Mobile Internet Solutions » HTC

Sprint drops WiMAX phones for LTE, ‘all’ to get NFC

lesliemanzara — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:23:13 +0000

Electronista, 1/14/2012

Sprint to move phones wholesale to 4G and NFC

Sprint in commentary during CES confrimed that it was dropping WiMAX on smartphones. The initial LTE smartphones were ultimately representing a full-scale switch to the technology for 4G phones, PCMag was told. The carrier was being more aggressive than it had suggested before and, when promising LTE in mid-year, had meant between January and June, Owens explained.

Simultaneously, consumer product marketing VP Trevor Van Norman mentioned to Light Reading that the company planned for NFC (near-field communication) to be a standard feature in every smartphone. While there would be some edge case free or low-end phones tat wouldn’t have it, every other smartphone would get it from now onwards.

The planned switch may have given clues as to future iPhone releases. Sprint has committed to a multi-year deal with Apple to carry the iPhone and would have to either make a special exception for a 3G phone or else knows to expect LTE, NFC, or both. Both technologies have usually been left to Android, where Google takes a piece of Google Offers discounts.

Sprint regularly adopts basic technology first. It picked 4G well before other carriers were ready to deploy. Google helped it become the first to ship with a full NFC payment system in place through Google Wallet on the Nexus S 4G and now the Galaxy Nexus.

On Windows Phone, Owens said the HTC Arrive had sold poorly enough to reduce reasons to “jump back into the fire.” A return might come in August or September, although with who wasnt mentioned.

Sprint drops Nexus One in favor of Evo 4G Electronista Staff, Electronista, 5/10/2010 Sprint rebuffs Google’s own phone for...
Sprint’s first WiMax smartphone called Supersonic, runs Android, say reports Matt Hamblen, Computerworld, 2/3/2010 Sprint has promised a WiMax phone...
Verizon 4G LTE ‘blows away’ Sprint’s WiMAX in 1,000 speed tests Zach Epstein, BGR, 4/1/2011 Sprint is no longer the “4G...

HP throws WebOS to open source community

lesliemanzara — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:40:31 +0000

Iain Thomson, The Register, 12/9/2011

HP will bite the bullet and dump the WebOS operating system on the open source community.

The company made the announcement, as expected, that it would no longer sell the software and instead will transfer the source code, along with the ENYO application framework for WebOS and the remaining components of the user space, to the community in the near future. HP said that it will continue to work on the code, but gave no details of what that support might entail.

“WebOS is the only platform designed from the ground up to be mobile, cloud-connected and scalable,” said Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer, in a statement. “By contributing this innovation, HP unleashes the creativity of the open source community to advance a new generation of applications and devices.”

The move is a pretty humiliating climb-down for HP. It paid $1.2bn for Palm last year, saying it would put WebOS on every PC, printer and tablet that left HP’s factories. WebOS would be available on all HP’s computers as a dual boot option, Leo Apotheker promised, and Touchpad sales would give Apple something to worry about.

The reality proved vastly different, not least for Apotheker. The buying public gave a poor reception of HP’s short-lived Touchpad (unless the price was cut to $99) and developers, who had been at the heart of Palm’s early success, were ignored or fed misinformation. WebOS, despite being, at its core, as good as anything else on the market, began to die from lack of interest and support.

HTC, Samsung, and others had been mentioned as possible buyers for the operating system, but with Android dominant, Apple doing well and Microsoft promising to unleash a tsunami of support for Windows Phone, no one was really going to pay that much for the OS as it stood. It’s now hoped that open source enthusiasts will keep the operating system alive, but essentially that’s the end of the line for Palm’s ambitions in the handheld computing market. ®

How Important Is Open Source To Mobile Devices? Ed Hansberry, Linux Today, 10/28/2009 Open Source software has been...
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Apple, Motorola, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile latest to be sued over Carrier IQ tracking

lesliemanzara — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:49:00 +0000

Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica, 12/5/2011

Apple, Motorola, and three major wireless carriers are the latest to face a class-action lawsuit over a smartphone privacy scandal, with Carrier IQ, HTC, and Samsung also facing allegations that they spy on users with software installed on smartphones. While Carrier IQ makes the software, it is installed on phones manufactured by hardware companies and sold by carriers, providing plenty of targets for lawsuits.

