Category: Mobile

Google is not happy with Microsoft’s attempt to remove YouTube ads for Windows Phone users. The Verge reports that Google has asked Microsoft to remove YouTube from the Windows Phone app store because Microsoft has allegedly created its own version of the app “without Google’s consent” and “with features that specifically prevent ads from playing.” Since Google makes its money primarily through online advertisements, it’s not surprising that it would be upset at another company removing the ads, even if it does deliver a better user experience. In a cease and desist letter sent to Microsoft, Google says that “by blocking advertising and allowing downloads of videos, your application cuts off a valuable ongoing revenue source for creators, and causes harm to the thriving content ecosystem on YouTube.”

At the 2013 SAP SapphireNow conference in Orlando this week, SAP announced a unified strategy for its cloud portfolio, entrance to the sports and entertainment market, and a new mobile secure portfolio of products. The online conversation for the event can be followed on Twitter hashtag #sapphirenow.

SAP HANA Cloud Platform

SAP announced a unified strategy and vision for its broad cloud portfolio, combining enterprise solutions with the simplicity of cloud on SAP HANA Cloud Platform. The unified SAP cloud portfolio will empower customers to leverage and extend their existing investments with multiple deployment choices – whether in their data center, the public cloud, the managed cloud or a hybrid environment to help meet the changing needs of any organization.

At the SAP Sapphire Now conference the company highlighted new solutions that are expected to transform the sports and entertainment industry, the company’s 25th and newest vertical industry market. The SAP for Sports & Entertainment solution portfolio is designed to add value and new experiences for everyone, from ardent concert fans to the most intense sports fanatics. Kevin Plank of Under Armour has worked with SAP for more than a decade to research, develop, manufacture and distribute Under Armour product.

“The sports and entertainment industry understands what it takes to turn consumers into passionate fans of the brand,” said SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott. “The world-class organizations represented on stage at SAPPHIRE NOW today – and many more across the world – are embracing the value that breakthrough technologies such as SAP HANA, the SAP Cloud portfolio and advanced CRM and ticketing can bring to the fan experience. We expect that our 25th and newest industry vertical will touch literally billions of people who love concerts, entertainment and sports, and help give them an unprecedented level of enjoyment and attachment.”

SAP Mobile Secure Portfolio

SAP unveiled SAP Mobile Secure, an enterprise mobility management solution portfolio designed to provide customers with enterprise-grade security for devices, apps and content. This new portfolio optimizes the mobile experience for users of today’s most popular mobile devices. SAP Afaria, cloud edition, addresses the demand for a convenient, reliable and low-cost solution that provides a way to manage security risk with or without any prior SAP infrastructure.

“Cyber security is increasingly a board room priority, and as such, iron-clad mobile security is job one for all CIOs and CISOs to execute their mobile strategy,” said Sanjay Poonen, president of Technology Solutions and the Mobile Division, SAP. “With SAP Mobile Secure, we want to make it easy for CIOs to bring comprehensive mobile security to all layers of their mobile infrastructure at the lowest TCO possible. The SAP Mobile Secure solution portfolio is integrated with the SAP Mobile Platform, allowing developers to build in security at the right time. SAP Mobile Secure is designed to scale to millions of devices and even support large-scale ‘Internet of Things’ use cases. SAP has a strong heritage in security and we are excited to bring our assets and expertise to the mobile market.”

With its I/O Developers Conference in full swing on Wednesday, Google took the wraps off its redesign of Google Maps for mobile devices. As revealed in an earlier leak, Google Maps has been updated with a brand new layout, new search features and new ways to highlight the “things that matter most.” The latest version of Google Maps for mobile devices is fully integrated with Zagat restaurant ratings, Google Offers and includes enhanced navigation with real-time updates for accidents. The update will hit the iPhone, iPad and Android devices this summer. Google also redesigned the Maps user interface on the Web to better match up with the company’s mobile offering.

