Nokia unveils Lumia 1020 with 41MP camera

Nokia has unveiled a new Lumia phone with a powerful 41MP camera that promises sharper images, even in low light.

The Nokia Lumia 1020, powered by Windows Phone 8, was introduced on Thursday at an event in New York. The 41MP camera records more detail than other camera phones and even tops point-and-shoot cameras. More pixels mean more sensors for capturing the light that forms an image.

This new smartphone features a technology called Dual Capture, which takes two shots at the same time, one at 38MP resolution and the other at 5MP. The former is meant for photo editing, while the latter is ideal for social media uploads, said Nokia.

The 41MP Zeiss camera has five lenses and features Nokia's PureView imaging technology, along with two types flash - one LED and the other Xenon. In order to provide a better photography experience, the Finnish manufacturer has included the Nokia Pro Camera app and Nokia Rich Recording video capturing technology in this handset. 

Other hardware specs of the Lumia 1020 include 4.5-inch PureMotion HD+ Amoled display, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 2GB RAM, 2,000mAh battery and 32GB internal storage.

The company said the smartphone will arrive in US on July 26 on AT&T, priced at $299. After the US launch, Lumia 1020 will be headed to China and key European markets, Nokia said.

Last year, Nokia released a phone featuring a 41MP camera that runs on the now discontinued Symbian operating system. Samsung last month launched a Galaxy S4 variant that has a 16MP camera with Xenon flash on the back.

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Will Narayana Murthy be able to reboot Infosys?

Infosys' first earnings announcement after the return of N R Narayana Murthy is expected to put the retired cofounder under a sharp spotlight as analysts seek clarity on milestones that could signal the company's return to health.

Murthy, who was recalled by the board last month, may have the unenviable task of paring the growth forecast for India's second largest software services exporter as cross-currency swings shave off gainsthe rupee's depreciation against the dollar. The industry veteran has sought three years to "rebuild a desirable Infosys" but an anonymous ET poll of 15 brokerages shows that analysts would want to know sooner that the rebuilding is indeed taking roots.

Analysts said that they expect signs of revival and return of growth momentum in about three quarters. The majority of analysts said that they expect the software exporter to pare its growth guidance6-10% given at the beginning of the fiscal. That pales in comparison with Nasscom's projection of 12-14%.

"Infosys guidance is likely to take centre-stage," wrote Rumit Dugar and Udit Garg of Religare Institutional Research in a note to clients on earnings expectations. For the April-June quarter, Infosys' revenue reported in dollars is expected to grow at a tepid pace of 1-1.5%, which is estimated to be well below that of Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant and HCL Technologies but likely better than Wipro.

Given Murthy's philosophy of predictable growth, there is also an expectation that Infosys may bring back the practice of giving earnings guidance, which it stopped last quarter. At least two analysts polled said they expected Infosys to reintroduce earnings guidancethe next quarter, if notthe current one.

Despite the currency depreciation, which is expected to trickle down to the bottomline, Infosys is expected to report a marginal fall in net profit as it absorbs the effects of an unexpected June wage hike. Falling pricing will also add to pressure on profitability, analysts said. Given that rivals such as Cognizant and TCS are capturing a larger share of the market, Infosys is unlikely to be able to maintain pricing levels, leading to erosion in profit margins.

While the expectations are high, it is not so much about the first quarter numbers, but about visibility into future growth. "NRN's return implies that any disappointment in first quarter may be overlooked," said Sandeep Muthangi, an analyst with IIFL. "What analysts will be watching out for is details on the roadmap and the specifics on the changes that Murthy is seeking to bring about."

The ET poll showed that only a few analysts expect Infosys to return to industry leading growth before the next fiscal or the one after that. Accenture and Oracle performing below expectations has also sobered expectation levels among industry observers.

"Accenture's weak consulting growth indicates that there is still no improvement in the discretionary spending environment, which is likely to hurt companiesInfosys more due to its relatively high exposure to discretionary segments," Nomura analyst Pinku Pappan wrote in a recent note to clients.

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Rupee slide hurts smartphone sales

The booming Indian smartphone market seems to be losing steam as sales growth tapered down in the April-June quarter despite the launch of several new models and buyback and EMI schemes. 

