Microsoft (MSFT) Lumia Smartphone Set To Launch Next Week

We look at Microsoft’s first attempt at making a smartphone since dropping the Nokia title after the buyout

By: Larry Darrell

It’s been a short while since Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) decided to remove the “Nokia” name from its smartphone business. But the Redmond-based tech giant shows no intention of slowing down, as it announces, and prepares for, the launch of the first smartphone that will drop the Finnish phone company’s title in favor of naming the series "Microsoft Lumia."

In the past, Microsoft has struggled to find a place in the market for its Windows Phone operating system, which, according to third-party analysts, is used in only 2.5% of mobile devices across the world. Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android leads comfortably in first place with an 85% share, followed by the many millions of iPhones running Apples Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) proprietary iOS. 

Most of the phones released by Microsoft have only found a place in developing markets, where people just recently got a taste of what smartphones have to offer – their main appeal being the colorful covers and looks.

In more mature markets, Microsoft hasn’t made a significant impact, with brands like Apple and Samsung Elect Ltd (F) (OTCMKTS:SSNLF) taking the lion’s share. Microsoft’s smartphone business is also under threat from Chinese competitors in emerging markets, which offer decent quality phones and impressive specifications at a significantly lower price.

For now, it seems like Microsoft intends to stick to its previous strategy, which could be considered a questionable move by some. The company announced, “Microsoft is delivering the power of everyday mobile technology to everyone. Come back on November 11, to find out more!”

While the wait till next Tuesday is certainly on, sources say that Microsoft’s new phone will be far from a game changer. As rumors have it, it will have a 5-inch display of around 960 x 540, coming out to be an unimpressive 280 pixels per inch. The core will be quite mediocre as well, with a 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 200 Chipset and 1GB RAM. The phone will feature 8GB internal memory and a 1900 mAh battery. Even the camera isn’t much to look at, with a 5 megapixel primary and VGA secondary front snapper.

The one thing that the phone does have going for it is its price, which is expected to be around $100-150 off contract. However, unless Microsoft makes some serious upgrades to the Windows Phone operating system, the new phone may not do very well.

Once again, Microsoft gambles with a low-end device, which is strange considering that just last week, two Chinese smartphone manufacturers – Xiaomi Inc. and Lenovo Group Limited (ADR) (LNVGY) – traded places as the third and fourth largest manufacturers in the world.

Lenovo and Xiaomi specialize in devices that offer much better specs than the phone Microsoft intends to offer. The two pose a serious threat to the tech giant’s business in the emerging markets. And as it is, Samsung and Apple’s premiums lines are often the phones of choice for many in the US, UK, and Europe.

While the release of Microsoft’s new phone doesn’t make earlier versions of the Lumia series such as the 1020, 1520, and 920 irrelevant, these old phones remain the best Microsoft has to offer to mature markets, and they haven’t been updated in a while. In the meantime, Samsung and Apple have been busy updating their devices year after year.

Microsoft has had a mixed experience with hardware. Consoles such as the Xbox and Xbox 360 performed extremely well, while the Xbox One (like some of its phones) was a bit of a disaster. The Surface tablet initially started off slow, but sales have picked up 127% since the release of the Surface 3 Pro.

November 11 and the months following it will show how well Microsoft’s rebranding efforts pay off for its smartphone business.

Credit:http://www.bidnessetc.com/28819-microsoft-msft-lumia-smartphone-set-to-launch-next-week

Microsoft Is Rising Again

By Panos Mourdoukoutas 

After remaining in the shadows of Apple AAPL +0.69%,Google GOOGL +1.03%, and other rising technology companies for several years, Microsoft MSFT +1.52% is rising again, as evidenced by the release of new products and improving financials.  

Today, the company announced its own system for consolidating health and fitness data from various fitness gadgets and mobile apps; and a $199 fitness band to work with this system. Last week, Microsoft reported a strong performance in the most recent quarter ended September 30, 2014.

Gross margin, operating income and diluted earnings per share (“EPS”) for the quarter were $14.93 billion, $5.84 billion and $0.54 per share, respectively.

At the core of Microsoft’s turnaround is a host of strategies that focus on customer-driven innovations and partnerships that have yielded value propositions which address emerging trends in the technology industry.

“We are innovating faster, engaging more deeply across the industry, and putting our customers at the center of everything we do, all of which positions Microsoft for future growth,”  said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft. “Our teams are delivering on our core focus of reinventing productivity and creating platforms that empower every individual and organization.”

“Customers are embracing our latest technologies from Surface Pro 3 and Office 365 to Azure and SQL Server,” said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer of Microsoft. “Through great execution by our sales teams and our partners, we have been able to deliver our truly differentiated value to the marketplace.”

