W3 Solutions - Blog

Sony Panasonic in talks to make OLED TVs sources

Reiji Murai and Mari Saito — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:57:19 -0700

(Reuters) - Sony Corp and Panasonic Corp are in talks to develop the technology to mass produce next-generation OLED televisions, sources close to the matter said on Tuesday, but may already be running to catch up with South Korean rivals in a technology widely seen replacing current LCD TVs.

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics plan to sell 55-inch OLED televisions, which are as slim as 4 millimeters and consume less power and offer sharper images than liquid crystal display sets, by the year-end.

Sony pioneered the technology with the world's first OLED TV in 2007, but halted production of the $2,000 screens three years later because of the global downturn. Sony still makes OLED screens costing as much as $26,000 for high-end customers.

Japanese firms that dominated the global TV market in the 1980s and 1990s have been battered by their aggressive Korean rivals, along with weak demand for the TVs they make and a stronger yen that makes their exports more expensive. Sony, Panasonic and Sharp Corp reported a combined net loss of more than $20 billion in the year to end-March.

Those Japanese woes coincide with a battle in the TV market between credit-card-thin organic light emitting diode (OLED) and ultra-high definition sets. Shipments of OLED TVs may grow to 2.1 million sets in 2015 from just 34,000 this year, according to research firm IHS Inc.

Mass producing affordable OLED TV screens - the technology is used on smaller smartphones and tablets - will be key to future growth, and already the Japanese may be late to the game.

"Overseas competitors have gotten a head start in this area and I feel like they're stepping into this too late," said Masayuki Otani, chief market analyst at Securities Japan. "There's no question OLED TVs are going to be the mainstream. The issue is price and size of the displays."

"Japanese makers haven't been able to produce OLED TVs that are as large as Samsung's ... I think there's an element of Japanese pride to this - the fact that Panasonic and Sony will work together to produce OLEDs to beat their Asian rivals. But I do have serious doubts on whether they can catch up," he said.

Shares in Sony, which makes Bravia TVs, and Panasonic, which sells TVs under the Viera brand, fell sharply on Tuesday - with Sony down as much as 3.3 percent and Panasonic off 4 percent - continuing a slide that has seen both drop to their lowest levels in more than three decades as investors doubt they have the strategy to turn around their loss-making TV businesses. READ MORE...

Samsung releases new Galaxy smartphone

By MarketWatch - Jung-Ah Lee and Yun-Hee Kim — Fri, 04 May 2012 09:11:24 -0700

SUWON, South Korea (MarketWatch)-Samsung Electronics Co. launched a faster, larger version of its flagship smartphone aimed at sustaining its strong growth in advanced cellphones and avoiding an escalation of a global patent dispute with Apple Inc. /quotes/zigman/316469/quotes/nls/appl APPL +19.38% .

The Galaxy S III, released at an event in London on Thursday, features facial recognition technology and a souped-up processor that allows users to watch video and write messages at the same time.

Samsung is hoping the new smartphone will help dent its rivals' market share ahead of an expected new version of Apple Inc.'s iPhone later this year.

The Suwon, South Korea-based company has generated impressive momentum in cellphones: during the first quarter of this year Samsung's net profit rose 82% from a year earlier to a record 5.05 trillion won (US$4.45 billion), with three-fourths from its phone business.

Samsung doesn't provide shipment data for its smartphones but some analysts estimate it now outsells Apple. According to Strategy Analytics, Samsung shipped 44.5 million smartphones in the first quarter, topping Apple's 35.1 million units. It also overtook Nokia Corp. as the biggest handset maker.

However, the new phone launch also comes as Samsung is set to face intensifying competition, not only from Apple, but also from Chinese manufacturers such as Huwei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp., who are building their own-brand phones and cheaper smartphones.

Reflecting the increasingly competitive smartphone business, J.K. Shin, president of Samsung's mobile business, said in an interview that Samsung expects second quarter earnings from its mobile business are likely to be similar to the first quarter.

Samsung aims to sell more than 200 million smartphones this year and grab a 23% to 24% global handset market share, Mr. Shin said, up from 21.1% last year.

In contrast with Apple, Samsung's strategy for growth has been to sell a wide range of phones to soak up demand across price points. Mr. Shin said that the company plans to offer more sub-$150 smartphones and launch a new smartphone using Microsoft's operating system in September.

He declined to provide a sales forecast for the new Galaxy smartphone or comment on price other than to say it would be more expensive than its predecessor, the Galaxy S II, which retails in the U.S. for about US$500 without a contract from AT&T Corp.

He also said it includes a number of software and design modifications that Samsung says can't be targeted by fresh patent litigation.

"Features that were identified in previous lawsuits aren't in this new model. We've created and invented many technologies," he said. READ MORE...

Apple infringes on Motorola Mobility patent ITC judge

Diane Bartz; editing by Sandra Maler and Andre Grenon — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:10:02 -0700

(Reuters) - Apple Inc infringed on a Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc patent in making its popular iPhones, iPads and other products, a judge for the International Trade Commission ruled on Tuesday.

ITC Judge Thomas Pender said in a preliminary ruling that Apple infringed on a patent for eliminating noise and other interference during voice and data transmissions.

The full commission will now review the judge's decision and issue a final ruling in August.

Motorola Mobility, which is being acquired by Google Inc, also accused Apple of violating three other patents - including one for touchscreen technology - but the ITC judge did not back up Motorola Mobility's claims.

Motorola Mobility had asked for the infringing devices to be barred from importation into the United States.

The company said in a statement that it was pleased with the decision.

Apple noted that it was found to have not infringed on three patents in the case.

"A court in Germany has already declared this patent invalid, so we believe we will have a very strong case on appeal," said Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet.

Motorola Mobility has filed related lawsuits against Apple in district courts in Illinois and Florida.

The legal challenges are a proxy for the larger fight for market share between Apple's products and smartphones that use Google Inc's Android software.

Google's Android software, which the company lets handset makers such as Motorola Mobility use for free, has become the world's No. 1 smartphone operating system, ahead of the iOS software used on Apple popular iPhone.

Google has not been directly involved in the lawsuits because it does not make its own phone. Its pending acquisition of Motorola, however, will change that.

The ITC, a U.S. trade panel that investigates patent infringement involving imported goods, is a popular venue for patent lawsuits because it can bar the importation of infringing products and because its cases are ruled on quickly. READ MORE...

AT&T profit up helped by iPhone sales drop

Sinead Carew — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:08:59 -0700

(Reuters) - AT&T Inc reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday, sending its stock up as much as 4 percent, as a decline in iPhone sales reduced the amount of cash it had to pay Apple Inc and boosted its margins.

Apple shares fell almost 2 percent after AT&T also said its numbers should improve further in coming quarters when it expects recent upgrade policy changes to temper smartphone sales further.

Wireless operators have long paid hefty subsidies for smartphones like the iPhone with an aim to attracting new customers and keeping existing customers happy. But AT&T and rival Verizon Wireless have recently been tightening their policies to temper upgrades after they were both hurt by hefty iPhone subsidies in the fourth quarter, when the latest model hit stores.

While fewer iPhone sales meant weaker subscriber growth in the quarter, it did help the company's wireless profit.

Piper Jaffray analyst Christopher Larsen said AT&T's mobile service margin of 41.6 percent had beaten his expectation for 39.7 percent. The margin, based on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, was 28.7 percent in the fourth quarter and 39 percent in the year-ago quarter.

"One of the big things is they didn't have such a big iPhone refresh," Larsen said, adding that AT&T results were "pretty good" across the entire company. READ MORE...

Retailers blame multinational suppliers for CanadaUS price gap

OTTAWA� The Canadian Press — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:42:15 -0700

Canada's retailers are blaming their suppliers for the large gap that still exists between their prices and identical goods for sale south of the border, despite the nearly equal value of the two dollars.

Diane Brisebois of the Retail Council of Canada says the merchants she represents are being unfairly singled out for having higher prices than their American counterparts.

She says because Canada's population is so small in comparison, large multinational vendors can enforce a special Canadian price for brand name products and it can be from 35 per cent to 40 per cent higher than in the U.S.

She says there are other reasons for the discrepancy, which some studies show average over 20 per cent.

Ms. Brisebois was testifying at a Senate committee looking into the issue.

She told the Senators they should look at the companies that supply Canadian retailers, but noted they had not as yet been called before the committee. READ MORE...

Toshiba to buy IBMs pointofsale terminal business source

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:28:52 -0700

(Reuters) - A unit of Toshiba Corp (6502.T) is in talks to buy IBM Corp's (IBM.N) point-of-sale (POS) terminal business, which includes cash registers, a source familiar with the deal said on Tuesday.

The purchase, which local media put at around $870 million, was aimed at expanding the global reach of Toshiba's half-owned Toshiba Tec Corp (6588.T), making it the world's largest vendor of POS systems and equipment, the source told Reuters.

The company's board had yet to meet to finalize the deal, the source added.

Toshiba Tec shares gained 7.5 percent in Tokyo to 329 yen, outperforming a flat overall market. READ MORE...

US rejects import duties on refrigerators steel wheels

Doug Palmer; Editing by Neil Stempleman and M.D. Golan — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:02:00 -0700

(Reuters) - A U.S. trade panel on Tuesday rejected punitive duties on bottom-mount refrigerators from South Korea and Mexico and on steel wheels from Chinain a blow for Whirlpool and other U.S. manufacturers seeking import relief.

The U.S. International Trade Commission voted 5-0, with one commissioner abstaining, that Whirlpool had not been materially injured or threatened with injury by lower priced imports from South Korea and Mexico.

It made that decision even though the U.S. Commerce Department last month found South Korean and Mexican companies had been selling in the U.S. market at below fair market value and also had received government subsidies.

Similarly, the trade panel by a vote of 6-0 rejected combined Commerce Department duties ranging up to more than 200 percent on steel wheels from China.

It is relatively rare for the ITC to reject duties in trade remedy cases, let alone twice in the same day by unanimous votes. The decisions could cause U.S. manufacturers to think twice about bringing new complaints.

The trade panel will vote on duties in two more cases on Thursday, one involving brightening agents from China and Taiwan and another on steel nails from the United Arab Emirates.

The United States imported $965.5 million worth of all types of refrigerators from South Korea and $2.3 billion worth from Mexico in 2011. Separate import data was not available for bottom-mount refrigerators at issue in the case.

"Of course we're extremely disappointed by today's ruling and the implications it has for our U.S. production of bottom-mount refrigerators," Marc Bitzer, president of Whirlpool North America, said in a statement.

"We believe the facts clearly demonstrated that dumped imports of bottom-mount refrigerators from South Korea and Mexico are causing injury to the U.S. industry," Bitzer said, adding the company would decide whether to appeal after reviewing the panel's reasons for its decision.

As a result of the ITC vote, final anti-dumping and countervailing duties set last month by the Commerce Department will not be imposed.

Those included a 30.34 percent anti-dumping duty on bottom-mount refrigerators made by LG in Mexico and a 15.41 percent duty on the same style of refrigerators that LG makes in South Korea.

The department also set a 15.95 percent anti-dumping duty on Samsung's Mexican-made bottom-mount refrigerators and a 5.16 percent anti-dumping duty on Samsung's South Korean-made bottom-mount refrigerators.

Samsung welcomed the ITC decision.

"Whirlpool's action in bringing this case simply resulted in a lengthy investigation that has been costly to the U.S. taxpayer, the result of which has been to prove that Samsung is in compliance with U.S. trade law," the company said. READ MORE...

Samsung Canada Adds Cineplex Store App to its Devices

Adam Grant — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:02:22 -0700

Samsung Electronics Canada and Cineplex Entertainment have launched the Cineplex Store app on select Samsung SMART TVs, Blu-ray players and home theatre systems.

The Cineplex Store offers thousands of movie titles for individuals to either purchase or rent. It doesn't have a monthly subscription charge, and Samsung owners only pay for the movies they watch. Additionally, the store has a digital locker feature that stores and managers all movie purchase.

If the Samsung customer is a member of Cineplex's SCENE loyalty program, he can earn points with every in-app purchase. READ MORE...

Apple Falls to Earth Share Swoon Hits Fifth Day

Steven Russolillo — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:44:20 -0700

Even Apple couldn’t go straight up forever.

The stock is down for a fifth straight day, sending traders and analysts scrambling to find reasons behind the move. Some cited rumors that the company was preparing to launch a cheaper iPad; others went to their charts to highlight “technical” reasons for the decline. Yet many simply say Apple was due for a fall.

Apple shares recently fell 3% at $587.35. The stock has lost about 9% of its value since hitting its most recent all-time high of $644 last week.

“Every living thing, including Apple, needs to stop and breathe,” says Rick Bensignor, chief market strategist at Merlin Securities.

The recent move comes amid Apple’s meteoric rise in recent months. The stock is still up 45% this year. Last week Apple’s market value surpassed $600 billion, further cementing its status as the world’s most valuable company. The move came just six weeks after Apple crossed the $500 billion market-cap barrier.

A couple of analysts have slapped $1,000 price targets on the firm and have predicted its market capitalization could reach $1 trillion in a few years.

Amid all the enthusiasm, the rally has hit its first stumbling block of the year. As the pullback ensued, some said $600 was a key level to watch. Falling through that large, round number may have made some people rethink the rally.

From a technical perspective, the key level to watch now is the 50-day moving average, which is currently around $553, according to FactSet Research.

Apple’s swooning share price has roiled trading today, dragging down the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, while the Apple-less Dow Jones Industrial Average has notched a 67-point gain in early afternoon trading.

Tech is the worst-performing S&P 500 sector today, down about 1%. Google shares are down 3%, Amazon.com has dropped 1.7% and Priceline.com is down 3.8%.

The move starkly contrasts how markets have performed for a majority of the year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is up 16% and the S&P 500 is up 9% year-to-date, both reaping benefits from Apple. The blue-chip Dow, however, is up 5.2%.

Analysts cite many reasons for Apple’s selloff over the last week. Dave Lutz, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, says there’s some chatter that Apple could roll out an iPad Mini at $200. He said the new product could “cannibalize sales.”

But others aren’t sure such a product is due anytime soon.

“This has been rumored for a long time,” says Brian Marshall, an analyst at ISI. “We doubt the product will hit the shelves anytime soon.” READ MORE...

iPhone 5 to rock ultrasonic bonding

Dew Alam — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:07:09 -0700

Apple is reportedly working on a new bonding technique that will make the next iPhone even tougher than its predecessors.

The Cupertino giant has filed a patent with the US Patent & Trademark Office that improves on an older patent from 2008 on using a so-called “ultrasonic bonding” that makes iDevices so sturdy.

