The Zenfone 4 and Zenfone 5 have sold considerably well in India, and Asus (TPE:2357) is now looking to continue that momentum this year with the launch of its latest handset, the Zenfone 2. Announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the Zenfone 2 grabbed headlines in the tech community as being the first device to feature an astounding 4GB RAM.

Launched in Taiwan in the month of March for what amounts to $295, the 4GB variant (ZE551ML) features great hardware for the price, including a 5.5-inch full-HD display, Intel’s quad-core 2.3GHz Atom Z3580 CPU, 64GB internal memory, microSD slot, dual SIM and LTE connectivity and a 13MP camera at the back along with a 5MP front camera and 3,000mAh battery. Software-wise, the Zenfone 2 features the latest version of Android 5.0 with Asus’ Zen UI rounding off the customizations.

While devices such as the Zenfone 2 are highly anticipated in Western countries, in India, the handset will encounter fierce competition from the likes of Lenovo (HKG:0992), Xiaomi and Huawei, all of whom offer stellar hardware at an affordable price. The differentiator for Asus, at least in India, will be the 4GB ZE551ML variant, which will make it the first device to offer that much memory.

In terms of hardware, the Zenfone 2 is up there with the likes of Xiaomi’s Mi Note, which the Chinese vendor has dubbed the “best smartphone available today.” Xiaomi has become a force to reckon with in India, but Asus has also enjoyed a healthy dose of attention from consumers with its budget offerings. Furthermore, the brushed metal design of the Zenfone 2 looks far more polished than the glass back on offer with the Mi Note. Pricing may also turn out to be a factor that determines the fate of either device in the country, with Xiaomi already showing that it can offer its products for as low as what they are available in China.

There isn’t an exact launch date mentioned for the Zenfone 2 in India, but it should be making its debut sometime before the end of the month. Along with the 4GB model, there will be several affordable options that offer 2GB RAM and a lower resolution screen.

The post Asus Zenfone 2 To Launch In India By The End Of April appeared first on VR World.

At the WinHEC event in Shenzhen, China, Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) head of operating systems Terry Myerson announced that Windows 10 will be launching this summer in 190 countries. Several new features were demoed as well, along with the announcement that a country-specific version of Cortana would be available in Mandarin.

Microsoft also revealed that it is partnering with several Chinese tech companies to increase its presence in the country. Lenovo (HKG:0992), the world’s largest PC maker, has announced that it will make Windows 10 upgrade services available at more than 2,500 locations in China. Lenovo also said that it would be launching its first Windows Phone mid-2015. Specific details about the hardware were not revealed, but considering that the device will be sold through China Mobile, it is likely Lenovo will target the masses with an entry-level or mid-tier offering.

Chinese internet portal Tencent (HKG:0700) is also collaborating with Microsoft in making Windows 10 available to as many of its customers as soon as possible. The vendor stated that it would be launching the highly popular League of Legends on the Windows 10 store, and that it would make several of its apps universal for Windows 10.

In terms of features, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 would get a new biometric authentication system dubbed Windows Hello. Through the feature, you can use your face, iris or fingerprint to unlock your Windows 10 computer. As is the case when implementing biometric authentication, the feature will require specialised hardware, with Microsoft stating that it is working with OEMs to include Intel’s RealSense F200 sensor in their Windows 10-based hardware.

Windows 10 for IoT devices was also highlighted, with Microsoft stating that it will give away the upcoming version of the operating system for free to the maker community. There will be specialised versions of Windows 10 based on the hardware use-case, with products tailored for powerful devices like ATMs and ultrasound machines, to low-energy consuming machines like gateways. Microsoft is also collaborating with Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Raspberry to launch tools and developer kits for the IoT platform. Qualcomm’s DragonBoard 410C was selected as the first dev board for Windows 10 in this segment, with the kit offering integrated Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, GPS, single-channel LPDDR2/3 memory and a Snapdragon 410 SoC.

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The Superfish that swam into many user’s PCs is proving to be a nightmare for Lenovo (HKG:0992).

The PC giant is facing two lawsuits over the Superfish adware (or malware depending on your definition) that it included with some computers it shipped earlier this year.

The first, a class-action suit, alleges that Superfish negatively impacted the performance of plaintiff’s computers through injecting ads into browsers. The lawsuit says that affected individuals should receive compensation of $10,000 each.

The second suit is an individual suit by blogger Jessica Bennett, that seeks the option to also be pursued as a class action suit and seeks a jury trial.

Bennet alleges in her suit:

Defendants’ Spyware and popup advertisements decrease productivity by requiring that hours be spent figuring out how to get them off of a computer, closing advertising windows, and waiting for a slower machine to operate. Furthermore, computer users are forced to keep their computers running longer (due to the slowed performance) which utilizes more electricity, decreases the useful life of a computer, and causes increased Internet access charges. The cumulative impact of not only multiple ads, but also the threat of future ads and monitoring, impedes computer usage.

For its part Lenovo has apologized and has offered users a tool to remove Superfish altogether.

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Recently buy a PC from Lenovo (HKG: 0992)? It might have shipped with a nasty piece of adware — which borderlines on malware — called Superfish.

Superfish is piece of manufacturer bloatware that dubs itself as a “visual search engine”.

However many users have complained that it has been injecting ads into a user’s web browser.

According to company representatives, it instantly analyses images on the web and presents identical and similar product offers that may have lower prices, helping users search for images without knowing exactly what an item is.

