Android wins in app downloads, but iOS makes more money

Given that the majority of people worldwide use Android devices, it's no surprise that app downloads from Google Play far outpace those from Apple's App Store. However, Apple is still winning the game when it comes to profit.

A new report by the App Annie Index shows that during this year's second quarter, Google Play exceeded Apple's App Store in app downloads by 10 percent; but Apple generated 2.3 times the revenue of Google Play.

"Though Google Play led the iOS App Store in one key measure, there still remained a wide gap in app monetization," a blog post from the App Annie Index reads.

Apparently, it was games apps that earned Apple a boatload of money -- nearly 75 percent of all app revenue came from game downloads, which is up from 70 percent in the first quarter. Additionally, both music and social-networking apps helped drive revenue in Apple's App Store. As far as who's paying for these apps, nearly half of all of Apple's app revenue comes from users in the U.S. and Japan.

Looking at both Apple's App Store and Google Play, those countries downloading apps at the highest rate are the U.S., South Korea, and India for Google Play, and the U.S., China, and Japan for Apple's App Store. The countries growing at the fastest rate, as far as downloads, are Russia, India, and Brazil.

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As far as what kinds of apps people are downloading, games continue to be No. 1 in both Google Play and Apple's App Store. Second place in Google Play is communications followed by tools. Whereas, in Apple's App Store, second and third place went to entertainment and photo & video.

Google announced last week that it expectsmore than 70 million Android tablet activationsby the end of 2013, which is a huge jump from the end of 2012, when Google counted nearly 10 million tablet activations. With numbers like these, app downloads will only increase. The Web giant also said that it now has 1 million apps in Google Play with more than 50 billion downloaded.

Apple also has a lot of impressive numbers to tout. Earlier this month, its App Store surpassed 50 billion apps downloaded, with 900,000 programs available. Apple brags it's paid out $10 billion to developers, testament that it pays to work with a company even as it takes a 30 percent cut of sales.

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Own A Samsung GALAXY S4? Keep A Fire Extinguisher Handy

One of Samsung's shiny flagship smartphones — the GALAXY S4, has been reported to have caught fire and gutted down a Hong Kong apartment, leaving the owners homeless. China's Xianguo news agency has published pictures of firefighters trying to put out flames in a completely burnt, crisp-as-a-toast house, with blackened walls and charred belongings. The SGS4 is nowhere to be seen in the ruins.

The website mentions that the owner identified only as Mr Du, was sitting on the living room sofa, playing the game "Love Machine" (we hope that is what it means, pardon our weak Chinese or just blame it on Google!) on his SGS4 as it was charging, before it suddenly exploded. Du then instinctively threw away the burning device, which served as a source of the events that followed. Surprisingly, nobody is reported to be injured, neither the owner, in whose is said to be using the phone when it exploded, nor his wife or dogs, but almost everything in the flat has been reduced to ashes. This does make the claim sound suspicious, but the fire department investigation result reports "no suspicious circumstances". Samsung is yet to respond to the incident, but has said that it will carry out detailed investigations.

It was only a few weeks ago that a Chinese woman was reportedly electrocuted by a charging iPhone that she was using, leading her family to file a court case against Apple seeking damages. The devices and accessories used in both the above incidents were said to be legitimate and not some cheap third-party Chinese versions. Incidentally, this is the third incident involving a Samsung mobile, giving rise to doubts about the consumer safety norms being followed by the Korean manufacturer.

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HP launches Android-based SlateBook 'PC'

The SlateBook x2, Hewlett-Packard's foray into the Android convertible market, is now available on the company's Web site.

The tablet-laptop hybrid was slated to be available in August but has arrived early on HP's U.S. sales site. HP also launched the SlateBook in Japan on Monday.

Listed as the HP SlateBook 10-h010nr x2, it is branded as a "PC," even though it runs AndroidJelly Bean -- not Windows 8.

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The specs are pretty impressive. A 10.1-inch 1,920x1,200-pixel display (with a respectable 224 pixels per inch pixel density), a Tegra 4 quad-core processor (Nvidia's latest ARM processor), a 16GB SATA solid-state drive, and 2GB of system memory.

Other specs include Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, a magnetic docking mechanism to switch from tablet to laptop mode, and a full-size keyboard.

It sells for $480 and runs Android 4.2. (Full PDF spec sheet here).

Note that HP has been selling a similar -- but more expensive ($649) -- hybrid, the Envy x2, for a while. That is an 11.6-inch model that runs Windows 8 on top of an Intel Atom processor.

