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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Canon to enter mirrorless camera market from September

A logo of Canon Inc is pictured at the 3D and Virtual Reality Expo in Tokyo June 20, 2012. The expo which showcases the latest technology will be held until June 22.
Credit: Reuters/Yuriko NakaoTOKYO | Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:38am EDT
TOKYO (Reuters) - Canon Inc said on Monday it would sell its first mirrorless camera from mid-September in a bid to tap a growing market for small, interchangeable-lens cameras that rival Nikon Corp entered last year.
Canon will manufacture 100,000 of the cameras a month, the company said in a statement.
Mirrorless models have large sensors, providing good picture quality, but no optical viewfinders. That enables manufacturers to keep the camera body smaller and lighter.
In Japan, where consumers tend to value easily portable products, mirrorless cameras account for around a third of all interchangeable lens models. In the United States, their market share is closer to a tenth.
Canon's move will ratchet up competition with Nikon, its main rival for hefty single-lens reflex cameras used by professional photographers and enthusiasts.
Shares of Canon were down 3 percent and Nikon was 2.6 percent lower on Monday afternoon, underperforming Tokyo's broad Topix index, which lost 0.9 percent.
(Reporting by Reiji Murai, writing by Tim Kelly; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

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Powered by Blogger. Facebook Pageviews Nokia Lumia 900 vs. HTC Titan II vs. Samsung Focus 2: AT&T's Windows Phones Go Head-to-Head-to-Head

So for those that are looking for a Windows Phone 7.5 (aka Mango) experience with a little 4G LTE flavor, which of these three phones is the best choice? We compare the build, performance, display, camera, and battery life of the phones in this breakdown to determine which one comes out on top.
Build
Admittedly, this is a tough category to judge objectively, as it's almost entirely a matter of preference. On the one hand, you've got to give points to Nokia for trying something very new and different with the bizarre build of the Lumia 900. But on the other hand, that's exactly the problem: it's incredibly bizarre. The combination of rounded sides with sharp corners looks and feels so weird, and it's not particularly comfortable to hold either, in my opinion. Top that off with the fact that the giant polycarbonate body is as slick as all get-out and Nokia is just asking for its massive abomination of a phone to be dropped on a regular basis.

Now, in defense of the Lumia 900, the Titan II is just as big (it's slightly thinner, but also slightly longer), but it takes on a much more graceful shape. HTC didn't try as hard as Nokia to come up with something so distinctly unique, instead opting for a much more subtle approach; there's a gentle upward slope at the bottom of the phone, bringing the microphone closer to the speaker's mouth and creating a nice sort of pocket for your thumb to fit in while using the capacitive buttons on the bottom of the handset.
Then there's the Focus 2, with its extremely traditional build. It's relatively sleek -- though it's no Droid RAZR or Ascend P1 -- and it sports a shiny white body with silver trim, giving it a nice, clean aesthetic. Unfortunately, the body of the Focus 2 is also very slick. I wish that at least one of these handsets had some sort of textured finish to add some grip, but none of them do.
Now, I'm a pretty boring person, so my initial thought was to go with the safe, traditional, and comfortably-sized option of the Focus 2, but I'm going to give the Titan II the slight edge here. My primary issue with the Titan II is its size, but I recognize that most people don't care about that as much as I do, so I'm putting that aside and saying that its slightly unique (but not off-the-wall) design ranks above the plain (but much more manageably-sized) build of the Focus 2. The Lumia 900 finishes way behind the other two because, while I appreciate Nokia's attempt to mix things up, the result is just too ugly in my opinion.
Display
This one's a no-brainer. Though all three handsets have the same 800 x 480 resolution, the Lumia 900 easily takes the cake thanks to Nokia's ClearBlack display technology. Essentially, this reduces the reflectiveness of the screen, creating deeper blacks and beautifully saturated colors on the AMOLED display of the Lumia 900. The slick look of the Corning Gorilla Glass certainly doesn't hurt, either.
So what about the remaining two? Once again, the choice is pretty clear. The display of the Focus 2 is far and away one of the worst that I have ever seen on a Windows Phone (or any phone, for that matter). Due to the fact that it is a Super AMOLED display and not Super AMOLED Plus means that it uses PenTile screen technology. And while the PenTile descriptor has to do with the layout and size of the individual subpixels on the screen, all you really need to know about it is that PenTile displays look worse as resolutions get lower.
The PenTile display on the new Galaxy S III, for example, looks fine, but that's because it's a 1280 x 720 resolution. The display on the Focus 2 is only 800 x 480, compounding the issues with the PenTile display and resulting in a screen in which you can easily see individual pixels without even having to hold it all that close to your face. Don't get me wrong, the WVGA Super LCD display of the Titan II is no stunner either, but it definitely does not look as rough as the one on the Focus 2. The Lumia 900 wins here by a country mile, with the Titan II in a distant second and the Focus 2 in dead last.
And one final note: I'm personally not into massive screens, as this obviously results in equally massive phones, but I know that not everybody is of the same opinion. So if you're all about size, the Titan II has the largest display, measuring 4.7 inches, while the Lumia 900 is 4.3 inches, and the Focus 2 is an even 4 inches.

Part 2 of this comparison covers the performance. camera, and battery life of these three Windows Phones, and then draws some conclusions.

