Sony has finally gained full control over Sony Ericsson after they paid 1.05 billion euro for the shares they didn’t own before. So what does this mean for Sony and where does the smartphone division go from here?
Sony realizes that smartphones are becoming more important than ever – perhaps more important than simple phones ever were. The smartphone doesn’t just fulfill the simple function of calling anymore. It’s also your very personal computing that you take everywhere with you. And in many poor countries, a cheap smartphone may be the only type of computer young people could have for years, before they even have their own PC.
A smartphone is able to offer you almost the full web experience, although on a smaller screen, and you can use pretty much any chat program you want. It’s also a device that provides educational or entertaining content in the form of videos, movies, books or games. And speaking of games, Sony makes the PSP and the PS3 consoles, so they will also try make these 2 divisions collaborate better, so they can have a competitive advantage in market.
Sony has already started doing this with the PS Suite on their new Xperia phones, and they promised to make the PS Suite available for more phones, too. Unfortunately, while the strategy sounds good, Sony hasn’t been so good at executing it. They’ve mostly just used very old PS1 games (not even the PSP ones), and with barely any new games, probably because they are trying to save those for their PS Vita device, and also because they’ve been pretty slow with putting the best tech in their phones, so their phones haven’t been among the most capable so far.
Hopefully, now that they completely own the Sony Ericsson mobile division, they’ll be able demand better devices from them, and ask them to make the phones a lot more competitive and forward-looking. As soon as they make a device that most people recognize as the best phone on the market at the time of launch, it’s when they’ll become a mobile player that the media will take a lot more seriously, and will help them gain more mind-share, as well as market share.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Sony Ericsson Nozomi Coming Before Christmas; Sony Ericsson SK19i Ditched
Sony Buys Out Ericsson Part in “Sony Ericsson”
Sony Ericsson Is Shooting Themselves In The Foot – A Critical Look at Sony Ericsson
This article, The European Commission Approves Sony’s Acquisition of Sony Ericsson , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.
Before two years ago, we didn't yet know much about the hypothetical Apple tablet device, prescient leaks and rumors aside. We didn't know for sure which OS it would run (although we were pretty confident it would be iOS and not Mac OS X). We didn't know what it would cost -- the WSJ hinted at pricing near the $1,000 mark -- and we didn't know what it would look like. We certainly didn't know what it would be called, even though there were strong suggestions; apparently the Mad TV writers and some Dubai architects had some good sources.
We couldn't have guessed that our most extravagant estimates of sales would prove to be woefully meager. We could not foresee that Apple's tablet would come to dominate its own category in a manner similar to the iPod's remarkable run through the 2000s, and contribute to a level of financial success the company has never seen before (and that few companies ever have).
We didn't imagine that both consumers and businesses would gravitate to the iPad's flexibility and power, with enterprise customers adopting it at a breakneck pace. We probably could have anticipated a revised and updated version months later. And we did not expect that case polishing operations at two iPad suppliers would suffer deadly explosions, deepening concerns and questions about workplace safety and employee treatment at the factories owned by Foxconn, a manufacturing partner to Apple and scores of other electronics companies.
What we did know, in early 2010, was who would be introducing it to the world. Below, a video clip of Steve Jobs announcing the iPad.
iPad announcement anniversary: January 27, 2010 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
A few months back we reported on Zephyr, the tweak created by @chpwn that brings webOS style multitasking to iOS. The app has just been updated to version 1.1 and with it comes one of our favorite multitasking gestures. With the new version, available in Cydia, you can swipe up to close an app. Swiping horizontally moves you between apps. If you pause while swiping, it will bring up the multitasking switcher.
This requires you have a jailbroken iPhone. If you’ve recently left webOS for iOS, this might bring back some fond memories.
Zephyr 1.1 Brings Even More webOS-like Multitasking Gestures to iOS is an article from everythingiCafe, home of the world's best iPad and iPhone forums.
Symantec, the makers of Norton, warned today about several different app publishers that have been found to be pushing out Android.Counterclank. This bot-like threat is a new variation of the threat Android.Tonclank. The malicious code is…
Symantec, the makers of Norton, warned today about several different app publishers that have been found to be pushing out Android.Counterclank. This bot-like threat is a new variation of the threat Android.Tonclank. The malicious code is attached in a package called “apperhand” to the main application and when executed it can carry out certain actions and steal information from the device. It can also place a new Search icon on the Home Screen. Take a look at their visual summary here.
When you combine the number of downloads for all these malicious apps you get 1,000,000 to 5,000,000 installations, which is the widest reach reported for any malware yet this year.
