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Timeline shows long engagement led up to Sprint-Handmark union

Mon, 20 May 2013 01:01:02 -0400

Google Glass Year In Review

Sun, 19 May 2013 20:00:50 -0400

It’s been a little over a year since Google started teasing something it called “Project Glass.” The futuristic, wearable computer that would change the way that you interact with the world was nothing more than a series of rumors for months before it was “formally introduced” in April 2012. Not known for hardware and not having a current bonafide physical device that was popular among consumers, many opined that this was Google’s way of begging for attention. It might have been, and it definitely worked. In thirteen months, Glass has gone from Star Trek fantasy to reality. It’s been quite the whirlwind of activity. The “wearable computing” age is upon us, and it’s been widely reported that Apple was working on a watch, therefore many assumed that Google was working on a similar device to keep up. This was clearly not the case and Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin took special interest in the Glass project and has been leading the charge going back to when prototype weighed around eight pounds in August 2011. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane, as a lot has happened over the past year in Glassland. It’s real(ish) The video from Google itself got sent people’s imaginations into overdrive. It was called “One day…” and gave us a glimpse into the life of a daily user of what Google had up its sleeve. We now know that the “One day…” reference had more to do with what the product could become, not what it would be in its first iteration: The user experience in this video is aspirational, at best, as the current iteration of Glass is more of a compliment and utility to your day, rather than the augmented reality “enhancer” as this video demonstrates. Still, the elements that make Glass handy are all there, taking calls, getting directions and taking pictures from a new point of view. Immediately after the video, and public admonishment that the project was real, the press wondered out loud if Apple should compete and that other companies should stand up and take notice. We also now know that the rumored final name for the device, Google Eye, isn’t likely. Good thing, because it sounds way creepier than Glass. We’ll get to more “creepiness” later. It was clear that Glass was getting a lot of attention, both positive and negative, from the start. Even Jon Stewart did a parody

Android's Design Principles And The Calculus Of The Human Pleasure Response

Sun, 19 May 2013 14:22:56 -0400

Android UX and interaction design leads Helena Roeber and Rachel Garb gave a talk at Google I/O this year about the Android Design Principles (ADP) they helped create and introduced back in 2012 with the launch of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The ADP foll three simple principles, essentially "enchat, simplify and amaze," but there's much more to those principles that that relatively slippery and non-scientific language might lead you to believe.

How to Really Make a Fortune on the "Mobile Wave"

Sun, 19 May 2013 05:00:14 -0400

If you've been riding along with me for any length of time, you know I get really revved up whenever I talk about the "Mobile Wave" in technology.

The truth is, I can't help it: I look at the forecasts, calculate all the money that can be made, and end up feeling as jazzed as can be about the windfall profits we can reap from this transformational trend.

And I'm not the only one who's feeling this technology-fueled ebullience: The folks over at Amazon.com are clearly experiencing the same adrenalin-driven affliction.

Amazon, you see, is coming out with its own smartphone.

And not just any smartphone. Amazon's entry into smartphone derby is going to be one cool mobile device - highlighted by a 3D screen that will display photos so realistically that you'll want to just reach out and touch them.

Why in the world, you might ask, is an "e-tailer" entering the wireless-phone business?

Just look at the numbers.

To continue reading, please click here...

How Hike, India's Fast Growing Mobile Messaging App, Is Banking On SMS & Local Diversity To Beat The Big Boys

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:45:23 -0400

It’s still practically a newborn but Indian mobile messaging app Hike is already channelling almost a billion messages a month between its 5m registered users. Those numbers sound insignificant when you stack them up against the big beasts of the messaging space – WhatsApp claims 200m+ monthly active users, and 600bn messages – but Hike’s growth is impressive when you consider it's 4 months old.