While most software like this is passed over and ignored by customers, this nasty piece of code does more: its ad injection is done via user’s web browser via a man-in-the-middle root certificate, effectively hijacking the pathway between the browser and the server. This poses a potential security risk if Superfish is somehow compromised, the SSL connection between a user’s browser and a secure website, like a bank, would be vulnerable to eavesdropping by a third party.

This is a problem. #superfish pic.twitter.com/jKDfSo99ZR

— Kenn White (@kennwhite) February 19, 2015

Superfish has been categorized by nearly a dozen antivirus providers as adaware, a trojan, or an otherwise potentially harmful and unwanted program.

A Lenovo representative said on a customer support forum that the software will be removed from future Lenovo machines, and work is underway to create a patch to remove the ad injection.

Update: Lenovo sent in this statement:

Superfish has completely disabled server side interactions (since January) on all Lenovo products so that the product is no longer active.  This disables Superfish for all products in market.

2)      Lenovo stopped preloading the software in January.

3)      We will not preload this software in the future.

 

We have thoroughly investigated this technology and do not find any evidence to substantiate security concerns.  But we know that users reacted to this issue with concern, and so we have taken direct action to stop shipping any products with this software.  We will continue to review what we do and how we do it in order to ensure we put our user needs, experience and priorities first.

 

To be clear, Superfish technology is purely based on contextual/image and not behavioral. It does not profile nor monitor user behavior.  It does not record user information. It does not know who the user is. Users are not tracked nor re-targeted.   Every session is independent. Users are given a choice whether or not to use the product.  The relationship with Superfish is not financially significant; our goal was to enhance the experience for users.  We recognize that the software did not meet that goal and have acted quickly and decisively.

 

We are providing support on our forums for any user with concerns.  Our goal is to find technologies that best serve users.  In this case, we have responded quickly to negative feedback, and taken decisive actions to ensure that we address these concerns.  If users still wish to take further action, detail information is available at http://forums.lenovo.com.

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A latest research by TrendForce said that the worldwide tablet market has entered its maturity as the total global shipments for 2014 declined 2.2%, to compare with the same figure for 2013.

TrendForce’s study said that the total worldwide tablet shipments in 2014 reached 192 million units.

Regarding the phenomenon, TrendForce said that tablets do not have a strong productive role in everyday life for consumers, and are susceptible to substitution. The tablet market, however, did not have a noticeable replacement demand and additional growth was limited.

“In addition to the first-ever drop in total shipment volume, the rankings of the global top five brands also changed in 2014,” said Caroline Chen (陳虹燕), assistant research manager for TrendForce’s WitsView.

She said that the combined market shares of the top five brand names’ tablets fell from 70% in 2013 and 66.1% in 2014.

“This shows that the appeal of big-name brands is fading, and consumers are not as loyal to a particular brand as before with different options now in their horizons,” she said.

Quoting the research report for the global tablet market share rankings, TrendForce said that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) remained the leader in the tablet market now that its tablet shipments reached 63.4 million units in 2014, but it was still a 14.6% plunge to compare with the same statistics a year earlier. The latest generation of iPads, TrendForce said, do not offer extensive upgrades compared with the earlier generations, showing signs that the iPad’s hardware advancement has reached a ceiling.

As the second tablet seller in the global market, Samsung (KRX: 005930) also experienced a decline in its tablet shipments that the total amount of its 2014 shipments was 41 million units, a 2.5% decline, TrendForce’s report said.

Samsung struggled hard to keep up with its rivals in 2014, although it has a relatively wider range of product categories, from seven to 12 inches tablets.

Meanwhile, Lenovo (HKG: 0992) managed to push Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) out of the number three spot in the worldwide tablet brand rankings with its expansion of product lines and complete positioning in the price spectrum.

Lenovo increased its global market share to 5.6%.

Asus (TPE: 2357) occupied the fourth place on the rankings. Asus made it to the top five due to its promotion of the US$99 tablets and its well-established Transformer product line.

The post Tablet Market Enters Its Maturity: Research appeared first on VR World.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and its Taiwan rival Acer (TPE: 2353) finished its fiscal year of 2014 with similar number of shipments for laptops, TrendForce said in its latest research.

Last year, Apple posted a spectacular 46.4% annual growth in laptop shipments, owing to its price-lowering strategy for its MacBook laptops, which resulted in a takeover of the mid-range and premium market segments, TrendForce said.

The high growth boosted Apple’s global market share to 9.3% in 2014, vaulting the company into sixth place in the global rankings, one spot behind Acer, which had a 10% market share.

Acer depended on its remarkable performance of its Chromebook laptops to maintain its shipment volume in the market. Although there was no significant rise in Acer’s total shipments, the company managed to slow its slide, dropping only one place in the global rankings last year, the research firm said.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Asus (TPE: 2357) expanded its global market share to 11%, leaping into fourth place in the rankings.

Its performance was attributed mainly to the success of its 10.1-inch, 2-in-1 model T100 laptop, which accounted for over 10% of the company’s total shipments in 2014.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) remained the lead in the 2014 global laptop market with a 20.1% share, followed by Lenovo (HKG: 0992) with a 17.5% share, and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) with 12.3%.

TrendForce said that global notebook shipments in 2014 totaled 175.5 million units, up by an annual 3.6%, boosted by the replacement of the Windows XP operating system and the promotion of low-priced notebooks by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).

“In 2015, the laptop market will only be able to maintain the same overall shipment level as last year, and the growth of some brands will come at the expense of others,” said Caroline Chen (陳虹燕), assistant research manager for TrendForce’s WitsView.

