Author: Brad Reed

HTC’s Facebook-centric First deemed ‘pretty much dead’

The Facebook-centric HTC First may be little more than a month old but that hasn’t stopped some analysts from already writing its obituary. Benzinga points us to new research from Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry, who estimates that the HTC First sold less than 10,000 units in its first three days of availability and who says the smartphone is “pretty much dead” despite its short time on the market. Facebook and HTC announced the First in April as a device to showcase Facebook’s new Facebook Home overlay for Android that essentially takes over Android home screens and replaces them with Facebook content.

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May 9, 2013
Amazon’s first ‘Kindle Phone’ will come with eye-tracking 3D display

We’ve been waiting for a long time for Amazon to get into the smartphone game and now unnamed sources have told The Wall Street Journal that the company has been developing a smartphone with a full 3D screen. The Journal says that “Amazon has been developing a wide-ranging lineup of gadgets, including… an audio-only streaming device” and two smartphones, one of which will have a 3D display. The Journal’s sources say that the 3D display will use “retina-tracking technology” to make “images on the smartphone… seem to float above the screen like a hologram and appear three-dimensional at all angles.” The device could even allow users to “navigate through content using just their eyes,” two sources said. The reported smartphone would mark Amazon’s first attempt to get into the mobile handset business after experiencing some solid success with its Kindle Fire line of tablets. A release date for the new device is uncertain but according to the latest rumors it won’t launch until at least after June.

May 9, 2013
If Windows 8 is New Coke, then the solution is simple: Windows Classic

With Microsoft admitting the need for a course correction with its next version of Windows, some commenters have been lobbing the dreaded “New Coke” comparison at the company, referring to Coca Cola’s calamitous decision in the 1980s to rework its tried-and-true formula for sugary soft drinks. In some ways this comparison is apt because it seems that Microsoft took something that wasn’t broke — in this case, the excellent Windows 7 desktop operating system — and tried to fix it in a haphazard manner. But while it’s true that Windows 7 wasn’t broken from a desktop user perspective, Microsoft’s smartphone and tablet strategy was in desperate need of an overhaul that the company tried to address creatively with Windows 8.

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May 9, 2013
Microsoft yanks bizarre ‘training camp’ ads that compare Windows 8 to watermelons [video]

The good news for Microsoft: It seems to realize that Gap-style dance routines are no longer the best way to sell computers. The bad news: Its new marketing direction involves watermelon kung-fu. Neowin reports that Microsoft’s official YouTube page this week posted and then quickly removed three new advertisements for something called “Windows 8 Training Camp” that all failed to actually show Windows 8 at any point during the ads.

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May 9, 2013
Microsoft may be willing to take Nook off Barnes & Noble’s hands for $1 billion

With Barnes & Noble planning to kill off the Nook in the near future, Microsoft is reportedly willing to take the eReader line off the company’s hands for the cool $1 billion. TechCrunch reports that Microsoft “is offering to pay $1 billion to buy the digital assets of Nook Media LLC, the digital book and college book joint venture with Barnes & Noble and other investors.” Under the terms of the proposed deal, Microsoft would gain control over Nook “e-books, as well as Nook e-readers and tablets,” so it seems that Microsoft is looking to branch out its tablet business from high-end devices such as the Surface to cheaper tablets and eReaders in the future. Barnes & Noble’s shares jumped nearly 25% in pre-market trading on the rumor.

May 9, 2013
Bing’s brand problem: People prefer Google regardless of search results

Here’s some disconcerting news for Microsoft: It may not matter how good Bing really is because most consumers will always assume it’s not as good as Google. Search Engine Land reports that a new study conducted by SurveyMonkey has found that most consumers will prefer any search results that have the Google label on top of them, even if they’re actually the search results pulled up by Bing. When given a choice between Bing search results that are labelled as Google and Google search results labeled as Bing, respondents chose the Google-labeled results by a ratio of roughly 2 to 1. When users were presented with the search results without any labels on them, Google’s lead over Bing shrinks dramatically as 57% chose Google and 43% chose Bing. The study concludes that consumers are “biased toward Google as a result of the brand,” which has been a major reason that Bing has not yet made significant inroads against it.