In fact, the launch of the different versions of Surface Pro is a good example how the company develops new products to address emerging consumer trends.

First, the company got the hardware-software bundle right, at a competitive price. With its Windows operating systems, Office Suite and keyboard, the Surface tablet has bridged the gap between laptop and tablet, catering to users who seek the full functionality of a laptop rather than a smartphone in a tablet.

Second, Microsoft forged a partnership with Best Buy BBY +0.85% to place Windows Stores at Best Buy BBY +2.44% stores.The company’s Windows Stores occupy between 1,500 square feet to 2,200 square feet of Best Buy floor space, allowing consumers to compare and purchase a broad range of the company’s products and accessories, including Windows-based tablets and PCs, Windows Phones, Microsoft Office, Xbox, and so on.

Obviously, getting the bundle right, and bringing it to consumers in the right locations, has helped Surface Pro 3 gain momentum, and add $908 million to the company’s top line in the last quarter.

Microsoft’s strategic moves is a good sign that the company has been effective in addressing the “innovator’s dilemma” — as explained by M. C. Christensen — and rise again.

Credit: http://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2014/10/30/microsoft-is-rising-again/

Acer Liquid Jade Review: In Depth

By Chris Barraclough



THE GOOD                                                                  THE BAD

• Slim and light
• Attractive UI
• Crisp and colourful screen 

• 
  Occasionally chuggy performance
• Mediocre battery life

We review the Acer Liquid Jade, a mid-range mobile with a sleek and surprisingly slim, lightweight design, but regrettably not much in the tank.

Acer Liquid Jade design: Glossed over

When we first picked up the Acer Liquid Jade, we were really impressed by its slender and lightweight design – it’s just 7.5mm thick and 110g, making it one of the lightest phones we’ve played with recently. The phone is nicely curved in each corner and sports a rounded rear, so it fits nicely into the hand without jabbing at your palm - often an issue with 5-inch phones.

One-handed use is just about possible thanks to the Liquid Jade’s reasonably compact build, an impressive feat indeed. However, the phone’s glossy cover does make the phone a little slippery, so you’ll want to clutch it tight to make sure it doesn’t go flying out of your grasp.

We also found that the glossy rear was a magnet for pocket filth and general scum, which can look a little untidy, especially under bright lights. Best keep a hanky on stand-by.

You can’t open up the Liquid Jade’s back cover to access the battery and other innards, which means the SIM card slot is instead housed in a tiny drawer on the left edge of the phone. The power button is found up top, awkwardly placed if you’re using the phone right-handed, while the volume rocker is stuck on the right edge and much easier to access.

Our only real bugbear is the camera lens, which juts out a fair way from the back of the handset – even more so than the Apple iPhone 6’s lens. Still, it didn’t impede our grip and the Liquid Jade is still a good-looking budget blower. If you prefer a splash of colour, however, you’d probably prefer the Nokia Lumia 630 or Lumia 635, which boast changeable covers, including a very eye-catching green and orange.

Acer Liquid Jade screen and media: HD visuals

That 5-inch screen stretches almost edge-to-edge across the front panel and there’s very little glass between the display and your finger, so your homescreens almost appear to be floating on the surface. The Liquid Jade sports a 720p resolution, giving 294 pixels-per-inch, which is comparable to the phone’s closest rivals, including the Motorola Moto G. In simple terms, that means you can comfortably browse desktop versions of websites and HD movies look impressively crisp, bolstered by some accurate and attractive colour reproduction.

A strong top brightness means you can also use the Liquid Jade out in harsh sunlight, without being forced to squint through the glare.

The Jade makes a big deal of its DTS HD speaker, which sits at the bottom of the phone’s rear side, perfect positioning for your palm to smother it. In fact, there's even a DTS logo branded right on the phone's rump. However, even with the speaker pointed at your face and the volume pumped up to max, it’s not exactly ear-explodingly powerful - although we’ve heard far, far worse. Audio quality is generally fine, but we’d still recommend plugging in earphones when you’re kicking back with a movie.

As for storage space, you only get 8GB built into the phone itself for carrying around your media collection, but you can quickly and cheaply expand via a micro SD memory card, up to a further 32GB. It’s a shame you can’t slot in cards with more storage, especially with some phones now accepting up to 128GB, but at least the option’s there.

Acer Liquid Jade user experience: A whole new ‘droid

Acer has skinned Android 4.4 KitKat with its own user interface, which isn’t a massive departure from the norm but still looks nice to our jaded eyeballs.

