Microsoft, Google eye mobile holiday sales

The companies are on different sides of a rapid industry shift away from desktops and toward mobile devices. Their holiday plans will be clearer after the companies report third quarter earnings Thursday, but their strategy is part of a larger search for continued relevance as consumers move increasingly to hand-held devices.

Microsoft and Google have a plan for this holiday season: To reach every gadget-happy shopper seeking a new smartphone or tablet.

Headed into the holiday season, Microsoft is trying to mount a comeback and planning to start a new era as the purveyor of mobile devices and services.

Consumers will get their first look at the new Microsoft next week, when the company launches a new operating system and its own Surface tablet — just one of several Windows tablets coming to compete with Apple’s market-leading iPad this fall. It’s also working on the launch of a new smartphone operating system, Windows Phone 8. Nokia, Samsung and HTC have already announced new smartphones for the system.

It’s not hard to guess why Microsoft is making the shift. Despite a massive marketing effort for ultrabook laptops earlier this year, the personal computer market is expected to shrink this year for the first time in over a decade, according to a recent study from the market research firm IHS iSuppli.

Sales of smartphones, meanwhile, are going through the roof. There are now more than 1 billion smartphones in the world, according to a study from Strategy Analytics, and the sector’s growth means that there are still plenty of customers for the taking.

“The next billion smartphones will be sold and used in just a few short years, not the decade plus that it took to reach the first billion,” said Alex Spektor, an analyst who worked on the report. “All companies involved in the mobile space will be very actively competing.”

The forecast is also bright for the tablet market, with International Data Corporation estimating 117.1 million units will ship by the end of the year.

Google seems well-positioned to ride out the shift. It even briefly passed Microsoft as the second-most valuable technology company last month. The company’s stock has grown around 30 percent since July, while Microsoft’s has remained almost the same.

While it has seen how much it can charge advertisers for every click made by a user decline, the volume of advertising has grown. With its Android operating system activating 1.3 million units a day, according to the company, Google powers most of smartphones and tablets and boosts the company’s profit stream through its mobile application store.

The firm is also now producing its own hardware, a small tablet called the Nexus 7. Headed into the holiday season, Google is expected to release another phone and tablet under its Nexus brand name.

If it does, it will come into a holiday market crowded with consumer options. The new tablets are not only competing against Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle Fire line, but also retailers launching their own devices in the hopes of catching the trend. Barnes & Noble has seen modest success with its Nook tablet, and has launched a larger version that takes advantage of the company’s new partnerships. Best Buy announced last week that it’s also jumping into the mix with a basic tablet, which is expected to cost around $250.

All are chasing Apple, which commands 60 percent of the tablet market with its iPad and is expected to launch a smaller version of the tablet next week.

The ultimate arbiters will be gadget hungry holiday shoppers. 

source:Hayley Tsukayama

Nokia Reports Loss, Desperately Needs Hit Smartphone

[ See 8 Must-Haves For Windows Phone 8. ]

It's hard to believe that Nokia's third-quarter results, which show the company lost $1.27 billion on sales of $9.44 billion, were better than investors expected. The company had warned that the results wouldn't be pretty, but it actually managed to lose less than it did during the second quarter. Its cash assets dropped from $5.5 billion $4.7 billion.

Nokia sold a total of 6.4 million smartphones during the third quarter, which is a drop of 38% when compared to the 10.2 million smartphones it sold during the second quarter. Of those 6.3 million smartphones, fewer than half were Lumia Windows Phones. Nokia sold 2.9 million Lumias during the third quarter. In the U.S., Lumia sales dropped from 600,000 in the second quarter to just 300,000 in the third quarter--a 50% decline.

What's unnerving about these numbers is that they reveal Nokia's outgoing Symbian platform is still outselling Lumia smartphones around the world. That's been the case all year long, but many had hoped the Lumia line of devices would have surpassed Symbian sales by now.

Looking at its total device sales, Nokia shipped 82.9 million cellphones around the world during the third quarter, which is just a 1% dip compared to the 83.7 million total devices it shipped in the second quarter. The balance of those devices comes from Nokia's Asha and Series 40 platforms, which combined accounted for 76.7 million devices. These are the low-cost devices that Nokia sells in emerging markets. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said he was pleased with the company's low-end device sales. Too bad the margins on entry level devices are slimmer than the hair on a gnat's hind quarters.

The average selling price (ASP) of Nokia's smartphones during the quarter was about $210. The average price of Nokia's entry-level devices was $31.

