Apple-IBM venture offers up first iOS apps

With the new IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps, such as Passenger+ (pictured), Apple aims to fly deeper into corporate kingdoms. Apple/IBM

The partnership between Apple and IBM is starting to bear fruit.

The companies, which in July struck a deal to deliver mobile apps to big businesses, on Wednesdayreleased 10 apps as part of the IBM MobileFirst for iOS product line. The apps span industries including airlines, telecommunications, insurance, banking and government, and are all designed for corporate customers.

Plan Flight, for instance, is designed for pilots to manage their in-flight activities to help airlines save costs, while Passenger+ is intended to help flight crews offer personalized services to passengers in-flight. Another, called Retention, targets the insurance industry to help agents keep top customers in the fold. The government-focused apps focus on helping caseworkers and on crime prevention.

Companies among the initial wave of adopters are Citi, Air Canada, Sprint and Banorte.

In time, the Apple-IBM venture aims to create over 100 vertical-focused enterprise apps built for the iPhone and iPad. 

In addition, IBM's cloud services will be optimized for iOS, and the giant enterprise-focused company will sell Apple products bundled with the software to companies around the globe. Apple's support platform, AppleCare, will also be tailored for IBM customers and include on-site support from IBM employees.

The move was a surprising, but also exceedingly important, one for Apple. Over the last few years, Apple has talked up the increasing use of its products in the corporate world. 

With each quarterly earnings call, the company's executives have shared how many Fortune 500 companies have so far adopted or tested iOS products. As of this writing, nearly all are at least testing the company's products to see if they make sense for corporate use.

"This is a big step for iPhone and iPad in the enterprise," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, in a statement. "The business world has gone mobile."

Flipkart Reportedly Set to Launch Its Own Tablet on June 26

Online marketplace Flipkart is said to be all set to launch tablet with its own label on June 26.

The Bangalore-based firm, which sells its own brand of electronic and computer accessories like headphones, speakers and pen drives under the DigiFlip range, is expected to launch the tablet under the same label.

While the specifications of Flipkart's rumoured tablet still remain under the wraps, the company is hosting a blogger event on June 26 and has sent out a cryptic invite in form of a jar of tablets.

The move is expected to help Flipkart, which follows the mix of marketplace and inventory-led model (with resellers putting up their wares for sale on the website) to boost its margins in the highly competitive electronics retailing space.

Interestingly, last week, online retailing giant Amazon had launched its first smartphone Fire Phone(First Impressions) becoming the first e-commerce firm to compete in the over $150 billion global market, led by players like Apple and Samsung.

Amazon also has its Kindle range of e-Book readers. Flipkart's move to launch a tablet is also expected to help the e-commerce firm connect faster with its consumers.

Another similarity that Flipkart shares with Amazon is its annual subscription service for its customers.Flipkart First, which is similar to Amazon Prime premium subscription service in the US, is aimed at rewarding registered shoppers, which the company claims are about 18 million for the portal, as well as getting new ones on board.

Like Amazon's Firefly feature on its Fire Phone, Flipkart's tablet is expected to be integrated with features that will enable users to complete transactions with the firm that sells everything from apparel to household appliances to stationery, within minutes.

Amazon's Firefly feature can identify things like books, games, CDs etc., by pointing the Fire Phone's camera at them. It can also capture songs or TV programmes and gives the user options to purchase them.

With this move, Flipkart will compete with global giants like Samsung and Apple, which are leaders in the domestic market too.

However, going by tablet sales data, the growing demand for phablets is eating into the market share of tablets and it is yet to be seen how does Flipkart markets its device to catch the consumer's pulse.

According to research firm CMR, the tablet sales in India declined 17.5 percent to 0.75 million units in January-March 2014 compared to 0.9 million units in the same quarter last year, pulled down by higher demand for phablets (smartphones with displays larger than 5-inches) and BIS certification compliance issues.

However, with the consolidation in the market (as many smaller players have discontinued their products), analysts expect sales to pick up in the quarters ahead.