The threat is limited to people who have installed apps from the following list (sorted by publisher). You’ll notice that several of the apps are given similar names to legitimate apps. If you have a similarly named app, check the publisher (ex. there are a number of different Hearts Live Wallpaper apps, but the one by iApps7 Inc is the malicious one), because more than likely you have a legitimate app and are not affected.
iApps7 Inc
- Counter Elite Force
- Counter Strike Ground Force
- CounterStrike Hit Enemy
- Heart Live Wallpaper
- Hit Counter Terrorist
- Stripper Touch girl
Ogre Games
- Balloon Game
- Deal & Be Millionaire
- Wild Man
redmicapps
- Pretty women lingerie puzzle
- Sexy Girls Photo Game
- Sexy Girls Puzzle
- Sexy Women Puzzle
If you have been affected, Symantec provides removal instructions using their Norton Mobile Security here.
Some of the named apps are still in the Android Market, but will likely be removed soon by Google.
This serves as another reminder to always check the permission requests for carefully for any new app before you install it, especially those made by lesser known publishers. Just because an app is in the Market doesn’t guarantee it is safe, and be especially careful for non-Market apps.
Source: Symantec.com Official Blog
Launch Center, a new shortcuts app for iPhone, aims to make everything from sending messages and mail to posting on Facebook and Twitter, to turning on your LED flashlight, faster
 |
 |
Launch Center, a new shortcuts app for iPhone, aims to make everything from sending messages and mail to posting on Facebook and Twitter, to turning on your LED flashlight, faster and easier via an extremely clever, borderline audacious use of URL schemes and iOS 5′s Notification Center.
Produced by David Barnard of App Cubby fame, it boasts an absolutely gorgeous user interface that lets you easily set up which actions you want to appear in your Notification Center from a robust set of shortcut that include Phone, SMS/iMessage, Email, Twitter, Facebook, Flashlight, Google search, and Custom URL schemes. (That last one, for more advanced users especially, should make Launch Center an instant buy.)
Live from Macworld|iWorld 2012, David showed off some of the new features in the recent Launch Center 1.1 update, including scheduled launch actions — for example if you know you need to SMS your wife every morning or email your boss the report every friday at noon.
David’s keeping Launch Center in his dock now, since using Launch Center to quickly call a favorite or send a message is faster than tapping and pecking through screens of apps and layers of menus.
Hopefully Apple finds a way to balance security and accessibility in the next version of iOS so apps like Launch Center can start to do even more fantastic, time saving things.
- $0.99 – App Store link
| |
All of new RIM CEO Thorsten Heins’ fresh ideas will apparently still be revealed to the company’s board in a couple of weeks, but he’s already dropped some gems in interviews with the Wall Street Journal and Reuters (update: and Bloomberg). First item on the agenda? Getting current users upgraded to the latest and greatest BlackBerry hardware. Citing internal statistics that indicate 80- to 90- percent of the company’s customer base aren’t running BlackBerry 7 hardware yet, it will work closely with US carriers to promote upgrades until the new BB10 devices hit later this year. There’s no word on what the carrier deals include, but he hinted at device or preloaded app bundles. He also promised an LTE version of the PlayBook would arrive this spring, with LTE connected handsets also planned for the BlackBerry 10 lineup. Is that enough to turn around RIM’s fortunes in the US, where he acknowledged the company is “a turnaround candidate”? We’ll find out, but as obvious as the need to placate the already BBM-addicted may be, execution of the plan is everything.
Shocker! New RIM CEO targets existing BlackBerry users for upgrades originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg | Email this | Comments
Rene and I are at Macworld 2012 and had the pleasure of talking to Penultimate developer Ben Zotto. You, the iMore nation, asked us to ask Ben his thoughts on styli for the iPad, so we did! Check out the video above for Ben’s insights on the personal decision of choosing an iPad.
|
|
Rene and I are at Macworld 2012 and had the pleasure of talking to Penultimate developer Ben Zotto. You, the iMore nation, asked us to ask Ben his thoughts on styli for the iPad, so we did! Check out the video above for Ben’s insights on the personal decision of choosing a stylus.
Here’s a list of the ones he mentioned:
- Pogo Sketch Pro – $24.95 – Amazon link
- Pogo Sketch Plus – $14.95 – Ten One Design link
- Wacom Bamboo – $25.43 – Amazon link
- Cosmonaut – $25 – Studio Neat link
What’s your favorite stylus to use with Penultimate?
| |
We had heard that Samsung isn’t planning on introducing the Galaxy S III at Mobile World Congress. That’s why we find it surprising that a GT-I9300 appears on the Global Download Center in the United Emirates. For those playing at home, the I93XX would indicate a flagship device. The i91XX is for the Galaxy S II, while the i92XX represents the Galaxy Nexus and Note. That’s why it strikes us as surprising to see this show up on one of their websites.
This could be a simple placeholder, something that has zero bearing on when it might release. Then again, maybe news of Samsung not announcing the Galaxy S III at MWC was a great head fake.
Source: Engadget
Samsung Galaxy S III Shows Up On Support Website? is an article from everything Android, sponsored by the Everything Android Store.