According to Patently Apple (PA), Apple may have "refined the process of ultrasonic bonding in their latest Apple TV and iPad designs where it's necessary to bring metal and plastic together to save on costs and to keep the devices lighter".

Furthermore, the technique could improve the look and feel of devices compared to products assembled using traditional metal welds.

"Seams and joins of plastic parts that have been ultrasonically welded together can also be quite aesthetically pleasing in comparison with some traditional metallic welds,” PA explains.

However, there’s a snag, too, that is – having two melting points in plastic and metal could prove problematic for designers “with respect to the materials that can be used in a particular design, such as for the housing and internal features or parts of an electronic device having complex internal features”.

Exactly when Apple will unveil the iPhone 5 remains a mystery, having launched the iPhone 4S in autumn rather than its traditional summer release cycle in June.

Although it’s all speculation at this point, features mooted to be on board of the next-generation kit include a 4.6-inch display, 4G LTE support, an A6 quad core processor and a 10-megapixel camera. READ MORE...

Ontario to adopt consumer cellphone protection plan

RITA TRICHUR — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:59:35 -0700

The Ontario government is vowing to beef up consumer protection for wireless services by adopting new legislation that would allow cellphone users to cancel their contracts at any time, while placing strict caps on any penalties.

In doing so, Ontario becomes the fourth province in recent years to step into the regulatory void left by the federal telecommunications regulator, which decided against the active regulation of cellular contracts nearly 20 years ago.

But at a time when more than three-quarters of Canadians have cellphones in a market largely dominated by three national carriers, consumers are becoming increasingly incensed by obscure contract language and irksome cancellation fees.

Seizing on that anger, Ontario’s Liberal government announced Thursday that its new cellphone legislation would adopt measures originally introduced in a private member’s bill from MPP David Orazietti.

“Millions of Ontarians subscribe to wireless phone services and, given the unwillingness of the federal government to protect consumers from costly one-side contracts, we are moving forward with important legislation that reaches the same objectives as those proposed in two bills I previously introduced,” said Mr. Orazietti, MPP for Sault Ste. Marie.

“This is a pocketbook issue that consumers want addressed, and our government bill contains measures that will reduce costs, cap cancellation fees, prevent automatic renewal and make cellphone contracts considerably more fair and transparent.”

The Wireless Services Agreement Act would also require “the express consent” of consumers to renew, extend or change a contract and force wireless carriers to use easy-to-understand contract language to provide more clarity around costs among other measures. READ MORE...

Smartphone sales to touch 1 billionunit mark in 2014 Credit Suisse

Rachana Khanzode in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Das — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:00:57 -0700

(Reuters) - Global smartphones annual sales will cross the billion-unit mark in 2014, helped by strong demand from China and the launch of cheaper low-end handsets, Credit Suisse said.

Sales across the globe will grow about 46 percent to 687.9 million units this year and will touch 1.05 billion units in 2014, the note said.

"We see robust growth for the smartphone market in China, which we think will account for 22 percent of global units by 2015," analysts including Kulbinder Garcha wrote in a note.

The brokerage also expects Apple Inc to gain the most in an environment where the "success in smartphones will be impacted by success in PCs and tablets."

The world's top smartphone maker will corner a 23 percent market share this year, helped by its strong distribution network, software and services platform and innovation in hardware, Credit Suisse said.

The analysts expect Nokia Corp to drive earnings recovery in 2013 and gain an 11 percent market share in the long term, based on carrier support, competitive pricing and strength in brand and distribution.

On Wednesday, the world's number three phone maker said it would post losses in the first two quarters of this year as it struggles to revamp its product portfolio to compete with Apple and Samsung.

The analysts also expects Samsung — the world's number two smartphone maker — and Huawei to gain market share. READ MORE...

Sony CEO wields ax sets turnaround targets

Tim Kelly and Chris Gallagher — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:06:44 -0700

(Reuters) - Less than a fortnight into his job as CEO, Kazuo Hirai sketched out a strategy to revive Sony Corp: a major push into smartphones, growth in games and cameras, and big cost cuts in a TV business that has not made a profit in eight years.

The Sony veteran, in his first public briefing as CEO, also targeted new business in medical equipment and electric car batteries, and set a target for group sales of 8.5 trillion yen ($105 billion) in two years, with an operating margin of more than 5 percent.

Hirai, who took over from Howard Stringer this month, is under pressure to turn around an ailing consumer electronics giant hobbled by TV losses and trampled by today's gadget leaders Apple and Samsung Electronics

"I am determined to transform and revive Sony. This is our only chance to change," Hirai told a packed news conference at Sony's Tokyo headquarters, close to where the company established its first factory 65 years ago.

Hirai came armed with a slew of numerical targets aimed at easing investor concern over mounting losses. Sony expects to have slumped to a record $6.4 billion loss in the year just ended.

Sony and Japan's two other major TV makers, Sharp Corp and Panasonic Corp, have been battered by weak demand, fierce competition and a profit-sapping strong yen that threatens the viability of Japan's once-mighty television industry. READ MORE...

Apple promises malware removal tool for Flashback trojan

CBC News — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:52:30 -0700

Detection, removal already possible with commercial antivirus software

Apple says it is developing software that will detect and remove malware estimated to have infected more than 650,000 Macs running the OS X operating system.

Apple posted the information on a page about the malware known as "Flashback" in the support section of its website, which was updated Tuesday.

The page also describes how Mac users can protect themselves from the trojan malware, which infects computers via a vulnerability in Java, plug-in software needed for web browsers to run certain kinds of applications. Infected computers become part of a botnet of thousands of computers that can be remotely controlled by special servers to conduct activities such as delivering spam and taking part in denial-of-service attacks.

The malware can be detected and removed by some commercial, third-party antivirus software packages, or it can be removed manually by advanced users.

Apple noted that it released a Java update on April 3 that fixes the Java security flaw on computers running OS X v10.7 and Mac OS X v10.6. However, it said users running Mac OS X v 10.5 or earlier should disable Java in their web browser preferences. READ MORE...

Sony sees record $64 billion loss on tax hit

Tim Kelly — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:45:03 -0700

(Reuters) - Japan's Sony Corp flagged a record $6.4 billion annual net loss, double an earlier forecast and a fourth straight year of red ink, as it writes off deferred tax credits, heaping more pressure on its new CEO to turn around the electronics giant.

Sony, which plans to axe 10,000 jobs - around 6 percent of its global workforce - according to media reports this week, has been hammered by weak demand for its televisions and overtaken by more innovative gadget rivals such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics.

Yet, in a bid to ease investor concerns over its deteriorating bottom line, Sony forecast it would bounce back in the current year to end-March 2013 with an operating profit of 180 billion yen ($2.2 billion).

In a sign that Sony's woes are industry-wide among Japan's consumer electronics firms, LCD TV maker Sharp Corp on Tuesday also raised its full-year net loss forecast - to 380 billion yen ($4.67 billion) from 290 billion yen.

Kazuo Hirai, who took over as Sony's CEO this month, has said he is prepared to take "painful steps" to revive the company, insisting he would not hesitate to scale back or withdraw from businesses he deemed uncompetitive. He will lay out his revival strategy in more detail at a briefing scheduled for Thursday.

The Sony veteran, known for reviving the PlayStation gaming operations through aggressive cost-cutting, has promised to get the struggling TV business - which has lost $10 billion alone in 10 years - back on its feet within two years. READ MORE...

Microsoft to struggle vs Apple Google in tablets

Reuters — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:41:33 -0700

(Reuters) - Microsoft's push into the tablet industry will see only limited success, with the U.S. software maker remaining a distant No. 3 behind Apple and Google, research firm Gartner said on Tuesday.

"Despite PC vendors and phone manufacturers wanting a piece of the pie and launching themselves into the media tablet market, so far, we have seen very limited success outside of Apple with its iPad," Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi said in a statement.

Gartner said it saw Microsoft winning 4 percent of the market in 2012, with its upcoming Windows 8 platform, while market leader Apple would control 61 percent of the market and Google's Android platform 32 percent. READ MORE...

Sprint seeks hit with advancedcamera EVO phone

Sinead Carew; Editing by Tim Dobbyn — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:49:26 -0700

(Reuters) - Sprint Nextel is hoping to turn heads next month with the EVO 4G LTE, an HTC Corp phone with an advanced camera, a big screen and a high-speed wireless connection to highlight its multi-billion-dollar network upgrade.

While the device will have much of the same technology that HTC is putting in phones that rivals AT&T Inc and T-Mobile USA plan to sell, Sprint is hoping that its popular EVO brand and some design changes will help make its phone a hit.

In roughly two years Sprint has sold 7 million devices with the EVO brand, according to Fared Adib, Sprint's vice president for product development.

The device, which customers will be able to pre-order for $199.99 starting on May 7, comes which a 4.7 inch display. It also comes with an 8 megapixel camera with features that are more often found in high-end, stand-alone cameras than smartphones. READ MORE...

Android Tops 50 percent Market Share in the US

Todd Wasserman — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:58:17 -0700

Android Tops 50% Market Share in the U.S.

Android‘s share of the U.S. smartphone market topped 50% for the first time in February, according to comScore’s MobiLens.

The figures were a 17-point increase over February 2011. Apple’s share for iOS for the month was 30.2%, which was up five points over the same time period. RIM’s BlackBerry platform claimed 13.4% vs. 28.9% in February 2011 while Microsoft had 3.9% of the market compared to the previous 7.7%. (The report didn’t specify which version or versions of Microsoft’s mobile operating systems were being measured.)

Overall, in February, 234 million Americans aged 13 and up used mobile devices. Some 69.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during that time.

Google’s success with seeding the market with Android-based phones comes a day after Horace Dediu, an analyst with Asymco, ran the numbers and discovered that Google only makes $1.70 per Android device compared to the $576.30 that Apple makes per iPhone sale.

Meanwhile, the U.S. market appears to lag the rest of the world for Android adoption. Global market share for the platform approached 50% last August. READ MORE...

Samsung planning Canadian retail stores

Matt Hartley, Postmedia News — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:55:57 -0700

Samsung Electronics Canada plans to open several retail outlets throughout the country this year as the Korean electronics giant looks to follow in the footsteps of rivals Sony Corp. and Apple Inc. by creating a more direct relationship with consumers.

The new Samsung stores are part of a larger retail strategy for the company that will also include special Samsung-branded Experience Zones and "store-withina-store" kiosks inside certain electronics and partner stores that will feature the company's products, including televisions, mobile phones tablets and appliances.

Although Samsung officials are still ironing out the final details of the retail rollout - including the exact locations of the first Samsung stores and which partner companies will receive instore Samsung zones - the company plans to open the first stand-alone Samsung branded retail outlet later this year.

For Samsung, the retail push is the company's latest move to establish itself as a premium electronics brand, an evolution that has been greatly facilitated by the company's ascension in the smartphone and tablet markets thanks to its partnership with Google Inc.'s Android software.

The broader retail strategy is part of a global movement by the company to expand its presence with consumers. Last week, Samsung opened one of its store-within-a-store kiosks in the United Kingdom, partnering with retailer Phones 4u on London's Oxford Street.

"We definitely want consumers to experience the Samsung brand in a way that they have not experienced it before," Samsung Electronics Canada president James Politeski said in an interview. Read more

Samsung Pushes Into MobileAd Market

JOHN LETZING — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:15:27 -0700

Samsung Electronics Co. is taking a more hands-on role in the advertising on its mobile devices, putting the company in greater competition with Apple Inc. AAPL +1.73% and Google Inc. GOOG -0.66%

Samsung said Tuesday it's adding a mobile phone advertising exchange platform using technology from closely held U.S. firm OpenX Technologies Inc.

The platform, called Samsung AdHub Market, will enable advertisers to place targeted messages within apps on Samsung phones and tablets. Those advertisers can purchase space within mobile devices both from app developers and Samsung, the companies say.

The move is part of Samsung's broader push to bring targeted advertising to electronic devices including Internet-connected televisions. It will also pit the company against other mobile-ad services from Apple, Google and Millennial Media Inc., which held an initial public offering last week.

The mobile ad exchange is expected to become available on Samsung devices in the second half of this year. The South Korean company captured a 19.4% share of worldwide sales of mobile devices in the fourth quarter of last year, according to Gartner Inc., ahead of Apple Inc. and behind Nokia Corp. NOK -2.93%

"This is the first time any device manufacturer has entered the ad tech space in this way," said OpenX Chief Executive Tim Cadogan. "It's becoming very clear to the principals in the mobile space that advertising is going to be a very important part of the revenue mix."

According to data provided by eMarketer, spending on mobile advertising in the U.S. is expected to climb to $10.8 billion in 2016 from $2.6 billion this year. READ MORE...

Tablet users prefer to use tablets at home

Zoe Fox — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:19:20 -0700

Since tablets have burst into the ecommerce space in the last few years, they’ve drastically altered the online shopping experience.

That’s a good thing for retailers. Tablet users prefer to use tablets at home, an environment where they’re more likely to buy. This Milo infographic breaks down the trends in tablet use and retail.

According to an eMarketer report, tablets will be adopted even more quickly in the U.S. than smartphones. By 2014, more than one-third of U.S. Internet users will have tablets, meaning now’s the time for retailers to be looking toward the mobile shopping experience. READ MORE...

Apple Sony 4 others sued by Graphics Properties

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:03:59 -0700

(Reuters) - Apple Inc, Sony Corp and four other companies were sued by Graphics Properties Holdings Inc, formerly known as Silicon Graphics Inc, for allegedly infringing a patent through their sale of mobile phones and other electronic devices.

The lawsuits against Apple, Japan-based Sony, Taiwan-based HTC Corp, South Korea-based LG Electronics Inc and Samsung Electronics Co were filed in the U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware.

The patent at issue relates to a computer graphics process that turns text and images into pixels to be displayed on screens.

According to the lawsuits, the defendants' infringing devices include Apple's iPhone and the HTC EVO4G, LG Thrill, Research in Motion Torch, Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy S II, and Sony Xperia Play smartphones.

Graphics Properties said that unless the alleged infringements are halted, it will suffer irreparable harm. The lawsuits seek to stop the sale of infringing products and also seek reasonable royalties and other damages.

HTC spokeswoman Lori Rodney, LG spokesman John Taylor, Research in Motion spokeswoman Tenille Kennedy and Sony spokeswoman Sandra Genelius declined to comment on the substance of their companies' respective lawsuits. Apple and Samsung did not immediately respond to requests for comment. READ MORE...