Online Takeout Giants GrubHub And Seamless In Talks To Merge

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:36:27 -0400

Today, thanks to the maturation of the web, digital tech, and smartphones now in seemingly every pocket, startups are finding it easier than ever before to build scalable solutions to finally address the many inefficiencies in our food manufacturing, production and distribution systems. As interest in food tech balloons, one area in particular appears to already be at the tipping point: Online and mobile food delivery. Over the last few days, we've hearing about a merger between two of the largest companies in the space. Rumor has it that "arch rivals" GrubHub and Seamless are in talks which could see them join forces as part of a merger. While our sources tell us that the talks are serious, the terms of the merger are not yet clear and, of course, any potential deal could fall through.

HTC Pledges To Pump Up ‘One' Production While Samsung's New Flagship Ships Like Crazy

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:33:03 -0400

Oh HTC. You've produced one of the finest Android smartphones ever (seriously, just look at all these reviews), but you've faced more than your share of challenges when it came to actually pumping your top-tier One smartphone. As it happens, that may all soon change. FocusTaiwan reported earlier today that HTC is preparing to pump out more of its wonderful Ones in short order -- Jack Tong, the company's North Asia president, noted that this month's production capacity for the flagship device is twice that of April, and that surge will only continue into June.

Google Now Introduces Mark Up Tools For Select Partners To Flag Flights, Hotel Stays And Reservations In Emails

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:14:10 -0400

Google made a relatively quiet announcement today regarding how it's pushing the developer ecosystem forward around Google Now, its intelligent personal assistant for Android devices. The company has begun extending mark up tools for emails from select partners, which help highlight flight schedules, hotel bookings and various types of reservations, to make sure that Gmail can spot that information and use it to auto-generate helpful reminders in Google Now.

AAPL, GOOG, BRCM Tops in Credit Suisse’s ‘Wearables’ Weltanschauung

Fri, 17 May 2013 19:01:10 -0400

Credit Suisse semiconductor analysts John Pitzer, Kulbinder Garcha, Christian Buss, and Stephen Ju today offered clients an overview note on what they think is “the next big thing,” the rise of sophisticated wearable technology, such as smart watches, and other accessories. The authors contend that while “wearables,” as they call them, are “not new,” nevertheless, [...]

UNXL Plunges 26% on a Day of Rumors and More Rumors

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:17:34 -0400

Shares of Uni-Pixel (UNXL) today plunged $9.55, or 26%, to $27.19, in what appears to have been a cascade of negative rumors for the maker of touch-sensing mesh technology. Williams Financial Group‘s Cody Acree, who has a Buy rating on the stock, and a $60 price target, tells me by telephone that he believes the [...]

Gmail And The Stock Android Email App Combined Have Over 100M Mobile Users

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:09:07 -0400

Google's Vikram Aggarwal, a software engineer working on the Android platform, revealed today that Gmail and Email, the native Android client that still ships on Android devices as well, now has a combined user base of over 100 million across the Android install base. It's an interesting stat, because although Gmail and Email only represent two of a multitude of email clients available on Android, it's likely that those two represent the email clients of choice for a wide swath of Android users.

Apple Boots Bang With Friends From The App Store

Fri, 17 May 2013 17:51:04 -0400

Uh oh. Less than ten days after Bang With Friends made its mobile debut on the iOS App Store, Apple has seemingly changed its mind and given it the boot.

This Week On The TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast: All Google I/O, All The Time

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:28:53 -0400

Google's major developer conference, Google I/O, went down this week. Was it a bit of a letdown? Probably. Did cool stuff still come out of the event? Eh? Maybe? We discuss these topics and more this week on the TC Gadgets podcast. In fact, we even had Frederic Lardinois join as a guest, along with John Biggs, Matt Burns, Jordan Crook (that's me!), Romain Dillet, and Darrell Etherington as Bob McKenzie.

Amidst Tumblr Acquisition Rumors, Yahoo To Hold Product Event With Marissa Mayer On Monday

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:02:34 -0400

On Monday, it seems that we may get a better sense of what Yahoo plans to build in the wake of its acquisition spree, as CNBC is reporting that the company will be holding a "product-related" news event on Monday in New York City. Marissa Mayer will reportedly be speaking at the press conference, but that's all we know about the contents of the event at this point.