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Print Photos Wirelessly With LG PD233 Pocket Photo Printer

Have you ever wondered how your Instagramed pictures would look in print? Well, for Rs 14,990 LG can show you, with its new PD233 Pocket Photo Printer. The device which is now available in India claims to let you print high quality photo prints, wirelessly from Android and iOS devices. The printer supports 2x3 inch prints, which is 1/4th of the regular 4x6 prints that you'd put inside a photo album or a frame. The device supports both Bluetooth and NFC technologies, and uses an inkless printing technology from Zink, which claims to "preserve images longer"

For those not comfortable with photo editing apps, LG has a Pocket Photo App on both platforms to let you play around with your shots. If you ask me, its asking price is a bit too steep, especially if it's not even going to let you print images in the standard size. Let's only hope the performance makes up for the huge dent it will make in your pocket.

Here are the specs as mentioned on the product page:

• 2.9" (l) x 4.8" (w) x 0.9" (d) (24.0 mm), weighs 212 grams.
• NFC, Bluetooth support.
• Android, iOS app support.
• Supports 2x3" prints with 313 DPI.
• Max print speeds of 45 sec; prints up to 1000 pictures.
• 500 mAh Li-Polymer battery with up time of 1.5 hours for 25 prints on a single charge.

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Download: MEAIndia (Android, iOS)

Looks like government organisations are taking digitisation very seriously. After the latest app that lets you apply for a passport, the Ministry of External Affairs, is out with an app of its own. Apart from keeping a track on your passport, the app lets you keep a watch of everything that the ministry is responsible form including Haj schedules, visa status, notifications, and other issued documents.

The app description says that the app is "single window source of all information related to Ministry's citizen centric services and outreach activities". The app is available free of cost for Android and iOS devices. Hopefully the app will work better and quicker than the government offices.

Publisher: Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India

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HTC One Mini spied for AT&T

Rendered images of an AT&T branded HTC One Mini have surfaced, suggesting that Ma Bell may soon offer the new smartphone.

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The renders, which come courtesy ofAndroid Police, fall days after the tech blog posted photos of an actual HTC One Mini for AT&T.

No U.S. carrier has officially announced plans to support the One Mini; however, the larger HTC One can be found at the top four wireless providers. I wouldn't be surprised if an official announcement of the small model comes very, very soon.

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Android beats iPad in tablet market share -- report

It wasn't long ago that the iPad was unquestionably the leader in the tablet market -- if not the entire market itself.

But the Android ecosystem has proven that it could catch up, thanks especially to entries that have debuted in the last two years -- namely Amazon's Kindle Fire brand and Google's ownNexus 7 series built with mobile OEM partners.

As further evidence of that, Strategy Analytics has published its second-quarter report for global tablet shipments.

The market intelligence firm found that Android accounted for 67 percent of worldwide shipments in the second quarter of 2013. Both iOS and Windows declined to 28 percent and 4.5 percent of the global market share, respectively.

The total number of shipments came close to approximately 51.7 million units, up from 36.1 million units during the same quarter last year.

While attributing Android's success to a more stable collective of hardware partners, Strategy Analytics' director of tablets coverage Peter King tried to put Apple's quarter into better perspective:

 Apple iOS shipments were 14.6 million iPads in Q2 2013 which declined 14 percent annually. In the same quarter a year ago the first Retina display iPads were launched which could partly explain the decline as there were no new models in this quarter. However, to compensate that, iPad Mini which was not available a year ago, now freely available was expected to take the figure higher than 14.6 million.

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Ministry Of External Affairs To Launch Android, iOS Apps; The First Department To Do So

New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs will launch a Smartphone application on today to inform users about its services and keep them updated on happenings on the diplomacy front.

“MEA to launch its mobile app: will be launched on July 29 (Monday). The app is available for Android and iOS platforms,” public diplomacy division of the ministry tweeted Sunday.

The MEA will be the first government department to have a mobile app for Smartphone users.

The app will provide features like, asking questions to External Affairs Ministry, guidelines for passport services on how to apply, the documents required, charges foe services and others. The app will also notify the user about the nearest Passport Office.  

And it will provide information about Hajj pilgrim services like details of which flight they are on, where they would be staying in Saudi Arabia among others, and the information will be provided by the government’s Hajj committee.

The app will also help travelers to India with visa related services and guidelines, as well as Indians going to the Middle East will get immediate help regarding the nearest attestation offices for apostille requirements and other purposes.

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MediaTek Teases World With First True Octa-Core Processor

Bangalore: MediaTek, the Taiwanese chip maker, often regarded as messiah of budget Smartphones, has now come up with a processor that can put the high end chip manufacturers like Qualcomm, Samsung and Nvidia in an uncomfortable spot.

