Gregarius » BetaNews.Com » juillet 24, 2012

BetaNews.Com (11 non lus)

Apple Q3 2012 by the Numbers: $35B revenue, $9.32 EPS

Publié: juillet 24, 2012, 10:49pm CEST par Joe Wilcox
Uncertainty hung over Apple's fiscal third quarter coming into today's earnings announcement. Gulfs widened among analysts for overall revenue estimates and about how many iPads or iPhones were sold. No one expected poor performance, there was just more uncertainty about what and where than more recent quarters. Fiscal Q3 will be remembered as sea change coming, as Apple missed Street consensus for the first time in years and iPad sales surged against iPhone.

For fiscal third quarter, Apple reported $35 billion revenue and net profits of $8.8 billion, or $9.32 a share. A year earlier, the company reported revenue of $28.57 billion and $7.31 billion net quarterly profit, or $7.79 per share. Apple announced fiscal Q3 results after the market closed today.

Three months ago, Apple forecasted $34 billion in revenue with earnings per share of $8.68. Analyst average estimates were higher than Apple guidance: $37.18 billion revenue and $10.36 earnings per share. Revenue estimate range: $34.54 billion to $41.73 billion. This breaks an ongoing trend of the Street expecting more than guidance and Apple still beating consensus.

Shareholders responded rapidly to the earnings miss, with shares down more than 5 percent in after-hours trading.

Looking ahead, Apple forecasts $34 billion in revenue for fiscal 2012 fourth quarter, with earnings per share of $7.65.

As expected, Apple will issue a dividend, $2.65 per share, on August 16 to shareholders of record on August 13.

Apple shipped 17 million iPads and 26 million iPhones during fiscal Q3. Analyst consensus was around 15.6 million tablets and 29 million smartphones.

"We’re thrilled with record sales of 17 million iPads in the June quarter", Apple CEO Tim Cook says. "We’ve also just updated the entire MacBook line, will release Mountain Lion tomorrow and will be launching iOS 6 this Fall. We are also really looking forward to the amazing new products we’ve got in the pipeline".

Cumulative iOS device sales reached 410 million at the end of March -- 45 million during fiscal third quarter. Apple has paid $5.5 billion to developers. There are 150 million iCloud subscribers.

Gross margins rose to 42.8 percent from 41.7 percent a year ago. Sales in international markets accounted for 62 percent of revenue.

Q3 2012 Revenue by Product
- Desktops: $1.287 billion, down 19 percent from $1.58 billion a year earlier.
- Portables: $3.646 billion, up 3 percent from $3.525 billion a year earlier.
- iPod: $1.06 billion, down 20 percent from $1.325 billion a year earlier.
- Music: $1.571 billion, up 29 percent from $1.571 billion a year earlier.
- iPhone: $16.425 billion, up 22 percent from $13.31 billion a year earlier.
- iPad: $9.17 billion, up 52 percent from $6.046 billion a year earlier.
- Peripherals: $663 million, up 28 percent from $517 million a year earlier.
- Software & Services: $891 million, up 28 percent from $696 million a year earlier.
Macs. I usually begin my segment breakdown with iPhone and iPad, but Mac shipments cast context onto the other discussions.

During fiscal third quarter, Apple released new Mac Book Pros, which unsurprisingly lifted portable shipments (or what the company calls sales). Apple shipped 4 million Macs during the quarter, up from 3.947 million units a year earlier; growth was 2 percent year over year. Wall Street consensus was about 4.3 million units worldwide -- or 300,000 more than their year-ago estimate, which Apple missed. So Apple missed the Street. Again.

During today's earnings conference call, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer says Mac sales to education were record.

Apple ended the quarter with three to five weeks inventory, which is below normal levels.

Mac shipments outpaced the broader market, which performance can only be called disastrous. Gartner and IDC released preliminary calendar second-quarter PC shipment estimates two weeks ago -- flat globally, but down 5.7 percent or 10.6 percent in the United States, depending on whether Gartner or IDC counts the numbers. IDC put Mac shipments down for the first time in years, while Gartner disagreed. Today, Apple answered both.

IDC puts Apple US PC market share at 11.1 percent, down nearly 1 point year over year, while Gartner sees share rising -- from 10.8 percent to 12 percent. US performance foreshadows much, because it is the geography most affected by so-called post-PC devices, particularly smartphones and tablets.

"Consumers are less interested in spending on PCs as [they] are other technology product and services, such as the latest smartphones and media tablets that they are purchasing", Mikako Kitagawa, Gartner principal analyst, says. "This is more of a trend in the mature market as PCs are highly saturated in these markets". Something else the numbers reveal: iPad is cannibalizing Mac sales, even as it dents Windows PCs (see iPad, next, for more on that).

In response to a question about iPad cannibalizing Mac sales, Cook deflected. "It's clear the PC market is weak", but he focused on a slowdown before introduction of the new MacBook Pro as major factor affecting Apple. He says that weekly sales were down before the product announcement and up afterwards.

Cook says that Apple ended the quarter with a backlog of MacBook Pro orders, which he expects to clear out next month.

Q3 2012 Unit Shipments by Product
- Desktops: 1.01 million units, down 13 percent from 1.155million units a year earlier.
- Portables: 3.01 million units, up 8 percent from 2.792 million units a year earlier.
- iPod: 6.751 million units, down 10 percent from 7.535 million units a year earlier.
- iPhone: 26.03 million units, up 28 percent from 20.338 million units a year earlier.
- iPad: 17.04 million units, up 84 percent from 9.246 million units a year earlier.
iPad. The tablet's impact on Apple simply cannot be understated. The company shipped 17 million iPads, generating nearly $9.2 billion in revenue. Analysts estimated about 15.6 million iPads for fiscal Q3, which represents the first full quarter of sales, following release of new iPad with high-resolution Retina Display.

iPad was available in 97 countries and Apple ended the quarter "just within our target range of 4 to 6 weeks channel", Oppenheimer says.

