Nokia suffers as Europeans turn to smartphones: IDC (Reuters)

HELSINKI (Reuters) – The boom in demand for Apple iPhone and phones with Google Android software collected in the second quarter smartphone sales in Western Europe by 48 percent compared to last year, has fallen during the previous market leader Nokia declined further.

"Smartphones are now dominating the Western European market and mobile vendors with greater consolidation in the segment of their portfolio positions," said IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo.

Nokia has dropped to No. 2 in its domestic market in the first quarter, when Apple has surpassed in smartphones and Samsung Electronics have been so in total sales of mobile phones.

Halved in the second quarter, Nokia's share of the smartphone market in western Europe for three months to about 11 percent, and the Finnish company fell behind in the standings Samsung smartphone, the BlackBerry developer Research In Motion and Taiwan's HTC.

"The Android phones by the will of Sony Ericsson and Samsung HT were able to drive volumes and the largest piece of the agreement shares fall as Nokia Symbian Phones moved to Windows," said Jeronimo.

Nokia's sales have been hit hard by the company tries to smartphones using Symbian aging, it has been dumped in favor of phone Microsoft to sell Windows.

The first Windows phones Nokia are expected to reach the market later this year.

Unlike the smartphone market booming, the global market for mobile phones in Western Europe slipped by 3 percent a year ago – after seven quarters of growth – such as a weakening economy dampened demand.

(Reporting by Tarmo Virk)

Bits: Amazon’s Android Tablet Struggles

Waiting for Amazon to sell a full-fledged tablet feels like waiting for the grass to grow: we know it’s going to happen, but it’s taking an awfully long time.

As we have reported over the last year, Amazon has been readying a color screen tablet that will run the Google Android operating system. Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, has even acknowledged that a tablet project is in the works, saying earlier this year that the company was actively working on a “multipurpose tablet device.”

According to a person who works with Amazon and asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak publicly by the company, Amazon has struggled with a number of issues while building its upcoming tablet.

The company’s choice to pick Android in the upcoming tablet, for example, was not an easy one.

Internally, executives at Lab 126, the division of Amazon which makes the Kindle e-reader line, debated the pros and cons of an Amazon tablet running Android versus Amazon building its own operating system based on the existing Kindle platform.

One of the goals with the Kindle tablet is to enable Amazon to deliver its own rich media services, including its cloud music and streaming video products to Kindle customers. Yet the Android platform already offers the same services through Google and other third party companies.

Executives worried that putting Android on an Amazon tablet would be like opening a new music and video store on a city street already packed with dozens of other music and video stores.

In the end, Amazon realized that if it created its own operating system for its upcoming tablet, it would need to entice developers to build apps on yet another platform. Developers are eager to build for Apple, as evidenced by the over 100,000 apps that are available  for the iPad, and they build for Android, which has hundreds of thousands of apps available for tablets and mobile phones. Hewlett-Packard, with its webOS, and Research in Motion, also with its own operating system, are having a harder time winning developer’s time and they have far fewer apps.

If the Kindle wants to compete with Apple and its highly popular iPad, Amazon realized that it needed to offer services and products beyond just video, music and books. It also has to give customers access to games, social applications and other third party products.

Amazon also ran into trouble with the touchscreen technology it planned to use in the upcoming tablet. Last year, the company purchased Touchco, a multitouch project that grew out of the Media Research Lab at New York University. Touchco uses a technology called interpolating force-sensitive resistance, which is extremely inexpensive, costing as little as $10 a square foot. But engineers have had trouble integrating the technology into the Kindle e-readers because it can reduce the intensity and crispness of the screen.

Amazon has also been working hard to offer a device that is competitively priced compared to other tablets. The person who works the company said Amazon planned to offer its Kindle tablet at a lower price than the Apple iPad, which costs from $500 to $830 depending on memory size and 3G abilities.

To do this, Amazon is building its tablet with the bare necessities inside. Limiting memory capacity, peripherals and choosing to skip a built-in camera in the device, the person said.

According to an Amazon executive with close ties to Mr. Bezos, who could not be named because of his senior role in the company, Mr. Bezos made a decision after the iPad was introduced to try to lure customers onto the Kindle platform by offering less expensive devices.

This can be seen with the company’s price reduction of the Kindle e-reader over the last year. The third-generation Kindle now starts at $140, compared to the original, which sold for $400.

