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Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Just a Feature or is it Malware?

January 30, 2012 by

Symantec is reporting that a bug is starting to infect Android-powered devices that is capable of receiving and executing some commands as well as stealing information from the infected devices.

Called Android.Counterclank the company said that it is a variation of a previous bot like threat called Android.Tonclank and has been grafted onto a range of applications availaboe for Android devices in a package called “apperhand”.

Symantec said that the malicious app is the most widely downloaded infection so far this year. Among the infected apps is Counter Elite Force, Wild Man and Sexy Girls Puzzle. Go here for a complete list.

Or is the Malware threat all hype?
A counterpoint to Symantec’s warning that there is a growing threat from Android.Counterclank comes from Lookout Security, as reported by Computerworld, which takes the position that the technology is simply a version of an ad network.

The company’s researchers do admit that the apps, 13 in all, do alter a browser and enters a bookmark in a user’s device but said that the moves were not malicious and just part of an ad network’s business model.

I have to say that if something I did not know was even present on my device then started altering my settings I would call that malicious. I wonder where this will end up because if it becomes common for apps to include a feature like this I believe that it will have a very detrimental effect on their popularity.

Wi-Fi Only Xyboards ready for the market
The Unwired View had a good catch by noting that Motorola has quietly started taking orders for the Wi-Fi only version of its recently released Xyboard tablets and said that the tablets are expected to ship this week.

There will be a pair of Xyboards available, all without cellular capability and without the co-branding with Verizon that is one the initial models that featured cellular. The models are the Xyboard 10.1 that starts at $499.99 for the 16GB model, the smaller Xyboard 8.2 that starts at $399.99 for the 16GB version.

Did Apple win big in Patent ruling?
Over at the Foss Patent blog the opinion is that a ruling issued by United States Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner could have a huge impact in the ongoing Apple/Android lawsuits in the US and in Apple’s favor.

Judge Posner ruled that agreed with Apple’s interpretation of the term, “realtime API”, in its ‘263 patent and that it appears that Motorola, and by inference all-devices running the Android operating system are infringing on the patent.

However as the blog notes, the ruling on this issue has gone back and forth as it has moved up the legal chain and its next stop is the US Court of Appeals. However the ruling has to boost the confidence of the Apple legal team.

An Open Source Tablet is in the works
iTWire notes that KDE developer Aaron Seigo has announced on his blog the development of an open tablet, one that is operating on free open source code software. It will be on unlocked hardware and have open source content.

The 7-inch tablet will use the KDE developed Plasma Active interface and include a capacitive multi-touch screen and will have a basic configuration that includes a 1GHz ARM processor, a Mali-400 GPU, 512 MB RAM, 4GB internal storage plus an SD card slot. It will feature Wi-Fi connectivity.

Details as to availability and price are expected later in the week. No word if it will play Angry Birds.

ZTE 7-inch tablet details leaked
Slashgear has found that the kindly FCC has revealed details on the forthcoming 7-inch tablet from ZTE. The details on the device, which is listed as ZTE V66 include it running Android 3.0 powered by a 1.2GHz dual core processor.

It will include a 1200 x 800 pixel resolution display. It is expected to be on the Verizon network and will have full 4G LTE support. It looks now that there will be a growing competition in the 7-inch form factor in early 2012 (assuming this comes out in early 2012), and so Barnes & Noble and Google may get a run for their money in the near future.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Barnes & Noble, Motorola, Tablets, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi

PlayUp Signs Exclusive Deal with Fordham Athletics

January 27, 2012 by

In what is expected to be the first of a series of school-exclusive deals, fan-based social network app provider PlayUp is partnering with Fordham Athletics to be the exclusive “fan engagement partner” for the sports teams at the New York-based Fordham University.

Fordham said the PlayUp app, which gives sports fans the ability to track teams, scores and to converse with other fans in either small or large, or private or public groups, is a good fit for schools like Fordham who have interested alumni who might not be able to view games in person. From the press release announcing the deal:

“PlayUp is a very unique service that allows fans who cannot attend Fordham games in person to actively chat on their mobile device while following the action,” said Julio Diaz, Associate Athletic Director/Marketing and Promotions, Fordham Athletics.

According to PlayUp, the company will promote its app live at four upcoming Fordham men’s basketball games, and will be featured in television ads shown during the game broadcasts. PlayUP said it will also have in-game contests and promotions, part of a strategic move to make PlayUp the app fans check in with first when they are at a live sporting event. Here’s the PlayUp quote from the presser:

“We are very pleased to be Fordham Athletics’ Official Fan Engagement Partner,” said David Brody, PlayUp U.S. Head of Marketing. “This partnership will help Fordham fans, friends, family and alumni alike, connect worldwide over Fordham Athletics. Even if they’re hundreds or thousands of miles away, they can hangout together in the PlayUp app. Our app breaks down geographical barriers and allows real interaction between fans all over the globe.”