Australia regulator says Apple misleading consumers on iPad

Narayanan Somasundaram; Editing by Kim Coghill — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:57:38 -0700

(Reuters) - Apple's hot-selling new iPad hit a hurdle in Australia on Tuesday as the country's consumer affairs regulator accused the company of misleading promotions.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it would ask a federal court on Wednesday to order Apple to ensure consumers were made aware of the real technical capabilities of the device, correct its advertising and refund any affected buyers.

Apple's promotions for the iPad with Wifi+4G say buyers can connect to a 4G mobile data network in Australia with a SIM card, but that is not the case, the regulator said in a statement.

An Apple spokeswoman in Sydney could not be reached immediately for comment.

Australia has only one 4G network from dominant telecoms firm Telstra but the network is on a different part of the communications spectrum that cannot connect to the iPad.

While the iPad is the clear market leader and the new version with its faster chips, fourth-generation wireless and a sharper display is only expected to cement Apple's lead, it has not been entirely smooth sailing for Apple.

It is waging a legal battle with a Chinese firm over the rights to the iPad trademark in one of the biggest growth markets.

The long-running dispute with Proview - a financially weak technology company that claims to have registered the trademark - is making its way through Chinese courts and has threatened to disrupt iPad sales. READ MORE...

New Sony CEO to keep charge of troubled TV operations

Chris Gallagher and Yoko Kubota — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:49:51 -0700

(Reuters) - Sony Corp CEO Kazuo Hirai signaled his determination to turn around the group's ailing TV business by keeping direct charge of the division, as the Japanese brand fights to regain ground against rivals such as Apple.

Hirai, who formally takes over as chief executive from Howard Stringer next week, inherits a company that - like much of corporate Japan - has been outgunned in recent years by rivals like Apple and Samsung Electronics.

The maker of Bravia televisions and Vaio laptops expects a 220 billion yen ($2.7 billion) net loss for the year to this month, a fourth straight year of losses, and due in large part to a TV business that has not been able to keep up with nimbler and cheaper rivals.

Sony said Hirai would head a new home entertainment division, which includes TVs and replaces the consumer products and services group that he had led.

"The TV business is Sony's main business and (its recovery) is an absolute condition that must be met for the firm to recover its performance," said Keita Wakabayashi, an analyst at Mito Securities. "That's why it will be placed directly under (Hirai's) control, and means he has to take care of the most important issue." READ MORE...

Hitachi says aims to cut costs 5 percent by 201516

Chris Gallagher; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:28:51 -0700

(Reuters) - Japan's Hitachi Ltd (6501.T) said on Tuesday that it aimed to cut annual operating costs by 5 percent in four years, enabling the company to invest more in its growing infrastructure and telecommunications businesses.

The industrial electronics company has been overhauling its sprawling empire of some 900 firms and 360,000 employees - about the population of Honolulu - after plunging to a record loss for a Japanese manufacturer just three years ago.

It has shifted its focus towards growth areas such as infrastructure, which includes rail systems and urban planning, while shedding unprofitable operations such as its U.S. hard disk drive business.

Hitachi said that it aimed to achieved the 5 percent cost reduction by the financial year ending in March 2016 through increasing overseas purchases of materials and trimming office and production expenses.

It did not provide a target in yen terms, but such a reduction would amount to 450 billion yen ($5.4 billion) based on current annual costs of about 9 trillion yen, a company statement showed.

"Major global companies have operating margins of over 10 percent," much higher than at Japanese firms, Hitachi executive Makoto Ebata told a briefing. "That's a theme behind this cost structure reform." READ MORE...

Jim ONeill to Retire from Alpine Electronics

Gordon Brockhouse — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:16:08 -0700

Alpine Electronics of America, Inc. has announced the retirement of Jim O'Neill, Executive Vice President of OEM and Aftermarket Sales and Marketing. O'Neill also serves as President of Alpine Electronics of Canada. He has been an Alpine employee for 40 years.

Born and raised in the Chicago area, O'Neill joined the local Motorola office in 1968 as part of the product planning division. In 1972, he transferred to Alps-Motorola, the newly formed joint venture between Alpine Electronics, Inc. and Motorola. He worked as an account manager, selling eight-track tapes to major home electronics companies.

In 1978, Alpine Electronics of America, Inc. was established as a separate company in Torrance, CA. O'Neill moved west to join Alpine in 1980, serving as an OEM sales manager. Alpine signed its first OEM contracts with BMW and American Honda Motors, and achieved OEM sales of $35 million in just three years. Under O'Neill's leadership, additional automakers such as Mercedes Benz, Jaguar, Chrysler, Toyota and Acura were signed as OEM customers. As a result, Alpine opened satellite offices in key cities to better serve the automakers.

In 1992, O'Neill was promoted to senior vice president of OEM sales, and in 1996 became the first American Alpine employee to serve on the Alpine Electronics of America board. By this time, O'Neill was also involved in Alpine's aftermarket business; and was named executive vice president of OEM and aftermarket sales and marketing in 1997. He was appointed as president of Alpine Electronics of Canada the same year.

"Jim O'Neill has had a major influence on Alpine's entire business structure," said Kazunobu Watanabe, President, Alpine Electronics of America, Inc., in a prepared statement. "His wisdom and business acumen shaped the foundation of our OEM division, which remains a key part of our company. We greatly appreciate his many years of dedication and service to Alpine." READ MORE...

Insight Samsung fast executioner seeks killer design

Miyoung Kim — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:20:27 -0700

(Reuters) - When Samsung Electronics rushed its first smartphone to market in a panicky response to the smash-hit debut of the Apple iPhone, some customers burned the product on the streets or hammered it to bits in public displays of disaffection.

Complaints ranged from dropped calls and a clunky touchscreen to frequent auto rebooting and a dearth of applications.

"It was just awful," said Kim Sang-uk, 27, who bought the Omnia in late-2009 just before starting his first job. "I just wanted to throw it away, but couldn't because I was on a 2-year contract. It was the kind of phone where you'd say 'no', even if someone gave it to you for free."

Samsung Mobile President JK Shin admitted it was a tough time. The company had seen a 1 trillion won ($885 million) profit in its telecom sector in the first quarter of 2010 halved in the following quarter after Apple Inc's latest iPhone took the market by storm.

"We were facing a really serious crisis," Shin said later. READ MORE...

2nd UPDATE US Sets Duties On Applicance Imports From S Korea Mexico

Tom Barkley and Bob Tita, Dow Jones Newswire — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:15:56 -0700

--Countervailing, antidumping duties imposed on South Korean imports

--Whirlpool also seeking action against Samsung and LG washing machines

--Samsung criticizes methodology used in antidumping decision

Updates with more details on the appliance market and Whirlpool Corp.)

Whirlpool Corp.'s (WHR) efforts to counter imports of competitors' household appliances advanced Monday when the U.S. government issued a final decision on retaliatory import duties on refrigerators build South Korea and Mexico.

The U.S. Commerce Department plans to impose antidumping duties of up to 15.41% on bottom-mount refrigerators imported into the U.S. from South Korea and up to 30.34% on bottom-mount models from in Mexico. Countervailing duties of up to 12.9% also were set for refrigerators from South Korea, the department said, citing unfair government subsidies for Korean appliance manufacturers Samsung Electronics Co. (SSNHY, 005930.SE) and LG Electronics Inc. (066570.SE).

Before the antidumping duties, which are aimed at products sold in the U.S. at below their production costs, or countervailing duties can take effect, the International Trade Commission would have to find that Whirlpool and other U.S. appliance makers are being harmed by the imports. The commission is expected to make a final injury determination in April.

The duties would increase prices for bottom-mount models made by LG, Samsung, Electrolux AB (ELUXY, ELUX-B.SK) and Mabe. Bottom-mount refrigerators feature a freezer compartment on the bottom of the refrigerator cabinet, rather than the top.

"Although Samsung will do everything we can to mitigate any impact of this decision on our business and customers, American consumers stand to lose the most from today's determination," Samsung said in a written statement.

Samsung said it is "disappointed" by the duty amounts. The company said the government's calculations are based "on flawed methodologies." LG did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Bottom-mount models have been gaining popularity with consumers. Samsung and LG have used bottom-mount refrigerators -- a premium-priced appliance -- to make inroads in the U.S. appliance market. The combined Samsung and LG share of the U.S. appliance market is about 13% today, compared with zero in 2001, according to KeyBanc Capital Markets. READ MORE...

Zynga buys OMGPOP games company

Liana B. Baker, editing by Andre Grenon — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:54:42 -0700

(Reuters) - Zynga Inc is buying OMGPOP, maker of the popular game "Draw Something" for an undisclosed sum, as the company moves to expand its games lineup on mobile devices and Facebook.

Zynga, which raised $1 billion in an initial public offering last December, makes some of the most popular games on tablets and smart phones such as "Words with Friends."

New York-based OMGPOP makes the game "Draw Something" where players draw items or pop culture figures such as Lady Gaga or Katniss Everdeen from "The Hunger Games" books. It has 40 employees who will join Zynga as part of the deal, according to a statement.

In the six weeks since the game has been the market, it has garnered more than 35 million downloads and risen to the top of the app charts on Apple and Android, according to Zynga.

Zynga shares were up 60 cents, or 4.5 percent, at $14 per share on Wednesday. READ MORE...

90% of tablet use is in WiFi mode not wireless

Cromwell Schubarth — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:49:19 -0700

Here is why I didn't rush out to replace my vintage, original, Wi-Fi-only iPad that I bought way back in the old days of 2010.

About 90 percent of all tablet use on the Internet is done via Wi-Fi, not through the old 3G wireless network nor through the new, faster 4G networks that carriers are installing.

That is one of the findings of the latest Chetan Sharma update on the U.S. wireless market and it pretty much matches what I have observed, both personally and from what others have told me.

The report speculates that this will mean that wireless service providers will need to start bundling multiple devices on single data plans and data buckets to differentiate themselves from their competition and sell more devices like the new iPad. It predicted that family data plans are likely to be introduced in the U.S. market soon. READ MORE...

Vision Entrepreneur Awards

Consumer Electronics Association — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:27:15 -0700

The deadline for nominations for this year is March 30, 2012.

Vision Entrepreneur Awards

Vision Magazineand the CEA Small Business Council (SBC) have launched a new awards program to recognize entrepreneurs and the contribution they make to the U.S. economy.

CEA's Vision Entrepreneurship Awards Program recognizes the contributions of individuals and small businesses in the consumer electronics (CE) industry that demonstrate innovation, dedication to the industry, community outreach, and the tenacity to persevere through business and economic challenges. The winners of this award will include two CE companies, and one individual CE executive, who will be determined by a panel of industry judges. Participation will be limited to CE companies and CE executives of organizations with annual domestic revenue under $30 million.

Eligibility is based on past participation in the design, development, manufacturing and retail or distribution of consumer electronics products, accessories and related products offered through consumer channels. Also eligible are those who have contributed to the industry in other significant ways.

Candidates must have made a significant contribution that positively impacted the CE industry in terms of leadership, technical and marketing development and enhanced the lives of consumers.
Candidates must have been involved in the consumer technology industry for at least five years prior to the year of consideration for induction.
Candidates who have been indicted, committed a felony or are of questionable character and integrity, as determined by CEA's Executive Board, are not eligible.

READ MORE...

Apple iPad heat reports swirl probe underway

Poornima Gupta — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:58:27 -0700

(Reuters) - An influential U.S. consumer watchdog is investigating online reports that Apple Inc's new iPad throws off an unusually large amount of heat and will publish its findings later on Tuesday.

Consumer Reports, which reviews everything from electronics to cars, noticed comments on online forums and on Apple's website about excessive heat from the new device, which went on sale Friday, and decided to look into the issue, a spokesman said.

The group will publish its findings on Tuesday after finishing a battery of tests, the spokesman added.

The third iteration of the iPad hit store shelves on Friday and about 3 million units moved in the first three days, a record first weekend for the tablet computer, launched in 2010.

Hundreds of comments posted on an Apple support website centered on how the new iPad -- which sports a larger battery than its predecessor to power a sharper "retina" display screen and other bells and whistles -- could get uncomfortably warm.

"My new iPad ... definitely got significantly warm, almost too warm to hold warm, when running on LTE," rawwave commented on Friday. "Not even doing a lot of downloads (just browsing Twitter) but having the LTE radio on seemed to cause it to get noticeably hot."

An Apple spokeswoman said the iPad was "within our thermal specifications." The company's website lists the normal operating range for the new iPad as between 32 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0 to 35 degrees Celsius. It is designed to power down should that range be breached. READ MORE...

Good Partner or Bad Problem Its Up to the TV Manufacturers

Jeff O'Heir — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 11:54:58 -0700

One message was clear last month as CE manufacturers rolled out new policies they hope will close the open vein that continues to bleed revenue and profit from their dying TV businesses: Independent retailers will no longer work with vendors that do nothing to stabilize TV prices.

You can’t blame the retailers. Their anger and frustration has been building up for years as cut-rate online sales by e-tailers have gone unchecked, big-box chains received favorable pricing and incentives, and manufacturers have wasted millions of dollars marketing 3D technology that the public wasn’t ready for and that national retailers weren’t capable of demonstrating. Sony, Panasonic and Sharp ended their fiscal year with combined losses of about $17 billion dollars. Race-to-zero TV sales strategies greatly contributed to those losses.

To help staunch the bleeding, Sony and Samsung instituted unilateral pricing policies, while Panasonic and LG are preventing the sale of higher-end products through third-party online marketplaces, all in attempt to stabilize pricing and increase margins. The new policies are laudable, but they are self-serving. Retailers have been calling for such changes for years, but manufacturers have turned a deaf ear. Now, they don’t have a choice. They have to change.

Retailers we’ve spoken to say the changes are for the better. But each one is wondering how long the changes will last. They’ve witnessed similar actions in the past, only to see them vanish as manufacturers break their promises to make a number, oftentimes with no regard for stability or profit. The practice may have helped e-tailers, but it only hurt brick-and-mortar retailers that had to continue pumping money into sales training, merchandising and marketing. READ MORE...

The 12 Best Android Widgets for 2012

Jared Newman — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 11:46:35 -0700

If you've just purchased your first Android phone or you're looking to round out your existing collection, here's a list of 20 must-have apps that every Android owner should consider. They're all free, too!

With all due respect to smartphone apps, sometimes you don’t want to open a new program just to get some quick info or perform a minor task. That’s where Android widgets come in handy, bringing the functionality of those apps right to the phone’s home screen. But not all widgets are wonderful. Some are glorified app launchers, while others are downright ugly. Here are the 12 best widgets that no discerning Android user should be without. READ MORE...

New iPad torn open hightech suppliers exposed

Noel Randewich and Poornima Gupta — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 11:29:46 -0700

Apple’s new iPad uses chips made by Qualcomm, Broadcom , Samsung Electronics and other semiconductor makers, according to a firm that cracked open one of the devices.