During the quarter, Apple sold 1 million iPads to education. Oppenheimer boasts: "We sold twice as many iPads as Macs to education". Additionally, iPad sales "more than tripled in the enterprise in the past year".

Cumulative iPad shipments: 84 million.

Following Gartner and IDC PC shipment numbers release, Needham & Company analyst Charlie Wolf dramatically revised his iPad shipment forecast -- to 20 million units from 13.5 million, Wolf issued an unusually long report with an unusual admission -- that his iPad sales estimate was "hastily formulated". Coming into the quarter, the analyst predicted iPad shipments would exceed iPhone. Apple answered him today, and I'll continue the discussion in the iPhone breakdown.

"In the second quarter of 2012, the PC market suffered through its seventh consecutive quarter of flat to single-digit growth", Kitagawa says. Seven straight quarters?Is it any coincidence that Apple started selling the iPad eight quarters ago? Don't answer "no" too quickly. iPad's rapid gains, even its surge against iPhone is another sign that the PC era is over and in transition to the cloud-connected device era.

Q3 2012 Revenue by Geography
- Americas: $12.81 billion, up 26 percent from $10.126 billion a year earlier.
- Europe: $8.24 billion, up 16 percent from $7.098 billion a year earlier.
- Japan: $2.01 billion, up 33 percent from $1.5 billion a year earlier.
- Asia Pacific: $7.89 billion, up 25 percent from $6.332 billion a year earlier.
- Retail: $4.08 billion, up 317 percent from $3.505 billion a year earlier.
iPhone. Wolf's sudden turnabout and iPhone sales data from both AT&T and Verizon raised a shadow of fiscal Q3 in the days, even hours, before today's earnings announcement. Analysts expected about 29 million units. Actual: 26 million. So for a second major product category, Apple missed the Street.

AT&T and Verizon foreshadowed mature markets. iPhone dipped for both carriers, down 14 percent and 15.6 percent, respectively. BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk says he expected 3.4 million iPhone activations on Verizon and 3.75 million on AT&T. Analyst consensus was 19 percent decline sequentially.

The fall-off isn't surprising as smartphone growth cools in mature markets and anticipation builds for iPhone 5 -- or whatever Apple calls it. Weekly sales are somewhat rocky because of iPhone 5 rumors, Oppenheimer says.

Apple ended the quarter with iPhone available from 250 carriers in 100 carriers. iPhones in enterprise more than doubled in the last year, Oppenheimer says.

Q3 2012 Unit Shipments by Geography
- Americas: 1.522 million units, up 2 percent from 1.487 million units a year earlier.
- Europe: 941,000 units, up 2 percent from 922,000 units a year earlier.
- Japan: 173,000 units, up 15 percent from 150,000 units a year earlier.
- Asia Pacific: 593,000 units, down 4 percent from 620,000 units a year earlier.
- Retail: 791,000 units, up 3 percent from 768,000 units a year earlier.
iPod. Apple shipped 6.75 million iPods during fiscal third quarter, down from 7.535 million a year earlier. Analyst consensus for fiscal Q3 was about 6.35 million. iTunes generated $1.8 billion in revenue, with education important contributor. There have been 14 million download of the iTunes U app, Oppenheimer says.

Apple ended the quarter with 4 weeks to six weeks iPod inventory, which is normal level.

Retail. Apple Store generated $4.08 billion, selling 791,000 Macs, up from 768,000 a year earlier. Revenue per store was $11.1 million, up from $10.8 million. The stores had 83 million visitors, up 12 percent from 74 million in the same quarter 2011. Apple ended fiscal Q3 with 372 stores, opening 9 during the quarter.

Hanging by itself is Apple TV; the company sold 1.3 million during the quarter and 4 million for the fiscal year so far. "It's still at a level we would call a hobby, but we're still pulling the strings to see where it takes us", Cook says.
Vizio's new Google TV box goes up for pre-order, we line up for the swap

Publié: juillet 24, 2012, 8:21pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Vizio's Co-Star is one of the first new set top boxes in the second generation of Google TV. It's small, it's powerful, it's the cheapest Google TV yet, and it went up for pre-order today directly from Vizio.

In addition to the Google TV feature package, the Vizio Co-Star includes the OnLive gaming service, making it equal parts connected set-top box, and streaming video game console.

The universal remote that comes with the box features both a touchpad and a keyboard for deeper functionality, and the box includes 802.11b/g/n wi-fi, 10/100Mbps ethernet, bluetooth, USB 2.0, and HDMI out, supporting resolutions up to 3D 1080p.

Pictured below is the current setup in my living room. On the right is a Roku 2 XS, on the left is the OnLive Micro-console. The XS is 3" in size, and the OnLive console is 4.9" x 3.2" in size.

Independently, both are pleasantly small, but since their functionality can be combined into a single 4.5" box in the form of the Vizio Co-Star, I will be swapping them out. BetaNews Managing Editor Joe Wilcox, meanwhile, has opted for the second generation Sony Google TV for his personal setup, so when the units ship in August, we'll let you know how they fare!
Beware tech-support scammers asking to remotely fix your PC

Publié: juillet 24, 2012, 7:47pm CEST par David Harley

I received a sad report on the subject of PC support scams.