MSR will track PlayUp (which just launched a beta version of a website component) and its competitors in the fan-conversation market closely. If you are a PlayUp user, give us a holler in the comments below and tell us what you think of the service.

Filed Under: Apps, iPhone, NCAA Hoops, PlayUp, Social Media, Sports Social Media Tagged With: , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Tablet Sales Grew 260% in 2011

January 27, 2012 by

Market research firm Strategic Analytics’ latest study of the tablet market shows that global tablet shipments reached 27 million units in the last quarter of 2011 and that Android-based systems captured a 39% share.

The 4th quarter sales represent a 150% increase over the 10.7 million units sold a year earlier. Apple is still the king of the hill with a 58% share, a number that translates into 15.4 million iPads sold.

The report notes that Microsoft has a miniscule 1.5% share of the market, although that may change when Windows 8 hits the market later this year. Overall for 2011 tablet sales reached 66.9 million units, a 260% increase and the company found that increasingly consumers are opting for a tablet rather than a notebook computer.

Onavo lands $10 million in Series B funding

Mobile app developer Onavo has raised $10 million in Series B funding in a round that was led by Horizon Ventures, the private investment arm of billionaire Li Ka-shing. The other new investor in the round was Motorola Mobility Ventures, the strategic equity arm of Motorola Mobility.

Along with the funding the company added Jason Wong from Horizon Ventures to its board. Onavo’s previous investors, Sequoia Capital and Magma Venture Partners, also participated in the round.

Onavo develops a mobile app that can run on both Apple iOS and Android mobile devices and monitors data usage and has the ability to compress data in real time by routing the data through its cloud-based servers prior to its appearing on a mobile device.

Apple loses another round in patent wars

A Dutch court has reaffirmed a lower court ruling that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet does not violate Apple’s patents and is not a copy of Apple’s iPad. Apple had been seeking to ban sales of the device in the Netherlands.

This follows a ruling in the US where a judge allowed Samsung to sell the tablet prior to the court case that will hear Apple’s arguments regarding the issue. At least Apple was not on the wrong side of one ruling-Samsung has filed its own patent suit and a court is allowing Apple to sell its iPads in the country as well.

Motorola has also gone on the offensive and has asked the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida to ban iPhone sales. It alleges that the iPhone infringe on six of its patents. It is very likely that Google gave Motorola due to terms in its pending purchase of Motorola.

Not to be deterred Apple has also filed a pair of new patent complaints in Germany against Samsung. And so it goes.

Jupiter Research sees a bright future for Ultrabooks

Market research firm Jupiter Research predicts that sales for ultrabooks, a sleek, lightweight notebook style being touted by Intel and partners, will experience very strong sales but will still trail the increasingly popular tablets.

The firm predicts that Ultrabook sales will reach 178 million in 2016, yet that will be significantly lower than the estimated 253 million tablets it expects to see sold in that year.
Ultrabooks in part will suffer simply because they will be later to market, while tablets have already seen very strong sales.

However it notes that due to the demanding engineering challenges in building an Ultrabook they will be significantly pricier than most tablets and that one of the key technologies expected to help sales, Windows 8, is not due until much later this year.

Rival social network companies tweak Google

Google has long been accused of playing favorites, with itself as the favorite. Now Twitter, Facebook and MySpace are striking back with the aptly named browser add-on called “Don’t be evil”

The name is a riff on one of Google’s unofficial mottos and the app will allow user of Google’s search engines to see how a search result page would look using Google’s pure organic search results. They claim that Google is slanting the searches to favor its one social network, Google+.

For an analysis of how search results can be different with and without the app goes to the Search Engine Land web site and read Danny Sullivan’s nicely researched piece on the differences.

Notes from earning reports…

Samsung Electronics has posted a record operating profit of $4.72 billion in its fourth quarter, driven by its surging smartphone sales. I guess those ads are working.

Motorola Mobility reported an $80 million loss for the 4th quarter with unit sales of tablets and phones down from the same period a year earlier, 10.5 million compared to 11.3 million. It shipped only 200,000 tablets in the current quarter.

Nokia on the other hand has a different story to tell. It reported that its smartphone sales dropped 27% in the fourth quarter. Expect it to accelerate the introduction of the Lumina 900, one of its new line of smartphones that run on Windows 7 operating system. However don’t cry for the company just yet, aside from still selling in excess of 20 million phones its deal with Microsoft calls for it to get a quarterly platform support payment of $250 million.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Facebook, Microsoft, Smartphone, Tablets, Twitter

Nike Expands Presence in Fitness Tracking Space with Nike + FuelBand

January 23, 2012 by

Nike has entered the fitness tracking and measurement space with a user wearable wristband that tracks a user’s daily activity and uses a Nike-developed metric called NikeFuel to analyze your overall activity and oxygen burned.

