12/27/2013 Google TV: Android set-top box set for CES 2014 launch?

It was only a matter of time before Google's Android platform joined the television rumor game. However, unlike Apple's iOS before it, the recent batch of reports surrounding the search giant don't have Google making a physical television set of its own.

No, it's just a set-top box that we're all postulating about. At least, that's the rumor that's been thrown out by the brand-new tech news website The Information, which suggests that said set-top box — based on Android — will likely be available for purchase from Google in the first half of next year.

The device is said to be able to handle a number of different streaming services – think Hulu Plus, Netflix, YouTube (obviously), et cetera — and give a purchaser living room access to some gaming as well. As for just how powerful the set-top box will be, gaming-wise, we don't know just yet.

The news echoes previous rumors from the Wall Street Journal months ago, which mentioned at the time that Google was also planning to stick a video camera and motion sensor into the set-top box — presumably, to make Google Hangouts just that much easier (and to throw the gauntlet down to rival Skype, which currently enjoys living room success as the de facto communication service on Microsoft's Xbox gaming consoles).

The latest batch of rumors don't explicitly call out this motion sensor by name, which gives us pause to wonder whether Google has rethought that part of the device.

The rumored purchasing window dovetails nicely with additional news that Google is planning a big Google TV announcement at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Additionally, it comes right as Amazon is allegedly making its own set-top box, likely for release in 2014 as well.

As for whether the Google set-top box will be unveiled at CES, we're not sure. We're also not certain what one might call it, but it's been reported that Google will be re-branding this web-friendly set-top box as "Nexus TV," an update from previous rumors that had Google calling the device "Android TV."

Were we to bet, however, we'd lay down a little bit of cash that Google is likely to announce updates to the core Android OS that powers Google TV on the various devices the smart TV service lives. It took the company quite a bit of time to get its Android 4.2.2 update for some of the Google TV products previously stuck on Android version 3.2 of the OS (that's Jelly bean versus Honeycomb, for those that prefer tastier names). Theoretically, the move the Jelly Bean now allows Google to upgrade Google TV even quicker – could a quick jump to KitKat be on the horizon as well?

While that might not please those looking for a fancy first look at Google's ambitions for the living room, it's would at least be throwing a bone to those who backed Google's other TV initiative.

Source: ITProPortal

12/26/2013 Apple will soon struggle to attract new iPhone buyers.

          An interesting new report from Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi suggests that Apple might be on the cusp of seeing a drop in new iPhone buyers.

The news doesn't suggest a drop in the popularity of the iPhone. Rather, many people already have one, so Apple will soon be selling more devices to upgraders rather than new iPhone customers. According to Sacconaghi, the percentage of "net new iPhone customers" is set to shrink approximately 13 per cent between 2012 and 2013, dropping from 62 per cent to just around 54 per cent.

Going forward, those numbers will drop to 37 per cent in 2014 and a mere 28 per cent in 2015. Concurrently, iPhone "replacement" purchases will jump up to nearly three quarters of everything Apple's selling by 2015.

"Barring a signed contract with China Mobile (CHL) or an iPhone priced to sell to the developing world, there is a slim margin of error that Apple will attract sufficient first-time iPhone buyers going forward to meet consensus forecasts for [fiscal year 2014 and 2015]," Sacconaghi wrote, according to ZDNet.

So, what's the problem? It's not that Apple's suddenly going to go belly up with its iPhone sales; that's not the issue at stake. However, the raw figures do paint a pretty simple picture. According to Sacconaghi, around 1.25 billion people can afford a smartphone like an iPhone sans carrier subsidies; of these, around 800 million already own a smartphone.

     "It is imperative that Apple look to address the lower end of the smartphone market, where we see five times the number of first-time smartphone buyers over the next two years. Even though there may be 100 million to 150 million new high-end smartphone users annually over the next two years, there will be about 500 million new low-end smartphone users annually over the next two years, or about four times the new user total addressable market,"Sacconaghi wrote, according to Forbes.

The iPhone 5C was supposed to be Apple's low-cost device for emerging markets, but it ended up being a colorful replacement for the iPhone 5, and not exactly affordable.

Meanwhile, when the number of new iPhone users stagnates, the content on the iTunes Store also suffers. Once a pretty significant majority of iPhone users are up and running with their typical shopping habits, a smaller number of new iPhone users won't be able to add that much activity with their app, music, and video purchases. In other words, the iTunes Store begins to plateau; content sales start to slow down a bit.

Things could improve if Apple can officially tap into China Mobile's 700 million or so customers, but so far, there have been rumors but no official announcements.

Source : ITProPotal