The word “octa-core” processor, was thrown around a lot lately, however it’s quite unfortunate that no true octa-core processor has come out yet. First it was Samsung who tried with their Exynos 5 Octa processor and then it was Motorola with their X8 Computing System. Neither of those are true octa-cores. However, MediaTek, which is not usually known for high-end processors in the mobile market, has just teased an octa-core processor which is actually a true octa-core processor, reports Android Authority.

It is “true” octa-core processor since all of its cores can simultaneously be used to execute processes, unlike existing octa-core solutions, which can only activate half of their CPU cores at once.

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Intex Launches Cloud X3 Android 4.2 Smartphone

Intex, which very recently launched a low-cost LED television range, is now back with a low-cost smartphone called the Intex Cloud X3 that runs Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). This smartphone costs only Rs 3790, comes with a dual-core processor, and provides dual-SIM support to users.

The key tech-specs of the Intex Cloud X3, according to an official press release include:

• 3.5" capacitive display.
• Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system.
• 1 GHz MT6572 dual-core processor.
• Dual-SIM support (GSM + GSM).
• 2 MP rear camera, and VGA front snapper.
• 256 MB RAM.
• 115 MB internal storage.
• MicroSD card slot for expansion up to 32 GB
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 2G, GPS.
• 1450 mAH battery with claimed talktime of up to 6 hours.

Any device with Android 4.2 needs atleast 1 GB of RAM to work smoothly, so don't expect the Cloud X3 with its 256 MB RAM to run butter-smooth. With another Rs 2K more, you can get a decent smartphone experience, as listed in our guide for smartphones below Rs 6,000.

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Download: OpenOffice 4.0 (Windows)

Those who are on a tight budget, and want a full-fledged office suit that isn't pirated, can turn to Apache OpenOffice. Version 4.0 of the Apache Software Foundation's free opensource software is now available for download and boasts of some interesting updates.

Apart from the much-needed bug fixes (500 fixes to be precise, as the company claims); the suite now supports 22 languages, sports a new "Sidebar user interface", and  offers better support for MS Office files.

The new Sidebar UI opens up a 'Properties' panel that enables you to edit properties related to the selection: be it text, images, bullet pointers, etc. This context-sensitive panel with collapsible sections can be resized as per your convenience, and can be seen in all applications of the package. The overall UI, however is still similar to the MS Office 2003 suite. To find out more about the new enhancements, check out the software's release notes here.

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Nexus 7 finds Apple napping

Google has beat Apple at its own Retina-display-thumping game. Meet the Nexus 7, the eye-popping 323-pixels-per-inch wonder.

It is, in a way, the (rumored) iPad Mini Retina wrapped in Android 4.3.

Here's the deal: If you can find most of the apps you need on Google's Play Store and would like a small tablet with the highest resolution display on any tablet to date (i.e., higher than the 9.7-inch Retina iPad and way higher than the iPad Mini), then the second-generation Nexus 7 may be a good choice.

How did this happen? Well, Google, Asus (the device manufacturer), and Japan Display Inc. (the display maker) have managed, for the first time, to slap a smartphone-density display on a small tablet.

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Without getting too technical, the second-gen Nexus 7 uses a display technology (called low-temperature polysilicon, for those keeping score) from Japan Display that has been used, to date, only on phones like, ironically, Apple's iPhone 5 (which has a pixel density of 326, just slightly more than the new Nexus 7).

Maybe more ironically, Apple is considering the same technology for a future Mini Retina, according to Richard Shim, an analyst at NPD DisplaySearch. When that Mini would appear ranges from sometime in October (optimistic) to early next year (pessimistic).

Analysts have told me that the 7-inch 1,920x1,200 display on the Nexus 7 may be the upper size limit for Japan Display's ultra-high-resolution technology -- at the moment. In other words, JDI's tech is not quite ready to scale up to the larger 7.9-inch screen on the Mini.

Whatever the case, you can pick up the new Nexus 7 for $230 at some Best Buy stores as of Friday. That's about $100 less than Apple's cheapest Mini (which I also own) but with a much better screen and a faster (quad-core) processor.

That's a really tough hardware/price proposition for Apple to beat, in my opinion.

I like the Mini a lot. I'm not sure yet but I may like the second-gen Nexus 7 better. (I have to be careful, though. I've only had it for about 18 hours so the out-of-box wowness may be impairing my judgment.)

I will say this, though. Apple has its work cut out for it.

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Android 4.3 rolling out to Google's Nexus devices: How to get it now

Google unveiled the second generation Nexus 7 tablet with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean at an event in San Francisco on Wednesday. The update is an incremental one when it comes to user facing changes, but brings a number of new features under the hood.