There is a growing market for connected activity tracking product, including Motorola Mobility’s MotoActv and Jawbone Up as the most direct competition for this, but also varied other products including those using Ant Wireless’ Ant + such as the range of tools from Garmin and products that are platform specific like iBike.

The Nike+ FuelBand, slated to be released by the end of next month with a $150 price tag, includes a bracelet that the user wears. It features a three axis accelerometer that measures activity, primarily information such as the number of steps a user has taken, the time and distance.

The band has an option of four different metrics to chart: Time, Calories, Steps and NikeFuel. NikeFuel is a newly developed fitness metric from the company that is designed to convert the results based on the motion and the estimated oxygen burned a user can see what their daily activity totals and instead of giving a calorie count that might have large variables according to the persons’ size, sex and shape NikeFuel is a normalized score that awards equal points for the same activity regardless of physical makeup.

The wrist band has a set of 20 built-in LEDs that range from red to green and provide a user with an instant update as to where they are in relationship to their daily goal. This goal is set by the user and they can set it for either total activity of how much NikeFuel they wish to achieve. Each day’s activity is reset at midnight back to zero.

The company has been developing feedback products for some time in the runner category with Nike Plus but this time it is expanding out from that field with a platform that is designed for any type of activity. In addition the NikeFuel feature is a step up for the data that athletes had been able to gather in the past with Nike products. The company will provide NikeFuel feedback for its existing Nike Plus products at some point n the future.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Cycling, iBike, iPhone, Nike, Wahoo Fitness Tagged With: , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Apple to Own iBook Rights?

January 23, 2012 by

Has Google lost control of Android? A piece in the Guardian is suggesting that the OS has gotten beyond the company’s control and that fragmentation will continue to loosen its grip — but it is not going so far as to say that this will harm its widespread adoption due to an uneven user experience.

The post makes some interesting observations about the difference between the Android space and Apple’s iOS market, noting that since Apple has always been fanatical about control it has a relatively minor problem in this space.

It claims that Android is suffering fragmentation in 5 specific areas: user interface, device, operating system, market place and service, and that the fragmentation is severe. However Google, not surprisingly, takes a very different view.


Does Apple own book rights to iBook creations?

That is the position that Ed Bott over at ZDNet, among others, is taking after doing what almost everyone fails to do on a regular basis — read the license agreement that appears at the bottom of the page that you must click prior to using the software.

According to his post Apple’s iBooks Author program’s End User License Agreement (EULA) gives Apple not only the usual rights to the software, but also to the output that has been created by the software, in other words all of the text books that are created using the program!

The document says that you can give a work created with the software for free but that Apple has the right to accept a book or reject any book for sale and that the author must enter an agreement with the company prior to publishing. If you go look at the blog entry, and I recommend that you do, read the responses as well.

Mobile Apps vs. Web Usage — Times are changing

Web analytic company Flurry Analytics’ latest blog post shows some very interesting changes in how people access the Internet, how much time they spend, on average, browsing, and how this relates to mobile app usage.

Using data from the last 18 months there is a growing trend to using mobile apps and away from browsing on both mobile and desktop devices. At the start of the period the average user spent an average of 64 minutes a day browsing and 43 minutes a day using apps on their devices.

Both activities have seen a strong increase, with browsing growing to 72 minutes a day, although that is down from 74 minutes just six months ago. Use of smartphones and tablet mobile apps has jumped to 94 minutes a day, with the six month ago numbers logging in at 81 minutes. I want to know how people keep their average numbers so low!

Are Windows Phones poised for huge growth?

Despite a market share that is currently miniscule at the moment, a market research firm is claiming that phones based on Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS will see huge growth and over take Apple’s iPhones by 2015.

Computerworld has a good piece using research from iSuppli that shows the analyst firm expects Microsoft’s share to grow from 1.9% of the market in 2011 to 16.7% in 2015, a share that will be good enough to bump iOS to third while both will trail the huge Android market that will encompass 58.1% of the market.

The growth will be primarily driven by new devices such as the Nokia Lumina 900, Nokia’s first 4G device and one that will sold by both AT&T and possibly more importantly, by Microsoft’s extensive sales channel.

Apple vs Motorola Patent update

A judge has narrowed the number of patents that are in dispute between Motorola and Apple. He invalidated two and said that a third was not infringed upon. He did say that five patents had issues the required a trial.

Apple has already lost a US ruling where it had accused Motorola of infringing on three of Apple’s patents and the company has suits against Motorola and others ongoing elsewhere around the globe.

Chevrolet wants you to use a tablet during the Super Bowl

General Motor’s Chevrolet division is one of many advertisers that has purchased multimillion dollar spots that will air during the upcoming Super Bowl broadcast on Feb. 5th, but plans a more interactive effort than any have done in the past.

The division is releasing an app for use with Android and iOS devices and available at their respective stores as well as at chevy.com/gametime it will have a wide range of activities including trivia contests that will enable users to win prizes.

The company said that there will be thousands of prizes, from both Chevy but also from as Bridgestone, Motorola, the NFL and NFLShop.com, Papa John’s Pizza and Sirius XM Radio. This is certainly an interesting method designed to maximize the millions the company will have spent to advertise during the game.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Google, iPad, iPhone, Microsoft, Motorola, Tablets

Friday Grab Bag: People buy Kindles to read Books, Who Knew?

January 20, 2012 by

How do people use Kindle- let me count the ways
With all of the great sales news for Amazon’s Kindle platform in recent weeks one might wonder what all of these customers are using the tablets for. Well wonder no more as a survey by RBC Capital, as reported in Business Insider, comes away with a number of details on users needs

Not a huge surprise is that its primary use is as an ebook reader. That seems to show that it is hitting its target market, and by doing so will help Amazon, which reportedly is losing money on actual Kindle sales, make a net profit due to app, ebook and other add-on sales.

The second is that it is not used too much to surf the web. Many reports have shown that rival products such as the iPad are used to surf the web, often while watching television.

Panorama Sports viewing coming to a TV near you-hopefully
Every time I watch an NFL game, or for that matter many different sporting events, I often want to see something that is not in the camera-it could be following a specific receiver run their route or how the defense is lined up.

Well a company named Technicolor is working hard to rectify this issue with a technology it calls Personalized Content Rendering that it publicly showed at CES.

Using a system of six cameras at the sporting venue it can create a moving panorama view of the stadium that enables a user to personalize their viewing experience.

The company has a software program that combines the video feed from all six cameras that when used in conjunction with something like a Microsoft Kinect sensor for the Xbox 360 tracking your eyes and head movement to allow you to look around the field and even zoom in on specific spots. However it is still some time before we see a commercial offering from the company.

ZTE set to focus on US and China markets to grow smartphone sales
ZTE, one of the top handset makers in the world is looking at two of the largest markets for smartphones, the United States and China, as key targets in its efforts to continue its growth as a premium phone provider.

The company has been evolving in the consumer electronics market and this looks like the latest step as it said it will increase its sales efforts to establish its smartphone models such as the Blade and the Skate in these countries.

With a stated goal of doubling sales in 2012 it could lead to an interesting price war if the company bears down and gets serious. It is estimated that ZTE shipped 12 million smartphones last year.

Kupa breaks out its Windows Tablet
Kupa has unveiled the Kupa X11 Lux Tablet, a dual input device that can use either touch or a stylus as its primary input device. It runs Windows 7 OS and is capable of operating for 10 hours on batter power. It comes in two models, one with a 64GB solid state drive (SSD) and the other with a 128GB SSD.

Using its Pen + Touch technology with pen is sensitive to to different pressure levels which can result in different outcomes. It features Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, USB and mini HDMI connectivity, and has a 2MP front camera and a 3MP rear facing camera.

Recon adds two new partners to lineup
Recon Instruments has expanded its partnerships for its Micro Optics Display (MOD) technology with the addition of official partnerships with Smith Optics and SCOTT Sports.

The two are the latest that have signed with the company to develop ski goggles that incorporate OD technology or are MOD compatible. MOD provides a variety of projected video feedback information for skiers including GPS and an altimeter. MOD Live boasts additional smartphone connectivity and advanced onboard apps.

Apple’s iOS to have integrated Facebook feature?
Reports are starting to surface that when Apple releases the iPad 3, expected in March, it will have an integrated version of Facebook as part of its core feature set according to iMore. The site reported that in iOS 5.1 beta release 3 that there is references to Facebook, but notes that this has happened in the past but apparently the two companies could not come to an agreement to include it.

Windows 8 tablets to have minimum hardware requirements
If you are planning on building a tablet that will run Microsoft’s Windows 9 operating system you will be required to meet some minimum standards for hardware, according to a report from eWeek. Not terrible breaking news since developers of Windows Phones also have to meet minimum requirements.

The reasoning behind this is to ensure that all of the hardware is there for the OS to operate properly. Microsoft wants to avoid an issue that has arisen in the Android space where a user might have very different experiences, and the devices different capabilities, even when running the same operating system.

Among the features that will be required to be included are a both Bluetooth 4.0 and Long Term Evolution (LTE), 10GB of storage, a minimum 1,366 x 768 resolution display and a 720p camera.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Barnes & Noble, iPad, Kindle, Microsoft, Tablets
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