Amazon also hopes to entice customers to its new tablet by offering competitive wireless 3G pricing. Although Apple originally offered unlimited access to AT&T’s wireless 3G on the iPad, the company discontinued this pricing option months after the iPad was introduced. Apple customers have complained that the current 3G pricing options for the iPad were too expensive.

Oracle to question Larry Page in Google patent lawsuit (AFP)

Oracle's Larry Page, Google's application for a patent lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Oracle will be presented to the co-founder Larry Page of Google question, under conditions approved by a U.S. court because the presidency of a patent pitting enterprise software titan against the Internet giant.

Oracle can sell page 'for a maximum of two hours, excluding breaks "to the value of Google Android and intentionally violated the patent in question, Judge Donna Ryu said in a written decision on Thursday.

"(Page) reported the decision whether to acquire Android Inc., and therefore the development and launch of the platform that enables Oracle now violates its patents and copyrights," Oracle's lawyers argued in their application to the court .

"Oracle believes that Mr.Testimony of the page is likely relevant to a number of other important issues in this case, including the value of the offense to Google, "continued the letter.

Google asked the chief executive, Larry Ellison, in the case file.

Oracle accuses Google's Android software infringe the patent computing Java programming language owned by Oracle from the recent acquisition of Java, Sun Microsystems invented

Google denied the allegations of patent infringement and said that he believes the mobile phone manufacturers and other users of the open-source Android operating system are allowed to use Java technology in action.

Google page for the race against the petition and three other current or former officers, in the final weeks of the discovery process, arguing that Oracle was "grinding his teeth with a last minute attempt to cram" more evidence.

Ryu is also Oracle for fixing two of his other goals, Bob Lee and Tim Lindholm.

Oracle this week with Ryu complained that Google does not provide answers to questions about the Mountain View, Calif., non-mobile businesses.

Oracle wants Google to reveal details, such as volume divided by the total research keywords and Web content indexed.

Google has resisted the argument that these facts are irrelevant to the case because the powers Android smartphones and tablet PCs, according to Oracle.

Google told the Sun before it was acquired by Oracle, said that Java is open source, so any software developer to use it, and released some of its source code in 2006 and 2007.

Oracle completed the acquisition of the Sun, when the Silicon Valley star, in January 2010 and subsequently sued Google.

Google's Android-supported software is used in a variety of devices that have gained ground in the fiercely competitive smartphone and global markets tablet.

Google won a round in pre-trial phase, where District Judge William Alsup rejected an offer from Oracle to use testimony from an expert witness who said damages in the case could be as much as $ 6.1 billion.

Alsup ruled that the report of finance at Boston University professor "exceeded in many ways" by taking into account income from Google, which went beyond the Android mobile platform.

"Every stretch aggravates damage more billions – of course in order to see how he could get away with," Alsup justified.

Alsup gave Oracle a chance to enter a revised estimate of damages before the trial was provisionally scheduled to begin in October.

Enterprises Favor iPhone, iPad Over Android Devices (NewsFactor)

Apple's iOS devices continued to be the principal driving force behind the rising adoption of smartphones and tablets in the enterprise space during the second quarter, according to a new report from Good Technology. Significantly more iPad and iPad 2 activations took place in the three months through June than for Google Android-based smartphones and tablets, according to the mobile-device management and security provider.

Apple's iPad and iPad 2 activations (27.2 percent) exceeded Android smartphone and tablet activations (24 percent) for the first time ever. And when smartphones as well as tablets are included in the mix, Apple's iOS drove 75 percent of all enterprise activation activity — with Android accounting for the remaining 25 percent in the second quarter. (Good Technology does not currently track BlackBerry or Windows Phone 7 activations).

"While Android may be gaining smartphone market share with consumers, our business users are clearly gravitating to the iPad and doing so in large numbers," said Good Technology Senior Vice President John Herrema.

"With new devices from Apple expected in the third quarter, we expect iOS to finish the year as strong as it started," the firm's report added.

Apple's Enterprise Dominance

Apple told investors Tuesday that 86 percent of Fortune 500 companies are deploying or testing iPad — up from 75 percent in the prior quarter. "To be this far into the enterprise with a product that's only been shipping for 15 months in the case of iPad is absolutely incredible, because the enterprise is typically much more conservative and takes a long time to evaluate products," Apple COO Timothy Cook said.

