HTC posts first-ever quarterly losses as troubles multiply

Taiwan’s HTC Corp slid into the red for the first time in the third quarter, with sales hit hard by fierce competition in the smartphone market, supply chain constraints and internal turmoil.

Underscoring a dramatic decline for a company which boast award-winning smartphones but has failed to develop a durable brand of handsets, it posted an operating loss of T$3.5 billion as sales for the quarter tumbled by a third from the same period a year earlier.

At a net level, it booked a loss of T$2.97 billion, bigger than an expected loss of T$1.8 billion, according to Thomson Reuters Smart Estimates. That compares with a net profit of T$3.9 billion in the same quarter last year.

Its shares were down 2.3 percent in early trade.

HTC lacks the scale of bigger rivals Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and its troubles this year have only multiplied.

In Addition to internal feuding and executive exits, sources have said that it is facing casing shortage for its HTC One Mini. It has also lost some patent cases and media have reported that three of its design executives have been arrested on suspicion of leaking trade secrets.

HTC’s share of the global smartphone market has plummeted from a peak of 1.9 percent in 2011 to 2.6 percent in the most recent quarter, according to research firm Gartner and analysts have said it needs a wholesales reevaluation of its strategy in order to survive.

Sony Xperia C with 5-inch display, dual-SIM available online for Rs. 20,490

Sony seems to be geared up to officially launch another mid-range smartphone, the Xperia C for the Indian market. The device is currently available online for Rs. 20,490 on Saholic, while it is up for pre-order on Flipkart with the same pricing. Both the ecommerce sites have mentioned that the device will be available from second week of October. The Xperia C was officially unveiled earlier this year at the Mobile Asia Expo.

The Sony Xpreria C is the first smartphone from the Japanese handset to be based on quad-core MediaTek MTK6589 processor; clocked at 1.2GHz. It comes with 5-inch TFT LCD qHD (540x960 pixel) display and runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. It includes 1GB of RAM and 4GB of inbuilt storage, which can be further expandable up to 32GB via microSD card. The Sony Xperia C is a dual-SIM smartphone (GSM+GSM) with dual standby.

The Xperia c sports an 8-megapixel rear camera with Exmore R sensor. The rear camera comes with features like face detection and Sweep Panorama, and is also capable of shooting videos in full-HD (1080p) mode. There is a 0.3-megapixel front camera onboard also. Connectivity options include 3G, Wi-Fi, DLNA, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS. The smartphone will be available in White, Black and Purple colour options.

Other features on the Sony Xperia C include motion-gaming, FM radio with RDS, walkman app and ‘screen mirroring’. The device is backed by a 2330mAh battery, which the company claims can deliver up to 10hours of talktime and up to 588 hours of standby time.

Windows Phone gains in Europe, iOS up in US: Survey

Windows-based smartphones are making significant inroads in Europe, while Apple’s iPhone is strengthening its position in the United States, a survey showed Monday.

Data from Kantar World panel ComTech for three month ending in August Showed Windows Phone, the mobile platform from Microsoft, has posted its highest ever sales share of 9.2 percent in the five major Europe markets.

Windows had a 12 percent share in Britain, 10.8 percent in France, 9.5 percent in Italy, 8.8 percent in Germany and 2.2 percent in Spain, the survey found.

“Windows Phone’s latest wave of growth is being driven by Nokia’s expansion into the low and mid range market with the Lumia 520 and Lumia 620 handsets,” said Kantar analyst Dominic Sunnebo.

“These models are hitting the sweet spot with 16 to 24 years-olds and 35 to 49 years-olds, two key groups that look for a balance of price and functionality in their smartphone,” he said.

Android, the Google platform used by Samsung and several other manufacturers, remains the top operating system across Europe with a 70 percent market share but it is being threatened by higher growth from Windows and Apple’s iOS, the survey found.

