srijeda, 28.03.2012.
IPhone Failing to Gain Market as Samsung
IPhone Failing to Gain Market as Samsung
By Bloomberg News.
IPhone Failing to Gain Market Share in China as Samsung Lead Triples. Apple Inc. (AAPL) got a second partner in China to sell the iPhone in the world's biggest mobile-phone market. The deal may be too late to catch Samsung Electronics Co. (005930), with a market share that's three times larger and growing.
China Telecom Corp. (728) began selling the iPhone last week as Apple tries to build on its 7.5 percent share of the country's smartphone sales. Samsung controlled 24.3 percent of the market for phones that can play videos and games, according to Gartner Inc., using a strategy of allying with all three of the nation's third-generation networks since such services started in 2009.
Succeeding in China is important for Apple as shipments of smartphones in the country are projected to jump 52 percent this year to 137 million units, overtaking the U.S. for the first time as the world's biggest market. Unlike Samsung's strategy of partnering with all carriers, Apple has limited its own success by not making a device compatible with the nation's biggest operator, China Mobile Ltd. (941)
"I don't expect Apple to replace Samsung any time soon," Gartner analyst Sandy Shen said in an interview. "China Telecom is the nation's smallest carrier, so the extent to which they can help Apple is quite limited."
The 16.8 percentage-point gap in China between Cupertino, California-based Apple and Samsung almost doubled from the third quarter. While Samsung is No. 1 and Apple No. 5 in China, the global story is different: Worldwide, Apple passed its Suwon, South Korea-based competitor to become the biggest smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter, according to Gartner.
China Mobile
Apple's partnerships with China's second- and third-largest carriers give it access to about 34 percent of the nation's 988 million mobile users, while Samsung targeted the whole market. iPhones aren't sold to China Mobile's 655 million subscribers, a number almost equal to the combined population of the U.S., Brazil and Mexico.
"Having access to more subscribers gives vendors like Samsung an advantage," said Teck Zhung Wong, a Beijing-based analyst with IDC China, who forecast the 52 percent jump in smartphone sales this year. "If Apple is going to continue to grow in the Chinese market, it has to consider very seriously a handset with China Mobile."
China Telecom had a total of 129.3 million wireless users at the end of January, including 38.7 million 3G subscribers.
Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007 in the U.S. exclusively with AT&T Inc. (T) and added a second carrier partner last year in Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ)
Pelting Eggs
Apple chose not to make a phone with China Mobile because the operator had a unique 3G standard called TD-SCDMA, even after the Chinese company's Chairman Wang Jianzhou met with the then Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs in early 2010. Wang told the company's annual meeting in May that he didn't expect Apple to introduce an iPhone until the carrier rolled out the fourth- generation TD-LTE network by end of this year.
China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. (762) was the nation's first carrier to offer the iPhone with a service contract in October 2009.
Even though Apple trailed Samsung, Nokia Oyj (NOK1V), Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp (000063) in China's smartphone market, people still crave an iPhone.
Apple's oldest store in China was pelted with eggs from a crowd of customers on Jan. 13 when the shop, in Beijing's Sanlitun district, failed to open on the first day of sales for the iPhone 4S. After police sealed off the area to remove more than 500 people, Apple said it would suspend sales of iPhones at all its stores.
'Didn't Bet High Enough'
The maker of iMac computers and iPad tablets underestimated the "staggering" demand for the iPhone 4S when it started sales in China in January, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said. "We thought we were betting bold," Cook said Jan. 24. "We didn't bet high enough."
The iPhone 4S has been "an incredible hit" with customers around the world, Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu said in an e-mail. Apple "can't wait to get it into the hands of even more customers in China," Wu said, declining to comment further on the company's handset strategy in China.
Samsung's approach to China is "the same" as other markets, Juha Park, senior vice president of product strategy, said in an interview in Barcelona.
"We make product innovation and make our brand very desired in the market," Park said. "That's what we do to become a major player. We have been doing quite strong growth in the China market."
Unlocked IPhone
Even without an agreement with Apple or a device that's compatible with its high-speed 3G network, China Mobile still has 15 million iPhone users, spokeswoman Rainie Lei said. Those China Mobile users buy unlocked devices and surf the web at slower 2G speeds, or else connect to Wi-Fi hotspots for a faster connection.
China Telecom projects that the iPhone will "significantly enhance its long term sustainable growth and value creation despite the short term pressure on its profitability," spokeswoman Lisa Lai said in an e-mail.
"For China Telecom, its 4S launch comes late and the low- hanging fruit may already be exhausted," said Lisa Soh, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Macquarie Group Ltd.
The egg pelting also resulted in Apple losing one advantage it had over Samsung -- its own retail stores stopped selling iPhones. Apple said at the time the move was "for the time being." Apple's Wu said the phones remain available through Apple's online store in China, and declined to provide an update on when the shops would resume sales of the devices.
That leaves Samsung free to further widen its gap.
"It's just one country, but it's such a big market and its portion in the global market is huge, so Samsung is trying to act fast to capture the market," said Kim Young Chan, a Seoul- based analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp. "Dealing with different network standards will give them a pretty valuable competitive edge."
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- 08:49 -
Is this the first ambient reality app that works?
Is this the first ambient reality app that works?
By Molly McHugh.
Highlight is a "sixth sense" for finding connections with people who are already around you. In a one-on-one with Highlight creator Paul Davison, we explore this new, exploding market and talk about where Highlight goes from here.
It's safe to say that Highlight has stolen SXSW. The app has single-handedly taken a firm grip over a yet-to-be-defined new social genre: it's called SoMoLo (social, mobile, local), ambient social, ambient local, or even just the vague and all-encompassing "ambient reality."
Whatever you want to call it, SXSW Interactive week has been a springboard for Highlight - and that's putting it very, very mildly. "It's been huge," creator Paul Davison tells me. (Full disclosure: I obsessively checked Highlight to see when he arrived at our meeting place). "At the same time, [SXSW] creates this artificial state of ubiquity, because everyone here is using it."