She forecasted that HP and its major rival Lenovo will continue to hold the top two spots this year, while the competition will remain tight between the third and the sixth places.

The post Apple and Acer Finish 2014 With Similar Amount of Shipments: Research appeared first on VR World.

The brand name Motorola was reintroduced in China again on Jan. 26, while the latest smartphone Moto X and four other devices were also introduced to regain market share lost to Xiaomi.

The Moto X is retailing online for US$412 each, while the Moto G phone will cost US$162 each when it was scheduled to be released on Feb. 10. Lenovo (HKG: 0992), Motorola’s mother company and the world’s largest maker of personal computers, is re-establishing the Motorola brand in the biggest smartphone market after a two-year absence.

Rick Osterloh, president and chief operating officer for Motorola, said that Motorola also planned the Moto X Pro phone, Moto 360 smartwatch and Moto Hint wireless headphones.

Lenovo, meanwhile, is expanding into mobile devices to fend off competition from Chinese rivals Xiaomi and Huawei Technologies (SHE: 002502) , foreign and domestic. The US$2.9 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility from Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) from last October gave Lenovo an established global brand and a technology licensing agreement with Google to help boost sales.

“The market is so competitive that it’s hard to think about only one competitor,” Osterloh said. “If you focus on competitors, you’re going to go astray. The focus is squarely on consumers.”

In addition to launching new products, Osterloh said, China will also be the first country in Asia to get the Moto Maker Service that lets users buy select custom materials for their phones.

IDC’s latest research and report said that Xiaomi has become the world’s third-largest smartphone vendor for the first time in the third quarter of 2014, with a share of 5.3%. Samsung (KRX: 005930) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) continued to be the top and second smartphone makers industry, while Lenovo was in the fourth place with 5.2%.

“Lenovo expects to replace Xiaomi in the No. 3 spot with the inclusion of Motorola and sell more than 100 million units,” said Liu Jun (劉軍), Mobile Business Group president and Motorola unit chairman.

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Global smartphone shipments continued to grow in 2014 while more and more Chinese brand names have shared a large portion of occupation in the global market.

A latest research report by TrendForce said that global smartphone shipments for 2014 totaled 1.167 billion units, a year-on-year increase of 25.9%, while 453.4 million units of them belonged to Chinese brands.

“ The year of 2014 was definitely an impressive year for Chinese brands as they gained more share of the global market,” said Avril Wu (吳雅婷), global smartphone analyst for TrendForce.

TrendForce’s research stated that Chinese vendors managed to encompass almost 40% of the global shipments and represent six of the top ten smartphone brands worldwide. The pooled shipments of numerous Chinese brands, however, still could not threatened global brand leaders – Samsung (KRX: 005930) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). TrendForce said that the total shipments for Samsung and Apple accounted for 518 million units.

“This shows that the fierce competition among the brands relatively and severely narrowed their profit margins,” Wu said.

Although its being listed as the top smartphone brand name with the most shipments, Samsung, however, has been through a difficult year in 2014 as its market share dropped to 28%, compared with 32.5% of the previous year. Wu said that Samsung’s large-size and high-end Galaxy Note series faced stiff challenges from Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus, while its midlevel and low-end smartphone shipments were undercut by inexpensive Chinese brands. Samsung’s overall shipment target had undergone downward revisions since the beginning of 2014, with annual growth in shipments only at 8.4%, which was about 326.4 million units.

In 2014, Apple maintained its high annual growth rate of 24.5%, which was about 191.3 million units shipped worldwide. With 16.4% market share, Apple was a solid number two in the worldwide smartphone rankings. Apple’s position was attributed to the success of its first large-size smartphone model, the iPhone 6 Plus. This new category addressed Apple’s lack of smartphones with above five-inch screens and thus significantly raised the fourth quarter shipping ratio.

For LG (KRX: 066570), TrendForce said that its strategy of “promoting high quality products at low prices” paid off with strong market reception to its flagship smartphone models, ranging from G2/G2 Pro to the newest G3.

“Right now G3 is the first smartphone outfitted with a 2K screen that gives users better viewing experience,” Wu said. “This showed LG’s advantage of having a display panel manufacturer as under its wings.”

For that reason, LG was the dark horse of 2014 with its ranking jumped up to number four and annual shipment growth at 75.4%, which was about 70 million units.

While Lenovo (HKG: 0992) officially completed its acquisition of Motorola from Google in the fourth quarter of 2014, the acquisition and reorganization process took almost a year since Lenovo’s announcement. Lenovo’s total shipments in 2014 exceeded 90 million units and its annual growth surpassed 100%. It ranked first place among Chinese smartphone vendors and third worldwide with its 7.9% global market share.

With the introduction of the Honor 6 model in 2014, Huawei (SHE: 002502) changed its strategy of using smartphone chips from Qualcomm and MediaTek for its high-end products. The Honor 6 is packed with Kirin 920, a 4G chipset developed by Huawei’s subsidiary HiSilicon. With approximately 70 million units shipped and an annual growth around 70%, Huawei was ranked number five in the 2014 worldwide smartphone shipments.

Xiaomi, meanwhile, was recognized as the “best cost-performance products.” Its flagship models cost between US$ 300 and US$ 350. Since Xiaomi was launched in China during the latter half of 2011, the “China’s Apple” has been able to more than double its growth each year, that its 2014 annual shipment growth exceeded 200% with 60 million units shipped, and at one point managed to edge out the leading vendors in China such as Samsung, Huawei, and Lenovo.

