TechEye |  |
- Analysts downbeat on HTC growth
- Galaxy S4 sales reach 20 million
- Thorsten Heins declares tablets bad for biz
- Evo Morales' plane diverted in Snowden hunt
- iPhone 'liberation' kit sells out in minutes
- Intel mulls $10 billion Israel investment
- Michael Dell told to up his offer
- Facebook users' unfriending reasons explained
| Analysts downbeat on HTC growth Posted: 03 Jul 2013 04:53 AM PDT 2012 was a terrible year for HTC, but the Taiwanese smartphone maker managed to regain its footing earlier this year with the lovely aluminium clad HTC One. Although the One has enjoyed a lot of attention, Bank of America Merrill Lynch reckons it’s just not enough. Robert Chang, the bank’s Taipei-based analyst, believes HTC simply doesn’t have what it takes to continue its recovery. In a research note he pointed out that competition in the mid-range segment is a lot stiffer than in the high-end, Focus Taiwan reports. This doesn’t bode well for HTC’s business model and design philosophy, as the company places an emphasis on build quality resulting in a higher bill of materials. Although the HTC One was a success, it won’t contribute to growth in the second half of the year. HTC doesn’t have much to offer in other market segments. It is expected to introduce the HTC One mini in the third quarter and it might benefit from the success of its older sibling, but the rest of the range doesn’t appear nearly as attractive. The Butterfly S might be an exception. It's a high-end smartphone with a 5-inch screen and a few novel features, but doesn't look like the big hit that is the HTC One.        |
| Galaxy S4 sales reach 20 million Posted: 03 Jul 2013 03:46 AM PDT It seems that Samsung has really out-Appled Apple this year, managing to sell over 20 million units of its flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone in under two months. The S4 launched in late April or May, depending on the market, so it took Samsung less than two months to hit the 20 million mark in late June. The phone wasn’t even available in many smaller markets until early June. The figures are not official yet, but the Korea Times reports that an official announcement should be made soon. Last year’s Galaxy S3 took 100 days to hit the 20 million mark, which indicates demand for the S4 has been pretty good as it is reportedly selling 1.7 times as fast. Samsung’s big target for the S4 is 100 million units, which doesn’t sound unrealistic at this point. The phone is relatively new and it has at least ten months of life left in it, if not more. In related news, a recent survey of Korean iPhone users found that one third of them are planning to switch to a Samsung phone.     |
| Thorsten Heins declares tablets bad for biz Posted: 03 Jul 2013 03:36 AM PDT Blackberry CEO Thorsten Heins blew a huge raspberry at the future of tablets, again. Many would have expected Heins to be laying low with his opinions considering his strategy of pinning every hope on a much delayed Blackberry 10 appears to be floundering. Heins wanted to say a few things about the future of tablets at the Milken Institute Conference in Los Angeles. He claimed that in five years there will not be a reason to have a tablet. While you might want a big screen in your workspace, it will not be a tablet. Tablets themselves are not a good business model, he said. Earlier this year Heins made a similar claim, while also boasting Blackberry will undoubtedly be at the top of its market in the near future. Current views are that the PC will be replaced by mobile phones and tablets. A recent forecast from Gartner expects the tablet market to more than double by 2017. That's a growth from 116.1 million units shipped last year, to 197.2 million this year, and 468 million units projected to ship in 2017. But Heins is talking about the business market, which he thinks will still be dominated by smartphones. While tablets are increasingly used in the workplace, the platform is not overtaking PCs and large display monitors. Roger Kay, principal analyst with Endpoint Technologies Associates, told Red Orbit that tablets will still be around in five years. However, he was expecting to see a proliferation of form factors to emerge in more finely targeted markets. That means an increase in specialisation will increase, with tablets possibly becoming a larger category with a number of sub-categories like hybrids and others, at varying cost..     |
| Evo Morales' plane diverted in Snowden hunt Posted: 03 Jul 2013 02:51 AM PDT The US government is starting to get more desperate in its attempts to arrest PRISM whistleblower Edward Snowden. Bolivia is furious after president Evo Morales' plane was diverted on a flight from Russia and forced to land in Austria. US spooks told France and Portugal that Snowden might be on board and, desperate to surrender sovereignty to the land of the free, they cancelled air permits. Morales had to make an unscheduled stopover in Vienna or his plane would not have had the fuel to make it home. It is not clear where the rumour came from. There is no evidence that Snowden, wanted by Washington for espionage after divulging classified details of blanket phone and web surveillance, had left the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport. According to Reuters, an Austrian foreign ministry official said rumors that Snowden was on the plane were untrue. Bolivian foreign minister David Choquehuanca said he did not know who invented the lie, but he want to express his displeasure because this has "put the president's life at risk". Bolivia was among more than a dozen countries where Snowden has sought asylum and Morales, who was attending an energy conference in Russia, said he would consider granting the American refuge if requested. France and Portugal later reconsidered and agreed to allow Morales' plane to fly over both countries, but Italy and Spain have now refused to allow the plane to enter their air space. US president Barack Obama has threatened that any country that giving Snowden asylum should be prepared to pay a heavy price. Moscow does not want to send Snowden to the United States, a move that could make it look weak, and it has no extradition treaty with Washington. However it also does not want to damage ties with the United States over Snowden. Five countries have rejected granting Snowden asylum, seven have said they would consider a request if made on their soil, and eight said they had not made a decision. One of the few countries that could still take him is Venezuela, part of an alliance of left leaning governments in Latin America, which said it was time to stop berating Snowden who has "done something very important for humanity".     |