We noted the existence of two class-action lawsuits targeting Carrier IQ, HTC, and Samsung last week. Another was filed in US District Court in Delaware Friday against a bigger roster including Carrier IQ, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA, HTC, Apple, Samsung, and Motorola Mobility. Filed on behalf of four plaintiffs who are iPhone, HTC, and Samsung phone users and also customers of AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, the suit notes that “defendants Samsung, Apple, Motorola, and HTC pre-install Carrier IQ software on cell phones used by its customers on the AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint networks.”

Carrier IQ and its customers say the software only collects diagnostic information to help them improve service, but the lawsuit says that “[i]n addition to collecting device and service-related data, Carrier IQ’s software can collect data about a user’s location, application use, Web browsing habits, videos watched, texts read and even the keys they press.” The suit claims violations of the Federal Wiretap Act, Stored Electronic Communications Act, and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, while demanding monetary compensation as well as a permanent order preventing the defendants “from installing software on cell phones that could track the users’ information in violation of federal law.”

Whether the charges can be proven is unclear. Customers must assent to smartphone privacy agreements that typically allow some sort of data collection, and some security researchers have disputed the claim that Carrier IQ software collects more than is lawful. Carrier IQ has denied any invasion of users’ privacy, while Apple told Ars last week that it used Carrier IQ to record diagnostic information anonymously, and “did not record keystrokes, messages or any personal information for the diagnostic data.” AT&T and Sprint have also told us their use of Carrier IQ software is aimed at gathering information to improve device and network performance, and that they do not collect personal information, like text messages or photos.

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Carrier IQ: How To Find It, And How To Deal With It

lesliemanzara — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:36:01 +0000

Chris Velazco, TechCrunch, 12/1/2011

By now, you’ve probably heard all about Carrier IQ, the mobile logging software that an intrepid researcher named Trevor Eckhart found lurking on a number smartphones from multiple manufacturers and carriers.

According to Eckhart’s research, Carrier IQ is capable of tracking what apps you’re running to where your phone is to what buttons are being pressed — it sounds scary, but Carrier IQ claims that collecting that information ultimately helps end-users.

Carrier IQ maintains they summarize performance information to help improve the quality of a carrier’s customer experiences, but what if you don’t want anyone else to have access to the sort of fine-grained data that Carrier IQ is capable of accessing? Here’s how you can figure out if your phone is affected, and how to go about fixing things if it is.

Does your phone have Carrier IQ?

Eckhart’s original report has shown that Carrier IQ has been discovered on HTC and Samsung devices, and that CarrierIQ counts Sprint among their domestic carrier clients. AT&T also appears to use Carrier IQ on their devices: a member of the XDA-dev forums called AT&T and was told that Carrier IQ is indeed preloaded on the HTC Vivid. Other carriers, including Verizon, Vodafone, and O2 have all denied that they use Carrier IQ on their devices.

Nokia and RIM were also among the companies that Eckhart claimed CarrierIQ provided their “mobile intelligence” services to, but they have vociferously denied the connection. The Verge also reports that the three devices in Google’s Nexus line are free of the logging service, so Nexus devotees can rest easy.

Fortunately, you don’t have to take their word for it, as it’s fairly simple to find out if your device has the tracking service running on it. If you’ve got a rooted device, all it takes is a quick download of Eckhart’s free Logging Test app (currently in its 7th revision). Once installed, hit ‘CIQ Checks,’ and you’ll know almost immediately whether or not your device is affected.

Rooting your device will also be required if you want to get rid of Carrier IQ on an affected device, so do look into it. The ease of the process will depend on your phone — for some its a total breeze while for others (usually newer devices) it can be a bit hairier. A quick Google search for “your device name + root” should get you pointed in the right direction.

What about iPhones?

Most of the original furor around Carrier IQ stemmed from its appearance on Android devices, but recent findings from iOS hacker chpwn has revealed that CarrierIQ exists in one form or another in versions of iOS as early as 3.1.3. For what it’s worth, it seems much less nosy than its Android cousin: chpwn seems fairly convinced that the iPhone variant isn’t able to access “typed text, web history, passwords, browsing history, or text messages,” and therefore isn’t able to send that data along.

While the iOS 5 version seems pretty toothless, chpwn admits that earlier versions of iOS “may send back information in more cases,” so the truly worried should make sure they’re diligent about updates.

What do I do about it?