The device maker sold more than 33 million iOS devices in the second quarter and now has more than 100,000 iPad-specific apps in its App Store. Moreover, Good Technology reports that the iPhone accounted for 66 percent of all activations in the second quarter, with Android smartphones representing nearly 33 percent.

Android accounted for 30.1 percent of all tablet shipments in the second quarter, according to Strategy Analytics. However, Good Technology pointed out that 95 percent of tablet activations in the enterprise space were iOS devices. Additionally, financial services accounted for 46 percent of net iPad activations among the top 10 industry verticals.

Due to perceived security issues among some IT administrators and corporate users, Android has gained relatively little traction in the enterprise space. And this is likely to remain a niche market for Android tablet vendors in the second half of this year, according to Strategy Analytics Director Neil Mawston.

Android's Consumer Opportunities

The consumer space is where the Android platform is poised to make the most gains in the second half of this year with the launch of new tablets from familiar vendors such as Lenovo and Sony. Amazon.com is also rumored to be interested in entering the Android tablet race later this year, which would "bring fresh excitement and buzz" to the Android community, Mawston noted.

"But Amazon will need to deliver a truly standout offering if it really wants to make headway against the popular iPad," Mawston said.

Barnes & Noble is another possible Android tablet player. "If B&N sticks with e-book readers, then it risks lagging behind Amazon — or being consumed by the surging tablet market," Mawston said.

Mawston thinks Barnes & Noble will eventually have to "bite the bullet" and formally enter the tablet market while hoping that its products can be differentiated enough to stand out from the crowd. "However, B&N is relatively U.S.-centric, and it remains to be seen whether it can generate the scale or brand equity arguably needed to compete with the larger global players like Apple in the long term," he added.

Oracle targets Larry Page in Google patent lawsuit (AFP)

Oracle aims for Larry Page of Google Patents

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Oracle asked a U.S. judge to Google co-founder Larry Page, will undergo questioning in a patent dispute pitting companies against the software titan internet giant.

"(Page) has reportedly decided to acquire Android Inc., and then develop and launch the Oracle platform, which now claims to its patents and copyrights," said Oracle lawyers in a letter to the court.

"Oracle believes that the statement of Mr. Page likely material in relation to a number of other important issues in this case, including the value of his violation of Google," the letter continues.

Oracle was U.S. Judge Donna Ryu had asked Google's CEO Larry Ellison to place in the fall.

Oracle raises Google Android software that infringe on the patents of Oracle Java programming language from the recent purchase by Java inventor Sun Microsystems.

Google has denied allegations of patent infringement, and said that it believes that mobile phone manufacturers and other users of open-source operating system Android is entitled to use Java technology in dispute.

Oracle already purchased deposed Google's senior vice president of Mobile Andy Rubin, a founder of the startup Android, the Google in 2005.

Google is offering for the survey page and three other current and former executives in the last weeks of the discovery process on the grounds that Oracle was "grinding his teeth with an eleventh hour attempt to cram" for several witness statements.

Page testimony may end as a message from District Court Judge William Alsup that he plans to dig into if Google decided to violate patents Sun to avoid the cost of technology licensing.

"It seems possible that early on recognized that Google infringed patents protect at least part of Java, is negotiating with Sun to obtain a license to use Android, so they gave up conversations because they are too expensive and driven home with Android without a license for everyone, "Alsup said in court papers Tuesday.

Oracle and Google Alsup advised to be ready to address the issue at a hearing in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco.

Google has said that the sun before it was acquired by Oracle, had declared that it would open source Java, allowing any software developer to use it, and published some of his sources in 2006 and 2007.

Oracle completed its acquisition of Sun, once star of Silicon Valley in January 2010 and subsequently filed a complaint against Google.

Supported by the Google Android software is used in a wide range of devices that have gained ground in global competition vehemently smartphones and tablet markets.

Three Reasons to Wait on Buying an Android Tablet (ContributorNetwork)

Comment | Do not look now, but you might think to remember to buy an Android tablet without it.

Ask yourself this: "Did I seriously considered buying a tablet as the iPad or BlackBerry playbook?" Then, think what you were probably one tablet with Google's Android operating system, like most PCs run on Microsoft's Windows operating system.

