July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Intel’s long years investing in mobile processors are about to pay off with its biggest win to date. We’ve confirmed that the next Samsung Galaxy tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3, will have an Intel Atom chip based on the Clover Trail code name.

A source familiar with the matter confirmed to us that Samsung has chosen the Intel chip over other competing ARM-based solutions, including Samsung’s own Exynos mobile processors. If it’s true, that could mean that Intel’s mobile processor business is finally getting some traction.

Benchmark testing sits leaked that news this week. The GFXBench site and the SamMobile site noted the Intel chip appeared to be inside a device dubbed the Samsung Santos 103 tablet with the product name GT-P5200 running Android on an Intel Clover Trail chip. Various sites concluded that was Samsung’s third-generation Galaxy Tab slate, which has a 10.1-inch touchscreen.

Test results say the device has a 1,280-by-800 display and is running Android 4.2.2 operating system. The processor can run between from 800MHz to 1.6GHz in terms of clock speed. That’s within the stated capabilities of the dual-core Atom Z2520 processor. The Intel chip is made in a 32-nanometer high-k metal gate manufacturing process.

Other sources have noted that the Samsung tablet will come in multiple versions and will have an Exynos processor. That may mean that Intel has just one of the versions. Other rivals competing for the business include Nvidia’s Tegra chip.

Intel expects to make more progress in mobile over time. It is releasing chips now with the code-named Haswell microarchitecture that will improve power efficiency and graphics performance dramatically. The graphics will be twice as good as previous Atom chips, and active power will be 50 percent better.

Intel will release new information in a talk at the upcoming Computex trade show in Taiwan. That will include new designs and upcoming low-power chip microarchitectures including Silvermont (used in Bay Trail tablets for this holiday), Avoton (for micro servers) and Merrifield for smartphones.

We all know Microsoft likes to challenge its competitors head on, especially Google. Now Microsoft is taking a swing at Apple in a new 30-second advertisement that uses Siri’s voice to make fun of the iPad.

The ad shows a Windows 8 tablet sitting side-by-side with the iPad. As the Windows 8 tablet shows off various functions — like updating its tiles or moving through a PowerPoint presentation — Siri admits that she can’t help with those things. Finally Siri says, “Should we just play Chopsticks?” The tagline for the ad? “Less talking. More doing.”

At the end of the video, it shows two prices — $699 for a 64GB iPad and $449 for the 64GB Asus VivoTab Smart running Windows 8. Microsoft also has a dedicated comparison page set up to compare the original iPad to Windows 8 tablets on the market.

Check out the video above to see the combative ad.

Hewlett-Packard is unveiling a small army of computers today that will use Intel’s next-generation microprocessors, code-named Haswell, for better processing without an increase in power consumption. The new products are HP’s latest bid to get its mojo back and to embrace the change wrought by tablets on the struggling PC industry.

Some of the devices are already shipping, but many are still waiting on Intel’s official release of the Haswell processors, which are due in early June. The Haswell processors are built in a 22-nanometer manufacturing process that enables both faster processor speeds and low power consumption, mainly by combining graphics and processor functions on a single chip. Haswell promises twice the graphics performance of last year’s Ivy Bridge processors.

Intel introduces major processors about once a year or so, and HP is using the occasion to launch a wholesale redesign of its computers. It is launching a new lineup of laptops, all-in-one computers, and desktops. All of the devices are thinner, stronger, and sleeker in design.

Among the new offerings are a bunch of thinner, lighter, and faster touchscreen laptop computers. They include the HP Envy TouchSmart 14 Ultrabook, with a 3,200-by-1,800 full high-definition touchscreen display, better battery life, Intel’s Haswell, and a 10-point multitouch screen. That model will ship on June 26 for $700. Such low prices mean that Intel-based Ultrabooks will finally reach a sweet spot of good battery life, good performance, and lower prices. The HP Envy TouchSmart 15 notebook (pictured right) also has a full touchscreen with Beats Audio. it will be available on June 5 for $530.

The HP Envy 17 notebook computer will come with a 17.3-inch screen, an Intel processor and Nvidia graphics. It has 2TBs of hard disk space, Beats audio, and a full-HD display. It will start selling on June 5 at $700.

HP is also launching new versions of its mainstream consumer Pavilion-branded computers. The HP Pavilion TouchSmart notebook is a thin laptop with a capacitive touchscreen and 10-finger gesture support. It will sell for $400 starting on June 26. The HP Pavilion 15 notebook will have a 15.6-inch display, a 1-terabyte hard drive, and an optical drive, and it will come in a variety of colors. It will sell on June 5 starting at $430.

As for desktops, HP is introducing a cool new all-in-one PC dubbed the HP Envy Rove 20. The device has a 20-inch touchscreen that you can fix at a variety of angles. You can also lay the device flat.

The device also comes with a built-in battery that can last for three hours while unplugged. In other words, it’s a giant touchscreen tablet running Windows 8. The machine uses Intel integrated graphics and Haswell processors. It has an in-plane switching (IPS) panel with wide viewing angles and 10-finger multitouch. It has Beats Audio and comes installed with software including EA Monopoly, Fingertapps Jigsaw Wars Puzzle, Fingertapps Musical Instruments, and Disney Fairies. It will debut in July for an undisclosed price.

HP is also launching the HP Pavilion TouchSmart 20 and 23 all-in-one PC models. These feature five-point optical touchscreens, widescreen displays, and new processors from both Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. The hard drives have up to 2TBs of storage. The machines have HP TrueVision WebCams and 25GBs of free Box cloud storage for U.S. users. The 20-inch model will sell for $620 starting June 23, and the 23-inch model will sell for $750 on June 5.

HP is also launching a series of new desktops. The HP Envy Phoenix 800 Desktop PC will have both Nvidia discrete graphics and Haswell processors. It will start selling on June 5 for $1,100. The HP Envy 700 Desktop PC will offer a choice of AMD processors or Haswell processors. It will be available on June 5 for $600.

The HP Pavilion 500 Desktop PC will have Haswell with a choice of discrete graphics from Nvidia or AMD. It will start selling on June 5 for $490. The HP Pavilion Slimline 400 Desktop PC will come with Haswell processors and Nvidia discrete graphics chips. It will start selling on June 30 exclusively at Best Buy starting at $400. And HP is launching the HP 110 Desktop PC. This low-cost machine has Intel processors or AMD processors, up to two terabytes of hard disk storage, and a 6-in-1 media card reader. It will be available on June 5 starting at $290.

HP is also extending the Envy brand name to its printers. The new products include the HP Envy 4500 e-All-in-One and the HP Envy 5530 e-All-in-One printers. Those printers are able to print from both mobile devices and web pages. They’re packaged in compact enclosures and offer Instant Ink subscriptions, which make it easy for a home user to get ink refills. Pricing for the printers will be announced later this summer.

Last week, HP unveiled a couple of new consumer notebook computers. Those included the HP Split x2, a laptop that can be used as a clamshell device or converted into a tablet by detaching the keyboard. Such 2-in-1 designs are an example of wider innovation in the PC industry and an attempt to change with the times. The HP Split x2 has a 13.3-inch touchscreen and two batteries. The Split x2 will sell for $800. HP also unveiled its HP SlateBook x2, an Android tablet that can be used either as a tablet or a laptop. It features an Nvidia Tegra 4 mobile processor and a 10.1-inch diagonal screen. The HP SlateBook x2 will sell for $480.

Hewlett-Packard chief executive Meg Whitman said that “you can feel the turnaround taking place at HP” in the company’s earnings call today. She touted that the company hit its earnings per share target, but she ignored that the company’s revenue fell short in her celebratory comments.

But in a conference call with analysts, Whitman took a swipe at Dell, which is amid a struggle to go private under founder Michael Dell. After hours, HP’s stock is up 13 percent on the stock market, at $24.09 a share.

“You saw a competitor, Dell, completely crater earnings,” Whitman said in response to a question. “Maybe that is what you do when you are going private. We are setting up the company for the long term.”