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Nokia Has 'Something Amazing' on the Way in September

Helsinki Nokia StoreNokia's partnership with Microsoft may not have produced any resounding success yet, but it appears that the Finnish company may still have something up its sleeve. Come September 7, Nokia promises to unveil something "amazing" to its customers.
Photos of a sign outside a currently-closed Nokia store in Helsinki have surfaced on MyNokiaBlog, telling customers "Something amazing is coming," with the September 7 date next to it. There is also a QR code on the ad that, when scanned, takes users to a website that features similarly vague hype like, "Prepare to be amazed at all the things in your new Nokia store." The timing of the announcement is interesting, since it comes right on the heels of Nokia World, which is scheduled to take place in Helsinki on September 5 and 6.
But what exactly Nokia will be unveiling is a mystery. One possibility is an announcement of a new lineup of Windows 8 Lumia phones, as it was recently announced that Windows 8 will be released not long after on October 26. Another possibility is that the announcement may have something to do with Nokia's efforts to become a leader in the field of location-based services.
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop recently stated that the company's goal is to become the "Where?" company, much like Google and Facebook have become the "What?" and "Who?" companies, respectively. He stressed the importance of smartphones and mobile devices, saying, "The mobile device will become the nucleus for collecting real-time data from sensors," including location, orientation, speed, social media preferences, etc.
When it comes to location-based services, "[Nokia] could be a leader," said Elop, specifically mentioning the potential behind the releases of Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. "We expect the launch of Windows 8 for tablets and PCs, and Windows Phone 8, to be a catalyst for Lumia."
Source: CNET and SlashGear

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Apple heads into choppy waters as new iPhone awaited

A man shows a photograph he took on his iPhone of an Apple store in Beijing June 6, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/David GrayBy Poornima GuptaSAN FRANCISCO | Mon Jul 23, 2012 7:06am EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc faces an unusual phenomenon when reporting earnings this time around: low expectations.
Few are expecting the world's most valuable technology company -- which surpasses Wall Street expectations with near regularity -- to deliver a bumper quarter once more on Tuesday.
The main reason: consumers holding out for the new iPhone.
Apple may still surprise market watchers, but many Wall Street analysts and investors remember how chatter over the launch of a new iPhone last year caused Apple to miss quarterly expectations in the fall, for the first time in years.
The iPhone 5 is only expected to hit store shelves around October -- just in time for the holidays -- with a thinner, larger screen and fine-tuned search features. Couple that pre-launch lull with slowdowns in Europe and China, Apple's biggest markets outside of North America, and sentiment on the Wall Street darling is more muted than many can remember in a while.
"No longer is Apple the company that beats every time," said Tim Lesko, portfolio manager at Granite Investment Advisors, which owns Apple stock. "I expect Apple to beat Apple's guidance, but I don't know whether they will beat Wall Street's guidance."
Tony Sacconaghi, analyst with Bernstein Research, sees a reasonable chance Apple will miss expectations on revenue, citing "macroeconomic weakness in China and Europe, a product cycle lull in the iPhone, a later than expected introduction of the new iPad into China, and the late quarter introduction of new Mac notebooks."
Any hiccup in demand for the best-selling smartphone can have a big impact on both revenue and profits as the five-year old device accounts for nearly 50 percent for Apple's revenues. And it comes at a time Samsung and other manufacturers that use rival Google Inc's Android software are chipping away at its market share.
Apple is expected to report fiscal third-quarter earnings of $10.35 a share on revenue of $37.2 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Top Wall Street analysts are betting the numbers will undershoot that. Apple may miss the average sales forecast by about 0.2 percent, according to Thomson Reuters Starmine's SmartEstimates, which places greater emphasis on timely forecasts by top-rated analysts.
IPAD'S LAUNCH IN CHINA
But some analysts also think the Street is underestimating the impact of a late iPad launch in China, a focal point of intense expansion for the company and a huge driver of growth.
Apple began selling the tablet there on Friday, but many had expected it to ship last quarter.
Sales in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan jumped threefold to $7.9 billion in the second quarter, accounting for about 20 percent of Apple's $39.2 billion in total revenue.
The company typically introduces a new iPhone every year, but has yet to reveal any details on the next model.
However, people familiar with the situation have told Reuters the new iPhone will have a bigger display and that Apple has begun to place orders for the new displays from suppliers in South Korea and Japan.
Meanwhile, Apple's iPhone 4S is just three quarters old, which is relatively new by any standard. But many fans of the phone now see it as a cyclical product with somewhat predictable launch timeframes, preferring to wait a few months to buy the new model, analysts said.
Wall Street estimates Apple sold about 29 million iPhones, down from 35.1 million sold in the March quarter. Sales of the new iPad, expected to be 14 million to 15 million, is likely to offset part of the anticipated sequential drop in iPhones sales.
Apart from concerns about iPhone purchases, Wall Street is worried about the rising prominence of Google and Amazon.com in the mobile market, particularly with the launch of Google's smaller and cheaper Nexus 7 tablet, which is gaining popularity.
Still, no one is bearish in the longer term on the world's largest technology company by market value and most Apple watchers believe the company will make up any lost iPhone volume during the holiday season.
"Big picture, it doesn't matter," said Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu. "They are still the share gainer in the larger scheme of things. This is clearly a timing issue."
BIG HOLIDAY SEASON EYED
Wall Street expects that the outlook for this year's holiday season will be enormous for Apple as it may include the launch of a new iPhone as well as a potential new "mini iPad."
Apple has been working on a smaller tablet, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
It is unclear when Apple will launch such a tablet, but some clues are emerging on the timing of the new iPhone.
When Verizon -- one of the wireless carriers that work with Apple -- was asked on Thursday why customers have been holding back on handset upgrades, CFO Fran Shammo said: "There is always that rumor mill out there with a new phone coming out in the fourth quarter and so people may be waiting."
Investors will pick apart executives' comments for clues to new product introductions. While Apple has a policy of never giving advance details or timings on new products, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer has often hinted of "product transition" in earnings conference calls preceding a launch.
Wall Street estimates Apple sold about 4 million Macintosh computers as the PC market saw growth sputter in the quarter.
The lackluster expectations do not appear to have affected Apple's stock, which is up nearly 50 percent so far in 2012. The stock has been choppy since a high of $644 in April. It closed Friday at $604.30 on the Nasdaq.
"Of all the quarters, this is the one that seems to have widest range of opinion," said Granite's Lesko.
(Reporting by Poornima Gupta, Editing by Gary Crosse)