They most certainly are. During my hour-long conversation with Davison, who formerly worked for a structured database company called Metaweb (acquired by Google in 2010), I watched the app reveal some 20+ others in the coffee shop using Highlight. Davison even pointed out someone a table away showing the app to a colleague. "That's so awesome!" he laughs.
Everywhere you go at the show, you see heads downturned toward their phones - which is nothing new for what many call "Spring Break for nerds." We're all furiously checking in to everything and checking out everyone there. But this year, Highlight has been the location and social discovery app of choice.
Before talking about Highlight's updates and momentum, we discussed this sudden attention to SoMoLo (or whatever you want to call it). "It's a number of things coming together," Davison says. "Smartphones are everywhere, Facebook is ubiquitous, all this data is in the cloud and it's all highly recognizable, the ability to run mobile apps in the background is fairly new, push notifications, battery life is just now barely good enough and it's only getting better."
As is Highlight. A few updates have really fine-tuned the simple application, which uses your smartphone's location data and your Facebook account to find people who have similar friends and interests, and happen to be in your general vicinity.
"The main thing we added was ability to see who's nearby right now," Davison says. Before you would see someone who was nearby moments ago - it wasn't necessarily clear if they were still near you or had just left. Now at the top of the activity you see people who are still there, and people who have left are time-stamped and fall under those currently around you.
The new app also features the option to search for someone specific, the ability to follow someone on Twitter, or friend someone on Facebook immediately from within the app, and a redesigned, cleaner navigation dash.
But the biggest change, appropriately, is the ability to Highlight someone: The idea is like bookmarking a person you think is interesting or want to mentally note. "We thought about that a lot," says Davison. "Highlight is so passive, and there's no currency - no friend adding, which is what everyone wants from a social application. In most cases, a follow is a person saying, 'I'm consuming content generated by you. I want your content.' And that makes sense for most social products.
"But for us, the people are the content. Feed is determined by who's around you. So following doesn't make sense. At the same time, there's room for interaction. We wanted something really lightweight. It sort of serves - and I hate saying this - like a 'poke' or a 'nudge.'"
Davison says there was much discussion about the visibility of a Highlight. They are completely public: you see it, the highlighted person sees it, everyone who ever sees your profile sees it. Ultimately, it was decided that making this information entirely public kept the app close to it goal of connecting - not individuating - users.
Highlight isn't the first ambient social app to spark privacy concerns. Last year, when photo app Color launched, the reaction was palpable: While people were intrigued by its technology, the security implications overwhelmed users. Highlight has been no exception; it's even been called the 'stalker app.' The company also doesn't have a privacy policy page on its website to explain its guidelines.
"Privacy is a huge thing and we think about it all the time," Davison tells me. "This sort of thing is just new and if people have anxiety about it then that's okay, because it's unfamiliar. It happened with the Web before... it happened with Facebook. The ability to share information with the people around you in this really sort of ambient way is new. And the reason that seems weird is that we haven't been able to do it before. We're not used to that level of openness and sharing."
Highlight uses the iPhone default privacy policy, Davison tells me.
Regarding the ill-fated Color, Davison says he "thought the ideas behind it were really cool, and I still do. It's a similar concept and it was intended to be a way to help you learn about the people around you. I feel like with these sorts of products the details matter a lot. User interface, interaction, tiny differences." He also references the app's other insurmountable problem. "With hyper-local, there's been this tremendous problem of getting users. You open up the app, no one is there, you have a bad experience with it, and you'll never use it again."
Color was based on actions - users taking pictures, he explains. And he's right, there's no passive way to use the app. Highlight is attempting to avoid this particular issue by encouraging a browsing experience and telling people to get out of the app: The welcome screen gets your info and then tells you to close the app until later.
The other elephant in the room concerning Highlight is battery life. Running an app in the background is power consuming - but maybe not for long. According to Davison, every new release of Highlight improves battery life, and it should cease to be a problem in less than a year.
Davison seems to have this same confidence - almost ambivalence - toward every obstacle in Highlight's way. "It's all do-able. All solvable," he says about any every potential hangup.
"What we have right now is this tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of where we know we can take this and it's really exciting," he says. "The app is going to get smarter. There's all this math that's going to make it better and better."
And that's where I offered him my Highlight wish list - the idea that you could message everyone using the app within 900 square feet simple questions like "What Wi-Fi network is working best for you?" or "Is anyone going uptown and want to share a cab?" (these are clearly SXSW issues) even earned me a high five. I also complained about not being able to edit my photo, which didn't format correctly, and he says facial recognition technology or a photo edit tool could be implemented to fix this.
At the moment, Highlight is small - two people, including Davison, to be exact. So the building will come fast and furious. And listening to Davison, it sounds like the sky is the limit. "It's going to change everything - there's a reason so many [developers] are doing this: It's a really big deal," he says. "There have been all these moments happening - someone in the room who knows your sister, or someone you have 46 friends in common with. That's always been true but we haven't had the technology to discover them."
But now we most certainly do, and it isn't going to stop. Davison talks about building a function so Highlight knows when you're traveling, and can identify people on the train or bus with you, or knows when you're away from home to notify you if someone who happened to go to the same high school as you is nearby. The instances of what this thing can do (or will soon do, as Davison insists) are never-ending, really. He sums it all up nicely: "We're building the sixth sense."
The real test comes now. We're all leaving SXSW, and with it the company of fellow app nerds among us. But if Highlight can use this spotlight and keep user engagement, then we could be poised for the next big step in the social evolution.
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- 08:49 -
The New Cable-TV Guy Intel
The New Cable-TV Guy Intel
By SAM SCHECHNER And DON CLARK.
Chip Maker Working on a Web-Based Video Service to Compete With Cable, Satellite Providers.
Intel Corp. is developing an Internet-based television service that it hopes to sell to U.S. consumers, a strategic shift by the chip maker as it sets its sights on the crowded pay-TV business.