Well, they are not necessarily bad ones. I'm kind of liking for Xoom. But you might want to wait until later this year, if you have your heart set on buying one. Here's why:

The current program is flawed

Do not take it from me, ask the people who bought a Xoom, it was the first tablet tablet version of the Google Android operating, called Honeycomb, and still have some issues to take care of them.This means annoying insects interfere with their games and surfing.

Google is difficult to correct errors, while bringing many of the characteristics of honeycomb Android smartphone version. The result is a new version of Android, called Ice Cream Sandwich, which runs on both tablets and smart phones and hope that has the bug fixed. Should be later this year in time for the holidays.

Think of it this way: honeycomb is Windows Vista and an ice cream sandwich will be Windows 7. Believe me, it is better to wait.

There is almost no applications

It is true that there are thousands of programs in the Android Market. However, most of them are for Android smartphones. More than 65,000 applications designed just for that, and shows no signs of losing momentum.

Applications, it is a tablet, it is likely that you can do what you want and the less likely you will be left behind when the most recent and leaves. So for now, it might be better to wait and see how large the selection grows before committing to buy a tablet Android.

The tablets are much closer to leaving

As the transformer Asus 2, based on the surprise success of Asus Eee Pad transformer. Android These tablets are priced $ 100 less than the iPhone 2, and an additional $ 150 you can buy a dock with a keyboard and a touchpad (in addition to the extra battery life of the transformer). It's like a tablet that becomes a laptop … in contrast to the Atrix Motorola, which was essentially a laptop that works with high-end smartphone plugged into it.

The transformer 2 is expected to have a quad-core processor, and – of course – will run the ice cream sandwich instead of a honeycomb. If you keep the same price of the first transformer, which is not to love? And as it should be out in the fourth quarter, not too long to wait for a more powerful and less buggy compressed.

Jared Spurbeck is passionate about open source software, Android phone that uses a laptop and Ubuntu. It 'was written about technology and electronics since 2008.

Could Over-the-Air iOS Updates Brick Apple’s iPhone? (NewsFactor)

Apple and Verizon Wireless are planning to over-the-air downloads of 5th IOS News broadcasts are heralding the end of the day, when users connect an iPhone to a computer and get a link to iTunes to the latest version of the mobile operating system.

Over-the-air downloads are nothing new. Google Android phones make it. Microsoft Windows Mobile phones do. Hewlett-Packard Palm devices do. So why not Apple?

Michael Disabato, executive vice president of network and telecommunications at Gartner, may consist of several reasons why the over-the-air downloads of IOS 5 would be a bad idea.

Reliability problems

"AT & T network is not reliable enough for me that a 200MB file directly to your phone – the same with Verizon," said Disabato."Even if they put in the operating system that does not mean that network operators will happen admitted -. And if they are smart, they will not be the day Apple released it announced iOS messages that would half the population iPhone try to download, and it crashes on the network. "

While downloading an over-the-air is interesting that it eliminates the need for iTunes in the process of updating to do without Disabato Apple does not control. Update applications on air is one thing, he says, but the updates on the air of the operating system is different.

A "dangerous" Concept

"IOS is a huge file. It took me 18 minutes yesterday evening with a download link to six megabits per second. You do not get six megabits per second over the air," said Disabato."So you're after an hour to download the update from your phone, and may stop in the middle and the brick phone. Then you must connect the phone to iTunes to download."

As Disabato see, would have over-the-air must be bulletproof, unsinkable for people to even attempt the feat – and after the first horror story, nobody would do it again. In essence, if any part of the download is damaged on the way, turns the iPhone into a neat block. It can happen on a wired download too, but it is much less likely.

"It is dangerous. The first thing that happens when you perform an upgrade IOS? It supports the phone. What do you think back to the phone if you download over-the-air? If you don ' not have a backup, then you brick your phone. You can go to the Apple Store and the phone unbricked, but you do not have a backup of your data, "said Disabato."I think this is incredibly bad idea and I do not see Apple allow it."

Nokia Trims Workforce In Anticipation of Phone 7 Shift (NewsFactor)

As you prepare to load their phones with Microsoft Windows operating system is 7 Phone Finnish mobile phone giant drainage control on your Nokia Symbian platform and cutting 7,000 jobs in major restructuring.

Accenture is a global technology services and outsourcing, will be responsible for developing the Symbian platform, which has not taken hold in the important U.S. market as IOS Apple and Google Android, has captured consumers.

Although none of the employees will lose their jobs this year, the cuts affect employees next year in Finland, Denmark and Britain.