Well, you could just live with it, but I’ll admit that it’s not a terribly appealing option. iOS users who want to disable logging have it pretty easy here: chpwn believes that in iOS 5, CarrierIQ is enabled during the initial setup process if you opt-in to sending log back to Apple. Since that’s the case, all it takes to disable Carrier IQ is to jump into Settings/About/Diagnostics & Usage, and change the setting to “Don’t send.”

If you’re an Android user and the thought of CarrierIQ unnerves you to no end, you have two options to rid yourself of it.

Uninstall Carrier IQ with the Logging Test app

This is about as straightforward as the process gets: once you’ve installed the aforementioned app, pay the $1 for the Pro key in the Android Market. Once you’ve done that, the option to remove Carrier IQ will be unlocked in the app, although ExtremeTech notes that the process may not always be successful.

Flash a custom ROM

This is a bit more extreme a solution than simply uninstalling the service, but it has its benefits: since many custom ROMs are based of the of the open-source Android code provided by Google, carrier-mandated services like Carrier IQ aren’t an issue. On top of that, a good custom ROM can also help give your aging hardware a shot in the arm thanks to software tweaks and features it may not get otherwise.

This process also requires you to root your device, and can be very tricky for first-time modders. If you decide to go this route, check out the XDA-developer forums for more information on what it takes for your specific device. CyanogenMod is a great first ROM for beginners, and they have a pretty extensive list of supported devices along with tutorials on getting it running.

Leading Mobile Device Makers Pledge Support For Carrier-Led NFC Venture Isis Sarah Perez, TechCrunch, 9/27/2011 Isis, the carrier-led joint venture between...
Apple, Motorola, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile latest to be sued over Carrier IQ tracking Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica, 12/5/2011 Apple, Motorola, and three major wireless...
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Security takes a backseat on Android in update shambles

lesliemanzara — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:43:43 +0000

John Leyden, The Register, 11/21/2011

The majority of Android smartphone users are walking around with insecure devices running out-of-date OS builds, leaving personal and business data at greater risk of attack.

The latest figures from Google’s Android developer web site show that 44.4 per cent of users have the latest version of Android (Android 2.3 or later installed) on their devices. A further 1.9 per cent are running developer builds.

That leaves 53.7 per cent running older versions, the majority of which (40.7 per cent of the total userbase) are running Android 2.2 (Froyo). The stats come from users visiting Google’s App Store over a fortnight.

A study by application security firm Bit9 found that the sheer complexity of the Android ecosystem – in which updates are distributed in different ways and at different times (if at all) based on manufacturer, phone family, phone model, carrier, and geographic location – has meant security has taken a back seat, leaving smartphone users more vulnerable as a result.

Bit9 looked at the 20 most popular Android handsets from the likes of Samsung, HTC, Motorola, and LG. It found many Android smartphone suppliers launch new phones with outdated software out of the box. To make matters worse, many suffer from tremendous lag times in rolling out updates to later and more secure versions of Android.

Six of the 20 surveyed phones are running Android 2.2, a version that shipped 18 months ago in May 2010. A further seven are running builds of Android that are at least nine months old. Only seven of them were up to date.

The average time between when an update is available from Google and when it is pushed to the phone is 185 days – slightly more than six months. For example, across the Samsung models Bit9 studied, the average lag time is over 240 days (over eight months).

In some cases, the phones are not updated at all as the manufacturers shift their focus to newer models, leaving existing customers stranded with insecure software. In many cases, the only recourse a consumer has, if they want the latest and most secure software, is to purchase a new phone, according to Bit9.

Security nightmare for BOFHs

“Smartphones are the new laptop and represent the fastest emerging threat vector,” said Harry Sverdlove, CTO of Bit9. “In our bring-your-own-device-to-work culture, people are using their personal smartphones for both personal and business use, and attacks on these devices are on the rise.”

Android smartphone manufacturers are prioritising form and functionality over security, leaving consumers and businesses at greater risk as a result of running out-of-date and insecure smartphone software. The consumerisation of IT, where more people are using their personal devices at work, is putting companies at risk for data leakage and intellectual property theft. Running around with outdated smartphone software is not just bad practice, it creates real security risks.

For example the DroidDream malware, which moved Google to pull at least 50 apps from the Android Market in March and invoke a “kill switch” to remove those applications from more than 250,000 Android users’ phones, relied on a specific vulnerability in the operating system that Google fixed in its 2.3 (Gingerbread) release and a point release of 2.2.2 (Froyo).

“The malware itself was delivered as a standard app that users had to choose to install, but its ability to take complete control (root) the phone was dependent on the patch level of the phone,” Sverdlove explained.

