Latest figures from market research firm IDC reveal that Google Android and Apple’s iOS continued to dominate the smartphone scene in 2014. Microsoft and BlackBerry, however, both showed marked declines.Android enjoyed an 81.5% share of the market over the whole year, up from 78.7% in 2013. Apple slipped slightly to 14.8% from 15.1%.Windows, however, saw a 0.6% drop from 3.3% to 2.7%, while BlackBerry managed to take a mere 0.4% of the market, down from 1.9%.The figures for the last quarter of 2014 show a similar picture, with Apple enjoying a slight surge due to its record–breaking iPhone sales for the three months from October to December.Android saw a small drop from 78.2% to 76.6%, while Windows and BlackBerry both experienced declines of 0.2%.The stats bear out the harsh truth that beyond Android and iOS, rival operating systems are struggling to compete.Windows, despite a glitzy new launch, remains niche and unloved by developers, while BlackBerry’s relevance has shown a huge fall since its heyday almost ten years ago.
Showing posts with label apple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label apple. Show all posts
Thursday, February 26, 2015
You don't really need to do anything to claim the extra storage space. When you open up the Settings section of the Play Music site, Uploaded Songs should now reflect that you can store a maximum of 50,000 songs.So how does Google Play Music stack up with the competition for storing your music library in the cloud? Well, Apple's iTunes Match service will store 25,000 songs, half of what Google now offers, and iTunes Match will run you $24.99 a year. Amazon, meanwhile, will let you upload just 250 songs for free, though a $24.99 annual subscription puts that limit at 250,000.As a reminder, music purchased on the Google Play Store does not count against your storage limit.
Google has announced today the official launch of an initiative called Android for Work. Through the program, Google has teamed up with several partners to integrate enterprise-level security into the Android platform.
Google originally announced and previewed Android for Work back in 2014 at Google I/O. The main idea behind the program is to allow workers to use their personal phones for work tasks, but keep work and personal content and data separate. Google gave the following breakdown of what users can expect from the initiative:
- Work profiles – We've built on the default encryption, enhanced SELinux security enforcement and multi-user support in Android 5.0, Lollipop to create a dedicated work profile that isolates and protects work data. IT can deploy approved work apps right alongside their users' personal apps knowing their sensitive data remains secured. People can use their personal apps knowing their employer only manages work data and won't erase or view their personal content.
- Android for Work app – For devices running Ice Cream Sandwich through Kitkat, or that don't run work profiles natively, we've created the Android for Work app. The app, which delivers secure mail, calendar, contacts, documents, browsing and access to approved work apps, can be completely managed by IT.
- Google Play for Work – Google Play for Work allows businesses to securely deploy and manage apps across all users running Android for Work, simplifying the process of distributing apps to employees and ensuring that IT approves every deployed app.
- Built-in productivity tools – For everyday business tasks, we've created a suite of business apps for email, contacts and calendar, which supports both Exchange and Notes and provides document editing capabilities for documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
To make all of this work, Google has teamed up with a large number of industry partners such as Citrix, Adobe, Samsung, BlackBerry, Cisco, and many, many more. Google says these partnerships have allowed it to create a set of APIs to bring easier management of Android devices to IT departments, as well as create secure business apps and more secure devices.
Citing unnamed sources, Business Insider says that the relationship between the branches became especially strained in 2012 when Samsung's Korean office reportedly sent a team to audit the U.S. branch's Dallas office:
The Dallas-based employees had to go through all materials they used to sell and market Samsung's mobile products. They were accused of falsifying sales, bribing the media, and a bunch of other damaging actions that hurt morale in the office. The same US-based office that helped turn Samsung into a brand as recognizable as Apple was suddenly being punished for its work.After three weeks, the Korean auditors found nothing wrong with the way the US office had been operating and went home. But the damage had been done, and the perception remained at the Korean headquarters that despite its success, the US team was up to no good.
Overall, the piece is a pretty crazy read, and it will be interesting to see if the company is able to use its upcoming Galaxy S6 launch as a platform to turn around its recent slumping smartphone sales.