Continue reading…

During what may be one of the longest keynotes in history, Google on Wednesday announced a number of new features for its core search product under the heading, “the end of search as we know it.” The company has updated its intelligent search feature “knowledge graph,” which now anticipates future searches based on past and current queries. So a search for “what is the population of India?” might also display the population of neighboring countries or all of Asia. Google search also now offers more personalized search results as well. For example, searching “what time is my flight?” will return an intelligent response based on flight confirmation emails in Gmail, even though the user did not offer any specific details in his or her query.

Continue reading…

According to Google, the abandonment rate of shopping carts on mobile is a whopping 97%. With that, they’re providing an HTML5 autocomplete function in mobile Chrome to fill out info in three steps: checkout button, review billing and shipping, and submit. That’s down from these 21 steps, as outlined during today’s Google I/O keynote:

1. Checkout Button
2. Sign in or Guest
3. Billing name
4. Credit Card Type
5. Cred Card Number
6. Expiration – MM
7. Expiration – YY
8. Credit Card CSC
9. Billing Address
10. Billing City
11. Billing State
12. Billing Zip
13. Billing Country
14. Shipping Address
15. Shipping City
16. Shipping State
17. Shipping Zip
18. Shipping Country
19. Shipping telephone
20. Contact Email
21. Submit

So yeah, it’s easy to see where Google’s model could be a bit more helpful.

The Verge, liveblogging the event, says, “BIg play from Google to take its payment service to mobile in a subtle way.”

New web platform payment feature will make it easier to fill out forms and shop on mobile.#io13 #keynote #io13chrome

— Google Developers (@googledevs) May 15, 2013

An important tip for webmasters: add autocomplete to your web forms: youtube.com/watch?v=wtZOIV… Helps with mobile checkout. #io13

— Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) May 15, 2013

Vox is a mobile VoIP client for Android that will soon break out to other mobile platforms including BlackBerry 10. Expected to launch at the end of 2013 it looks like BlackBerry 10′s VoIP, IM, and video conferencing options are becoming plentiful.

Vox originally launched in 2005 as a competitor to Vonage and has been transitioning to the mobile ever since. By next year they should be running on all cylinders and supporting the top 4 smartphone platforms. The app also has the ability to call mobile phones in certain regions like the UK, Mexico, India, Pakistan and Vietnam.

Click here for details on the current Vox app on Google Play.

Google is offering a version of the Samsung Galaxy S4, arguably one of the top current Android devices, with Jelly Bean 4.2 unlocked on Google Play beginning June 26, the company revealed at I/O today. The news is big because it’s the first non-Nexus device to get blessed with this opportunity, and Google says it will be updated in time with all other Nexus devices.

The Galaxy S4 will cost $649 with no contract, and will be usable on both AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S., Google said today. At that price it isn’t exactly cheap, but people are probably willing to pay for an untouched Android experience on some of the most powerful smartphone hardware available.

The S4 is not only carrier unlocked, but it also has a fully unlocked bootloader. That means that owners of the device can load their own software on to the device, including things like CyanogenMod, which allows for extremely deep device software customization options. In other words, this new unlocked S4 will essentially be the ultimate developer plaything, but again it’s likely to have more or less niche appeal because of the high price tag.

What’s interesting about this is that Samsung emphasized all its software additions to the stock Android experience at the Galaxy S4 launch event, and this is basically stripping all that away. Reviewers seemed more or less overwhelmed by Samsung’s software smorgasbord, so this might result in a much better device overall.

There are still two hours left in Google’s I/O 2013 keynote, but there have already been some big announcements… for developers. Product news is flowing too now, thankfully, and Google just announced a new version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 that runs a stock version of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Google will sell the phone unlocked with 16GB of memory for $649 beginning June 26th, and it will support T-Mobile and AT&T networks, including AT&T’s LTE network.

Continue reading…

Google just kicked off this year’s Google I/O conference and we’re in store for quite a show. The keynote is scheduled to run for three hours — yes, three hours — and Google SVP Sundar Pichai started off the show by announcing cumulative Android activations have now reached 900 million. Google also announced Google Play has topped 48 billion app installs, including 2.5 billion installs in the last month alone. Revenue per user for Android apps is now 2.5 times more than it was a year ago, according to Google.

