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  • The SMS Becomes History: Skype Buys GroupMe

    GroupMe is a one-year-old company. Users can send messages or participate in online conferences if they install the program from GroupMe on their smartphone. After this acquisition, Skype wants to compete with Facebook and BlackBerry, companies that are already offering messaging services for the owners of smartphones. In addition, Apple plans to launch a similar service in the fall of 2011, called iMessage and which will appear in the software updates for the iOS.

    Multifunctional systems

    If Apple and BlackBerry applications can be used only by the users of these phones, there are few services available to all smartphone owners, such as WhatsApp Messenger and Groupme. WhatsApp fell by 8% the volume of SMS messages sent by the mobile telecom users of the largest operator in the Netherlands – KPN. About 85% of them are using smartphones running on Android, writes Financial Times.

    The largest social networks have not missed the opportunity. Facebook has announced the launch of a chat application for smartphones, which have became pretty fast the most downloaded program from the Apple store. In addition, Google+ is also including the mobile chat Huddle.

    Started in 2010, GroupMe offers its own application on iPhone, Blackberry and also on Android smartphones. The company has also launched in July a version of its application for Windows Phone 7. Skype didn’t say whether GroupMe will be integrated into Skype services or will continue running as a separate company.

    For the online telephony giant, the GroupMe acquisition will add the ability to deliver messages for groups. Microsoft has bought Skype, in May, for $ 8.5 billion. Once the merger is complete, Microsoft plans to add Skype in xBox and Kinect devices as well as in their Windows Phone smartphones.

  • Google to Launch Nexus Prime in October

    The first official phone with Android was HTC Dream, also called T-Mobile G1. After over one year since the launch of HTC Dream, has appeared Nexus One, and after some time came Nexus S. These three terminals are the only Android devices branded Google, although they were produced by HTC and Samsung, respectively.

    Even if there were no significant differentiation from other Android smartphones, they were closer to the soul of giant Google, regardless of the producing company. Each brought a new version of the so popular operating system and along with the approaching of 4.0 version of Android, the company seems to prepare a new version of the popular Nexus series under the name of Nexus Prime.

    The next smartphone from Google will be produced by Samsung. South Korean corporation is going to put on the Nexus Prime impressive hardware: Super AMOLED screen of 4.5 inches with 1280 x 720 pixels resolution and dual-core processor at 1.5 GHz. The 8-megapixel camera will have capabilities of shooting Full HD 1080p as Samsung Galaxy S II. Internal storage capacity will be 16 GB.

    The great preview related to this terminal will be the operating system, rumors suggesting that it will be the first smartphone running on Android 4.0, codenamed “Ice Cream Sandwich". Samsung & Google's Nexus Prime could be officially presented during the IFA meeting (September 2-7, 2011), and a month later would hit the stores.

    A launch in October makes us think of one thing: the fierce competition with iPhone 5, which will reach the stores in the same period. It will be a race against time for the long-awaited Apple smartphone versus the new Nexus handset, though if Google follows its usual strategy we won’t see too many operators selling the dual-core handset.

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  • HTC Sues Apple

      HTC, the second largest Asian producer of mobile phones, filed a complaint against Apple, claiming the U.S. giant has infringed three patents.

    The movement made by HTC aims at blocking the imports of gadgets such as iPhone and Mac computers. The Taiwanese company accuses Apple that has infringed three patents related to wireless technology. The General Counsel of HTC, Grace Lei, said that Apple needs to stop violating HTC invention rights. She says HTC started this action against the U.S. company in order to protect their intellectual property, their partners and, most importantly, their customers.

    Apple immediately came with a response to accusations, a spokesman for Apple saying that their competitors have to create their own original technology, not to steal theirs.

    In July this year, HTC made several acquisitions, a trend Google has followed by buying Motorola Mobility in order to maintain their market position in IT & C. The Asian company has bought S3 Graphics Co. This was a successful move for HTC, which won the lawsuit against Apple after a judge found that the U.S. company's operating system, Mac OS X, violated two patents of S3 Graphics Co.

    Another judge  discovered last month that HTC had violated two rights of invention from Apple. If this accusation is confirmed, it could lead to blocking the imports of certain mobile phones of the Taiwanese company.

    Apple filed a separate complaint this month that targets the phones and Flayer tablet from HTC. Motorola, Nokia, HTC, Apple, Google and Samsung are currently involved in one or more trials related to the violation of certain patented technologies.

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  • Google Buys Motorola Mobility

    After everyone was watching Microsoft and Nokia (mobile unit) to see whether Steve Ballmer will buy the largest European manufacturer of phones or not, the bomb came even from the rival. $ 12.5 billion will pay Google on Motorola Mobility!

    Google officials are likely to know much more about the acquisition of Nokia, so they strengthened their position in the mobile phone market in order to counteract the effect of the possible competition offered by the new phones branded Microsoft.

    Today, Motorola is one of the 39 manufacturers that use Google's operating system, Android. Buying a hardware company is a very unusual move for Google, but it seems that by the end of 2011 or early 2012 we will witness to a big fight in the IT market.