May 8, 2013
Yahoo trying to wiggle out of its Bing search deal with Microsoft

Yahoo has apparently had enough of Bing powering its searches. An unnamed source tells The Wall Street Journal that Yahoo has been “quietly trying to find a way out of its struggling Web-search partnership with Microsoft… but has so far failed in that effort.” The Journal’s source says that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, a former Google executive, has been trying to free the company from the search deal ever since she took over last year but that Microsoft has been unwilling to cooperate. Mayer wants to scrap Yahoo’s Bing deal because “Yahoo’s revenue per search has been worse under the Microsoft deal than when it operated its own Web-search technology and advertising system,” the Journal writes.

May 8, 2013
Despite data caps, more consumers are adding tablets to mobile data plans

Do capped data plans make LTE connectivity a waste for tablets? Perhaps, but don’t tell that to the millions of people who are adding their tablets to their monthly shared plans. New research from Strategy Analytics has found that more than 40 million tablets are hooked up to either 3G or 4G mobile networks, roughly double the number of tablets that had data plans for 3G and 4G networks in 2012. The firm projects that there will be around 165 million tablets on mobile data plans by 2017, an eight-fold increase from the number of tablets on data plans in 2012. Strategy Analytics analyst Susan Welsh de Grimaldo notes that “while direct mobile broadband subscriptions on tablets represent less than 10 percent of the total tablet installed base in 2012, they were a key driver of positive postpaid net additions at leading operators AT&T and Verizon Wireless in Q1 2013.” The firm’s full press release is posted below.

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May 8, 2013
Yet another Apple supplier reports falling demand for products

The iPhone 5 has come under a lot of scrutiny lately, with both analysts and Apple suppliers claiming that they’ve seen disappointing demand for the device, but now it seems that demand for the iPad mini may be falling as well. Bloomberg reports that iPad mini manufacturer Pegatron is projecting that its second-quarter revenue “will drop 25% to 30% from the previous three months,” which marks the biggest drop since “a 37% decline in the fourth quarter of 2011.” Pegatron CEO Jason Cheng said that falling demand for Apple’s smaller tablet was a significant part of the plunge in revenues, while adding that it’s “not just tablets, also e-books and games consoles, almost every item is moving in a negative direction.” Bloomberg says that the iPad mini accounts than more than 50% of Pegatron’s revenue.

May 8, 2013
LG mystery phone to debut on May 30th, likely the Optimus G2

Tired of seeing Samsung and HTC hog the limelight for Android handsets this spring, LG is planning to launch a new smartphone of its own on May 30th. Per Techradar, LG has sent out press invitations for a May 30th event in Macau for the unveiling of an unnamed smartphone that in all likelihood will be the sequel to the Optimus G. The tagline on the invitation is “ImaGination Begins,” with an emphasis on the “G,” so it’s almost a sure thing that the device will be some new variation of its Optimus G series that includes both the original Optimus G and the new Optimus G Pro. We got our first glimpse of what could be the Optimus G2 in leaked pictures last week, although we still have no idea what kinds of specifications the phone will have.

May 8, 2013
Soaring profits leave Samsung with a $40 billion cash pile

Given that Samsung is one of only two smartphone vendors in the world to post significant profits, it’s not surprising that it has been accumulating a massive pile of cash that it can plug into research and development or even return to shareholders as part of increased dividend payments. The Wall Street Journal notes that Samsung’s latest earnings report shows that the company now has almost $40 billion in cash and cash equivalents, while its net cash position minus debt is around $28.5 billion.

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May 8, 2013
Microsoft names Corporate VP Amy Hood as new CFO

Microsoft has named current Corporate Vice President Amy Hood as its new Chief Financial Officer. The company announced on Wednesday that Hood will replace outgoing CFO Peter Klein starting in June, marking the first time that a woman has held the post within the company. Hood has been working at Microsoft since 2002 and most recently served as CFO of the Microsoft Business Division whose products include Office and other important enterprise software and services. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that Hood “brings the right talents and experiences to the role as we continue to strengthen our focus on devices and services” while adding that “she has been an instrumental leader in… helping lead the transition to services with Office 365 and delivering strong financial and operational management throughout her time on the business.”

May 8, 2013
T-Mobile CEO’s strategy explained: Be cheap and do almost anything for attention

In case you haven’t noticed, T-Mobile CEO John Legere isn’t like most wireless industry executives. For one, he’s actually entertaining to listen to because he’s not afraid to trash his competitors in candid and at times profane terms. This is all part of a carefully constructed strategy, however, and a profile on Legere at The Wall Street Journal makes clear that Legere thinks that he needs to draw attention to himself if he’s going to have any chance of drawing customers away from Verizon and AT&T. In particular the Journal notes that after becoming T-Mobile CEO, Legere “grew his hair out, traded his ties for T-shirts and has started sprinkling his public comments with profanity” to make himself stand out.