Yes, those same old scams where the perpetrator tells you that you have malware infections or system problems and tries to scare you into letting him or her connect to your PC so that he can install some software and fix it. For a price, of course, though that may not be immediately clear.

One of our readers described how he took a call from one of these guys on behalf of an elderly relative: having worked in tech support himself, he went out of his way to make the scammer’s life easier by giving him access to the relative’s system so that it could be fixed.

However, when he was told he needed to pay $310 in order to register his CLID file (from the context, I assume this is a variation on the CLSID ploy described here) he told the scammer he wanted to do a little more research on the problem first. And this is where it turned really nasty. The scammer told him that if his victim did not register the file, the computer would be shut down so that it couldn’t be used any more, as he claimed that the PC was only running a trial version of Windows That’s a ploy I haven’t come across before, and I can’t say I’ve ever heard of a trial version of Windows, apart from betas.

At first, our correspondent thought the scammer was just removing the files he’d installed during the remote session, but then realized that he was removing everything in the Windows/System32 folder. Although he shut down the remote connection window and rebooted the machine, enough damage had been done to prevent the system from starting up. (Hopefully, he was able to restore the system from CD without losing data.)

Scamming a Scammer

However, a somewhat related story had a much more entertaining finish. Chris Hamer, who has been quoted by US TV on the topic here and here, spent about 45 minutes stringing along a scammer who called him out of the blue. Fortunately, he already had a virtual machine set up for research purposes, so he was able to allow the scammer access in order to diagnose and "fix" it. (Don’t try this at home unless you know exactly what you’re doing, which means you don’t want to give the scammer access to a machine you can’t fully or easily restore!)

Incidentally, Virus Bulletin’s Martijn Grooten did much the same thing with another tech support scammer, and he’ll be referring to that sting as part of our joint presentation (with Steve Burn and Craig Johnston) for the Virus Bulletin conference in Dallas in September.

But back to Chris Hamer’s story. He did a fine job of playing the dumb victim and gathered a great deal of information about the way this particular scammer operated. When, at the end, he told the scammer that he had no money to pay for the service and would probably ask his son to clean up his system, the scammer tried hard to persuade him that his credit card would not be charged immediately (this claim is characteristic of many phone scams, by the way), and then proceeded to make further changes to Chris’s system. When asked what he was doing, he claimed that he was installing free protection. However, he then told Chris that his PC was going to crash in 5-4-3-2-1 seconds. And it did. The scammer had gone to some lengths to make the system unusable. Fortunately, Chris is no dumb victim, and knew what was going on. He told me:

He disabled all services, added a shortcut to startup that executed a little program he pushed from the remote admin app to kill services.exe, and then used msconfig to disable everything else. He also tried to add a startup shortcut that was a Weblink, but I hit escape when I saw him creating the shortcut and ended it.

Imagine the scammer’s surprise, then, when Chris told him the system was rebooting normally and thanked him for his help. In fact, Mr. Helpful insisted that it could not be rebooting. But eventually he wished Chris luck with the system and rang off, no doubt to take a couple of aspirin and try to work out what the heck had gone wrong (from his point of view).

In fact, the system hadn’t rebooted altogether normally, as you’d expect, given the nature of the damage: Chris had restored it from a virtual snapshot.

Lessons Learned

Good to see a scammer getting egg on his face, but what do we learn from these stories?

If someone rings you up to tell you that your computer is infected with viruses, the chances are overwhelmingly in favor of his being a scammer. Apart from not taking any such claims too seriously in the first place, you really want to be ultra-suspicious of anyone who wants remote access to your system. In Chris’s case, using ammyy.com, but other remote access services such as LogMeIn are also used or misused.

Getting remote access to your PC is an essential part of the scam: not only does it help the scammer confirm his diagnosis of the problems with the computer, but it also gives him a way to prove that he’s providing the so-called service that he is charging you for. But it has an even more sinister aspect: once he has that access, he can do pretty much what he likes within the limits of your own access privileges.

Trashing files and installing programs like the one Chris mentioned -- though it wasn’t technically a virus, contrary to the TV station report -- is just one possibility. Many of the scammers I’ve talked to have demonstrated little technical knowledge: after all, they’re mostly working from a script. However, they use social engineering ploys that do sometimes suggest a certain amount of technical knowledge. In the case of the scammer Chris talked to, the scammer has not only enough knowledge to run the remote diagnosis/installation session, but both the knowledge and intent to trash a victim’s system, possibly permanently. While I have yet to see verified reports of the installation of out-and-out malware such as fake AV, it wouldn’t require astonishing technical sophistication to install something that would ensure that the tech support scammers would get another chance to dip their snouts into the trough.

There’s no gainsaying the malice displayed in these cases, though from the scammer’s point of view, I guess he considers himself entitled to be angry at having his time wasted. For myself, I have absolutely no problem in principle with seeing a scammer’s time wasted, and it appears that there are plenty of people actually prepared to do it. However, if you feel like a little scammer baiting yourself, you need to know exactly what you’re doing to ensure that you don’t expose yourself to malicious action.

And if you don’t want to waste your own time wasting a scammer’s time, I can’t think of any good reason to give remote access to your PC to someone who rings out of the blue and spins you a yarn about viruses.