She implied that Dell did that on purpose, since Michael Dell is motivated to repurchase shares in the company as cheaply as possible, and deliberately lowering earnings is a good way to get the share prices to fall. Dell spokesman David Frink said, “We won’t have any comment on her remarks. We’re confident in our strategy, growing our enterprise solutions business and our share in the important x86 server business.”

Whitman is probably more than a little angry at Dell because it and other PC makers evidently competed aggressively on price at the low-end of the PC business, stealing market share away from HP, which saw its consumer PC unit sales fall 29 percent in the second fiscal quarter ended April 30. HP hit its earnings targets, but it fell short on revenue, reporting earnings per share of 87 cents on revenue of $27.6 billion today.

Whitman said she could see the turnaround taking place based on conversations with employees, customers, and partners. But she reiterated that the turnaround is a multiyear journey.

While it isn’t as cool as Apple and it doesn’t make games like Microsoft, HP is a critical piece of the electronics industry, as it straddles both the consumer and enterprise markets across a bunch of product lines. The company has $120 billion in annual revenue (the biggest in the industry by that measure) and more than 330,000 employees. It has made 70 acquisitions in the past 15 years, but its stock price has been hurting lately.

“I must say I am encouraged with where we are,” Whitman said.

She said HP is investing in innovation, bringing cost in line with revenue, improving profits, lowering its debt, optimizing cash flow, and exceeding financial performance. In the call, Whitman said the balancing act was tough when it comes to taking market share or growing profits. At the low end of the PC market, HP lost share and gave up some business rather than lose money on deals. She said the team is evaluating what it can offer at the low end.

She said HP was getting better at electronic commerce, making its e-ordering portal more streamlined in the quarter and reducing cycle time for quotes up to 20 percent in Asia.

Meanwhile, she said she was cautious about guidance for the second half of the year, noting “macroeconomic headwinds” as Europe and China slow down economically. In printers, Whitman said HP was doing well as it moves to high-end printer and ink sales. She said HP gained strength with products like a new OfficePro printer, high-value ink, and multifunction printers. She said HP will roll out a subscription-based service for ordering ink in the home.

Whitman didn’t dwell on HP’s controversial $10 billion acquisition of Autonomy, which is the subject of litigation. She said that the division was starting to generate revenues thanks to turnaround efforts.

But she did say that the $1.6 billion 3Par acquisition is paying off nicely for the storage company, with a revenue run rate above $1 billion. HP launched its Moonshot server at the “hyperscale” server market. The server is 89 percent more energy efficient than HP’s Proliant servers. It uses less 80 percent space, and reduces complexity by 97 percent while costing 77 percent less. That product will take time to grow it sales, Whitman said. HP’s switching revenue also grew in the quarter while its largest competitor declined, Whitman said.

HP reduced its debt during the quarter. Personal systems (PC) revenue was down 20 percent from a year ago, with a 3.2 percent operating margin. Commercial PC revenue was down 14 percent, and consumer revneue was down 29 percent. Total unit sales were down 21 percent, while desktops were down 18 percent and notebooks were down 24 percent. HP is poised like other PC makers to introduce new machines based on Intel’s latest microprocessors, code-named Haswell. Whitman said HP had to do a better job managing the transition from the technologies that powered the past to those that will power the future.

HP has been dealing with a couple of negative trends. The PC market has slowed down because of rising tablet sales. And it has also had to deal with a downward shift in printing habits as the growing use and accessibility of the Internet makes paper less necessary. HP’s financial services business has been growing, but most of the other parts have been weak. On top of that, HP hasn’t been participating in the mobile market at all. She said that signs of interest in HP’s $169 Chromebook device are encouraging.

Whitman said HP saw a slowdown in sales of industry standard (Intel) servers. HP chief financial officer Cathie Lesjak said that Itanium server sales were particularly weak.

HP released its second fiscal quarter earnings this afternoon, hitting its profit targets but missing on revenue.

HP reported revenue of $27.6 billion for the three months that ended on April 30, down 10 percent from $30.7 billion a year ago. Earnings per share were 87 cents, down 11 percent from 98 cents a share a year ago.

While it isn’t as cool as Apple and it doesn’t make games like Microsoft, HP is a critical piece of the electronics industry, as it straddles both the consumer and enterprise markets across a bunch of product lines. The company has $120 billion in annual revenue (the biggest in the industry by that measure) and more than 330,000 employees. It has made 70 acquisitions in the past 15 years, but its stock price has been hurting lately.

Analysts estimated HP would report non-GAAP earnings of 81 cents a share on revenues of $28.08 billion. Analysts had previously expected third-fiscal quarter earnings of 84 cents a share and full-year earnings of $3.49 a share.

Meg Whitman, chief executive, accentuated the positive. In a statement, she said, “We beat the upper end of our non-GAAP diluted EPS outlook for the quarter by 5 cents per share, driven by better than expected performance in Enterprise Services and Printing, coupled with the accelerated capture of restructuring savings and improvement in our operations.”

Last quarter, the company had net income of $1.2 billion for the first quarter of 2013, compared to $1.5 billion in the same quarter a year ago, as revenue fell to $28.4 billion. That translates to $0.82 per share, which is down 11 percent from 2012 but is well above HP’s previously provided guidance of $0.68 to $0.71 per share.

It’s better than HP’s outlook in November, when the company had just reported bad numbers and came clean on its awful acquisition of Autonomy. And it’s much better than the second quarter of 2012, when HP faced its biggest-ever quarterly loss.

Whitman said, “I am encouraged by our performance in the second quarter, and I feel good about the rest of the year. As I have said many times before, this is a multi-year journey. We have a long way to go, but we are on track to deliver on our fiscal 2013 non-GAAP diluted earnings per share outlook.”

HP reduced its debt during the quarter. Personal systems (PC) revenue was down 20 percent from a year ago, with a 3.2 percent operating margin. Commercial PC revenue was down 14 percent and consumer revneue was down 29 percent. Total unit sales were down 21 percent, while desktops were down 18 percent and notebooks were down 24 percent. HP is poised like other PC makers to introduce new machines based on Intel’s latest microprocessors, code-named Haswell.

Printing revenue was down 1 percent, but its operating margin is still strong at 15.8 percent. Hardware unit sales were down 11 percent from a year ago, with commercial units down 5 percent and consumer units down 13 percent.

Enterprise revenue was also weak, down 10 percent. Networking revenue was up, industry standard server revenue was down 12 percent, and business critical systems were down 37 percent. Enterprise services were down 8 percent from a year ago. Software revenue was down 3 percent, and financial services were down 9 percent from a year ago.

HP has been dealing with a couple of negative trends. The PC market has slowed down because of rising tablet sales. And it has also had to deal with a downward shift in printing habits as the growing use and accessibility of the Internet makes paper less necessary. HP’s financial services business has been growing, but most of the other parts have been weak. On top of that, HP hasn’t been participating in the mobile market at all.

Whitman has previously stated that HP will not be releasing a new smartphone until 2014. HP is reportedly working on Android-based tablets and phones.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

It came as a shock.

In March, Andy Rubin, one of Android’s co-founders and the man who led it to world dominance, announced he was stepping back from his role spearheading the mobile OS. His replacement: Google’s Chrome OS head Sundar Pichai (pictured).

Google didn’t have much to say about what that massive leadership change meant for Android, and Pichai was strangely quiet about the shift as well. Now just a few days before Google’s I/O developer conference kicks off, Wired’s Steven Levy has finally gotten Pichai to chat about Android’s future.

The conversation covers most of what you’d expect, including why Google is developing two operating systems at once (Chrome OS and Android), Pichai’s thoughts on Facebook Home, and the status of Android’s revenue model. Here are a few things we learned from the interview:

Pichai sees Chrome OS and Android similar to how Apple handles OS X and iOS: “Users care about applications and services they use, not operating systems,” he said. Having two operating systems lets Google be nimble as computing changes over the next few years to include more devices, sensors, and displays.

