The flagship smartphone is dead

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We used to live in simpler times. Five years ago, there was only one iPhone, one Palm Pre, one Nokia N8, and one Xperia X10. Each mobile company's flagship phone was readily identifiable. But then 2011 and the inexorable rise of Android happened, and now the very idea of a flagship is starting to feel dubious. Is LG's best phone the G4 or the V10? Is Samsung's flagship the Galaxy S6 or the Note 5? And which iPhone is Apple's most important one?

In today's mobile world, every smartphone manufacturer recognizes that one size isn't enough to fit all. Google has the single-handed Nexus 5X and the extra-large Nexus 6P, which are neatly matched by Microsoft's 5.2-inch Lumia 950 and 5.7-inch 950 XL. Beyond the aforementioned iPhones and Galaxy devices, Sony has an established habit of producing its flagship device in two sizes, and Motorola has even contemplated screen size as an option for its Moto Maker customization service.

As smartphones have matured, two related trends have combined to kill off the notion of a singular, idealized, best phone. One is that the diversity of operating systems that once offered multiple directions and means for defining what is best has shrunken down to a simple duopoly. We no longer have the Palm way, the Windows Mobile approach, or the BlackBerry path — there's just iOS or Android, and those two remaining champs are closer to each other today than they've ever been. Simultaneous with the homogenization of software has been a plateauing of hardware capabilities. Every smartphone has a great display, a responsive touchscreen, and at least reasonable build quality. Many, especially in China, even offer fingerprint sensors, fast cameras, and other previously fancy extras at a fraction of yesteryear's flagship prices.

The picture seems bleak for anyone looking to sell a new phone into such a developed, highly competitive, and undifferentiated market. But new companies persist in trying, and their exploration of the extremes — such as Lenovo's Vibe P1 with a massive 5,000mAh battery — help us to define the best set of smartphone characteristics for the future.

It's a tough market for its participants, but it's actually a wonderful one for its customers.

Because it's so hard to stand out in any singular way, phone makers have taken to offering more choice and diversity to cater to all tastes. Some of their actions have been self-destructive, like the unsustainable price wars being waged in China, but taken as a whole, the smartphone market is thriving today because of its harsh competition.

For a long time after the release of the original iPhone, every hotly anticipated smartphone that followed it was dubbed, ironically by some and seriously by others, an iPhone killer. History has shown that none of them truly lived up to that title, and now the very definition is becoming obviated. There's no "iPhone" left to kill anymore — there are iPhones, from big and expensive to small and (relatively) affordable ones, and there are also many iPhone competitors. Flagship specs and features can be found across all size ranges and price brackets.

Buying a smartphone in 2015 is a more complex task than it was in 2010. Picking a preferred operating system is just the start, to be followed by choices of size, materials, colors, memory, storage, and, of course, price. But it can also be as simple as taking a fancy to a device you find attractive and going with your instinct — another difference from five years ago is that there are almost no terrible phones left. The Microsoft Kins and BlackBerry Torches of this world are gone, because they weren't good enough. The loss in diversity that they represent is a desirable, evolutionary one, and it has been replaced by a greater range of user choice.

All of that leads us to the flagship phone's retirement party. Smartphones have become too unified in their software and too similar in their hardware for there to be just one perfect one. There are no clear flagships left because all phones have grown to be very good — and the things that will determine the best one for each person can be subjective, whimsical, and even fun. Who needs flagships when the entire fleet is awesome?

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Source: The flagship smartphone is dead

Would stock Android make you more likely to buy a Chinese smartphone?

It's an interesting thought, and one that Huawei was happy to admit it had given due consideration. While it is understandable that the company would be reluctant to abandon its custom interface in favor of stock Android, we were informed that Huawei would be paying close attention to the sales figures of the Nexus 6P (which runs stock Android) and reconvene to consider it as one of a few possible options.

The Nexus 6P is a thing of beauty: stock Android on great Huawei hardware. / © ANDROIDPIT

Huawei, like any manufacturer that puts time and effort into a software layer of unique features and enhancements, believes wholeheartedly in the value its interface adds to the core Android experience. As Android nerds, we naturally tend to gravitate toward a stock experience that we can customize ourselves, but we are also aware that we are hardly representative of 'average' smartphone consumers.

The good parts of a stock experience are that it makes a phone faster, more stable and open to rapid updates. These are definitely things to be envied, and they have worked out quite well for Motorola, which has become the default manufacturer (after Google's Nexus devices) for anyone who demands the fastest Android updates possible. But of course, all devices with stock Android are the same.

Sure, there's value to be found in manufacturer skins, but how much? / © ANDROIDPIT

Would we be missing out on anything valuable if Chinese phones from Lenovo, Xiaomi and Huawei were to suddenly switch to stock Android? On a visual level, the answer is no. All it takes is a theme engine or launcher to change the look and behavior of a software layer. The real problem lies with those baked-in software features that can't be downloaded as apps.

This is where it comes down to the individual: just how much importance do you put on hard-wired software features? Do you prefer a more speedy device with faster updates over gimmicky features? Or do you think those add-ons are the critical feature that differentiates your phone from everyone else's? There's no one right answer. I don't think I've ever bought a phone specifically for a software feature, but I have bought a Nexus for the other reasons.

Do you tend to buy a phone for its hardware, software, or a mixture of both? / © ANDROIDPIT

So I'd like to ask you for your thoughts: how important are software features to you when buying a new phone? Do you buy purely for the hardware? How important is update speed to you? Do you look more at the price/performance ratio or does your buying decision always come down to the combination of software features and hardware? Have you ever bought a phone just for a must-have software feature?  

Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Source: Would stock Android make you more likely to buy a Chinese smartphone?

