Thursday 30 January 2014

Android powered 79% of smartphones sold in 2013: Study

1/30/2014 12:44:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

Android powered 79% of smartphones sold in 2013: Study

The Google Android system was used on 78.9% of smartphones sold globally in 2013, a survey showed.

WASHINGTON: The Google Android system was used on 78.9% of smartphones sold globally in 2013, a survey showed.

The report by the research firm Strategy Analytics confirms the ascendancy of Android, which has extended its lead over Apple's iOS, which is used on the iPhone.

"There is little doubt that 2013 was the year of Android," said Neil Mawston, analyst with the consultancy.

"However, Android's annual growth rate slowed to 62% in 2013, its lowest level in the platform's history. We expect Android's growth to slow further in 2014 due to market saturation, and rivals like Microsoft or Firefox will be ready to pounce on any signs of a major slowdown for Android this year."

The report said Apple's global market share slipped to 15.5% in 2013 from 19.4% in 2012. Meanwhile Windows Phone grabbed third place with a 3.6% share, up from 2.7% a year earlier.

"Microsoft is now firmly established as the smartphone industry's third major ecosystem, shipping 35.7 million units worldwide," Mawston said.

"However, the Windows Phone platform is still struggling to gain traction in the low-tier and premium-tier smartphone categories and they remain serious weaknesses that Microsoft will need to address in 2014."

Strategy Analytics said global smartphone sales rose 41% last year to 990 million.

A report Monday by IDC said the total was just over one billion, with Samsung the largest vendor at 31.3%.

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Tablet sales up 50% in 2013, iPad share falls: IDC

1/30/2014 12:42:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

Tablet sales up 50% in 2013, iPad share falls: IDC

Global sales of tablets surged 50.6% last year, with Apple clinging to the top vendor spot amid strong gains by rivals.

WASHINGTON: Global sales of tablets surged 50.6% last year, with Apple clinging to the top vendor spot amid strong gains by rivals, a survey showed.

International Data Corp (IDC) said worldwide tablet shipments totaled 217.1 million, up from 144.2 million in 2012.

IDC said Apple's iPad is increasing sales but slower than the overall market, and that growth rates are tapering off in the big markets like the United States.

"It's becoming increasingly clear that markets such as the US are reaching high levels of consumer saturation and while emerging markets continue to show strong growth this has not been enough to sustain the dramatic worldwide growth rates of years past," said IDC analyst Tom Mainelli.

"We expect commercial purchases of tablets to continue to accelerate in mature markets, but softness in the consumer segment -- brought about by high penetration rates and increased competition for the consumer dollar -- point to a more challenging environment for tablets in 2014 and beyond."

IDC said sales in the fourth quarter grew 62.4% from the third quarter to 76.9 million, amid a holiday season featuring several new product launches. That was up 28.4% from the same period a year earlier.

In the quarter, Apple sold 26 million iPads, for a 33.8% market share, IDC said. That was down from 38.2% a year earlier.

"While the quarter represented (Apple's) most successful on record, its year-over-year growth of 13.5 percent was well below the industry average," IDC said.

"The numbers bring into focus the challenges the company faces as it attempts to grow its tablet business in markets outside of its traditional mature-market strongholds and in the face of continued success from competitors both large and small."

Samsung was the number two vendor, selling 14.5 million tablets for an 18.8% market share, according to the survey.

IDC said Amazon -- which does not publicly reveal sales of its Kindle devices -- sold 5.8 million tablets in the fourth quarter, securing the number three spot globally with a 7.6% market share.

Taiwan's Asus was fourth with 5.1% and China's Lenovo fifth with 4.4 percent, the survey showed
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Why Facebook can celebrate its 10th birthday early

1/30/2014 12:41:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

Why Facebook can celebrate its 10th birthday early

The results from its latest quarter showed that for the first time, mobile advertising accounted for more than half of its total ad revenue.

NEW YORK: Facebook can celebrate its 10th birthday a few days early.

The results from its latest quarter showed that for the first time, mobile advertising accounted for more than half of its total ad revenue. That's a clear sign that the social network born a decade ago in the desktop computer era is succeeding in its goal of being "mobile first."

Facebook's earnings and revenue for the final three months of 2013 handily surpassed Wall Street's expectations for the third quarter in a row as it further expands the number of users and the amount of money it makes on mobile ads.

