Apple's iOS mobile platform gained user share in security-conscious businesses late in 2014, taking it away from Google's Android platform, thanks to the introduction of the iPhone 6 smartphone, according to a survey of its enterprise customers by mobile security vendor Good Technology.Good's customers increased their activation of iOS devices -- meaning enrollment in the Good movie management server -- to 73 percent; iOS devices accounted for 69 percent of activations in the previous quarter. Over the same period, Android activations declined from 29 percent to to 25 percent.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Some Apple products may be banned from sale in the U.S. if Ericsson gets its way after filing a barrage of patent lawsuits.The Swedish telecommunications equipment vendor filed nine lawsuits against Apple on Thursday, seven in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and two in the U.S. International Trade Commission, alleging infringement of a total of 41 of its patents, it said Friday.Apple is no stranger to the courts when it comes to patent disputes. Previous cases have often focused on the “look and feel” of its products, turning on the curvature of a phone’s corners, or how it indicates that it can’t perform an action when someone swipes the screen. Many of the patents Ericsson says Apple is infringing, though, cut right to the heart of smartphone and tablet functionality: their ability to connect to 2G, 3G or 4G mobile networks to make calls or exchange data.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
One of the longstanding questions surrounding the Apple Watch is how water resistant the device is going to be.As a quick aside, "waterproof" denotes a product that can be completely submerged under water for extended periods of time and still function as intended. So while a device filled to the brim with complex electronics, like the Apple Watch, isn't likely to be waterproof, having a degree of water resistance is extremely important.To that end, Apple CEO Tim Cook was recently in Germany where he reportedly spoke to some Apple employees and remarked that he wears his Apple Watch all the time, "even in the shower." The report comes courtesy of iGen.Fr which relayed the news earlier this week.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
One of the longstanding questions surrounding the Apple Watch is how water resistant the device is going to be.As a quick aside, "waterproof" denotes a product that can be completely submerged under water for extended periods of time and still function as intended. So while a device filled to the brim with complex electronics, like the Apple Watch, isn't likely to be waterproof, having a degree of water resistance is extremely important.To that end, Apple CEO Tim Cook was recently in Germany, where he reportedly spoke to some Apple employees and remarked that he wears his Apple Watch all the time, "even in the shower." The report comes courtesy of iGen.Fr which relayed the news earlier this week.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A chipset Qualcomm is introducing at Mobile World Congress next week is likely to make mobile operators happy and some Wi-Fi fans nervous.Amid a scramble for spectrum among cellular carriers, Qualcomm will demonstrate a chipset that lets LTE cells operate in a radio band used by Wi-Fi networks. The new silicon could double the amount of spectrum subscribers can use in certain areas, and it’s just the first in a family of chipsets that may eventually tap into five times as much.The FSM 99xx chipset for small cells, along with a matching transceiver that will go into mobile devices, are among the first products coming for so-called Licensed Assisted Access. LAA, sometimes called LTE-Unlicensed, is one of several emerging techniques to take advantage of the large amount of spectrum available in unlicensed bands used by Wi-Fi. Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA and SK Telecom all have shown interest in using LAA. Combining unlicensed spectrum with traditional carrier frequencies will be a major trend on display at MWC.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple today invited reporters and analysts to an event scheduled for March 9, when it will probably talk up the Apple Watch and perhaps unveil other hardware.
The presentation will be live-streamed.
The venue, San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, has frequently been used by Apple, most recently for the October 2013 unveiling of the iPad Air. Apple may have chosen Yerba Buena for space reasons, as it seats 755, considerably more than the Cupertino, Calif. company's on-campus theater.
As is Apple's practice, the invitation teased the presentation with a coy reference, in this case, "Spring forward."
The phrase tipped the Apple Watch; Sunday, March 8, is the day most of the U.S. changes to Daylight Savings Time. The phrase "Spring forward, Fall back" is an oft-called memory aid for which way to move clocks, watches and other time-keepers when changing from Standard Time to Daylight Savings Time or vice versa.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Daylight Saving Time begins Sunday, March 8. The following day, Apple is inviting us to “spring forward” at a “special event” in San Francisco. Hmm…could Apple be showing off a device that has something to do with setting the clock? Macworld will be in the audience to bring you the details at 10 a.m. Pacific.As is standard for Apple, the invite gave no details other than time, date, and location (Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, a larger venue than Town Hall in Cupertino, where Apple held its last event). But given the tag line and the timing, it’s a given that the company is finally launching Apple Watch after months of build-up.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Samsung is mass producing the industry's first 128GB embedded flash memory based on the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 2.0 standard.The memory will be targeted for use in next-generation flagship smartphones and will offer 2.7 times the performance of today's embedded MultiMediaCard (eMMC) flash memory.Samsung is touting the new memory's ability to offer smoother ultra-high definition video streaming, more efficient multitasking and reduced power use.The UFS 2.0 specification, released in 2013, offers a multi-lane, serial bus versus the single-lane, parallel bus used in today's eMMC flash.The UFS 2.0 specification boasts up to 600MBps (megabytes per second) of throughput, but because it can use two serial lanes, it has a total of 1,200MBps, or 12Gbps, Samsung stated. That compares with the eMMC 5.0 spec, which has a 400MBps maximum performance over a single parallel bus.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote on a proposal today that effectively bars Internet companies from prioritizing some Internet traffic over others.As John Oliver famously explained "ending net neutrality would allow big companies to buy their way into the fast lane, leaving everyone else in the slow lane."The FCC's proposal faces plenty of opposition from telecom companies and others, but it's just the latest round in a long fight. Here is a brief history of attempts to enact net neutrality and the often successful push against it.