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Youku, Tudou shares fall on China content crackdown

n">(Reuters) - Shares of online video companies Youku.com Inc and Tudou Holdings Ltd fell on what some analysts said was a reaction to a planned crackdown by the Chinese government on what it considers to be inappropriate content.
China plans to target material on websites, including pornographic and violent videos, according to media reports.
Youku's shares were down 6 percent at $17.86 in early afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, while Tudou was down 9 percent at $26.67 on the Nasdaq.
Youku does not have much exposure to user-generated content, the main target of the government campaign, but Tudou, which Youku bought in March, gets a large percentage of its revenue from such content, ThinkEquity analyst Henry Guo told Reuters.
Founded in 2005, Tudou — which means potato in Mandarin and alludes to the image of an Internet couch potato — focuses on user-generated content and makes its own drama serials. It went public on the Nasdaq in August last year.
Oppenheimer analyst Andy Yeung said the new regulation would require website operators to hire and train more staff to self-censor content uploaded by users.
Youku.com agreed to buy Tudou in an all-stock deal worth more than $1 billion in March, creating an industry leader with more than a third of China's online video market.
Youku currently leads the fragmented Chinese online video market with a 21.8 percent share, ahead of Tudou's 13.7 percent, according to internet researcher Analysys International.
China heavily filters the Internet, and blocks popular foreign sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter and in 2011, it shut 50 microblogs for distributing pornography and carrying "vulgar content.
In March, Chinese regulators made it mandatory for Beijing-based microbloggers to register on the Weibo platform using their real identities or face unspecified legal consequences, in a bid to curb what Communist officials call rumors, vulgarities and pornography.
(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bangalore; Editing by Anil D'Silva, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

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Samsung Galaxy S III Lands at U.S. Cellular


With the past few weeks bringing the Samsung Galaxy S III to Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile consumers, it looks like the smartphone is now available to U.S. Cellular customers too, as the device is now available for purchase online.
The Galaxy S III from U.S. Cellular is essentially identical to the version offered by the larger carriers. It runs the same Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, is equipped with Samsung's own TouchWiz flavor, and features an 8 megapixel camera on the back. Packing a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, the device sports a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED 1280 x 720 resolution display. Just like its Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T counterparts, U.S. Cellular's version is 4G LTE capable.
The 16GB version of the Samsung smartphone is currently selling online for $200, after a $100 mail-in rebate, in either white or blue, with the phone hitting store shelves later this week. The 32GB iteration of the device will be available soon after, with a price tag of $250, after a $100 mail-in rebate.
While the four major national networks have been offering the Samsung Galaxy S III for weeks, it's rare that regional carriers get new devices so quickly.
U.S. Cellular customers interested in buying the smartphone, be sure to check out our hands-on review to get all the details before you buy!  

No Samsung Galaxy S III Has Spontaneously Exploded


Facebook logos on a computer screen are seen in this photo illustration taken in Lavigny May 16, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Valentin Flauraud
By Dan Levine
SAN FRANCISCO | Wed Jul 11, 2012 4:36pm EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A judge recused herself from overseeing a privacy lawsuit against Facebook over the social networking service's "Sponsored Stories" feature, one day before she was set to hold a hearing on a proposed settlement.
District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, federal court did not provide a reason for the recusal in a brief order on Wednesday.
Five Facebook members filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status against the social networking site, saying its "Sponsored Stories" feature violated California law by publicizing users' "likes" of certain advertisers without paying them or giving them a way to opt out. The case involved over 100 million potential class members.
As part of a proposed settlement, Facebook agreed to allow users more control over how their personal information is used. The value to Facebook members resulting from the changes is about $103 million, in the opinion of one economist hired by the plaintiffs.
However, the amount Facebook will actually pay to settle the case is just over $20 million, according to court documents filed last month.
Any settlement must be approved by a judge. In the order on Wednesday, Koh vacated all pending dates for motions in the case, and asked that it be reassigned to another judge.
Koh had overseen the lawsuit since it landed in federal court last year. In an order last December, Koh rejected Facebook's attempts to dismiss the case, saying plaintiffs had shown economic injury could occur through Facebook's use of their names, photographs and likenesses.
The case is Angel Fraley et al., individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated vs. Facebook Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 11-cv-1726.
(Reporting By Dan Levine; Editing by Gary Hill and Tim Dobbyn)

No Samsung Galaxy S III Has Spontaneously Exploded


Last month, a single report that a Galaxy S III had caught fire for no reason caused a huge furor -- Was Samsung new flagship smartphone terribly flawed? As it turns out, the device caught fire for a perfectly natural reason: it had been put in a microwave.

The report came from a a user on an Irish webforum who calls himself dillo2k10. In it, the individual claimed that his Galaxy S III was in a car cradle "when suddenly a white flame sparks and a bang came out of the phone." He turned the device over to Samsung asking for a replacement.
As the report drew international attention, and questions from potential buyers, Samsung turned the investigation over to a separate company, Fire Investigations U.K.
Before a report could be published, dillo2k10 posted a follow-up message in which he tried to retract his earlier post, "The damage to the phone was caused by another person, although they were attempting to recover the phone from water, this later caused the damage shown on the phone. It occurred due to a large amount of external energy and there was no fault with the phone."
According to Fire Investigations U.K., the damage to the Galaxy S III had to have been caused by putting the device into a microwave. This apparently was in an attempt to save the phone after it had been dropped into water.
Although, dillo2k10 said in this follow-up post that "This was not a deliberate act but a stupid mistake," there is still the possibility that Samsung could take legal action against this person. When his false allegation was being widely publicized, it could have caused people to not buy the Galaxy S III.
No explosions happened during Brighthand's review of the Samsung Galaxy S III.
Source

