Facebook 'working on phone with HTC'

As Facebook prepares to announce its first financial results, sources have claimed the social network is working with manufacturer HTC to produce its own mobile phone

Facebook, which urgently needs to find a way to make money from its growing number of mobile phone visitors, has already hired former Apple employees who are believed to be working with HTC on the new project.The news comes as Facebook is due to announce its first financial results since its troubled flotation on the US stock market. Shares traded in the company on the German stock exchange fell €1.28 to €22.50 in anticipation today, as Facebook gaming firm Zynga announced disappointing results of its own. Facebook shares in New York are down by approximately a quarter compared to its May 17 flotation price.The social network is widely expected to announce it now has more than a billion users during its earnings call, but more than half of them access the site via mobile, and founder Mark Zuckerberg has identified the transition to mobile usage as his “greatest challenge”. None of the $3.15 billion in advertising sales last year came from advertising on phones.Building its own device could allow the site to collect revenue from its existing advertisers more effectively by making sure their commercial content was distributed throughout the phone’s different functions.HTC has already produced the first phones to feature a dedicated Facebook button, and is looking for a way to differentiate its products from those of rival manufacturer Samsung. Its flagship One X device has been dogged by bans on US sales following a patent dispute with Apple. Shares in HTC have dropped 43 per cent this year after it reported three consecutive quarters of profit decline.

Facebook already makes a series of applications for online chat and photography, and it recently purchased picture-enhancement app Instagram for $1 billion. Combining these apps with existing calendar functions mean the site already has the major components of a mobile phone operating system, and it could follow Amazon’s model and adapt Google’s Android OS.Facebook has also recently introduced the ‘App Centre’, which it could see as a rival to Apple’s App Store or Google Android’s Play marketplace. Last year, Facebook also bought Push Pop Press, a digital publishing software maker co-founded by Apple alumni Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris, two designers who helped build the look and feel of the iPhone and iPad software.In a statement Facebook said it did not comment on rumour and speculation, but added “Our mobile strategy is simple: We think every mobile device is better if it is deeply social. We’re working across the entire mobile industry to bring powerful social experiences to more people around the world.”

Mozilla's Firefox Mobile OS to battle an Android monopoly

The corporate chiefs of Apple, Google and Microsoft betting billions of dollars and thousands of highly-paid engineers on their competing mobile operating systems. Despite these high stakes, Mozilla, the non-profit organisation behind the open source Firefox web browser, is planning to take a seat at the table with its own smartphone software.

The first pictures of the underdog emerged this week and enthusiasts can now download early versions to test. At first glance, it looks every bit the modern smartphone operating system, with an interface that recalls elements of iOS, Android and Windows Phone.
The question is whether Mozilla, with 2011 revenues of $121m, can really compete with the big three, who between them enjoyed sales of more than $200bn last year.
Mozilla’s reason for taking on the task is clear. Its share of the desktop market is falling, thanks mainly to its biggest benefactor (via the deal that makes Google the default search engine for Firefox users), Google, and its rival software Chrome, which has enjoyed a rapid rise to become the world’s most popular web browser.
Meanwhile, as Mozilla loses ground on PCs, its corporate rivals are carving up the mobile market. Smartphones and tablets are now widely viewed as the most important computing platforms.
“A lot of the innovation, or even most of it, that we’re seeing now is happening in smartphones and tablets,” said Ian Fogg, a mobile analysts at IHS Screen Digest.
Mozilla’s mission is to popularise web standards and open source software, but just creating alternative browser apps for iOS, Android and Windows Phone is not going to do it.
Only Android rules allow Mozilla to offer a full mobile version of its browser anyway; Apple and Microsoft exercise stricter control over what capabilities third party apps can have. What’s more, although data is hard to come by, it’s clear only a small minority of smartphone owners ever switch from their default browser app.
So to stay relevant, Mozilla is creating its own mobile OS.
Like Android, Firefox Mobile OS, is based on Linux, the operating system that anyone can contribute to or adapt because the source code is free. Unlike Google’s leading mobile operating system, however, Firefox Mobile OS will not play host to “native apps” that are specially developed for it.
Instead, it will use the new web coding standard, HTML5, to allow developers to create apps that, in theory, could work on any operating system. Other smartphone operating systems can run web apps already, but they are typically less capable than native apps as they are unable to plug into the advanced software and hardware features. Mozilla says Firefox Mobile OS will be different.