Xiaomi was ranked as the sixth on the same chart for 2014.

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Lenovo (HKG:0992) is the largest PC vendor in the world, and by acquiring Motorola from Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and IBM’s (NYSE:IBM) server business, the Chinese manufacturer is looking to cement its position in the mobile and server segments.

At the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Lenovo’s chief executive Yang Yuanqing stated to the Wall Street Journal that the focus for 2015 would be to “pay more attention to the integration” of Motorola and IBM’s x86 server business, acquisitions that cost the Chinese vendor roughly $5 billion.

New markets

The acquisition of Motorola opens up a series of key markets to Lenovo. The Chinese manufacturer became the fourth largest smartphone manufacturer in the world late last year, with strong sales in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. In China, Lenovo is the second largest vendor after Xiaomi.

Lenovo will be mounting a more aggressive challenge to Xiaomi with the Motorola brand, whose products will be sold exclusively online. As Motorola will not be able to match the low price strategy followed by Xiaomi (barring a few handsets like the Moto G), it is possible Lenovo will offer customization as the differentiating factor. Lenovo’s advantage lies in the fact that it is one of the few manufacturers in the country with its own manufacturing facility. The vendor has already mentioned that it will be bringing Moto Maker to China, through which users in the country will be able to customize their handsets at a level that is not possible with any other manufacturer.

Motorola will begin selling three devices in China from next month, all of which offer 4G connectivity: There’s the Moto G LTE, Moto X and a Moto X Pro, which comes with a 6-inch QHD screen. All three handsets have their strong points. The Moto G will likely be positioned as an affordable LTE-enabled handset, while the Moto X is aimed at customers looking to customize their handsets. The Moto X Pro will be targeted at users looking for a high-end phablet. 

In the US, however, Lenovo has failed to make a dent in the smartphone market, a situation that is is looking to fix with the Motorola acquisition. Yuanqing said that Lenovo will not be selling its own-branded devices in the country, instead leveraging Motorola’s brand name. Similarly, in Latin American markets, where Motorola has a strong presence, Lenovo will continue to sell Motorola-branded devices. Lenovo is not looking to turn a profit with Motorola in the short term, with Yuanqing stating that it will likely be four to six quarters before the brand starts becoming profitable.

King of servers

After a year of scrutiny from regulators in China and the US, Lenovo’s acquisition of IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) x86 server business is now final, making the Chinese vendor the third largest in the global x86 server market. Lenovo is now in charge of the System x, BladeCenter and Flex System blade servers and switches, x86-based Flex integrated systems, NeXtScale and iDataPlex servers and their associated software. Lenovo will also become a reseller for IBM storage products.

IBM’s server division will be integrated within Lenovo’s enterprise business group as the brand looks to gain a sizable chunk of the $50 billion global server market. Lenovo’s acquisition of IBM’s PC business back in 2005 made the vendor the third largest in the segment, and in nine years the Chinese manufacturer has managed to reach the summit. It will be looking for a similar return with the x86 server business, and has set itself the target of becoming the number one vendor in the server market in five to seven years.

Yuanqing hasn’t shared details on how Lenovo intends to achieve this feat other than saying that it will work on making the business more efficient. The server business is touted as the driver for growth for vendor in the future, and as such Lenovo will be looking to make a revenue of $5 billion from the x86 server business in the first year, accounting for 15% of the vendor’s overall revenues. Lenovo will be going after the same companies it challenged in the PC segment, HP and Dell. Yuanqing said that Lenovo’s advantage comes from working in markets with razor-thin margins.

At the end of the day, the acquisitions are geared at diversifying Lenovo’s product offerings. A bulk of the vendor’s revenues is still generated from PC sales, but the vendor is now looking to move beyond one segment in a bid to become a global powerhouse. Lenovo succeeded in turning IBM’s ThinkPad line around after it acquired it in 2005, and the signs show that it may do just the same with Motorola and IBM’s server business.

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At CES, Lenovo (HKG:0992) has launched two Android tablets aimed at the budget segment. Dubbed Tab 2 A7-10 and Tab 2 A7-30, the tablets will be available from later this month. There’s not much going on in terms of hardware, but with a price tag of under $100, the slates are ideal for first-time buyers looking for an affordable Android tablet.

There are subtle variations between the two: the Tab 2 A7-10 features the 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT8127, while the Tab 2 A7-30 comes with the1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT8382, which has a 3G module for placing calls and texts. The A7-10 only has 8 GB internal storage and no rear camera, while the A7-30 has 16 GB and a 2 MP shooter at the back. Thankfully, there’s a microSD card slot that can accommodate cards up to 32 GB in size.

The rest of the hardware is similar on both slates, and includes a 7-inch screen with a resolution of 1024 x 600, 1 GB RAM, 0.3 MP front camera, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity along with a 3,450 mAh battery. There’s also Dolby Audio speakers at the front. The tablets feature Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box, but Lenovo has mentioned that an OTA Android 5.0 update will be available in a few months’ time. Both tablets will be offered in a variety of colors that include Aqua Blue, Cotton Candy, Pearl White, and Ebony Black.

The Tab 2 A7-10 is priced at $99, while the Tab 2 A7-30, with its 3G connectivity, will be available for $129. The former is set to launch later this month, while the latter will make its debut in March.

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After making substantial changes to the keyboard on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon last year, Lenovo (HKG: 0992) is reverting the changes in this year’s model. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon 2015 edition features physical function keys that long-time users of the series are familiar with, eschewing the adaptive touchscreen panel found in last year’s variant.