Motorola Unveils Atrix HD, Coming July 15


Motorola has announced the Atrix HD, the latest addition to its Atrix line of phones, and it will be available to AT&T customers starting this Sunday, July 15.
Sporting a "Kevlar strong" body and splash guard nano-coating, the Atrix HD will measure only 8.4 millimeters thick. Motorola's press release and website offered conflicting information regarding the size of the display, stating that it will be 4.5 inches in the former and 4.3 inches in the latter. Both sources do confirm, however, that it will be an HD ColorBoost display.
As for the rest of the specs, the smartphone will run Google Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and will be powered by a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor.
Other features include an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, and preloaded extras like Motorola's Circle Widget (which displays information like data usage on the home screen) and the SmartActions app. For those who aren't familiar with it, SmartActions can automatically change the phone's settings throughout the day based on usage; for instance, plugging the phone into a vehicle dock can automatically enable Drive Smart, putting the phone into vehicle mode, read texts aloud, provide turn-by-turn navigation, etc.
The Motorola Atrix HD will cost $100 with a new two-year agreement. And for a limited time, as part of an initiative to promote responsible driving, customers who pick one up at participating locations will receive a vehicle dock for free.

Samsung TecTiles Review: NFC Tap Technology in Sticker Form


Many have hyped NFC, short for Near Field Communications, as the future of mobile payments. But in reality, their tap technology can also be used to share smartphone contents, contacts, and execute simple smartphone commands. And that's where Samsung TecTiles come in.
Samsung TecTiles are NFC-enabled stickers that are about the size and shape of postage stamps. Through an Android app that's freely available in the Google PlayStore, the stickers can be programmed to enable various smartphone functions when tapped. Think of them as a more advanced and yet simpler version of QR codes.
So let's find out if they are actually useful, unlike the near omnipresent square patterns smartphone users have been successfully ignoring for years.
What Can They Do?
Samsung TecTiles have limits. They will work with any Android NFC phone, but users can only program them to perform specific tasks, as limited by the app. The tasks are broken up into four categories, including:
Settings and Apps
Change phone settings (alarms, ringer volume, screen brightness, etc)Launch an app, set volume (for launching music apps)Join a WiFi networkShow a message
Phone and text
Make a callSend a textShare a contactStart a Goolge talk conversation
Location and Web
Show an address in Google mapsFoursquare check inFacebook check inOpen a webpage
Social
Update Facebook statusFacebook "like"Send a tweetFollow a Twitter userConnect on LinkedIn
The benefit for a business is clear. Samsung TecTiles can be programmed with office contact info or a FourSquare check-in at the door, or a theater can have a tag that sets phones to silent.

In Use
Or at least that's what Samsung lays out as use cases in its marketing materials. To be fair, it's not a stretch to see NFC utilized in such ways. It certainly helps that the TecTiles work flawlessly. I had no issues getting a Samsung Galaxy S III to recognize the sticker, and the handset executed the task each time without any bugs or even lag. Setting up and programming the TecTiles through the Samsung app is simple and intuitive, never requiring more than 30 seconds from start to finish.
But the limits of Samsung TecTiles may prevent these particular stickers from becoming widely adopted. For starters, Samsung TecTiles are limited to Android NFC smartphones, and only work with smartphone that already have the TecTiles app installed. Try tapping a TecTile without the app, and it will bring up the TecTiles marketing microsite complete with instructions to download. As much as I hate manufacturer bloatware, it would make sense for Samsung to preinstall the TecTile app on all future smartphones.
Another drawback, TecTiles do still require a manual component on the user end, particularly with the social settings. For example, any Facebook "liking" won't occur unless the user is already signed in and has enabled TecTile Facebook permissions. Twitter requires a login too, and the user has to manually send the update. In addition, I found that TecTiles mangle Twitter messages by turning common symbols with garbled code. For example the common "@" turns into "%2540".

TecTiles can be locked by the user, which prevents mischievous types from reprogramming them with obscene messages. However, once the TecTile is locked, it can't be reprogrammed ever. Considering the stickers cost $15 for five at launch, a pin number protection system would have been nice. Otherwise, TecTiles can be reprogrammed again and again. There is another option to "allow multiple writes," for programming TecTiles in bulk.
The cost is probably the main hurdle to widespread adoption -- and I think Samsung realizes that. TecTiles are a neat accessory that showcase NFC and its potential. I see no reason why another company couldn't or wouldn't offer a less expensive and generic alternative, perhaps one that works across iOS, BlackBerry 10, Windows Phone 8, and Android.

LG, Toshiba, AUO to settle display panel price-fixing case


A man looks at Toshiba Corp's Regza liquid-crystal display (LCD) televisions at an electronic store in Tokyo January 26, 2009.
Credit: Reuters/Stringer
By Dan Levine
SAN FRANCISCO | Wed Jul 11, 2012 7:59pm EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp, LG Electronics Inc and AU Optronics Corp have agreed to pay a combined $571 million to settle a lawsuit over price fixing in the liquid crystal display panel market, according to an attorney for the plaintiffs.
Joseph Alioto, a San Francisco attorney who was co-lead counsel for a class of consumers suing the companies, said the amount includes $27.5 million in civil penalties for eight state governments. Seven other LCD manufacturers had reached an earlier settlement for $538.5 million, which was approved on Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Susan Illston.
The two settlements mean total recovery for consumers nears $1.1 billion, Alioto said. Representatives for AUO, Toshiba and LG could not immediately be reached on Wednesday.
The class action alleged a detailed conspiracy from 1996 through 2006 to fix LCD prices, resulting in higher prices for buyers of televisions, laptops and other electronics. Several companies also pleaded guilty to separate criminal charges and paid fines.
Alioto declined to comment on the specific amounts AUO, Toshiba and LG agreed to pay, but said a court document set to be filed on Thursday would outline those figures. Illston will also have to approve the deal.
Any consumer who files a claim will receive at least $25, Alioto said, and the class could include at least 20 million consumers.
The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is In Re: TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation, 07-md-1827. (Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