We are rapidly approaching that fun time of year when the largest Android smartphone manufacturers unveil their newest flagships. That means we're already in the silly season of rumors and leaks. Isn't it interesting to follow all the developments on, say, the HTC One M9? The M7 was great, the M8 was better...it's understandably hard to wait for official information about the 2015 iteration. However, whatever you do, do not look at product images from case manufacturers like Spigen to learn what the next phone will look like.
Google is releasing a set of tools designed for businesses and employees who want to get work done on Android-powered smartphones, setting up a skirmish on another key front of mobile computing.The technology unveiled Wednesday launches Google's attempt to turn Android phones into the digital hub of people's personal and professional lives. The expansion will pit Google Inc. against Microsoft Corp. and BlackBerry Inc., which have been focusing on the corporate market for years. Google will also be dueling its biggest rival in mobile computing, Apple Inc., which forged a partnership with IBM Corp. last year to build more iPhone and iPad applications tailored for businesses and government agencies.Google and Apple have become so dominant that 96 percent of the smartphones sold last year run on the companies' software, according to the research firm IDC. But most people use those phones to take pictures, message their friends, check Facebook and Twitter and engage in other personal endeavors. In many cases, people also may check their work email on their phones.But Google and Apple are trying to make it more enticing and convenient for people to transplant more of their professional lives on to their phones. As part of that process, the companies are rolling out more business-oriented applications and tougher security to make employers feel more comfortable about their workers using their phones for their jobs."Our vision is that every employee out there should have a work-enabled device in their hands," said Rajen Sheth, director of product management for Android's push into the office.Far more people already own Android phones than iPhones, a lead that Google hopes works to its advantage in the corporate mobility market. IDC estimates that more than 1 billion Android phones were sold last year, compared to 193 million iPhones. The huge disparity has largely been driven by Google's decision to give away its Android software, helping to make the devices running on the software more affordable than iPhones. By design, Apple has focused on more affluent consumers.The corporate and government market is appealing because employers are willing to spend more people on applications and security than most consumers.Google announced its Android for Work program at a conference eight months ago, but needed more time to test the technology before its release.The tools include the ability to create separate personal and professional profiles on the same phone in an effort to reassure workers worried about their bosses snooping on their private lives. Even though the data is kept in separate silos, Google has created a way for work programs and personal apps such as Facebook to appear on the same home screen for convenience.Android for Work will be automatically available on phones running on the most recent release of the operating system, "Lollipop," or version 5.0. An Android for Work app can be downloaded to make the package work on phones running older versions of the software. Google's Play store is also opening a section devoted to work applications.
Google’s Android has gobbled up market share world wide, now accounting for over 80% of all smartphone shipped globally. But when it comes to actually making money, Apple is eating all the profits as it continues its focus on premium devices. Today Strategy Analytics said that Apple in Q4 last year accounted for 89% of all smartphone profits, equating to $18.8 billion, with Android taking only 11%, or $2.4 billion.
The blow for Android is softened only slightly less so only by the fact that other platform players like Microsoft, Blackberry and Firefox seemingly made no profit at all.
The figures given here relate to profits generated by handset makers, not the services ecosystem and potential profits made by app publishers and others, which, of course, includes Google itself, which adds new users of for its mobile search business, mobile ads business and other apps with each unforked Android sale.
Overall, smartphone handset profits were up 31.4% compared to the same quarter a year ago.
When it comes to who is performing best among Android OEMs, the results speak of the growing competition for Samsung.
Neil Mawson, research director for Strategy Analytics, says the “three big profit drivers” for Android are Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi.
“Samsung is the Android giant that delivers most of Android’s smartphone profits worldwide,” he tells me. Mawston says the company is not breaking out exact shares, except to say that “Samsung accounted for well over half of all Android smartphone profits globally in Q4 2014.”
As a point of comparison, in 2013, Samsung accounted for 95% of Android profits. That was a time where there was significantly more parity between Apple and the Korean handset maker both in terms of unit sales and revenues, with Apple accounting for “only” 57% of profit at the time.
