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| Microsoft resets Windows Phone to reach lower cost markets Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 02:53 PM PST  By Paul Sandle BARCELONA (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is pushing to reach a far wider audience for smartphones running its Windows Phone software by turning to cheaper chipsets and easing restrictions on how phone makers use its software to encourage them to drive down costs. Nick Parker, Microsoft's senior vice president for handset makers, said the changes have attracted a range of new handset makers to build Windows Phones, including South Korea's LG Electronics, India's Xola and Karbonn, and ZTE, Foxconn, Lenovo, Gionee and Longcheer. "We are open for business on Windows Phone to anyone who wants to build a Windows phone," Parker said at the Mobile World Congress trade fair on Sunday. Full Story | Top |
| Netflix to pay Comcast for faster speeds Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 02:47 PM PST  (Reuters) - Netflix has agreed to pay one of the largest broadband providers in the United States Comcast Corp for faster speeds, throwing open the possibility that more content companies will have to shell out for better service. Comcast and Netflix made the joint announcement on Sunday, marking the first time that Netflix is paying for faster speeds in the U.S. after customers complained about slow service. The arrangement comes as federal regulators are wrestling with an issue known as "Net neutrality" concerning broadband providers and whether they can slow down traffic to particular websites, potentially forcing content companies to pay for faster Web service. The Federal Communications Commission said last week it plans to rewrite the rules after a U.S. court struck down the commission's previous version. Full Story | Top |
| China's Huawei seeks U.S. foothold in smartphone race: executive Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 02:12 PM PST  By Kate Holton BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) - China's Huawei Technologies believes it can take advantage of recent changes in how operators in the United States sell phones to get a foothold in the all-important market, an executive with its consumer division said on Sunday. But the group, which lags market leader Samsung and Apple, has yet to gain a foothold in the high-end segment of developed markets such as the United States, where it is viewed with suspicion after lawmakers flagged Chinese telecommunications equipment as potential security risks. After launching five new devices at the Mobile World Congress trade fair in Barcelona, Huawei's Colin Giles said the group was taking early steps in the United States to build better relationships with mobile operators and directly with consumers via online shops. Full Story | Top |
| Alcatel to stay out of telecom price war, inks Intel deal Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 02:04 PM PST  By Leila Abboud BARCELONA (Reuters) - Alcatel-Lucent said it would stay out of a brewing price war in the telecom equipment market and set itself apart with better service and new products, including those from a partnership announced on Sunday with Intel Corp. Chief Executive Michel Combes said Alcatel-Lucent wanted to gain market share but not at any cost, as it entered the second year of a three-year turnaround aimed at restoring regular profits and cutting 1 billion euros of costs. Analysts predicted that competition could intensify this year among telecom equipment vendors after Nokia's NSN unit forecast lower operating margins as it tries to rebuild revenues lost after a bout of restructuring. NSN Chief Executive Rajeev Suri said on Sunday that the group would not compete aggressively on price across the board, despite its aim to return to revenue growth by the second half of the year. At Alcatel's event, Combes unveiled a partnership with chip maker Intel under which the two will share the costs of research and development on cloud computing and security. Full Story | Top |
| LG Electronics aims for smartphone growth double the market rate Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 01:01 PM PST  LG Electronics Inc aims to broaden its range of smartphones so sales this year grow at double the rate of the market, as the South Korean company seeks to retake the position of world's third-biggest maker. LG, who slipped behind Huawei Technologies Co last year with a market share of just under 5 percent, also plans to sell a smartwatch capable of connecting with rivals' phones, mobile division president Park Jong-seok told reporters ahead of a Barcelona trade fair this week. LG shipped a record 47.7 million smartphones last year, 81 percent more than a year earlier. "I expect competition among tier-2 manufacturers for more market share to become tougher this year, and price competition will also naturally intensify," Park said. Full Story | Top |
| Network router caused WhatsApp's 'biggest' outage Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 10:52 AM PST  (Reuters) - WhatsApp founder Jan Koum on Sunday issued an apology and blamed a network router for Saturday's outage of the mobile messaging app. It was caused by a network router fault which cascaded into our servers." "We worked with our service provider on resolving the issue and making sure it will not happen again." WhatsApp was down for more than three hours on Saturday just days after Facebook bought it for $19 billion. Full Story | Top |
| Beyond cute cats: How BuzzFeed is reinventing itself Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 06:00 AM PST  By Jennifer Saba NEW YORK (Reuters) - BuzzFeed has come a long way from cat lists. This month one of its journalists was on the ground in Kiev reporting on the crisis in Ukraine, and last December it published an in-depth article on a Chinese dissident living in Harlem, New York. When Facebook Inc tweaked its News Feed filters in December to weed out low-quality stories and other content, many were waiting to see if it would hurt publishers including BuzzFeed, the leading purveyor of "sponsored content" on the Web. But that didn't happen to BuzzFeed, which continues to log impressive increases in readership. Full Story | Top |
| Telecom firms mine for gold in big data despite privacy concerns Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 02:03 AM PST  Big carriers like Telefonica, Verizon, Orange and Singapore's Starhub warn that they are only just starting to test the waters and pledge to market only anonymous crowd information to protect customers. They are also promoting their big data products as being helpful well beyond the realms of advertising - for credit card companies wanting to detect fraud, for ambulance operators plotting routes to avoid traffic, and for public health officials responding to outbreaks of flu. But while some carriers have decided to press on with developing their data business since former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden's disclosures, others have started pitching themselves as their customers' best allies in seeking to hide from any prying eyes. Verizon's Precision Marketing Insights product, which offers businesses statistics about mobile users in a given area, was in commercial trials with sports teams and billboard owners when the Snowden allegations hit. Full Story | Top |
| Chipmakers dream of China as they head to Spain's smartphone gala Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 01:08 AM PST  By Noel Randewich SAN FRANCISCO/BARCELONA (Reuters) - The world's biggest mobile brands will jostle for the spotlight at the premier mobile industry event this week in Spain, but away from the glitzy displays chipmakers will be preoccupied with China, the largest mobile market on the planet. From Qualcomm and Intel to MediaTek, Marvell and Broadcom, the suppliers of the crucial components that power smartphone applications and drive high-speed wireless connections are scrambling to capitalize on opportunities taking shape as Chinese brands and telecoms carriers such as China Mobile gear up for 4G LTE, or Long-Term Evolution. China's move to LTE, a standard now adopted mostly in the United States, gives Intel and other chipmakers a unique chance to knock dominant LTE chip supplier Qualcomm off its perch. Full Story | Top |
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