Facebook: Google+ a ‘Dangerous, Different Game,’ Says BTIG

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:00:04 -0400

BTIG Research‘s Rich Greenfield, who has been relentlessly critical of Facebook (FB) in recent months, today penned a second installment of his essays on why the social networking site should be worried about Google‘s (GOOG) own social networking effort, “Google+,” following Google’s developer conference earlier this week. In the first installment, on Wednesday, Greenfield opined [...]

Tableau Soars: Banking on a Consumer Answer to Complex Questions

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:38:36 -0400

Shares of Tableau Software (DATA), the Seattle, Washington-based startup providing programs for Big Data, continue to rocket following their initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange this morning. The shares are up $17.43, or 56%, at $48.43, after opening at $47, above the $31 offer price, and hitting as high as $50.25. Shares [...]

Social Trip Planning App Tripshare Converts Travel Inspiration To Bookings

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:27:29 -0400

Tripshare, an iPad application for travel planning, is joining a crowded space. But its CEO knows a little something about the industry – Bob Dana was the former employee No. 1 and first CFO of Virgin America. He once wrote the business plan and feasibility study for Sir Richard Branson in 2003. And now he’s doing a travel startup. Dana tells us the inspiration for Tripshare was based on a personal experience he had years ago. As CFO, he spent 10 hours on a plane each week flying back and forth from New York to California. In 2006, Dana was trying to convince his family to come out to California for a vacation, so he put together a proposed itinerary to help sell the idea. “I ended up preparing this 10-page Word document that included text and photos I cut and pasted from various websites. It was intended to be persuasive in nature, and collaborative, too,” he explains. “I thought afterwards, that collaborative travel planning was something that was rather difficult to do.” But not only was it difficult to plan, it was also hard to move from the point of inspiration and discovery to actually booking the trip. This idea later formed the basis for Tripshare, which he founded two years ago. The app was originally built in conjunction with then co-founder and CTO Ken Goto, a former director of engineering at Apple. Goto has since moved on but his ex-Apple development team, including acting CTO Eric Kapke, now continues the work. The app itself has actually been live in the iTunes App Store as unpublicized beta since August 2012. However, though that app was functionally similar, it drew some criticisms from early users because of its user interface. Today’s version is an overhaul and much improved. Still, despite having done no publicity or marketing, Tripshare has been downloaded nearly 20,000 times while still a work in progress. In other words, today’s release is technically a version 2.0, but for all intents and purposes, this is the big debut. Designed for those planning vacations or other complex trips with multiple destinations or activities, Tripshare allows you to browse, collect and share information with others before booking. Using the iPad’s big screen, you can flip through photos of destinations and lodgings, create itineraries and discover flights, hotels, restaurants, activities and more. Today, the app allows you to explore more than 20,000 cities worldwide, plus 500,000+ lodging

Samsung Semi Advantage May Put the Screws to AAPL, Says Jefferies

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:36:29 -0400

Jefferies & Co.’s Sundeep Bajikar this morning reiterates a Buy rating on shares of Samsung Electronics (005930KS), and a ?2,100,000 price target, writing that the company’s chip manufacturing effort going forward will have a lower costs than those of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM), based on recent presentations by Taiwan Semi and by Intel (INTC). Bajikar [...]

Google: Argus Raises Target to $1,065; Android ‘Innovation Catalyst’

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:15:32 -0400

The Street this morning continues to raise price targets on Google (GOOG), following a slew of target increases yesterday, following the company’s keynote session for its “Google I/O” developer conference on Wednesday in San Francisco. Bonner does change any estimates today. Google shares are up 29 cents at $904.16, The latest bit is from Argus [...]

Vevo Dost?pne Po Polsku

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:52:59 -0400

Vevo, popularny serwis muzycznych teledysków, og?osi? oficjaln? dost?pno?? w Polsce. Us?uga, wcze?niej niedost?pna w tym regionie geograficznym, b?dzie zawiera? video-clipy najpopularniejszych polskich gwiazd jak Brodka, Pezet, a mo?e i nawet David Hasselhoff.