| iPhone 'liberation' kit sells out in minutes Posted: 03 Jul 2013 02:42 AM PDT On the eve of 4 July, iFixit has found people are beginning to feel the same way about Apple that they did about the British colonial rule. iFixit promised to issue 1,776 snap up free 'iPhone Liberation Kits' which basically lets you get at the guts of an iPhone. Apple, which believes in taxation without representation, tries to stop its customers from replacing the batteries of its iPhone so that it can make money on repairs. It managed this by using pentalobe screws instead of the standard Philips variety. iFixit found, much to its surprise, that there was some anger against Apple's antics - which resulted in the 1,776 kits being snapped up within 16 minutes. A company spokesperson told Network World that he thought the kits might go quickly. But they went a bit faster than the ride Paul Revere never made to warn the "British were coming". It issued some more and by the day was out the company had released 10,600. "That's 10,600 iPhones that will soon be liberated. Every replaced pentalobe screw is a powerful symbol of our resistance: We will not be locked out of our phones," the company said. The company will continue to ship "Liberation Kits" for only the cost of shipping until 5 July, or they run out of stock. Apple locking down its phones is about as popular as the tax on tea. Both incidents were spun out of proportion by the right PR.     |
| Intel mulls $10 billion Israel investment Posted: 03 Jul 2013 02:31 AM PDT Intel is in talks with the Israeli government about a $10-billion investment in the country. According to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Chipzilla is having talks with the Israeli Economy Ministry's Investment Centre. The idea is to see what kind of deals Intel can broker with the government in terms of sweeteners. Nahum Itzkovich, the new director of the centre, said the negotiations were "intensive" which means both sides have brought their rubber hoses. Under discussion is an investment of $3 billion to upgrade the existing Fab 28 factory in the southern town of Kiryat Gat, and another $7 billion in a new factory in the town over the course of a decade. Israel hopes Intel will make its 10nm chips in the country. On the Israeli side is a high profile negotiating team that includes economy minister Naftali Bennett. Israel has been bankrolling Intel for years, but this time the country is after a long-term process in which each side will commit for at least a decade. Itzkovich did not say how much of a grant or subsidy the government was considering providing Intel for the investment. There are some worries in Israel that Intel could be lured away by incentives offered in Ireland. Intel's last overseas investment was made in Ireland and the fear is that if Chipzilla does not build a factory in Israel this time the country could find itself no longer relevant to Intel. The Intel plant has an incredible impact on the Israeli economy, Itzkovich said. Intel has invested $10.5 billion in Israel in the past decade, including $1.1 billion in 2012, and has received $1.3 billion in government grants     |
| Michael Dell told to up his offer Posted: 03 Jul 2013 02:21 AM PDT Michael Dell has been advised to raise his $24.4 billion offer to take his company private. The move follows billionaire investor Carl Icahn revealing he had committed more than $3 billion to back an alternative proposal. The PC maker's special committee told Dell's founder and chief executive that he should raise his offer if he wants it to succeed. The special committee will have the power of accepting either Dell's offer to buy his own company and take it private, or Icahn's. Until now it has backed Dell. The committee is expected to publish its view on whether Michael Dell's offer, which is backed by equity financing from buyout firm Silver Lake, is in the interest of Dell's shareholders as early as next week. An 18 July shareholder vote on Dell's plan to go private will follow. According to Bloomberg, despite being told to raise his offer Michael Dell is non-committal. Icahn thinks that Dell's offer substantially undervalues the company. The $5.2 billion financing deal put together by Icahn was shown to a mix of US and foreign banks, asset managers, hedge funds and collateralised loan obligation managers. Icahn's proposed tender offer will be financed with $7.5 billion of cash on the balance sheet, the $5.2 billion credit and $2.9 billion from the "sale of receivables".     |
| Facebook users' unfriending reasons explained Posted: 02 Jul 2013 07:11 AM PDT The most common reason for unfriending people on Facebook is constant one-upmanship about how fantastic their lives are, according to a new survey. Endless braggadocio about the interesting things you are doing with your life could point to a deep seated narcissism only exacerbated by me-me-me platforms like Facebook. Or perhaps it's more indicative of the cynical and grumpy nature of Brits, who clearly translate posts about nice things in people's lives into personal attacks on their news feed: the hide button is, after all, an alternative. Either way, for most people hitting unfriend, that is the number one reason people culled their friends list. Bragging was followed by sickly sweet gushing updates and then, users who just don't see deleted 'friends' in the real world. Another user said: "I've blocked people who have posted really intimate information about their sex lives because I'm really not interested. Some people just don't seem to set any boundaries on there". Others were annoyed at updates that were just too frequent, annoying, attached inappropriate photos, or for being too personal. Just 22 percent were peeved at bad language, and a jealous 14 percent didn't want to share their friends. Only 11 percent of people said they clicked unfriend because they were jealous of holiday snaps.     |
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