Lenovo also made changes to the trackpad, again aimed at retaining a sense of familiarity. The two right and left click buttons that are used in conjunction with the red tracking stick are back. Other than that, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon 2015 is similar in the features it offers when seen against last year’s model: You get a 14-inch touchscreen panel with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440, fifth-gen Intel Core Broadwell processors, RAM configuration of 4 or 8 GB as well as SSD variations of 128/180/256/360 GB. Users looking for a faster storage solution can select a PCIe-based SSD in 256 or 512 GB versions.

There’s even the option of adding an LTE radio for those looking to stay connected on the go, Lenovo will commence sales of the 2015 edition of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon from later this month, with prices starting from $1,299.

In addition to the flagship ThinkPad X1 Carbon, Lenovo also announced a slew of business-oriented notebooks in the ThinkPad series at CES. There’s the ThinkPad X250 and T450s, both of which are iterative updates over last year’s models, the X240 and T450. The 12.5-inch screen X250 is set to go on sale from $749, with the 14-inch T450s set to be on offer from $999. Both notebooks feature sub-FHD resolutions as standard — the X250 has a 1,366 x 768 panel and the T450s 1,600 x 900 — but there is the option of choosing full-HD panels.

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Lenovo (HKG:0992) has announced that it will be using Intel-based (NASDAQ:INTC) hardware on two of its 4G-enabled devices in 2015. The phones will be powered by a 64-bit Atom CPU and will also feature Intel’s LTE-A modem. Both devices will be announced in the first quarter of 2015, with one device catered to a Chinese audience while the other aimed at emerging markets.

This will be the first 4G phone for Intel in China, a key global market for the vendor. This isn’t the first time Intel’s hardware was seen in a 4G device – the Asus PadFone X Mini featured a dual-core Atom Z2560 CPU – but this will be seen as a catalyst for Intel’s 4G push in China.

The inclusion of Intel’s LTE-A modem is also seen as a win in a segment which is largely controlled by Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM). Aicha Evans, a vice president and general manager of Intel’s platform engineering group, said that Intel was stepping up its efforts in the modem segment. “We think that we are one of the few companies that can do that,” she said. “We just think diversity is extremely important.”

Lenovo hasn’t detailed the hardware the upcoming phones will feature, and has only revealed that at least one device will be targeted at the mid-tier segment. Meanwhile, Qualcomm does not seem too concerned at Intel securing a win with Lenovo: “We are like on our fourth or fifth generation of LTE,” Raj Talluri, senior vice president of product management for Qualcomm’s chip business. “We have a sizeable technology advantage, and we like our position.”

The post Intel Secures A Win In The 4G Segment Thanks To Lenovo appeared first on VR World.

Here is the daily roundup from Japanese consumer tech and tech business websites for Nov. 26, 2014.

Lenovo Enterprise Solutions Center publicly opens

Lenovo Japan (HKG:0992) recently held a press conference and facility inspection for its newly opened Lenovo Enterprise Solutions Center. The opening ceremonies were completed yesterday, and the company began to lay out its business model for the newly opened facility at the event.

The opening of Lenovo Enterprise Solutions Center was hinted as early as mid-November, as the company announced the separate establishment of Lenovo Enterprise Solutions. This new business arm was planned to be Lenovo’s gateway to Japan’s PC server market, with the company offering various related business solutions, many of which were introduced in the press conference.

The Lenovo Enterprise Solutions Center will mainly function as a directory hub for the company’s IT service oriented business operations, as well as being a center for various tech seminars and training workshops.

Japan looks at 30% decrease in PC sales according to research

A recent research business analysis by the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) has been revealed that domestic PC shipments in Japan have decreased by about 30% since last year.

The general figures were derived from the number of PCs distributed in the country last month. At just about 632,000 units during the month of October, the numbers were just about 66.1% of the number of units shipped last year during the same month. The figures were further divided into desktop PCs and notebook PCs, both having 186,000 and 446,000 units shipped respectively.

As for sales figures, the numbers have specifically shown a 29.2% decrease over the last assessment period. The total amount recorded for October for all PCs was about $460 million.

West JR to offer free Wi-Fi

Starting December, limited express line Haruka will now be offering free Wi-Fi services, according to an announcement made by West Japan Railway Company (JR).

The project will be the first time for the company, and will be a collaborative effort between UQ Communications, and Wire and Wireless Co. Ltd. While Wi-Fi connections have been a standard service in most developed cities worldwide, this project has a particular focus on providing foreign customers with an easy-to-access internet hotspot. Passengers may simply access the feature by connecting to the train’s network and entering a guest code.

West JR plans to complete equipping all 63 railroad cars within the limited express line with Wi-Fi networks as early as July next year.

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Here is the daily roundup from Japanese consumer tech and tech business websites for November 17, 2014.

Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro finally comes to Japan
Lenovo Japan finally announces the release date for the Yoga 3 Pro in Japan, which is scheduled on the 28th of November. It will be available locally with an estimated retail price of $1,800.

Philips unveils new dual screen display
Philips announces its new dual display, the 19DP6QJNS/11, which uses 19-inch screens on both sides. It will be available around mid-December this year, though there are no prices announced yet.

NEC starts development of a new supercomputer
NEC revealed in a recent press release that it would start development of a new supercomputer oriented for business establishments. This new supercomputer is claimed to become at least ten times faster and more efficient than its technical predecessor, the SX-ACE vector supercomputer.