Leading retail chains The Mobile Store, UniverCell and Planet M Retail - which sell mostly smartphones through more than 1,400 outlets across the country - say sales growth slowed to 8-9% in the latest quarter, more than 20% less than the preceding January-March period. 

They attribute the slowdown to a number of reasons including the free falling rupee making imported gadgets more expensive, slowing down of upgradation in the top-end segment and consumer fatigue caused by too many similar products in the market. 

"The huge euphoria in the market during the start of the year has sobered down," Himanshu Chakrawarti, CEO of the country's largest cellphone retail chain The Mobile Store, says. "The EMI and buyback war in the January-March quarter pushed up demand but now consumer fatigue seems to have set in," he says. 

The smartphone market, however, is still faring better than cheaper phones. According to the latest databy market tracker GfK-Nielsen, overall handset sales in the country fell 1.6% year-on-year during April-May. On a sequential basis, sales growth was 3% in April and 7% in May, compared to more than 12% growth in the first quarter. GfK-Nielsen's figure for June is yet to be published. 

With brandsSamsung, Sony and HTC increasing prices by 3-6% last week due to the free fall of rupee, retailers fear the demand for high-end smartphones may slow down further. 

Retail chains say sales growth has dampened in the above Rs 25,000 segment despite the launch of a slew of flagship models in the April-June period, including Samsung Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Mega, BlackBerry Z10 and Q10, and Nokia's Windows Phone 8-powered Lumia series. They say Apple's iPhone too has hit a plateau in India. 

Videocon Group-owned Planet M Retail CEO Sanjay Karwa says consumers who have brought hi-end models priced above Rs 25,000 last year or early this year are not upgrading so easily for the latest flagship launches. 

"Consumers who brought handsetsiPhone 4S, iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3 or Note II are not changing their handsets at the same pace with which they would do whenever a new flagship model would get launched. The macro-economic factors are probably pinching them," he says. 

At Planet M, sales growth of high-end handsets priced above Rs 25,000 has almost halved year-on-year in the quarter ended June. 

Samsung Mobile country head Vineet Taneja, however, says the market leader's sales are not impacted and that its flagship model Galaxy S4 has become the highest selling smartphone in the Rs 25,000-plus segment and registered higher sales than any other flagship device in its first month. 

The Mobile Store, which reported around 15% same-store sales growth in January-March, clocked around 8-9% in the latest quarter. 

UniverCell, the country's second-largest mobile phone retailer with 430 stores, too says its same-store sales growth has come down in April-June. 

D Sathish Babu, managing director at UniverCell Telecom, says sales of sub- 4,000 handsets fell 20% in the latest quarter because telecom operators have suddenly stopped promotional activities such as lower call rates or free SMSes. 

"The options for upgradation in this price has become limited since now even entry-level handsets are feature richdual SIM," he adds. 

Retailers say smartphones priced in the Rs 8,000- 20,000 range is the segment that is growing at a fast pace. There have been a slew of launches in this segment too, including Micromax Canvas 4, Sony Xperia L and Samsung Galaxy Fame and Galaxy Core. 

Indian brands such as Micromax, Karbonn and Videocon plan to launch products in this segment with specification and features that match up to the flagship models of multinationals. 

In fact, Indian brands Micromax and Karbonn were the second- and third-largest smartphone brands in the country in terms of shipment during January-March, according to CyberMedia Research. During this period, 9.4 million smartphones were shipped in India, which was 167.3% more than the year-earlier period. 

Smartphones now account for 26% of the total market by volume and 70% by value.

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Twitter‘s new app lets you sync messages across devices

Microblogging site Twitter recently announced update to its app service acrossmajor devices. 

The updated app allows users to sync direct messages acrosstheir devices and accounts with coordinated update for applications Android, iPhone, iPad, Mac, twitter.com, mobile.twitter.com and TweetDeck, Enterprise Innovation reports. 

Apartupdating its apps, Twitter has also improved its search results for Android, iPhone, iPad and mobile.twitter.com. 

According to the report, Twitter users can now see an expanded user result that shows a full bio, making it easier and faster to find and learn more about the accounts they are looking for. 

Meanwhile, social media site Facebook has launched its updated 'Graph Search' feature allowing for more specific searches related to a user's social circle and the results are personalized and unique for everyone, based on what has been shared with them. 

Facebook said that it is now aiming to get mobile Graph Search functional.