Reprinted with permission

Photo Credit: Korn/Shutterstock

David Harley BA CITP FBCS CISSP is an English IT security researcher, author/editor and consultant known for his prolific blogs and articles and his books on and research into topics like malware, Mac security, anti-malware product testing and management of email abuse. He works closely with ESET, where, since 2011, he has held the position of Senior Research Fellow.
4G connectivity will be available in the UK starting in 2013

Publié: juillet 24, 2012, 7:05pm CEST par Mihaita Bamburic

After a long wait, there’s good news for United Kingdom residents as local regulator Ofcom has unveiled its plans to auction off the 4G wireless spectrum to UK carriers by the end of 2012. Ofcom states that mobile broadband will cover at least 98 percent of the United Kingdom with a spectrum sale 80 percent larger than 3G while promoting a competitive market environment. As most smartphone manufacturers are offering LTE-compatible devices, that is the most likely wireless technology to be implemented, but WiMAX is not out of the question.

The auction process, despite being delayed before, is likely to come to a close at the beginning of next year; and the official rollout of the 4G network is expected to be done by middle of 2013. At least two spectrum bands will be offered for auction, and the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz are the first confirmed bands. The UK regulator wants to make sure the process goes smoothly and that there will be no suspicions of delays, putting to rest any possible rumors over their Twitter account: "4G auction plans on track (reports today of 'delay' are way off the mark)."

Ofcom wants to make sure that there will be no competition issues between the carriers, and has taken the safe road by automatically offering four seats at the auction table. Interested carriers will have to confirm their participation in the auction before it starts in early 2013.

Ofcom Chief Executive Ed Richards is confident in the success of the auction and implementation of the 4G network, stating that "consumers will be able to surf the web, stream videos and download email attachments on their mobile device from almost every home in the UK." This can only mean good news for UK residents, but that doesn’t automatically imply when they are going to start using the 4G networks.

Two out of three UK carriers, Everything Everywhere (Orange and T-Mobile) and O2, have responded to our inquiries regarding their interest in offering 4G connectivity to their United Kingdom subscribers.

An Everything Everywhere spokesperson told us:

"Today’s publication of the 4G auction rules is a crucial step towards bringing the benefits of faster mobile speeds and better connectivity to Britain, as well as stimulating £5.5bn investment into the UK economy. While there are still some elements of today’s proposal which we don’t think are in the interests of competition or consumers, we are pleased that Ofcom is moving in the right direction and we recognise that we need to get this process moving now before the UK falls further behind the rest of the world. However the auction is only one step towards bringing 4G to Britain. Everything Everywhere is committed to bringing 4G to the UK this year, and the next milestone will be the regulator’s response to our request to roll out 4G over our existing 1800MHz spectrum without further delay."

An O2 spokesperson followed by saying:

"Ofcom’s detailed rules for the auction represent a significant step towards 4G launch in the UK. Whilst Ofcom has taken a number of our suggestions on board, they are combined with other changes to the previous proposals. We will need to study the package in detail before responding to the Notice on the Regulations, which puts the rules into law."

Vodafone has yet to respond to our inquiry.

4G is a big step forward in the evolution of mobile technology, and major markets like the United States, Japan, Germany and Canada have already benefitted from the increased speeds it affords. New network technology often brings along delays in implementation, and high upfront costs to both the operator and the end user, but that is the tradeoff of evolution.

Photo: Kentoh, Shutterstock
Use AirDroid to manage your Android, no cable required

Publié: juillet 24, 2012, 6:58pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Want to get some photos off your Android phone or tablet but don’t have your USB cable with you? Looking for a way to send SMS messages from your computer? Want to copy and paste text between your Android device and computer? These are just some of the things that AirDroid could help you with.

This free app enables you to use your web browser to connect to and control your Android device on a Mac or a PC running Windows or Linux. Connect your computer to your phone or tablet -- there’s no need for a desktop program to be installed -- and you can do this on both your personal computer and those in public locations. You can establish a connection in a matter of seconds by firing up the app on your mobile device and then visiting the URL you are provided with. After entering the password you’ve been given, you’ll be presented with an online desktop that you can use to browse and manage your Android device.

There are various ways in which you can move different types of file between your phone or tablet and computer. The integrated file browser supports drag and drop to make moving files around as easy as possible, and there are also dedicated ‘apps’ that can be used to work with photos and music. You can play music from your Android device with or without copying first and even change ringtone and alarm notifications.

Also available are a call log manager as well as a messaging component. This can be used to not only browse through the messages you have received, but also to reply to text messages using your computer keyboard. You can also use the browser interface to install and uninstall apps, check how much free spacey you have available, and use a shared clipboard to copy text between devices.

Despite the fact that this is only a beta tool, it is already very accomplished. If you have an Android device this is a must have app which is quite unique in its range of features and ease of use. You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the AirDroid review page.
Hideman cloaks your IP address

Publié: juillet 24, 2012, 6:14pm CEST par Mike Williams

VPN clients are a generally a very good way to maintain your anonymity online, and Hideman is no exception: just launch the program, click the Connect button and in a second or two you’ll be allocated an IP address in another country.

Which country? Hideman provides servers in Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Netherlands, Panama, Russia, Singapore, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States.

By default the client will select one of these for you automatically. However, you may also be able to choose a country yourself, although we found this to be a little inconsistent. The first time we used Hideman, there was no choice at all; the second time, we could choose between Russia, the Ukraine and Panama only; the third time, all countries were available. (If you’re not happy with your selection, wait a moment, click Refresh, and see if the country you need appears.)

Still, the program is at least easy to set up. The client installs in just a moment, and you don’t have to create an account, provide your email address or part with any personal information at all.

Click Connect and you’re able to sample Hideman’s anonymity for a full hour. Which you can extend further by clicking the Payment tab and choosing the “Free hour” option, up to four hours a week.

Performance was very good, at least when we tried it, with no noticeable lag in our online activities at all. Hideman say that free connections may be speed-limited at peak times, though, so your own experience may vary considerably depending on precisely when you go online.

