China Telecom in talks with Apple on iPhone

China Telecom Corp Ltd, the smallest of the country's three telecommunications carriers, is still in talks with Apple Inc to carry its iPhone, targeting growth in high-end users.

China Telecom, which competes with China Mobile Ltd and China Unicom, would only increase handset subsidies if it started selling iPhones to draw more users to use its network, Chairman Wang Xiaochu said.

China Unicom is the only carrier selling the popular iPhone in China, the world's largest mobile phone market, although the two other operators have been aggressively negotiating with Apple to be next.

China Telecom, which has increased capital expenditure to 50 billion yuan this year from 43 billion yuan last year, sees its overall ARPU (average rate per user) trending lower in the second half of this year.

"For voice, we will track our competitors on pricing, but we'll try to maintain our pricing for data. That's because our 3G development is better, so larger data traffic will help raise our ARPU," Wang said.

Its views are largely in line with China Mobile, which said last week that its ARPU would continue to fall for the rest of the year.

China Telecom executives said during the news conference that 3G ARPU for 3G services was slightly above 80 yuan in the first half after introducing the service in the second half of last year.

RIM brings New BlackBerry Curve - 9350, 9360, 9370

RIM has announced the availability of the new, refreshed BlackBerry Curve, which sports a thin, 0.43 inch frame and BlackBerry 7 functionality under the hood.

It has a 2.44 inch, 480x360 pixel screen, an 800 MHz CPU, 512 MB of RAM, and a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and VGA video recording functionality. It also sports Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS and the fabled NFC which is slowly turning into a standard for new smartphones.

The device comes in three version numbers - 9350, 9360 and 9370 - with the difference being connectivity: the 9350 is CDMA-only, 9360 supports GSM and UMTS while 9370 supports both GSM and CDMA.

The new BlackBerry Curve will be available from carriers in Canada this month and from other carriers around the world starting September.

Apple suppliers making cheaper 8GB iPhone

Asian suppliers to Apple Inc have begun manufacturing a lower-priced version of its hot-selling iPhone 4 with a smaller 8 gigabyte flash drive.

According to some unidentified sources, the flash drive for the 8GB iPhone 4 is being manufactured by a Korean company. Apple currently sources its flash drives from Japan's Toshiba and South Korea's Samsung Electronics.

The existing iPhone 4 was first launched in June 2010 with 16 GB and 32 GB versions, with a white version added to the lineup in April. The 8GB version is expected to launch within weeks.
Some analysts said the cheaper 8GB iPhone 4 could help Apple boost sales in emerging markets.

The Launch of iPhone 5:
In addition to the launch of the smaller iPhone 4, Apple is targeting an end-September launch for the next-generation iPhone 5.

The new iPhone, which some call the iPhone 4S because of its largely identical appearance to the existing iPhone 4, is expected to have a bigger touch screen, better antenna and an 8-megapixel camera.

The iPhone 5's two manufacturers have been told to prepare production capacity for up to 45 million units altogether. The phone will be made by Hon Hai and Pegatron.

Apple sold 20.34 million iPhones in the second quarter versus an expected 17 million to 18 million, and is increasingly looking to Asia to boost future earnings.

Asia-Pacific - which accounts for about one-fifth of its total revenue - and Greater China in particular, helped Apple's revenue surge 82 percent to $28.6 billion in April-June.

Apple to launch iPad 3 in early 2012

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Apple is planning to begin trial production of a next generation iPad in October with an eye to an early 2012 launch.

The newspaper said Apple is working with component suppliers and its assembler in Asia on the iPad 3 and has ordered key components such as display panels and chips.

It said the next generation iPad is expected to feature a high resolution 2048-by-1536 pixel display compared with the 1024-by-768 display on the iPad 2.

The Journal quoted one unidentified component supplier to Apple as saying that the company has placed orders for parts for about 1.5 million iPad 3s in the fourth quarter.

Apple sources parts for the iPad around Asia and assembles the tablet computer at Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.

Google's Motorola deal to boost Android Ecosystem

Since Google announced its plans to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, analysts, stockholders and developers have been discussing the implications, and the talk hasn't slowed. Speculation has included the winners and losers in the deal; a closed Android operating system; and how the deal ultimately helps Microsoft.