Aakash 4 the upcoming low cost tablet for Rs. 3000

Aakash the world cheapest tablet was
a complete disaster, it never took off.
And now the Aakash 4 will be the next
in line that will be better than its
predecessors (that hardly existed) and
will be priced at Rs. 3000.
Forget about Aakash 2 or Aakash 3,
many of you might not have seen the
Aakash 1 , except for in pictures. Many
users had booked the tablet when it
was launched and a few also paid the
money. I am not sure how many have
got it or how many are still waiting.
The Aakash 4 development will also go
though the GOVT tender process and
as per the HRD ministry it will score a
minimum of 3537 with Antutu
benchmark. The Aakash 4 may likely
come with 1GB RAM, 4GB internal
storage, a 7 inch screen with 800×480
pixel resolution. A standard battery
that may last for up to 3 hours with
continuous usage, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and
external 3G support (via Dongle). The
Aakash 4 will be developed by IIT
Madras and will probably run on Jelly
Bean OS (4.2).
There is a rumor that this tab will
house two different OS Android and
Ubuntu with dual boot option. I guess
the Rs. 3000 will be for the students
after concession and for private
consumers it will be under Rs. 4,500. An
and in case you know any students who
got the Aakash tablet with subsidized
rates do let me know.
Will the Aakash 4 succeed or is it
another disaster waiting to happen?

Why It Doesn't Make Sense ForMicrosoft To Make Its Own Phone

Since last October, Microsoft has been reorganizing itself around the idea that it's a "devices and services" company . The company has plenty of services, but not so many devices. If it's really going to become a devices company, then it stands to reason that it needs a few more devices. 

The most important missing device from Microsoft's line up is a smartphone. So, naturally, it would make sense for Microsoft to build its own smartphone, right? Well, never say never, but we don't think Microsoft is going to enter the smartphone business despite the fact that it's focusing itself on devices and services. 

There are three reasons for Microsoft to steer clear of the smartphone business: 1. Carrier distribution is complicated. 2. Nokia and HTC are making good Windows Phones. 3. Microsoft's Windows Phone failures don't have anything to do with bad hardware. After Microsoft released its own tablet, the Surface, chatter of a Surface smartphone started kicking up . 

There are, however, many important differences between the tablet market and the smartphone market. In the tablet market, Microsoft just has to ship the Surface and let users fire it up with WiFi. To enter the phone market, Microsoft would have to build a global distribution network, as well as secure contracts with carriers around the world. Each carrier is going to have its own specifications, and its own demands. That's a headache Microsoft doesn't want, or need. Look at Apple. Despite selling the most influential phone, it's only on 240 carriers. Samsung, by contrast, is on 800 carriers. 

This is part of the reason Apple's iPhone isn't winning on market share, while at the same time the iPad remains relatively strong in tablet market share. There's another key difference between the Surface tablet and the current smartphone market. Microsoft's PC partners weren't making great computers with strong brands. Quick quiz: What's the best Android smartphone on the market? If you're paying attention at all, you would probably guess the Samsung S4, or maybe just, Samsung. (The correct answer is actually the HTC One, but that's another story. The important thing here is that there is at least one well-known Android brand for hardware.) Next question! What's the best Windows-based computer on the market? You're probably stumped. 

This is a problem for Microsoft. If a consumer walks into Best Buy, he or she has no problem asking for a MacBook, or an iPad. Which Windows- based PC would he or she ask for? An Acer Aspire S7? An Asus Zenbook Prime? The Sony Vaio Pro 13? They don't exactly roll off the tongue, or come to mind very easily. 

The hope for Microsoft is that the Surface can become a strong brand that rivals iPad, or MacBooks. Consumers can walk into a store and say, "I want a Surface." Microsoft wanted to have at least one premier Windows 8 device when it launched Windows 8 last year. Because Windows 8 was such a radical departure from what Microsoft had been doing, it had to have at least one device it could confidently say did exactly what it wanted. Its PC partners were dragging their feet in the tablet market, and Microsoft wasn't sure it could rely on them to produce something that competes with the iPad. In the smartphone market, these problems don't exist to the same degree. HTC and Nokia both make high-quality hardware. 

There's almost nothing Microsoft can do that will be better on the hardware side than either of them. As for branding, Nokia's Lumia brand isn't exactly killing it, but Nokia is a brand on its own, and Windows Phone is slowly developing into a brand. If a consumer walks into a Best Buy looking for a Windows Phone, it won't take much to get the best Windows Phone in his or her hands. It's important to note that Nokia and HTC are both sickly companies. If they were to face serious financial problems, then we would expect Microsoft to either step in with a big check to bail them out, or it would be forced to go on its own and make a phone. 

Until then, we think it stays out of the phone manufacturing business. Just because Microsoft is developing into a devices and services company, it doesn't mean it has to make all the devices. It just means it has to work well on devices. The reason Windows Phone hasn't caught on has less to do with hardware, and more to do with software and apps. A Microsoft-built smartphone wouldn't change that.