Intel has for several months been pitching media companies on a plan to create a "virtual cable operator" that would offer U.S. TV channels nationwide over the Internet in a bundle similar to subscriptions sold by cable- and satellite-TV operators, according to people familiar with the effort. Intel wouldn't provide Internet access, which subscribers would obtain separately.
The TV offering would use Intel technology, and in at least some scenarios under consideration, would use Intel's name. In its presentations to media companies, Intel says it is making its own set-top box to carry the TV service, and it has demonstrated an interface for users to browse programs.
Intel has told media companies it hopes to launch a service by the end of 2012, though it faces hurdles such as scarce bandwidth and the high price of TV programming.
In at least some cases, Intel has asked media companies for "rate cards" that lay out what particular channels or types of on-demand programs would cost as part of its subscriptions, but it doesn't appear to have struck programming deals yet, one of the people said.
The new effort would mark a big shift for Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini, who has made clear his determination to move the company beyond the computer industry. Those efforts so far have include a series of TV-related businesses that have largely failed to gain much traction.
An Intel spokeswoman declined to comment.
Intel's maneuvers come as the broader television business undergoes a major shift, with people spending more time watching video on the Internet and mobile devices.
Several technology and electronics companies have considered offerings that would use the Internet to deliver bundles of live or on-demand TV channels. In recent months, Sony Corp. and Dish Network Corp. have held exploratory talks about creating such services. Others, including Google, Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp., have spoken with media companies about the concept in the last year or so, but none appear to be moving forward immediately with any talks for the time being, media executives say.
Spokespeople for Sony, Dish, Apple and Microsoft declined to comment. A spokesman for Google, which has declined to comment previously on the topic, couldn't immediately be reached.
Hoping to get more of its chips into consumer living rooms, Intel has for years made the case that more processing power and better software are needed for services that appeal to consumers. But many of its efforts in the field, including a hardware effort called Viiv, and past partnerships with Hollywood content partners, have been scuttled.
Intel in October disbanded a group that had been involved with Google and others developing Internet-equipped set-top boxes and TVs sold directly to consumers. But Intel said it would keep supplying chips for set-top boxes used by some major operators, including Comcast and Iliad SA, a French telecommunications company that sells Internet, TV and phone service.
Last year it hired Erik Huggers, an Internet-services specialist who had helped the British Broadcasting Corp. launch a high-profile service called iPlayer. Mr. Huggers, who in October became general manager of a new group called Intel Media, has announced plans to set up an Intel center in London to work on "user experience" software for TVs. Few other details have emerged about his group's efforts, but he has indicated that TV-related services are part of the focus; in a video of a presentation Last summer, Mr. Huggers said the company might "go further up the food chain" in the TV business, beyond offering chips for set-top boxes and assistance to customers.
It remains unclear whether Intel or any other company will succeed in launching virtual cable operators. Programming costs are one big obstacle. Incumbent cable, satellite and telecommunications companies already pay nearly $38 billion per year to license TV channels. Those costs are rising-cutting into video-distribution margins. Any upstart could face even higher costs because smaller operators often have to pay more per subscriber.
A virtual service could theoretically offer smaller or cheaper bundles than traditional cable subscriptions. Intel, for instance, had talked at times about offering, say, 50 channels, rather than 150, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. But media companies are likely to resist such shifts, at least initially, because they make money by selling big bundles of channels via cable operators.
Internet bandwidth could be another problem. Some tech companies have retreated from plans to become virtual cable operators in part because of an inability to guarantee enough bandwidth for high-quality video at all times of day, one media executive said. Cable operators, which also sell high-speed Internet access, could shift to usage-based Internet pricing if more people start consuming their video online. If that happened, consumers watching a lot of online video could end up paying much more for Internet access-cutting into what a virtual cable operator could reasonably charge its subscribers for a package of channels.
But the people familiar with the effort say Intel is undeterred about bandwidth, with technicians who say they can safeguard picture quality even on another company's cables.
A third issue could be many existing TV channels' lack of Internet rights to all of their own shows. That would mean some channels on a service like the one Intel is proposing could be reduced, at least initially, to a selection of shows in an on-demand format, rather than live. That could make a Web offering less competitive.
Some media executives say they believe a real virtual cable service could be two or three years away at the earliest. Others are even more skeptical.
"Several large firms have tried to put that package together and backed off," Reed Hastings, Netflix Inc.'s chief executive, said of virtual cable operators in an earnings call in late January. "I don't think that is going to come into existence."
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- 08:35 -
Will Apple's new iPad be called 'HD'?
Will Apple's new iPad be called 'HD'?
By Matthew Panzarino.
So there have now been two recent reports that the new Apple tablet being introduced on Wednesday won't be called the 'iPad 3'. Instead, both Cnet and Venturebeat are claiming that their sources are telling them that it will be called iPad HD.
A rumor that the next iPad would feature the 'HD' signifier actually began circulating back in July of last year. Joshua Topolsky of The Verge posted information from a source about a new tablet featuring a double-resolution screen was about to be announced in the fall, to be called the iPad HD. The timing turned out to be incorrect, but now the naming rumors have been resurrected.
Just how likely is it that we'll be seeing the name iPad HD displayed on a keynote slide next Wednesday? Lets chat a bit.
Yes, definitely iPad HD
First, lets play devil's advocate and talk about some ways that a name change like this makes sense for Apple.
It describes the defining feature of the device. As far as we (think) we know today, the biggest new feature of the next iPad will be its Retina display. Packing a resolution of 2048x1536 pixels, it will be far crisper than the screen on the last two iPads. It's likely to be the biggest bullet point on any list of 'reasons to buy the new iPad.' Emphasizing the defining feature of a device right in the name of a device is a trick that Apple has used in the past with the iPhone 3G (3G connectivity) and iPhone 3GS (S for speed) most recently. Arguably, the iPhone 4S used the same trick, but the S was for 'Siri,' although that's debatable.