Continue reading…

Google’s annual Google I/O conference is the biggest event of the year for Android and the rest of Google’s always expanding product portfolio. Google’s keynote at this year’s I/O is set to be an absolute beast, with three straight hours of announcements and demos set to kick off at 12:00 p.m. EDT, 9:00 a.m. PDT. The next-generation Nexus 7 is expected to be among the stars of the keynote, as is a new version of Android and maybe even Google’s X Phone. What else does Google have in store for us? Live streaming video of the Google I/O keynote can be viewed below, and all of our I/O coverage can be found on this page.

Continue reading…

Google’s action-packed Google I/O keynote now may include one less surprise. As details of Google’s big announcements continue to leak, Geek reports that one device set to debut on stage at I/O is a brand new version of Samsung’s popular Galaxy S4. The “Galaxy S4 Google Edition” will reportedly be a Pure Google version of Samsung’s flagship smartphone. According to the report, it will run stock Android (perhaps version 4.3, which is rumored to be unveiled at the show as well) and it will launch in June with support for T-Mobile’s network.

Continue reading…

Google plans to unveil Android 4.3, an updated version of its popular mobile operating system, at the Google I/O conference on Wednesday. The news won’t come as much of a surprise to those who follow the mobile industry closely, since rumors to that effect have been swirling for weeks. Android 4.3 is now confirmed, however, as a Google search result discovered by Verge references the new Android build in a page that will soon go live on the Android developer website. Google’s I/O keynote is scheduled to begin at 12:00 p.m. EDT, and BGR will be bringing you all the news as it breaks. A screenshot of the Google search result mentioning Android 4.3 follows below.

Continue reading…

It was all but certain even before Samsung launched the Galaxy S4, but now it appears to be official: the Galaxy S4 is Samsung’s fastest-selling smartphone ever. Korea-based  paper The Chosun Ilbo on Wednesday quoted an unnamed Samsung executive who shed some light on the blistering pace of Samsung’s S4 channel sales. In just five days following the smartphone’s launch, Samsung apparently sold 4 million units into channels. For comparison, the first Galaxy S line took 85 days for shipments to reach 4 million handsets, the Galaxy S II took 55 days and the Galaxy S III took 21 days. Through May 10th, two weeks after the Galaxy S4 began shipping, the anonymous executive said channel sales reached 6 million units. He also believes Samsung is on track to sell 10 million Galaxy S4 phones into channels by the end of May, which would be on par with analysts’ expectations.

Google Glass is expected to be a pretty big focus at Google I/O this year, but it’s still unclear how the public at large will receive Google’s connected eyewear when it launches next year. In an effort to assess its odds in the U.S. market, BiTE Interactive commissioned YouGov to conduct a study on the matter. According to a poll of 1,000 American smartphone owners aged 18 and above, “only” one in 10 respondents said they would be willing to wear Google Glass regularly, regardless of the device’s price. The study also found that 45% of those polled said they believe Google Glass is “too socially awkward” or “too irritating” to wear, and 44% said they simply don’t find any of Glass’ known features to be desirable.

Continue reading…

Apple is getting closer to launching the next version of the iPhone later this year. If the Cupertino, Calif.-based company wants to keep up with Samsung, Google and others, it needs to innovate. And fast. That’s where the tip of your finger comes in to play.

Continue reading…

With Microsoft planning to release an overhauled version of Windows 8 over the summer, some may be wondering when the company will give a similar treatment to its Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system. The answer, says ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley, is likely not until 2014. Instead, Foley’s sources say that Windows Phone users can expect three smaller updates to roll out throughout the rest of 2013 in preparation for a more substantial update sometime next year. These updates will include “support for CalDAV and CardDAV, so that it will continue to work with Google contact and calendar syncing services” and will “reintroduce support for FM radio… a feature which was part of the Windows Phone 7 operating system platform, but which was cut for Windows Phone 8.”