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Spice launches full HD phone at Rs 16,990

Indian smartphone maker Spice today launched its new flagship phablet, Stellar Pinnacle FHD. The new handset has a 5-inch full HD screen (1920x1020p) resolution and has been priced at Rs 16,990. The device competes against the likes of Micromax Canvas 4, Karbonn Titanium S9 and Lava Xolo X1000, along with Nokia Lumia 720, Samsung Galaxy Grand and LG Optimus L9. 

The new Spice Stellar Pinnacle FHD runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) and packs a 1.5GHz quad-core processor under the hood. It comes with 1GB RAM and 8GB internal storage, along with expansion up to 32GB via microSD. On the back of the phone is an 8MP camera with dual-LED flash, whereas a 2MP unit has been used in the front. 

On the connectivity front, Spice Stellar FHD boasts of 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and microUSB. It also has featuresIntelligent Answer, Flip To Mute and Direct Call. Powered by a 2,100mAh battery, the phone offers 2GB free Spice Cloud storage and Netqin antivirus. 

Commenting on the launch, TM Ramakrishnan, CEO - devices, S Mobility, said, "This product is an answer to the ever-growing need of the consumer expecting better display quality on the phone. The 1.5GHz quad-core coupled with full HD resolution is an industry redefining feature for the affordable segment." 

Spice Stellar Pinnacle FHD is currently up for pre-orders at online retailer Saholic and will hit the stores on July 20.

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E-book ruling gives Amazon an advantage

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, loves disrupting markets. In that regard, he must be having a delightful summer. The book business, once so mired in the past that it seemed part of the antiques trade, is up for grabs. 

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Apple had illegally conspired with five of the six biggest publishers to try to raise prices in the budding e-books market. The decision came two days after Barnes & Noble lost its chief executive and said it would not appoint another, signaling that the biggest chain of physical bookstores could be immediately broken up. 

The verdict in the Apple case might have been a foregone conclusion, telegraphed by the judge herself, but it emphatically underlined how the traditional players in the book business have been upended. Only Amazon, led by Bezos, seems to have a plan. He is executing it with a skill that infuriates his competitors and rewards his stockholders. 

"We're at a moment when cultural power is passing to new gatekeepers," said Joe Esposito, a publishing consultant. "Heaven forbid that we should have the government telling our entrepreneurs what to do, but there is a social policy issue here. We don't want the companies to become a black hole that absorbslight except their own." 

The Apple case, which was brought by the Justice Department, will have little immediate impact on the selling of books. The publishers settled long ago, protesting that they had done nothing wrong but saying that they could not afford to fight the government. But it might be a long time before they try to takege of their fate again in such a bold fashion. Drawing the attention of the government once was bad enough; twice could be a disaster. 

"The Department of Justice has unwittingly caused further consolidation in the industry at a time when consolidation is not necessarily a good thing," said Mark Coker, the chief executive of Smashwords, an e-book distributor. "If you want a vibrant ecosystem of multiple publishers, multiple publishing methods and multiple successful retailers in five, 20 or 50 years, we took a step backwards this week." 

Some in publishing suspected that Amazon had prompted the government to file its suit. The retailer has denied it, but it still emerged the big winner. While Apple will be punished - damages are yet to be decided - and the publishers were chastened, Amazon is left free to exert its dominance over e-books - even as it gains market share with physical books. The retailer declined to comment Wednesday. 

"Amazon is not in most of the headlines, butof the big events in the book world are about Amazon," said Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild. "If the publishers colluded, it was to blunt Amazon's dominance. Barnes & Noble's troubles may stema misstep with its Nook tablets, just as Borders' bankruptcy might have been hastened by management mistakes, 

but its precarious position is that of any rent-paying retailer facing a deep-pocketed virtual competitor." 

Last week, Penguin and Random House officially merged, creating a publishing behemoth that might be able to determine its future rather than suffer the fate of Barnes & Noble, a once-swaggering entity that now seems adrift. Random House was not a target of the Justice Department; Penguin was. 

 

Penguin and Random House were innovators who made paperbacks into a disruptive force in the 1940s and '50s. They were the Amazons of their era, making the traditional book business deeply uneasy. No less an authority than George Orwell thought paperbacks were of so much better value than hardbacks that they spelled the ruination of publishing and bookselling. "The cheaper books become," he wrote, "the less money is spent on books." 