There may be a more “synergistic answer” for juggling Android and Chrome OS down the line: Google is likely thinking about how it can eventually streamline both operating systems. My guess? Chrome OS will likely be absorbed into Android down the line.

Pichai’s biggest challenge with Android is improving the entire world’s user experience (without making it more closed): It sounds like Google is thinking hard about how to make Android a more uniform experience like iOS and Windows Phone without affecting Android’s openness.

Pichai finds Facebook Home “exciting,“ but hints that such Android customizations may not stick around forever:

“Some users really want this,” he said. “We don’t want to get in the way of that. [But] in the end, we have to provide a consistent experience. As part of that, with every release of Android, we do go through changes. So we may make changes over time. But if this is what users want, I think Facebook will be able to do it. We want it to be possible for users to get what they want.”

In that statement, you can feel the tension we’ve heard from plenty of Googlers around Facebook Home. While it’s a great way to show off Android’s customizability, Home also shows how easy it is for competitors to completely co-opt Google’s platform.

Pichai uses a Samsung Galaxy S4 (but not the cheesy eye-tracking feature): He also doesn’t seem too worried about Samsung’s Android dominance (it’s basically the only company making a significant revenue from Android devices). Pichai points to Microsoft and Intel’s “very codependent” relationship as a historical example of how two companies can be a bit over-reliant on each other.

Facebook’s HTML5 snub doesn’t affect how Pichai views HTML5: “There are other companies with very successful apps that have taken an HTML 5 approach on mobile and done really well,” he said. “For instance, a lot of magazines have switched from native back to HTML 5 for the mobile apps.”

Google isn’t too worried about generating more revenue from Android: Pichai points out that Android serves as a gateway to Google’s core services, which makes it inherently useful to the company. Additionally, he noted that Google quadrupled payments to Google Play developers in 2012.

I/O is going to be less about gadgets this year: Basically, don’t expect anything like last year’s crazy Google Glass skydiving stunt. Google also doesn’t have any big product or operating system updates to announce, Pichai said.

Photo: Google+

Once again, Android accounted for 75.6 percent of all smartphone shipments, and once again, Samsung is killing it.

The Korean smartphone king grew smartphone shipments by 64.3 percent year-over-year while shipping 82.2 million tablets, smartphones, and notebooks combined. Meanwhile, mobile rival Apple grew its iPhone shipments by a shockingly low 6.7 percent, hitting single digit growth in a market which has overall growth of 37.4 percent.

Let me say that again: Apple is at single digit growth in a market growing at almost 40 percent.

Source: John Koetsier

Android meets Wall-E.

If there’s any doubt why Apple’s stock in moldering in the mid-400′s after hitting highs last year of over $700, that’s why. And with Tim Cook basically telling Wall Street that Apple won’t ship any significant new products until this fall, or even 2014, the situation is not likely to change.

‘Despite its slowing growth, Apple still shipped over 37 million iPhones,’ Canalys analyst Pete Cunningham said in a statement. ‘But HTC and Samsung have raised the bar with their latest handsets and Apple needs to respond with its next iPhone. The iPhone user interface is now six years old and badly in need of a refresh.”

Tablets are one area of slight comfort for Cupertino.

Apple retains 46.4 percent of the tablet market, Canalys says, shipping 19.4 million tablets. That’s down from 58 percent market share in the first quarter of 2012, and once again, in a market growing at over 106 percent year-over year, Apple grew less than others — about 60 percent growth year-over-year.

‘Spearheaded by Google and Amazon, the commoditization of the tablet market has happened far quicker than that of the wider PC market,’ Canalys analyst Tim Coulling said.

The upshot?

Without significant new Apple products, major new product categories, and a much more intense Apple effort to produce a wider range of phones and tablets that the market is looking for right now, Apple share will continue to drop.

And one other interesting tidbit in the Canalys data:

Calculating operating system share over all “smart devices,” lumping in smartphones, tablets, and laptops does provide interesting insights. With that view of the industry, Microsoft ends up with an 18.1 percent OS market share — a very different proposition than high-90-percent share in the laptop/desktop world.

Image credit: Louish Pixel/Flickr

“The mobile PC industry is undergoing significant change,” NPD senior analyst Richard Shim said in a statement. “The rapid rise and establishment of white box tablet PCs … is putting pressure on traditional notebook PCs … resulting in cannibalization by tablet PCs.”

NPD’s latest report suggests that tablet shipments will grow 67 percent this year to 256.5 million and will reach a massive 579.4 million in 2017. In contrast, laptop or notebook PCs will decline 10 percent over the same period, dropping from 203.3 million to 183.3 million.

But there are two bright spots for laptops.

Source: NPD

Global mobile PC shipments – 2012-2017

First, the portion of the notebook market that is touch-enabled will grow 48 percent in 2014, from almost nothing in 2012 to close to 100 million in 2015 and increasing each of the following two years. That’s driven by the increasing importance of touch in computing platforms of all kinds, the need for laptop manufacturers to innovate, and also by Intel’s proclamation that third-generation Ultrabooks using the chip-maker’s new Haswell processors must include touch.

And second, the premium ultra-slim laptop market — such as Ultrabooks and Apple’s MacBook Air — will account for two-thirds of touch-enabled notebooks in 2013, and 80 percent by 2017.

Missing in action, however, is Windows 8.

“Thus far, Windows 8 has had a limited impact on driving touch adoption in notebook PCs, due to a lack of applications needing touch and the high cost of touch on notebook PCs,” Shim says.

The biggest driver for touch and tablet adoption, NPD says, is white-box tablet manufacturers. Increasingly, small, regional brands are building Android-based tablets — especially in China — and distributing them in emerging markets where laptops have never really gained a foothold. These white-box brands accounted for a full third of tablet shipments in 2012, and NPD expects that percentage to remain steady over the next few years.

The key take-away for PC manufacturers?

Differentiate by building form factors that are not traditional PCs and are not traditional clamshell laptops. The challenge, of course, is reduced price, reduced margin, and increasing regional competition.

It’s enough, perhaps, to make the big manufacturers wish for the good old days of the netbook.

Image credit: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

The so-called post-PC world has made computer manufacturers more than a bit crazy. Laptops that used to just open and close now flip, fold, and bend backwards. Oh, and they all have touch screens.

Acer’s new Apsire R7 is a good example of how bad it’s gotten. Announced today, the device is a bizarre hybrid of laptop, desktop, and tablet that flips and folds its way out of and into each category. It’s essentially a portable, multi-touch all-in-one PC.

The R7, which starts at $1,000, comes with a 15.6-inch HD touchscreen display, which, along with its trademark “Ezel” hinge, pretty severely limits it in the portability category. So don’t expect this one to replace your Macbook Air when it goes on sale May 17 (exclusively at Best Buy, interestingly enough).

Of course, the real news here is how much the device looks like the Starship Enterprise, a similarity that probably explains why Acer teased the device alongside the latest Star Trek movie.

Acer has also announced the Iconia A1, its answer to the Nexus 7. The device, which will run for $200, comes with a 7.9-inch 1,024 x 768 display, which gives it a similar feel to the iPad mini. More notably, users of the A1 can turn the device on simply by pressing five fingers on its screen — a simple gesture that seems a lot more intuitive than pressing a button. The A1 will be available in June.

Microsoft still isn’t divulging official Surface numbers, but it looks like it’s at least making a (tiny) dent in the tablet market.

Microsoft shipped 900,000 Surface tablets for the first quarter, accounting for 1.8 percent of the tablet market, according to IDC’s latest tablet numbers. Altogether, Windows 8 and RT tablet shipments across all manufacturers hit 1.8 million during the quarter.

Those numbers are slightly less than Strategy Analytics’ latest figures, which noted that 3 million Windows tablets were shipped for the quarter. The true numbers likely lie somewhere between those two figures.