RIM Down but Not Out: BlackBerry Curve 9310 Coming to Verizon


Although RIM is going through tough times, Verizon hasn't forgotten it used to be the top smartphone maker in the U.S. and it bringing out a new entry-level model from the company, the BlackBerry Curve 9310.
This will use the traditional BlackBerry shape, with a small keyboard fixed below its display. In this case, that will be a 2.44-inch QVGA (320 x 240) screen.
As it is going to boast a physical keyboard, RIM is putting an emphasis on the social-networking capabilities of this device, including support for the popular BlackBerry Messenger IM app, as well as Twitter.
It will run BlackBerry 7.1, not the next-generation operating system from RIM that's now scheduled for 2013, BlackBerry 10.
The Curve 9310 will also have a 3.2-megapixel camera and a microSD memory card slot.
This smartphone is going to debut from Verizon on Thursday, July 12 on the carrier's website -- store availability will start a few weeks later. It will sell for $50 with a two-year "Share Everything" plan and a $50 mail-in rebate.

Analysis: Is Twitter building ad business at expense of innovation?


Twitter's CEO Dick Costolo gestures during a conference at the Cannes Lions in Cannes June 20, 2012. Cannes Lions is the International Festival of creativity.
Credit: Reuters/Eric Gaillard
By Gerry Shih
SAN FRANCISCO | Wed Jul 11, 2012 4:15pm EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Is Twitter a technology platform, a media company -- or both?
With Twitter's recent moves pointing toward "media company," there is a growing concern among technologists that a trend for greater content control will compromise both innovation and Twitter's future in favor of short-term profits.
The days of fledging start-up are gone for six-year-old Twitter, which is now a major player in the big battles shaping the future of the Internet. With over $1 billion in investment, it has backers looking for an IPO payday -- an environment that demands more than trumpeting a nifty communications protocol.
The most recent dust-up arose after a top executive announced in late June that the company would soon introduce "stricter guidelines" around how independent developers may build applications on top of Twitter. Around the same time, the social networking service LinkedIn disclosed that it no longer had permission to include Twitter streams.
Those moves are part of a larger clamp-down on how and where Twitter's content - the stream of Tweets - is viewed by users, who collectively publish 400 million Tweets daily. Twitter's monthly active users have steadily risen to over 140 million, although it lags far behind Facebook, which claims over 900 million.
Technologists want the service to remain an open, free-wheeling environment, where new applications can be built without restriction and innovation remains the main goal.
For Twitter, increasing control smooths the path to selling advertising and other money-making deals.
Greater control makes it easier for Twitter to sell advertising against its content -- the media industry's traditional proposition. It could also facilitate future initiatives in e-commerce, where Twitter could allow shoppers to click on deals within Tweets and take a cut of the revenue.
"The question is, ‘is Twitter the dial tone or is Twitter the content?'" said Greg Cohn, a former Yahoo executive who oversaw the company's developer partnerships. "I think increasingly the indications are showing that Twitter is the content."
How Twitter moves forward with its developer circle will likely shape the fate of its business, if recent history serves as a guide.
What appears to be Twitter's increasingly ad-driven approach is upsetting third-party developers, many of whom helped the service gain popularity in its early days by providing features that Twitter itself did not, from slick desktop clients like Tweetdeck to photo-uploading tools like Twitpic.
"They're going to keep compromising themselves over and over again because they need to make money," said Dalton Caldwell, a programmer who founded the music streaming service imeem and App.net, a software toolkit for developers. "We can't fault them for following their business model," he said. "But it's going to disappoint us. It's a shame."
"WE'RE NOT A MEDIA COMPANY"
Twitter's ad business began to take shape after the 2010 ascension of CEO Dick Costolo, who defined the company's core business of selling ads as "promoted tweets" within the Twitter stream, and selling "trending topics." Twitter aims to show individual users relevant promoted tweets by deducing interests from the accounts a user follows.
Costolo has significantly ramped up Twitter's sales operations, expanding the team from a handful of employees to over 250 around the world. He's also built out the content offerings with everything from an expanded "Discover" feature, which presents popular stories being shared on Twitter in a news-like format, to special events such as Twitter chats and even originally produced video that's integrated with major ad campaigns.
Still, Costolo has consistently rejected the notion of Twitter as a media company, instead characterizing the service as nothing more than a new-fangled distribution network.
"We're not a media company," Costolo said in January at a media industry conference hosted by All Things D. "We're in the media business. We distribute traffic."
That stance helps assuage concerns on the part of the many media companies that use Twitter extensively that the platform is not a competitor. Twitter, in fact, is aiming for deeper partnerships with media firms with new offerings such as "expanded Tweets."
It has also suited Twitter to pose as a tech company when it comes to potential regulatory and legal burdens, said Lou Kerner, founder of the Social Internet Fund.
Twitter has adopted the legal position that it has no ownership of individual tweets. The matter came to the fore in May, when a New York court ordered the company to hand over information about a user who was arrested during an Occupy Wall Street protest.
But even though it lays no claim to the content of tweets, Twitter has moved aggressively to absorb or squash companies that have built products on top of the Twitter platform.
In 2010, Twitter acquired the maker of Tweetie, a popular iPhone client. The following year, Twitter acquired Tweetdeck, and then sought to shut down UberMedia, a company that made another competing Twitter client software.
Developers' fears were fanned again late last month, when LinkedIn revealed that it no longer had a license to stream its users' tweets within the professional networking web site.
Dozens of developers took to Internet forums and their personal blogs to voice their frustration, including Aaron White, a developer who quickly published a blog post declaring that he would no longer write apps for Twitter.
Twitter had abruptly cut off its data pipeline to White's own app in January. Twitter said the app, called "Proxlet," which lets users filter out Tweets on certain topics or mute certain accounts, had violated Twitter's rules.
"They want to control the whole ecosystem," White said. "If I were making a third-party app right now I wouldn't feel too safe."
THE PAST AS PROLOGUE?
The fortunes of other tech companies may provide a sobering guide on the how efforts to control developers translates into success.
In 2006, as the first iPhone was nearing release, Apple CEO Steve Jobs resisted allowing third-party apps onto the phone, according to his authorized biographer, Walter Isaacson. Jobs, who died last year, changed his mind only after top deputies lobbied him repeatedly, but insisted on closely screening the apps and keeping tight control over Apple's product.
The App Store — which today offers over a half-million apps curated by Apple — has emerged as a major success, helping propel the iPhone's popularity and supporting a lucrative industry of app developers.
Contrast Apple's fortunes with MySpace, the once-dominant social network whose decline began around the same time.
In 2006, after News Corp. acquired Myspace, divisions emerged over the issue of third-party developers. MySpace executives resisted ceding control of the platform, while Ross Levinsohn, the head of News Corp.'s digital division and now interim CEO of Yahoo, pushed for more openness, former News Corp. employees said.
A year later, in 2007, MySpace competitor Facebook opened its API, a move that eventually gave rise to popular Facebook apps like FarmVille, the hit game by Zynga Inc., and Spotify, the music streaming service -- all of which bolstered Facebook's transformation into a sprawling network.
But even as Facebook grew, it faced regular complaints that it was neglecting its developer community.
"The relationship between a developer and a platform is a very delicate one," Cohn said. Twitter's growing pains, he added, are "nothing too different from what any platform goes through as they mature."
(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Google Chrome and Drive Released for iPhone, iPad