If that’s still not enough, though, you can always opt for one of the paid plans. There’s a lot of choice: $3 for 1 week, $9 for a month, $15 for two months, $39 for 6 months, $69 for a year: it’s your call. Simply click the Payment tab, choose the plan you require and you can pay from within the Hideman client.

The program’s performance and free time allowance is so good that you may not need to spend any cash, though, at least if you can browse off-peak. Hideman is a likeable and straightforward VPN tool, and will be a great boost to anyone who’s looking to maintain their anonymity online.
Is 99 cents too much to pay for an Android game?

Publié: juillet 24, 2012, 6:07pm CEST par Mihaita Bamburic

Soon after colleague Randall C. Kennedy wrote that "Piracy is killing Android", developer Madfinger Games complained that incredibly high piracy rate on Android devices is why Dead Trigger is free on Google Play, while 99 cents on Apple’s App Store. Is iOS better than Android in this regard?

After an initial price of “as little as buck”, some game developers are going free, due to the piracy rate that plagues the Android world. Madfinger Games hasn’t provided any statistic as to how many of their game installs account for pirated copies, but according to Google Play numbers their installs are in-between 100,000 to 500,000, with an exponential increase at the end of the last 30 days. The game has been free since July 20, so in just four days its popularity skyrocketed. Does this mean a high piracy rate or just the plain “it’s free, I’ll take it” thinking?

The game clearly benefits from being offered free of charge, and it’s very clear for Dead Trigger and to everyone else that free means higher exposure and install base on mobile devices. “We are using localytics and comparing it with real sales”, the company says. It all boils down to this: people wouldn’t have bothered to install it if it wasn’t good enough or very popular, so if Madfinger Games did sell an insignificant number of copies before going free, the delta in numbers implies a high amount of pirated installs.

Why Android, Not iOS?

Which brings us to this: Is Android piracy overplayed and over exaggerated? Second of all, why is there less of a problem for iOS?

Android app piracy isn't new, and some developers blame Google for not taking the necessary steps to limit the damages. Miles Jacobson, leader of Sports Interactive, which developed the Football Manager game, states: "For a start, there's no working copy protection on the platform currently, so it's pretty easy for someone to get it working. The platform is also very popular in some countries where there's a larger piracy problem than in others".

Jacobson says there's a verified 5:1 piracy rate, which means that out of six installs only one is done legally. So no, Android piracy isn’t overplayed and it’s not over-exaggerated either. It’s a real problem, and Google has to make right by developers, because not all can make a profit from free software without resorting to ads and other unpopular tactics.

Jacobson adds that "There are server costs for downloads of skins, extra customer support and QA costs (because many pirates still ask for customer service), costs of looking into future business models to protect things better, costs associated with taking down links to pirated versions of the game -- all these things take time, money and have an opportunity cost too, as that time could be spent doing other things".

Why and How

Android smartphones appeal to a wider market audience than iPhone, simply because of their diversity and price range. Most Android devices are cheaper than their Apple counterparts and combined with the benefits the platform has it comes as a given that they also have a larger user base and therefore the piracy rate can be higher. Unless there’s a person out there that hasn’t yet got the hang of searching with Google, Bing or any other search engine, everyone can find a pirated copy of an application right now.

Is it easy to install software outside of Google Play on Android? Sure it is, as Android makes restricting application installs less of a priority and allows for the possibility of installing directly from the Internet -- sideloading -- hence the problem many developers have with Google for not imposing more restrictions. By comparison, Apple restricts apps to its own store. Sideloading apps, and jailbreaking, are common activities among Android users, and Google even encourages the behavior.

On the other hand, plenty of iPad or iPhone owners don't bother with jailbreaking. First of all, jailbreaking isn't a one-click process and second of all it's not easily available to the most recent iOS versions, being especially a problem when Apple decides to update their operating system to block any jailbreak loophole. It's much more difficult for users to install pirated apps compared to Android.

Dead Trigger fans side with the developers on Facebook, with plenty not regretting the 99 cents originally asked by Madfinger Games. But one very important question does come to mind after all this. With the flagship Android smartphones costing more than $600 unlocked and the cheapest starting typically more than $100, is 99 cents too much to ask, when we're talking about less than 1 percent of the purchase price?

Why wouldn't someone pay 99 cents to legally get the application they want?
IBM’s Indian Global Delivery Centers are anti-education?

Publié: juillet 24, 2012, 5:03pm CEST par Robert X. Cringely

The theory of outsourcing and offshoring IT as it is practiced in the second decade of the 21st century comes down to combining two fundamental ideas: 1) that specialist firms, whether here or overseas, can provide quality IT services at lower cost by leveraging economies of scale, and; 2) that offshore labor markets can multiply that price advantage through labor arbitrage using cheaper yet just as talented foreign labor to supplant more expensive domestic workers who are in extremely short supply. While this may be true in the odd case, for the most part I believe it is a lie.

This lie is hurting both American workers and the ability of American enterprise to compete in global markets.

My poster child for bad corporate behavior in this sector is again IBM, which is pushing more and more of its services work offshore with the idea that doing so will help IBM’s earnings without necessarily hurting IBM customers. The story being told to support this involves a supposed IT labor shortage in America coupled with the vaunted superiority of foreign IT talent, notably in Asia but also in Eastern Europe and South America.

Strange Labor

India, having invented mathematics in the first place and now granting more computer science and computer engineering degrees each year than does the United States is the new quality center for IT, we’re told.

Only it isn’t, at least not the way Indian IT labor is used by IBM.