Nokia said that the ASP of its smartphones dropped during the third quarter thanks to fewer sales of its high-end Lumia 800 and 900 and more sales of discounted Lumia 610 and 710 devices. The ASP of entry-level devices was flat quarter-over-quarter.

Nokia partially shot itself in the foot in June when Microsoft first gave the world a peek at Windows Phone 8. Nokia said at the time that none of its first batch of Lumia devices would be upgradable to Windows Phone 8. Instead, the 610, 710, and 800 will remain on Windows Phone 7.5, and the 900 will be updated to Windows Phone 7.8. With no upgrade path to WP8, it's no surprise that sales of Nokia's high-end devices nosedived during the third quarter.

This is where the Lumia 920, and 820/810 come into play. Nokia announced the devices--sans pricing and availability--in early September. The phones aren't expected to hit U.S. carriers until early November. By announcing the new Lumia series so far in advance of their availability, it further hobbled sales of Nokia's existing lineup.

Nokia can't afford any more failures. The Lumia 920 and 820/810 received a lukewarm response at introduction by investors, who were worried that they aren't different/compelling enough to win over iPhone and Android users. Nokia needs to do more than retain its existing customer base, it needs to steal new customers back from its competitors.

It doesn't help that there's a massive unknown still at play: Windows Phone 8. Microsoft has revealed only a few details about its next-generation smartphone platform, which shares its base code with Windows 8. Microsoft is scheduled to fully unveil the new platform at an event in San Francisco on October 29. Sales of the Lumia 920 are expected to follow soon thereafter.

source:Eric Zeman

 

Giant Strand of Elusive Dark Matter Seen in 3D

Astronomers have taken their first 3D look at a gigantic filament of dark matter, an invisible cosmic structure that can only be detected by its gravitational effects it has on its surroundings.

The universe is thought to be structured like a tangled web, with long strings of mostly dark matterintersecting at giant galaxy clusters. Since dark matter cannot be seen directly, these filaments are difficult to observe. But using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have managed to probe one of the elusive cosmic strands in 3D.

The researchers sought out a 60 million light-year strand of dark matter around the massive galaxy cluster MACS J0717. The galaxy cluster is one of the largest yet seen and is about 5.4 billion light-years from Earth.

source:SPACE.com Staff 

Nearest star boasts Earth-sized roaster planet

Our nearest stellar neighbor possesses an Earth-sized planet, report European astronomers. But nobody likely lives on its furnace-hot surface.

Alpha Centauri, a triple-star system, resides some 4.3 four light-years away, about 25.4 trillion miles. In a study led by Xavier Dumusque of Switzerland's Geneva Observatory and released Tuesday by the journal Nature, astronomers have announced the discovery of the first planet detected orbiting one of the stars in this system.

Dubbed Alpha Centauri Bb, the planet orbits the sun-like star Alpha Centauri B, circling so closely -- once every 3.2 days -- that its surface likely roasts at temperatures above 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit, Dumusque says.

The observation is based on four years of telescope observations of wobbles in the star induced by its close-orbiting companion. The chance of a false-detection of the planet in the data is 1-in-1,000, the researchers suggest.

Astronomers estimate that about 30% of stars possess Earth-like rocky planets, based on the roughly 800 planets detected orbiting nearby stars in the last two decades. The new planet is the closest yet found to our solar system, if confirmed, and orbits a star visible to the naked eye.

"That is a real wow factor," says planetary theorist Alan Boss, author of The Crowded Universe: The Search for Living Planets, who was not on the discovery team. "Humans have been staring at this stellar system for many thousands of years without knowing that there was another Earth-mass planet there all the time."

However, astronomer Artie Hatzes of Germany's Thuringian State Observatory is more cautious about the planet detection claim in a commentary accompanying the study. "It is a weak signal in the presence of a larger, more complicated signal," Hatzes says. "In my opinion, the matter is still open to debate."

Dumusque says that more looks at the star should strengthen the finding and notes that there is a possibility that the planet may slightly eclipse, or transit, in front of the star, another tell-tale sign of its existence measurable by astronomers. He adds that more planets may await discovery at Alpha Centauri, including ones at habitable distances from the stars there.

source:Dan Vergano 

Google Nexus $99, iPad Mini $249, Surface $499

Yesterday we finally got Microsoft pricing for the Surface RT, and rumors of prices for the iPad Mini are beginning to become more consistent. Another story has Google selling a $99 Nexus tablet soon.