It’s not too surprising that Apple — which last quarter had the most profitable company of any quarter, ever — is dominating in smartphone profits, but what is striking is just how wide the gulf has become.
The bigger picture seems to be that Android handset makers are in something of a race to the bottom at this point: the markets that are driving growth in smartphone adoption these days are emerging economies, where consumers are price sensitive. That’s leading to the production of a number of models that are pushing down the average sale price for devices, which long ago dropped below the $100 mark.
Apple may have missed the boat (so far) when it comes critical mass in market share in these developing markets, but it has more than made up for it by making a killing in places where it is strong. China is one such crossover example. While there is clearly a market for lower-cost and Android devices, Apple has been posting record sales in the country, reporting sales of $16 billion in the country in Q4. (China is not — yet — however overtaking Apple’s sales in markets like the U.S.)
In the world of smartphones, Android’s gains do not equal Apple’s loss. But Android’s gains might translate into Android losses down the line, Strategy Analytics notes.
“Apple’s strategy of premium products and lean logistics is proving hugely profitable,” Mawston writes in the report. “Android’s weak profitability for its hardware partners will worry Google. If major smartphone manufacturers, like Samsung or Huawei, cannot make decent profits from the Android ecosystem, they may be tempted in the future to look at alternative platforms such as Microsoft, Tizen or Firefox.”
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Apple has shared some information around how Touch ID and its Secure Enclave keeps information private in an updated security document newly posted to its “iPhone in Business” microsite. The new info provides an inside look at how exactly the Secure Enclave generates and communicates encrypted and temporary identification information to the rest of the system to make sure that fingerprint data is never exposed to anything beyond itself.
Each Secure Enclave is provisioned during fabrication with its own UID (Unique ID) that is not accessible to other parts of the system and is not known to Apple. When the device starts up, an ephemeral key is created, tangled with its UID, and used to encrypt the Secure Enclave’s portion of the device’s memory space.Additionally, data that is saved to the file system by the Secure Enclave is encrypted with a key tangled with the UID and an anti-replay counter.
The Secure Enclave portion of the A7 chip is of course responsible for handling fingerprint data collected by the Touch ID sensor. Apple goes on to detail how the A7 processor helps gather the fingerprint data, but can’t actually read said information itself, and how the exchange that takes place between the A7 and the secure enclave is encrypted to prevent any hijacking of the data at that point.
Communication between the A7 and the Touch ID sensor takes place over a serial peripheral interface bus. The A7 forwards the data to the Secure Enclave but cannot read it. It’s encrypted and authenticated with a session key that is negotiated using the device’s shared key that is built into the Touch ID sensor and the Secure Enclave. The session key exchange uses AES key wrap- ping with both sides providing a random key that establishes the session key and uses AES-CCM transport encryption.
As for Touch ID itself, Apple details how the fingerprint-based unlocking and iTunes purchasing authorization tech works in a completely new section of the iOS Security document. It mostly explains what users likely already know about Touch ID: When it does and doesn’t work (i.e. after a restart), but also adds a few things that might not be clear from normal use – Touch ID unlocking stops working after an iPhone 5s has been left locked for 48 hours or more, for instance, requiring a text or number-based password input.
Apple also reiterates its firm “no third-parties” rule with Touch ID and fingerprint information, which is worth recalling given Samsung’s different take on the matter, with its Pass API announced earlier for platform developers.
Touch ID authentication and the data associated with the enrolled fingerprints are not
available to other apps or third parties
The document also includes previously revealed technical data around the Touch ID scanner itself, which takes an 88-by-88-pixel, 500-ppi raster scan of the finger being applied, which is then transmitted to the Secure Enclave, vectorized for the purposes of being analyzed and compared to fingerprints stored in memory, and then discarded. This info, it’s worth recalling, is never transmitted to Apple’s servers, nor is it stored in iCloud or the iTunes backup of a device.