I already wrote a column about the experience of former IBM customers Hilton Hotels and ServiceMaster having no trouble finding plenty of IT talent living in the tech hotbed that is Memphis, TN, thus dispelling the domestic IT labor shortage theory.

This column is about the supposed advantages of technical talent from India.

There can be some structural advantages to using Indian labor. By being 12 hours out-of-sync, Indian techies can supposedly fix bugs while their US customers sleep. But this advantage relies on Indian labor moving quickly, which it often does not given the language and cultural issues as well as added layers of management.

India, simply by being such a populous country and having so many technical graduates, does indeed have a wealth of technical talent. What’s not clear, though, is whether this talent is being applied to serve the IT needs of US customers. My belief is that Indian talent is not being used to good effect, at least not at IBM.

Cool Deception

I suspect IBM’s customers are being deceived or at least kept in the dark.

Here is my proof: right now IBM is preparing to launch an internal program with the goal of increasing in 2013 the percentage of university graduates working at its Indian Global Delivery Centers (GDCs) to 50 percent. This means that right now most of IBM’s Indian staffers are not college graduates.

Did you know that? I didn’t. I would be very surprised if IBM customers knew they were being supported mainly by graduates of Indian high schools.

To be fair, I did a search and determined that there actually are a few US job openings at IBM that require only a high school diploma. These include IBM GBS Public Sector Consultant 2012 (Entry-Level), Technical Support Professional (Entry Level) and Software Performance Analyst (Entry Level). But I have yet to meet or even hear of a high school graduate working in one of these positions in the USA.

It’s ironic that in the USA, with its supposed IT labor shortage, we can hire college graduates for jobs that in India are filled by high schoolers.

Yet in India IBM admits that the majority of its GDC workers lack university degrees. They certainly don’t advertise this fact to customers, nor do they hide it I suppose because they don’t have to.

What customer is going to think to ask for Indian resumes? After all this is IBM, right?

Yeah, right.

The most astounding part of this story to me is that one of the challenges IBM says it is facing in this project is to “establish a cultural change program to drive increased acceptance of staffing with graduates”.

So IBM’s Indian Global Delivery Centers are anti-education?

For more information I suggest you ask the IBMer leading this project, Joanne Collins-Smee, general manager, Globally Integrated Delivery Capabilities, Global Business Services at IBM.

Reprinted with permission

Photo Credit: jazzerup/Shutterstock
Nexus 7 will lead Android tablets to overtake iPad

Publié: juillet 24, 2012, 4:35pm CEST par Sameer Singh

Ever since the release of the Nexus 7, analysts have wondered what impact, if any, it would have on Android tablets' market share battle with the iPad. The possible release of the iPad Mini, later this year, could throw another wrench into the works. Fortunately, we have already seen an Android vs. Apple battle in the smartphone market. Let's take a look at the parallels we can draw between the smartphone and tablet market and project the possible market share trends in the tablet market.

Before we begin, we need to understand the global smartphone market share trends over the past couple of years. It is important to understand that ever since the iPhone and Android were launched, the market segmented into legacy smartphone platforms (BlackBerry, Symbian & Windows Mobile) and modern smartphone platforms (iOS, Android & Windows Phone).

Modern Mobile Platforms

We can say this with a certain degree of confidence, as consumers upgrading their smartphones would almost always move from a "legacy" platform to a "modern" one. Platform shifts, after this change, were almost always within "modern" platforms. Since we have seen that Windows Phone has had practically no impact on the smartphone market, the battle of modern smartphone platforms devolved into the Android vs. iPhone battle we see today.

Having understood this, we see that "modern" smartphone platforms are essentially a separate market. So, let's take a look at the quarterly market share in just the iPhone vs. Android smartphone market, since the Android platform was launched (based on Gartner's global smartphone market share figures).

These figures show that Android's smartphone market share overtook the iPhone, 7 quarters after its release. While this pattern is important, it is even more important to understand the reasons behind this. Most analysts look at smartphones and tablets exclusively from the perspective of the US market. This is a fairly myopic view, and ignores the larger reasons for the trends prevalent in the smartphone market.

Think Globally

While the United States was a major driver of Android's smartphone market share growth in the first few quarters, the primary reason for the sharp growth of the Android platform was international markets like Europe and a dominant presence in fast growing, emerging markets like China and South-East Asia. The strength of Android smartphones in these markets was because Android devices were diversified across price points and could effectively target consumers from various income levels.

Now let's take a look at the tablet market share trends between Android and the iPad since Android tablets were launched.

The first real Android tablet to hit the market was the Samsung Galaxy Tab (in quarter 3 on the chart) and prior to that, we had only products that could be categorized as "phablets", such as the 5-inch Dell Streak. Therefore, quarter 2 in the chart above correlates with quarter 1 in the smartphone market share chart, which represents the Android platform effectively starting from scratch. Quarter 8 in the chart above is an outlier when compared to the rest of the tablet & smartphone market share data.

This anomaly was caused because there was a huge sequential drop in tablet shipments caused by excess Kindle Fire inventory built up during the holiday season. Now, in most cases, shipment figures are an acceptable substitute for sales figures, but that ceases to be the case when there is a large sequential drop in shipments. According to the NPD Group, this anomaly was restricted to shipments and that actual sales market share in both quarters 7 & 8 was estimated to be somewhere in-between both figures.

Android Tablet Gains

Now let's compare the smartphone and tablet market share trends from the respective release dates of the Android platform against Apple and try and project the future of the tablet industry.