HD is easily relatable for the common consumer. Apple has its own nomenclature for its super-high-resolution screens. It calls them 'Retina displays'. For the average consumer, however, the yardstick of display quality is HD. The difference between standard definition and high definition has been drilled into consumers by the television industry over the last 10 years. People are conditioned to see HD as 'sharper and better,' two things that Apple will doubtless want customers to think about the iPad. Everyone knows 'HD' is better.
It makes sense if they keep the iPad 2 around as a low end option. If the iPad 2 sticks around, as at least one of its models is rumored to be doing at this point, then having a clear differentiator may be useful. It may also help the iPad 2 not feel 'old' but instead 'cheaper'. If its offered at $399 as a 'current but less full-featured' model, it could sell better than if it was positioned as the older '2' to the brand new iPad 3.
No, absolutely not. iPad or iPad 3, but no 'HD'
Now lets flip the argument, what reasons are there for Apple not to call it the 'iPad HD'?
Other manufacturers, lots of them, already use HD. There are a ton of smartphone and technology manufacturers that use the term HD and they do so willfully and with abandon. Many times it's used to merely indicate a newer model with a slightly higher quality display or perhaps even just a bigger one. This is a far cry from the immense improvement that a Retina display signifies over the older iPad. Why would Apple associate itself with this hackneyed and overused term?
It actually devalues what is the defining feature of the device. If you're convinced that the Retina display will be the single biggest new feature, why would you crap all over it by calling it 'HD'? True 'full HD' resolution is 1920x1080 for televisions, where the descriptor is most often used. this is well below the iPad 3's 2048x1536 resolution, which at 9.7 inches is going to absolutely blow away the pixel density of a regular old HDTV. Which brings us to our next point, that Apple has already done the work to cement a new identifier for its super-high resolution screen ...
Apple already has a name for the iPad 3's screen. It's Retina, not HD. Apple has spent two years pounding the term Retina into the collective tech consciousness. While it didn't invent high-resolution screens that moved above the '36 arcsecond per pixel' threshold, it did popularize the term Retina for use with displays and has spent a lot of marketing money and effort to make it the term by which people referred to Apple's displays particularly. It wants people to think of the iPad 3's display as Retina, not HD, like every other TV or poorly named smartphone.
Numbers say 'better' more effectively than 'HD.' Apple doesn't need an 'HD' to convince people that the latest iPad is better than the older version. A numeric scheme is just effective, if not more effective at communicating that the latest version is better. It's the same reason that you see camera boxes emblazoned with huge 'X Megapixels' labels, when the amount of raw pixels now means next to nothing in the world of digital photography. They're easy for customers to pick out as better and easy for sales associates to shrug and point at the one with the highest number in big box stores. Slap a '3' on the end and call it a day, people will get the message.
It may detract from other new features of the next iPad. As a converse argument to the one about emphasizing the best new feature of the iPad 3, what if there are features yet to be revealed that Apple feels are just as big a selling point? It's likely that these would be software or internal-hardware related, because there's not a lot of room on the exterior of the iPad for new widgets. But emphasizing the higher resolution display as the primary selling point may minimize whatever other features Apple has lined up. A recent survey put the want for better battery life, a better camera, a faster processor and wireless syncing above a fancy new display for some consumers.
So which is it?
We have no information about the new iPad being called '3' or 'HD' so there is no way to tell whether Apple has settled on iPad HD or iPad 3 at this point. The speculation above is completely a matter of opinion. Having three separate publications chime in with the iPad HD name at this point seems to indicate that this may be more of a sure thing than not.
But there is always a possibility that both Cnet and Venturebeat heard the information from sources which are not as well informed as they think they are. Or sources that have been provided with information that isn't accurate purposefully by Apple, a tactic that they have been known to use in the past in order to suss out leaks.
We presented both sides of the argument above as there is no way to tell for sure at this point. But if we had to simply guess based on our gut, we'd say no to 'HD'.
We'd love to hear your thoughts, please use the comments section below to tell us why we're wrong about this, or so very right.
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- 08:32 -
subota, 03.03.2012.
Developers unsurprised, but cautious about Gatekeeper
Developers unsurprised, but cautious about Gatekeeper
By Dan Moren.
Thursday's surprise announcement of the next version of Mac OS X had developers across the Mac community perking up their ears, thanks in no small part to a new feature in Mountain Lion called Gatekeeper.
"My takeaway on Gatekeeper is it's a lightweight introduction of the notion of registered developers outside the App Store," Daniel Jalkut, proprietor of Red Sweater Software, explained to Macworld.
Gatekeeper relies on a technique called code-signing, in which software developers are provided with a cryptographic certificate from an authority - in this case, Apple - which they can then use to digitally "sign" their applications. It's similar to the process that consumers encounter when they buy things via the Web, in which they've been trained to look for the padlock icon that indicates a secure transaction.
"Security based on digital signatures has been a long time coming, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise to developers," said Ecamm Network co-owner Glen Aspeslagh. "As the Mac gains in popularity, Apple's approach will be a powerful and much needed weapon against malware."
While our Windows-using compatriots have been plagued by malware of all shapes and flavors, Mac users have remained largely unscathed, although the debate continues to rage over whether that's because of innate superiority in the Mac operating system or the Mac's smaller market share presenting a less tempting target for writers of malicious software.
Certificate of authenticity
Apple's new approach relies on the idea of what it calls "identified developers," which is to say developers to whom the company has issued a digital certificate. That certificate becomes linked with the developer's identity and subsequently with their applications. If Apple finds that a software maker is distributing an application that contains some sort of malicious code, it can revoke the certificate, which - depending on how a user has Mountain Lion set up - may prevent the app from launching. Presumably, Apple could even revoke all the apps from a single developer with the flip of a switch.
This isn't really a new concept for Apple; code-signing as an option has been around since 2007, when it was introduced as part of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. And the company has employed it as a requirement for programs distributed in both the App Store for iOS and the Mac App Store.
"We've been in the Mac App Store for a while (since the very beginning)," Bare Bones Software's Rich Siegel told Macworld, "and as far as I can tell, if you're shipping a Mac App Store product today, you're an 'identified developer.'"