Smartphones and tablets overtake PCs in China’s online retail sales

By PTI on Nov 28, 2015 at 12:57 PM comments News

Smartphones and tablets are becoming the preferred choices for Chinese consumers to do online shopping as the value of mobile sales for the first time exceeded the transactions made through personal computers in the Communist country, according to a report.

With the domestic smartphone makers expanding their offerings, the gadgets have become increasingly affordable and mobile internet connections reaching 594 million. Share of mobile sales in online sales nationwide gained 3.2 percentage points from the first quarter this year to 50.8 percent in the second, the first time more transactions occurred on mobile gadgets than on personal computer (PC), a report released by consultancy iResearch said.

China's largest online retailers have been pushing for more sales of their mobile apps amid growing penetration of smartphones in the country. More than 594 million people had access to mobile internet by the end of the first half of this year, up 6.7 percent from the same period a year ago, according to China Internet Network Information Center.

In August, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said in its quarterly results ending June 30 this year that mobile transactions account for 55 per cent of gross merchandise value on its online marketplaces Tmall.com and Taobao.com. Alibaba's rival JD.com also said in its second quarter results that mobile orders nearly tripled year-on-year in that period to account for 47 percent of all orders.

Over the past two years, domestic smartphone makers Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo have been expanding their offering of budget phones, most with a price tag around 1,000 yuan (around 160 US dollars). This has made smartphones increasingly affordable, especially among rural Chinese, reported state-run Xinhua news agency quoting iResearch.

China's online retail expanded nearly 40 percent year on year in the second quarter of this year to 872.41 billion yuan, accounting for 12.3 percent of total retail sales in the country.

For the latest technology news, gadgets and reviews download the BGR India Android app. Also follow BGR India on Facebook and Twitter to stay tuned with the latest technology news.

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Source: Smartphones and tablets overtake PCs in China's online retail sales

Lenovo's astonishing smartphone success in India

It may not yet be up there with Samsung, the dominating smartphone seller in India holding steady with 24 percent market share after losing ground over the years; or with local giant Micromax, which roughly commands 16 to 17 percent of the market share. But if it continues at anything close to the scorching pace it has exhibited in the last year and a half, both of these biggies better watch out for Lenovo, arguably the hottest brand in the Indian market today.

Not so long ago, this Chinese company was known more for its ability to flog PCs than anything else. It was also tentatively dipping its toes in the Indian market with launches of phones that didn't really cause any major waves. Hence, its market share was negligible. According to IDC, the company did not figure in the top five brands even as late as the quarter ending December 2014.

Recent figures disclose a whole new picture, with Lenovo leapfrogging to become the number four smartphone maker by volume at 9.5 percent in India, and number three by value at 11 percent, according to research outfit IDC.

The reason for this spectacular jump? Possibly the best move Lenovo has made in years, which is to have bought Motorola from Google, thus igniting its smartphone strategy in what is now the hottest market for these devices in the world. The Moto line, which includes first and second generations of the E, the G, and the X models, has sold millions of its units to Indians, popular for their attractive specifications at modest prices, dependability, and ruggedness, making them the easy value-for-money pick in the country. Apparently, in just 10 months in 2014, the company sold 3 million Moto devices.

Another pivotal reason for continued momentum this year is its success with online sales of its entry level, affordable 4G smartphones. Sales of its A6000 ($116) and A7000 ($130) devices have been on fire, helping it grab a 30 percent share of the 4G smartphone market in the country, according to Counterpoint Research. Considering that almost 50 percent of all smartphones shipped in India were under $100 in the last quarter compared with only one-fifth of them in China in the same period, aggressively pushing these phones has been a very smart strategy

So impressive has its performance been in India to date that it has become the only Chinese major in the top five vendor list in India, and easily besting its more attention-grabbing compatriot, Xiaomi.

So it is only expected that Lenovo is going to now go gangbusters to extend its dominance and has clearly expressed its intention to wrench, for starters, the second position in the smartphone rankings in India from Micromax and mount steady incursions into Samsung.

It has already tied up with Singapore-based Flextronics to assemble its phones in the latter's 40,000 square feet Chennai facility and is targeting a doubling of production to 10 million units annually in India from next year. It has also combined the sales teams for Motorola and Lenovo in the country and is planning on launching products here first before launching them globally

The Chinese company also intends transplanting its popular phone customisation programme Moto Maker after launching it in the US and Brazil. This ranges from allowing its fans to tinker with the back panels of their phones and even perhaps tweak things like RAM or screen size in the future.

With product innovation that has also successfully kept an eye on affordability durability, Lenovo will continue to attract the value conscious Indian consumer while ratcheting up the pressure on Micromax and Samsung in what is a fiercely contested market.

Source: Lenovo's astonishing smartphone success in India

Lenovo plans to double India smartphone production to 10 million units

NEW DELHI: Chinese smartphone maker Lenovo, which owns the Motorola brand, plans to nearly double local production to 10 million units annually next year, as it aims to become the No. 2 smartphone brand in the fastest growing market worldwide.

The company also plans to export from its existing facility in Chennai and will add more models from both brands to be made locally. Lenovo plans to bring the popular phone customisation programme Moto Maker to India, after launching it in the US and Brazil.

"We will increase the local production to 10 million units next year. Right now, we have a peak capacity of 6 million," Chen Xudong, president of mobile business group of Lenovo and chairman of Motorola Mobility's operating board, told ET.

He further said the Moto Maker programme will be able to take wings quicker in India on the back of large scale local production. "It's logistically easier for us to ship multiple phones, each with its own customisation, locally than shippin g a single customised phone from China," said Xudong.

Initially, Moto Maker will allow users to customize the back panels of their smartphones. Larger scale at a local level will enable the company to get specialised customisation, down to the level of specialised RAM requirements or even screen size, to consumers in the future.

The company plans to launch global products in the first wave alongside leading global markets, a never before move, and intends to use the Indian team's creative might for global launches.