We love how you get tons of quick-access power features tucked in a handy menu, which can be accessed at any time by dragging two fingers down from the top of the screen. As well as the usual brightness, Wi-Fi, GPS etc. toggles, you can also check how much data you’ve used from your allowance, turn on the wireless display mode (which can throw the Liquid Jade’s screen to a larger display) and fiddle with your alarms.

Acer has also chucked in a few of its own apps, which you’ll either love as special bonus features or else condemn as crapware and immediately uninstall. As well as a document editor, file manager and media players, you’ll find some businessy apps for hooking up to and making the most of Acer’s cloud service.

There’s also a ‘Quick Mode’ which will be well suited to older users, with its simple, stripped-down desktop and larger fonts. You can still add whatever apps you like to the desktop, so all of your favourites can be quickly accessed with a tap.

Also worth noting is that the Liquid Jade is a Dual SIM delight, handy if you currently carry both personal and work phones. Just slot both SIMs into the little drawer and you can use either for your calls, texts and data.

Acer Liquid Jade performance and battery life: Awkward

Although the Liquid Jade just about copes with everyday use, we noticed a fair bit of slowdown rearing its ugly head rather often. When booting up the phone, our widgets were little more than swirling loading circles for a minute or so each time. Flicking through menus occasionally gets laggy and apps sometimes take a while to chug into life.

Battery life is unfortunately another awkward turd in the swimming pool. Usually we’d charge the Liquid Jade overnight and use it for emails and texts and a tiny bit of web browsing each morning, and come noon it was usually already at least half depleted. It’ll just about last the day if you’re restrained, but that’s with the CPU power saving mode activated. Try streaming video or playing games and the Jade will be history in just under three hours, a pretty poor result all-round.

Acer Liquid Jade camera: Stay out of the dark

A 13-megapixel camera juts out of the Liquid Jade’s rear and that's a pretty high pixel count considering the cost of the phone. In good lighting conditions, the happy news is that you'll capture sharp photos boasting realistic colours and plenty of detail, even with closies. It's an easy match for the new Moto G in terms of daylight performance.

In low light, the Liquid Jade’s camera starts to suffer, with images often appearing grainy – and that’s if the auto-focus actually manages to work at all. You’ve got a basic LED flash to help out, but even with that enabled, we found the auto-focus sometimes crapped out on us, giving blurred results.

You also have a 2-megapixel front-facing cam for capturing slightly fuzzy selfies.

Acer has added in a ton of bonus modes to play with, including the usual panorama and burst modes, plus a terrifying beauty mode that makes your whole family look like demented anime sex pests. Then there's the more unique features, such as the multi-angle mode which can be used to snap something from six or seven different positions and then flick through them at will. Of course, this feature only works on the phone, so its use is rather limited.

Acer Liquid Jade verdict

For £229, the Liquid Jade is sadly a little overpriced, although you can find it cheaper if you look hard enough. We really like the thin and light design, while the 5–inch screen is bright and crisp enough for everyday use and kicking back with some movies on the go, but the excellent Moto G boasts exactly the same pros and pretty much none of the cons.

KEY SPECS

• Screen size:5-inches
• Screen resolution:720p HD (720x1280)
• Weight:110 grams
• OS:Android 4.4 KitKat
• Rear Camera:13-megapixel w/ single LED flash
• Front camera:2-megapixel
• Processor:Quad-core 1.3GHz Cortex A7
• Memory:1GB
• Storage:8GB
• 4G LTE:No
• Bonus features:Dual SIM

Credit:http://recombu.com/mobile/article/acer-liquid-jade-review

Lenovo: Could it be a multi-brand mobile player?

Summary: A rumor that Lenovo could acquire BlackBerry woke up traders. But the broader question is whether Lenovo has the chops to manage the Motorola and BlackBerry brands along with its own and not be crushed by indigestion.

By Larry Dignan

Lenovo is rumored to be pondering a bid for BlackBerry, a possibility that could lead to some major indigestion considering the PC maker is about to close the purchase of Motorola Mobility. But the concept does raise the question about whether a multi-brand effort can work in the smartphone market.

According to Benzinga, a financial news site, Lenovo could make an offer as early as this week. Other news outlets picked up on the report since BlackBerry shares were moving on the rumor.

Buying enterprise mobility management: How important is independence?

I'd argue that Lenovo buying BlackBerry this soon is a stretch. First, there are regulatory issues. In addition, BlackBerry finally has some momentum and it's doubtful it would sell out with the launch of the latest BlackBerry Enterprise Server, the linchpin of its turnaround plan, on deck November 13.