The newest iPad went on sale in Australia early on Friday, and at the front of a line of fans hoping to get hold of the 4G-ready tablet computer was a tinkerer from California gadget-repair firm iFixit, who quickly took one apart for a Web blog.

Supplying parts for Apple’s iPhones and iPads, the industry’s gold standards, is considered a coup for chipmakers and other manufacturers.

The iPad includes a Qualcomm LTE cellphone chip as well as a Qualcomm wireless modem for 3G and 4G. Broadcom supplies a semiconductor handling wireless tasks like WiFi and Bluetooth, according to iFixit.

All of that souped-up wizardry is powered by a 42-watt-hour battery, well above the iPad 2’s 25-watt-hour battery.

Fueled by cans of carbonated caffeine drinks, iFixit cofounder Luke Soules’ before-dawn teardown at a Melbourne computer shop found that Apple suppliers Qualcomm, Broadcom and Samsung have maintained their key roles in the newest iPad.

The iPad’s new A5X application processor, with improved graphics horsepower, is based on energy-efficient technology licensed from Britain’s ARM Holding and is manufactured by Qualcomm, as in past Apple devices. READ MORE...

New iPad A Polishing of the Old

DAVID POGUE — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:12:26 -0700

On Friday, the new iPad goes on sale. Be sure to ask for it by name: the iPad.

Because if you ask for the iPad 3, the Apple representatives will look at you funny. Last year’s model was called the iPad 2, but this third-generation model is just called the iPad. (Why not continue the numbering pattern? “That would have been too predictable,” says Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president for marketing.)

Really, the new iPad should have been called the iPad 2S. In the past, Apple added the letter S to iPhone models that weren’t exactly new but had been tastefully enhanced (iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4S). That’s exactly what’s going on with the new iPad. Its technical improvements keep it at the forefront of desirability — just ahead of the snapping jaws of its Android competition — but don’t take it in any new directions.

The biggest new feature is what Apple calls the Retina display: like the one on the iPhone 4S, it’s a very, very sharp screen. It’s four times as sharp as the iPad 2 — in fact, it’s the sharpest ever on a mobile device. This screen has 3.1 million pixels, which is 1 million pixels more than on a high-definition TV set. (At least Apple says that that’s how many pixels it has; I quit counting after three days.)

In principle, that avalanche of pixels (and their increased color saturation) means that photos, videos, maps and text should look jaw-droppingly good — and, in apps that have been rewritten for the new screen, they do. Apple’s own apps, like Photos, Maps and iBooks, are just incredibly sharp and clear.

So are Apple’s inexpensive, newly enhanced iPad apps — iMovie, GarageBand, the Numbers spreadsheet and the Pages word processor. And as touch-screen apps go, the new iPhoto for iOS is a masterpiece. READ MORE...

Sony Xperia Sola Brings Floating Touch Navigation

Stan Schroeder — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:25:39 -0700

The latest Android smartphone from Sony, the Xperia sola, takes the touch out of the touch screen – although we’re not yet sure how.

One of the device’s key features is “floating touch” navigation, which enables web browsing without touching the screen.

“Sony’s unique floating touch lets consumers navigate the web by hovering their finger above the screen so it acts like a moving curser, without actually having to touch the screen,” Sony claims, adding that the technology will evolve through “software updates and engagement with developers.”

Other than that, the device is a fairly standard Android 2.3 handset (upgradeable to Android 4.0 during summer 2012), with a 3.7” Reality Display, a 1 GHz dual-core CPU, NFC and Xperia SmartTags support, as well as “3D surround sound.”

The device should hit the market globally in three colors – black, white and red – in the second quarter of 2012. READ MORE...

Apple to sell 656 million iPads this year sees record preorders analysts

Chandni Doulatramani in Bangalore; Editing by Tenzin Pema and Gopakumar Warrier — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:19:16 -0700

(Reuters) - Apple Inc is seeing record pre-orders for its latest iPad with wait times for shipping the tablet now reaching two to three weeks, said Canaccord Genuity analysts, who now expect the company to sell 65.6 million iPads this year.

Last week, Apple's Chief Executive Tim Cook introduced the highly anticipated third iteration of the iPad, which is available for pre-orders from Wednesday and will hit store shelves March 16.

"With our checks indicating record pre-orders and 2-3 week wait times for new iPads, we anticipate a record iPad launch this weekend," said analysts T Michael Walkley and Matthew Ramsay.

They raised their iPad unit estimate to 65.6 million from 55.9 million for 2012, and to 90.6 million from 79.7 million for 2013, saying rivals will likely struggle to introduce competitive products over the next couple quarters.

The analysts raised their price target on Apple stock to $710 from $665, and maintained their "buy" rating.

Apple's pricing of the new iPad will help the company to maintain dominant share of the growing tablet market, and further penetrate verticals such as enterprise and education, the analysts said.

"While Samsung appears to have the most competitive Android tablet offering, we view Windows 8 as a greater longer-term threat to Apple's dominant iPad share than Android tablets," they added.

Apple shares rose about 2 percent in premarket trade. They closed at $568.10 on Tuesday on the Nasdaq. READ MORE...

Apple Unveils New iPad With 4G LTE

IAN SHERR — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:16:50 -0800

Apple Inc. took the wraps off a new iPad tablet with a sharper display and the ability to connect to the Internet on 4G broadband networks, as the electronics giant strives to stay ahead of rivals in a market it has helped create.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook took the stage Wednesday in San Francisco to demonstrate the new product at an invitation-only event. "In many ways the iPad is reinventing portable computing, and it's outstripping the wildest of predictions," Mr. Cook told the audience.

The new iPad will have a high-resolution "retina" display and connect to 4G LTE services that are offered by carriers like AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless. The tablet will also have a five megapixel camera and a microphone to take dictation.

Apple said the new iPad will start at $499 for Wi-Fi only models—the same starting price as the previous model. Models capable of 4G speeds will start at $629, not including service plans.

The new iPad will be available starting on March 16 in the U.S., Canada, U.K., France and Germany. Apple also said it will continue to sell the iPad 2, at a reduced starting price of $399. READ MORE...

Will iTV join iPad 3 on Apple stage

Poornima Gupta and Sinead Carew — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:42:50 -0800

Apple Inc. (AAPL-Q530.26-2.90-0.54%) is betting a 4G-equipped iPad will tempt more U.S. consumers to pay extra to watch high-quality video on the go, and in turn, give Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc a revenue boost.

Until now, Apple’s fan legion has been reluctant to shell out extra money even for iPads with 3G connections. The cheaper Wi-Fi-only model – with more limited Web access – is by far the top-selling one today.

The newest iPad will be capable of operating on a high-speed 4G “LTE,” or Long-Term Evolution network, according to a source familiar with the product. At speeds roughly 10 times faster than current 3G technology, that may go a long way toward banishing the sometimes shaky video quality of older devices.

Such a juiced-up device would help boost the telecoms market if consumers catch on and can be enticed to pay more, some analysts said. The global tablet user base already reached 67 million in 2011, according to researcher Strategy Analytics.

“It’s going to dramatically improve video consumption,” said UBS analyst John Hodulik. “This is the device people want. They want the fastest speed. They want high resolution.”

Apple, AT&T and Verizon declined to comment. READ MORE...

RIMs trade show presence underwhelming analyst

iain marlow — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:43:39 -0800

Research In Motion Ltd.'s (RIM-T14.03-0.39-2.70%) presence at the wireless industry's main annual gathering in Barcelona is “underwhelming” and highlights the smartphone giant's waning position in the market place, according to one financial analyst.

Mobile World Congress (MWC) draws thousands of industry professionals -- from wireless industry executives to bloggers and financial analysts -- to Spain every year. It is increasingly an important venue for companies to showcase their top products, as representatives for the world's wireless carriers peruse the newest smartphones, gadgets, network technology and smaller companies demonstrating advancements in areas such as billing and wireless data efficiency. READ MORE...

New faster Apple iPad expected next week

Poornima Gupta — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:59:49 -0800

(Reuters) - Apple Inc is hosting a media event next Wednesday, where it is expected to unveil a faster, better-equipped version of its popular iPad tablet to thwart increasing competition from deep-pocketed rivals such as Amazon.com Inc.

The invitation-only event will be held at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) on March 7 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, where the company also introduced the last two generations of iPads.

Apple, which sent the invitation to reporters by email on Tuesday, did not divulge details of the event beyond saying: "We have something you really have to see. And touch."

The invitation featured a partial picture of the touchscreen of a device resembling an iPad.

Apple launches are some of the hottest events on the tech calendar, scrutinized by fans, investors, the media and industry insiders alike.

The iPad has dominated the nascent tablet computer market, but Amazon's Kindle Fire, which sells at half the cost, has chipped away at the lower end of the market.

The third iteration of a device that has helped put pressure on demand for traditional laptops and computers is expected to boast a faster, quad-core processor and a higher-definition screen. READ MORE...

Motorola loses in German court on iPhone sales injunction

Berlin� Globe and Mail Update — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:36:51 -0800

A German court has rejected Motorola Mobility Inc.’s attempt to have Apple Inc. withdraw several iPhone and iPad models from its German Internet store in an ongoing legal battle over patents between the two phone giants.

The Karlsruhe state court on Monday overturned a lower court's injunction, saying that Apple has now made Motorola a better offer for patent licensing terms, the dapd news agency reported.

The injunction, which had already been put on hold earlier this month, caused Apple to briefly halt the sale of the devices online in Germany after Motorola successfully argued Apple was using its mobile technology without a license.

Apple had argued that Motorola refused a license even though it had agreed the technology should be an industry standard. READ MORE...

Lowes Sales Surge On Weather Credit Discount

Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2291; joan.solsman@dowjones.com — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:51:36 -0800

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Lowe's Cos. (LOW), reporting a 13% earnings increase in the fiscal fourth quarter, reported its strongest same-store sales growth in nearly six years Monday as consumers warmed to home improvement on the company's credit-card discount program and pleasant weather.

In an interview, Chairman and Chief Executive Robert A. Niblock said the home-improvement retailer saw an uptick in consumers' willingness to spend. He said easing unemployment and less preoccupation with housing-price declines are likely improving consumer sentiment.

Separately Monday, the National Association of Realtors said the number of U.S. buyers who signed contracts to purchase previously owned homes grew in January to the highest level in 21 months, another signal that the housing market is beginning to recover.

In the latest period, Lowe's same-store sales rose 3.4%, beating Lowe's guidance for flat to up 1%. That's the strongest rate of growth since early 2006. Comparable sales were positive in all the company's regions and in all but three product categories.

Comparable transactions were up 3.8%, but comparable average tickets declined 0.4%. Executives said the ticket figure was pressured by a 5% discount program for customers using a store credit card, as well as more emphasis on everyday low prices and aggressive promotions on larger ticket transactions during the post-Thanksgiving shopping weekend.

However, they estimated that the credit-card discount program was one of the strongest positive forces to comparable sales after weather.

They also said the company's response to unseasonably warm weather drove 1.5 percentage points of the 3.4% comparable-sales growth. Larger rival Home Depot Inc. (HD) last week reported 5.7% growth in same-store sales, or 6.1% in the U.S., with the warm weather providing a 2 to 2.5 percentage point boost.

Niblock said one big unknown going forward was consumer reaction to rising fuel prices. Energy costs last month rose for the first time since September, driven by a 0.9% increase in gasoline prices, the Labor Department has said.

But Lowe's focus isn't on the macroeconomy as much as its own initiatives, Niblock said. Lowe's has been investing significantly in e-commerce and modifying in-store operations to make online selling a more seamless part of the business and renew a focus on customer services. Moves like giving salespeople iPhones to assist customers and reducing sales commissions are part of those missions.

The company is also in the early stages of reviewing all its product lines, which so far has reduced both costs and product units per store while increasing offerings available online. It also expects an increase of higher-margin private branded products in its mix this year.

Gross margin weakened to 34.2% from 35.6% in the period, although margin of overhead costs to sales improved to 74.1% from 73.6%.

Despite the broad improvement in the fourth quarter, one category that remains challenged is kitchen cabinets, Niblock said, which plays a part in the kind of major home renovation projects that consumers have been most hesitant about. READ MORE...

BlackBerry PlayBook finally gets email

Jameson Berkow — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:54:49 -0800

After waiting nearly a year, BlackBerry PlayBook users received Tuesday a free software update bringing embedded email and other important functions to their tablets.

Yet it may not be enough to satisfy Research In Motion Ltd.’s critics.

When RIM launched the PlayBook — the company’s first device outside its smartphone wheelhouse — last April, the Waterloo, Ont.-based company faced intense criticism for shipping the device without email functionality, a built in calendar or the company’s BlackBerry Messenger technology.

Although RIM initially pledged to release a software update containing the missing features within the tablet’s first 60 days on the market, RIM wound up delaying the software upgrade, finally showing off the new features at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month.
RIM is hoping the new software update — dubbed PlayBook OS 2.0 — will help the company’s beleagured tablet pose a more serious challenger to Apple Inc.’s iPad. But even after the update was released on Tuesday, some analysts bemoaned the continued lack of key features such as BlackBerry Messenger (BES) or backwards compatibility with BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) technology.

Mike Abramsky of RBC Capital Markets told clients Tuesday the omission “may reduce the appeal of PlayBook among RIM’s core markets: enterprises and BBM fans.”

Michael Clewley, a senior software product manager at RIM who worked on the PlayBook 2.0 development team, said part of the reason for the delay was out of a desire to give users “a great experience.”

“We could have launched with just basic email but what we have here in this product is more than that,” he said, noting the lack of BBM support was also because “it wouldn’t be the experience that our 50 million BBM users are used to” if it were rushed out of development. READ MORE...

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Apple ponders cash caves on boardvote proposal

Noel Randewich — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 09:53:28 -0800

(Reuters) - Apple Inc on Thursday adopted a measure long desired by investors and corporate governance activists, granting its shareholders a bigger say in the appointment of directors to the board of the world's most valuable technology company.

Chief Executive Tim Cook also repeated that he has been "thinking very deeply" about investors' demands that the consumer electronics company return some of its $98 billion in cash and securities to shareholders via a dividend.

Wall Street has bet on the rising likelihood that some of that enormous war chest could be doled out this year, since Cook told investors last week that discussions around that hoard had intensified.

"We've been thinking about cash very deeply," he said, echoing previous comments. "Frankly speaking, it's more than we need to run the company."

At its annual shareholders meeting in Cupertino, Apple finally acceded to demands from U.S. pension fund Calpers and other major investors that it require unopposed directors to secure a majority-share vote before getting elected to the board.