While Microsoft is clearly just getting started with the Surface devices, its numbers seem particularly poor compared to Apple’s 19.5 million iPads shipped in Q1, as well as Samsung’s 8.8 million units shipped. Surface shipments were likely hurt by their limited availability and the late release of the Surface Pro, which started shipping in February in the U.S. and Canada.

PC shipments also dropped precipitously in the first quarter, and IDC wasn’t shy about blaming Windows 8 for the decline.

The Surface Pro made up most of the Surface units shipped, according to Strategy Analytics. I found the Pro to be a far more useful device than the Surface RT, mostly due to its speedy Intel processor (which can also run older Windows programs).

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

If you’re looking for a good example of someone who’s out of  touch with the technology world, look no further than BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins.

Heins, who also thinks that Apple is falling behind on innovation and that BlackBerry will sell tens of millions of Q10 phones, says he doesn’t see much of a future in tablets.

“In five years I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore. Maybe a big screen in your workspace, but not a tablet as such. Tablets themselves are not a good business model,” Heins said at a conference in Los Angeles yesterday.

Naturally, the first impulse is to cite sales of the iPad, which were still doing well last I checked. Tablets may not be a viable business for BlackBerry, but they’ve already proven to be a particularly great one for Apple. This reality makes Heins’ comments seem almost inconceivably myopic coming from the head of a major technology company.

Of course, the real question here is what Heins’ views on tablets mean for BlackBerry’s own tablet ambitions. The PlayBook was, by most metrics, a failure, which largely explains why BlackBerry never put much weight behind a successor. As a result, it’s safe to assume we won’t see another PlayBook anytime soon — if ever.

The alternative view here is that Heins is, on some level, correct. Considering how fast technology moves, it’s not inconceivable that we could soon move onto something more advanced than tablets. But will that transition happen in the next five years? Probably not.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

For those of you who closely follow the white-knuckle world of consumer tablets, Samsung has a big treat for you: the Galaxy Tab 3, its latest 7-inch tablet.

While new product announcements from Samsung are usually accompanied with much bombast and fanfare, the Galaxy Tab 3 announcement has been oddly subdued. This, I assume, is due to the fact that the Galaxy Tab 3 isn’t particularly new or exciting — at least if you consider its specifications.

Let’s look at the numbers:

• Whereas the previous Galaxy Tab had a 1GHz dual-core processor the Tab 3 has slightly upgraded 1.2GHz chip.
• The device’s display resolution (1024-by-600) is unchanged, as is its general design aesthetic, which Samsung is clearly not getting tired of.
• It’s camera specs also remain the same.

In fact, the only real major difference with the latest Tab lies in its 16GB  of internal storage, which is double that of the Galaxy Tab 2. Also, unlike the previous Tab, one version of the Tab 3 (due in June) will come with a 3G chip — meaning that you can make phone calls with it. Oh, it also comes in white.

Pricing for the device is still unknown, though you can probably expect the Wi-Fi Tab 3 to run for roughly $199 when it’s released in May.

That’s a very good thing — if you’re an app developer.

According to the analytics firm App Annie, which launched Amazon app store analytics in beta last month, 19,000 developers are now publishing apps to Amazon, as opposed to 180,000 using Google Play and 210,000 who are publishing apps to Apple’s iOS app store. The lower number of apps and the fewer developers focusing on Amazon make for a less crowded marketplace in which there’s a little more room to grow.

“While Amazon Appstore is the new kid on the block, we hear great things from developers about their ability to monetize from the store,” App Annie CEO Bertrand Schmitt said in a statement.

Source: App Annie

The top 10 paid apps in the Amazon app store – U.S.

App Annie unveiled its fully baked solution recently — just after Amazon announced an impending expansion of its app store to 200 countries — and today released the results of a 1,500-developer survey focused on Amazon’s app store.

The top three reasons developers release apps for Amazon start with convenience. After all, Amazon Kindle runs Android underneath that Amazon skin, and it’s easy to port apps to Amazon’s store. Second, however, is the hope of more sales, as Amazon just announced earlier this month that it is rolling out to 200 more countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, India, South Africa, and South Korea — which buys a lot of apps. And the third reason is that when it comes to Android tablets, Kindle Fire is, well, on fire.

Amazon does not disclose Kindle sales numbers, but in January Localytics said that the number of Amazon Kindle Fires grew 322 percent in the holiday quarter — quadrupling the growth of the next-leading Android tablet, a Galaxy Note II from Samsung. This means that as Android increasingly penetrates the tablet market, Amazon increasingly penetrates the Android ecosystem.

There is one down side to the Amazon app store, however: price point.

App Annie says that the top 400 apps on Amazon have an average price point almost half that of Google Play and iPad, and even less than iPhone, even though smartphone-focused apps are typically cheaper than tablet-focused apps. The average price of the top 400 paid apps on Google Play is $3.55. On iPad, that’s a slightly cheaper $3.39. But on Amazon’s app store, that’s a much lower price point: $1.73.

Which shouldn’t come as a shock, I suppose: Amazon is the U.S. Internet’s superstore, and sharp pricing has been built into its business model since the beginning.

But it is something to keep in mind.

If you needed further evidence that tablets are more than a mere computing fad, just look at the latest numbers from Strategy Analytics.

The firm found that the tablet industry more than doubled in the first quarter — reaching 40.6 million units, up from 18.7 million last year. This was a significant quarter since we have more than two major companies backing tablet platforms, and consumers have plenty of inexpensive tablets to choose from.

In particular, it’s worth paying attention to Microsoft’s figures. The company is finally on the map in the tablet industry, with 3 million Windows tablets shipped, which includes both Windows 8 and Windows RT (Surface) devices. While that only makes up 7.5 percent of global tablet market share, it’s a notable figure, since Microsoft didn’t even have a tablet strategy last year (we can exclude the handful of Windows 7 tablets nobody bought).

Apple, not surprisingly, is still leading the tablet industry. The company reported 19.5 million iPads shipped for the quarter, up from 11.8 million last year. But Apple should also pay attention to how much Android slates are gaining on the iPad. Strategy Analytics reports that 17.6 million Android tablets were shipped in Q1, up from 6.4 million.

Now Apple and Google are basically neck and neck for the top spot in the tablet world. Android made up 43.4 percent of the global tablet market for the quarter, while Apple held 48.2 percent, falling around 15 percentage points from last year.

For the most part, it was small and cheap tablets like the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire that helped Android gain so much ground so quickly. At $329, the iPad Mini is still significantly more expensive than $200 Android tablets.

Apple’s big problem? Android tablets will continue to get cheaper and there will be more of them to tempt consumers. Apple, on the other hand, will be stuck iterating the iPad and iPad Mini over the next few years (likely at the same prices).

At this point, it looks like Android will end up dominating tablets pretty soon — something I previously thought would take years to do.

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

That the question needed to be asked at all is indicative of how confused Wall Street is with Apple. And Cook’s follow-up remarks probably didn’t help at all.

The analyst said that the smartphone market was growing at 30 percent annually and that based on Apple’s guidance for the coming quarter, it seemed extremely unlikely that Apple would be growing anywhere near that fast. And while Apple owns a higher percentage of the tablet market, Android is starting to take a bigger bite there as well.

“Your point is not lost, and we do want to grow faster,” Cook said in response to the analyst after cautioning him to look at sell-through to consumers, not just sell-in to channel inventory. “We don’t view it however as the only measure of our health.”

The first part of the answer is exactly what Wall Street wanted to hear. The second part, not so much.

Source: MarketWatch

AAPL gains $20, then gives it right back.

Cook then talked about what really matters to Apple, including customer satisfaction scores, which the company typically leads in, customer loyalty rates — another bright spot for Apple — and the amount of ecosystem commerce that takes place within iOS when apps are purchased or items are purchased with apps.

Most of that was good, particularly when Cook said that “three out of four dollars spent on apps are spent on our ecosystem.”