Galaxy S4 Will Pass 10M Shipments Next Week Less Than A Month After Launch, Says Samsung

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:04:01 -0400

Samsung's latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4, is poised to pass 10 million shipments next week less than a month after the device launched, says co-CEO Shin Jong-kyun, according to the Korea Times. The S4's international release took place on April 27, after the phone launched in Samsung's home market on April 26.

MessageMe Raises A $10M Series A Led By Greylock As It Gears Up For Money And Premium Services In Its Rich Messaging App

Thu, 16 May 2013 21:19:29 -0400

MessageMe -- a messaging app that launched in March with a little Facebook controversy thrown in -- has raised another $10 million, according to an SEC filing earlier today. The Series A round was led by Greylock Partners; and as part of it, John Lilly, the ex-CEO of Mozilla who is now a partner at Greylock, will be joining the board of LittleInc Labs, makers of MessageMe.

CrowdOptic Raises Another $1M To Build Experiences Based On Where Your Phone Is Pointing

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:33:34 -0400

CrowdOptic, a startup with technology for identifying where people are pointing their smartphone cameras, has raised another $1 million in funding. When I've spoken to the team in the past, they've emphasized the ways this could be used to create new types of social interactions — if people are attending a live event and pointing their cameras at the same thing, they can start chatting and sharing content. However, the company's website highlights a number of use cases, including "focus-aware" advertising, analytics, news reporting, social TV (live attendees can provide content to people watching at home), and security.

NVIDIA's Shield Mobile Gaming System Feels Like The Way Android Games Should Be Played

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:27:08 -0400

NVIDIA brought its new Shield handheld gaming system to Google I/O this year, and was showing off a near production device. The Shield made its debut at CES this year, surprising most since it's a consumer handheld device from a company that generally makes internal components, but it has some neat tricks up its sleeve, including a Tegra 4 chipset, 2GB of RAM, a 5-inch 720p display and 16GB of internal storage.

Google Says All 2,000 Glass Explorers Have Been Invited To Pick Up Their Device

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:45:18 -0400

Today, Steve Lee of the Google X and Glass Team, announced that as of last week, all 2,000 developers who joined up for the Glass Explorer program at last year's I/O conference have now been invited to pick their pair up from Google's offices in Mountain View, New York City or Los Angeles.

AAPL, BBRY, NOK Challenged as China, EM Drive Smartphones, Says Raymond James

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:15:20 -0400

Raymond James‘s Tavis McCourt this afternoon writes that he is raising his growth estimate for smartphones after reviewing Q1 sales data from Gartner published with that firm’s global sales report on Tuesday. McCourt now sees smartphone unit sales rising 36% this year, higher than a prior projection for growth in a range of 25% to [...]

eBay Updates iOS Apps With Revamped UI, Drivers License Scanning For Sign-Ups, And A Whole Lot More

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:08:19 -0400

eBay has just updated its mobile app with a whole host of new features and a revamped look. To start, the refreshed UI makes it clear that eBay wants a more heavy-duty offering for its mobile users. You can now enjoy larger photo views, a better system for auctions that are about to end, and the added feature of being able to checkout multiple items at the same time. But all that's just fluff when you consider the stand-out feature in the update: eBay now lets you scan your drivers license from the app for a quick and easy sign-up process. That way, if you're new to the platform, you don't have to go through the never-ending clicks of typing out your information into multiple fields.

AAPL: Way Behind BBRY, Samsung in India, Says Global Equities

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:36:10 -0400

Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research today reiterates an Overweight rating on shares of Apple (AAPL) and a $650 price target, while opining that in India, the company’s products are “not very popular,” based on his conversations with “about 30 – 35 people around Apple Reseller Stores” in the subcontinent. Those resellers, dubbed “iWorld,” are [...]