In August 2011, a vulnerability was discovered that could allow an attacker to hijack the browser. Google fixed this problem in 2.3.5 and 3.1. While no attacks based on the vulnerability have been carried out to date it would be rash to wait until a major attack is underway before patching.

Most minor and major updates of Android include “security updates”, and most Android phones come with manufacturer enhancements and third-party components (eg, Java and Flash) as well. Each of those components is equally at risk if they are not properly and regularly updated.

Despite this need for security updates the distribution model adopted by phone manufacturers and their carriers has created a chaotic and insecure environment in which it can take several months for important updates to be distributed, if at all.

“Manufacturers and phone carriers have shown that when they are in the business of owning software updates, they perform poorly,” Harry Sverdlove, CTO of Bit9 told El Reg. “Their interest is in selling newer phones and carrier contracts; they are not incentivised to prioritise security for existing phones.”

Sverdlove acknowledged there are no easy answers but suggested a number of steps to improve the situation. Much like the PC industry, smartphone manufacturers could relinquish control of the operating system software updates. This process has already been implemented with the Apple iPhone and Google Nexus phone.

Secondly security professionals and consumers need to put pressure on the manufacturers to be more responsible in prioritising security updates. In the meantime, corporations need to evolve to a “secure app store” model and allow only specific devices and trustworthy applications into their environment.

Bit9 does not as yet market services or technology that secures mobile devices. It carried out the research in the interests of raising awareness about what it sees as a growing problem. ®

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Intel Ditches MeeGo Mobile OS for HTML5-Centric Tizen

lesliemanzara — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:21:32 +0000

Sara Yin, PCMag.com, 9/28/2011

After months of speculation, Intel has officially abandoned the Linux-based MeeGo mobile operating system it launched in 2010 with Nokia.

Instead, Intel will focus on Tizen, an open-source Linux build being developped with Samsung. Like MeeGo, a hybrid of Intel’s Moblin and Nokia’s Maemo, Tizen is hosted by the Linux Foundation. At the Tizen Project website, its founders say to expect the first release of Tizen to hit the market in the first quarter of 2012.

“Why not just evolve MeeGo?” wrote Imad Sousou, director of the Intel Open Source Technology Center, in a blog post. “We believe the future belongs to HTML5-based applications, outside of a relatively small percentage of apps, and we are firmly convinced that our investment needs to shift toward HTML5. Shifting to HTML5 doesn’t just mean slapping a Web runtime on an existing Linux, even one aimed at mobile, as MeeGo has been.”

Sousou added that Intel will work with current MeeGo users and developers to transition to Tizen.

The announcement comes just one day after Nokia announced it has begun shipping the Nokia N9, rumored to be Nokia’s last MeeGo-based smartphone. The Nokia N9 features a 3.9-inch AMOLED screen made from scratch-resistant curved glass, an 8-megapixel autofocus camera and HD-quality video capture, a near-field communication (NFC) chip, and no buttons. For more, see our hands-on with the Nokia N9 and slideshow below.

Nokia announced the N9 in June, just one day before CEO Stephen Elop stole its thunder somewhat by teasing the first Nokia Windows Phone device codenamed “Sea Ray.” Days later Elop reportedly said he planned to kill off MeeGo even if the N9 was popular. Ever since strategically adopting Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS back in February, Nokia has been devoting all its attention and support to developing Windows Phone devices, although it hasn’t officially abandoned MeeGo.

Some speculate that MeeGo will go up for sale and get snapped up by either Samsung or HTC. Or perhaps we’ll see it integrated in tablets as promised by four small OS vendors back in May.

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Leading Mobile Device Makers Pledge Support For Carrier-Led NFC Venture Isis

lesliemanzara — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 20:21:52 +0000

Sarah Perez, TechCrunch, 9/27/2011

Isis, the carrier-led joint venture between AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, is today announcing support for its mobile wallet system from the majority of leading device makers, including HTC, LG, Motorola, RIM, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, as well as from NFC hardware provider Device Fidelity.

All of the handset makers are now committed to introducing handsets that will include Isis’ NFC and related technology standards.

Isis represents the carriers’ attempt at inserting themselves into the mobile wallet and mobile payments space in order to compete head on with other mobile wallet providers, including those from credit card companies, banks and platform providers, like Google with its Google Wallet program for Android handsets.