“After years of increasing market share, Android has now reached a point where significant growth in developed markets is becoming harder to find, “Sunnebo said.

“Android’s growth has been spearheaded by Samsung, but the manufacturer is now seeing its share of sales across the major European economic dip year as a sustained comeback from Sony, Nokia and LG begins to broaden the competitive landscape.

In the United States, Android has also seen its market share drop to 55.8 percent from 60.7 percent a year earlier, while Apple’s share was up more than five percentage points at 39.3 percent. Windows rose to 3.0 percent from 2.6 percent.

Kantar said it expects Apple’s share “to spike in the coming months with the release of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5C,” unveiled on September 20.

Apple and Android are roughly even in Japan with 48.6 percent for iOS and 47.4 percent for Android. But the agreement with Japan’s largest carrier, NTT DoCoMo, for the first time makes it likely that Apple will pull ahead of Android in this market, according to Kantar.

Apple also made strong gains in Britain, France and Spain, the survey found.

Blackberry’s woes have deepened, with the Canadian firm accounting for just 2.4 percent of sales across the five European markets and 1.8 percent in the United States, Kantar said. 

Purported press image of iPhone 5C appears online

While the purported iPhone 5C, Apple's low-cost iPhone, has made several online appearances, including in some really high resolution pictures and videos that surfaced on the Internet, a website now claims to have published the official press shots of the phone.

Romania based publication, Mobilissimo.ro, claims that a Romanian retailer sent a couple of press shots of the iPhone 5C to the website.

The press photo features the White coloured variant of the iPhone 5C running iOS 7.The front panel is also in White unlike some previous leaks, while the back of the phone features the same plastic polycarbonate body panel that appeared in recent leaks, in glossy White, complete with a round camera lens and LED flash, Apple logo and iPhone branding.

The left-hand side of the phone features the same pill shaped volume rocker and mute keys that had appeared online, in a recent leak. These are also White in colour.

In addition to the press pictures, the site has also posted images of what the Romania-based dealer claims as iPhone 5C dummies placed in shop shelves till the actual phone arrives. The dummy features a White plastic power button. At the bottom of the dummy phone, there's a small hole for the second microphone, next to the 3.5mm headset jack port, two screw holes with the Lightning connector port at the centre, and four holes for the speaker towards bottom right. This is in line with the pictures that appeared recently on Sonny Dickson's website.

It's interesting to note that the low-cost iPhone has leaked several times but the pictures were of pre-production units and did not feature cut outs for the power and volume rocker keys.

Other alleged pictures of the iPhone 5C have revealed a plastic polycarbonate body back panel in White, Blue, Red, Yellow and Green colours. However, we've not heard much about the specifications of the phone till now.

Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 5C along with the iPhone 5S, the next generation iPhone, on September 10 at an event in San Francisco. It's worth pointing out that Apple has not sent any invitations or announced an event officially, yet, though it typically sends out official invitations only a week before the actual event.

New tech enables wireless devices to communicate without battery

Internet-of-things! Researchers, led by an Indian-origin scientist, have developed a new technology that lets wireless devices communicate with each other without relying on batteries or wires for power.

The new communication technique, called "ambient backscatter," takes advantage of the TV and cellular transmissions that already surround us around the clock.

Two devices communicate with each other by reflecting the existing signals to exchange information. The researchers built small, battery-free devices with antennas that can detect, harness and reflect a TV signal, which then is pickedup by other similar devices.The technology could enable a network of devices and sensors to communicate with no power source or human attention needed.

"We can re-purpose wireless signals that are already around us into both a source of power and a communication medium," said lead researcher Shyam Gollakota, from the University of Washington.

"It's hopefully going to have applications in a number of areas including wearable computing, smart homes and self-sustaining sensor networks," said Gollakota.

"Our devices form a network out of thin air. You can reflect these signals slightly to create a Morse code of communication between battery-free devices," said co-author Joshua Smith.