So Microsoft is going to try to compete with Apple up in Apple's price tier. My opinion and the consensus among my BYTE colleagues is that they can't get away with it, but I don't pretend to understand buyers' price elasticity of demand for tablets. I already think iPads are overpriced and yet Apple sells all they can make.

Meanwhile, Digitimes cites Taiwan-based supply chain makers as saying thatGoogle is planning to announce a Nexus tablet for $99 US in the 4th quarter. They would be able to do this by using cheap components, including a single-core processor and a TN display, the type with limited viewing angles.

It makes sense that the bargain basement of the tablet world will be occupied by Android devices, if only because they don't require an OS license. I have to think that the emphasis on lower prices in so many models hurts the ability of higher-end Android tablet makers to charge premium prices. In fact, I think we've already seen this: the real volume in Android tablets is in the lower-cost models, while there are no lower-cost iPads and won't be any time soon.

The reports of the iPad Mini starting out at $249 make sense: It's higher than the common Android price of $199, but not outrageously higher. On the big iPad, Apple charges about 20% more for the next step up in memory, and for $249 this conveniently works out to around $299, so count on the iPad Mini coming out at $249 for 8GB, $299 for 16GB and $349 for 64GB, and some fixed markup above those prices for 4G. On the big iPad the markup is $130.

Some opinions differ on the Surface RT prices announced by Microsoft, but the one thing you can't call them is "low." Microsoft can make a claim that buyers are getting more for their money because Surface devices come with more flash memory by default, but I have to think the number consumers' eyes go to first is the lowest price in the product line: $499, same as the cheapest iPad, and twice the cheapest iPad Mini.

Initially, when Microsoft announced Surface, the fear was that they would put their OEMs in a tough spot by setting a low price that would force OEMs to accept lower margins, but that's just not the way Microsoft works. They're all about helping OEMs to make money, and I suppose Surface, or at least Surface RT, is about setting a technology baseline and high price expectations.

Some of the initial OEM Windows 8 announcements, like the Lenovo convertibles, also seem to be setting the price bar high. I don't think there's much doubt that OEM prices will trend down. There's too many Windows OEMs to keep prices so high.

BYTE contributor George Ou has been arguing that RT is doomed in large part because ARM-based tablets won't run the existing body of Windows software and that the next generation of Intel-based Windows devices will have all the hardware advantages of ARM -- always on, weeks of standby battery life -- and software compatibility. $499 is a tall order under such circumstances. But if the Intel devices will be clearly superior to the ARM-based Windows 8 tablets, can they command even higher prices than $499? That's an even taller order.

If the iPad Mini sells out at $249+ then it really doesn't matter how well Android and Windows tablets sell; Apple will keep charging premium prices. In the long term it makes sense that the market won't be big enough for everyone and that competition from these other devices, if consumers and businesses do buy them, will begin to crowd onto Apple's turf. We seem to be a long way away from that, so I guess the tablet market is still too young to make long-term predictions.

source:Larry Seltzer

Sizing Up Apple’s Potential iPad Mini Storage, Display And Wireless Connectivity Options Sizing Up Apple’s Potential iPad Mini Storage, Display And Wireless Connectivity Options

Apple has yet to announce the event at which it’ll supposedly announce an iPad mini, but the rumors are reaching a fever pitch the way they generally do around a new product launch. Now, a new report from AppleInsider provides new info regarding possible iPad mini configurations, suggesting four different storage options and three different types of connectivity, for a total of 12 different models, or 24 if you count color options between black and white.

That’s a lot of different iPads, and more than were reported byGerman blog Schimanke in a report yesterday, which seemed to indicate only Wi-Fi and cellular versions. AppleInsider’s info suggests instead that there will be distinct 3G and LTE models, meaning the cellular category is divided into two, presumably at different cost points. That’s an assumption on AppleInsider’s part, though, and some other variance could account for the difference, including the presence of a Retina Display on top-end models. That kind of product differentiation would be unprecedented, and decidedly against Apple’s general strategy of keeping its hardware offerings as streamlined as possible.

Think about 12 different SKUs for an iPad mini, and what that would mean for cost distribution: Apple would likely start around the $299 mark ($249 at the outside), and then ramp up from there. At the top end, with three different specs for each storage level of 8GB, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB, that would make for a price range that could span up easily into even near the top end of regular-sized iPad territory. It’s a move that would put the iPad mini in price competition with both the iPod touch and the regular iPad, rather than occupying a distinct third spot.

