shipping the Mi 4 with a rooted ROM and came pre-installed with tampered versions of popular benchmarking apps. It also claimed that Xiaomi’s own identifier app showed that the phone was a legitimate Xiaomi product.
However, Bluebox acknowledged two days later that the initial report was based on a Xiaomi device that was actually counterfeit and “a very good one at that.”
Bluebox believes the whole experience validated several issues. Andrew Blaich, lead security analyst at Bluebox, told EE Times, “First, we can’t trust the device we’re using.” Despite its security expertise, it was not easy for Bluebox to confirm the authenticity of both hardware and software.
Blaich added, “Second, we now know even if it were a legitimate hardware, software could have been easily swapped out.” In other words, whether or not the device was counterfeit, “the fact remains that consumers are buying devices that have compromised ROMs (either in legitimate or counterfeit hardware) that put their data at risk.”
To be clear, Xiaomi takes pride in using what it calls an MIUI operating system on top of Android.
How to confirm authenticity
As Bluebox noted, the amount of effort required to confirm the authenticity of the Xiaomi device that the security firm used for testing “goes way beyond what a normal consumer can be expected to do to be assured their purchase is genuine.”
It’s entirely possible that Chinese handset vendors, in hopes of building their own ecosystems, develop “drop-in services” that connect their branded phones to their own cloud services and app stores, explained Blaich.
Hsu observed, “Some Chinese handset vendors are becoming less dependent on Google, by specifying to us, ‘we want our phone to behave this way.’”