Lenovo's plans underline the importance of Indian market which ranks among the top five globally for the company, by volume and revenue. Lenovo-Motorola combined is No. 4 smartphone maker by volume at 9.5 per cent in India, and No. 3 by value at 11 per cent, as per IDC's September quarter findings.

The company which competes with strong local brands in India, besides rivals from its home market and MNC brands, said India would continue to be its fo cus market for the next several years as smartphone growth escalates.

After integration of Lenovo and Motorola earlier this year, the company set three targets of which it ticked off the first one in August when it began assembling phones in Chennai through a contract manufacturing tie-up with Flextronics. Having combined sales teams of Motorola and Lenovo in the country, using Indian creatives globally and launching products in India first have been set as next targets. "We are changing strategy and putting India in the first wave of product launches, which was not the case before," said Xudong.

Source: Lenovo plans to double India smartphone production to 10 million units

Gay consumers' spending power draws attention in China - but stigma remains

Li Sheng just purchased a new Sony smartphone, enjoys traveling abroad and rarely thinks twice about spending on what he likes. The 31-year old human-resource executive, a Shanghai resident making 120,000 yuan (S$26,410) a year, is gay. And that's making him increasingly interesting to Chinese marketers.

"I buy anything I need, from consumer goods to shampoos, body wash and electronic goods," said Mr. Li. "Maybe I'll get an iPhone next."

Homosexuality has long been taboo in China. But the spending power of China's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender - or LGBT -community is attracting growing attention. A survey of more than 18,000 LGBT people in China released this month by WorkForLGBT, a coalition of companies and activists, found that respondents earn an average of 10,298 yuan per month, five times the national average. They also tend to be brand loyal and have more disposable income, largely because most don't have children, WorkForLGBT found.

The survey comes on the heels of the China Pink Market Conference, which was hosted by the coalition earlier this month and examined the LGBT community's market potential. The gathering attracted a number of companies from startups to Fortune 500 firms, including Honeywell International Inc., BP plc and Microsoft Corp.

China's LGBT community spends US$470 billion (S$660.9 billion) annually, US-based research firm Community Marketing & Insights estimated in 2014. And Geng Le, chief executive of Blued - among the world's largest gay mobile apps, with 15 million users - believes China's LGBT population exceeds 70 million people, "equivalent to the entire population of the United Kingdom," he adds.

Read the full article here

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Source: Gay consumers' spending power draws attention in China - but stigma remains

Apple said to plan Apple Pay launch in China by February

Apple Pay may arrive in the biggest smartphone market early next year.

CNET

Apple Pay may make its debut early next year in China, the biggest smartphone market in the world.

Apple's electronic-payments service is expected to launch in China in February, according to The Wall Street Journal. Sources told the newspaper that the Cupertino, California, tech giant has struck deals with China's big four state-run banks that will allow Apple Pay users to link their local bank accounts to the mobile payments service.

Apple representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

Launched last year in the US and other countries, Apple Pay enables owners of the iPhone 6 and later iPhones and the Apple Watch to pay for items on the go via the wireless technology NFC (near-field communication). A growing number of banks and retailers in the US have been using the payment service, which has support from all four major US credit cards.

Companies are eager to push mobile payments in the belief that the additional service will build consumer loyalty. Apple Pay users, for instance, could potentially be more likely to keep their iPhones if they can store their payment data and use the device to buy shampoo, beer and gum.

To gain more traction, though, Apple Pay needs to expand globally, especially as rival services such as Samsung Pay and Google's Android Pay start to make their presence known. As the largest smartphone market in the world, China represents a significant business opportunity for mobile-payments systems.

The company had reportedly been trying to reach an agreement with Chinese bank UnionPay, which is the only bank in China that conducts interbank payments. That monopoly on credit- and debit-card processing effectively locks out MasterCard and Visa.

Apple began talking with UnionPay last year about using the bank's network for Apple Pay and had hoped an agreement would be in place by March. But Apple's relationship with UnionPay has been rocky, pe ople close to the talks told MarketWatch.

Since last year, Apple has also been chatting with at least eight major Chinese banks about adopting Apple Pay. But those talks had not gone well either, a source close to them told MarketWatch, and one bank -- the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China -- expressed no interest in a deal.

A major stumbling block to that expansion into other countries has been the fees it charges to process transactions. In the US, it reportedly gets a cut of 15 cents for each $100 Apple Pay transaction. Banks in countries such as China and Australia seem to be balking at those transaction fees.

Launched in the US in October 2014, Apple Pay debuted in the UK in July and expanded to Canada and Australia this month.

CNET's Lance Whitney contributed to this report.

Source: Apple said to plan Apple Pay launch in China by February

Soda To Smartphones: Pepsi Phone To Launch In China

The Pepsi brand continues to enjoy success in China, and now soda-branded smartphone is to be released.

First off tech-brand Oppo released a Pepsi edition of its N1 smartphone, and now another Chinese company is getting in on the act. The Pepsi Phone may look like a rebranded Oppo R7 Plus, but in fact it's a remodeled version of the Koobee H7, reports JD.

Koobee rebrands H7 smartphone as Pepsi Phone

The original smartphone costs $250 and boasts a 5.5-inch 1080p display with 2.5D glass, MediaTek MT6592 1.7GHz octa-core processor, 16GB internal storage, 2GB RAM and backside touch fingerprint sensor. The Pepsi Phone shares these specifications but may be an older version of the handset seeing as it also features a thick metallic border.

Koobee has installed its customized Android 5.1 operating system which boasts a Pepsi theme, but the rest of the specifications are the same as the H7: 13-megapixel f/2.0 camera, 5-megapixel front camera, 3,000 mAh battery, dual SIM slots and microSD expansion (which takes up the secondary SIM slot; supports cards of up to 64GB).