“[It] unlocks many of the current limitations of web development on mobile, allowing HTML5 applications to access the underlying capabilities of a phone, previously only available to native applications,” it said.
That may make app creation simpler and so appeal to developers, although the crucial question of how they will get paid for their work remains open.
Mozilla has already won support for Firefox OS from another key constituency: mobile networks. This month it announced big names such as Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Sprint, and Telefónica were on board.
“The operators want there to be competition in smartphones,” explained Ian Fogg. “They don’t want a world where Apple and Google dominate everything.”
In the West, that is already the case, and given the financial mismatch, there is little chance of Mozilla matching the established players. But opportunities abound in the developing world, where cheap Android handsets are only now reaching the market, and Apple and Microsoft devices are attainable for only the very richest.
Mozilla is overt in its focus on this relatively untapped seam, boasting of the ability of its technology to “deliver compelling smartphone experiences at attainable prices”.
“As billions of users are expected to come online for the first time in the coming years, it is important to deliver a compelling smartphone experience that anyone can use,” said Gary Kovacs, Mozilla’s chief executive.
So while it might seem there is no space for yet another smartphone competitor here, industry watchers are keenly interested in Mozilla’s progress.
“There’s a risk Android could become a monopolistic player in these developing markets,” said Ian Fogg. “RIM is still popular there but it has real problems.”
“Mozilla have decided they aren’t going to go head to head with iOS and Android here. They’ve decided the way they can compete in mobile is to jump to the next big thing which is these developing markets.”
“They might find the Firefox Mobile OS is really good enough to match the established players down the line, and then they’ll have the innovator’s dilemma.”
But that is some years away. The first Firefox Mobile OS handsets are due out in Brazil early next year.

iPhone 5 vs Galaxy Note 2: Release Date Strategies of Apple & Samsung

Apple’s fabled device iPhone 5 is eagerly awaited by millions of fans around the world. Even tech firms and investors are betting high on the next generation smartphone. But it is not just Apple’s iPhone that is grabbing the eyeballs, Samsung is expected to release the much-awaited Samsung Galaxy Note 2 before the iPhone 5 release.

Several reliable reports on iPhone 5 and Galaxy Note 2 are frequently doing the internet rounds. Samsung is said to be upping their ante to cement its position in the smartphone market share before iPhone 5 takes away the show.

A report from iMore says, Apple is planning an event on September 12 where the next generation iPhone will possibly be introduced. Nine days later, that is September 21, the smartphone will be released. Reputed new agencies such as Reuters, the New York Times and the Bloomberg have independently reported that Apple will announce the release of the iPhone 5 on the 12th of September in a keynote speech.

It is not a rarity to see Apple making unanticipated moves when it comes to launching their products at different dates year after year. If iPhone 4 was unvieled in June 2010, iPhone 4S came up in October 2011 and now iPhone 5 during September 2012. All these events surely throws light on the smartphone war between Apple and Samsung. Both the giants have tasted success and downfalls in recent years. Taking a leaf from their on-going court disputes, the two tech manufacturers are playing it even while introducing their devices these days.

Speaking of Samsung Galaxy Note, its is one such hybrid device that has attracted positive response from all quarters. More than 7 million Galaxy Note have been sold. Surely, Galaxy Note’s small brother Galaxy S3 helped the cause to a great extent as iPhone sales in second quarter revealed that the Cupertino giant could only sell 26 million units compared to 33.1 million in first quarter.

And now another Samsung onslaught comes in the form of sequel to Galaxy Note. The upcoming Samsung Mobile Unpacked event, to take place at Berlin on August 29, will see the unveiling of all these new Samsung devices. The Press Conference is slated to begin on Thursday, August 30, starting at 11 AM. Besides smartphones, Samsung will also present products from the tablet, television and camera segments. Samsung’s full product lineup will be on display at Hall 20 and Hall 5.1 from August 31 until September 5. The livestream of the event will be showcased on “www.facebook.com/samsungmobile”.