That move came after shareholders last year, in a rare show of activism for a group often content with the iPad and iPhone maker's sizzling growth and lofty share price, voted in favor of a similar proposal - despite Apple's recommendation they reject it.

Apple General Counsel Bruce Sewell said the company had previously resisted the change because it creates legal complications. "But this is Apple and we don't let complexity get in our way," he said.

The proposal's adoption predictably pleased Calpers, the largest U.S. pension fund that has long sought support for such a measure to be adopted at scores of other U.S. corporations.

Speaking to shareholders and executives, Calpers portfolio manager Anne Simpson invoked the words of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

"We think Apple deserves the best, we want to keep Apple fresh," she said. "Democracy is a wonderful thing. Despite its complexity and challenges, as Churchill said, it may be the worst of all systems until you consider the alternatives." READ MORE...

Its time again for Dealerscopes 40 Under 40 search for the best young talent in the consumer electronics industry

Dealerscope.com — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:50:30 -0800

It's time again for Dealerscope's "40 Under 40" search for the best young talent in the consumer electronics industry.

As in previous years, we're asking for your help in nominating the leaders who are under 40 years old from all corners of the CE business. That includes retail, distribution, buying groups, manufacturing and technology developers.

We'll profile the winners in our June issue and on dealerscope.com. Help us identify the future legends of the consumer electronics industry. Choose wisely. You never know, one of them could someday be your boss.

Tell us about the future legends of the consumer electronics industry. You may only submit one nomination. READ MORE...

China Telecom to sell iPhones China Mobile still months away

Lee Chyen Yee and Huang Yuntao — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:19:48 -0800

(Reuters) - Apple Inc has signed with China Telecom to sell its iPhone in China from next month as it looks to boost its flagging share of the world's biggest mobile phone market.

While Apple has now signed up with two of China's big three carriers, the biggest, China Mobile Ltd, with more than 600 million subscribers, doesn't yet have compatible technology.

China Mobile has been aggressively negotiating with Apple to sell the iPhone, but it uses a home-grown proprietary 3G technology called TD-SCDMA that Apple doesn't support. It is, however, trialing its 4G TD-LTE network, with a commercial launch expected late this year or early in 2013, which will serve as a precursor to a deal with Apple.

Apple's smartphone market share in China, where the number of mobile phone users will top 1 billion this year, has fallen in the last two quarters, and it ranked fifth in October-December with 7.5 percent, overtaken by fast-growing local firm ZTE Corp.

"Apple's iPhone market share in China will be quite steady after its deal with China Telecom," said Jane Wang, an analyst with Ovum in Beijing.

"The deal is bound to boost iPhone sales, but telecom operators won't be giving up the mid- and low-tier smartphone market, and sales of those phones will still be quite strong."

China Telecom, valued at more than $46 billion but still ranked the smallest of China's big three carriers, said on Tuesday it would take online applications for the iPhone 4S from

March 2, and aimed to commence sales on March 9, bundling a phone with a service contract. READ MORE...

Motorola Mobility says Apple files EU patent complaint

Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Susan Fenton — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:13:26 -0800

(Reuters) - Apple has asked EU anti-trust regulators to step in and settle a technology patent dispute between the company and Motorola Mobility, according to Motorola Mobility.

The move came after regulators on both sides of the Atlantic said they would intervene to prevent companies from gouging rivals when they license patents essential to ensuring different communications devices work together.

"On February 17, 2012, the company received a letter from the European Commission notifying it that the Commission has received a complaint against Motorola Mobility, Inc. by Apple, Inc. regarding the enforcement of MMI's standards-essential patents against Apple allegedly in breach of MMI's FRAND (fair and reasonable) commitments," Motorola Mobility said in a regulatory filing on Friday.

"Apple's complaint seeks the Commission's intervention with respect to standards-essential patents," it said. READ MORE...

W3 Solutions Announces Christopher Cayley as Business Development Manager Ontario

Shannon Walker — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:16:24 -0800

February 20, 2012 – Toronto, Ontario - W3 Solutions, one of North America’s leading extended service program providers, for manufacturers, retailers, and distributors, announces it’s newly appointed Business Development Manager, Christopher Cayley.

Chris brings over 24 years of a proven track record, designing and implementing go-to market strategies for the Consumer Electronics and Consumer Goods industry, working with companies such as; Toshiba, Samsung, Ingram Micro and Rogers. Chris will be managing W3’s emerging national relationships and drive new client acquisitions throughout Ontario.

“I am very excited to join W3 Solutions and help them expand their market share both in Ontario and nationally, “ said Cayley.

“Chris brings years of experience and solid relationships to our company. He will have an immediate impact on our existing dealer business and will be the key point person for business development initiatives with our national accounts and our new partner, Power Group,” said Scott Walker, President of W3 Solutions.

For more information Contact: Shannon Walker, Director of Communications, W3 Solutions: shannon@thew3solution.com

Googles iPhone Tracking

JULIA ANGWIN And JENNIFER VALENTINO-DEVRIES — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:31:33 -0800

Google Inc. and other advertising companies have been bypassing the privacy settings of millions of people using Apple Inc.'s Web browser on their iPhones and computers—tracking the Web-browsing habits of people who intended for that kind of monitoring to be blocked.

The companies used special computer code that tricks Apple's Safari Web-browsing software into letting them monitor many users. Safari, the most widely used browser on mobile devices, is designed to block such tracking by default.

Google disabled its code after being contacted by The Wall Street Journal.

The Google code was spotted by Stanford researcher Jonathan Mayer and independently confirmed by a technical adviser to the Journal, Ashkan Soltani, who found that ads on 22 of the top 100 websites installed the Google tracking code on a test computer, and ads on 23 sites installed it on an iPhone browser.

The technique reaches far beyond those websites, however, because once the coding was activated, it could enable Google tracking across the vast majority of websites. Three other online-ad companies were found using similar techniques: Vibrant Media Inc., WPP PLC's Media Innovation Group LLC and Gannett Co.'s PointRoll Inc. READ MORE...

iPad 3 Rumors Bring Business for iPad Resellers

Mashable, Inc — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:26:18 -0800

Apple’s rumored iPad 3 launch is building buzz and boosting business for companies that buy used gadgets and resell them. VIEW VIDEO...

Apple CEO seeks patience from investors on $98billion cash hoard

Poornima Gupta and Noel Randewich — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:44:15 -0800

Apple Inc. (AAPL-Q523.7414.282.80%) is in very active discussions at the board level about what to do with its cash, Chief Executive Tim Cook said on Tuesday, responding to calls for the world’s most valuable electronics company to put its massive reserves to work.

Mr. Cook, in a rare appearance before investors, also talked about a “jaw-dropping” opportunity in smartphones. He said the iPad tablet trajectory was “off the charts,” adding that he foresaw tablets surpassing personal computers in unit sales eventually – eroding Microsoft Corp’s Windows dominance.

He acknowledged that online retailer Amazon.com Inc was an intense competitor with its Kindle Fire tablet.

Apple became the world’s largest smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter of 2011, in which sales of all smartphones hit 149 million units – 47.3 per cent higher than the same quarter a year ago, even though the rate of sales growth dropped to 39 per cent, down from 58 per cent in 2011.

According to research firm Gartner, Apple saw its iPhone sales more than double in the last quarter when it took a 24 per cent share of the smartphone market, helped by a 15-month period before the 4S model was launched, which created a lot of pent-up demand. READ MORE...

Google wins EU okay for Motorola buy

Foo Yun Chee — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:57:49 -0800

(Reuters) - Google Inc won unconditional EU regulatory approval on Monday for its planned $12.5 billion purchase of mobile handset maker Motorola Mobility.

But the European Commission said it would monitor the company and rivals' use of patents to ensure they comply with EU antitrust rules.

Web search leader Google wants to buy Motorola Mobility to boost its patent portfolio in a deal announced last August.

The EU executive, which acts as the competition regulator for the 27-member European Union, said the deal would not significantly change the market for operating systems and patents for these devices.

"We have approved the acquisition... because upon careful examination, this transaction does not itself raise competition issues," EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a statement.

But Almunia said he was worried about the possibility of abuse of patents by Google and other firms now involved in a series of legal disputes over intellectual property rights.

"This merger decision should not and will not mean that we are not concerned by the possibility that, once Google is the owner of this portfolio, Google can abuse these patents, linking some patents with its Android devices. This is our worry," he told reporters. READ MORE

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Apple launches new legal attack on Samsung phones

David Henry in New York — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:17:14 -0800

(Reuters) - Apple Inc has asked a federal court in California to block Samsung Electronics Co Ltd from selling its new Galaxy Nexus smartphones, alleging patent violations.

In a suit filed last week in San Jose, Apple said the Galaxy Nexus infringes on patents underlying features customers expect from its products. Those include the ability to unlock phones by sliding an image and to search for information by voice.

Samsung spokespersons did not immediately return requests for comment.

With the new suit, Apple is opening up another legal assault on the Korea-based company after taking Samsung to the same court in April of last year. In the earlier case, Apple alleges that Samsung illegally copied iPhone and iPad design features and the look of its screen icons. [nN18125665] That case is still going on, though in December Apple lost a bid for a preliminary bar against Samsung for selling Galaxy phones and tablets.

Apple acknowledged the setback in the new action and said now it is suing over new products and different patents. READ MORE...

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Chief Intros New Short Throw Projector Mount Series

Adam Grant — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:11:36 -0800

Chief has introduced the WP2 series, the company's newest addition to its collection of short throw projector mounts.

This series is said to have installer-friendly features that allow individuals to easily achieve ideal placement and alignment. This is made possible through micro leveling and lateral shift capabilities, as well as variable extension, which lets the mount slide along the arm for infinite projector placement.

The WP2 series can be mounted on a number of surfaces including, concrete, block wall, brick, dual wood, or dual steel studs. It also has an integrated inlay-style cable management feature that keeps cables hidden. Furthermore, the WP2 series is compatible with Chief's RPA, Elite, RPA Mini, and Elite Mini Series projector mounts. It supports wall-mounted long throw projectors as well.

Currently, there are three length options available for the series. There is a 24" model that is shipping now, plus 40" and 56" versions that will be available by the end of the month.

Canadian pricing is being looked into. READ MORE...

Amazon Strikes a Digital Video License Agreement with Viacom

Adam Grant — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:25:18 -0800

Amazon.com Inc. has struck a licensing deal with Viacom that will give its Amazon Prime members the ability to instantly stream TV shows from a collection of popular channels. Terms of the agreement haven't been disclosed.

Programming from MTV (The Hills, Jersey Shore), Comedy Central (The Sarah Silverman Program), Nickelodeon (iCarly, Dora the Explorer), TV Land (Hot in Cleveland), Spike, VH1, BET, and CMT will now be readily available to said members.

Prime Instant Videos can now provide its clientele with more than 15,000 movies and TV shows, which can be viewed across 300 different devices, including the Kindle Fire.

Amazon Prime is a membership program that provides shoppers with unlimited fast shipping, such as free two-day shipping and one-day shipping for US$3.99 per item, for an annual membership fee of $79. Members also have access to unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows through Amazon Instant Video at no additional cost.

Amazon Prime, its Instant Videos service, and the Kindle Fire are currently only available in the U.S. READ MORE...

Fast Phones Dead Batteries

GREG BENSINGER — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:22:19 -0800

Days after buying his Samsung Electronics Co. Galaxy Nexus smartphone from Verizon Wireless, David Jacobs found himself switching off the fourth-generation broadband connection that had drawn him to the $300 device in the first place.

"I love everything about the phone, but with 4G on, it just sucks down the battery," said the 25-year-old Mr. Jacobs, who lives in Los Angeles and works in digital advertising. "It's very frustrating. Why can't I get a phone to last a whole day?"

Mr. Jacobs is among the rising number of 4G smartphone users who are discovering their speedy broadband service also zips through battery life. The main culprit is spotty 4G service—even in the nation's largest cities—which requires the phones to search constantly for a signal, draining their batteries.

Fourth-generation service is just starting to take hold, but complaints about battery life could slow the push by wireless carriers to convert customers to the higher-speed networks. Smartphone makers, however, are working on ways to respond to the new power demands.

Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. are investing billions of dollars to expand their 4G networks over the next two to three years on a technological standard known as long-term evolution, or LTE, with the promise of speeds of as much as 10 times those of the ubiquitous 3G service.

The carriers want customers to switch to the new networks because the technology requires less bandwidth to deliver datathan 3G, leaving room for more customers to download music or television shows. And with faster download speeds, 4G users are inclined to use more data, meaning they will need

"Every time we add a customer to LTE, it is a much more efficient and cost-effective network than the 3G network," Verizon Communications Inc. Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo told investors at a conference last month. Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group PLC co-own Verizon Wireless.

Device makers such as Samsung and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. are banking on their 4G devices to put a dent in sales of Apple Inc.'s iPhone, which continues to gain market share even though it lacks the faster service. Apple, with its new iPhone 4S, was the only smartphone manufacturer in the top five to gain U.S. market share in last year's final quarter, according to comScore. READ MORE...

Nintendos New Console Wii U and Its Crazy Touchscreen Controller

Matt Buchanan — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:42:01 -0800

Nintendo's new console is called Wii U, and it's got a full touchscreen controller that looks almost like a stretched out, tabletized DS with twin analog sticks and full motion controls. It is insane. Updating live.

The controller's got a 6.2-inch touchscreen. It's got a d-pad, twin analog sticks, a front-facing camera, four shoulder buttons, accelerometers, vibration motors, and a mic. It's backward compatible with the original Wii and Wii accessories, like Wii Fit.

Nintendo showed it doing some seriously wild stuff: Attached to a gun it's acting like a sight (kind of like Silent Scope), and in another demo, held portrait-style, it was a way to flick shuriken. In another, your holding up the controller like a shield to block pirate arrows. You can basically play an entirely different game on the touch controller than everybody else is playing on the big screen. Or use it for another view of what's happening up on your TV. The possibilities do seem legit limitless. Multiplayer with Wiimotes is interesting—in one example, the touchscreen remote has a top-down view of the gaming, while everybody else plays normally with Wiimotes.

It also does video chat, it's web browser, and it mirrors photos/videos up on the TV. Nintendo's being careful to say the controller is not a portable gaming machine. All the images come from the Wii U, wirelessly transmitted. READ MORE...

Three years on Chrome at last arrives on Android

Stephen Shankland — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:38:23 -0800

Google today released a beta version of its Chrome browser for Android, a momentous step that marries two of Google's most important programming projects.