Google and Apple don't get along as well as they once did, but that hasn't stopped at least one of these companies from developing apps for the rival's operating system.
Google Chrome is now available for iOS, bringing this web browser to a new array of devices. At this point, the main advantage of using this app instead of Apple's Safari is that it keeps items like bookmarks synchronized with the desktop version, so fans of the Windows version of Chrome can pick up their phone or tablet and have immediate access to their favorite sites without much setup.

On the other hand, the web browser is initially drawing mixed reviews from users. The first iOS version is not as fast as Safari in some situations, for example. This is because Apple places limitations on third-party browsers that it doesn't on Safari.
Google Drive, Too
Google Drive is also now available for the iPhone and iPad. This ties into Google's cloud-based file storage system. At this point, it serves only as a way to view files that are stored online, as there is no way to edit them.
Currently, this app less is functional that accessing Drive through the Safari web browser on an iOS device.  Still, editing is likely going to be added at some point, especially in the wake of Google acquisition of Quickoffice.
Google Chrome is available now in the iTunes App Store, and so is Google Drive. Both are free.
Naturally, there are already Android versions of both these applications, as well as desktop versions.

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RIM CEO says "nothing wrong" with BlackBerry maker


Research in Motion Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins holds up a prototype of the BlackBerry 10 smartphone at the BlackBerry World event in Orlando May 1, 2012 .
Credit: Reuters/David Manning
TORONTO | Tue Jul 3, 2012 2:27pm EDT
TORONTO (Reuters) - Research In Motion Ltd's freshman CEO insisted on Tuesday that nothing is wrong with the maker of BlackBerry smartphones and that it certainly isn't in a "death spiral," even as the company's already battered stock edged toward new lows.
In what appeared to be a concerted effort to win over Canadians mourning the fall of a national icon, Thorsten Heins said Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM is facing very big challenges, but would emerge successfully from its transition.
"There's nothing wrong with the company as it exists right now," Heins said on Canadian Broadcasting Corp's Metro Morning radio show.
"I'm not talking about the company as I, kind of, took it over six months ago. I'm talking about the company (in the) state it's in right now."
Heins took the reins at RIM in January, replacing founder Mike Lazaridis and his longtime business partner Jim Balsillie.
RIM shares have halved in value since then, and Heins has hired bankers to consider options that could include a possible breakup or sale.
The stock, which was worth $147 a share at the company's peak in mid-2008, fell almost 2 percent to $7.35 on Tuesday, building on losses from last week, when the company reported a $192 million operating loss and said it would delay the launch of a make-or-break new generation of phones until next year.
In an opinion piece in the Globe and Mail newspaper, Heins said the twice-delayed BlackBerry 10 platform would "empower people as never before" by linking them to parking meters, car computers, credit card machines and ticket counters.
"We do not believe RIM is a company at the end," he wrote. "RIM is a company at the beginning of a transition that we expect will once again change the way people communicate."
The operating loss was RIM's first in eight years and RIM said it would fire 5,000 people, almost a third of its workforce, as it delayed the launch of the BlackBerry 10 devices.
Analysts saw the delay as a devastating setback for RIM, which has fallen behind in a smartphone industry it helped pioneer with the email-focused BlackBerry. Quarterly losses could pile up while RIM rushes to build its new platform.
The once-ubiquitous BlackBerry has stumbled as users seek out the oversized touchscreens and massive libraries of apps on Apple Inc's iPhone and on a slew of devices using Google Inc's Android software, although Heins said RIM's subscriber base was continuing to grow.
"This company is not ignoring the world out there, nor is it in a death spiral," Heins told the CBC.
"Yes, it is very, very challenged at the moment — specifically in the U.S. market. The way I would describe it: we're in the middle of a transition," he said. "I'm positive we will emerge successfully from that transition."
(Reporting by Andrea Hopkins and Alastair Sharp; Editing by Peter Galloway and Janet Guttsman)