Yahoo Partners With Twitter To Further Personalize Homepage Newsfeed

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:07:36 -0400

Yahoo and Twitter have partnered to bring tweets directly into Yahoo homepage’s newsfeed on web and mobile, the company announced this morning. The move follows a relaunch of the front page back in February of this year. At the time, the company debuted a redesigned site with an increased emphasis on personalization, as well as a more modern design. The Twitter partnership expands upon this earlier mission involving personalization – a key focus for Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer – noting that Yahoo will now ”seamlessly include relevant and personalized tweets alongside stories from Yahoo! and our other sources.” These tweets will now appear directly in the Yahoo news feed, which offers an endlessly scrollable stream of content, divided into sections like “All Stories,” “News,” “Local,” “Entertainment,” “Sports,” and more. The headlines which come from Twitter accounts will be indicated by referencing the source by its Twitter handle (e.g. “@ABCWorldNews” as opposed to “ABC News”) and there will be “Follow” buttons to the right of the stories, allowing users to click to add the news organization to their Twitter feed. “Updates direct from politicians, celebrities, media outlets, and other publishers have become an important source of real-time news and information,” Mayer explained in the official announcement today. “140 characters can connect athletes with their fans, capture live chatter from the red carpet, and inspire global debate.” Though the post did not detail how the addition of tweets specifically ties into Yahoo’s overarching personalization goals, that refers directly to changes that took place following the homepage revamp earlier this year. The front page’s selection of news articles now starts out as a generic grouping of stories, but as users click on content that interests them, the site adapts. The more it learns about a user’s interests, the more relevant and personalized the surfaced stories become. (At least in theory). This technology will now also apply to the tweets. Yahoo has been moving to reinvent itself under Mayer’s leadership, gobbling up startups, paring down its scattered lineup and launching well-received apps like a revamped Flickr and its new Weather app for iOS, the latter which may be one of the highest rated iPhone applications we’ve seen, with 4,206 5-star reviews out of 4,832 ratings. It’s worth noting too that the revamped Twitter-powered homepage has a mobile component as well. The update is rolling out to U.S. desktop and mobile users over the next few days, the company says.

Google's New Hangouts Chat And Messaging App To Incorporate SMS “Soon”

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:10:46 -0400

Google revealed Hangouts, its unified text, video and multimedia messaging platform yesterday during its epic three hour I/O keynote, but while the platform pulls in Google Talk, Google+ and other sources, it was apparently missing SMS integration. Incorporating texts from your carrier is on the way, however, according to Hangouts and Chat community manager Dori Storbeck, who said as much in a reply to a question (via 9to5Google)about SMS integration on Google+.

Google Announces Rebuilt AdMob Developer Tools With Smarter App Promotion, Local Currency Support

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:07:42 -0400

Mobile app developers using Google's AdMob ad network will start seeing a new version that has been rebuilt "in a ground up sort of way," according to Jonathan Alferness, director of product management for mobile ads. The update, which starts rolling out today, also brings AdMob more in line with Google's other ad platforms. That's something the company has been working on since it acquired AdMob in 2010, for example by integrating AdMob with AdWords, but Alferness said today is the "culmination" of all that work, and that the new AdMob can be more easily extended with new features, setting the stage for future improvements.

Telefonica Adds Samsung As A Carrier Billing OEM For Apps, Games, Music And More

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:10:24 -0400

Telefonica is today announcing a deal with Samsung that will see it make an even bigger move into the area of carrier billing: Samsung will integrate the carrier's billing back-end directly into its own mobile services, meaning that consumers who are customers of Telefonica's (it has 316 million worldwide) who use the Samsung Hub and Samsung Apps portals on Samsung smartphones will be able to buy apps, music, videos, books, games and more and charge them directly on to their phone bills.

This Morning: Cisco Surges, AMD cut, Google Cheered, More Surface RT?