But then he summed it up with a typically Apple-ish Kumbaya moment:

“Market share is important and unit share is important,” Cook said. “But we’re all about customer experience and enriching lives.”

Enriching lives is not at the top of a Wall Street analyst’s list of priorities. Nor does it make the daily agenda of a typical wealthy investor. Increasing market share and making money, however, rank high on both.

Which is one of the reasons why Apple’s stock gained $20 after its earning release hit the wires … and gave it all back by the end of the earnings conference call.

Apple and Wall Street, it would seem, are oil and water.

Image credit: Dean Takahashi/VentureBeat

The iPad is still the king of the tablet browsing platforms. But the king is not quite as kingly as it used to be.

Apple earnings are just about to be announced for the second quarter of 2013, and analysts are expecting tough news from the iPad maker. Its tablet market share has been a major strong point, with big sales numbers and even bigger percentage shares of usage: tablets used to browse the web.

In fact, Apple enjoyed 90-plus percentage point market share of tablet usage in North America for much of 2012.

But that’s changing.

Online advertising company Chitika, which measures tablet, smartphone, and other platform usage of online ad networks, and therefore browsing share, says that iPad share in the U.S. and Canada is down based on a study of hundreds of millions of tablet ad impressions the company conducted. Which means, of course, that Android-based tablets such as Kindle and Galaxy are increasing their share.

“While Apple continues to increase overall iPad usage, it is losing share as others enter the market,” eMarketer’s Clark Fredricksen said. “Apple’s share of U.S. tablet users is expected to fall to 60.5 percent in 2013 … from 64.9 percent last year and 83 percent in 2011.”

The major downtick, Chitika says, occurred from December to January, when Android tablet sales were particularly strong over the Christmas gift-giving season. The iPad’s share of U.S. and Canadian web traffic dropped from 92 percent in October to 80.5 percent in February, before rebounding slightly to 81.9 percent in March.

The loss in comparative browser share by itself doesn’t necessarily mean that Apple is losing the tablet battle. After all, the market is still expanding. But it does mean that Android is starting to gain some traction in what has been an extremely difficult market for it to crack.

Even with the introduction of the long-awaited and well-received iPad Mini.

Image credit: John Koetsier

Confirming earlier rumors, departing Microsoft CFO Peter Klein said today on an earnings call that Microsoft is working with manufacturing partners on smaller versions of Windows 8 devices, which likely means 7- or 8-inch Windows 8 tablets.

Klein said that “a new suite of small touch devices powered by Windows” would be available “in the coming months.” He did not say Microsoft would be making its own smaller Windows 8 devices, but that’s certainly not out of the question considering the release of the 10-inch Surface and Surface Pro tablets.

Microsoft recently lowered the minimum resolution requirements for Windows 8 devices, which opened the door for less expensive 7-inch or 8-inch tablets powered by Windows 8.

A recent Wall Street Journal report also said a 7-inch Microsoft Surface tablet was in the works.

On top of hosting today’s call, Klein announced that he would be leaving the company at the end of its current fiscal year. Klein has worked for Microsoft 11 years and served as CFO for about four years.

Surface Pro photo via Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

Intel chief executive Paul Otellini said in an earnings conference call today that the world’s biggest chip maker has never been in a better position to address the full spectrum of the computing chip market. But he also acknowledged that smartphone chip sales are not yet generating significant revenues for Intel.

That’s a problem as tablets and smartphones are growing at a fast clip and hurting demand for PCs. Still, Otellini, who is retiring next month, said he remained optimistic about Intel’s competitive position. Intel, after all, is still generating $2 billion a quarter in net income.

“We now compete wherever there is computing,” he said in his last conference call with analysts.

Some of the PC makers that use Intel chips, such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard, have suffered. But Otellini said that some Intel customers are thriving as well. He pointed to Apple and Lenovo as examples of big computer makers that are thriving.

Otellini said that ultrabook (thin, light laptops) prices will drop between $599 and $699 in the fall, while touch-enabled notebook computers could drop even lower to $199 to $499. (Android tablet prices could be half of those prices). These ultrabooks will sport new low-power microprocessors, codenamed Haswell. Later in the second quarter, Intel will begin shipping Haswell chips, which will enable powerful laptops and tablets.

When it comes to chipmaking technology, Intel is still the undisputed leader, Otellini said. He said that Intel has shipped more than 100 million 22-nanometer chips (the lower the nanometer figure, the more complex and sophisticated the chip). Meanwhile, rivals in the industry have yet to ship a single 22-nanometer chip.

“We put more distance between us and the rest of the semiconductor industry than ever before,” Otellini said.

But being able to make the tiniest chips and to fill the factories with orders are two different things. Intel saw a reduction in excess inventory in the first quarter, and it anticipates an expansion of demand in the second half of the year thanks to expectations for a stronger worldwide economy. Enterprise computing sales may grow in part due to the stronger macroeconomy.

At the same time, Intel reduced its risks by cutting capital spending for the year from $13 billion to $12 billion. It did so by reclassifying short-term spending for the long term. Intel anticipates shipping its first 14-nanometer chips in the second half of 2013.

Intel will be able to diversify its manufacturing by adding foundry customers, or outside companies such as Altera that will use Intel’s factories to produce Altera-designed chips. In a “crawl, walk, run” strategy for the foundry business, Otellini said, “We are past crawling.”

Intel had no update to offer on its search for a new CEO. Otellini, 62, is retiring earlier than Intel’s mandatory retirement age of 65.

Otellini said he is “passing the baton.” But he added, “I know Intel’s story is nowhere near completely written.”

Chief financial office Stacy Smith noted that smartphone chip sales are still not moving the needle in the overall revenue picture.

Patrick Moorhead, analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said, “Once again, Intel managed to do better than and guide better than expected. This is driven by strength of the scale out data center and HPC server business and from a strong Haswell reception.  Haswell could be the first Intel chip that provides PC performance in a thin tablet form factor. “

Market researcher IDC reported last week that first-quarter PC sales dropped 13.9 percent — the biggest quarterly fall in PC industry history — in the first quarter as consumers shifted their purchases away from PCs to mobile and tablet devices. But Intel said today its PC Client Group sales fell just 6 percent, and it did not revise its future earnings estimates downward.

Intel’s earnings per share were 40 cents (down 25 percent) on revenue of $12.60 billion. Analysts expected Intel to report net income of 41 cents per share on sales of $12.61 billion. And before the results, analysts were looking for earnings of 40 cents on sales of $12.9 billion for the second quarter ending June 30. Intel now expects sales of $12.9 billion, and gross profit margins of 58 percent.

Intel has been expecting low single-digit revenue increases for 2013, with gross margins at 60 percent. Those expectations remain unchanged. Capital spending was previously targeted at $13 billion, but that has now been revised downward to $12 billion.

Microsoft’s next round of Surface slates may include a competitor to the iPad Mini and Kindle Fire.

The company is reportedly working on a 7-inch Surface tablet, which is expected to go into mass production this year, the Wall Street Journal reports. It’s unclear if this is the same gaming-focused 7-inch Xbox Surface tablet we heard about last year — but I’d wager they’re two separate products.

From what we’ve heard of the Xbox Surface, it’s going to be jam-packed with cutting edge hardware, which means it likely won’t go cheap. At the same time, Microsoft will also need an inexpensive small tablet to compete with Apple and Amazon.

Small tablets (under 8-inches) accounted for half of all shipments in the fourth quarter, according to IDC. Given just how much cheaper smaller tablets tend to be — ranging from $200 for the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7, to $329 for the iPad Mini — they’ll certainly end up taking over much more of the market over the next few years. Microsoft simply can’t afford to wait on developing an inexpensive small tablet.

Additionally, the WSJ notes that Microsoft is still testing a Surface phone, though component suppliers aren’t able to confirm if it will ever be released. We’ve heard a Surface phone could appear this year, especially if Windows Phone 8 fails to catch on with consumers.