Apple closes the section on Touch ID with a detailed, step-by-step explanation of how unlocking the smartphone with the tech works, which is worth a look if you’re unclear on the behind-the-scenes magic or security protections involved:
On devices with an A7 processor, the Secure Enclave holds the cryptographic class keys for Data Protection. When a device locks, the keys for Data Protection class Complete are discarded, and files and keychain items in that class are inaccessible until the user unlocks the device by entering their passcode.On iPhone 5s with Touch ID turned on, the keys are not discarded when the device locks; instead, they’re wrapped with a key that is given to the Touch ID subsystem. When a user attempts to unlock the device, if Touch ID recognizes the user’s finger- print, it provides the key for unwrapping the Data Protection keys and the device is unlocked. This process provides additional protection by requiring the Data Protection and Touch ID subsystems to cooperate in order to unlock the device.The decrypted class keys are only held in memory, so they’re lost if the device is rebooted. Additionally, as previously described, the Secure Enclave will discard the keys after 48 hours or 5 failed Touch ID recognition attempts.
Another new section details iCloud Keychain, the syncing service that stores your passwords for use across platforms. Apple notes the system is designed to prevent unauthorized access to iCloud Keychain stored information in the event of a compromised iCloud account, and to prevent third-party access to any passwords housed in the service.
Below is an excerpt of how iCloud makes sure that keychains are recovered only by authorized users, without even actually transmitting the local iOS security code to Apple itself.
iCloud provides a secure infrastructure for keychain escrow that ensures only authorized users and devices can perform a recovery. Topographically positioned behind iCloud are clusters of hardware security modules (HSM). These clusters guard the escrow records. Each has a key that is used to encrypt the escrow records under their watch, as described previously.To recover a keychain, the user must authenticate with their iCloud account and password and respond to an SMS sent to their registered phone number. Once this is done, the user must enter their iCloud Security Code. The HSM cluster verifies that the user knows their iCloud Security Code using Secure Remote Password protocol (SRP); the
White Paper 26 iOS Security code itself is not sent to Apple. Each member of the cluster independently verifies that the user has not exceeded the maximum number of attempts that are allowed to retrieve their record, as discussed below. If a majority agree, the cluster unwraps the escrow record and sends it to the user’s device.
Apple has also added new information about iMessage, FaceTime encryption, single sign-on and Airdrop in terms of areas of interest to check out. If you’re a fan of learning how things work, or just want to know what steps Apple takes to protect any biometric information (and other data) it collects and transmits during normal iOS operation, the entire security document is definitely worth perusing.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Apple confirmed it had gone shopping and purchased a California start-up, Burstly, which facilitates testing of applications for developers.The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that Apple did not disclose a price for the company.The company allows developers access to more potential users for beta tests. Recently, however, it canceled the its TestFlight option for devices that use the Android operating system, the Times said.Apple is know for making relatively small acquisitions, spending $345 million in one deal in 2013, its biggest purchase of the year for a company that makes semi-conductors.With a large pile of cash on its books, however, Apple has gone shopping more often. It spent $525 million on acquisitions in final three months of the year, Apple said in a regulator filing.
iPhone 6, Galaxy S5
The much-anticipated Mobile World Congress 2014 (MWC 2014) is all set to begin on Monday and several smartphone makers are expected to announce an array of devices, including Samsung Galaxy S5, LG G Pro 2, Nokia X, andSony D6503 Sirius. The event will be held in Barcelona from 24-27 February, 2014.
Samsung Galaxy S5:
The South Korean electronics giant had sent out a press invite, titled "UNPACKED5", giving a strong hint that it will announce its much-hyped smartphone - Galaxy S5.
The flagship smartphone is expected to boast features like water and dust proof technology, multi-hovering technology and head-tracking gesture control and fingerprint sensor. It is expected to be powered by 2.5Ghz Snapdragon805 (main) or 2.0Ghz Octa-core Exynos6 (64-bit) and feature 5.2 or 5.25-inch AMOLED display. Several reports suggested that it will run on new Android v4.4 KitKat OS.