Orwell was wrong, but the same arguments are being made against Amazon and e-books on Thursday. 

Amazon executives are not much for public debate, but they argue thatthis disruption will ultimately give more money to more authors and make more books more widely available to more people at cheaper prices, and who could argue with any of that? 

This was not a prospect that many on Wednesday were putting much faith in. 

Amazon, its detractors argue, is not a nonprofit or public trust but a hard-nosed company whose investors hope will make lots of money someday soon. It shares closed Wednesday at $292.33, a record. 

"The Justice Department's guns seem pointed in the wrong direction," Aiken said. 

But the more pressing concern for the industry is the fate of Barnes & Noble. When Borders collapsed two years ago, analysts said there was an unexpected consequence to the loss of 400 stores: The e-book growth rate began to taper off, as readers could no longer examine new titles before ordering themAmazon. 

E-books, in other words, were not a magical technology that could shedthe existing infrastructure of publishing. They needed the existing ecosystem. 

"Ifof those corporate outlets vanish, there is suddenly a hell of a lot less space devoted to showcasing a large number of titles," said J.B. Dickey, owner of the Seattle Mystery Bookshop. "We'll probably see a continuing shrinking in print runs, maybe fewer titles published, fewer authors published and the New York houses retreating into the known best-sellers. Which means more novice and midlist authors scrambling to find a way to stay in print and more authors self-publishing their print books - or more likely releasing their works as e-files." 

All of that sounds dire. Perhaps the only consolation for those who fear the power of Amazon is the knowledge thatcompanies eventually peak, no matter how unlikely that seems when they are in the ascendance. 

Esposito, the consultant, remembered that 30 years ago there was a book called "The Media Monopoly," which worried about the excessive power of the Gannett chain of newspapers as well as the three major television networks. 

"The book reads almost quaint now," Esposito said. 

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US snooping through undersea cables: Report

A recently published NSA classified slide reveals that US government uses undersea cables which criss-cross the world for its surveillance program. 

According to the Fox News, the classified slide reveals the step-by-step guidance to NSA personnel about the way snooping can be conducted using both the programs. 

It suggested to implement the 'Prism' program, which is the usual data collectiontech companies for 'metadata' and also putting to use undersea fiber-optic cables that contain gobs of voice and Internet data. 

The revealed contained a rough map of North America, showing the undersea cables fanning outthe West and East coasts of the US, to the rest of the world. (ANI) 

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Now, embed Instagram videos, photos in blogs

Social media giant Facebook's recently acquired Instagram, will allow users 'embed' their videos and photos and make them shareable on websites and blogs. 

According to ABC News, when a user will view an Instagram video or photo, there will be a 'share' button which will bring an embed code, which can then be pasted on a blog or website article and the video or photo will appear right on the webpage. 

Instagram will follow the account privacy settings and only public videos and photos will display the embed feature and allow them to be put on public websites, additionally it will show the user's name with the embedded content. 

Facebook had launched the video feature in the last month and since then there had been requests for an 'embedding' feature, which was already followed by microbloging site Twitter's Vine app. 

Journalism experts believe that the new feature could become the next big story-telling mode for news organizations with which they can enhance their stories, the report added.

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Samsung Galaxy Note III may come in 4 variants

Samsung is expected to soon take the covers off its upcoming flagship phablet Galaxy Note III and rumours about the device are flying thick as the launch nears. A Korean newspaper ET News has reported that the third-generation Note phablet will come in four variants.

According to the ET News report, the upcoming four variants of Samsung Galaxy Note III will have the same processor, but differ in terms of components. The different versions will be aimed at different markets and are likely to be placed at varying price points.

The report says that the top variant of Galaxy Note III will be a premium limited edition device that will boast of an unbreakable SuperAMOLED screen, 13MP camera and some other exclusive features. Next in line would be the international version, which will have a plastic body, standard SuperAMOLED display and a 13MP camera.

Samsung Galaxy Note III's third version is said to come with a LCD display instead of the SuperAMOLED panel, along with 13MP camera and plastic body. The last variant is said to be the most inexpensive and have a plastic body, LCD screen and 8MP camera.

It is expected that Samsung will unveil Galaxy Note III on September 4, the first day of IFA 2013.

