As promised by Meg Whitman, the HP webOS decision was to be taken in 3-4 weeks. Three weeks have passed, and Meg has said in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro that the decision will be taken in another two weeks.
She is most concerned about webOS and the 600 odd employees that formed the webOS GBU. HP might be considering Windows 8 as it’s next operating system but we can never be too sure about it. Maybe she’ll revive webOS.
Stay tuned for more..!!!
2016 is the year when the health and fitness apps will cross the $400 million mark, as per ABI research. ABI has further predicted that there will be 1 billion health related apps downloads by 2016. Interestingly, the wearable fitness devices are the ones which would be pushing the segment’s growth.
The Press Release from ABI Research is as follows
PRESS RELEASE — The sports and health mobile application market will grow to over $400 million in 2016 – up from just $120 million in 2010. Much of that growth will be spurred by the ability of mobile handsets to easily connect to wearable devices that in turn can deliver new functionality, accuracy, and appeal to sports and fitness applications.
As the mobile handset adds new ways to access and support healthcare applications, it will become increasingly important within the healthcare market, including home monitoring systems for aging users, personal emergency response services, and remote healthcare monitoring applications. However, sports and fitness will dominate the mobile health application market.
“Downloadable apps are moving the sports tracking device market from proprietary devices to mobile phones, but adoption has been limited by the data they can collect. However, with the connectivity that Bluetooth Smart will embed in mobile handsets, wearable devices will bring greater detail to mobile handsets,” says Jonathan Collins, principal analyst.
Handset connectivity to wearable devices brings a new dynamic to the sports monitoring market. Athletic equipment players have already moved to support handset applications by either using proprietary or battery-draining traditional Bluetooth wireless. Meanwhile, traditional players such as Garmin, who recently launched its first handset application for this market, and Polar have delivered high-end specialist systems. Over the next five years, these players will increasingly have to compete directly with the mobile handset. They will also face a slew of start-ups and new entrants offering applications, online communities, and wearable devices offering a range of applications and services.
“As applications increasingly become part of a bundle that ships with wearable devices, revenues from mobile applications will lag behind the growth in app downloads. Mobile application downloads will actually grow at nearly twice the rate of revenues between 2010 and 2016, with more than a billion downloads annually by 2016,” says Collins.
In the Micro ISV space on the desktop, selling your company to a larger vendor is a very popular “exit scenario” for founders. So far, it has not been too much of an option in mobile.
Olga Steidl, long-serving press officer of the company, has just sent out the following:
SPB Software, a leading mobile software developer is acquired by Yandex (NASDAQ: YNDX), the leading internet company in Russia.
With this acquisition Yandex starts offering a key component for various mobile platforms – a user interface configured to integrate the company’s key services based on SPB best known technology – SPB Shell 3D. This move boosts Yandex’s opportunities to partner with the players in the mobile ecosystem.
SPB Shell 3D, developed by SPB Software, will be enhanced to integrate Yandex’s cloud services and technologies. In addition, users will have easy access to the company’s services including its search capabilities featured on a wide variety of mobile devices.
“Mobile is a vital part of our growth strategy. The acquisition of SPB Software creates new market potential for us and a plethora of possibilities for innovative solutions for our partners”, said Yandex’s CEO Arkady Volozh. “SPB Shell 3D is an ideal foundation on which to build up our mobile opportunity.”
“SPB Software is excited to join Yandex”, said Sebastian-Justus Schmidt, CEO of SPB Software. “This allows us to unite efforts in developing and marketing new cutting-edge mobile solutions. SPB Software will continue its mission to produce innovative mobile products of the highest quality.”
Looking back to past congresses, the UI system took more and more prevalence over consumer applications at SPB’s booth.
As to why Yandex buys the company outright rather than just license the relevant parts: don’t ask me…
When Google first launched its TV service, LogiTech introduced the first-ever set-top-box for the platform named the Revue. Logically, everyone who was interested in Apps on TV jumped on it – sadly, the press didn’t like it too much.
Some three weeks ago, BroadbandTV reported the following:
Logitech’s Revue set-top box for Google TV was a ‘big mistake’, according to Guerrino De Luca, chairman and acting chief executive of Logitech
Fortunately, it now looks as we will get two new, far larger hardware vendors on board:
Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are expected to launch Google TV next year. But only LG will show its models at the 2012 CES in Las Vegas.
Yoon Boo-keun, chief of Samsung’s TV division, said on Tuesday to the Korean press that the company is in final talks with Google about when to release the hot new gadget. “We will announce the launch date at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.”
Samsung already showed a prototype of Google TV at last year’s CES, but did not bring any sets to the market. …
With Microsoft increasing the ad pressure for its XBox all over Europe, we could be in for an interesting fight. What do you think?
Apple surely has a brand loyalty that every CEO yearns for. According to a research published by GfK,
Some 84 percent of iPhone users said they would pick iPhone also when they replace their cellphone, while 60 percent of consumers who use smartphones running Google’s Android said they would stick with phones using the same software.
Only 48 percent of people using Research In Motion’s cellphones said they would stay loyal to their BlackBerrys, the study showed.
While Apple is the leader at present, the current development on Android, RIM’s BBX and Windows Phones from Nokia are all set to give Apple a tough challenge, according to the report.
The scope for brands to lure customers from rivals has diminished and the richest rewards will go to those providers that can create the most harmonious user experience and develop this brand loyalty
What is noteworthy here that 70 percent of consumers said they would stick with their phones due to their seamless integration of features and access to content. The present and future undoubtedly belongs to the Apps and Internet.
