Saturday 29 October 2011
Future iPad Could Have 3D Gesture Controls, Patent Shows
Someday, touch might not be the only way you control your iPad. The iPads of the future might be manipulated by 3D gestures, a patent uncovered by Patently Applesuggests.
A patent application filed by Apple with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office shows that you’d be able to control cursors, icons, files, lists, text, images, etc. with various hand signals. There is an array of gestures that could be used to manipulate these elements like symbols such as check marks or question marks; letters or pre-set patterns; a pattern set by the user; or combinations of these.
If Apple adds this feature to the iPad, it means you’d be able to control your tablet from across the living room, similar to the way the Xbox Kinect works. The patent doesn’t mention Siri, the integrated voice-control Apple debuted with the iPhone 4S, but including that service with 3D gestures could make future devices even more compelling.
The patent filing also includes video annotation and editing through a gesture-controlled toolbar. It would offer some preset gesture-based commands for beginners, but more advanced users could customize their own controls.
Gesturing would work through the iPad’s front-facing camera, which means it might not be exclusive to a future iPad. If Apple opted to include this feature in a later version of iOS, it could work with other devices with dual cameras, such as the iPad 2 or the iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S. However, Patently Apple noted that older gadgets might not have the processing power to support this technology.
There’s no evidence as to when 3D gestures would be added to the iPad, but it’s widely rumored that an iPad 3 will debut in March of 2012.
Apple originally filed the patent in the second quarter of 2010.
How Samsung beat Apple in phones
Apple sold 17.1 million iPhones in the third quarter, 3 million fewer than expected. Samsung, meanwhile, shipped more than 27 million, according to analyst estimates.
So what happened?
For one, Apple's latest iPhone, the 4S, didn't come out until the quarter ended, so its sales are not included in the figure. People held back on buying older models in anticipation of the new iPhone, which came out Oct. 14. Apple said it sold more than 4 million units in its first weekend on sale, and that should be reflected in the tally for the current, holiday quarter.
"People were waiting," said Francis Sideco, analyst with the research firm IHS. "We don't see this as a signal that Apple is all of a sudden losing its edge. It's their normal thing. But while they are doing this normal thing, Samsung is (going strong) and they happen to have a really good quarter."
Samsung's quarter was helped by strong sales of its Galaxy phones, though Sideco said the numbers shouldn't lead to the conclusion that the Samsung Galaxy beat the Apple iPhone.
"What beat it is Samsung's lines," Sideco said.
Besides the Galaxy line, Samsung's phones include Conquer, Replenish, Focus and Indulge. IHS estimates that Samsung sold about 40 different models during the third quarter. By comparison, Apple had just two - the 4 and the 3GS.
Samsung, which is based in Seoul, South Korea, does not disclose the number of phones it ships. IHS, formerly known as iSuppli, estimates that Samsung shipped 27.3 million smartphones in the latest quarter. Jae Lee from Daiwa Securities puts the figure at about 28 million.
Analysts cautioned against reading too much into the numbers, but such comparisons are tempting given the pedestal that Apple is held on and the fact that the rivalry between the two companies has heated up and extended into the courtroom. Apple says the product design, user interface and packaging of Samsung's Galaxy devices "slavishly copy" the iPhone and Apple's iPad tablet computer. Samsung fought back with lawsuits of its own, accusing Apple of patent infringement of its wireless telecommunications technology.
Even as Samsung sold more phones, Apple seems to be making more money on each. That's one of the reasons Apple is now the most valuable tech company in the world, with a market value about three times that of Samsung.
Apple competes on - and dominates - the high-end smartphone market. By contrast, Samsung has both cheap and expensive phones available. That means Samsung can appeal to a broader range of customers, but the company has to settle for a lower profit margin on lower-end smartphones.
Sideco called both strategies good. Good, but different.
Apple, which is based in Cupertino, California, limits the market it addresses because it is safeguarding its profit margin on the iPhone, said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi. More expensive phones mean higher margins for the company, which so far hasn't focused on the market for lower-end phones.