The technology in Isis’ mobile wallet uses NFC, or “near field communication,” which enables short-range wireless transactions at point-of-sale. Instead of swiping a credit card, consumers will be able to simply tap or wave their phone at the payment terminal at checkout in order to complete a transaction, and in some cases, even receive coupons or offers from the merchant.

NFC forecasts vary, with ABI Research estimating 35 million handsets shipped this year, and double that next year. IHS iSuppli has forecasted nearly 550 million handsets by 2015. Meanwhile, Berg Insight AB expects there to be 400 million by 2015. Whatever the true number may be, the consensus is that the technology is years out from consumer adoption.

However, the launch of the Apple iPhone 5 is right around the corner, and it will be a key turning point for NFC’s future, potentially shaking up those analyst estimates. If the iPhone 5 does not include NFC support, then adoption of NFC will lag. If it does offer NFC, the movement will continue its current forward momentum, and likely at a faster pace.

Today’s news from Isis supports the latter theory, given its seemingly reactionary nature. If Apple is moving forward with NFC, competing handset makers would have no choice but to also participate by offering NFC support in their handsets as well. That support doesn’t necessarily have to include a partnership with Isis, of course, but Isis is one of the leading movements in the space.

As for DeviceFidelty, it’s no surprise to see it also officially named as one of the companies powering the Isis mobile wallet, given its position as a leader in contactless technologies, including NFC.

It’s also interesting to hear this news now, when just yesterday, disruptive mobile payments company Square’s COO Keith Rabois boldly declared NFC as having no value, citing lack of merchant interest in the technology. The “merchant adoption” hurdle is valid, of course, but contactless infrastructure is already in more locations than consumers may realize, even if it’s somewhat underused. As of this spring, for example, MasterCard claimed it had approximately 88 million PayPass cards (contactless credit cards) and devices in use at 276,000 merchant locations, plus trials and rollouts underway in 36 countries, including at fast food restaurants like McDonald’s, KFC and Taco Bell, plus retailers like Sports Authority, Best Buy, and gas stations like BP and Hess. Visa offers a similar contactless support through payWave, with over 150,000 merchant locations in the U.S. and over 300,000 locations worldwide.

Contactless infrastructure is an important part to NFC’s adoption because NFC is based on the existing contactless infrastructure around the world. In other words, where there’s contactless support, there can be support for NFC too. This is, of course, assuming that the device in question offers “card emulation” mode, which lets the NFC device behave like an existing contactless card. But that’s the most logical onramp in the contactless to NFC transition, so that will likely be the case with most mobile wallet initiatives.

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AT&T’s 4G LTE network set to go live today

lesliemanzara — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 14:36:10 +0000

Dan Seifert, MobileBurn, 9/18/2012

Today is the day that AT&T has said that its 4G LTE network would become operational and available to general consumers in the five test markets previously announced.

Residents in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio should be able to take advantage of AT&T’s flavor of LTE today. AT&T is the third carrier in the U.S. to launch and LTE network, behind MetroPCS and Verizon Wireless. Currently, AT&T does not offer any smartphones that can take advantage of the faster, next-generation network, but it does sell the USBConnect Momentum 4G modem, Elevate 4G mobile hotspot, and HTC Jetstream Android Honeycomb tablet that can connect to it. Plans for the USB modem and mobile hotspot start at $50 per month for 5GB of data usage, with $10 per GB overage fees. The Jetstream plans cost $14.99 for 250MB of data usage, or $25 for 2GB of usage.

AT&T has committed to launching LTE in 15 markets and covering 70 million residents by the end of the year.

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How does the Google-Motorola deal change mobility?

lesliemanzara — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:12:51 +0000

John Cox, Network World, 8/22/2011

What does Google’s decision to buy Motorola Mobility mean for the future of mobility?

Last week’s mega-mobility-deal throws into relief a range of interrelated issues facing Google, its advertising-based business model, and the role and future of the Android mobile operating system. This mélange feature six key items:

It’s all about the patents.

In this line of reasoning, Google saw its Android mobile operating system under mounting pressure from patent infringement actions by Apple and Microsoft (and separately by Oracle over Java licensing), and bought Motorola for its 24,500 patents and patent applications as a defensive, some say “desperate,” counter-move.

“Google tried to present its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola as an opportunity to ‘supercharge the Android ecosystem,’ but it’s clear that the deal was equally prompted out of desire to protect Android from further patent lawsuits using Motorola’s strong patent portfolio,” writes Nilay Patel, as ThisIsMyNext.com.