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:49:04 -0400

Here are some things going on this morning in your world of tech: Shares of Cisco Systems (CSCO) are up $2.43, or almost 12%, at $23.64, after the company last night reported fiscal Q3 revenue and earnings per share that topped consensus and projected this quarter’s revenue slightly lower, but more or less in line [...]

Google Wallet Rolls Out To More Devices – Nope, Still No Love For Verizon, AT&T Or T-Mobile Owners

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:28:48 -0400

Google sadly scrapped its plans to introduce a plastic "universal" credit card that works at point-of-sale as a way to use its Google Wallet service out in the real world, but the company has not given up on its NFC-powered payments solution just yet. The company announced Wednesday evening the Google Wallet app now works on more phones: the Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy Note II and HTC One on Sprint, and the Samsung Galaxy Note II on US Cellular.

IDC: Android OEMs Shipped 162M Smartphones In Q1, More Than 4X Apple's Rate; Windows Phone Now In (Distant) Third

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:44:52 -0400

IDC today was the latest to publish its numbers on smartphone market shares after the major handset makers released Q1 earnings, and like Gartner, Strategy Analytics and the rest, it underscores the power of Google's Android platform at the moment: Android OEMs shipped 162.1 million handsets in the quarter, giving the platform a 75% share of total worldwide shipments, while Apple's 37.4 million devices put it at an increasingly distant second position at 17.3%. Microsoft's Windows Phone, driven primarily by its partner Nokia (79% of all WP shipments), grew the most of all platforms, with a rise of 133.3%, but that still puts it at a single-digit share, 3.2% on 7 million devices shipped.

Enterprise Mobility, BYOD Startup AirWatch Adds $25M From Accel To Take Its Series A Total To $225M, As It Preps For Acquisitions

Thu, 16 May 2013 07:29:19 -0400

AirWatch, the startup that helps businesses manage security and more on employees' mobile devices, is today announcing that it has raised another $25 million, led by Accel with participation also from Insight Venture Partners. The funds come as part of an expanded Series A round, originally for $200 million, which the company announced with a splash in February during Mobile World Congress. This Series A is the first outside money raised by AirWatch, and values the company at just over $1 billion, according to sources.

With Google Play For Education, Google Looks To Challenge Apple's Dominance In The Classroom

Thu, 16 May 2013 02:30:40 -0400

Google I/O, the company's sixth annual developer conference, got officially underway in San Francisco on Wednesday, and it was an eventful day. It took the company every minute of its epic three-hour keynote to unfurl a laundry list of announcements and updates, seemingly across every product category in its arsenal -- from Android, Chrome and Search to Maps, Google+ and Hangouts -- each with a fresh coat of paint. We even saw the arrival of Google's very own subscription music service, today, which is already being touted as a potential Spotify killer.

Intel: Better Tablet Prospects, But Ultrabooks Key, Says Morgan Stanley

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:08:22 -0400

Morgan Stanley’s Joseph Moore today reiterated an Underweight rating on shares of Intel (INTC), and a $20 price target, writing that he believes the company can hold its own against competitors in the battle for tablets based on Microsoft‘s (MSFT) Windows 8, but that it won’t mean much for the company financially. Moore takes as [...]

Apple: Susquehanna Starts at Hold; Larger-Screen iPhone Key

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:28:24 -0400

Shares of Apple (AAPL) closed down $15.01, or 3.4%, at $428.85, pressured by news of some funds dumping the stock, as the Barron’s Focus on Funds blog reported. The stock this afternoon got an initiation of coverage from Suquehanna Financial Group’s Chris Caso, who starts the stock at Neutral, with a $480 price target. Caso, [...]