"If 2012 was the year where we turned our core product into a mobile product, then 2013 was the year we where we turned our business into a mobile business," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a conference call with analysts. "I expect 2014 will be the year where we begin to deliver new and engaging types of mobile experiences."

Facebook said that it earned $523 million, or 20 cents per share, in the October-December quarter. That's up from $64 million, or 3 cents per share, a year earlier. Adjusted earnings were $780 million, or 31 cents per share, in the latest quarter, 4 cents ahead of analysts' estimates.

Revenue grew 63% to $2.59 billion, from $1.59 billion. Analysts, on average, had expected revenue of $2.35 billion, according to FactSet.

Facebook's stock soared 12% in extended trading after the results came out.

Facebook, which turns 10 years old next week, had 1.23 billion monthly users worldwide at the end of 2013. Of those, 757 million signed in at least once a day, up 22% from a year earlier.

Monthly mobile users stood at 945 million, up 39%. That means more than three-quarters of Facebook's users log in using their mobile devices at least once a month. Daily mobile users grew 49% to 556 million.

Fifty-three per cent of Facebook's ad revenue came from mobile during the quarter, up from 49% in the third quarter.

Facebook continues to grow its share of the worldwide digital advertising and within that, mobile advertising market. It reaped nearly 6% of the world's digital ad revenue in 2013, up from 4% in 2012, according to research firm eMarketer. Online search leader Google, meanwhile, accounted for a 32% share of the market in 2013.

When it comes to mobile ad spending, Facebook accounted for an 18% share of the total amount companies spent in 2013, according to eMarketer. That's up from 5% a year earlier.

Facebook's stock jumped $6.41 to $59.94 in extended trading. The stock had closed the regular trading session down $1.61, or 3%, at $53.53 before the earnings announcement.

Through Wednesday's close, the stock had gained 51% in the past six months, far more than the 6.4% increase for the Standard & Poor's 500 index, which the Menlo Park, California, company recently joined
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to change how tech industry works

1/30/2014 12:39:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to change how tech industry works

Speaking to this engineering audience, Zuckerberg was much less guarded than usual about what he has done and where he is going.

SAN JOSE: Mark Zuckerberg was in his element.

Zuckerberg, whose social network turns 10 years old next week, spoke at a meeting of theOpen Compute Project.

Open Compute is an initiative that Facebookstarted three years ago to help big computing centers add the kind of cost cuts and efficiency gains from open-source software - where programmers share ideas and code across company, university and even national boundaries - to single computer servers and Web management.

If that sounds technical, you are right. Speaking to this engineering audience, Zuckerberg was much less guarded than usual about what he has done and where he is going.

His goals - some achieved and others still aspirational - paint a picture of someone who wants to do more than just be the king of social media. He wants to change the high-tech business, all the way to the guts of the data center. And he thinks he is on his way to doing it.

To start, he believes he has eliminated the technical advantages enjoyed by Amazon, Google and Yahoo.

Facebook got big after those other companies had all built proprietary global computing systems. Unable to replicate quickly what they had learned, he introduced Open Compute, which effectively crowdsourced the problem of rethinking servers, server racks, cabling, networking and a hundred other engineering problems.

"When you're first to design something, there's advantage to keeping secrets," he said, adding that "from our perspective, it was much better" to take an open-source approach. Now, he said, "we're far ahead."

He did it while saving shareholders money and hugging the planet.

According to Jay Parikh, Facebook's vice president for infrastructure, the company has saved $1.2 billion in energy and management costs by using open source products in the last three years.

"It's not just about saving money, we're saving a ton of money," he said. The server system that contains Facebook's core social graph, or all of the content that people interact with regularly, performs 4 billion operations a second, he said, at 24 percent less cost and 38 percent more efficient energy utilization than a conventional system.

Zuckerberg said Facebook's green energy approach, including windmill-based systems in Iowa and hydroelectric systems in Sweden, had saved the equivalent of power for 40,000 homes and emissions equal to 50,000 cars in the last year.

He has also done his bit to destabilize an industry worth more than $100 billion.

Big tech changes, an eminent internet economist/investor has pointed out, require a committed buyer who will encourage young companies to endure several years of learning to perfect breakthrough products.

For most of Silicon Valley's history, this was done by the US military. Facebook and the open computing project, which has drawn 150 companies, including Intel and Microsoft, looks like that firm buyer of transformational big-ticket computing technology.