While many analysts point to Moto's patent portfolio, Tina Teng, a senior wireless analyst at IHS, suggested Motorola's product-development capabilities may have made it an attractive target for Google.

"Motorola has been closely following Google Android's operating-system release schedule. Whenever Google releases a new version of Android, Motorola almost immediately has a device ready with the latest revision of the software, reflecting the company's prodigious product-development capabilities," Teng said.

Beyond Smartphones:
Teng noted how Google previously has used new HTC and Samsung products to demonstrate the latest capabilities of the Android operating system. The HTC MyTouch and Samsung Nexus S served to show off the operating systems' capabilities so other OEMs could follow the example. If the Federal Trade Commission approves the acquisition, Motorola will become the company to set the example.

"Motorola can serve as Google's product R&D department as Android spreads into new markets," Teng added. "Motorola has engineering expertise in a wide range of products where Android will be used, including set-top boxes and televisions. The addition of Motorola's engineering and intellectual property will accelerate Android's time-to-market in these areas and potentially revitalize the Google TV business, which so far has met with little success."

Indeed, Google CEO Larry Page hinted at possibilities beyond smartphones in his blog posting. Specifically, he noted how Motorola is a market leader in the home-devices and video-solutions businesses.

"With the transition to Internet Protocol, we are excited to work together with Motorola and the industry to support our partners and cooperate with them to accelerate innovation in this space," Page said.

May Boost A Stronger Ecosystem:
According to Strategy Analytics, more than 70 percent of consumers agreed that mobile apps would be extremely important when purchasing their next handset. With the Motorola acquisition, the firm said, Google can now rival Apple's ecosystem.

Strategy Analytics' premise is that Apple built the iOS ecosystem on the strength of hardware and software releases that work together. Apple's development paradigm led to innovative apps and a platform that focuses more on experience than technical specifications. Although Google has innovated consistently with the Android platform, the firm noted, it has failed to effectively tie software upgrades to new hardware that developers could leverage to create new apps.

While other factors certainly played a critical role in the selection of Motorola as an acquisition target, Strategy Analytics said Google will be able to leverage the purchase of Motorola to address three critical flaws with Android: A subpar ecosystem for consumers and developers, APIs that are not specifically focused on improving usability, and fragmentation.

"Providing developers with an environment in which they can succeed will be critical to building long-term support - support which is essential to consumer interest," said Josh Martin, director of apps research at Strategy Analytics. "If handled correctly, the acquisition of Motorola could help Google make Android into a platform that offers unrivaled revenue opportunities."

Google to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 bn

Google shook up the mobile phone industry with the announcement it is buying US smartphone maker Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in cash in a bid to extend the reach of its Android platform.

The surprise move gives Google a strong patent portfolio to defend Android against lawsuits from rivals such as iPhone and iPad maker Apple and turns an Internet company known for its software into a hardware manufacturer.

Analysts said the acquisition also has major implications for handset makers such as Taiwan's HTC, South Korea's Samsung and others who are using Android to power their mobile devices.
Google and Motorola Mobility said the Internet titan will buy Motorola Mobility for $40.00 per share.

Google and Motorola Mobility said their boards of directors have unanimously approved the deal - Google's largest acquisition ever, dwarfing its $3.1 billion purchase of online advertising firm DoubleClick.

Under the agreement, Motorola Mobility will remain an Android licensee and Google will run the unit, which employs 19,000 people and reported a net loss of $56 million last quarter, as a separate business.

Besides smartphones, Motorola Mobility is a leading maker of TV set-top boxes and analysts said the acquisition could see Google make a renewed push for Google TV, which merges online content with traditional TV programming.

Motorola Mobility also makes an Android-powered tablet computer, the Xoom, and Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg said Google has "shaken up the tablet market in a big way."
"Google no longer has to depend on third parties to deliver their vision to compete with the iPad," he said.

"Suddenly you have Google, already a serious platform player, becoming a serious integrated vendor from end-to-end for everything from phones to tablets to television sets," Gartenberg said.

Google chief executive Larry Page said Google and Motorola Mobility "will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers."

He said the deal will help protect Android against patent lawsuits targeting the open-source mobile operating system which Google provides to smartphone and tablet makers for free.

"Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google's patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies," he said.

Google bid earlier this year for 6,000 patents held by bankrupt Canadian firm Nortel but lost out to a consortium made up of Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, Blackberry maker Research in Motion and Japan's Sony.