This is interesting. The comparison in the chart above shows that the much maligned Android tablets have actually grown market share, against Apple, at a much faster pace than their smartphone cousins. Also, while quarter 7 was the quarter in which Android smartphones overtook the iPhone, it was the same quarter that saw the sequential shipment anomaly in the tablet market.

Does this mean that Android tablet market share should overtake the iPad in Q2? Absolutely not, since the new iPad was released in that quarter. Apple's devices always see a market share boost around a new launch. However, the market share picture gets more interesting in Q3 with the launch of the Nexus 7, which has proved extremely popular in the market and the upcoming Kindle Fire 2. Based on the figures above, it is easy to see Android tablets overtaking the iPad's market share, with Apple's current strategy, by Q4 of this year. However, Apple's decisions over the next few months could have a major impact on this.

Apple seems to be taking the threat of price diversification more seriously this time around. Apple has been rumored to launch an iPad Mini later this year to take on competition from the Nexus 7 and Amazon's upgraded Kindle Fire. However, reports suggest that it is the Nexus 7's 16GB model that has proved far more popular in the market. Apple would have a hard time getting the price of an 8GB iPad Mini below $299, but getting a 16GB iPad Mini into the market at that price point would be extremely difficult considering the fact that Apple sells the 16GB iPad 2 at $399.

Inevitable Outcome

From a market share perspective, the best case scenario for Apple would be to launch an 8GB iPad Mini at $249 and a 16GB version at $299. This could give it enough ammunition to compete with the onslaught of low cost tablets from Android. Unfortunately, this may also pressure Apple's margins to the point where it becomes unpalatable to the stock market. The more likely outcome is the launch of an 8GB iPad Mini at $299.

Tablet shipments in emerging markets are set to skyrocket next year, says Pyramid Research, and Android tablets already have a dominant presence in these markets, according to GfK Retail and Technology Asia. Given this fact, the entry of high quality, low-priced tablets like the Nexus 7 would create a huge boom in the international tablet market over the next year and could lead to Android tablets overtaking the iPad in Q2 or Q3 of next year, even after the launch of an 8GB iPad Mini at $299.

Conclusion: Looking at the early trends in the smartphone market, it is easy to come to the conclusion that Android tablets will eventually overtake the iPad because of their strong presence in emerging markets and pricing advantage. However, the timing of this change of guard will not only hinge on Apple's launch of an iPad Mini, but the pricing strategy they choose to follow.

P.S.: This analysis ignores the potential impact of Microsoft's Surface & Windows 8 tablets because I expect them to have relatively small significance on the market, due to various reasons I have already covered. While the market impact may not be as muted as that of Windows Phone, they will have a very difficult time competing with the iPad and Android tablets, in terms of both pricing and content.

Sameer Singh is an M&A professional and business strategy consultant focusing on the mobile technology sector. He is founder and editor of tech-thoughts.net.
Work on more than one screen? Try MultiMonitorTool

Publié: juillet 24, 2012, 2:22pm CEST par Mike Williams

Nir Sofer has released his latest creation, MultiMonitorTool, and the name tells you everything: it’s a one-stop tool to handle all your multiple monitor needs. As usual with NirSoft utilities, there’s no installation required, no adware, no unwanted extras at all. Just download and unzip the implausibly small MultiMonitorTool file (under 200KB) and you’re ready to go.

On launch the program displays a two-paned interface. All the monitors it recognises are at the top, and if you click on any one of these then you’ll see the application windows it contains in the lower pane.

If you’d like to a carry out a particular action on an object then the easiest thing to do is right-click it, and browse the menu that appears.

So if you right-click a monitor, for instance, you’ll see options to disable or enable it, to set that monitor as your primary display, or to disable or enable switching between monitors.

And if you select a group of windows in the lower pane, then right-click, you’ll be able to move them to the next, or the primary monitor with one further click.

Of course that’s just the start. MultiMonitorTool also has an extensive command line interface, allowing to enable or disable monitors, move application windows around and more, all from your own scripts (the NirSoft site has more).

And if you’re happy with your current setup then the program can save the configuration of all your monitors (including screen resolution, colour depth and monitor position), then restore them later, either on demand or from within a script.

We’ve not tested it in depth yet, but from first impressions MultiMonitorTool seems to be a solid and welcome addition to the NirSoft range. If you extend your desktop across multiple monitors then take a look, it’s a well-designed and versatile app.

Photo Credit: corepics/Shutterstock
You can't do real work on a tablet

Publié: juillet 24, 2012, 1:07am CEST par Mihaita Bamburic

Whenever I think about tablets v. PCs, I remember a bold prediction of old: “Son, 10 years from now everyone will drive an electric car!” When was that, 20 years ago? We’ve all read something like that from someone believing to be clairvoyant.

I read similar articles almost every day where the writer plays the same old broken record: tablets are the death of PCs, or some other flamboyant thing that’s bound to get interest -- with the hope that the reader will agree with the author. It's like almost everyone is set on sending the PC down to the gates of Hell. But why should I agree with their assertions when I actually need a PC?

I see things rather differently, maybe because I’m not writing this story on a tablet but HP 8710P laptop; it has a 17-inch 1680 x 1050 resolution display and is powered by a Core 2 Duo T9300 processor at 2.50 GHz and 4GB of RAM. The computer has served me well for the last four years and I don’t see any reason for letting it go and rushing into buying a tablet; but what I want to do is exchange it for a new, faster PC. Why?

Steve Jobs best described tablets like this: “Our competitors are looking at this like it's the next PC market. That is not the right approach to this. These are post-PC devices that need to be easier to use than a PC, more intuitive. The hardware and software need to intertwine more than they do on a PC. We think we're on the right path with this.” That was his perspective on tablets and a very good reason for their success; they’re designed to be intuitive not to replace a PC.