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

That might sound a little melodramatic, given that the recorded history of PC shipments only goes back to 1994. But with a drop of 13.9 percent — almost double the expected 7.7 percent — to only 76.3 million units, the first quarter of 2013 has been a disaster for traditional PC manufacturers.

Even a new version of Windows, once a guaranteed shot in the arm for PC shipments, failed to stimulate demand. Quite the opposite.

“At this point, unfortunately, it seems clear that the Windows 8 launch not only failed to provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market,” Bob O’Donnell, an IDC vice-president, said in a statement.

O’Donnell says that with its radical user interface changes, subtraction of the familiar Start button, and extra costs that come with Windows 8-equipped PCs that take advantage of its touch capabilities “have made PCs a less attractive alternative to dedicated tablets and other competitive devices.”

Ouch.

In the U.S., this marks the tenth consecutive quarter of year-on-year declines, and quarterly shipments reached their lowest level since early 2006. Europe was down as well, and even growing China and the rest of the Asia Pacific region dropped 12.7 percent, the first double-digit decline in PC shipments there.

HP remains the top PC vendor globally, IDC said, but its shipments fell 23 percent year-over-year, and it was almost surpassed by Lenovo, which astonishingly had double-digit growth in a sinking market. Dell dropped 10 percent as well, and Acer, Asus, and Toshiba also dropped somewhat.

Even Apple, which has seen strong growth in recent years, particularly in laptops, had shipments decline 7.5 percent to 1.4 million.

IDC seems interested in blaming Windows 8, but the more likely culprit is surging sales of tablets, which some analysts are including in “PC” shipment numbers. In fact, some analysts believe that this year is the year tablet sales will outpace traditional PC sales, with quarterly sales of 55-60 million.

Given this quarter’s numbers, it looks like the crossover point could be as soon as the next three months. But whether that happens or not, big changes are in store for PC vendors:

“The industry is going through a critical crossroads, and strategic choices will have to be made as to how to compete with the proliferation of alternative devices and remain relevant to the consumer,” David Daoud, IDC Research Director, said in a statement. “Vendors will have to revisit their organizational structures and go-to-market strategies, as well as their supply chain, distribution, and product portfolios in the face of shrinking demand and looming consolidation.”

photo credit: amygentle77 via photopin cc

We’ve been hearing about the notion of “TV Everywhere” — having paid television content available on multiple screens and devices — for years now, but it’s typically been difficult for broadcasters to offer something that complex. With the official launch of PrimeTime, Adobe’s solution for delivering TV Everywhere services, that could finally change.

Adobe announced today at the NAB conference that it’s officially making Primetime available to more providers. Formerly known as “Project Primetime,” the service mostly notably powered the apps and online video coverage for the London 2012 Olympics. Adobe also announced today that Comcast is using Primetime for its Xfinity apps, and NBC is using it for a variety of sports broadcasts.

Primetime is  a combination of Adobe’s video player, advertising, DRM, and analytics technologies, making it easy for content owners to deliver video while also monetizing it. Some companies have managed to develop their own TV Everywhere solutions, but Primetime will remove much of the headache (and cost) of the TV Everywhere process for others.

In its U.S. Digital Video Benchmark Report for 2012, also released today, Adobe points out that TV Everywhere consumption grew a whopping 12x compared to 2011. Mostly, that’s due to more content being made available, especially when it comes to sports, according to Tamara Gaffney, Adobe’s senior marketing manager for its Digital Video Index.

Additionally, Adobe found that mobile video consumption grew massively over the past year: tablet consumption increased by 360 percent, while phone consumption increased by 300 percent. Also worth noting, Gaffney says that mobile video account for 70 percent of TV Everywhere viewing.

Not surprisingly, social media was a big part of digital video’s growth in 2012. Adobe found that socially-referred videos are more likely to be completed, compared to videos consumers simply stumble on. Social engagement with videos also grew to 70 percent from 42 percent. (Check out more social stats below.)

“We started off thinking about video, but very quickly we realized you couldn’t think about video without social, and you can’t think about video and social without mobile … it’s a trifecta,” Gaffney said in an interview with VentureBeat

Tablet user photo via Shutterstock

You’d think Samsung’s stylus-equipped Note lineup would translate well to tablets — but the disappointing Galaxy Note 10.1 showed that lackluster hardware can easily ruin a good idea.

Now with the Galaxy Note 8.0, it looks like Samsung is aiming to make amends. The company announced today that the Wi-Fi version of the Note 8.0 will be available in the U.S. on April 11 for $400.

I’ve only had a few days to test out the Note 8.0, but at this point it definitely feels like the best tablet Samsung has ever produced. It’s still made out of plastic, but it feels more high-quality than Samsung’s past devices. Design-wise, it shares a lot with the Galaxy S IV, especially the attractive trim around its edges. Best of all, it’s fast – there’s none of the slowdown I initially saw with the Note 10.1, and Samsung’s TouchWiz skin doesn’t get in the way.

Yes, it’s $70 more than Apple charges for the iPad Mini. You only need to look at the specs to see why: Instead of the aging hardware in the iPad Mini (a dual-core A5 CPU and 512MB of RAM), the Note 8.0 sports a modern 1.6 gigahertz quad-core CPU and 2 gigabytes of RAM. The Note 8.0 also features a sharp 1,280 by 800 pixel display, while the iPad Mini relies on a much lower resolution 1,024 by 768 screen.

The Note 8.0 will likely be a tough sell for most consumers — despite the older hardware, I’m still in love with the iPad Mini — but some may appreciate Samsung’s push towards productivity.

Check back later this week for a full review of the Note 8.0.

Why open your own retail stores when you can partner with the biggest electronics retailer in the U.S.?

Best Buy and Samsung announced today that 1,400 of the retailer’s stores will get “Samsung Experience Shops,” where consumers can test out Samsung’s smartphones, tablets, and other gadgets. Best Buy will start adding the ministores in April, and it expects to reach 900 stores by early May, completing the roll-out by early summer.

A few of the ministores will also feature “Samsung Smart Service,” which will feature “Samsung Experience Consultants” who will show off product features, run demos, and help customers set up Samsung accounts. Geek.com was the first to report on this partnership last week.

I’ve run into a few Samsung employees at Best Buy stores in New York City over the past year who were eager to show off the new features in Samsung’s cameras and phones. Those encounters were generally a bit awkward, though, since it wasn’t clear initially that they worked for Samsung or why they wanted to help customers. The Experience Shops should give those Samsung consultants a much clearer purpose.

In a way, this ministore strategy is similar to the way Samsung has focused on developing its products. Rather than embark on a complex retail scenario of its own, Samsung is capitalizing on its already large presence within Best Buy stores to connect with likely buyers. It’s not unlike how Samsung cemented itself as a key component maker for computer memory, TVs, and smartphones before it used that experience to build its own products. (In this case, Samsung likely won’t embark on its own retail stores, but its ministore presence shows how much pull it has with Best Buy.)

With these ministores, Samsung avoids the ghost town problem of Microsoft’s retail store, and it also avoids investing too much in shops that have no chance against Apple’s stores. The ministores are a win-win for Best Buy and Samsung — though they will likely hurt other Android phone makers (sorry, HTC).

Galaxy S IV photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

As we near the Nexus 7′s first birthday, chatter is building about the tablet’s potential successor.

Google is reportedly planning to release an upgraded Nexus 7 in July, Reuters reports. There’s a good chance Google will announce the tablet at its I/O conference next month, so a July release date makes sense.

Pricing is likely going to be a key component of Google’s strategy with the new Nexus 7. Reuters notes that the tablet could end up selling for the same $199 as the first model, while the older Nexus 7 gets discounted. Alternatively, Google could offer the new Nexus 7 for just $150 and discontinue the earlier model. Google is also expected to tap Asus to build the tablet, once again.

Reuters expects the usual upgrades from the new Nexus 7: It’ll have a higher-resolution screen as well as a thinner design (one of the big issues with the first model). Additionally, Google is reportedly tapping Qualcomm for the new slate’s processor, which is a blow to Nvidia, whose Tegra 3 processor powered the first Nexus 7.