WP7 Mango coming on Sept 1, to compete with iPhone and Android phones

With all of the iPhone rumors swarming around lately, the reports suggest that the Mango update to WP7 will come out on September 1. Just a couple of weeks ago we heard from Microsoft that the OS was ready for phones, and it was only a matter of time before we would see it in the wild.

There is still no word on exactly if new hardware will be coming out on September 1 along with the updated software. When WP7 was first launched it was launched on several phones and carriers all at once. This time it is unknown if that will happen this year too. The current generation of WP7 devices will start getting over the air updates on September 1, but everything else is still up in the air.

The Mango update to WP7 is supposed to address most of the main areas of concern with the current product, and add some features on top of those improvements.

Google is bumping up the Ice Cream Sandwich launch to October to compete with Apple’s still unannounced iPhone; now with Microsoft launching Mango around the same time it will create a perfect storm of cell phone choices. The key features of both iOS 5 and Mango have already been highlighted so the only real wild card operating system wise will be Ice Cream Sandwich. On the hardware side of things it is pretty much anyone’s guess to how most of the new phones will look or function.

RIM launches new BlackBerry Torch smart phones

Research In Motion has unveiled two new and powerful versions of its touchscreen BlackBerry Torch, including an all-touch model, as it seeks to regain ground lost to Apple and Google.

The new phones, along with an upgrade to its Bold model shown earlier, are part of what the Canadian company called the biggest global launch in its history as it seeks to claw back North American market share from Apple's iPhone and a slew of devices running on Google's Android software.

The refreshed lineup is designed to buy RIM time until it introduces a radically new software package for its smartphones next year.

RIM is slashing 2,000 jobs from its global workforce to reduce costs and streamline operations after posting a fall in profit and a dismal earnings outlook in its last quarterly report.

The three touchscreen phones, running on the new BlackBerry OS 7, boast improved screen displays and pack a 1.2 GHz processor from Qualcomm, the most powerful ever for a BlackBerry phone. They also have a dedicated graphics processor that should make video and gaming sharper and more responsive.

The browser is 40 percent faster than the original Torch, RIM's last major phone launch, which hit shelves almost a year ago.

All three devices will be launched by carriers around the world by the end of August, RIM said. The slider Torch will be exclusive to AT&T in the United States, the carrier said.

The all-touch Torch is RIM's first attempt at the popular style since two versions of its Storm model failed to excite.

Researchers discover How to Steal Credit Card Data using Square

Researchers attending the Black Hat security conference have demonstrated two ways in which Square - a mobile gadget that enables Android, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users to accept credit card payments - can be hacked to steal credit card data, with very little technical hardware required and "no technical skills at all."

Adam Laurie and Zac Franken, directors of Aperture Labs, discovered that due to a lack of encryption in the current Square app and free dongle for swiping cards, the mobile payment system can be used to steal credit card information, without even having the physical credit card.

Square works by converting credit card data into an audio file that is then transmitted to the credit card issuer for authorization.

In order to bypass the need to swipe a card, Laurie wrote a simple program - in less than 100 lines of code - that enables him and Franken to feed magnetic strip data from stolen cards into a microphone and convert that data into an audio file. Once that file is played into the Square device via a $10 stereo cable, the data is sent directly to the Square app for processing.

Laurie and Franken's hack proves that the Square app cannot distinguish between a true swipe on the dongle and an audio file fed to the app without swiping. In theory, the team could buy stolen credit card data in underground online markets and start up a practically skill-free criminal shop.

The duo was also able to pull money from a Visa gift card that is not officially allowed to be "cashed out."

Square is due for an update and Franken noted that he heard the company is planning to release new dongles that encrypt credit card data.

BlackBerry Smartphones trying to keep up with Apple iPhone and Google Android

BlackBerry, whose handheld smartphones revolutionized the way business people stay in touch with the world, has unveiled a new line of phones - just days after it announced 2,000 job cuts, revamped top management, and saw its stock hit a five-year low.

The new models, with touch screens, slide-out keyboards and a faster, more versatile operating system, were designed to appeal to BlackBerry's core audience of business users, while keeping up with increasingly some stiff competition: Apple's iPhone and phones that run on Google's Android operating system.