"It's part of their plan," Milanesi said. "If they wanted to capture a wider segment of the market, they would go with a lower-end device."
That could come soon. The price cut earlier this month for the iPhone 4 to $99 (down from $199) and the decision to offer now-ancient 3GS for free - with a two-year service contract - could mean that Apple is testing the waters in the cheaper market.
"The sales of the $99 iPhone 4 will definitely help widen the addressable market," Milanesi said.
When it comes to the overall mobile phone market, though neither Apple nor Samsung are on top. That honor goes to Nokia Corp. The Finnish company is still the world's No. 1 cellphone maker even though it has fallen behind rivals in the smartphone market. Nokia shipped 16.8 million smartphones during the third quarter, a close third to Apple, according to IHS.
Apple engineers contacting iPhone 4S owners to solve battery life puzzle
Apple engineers are contacting some iPhone 4S owners to try to solve problems with battery life on the new device, after some people have seen dramatic drops in longevity compared to previous models.
One owner has told the Guardian that Apple contacted him directly and asked him to install a monitoring program on the phone to try to diagnose the problem, which is so far unexplained.
In its data sheet for the iPhone 4S, which was released earlier this month, Apple quietly noted that the standby time for the new phone would only be 200 hours - compared to 300 for the iPhone 4, and 250 hours even for the original 2007 iPhone. The company did not offer any reason when asked why by the Guardian, but noted that other lifespans such as 3G talktime were as long or longer than previous models.
One owner who was contacted by Apple told the Guardian: "My battery life was extremely poor - 10% drop in standby every hour. I noticed that the usage figure was roughly half that of standby, even when the phone was not being used, so I assumed something was crashing or running in the background. I switched off all the new features including Siri and location services, but it was still really poor. I also tried setting up a clean phone with no apps but it is still really poor.
"I then got a call from a senior [Apple] engineer who said he had read my post and was 'reaching out' to users for data and admitted this was an issue (and that they aren't close to finding a fix!) and asked lots of questions about my usage and then asked if he could install the file below and that he would call back the day after to retrieve the info. I extracted the file from my Mac after a sync and emailed it to him. He was incredibly helpful and apologetic in the typical Apple way!"
Users of the iPhone 4S have been surprised by how rapidly the phone's battery appears to drain, especially compared to the iPhone 4. The 4S incorporates a more powerful dual-core processor, the A5, than the iPhone 4, but the same amount of RAM. According to iFixit, the iPhone 4S has 5.3 watt-hours' capacity - 0.05Wh more capacity than the iPhone 4.
In some cases the short life has been blamed on corrupted contacts imported from Apple's MobileMe or iCloud services, or from Google's Contacts list; deleting and then reinstalling them sometimes seems to fix the problem.
The problem has generated huge discussions on Apple's support boards, with some people finding that backing the phone's contents up to their computer and then restoring it improves the life.
Google takes another shot at the TV market
Google Inc is making another push to bring its Web savvy to television sets, hoping to tap into a vast new market despite consumers' lukewarm reaction to its initial offering.
The Internet search engine unveiled a revamped version of its Google TV service on Friday, bringing new features aimed at making the product easier-to-use and more appealing to consumers.
The new 2.0 version of Google TV provides new tools for recommending movies, TV programs and online videos to TV viewers, and makes it easier for software developers to create new apps for the television screen.
"There's a lot of thirst for using the Web in the living room," said Google Product Management VP Mario Queiroz, who is leading the Google TV initiative.
But in a sign of the many challenges that have frustrated Google's ambitions to conquer the living room, as well as those of other tech companies including Apple Inc, Queiroz described Google TV as a "long-term bet."
"I don't know what exact month this will take off," he told Reuters during a demonstration of the new product at Google's Mountain View, California headquarters last week. "I do think there's been a lot of progress over the past year and this next year there will be a lot more progress."
Google TV -- which currently comes built-in on certain Sony Corp television models and on Logitech International set-top boxes -- allows consumers to access online videos and websites on their TVs, as well as to play with specialized apps such as video games.