Sony D6503 Sirius aka Xperia Z2:
Sony is expected to launch its Android flagship smartphone - D6503 codenamed Sirius - at MWC. The device, which is also called Xperia Z2, a sequel to the Xperia Z1, is expected to be powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974-AB) chipset and have 5.2-inch full-HD display. It is also expected to run on Android 4.4 KitKat and have 3GB of RAM.
Other speculated features of the device include timeshift video, smart backlight control, and USB DAC audio support.
LG G Pro 2:
The South Korean electronics giant will launch its second-generation phablet, LG G Pro 2, a sequel to Optimus G Pro. The device is expected to have features like 5.9-inch full HD (1920x1080p) LCD screen with pixel density of 373 ppi (pixels per inch), finger-print sensor, Snapdragon 800 series CPU with speed up to 2.2GHz., 3GB RAM, Android v4.4 KitKat OS and 4G-LTE Advance network support.
BlackPhone:
BlackPhone is an upcoming smartphone aimed at outmost privacy, including protection from snooping of private data by NSA. The joint venture by Silent Circle and Geeksphone is backed by Phil Zimmermann who is known for his work in VoIP encryption protocols.
The security-oriented smartphone is powered by PrivatOS. Specifications of the device is not known yet but Silent Circle CEO Mike Janke claimed that it is a high-end smartphone.
Nokia X aka Normandy:
Nokia's Android smartphone, Nokia X codenamed Normandy is all set for debut at the upcoming MWC event.
The budget smartphone is said to feature 4.0-inch WVGA screen with 480x800p resolutions. It is expected to be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core CPU backed by 512MB RAM and 4GB inbuilt storage. It is said to run on the tweaked Android operating system pegged as Asha on Linux (aka AoL), an ASOP (Android Open Source Project) OS version.
Google has been trying for some time to equip cities and theme parks with free WiFi. Now you also working on an app that is designed to simplify the typical multi-step login process.
According to sources from Engadget Google is working on a special app for Wi-Fi authentication, with which the device should be automatically enabled for public WiFi networks. For this to work with Starbucks together, which also makes sense because between the two companies was established in July last year, a partnership that aims to improve Starbucks WIFIsWith the new apps it should be possible to log into private and business Wi-Fi networks, without having to first typical multi-step log-in process as the typical accept the Terms and conditions and such other things go through. Fittingly, this is known, among other things, after Google, Microsoft and Time Warner Cable with WifiForward have formed an association, which is to advance the spread and quality of WiFi networks continue.As would look and run exactly everything that has not been said - is certainly one the networks but first need to store into the app to allow automatically unlock. Google plans to release apps for Android and iOS appear exactly when is unclear.
Friday, February 21, 2014
While the iPad still generated 51% of all tablet traffic on apps affiliated with the Millennial Media ad network in 2013, traffic from Android tablets grew to 48%. That’s a significant change compared to 2012, when iPad was at 58% and Android tablets, at 41%.
Considering that these figures are based on traffic for the overall year, and assuming the trend has continued, it’s not unreasonable to estimate that Android tablets are now on par with, if not superior to, the iPad in terms of usage of ad-supported sites and apps. (It’s still possible that iPad users may use, on average, more paid apps than Android tablet users.)
Millennial Media today published a 2013 year in review report highlighting some mobile device trends.
Among the top most-used mobile devices on the Millenial media network, four were tablets in 2013, vs. three in 2012. The top three were, in both years:
- the iPad (all models combined, apparently), which went from 66% to 60% of the “tablets in top 20 devices” traffic;
- the Samsung Galaxy Tab (also all models combined, presumably), which grew from 22% to 23%; and
- the Amazon Kindle Fire, which grew from 12 to 13%.
In 2014, the fourth tablet was the Nexus 7, which took 4% of the “top 4 tablets” traffic.
Regarding the OS, this was only a two horse race. Windows went from nowhere in 2012 to just 1% of tablet traffic in 2013. Oddly, Millennial still registered 1% of tablet traffic in both years coming from Blackberry devices. Who knew Playbook usage would be so resilient.
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