Fujitsu’s info LEDs can ‘mark’ any object with data
Fujitsu Labs introduces a new concept in tech that allows the designation or assignment of ‘label’ data on objects using LEDs. The technology is believed to become useful in instantly identifying items on stores and other similar commercial establishments.

Surface Pro aids farmers at Hokkaido
Microsoft Japan, in a collaborative project with agricultural cooperative JA Taisetsu, has offered assistance to farmers at Asahikawa City, Hokkaido in the form of distributed Surface Pro units. The units will be used to help farmers in field data-entry work, particularly in various technical logs and registries.

Docomo to start roaming TD-LTE service
Docomo will be opening its international roaming TD-LTE service this coming Wednesday, November 19. This will first include China, and with the cooperation of China Mobile, the company will be the very first Japanese operator within the country.

Softbank to initiate wearable tech test project
Softbank plans to initiate a proof of concept test for various wearable technologies today, with the ultimate goal of developing new product and service ideas. The tests are scheduled to start around mid-January next year, and will be held at Katsuyama City, in Fukui Prefecture.

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With the holidays approaching fast and the sales that come with it many people will be getting new notebooks this holiday season.  Researching what the best notebooks out there are takes time and we though we could help out by giving you our choices in five different categories of notebooks.  They are gaming, ultraportable, Chromebook, business, and Apple MacBook.  With the latest computer parts in these notebooks it will be certain that they will be able to earn there keep for quite some time.  There are many things to consider when looking for a notebook and budget is a big one.  Most of these choices are going to be in the higher end range since they perform better.

Gaming Notebook: MSI Computer GT72  Dominator Pro with GTX 980M – $2,299

This gaming notebook is the top of the line from MSI, and it does not disappoint.  Equipped with Intel i7-4710HQ, 16GB of DDR3-1600, a 128GB SSD, and a Nvidia GTX 980M 8GB, this will tear through any recent and upcoming game.  The best thing about the GT72 Dominator Pro is that MSI has taken steps to ensure that you can update the graphics down the line when new and better GPUs come out.  This means that the investment made in this computer will last a lot longer than comparable notebooks that are stuck with their graphics for the life of the product. If you are wanting some more speed from the notebook then throw in four identical M.2 SSDs inside and put them in RAID 0 for read/write speeds of up to 1600MB/s.  From experience with MSI’s SuperRAID as it is called I can attest to how massive of an improvement that speeds like this can be, it makes using the notebook just so much more enjoyable.  You can even attach three monitors to the notebook with two mini-displayport and one HDMI outputs.  The keyboard feels like no other notebook keyboard and is made by the gaming company SteelSeries. Bottom line is that if this is in your budget and you are a gamer or even a power user, I have little doubt that you will love this notebook.

Apple Notebook: 15″ 2.5GHz MacBook Pro with Retina display – $2,374.99

There is no denying it, Apple makes good notebooks and they are arguably the best notebooks for running Windows on as well.  The Retina display will allow for better multi-tasking with various windows as the resolution gives lots of screen real estate.  The Retina display will be great for those who edit photos or video as the display will reproduce colors very well. The construction of the MacBook Pro is amazing and the fit and finish are things that other companies could learn a thing or two from.  The choice with the 2.5GHz Intel i7 was made for what would be the most capable and powerful option with a reasonable price.  At Apple you can customize the MacBook Pro with up to a 1TB SSD and a 2.8GHz Intel i7.

Ultraportable Notebook: Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro – $1,382.99

The 2-in-1 Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro is the latest model in the Yoga line and features an amazing watchband style hinge.  The hinge is made up of hundreds of individual pieces that allows the notebook to flex like no other and fold to use it in different positions.  The screen is a high resolution (3200×1800) IPS touchscreen that will reproduce colors very well and look much better than lower quality panels.  If needing something very light, portable, and a long battery life then this notebook should be on your list of ones to check out.  The stylish Yoga 3 Pro is one of the most stunning designs out now and is powered by the brand new Intel Core M processor.

 Chromebook – Toshiba Chromebook 2 1080p $329.99

Chromebooks are a new breed of notebook, and people are really loving them.  Chromebooks generally are affordable, light, and have long battery life making it an easy choice for those who need something portable.  The best thing about this model is likely the 1080p IPS panel that will look much better than panels that are in other models.  Powering the notebook is an Intel Celeron processor, and while not very powerful it will get the job done and sip power giving longer battery life.  The battery should be good for up to 8 hours and 45 minutes.  The audio has been fine-tuned by Skullcandy meaning that it should deliver much nicer sound than the standard Chromebook.  This will be useful if you enjoy listening to streaming music while you surf the web or do work.  The 802.11ac Wi-Fi is blazing fast and will allow you to get better coverage over other Chromebooks.

Business Notebook: Lenovo X1 Carbon – $1,619

When looking for a business notebook it is wise to choose something that is portable and light so you can easily get work done no matter where you are working.  The X1 Carbon also offers great battery life allowing up to 9 hours from a single charge.  Lenovo is the the most used PC maker for businesses and they sure do know what they are doing with its lineup that is geared for productivity.  The keyboard is surprisingly good and has back-lighting making it easier to get work done while on that red-eye to an important meeting or at home in the evening.  The integrated fingerprint reader should help simplify secure login by allowing you to simply swipe a finger over it.  When it comes to a business notebook, choosing Lenovo is a wise choice that millions have made before.