Android Sneaks Onto the Desktop in Giant HP Tablet

It's a tablet! It's a desktop PC!
Actually, the new Android-powered HP
Slate 21 is a little of both. Featuring a
Nvidia Tegra 4 processor and a
kickstand to prop it up on the desk,
the device targets primarily home
users. "This is the rich experience
consumers really want," said Jim
McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias
Research. "I would expect to see more
of this."
T he line separating the mobile and
desktop computing worlds has
become increasingly blurred in recent
months, and HP on Monday unveiled a
brand-new all-in-one PC that
continues that trend.
Announced during its HP World Tour
event in Beijing, the HP Slate 21 tablet
is powered not by Windows but by
Google's Android. It's also designed
for use on the desktop, with a
kickstand in back to prop it up.
The HP Slate 21 is due to begin
shipping in September; pricing will be
US$399. HP did not respond to our
request for further details.
'A Great Laptop Replacement'
Equipped with a Nvidia Tegra 4 mobile
processor, the Slate 21 features a full
21.5-inch HD touchscreen that
supports intelligent 10-point touch
functionality. The device's "memory
hinge," meanwhile, allows users to
adjust the viewing angle by hand
between 15 and 70 degrees.
Android 4.2.2 is the operating system
for the device, which also includes
8GB of memory, an SD card slot, three
USB 2.0 ports, built-in dual speakers,
a webcam and wireless printing
capabilities. KingSoft office software
comes bundled with the device.
The Slate 21 is aimed primarily at
home users interested in
entertainment and content sharing, HP
said. As many as five user profiles
can be maintained on the device,
enabling each to keep their apps and
files separate.
"As tablets are becoming more
powerful and useful, it becomes
natural to attach keyboards to
supplement the touch screen," Roger
Entner, principal analyst at Recon
Analytics, told TechNewsWorld. "Once
you do that, the tablet become a great
laptop replacement for playing casual
games or word processing."
The most likely users of the Slate 21
are consumers and "light-computing
professionals who value high
mobility," Entner added.
'They Hate Waiting'
Indeed, young consumers are more
likely to take to a device like this
because they are "more accustomed
to using their mobile devices as their
primary computing platform," Jim
McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias
Research, told TechNewsWorld.
"My sons would probably love it
because I started them out on Google
Apps rather than Microsoft Office, and
they would rather use a mobile device
because they hate waiting for a PC to
boot," he explained.
It's about time someone came out
with a device like this, McGregor
added.
'Expect to See More'
"You have to remember that computing
is changing drastically," he said.
"When you think about computing
devices these days, the best are really
our smartphones and tablets."
This move, then, essentially "extends
the same experience no matter what
the architecture, to desktop or
clamshell PC or TV or whatever."
Users will still be "stuck with apps
that were really designed for mobile,"
McGregor pointed out.
Still, the use of a Tegra 4 is
compelling, "not to mention integrated
Nvidia graphics," he said.
In short, "this is the rich experience
consumers really want," McGregor
concluded. "I would expect to see
more of this."

Samsung Ativ Q tablet cum laptop hybrid launched with Android and Windows 8 dual-boot support

Samsung has launched a dual OS
hybrid tablet cum laptop called Ativ Q.
Samsung Ativ Q is a 13.3-inch device
that has a thickness of 13.9 mm and
weighs 1.29 kgs. It also comes with a
qHD+ display that has a resolution of
1800x3200 pixels. The hybrid is
powered by an Intel Core i5 processor.
The device comes with a 4GB RAM
and 128GB SSD storage. It also has a
720p HD camera on-board. In terms of
ports, the Ativ Q comes with one USB
3.0, one USB 2.0, an HDMI port, a
headphone/ microphone combination
jack and a microSD card slot.
The device comes with both Windows
8 and Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2
operating systems onboard, giving
users the option to choose which OS to
boot into. It also gives you the ability
to pin an Android application to the
Windows 8 start screen, providing
some kind of integration between the
two operating systems.
In terms of the physical build of the
tablet, the slider format with the
keyboard makes it similar to Sony's
Vaio Duo 13. There is no touch pad on
the keyboard but left and right mouse
keys do exist. The mouse is present in
the form of a track pad in the centre of
the keyboard, similar to how it is
placed on the Vaio Duo 13.
The tablet offers S-Pen functionality
allowing you to create content using
the stylus on the tablet. Samsung has
also incorporated Smart Sync
functionality into the tablet enabling
users to control their smartphones
using the Ativ PC. So, your Android
smartphone can be somewhere in your
bag, while you reply to a text using
your computer.
The hinge design of the ATIV Q gives
four physical modes to the tablet. One
can lay the display flat over the
keyboard for tablet mode; raise the
display upright to type through the
keyboard similar to how you use a
laptop; float and adjust the display to
a desired viewing angle; or flip the
display to place it on a stand mode.
Samsung has not revealed anything
about the pricing or the availability of
the PC-tablet hybrid as of now.