    The confirmation of the acquisition was disclosed by Larry Page in a posting on the Internet saying that the U.S. Department of Justice had to intervene in the results of one of the auctions related to patents in order to protect the competition and the innovation in the free software community and, currently, is analyzing the results of the Nortel auction.

    The boss of Google has also said the acquisition of Motorola was made in order to increase the competition on the market and at the same time to improve Google's portfolio of patents, a fact which will allow Google to better protect their Android platform from the threats coming from Microsoft, Apple and other companies.

  • According to Nokia, Windows Phone 7 Excels Against the Android and iOS Popularity

    Nokia President Chris Weber has come up with a greatest insight into the Nokia’s latest strategy in an interview with VentureBeat. He made an astonishing comment saying that interfaces and app-based models such as Android and iOS will “outdate” soon.

    Nokia recently associated with Microsoft for its Windows Phone 7 mobile platform and coming up with some latest smartphone models pretty soon to regain its dominance like earlier. Nokia is seriously concentrating on a new strategy to gain upper hand over the currently popular Android and iOS. The new strategy of the upcoming smartphones from Nokia will be unique through arranging everything around the contacts unlike its competitors, which are based on the navigation among various apps.

    Windows Phone 7 coming up with a new interaction procedure known as “Live tiles and Hubs”. This feature offers all the key contacts along with mode of communication through dynamic tiles, which alters display as soon as a contact posts an update. Also, contacting someone is enabled through various options just through tapping, which will return back with various communication options including calling, Facebook, Twitter, email and many more. Definitely, this kind of approach is quite unique and away from the present popular mobile operating systems.

    The streamlined communication feature arranged in the Windows Phone 7 OS is quite novice and unlike apps based phones. Nokia thinking that this can gain back the throne like earlier. In fact, the mentioned feature success is mainly dependent on the mobile phone hardware. Perhaps, Nokia can succeed well to arrange require hardware for these feature through their devices, but other manufacturers such as LG, Samsung and HTC will think about this as they’re all already well associated with Android for their smartphones.

    Nokia is very well panning to make maximum out of Windows Phone 7 and planning for biggest marketing campaign for all their WP7 based upcoming smartphones. According to Weber’s latest interview, the upcoming smartphones will be available in the U.S. market “in volume” in 2012.

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    Mobile Internet Connections – Reliable Targets for Hackers
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  • Mobile Internet Connections – Reliable Targets for Hackers

    Researcher Karsten Nohl, an expert in data security, started a campaign against the major mobile operators in order to determine the adoption of more stringent measures to secure data traffic created by the users of mobile internet services.

    To demonstrate how vulnerable users of mobile Internet connections are to hackers interested in spying them, he created a software application that once installed on the mobile phone allows us to monitor all data traffic carried by GPRS.

    The owner of such a GPRS interceptor can track Web surfing habits of other people and even intercept sensitive data, such as passwords or credit card details.

    The whole demonstration was made possible thanks to a cheap Motorola smartphone and some free applications, modified to allow the interception and decryption of data traffic transmitted in the mobile networks using GPRS.

    The researcher wanted to point out that the encryption algorithms used for secure connections in mobile networks cannot provide effective protection even in the face of attackers poorly trained and are even lacking in some operators.

    Apparently, mobile phone operators choose not to implement the algorithms performance for secure connections in order to monitor data traffic carried out by users, to facilitate the detection and blocking the viruses that spread inside the network and the detection and blocking of Skype connections.

    Two years ago, the same researcher revealed the algorithms required for decrypting the calls carried by GSM networks. Last year he launched an application that allows users to verify if the calls initiated in the telephone networks can be bugged or not by malevolent persons.

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  • Apple Launches New Lawsuit Against Motorola Regarding its Xoom Tablet

    Just one day after Apple convinced the court in Düsseldorf, Germany, that Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 imitates the iPad and obtained a court order that prohibits the sale of the South Korean tablet in few European countries, here’s that Steve Jobs and his team from Cupertino launches a new lawsuit, this time against Motorola.

    The incriminated product is Motorola Xoom, also for the alleged design elements inspired by iPad 2. The trial will take place at the same court in Düsseldorf. Even if Apple will win in the first instance, the companies accused can appeal, a fact already confirmed by the South Koreans.

    Apple has also won a major victory against its South Korean rival, Samsung Electronics, after the court in Dusseldorf has banned the sale of Samsung Galaxy tab in the European Union, except the Netherlands. Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet, confirmed that the court has issued a temporary ban against the Galaxy Tab 10.1. It is not yet clear why the order did not include the Netherlands.

    Samsung Electronics, the largest technology company in Asia in terms of revenue, said it will appeal German court decision. Samsung is also the world's largest producer of memory chips and televisions and the second largest producer of mobile phones.

    German court decision comes a week after Samsung was forced to postpone the launch of Galaxy tablet on the market in Australia because of similar legal actions filed by Apple.

    On the IT&C market, such lawsuits are on the agenda. There is a huge network in which many important companies are judging each other for the infringement of various patents. In terms of design-problem lawsuits and not software, is very difficult to make an objective judgment.

    If Apple will finally win all these lawsuits, it will be created a precedent under which the company in Cupertino could also attack other major manufacturers of tablets.