Both chip-makers have new products out this year — Qualcomm has the Snapdragon 600 series out now, and it’ll release the even more powerful Snapdragon 800 chip later this year . Nvidia has the Tegra 4, which is notable for its 72 (!) graphics processing cores. A recent report showed that the Tegra 4 beat out the Snapdragon 800 in speed.

I called the Nexus 7 the first Android tablet worth owning, and even today it remains a compelling product. In addition to the new tablet, Google could also unveil a new Nexus Android smartphone at its Google I/O conference next month. We’ll be on the ground at the conference, so stay tuned for more.

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

Microsoft has dropped the resolution requirement for Windows 8 on tablets to 1,024 by 768, opening up the possibility for less expensive 7-inch or 8-inch tablets running the fledgling operating system.

While the company has released its own Surface tablets and Microsoft partners have released Windows 8 tablet/laptop hybrids, the smart play is to offer 10-inch and 7-inch experiences to hit every possible market. Apple, for example, offers both the iPad and iPad mini. Samsung, Google, and Amazon also offer a variety of tablet sizes. So it would be smart for Windows 8 to come to 7-inch screens to compete with the offerings of all these other players.

Microsoft quietly announced the changes in a “Windows Certification Newsletter” released March 12, but it was spotted by ZDNet on Thursday. Microsoft writes in the newsletter:

We’re changing the System.Client.Tablet.Graphics.MinimumResolution requirement to create a consistent minimum resolution of 1024 x 768 at a depth of 32 bits across all Windows 8 system form factors. The physical dimensions of the display panel must still match the aspect ratio of the native resolution. This doesn’t imply that we’re encouraging partners to regularly use a lower screen resolution. In fact, we see customers embracing the higher resolution screens that make a great Windows experience. We understand that partners exploring designs for certain markets could find greater design flexibility helpful.

At the lower resolution, Microsoft notes that the “snap” feature will end up being disabled to create a better experience. Manufacturers will need to disclose that snap is disabled.

Microsoft also used this newsletter to announce that Windows 8 tablet screen sizes peak at 17 inches and can be no larger than that.

Microsoft Surface photo via Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Cesare Garlati is the co-chair of the Mobile Working Group at Cloud Security Alliance.

Many employees don’t understand the implications of using their personal devices for work. Many companies don’t understand that they are in fact liable for the consequences. This post covers the things you always wanted to know about BYOD but were too afraid to ask.

Good News: Your company offers a BYOD program

You can finally stop carrying that boring corporate phone and use your own shiny new iPhone for work. Even better, you can now check your corporate email from home while streaming YouTube videos on your Galaxy tablet. Your company picks up part of the bill and even provides enterprise-grade help desk support to help you with your gadgets. It looks like an offer you can’t refuse.

Bad News:  You joined your company’s BYOD program

One morning you wake up, reach for your iPad to check the email but it doesn’t turn on. Your iPad is dead. Totally bricked. After a quick family investigation you realize that the little one tried to guess your password to play Angry Birds before you would wake up. Too bad the security policy enforced by the corporate email account triggered your iPad self-destruction to prevent sensitive corporate data from unauthorized access.

Angrier than those famous birds? Wait until you realize that the device itself can be brought back to life and your corporate data restored. But that your pictures, videos and songs are gone. Forever. (Note: the case above is based on a true story, my son’s name is Luca.)

Don’t read on if you’re already scared. This is not the worst it can happen to your data, to your privacy and to your device. Many employees who use their personal devices for work are shocked to find out that their smartphones, tablets, and laptops may be subject to discovery request in the context of a litigation involving their company. Employees may be asked to surrender their personal devices — in which they have browser history, personal information and documents they created — as they may be subject to review by 3rd parties in connection with litigation.

The BYOD fine print

If you were too impatient to read all through the Acceptable Use Policy that you signed when you joined your company’s BYOD program, or if you simply were not too eager to know what you were really getting into, this may be a good time to go back to that document or to contact your IT or HR department to ask for clarification.

Here are the things you should know about your company’s BYOD program and that you shouldn’t be afraid to ask.

Personal Data Loss

When your personal smartphone, laptop or tablet is used for work related activities, such as access to corporate email, calendar or corporate directory, there is a good chance that your company relies on built-in features and additional software tools to secure and manage the data in your device.

As a first line of defense, many organizations enforce ActiveSync policies, pre-installed in most consumer mobile devices, to enforce password protection and remote wipe and lock. More sophisticated IT departments may request the installation of additional Mobile Device Management software agents to extend corporate IT reach into any application and functionality of your device. While security and manageability are legitimate concerns for the company, most BYOD programs rely on IT tools that don’t make a clear separation between personal and corporate data and applications. As a result, in case of unauthorized access – real or presumed – the whole content of the device is more or less automatically deleted and the device itself made unusable.

What you should ask if you are not too afraid of the answer: Is the data in my device susceptible to automatic or remote deletion? What events trigger the automatic deletion? Is remote deletion part of the standard employee termination process?  Is my approval sought or required for the remote deletion? Is my personal data retained in case of automatic or remote wipe?  Does the company provide a mean to recover the personal data deleted? Am I entitled to any reimbursement for the loss of personal content such as songs, videos or applications?

Privacy

From a legal standpoint, the fact that you own the device is irrelevant in case of a litigation. To discover and preserve evidence, the court may require forensic review of all devices in connection with the litigation. Employees participating in the BYOD program may be asked to produce their personal devices for 3^rd party examination.

You will have to make any personal information stored in your devices accessible. This includes the history of the websites visited, songs and movies downloaded and played, copy of financial transactions or statements, the list of your personal contacts and your electronic communications with them including personal emails, personal phone call, text messages and various social media activities including Facebook, Twitter and VoIP services such as Skype and similar. This extends to the personal information of any other family member or third party who may share the use of that device.

Personal data stored in the device is not the only privacy concern. Your location and your online activity may be exposed to your employer too. A main feature of Mobile Device Management software is the ability to track in real time the location of the device. The feature is intended to help determine whether a device is lost rather than stolen before initiating a remote lock or remote wipe.  It can also be used to selectively disable camera and microphone when the device enters restricted company areas to prevent sensitive data loss.

Modern devices can get quite accurate at pinpointing location even when inside buildings where GPS technology is typically complemented with Wi-Fi access point detection. Although not intended for this use, your IT department may be able to track your whereabouts anywhere and anytime, deliberately or accidentally, and you may not even be aware of this. In addition, when your personal device connects on-campus to the corporate Wi-Fi network, there is a good chance that your online activity is monitored and filtered to comply with various regulation and to protect the company from any liability arising from an improper use of corporate resources.

What you should ask if you are not too afraid of the answer: May I be required to produce my personal devices for forensic analysis? Does this apply to devices shared with other family members? Who will then get access to the personal information stored in my device? Is my company able to track my location? Under what circumstances can this happen? Is my approval sought and required to track my location? Do I get notified? Are these systems active outside regular work hours? Is my personal online activity on-campus monitored and logged? Is this information retained when I leave the company?

Device seizure and loss of use

Mobile devices are small and you take them with you everywhere. No surprise they are the most likely to get lost or stolen. But when you use your gadgets for work related activities, you have a couple more reasons to worry about. Your device may become unusable as a result of a company initiated remote lock or wipe. Or you may be asked to surrender your inseparable smartphone for legal examination in conjunction with litigation. Either case you could lose the use of your device for some time and likely find yourself in need for a temporary or permanent replacement.

What you should ask if you are not too afraid of the answer: Under what circumstances may I be asked to surrender my personal device? Is the company going to provide a replacement? Who is responsible for backing up and restoring personal data and applications if the device is seized? Under what circumstances can the company initiate a remote lock of the device? Is my approval sought and required? What is the process to regain use of my device?