Research In Motion, the Canadian company that sells BlackBerrys, is profitable and its sales are rising - but it still has a tremendous problem. Apple and Android are eating its lunch. Smart phone consumers who expect the Web at their fingertips have turned away from Blackberry toward its more Internet-friendly counterparts.

Now some analysts see RIM as a has-been, a company that gave the world constant access to email on the go, but couldn't turn it into mass-market dominance.

"They were very late to make a major transition. They made great phones that focus around email, but not around the Internet. And that's where Apple and Android are way ahead of them," said Alkesh Shah, an analyst at Evercore Partners in New York.

The new RIM lineup includes three versions of the BlackBerry Torch (models 9810, 9850 and 9860), a multimedia handheld whose large touch screen makes it look much like an iPhone with extra buttons. Updated versions of the BlackBerry Bold - models 9900 and 9930 - take a more down-the-middle approach, combining a new touch screen with the kind of keyboard that had millions of users trying to type messages as they raced through airports or walked down the street.

The company is hardly about to go under. Most companies and government agencies still issue BlackBerrys, not iPhones, to their employees for business use. And BlackBerrys are still wildly popular in other parts of the world - much more popular than Apple in the Middle East and parts of Asia and Europe.

The company promises a new operating system next year, called QNX, designed to compete directly with Apple, Google, and other companies such as Motorola and Samsung. That'll be crunch time for BlackBerry.

RIM reveals 3 new BlackBerry touch phones

BlackBerry maker, RIM has revealed more about its BlackBerry 7 OS and given us a good look at the first three phones that will run on the new operating system: the BlackBerry Bold 9900, the BlackBerry Torch 9810, and the BlackBerry Torch 9850. The phones are using a new interface modeled after RIM’s BlackBerry Tablet OS, which RIM hopes will help it better compete with Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android phones.

BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930:
The Bold 9900 was unveiled back in May. Following the traditional design of the Bold line, the 9900 has a 2.8-inch 640×480 (VGA) screen with a full QWERTY keyboard in tow. The device has a 1.2GHz processor, 8GB of onboard storage and a MicroSD card slot if you want more. The rear camera is 5MP (no front camera) and it can record 720p video. We also know from the unveiling that the phone will include a NFC chip, which means it could be used as a wireless credit card, assuming RIM has a plan to utilize this technology on a broad scale. The phone will support 3G on Sprint and AT&T.

BlackBerry Torch 9810:
Following the Torch, which came with BB OS6 last year, the Torch 9810 has a 3.2-inch “high resolution” touchscreen, a 5MP rear camera with autofocus and “HD” video recording, and a vertical slide-out QWERTY keyboard. RIM has improved the processing speed of the new Torch, up from 600MHz to 1.2GHz, likely responding to complaints that the last one was rather sluggish.

BlackBerry Torch 9850/9860
The Torch 9850 is the first decent looking fully-touch phone from RIM. The phone has a 3.7-inch screen, which is the largest of any BlackBerry smartphone, but relatively small compared to the 4.3-inch Android phones that dominate the market. The phone comes with Liquid Graphics technology, which supposedly means that the screen will be more responsive, a 1.2GHz processor, and 4GB of internal storage with a MicroSD slot if you need it. Like the other models, it will have a 5MP rear camera with autofocus, but doesn’t appear to have a front-facing camera.
BlackBerry 7 OS:
RIM claims that BlackBerry 7 will redefine the platform, offering much better web browsing and 40 percent better performance than BlackBerry 6 smartphones. However, it doesn’t, however, mention if the phone will utilize gestures in the fluid and intuitive way that the BlackBerry PlayBook does.

Apple delays iPhone 5 to October release

Apple is delaying the release of the iPhone 5 to October, according to people familiar with the matter, as the next-generation device suffers another in a series of setbacks.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company, which had scheduled a September launch, is pushing it back a month.
Reports initially alleged AT&T had blacked out employee vacations - typical during high-volume releases - during the last two weeks of September. But new sources say the information is inaccurate.
"I don't know why AT&T's calling for all hands on deck those weeks, but it's not for an iPhone launch," said a source, indicating October would be more appropriate.
Previous supply-chain sources suggested the new iPhone will feature a faster A5 chip, similar to the iPad 2, run on both GSM/CDMA networks, and offer a higher-resolution 8-megapixel camera.