Now a Lenovo takeover of BlackBerry may make sense just not at this moment. Lenovo is integrating IBM's x86 server business and Motorola Mobility soon. Google executives said they expect theLenovo takeover of Motorola to be completed shortly.

Should Lenovo buy BlackBerry it would become the Acer of smartphones. Acer acquired Gateway and Packard Bell to create a group of brands to hit various market segments. Ultimately, Acer remained the alpha brand and the one people know best today. The multibrand strategy worked somewhat for Acer, but wasn't a home run.

Fast forward to Lenovo and the smartphone play. Lenovo would have its own smartphones, which do well in China, Motorola, which does ok in the US and is stronger around the world, and BlackBerry, a enterprise-focused vendor. Lenovo would have to keep all three of those brands and complicate its management strategy. 

There's an argument that BlackBerry would give Lenovo a solid enterprise stack — servers, PCs, smartphones and the software and security to manage it all — but a purchase right now looks a bit unwieldy.

Stranger things have happened in technology and BlackBerry looks like it would be a great asset to be acquired. But all these rumors get stopped by the simple question for both sides of the deal: Why now?

Credit: http://www.zdnet.com/lenovo-could-it-be-a-multi-brand-mobile-player-7000034904/

Microsoft looks set to drop Nokia name from smartphones

CREDIT: REUTERS/JASON REDMOND

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) looks set to ditch the Nokia name from its Lumia range of smartphones just months after buying the Finnish company's handset business.

According to a post on Nokia France's Facebook page on Tuesday, the page will change its name to Microsoft Lumia "in the coming days."

Microsoft declined comment.

Under the terms of the $7.2 billion deal, which was struck in September 2013 and completed in April, Microsoft acquired Nokia's handset business, though not the name of the company itself.

Finland's Nokia (NOK1V.HE) continues as a networks, mapping and technology licensing company. It owns and manages the Nokia brand and only licenses it to Microsoft.

Microsoft has said in the past it plans to license the Nokia brand for its lower-end mobile phones for 10 years and to use the name on its smartphones only for a "limited" time, without saying how long that might be.

New Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella has begun to reduce the scale of its phone-making operations. Of the 18,000 job cuts he announced in July, about 12,500 came from the unit acquired from Nokia.


Credit:http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/22/us-microsoft-nokia-idUSKCN0IB2AY20141022

Samsung's Galaxy Tab 4 Nook goes big-screen

The new 10.1-inch device launches with an introductory price of $300 and includes over $200 in Nook content.

By:Don Reisinger
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook is now available at Barnes & Noble stores.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook now has a larger screen size to go with the grand expanse of its name.

The co-branded Android tablet now comes with a 10.1-inch screen option, following on from the 7-inch tablet that kicked off the collaboration between Samsung and Barnes & Noble earlier this year.

Priced at $300, the 10.1-inch device comes with free access to more than $200 in Nook content, the companies announced Wednesday. Customers will receive four bestselling e-books, along with an episode each of "The Newsroom," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," and "The Octonauts." They'll also be able to choose up to four 14-day free trial subscriptions from a selection of 15 magazines.

The big-screen Galaxy Tab 4 Nook is available now at Barnes & Noble bookstores and online.

The $200 bundle of Nook content is also available for free to new customers of the 7-inch tablet, the companies said. That smaller device is priced at $170, after a $30 "instant rebate."

Barnes & Noble and Samsung announced their hardware partnership in June, effectively ending the bookseller's foray into hardware design. While the original Nook tablets and e-readers were generally well-received among reviewers, they failed to capture enough attention (and customers) to continue to be produced in-house. Now Samsung provides the hardware, and Barnes & Noble its customized Nook software.

One question with the 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab 4 Nook is what kind of shelf life the "introductory" price of $300 has. In an e-mailed statement to CNET, a Barnes & Noble spokesperson said only that the company has "not announced anything at this point" on future pricing.

Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the pricing issue.

Credit:http://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-barnes-noble-announce-large-screen-galaxy-tab-4-nook/

Apple Pay: Who Won and Who Lost?

By: Sam Frizell 

Not all Apple Pay winners are created equal

Mobile payments are happening to the retail industry like bankruptcy happens to Mike Campbell in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises: gradually, and then suddenly all at once. Google has offered mobile payments for three years, and Walmart and Best Buy have been talking about mobile pay since 2012. But Apple is one of the few companies that many observers say can quickly lead a critical mass of people to wave their phones in the air for everything from bed sheets to burgers.