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple today sent out invitations for an upcoming media event slated to take place on March 9 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. The event will get underway at 10 a.m. Pacific Time.Likely on the agenda will be more information regarding the upcoming Apple Watch. While we know the device will launch sometime in April, we've yet to hear full pricing information for the product. And besides, the invitation subtitle reads, "Spring Forward", likely a not-so-subtle allusion to timekeeping.Apple may also use the upcoming event to introduce new products, such as an iPad Pro and, if we're lucky, perhaps a Retina MacBook Air. If we're really lucky, we may finally get information about upgrades to Apple's 21.5 inch iMac which hasn't been upgraded since late 2013.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Moto E’s specification doesn’t stand out from the competition even with LTE and a faster processor. Instead it’s the design that makes Motorola’s new device a good alternative for consumers who want an affordable smartphone.With the 2015 version of the Moto E, Motorola Mobility is again hoping to get more people around the world to buy their first smartphone.Many low-cost smartphones suffer from a toy-like plastic construction, but the Moto E is more substantial, and even if the product doesn’t use any metal it feels more expensive than its $150 price tag.Motorola has made a couple of changes compared to the original model. The company has decided to stick with a rubbery plastic on the back and now also on the sides. The back is no longer removable; instead a band is removed to access SIM and MicroSD card slots. The smartphone still has a non-removable battery, but the battery has grown from 1,980 to 2,390 mAh.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Almost a year after tipping its hand at Google I/O 2014, Google announced Android for Work, a way to lock down sensitive business data on personal Android phones owned by employees—using versions of Android either old or new.Google said it would deploy Android for Work in not one but two ways: as a native work profile that can be enabled within the latest Android 5.0 (Lollipop) devices, as well as a separate app for devices runninng Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) through Android 4.4 (KitKat). Google also said that it had crafted a special business apps store, known as Google Play for Work, and brought its Docs, Sheets, and Slides business apps into the walled-off Android Work partition, plus versions of its browser, contacts and calendar apps. All of the information stored in Android for Work will be encrypted.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is likely to reveal more of the company’s plans to bring underserved parts of the world online when he holds Facebook’s fourth public Q&A next Wednesday in Barcelona.The event will be held 6 p.m. Barcelona time (that’s 9 a.m. Pacific time in the U.S.), during the Mobile World Congress tech trade show in the same city. Zuckerberg is set to share updates about Facebook’s Internet.org project for connecting more of the world during an appearance at the show on Monday. He may expand on those comments in Wednesday’s Q&A.In addition to fielding questions from a live audience, Zuckerberg will answer some of the most popular questions posted online. Questions can be submitted online in the lead-up to the event, which will be streamed live.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
REUTERS/Stephen Lam
HP's Meg Whitman
HP is in talks to purchase Aruba Networks, with an eye toward acquiring that company’s wireless networking infrastructure technology, according to a report published today by Bloomberg News.Citing anonymous sources, Bloomberg said the deal could be announced as early as next week, though neither HP nor Aruba would comment on the record. The news agency said that analysts’ estimates suggested that Aruba’s sales are growing fast – with the company poised to break the $1 billion-a-year barrier by 2017.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google is working to push more Android-based devices into the enterprise.The company today announced a new program called Android for Work, which is designed to encourage and enable businesses to bring more devices onboard by adding security and more manageability to the Android platform."For many, these phones have become essential tools to help us complete important work tasks like checking email, editing documents, reviewing sales pipelines and approving deals," wrote Rajen Sheth, Google's director of product management for Android and Chrome for Work, in a blog post . "But for the majority of workers, smartphones and tablets are underutilized in the workplace. Their business and innovation potential remain largely untapped."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Artic Circle pretty much has been a damn cold, desolate place but no so anymore what with the military’s increased attention and commercial growing prospects.Those are the main reasons the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency cites for wanting to build an advanced generation of sensors capable of transmitting data on air, surface and/or undersea activities above the Arctic Circle for at least 30 days.+More on Network World: World’s coolest gas stations+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
As recently as a week ago, in a February 17th, 2015, Financial Times newspaper article, investor analysts were speculating as to just what U.S. satellite TV company Dish was going to do with its massive hoard of unused, cached mobile-suitable spectrum that it's been accumulating over the years.Well, we might have just learned the answer. Artemis Networks, a wireless startup, has reached a deal to lease some of that spectrum, for a while, in San Francisco. It wants to use it to experiment with its unusual pCell technology.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Uber Technologies is offering free rides on its uberX ride-sharing service in the South Korean capital of Seoul, after city authorities intensified their crackdown on illegal drivers by offering a reward to residents who report Uber drivers to police.Last December, the city of Seoul offered rewards of 1 million won (about US$910) to people who report Uber drivers, and called all services by Uber “blatantly illegal.” In the last three months of operating the service for sale, about 100 reports have been made although no rewards were provided by the city yet, according to Uber Korea’s spokeswoman. Seoul city was not available for immediate response.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Motorola Mobility’s new Moto E has LTE and a more powerful processor than its predecessor, but users will also have to make do with a low-resolution front camera that doesn’t measure up to ones offered on competing products.The upgraded Moto E’s arrival less than a year after the first version went on sale highlights the growing competition for unlocked smartphones costing US$200 or less. It will start shipping on Thursday in 40 countries and cost about $150.The new Moto E has a 4.5-inch, 540 x 960-pixel screen and a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor from Qualcomm. The original model has a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor and a 4.3-inch screen with the same resolution.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Chinese demand for smartphones is leading to a surge in app downloads from the country—so much so that five of the leading app stores in the world are now from China.Apple and Google still run two of the biggest app stores on the planet, but in China local app stores are pulling in billions of downloads, just by targeting the home market, according to Juniper Research.China itself accounted for 59 percent of all app downloads made last year, which in total reached close to 185 billion. In contrast, the U.S. market only accounted for 8 percent of all app downloads.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here