Verizon CFO Fran Shammo revealed on Tuesday that one-third of the carrier’s postpaid customers are now on one of its Share Everything plans, Fierce Wireless reported. The executive said that adoption of the plans has been better than expected and he believes they will continue to contribute to Verizon’s growth. The number is an increase from last month when the company estimated that 30% of its postpaid subscribers were using a shared data plan. Shammo noted that customers on one of Verizon’s Share Everything plans generally use more devices such as a hotspot or tablet, which in turn will use more data and generate more revenue. The executive said that Verizon has no plans to change its current pricing strategy in the wake of T-Mobile’s new UnCarrier intuitive, although he said the carrier may give customers “more options to buy a phone,” likely referring to T-Mobile’s new smartphone installment plans.

It may be time for Steve Ballmer to crank up his famous “Developers, developers, developers!” chant again if it will get software developers more excited about Windows Phone 8. Sameer Singh at Tech-Thoughts has charted the growth history of the three major mobile app stores and has found that Windows Phone’s app store is lagging behind where iOS and Android were 30 months after their initial launches. What’s more, he’s found that the additions of new apps to the Windows Phone 8 app market have markedly slowed over the past six months, whereas iOS and Android both saw significant rises in app additions over the same periods after their initial launches. Singh speculates that the slowdown in interest from developers is due to “limited install base, low user engagement, monetization challenges and regional developer restrictions,” among other factors.

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins announced on Tuesday at the BlackBerry Live event in Orlando, Florida that the company’s BlackBerry World storefront is now home to 120,000 applications, including both native BlackBerry 10 apps and ported Android apps. The platform continues to see steady growth, having recently added 20,000 applications in less than two months. BlackBerry 10 still suffers when it comes to the quality of apps, however. Earlier reports claimed that ported Android apps made up more than 20% of BlackBerry World’s offerings, while others were found to be low quality web apps. Popular apps such as Instagram and Netflix are still nowhere to be found. In fact, BlackBerry 10 only offers 34% of the most popular apps found on Android and iOS.

BlackBerry’s wryly jovial CEO Thorsten Heins spent quite a bit of time talking up the new mid-range Q5 at this morning’s BlackBerry Live keynote address, but the folks in Waterloo may be working on a follow-up smartphone that’s staggeringly different from the one we saw today.

According to a report from KnowYourMobile, the struggling Canadian company is working an all-touch BlackBerry smartphone with a 5-inch display. KnowYourMobile’s Richard Goodwin goes on to note that the device is currently in testing being tested at by unnamed Canadian wireless carrier, and the anonymous tester providing the info pointed out that the device would make its official debut within the next few months.

For what it’s worth, Jefferies’ analyst Peter Misek foretold of a 5-inch BlackBerry 10 device last month, but his track record with this sort of thing isn’t exactly sterling. It should go without saying that you should be taking all of this with a mighty big grain of salt, but it’s an intriguing notion to consider.

I mean, let’s assume for a moment that this report is accurate and that such a device really is being worked on behind closed doors — it’d be quite a bold move on BlackBerry’s part. It’s not hard to see that a considerable chunk of people have embraced large form factor smartphones, and it’s possible that BlackBerry wants to cash in on that consumer fervor. Then again, this whole thing is just loaded with question marks that could trip BlackBerry up as it works to reverse its fortunes.

By embracing so many form factors so quickly, BlackBerry runs the risk of alienating users who have perhaps prematurely pulled the trigger on an earlier model. It doesn’t help that there’s plenty of competition in the hefty smartphone space, either. Samsung is leading that particular pack with Android-powered devices like the Galaxy Note II, but rivals like LG and Sony are working to give the Korean juggernaut some competition. Couple that with persistent rumors that Apple is working on a larger smartphone of its very own and BlackBerry’s 5-inch follow-up may wind up facing the same issues with standing out as the company’s current hardware crop does.

The Q5 is a device that needed to exist — after all, a huge chunk of BlackBerry’s userbase can be found in developing markets where relatively few people could comfortably shell out the money necessary for an up-market device like the Z10 or Q10. If all goes according to plan, the Q5 may be the phone that helps BlackBerry maintain its strongholds across the globe. But a 5-inch BlackBerry? Heins and company will have to make an awfully strong argument for if it wants the world to give it a shot.