But, of course, not all Mac developers participate in the Mac App Store. So while developers can sign their own code to certify, for example, that the contents of their apps have not been altered since distribution, they can't reap all the potential benefits that code-signing has to offer. In order to do that, the certificates would need to be issued by a trusted authority - to wit, Apple.
So last November, Delicious Monster chief executive Wil Shipley proposed in a blog post that Apple issue certificates that would allow developers to release self-signed apps outside of the app store environments as a way to help combat malware without going to the complexity of other proposed solutions, like sandboxing (more on which later).
"My suggestion," Shipley wrote on his blog, "is for Apple to provide certificates directly to developers and allow the developers to sign their own code. And, by doing this, Apple can then reasonably say, 'Ok, now we're going to, by default, not allow the user to run any code whose certificate wasn't issued by us and signed by a real third-party developer (except the stuff the user checks in the control panel).'"
That seems to be more or less the approach that Apple has embraced with Mountain Lion, which allows users to choose which applications they'd like to run: any apps at all, only apps from the Mac App Store and identified developers, or just apps from the Mac App Store.
"What's most exciting for us as non-App Store developers is this new de-coupling of app signing security and the Mac App Store," said Ecamm's Glen Aspeslagh. "The message I'm getting here from Apple is 'Non-MAS apps are alive and well for the time being. But we know where you live.'"
"I think this is a fantastic approach," added Ken Aspeslagh, Ecamm's other co-owner. "Apple could have gone all or none, so this middle of the road option is great news."
Indeed, the introduction of Gatekeeper would seem to assuage one popular concern, that Apple would eventually go the same route with Mac apps as it has with iOS apps, mandating that only those purchased from its storefronts can run on the platform.
"That is a reassuring message, given recent fears that [Apple] may have an eye on locking things down," said Jalkut. Of course, he adds, it may be nothing more then an intermediary step in bringing those identified developers into the fold as full Mac App Store citizens.
In fact, some developers would like to see that very same approach expanded to Apple's other platform.
"Having the option to install signed apps from outside iOS App Store wouldn't make it any less secure, especially if the signing process still acted as a kill switch," said Paul Kafasis, CEO of Rogue Amoeba.
That's an approach that Google has long taken with its Android mobile operating system, which allows users to check a box to install apps from outside of the Android Market. But Apple has stuck to its guns, only allowing users to download apps through the App Store.
And that precedent still makes some worry about the future of the Mac OS, as Bare Bones Software's Siegel pointed out. "In a larger sense, though, I think we may be watching an inexorable move toward a Mac OS X that is locked down by default, such that you won't be able to run software that wasn't purchased from the Mac App Store."
It depends, he says, on which of Mountain Lion's three settings is the default option. "A default which allows App Store apps or Apple-signed products would certainly strike a good balance for today's developers and customers," he said. According to Apple, this is indeed what Mountain Lion's default will be.
Siegel warned that future changes to that default could risk devaluing the power of the Mac platform. "If... the factory setting is such that only App Store apps can be run by default, then customers are denied access to the sort of 'power tools' that empower them to create content and craft solutions (including software products) using Macs. I believe that would undermine the fundamental core character of what the Mac has always been."
Sandbox rules
The Mac App Store represents an even higher level of security than just becoming an identified developer. Most recently, there's been much discussion over a security technique called "sandboxing," which will, as of March 1, become a requirement for apps submitted to the Mac App Store.
Sandboxing, which has been a part of iOS since its release, restricts apps from interacting with other apps, their data, and certain parts of the OS itself. While few deny the security benefits of a sandboxed system, many developers have been concerned that it will make certain features impossible to implement - and may even render entire classes of applications persona non grata.
"What I'm most curious about is whether Gatekeeper, as a new tool in Apple's security belt, changes their attitude at all about app sandboxing," said Jalkut, "and whether the planned March 1 App Store sandboxing deadline will be revised."
While sandboxing and certificates have similar aims, to keep the user safe, they accomplish that goal in different ways. Sandboxing is an implementation intended to prevent an app from doing anything that it shouldn't - certificates, on the other hand, are more just a matter of accountability; those apps can still violate the rules, but if they do, they'll have their authority revoked.
"If an application is signed by an Apple-issued developer certificate, this creates a chain of accountability," explained Siegel. "If your product misbehaves or proves to be malware, Apple can find you (as the developer) and revoke your certificate; at that point, your product will no longer function when the OS is locked down. That's certainly not a bad thing for consumers."
But although sandboxing has garnered most of the criticism from developers about its potential handcuffing of app's capabilities, the use of certificates is not without its own concerns.
For one thing, certificates aren't a panacea for security issues. While they do allow Apple to rapidly react to cases of malware by revoking certificates, the Gatekeeper system has its limitations. It doesn't check apps loaded on from a disk or USB drive, only those downloaded from the Internet. And it can still be overriden by users manually. So, there's a concern that it could lead users to a sense of infallible security that isn't realistic.
"If the OS refuses to run software with a missing or invalid code signature, that provides a measure of tamper resistance," said Siegel. "On the other hand, code signing is no guarantee of reliability or quality: that still has to come from the developer; so there's a chance that an enforced code signing requirement can create a false expectation in the customer's mind."
Another concern that might not be apparent to most users is that certificates of this sort usually have an expiration date, after which they must be renewed. For the most part, that's not an issue, but it can conceivably cause problems.
"What [users] may not realize is it also means that if a developer decides to move on, their 'signed' apps may stop working a year later, since their certificate won't be valid any more," said Dave Nanian, owner of Shirt Pocket Software. "It won't be a matter of 'OK-ing' them - they'll just stop working."
Mac App Store front
There's also a slippery slope argument, Nanian points out, in terms of the kind of authority that Apple wields over developers' applications: "In addition to the 'your software expires' problem, it also hands 'veto power' over to Apple, who can revoke your certificate at will."
Siegel concurs, calling the identified developer system a "two-edged sword."