Losing Ground

The reduction of 12 percent on their telephony division of labor is part of an effort to cut about $ 1.5 billion at the end of the year.New CEO, former Microsoft executive, Stephen Elop, has recently signed an agreement with his former boss known as a value of $ 1000000000, done to bring the struggle of Windows 7 on Nokia devices. Although still the world's largest maker of mobile phones, Nokia smart phones to Apple's iPhone lost ground on the world market.

In the market research firm Strategy Analytics, said Nokia sold 24 million smartphones in the first quarter by 13 percent over the same period in 2010, but global market share was 39-24 percent.

Symbian is still alive. Two weeks ago, Nokia announced an update to the operating system and two new mobile phones based on Symbian. The update is designed for N8, E7, C7 and C6-01 cell, with improved icons, scrolling, touch-screen keyboards. and navigation. The next X7 and E6 phones with the new version, code-named Anna ship.

Elop said the new Nokia devices running Phone 7 may come during the year. It is perhaps not fast enough for Microsoft, which has struggled to win market after the U.S. launched at the end of last year. Phone 7 experienced a small boost to seven percent of smartphone buyers in March, up from five percent the previous quarter, according to Nielsen.

Windows 7 Phone currently operates a handful of phones from HTC, Samsung, LG and Dell.

Move was expected

Charles King, an analyst at Sterling-IT, said changes in Nokia's "not surprising. It is quite normal for a new CEO to make a kind of radical change in six months or so after he / she was hired."

He said hiring Elop was a clear indication that Symbian's days are numbered."Accenture was moving 3,000 workers to remove the sting a bit, but others cut loose 4000 is still painful," he said. "The question remains whether the alignment of Microsoft can be a successful strategy for Nokia, especially against formidable competitors like Apple and providers using Android. I guess it's a question that we face in the coming year."

Amazon launches streaming music service

Amazon has launched the Android Cloud player or anyone can upload their music and play it on the Internet.

Amazon has just completed streaming music industry with the introduction of cloud-player, a music player that someone upload their music to Amazon servers, and they can play over the Internet or Android.

The new cloud service players adds a new "Save the Amazon Cloud Drive" button to save the Cloud MP3 files to and the ability to drive upload music from a disk for a user-Cloud.

Users get 5 GB of free disk space, but can get 20 GB if they buy an album from Amazon. It is $ 1 per GB thereafter.

Cloud player comes in two variants, an app for the Internet and an Android App counterpart.Both players allow users to upload their own music, create playlists and organize their music.

And since there is a cloud-based platform enables users to access their music and settings from one PC or device Android.

Services more comparable to Cloud Drive is probably Grooveshark, which also allows you to load your music, but Amazon has several great advantages in its MP3 store, its remit payment system permanent and stronger brand awareness.

Google and Apple is rumored to be working on their own cloud-based players, but it looks like Amazon beat them to the punch. Amazon Cloud Player will definitely face a tough challenge with the launch of its streaming music services, especially as the scrutiny and control of Google Android on the iPhone and Apple iTunes.

source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_tech/~3/V__Yuzte8R4/index.html

Amazon Cloud Player Lets You Play Your Music From Anywhere (Mashable)

Amazon has just the streaming music business with the introduction of cloud-player, a music player that anyone can upload their music to Amazon servers and play them on the web or Android.

The new service is a new Cloud Player "Save Amazon Cloud Drive" button to store MP3's on the cloud, and an option to the hard disk load music on the hard disk of the user a cloud. Users get 5 GB of free disk space, but you can get 20 GB, if they buy an album from Amazon. It is $ 1 per GB thereafter.

Cloud player comes in two flavors, an app for Android app counterpart. Both players can create users upload music, playlists, and manage their music. And because it is a cloud-based platform, users can define their music, and settings from a compatible computer or Android device access.

Services more comparable to Cloud Drive is probably Grooveshark, which also allows you to load your music, but Amazon has several great advantages in its MP3 store, its remit payment system permanent and stronger brand awareness.

Google and Apple is rumored to be working on their own cloud-based players, but it looks like Amazon beat them to the punch. Amazon Cloud Player will definitely face a tough challenge with the launch of its streaming music services, especially as the scrutiny and control of Google Android on the iPhone and Apple iTunes.

source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20110329/tc_mashable/amazon_cloud_player_lets_you_play_your_music_from_anywhere