As Zuckerberg put it Tuesday, "folks are heavily incentivized" to build new kinds of hardware when there is a prospect of big sales. "Facebook is a partnership company."

Innovations like servers made from cheap cellphone chips and now computer networking gear at perhaps half the operational cost of conventional products were features of the show floor at the open computing project.

"The way the market is addressed will change," said Frank Frankovsky, Facebook's vice president for hardware design and chairman of the project. "People are starting new businesses made for the way customers want to consume technology - more flexible, with more choice and control."

As tech history shows, it is tough for the incumbents to compete if that becomes the norm.

Zuckerberg really wants to connect a few billion more people. To put that another way, he is up for destroying several decades of international telecommunications practice.

That is probably a $1 trillion business. Besides Facebook and the project, Zuckerberg has started Internet.org. The headline job of the organization is to get pretty much the whole planet connected. It sounds like a noble thing to do, but it is clear he is getting ready to dive into the guts of what that will take, including remaking how the world uses wireless spectrum.

"Having a smartphone doesn't mean you're connected," he said. "An iPhone costs $2,000 for two years, and only $500 of that is the phone."

Facebook, he said, is working with carriers to deliver new services and will also seek new ways to make data hauling over wireless much more efficient.

Parikh said Internet.org was doing research, establishing partnerships with phone companies and looking at new ways to remake wireless systems, the same way it has been remaking servers and networking
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Lenovo deal won't affect Motorola Moto G launch in India

1/30/2014 12:38:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

Lenovo deal won't affect Motorola Moto G launch in India

NEW DELHI: In a surprise announcement,Google said that it was selling Motorola's hardware (phone) division to Lenovo. But this will not affect the launch of Moto G, Motorola's budget phone in India, expected to take place in the coming days.

The deal between Motorola and Lenovo comes days ahead of Motorola's expected announcement to re-enter the Indian retail phone market. On January 22 Motorola said that it would detail the launch plans for Moto G, its budget phone, in India on February 5.

After the deal announced, sources told TOI that the Moto G launch plan is still on schedule and will not be affected by the deal with Lenovo. "India plans are still on, India is still important to us," said a Motorola executive familiar with the Moto G launch plans.

This also confirms the statement that Google CEO Larry Page made in his blog announcing the Lenovo deal. "The deal has yet to be approved in the US or China, and this usually takes time. So until then, it's business as usual," Page wrote.

Earlier in Las Vegas, Motorola executives told TOI that the company would launch Moto G in India in partnership with a distributor that will handle the supply chain for the device in India. The company will also work with another partner to provide after sales service for the device.

In fact, Motorola senior executives, including CEO Dennis Woodside, held several meetings with journalists in Las Vegas during CES to talk about the future of Motorola's and its current business strategy. The meetings gave no impression that the company was up for sale in the market.

"Google's mission is to connect as many people as possible to internet... Motorola is a hardware manifestation of this goal. We want to build devices that connect millions of new users to internet and want to do it in a way that doesn't compromise quality of products and user experience," Steve Sinclair, vice-president of global marketing at Motorola Mobility, told TOI at that time.

Oppo N1, smartphone with rotating camera launched @ Rs 40k

1/30/2014 12:37:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

Oppo N1, smartphone with rotating camera launched @ Rs 40k

Chinese handset maker Oppo has launched Oppo N1 in the Indian market at Rs 39,999.

NEW DELHI: Chinese handset maker Oppo has launched Oppo N1 in the Indian market at Rs 39,999. The launch marks the entry of the brand in Indian smartphone market.

Launched in September 2013 in China, Oppo N1 boasts of a swivel camera and offers a variant that runs Cyanogenmod (an alternative version of Android) out of the box.

Oppo N1 sports a large 5.9-inch full-HD IPS display. Powered by a 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor and 2GB RAM, the smartphone runs a highly customised version of Android 4.2 (Color ROM). It sports a 13MP camera placed on a rotating swivel capable of rotating 206 degree with a dual-LED flash.

The smartphone is backed by a 3610mAh battery and comes in 16 and 32GB storage variants. Connectivity options include WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and DLNA.

The company has appointed film actors Hrithik Roshan and Sonam Kapoor as brand ambassadors as part of its marketing push.

Oppo is not the only Chinese brand vying for the Indian market. Gionee is also betting big after it launched its smartphones in the Indian market, last year. The company aims to capture 10% share of the Indian market in the next two to three years and the top smartphone vendor in the next five years. The company recently launched its Elife E7 and E7 mini handsets in the market.