Surface gets close, but not Really

“Microsoft Surface can win you over” is one of my first stories written for BetaNews, just to point out that there’s a real purpose to the tablet, despite initial reaction, and for plenty of professionals it’s still the only tablet that can suit their tablet needs.

It’s very important not to mix things up and think Surface as a device that can suit their every need, because I believe no tablet can currently substitute a PC. The tablet technology is still too far behind for the post-PC device to completely replace the old trustworthy personal computer; there are quite a few reasons as to why it’s not going to change soon enough.

You can’t do proper multitasking on anything but a single tablet: Microsoft Surface. I find it very annoying to multitask on anything but Windows-powered devices (OS X is just as good though), because they’re the only ones with anything as simple as the taskbar. I spend plenty of time navigating through at least ten tabs at a time in Firefox, switching to Word or Excel to write and talking to friends via instant messaging; this is an all-day continuous process and it’s the lightest of my scenarios.

I’m going to propose an exercise: try to do that on a PC then switch to a tablet and do it all day. I know for certain it’s going to be a complete nightmare. Microsoft Surface might be the only tablet that’s designed to make multitasking easy, but to make it work at the desired parameters I’d need a mouse and a 20-inch-plus display with 1080p resolution.

Five More Reasons

I can think of lots of reasons why PCs are superior to tablets. Consider these:

1. Android and iOS are too far away. Google couldn’t even manage to make the interface fluent enough, as only a quad-core smartphone like the Galaxy S III or HTC One X can get close to seamlessly navigating through the UI. I really like the Galaxy SIII and I only mention it because Android tablets aren’t faster than Samsung’s new flagship phone, which is still currently the speediest Android device on the market. So what can I expect from a tablet running the Google-designed operating system or from the hardware that is powering it then?

iPads aren’t great either as they’re designed from the start to work as a post-PC device, which implies that their operating system and adjacent software is designed to revolve around the idea of simplicity, not complexity. And that makes for companies developing resource-intensive programs such as Adobe Photoshop to steer clear from tablets.

2. A tablet needs accessories to close in on a PC. A tablet needs a keyboard and display just because it’s too small to be able to provide a large enough workspace to juggle between applications, and it also needs a keyboard to get typing done, as the virtual keyboard isn’t ever as good as the physical one in terms of spacing between keys, feedback and speed of use. I don’t see a point in buying a tablet, a keyboard, mouse and a new display just to make the tablet work as wanted.

I’d have to pay the same as for a new laptop, but it wouldn’t be any faster. So where does that leave me? And that brings us to the matter of processing power. To get the fastest tablet one has to look at the new iPad and up in terms of pricing, because let’s face it: most of the tablets are still too slow.

3. PCs get better applications. I’m surprised at how easily people pushing tablets ahead of PCs dismiss programs like Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop and Premiere or Autodesk Maya 3D and AutoCAD -- and I’m only just scratching the surface here. These are not applications that are on every user’s “Most recent” list, but there are plenty of people that need a PC just to run them. Last week, colleague Randall C. Kennedy wrote “BYOD apocalypse deniers suffer from post-PC depression”, which from my perspective emphasizes just the consumer market that doesn’t have to use complex programs like the ones I’ve mentioned.

I’m going to ask you this: do you think that civil engineers design skyscrapers on iPads? Or as another example: do Formula 1 teams use tablets to process information? I beg to differ. These are just minor examples and ones that we can all understand, but they best emphasize the lack of processing power post-PC devices have.

4. PC offers better gaming experience. In a recent CNBC interview, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello said that “The fastest growing platform for video games today is the PC, but it’s growing through subscriptions, through micro-transactions and through downloads”. Major titles are still developed for the PC market because the “old” desktops or laptops are the only ones capable of running them in their full glory. Gamers are interested in tablets, but the technology doesn’t allow the same level of detail to be displayed on a post-PC device as it does on a PC. While that may change in a few years and tablets will try to level the playing field, PC technology will evolve as well and so far has got quite a lead.

5. Batteries haven't evolved enough. That gets us to another issue tablets have: the battery. Unless we’re not that 0.01 percent of the population, we’re all using devices powered by batteries each and every single day. We’ve all faced the same eternal problem: poor battery life. Unless you pack up an immense battery, you’re going to look for the charger in a few hours after playing a game or continuously surfing the Web.

The battery technology has evolved as little as HDD speed has. It’s the final frontier towards proper mobility. In fact, the only reason for getting more battery life today is the advancement in the power management of other components, especially the CPU and GPU field. Lithium-ion polymer battery or Li-Po as it is commonly abbreviated today, which is found in the new iPad and the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, is just an evolution from the old Lithium-ion technology developed 40 years ago, yet is still powering devices in 2012; albeit in the Li-Po form only became popular 17 years ago.

Nearly two decades later, we’re using the exact same battery technology and we’re not even getting half a day of intensive use from it. This issue plagues all devices and it really shows how little batteries have evolved.

The PC is here to Stay

My point is that tablets can replace PCs for some people, but that it can’t replace them for most of us. Plenty of people still need a PC today. I have no personal agenda against tablets and do believe that in the near future a tablet could replace a PC for some people. I can’t help but to point out some of their current flaws. It’s easy to dismiss the benefits of a computer based on minor tasks alone, but it’s not really fashionable today to admit we can’t easily do all of our work without one.

I simply disagree with the assertion that you can get real work done on a tablet.

Photo Credit: CLIPAREA l Custom media/Shutterstock