Google does not disclose how many users it has for Google TV, which was launched with great fanfare last year. But some analysts say that version 1.0 of the product has been a flop.
"The fire they were trying to start never even got a spark," said Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey.
The $299 price for the least-expensive Google TV device was too high, said McQuivey (Logitech has since reduced the price of its device to $100). And the fact that many of the television networks, perhaps sensing a threat from Google, blocked the Web-based versions of their shows from being accessible on Google TV devices created confusion among consumers, he said.
But TV is too attractive a market for Google to ignore, say analysts.
For Google, which generated 96 percent of its revenue from advertising last year, television represents a significant opportunity for expansion. According to industry research firm IDC, television advertising in the U.S. this year is expected to be a nearly $70 billion market.
Having a foothold in the living room could also be important for Google as the lines between traditional media and the Internet blur and as Google moves to bolster the rich trove of amateur videos on its YouTube website with professionally-produced content.
Other tech powerhouses also recognize the TV opportunity, including Microsoft Corp, which has taken steps to turn its Xbox video game console into a general-purpose media player.
In the newly-released biography of Steve Jobs, author Walter Isaacson relates a conversation in which the recently-deceased Apple co-founder said he was interested in creating an "integrated television set" that seamlessly connected with the Internet and with all of a consumer's electronic devices. So far analysts say that Apple's foray into the TV market has been a rare failure for the iPhone maker.
"The reason these companies have all been eyeing this market is that there's not that many markets that are 200 million plus units a year and have an installed base of a billion plus screens," said IDC analyst Danielle Levitas, referring to global sales of TV sets. "You can't ignore markets that big, on screens that are that important in terms of hours spent and media delivered."
THE MOTOROLA FACTOR
One advantage that Google could have in the TV market is its planned $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc, which makes cable television set-top boxes as well as mobile phones.
"If I were Google, the first thing I would do is put (the Google TV software) into the next round of Motorola set-top boxes and say (to the cable providers) 'We'll give you half-off for these things, if you put Google TV in,'" said McQuivey of Forrester Research.
Google's Queiroz declined to discuss how Motorola might fit into the Google TV plans other than to note that Google has said it plans to run Motorola as a separate business after the acquisition closes.
Beginning on Sunday, Google will automatically upgrade the software on existing Sony Google TV devices that are already in consumers' homes, with software updates to Logitech coming shortly thereafter. New Google TV devices, from manufacturers including Samsung and Vizio, are expected next year.
Google has built Google TV on the new "Honeycomb" version of its Android operating system. The company has also redesigned the look of Google TV, replacing the cluttered, computer-like screen full of options with a more minimalist strip of graphical icons that sits at the bottom of the TV screen.
Google's Android Market, the central clearinghouse for the smartphone and tablet apps designed to run on the Android operating system, will now be available on Google TV. That means software developers that make smartphone applications, such as Rovio's Angry Birds, will easily be able to offer versions that run on Google TV.
But in contrast to Internet-connected smartphones, which have become incredibly popular in recent years, Web TV products from Google and other companies face a steep road as they strive to prove their worth to consumers, say some analysts.
"It's an incredibly difficult screen to figure out," said IDC's Levitas, noting that unlike with smartphones and PCs, a TV is often viewed by multiple people at the same time and has two disparate experiences -- standard television programing and Web content -- that need to be cleverly tied together.
"The TV is going to be the last frontier we crack in terms of the connected experience," said Levitas.
Windows Phone Apollo: What We Know So Far
With Windows Phone Mango showing up in new smartphones and rolling out to old ones, it's time to look ahead to the next big update to Microsoft's mobile operating system, code-named Apollo.
Even though we don't know much about Windows Phone Apollo, hints and teasers are fueling plenty of speculation. Most recently, Michael Halbherr, Nokia's executive vice president for location and commerce,told Engadget to expect the update in mid-2012. Although Microsoft quickly clarified that Halbherr's timing is inaccurate, the company didn't confirm or deny any other details that have slipped out so far.