European lawmakers reject global anti-piracy deal


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Parliament rejected a global agreement against copyright theft on Wednesday, handing a victory to protesters who say the legislation would punish people for sharing films and music online.
The vote marked the culmination of a two-year battle between legislators who supported the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and it's largely young, digitally savvy opponents.
Tens of thousands of activists held rallies across Europe in February to protest against the law, which they said would curb their freedom and allow officials to spy on their online activities. About 2.5 million signed a petition against ACTA.
European Parliament lawmakers voted against the agreement by 478 to 39 with 165 abstentions, meaning the proposed law will have to be renegotiated by the European Commission, the EU's executive.
European Parliament President Martin Schulz said in a statement after the vote that legislators were not against intellectual property rights but that ACTA left too much room for abuses and raised "concern about its impact on consumers' privacy and civil liberties, on innovation and the free flow of information".
ACTA took four years to negotiate and has already been signed by several of the European Union's big trading partners, including the United States, Canada and Japan. Its rejection is likely to complicate free-trade talks, officials say.
One of the aims of the agreement was to stem the growing tide of illegal downloads and streaming of illegal copies of films and music online. It also calls on signatories to seize fake goods and punish gangs making and selling them.
In rejecting ACTA, the European Parliament has not only raised doubts about the agreement's future - because to function well it will require global adherence - but also called into question a separate proposed EU law on enforcing copyright.
EU officials fear they will they will encounter similar resistance when they attempt to reform the outdated law, IPRED, later this year.
The existing copyright law was adopted in 2001, when slow Internet dial-up connections were not capable of the swift flow of file-sharing seen today.
"There are a lot of people who protested against ACTA who would be willing to protest against the EU's IPRED," Marietje Schaake, a Dutch member of the European Parliament said.
BACKLASH
"We don't want reform of copyright to be stifled by a confrontational atmosphere between the public and the Commission."
EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said ahead of the vote, referring to concerns about future legislation: "A vote against ACTA will be a setback for the protection of our intellectual property rights around the world."
The cost of web piracy to the European Union is difficult to estimate, because compiling such figures would require spying on people's online habits. But record label lobbyists say a steady decline in revenues over the last decade is enough evidence.
Business groups said the ACTA rejection meant the European Union would be weakened in free trade negotiations with the United States, Canada and emerging markets that are relative newcomers to intellectual property.
"When the EU talks to China about intellectual property rights, they (China) will refer to the parliament's rejection (of ACTA)," said Ilias Konteas, a senior adviser at BusinessEurope, an EU lobby group representing 20 million firms in 35 countries.
"I am afraid the unintended consequences have not been considered by members of the European Parliament."
The European Commission admits it must learn from the backlash against ACTA before IPRED is published in September. The main problem with both laws can be boiled down to two words: commercial scale.
Since negotiations began behind closed doors in 2008, ACTA's critics in the European Parliament said the agreement needed to distinguish between web users who downloaded illegal files for their own entertainment and those who sought to make a living from it. But that never happened.
In a paper on the proposals to update EU copyright law, obtained by Reuters, the Commission said the reform must define commercial scale "to make sure that professional counterfeiters rather than individual consumers are targeted".
In February, the European Commission referred ACTA to Europe's highest court, the Court of Justice, for a ruling over whether it breached freedom of speech. A decision could take up to a year.
(Editing by Rex Merrifield and Pravin Char)

Next-Generation BlackBerry Significantly Delayed... Again


RIM has pushed back the release of the first smartphone running BlackBerry 10 until early 2013. This will have a negative impact on the company's efforts to turn itself around.

Previously, the launch of the next BlackBerry was scheduled for this fall. That was until Thorsten Heins, RIM's President and CEO, revealed in his company's latest earnings report that, "Our top priority going forward is the successful launch of our first BlackBerry 10 device, which we now anticipate will occur in the first quarter of calendar 2013."
Over the last few quarters, RIM has seen falling sales of its devices. Its BlackBerry operating system was seen by potential customers as beeing out of date compared to the Apple iPhone. That's why the company has put all its efforts into the development of BlackBerry 10, which has been re-built from the ground up.
However, this can't contribute to RIM's bottom line until devices running it are on store shelves.  And that's not going to happen during the critical holiday shopping season this year.
Heins did not give specific reasons for the delay, just saying, "I will not deliver a product to the market that is not ready to meet the needs of our customers. There will be no compromise on this issue."
Financial Results
The results of RIM's most recent financial quarter highlight its problems. During the March-May period, it lost $518 million. It lost $125 million in the previous quarter.
The company took in $2.8 billion, down 33% from the previous quarter and down 43% from the same quarter of last year. During the quarter, RIM shipped (but did not necessarily sell) 7.8 million BlackBerry smartphones and approximately 260,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.

Verizon Begins Easing Customers Out of Grandfathered Unlimited Data Plans


Verizon's switch over to its new shared data plans -- which happened this morning -- marks the beginning of the end for those of its subscribers who still have an unlimited data plan.

The carrier stopped allowing new customers to sign up for the unlimited data plan last year, when it implemented tiered data plans instead, but Verizon allowed current subscribers to keep their old plan is they so desired, even when they upgraded to a new device.
Starting today, the rules have changed. People can keep their "grandfathered" data plan if they wish, but not if they want to buy a new smartphone at a subsidized price. Only those who pay full price for new models can hold on to to their unlimited plan.
Price subsidies are a powerful incentive to get people to switch plans, as they offer considerable reductions in the cost of a new smartphone. For example, the carrier subsidy on the Apple iPhone is $400.
More about the Share Everything Plans
In response to customers who own multiple devices (smartphone, tablet, etc.), Verizon introduced its ''Share Everything'' plan, which was announced earlier this month. This gives users a pool of data from which they can draw with up to 10 different wireless products.
It has proved to be somewhat controversial because in the name of simplifying choices this carrier is now offering only unlimited voice and texting plans for post-paid customers. The only option is how much data people want in their "pool".
There is a flat fee per device. This covers voice and texting: $40 per smartphone, $10 per tablet, $20 per mobile hotspot, and $30 for featurephones.
The data costs are on top of that. Paying $60 a month gets 2GB, $70 gets 4GB, $80 gets 6GB, $90 gets 8GB, and $100 a month gets 10GB data transfers. Users will be charged $15 for each 1GB they go over their limit, but they will be warned multiple times when they are approaching their limit, and given the opportunity to buy an additional 2GB of data for $10 for just that month, as long as they do it before the overage begins.
Current customers can keep their service plan, but all new Verizon customers much get a 'Share Everything plan.  This, however, does not apply to corporate customers.
Source 