The new browser, unlike the stock Android browser, is available in the Android Market so that people don't have to wait for handset makers to offer it through an operating system upgrade. But its reliance on newer hardware acceleration interfaces means it only works on Ice Cream Sandwich, which despite emerging last year on Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone remains a rarity in the real world.

Chrome for Android includes the desktop version's V8 JavaScript engine, has gesture-based controls for moving among multiple tabs, synchronizes with the desktop version of Chrome, and shuts out plug-ins including Adobe Systems' Flash Player and Google's own Native Client. With its performance and features, Google expects Android users to increase their browser activity.

"In general, we have seen usage go up," said Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president of Chrome and Apps. "I expect to see more people use the mobile Web."

It's unfortunate that it's limited to Ice Cream Sandwich, but Chrome doubtless will take off widely among those with Android 4.0. Even in beta, it's a compelling browser at least on the Galaxy Nexus I tried it on, and it's and a much better match for Apple's Safari on iOS. And eventually, its success is all but assured when it simply becomes what ships with Android.

Google tried to examine every aspect of browsing and if necessary adapt it for the mobile world. "The intent was to reinvent mobile browsers," said Arnaud Weber, engineering manager for Chrome. "We went through every feature of Chrome and brainstormed every feature." READ MORE...

Motorola Seeks 225% Royalty on iPhone Sales

IAN SHERR AND HARRIET TORRY — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:42:23 -0800

Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. asked Apple Inc. to pay a potential royalty of 2.25% of sales for some iPhones last year, representing potentially billions of dollars in licensing fees.

In a letter filed in a California court last month, a lawyer said Motorola, which is being acquired by Google Inc., had "demanded" the royalty for a license of its patents.

The letter, which was dated Oct. 17 of last year, gives a glimpse into the ongoing patent struggles between mobile device makers. Apple in particular has locked horns with titans of industry, including Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and HTC Corp, over patents for mobile devices.

Each company has suggested much is at stake, but this document gives the first sense of potentially how much. A royalty of 2.25% on Apple's iPhone sales would amount to more than $1 billion in 2011, though the court letter doesn't specify which devices would be affected nor whether it would be retroactive.

Apple declined to comment. Motorola didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Royalty rates are a closely guarded secret among technology makers, lawyers say, and it is unusual for companies to divulge such information. Additionally, because such rates are so rarely discussed in public, lawyers and industry insiders said it was hard to tell whether the amount Motorola was asked for was reasonable.

"People ask for these royalty rates based on fundamental inventions," said Ron Epstein, chief executive of Epicenter IP Group, which helps companies license patents. "There is no debate that Motorola was the inventor of the mobile phone." READ MORE...

Apple stands to benefit from new US Government Initiative for Digital Textbooks

Michael Kozlowski — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:36:34 -0800

The US government is poised to commit to a five year plan to integrate digital textbooks into the K12 educational system. There are many benefits of going this route because of the interactive nature and higher potential to enamor students. Apple is one of the leading companies in America that stands to benefit from this arrangement with its new ecosystem unveiled last month.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said earlier today that “Do we want kids walking around with 50-pound backpacks and every book in those backpacks costing 50, 60, 70 dollars and many of them being out of date? Or, do we want students walking around with a mobile device that has much more content than was even imaginable a couple years ago and can be constantly updated? I think it’s a very simple choice,” Duncan said in an interview.

Digital Textbooks are nothing new and companies such as KNO have been doing it for years. New projects have been launched in Florida, Idaho, Utah and California. One of the barriers so far as been dedicated high-speed connections to push the data and WIFI networks being employed by the schools.

Textbooks are big business and about $8 billion is spent annually in the U.S. on children in kindergarten through 12th grade, said Jay Diskey, the executive director of the school division of the Association of American Publishers. Diskey said textbook companies have been working on the technology for the past five to eight years to transform the industry, but that in many cases, schools simply aren’t ready.

There is no disputing that in wired cities and select areas digital textbooks are a boon. If you are reading a science book you can interact with the molecules and get 3D renderings on cancer cells. Updates can be pushed right through the Apple App Store and immerse students because of the interactive nature.

The American government much like Russia seems committed to the Digital Textbook revolution but the future remains uncertain. Small town American simply does not have the infrastructure in order to provide enough bandwidth and internet access to the schools to facilitate downloads. Obviously students will benefit from the low prices and schools themselves will save money on buying books that will be outdated in a few years. READ MORE...

Amazon in the Process of Launching a Retail Store

Michael Kozlowski — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:29:55 -0800

Amazon sources close to the situation have told us that the company is planning on rolling out a retail store in Seattle within the next few months. This project is a test to gauge the market and see if a chain of stores would be profitable. They intend on going with the small boutique route with the main emphasis on books from their growing line of Amazon Exclusives and selling their e-readers and tablets.

Seattle is where Amazon’s main headquarters is based and is known as a fairly tech savvy market. It is a perfect launch location to get some hands on experience in the retail sphere. A source has told us that they are not looking to launch a huge store with thousands of square feet. Instead they are going the boutique route and stocking the shelves with only high margin and high-end items. Their intention is to mainly hustle their entire line of Kindle e-Readers and the Kindle Fire. They also will be stocking a ton of accessories such as cases, screen protectors, and USB adapters.

The company has already contracted the design through a shell company, which is not unusual for Amazon. When Amazon releases new products to the FCC it is always done through anonymous proxy companies to avoid disclosure to their competition on what they are working on. They are doing this for the actual first store layout and design, while modeling themselves after Apple.

The store itself is not just selling tangible items like e-readers and tablets but also their books. Amazon recently started their own publishing division and has locked up many indie and prominent figures to write exclusively with the company. This has prompted their rivals such as Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million to publicly proclaim they won’t touch Amazon’s physical books with a ten-foot pole. Amazon launching their own store will give customer a way to physically buy books and also sample ebooks via WIFI when they are in a physical location.

This is exciting news and Amazon in a great position to make a strong go out of their retail endeavors. They are starting out local and small mainly to test the waters with the new store, but also the figure out how they’re going to avoid paying massive taxes. In the last few years, there has been a huge tax debate because Amazon sells things online and only pays State taxes if they have a distribution center within a particular location. Having a physical store means the company will have to start paying more taxes and they are currently working out the logistics and tax loopholes before they launch. READ MORE...

ConnecTV social companion beta launches for iPad PC and Mac handson

Ben Drawbaugh — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:56:48 -0800

The old guard's attempt at a social TV companion just got real with the launch of ConnecTV in open beta for iPad, PC and Mac -- smartphones and Android tablet versions are coming soon. The idea is you'll load up this app while watching TV and find a whole new way to discover details of your favorite content while at the same time share with your friends. The app uses a mic to detect what you're watching just like IntoNow and links up with both Facebook or Twitter (it'll also work on its own). Overall we were underwhelmed and quickly realizing that the other startups are way ahead in both release date and functionality.

For starters, there are plenty of channels missing and not a single channel number. You can't even search for your favorite shows or channels. But even when it did manage to figure out what we were watching, we felt like we were being forced fed useless data like trivia and ads rather than having useful information like actors or players names at our finger tips. There's no doubt in our mind that the app was designed more to make us discover certain content rather than discover shows based on our actual tastes. Then again, this is the first version out of the gate, but somehow we think ConnecTV's business model will get in the way of ever making anything truly useful. READ MORE...

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Phones With the Best Battery Life

By Alex Colon — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:55:51 -0800

Tired of having to charge your smartphone every time you turn around? Check out the models with the longest continuous talk time on each major carrier.

Have you ever felt your cell phone vibrate and pulled it out of your pocket, expecting to to see a text or e-mail message, only to see a low-battery warning instead? Surely, you've uttered the dreaded words, "My phone is dying, so I have to say this fast!"

It may be time to consider investing in a phone with better battery life.

I don’t know about you, but the idea of carrying an extra battery or charger around, or even strapping a battery case to my phone is not all that appealing. But I’m realistic. Smartphones, with their big touch screens and fast processors, suck up a lot of power, so I’m not expecting to make it through the week on a single charge. Still, there’s no excuse for not being able to make it through the day.

For every phone we review here at PCMag we test continuous talk time, to measure just how much chatting you can do between charges. Although talk time doesn’t account for all the other ways we use our phones throughout the day, it’s still a useful indication of how long you can expect your battery to last. For most smartphones running on a 3G network, the average talk time is a little over five hours, which isn't bad. There are also a good number of phones that fall in the six-hour range, which is even better. For the phones that support it, we also measure audio streaming time over 4G LTE, because 4G has proven to be a major battery suck. Right now, the average streaming time is just under four hours.

For this list, we’re rounding up phones that delivered at least seven hours of talk time—some go well beyond that—which should be more than enough juice to get you from morning to evening without a charge. READ MORE...

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Sony Promotes Hirai to President

DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:39:15 -0800

TOKYO—The next chief executive of Sony Corp. will take office seeking a new path for a company that once dominated the business of filling free time through innovation and invention of wildly popular consumer products that reached from transistor radios and color TVs to Walkman music players and PlayStation game consoles.

The selection of 51-year-old Kazuo Hirai by Sony's board Wednesday ends the seven-year reign of Howard Stringer, the boisterous and charismatic Brit who in 2005 became the company's first non-Japanese chief executive and was unable to turn around the company's electronics business.

A new era will begin for Sony as the head of the videogames division succeeds Howard Stringer. The WSJ's Deborah Kan speaks to Daisuke Wakabayashi.

The leadership change comes at a critical juncture in the company's 66-year history. Born from the ashes of World War II, Sony products went on to embody technological cool in the decades that followed and established Japan as the center of must-have consumer electronics.

But Sony is now caught between the speed and manufacturing prowess of Samsung Electronics Co. and the category-defining innovations of Apple Inc. The steep ascent of the yen, which rose 30% against the dollar during Mr. Stringer's tenure, plagued profit goals.

Sony's stock is teetering near two-decade lows, and its credit rating was downgraded in January. Sony is widely expected to report a loss when it releases results on Thursday for the third quarter of its fiscal year that ends in March.

Mr. Harai, who takes over in April, says he wants to cut costs and shake up the corporate structure that he blames for blocking product innovations and keeping Sony mired in the past. He rose the corporate ladder with a record of hard-nosed cuts, most notably squeezing profits out of the company's PlayStation game division four years after it reported a $2 billion loss.

"I thought turning around the PlayStation business was going to be the toughest challenge of my career, but I guess not," he said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last week, before the announcement. "It's one issue after another. I feel like 'Holy s—, now what?' "

Mr. Hirai described his strategic goal as teaching the company that its past successes in manufacturing must be replaced by the harder-to-quantify "user experience," or how a product makes people feel. "The world has moved on," he said. "We can't just continue to be a great purveyor of hardware products, even though some people expect us to do that."

His predecessor, the eloquent 69-year-old Mr. Stringer, offered a sweeping vision of harmony between content and the electronics—sometimes coupled with a loose grasp of details—to create experiences available only on Sony products. Mr. Hirai, a videogame veteran, who got his start translating for the Beastie Boys, is considered a pragmatist, a leader who can ask the right questions and make tough decisions.

"We really need to buckle down and be realistic," Mr. Hirai said. "I don't think everybody is on board, but I think people are coming around to the idea that if we don't turn this around, we could be sitting in some serious trouble."

Even at a company known for its unconventional choices of leaders, Mr. Hirai's background is unorthodox. He said he joined the company after graduating from college in 1984 because believed the company offered a "rock 'n' roll" lifestyle that allowed jeans at work. At ease in both English and Japanese, Mr. Hirai peppers his conversations with equal doses of "dude" and corporate jargon: It is "important to right-size the business."

As the son of a Japanese banker, Mr. Hirai spent his childhood in the U.S., Canada and Japan. He attended the American School in Japan—a private school largely attended by the children of expatriates—because he worried about fitting in at a traditional Japanese high school. He founded the school's audiovisual club and his hobbies include building model trains and cars—geek credentials, he said.

Unlike many star-struck Japanese of his generation, "the thought of working at Sony never crossed my mind," Mr. Hirai said. "Why would I have wanted to work for an electronics company?"

But in his first job at CBS/Sony Inc., a now defunct music joint venture between the U.S. network and Sony, he served as a translator for such bands as the Beastie Boys and Journey during their visits to Japan.

In the mid-1990s, Sony's music and electronics arms huddled to create a rival videogame business to Nintendo Co. and Mr. Hirai was assigned to run the U.S. division after several more experienced executives declined.

PlayStation became the profitable gaming platform of choice in the era when videogame entertainment emerged to rival movies and music. Mr. Hirai became the public face of PlayStation during Sony's annual appearances at the videogame industry's E3 trade show in Los Angeles, which drew game fans from around the world.

His prominence also made him a target of rival Microsoft Corp. during an E3 skit in 2005. In a spoof of then-popular reality TV show "The Apprentice," a bug-eyed actor playing a frightened Mr. Hirai sold out fictional colleagues before Donald Trump fired the Sony team. A video mocking Mr. Hirai's introduction of car game Ridge Racer has been viewed a half-million times on YouTube.

But Mr. Hiriai got the chance to run the unit in 2006. Ken Kutaragi, the executive credited with starting the PlayStation business, surprised Mr. Stringer in front of the board of directors with news that the new PlayStation 3 would lose more than $2 billion in its first year. Mr. Kutaragi would soon leave the company and Mr. Hirai took over with orders to restore profits.

Mr. Hirai prodded Sony's semiconductor manufacturing partners to slash costs. He said urged designers to swap out the plastic lettering of the PlayStation 3 logo with silk-screened paint, saving money.

Mr. Hirai also corralled the PlayStation unit, which had long reveled in its independence from the main office. He transferred the videogame group from its plush offices in Tokyo's ritzy Aoyama neighborhood into Sony's significantly less glamorous corporate headquarters.

"He did it in such a way that tempers didn't fray and anxieties didn't multiply," said Mr. Stringer. "He is someone who can bring people together for common purpose, which is easier when you speak the common language." Mr. Stringer doesn't speak Japanese.

Based on Mr. Hirai's success with PlayStation, Mr. Stringer promoted him in April 2011 to oversee the consumer-electronics division—still the spiritual soul of the company. By November, he tackled the difficult TV business.

Televisions were once the cornerstone of a thriving electronics unit but Sony was late to embrace liquid crystal display models. The decision triggered seven straight years of losses for its TV business. With the company's history so rooted in television sets, executives had been unwilling to cut production. But Mr. Hirai declared three months ago that Sony would no longer pursue a long-term goal of selling 40 million television sets a year and told the television group he was cutting their sales goals in half.

Mr. Hirai said he would "build only what he could sell" for Sony's TV business and that televisions would lose ¥175 billion, about $2.3 billion, in the fiscal year ending in March. The losses would cut by half in the following fiscal year before returning to profits in the year ending March 2014, he said. READ MORE or subscribe to the Wall Street Journal.