"As the issuing authority for your developer certificate, Apple may revoke your certificate at any time, for any reason, and there won't be anything that you can do about it," he said. "If that happens, customers will be denied the use of your product."
"Down the road we could see the basic concept of registered developers being extended to support more fine-grained, or more draconian security measures," said Red Sweater's Jalkut.
"Even that middle option [of only allowing apps from the Mac App Store and identified developers] is providing Apple with more control than they have now - that may not work out badly, but it's something to consider," added Rogue Amoeba's Kafasis.
While Apple has, to date, not demonstrated a tendency to capriciously revoke certificates of this sort, concerns about the increasingly locked-down nature of software have been widespread among developers, and some users, since the debut of iOS.
That said, Apple is trying to make the process of embracing its new security procedures something that developers want to do, especially when it comes to the Mac App Store. Currently, it appears that certain features - such as the ability to add full-fledged support for iCloud, or support for Mountain Lion's Notification Center - are only available to those who go the distance and submit their apps to the Mac App Store.
"The App Store-only APIs [application programming interfaces] continue to proliferate, which means we're being marched, slowly-but-surely, to a future that's increasingly locked down," said Shirt Pocket's Nanian.
"On the one hand, this may be seen as 'encouragement' to go App Store-only," says Siegel. "On the other hand, it has a clear 'offer you can't refuse' feel to it. Today, those APIs could reasonably be considered nonessential to certain products; but there's absolutely nothing to stop Apple from introducing core-functional APIs that require App Store participation."
Of course, some developers, such as Red Sweater's Jalkut, have hopes that Apple might expand things: "What would be really interesting is if Apple decided to let identified developer certificates entitle apps to access things like iCloud that are currently limited to App Store apps."
The devil is in the details
Developers do seem inclined to embrace Apple's new certificate system, largely because it's not a particularly onerous task on their part, and it can benefit users.
"Indeed, even as a developer I'm reassured to know that I won't be accidentally running things from sources that are not at least somewhat vetted," said Jalkut.
And many developers have been code-signing their own applications for years now, ever since the tools to do so have been available.
"We adopted code-signing pretty quickly back when it was first supported by the OS, back in 2007," commented Siegel. "At the time it seemed pretty clear to us that some day, code signing was going to be a requirement for Mac software.
"From a developer's perspective, signing isn't a big deal, and the tools for that have improved over the years," Nanian added.
"Hopefully, this program is specifically made for companies like us - to show we're not malware, but not squeeze out any apps that Apple won't approve for the Mac App Store," said Kafasis. "We've been code-signing our software for years. We have no problem with that. But it will all depend on the terms required for the 'identified developer' program. Until we see those, we can't know for sure what our next step will be. Provided those are not onerous, we'll certainly sign up for it."
As to whether or not it will actually improve things for users, many developers seem to be adopting a wait-and-see approach.
"It certainly seems to have good intentions. Security is obviously a good thing," said Kafasis. "Time will tell if it actually enhances security, or just provides the illusion of security."
"The bottom line is that security and accountability are always a good thing for consumers," said Siegel. "Our concerns arise around how the mechanisms could be misused to the detriment of the developer community; or worse, to disempower the computing capabilities of mutually shared customers. The potential is clearly there; how it will all play out between now and when Mountain Lion ships remains to be seen."
Shirt Pocket's Dave Nanian agreed. "Do I think it's a good thing for users? It may give them a false sense of security. We'll have to see if that future is all puppies and kittens or whether, like the frog-in-the-pan, everything seemed reasonable until we got to the end of the process."
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- 05:33 -
Ice Cream Sandwich Update For Motorola, HTC, Asus Smartphones Get Updated Schedules
Ice Cream Sandwich Update For Motorola, HTC, Asus Smartphones Get Updated Schedules
By Jason Gilbert.
Android 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich, was announced to the world on October 19, 2011, and became available along with the Galaxy Nexus on December 15, 2011; two months later, only a reported one percent of Android smartphones are running ICS. We're getting a clearer picture of how soon this number will be increasing, however, as several major Android phone manufacturers have updated their Ice Cream Sandwich release schedules -- unfortunately, for many popular Android models, it's looking like a long wait.
MOTOROLA
First, Motorola has posted the updated Ice Cream Sandwich rollout schedule to its online owner's forum, and several of the most popular models don't even have a timeframe for an ICS upgrade. Though Motorola's Xoom tablet already has Android 4.0, other Motorola devices are yet to taste ICS, and may not for a long time. The earliest Android 4.0 update planned for an American Motorola device, for example, will land in July 2012 at the earliest: the Atrix 2, Atrix 4G, Photon 4G, and Motorola Xyboard tablet are all scheduled to receive Motorola's ICS update starting in Q3 2012.
Leading models like the Droid RAZR, Droid RAZR Maxx, Droid Bionic, Droid 3, and Droid X2, meanwhile, are still in what Motorola calls the "Evaluation and Planning phase ("Phase 1 of 4") on the path to Ice Cream Sandwich, and have no real timetable for ICS. After Phase 1 ("Evaluation and Planning") comes "Development," and then "Testing," and then Phase 4, Availability. None of those phases have definite lengths of time attached to them.
For what it's worth, Motorola appears to have fallen behind its own schedule, as a Motorola exec previously said in late 2011, that the Droid Razr -- the manufacturer's top-of-the-line phone -- would get Ice Cream Sandwich in early 2012. It appears that Motorola will miss on that pledge.
You can read more about Motorola's process for developing Ice Cream Sandwich for its smartphones and tablets, along with the updated release schedule, here.
HTC
HTC wrote a note on its official Facebook page to announce that Ice Cream Sandwich would be available for the HTC Sensation, HTC Sensation 4G and HTC Sensation XE in March 2012, with the Sensation XL getting its ICS "soon there after."
A gaggle of other HTC smartphones were name-checked by HTC in the post as well: Android 4.0 for [Deep breath] the HTC Rezound, HTC Vivid, HTC Amaze 4G, HTC EVO 3D, HTC EVO Design 4G, HTC Incredible S, HTC Desire S and HTC Desire HD "will be coming later this year."