The specs themselves are pretty decent considering that the phone is just 7.7mm thick and weighs only 158 grams. You can choose between Pepsi blue, gold or silver for the handset.

Demand slow for handset during crowdfunding campaign

Koobee is currently running a crowdfunding campaign for the Pepsi Phone, offering two options. The P1 offers TD-LTE and TD-SCDMA radios for China Mobile, while the P1s also features FDD-LTE and WCDMA for China Unicom and other carriers around the world.

The first run of P1's only ran to 1,000 units and sold out quickly thanks to the low price of just $78. The P1s is still available for just $110 under the early bird offer, while latecomers will have to pay $156 for the smartphone or $203 if you want to add a selfie stick.

The campaign will run until December 3 and hopes to raise $469,700. At the time of writing it had funded just 37%, suggesting that the offers are not proving very attractive for consumers.

Pepsi expands range of branded goods

Pepsi joins amp-maker Marshall and construction equipment company Caterpillar in releasing branded smartphones. While Marshall's effort at least makes some sense with its dedicated audio chip and twin headphone jacks, the Pepsi Phone has few features that make it distinctly related to soft drinks. Even Caterpillar's smartphone features a ruggedized design, presumably for construction workers.

Alongside accessories and apparel, Pepsi has also worked with Danish luxury stereo and TV maker Bang & Olufsen and Italian shoemaker Del Toro to sell branded goods. Earlier this year the company released a special edition "Pepsi Perfect" bottle to mark the day that Maryt McFly traveled to 21 October 2015 in the film Back To The Future II.

Pepsi is exploring various avenues in order to promote its brand and it seems to be having a measure of success in China. However the smartphone may not be distinctive enough to entice consumers to shell out their hard earned cash on Koobee H7.

For some people the allure of a brand name is enough to make them buy a product, but it seems bizarre that a soft drinks company would move into the technology sector. There is something slightly tacky about becoming free advertising for a corporate giant, but perhaps Chinese consumers will see things differently.

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Source: Soda To Smartphones: Pepsi Phone To Launch In China

Chinese smartphone survives 20 foot drop without any major damage

Neowin reports on the drop test captured in a video by Bluboo. It is one of several similar demonstrations the company has made in the past. The manufacturer may be little known in the west but is one of several emerging Android smartphone brands in the Chinese market. Like many of its contemporaries, its creations have a reputation for a low price and a design that may make you think you're looking at a Samsung or Apple device from a few years ago. The company's newest phone, the Xtouch, is set to be released next month. It's a 5-inch handset with a Full HD display, octa-core Mediatek processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage and 13-megapixel camera that uses the popular Sony IMX214 sensor. It runs Android 5.1 and includes a fingerprint sensor on the front. The specifications suggest it will be a competent phone with very acceptable performance. The results of the company's vicious 20 foot (6 metre) drop test show it will also have the durability to match, thanks to its metal body and Gorilla Glass 3-coated display. The highly-dramatized video shows the Xtouch being dropped from a balcony onto a tiled stone floor below. The phone is shown to be in working order before it falls and hits the ground, rebounding from the surface to hit the floor again. Heavy case scratching is evident on the sides but the display is intact. The Bluboo logo appears, indicating it is rebooting, but the device appears to be functional once Android is loaded. It goes without saying that owners won't be able to replicate this every time with every fall but it does demonstrate that the Xtouch should have the strength to survive a drop onto a table or pavement. Bluboo has a reputation for heavy public stress-testing of its phones and has previously dropped the Xtouch from a height of 1.7 metres. Recently, it also demonstrated the phone surviving two hammer tests involving it being placed on top of a hollow concrete block that was then hit. The block cracked and split in two but the Xtouch survived, again without any display damage. Bluboo is also claiming that the Xtouch is the first smartphone to use 3D printing in its manufacturing process. The Bluboo Xtouch will retail from $149.99 but probably won't be easy to find outside of Asian markets. The company's website does have an online shop and list of global agents but the broken English translation ("charming appearance make you drunk", "the whole real world is just under the screen") indicates Bluboo isn't really targeting the U.S. and Europe just yet. Marketing issues aside, the phone does appear to be a very capable handset though. The Mediatek processor is a competent rival to the Qualcomm Snapdragon series used by most phones popular in the west and the rest of the specifications are fairly standard details that wouldn't look amiss on the spec sheet of any new smartphone this year.
Source: Chinese smartphone survives 20 foot drop without any major damage

Samsung Rumoured to be Developing Budget Smartphone with Fingerprint Sensors and Samsung Pay

Tech

Samsung is rumored to be developing budget smartphones with premium features.(Photo : Donald Bowers | Getty Images News)

South Korean manufacturer Sansung Electronics is coming for Xiaomi and OnePlus. The company is reportedly set to release a new budget smartphone that will offer premium specs.

A new report from Seoul said that Samsung is planning to implement a few new specifications to its future smartphones.

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An unnamed source rumored said that Samsung's future devices will fingerprint sensors in budget smartphone models. Although it is not clear what the exact definition of company's "budget" could be, GSM Arena reported.

Recently, Chinese smartphone makers have started including fingerprint scanners in low-midrange devics. It is evident that the Korean company is feeling the heat as some cheap devices made in China are reportedly offering more features than Samsung gadgets. Currently, Sansung is the top dog in 14 out of the 15 emerging smartphone markets. The company's latest moves seems to indicate that it is desperate to maintain its coveted position.

Unfortunately, no time frame has been announced for Samsung to launch fingerprint sensors in cheaper devices. Samsung Pay is reportedly going to start appearing in mid-range and law-end Samsung devices as early as in the first half of next year. The company's Android handsets are expected to receive Samsung Pay first.

Analysts are divided as to whether Samsung will bring its payment system to Tizen smartphones.