Death By A Thousand Cuts? Google Wallet's Plan To Take On PayPal Leverages Chrome, Android, Google+, Gmail & More

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:16:57 -0400

Flying under the radar amid a flurry of announcements coming out of the Google I/O developer conference this morning, is the bigger news of how Google is stepping up its efforts to compete with online payment giants like PayPal with a revamped checkout process for the web, mobile web, within mobile applications running on Android, and more. It’s a proposed death to PayPal by a thousand cuts, leveraging everything from Chrome to Android and even Gmail. What Google hasn’t quite worked out yet is how all this will tie together in the long run, but you can see the plan beginning to form. #1: Google Wallet On The Web: Storing Payment Credentials In Chrome Lets start with the browser, the de facto home for online shopping. It’s not news that the checkout experience is broken. Shopping cart abandonment is one of the biggest pain points for today’s merchants, mainly because their websites have traditionally offered only cumbersome and tedious forms for shoppers to fill out in order to make a purchase. As noted during today’s keynote, one of the hardest things you can do on the web is try to buy something. The process takes around 21 steps, the company explained. Of course, Google is exaggerating here a bit – billing and shipping details are usually the same, but Google counted each field (street, zip, etc.) twice. That being said, things are even worse on mobile. Google notes that shopping cart abandonment on mobile devices is now an outrageous 97 percent. Again, that seems high (here’s the source for that figure), but the trend Google is illustrating with these slightly puffed up figures is not. For comparison’s sake, Monetate’s data put global cart abandonment at around 82 percent as of Q4 2012. The company has been seeing increases in cart abandonment – which had been around 60 percent over the past several years – due to an increased number of shoppers doing research on mobile phones and other devices. As they reach the point of checking out on mobile, they’re now more likely to give up and move on because of the increased difficulty of the experience on mobile’s small screen, combined with retailers’ failure to roll out mobile-optimized experiences even as percentages of mobile shoppers continue to grow at record rates. A number of startups have been attacking this challenge in various forms – mobile apps featuring universal carts,

Indoor Mapping Startup Meridian Adds Notification Zones To Their Strategy

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:04:13 -0400

Indoor mapping software startup Meridian, continues to evolve their product strategy with a recent update to their offering. Called Zones, the company’s newest update to their indoor mapping platform — and indoor is the key word here — allows geo-fence style app push notifications to be scheduled, by drawing polygons on location maps.

Apple: Piper Sees iPhone Holding Resale Value Better than Samsung Models

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:36:53 -0400

Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster today reiterated his Overweight rating on shares of Apple (AAPL) and a price target of $655, offering up the first of a monthly report on the resale value of the iPhone in comparison to devices based on Google‘s (GOOG) Android software. Monitoring eBay (EBAY) auction prices since March 15th, across the [...]

Google Now Gets New Cards For Reminders, Music, Public Transit, TV, Books And Video Games

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:15:33 -0400

Google announced some fresh updates for Google Now today, consisting of six new types of cards that will show up in the automated, intelligent digital assistant feature for Android and iOS. The new cards include a location-based Reminder feature, public transit travel times, and information about books, music, TV shows and video games that might be of timely interest to users.

Google Unites Gmail And G+ Chat Into “Hangouts” Cross-Platform Text And Group Video Messaging App

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:55:18 -0400

Today at I/O, Google rebranded "Hangouts" as a new unified, cross-platform messaging system. It lets people text, photo, and group video message across Hangouts' Android and iOS apps, plus its Gmail and Google+ site integrations. Hangouts rolls out today, replacing Google Talk [GChat] and G+ Messenger. While it doesn't support SMS yet, it could challenge Facebook Messaging and Apple's iMessage.

Apple Bagged 57% Of $12.5B In Smartphone Profits In Q1, Android 43%; Samsung 95% Share Of That, “More Than Google”

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:29:27 -0400

Apple continues to lead both as the single-most profitable smartphone maker, and by default the most profitable platform, taking 57% of $12.5 billion in smartphone operating profits in Q1, according to figures out from Strategy Analytics today. Android took 43%, equating to $5.3 billion, Neil Mawston, chief analyst with the firm, tells TechCrunch.

Google To Begin Offering Unlocked Samsung Galaxy S4 With Stock Android For $649 On June 26

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:58:48 -0400

Google is offering a version of the Samsung Galaxy S4, arguably one of the top current Android devices, with Jelly Bean 4.2 unlocked on Google Play beginning June 26, the company revealed at I/O today. The news is big because it's the first non-Nexus device to get blessed with this opportunity, and Google says it will be updated in time with all other Nexus devices.