Former Vice President of Mobile Security at Trend Micro, Cesare Garlati currently serves as Co-Chair of the CSA Mobile Working Group – Cloud Security Alliance. Prior to Trend Micro, he held director positions within leading mobility companies such as iPass, Smith Micro Software, and WaveMarket. 

Photo: blakespot via photopin cc

Add Intel Capital to the growing list of companies eager to work with Bluestacks.

Intel has invested an undisclosed amount in the startup, BlueStacks told VentureBeat today. BlueStacks “LayerCake” technology runs Android apps on any Windows PC and Mac, bridging a gap between mobile and the desktop that neither Google or Apple have tackled yet.

Primarily, Intel wants to make sure that BlueStacks’ software is optimized for its chips. The investment could also be a major help for Intel’s smartphones, like the Europe-only Motorola Razr i, which run its x86-based mobile processors instead of the ARM-based processors that power most other Android phones. Intel claims its mobile chips can run 95 percent of Android apps due to the chip architecture difference with its phones.

“Intel has an extremely powerful PC ecosystem, and they are looking to move into mobile in a big way,” said John Gargiulo, the vice president of marketing and business development at Bluestacks in an interview with VentureBeat. “There are more and more Intel chips on Android phones, so I think the alignment is clear.”

Intel just recently announced a new dual-core Atom mobile processor, but it’s at a severe disadvantage since it only started focusing on mobile chips a few years ago. Meanwhile, competitors like Qualcomm, Samsung, and Nvidia have had years to hone their mobile chips.

BlueStacks forged a deal with AMD to power its AppZone back in September, so Intel likely felt the need to step up its relationship. The news also comes on the heels of BlueStacks’ largest deal yet with Lenovo, a similar partnership with Asus, and the launch of a Surface Pro-optmized app.

“Consumers expect to have similar experiences across all devices, and that includes having access to the same popular apps,” Dave Flanagan, a managing director at Intel Capital, said in a statement. “Bluestacks technology is a key catalyst for us in enabling mobile apps to run on any type of device.”

Intel also relies on Bluestacks for its AppUp app store. Twenty-three apps on AppUp, like the popular news reader Pulse and Talking Tom, are listed as coming “via BlueStack Systems,” according to a Google site search. BlueStacks’ client powers those apps when you download them to your PC. It’s a particularly helpful partnership for Intel, since it brings popular apps to its fairly barren app store.

The Campbell, Calif.-based BlueStacks has also raised $15 million so far from Andreessen Horowitz, Ignition Venture Management, Citrix Systems, and others.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

It’s clear that tablets are making a huge impact in businesses, but who’s taking advantage of them first?

According to Intuit, the makers maker of popular software like Quickbooks and Quicken, it’s mostly small businesses.

The company has compiled an infographic (below) that demonstrates the projected growth rate in tablet adoption across a variety of business sizes between 2011 and 2016.

We’re already seeing tablets (and mobile devices in general) take over formerly complex tasks for businesses, like acting as a cash register with Intuit’s GoPayment app or Square’s register app. Intuit also just released a revamped version of its Quickbooks Online app for the iPad, which makes it easy to juggle accounting tasks on the go.

Small companies between 10 and 100 employees led the pack with a 78.5 percent growth rate, while micro-companies (under 10 employees) are expected to grow their tablet adoption by 98 percent. Not surprisingly, most business owners are currently adopting the iPad.

It’s important to note that these figures are specifically around growth rates — when it comes to the actual volume of tablets adopted by businesses, larger firms will still be on top.

“We believe the rate of tablet adoption will increase fastest among businesses with 10 or fewer employees because application design is improving to simplify processes for individual business owners,” an Intuit representative said. “They are no longer just extensions of larger enterprise applications, so right now it’s easier than ever for the very smallest businesses to integrate tablets in an effective way.”

via: Small Business and the iPad [Infographic]

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

iPad display shipments have collapsed in the first month of this year, according to recent data from NPD and some creative analysis.

In fact, full-size iPad display shipments seem to have disappeared, dropping by an astounding 80 percent from December to January, even as Android tablet sales have grown.

“Unless Apple has a new full-size iPad on the way with a 10.1″ display, this strongly hints at a collapse in sales because of cannibalization from the iPad mini,” Tech-Thoughts analyst Sameer Sing wrote last night.

Source: Tech-Thoughts

Tablet display shipments by platform

Singh arrived at platform shipment numbers by analyzing the display sizes shipped in the last few months, as reported by NPD DisplaySearch. NPD  says that shipments of 9.7″ tablets have plunged, from 7.4 million in December to just 1.3 million in January.

9.7″ tablets are, of course, full-size iPads.

With a little more work correlating tablet display sizes and top tablets in the market, Singh arrived at the graph above: Android tablet display shipments grew slightly even in the post-holiday month of January, while overall iPad display shipments shrunk by more than half, from around 14 million to about six million.

Obviously, this is potentially a shocking and catastrophic event for Apple.

Source: John Koetsier

iPad mini

Last year when Android overwhelming seized the smartphone market-share lead, tablets were still a very bright spot for Apple, as iPad maintained market share of 68 percent early in the year and 73 percent in China mid-year. But iPad’s position was precarious, as analysts’ predicted, noting that Android tabket sales out-grew iPad sales in six out of the last eight quarters. And the IDC says that iPad dropped from 46.4 percent to 43.4 percent share in Q4 late last year.

But there is a possible explanation for this that does not involve iPadocalypse.

Apple’s full-size tablet display shipments could be vastly down for two reasons. One is that Apple is selling far fewer, or planning to sell far fewer, and so buying fewer displays. Another is that Apple is switching product mix and, perhaps, completely updating the iPad product line … and therefore ordering different sizes of tablet displays, which might just be coincident with some popular Android tablet sizes — and which, therefore, would look very much like Android tablets in the DisplaySearch numbers.

Which makes it not so surprising that fairly reliable sources are claiming that Apple will be revamping its iPad lineup as early as — wait for it — next month. That’s still conjecture, of course. But Tim Cook was extremely confident when speaking early in February at the Goldman Sachs’ Technology and Internet conference, saying that Apple’s culture of innovation was extremely strong and that the pipeline of new products was full.

And it would explain an otherwise baffling collapse.

photo credit: maveric2003 via photopin cc

Apple’s next-generation iPhone and iPads could appear surprisingly soon.

The iPhone 5S is reportedly planned for release in August, a few months earlier than the October release of the past two iPhones, while the iPad 5 and new iPad Mini could appear as soon as April, reports iMore.

While we typically don’t give much credit to most Apple rumors, iMore’s Rene Ritchie has proven himself as a reliable prognosticator for Apple’s updates. He was one of the first to report on the iPhone 5′s Lightning connector last year.

Not surprisingly, Ritchie notes that the iPhone 5S will feature the same design as the iPhone 5, but will pack in a better camera and faster processor. That’s typical for Apple, judging from the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4S. Given how thin Apple was able to make the iPhone 5, I didn’t expect a completely new case to appear this year.

We’re still hearing rumors about a slightly cheaper iPhone as well as one with a slightly bigger screen than the 4-inch iPhone 5. The latest rumor, somewhat perplexingly, noted that Apple’s cheaper iPhone could also sport a bigger 4.5-inch screen. It could be that we’re hearing about changes that will appear in next year’s iPhone line, much like how we heard rumors of the iPhone 5′s design almost two years in advance.

As for the April iPad announcements, Ritchie notes that “we’re not sure what to make of that yet.” Apple announced the iPad Mini and fourth-generation iPad in October, so an April upgrade seems a bit too soon. Ritchie expects a slightly redesigned case for the iPad 5, but only a slight specification bump for the next iPad Mini. Those hoping for a Retina Display iPad Mini will likely have to wait until the next refresh.

“Apple is not going to release iPads that costs more or don’t get as good battery life as the current models,” Ritchie wrote. “So if the next iPad Mini does end up getting slated for April, it could be a spec bump, or have something other than Retina as a differentiator.”

Phhoto: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat