Wednesday, 12 December 2012
Tablets will force PCs to evolve: Analyst
The trend promised to gain momentum in 2013, with people using handheld gadgets to remain connected to the Web on the go and switching to sophisticated systems in homes or offices.
Tablets will not kill PCs (personal computers), Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillett told AFP. Tablets will force them to evolve.
Signs that the evolution is underway includeMicrosoft overhauling Windows to synch the world's most widely used computer operating system with tablets and smartphones as well as desktops and laptops.
Microsoft is even selling its own Surface tablet based on the Windows 8software released in October.
I don't think the PC is going away, said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley.
What is clear is we are going through some turmoil; the market is resetting itself around new products.
While people opt for tablets instead of laptops for computing on the move, they will yearn for bigger screens and more processing power when they settle down for real work, according to analysts.
Your tablet can do so much that fewer people need laptops, but when you get to your desktop you want something that contrasts significantly from your tablet, Gillett said.
I think we will ultimately see the reinvention of PCs.
Gillett described a future in which people go seamlessly from working on mobile devices to desktop stations where tablets can be docked and augmented with sensors, processors, bigger screens and more.
He refers to the concept as frames for computing.
The analyst contends that the limping economy is among factors behind a temporary lull in PC purchases destined to end as people go through this illusion they will do it all on a tablet and realize they can't.
Tablets will substitute for some, even many, laptops but because a tablet can't do as much as a laptop it will eventually stimulate PC sales, Gillett reasoned.
What ultimately happens here is that the laptop and desktop get rethought and re-invented for a tablet world.
The market for tablets and smartphones is red-hot, leaving the PC as an afterthought for many. Microsoft, which was the biggest tech firm in 2009 because of its dominant Windows operating system for PCs, has fallen behind Apple and is struggling to remain a major force amid gains by Google and Amazon.
Onetime giants like Hewlett-Packard and Dell are struggling amid sluggish demand as sales of tablet computers and other devices surge.
However, Enderle pointed out, China-based Lenovo is thriving by selling the gamut of computing devices.
Lenovo is showing success in all categories, supporting the notion that while the market has more products it is all still personal computing, Enderle said.
Before we were buying a laptop or desktop computer, he continued. Now, we are increasingly carrying many products.
Research firm IDC projects global PC sales this year of 367 million, up just a fraction of a percent from 2011 and marking the second consecutive year of growth below two percent. ABI Research predicts tablet computers will overtake notebook PCs by 2016.
Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies Associates said that the PC still is pretty relevant but not the center of the computing universe.
I think people are going to choose a pantheon of devices, and all of these are connected through the cloud... so the user is now the center of the tech universe.
More than 32 million tablets were shipped worldwide in the third quarter of 2012, a 75 percent increase from the same period a year earlier, according to Futuresource Consulting.
Futuresource projected that global tablet shipments this year would hit 137 million units and nearly triple during the coming five years.
We're seeing significant industry growth across all key world territories, with the majority of tablet market activity still originating from consumer purchases, said Simon Bryant of Futuresource.
Part of the success of tablets was attributed to the average price dropping below $400, due in large part to competition between device makers using free Android operating software from Google.
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Sky Go hits Google Nexus 7 and other Android devices
Christmas has come early for a few more Android owners as Sky Go is now compatible with a host of new devices, including the Google Nexus 4 and 7.
The app, which can be downloaded from Google Play, is now supported on Jelly Bean (Android 4.1 and 4.2), provided you're running the OS on a compatible handset.
Just as we reported in early November, the HTC One Series is first in line with the HTC Desire X, HTC One X,HTC One XL, HTC One S, HTC One V all now able to run the app.
The other newly Sky-Go-compatible devices are: the Google Nexus 4, Google Nexus 7, Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE, Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini, Galaxy Ace 2, Galaxy Note 2, Sony Xperia S, Sony Xperia T and the LG 4X HD.
iTunes India Review
If you talk to most media-junkies, they'll tell you that morals only come second when it comes to downloading media. It's lack of affordable original content that drives the piracy industry in India in the first place. It's some progress then that Apple Inc decided to finally launch an India-based iTunes app last week. I checked it out to see if it's an option that most of us will keep coming back to time and again. The new iTunes launched is downloadable from the company's official Web site as a 85 MB file. The download took us about 20 minutes, and once downloaded the setup was fairly quick and simple.
MUSIC
All media categories — Music, Movies, App Store, Books and Podcasts are lined right at the top of the interface. I checked out a couple of music albums first. Based on genres, you can lookup your favourite artists or albums in this section. Being India-based, the first category on display is `Bollywood Music', which actually includes film audio albums across regional film industries in India. I was actually glad to see that prices, even for the latest releases, were fairly reasonable (considering once I purchase them, I can play them across multiple Apple devices.) Costs, predictably, went even lower with older movie albums. For example, six soundtracks from Mani Ratnam's 1995 hit 'Bombay' were available for Rs 72. If you want just a couple of songs, then you have to cough up a meagre Rs 12 for one! Not bad considering it's the original stuff!
MOVIES
Similarly, choices are aplenty in the Movies section as well. Almost all the movies are priced at Rs 190 (to buy) and about Rs 80 (to rent) The Dirty Picture in HD, for example, cost about Rs 390 to buy and about Rs 120 to rent but Eat, Pray and Love cost about 100 bucks more to buy. iTunes in the Cloud lets you download your previously purchased iTunes music to all your iOS devices at no additional cost, and new music purchases can be downloaded automatically to all your devices.
There’s also iTunes U where you can check out educational resources. I took a small 5-minute Spanish language class just for the heck of it! It’s fun and useful to have quick access to a bunch of resources like these.
While trying out all the sections, the loading times were pretty decent on our office broadband connection. The new India-based iTunes thus makes available a lot of media which we wouldn’t have had access to at the rates they are being marketed for. Not if we wanted to stay legit, anyway!
Bharti Airtel Ordered to Restore SMS Services to Aircel by Supreme Court
Aircel has now agreed upon paying termination charges at 10p per SMS. The Supreme Court has further demanded that within a period of two weeks' time, from Monday, the appellants are supposed to pay their arrears to the respondents in terms of a demand letter dated October 25 and also the termination charges of 10p per SMS from the date of regeneration of services. Aircel is now all set to challenge the telecom sector Tribunal TDSAT for rejecting its plea on September 24th against Airtel. The division bench had also made clear that the payment that is to be made by the appellants to the respondents will remain subject to final settlement of the appeal. The SMS termination charges are not an issue just between Airtel and Aircel but between various other telecom operators too. The disputes are between Vodafone and Tata Docomo, Airtel and Reliance, Airtel and Aircel. Tata Docomo has also appealed against Airtel for the termination charges on services like 10p per SMS.
Nokia Asha 205 has built-in, dedicated Facebook key
It is the first Nokia phone that includes such a key, and is also the most affordable qwerty from the company, priced at Rs 3,499.
"Young consumers are increasingly using Facebook for communication, socialising and entertaining. The launch of the Nokia Asha 205 responds to this growing demand and gives a unique option for consumers at an affordable price point", Viral Oza, Director Marketing, Nokia India, told reporters here on Tuesday.
Kevin D'Souza, Country Growth Manager, Facebook India, said Facebook has 65 million active users in this country.
Nokia has also included 'Slam' feature in Asha 205. Slam allows consumers to share multimedia content like photos, music and video with nearby friends almost instantly, Nokia officials said.
Slam works with most Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones without the need to pair devices, and without the recipient needing to also have Slam, they said.
"In just a few clicks, people can 'Slam' their content to another device faster than Bluetooth alone and without consuming internet data", Nokia said.
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