Solving The Product Return Problem In Consumer Gizmos

Eric Savitz, Forbes Staff - Guest post written by David Douthit — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:25:42 -0800

The U.S. consumer electronics industry is battling a behemoth, escalating and unsustainable problem: product returns.

The problem is not new. It has existed as long as there has been a consumer electronics industry. But in recent years customers’ expectations have risen, products have become increasingly complex, and efforts to stop the wave of resulting returns have not kept pace. For companies to achieve high performance, this severe problem needs to be comprehensively addressed. Transformative systemic changes are needed now.

Accenture arrived at this conclusion based on new research revealing that customers returning electronics products will cost U.S. consumer electronics retailers and manufacturers nearly $17 billion this year, an increase of 21 percent since 2007. These costs include receiving, assessing, repairing, reboxing, restocking and reselling returned products. The report, “A Returning Problem: Reducing the Quantity and Cost of Product Returns in Consumer Electronics,” captures key findings and insights based on the survey.

The research is based in part on a survey of executives from communications carriers, consumer electronics retailers and consumer electronics manufacturers. Our survey revealed that product return rates over the past three to five years have increased for more than half of retailers (57 percent) and nearly half (43 percent) of manufacturers surveyed. Only 13 percent of the retailers and 12 percent of the manufacturers surveyed indicated that return rates are trending downward.

However, the Accenture research also revealed a significant opportunity for the industry to cut costs and reduce the level of product returns, given that only 5 percent of returns are related to actual product defects. While 27 percent reflect “buyer’s remorse,” 68 percent of returned products are characterized as “No Trouble Found.” This means that, despite the customer perceiving a fault, no failure was detected when retailers and manufacturers tested against their specifications. When a customer returns a device to the retailer because the device did not meet their functional or usability expectations, it’s a double tragedy: the customer turns unhappy with the experience and the retailer and manufacturer lose money.

But why hasn’t the problem been addressed? For three primary reasons: First, returns are often thought of as a cost of doing business. Second, companies focus on efficiently handling returns rather than preventing them. And third, companies often adopt a one-size-fits-all approach towards returns.

What should be done? READ MORE...

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Apple hires away Dixons chief to expand retail

James Davey and Juhi Arora — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:09:40 -0800

(Reuters) - Apple Inc is hiring Dixons Chief Executive Officer John Browett, who drove a recent turnaround at the British electronics retailer, to lead the iPad maker's retail expansion.

Browett, who has headed Dixons since 2007, was previously chief executive of Tesco PLC's successful online shopping site.

At Apple, Browett will be responsible for the company's retail strategy and the expansion of its stores around the world from the current total of around 300.

"Our retail stores are all about customer service, and John shares that commitment like no one else we've met," said Apple CEO Tim Cook, to whom Browett will report.

Browett replaces Ron Johnson, who left Apple last June to take the CEO post at retailer J.C. Penney Co Inc.

On Johnson's watch, Apple opened its first retail outlet -- in McLean, Virginia -- in May 2001. It now has a chain of more than 300 stores, which generated an average of $34.1 million each in fiscal 2010 and accounted for 15 percent of the company's net sales.

"(Browett)'s got big shoes to fill," said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis. "Ron Johnson drove the Apple store as a customer experience with a positive halo effect for the business."

Wall Street views Apple's stores as an important advantage in competing with rivals Google Inc and Amazon.com Inc as well as other traditional PC makers.

Apple's retail success is likely to keep growing over the next few quarters as huge numbers of consumers continue to snap up the company's popular iPhones and iPads. Apple sold 37 million iPhones and more than 15 million iPads during the last quarter, and its cash balance swelled to nearly $100 billion by the end of 2011.

Last week, Apple posted quarterly results ahead of market expectations. READ MORE...

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Dec Major Appliance Shipments Up 4% 2011 Flat

Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 1/24/2012 — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:05:16 -0800

Washington - Factory shipments of major appliances rose 3.7 percent in December, to some 5.1 million units.

The increase was likely spurred by last-minute buying, as dealers stocked up on inventory in advance of a new round of manufacturer price hikes that went into effect Jan. 1.

The gains helped the push 2011 shipment totals up into flat territory. According to the latest wholesale data from the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM), total 2011 shipments slipped just 0.4 percent year over year, to about 61.2 million units, although strength in room air masked year-long softness in other core majap categories.

Leading the charge in December was chest-style freezers, shipments of which surged 39.3 percent to approximately 139,300 units.

The month's second-highest gainer was room air, which increased 33.2 percent in unit volume year over year, to some 183,100 pieces.

Coming in at a close third were trash compactors, shipments of which rose 31.3 percent, to about 5,500 units.

Also turning in a strong performance were gas cooktops, which were ahead 16.7 percent in December with 30,000 units shipped.

Core categories posted more modest, but still solid increases, at least compared with most of 2011. Full-size refrigerators were up nearly 5 percent, to 740,400 units; clothes dryers were up 3.2 percent, offsetting a 0.4 percent slip in washers; and the total cooking category rose 2.8 percent on strength in the aforementioned cooktops as well as electric ranges.

December's softest categories included gas ovens, down 6.7 percent, and dishwashers, down 3.1 percent.

For the full year, room air was the hands-down winner with a 19.4 percent gain in 2011 shipments. But the increase stands in sharp contrast with other core categories, which continued to falter amid the prolonged housing market malaise. Among the latter: home laundry, down 6.1 percent for the year; full-size refrigerators, down 4.1 percent; dishwashers, down 3.1 percent; and cooking, down nearly 1 percent. READ MORE...

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RIM CEO eyes significant plans for BlackBerry

Sinead Carew and Nicola Leske — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:27:08 -0800

(Reuters) - Research in Motion's Thorsten Heins plans to waste no time in his new job. The BlackBerry maker's chief executive said he will present the board with his plan for company's future in just a matter of weeks.

The German-born executive, who took over from two longstanding co-CEOs on Saturday, said his plans for RIM would be "significant" though he did not divulge details in an interview with Reuters.

"I will have time with the board in two weeks to present my ideas and changes," Heins said.

But the executive, who was promoted from the role of chief operating officer, said he has already done groundwork to tackle his company's most pressing problem - persuading the U.S. market to covet the BlackBerry again.

While RIM is growing in other countries, Heins conceded that its U.S. business is in need of a major revival after losing out to rivals like Apple Inc's iPhone at U.S. service providers and corporations, where it once had a clear advantage among employees heavily dependent on its email service.

"In general I wouldn't consider RIM as a turnaround candidate. It is a turnaround candidate in the U.S.," he said. "We lost market share in this market quite substantially. That is something that we have to address."

While U.S. operators such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc have helped BlackBerry with heavy advertising and promotions in the past, these operators have been much more focused in the last few years on devices like iPhone and smartphones based on the Google Inc operating system. READ MORE...

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ExPalm chief leaves HP after WebOS move

Poornima Gupta; editing by John Wallace — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:42:23 -0800

(Reuters) - Jon Rubinstein, who was instrumental in crafting Apple Inc's iPod music player, has left Hewlett Packard Co after two years on the job there.

Rubinstein was CEO of smartphone maker Palm when that company was acquired by HP in 2010. He last held a product-innovation role within HP's Personal Systems Group headed by Todd Bradley.

"Jon has fulfilled his commitment to HP," a HP spokesman said.

Rubinstein is still a board member at e-commerce company Amazon.com.

Last year HP, the largest U.S. technology company by revenue, announced it was halting its TouchPad line of tablets and any other devices based on WebOS, the mobile software it acquired when it bought Palm.

In December, HP said it would open its WebOS mobile operating system to developers and companies, potentially taking on Google Inc's free Android platform. READ MORE...

Smartphones drive record Samsung profit

Miyoung Kim — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:14:02 -0800

(Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co posted a record $4.7 billion quarterly operating profit, driven by booming smartphone sales, and will spend $22 billion this year to boost production of chips and flat screens to pull further ahead of smaller rivals.

The South Korean firm, the world's top technology firm by revenue, is locked in breakneck competition with Apple Inc in the red-hot smartphone market. Apple, overtaken by Samsung in the third quarter, regained its crown as the world's biggest maker of smartphones in the fourth quarter, with record sales of 37.04 million iPhones.

Samsung didn't give its own sales volume data, but research firm Strategy Analytics put sales at 36.5 million smartphones in October-December, with 3rd-ranked Nokia on 19.6 million. Smartphones account for around 40 percent of all Samsung's handset shipments. READ MORE...

Apple overtakes Samsung in Q4 smartphone sales report

Miyoung Kim; Editing by Chris Lewis — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:10:37 -0800

(Reuters) - Apple Inc overtook Samsung Electronics Co Ltd as the world's top smartphone maker in the fourth quarter of last year, with the South Korean company selling about half a million fewer smartphones than its rival, research firm Strategy Analytics said on Friday.

Apple sold 37 million iPhones and Samsung sold 36.5 million smartphone handsets, giving each a respective 23.9 percent and 23.5 percent market share. READ MORE...

Asia may not be such easy pickings for Apple

Harichandan Arakali and Farah Master — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:06:10 -0800

(Reuters) - Investors in Apple Inc have a one-word answer for those who wonder whether this corporate juggernaut can maintain its phenomenal momentum in the years ahead: Asia.

The iconic maker of the iPhone, iPad and iPod has barely scratched the surface of the region, home to around 60 percent of the world's population -- a fact that Apple itself alluded to in reporting an eye-popping set of earnings this week.

Apple's numbers, which included a 70 percent jump in December-quarter revenues and a doubling in profits, actually excluded sales of its hottest new product, the iPhone 4S, from its biggest single potential market, China.

The latest iPhone did not go on sale there until this month, and there were near-riots as demand immediately ran ahead of supply, with empty-handed shoppers throwing eggs at Apple's typically minimalist glass-fronted store in Beijing.

And in China's long shadow, other virtually untapped Asian markets such as India and Indonesia are waiting to be conquered, together home to around 1.4 billion people.

"I want an iPhone because of the lifestyle, it's a trendy phone to have," says 19-year-old Dylan who works at a hip fashion boutique, The Goods Dept, in downtown Jakarta.

Sporting a trendy haircut, a long pendant necklace, jeans and vintage Ray Ban sunglasses, he is typical of style-conscious consumers everywhere to whom Apple's sleek devices are not so much useful gadgets as essential fashion accessories. READ MORE...

Event Women in CE Sets June Career Enhancement Forum

Dealerscope - North American Publishing Company (NAPCO) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:05:40 -0800

Women in CE has officially announced a first-of-its-kind Career Enhancement Forum, titled "Power Your Career in Consumer Electronics," to take place this June in New York as part of the second annual CE Week.

The event is scheduled for June 26.

"Power Your Career in Consumer Electronics brings to life the heart of our core mission to educate, empower, mentor, and recruit more women into the consumer electronics industry," Carol Campbell, founder of Women in CE, said as part of the announcement. "By attending this event, women throughout the supply chain of the industry will take away real tools to gain an edge and move ahead in CE-related fields. Both up-and-coming women and those who have 'made it' in the man's world of CE will share a unique experience of a targeted and interactive program for success."

See the Women in CE website for more information, or to view a video recap of Women in CE's Legacy Awards event at International CES. READ MORE...

TV Prices Continue Slide

Stephen Silver — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:00:04 -0800

Average prices of HDTV units slid to new lows during this year's holiday season, with the average price of 46" LCD TVs falling below $1,000 and 32" TVs falling below $500, both for the first time.

That's according to the Quarterly TV Cost and Price Forecast Model, an estimate of holiday averages released this week by NPD DisplaySearch.

Other milestones projected include the average price for 40" active-shutter 3D LCD TVs and 47" passive 3D LCD TVs both falling below $1,000.

"The flat panel TV industry is now in a very advanced state of maturity, and the rapid cost reductions seen in the mid-2000s due to enormous investments in panel production capacity have slowed considerably. Despite this, consumers still expect rapid continuous retail price reductions.” Paul Gagnon, NPD DisplaySearch's Director of North America TV Market Research, said as part of the announcement.

“In an effort to offer more value and entice consumers to focus less on price as a motivating factor, a number of new technologies, like LED backlights, higher frame rates and even 3D, were introduced to boost demand without resorting to price-driven tactics.”

The firm added that price erosion will be "less significant" in 2012. READ MORE...

Microsoft not Apple holds the key to Smart TV success

Brad McCarty — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:49:32 -0800

For Christmas this year, I was finally able to shed the cash to pick up an Xbox 360 along with a Kinect. While I do enjoy playing the games, what I’m most enthralled by is using the Kinect when watching TV. People keep talking about a forthcoming Apple TV, and I welcome it with open arms, but right now Microsoft has the right tool to shake up the market.

This year at CES was all about disappointing “Smart TVs” and overblown 3D, with some truly beautiful Super OLED displays thrown in for good measure. TNW’s Martin Bryant says that he’s already sick of the Smart TV idea because the offerings are lackluster at best. While I completely agree with his sentiment, I think that Microsoft could make a major move into the space and knock down all of the competition in its wake.

Why? Because Microsoft is already doing it right: READ MORE...

Motorola Mobility posts quarterly loss

Sinead Carew; Editing by Tim Dobbyn — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:49:16 -0800

Motorola Mobility posted a quarterly loss after it warned earlier this month that it was having a tough time competing in the smartphone market amid intense competition from rivals such as the Apple iPhone. The company, which is seeking approval to be bought by Google, reported a net loss of $80 million or 27 cents per share compared with a profit of $80 million or 27 cents per share in the same quarter the year before. Revenue rose slightly to $3.436 billion from $3.425 billion in the year ago quarter.

The company, which is seeking approval to be bought by Google Inc, reported a net loss of $80 million or 27 cents per share compared with a profit of $80 million or 27 cents per share in the same quarter the year before.

Revenue rose slightly to $3.436 billion from $3.425 billion in the year ago quarter.

The report could be the last for Motorola Mobility, which said that it expects the deal to close early this year. Motorola Mobility was separated from Motorola Inc when the company split in two last year. (Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Tim Dobbyn) READ MORE...

The 10 most anticipated PlayStation Vita games

Ryan Fleming — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:41:44 -0800

The North American launch of the PlayStation Vita is just a few short weeks away, so for those of you considering picking up Sony’s new uber-device, it’s time to start thinking about what you will do with it. As you might expect from a device of its sort, the Vita will have all the bells and whistles of a modern handheld media device: It will stream Netflix, have access to the PlayStation Store and all that it offers including video and music rentals, and have other neat-o things like Facebook. It would be odd if it didn’t. It will also play your own video and music files, and it even has front and back cameras. And oh, hey, it can also play games! Who knew?