While the updated OS will ship with the new Nexus 7 tablet, Google has announced that it has started rolling out the Android 4.3 update to Nexus devices including the original Nexus 7 tablet, the Nexus 10 tablet, and Nexus 4 and Galaxy Nexus smartphones. 

The update will be available over the air through the Settings menu on the devices. It will roll out gradually and it could take weeks before it reaches all devices. Our Galaxy Nexus smartphone has not received the update, at the time of writing this post.

You can also force your device to check for updates by going to the Apps menu from the Settings, and finding the Google Services Framework app. You can then tap on 'Clear data' and 'Force stop' options and check for the update again from the About settings menu. This doesn't harm your device in any way and is a completely safe option. However, it's not guaranteed that you'll get the update after performing these steps.

For the more adventurous, the full factory images of Android 4.3 are also available through the Android Open Source Project online, on the Google Developers website. However, you'll need to flash these images manually using special tools and unless you're pretty sure of what you're doing, we'd recommend waiting for the official update to hit your device.

Hugo Barra, Vice President of Android product management at Google also announced that the stock Android Google editions of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One would receive the update as well, though he did not specify a timeline.

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Mysterious Apple office in Boston linked to voice tech

The story behind a rather mysterious Apple office that appeared in Boston's Kendall Square late last year has gotten a little more interesting.

According to a new report from Xconomy, Apple is using the office space there to bolster its speech technologies, primarily Siri -- the voice assistant software it's built into its portable devices since 2011.

Citing sources, the site says Apple has pulled together "a small team of notable names in speech technology," many of whom formerly worked for VoiceSignal Technologies. That company was acquired by voice-tech giant Nuance back in 2007. Apple relies on Nuance's technology for some of Siri's underpinnings, something Apple itself has never detailed but that was confirmed by Nuance's CEO back in May.

Apple's small, and rather incognito, offices in Kendall Square were spotted by the Boston Globe in January. The company already had a presence in the area, including sales offices, as well as retail stores on Boylston Street and in Cambridge, though the mysterious exterior and its proximity to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sparked extra curiosity.

Apple has increased the footprint of voice services in its products in recent years. Siri, a successor to the namesake company Apple acquired, launched alongside the iPhone 4S in 2011 and has spread to the iPod Touch and the iPad. The feature takes user commands and turns them into actions. That includes launching apps, creating reminders, and checking data from Web sources like Yelp, Yahoo, and Wolfram Alpha. Those queries are piped through Apple's servers then fed back to the device.

There have been hints that Apple intends to bring Siri over to its Macs as well. That includes the addition of voice dictation in the current version of OS X, a feature that will work offline in the upcoming version of the OS, dubbed Mavericks.

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Apple's developer site stirs back to life after downtime

Major parts of Apple's developer site flipped back online Friday afternoon after more than a week of downtime.

The developer sites for iOS, Mac, and Safari development once again became available, alongside downloads for upcoming versions of Apple's desktop and mobile software. Apple also brought back tools that let developers set up new devices to test their software, a crucial development tool.

Apple took down its developer site and more than a dozen connected services last week following the discovery of a security intrusion that may have resulted in unauthorized access to some developer information.

While offline, some developers were left in a lurchbecause they were unable to enable new devices to run pre-release versions of Apple's software or test out new apps. The downtime also came as Apple has been pushing developers to test out and create software for upcoming versions of iOS and Mac OS X, both of which are expected in the fall.

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Apple has still not detailed the full scope of that intrusion, which it says took place last Thursday, nor has it said who is responsible. However the company said the developer site was "not associated with any customer information," and that customer information is "securely encrypted."

Still offline is technical support, Apple's developer forums, pre-release documentation, videos, and several other services, all according to Apple's status page. The company has said it's bringing the full scope of its development services back online in stages, though it has not laid out a timeline.

Update at 3:40 p.m. PT: Here's the e-mail Apple's sending developers about it:

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Sony To Release Android 4.3 Upgrade To Various Devices

Google's latest Android 4.3 is now all set to grace Sony's smartphones and tablets. According to a post on the Sony Mobile blog, several of Sony's devices including Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia SP, Xperia ZR, Xperia Z Ultra and the Xperia Tablet Z will be receiving the Android 4.3 firmware upgrade. However, the exact date as to when these devices will receive the upgrade, is still unknown. Two of Sony's devices — the Xperia ZR and Xperia Tablet Z are due for the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean upgrade in August this year.