Here's what we've heard so far about Windows Phone Apollo:
The Grand Convergence
It's no secret that Microsoft wants all of its devices to be part of a single ecosystem. “We won’t have an ecosystem for PCs, and one for phones, and one for tablets -- they’ll all come together," Andy Lees, president of Microsoft's Windows Division, said in July. According to some reports, this convergence could happen with Windows Phone 8, "Apollo."
In September, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said he expects Windows 8 to eventually run Windows Phone apps. It's easy to imagine how this would work, with the desktop simply showing simultaneous panels from Microsoft's Metro interface, whereas phones would show only one panel of information at a time.
What Nokia Knows
Halbherr told Engadget that Windows Phone Apollo is a "very different game" from Mango, suggesting that the update could also be known as Windows Phone 8. He also said Nokia is pushing Microsoft to add near-field communications support and "positioning framework" to Windows Phone Apollo, which would improve Nokia's navigation and location services.
NFC is the technology that will let people swipe their phones like credit cards at retail stores. Google is pushing ahead with NFC in Android phones, and Apple is rumored to be eying the technology as well, so the idea of Microsoft working on NFC for future Windows Phones seems plausible.
What's Really Next
Apollo isn't going to be the next version of Windows Phone. First, Microsoft plans to release "Tango," a minor update akin to the "NoDo" update that added copy-and-paste and other tweaks last spring. Apollo will be the next major update, as confirmed at an MSDN seminar in August. Although Halbherr's mid-2012 timeframe seems a bit early, a fall or winter 2012 launch seems like a safe bet.
Tuesday 18 October 2011
Google, Samsung unveil Ice Cream Sandwich-powered Galaxy Nexus
Samsung Electronics and Google took the wraps off the Galaxy Nexus, the latest Android handset to carry the flagship smartphone moniker.
(Credit: Samsung)The smartphone, unveiled at a Samsung event in Hong Kong today, marks the debut of the latest version of Android, known as Ice Cream Sandwich (each iteration of Android is named after a dessert).
For Samsung, the introduction of another flagship Google phone underscores its growing influence as an Android vendor. While the company was slow to shift away from basic phones and move into the smartphone game, it has more than made up for lost time with the success of its Galaxy line of Android mobile devices, particularly with its recent line of Galaxy S II phones in the U.S. It also made the previous Nexus phone, the Nexus S.
"Samsung and Google have closely collaborated to push the mobile experience forward," J.K. Shin, head of Samsung's mobile business, said in a statement.
Unlike previous versions, Ice Cream Sandwich will run on any mobile device.
"Ice Cream Sandwich demonstrates the Android platform's continued innovation with one release that works on phones and tablets and everything in between," Andy Rubin, head of Google's mobile business, said in a statement.
As with all Nexus phones, the Galaxy Nexus boasts some impressive specifications. The smartphone features a 1.2 gigahertz dual-core processor, a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD screen with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels, 1GB of RAM, 32 gigabytes of storage, a 5-megapixel camera, and a pronounced curved shape that is intended to cradle the face. The body of the HSPA+ version is a svelte 8.9 millimeters thick (Neither Google nor Samsung specificed the thickness of the LTE version in their presentation.) The Nexus S also featured a subtle curve in its design, in keeping with the original curve of the Samsung Nexus S.
The Galaxy Nexus debuts amid a number of other super smartphones. Earlier today, Verizon Wireless and Motorola unveiled the super-thin 4G LTE-enabled Droid Razr, a 7.1-millimeter thin phone that comes on the heels of the Droid Bionic. Apple, meanwhile, boasted of selling 4 million iPhones over the weekend after the 4S launched on Friday.Since the first Nexus One from HTC, Google has used its line of Nexus phones as a showcase for the latest user interface and features available with the updated version of Android. In fact, the Nexus One was Google's stab at selling smartphones directly to consumers, although the lack of marketing and customer supported quickly forced the Internet giant to shutter those plans.