Meanwhile, a new smartphone has been introduced by Samsung. The device called Britecell was launched during the company's annual Investor's forum. It has advanced camera technology with an enhanced light sensitivity to capture flattering photographs.

According to iDigital Times, the new device is an improvement to the isocell camera. The device is noticeably slimmer and smaller like other new smartphones and tablets in the market. 

The new camera technology might become a key feature of Samsung's next generation flagship devices such as the Galaxy S7 and all of its versions.It could also appear in Samsung's rumored mid-and-low range devices under development.

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Source: Samsung Rumoured to be Developing Budget Smartphone with Fingerprint Sensors and Samsung Pay

Zero Day Weekly: Xfinity doxing users, D-Link exposing networks, China's uncrackable smartphone

Welcome to Zero Day's Week In Security, ZDNet's roundup of notable security news items for the week ending November 20, 2015.

From CNET: On encryption, Clinton tells Silicon Valley to be a team player "Hillary Clinton wants Silicon Valley to stop being so obstinate. That's the message from the Democratic frontrunner in the US presidential race following attacks in Paris last week that renewed debate about technology's role in terrorism. Clinton told the tech industry it can't simply ignore the federal government's need to track down extremists. "We need Silicon Valley not to view government as its adversary," Clinton said Thursday at a speech on national security at the Center on Foreign Relations in New York." See also: Let's have an argument about encryption (Engadget)

From The Hill: Tech group rejects push to let feds into encrypted data "In its first comments since the attacks, which killed at least 129 people and wounded hundreds more, the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) argued that ensuring access to encrypted devices would be ruinous for global security. "We deeply appreciate law enforcement's and the national security community's work to protect us," said ITI CEO Dean Garfield in a statement. "But weakening encryption or creating backdoors to encrypted devices and data for use by the good guys would actually create vulnerabilities to be exploited by the bad guys, which would almost certainly cause serious physical and financial harm across our society and our economy.""

From CSO Online: Comcast Xfinity Wi-Fi discloses customer names and addresses "The Xfinity Wi-Fi service from Comcast is disclosing the full name and home address of residential customers, which is something the company says isn't supposed to happen. The disclosure of such information increases an already exposed attack surface, by allowing anyone with malicious intent to selectively target their marks... the problem is, names and addresses were listed, and they're still being displayed in the search results when someone searches for an Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspot."

From SC Magazine: Automakers urge Congress to limit regulation on Internet of Cars "Automotive executives urged Congress Wednesday to limit legislation concerning connected automobiles while discussing cybersecurity and car hacking and at the "Internet of Cars" hearing held before two House subcommittees. The hearing highlighted the efforts that automakers are making to address cybersecurity concerns as well as to give members of the Subcommittee on Information Technology and the Subcommittee on Transportation and Public Assets an opportunity to learn more about connected vehicles."

From SecurityWeek: Flaw in D-Link Switches Exposes Corporate Networks: Researchers "A vulnerability in certain D-Link smart switches can be exploited by remote attackers to access log and configuration files without any authentication credentials, researchers claim. Independent security researcher Varang Amin and Aditya Sood, chief architect at Elastica's Cloud Threat Labs, reported discovering a flaw in DGS-1210 Series Gigabit Smart Switches from D-Link."

From ZDNet: SMBs the main target for Q3 PoS malware: Trend Labs "Small to medium businesses (SMBs) were a lucrative and easy point of sale (PoS) target for malware attacks in the third quarter of 2015, according to security firm Trend Micro. In Trend Micro's TrendLabs third quarter 2015 security roundup, Hazards Ahead: Current Vulnerabilities Prelude Impending Attacks, for the three months ending September 2015, the Tokyo-headquartered firm said attackers went after as many vulnerable PoS devices as possible with the intention of "hitting the jackpot"."

From ZDNet: Dyre banking malware: Windows 10 and Edge browser now targets "The notorious Dyre banking malware has been updated to take on Windows 10 machines and hook its claws into the Edge browser. Dyre, also known as Dyreza, appeared on the cybercrime scene in July 2014 and has quickly gained a reputation as a nasty piece of malware that aims to steal credentials. It's been found to target Salesforce users and banking customers, and more recently was discovered to have been adapted to steal credentials from a range of supply-chain businesses, including fulfillment and warehousing, inventory-management software vendors and wholesale computer distributors."

From ZDNet: Why Dell is picking thermal fingerprint scanning for next year's notebooks, tablets "In 2016, Dell's commercial and ruggedized notebooks and tablets will feature patented fingerprint scanner units from Norwegian firm NEXT Biometrics. NEXT says it is providing Dell with at least 1.2 million scanners, which are based on thermal scanning, as opposed to the capacitive fingerprint scanners almost all other vendors employ. That approach means scanners from NEXT, headquartered in Oslo, Norway, registers temperature differences between the valleys and the ridges in a fingerprint. Other scanners use a radio frequency-based signal, measuring signal-response differences between fingerprint features."

From TechDirt: Ted Koppel Writes Entire Book About How Hackers Will Take Down Our Electric Grid... And Never Spoke To Any Experts "Famous TV news talking head Ted Koppel recently came out with a new book called Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath. The premise, as you may have guessed, is that we're facing a huge risk that "cyberattackers" are going to take down the electric grid... Want to know how useful the book actually is? All you really need to read is the following question and answer from an interview Koppel did with CSO Online:

Did you interview penetration testers who have experience in the electric generation/transmission sector for this book?

No, I did not."

From ZDNet: Crooks use old-school Conficker virus to infect police body cams "Jarrett Pavao and Charles Auchinleck of the IT integrator iPower Technologies said they have discovered the infamous Conficker virus pre-installed on two Frontline police body cameras from Martel Electronics. iPower, which is working on a cloud-based storage system for government agencies and police departments to store and search camera video, said it discovered the malware after testing two of the $499 body cams it had ordered. The malware infected PCs physically connected to the body cams."