If you’ve read DT for a while now, then you probably know that we’ve been underwhelmed by the Nintendo 3DS’s weak launch title selection. It was like buying a brand new 55-inch OLED flat screen TV and only being able to watch CSPAN on it. Assuming you didn’t go insane outright, it would still feel like a waste of money and a waste of 55 inches of your wall. It doesn’t matter how great the hardware is if the software isn’t there to back it up. Sony, like genius people, saw this and decided to address that.

The Vita’s launch window line-up is strong like bull, and the rest of the year — including games that may or may not be out this year but have been officially announced — is robust. In fact, you should go ahead and begin saving money for games now. Or ideally, about six years ago.

So here is our list of the top 10 most anticipated games on the way for the Vita. A few of these are launch title games, some will fall within the launch window (within the first month or so) or the first year. Others do not have a release date, but still have enough shine to get excited about. 1. Touch My Katamari, 2. Uncharted: Golden Abyss, 3. Street Fighter X Tekken, 4. Silent Hill: Book of Memories, 5. Dust 514, 6. Call of Duty, 7. LittleBigPlanet, 8. BioShock, 9. Killzone, 10. Resistance: Burning Skies

READ MORE...

AT&T Trails Verizon in Customer Race

GREG BENSINGER — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:23:53 -0800

AT&T Inc. posted a large quarterly loss as it took a $4 billion charge for its failed T-Mobile USA takeover bid, and the phone giant continued to lag behind rival Verizon Wireless in the race to add new subscribers.

The carrier added 717,000 customers with long-term contracts in the fourth quarter, a 79% jump from a year earlier, on the strength of 7.6 million iPhone activations and 9.4 million smartphone sales overall.

But AT&T is adding fewer new customers than rival Verizon Wireless, which added 1.2 million contract subscribers in the same period. Most of AT&T's iPhone and smartphone sales are going to existing subscribers.

Excluding one-time items—notably the cost of handing over $3 billion in cash and $1 billion in wireless airwaves to T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom AG after the merger deal crumbled—AT&T posted a profit of 42 cents a share, down from 55 cents a year earlier.

After pulling its $39 billion T-Mobile bid, AT&T will need to focus on the rollout of its fourth-generation mobile network to keep pace with Verizon Wireless. AT&T's 4G LTE network covers just over a third of the number of Americans as its competitor and is growing more reliant on Apple Inc.'s iPhone, which operates only on 3G networks, to draw long-term customers. READ MORE...

CES 2012 CNET Names Best Of CES Award Winners

TWICE Staff -- TWICE, 1/12/2012 — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:13:58 -0800

The winners are as follows:

Best of Show: LG 55EM9600 OLED TV

The first 55-inch OLED TV announced as shipping in 2011, and the only one to get an actual model number and public ship date ("Q3"), the 55EM9800 promises the superb all-around performance of OLED (absolute black levels, ultra-fast panel and excellent viewing angles) in an ultra-thin panel.

People's Voice: Razer Project Fiona

Razer's Project Fiona concept gaming tablet, shown at CES 2012, suggests that Windows 8 is a serious player in portable gaming, and that Razer is serious about moving into manufacturing computers.

Winners by category include:

Car Tech: QNX CAR 2 mobile apps platform

Smartphones: Nokia Lumia 900

Cameras: Fujifilm X-Pro1

Emerging Tech: MakerBot Replicator

Home Theater: Simple.TV

PCs: HP Envy 14 Spectre

Software and apps: BlueStacks for Windows 8

Networking: D-Link Amplifi HD Media Router 3000

Tablets: Asus Memo 370T

TVs: LG 55EM9600 OLED TV

READ MORE...

Consumer Confidence Up CEA

TWICE Staff -- TWICE, 1/24/2012 — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:05:42 -0800

Arlington, Va. - Consumer confidence in the overall economy is at a four-year high, according to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) Index of Consumer Expectations (ICE).

The CEA ICE hit 177.3 in January, up almost four points from December and two points higher than January 2011. The ICE measures consumer expectations about the broader economy.

"Overall sentiment continues to improve as the ICE has rebounded since reaching an all-time low in November," said Shawn DuBravac, the CEA's chief economist and research director. "Sentiment has improved by more than 13 percent in the past two months, which is a hopeful sign of consumer expectations for recovery in 2012."

However, consumer confidence specifically in technology fell in January to 88, according to the CEA Index of Consumer Technology Expectations. This measures consumer expectations on technology spending. It is down 5.5 points from December, but is in line with normal consumer attitudes toward spending on tech that follow the holiday selling season. READ MORE...

AT&T posts big loss on hefty charges iPhone costs

By Sinead Carew — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:48:39 -0800

Its shares fell about 1 percent after the news. While the No. 2 U.S. wireless provider beat analysts' expectations for subscriber additions, the growth came at a cost as its wireless service margins plummeted. It also took a big non-cash pension-related charge on top of its $4 billion break-up package.

While advanced devices like iPhone can help subscriber numbers and revenue, they also shrink earnings as operators like AT&T and its bigger rival Verizon Wireless heavily subsidize the device to attract customers to two-year contracts.

AT&T's wireless service margin based on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization dropped to 28.7 percent from 43.7 percent in the third quarter and 37.6 percent a year earlier.

"If there's any reason to be upset, it certainly is the margins," said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Chris King, but he noted that strong smartphone sales should help AT&T in the long run.

The No. 2 U.S. mobile provider said it had added 717,000 subscribers in the quarter, beating the average expectation for 570,000 from seven analysts.

But AT&T's subscriber growth still lagged well behind Verizon Wireless whose parent Verizon Communications reported on Tuesday that its wireless venture with Vodafone Group Plc had added 1.2 million subscribers in the quarter. Verizon Wireless margins were also hurt by smartphone sales, but not as much as AT&T. [ID:nL2E8CO1WK]

Roe Equity Research analyst Kevin Roe said that only time will tell if the race to sign on smartphone customers will be worth the massive drag on margins.

"Its not getting easier. It will be tougher in 2012," he said. "The cost to capture and retain customers will increase as competition increases." READ MORE...

Experts Google privacy shift will have greater impact on Android users

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:39:01 -0800

A push by the company to create clearer online profiles of Web surfers may turn the promise into reality, analysts say.

Google this week announced a shift in its privacy policies that will allow it to follow the activities of users as they move across the firm’s Web sites, including its highly popular YouTube, Gmail and main search engine. The company emphasized in interviews that the change would apply only to users who are signed on to their Google accounts.

The initiative could be of particular significance for consumers of Android devices, who are almost always signed on to their phones and tablets, experts said. Without signing up for an account, an Android smartphone owner would be limited in what he or she could do on the device, they said.

“I guess it’s theoretically possible to use an Android device without being logged on, but that wouldn’t be much of a smartphone,” said Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that advocates for free speech and privacy online. READ MORE...

W3 Solutions Launches Tablet Protection Coverage

Christine Persaud — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 09:01:18 -0700

W3 Solutions has created a warranty protection program specific to tablets from Apple, RIM, Samsung and Motorola.

As a one-year extension service plan, the program, says W3, is meant to help assist in higher attachment rates, and to allow retailers to "introduce a customer service centric product that is not currently in the independent market."

The program is "competitively priced," and offers high margin. It includes no cost shipping, quick repair, and online claim tracking. Fully underwritten, the protection program ensures there will be funds to take care of future claims.

W3 has secured premier OEM authorized service partnerships throughout Canada to ensure quick and price competitive service.

"By listening to our dealer's needs and working with our underwriting partners, we have created a program where retailers can offer their customers an optimum level of service and support while retaining significant programs," explains Scott Walker, President of W3.

W3 is a provider of post sale customer service, including extended service plans, after-market affinity products, and customer support services.

For more information, visit www.thew3solution.com.

http://www.marketnews.ca/LatestNewsHeadlines/W3SolutionsLaunchesTabletProtectionCoverage.html

Tablets to Overtake eReaders by 2012

Christine Persaud — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:02:46 -0700

Some have questioned the sustainability of the dedicated e-reader market given that all tablets can serve as portable e-reading devices. And In-Stat predicts that tablet shipments will in fact outpace that of e-readers by the end of this year.

When it comes to the most simplistic experience that's most comparable to reading a paperback book, nothing beats an e-reader. This is thanks to features like e-ink technology, and ultra-long battery life. It's also reflected in the price; e-readers can run for just $100, whereas tablets from brand name manufacturers are at least $300.

But In-Stat says that a growing numbers of consumers are demanding multimedia capabilities as well, like Web browsing, video, and gaming.

"Of the two, the tablet market is the stronger and more sustainable opportunity," claims Stephanie Ethier, Senior Analyst. "In fact, e-reader manufacturers will soon begin adding tablet-like devices to their lineups in order to take advantage of the tablet frenzy.

She cites the Barnes & Noble Color Nook, which is often compared to a tablet, as a prime example. "And Amazon," she continues, "the leader in the e-reader space with its Kindle, will likely launch a tablet device later this year in an effort to compete head-to-head with the iPad."

Of the 1,000 U.S. respondents to In-Stat's survey, 38% own a tablet compared to 26% who own an e-reader.

Still, e-readers will continue to be a healthy category, at least for the near-term. In-Stat says that low prices and more ebook titles will help the e-reader market reach 40 million shipments by 2015.

On the tablet end, over 60% of future tablet purchasers plan to buy a tablet equipped with both WiFi and 3G connectivity. And by 2015, 15% of all tablet shipments will go into business markets.

http://www.marketnews.ca/LatestNewsHeadlines/TabletstoOvertakeeReadersby2012.html

Top 20 best tablet PC iPad alternatives

TechRadar reviews team — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:33:52 -0700

http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/top-20-best-tablet-pc-ipad-alternatives-690596?#ixzz1OuiEKPIc

Sonys new handheld to take on DS iPhone

Isabel Reynolds — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:24:28 -0800

The announcement to an audience of hundreds packing the ballroom of a Tokyo hotel came the same day as Nintendo, which is readying the launch of a 3D version of its DS handheld next month, reported a 46 per cent slide in quarterly profit, below analysts’ estimates.

To the accompaniment of loud dance music, Sony showed off its new device, codenamed “NGP” for Next Generation Portable, featuring a 3G wireless data connection and a 5-inch organic light-emitting diode (OLED) touch screen, as well as motion sensors and a rear touch panel.

“The capabilities of handsets are leaping ahead and pick-up-and-play games are becoming a big business,” Kazuo Hirai, the president of Sony’s games unit, told reporters after a media briefing in Tokyo. “We have to be aware of that environment.”

But it is unclear whether the new gadget can hold off the challenge from Apple and products emerging from rivals such as Samsung Electronics.

“The key will be pricing of the device,” said Nobuo Kurahashi, an analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities. “If the company prices it cheaper than Nintendo’s 3DS, it would be positive.”

With smart phones and tablets offering a versatile alternative to handheld game devices, Sony needs new products able to tap a ballooning market for mobile gaming, which research firm Gartner expect to more than double to nearly $12 billion within three years.

Sony said the NGP will not go on sale until around the year-end and declined to give pricing details. Nintendo’s 3DS will sell for 25,000 yen ($304.2) in Japan and about $250 in the United States.

Sony’s latest release will stoke market speculation the Japanese consumer electronics giant is readying a gaming smart phone.

By the end of the year, Sony plans to make PlayStation games available on other portable devices running on Google’s Android operating system, through a system called PlayStation Suite that will compete with applications from Apple.

“It’s an alternative to the Apple stuff,” said Ricardo Torres, editor-in-chief of games website gamespot.com. “Maybe another Angry Birds could be created on the PlayStation Suite. That’s what they would love to happen.” he said, referring to the hugely popular smart phone game.

Hurt by falling sales of its ageing DS ahead of the launch of the 3D-capable model, rival Nintendo’s October-December operating profit was 104.6 billion yen ($1.3 billion), below an analysts’ consensus of 118 billion yen.

Underscoring the tough competition, Nintendo cut its sales forecast for the Wii console to 16 million units from 17.5 million units for the year to March. It also lowered its DS sales forecast by 1 million units to 22.5 million, but kept its profit outlook unchanged.

Nintendo’s DS sold nearly 136 million units up to last September. Sony’s PSP has sold some 61 million.

Shinichiro Matsushita, an equity analyst at Daiwa Securities, said Nintendo succeeded in widening the attraction of computer games to older people and women. He said Sony’s product might appeal more to core gamers.

“I wonder if Sony wants to attract the same user categories with the new product,” said Matsushita.

Investors will now focus on a planned Sony Ericsson event in Barcelona on Feb. 13, with growing expectations a PlayStation phone could be unveiled.

Next week, Sony is expected to post a fall in profits for the October-December quarter, underscoring the challenges facing Sony’s Welshborn CEO Howard Stringer, who has struggled to recreate the magic of Sony’s past hits, such as the Walkman cassette player and the Trinitron TV.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/video-games/gaming-news/sony-takes-on-ds-and-iphone-with-new-handheld/article1884684/

Check out upcoming CEA Events!

CEA — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 12:31:27 -0800

Digital Music Forum East
February 24, 2011
New York, NY

CEA Economic Retreat
March 1 - 4, 2011
Viceroy Snowmass
Snowmass Village, CO
EHX Spring
March 17 - 19, 2011
Orlando, FL

LA Games Conference
April 26, 2011
Los Angeles, CA

Digital Hollywood Spring
May 2 - 5, 2011
Ritz Carlton, Marina del Rey
Los Angeles, CA

CES on the Hill
May 10, 2011
Washington, DC

Digital Patriots Dinner
May 11, 2011
Washington, DC

CEA Technology & Standards Spring Forum
May 23 - 27, 2011
Santa Clara Marriott
Santa Clara, CA

CEA Line Shows
June 22 - 23, 2011
New York, NY

CEO Summit
October 1 - 3, 2011
Grand Hotel des Iles Borromees
Stresa, Lake Maggiore, Italy

TechHome Mediterraneo Summit
October 3 - 5, 2011
Stresa, Lake Maggiore

Digital Hollywood Fall
October 17 - 20, 2011
Ritz Carlton, Marina del Rey
Los Angeles, CA

Industry Forum
October 23 - 28, 2011
Manchester Grand Hyatt
San Diego, CA

i-stage
October 25, 2011
Manchester Grand Hyatt
San Diego, CA

Digital Hollywood New York City
November 15 - 17, 2011
Lighthouse Conference Center - 59th St. and Lexington Ave.
New York City, NY

Future of Television East
November 18, 2011
New York, NY

http://www.ce.org/events/