The anointed handset vendor partner, meanwhile, gets an early peek at those upgrades, useful for planning out the rest of its Android lineup. The Nexus S, for instance, was the first to have an integrated near-field communications chip, allowing it to use the Google Wallet mobile-payment system. The Galaxy Nexus will also have an NFC chip.
It's unclear how long Google will continue to pick its favorite Android partners; it plans to get into the hardware business itself with the planned $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Google, for its part, said it will remain a neutral partner to all of its vendors.
The pervasiveness of Android and Google's ability to work with multiple partners has fueled its ascent in the mobile world. The momentum has allowed it to take a dominant lead in the smartphone market even as Apple's iPhone remains the top-selling smartphone in the world. Google hopes the Galaxy Nexus will be able to sustain that strength.
HTC Takes a Blow in Apple Fight
The International Trade Commission said Apple Inc. didn't violate HTC Corp.'s patents for technology used in its mobile devices, a setback in the Taiwanese company's patent fight with the iPhone maker.
But analysts said coming rulings were likely more important in determining whether HTC could face an injunction against certain imports into the U.S. market.
The ITC issued its "initial determination" on Monday, saying that Cupertino, California-based Apple's devices didn't violate four of HTC's patents, which cover technology for looking up and quickly dialing phone numbers and different techniques for managing power consumption on portable electronic devices.
HTC shares fell 4.6% to 708.00 New Taiwan dollars (US$23.50), while Apple shares recently traded down 1.2% at $416.89.
HTC said it is waiting to get a full copy of the ruling before it decides how to proceed, but experts say HTC could ask the ITC to review its decision.
"This is only one step of many in these legal proceedings," HTC General Counsel Grace Lei said in a statement. "We are confident we have a strong case for the ITC appeals process and are fully prepared to protect our intellectual property."
Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
With sales of smartphones booming, and growth expected to continue, litigiousness among large technology markers has grown to a fever pitch.
The ruling represents another victory for Apple in its ongoing patent disputes with many of its rivals around the world, but analysts say Monday's decision is more of a prelude to more important rulings that will come in November and December.
On Nov. 13, the ITC is expected to decide on a preliminary ruling that Apple violated two patents owned by S3 Graphics, a company HTC is in the process of acquiring. And on December 6, the ITC will issue a final ruling on a case where it preliminarily ruled HTC had violated two Apple patents.
Analysts say Apple is hoping to block HTC smartphones, the most widely used Android devices in the U.S., from the market, while HTC is hoping to gain enough leverage in countersuits to settle for a cross-licensing agreement.
Samsung Securities analyst Birdy Lu said a cross-licensing agreement seems for now the most likely outcome and added a recent suit filed by HTC using patents it obtained from Google to pose a stronger threat against Apple. A decision on that case is likely to be at least a year away.
Nearly all mobile-device makers are actively suing or defending themselves in legal battles against one another. Apple, in particular, has locked horns with a variety of companies including Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., which is being acquired by Google Inc.
How Apple eclipsed Microsoft
Apple is now bigger than Microsoft, its old rival. Not just in market capitalisation but also in quarterly revenue and profits. Its enormous, ruthlessly efficient and capitalises on its strengths - its brand and marketing, and uses them to promote top class hardware and software packaged as brilliantly designed and easy to use products.
And now it is looking to China: "I've never seen a country with so many people rising into the middle class who aspire to own products that we make," Apple's chief executive Tim Cook said. He has his eyes on the fresh possibilities of the hundreds of millions of people there in a way that no other western company has: he doesn't just want to sell them phones, he wants to sell them iPads and Macs too. If China clicks– and the fact that some Chinese cities had fake Apple stores which were so good they were indistinguishable from the real thing – then Apple has space for years of growth.
iPod: revolutionising digital music
Apple began its comeback with the iPod, released on 23 October 2001. It wasn't the first digital music player but was easily the best in class (due to a clever choice of the hard drive – a first from Toshiba, for which Apple secured an exclusive contract) and the fact that it had previously developed a superfast connection system for video, called FireWire, which it adapted to transfer songs.