From ZDNet: Microsoft spending on security R&D rivals Symantec "Microsoft's spending on security research and development is on par with Symantec and highlights how the company has the potential to poach additional wallet share. In a blog post highlighting Microsoft's security plans, the software giant said that it spends more than $1 billion a year on security research and development. To put that in context, that sum represents a bit more than 1 percent of Microsoft's annual sales and about 8.33 percent of what the company spent on research and development in fiscal 2015. Microsoft spends about 13 percent of its annual sales on R&D."

From The Hill: China building its own uncrackable smartphone "China is seeking to construct its own uncrackable smartphones in an attempt to evade U.S. surveillance programs. The effort is part of the Asian power's efforts to develop homegrown technology to replace foreign products. The majority of the smartphone operating systems and processors in China rely on either Apple or Google technology. Hackers frequently infiltrate phones through these components, and China fears that American companies are compromised by U.S. intelligence agencies."

Source: Zero Day Weekly: Xfinity doxing users, D-Link exposing networks, China's uncrackable smartphone

Pepsi debuts its first smartphone in China

Turns out the rumors were right on the mark. Pepsi has today officially announced its first Android smartphone, the Pepsi Phone P1. There is also a China Unicorn variant of the device, dubbed the P1s. The smartphone is being manufactured by Shenzhen Scooby Communication Equipment Co with Pepsi branding.

The smartphone comes with a 5.5-inch sized display boasting of 1080 x 1920 Full HD resolution and 2.5D glass. Powering the device is MediaTek's octa-core MT6592 chipset with the ARM Mali-450MP4 GPU and 2GB of RAM. There is 16GB of onboard storage available, which can be further expanded with the help of a microSD card. The 4G LTE capable device comes with a 13MP camera on the back and a 5MP selfie camera on the front. Other key hardware specs include a fingerprint scanner mounted on the back, 3000mAh capacity battery, and a premium metal unibody build. The Pepsi Phone P1 runs on dido OS 6.1 based on Android Lollipop version 5.1.

Pepsi has priced the smartphone at 499 Yuan (introductory pricing) for the first 1000 buyers. Three color options are being offered – Blue, Silver, and Gold.

Via: FoneArena

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Source: Pepsi debuts its first smartphone in China

Huawei Big Winner As Global Smartphone Sales Rise 16% In Q3: Gartner

Huawei is tearing it up. Gartner's third-quarter global smartphone sales report came out Wednesday and showed the Chinese smartphone maker nearly doubled unit sales year-over-year. Huawei, which Google recently tapped to produce the latest Nexus phone, made the biggest jump in mobile phone sales out of any manufacturer in the quarter.

Huawei posted over 27,000 unit sales in the third quarter, compared to just under 16,000 in the same quarter in 2014 for an increase of about 70 percent. Huawei's marketshare jumped up from 5.2 percent to 7.7 percent, beating Lenovo and Xiaomi to take the third place spot.

Huawei recently received major coverage when Google announced it would be asking the company to build its flagship Nexus 6P device. The deal was a huge boost for Huawei, which found its name thrust into the spotlight in a market in which it has struggled to make inroads. The metal chassis, high-quality screen and speedy processors showed that Huawei knows how to do premium.

Elsewhere, Samsung maintained its market share lead with 23.7 percent of the market, while Apple increased nearly one percent year-over-year, reaching 13.1 percent of the market.

On the operating system side, it was bad news for Windows. Microsoft's offering took 1.7 percent of the market this time around compared to 3 percent last year. The recently announced Lumia 950 and 950 XL may go some way towards reversing this trend, and elsewhere Microsoft is pouring more resources into making Windows on the phone an attractive prospect.

BlackBerry continued its long decline, losing nearly two thirds of its market share to grab a mere 0.3 percent. Things aren't likely to change, as the company sets its sights on the Android-running Priv phone propelling the company forward. The new device takes the Android system and adds security features, while the hardware sets itself apart from the crowd by including a physical keyboard.

Overall, the worldwide smartphone industry grew 15.5 percent compared to a year ago, driven largely by sales of low-cost devices in emerging markets. "The availability of affordable smartphones saw consumers upgrade their 'feature phones' to smartphones more quickly because of the small price gap," said Ansul Gupta, research director at Gartner.

Source: Huawei Big Winner As Global Smartphone Sales Rise 16% In Q3: Gartner

Apple Inc. Eyes India As iPhone's Next Big Market, But China-Style Success Won't Be Easy

Apple is now allowed to open its own retail stores in India -- an untapped smartphone market ripe for the picking for a company looking to find the next big growth engine as domestic sales threaten to slow and China's economy cools. But the subcontinent holds its own challenges for Apple -- a premium brand that will need to find a way to compete in a market where consumers have far less cash than in its traditional strongholds.

India will very soon be the world's second biggest smartphone market in terms of ownership. With a population of 1.2 billion and smartphone penetration under 20 percent, it holds big potential for companies that are increasingly seeing their markets saturated elsewhere in the world -- even in China.

Apple now derives over 60 percent of its revenue from overseas sales. China alone accounts for 20 percent of Apple's total revenue and provides the second largest margins for the company compared with other regions. Almost all of that revenue is coming from Apple's newest (and biggest) iPhones, with Tim Cook saying sales in the most recent quarter were up 120 percent over the same period last year. But even China's smartphone market is now slowing down with a 4 percent decline year-on-year in the second quarter of 2015, meaning Apple will need to look elsewhere if it wants to maintain iPhone growth.

Enter India. The Indian government this week relaxed its Made in India rules -- restrictions that required 30 percent of products to be sourced locally for companies looking to set up shop in the country.