The South Korean manufacturer previously launched its Galaxy S4 flagship smartphone in two variants, differing in terms of processor type. Later, it unveiled four new versions of the smartphone, named Galaxy S4 mini, Galaxy S4 zoom, Galaxy S4 Active and Galaxy S4LTE-A.

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Tablet war heats up as HP, Amazon cut prices

Tablet prices are plunging amid a flood of new devices and cutthroat competition for market share.

Amazon has slashed prices of its Kindle HD tablets to as low as $169 in the US and 139 pounds in Britain, while Barnes & Noble has cut the price of its Nook to as low as $129, and has announced plans to outsource production of its tablets.

"Since Hewlett-Packard launched its tablet, there has been a lot of pressure on prices," said Rob Enderle, analyst with Enderle Group.

HP sells its Android-powered seven-inch Slate for as low as $139, helping make the paperback-size tablet computer an affordable commodity.

A Gartner survey suggests tablet sales globally will rise 67.9% to 202 million units this year, but analysts say the market is cooling after a couple of years of sizzling growth.

Gartner said the red-hot growth in tablets and smartphones will taper off as these devices gain longer life cycles. The report said many consumers are opting for "basic" tablets to cut costs.

"It looksthe market may be tiring of tablets and as makers get desperate, you may see more pressure on prices," Enderle said.

Some retailers are selling tablets for less than $100, but Enderle said the flood of poor-quality devices may eventually backfire and turn off consumers.

Jitesh Ubrani, analyst at the research firm IDC, said many of the low-cost tablets comesmall, sometimes unbranded "whitebox" vendors.

"The decline of the PC market makes it increasingly important for PC vendors to compete in the tablet space," Ubrani said

"As more top-tier brands introduce low-cost products, we expect to see a reduction in the number of whitebox vendors."

Even so, the analyst said, average prices for tablets is likely to drop further, and that tablet shipments are expected to overtakePC shipments in 2015."

The market leader, Apple, has so far kept above the fray, keeping prices steady on its iPad line of tablets, although it introduced the lower-cost iPad mini last year at $329, less than the $500 for its full-size iPad.

"Apple does not look at the competitive marketplace to determine its strategy," said Jeff Orr, analyst with ABI Research. "They look at their buyers. Because of that I would expect their price points to remain consistent for the foreseeable future."

Enderle said Apple is seeking to remain a "premium vendor" but faces a difficult choice lowering prices, which can hurt its profits and worsen its share price declines, or giving up market share.

"Under Steve Jobs, when a product started to commoditize, they would come out with something new," Enderle said. "Apple needs another premium product. It is overdue for whatever the next big thing is."

Microsoft has also aimed at the high end of the market with its Surface, which debuted with a starting $500 price tag, but it has cut the price as low as $199 for education buyers.

Orr said some of the manufacturers may be forced out of the market if tablets are not part of their "core" business.

"Every brand believes it has an audience which will be interested in their device to connect to their ecosystem," he said. "The reality is not every player can survive."

Amazon sells its Kindles near the cost of production, in an effort to direct the buyers to Amazon content and apps. The others, including Apple. Google and Microsoft, also want to keep their customers tethered to an ecosystem for advertising and sales.

But Orr points out "there is none of that brand loyalty that some of these vendors had expected." For example, an iPad user can still use Google, and Kindle users can buynon-Amazon sellers.

Enderle noted that Google, which makes a $199 Nexus 7 tablet, "has a subsidized model in which advertising makes up the difference" of any lost profitsthe device itself.

But he noted that Barnes & Noble faces an unusual predicament because it is primarily a brick-and-mortar bookseller, and needs to bring customers into its physical stores.

"Every Nook tablet sold causes them to lose a customer who might also go into the store," he said. "They may need to go fully online and compete with Amazon."

IDC's Ubrani said it may be difficult for playersBarnes & Noble to compete with Amazon by subsidizing the tablets.

"Not every tablet vendor can afford to utilize this business model," he said. "Yes, each can offer movies, music, apps, etc to help subsidize the tablet, but none have the same scale and product selection that Amazon does."

Enderle said that even though it seems to be a good time to buy a tablet, he advises people to wait.

"We are just short of a refresh" for many tablet makers, said Enderle. He expects new versions of the iPad, Surface and several Android models. Amazon is also reportedly working on new tablets.

"We will see a raft of new products in August and September," he said. "Unless you find a really good buy. I would wait."

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