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  • Cisco Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2011 Earnings

    Cisco has reported its fourth quarter and fiscal year results for the period ended July 30, 2011. The company reported fourth quarter net sales of $11.2 billion, net income on a GAAP basis of $1.2 billion or $0.22 per share, and non-GAAP net income of $2.2 billion or $0.40 per share.

    "We've made significant progress on our comprehensive action plan to position ourselves for our next stage of growth and profitability, while delivering solid financial results in Q4," said John Chambers, chairman and CEO, Cisco. "As we start our next fiscal year, you will see a very focused, agile, lean and aggressive company, that is laser focused on helping our customers use intelligent networks to transform their businesses."

    Other Financial Highlights from Cisco's report:
          
            —  Cash flows from operations were $2.8 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, compared with $3.0 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2011, and compared with $3.2 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010. Cash flows from operations were $10.1 billion for fiscal 2011, compared with $10.2 billion for fiscal 2010.
           
            —  Cash and cash equivalents and investments were $44.6 billion at the end of fiscal 2011, compared with $43.4 billion at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2011, and compared with $39.9 billion at the end of fiscal 2010.
           
            —  During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, Cisco repurchased 95 million shares of common stock under the stock repurchase program at an average price of $15.85 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $1.5 billion. During fiscal 2011, Cisco repurchased 351 million shares of common stock at an average price of $19.36 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $6.8 billion. As of July 30, 2011, Cisco had repurchased and retired 3.5 billion shares of Cisco common stock at an average price of $20.64 per share for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $71.8 billion since the inception of the stock repurchase program. The remaining authorized amount for stock repurchases under this program as of July 30, 2011 was approximately $10.2 billion with no termination date.
           
            —  Days sales outstanding in accounts receivable (DSO) at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011 were 38 days, compared with 37 days at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2011, and compared with 41 days at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010.

            —  Inventory turns on a GAAP basis were 11.8 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, compared with 11.1 in the third quarter of fiscal 2011, and compared with 12.6 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010. Non-GAAP inventory turns were 11.4 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, compared with 10.3 in the third quarter of fiscal 2011, and compared with 12.1 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010.

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  • Blackberry Wants to Help the British Police

    BlackBerry maker RIM offered to help the police in Great Britain to identify the protesters in the main cities of the Kingdom, after several days of violence that produced, on Tuesday, the first victim.

    "We think at those who have suffered from violence this weekend in London. I contacted the authorities and we want to help in any way we can," told for The Inquirer Patrick Spence, manager at RIM.

    His statements come after, during the day, it has been speculated that the wave of violent protests in London has been organized through BlackBerry Messenger network, known as BBM, present on BlackBerry smartphones. RIM declined to specify exactly how will cooperate with British authorities.

    London violence broke out during the night of Saturday, in response to the deadly shooting of a man by police. Several other protests have erupted since then in several UK cities, which resulted in approximately 450 arrests. The number could reach several thousands if RIM agrees to provide incriminating information to police.

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  • Vonage Reports Record High Net Income of $22 million

    Vonage Holdings announced results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011. The Company reported record high net income of $22 million and record high adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) of $44 million.

    Vonage generated record high adjusted EBITDA of $44 million, up from $41 million in the year ago quarter and $43 million sequentially. Income from operations increased to $31 million from $24 million in the year ago quarter and $30 million sequentially.

    Net income increased to a record high $22 million or $0.10 per share, up from a net loss of $1 million or $0.00 per share in the year ago quarter, which included $12 million in charges relating to the Company's prior debt.  This increase was driven by a $7 million increase in income from operations and a $7 million reduction in interest expense. Net income increased from $21 million or $0.10 per share sequentially. 

    Revenue was $218 million, down from $225 million in the year ago quarter due to a $3 million decline in deferred revenues related to discontinuation of activation fees and lower customer equipment and shipping revenue.  Revenue declined from $220 million sequentially, primarily due to lower activation revenue and Universal Service Fund ("USF") fees. These factors contributed to a decline in average revenue per user ("ARPU") to $30.28, down from $31.21 in the prior year and $30.45 sequentially.

    Telephony services ARPU was $30.14, down from $30.71 a year ago due primarily to impacts from lower deferred activation revenue.  Telephony services ARPU decreased sequentially from $30.23 due to lower deferred activation revenue and USF fees.

    New Products

    Vonage announced two new products during the past week:  Extensions and Time to Call.

    Extensions, a free enhancement to the Company’s flat rate, unlimited international calling plan, addresses the needs of international long distance callers by extending the value provided by Vonage’s home service plans to additional phone numbers and devices including smartphones and feature phones.

    Time to Call provides low-cost, easy to use international calling on smartphones around the world.  According to the company, it is the first downloadable mobile application that allows pay-per-call international dialing to more than 190 countries. To promote its global launch, the Company is providing a free international call to everyone that downloads the application. This mobile application, designed for iPhones, allows consumers to make international calls of up to 15 minutes while avoiding high prices and roaming fees charged by traditional telecommunications carriers. The service is available in 87 countries around the world.  Time to Call provides direct payment through iTunes.

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