Many see it as paving the way for Apple -- among other Western companies -- to open its own retail stores, though Apple has made no comment on its plans to expand its retail footprint into the subcontinent. "The change in law could remove the biggest barrier for Apple, that is to touch the customers directly. Having full control of the customer presales, during sales and post-sales experience is what Apple aims for and this is welcome news, aligning well with Apple's vertical integration strategy," Neil Shah of CounterPoint Research told International Business Times.

However, this is not the whole story. Apple cannot count on a repeat of the success it has experienced in China over the last two years due to economic, cultural and patriotic reasons.

Conspicuous Consumption

The Indian and Chinese markets do share some features: both are huge with growing economies and an increasing middle class, with smartphone sales in China expected to reach 707 million units in 2017 (up from 458 million in 2015), while India is expected to see sales rise from 118 million to 174 million according to Strategy Analytics -- but there are fundamental differences according to Jackdaw Research analyst Jan Dawson. "In China, there is a big conspicuous consumption aspect to the culture where the people want to have the expensive stuff and show it off. In India, that exists in some segments but there is more of a frugality mentality so people want to be seen to have made a smart purchase rather than an expensive purchase," Dawson said.

The frugality is intrinsically linked to the fact that Indians on average are simply not as wealthy as the Chinese. India's middle class is growing, but the scale of it compared to China is still much smaller, while the country's GDP per capita is roughly a quarter of what it is in the People's Republic of China. As Vianch Damani, a contributor to the Techpinions blog, put it, "the buying capacity of Indians is still very limited."

Apple iPhone 6S Plus | SpecOut

Apple currently has a 2 percent smartphone market share in India, shipping 1.7 million iPhones to the country in the last fiscal year, up from 1.1 million the previous year, according to CounterPoint Research. Although this may seem insignificant considering Apple sold 48 million iPhones globally in the last quarter alone, it is important to remember that just two-and-a-half years ago iPhones were only selling in the thousands in India.

Then Apple switched gears, contracting with multiple, national-level distributors, partnering with banks to back financing, offering deep discounts on older models and providing buyback plans. Apple has seen Indians take to the iPhone in droves. With the launch of the iPhone 6, the company also tied up with Vodafone to offer zero-down payment plans to make the phones more affordable.

According to Damani, most of the iPhones sold in India are from the company's legacy lineup, as it still sells an 8GB iPhone 4S for around $220 to $230, a phone which hasn't been on sale in the U.S. for over a year. "To be honest, these lower-end iPhones are the ones that end up selling the most in India, since this is what Indians can afford," Damani said, adding that these entry level models provide "an underwhelming user experience when compared to their Android counterparts. Apple needs to fix this if it is to grow in India."

National Pride

Another issue facing Apple is one of national pride, according to Dawson, with local manufacturer Micromax currently the top vendor in a market where up to 70 percent of smartphones sold cost under $250. Of the foreign builders, South Korea's Samsung is the biggest but most of its smartphone sales in India come in at under $250. As former Apple CEO John Sculley said recently, at that price "they are not making any money on those phones."

While Apple's share of the market is tiny in terms of units sold, in terms of sales revenue it is the number three manufacturer because of its high prices. Shah said that the company's domination of the premium end of the market will rapidly increase. The analyst predicts the premium ($400 and above) market in India will grow to 35 million units per year by 2018 -- up from 2015's shipments of under 15 million -- and said Apple will grab up to 50 percent of that, which would represent a tenfold increase in shipments compared to the last 12 months.

An employee stands at the counter of Micromax mobile phones at a showroom in New Delhi.  Reuters

That bullish position is not held by everyone, however. "I think 5 percent would be a great goal for the next couple of years, that would be more than doubling their current share there. I suspect it is going to be slow growth there, I don't think we are going to see the same kind of explosive growth that you have seen in China in the last couple of years," Dawson said.

The reason for that explosive growth in China was due to Apple clearing two major hurdles. It didn't have a deal with the country's (and the world's) biggest mobile carrier -- China Mobile -- and it also lacked a large-screen smartphone. Addressing those in the past two years has fueled Apple's dramatic rise in China. The company has already cleared these hurdles in India, selling its 5.5-inch iPhone in partnership with the major networks in the country.

Too Expensive

The reason Apple is not selling more phones on the subcontinent is simple -- they are too expensive. India's GDP per capita is roughly a quarter of what it is in China. In addition, just 26 percent of the country is online, according to Internet Live Stats, and there are many challenges facing Apple if it wants to grow market share.

With a population closing in on 1.3 billion, Apple may be tempted to introduce a completely new device at a lower price point, just to capture some of this market, which represents 17 percent of the world's population. But Dawson says he's skeptical about such stories and believes instead Apple will look to focus on incremental increases by offering cheaper, lower-storage models than in other countries and keeping older models on sale for longer.

Another key to Apple's success in China is because iPhones are seen as a status symbols. While Apple products are still viewed as aspirational devices in India, there is another factor that has much more influence on consumers' decision to buy -- and that is the size of the smartphone's screen. "Indians have a great desire for phablets," Damani says. The reason? "For a lot of Indians a smartphone is a primary computing platform because many haven't really used PCs."

While the iPhone 6S Plus does meet the demand for a bigger screen, it is also prohibitively expensive at over $1,000 for the cheapest model, which equates to one third of the average annual salary in India.

But with  the government's relaxation of its Made in India laws, this should help Apple grow its market share. Apple has been not been allowed to open its own retail stores in India because foreign companies were not allowed to open brand stores unless 30 percent of the materials were sourced in India. That rule has been relaxed to allow companies that can show their products are so state of the art they could not source the materials in India -- something Apple is very likely to be able to do.

There are already semi-official stores in India -- Apple Shops operate as stores-within-stores to circumvent the rules, staffed by employees partially trained by Apple and offering an experience comparable to a typical Apple Store. Genuine Apple Stores may be next for India, which Apple can ill-afford to take for granted.