The technology can also be used for communication - text messages and emails, for example - in wearable devices, without requiring battery consumption.

The researchers tested the ambient backscatter technique with credit card-sized prototype devices placed within several feet of each other.

For each device the researchers built antennas into ordinary circuit boards that flash an LED light when receiving a communication signal from another device.

Groups of the devices were tested in a variety of settings, including inside an apartment building, on a street corner and on the top level of a parking garage.

They found that the devices were able to communicate with each other, even the ones farthest from a TV tower. The receiving devices picked up a signal from their transmitting counterparts at a rate of 1 kilobit per second when up to 2.5 feet apart outdoors and 1.5 feet apart indoors.

This is enough to send information such as a sensor reading, text messages and contact information.

It is also feasible to build this technology into devices that do rely on batteries, such as smartphones. It could be configured so that when the battery dies, the phone could still send text messages by leveraging power from an ambient TV signal.

Now HTC One makes an appearance in 'Blue'

HTC launched its flagship smartphone, HTC One in two colour variants, Black and Silver. Soon, the company also showcased the 'Glamour Red' version of the device. It looks like now the company seems to be gearing up for a fourth Blue colour variant of the phone, if a new rumour is to be believed.

Serial phone leaker @evleaks has posted an image of the HTC One in Blue colour. The image shows the front and back panel of the smartphone.

We had also reported about this earlier, when the company unveiled the Glamour Red version of the device.

There is also a news report suggesting that the Taiwanese handset maker is prepping the variant of its flagship smartphone for a specific carrier. Phonearena reports that, "Verizon's inventory systems have been updated with an additional SKU (stock keeping unit) code, HTC6500LVWBLU along with the description 'HTC One in Blue'.

Just to recap, HTC One features a 4.7-inch screen with full-HD display. It is powered by a 1.7GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor along with 2GB of RAM. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC, Infrared and Micro-USB. The smartphone was launched with Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) along with a brand new version of Sense UI. It has received the Android 4.2 update, as well.

Meanwhile, HTC is busy promoting its next device, which is expected to be the One Max, on Twitter. The company posted a teaser video on Tuesday, suggesting something big is arriving.

The new video was tagged as 'Big Things Ahead' and showed a person with an HTC device (which we believe is the HTC One Max) that featured the same design as that of the HTC One. The person with the device was shown waiting for a helicopter's arrival and then the person who gets down from the helicopter gives a land slap to the first person. The device is visible twice in the video though it is not clear whether the device is the new One Max or the original flagship device.

Samsung launches S4 zoom in India, Galaxy S4 mini

Just a day after Micromax launched its new flagship Canvas 4 phablet in India, Samsung has rolled out two smartphones in the country. Both new handsets - Galaxy S4 mini and Galaxy S4 zoom are variants of the South Korean company's top-end device Galaxy S4, launched earlier this year.

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S4 mini in May with a 4.3-inch SuperAMOLED screen having 960x540p resolution and pixel density of 256ppi. It is powered by a 1.7GHz dual-core CPU and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). This smartphone has been priced at Rs 27,990 in the Indian smartphone market.

The phone has 8GB internal storage, 1.5GB RAM and microSD support up to 64GB. On the back of the phone is an 8MP camera with LED flash, while a 1.9MP unit is on the front panel. Connectivity options in the smartphone are 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB 2.0, NFC and infrared.

Unveiled in June, Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom, priced at Rs 29,990, boasts of better camera than the original Galaxy S4. It features a 16MP rear camera with 10X optical zoom with xenon flash on the back. This new phone's camera boasts of optical image stabilization as well as 24mm wide lens and can record 1080p videos at 30fps.

The all-new Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom also has a 4.3-inch SuperAMOLED screen with 960x540p resolution with 256ppi pixel density. The device is powered by Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) and runs on a dual-core 1.5GHz processor. It has 8GB internal storage, 1.5GB RAM and supports microSD cards with capacities up to 32GB.