Though the firm interviewed around 4500 people in various countries, it never mentions anything about Symbian or Windows Phones. This is quite surprising as a certain percentage of these 4500 people must be carrying Symbian and Windows phones, which the report fails to mention.
Apple surely has a brand loyalty that every CEO yearns for. According to a research published by GfK,
Some 84 percent of iPhone users said they would pick iPhone also when they replace their cellphone, while 60 percent of consumers who use smartphones running Google’s Android said they would stick with phones using the same software.
Only 48 percent of people using Research In Motion’s cellphones said they would stay loyal to their BlackBerrys, the study showed.
While Apple is the leader at present, the current development on Android, RIM’s BBX and Windows Phones from Nokia are all set to give Apple a tough challenge, according to the report.
The scope for brands to lure customers from rivals has diminished and the richest rewards will go to those providers that can create the most harmonious user experience and develop this brand loyalty
What is noteworthy here that 70 percent of consumers said they would stick with their phones due to their seamless integration of features and access to content. The present and future undoubtedly belongs to the Apps and Internet.
Though the firm interviewed around 4500 people in various countries, it never mentions anything about Symbian or Windows Phones. This is quite surprising as a certain percentage of these 4500 people must be carrying Symbian and Windows phones, which the report fails to mention.
This one is for all those of you who want to see the slides from my recent talks at the DroidCon in Amsterdam – attendants were treated to an update on Qt on Android and a little bit of info about Apps on TV and Google TV.
Both slide decks are available in PDF format below:
Qt on Android
Apps on TV
In addition, enjoy the videos below:
Christmas always involved sending out season’s greetings. Microsoft Austria has now performed a research checking how European citizens send and receive greetings.
When it comes to receiving greetings, users responded as following:
| Venue | Percentage |
|---|---|
| SMS | 50% |
| Voice Call | 48% |
| Post card | 45% |
| 23% | |
| Social Networks | 19% |
| Video chat | 5% |
For sending, data looked slightly different:
| Venue | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Post card | 61% |
| Voice Call | 52% |
| SMS | 44% |
| 26% | |
| Social Networks | 16% |
| Video chat | 7% |
How do you send your season’s greetings?
HP has released their financial report for Q4, and the results are not quite good. HP has lost a good $3.3 Billion post taxes. Out of this, a solid chunk of $2.1 Billion was a direct loss due to killing of the webOS platform, with thanks from the Mad King (aka Apotheker).
That makes it pretty square. HP has spent a Lot of money on the webOS platform. We just hope they keep it alive.
Localized apps are the future when it comes to China.
ABI research has published it’s findings, the excerpts of which are as follows
Providing localized features for apps will drive 5.5 billion downloads in China in 2012. An example of a successful localized app is Halfbrick Studios’ Fruit Ninja for China, which includes Chinese zodiac animal images.
Working with local developers and social networks is another way in which foreign developers can localize their apps.
Research analyst Fei-Feng Seet quoted
Regardless of device type, successful apps in the Chinese market are those with a local look and feel and incorporate local content.
China has the most cellphone subscribers in the world, and it is adopting smartphones at an exponential rate. With this adoption rate and the emergence of different app stores, developers who add a local touch to their apps are at a chance of earning higher than the others.
This one is for all those of you who have long followed my talks on mobile security, or saw me for the first time at the DeepSec in Vienna.
The slides used during the talk have now been uploaded, and can be downloaded in PDF format.
Get the full slides here:
http://tamss60.tamoggemon.com/contents/2011/November/security-mobilefinal.pdf
P.S. The video will be made available when we get it!
After many users of Facebook (including my own friends) were left baffled and utterly infuriated at the news feeds showing highly objectionable content, a new hoax is apparently doing it’s annual rounds on Facebook.
According to the hoax,
When filling out your Christmas cards this year, take ONE CARD and SEND it to this address:
A Recovering American Soldier, c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20307-5001.
If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these soldiers could get to bring up their spirits! Feel free to repost. This is a wonderful thing to do !!
According to Snopes.com
The U.S. Postal Service will not accept mail addressed to "Any Soldier," "Any Wounded Soldier," or the like because if it did, it could be providing a conduit for those who might do harm to armed services members. Such offerings are either returned to sender (if a return address has been provided or if one is found within the package) or donated to charities (if no address for the sender is found). Similarly, military hospitals will not accept letters, cards, or packages addressed in such manner for the same reason. Such beneficences, no matter how kindly meant, are not permitted to reach the soldiers they were intended for.
But there is a legit way to send your greetings to unknown soldiers. It’s called "Holiday Mail for Heroes" and is sponsored through the Red Cross and Pitney Bowes.
You can be a vigilante and spread this message across to fight the hoax.
If the blogosphere is to be believed, HP is indeed sending out feedback mails to the Touchpad customers asking them about their user experience with the Touchpad.
While it is fairly odd to collect feedback data for a canceled product, what is more odd is the fact that HP is going into the nitty gritty by asking the customers questions ranging from
ease of setup, overall performance, and the webOS user interface to the ability to personalize the device, the quality of manufacturing, and the durability of the TouchPad.
This might hint at the resurrection of the almost dead webOS. We do remember Meg Whitman needs more time to arrive at a meaningful decision concerning webOS’ fate. Maybe this survey is a tool to gauge the customers’ interest and make sure that they “do it right” this time. who knows…except for HP??
Stay tuned for more..!!!
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