Of course, if there’s one thing Apple isn’t afraid of, it’s cannibalizing its own product lines. All of its biggest successes have arguably stepped on the toes of its past triumphs, including the iPad (the Mac) and the iPhone (the iPhone). It also knows from surveying the market that there’s an appetite out there for a low-cost, small screen tablet device, and from experience with the iPad that tablets which are expensive but feature-rich still have a large potential market. Providing a variety of connectivity or display options would allow Apple to target a range of buyers on a variety of budgets, but in doing so it also risks watering down the appeal and impact of the product overall.

source:DARRELL ETHERINGTON 

  

Windows 8 Beats The Mac, Appsolutely

It's an irony Karl Marx would have loved. In getting users hooked on apps, Apple may have become its own gravedigger--at least for the Mac--while opening a door for Microsoft.

The popularity of the iPhone, and now the iPad, has changed consumers' notions about how computing devices should look and feel. The browser-based PC experience is giving way to the snappy, appy world of smartphones, tablets, and other new devices.

It started with the iPhone. Users embraced the idea of built-for-purpose apps that, while doing only one or two things, did them well. They also liked the fact that apps, when well designed, are free of the generic chrome and clutter on traditional PC applications. A slick and simple design code makes apps ideal for touch. Users don't have to worry about being all thumbs because in most cases there aren't many buttons to press.

No surprise then that iPhone-style apps soon showed up on other platforms--most notably phones powered by Google's Android. It was no coincidence, as a federal jury recently found in the Apple vs. Samsung patent case. Now, the world beyond phones and tablets is getting appified as industrial designers and interface experts from other fields embrace the concept.

[ Windows 8 raises a lot of questions. Read Is Windows 8 Too Risky For IT? ]

Roku, which makes a little box that transforms a standard television into a smartTV, uses the app metaphor to serve up on-demand programming and services from Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and others. And the display screens used by news networks like CNN and Fox are starting to look pretty appy. (Most of those displays are built by Microsoft's recently acquired Perceptive Pixel unit).

The app influence is even making its way to the browser. eBay's redesigned home page, with its big, blocky images, looks suspiciously app-like--an indication that retailers seeking a unified brand image across multiple devices will start with their apps and work backwards. Their Web presences are becoming adaptations of their apps, not vice versa.

Which brings us back to Apple and Microsoft. Windows 8 and OS X Mountain Lion are the newest PC operating systems from Redmond and Cupertino, respectively. But it's Microsoft's that represents a bold leap into the app world. Microsoft has drawn lots of fire recently for being late to almost every significant tech development of the past decade, including mobile, music, and search.

Right touch: Windows 8's tactile GUI meets evolving expectations for computing interfaces.

But when it comes to embracing what appears to be the latest trend, apps, it's suddenly ahead.

Microsoft has done significant work to make the overall Windows 8 environment distinctive. The Modern UI (formerly known as Metro) has a consistent look and feel that starts with the Live Tiles interface, runs through its own and third-party apps, and extends into cloud services, such as Microsoft Music, that are available on Xbox Live.

Windows 8 apps are true apps, as I would define the term: Full-screen, specialized purpose, touchable, and always connected. And they can run on PCs or tablets, and have close cousins that will run on Windows Phone 8, which also uses Modern UI.

OSX Mountain Lion? Despite some new fit and finish, it remains a traditional PC operating system that is a bridge too far from Apple's iOS-based mobile products. It sticks with old-style applications (window-based, general purpose, manipulated through mouse and keyboard) and the browser as the gateway to information and services.

Mouse that bored: OS X Mountain Lion is slick, but point-and-click is getting long in the tooth.

It does support the Mac's Multi-Touch trackpad, but still requires a lot of pointing and clicking to get around. And, given the rather astounding fact that as of this writing there is no such thing as a touchable Mac, it does not offer a tactile interface. Thus, even apps available from the Mac App Store must be written to conform to a GUI style that is increasingly being seen as old school.

So in terms of being a modern computer operating system, Windows 8 leaves OS X Mountain Lion in the dust. And that has a couple of important implications. It may be enough to stop advances that Apple has been making in the desktop market off the back of the iPhone and the iPad.

The other is that it may be a threat to the iPhone and iPad themselves. Users who prefer app-centric computing, and that may already be the majority, now have an ecosystem that offers a consistent experience across all devices, whether phone, tablet, PCs, or even a TV or gaming console. That's the new Microsoft ecosystem, and its foundation is Windows 8. Suddenly, it's Apple's turn to catch up.

source: Paul McDougall