Retailers, credit card companies and banks all have made big bets on Apple’s new mobile payment system, which makes it more likely to succeed. “We will put our shoulders into a big step change like this,” says Matt Dill, a senior vice president at Visa, an Apple Pay partner, in an interview with TIME. “Apple Pay is a tipping point for major institutions going all in.”

If Apple Pay becomes as ubiquitous as most observers expect, it won’t just change the way consumers pay for things, it’ll reshape the financial institutions that facilitate our purchases. That’s not good news for everyone — many companies felt pushed to join up with Apple so they weren’t left behind. For some, it was either the Apple Pay-way or the highway.

Here’s a list of the major players, roughly in order of who won the most to who won the least.

Apple. Every time a customer make a purchase with Apple Pay, Apple earns a 0.15% charge. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but researchers say it’ll add up in the long run. Equity analysts at Nomura estimated that charge will account for $1.6 billion in projected revenue by 2017. On the lower end of estimates, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says that Apple Pay will generate revenue of $118 million in 2015 and $310 million in 2016.

Perhaps more importantly, Apple Pay, if successful, will increase demand for Apple devices. And once customers are using Apple Pay and all their purchases are wrapped up to their phones, it’ll be that much harder to leave Apple for Android or another smartphone platform.

“Just getting part of the transaction itself will be big” for Apple, says Rajesh Kandaswamy, researcher at Gartner. But “the largest issue is it’s harder to switch away if you’re an iPhone user.”

Banks. Consumers won’t have to pay for Apple’s 0.15% fee on Apple Pay transactions; banks will. The six big banks who have signed up for Apple Pay aren’t enthusiastic about that. But in the long run, banks expect Apple Pay will push people away from using cash and toward transactions that run over their networks. Online shopping will be faster, too, as customers won’t have to input their billing information every time they make a purchase.

Finally, because Apple Pay uses a difficult-to-hack system that encrypts all financial transactions, banks will experience less cybercrime breaches for which they’re held financially liable. “Banks are going to make less money on the transaction than if it were made on a regular card swipe” because of Apple’s fee, says Michelle Evans, an analyst at Euromonitor, “but they can make more money in the end if they can drive volume over the card network and reduce fraud.”

Credit Card Companies. Visa, MasterCard and American Express have loudly trumpeted Apple Pay’s rollout. They stand to make money off Apple Pay for the same reason the banks will: the program pushes customers to their global credit business. Dill, the Visa SVP, calls Apple Pay an “on-ramp” to Visa’s network and a growth-fueler. “If we didn’t encourage innovation” like Apple Pay, “then we would be the worst enemy to our own growth,” Dill says.

But there’s another reason credit card companies are enthusiastic about Apple Pay: the alternative, CurrentC, could be pretty scary.CurrentC is a payment system mega retailers like Walmart and Best Buy are working on that could cut out credit card companies altogether. While Apple Pay leaves the traditional credit card system intact by simply moving it to your phone, analysts speculate that the CurrentC program will link payments through a network connected directly to your savings account. Voila: no middleman.

“If a technology comes along that’s focused on getting you to not use Visa, then that’s a competitor to us,” says Dill. The threat of CurrentC makes Apple Pay look more like a rickety lifeboat for the credit card companies than the super-fast motorboat Apple has promised.

Retailers and Merchants. Walgreens, Macy’s, McDonald’s and other merchants that began using Apple Pay on Monday get the same bonus that they have always gotten from debit cards and credit cards: new customers who can spend money faster. If customers spend money more easily, retailers make money more easily.

Apple Pay is also a good way to move customers through lines more quickly. It could eventually lead to retailers adopting more self-checkout lines; for merchants, that means paying fewer cashiers and lower overhead.

But Apple Pay also reinforces a system that retailers never really liked: they have to continue to pay a fee for every credit and debit card transaction. “Retailers don’t like the fees they pay,” says Kandaswamy. “Apple Pay is going to consolidate power among the same players even more.” CurrentC, on the other hand, could allow retailers to collect customer-specific data. That would let businesses like Walmart target customers with products in the same way that Google or Facebook target their ads.

Two days into Apple Pay, there aren’t yet any data on the program’s success. It’s too early to know how many people have used it or how much money Apple has made from it. But financial institutions believe the way we pay for things is changing quickly, eve

n if we don’t quite notice it yet. “The U.S. is in midst of an innovation in payments,” Carolyn Balfany, senior vice president at MasterCard, tells TIME. “Payment security is going to change more in the next five years than it has in the past 50.” If Apple Pay does take off, then it is happening gradually before it’s here all of a sudden.

Credit: http://time.com/3532199/apple-pay-winners-losers/