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In a bizarre twists of events, Motorola’s Moto X (2014) has just started to get the Android 5.0 update, traditionally an update that comes out on Google’s own Nexus line of devices prior to any other manufacturer. Perhaps the Moto X’s status is a result of the fact that Motorola has been a part of Google for the past year, but that doesn’t particularly explain why the Nexus 5, Nexus 7, Nexus 4 and other Nexus devices aren’t getting Android Lollipop yet. There have been rumors that Google pushed back the date of the Nexus Android 5.0 update due to a battery drain bug, but the company hasn’t officially said anything. Some engineers on Google’s message boards did confirm that there were some power bugs associated with Android 5.0 and the Nexus 5.

Yes, the HTC Nexus 9 is already out and does sport Android’s Lollipop 5.0 version, however that is the only device up until today that is running on Android Lollipop. Even the much anticipated Nexus 6 isn’t actually available yet, so nobody can definitively say what the final updated version will run like on the different phones that will be getting Lollipop. There’s already talk about Sony’s and HTC’s updates to Lollipop, which is good and will hopefully mean that they will have updates out before the end of the year.

Thanks to the guys at ARSTechnica we know that there’s even a Motorola official support page for the update, even though the Moto X Lollipop update page appears to have been pulled. Last time, Motorola didn’t beat the Nexus devices to launching KitKat but they were the first to release after Google and somehow, this year they’ve managed to beat Google due to Google’s own bugs in their code. Somehow, you would think that Google might have some sort of Beta testers or QA engineers that would verify that such a build wouldn’t have such a fundamental flaw built into it right before launch. I guess its a good thing that they caught it pre-release, but they barely caught it before launch and as a result Motorola’s Moto X (2014) is now getting Android 5.0 Lollipop before Nexus devices.

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The Indian e-commerce industry is booming thanks to lucrative discounts and exclusive partnerships secured by various retailers. However, the biggest obstacle to the continued success of the segment in India may come from within as several brick and mortar retailers have formed a coalition that aims to curtail the benefits offered by e-tailers.

Retailers take the fight to e-tailers

The issue began earlier this year, when retailers began questioning the heavy discounts offered by e-commerce stores, which in turn was cannibalizing sales from offline channels. The retailers took up the matter with the hardware vendors directly and were able to convince brands like Lenovo against selling their wares online. Lenovo (HKG:0992) even had a notice on its website stating that its products were to be purchased only from its official site or from its offline distributors. The brand’s managing director for India, Amar Babu, said that the goal was to establish price normalcy. “We are trying to weed out unhygienic practices to create a healthy environment between online and offline markets,” he is quoted as saying.

Even Samsung (KRX:005935) was said to be swayed, and is rumored to be considering going offline in the country. While there hasn’t been any official confirmation from the South Korean vendor yet, going offline may offer a solution to declining sales. Sony (NYSE:SNE) is also joining the fray and is advising users to buy from its own authorized stores. LG (KRX:066570), meanwhile issued a statement announcing that it has the right to withhold warranties for products purchased from online stores other than its official website in the country. Canon (TYO:7751) has taken a different route, and is said to be considering offering a unique set of products for online sales.

As for retailers, a new body called the All India Mobile Retailers’ Association, which claims to represent over 10,000 brick and mortar retailers, has been created to look into the pricing practices carried out by online vendors.

E-commerce stores go exclusive

The main issue with online stores is that the stores themselves have no control of the pricing. Stores like Amazon and Flipkart follow a marketplace model, which means that the third party sellers effectively have full control over how much price they can set on a product.

The result is that when it comes to mobiles – the biggest selling category in e-commerce in India – stores offer discounts up to Rs. 3,000 ($50) from what is available offline, not including the freebies that come bundled with purchases. The sellers that were selling the wares procured the goods at a wholesale price, which is noticeably lesser than what the consumer pays for a device. This is how they were able to mark down the price of a handset and still gain a profit. The offline stores were not able to follow suit due to the overhead costs from stocking a device in a brick-and-mortar store.

While offline retailers have sought to get products removed from e-commerce stores, sites like Flipkart (BOM:514215) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) have formed collaborations of their own. Flipkart in particular was able to secure exclusive partnerships with Motorola and Xiaomi, which saw the site become the only authorized location to get products from either vendor in the country. Amazon has not been as successful, although it did manage to get exclusive rights to the Xbox One in India. Along with exclusive deals, the sites regularly run deals and offers, although a recent deal by Flipkart resulted in further tension between offline and online vendors.

Big Billion Day

While the idea behind Flipkart’s Big Billion Day sale held on October 6 was admirable, the execution was far from it. For one day only, the site offered heavy discounts on over 10,000 products across all categories, and ran hourly deals that saw prices of products slashed by as much as 80%. However, the site failed to load for most of the day, and products were sold out in under five seconds of going on sale. That’s not to say the retailer did not do a lot of business. Flipkart claimed that it sold goods worth over $100 million in just 10 hours.

The sales figure is the only good thing to come out of what is being termed a debacle, as both consumers and vendors have lodged complaints against Flipkart for the sale. Consumers mentioned that the site was misleading in the offers it quoted, while hardware vendors said that they did not authorize the heavy discounts that were posted during the sale. Sony’s Indian sales head Sunil Nayyar was particularly vehement about the practice, stating that, “the online sale war of Monday (Big Billion Day) was really disappointing and alarming. This is not the way we have agreed to do business as partners. We have decided to handle online discounts now with an iron hand and will ensure Sony is not involved again and there is a fair play for all channels.”