It would be interesting to see how the company prices its smartphones in India as it will not just compete with tier-1 brands like Sony and Samsung but also with domestic players like Micromax and Karbonn.

Samsung named India's most trusted brand

1/30/2014 12:35:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

Samsung named India's most trusted brand

Samsung has emerged as the most trusted brand in India, followed by Sony and Tata, says a report.

NEW DELHI: South Korean electronics majorSamsung has emerged as the most trusted brand in India, followed by Sony and Tata, says a report.

Last year, these three brands had been ranked second, third and fifth respectively, as per theBrand Trust Report 2014.

"Samsung has emerged as India's most trusted brand this year. Sony ranks as India's second most trusted brand followed by Tata which was ranked third this year," the report said.

The Brand Trust Report has been brought byTrust Research Advisory (TRA) annually since last four years to rank top 100 companies.

Another South Korean firm, LG has been ranked fourth in the list. Finnish telecom equipment and handset maker Nokia is placed at fifth.

US-based computer maker Hewlett Packard has moved up 14 places in the annual report becoming the sixth most trusted brand, while Hero has leaped 79 ranks to number seven.

Other firms in the top ten are Honda, followed by Reliance and Mahindra & Mahindra.

Commenting on rankings, TRA CEO N Chandramouli said:" When a brand focuses on its trust with intensity, apart from trust the brand gains in market-share, product premium and acceptance of new products as an automatic by-product."

According to him, the 2014 list of top 100 has 11 diversified firms, 10 consumer electronics maker, nine from bath and beauty segment.

"Among the top 100 Most Trusted brands, 75 were net gainers while 25 took a fall," said Chandramouli
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India look for consolatory victory in final ODI against New Zealand

1/30/2014 12:34:00 pm CRICKET No comments

India look for consolatory victory in final ODI against New Zealand

Dhoni and his men need to view this fifth ODI in singularity and not as part of the already lost contest. (Getty Images)

WELLINGTON: Their morale dented after losing the series, India would be desperate to salvage some lost pride by notching their maiden win on the tour when they take on a sprightly New Zealand in the fifth and final one-dayer on Friday.

The Men in Blue have lost much in the past two weeks, in lieu of a 3-0 series loss as also the climb-down from their number one ODI ranking.

The visitors lost the first ODI in Napier by 24 runs, then went down in Hamilton by 15 runs, tied the third ODI in Auckland, but lost the fourth in Hamilton by seven wickets to squander the series.

At the Westpac Stadium on Friday then, they will be playing for more than just pride.

A consolation win will mean that the series will end at 3-1 rather than 4-0, the latter a very embarrassing score-line if it indeed comes to pass.

Even so, victory will only restore so much respectability for the reigning world champions, considering how awfully wrong things have gone for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team ever since they stepped out of home in early December.

In seven ODIs since, they are yet to win a single match, losing five and tying one (one no-result).

If they indeed want to register their first win across all formats in nearly two months, they need to view this fifth ODI in singularity and not as part of the already lost contest.

The fourth ODI at Seddon Park was a must-win game to keep the series alive, but India were not up to the mark. In a desperate bid to come back in the series, they made a plethora of changes, and most of them didn't work out as intended.

If the Wellington ODI is considered a one-off match, then the team think-tank will be able to address the various issues that have arisen in the last two limited-overs series that they have played here, and in South Africa previously.

There are many questions that need to be answered and as always it begins at the top.

In his post-match comments, after the fourth ODI loss, Dhoni had stated the need to "rest players and allow them time to think about their game", thus justifying the double-dropping of Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina.

Dhoni also highlighted the team management's decision to "keep playing Ajinkya Rahane in the middle order" and that "Virat Kohli's move up the order was only a one-off thing".

But Dhawan might to the top spot given that this shuffle of the batting order misfired pretty badly. It will also be instigated by the fact that Rohit Sharma has finally found his bearings, converting a start into a crucial 79 runs in the last match.

It could mean that Stuart Binny would sit out after a none-too-noticeable debut outing, because Ambati Rayudu looked good in his cameo knock of 37 runs at number four.

It was his first chance batting in an ODI since mid-2013. Suresh Raina has previously been given a very long rope and Dhoni has always stressed on the "need to learn from mistakes".

In the bowling attack, Amit Mishra was seen warming up in the nets today, and could be a shoe-in to replace R Ashwin who has been off-colour recently.