Connectivity suite of this smartphone has features2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, infrared and microUSB 2.0. This handset has a 2,330mAh battery and features a 1.9MP front camera. At 208gram, it is heavier that the likes of Samsung Galaxy Note II and Nokia Lumia 920.

Both the phones come with a free flip cover, 2GB free data on 3G network and interest-free EMI option for six months.

Debut of the First Firefox OS Smartphone in Spain

Earlier last few days Sony has said that it will launch its Firefox OS version of Xperia E Smartphone in India, but there is no timeline available right now on which time it will be launch.

Telephonica will be the first which offers the first commercial Firefox OS smartphone. This Firefox Os based devices namely, the ZTC Open and Alcatel One Touch Fire, have hit the store shelves in Spain, and other countries like Poland, Columbia and Brazil on Tuesday for $90 with a prepared subscription.

Firefox OS is built around applications that will be written using a HTML%. It is being pitched as a better alternative for a low-end smartphones and will complete all head-to head with cheap android phones and others.

The Open, announced in February at Mobile World Congress said that, these phones are very basic, and have a 3.5 inch screen display, and are powered by a 1GHz processor from Qualcomm.  This Smartphone also has a 3.2-megapixel camera and support for Wi-Fi and A-GPS. There is a 512MB of integrated storage memory and 256MB RAM with micro SD card slot and 2GB card in the package.

On the software side, Firefox OS integrated Facebook, and Twitter, Nokia’s Here Maps - with features such as offline access - - and, of course, the Firefox browser, according to Mozilla. The organization also pitches the platform’s search features:  by swiping to the right users can search for their favorite music artists and get results to buy songs, concert tickets or start listening to songs instantly, Mozilla said.

That Telefónica is the first to offer smartphones based Firefox OS shouldn't come as surprise. The operator has been the platform's staunchest supporter, and helped create and distribute two phones for developers, the Peak and Keon, earlier this year. The Open is the first of a number of Firefox OS devices that will be launched by Telefónica this year, the operator said. Telefónica expects LG Electronics, Huawei Technologies and Sony will also offer smartphones based on the platform.

For €69, Spanish users will get the device as well as a €30 balance and a 4GB microSD card. Telefónica will also offer Firefox OS phones in Colombia and Venezuela, it said.

Firefox OS devices have to be able to compete with Android on price, said Geoff Blaber, analyst at CCS Insight.

[The €69 price] is probably more competitive that I had anticipated, and it is a strong statement of intent. But the challenge is that Android is well below that price point," he said.

Deutsche Telekom isn't announcing any details on its Firefox OS launch, but the operator is planning to host an event in Poland on July 11 where it will provide more details, a spokesperson said via email. Norwegian operator Telenor will launch its first Firefox OS phones in Central and Eastern Europe this year, according to Mozilla.

To succeed Firefox OS needs strong backing from mobile operators.

"We are seeing that from Telefónica and Deutsche Telekom, but the question is if we are going to see other carriers embrace the platform at a strategic level," Blaber said.

Mozilla also has to convince users that betting on an unproven platform is a step worth taking, and part of that is both the quantity and quality of apps, he said. It has to show HTML5 can deliver the richness today's smartphone buyers expect, and for the vast majority of apps Blaber suspects it can, he said.

But for that to happen Mozilla will have to attract developers. A recent survey conducted by IDC and cross-platform tool vendor Appcelerator suggests that the platform is off to a good start. About 25 percent of the respondents said they were very interested in Mozilla's platform, compared to 19 percent for Ubuntu and only 9 percent for Tizen, two smartphone OSes that will start competing with Firefox OS later this year.

However, that is still a long way behind Apple's iOS and Google's Android. About 87 percent of respondents said they were very interested in iOS and 78 percent showed the same level of interest for Android, so Mozilla and the other backers of Firefox OS still have a lot of work to do.