A complaint has been filed earlier this week with the Competition Commission of India to further investigate the issue, and to look into the discounts that were offered by all e-commerce sites during the festive season, which ran the length of October.

At the end of the day, it is clear that the disagreement comes with the disparity in pricing. Offline retailers want to be able to maintain their markups, and since they’re in the majority for now, they have enough clout to influence the decisions of the manufacturers. It is frustrating to see vendors fighting over discounts and seeking measures to curtail such practices, which in fact benefit consumers. One of the reasons for the massive growth of the e-commerce segment was the discounted prices from offline channels, and although it looks like retailers will be successful in cutting down on what they call “unsustainable pricing”, it is not hard to see that it is they who will lose out in the end and more and more consumers start buying online.

The post The Brewing E-tailer-Retailer War in India appeared first on VR World.

A recently passed law in Russia now requires that if a company wishes to sell a device in Russia that it must keep the cloud data of its users within Russia. This would mean that companies like Google, Apple, Xiaomi, Lenovo and others must keep the cloud data of their customers on servers inside of Russia and that the data must not leave the borders of Russia. This is an obvious move by Russia to stifle competition and to force companies to invest in Russian infrastructure and personnel if they wish to compete in the Russia market.

This is also part of Russia not wanting to have Russian cloud data being transmitted through the US where it can be easily intercepted by the NSA. And at the same time, since the server would be located in Russia, it will give Russian intelligence agencies like the FSB and SVR access to the data of Russians and very likely foreigners visiting Russia as well. There were fears of such activities going on during the Russian Winter Olympics in Sochi, but many of those fears were mostly based on fear mongering and conjecture with little evidence.

The website in Russia reporting on this news does mention that Apple is one of the companies that could be hit by this. There’s also a possibility that Google, Samsung or Xiaomi could be hit by this, but some of those companies may have already anticipated this law’s passage and have already taken steps towards compliance. After all, most Android devices utilize Google’s cloud in one way or another and those manufacturers don’t necessarily have power over how Google stores and utilizes the data in the cloud.

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A new YouTube ad from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) says its “game over” for the Macbook Air when it tries to take on the Yoga 3 Pro from Lenovo (HKG: 0992) .

The ad from Microsoft — which is similar to a campaign comparing the Surface Pro 3 to the Macbook Air — highlights the Yoga 3’s thinner body, multiple formfactor modes thanks to its 180-degree rotation of its display, and touchscreen as strengths compared to the Macbook Air.

Finally, a Macbook killer

Lenovo’s Yoga series has created something of a renaissance in the Windows notebook, particularly Ultrabook, space. The second generation of the Yoga was nearly universally praised by reviewers, with many calling it the best Windows notebook on the market. Its long battery life, sharp quad-HD screen, and thin form factor was warmly received by the market  with the Yoga 2 Pro becoming a strong seller. While Lenovo doesn’t disclose sales numbers for individual products, the company became the world’s top PC manufacturer in 2014 and saw its profits jump by 36%.

When the Macbook Air first came out, and was later refreshed, it made many PC vendors stumble as they tried to build something as aesthetically pleasing as the Macbook Air. First came the Ultrabook form factor, and from that the Yoga series was born.

However, Lenovo should not get too confident. In Apple’s most recent earnings statement it disclosed that it sold 8.9% more Macs quarter-over-quarter. Of course this also includes desktop computers, but it also means that the likes of Lenovo will have healthy competition in 2015.

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Lenovo (HKG: 0092) has announced that it has finally closed the acquisition of Motorola Mobility from Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) to the tune of $2.9 billion after about 10 months of work after the original announcement earlier this year. As Lenovo has stated, it is now the number 3 smartphone maker in the world with this acquisition which puts them in a position to come after Apple and Samsung, who just reported the worst earnings in three years.

Lenovo is not buying any slouch either, after all, Motorola just announced the critically acclaimed Moto X for 2014 as well as the Nexus 6 and the Droid Turbo for Verizon. Motorola also has the Moto 360, which is arguably the best looking smartwatch on the market right now and by some accounts has outdone Apple’s own Apple Watch in terms of design. There’s no denying that Motorola is a great brand for Lenovo to be picking up and if Lenovo’s track record of acquisitions says anything, they are going to be in very capable hands.

Since Lenovo began, it has successfully absorbed all of IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) PC businesses and have now taken possession of their x86 server business as well, adding Motorola to their smartphone portfolio is a great move by Lenovo because it shows that they understand how important design is to consumers. And let’s be honest, Lenovo’s phones in the past haven’t necessarily been the best designs. Sure, they’ve had some really impressive looking phones, but they weren’t very great functionally. Motorola’s devices have been all about functionality and comfort and even more differentiation through personalization with their moto maker.

Motorola’s 3,500 global employees, including their 2,800 employees in the US are being welcomed into Lenovo and it will be interesting to see whether Lenovo will get rid of any workers or use all of Motorola’s employees to expand their mobile division as they stated they intend to do. Obviously, there might be some cost savings associated with the acquisition, so there’s a very good chance that some people will be rendered redundant and laid off, but the expectation is that Lenovo wants to keep most of the Motorola Mobility staff onboard. Motorola definitely has more mobile expertise than Lenovo and their brand is much more well known globally as a smartphone brand. I would not be surprised if Lenovo started to transition all of their mobile products to Motorola even though right now Lenovo is saying that Motorola will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary. And Motorola’s headquarters will remain in the Windy city of Chicago.

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