The iPod's ease of use easily won over consumers. Apple revolutionised the music player and digital music download market. Then came the iPhone, where Apple wasn't first with a touchscreen, yet did it far better than previous efforts by companies such as Nokia and LG, which sniffed at Steve Jobs's presentation but have since sunk into loss.
Apple hasn't been able to dominate the smartphone market, but it's noticeable that Google's Android mimics the iPhone system (but didn't before its launch: it used a keyboard-based system that looked more like a BlackBerry). Given that Android dominates the smartphone market, running on over 40% of handsets now being sold, compared to Apple's 18% or so, one could say that the "Apple interface" dominates.
iPad: tablets of success
Then of course there is the iPad. Apple spent nearly ten years, on and off, developing it; Steve Jobs thought that Bill Gates's announcement in 2001 of a Windows tablet was intriguing, but the design team led by Jonathan Ive couldn't make something with a touch screen that was a real pleasure to use. So it was shelved but the experience of touchscreens was then put to use to develop the iPhone. The iPad was the next step, and while Apple is again - just as with the iPod - not the first in the market, it has completely dominated it. It holds the Guinness world record for being the fastest-selling gadget ever. The iPad's market share is 75% and will retain its lead till 2014.
"I still believe that the tablet market will be bigger than the PC market," Cook said after the results.
Apple has a tiny share of the PC market – it just edged past 5% this quarter compared to the 95% of Windows. Is Apple ever going to reverse that? No, never. Its share is growing minutely and has done so for over five years. Apple's increase, though small, has affected PC sales.
Selling Apples
Apple's strength is the diversity of its range of products: phones, computers, tablets and it sells music, TV shows and films. It also sells huge numbers of mobile apps and simple hardware like mice and trackpads and keyboards. The company has colossal amounts of cash - about $70bn (£44.5bn), of which about half is outside the US (and would be subject to heavy taxes if it were repatriated). So it uses that cash to buy favourable terms and equip factories for its suppliers; in return it gets special treatment. It's the same method it used with the iPod, but now done with hundreds of millions of dollars unlike what it could offer a decade ago.
The iPod sales are falling year-on-year. Apple is mainly focussing now on its iPod Touch, in effect an iPhone without the phone. About 100 million have been sold. Many of these will be able to use the new iMessage service, which can send messages to other iPhone or iPad users over the internet. It's like an entry-level version of the iPhone (and a challenge to RIM's BlackBerry Messenger.
The company needs its rivals
The only thing Apple doesn't do is manufacture hardware. But Cook, who was hired by Jobs in 1997 has gradually changed that. Apple gives hardware contract to companies in China and Taiwan. Its most serious rival in hardware is Samsung, the South Korean conglomerate with whom it is fighting a series of court battles over patents on mobiles,smartphones and tablets. Samsung also has a new flagship Android phone, just released, but without the immediate UK availability of the iPhone 4S. And yet ironically, Apple is also Samsung's biggest customer. They need each other.
The other key rival is Amazon, which sells more content than Apple, but also does hardware through its Kindle, and especially the low-cost Fire tablet. Where Apple profits on the hardware, Amazon profits on the content, siting them at opposite ends of the same market.
Apple in the cloud
And then there is iCloud. Both Google and Microsoft have been pushing to take cloud computing to the next level. But Apple's iCloud service already has 20 million users, making it one of the biggest players in the sector. However, unlike Microsoft and Google, its aim is to use it to sell hardware, rather than software or services.
But for a really clear example of Apple's efficiency, consider a figure that's normally ignored: its inventory (the hardware that's sitting around in warehouses).
At the end of the quarter, Apple, despite its colossal turnover, had just under three days' worth of stock under its ownership. Far less than Nokia(35 days) or BlackBerry-maker RIM (45 days).
Short inventories are generally a good sign in a hardware company: they indicate good supply chain management and product planning. Steve Jobs hired Tim Cook to tighten up Apple's then-sloppy inventory management. He has got it down from weeks to days. Ideally, he wants it to be hours. But Apple's growth has defeated that ambition. It's not a bad one to miss, though.
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