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May 8, 2013
Would a switch to Android rescue Nokia? Sadly, probably not

With Nokia continuing to languish, investors have understandably become frustrated with CEO Stephen Elop. As we saw earlier this week, investors implored Elop to reconsider his decision to go exclusively with Windows Phone as Nokia’s mobile platform despite the fact that it hasn’t at all helped the company boost its market share against rivals Apple and Samsung. Elop did nothing to ease investors’ fears by stubbornly asserting that his only “Plan B” was to make his Windows Phone “Plan A” succeed. If Nokia’s fortunes don’t improve markedly by the end of the year, I can imagine shareholders ousting Elop and replacing him with someone who will branch out the company’s operating system portfolio to include Android.

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May 8, 2013
Morgan Stanley: Apple will start building multiple iPhone models in June

The rumors that Apple is preparing several different new iPhone models for release this fall gained more steam on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty said in a research note that Apple suppliers are planning to start building the new models in June and July. Per AppleInsider, Huberty reports that after meeting with multiple Apple component suppliers in Asia, she believes Apple will start manufacturing both a low-cost iPhone and the iPhone 5S over the summer for a likely release date in September. Huberty also says that carriers expect Apple to increase its iPhone shipments over the long haul not only with a low-cost iPhone in the fall but eventually also with a larger 5-inch model that would pit Apple against such noted phablet vendors as Samsung and LG.

May 8, 2013
Windows 8 marketing fiasco deemed even worse than ‘New Coke’

With the Windows Blue update on the way, analysts have already started writing obituaries for Windows 8, the operating system that proved to be immensely polarizing among PC users. While history will likely look upon Windows 8 more kindly than the widely despised Vista, Envisioneering analyst Richard Doherty tells The Financial Times that it will be remembered as the biggest marketing fiasco since Coca Cola decided to rework the formula for its famous soft drink back in the ’80s.

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May 7, 2013
WSJ: The patent wars have been a major bust for all smartphone vendors

While just about everyone is sick and tired of the constant barrage of patent lawsuits among smartphone vendors, it seems that tech companies themselves keep plugging precious resources into suing one another despite having fairly little to show for it. Analysis by The Wall Street Journal has found that “courts have proven as likely to deliver plaintiffs a rebuke as a win, and the slow grinding of the justice system has sapped the impact of the occasional big victories” in patent lawsuits.

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May 7, 2013
T-Mobile says its network pipes gush more data than AT&T [video]

In move that Sigmund Freud would certainly approve of, T-Mobile has released a new ad that claims its network “pipes” are able to gush out more data at a faster rate than AT&T’s, which can apparently only muster a slow trickle. The point of the new ad seems to be that T-Mobile’s network can give iPhone 5 users faster data service despite having very limited LTE availability because it’s not as “overcrowded” as AT&T’s, which is just a nifty way of saying that AT&T has tens of millions more subscribers. T-Mobile has made AT&T its biggest target for ridicule in its “UNcarrier” campaign where it’s been trying to redefine itself as a more consumer-friendly wireless carrier. AT&T so far has responded to T-Mobile’s barbs with a one-word response of “whatever.” A video of the ad is posted below.

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May 7, 2013
Nokia investors spout off at Elop, say he’s put company on ‘the road to hell’

It’s safe to say that Nokia CEO Stephen Elop did not enjoy his chat with investors on Tuesday. Reuters reports that shareholders at Nokia’s annual general meeting said they were losing patience with Elop’s efforts to turn around his company’s fortunes and implored him to reconsider his decision to go exclusively with Windows Phone as the official operating system of all Nokia smartphones.

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May 7, 2013
Tesla CEO in talks with Google about driverless car software

Although we likely won’t see driverless cars on the roads for at least another decade or two, there’s a chance that the first driverless cars we do see will be electric. Bloomberg reports that Tesla CEO Elon Musk “has talked with Google about the self-driving technology it’s been developing, though he prefers to think of applications that are more like an airplane’s autopilot system.” While Musk has been impressed with what Google has done with driverless cars so far, he did say that the company’s current approach of using sensors is “too expensive” and that “it’s better to have an optical system, basically cameras with software that is able to figure out what’s going on just by looking at things.” Musk said that Tesla would work on its own autopilot system for its cars, although he provided no information about when Tesla’s own system would be ready for road tests.

May 7, 2013