Once it takes ownership of Motorola, Google becomes directly involved in two high-profile patent disputes with Apple and with Microsoft. It’s already a direct party in Oracle’s suit over licensing its Java code for Android.

Patel, echoing a widely held view, says the Motorola patents give Google leverage over its rivals: they’ll think twice about starting or continuing Android suits because they open themselves to countersuits based on the Motorola patents, or they can be induced to resolve disputes with a mutually beneficial cross-licensing deal.

“Patents are used often in a ‘horse-trading’ scenario, in which firms grant one another the rights to license each other’s technology,” says Craig Cartier, analyst with Frost & Sullivan. “Google’s pre-Motorola patent weakness puts them at a disadvantage in these scenarios.”

It’s not about the patents.

“Android still has patent issues,” says Bill Morelli, analyst with IMS Research’s wireless group. “The acquisition will not provide much, if any substantive relief from the existing patent lawsuits against both Motorola and Google. In addition, many are seeing this move as an admission by Google of just how weak the Android patent position is.”

The number of Motorola patents don’t speak to their importance or to their value. Florian Mueller, who describes himself as a “intellectual property activist-turned-analyst” and mobile patent consultant (though not an attorney), argues that Motorola’s patent portfolio is actually quite weak. So far, he notes, it hasn’t stopped Apple or Microsoft from filing infringement actions.

“Both disputes are at a fairly advanced stage,” Mueller say. “For example, the ITC [U.S. International Trade Commission] hearing on Microsoft’s initial complaint against Motorola will begin in a week from today. At this stage, Motorola has certainly fired its best shots, and those aren’t really impressive.

Really, it’s all about greater control over Android

“Today, the [Android] platform is “open” but chaotic — because phone-makers get the software for free and can do whatever they want with it, Android is available on some good phones as well as lots and lots of cheap, bad ones,” writes Farhad Majoo in “Android Isn’t Free: How Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility will make it more like Apple” for Slate. “In the aftermath of this deal, Google will seek to exert greater influence over hardware companies. Eventually, the deal will help reduce the number of new Android devices that are released every year, and the few that are released will be of generally higher quality — and sell for higher prices — than what we see in the Android device market today.”

“If they did want to increase control of the ecosystem and also chose to keep the Motorola mobile business, they could limit the customization of the Android experience available to partners like HTC and Samsung, and still drive demand for Android with new handsets, compelling other Android partners to follow,” says Frost and Sullivan analyst Craig Cartier.

But such a move carries risks. Android has grown explosively because its been incorporated into the handset product lines of seven of the top 10 global handset makers, according Bill Morelli, of IMS Research. “Google will need to weigh whether increased control over the Android OS is worth possibly alienating those manufacturers,” he says.

Does Google actually have a “strategy?”

The jury is still out, and a lot experts seem at least uncertain.

“I don’t think it’s entirely clear what Google is planning yet,” says IMS Research’s Bill Morelli. “I can’t imagine that any company would spend $12.5 billion without having some type of strategy in mind. Whether that is a good strategy or not remains to be seen.”

“Usually when a big tech merger happens you can see the logic behind it,” writes Michael Mace, a former executive at Apple and Palm and currently CEO of Cera Technology, an early stage startup. He blogs on the “mobile opportunity.” “Even if you don’t agree with the logic, you understand why they made the deal. But in this case the more I think about it the more confused I get.”

“Did Google buy Motorola for the patents? If so, why isn’t it spinning out the hardware business? Or did Google buy Motorola because it wants to be in the hardware business? If so, does it understand what a world of other problems that will create for Android and the rest of Google? Seriously, if Google tries to integrate Motorola into its business we could end up citing this as the deal that permanently broke Google.”

Motorola had been in acquisition mode with several companies including Microsoft “for some time,” Om Malik reported on his blog GigaOM.com, citing “our sources.”

Microsoft’s interest, mainly for the Motorola patents, brought in Google, just after its failed bid for Nortel’s patent portfolio, which was picked up by a consortium that included Microsoft and Apple. The multi-billion dollar deal moved rapidly forward. “The high-level talks between Google and Motorola started about five weeks ago,” Malik reports. “Google CEO Larry Page and Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha were talking directly, and only a handful of executives were brought into discussions.”

Astoundingly, “Our sources suggest that Android co-founder Andy Rubin was brought into the talks only very recently.”