The Android OS: Splintered but Unbroken


The concept of an operating system for your phone is a relatively new development as smartphones have emerged as the go-to device for more and more work and play. How well companies manage those operating systems is proving to be quite a differentiator.
Back when we all used flip phones, no one upgraded their OS and the phone makers didn't bother to push out updates, unless there was a serious problem that needed to be fixed. We got an updated OS when we got a new phone.
Now, smartphones have adopted an upgrade cycle comparable to computers, with operating systems getting far more regular updates. That's partly due to their increased complexity and the subsequent rise in the need for to issue fixes in the first place.
How About the Rivals?
Google's rival Apple has handled the upgrade path reasonably well. It's had some boondoggles, like when iOS 4 proved to be too much for old 3G phones. At the recent Worldwide Developer Conference, Scott Forstall, the senior vice president who heads up the iOS group, said 80% of iPhone customers are using iOS 5.x, the latest version, while most of the rest use 4.x.
By and large, Apple has managed to avoid fragmentation for two reasons: one, Apple faithful have a habit of upgrading when a new phone comes out, so they always have the latest and greatest; and two, Apple makes it easy on its customers, giving out free iOS upgrades to every recent iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch model all on the same day.
Microsoft's Windows Phone OS currently has little or no fragmentation. This is because OS upgrades are widely available, so devices don't get left behind.  That's about to change, though, when Windows Phone 8 is released, as this version won't run on any current handset.
Android Has Lots
With Android, things get very fragmented. Actually, shattered would be a better analogy if the OS had previously been a single platform.
It shows 64% of Android users are on the 2.3.x version, known as Gingerbread, which shipped in December 2010. Version 2.2, a.k.a. Froyo, shipped more than two years ago and holds the number two spot at 19%. All told, there are 10 different API versions on the market.
Google has defended this in a blog post, where Andy Rubin, vice president of engineering, said the company does not believe in a "one size fits all" solution. Android 3.0 was meant for tablets, and 4.0 supports a variety of screen sizes.
Still, when he says "our 'anti-fragmentation' program has been in place since Android 1.0 and remains a priority for us to provide a great user experience for consumers and a consistent platform for developers," one has to wonder what the platform would look like without that program.
Last week, Google unveiled a new system designed to help device makers get the latest versions of Android onto their products more quickly.  It's still in beta, however. 
Is This an Issue?
The view on this splintering ranges, depending on whom you talk to. Iain Gillott, president of iGR market research for wireless, says what some see as fragmentation, he sees as diversity. Selling phones with 2.3 and 4.0 allows for different price points, screen sizes, memory and other features.
"That's the reality of an ecosystem if you want to control it that closely. If they had done that, we'd have end up with Samsung, Motorola, HTC and others all running the same software with screens the same size, which we don't have," Gillott said. "The good news is we got variation and competition in the market. The bad news? We got fragmentation."
Gillott said it's not as bad as the old BlackBerry days, when it was virtually or literally a new operating system with each revision. "You do have to do some tweaks to test for the new platforms. I don't think there's anyone out there saying I'm not going to develop for Android because it's too fragmented. They can't afford not to," he added.
Paul Ingram, creative director with mobile app developer Mindbloom, has a different perspective. "It is a pain. It's probably one of the biggest reasons why we're hesitant to spend our precious startup development budget on the Android market. If we had a team devoted to understanding and navigating the ever changing Android space then it would be much more of a priority for us," he said. That said, Ingram said only 10% of Mindbloom's users are Android users.
The situation shows no signs of going away. Currently just 10% of Android devices have Android 4.0, but Google has already announced Android 4.1, which is set to be released later this month on a small handful of models.

U.S. judge rejects Samsung request to lift stay on Nexus sales


n">(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday rejected a request by Samsung Electronics Co. to lift a pre-trial injunction against sales of its Galaxy Nexus phone, another legal setback for the South Korean firm ahead of an upcoming court battle with Apple Inc..

Last week, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, granted Apple's request to block sales of the smartphone. Samsung had asked the court to stay the injunction pending resolution of an appeal.

On Monday, Koh rejected a similar request to lift a ban on the U.S. sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, a tablet computer that runs on Google Inc's Android and is a competitor of Apple's iPad.

The two injunctions were significant victories for Apple, as such pre-trial injunctions are rarely granted.

Apple and Samsung, the world's largest consumer electronics corporations, are waging legal war in around 10 countries, accusing each other of patent violations as they vie for supremacy in a fast-growing market for mobile devices.

Apple sued Samsung last year, accusing the South Korean electronics maker of "slavishly" copying the iPhone and iPad. Samsung denies the claim and countersued. The case is due to come to court late this month and could have implications in other jurisdictions.

The district court is not the last chance for Samsung to get the injunctions lifted. Samsung has also appealed to a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, which has exclusive jurisdiction over intellectual property disputes.

As a condition of the Galaxy Nexus injunction, Apple was ordered to post a bond in the amount of more than $95 million to secure payment of any damages sustained by Samsung should the injunction be deemed a wrongful decision later.

Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet reiterated her previous statement in the case, saying Samsung blatantly copied Apple's products and that Apple must protect it's intellectual property.

Samsung did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The smartphone case is U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, is Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 12-00630.

(Reporting By Erin Geiger Smith; Editing by Richard Pullin)


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