Google Launches Android Studio And New Features For Developer Console, Including Beta Releases And Staged Rollout

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:36:38 -0400

Today, during Google’s I/O developer conference, the company announced a group of tools for app developers, including a new developer suite called Android Studio. It’s an IDE based on IntelliJ. This was a popular announcement, as the crowd “ooh’d” and “ahh’d” as screenshots were shown on stage. This tool has more options for Android Development, making the process faster and more productive. A “live layout” was shown that renders your app as you’re editing in realtime. Additionally, you can switch over to different layouts and screen sizes, such as 3.7 inch phone and 10-inch tablet. The team noted that this might be useful for internationalization, allowing you to quickly see what things look like without having to package up your app and install it on a device. The company says that it has “big plans” for Android Studio. Developer Console Updates and Beta/Staged Rollouts After the Studio announcement, new features to help developers get their apps in the hands of beta testers were announced. This is something that hasn’t been easy before, but the console now lets you manage both beta users and a staged rollout process. Ellie Powers, Product Manager at Google, shared these new features, including ways to make money. The console will now have optimization tips, such as assistance for translation. The app translation service allows you to get professional translations directly in developer consoles; just select russian – it will show a list of different translation vendors, then Google will play middle man. Your results will be delivered within the console. You can invest in a campaign to promote your app with new referral tracking. It will tell you where installs are coming from, let you track effectiveness of each referral channel and then what happens in the app from the first time it’s opened on a device by a user. Those usage metrics will also be show in the console.

Samsung Garners 95% of Android Profit, Says Strategy Analytics

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:20:14 -0400

How big is Samsung Electronics‘s (005930KS) share of the profit pool among device makers using Google‘s (GOOG) Android operating system? It’s really big, says Strategy Analytics, which estimates Samsung in Q1 took home 94.7% of the $5.3 billion in profit among all vendors, which in turn is 43% of all smartphone profit in the industry. [...]

Samsung Galaxy S4 Shipments Top 6 Million In 15 Days

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:04:03 -0400

Samsung has confirmed via the Korean website Chosun Ilbo that it has shipped over 6 million units of the Galaxy S4 since its international release on April 26. According to the firm, this is the fastest ever sell rate for a Galaxy S smartphone, or any other Samsung smartphone for that matter. Specifically, the Galaxy S4 hit 4 million shipments between April 26 (release date) and April 30, and had reached 6 million units sold by May 10. For a little perspective, the Galaxy S sold 3 million units in 85 days, while the Galaxy S2 took 55 days to achieve the same feat, and the Galaxy S III hit the 3 million mark in just 21 days. An executive at the company told Chosun Ilbo the following: “As of the end of April, we supplied four million Galaxy S4 handsets to telecommunication operators around the world. As of Friday, we have sold more than 6 million units, and we predict that we could break the 10-million mark by as early as the end of this month.” It’s worth noting that these “sales” are to wireless operators, and not direct to consumers. In other words, Samsung has shipped 6 million units of the Galaxy S4 since April 26. Obviously, the Galaxy S line is selling notably well for Samsung, and the progress from one generation to the next is made clear by these figures. But even though Samsung dominates the market right now, and has a near-monopoly on Android, the iPhone is still technically a faster selling phone than any of Samsung’s Galaxy models. Remember when the iPhone 5 launched? Apple clocked over 2 million pre-orders for the latest-generation iPhone in the first 24 hours it was available. For pre-order. And where progress is concerned, the iPhone’s popularity grows with each generation as well, and in this case even faster than Samsung’s Galaxy S line. iPhone 5 pre-orders were 2x the number of pre-orders seen for the iPhone 4S. In either case, both companies are raking in the dough with their flagship lines. [via TmoNews]

SAP Cloud Targets Sports and Entertainment Markets

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:00:57 -0400