Tech enthuasiasts are presuming that the event’s main show-stealer would be Galaxy Note 2 or Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. In the past too, the original Galaxy Note was announced by Samsung during IFA 2011 in Berlin and the device was released to the public starting with Germany in late October 2011. A month later, the device was rolled out to major markets like East Asia, Europe and India, but reached the US shores only in February 2012.

Reports point that Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy Note 10.1 are both inspired by Galaxy S3. Hence one can expect a familiar design seen on Galaxy S3 in both the upcoming devices. Similar to Galaxy S3, Samsung may launch dual-core version in US and the international model is expected to come with powerful Exynos 4 quad-core processor.

Rumors are also rife that Galaxy Note 2 will have 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 or 1680 x 1050 pixels. Other possible features include Ice Cream Sandwich OS, 1.5GB of RAM, 12-megapixel or 13-megapixel camera and 4G LTE connectivity. The camera details may be slightly overcooked as Samsung may opt for an 8-megapixel sensor in Note 2.

Meanwhile, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 which was leaked recently in Korea had Android 4.0.4, 10.1-inch 1280×800 PLS 150 ppi display, 1.4 GHz quad-core processor with Exynos 4412 chipset, 5-megapixel with LED flash, 2 GB RAM, 5-megapixel camera, 1.9-megapixel secondary camera and a 7000 mAh battery.

Coming to Apple’s event, it would showcase the much anticipated iPhone 5, the rumoured 7.85-inch iPad mini, iPod touch and the new iPod nano. Says iMore’s Rene Ritchie, “We haven’t heard a release date for the iPad mini yet, but it could be the same as the iPhone 5. It seems likely the new iPod touch will make an appearance on September 12 as well, though we haven’t heard any specific information about that yet either.”

Apple iPhone 5′s rumored features include iOS 6 operating system, new Apple 3D mapping system, video chat, 4G LTE, 4-inch plus screen, tall and slimmer than its predecessors, NFC like feature Passbook app, a 8-megapixel camera sensor and improved version of Siri with multiple language support.

As for pricing, Twitter was abuzz that the next iPhone 5 might cost close to $800 whereas Galaxy Note 2 is expected to sell at around $900-1000 without a contract, similar to the launch price of the original Note device.

In the next few weeks, both Apple’s and Samsung’s devices will be seen hogging the attention in the smartphone stage. It will perhaps set new records in both sales and profit.

4G-enabled BlackBerry PlayBook launching next week

RIM has confirmed that it will release a 4G-enabled version of its PlayBook tablet in Canada next week, with launches in the US, Europe, South Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean to follow.


Introduced more than a year ago RIM’s PlayBook has struggled to compete with marker front-runners like Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle Fire.


RIM famously launched the device without a native email client or 3G-connectivity, a move that backfired dramatically. The launch version of BlackBerry Tablet OS was not as polished as it should have been either, resulting in a less than satisfying user experience.


RIM did remedy much of the above with the release of BlackBerry Tablet OS 2.0, which brought with it native email, better stability and deeper social network support. The lack of applications available for the device is still a worry, however, and no amount of connectivity is going to change that.


‘The 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will come with 32GB of memory and will be available from major Canadian carriers like BCE Inc's Bell, Rogers Communications Inc and Telus Corp in Canada on August 9,’ reports Reuters.


There’s no word on when we’ll be seeing the 3G/4G-enabled version of the PlayBook in the UK, or how much the device will cost once launched. UK consumers can now pick up a 16GB version of the Wi-Fi-only PlayBook for as little as £128.


RIM also confirmed that its existing PlayBook devices would be getting upgraded to BlackBerry 10, making it one of the cheapest ways to get a taste of RIM’s new platform once it launches in Q1 of 2012, providing you go the Wi-Fi-only route, and actually care about BlackBerry 10.