HTC had previously said (in November 2011) that the HTC EVO 3D, HTC EVO Design 4G* and HTC Amaze 4G would be available in early 2012. From HTC's updated schedule, it appears the company will miss that deadline.
ASUS
Asus, meanwhile, recently announced that it, too, will miss a proposed deadline for upgrading its Transformer Prime to Ice Cream Sandwich, announcing that its tablet will receive Android 4.0 in February or March. The Transformer Prime was previously expected to get ICS at some point in late January.
In less official news ("This Week In Android Rumors!"), the Samsung Galaxy S II and brand new Galaxy Note have been tipped to receive Android 4.0 in early March, according to a tweet by mobile industry insider Eldar Murtazin. Samsung had scheduled the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note for a Q1 2012 Ice Cream Sandwich update, so Murtazin's unsourced tweet isn't so far-fetched.
And that's all the pertinent news about Ice Cream Sandwich from the past week! For previous statements from smartphone manufacturers -- including Samsung, Sony, LG, HTC and Motorola -- on when their devices should be getting Ice Cream Sandwich, read our round-up from late December.
Sony completes takeover of Sony Ericsson, renames it Sony Mobile
By Nathan Olivarez-Giles.
Sony's takeover of Sony Ericsson is now complete and the smartphone maker has a new name -- Sony Mobile Communications.
But make no mistake, you'll be seeing simply "Sony" on smartphones from the company going forward.
Sony Corp. in Japan announced the finalization of the takeover of the company, which started as joint venture between tech giants Sony and Ericsson in 2001, on Wednesday, thus bringing to a close a deal announced in October.
Sony purchased Ericsson's half of the joint venture for about $1.5 billion. Sony and Ericsson will also cross-license five essential patent families relating to wireless handset technology as a part of its takeover deal.
Sony Mobile Communications is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony, which said in a statement that plans are to "further integrate the mobile phone business as a vital element of its electronics business, with the aim of accelerating convergence between Sony’s lineup of network enabled consumer electronics products, including smart phones, tablets, TVs and PCs."
Soon we'll see Sony smartphones that interact with Sony TVs, Blu-ray players, laptops and (fingers crossed) PlayStation video game consoles.
The newly named Sony Mobile will be headquartered in London, as Sony Ericsson was before it, and Bert Nordberg is staying on as president and CEO. Nordberg has been president of Sony Ericsson since 2004 and chief executive since 2009.
In a bit of good news for Nordberg, on Thursday Vestas Wind Systems in Denmark said it would like the Sony Mobile executive to take over as its company chairman when its current chair steps down later this year.
As a part of Sony's takeover of what is now Sony Mobile, Nordberg will be charged with changing the company from a company that focused on feature phones (regular cellphones that can do things such as store and play music, shoot photos and video but not run full-out mobile apps) to a firm that focuses on smartphones.
Currently all of Sony's smartphones run on Google's Android operating system.
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- 05:29 -
Google Chrome will see greater expansion on mobile devices
Google Chrome will see greater expansion on mobile devices
By Rachel King.
Summary: Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome and Apps at Google, talks up the dual strategies of Android and Chrome, but don't expect the two platforms to merge anytime soon.
SAN FRANCISCO - The mobile web is in its infancy, according to Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome and Apps at Google, adding that this market will flourish over the next three to five years.
Pichai sat down for a chat during the closing keynote discussion of the 2012 Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference on Thursday afternoon.
See also: Groupon CEO: 'We've cracked the code'
For critics who would ask what is there left to innovate with a browser, Pichai retorted that even though browsers have been around for 15 years, if you make the experience better, people will respond.
There are roughly 200 million Chrome users worldwide, and while Chrome is primarily a desktop experience as part of Google's dual strategy (Chrome and Android), it's starting to make its way on to mobile devices.
Last week, Google released a beta version of Chrome for Android for mobile devices running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).
Pichai noted that the "future of Chrome" is pushing the platform across smartphones and tablets. Part of the motivation for pushing Chrome to tablets, in particular, is how much more people use the browser on these devices.
"Users expect a seamless, integrated experience across devices," Pichai asserted, explaining the necessity (and opportunity) to ensure Chrome's presence and continuity across Google's products, from the desktop to mobile devices to Google TV.
The underpinnings to Chrome relies on two things: cloud-based apps and the browser that makes these things work.
Although the Chrome App Store is "in its early days," according to Pichai, he boasted about its success thus far given that install rates have tripled over the last three months, and there are approximately one million downloads in this space each day.
Pichai didn't offer many specifics about where the Chrome App Store will go from here, but he did note that we'll be seeing many more gaming and productivity apps released in the near future.
As far as productivity goes, Pichai pointed towards both Chrome and Google Apps, cloud computing products that are becoming much more popular with businesses trying to wrangle with the bring-your-own-device to work trend.
Businesses want something "that will scale across all this: a cloud-based solution that supports multiple endpoints," Pichai argued. "That changes the value of Apps significantly."
But as for any kind of pressure about merging the Android and Chrome platforms into a single unit, Pichai remained mum.
"We don't know. We will always do the right thing by users," Pichai said. "People use them differently, and we want to address them differently for today."
Apple tweaks apps policy under lawmaker pressure
By Gerry Shih.
(Reuters) - Under pressure from U.S. legislators, Apple Inc moved Wednesday to quell a swelling privacy controversy by saying that it will begin to require iPhone and iPad apps to seek "explicit approval" in separate user prompts before accessing users' address book data.
Apple's move came shortly after two members of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce committee requested the company to provide more information about its privacy policies. Bloggers, in recent days, have published findings that some of the most popular software applications in Apple's App Store have been able to lift private address book data without user consent.
"Apps that collect or transmit a user's contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines," an Apple spokesman told Reuters. "We're working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release."