Sony also suggested that some of the company's Android 4.1 devices will be upgraded to Android 4.3 directly, although the company hasn't made any specific roadmap public yet. This news by Sony comes at a time when rumours suggest that Samsung plans to bypass the Android 4.2 update to its GALAXY S3 and Note 2, and push them directly to the latest Android version.

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Extended Apple downtime leaves some developers in limbo

Developer Max Wheeler had to pry his old iPhone 4 from the clutches of his 11-year old son. Why? Not because his kid was misbehaving, but because one of his employees needed it to test an upcoming iOS app, and Apple's developer site was in the midst of what's turned into a weeklong outage.

That phone, which Wheeler had retired in favor of Apple's latest model, was already provisioned to run test versions of software using the company's security certificate -- something that could not be done on a new device with Apple's services down.

"I'm taking toys out of my kid's hands so I can have something to go and do development work," said Wheeler, whose company, Alminder, makes an app that augments Apple's built-in calendar software. "Otherwise, we're dead in the water. We just can't afford it."

"Now the developer is getting all the iMessages from my son's friends," he added.

Wheeler, and an untold number of other app developers, are in crunch mode, trying to get software out the door and into the hands of users. That's become increasingly difficult with Apple's developer tools down while the company reworks its security measures.

Apple took down its developer site and more than a dozen connected services last week following the discovery of a security intrusion that may have resulted in unauthorized access to some developer information. The company has still not detailed the full scope of that intrusion, which it says took place last Thursday, nor has it said who is responsible. However the company has said the developer site was "not associated with any customer information," and that customer information is "securely encrypted."

Apple did not respond to requests for comment on this story, or a request for an update on the developer site.

While Apple continues to work on bringing the developers site back online piece by piece, it's left developers like Wheeler unable to add new devices to test it out on that weren't already authorized before Apple's site went down. It's also left them unable to show off prerelease versions of the software for press -- part of the process Wheeler says could be critical to its success.

Testing apps is a business for companies like TestFlight and HockeyApp, two companies that help developers distribute early versions of their software to users, as well as solicit feedback. TestFlight declined to speak about Apple's downtime, but HockeyApp recently told The Wall Street Journal that the outage had "partly affected business." The company sells plans ranging from $10 to $300 a month, and has services not just for iOS but also for Mac OS X and for Google's Android.

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The situation is decidedly less of an issue for companies that have already launched software, and that update less frequently, developers told CNET.

"This has little to no impact on us," says Greg Tseng, the CEO and co-founder of social network Tagged. The company's last big app push was Swoon, a local matchmaking app it launched back in May, and Tseng said the company was not currently in a stage of development where this could be a problem, but he called the current stretch of Apple's downtime "on the long side."

The outage is hurting developers in other ways, too. Also down are the forums where developers discuss unreleased versions of Apple's mobile and desktop software, the downloads for said unreleased software, and pages of documentation. The only service that's gone back up since last week is Apple's bug reporting tool.

Apple has not yet said exactly when its services for developers will come back to life. Thursday afternoon the company launched a special status page that shows which services are up and running, and which are down. Apple also told developers that it would be restoring certain services before others, across three stages.

The ultimate question is whether any of this has soured developers on publishing to Apple's platform, something Wheeler brushed off.

"With a certain amount of development effort you can get your app to work on all (Apple) phones," he said. "Now the question is whether iOS maintains its lead for us, or do we leave for Android instead because we don't have these bottlenecks."

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HP to try a $99 tablet again?

Hewlett-Packard unintentionally pioneered the ultra-cheap tablet when it fire-sold the TouchPad for $99 back in the summer of 2011. HP may be ready to do it again.

HP will launch a $99 tablet in cooperation with Wal-Mart in time for the back-to-school shopping, Digitimes reported Wednesday, citing Asia-based suppliers.

Here's what the Taipei-based publication said.

The US$99 tablet is manufactured by China-based BYD and is the second tablet that HP has outsourced to the China-based maker. The device adopts a 7-inch touch panel and Intel's Medfield-based single-core processor.

If true, it's plausible that HP could hit that price point. BYD is considered a very-low-cost manufacturer and it already makes HP's Slate 7.

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That tablet is now selling for a mere $139.99. So, with a modest redesign, HP could theoretically get a similar device down to $99.99 -- only $40 less than the Slate 7.

While HP said it does not comment on rumors, a spokeswoman did say this: "We look forward to expanding our tablet portfolio later this year with additional technologies, sizes, and operating systems to meet our customers' needs."

And remember, this wouldn't even be the first HP $99 tablet. After the company killed the TouchPad in the summer of 2011, an HP-sanctioned $99 fire sale ensued. Needless to say, the tablet sold out quickly.

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