Source: Apple Inc. Eyes India As iPhone's Next Big Market, But China-Style Success Won't Be Easy

Apple is taking 94% of profits in the entire smartphone industry

Wikipedia/BobParis/Graphics by Skye GouldNot Apple CEO Tim Cook.  

Apple has a tiny market share of the smartphone industry — but it is making some truly massive profits.

The Cupertino company was responsible for just 13.5% of smartphones shipped globally in the third quarter of 2015, according to research firm IDC.

Despite this, it is taking the vast, vast majority of profits in the industry — a staggering 94%.

That figure comes via a new research note from financial services company Cannacord Genuity. Samsung comes in a distant second, making 11%. Yes, that adds up to 105%, because other handsets makers have either failed to make a profit or actively lost money.

It's a big jump on a year prior: In Q3 of 2014, Apple made 85% of profits in the industry. 

Canaccord does caution that its figures may not be perfectly accurate. "Given the ramp of Chinese OEM smartphone volumes and particularly strong Q2/2015 smartphone market share gains for Huawei, we note our industry profit analysis excludes a large portion of this group of OEMs gaining an increasing share of the smartphone and handset market profits due to the lack of available and comparable profit metrics," it warns.

However, "while this likely overstates Apple's profits, we note some leading smartphone OEMs in China are growing global market share through aggressive pricing strategies limiting near-term profit levels."

In short: The 94% figure is probably an overestimate, but many of Apple's most successful competitors in China are deliberately unprofitable.

And the good times are going to just keep on coming. Canaccord says it anticipates "continued high-end smartphone market share gains for the larger screen iPhone 6/6S devices as our surveys indicate a greater mix of Android smartphone consumers are switching to the iPhone from Android."

Here's the data in full — click to expand:

Cannacord Genuity

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Source: Apple is taking 94% of profits in the entire smartphone industry

Apple's China Opportunity Is Nowhere Near Over

 Source: Apple's quarterly reports. Revenue figures in millions.

The growth story isn't over So, you can see the divergence, here: On one hand, you have what appears to be a slowing Chinese economy. And on the other, a company becoming increasingly dependent upon this country for growth. Per the data, for every dollar Apple grew above its 2014 revenue figures on a year-over-year basis, Apple's China business was responsible for $0.53.

But that doesn't mean Apple doesn't have room to grow. Recently, Kantar released its newest smartphone operating system sales market share data. And the news is somewhat positive for Apple investors. Despite posting four quarters of revenue increases of 70%-plus in China, mainly on the back of iPhone sales, it appears Apple continues to have a runway for growth. Even with the possibility of slowing growth in the addressable market, Apple can continue to grow in the country by taking a larger portion of the market share pie.

And it seems the company is doing just that.

Take for example the recently completed quarter. Although Apple grew its Chinese-related revenue a massive 99%, Kantar reports on a units-sold basis Apple increased its market share less than four percentage points -- from 15.2% sold in the three months ended September 2014 to 19.1% in the three months ended September 2015. These numbers continue to rise and fall, but at no point during that year did Apple's market share exceed 28%.

Here's a visual of Kantar's data:

A lower-price unit could further grow market shareAnd while I don't expect Apple to become the outright OS market share leader in China, I do think Apple has an ability to continue to grow its market share in the region at the expense of Android. Will those lofty 70% revenue growth rates continue? Probably not, as the easy year-over-year comparisons have now evaporated, but Apple should continue to grow its market share and revenue at a healthy clip.

One of the more intriguing recent rumors may turbo-charge Apple's Chinese gains. According to in-the-know supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple will release a 4-inch iPhone model at a cheaper price point in what appears to be an attempt to capture mid-range demand. A lower price point product could be a hit among Chinese consumers, although the large screen sizes are certainly popular there.

Earlier, Tim Cook reached out to CNBC host Jim Cramer, letting him know that Apple's not slowing in China like other smartphone vendors and taking some heat in the process. As a former skeptic, I'm no longer worried about Apple's China prospects.

The next billion-dollar iSecretThe world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something at its recent event, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early, in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.

Source: Apple's China Opportunity Is Nowhere Near Over

One brand of smartphone dominates the Chinese language market — & now it's catching on in Europe. Las Vegas Blog

Reported From Area 51.

ReutersHuawei Chief Executive Officer Richard Yu holds one of Huawei's smartphones, the Ascend P7. See Additionally Google is reportedly debating whether or not to construct a smartphone These are all of the everyday things we not use 'cause we've smartphones three acceptable reasons for sporting a pc on your wrist Huawei Consumer Business Group formally announced in that smartphone sales for quarter three of 2015 reached 27.four million, an annual yearly improve of 63%, continuing a speedy upward trend. Local markets in China & Europe saw probably the most dramatic sales increases. Sales of Huawei smartphones in China have been up 81% over last yr, & sales in European markets nearly doubled with a 98% improve, while sales in Africa & the Middle East have been up 70% over last yr. The company predicts it should sell over 100 million sensible phones in 2015. When it comes to price vary, Huawei Consumber Business Group's sales of mid to high-end smartphones rose co nsiderably to account for 33% of total smartphone sales in quarter three of 2015. By Sept. 31, 2015, global sales of the Huawei Mate7 exceeded 6.5 million, total global sales of the P8 have been virtually 4 million, & P7 sales topped 7.5 million. The Mate S, let go in Sept., represents Huawei's profitable try and break in to the four,000 yuan & up price vary, & is now being sold in 48 markets across the world, together with China, the UK, Germany, France, & Spain. …

Read more on this matter…One brand of smartphone dominates the Chinese market — and now it's catching on in Europe

Source: One brand of smartphone dominates the Chinese language market — & now it's catching on in Europe. Las Vegas Blog