Motorola stirred the pot. Its top shareholder, billionaire Karl Icahn, publicly urged the company to “monetize” its patents and CEO Sanjay Jha publicly hinted the company was willing both to use its patents as weapons to defend its Android-based products against infringement suits and as a way of collecting royalties from other Android licensees.

“I think Motorola knew they had Google by the balls,” blogs John Gruber, at DaringFireball. “Google needed Motorola’s patent library to defend Android as a whole, Motorola knew it, and they made Google pay and pay handsomely.” He notes that Google’s net income for the latest fiscal year was $8.5 billion, and $6.5 billion last year. “That’s for all of Google. They’re offering $12.5 billion for Motorola. So Google just spent almost two years of its profits to buy a second-rate phone maker that itself is unprofitable, almost went bankrupt, and is arguably only the third-best maker of Android devices, behind HTC and Samsung.”

No matter what they say publicly, Google’s Android partners are not happy.

“Given the very high stakes involved, and Google’s past history of contentious relationships with its partners, and the onling legal issues that Android is facing, all of the Android licensees are carefully evaluating all the options that are available to them,” Morelli says.

“The Android ecosystem is here to stay and this move [with Motorola] would not push partners away from Android completely,” says Craig Cartier, at Frost and Sullivan.

But some analysts think Google is prepared to make them unhappier still.

Aberdeen’s Andrew Borg is one who thinks Google may use Motorola to offer Android devices – gPhones and gPads under a Motorola label — at very low cost or possibly even free, subsidized by its ad revenues. “Ultimately we believe Google’s end-game is about ad delivery, not handset domination, so they will make judicious choices that keep their dominant position in digital ad delivery on a global basis, while keeping the OEMs in tow for as long as possible,” he says.

Florian Mueller voices a similar view. “Google’s vision for this world is that all information and communications technology products and services should have a price of zero, or at least a profit margin of zero, as long as Google can sell advertising to McDonalds, General Motors, banks, insurance companies, etc,” he says. “To make this happen, Google uses Android, and also Chrome, as a tool to lock end users into its services.”

Whatever it is, Wall Street doesn’t like it.

“Their biggest challenge will be to appease Wall Street and institutional investors to sit tight and watch them [Google] execute on their global plans for the long term, despite the imminent dilution of profit margin,” says Andrew Borg, senior research analyst for wireless and mobility, at Aberdeen Group. “Mix high-margin ad revenue with low-to-no-margin hardware business and dilution becomes inevitable.”

So far, investors are unappeased.

The day after Google announced the deal, Standard & Poor’s analyst Scott Kessler today cut his rating on the search engine’s stock to Sell from Buy, and cut his 12-month price target on the stock to $500, from $700. He’s unsure about whether Motorola’s patents will do much to protect Android, and he’s pretty sure that the deal “would negatively impact GOOG’s growth, margins and balance sheet.”

Referencing Kessler’s analysis, Forbes reporter Eric Savitz noted last Tuesday that “Google’s market cap has been trimmed by $8.7 billion in the last two days, suggesting serious doubts among investors about the company’s strategy.”

At end of day Thursday, the stock continued its all-week slide, closing at $504.88, down $28.27 or 5.30% for the day.

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Skype enables video on more Android smartphones

lesliemanzara — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 13:49:02 +0000

Mikael Ricknäs, IDG News Service, 8/4/2011

Seventeen smartphones and tablets are now on Skype’s list of compatible products

Skype has released version 2.1 of its application for Android, which allows more smartphones and tablets based on Google’s operating system to use its video calling feature, it said in a blog post on Thursday.

The company published a list of 17 devices that can now make video calls, including the HTC Desire, HTC Thunderbolt, Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy Tab and Sony Ericsson Xperia Play.

Initially, the HTC Desire S, Sony Ericsson Xperia neo, Sony Ericsson Xperia pro and the Google Nexus S were the only phones compatible with the feature.

Users with Android 2.2-based smartphones that aren’t on Skype’s list should still be able to make video calls, according to the company. The feature can be enabled by going into “Skype settings” after launching the application and selecting “enable video calling.”

If a user can’t see the video calling settings, it means their Android phone does not meet the minimum requirements needed, according to Skype.

In addition, the new version of Skype for Android has bug fixes and performance enhancements, which should further improve the user experience of Skype on Android-based smartphones.

The updated application can be downloaded from Android Market or Skype’s website.

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