In a letter addressed to Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, Representatives Henry Waxman of California and G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina, both Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, asked Apple earlier on Wednesday to clarify its developer guidelines and the measures taken by the company to screen apps sold on its App Store.
The letter came after Path, a San Francisco startup that makes a Facebook-like social networking app, attracted widespread criticism last week after a Singaporean developer discovered that Path's iPhone app had been quietly uploading his contacts' names and phone numbers onto Path's servers.
In the following days, other technology bloggers discovered that iPhone apps like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Foodspotting similarly uploaded user data -- without permission, in some cases.
The Path incident "raises questions about whether Apple's iOS app developer policies and practices may fall short when it comes to protecting the information of iPhone users and their contacts," the letter said.
The legislators' request for information cast the spotlight squarely onto Apple for the first time since an independent blogger, Dustin Curtis, wrote in a widely distributed post last week that "there's a quiet understanding among many iOS app developers that it is acceptable to send a user's entire address book, without their permission to remote servers and then store it for future reference."
Curtis blamed Apple, writing that he could not "think of a rational reason for why Apple has not placed any protections on Address Book in iOS."
In their letter to Apple, Waxman and Butterfield, referenced Curtis' blog post, adding: "There could be some truth to these claims."
The legislators had asked Apple to submit its response by February 29.
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- 05:28 -
iPhone apps storing contact lists just the latest privacy debacle in the mobile industry
iPhone apps storing contact lists just the latest privacy debacle in the mobile industry
By Brad Spirrison.
Smartphones and mobile applications entertain, inform and keep us connected in ways we could not even fathom just a few years ago. There is a trade-off, however, as many of these new conveniences require us to share personal information with cell phone companies or app developers.
While many of us are willing to do things like broadcast our location to friends who might be nearby, or invite people on our contact lists to a cool new social network, we count on mobile companies to explain to us when and how they are using personal information to enhance our overall experience. We also trust that our personal and financial data will be safe in the event of a security breach.
This is not always the case. This month's scandal involving Apple and several high-profile iPhone apps is only the most recent example of privacy breaches made by major mobile companies. Here we detail five of them with recent updates.
Twitter, Instagram and Path caught storing contact lists without clear permission
Earlier this month it was discovered that popular social networking app Path was transferring contact list information - which could include names, email addresses and phone numbers - from iPhone users to its own servers. This data helped Path members find and add friends to their networks. While there is nothing that indicates Path was doing anything inappropriate with the contact information, the company erred by not clearly communicating to users how their sensitive information was being stored. Path later apologized and updated its iPhone app to require user permission before it stores any contact data.
Shortly after the Path disclosure, prominent iPhone apps including Twitter, Instagram and Foodspotting either released updates to require user permission, or acknowledged similar practices. Feeling the heat, on February 15 Apple announced that it would require all apps to ask permission ahead of time before accessing users' address books. Additionally, Apple CEO Tim Cook was formally asked by Congress to tighten up the company's app approval process and make sure independent developers cannot access contact information without permission. So iPhone (as well as iPad and iPod Touch) owners should expect updates by the February 29 deadline provided by the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade.
Security flaw found in Google Wallet
While there is no scandal to date associated with how apps running on Android smartphones access contact lists, Google is addressing a security breech that could impact a user's virtual pocketbook. Earlier this month, the company temporarily suspended issuing Google Wallet prepaid cards after tests showed how funds could be depleted if a user's smartphone got into the hands of a thief. It was revealed that because prepaid card balances were stored on smartphones rather than within an app, all a would-be thief would need to do to access funds was clear existing data on Google Wallet and create a brand new account.
On February 15, Google began reissuing prepaid cards. The company now requires users who wiped data from Google Wallets to set up new accounts with a human being from Google's support team. While this fix in theory should take care of the problem, this episode will give pause to the vast majority of consumers who do not use their smartphones to make purchases.
Carrier IQ scandal could lead to Mobile Device Privacy Act
Last November it was discovered that software called Carrier IQ that is installed within tens of millions of smartphones was tracking user location and even keystroke behavior without permission. While cell phone carriers use Carrier IQ's technology to help them identify gaps in their networks that lead to dropped calls, the media attention of practices including capturing passwords to secure websites drew public outcry and even an FBI investigation.
Carriers and smartphone manufacturers including Sprint, HTC and Samsung have recently removed Carrier IQ from their networks and devices. Expect more companies to follow suit (Apple removed Carrier IQ when it released its iOS 5 operating system). Longer-term, the Carrier IQ scandal, at least in part, inspired the Mobile Device Privacy Act. If enacted, the Privacy Act would require mobile companies to disclose ahead of time if they are using any type of tracking software.
Apple quickly fixed a gaffe in storing user location information
In one of his last public acts on behalf of Apple, Steve Jobs last April expertly addressed a potential scandal involving his company's use of iPhone location information. Apple and Google both track their users proximity to Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers as a method to deliver more localized services. When a glitch was discovered that showed Apple storing this information for users that turned location services off, Jobs (who was then on medical leave) acted swiftly and implemented a quick fix.
"It took us about a week to do an investigation and write a response, which is fairly quick for something this technically complicated," he said in a public statement.
Advocacy groups, including the Electronic Privacy Information Center, applauded Apple's response.
BlackBerry kicks out messaging app
When Kik Messenger debuted its instant messing service for iPhones, Androids and BlackBerrys in October 2010, it became an instant sensation attracting more than one million users in its first 15 days. Kik is a great way for users across the leading mobile networks to send IMs to each other. But another reason for its quick success was due to the fact that new users signing-up for the service at the time would automatically send alerts to their contacts who were also running Kik.
After considerable user backlash, Kik CEO Ted Livingston apologized and the company stopped sending alerts without permission. While Kik remained on iPhones and Androids, BlackBerry kicked the app out of its App World store. This didn't seem to hurt Kik's business prospects, as the company a few months later raised $8 million in venture capital. The company now also promotes the fact that BlackBerry owners can access the service via its mobile website. You can also find Kik on Microsoft and Nokia smartphones.
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- 05:19 -