Mishra was given the odd-chance to play against Australia in the ODIs in October and then resigned to the bench again after he was smacked for 0-78 in that one outing.

He did play all five ODIs in Zimbabwe prior, when Ashwin was rested, and took 18 wickets there. It may not be of much consequence, but in those same five matches, Jadeja -- India's best spinner at the moment -- only returned five wickets.

Mohammad Shami has been a work horse for the team on its two tours. He has taken wickets but has also given away too many runs.

A rest at this moment, ahead of the crucial Test series, will be very welcome. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been off-colour while Varun Aaron is seen to be quite raw on his return to international cricket.

Dhoni had also spoken about a bowling pool talent, from which to pick for the 2015 World Cup, and it only makes sense to give Ishwar Pandey a go in that light, particularly since he is also part of the Test squad here.

Meanwhile, New Zealand will only be too happy to change their line-up. They have successfully completed the job with one match to play, and it is a success that should be celebrated for quite some time in their cricketing ranks.

Yet, 4-0 is their obvious target against one of the top-ranked ODI sides in the world and they will look to play the majority of their best and fit players in this last match to continue to impress.

22-year-old fast bowler Matt Henry has been drafted into their squad as a late addition, since Corey Anderson and Tim Southee are both carrying niggles.

Anderson missed the last match in Hamilton and both he and Southee are in the Test squad as well, thus making this an obvious move on their selectors' part.

It remains to be seen if the untested Henry, who bowls between 140 and 145 km/hr, will be unleashed on the Indian batting like the injured Adam Milne previously.

Teams (from):

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Stuart Binny, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishwar Pandey, Varun Aaron, Amit Mishra.

New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (Capt.), Corey Anderson, Martin Guptill, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Hamish Bennett, Matt Henry
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iPhone 5c to get a price cut? Tim Cook is not ruling it out

1/29/2014 04:20:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

iPhone 5c to get a price cut? Tim Cook is not ruling it out

Apple said on Monday that record sales of iPhones drove revenues to new heights in the past quarter, resulting in a profit of $13.1 billion.

The California tech giant revealed it had record quarterly revenues of $57.6 billion, helped by selling 51 million iPhones. The company said it sold 26 million iPads during the quarter to December 28, also an all-time quarterly record, as well as 4.8 million Macs.

While Apple remains the most valuable and among the most profitable companies, some analysts are concerned it is losing its edge and failing to keep up with rivals in the smartphone and tablet markets. One such analyst, Keith Bachman of BMO Capital Markets, asked Tim Cook whether he was 'happy' about the 'pricing umbrellas' of the two iPhones, specifically the iPhone 5c, which had been 'panned' for not having 'enough features for that price point.'

The Apple CEO said that the company had done a 'tremendous' job last quarter but admitted that the 'mix' between the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s demand was 'very different than we thought', hinting the company expected the cheaper iPhone to have recorded better numbers that it did. Addressing the possibility of a pricing change, Cook added, "We obviously always look at our results, and conclude what to change moving forward. And if we decide it's in our best interest to make a change [in the price], then we'll make one. Obviously I'm not going to predict price changes on the earnings call."

Cook also confirmed that Apple is looking into the mobile payments sphere with interest.

Written with inputs from AFP

Apple iPhone 5c

Rs. 41900

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery life
Camera
Value for money

Good
Solid in all departments
iOS ecosystem remains unrivaled

Bad
Not as future-proof as the 5s
Questionable value for money

Read detailed Apple iPhone 5c review

Apple iPhone 5s

Display

4.00-inch

Processor

1.3GHz

Front Camera

1.2-megapixel

Resolution

640x1136 pixels

RAM

1GB

OS

iOS 7

Storage

16GB

Rear Camera

8-megapixel

Battery capacity

1570mAh

See full Apple iPhone 5s specifications

Thursday 30 January 2014

Android powered 79% of smartphones sold in 2013: Study

Tablet sales up 50% in 2013, iPad share falls: IDC

Why Facebook can celebrate its 10th birthday early

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to change how tech industry works

Lenovo deal won't affect Motorola Moto G launch in India

Oppo N1, smartphone with rotating camera launched @ Rs 40k

Samsung named India's most trusted brand

India look for consolatory victory in final ODI against New Zealand

Wednesday 29 January 2014

iPhone 5c to get a price cut? Tim Cook is not ruling it out

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