Facebook to allow users to send money to friends through Messenger

People are silhouetted as they pose with mobile devices in front of a screen projected with a Facebook logo, in this picture illustration taken in Zenica October 29, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Dado Ruvic

 

(Reuters) - Facebook Inc said it is adding a new feature to its messaging app that allows friends to send and receive money through it.
 
Users can tap or click a dollar icon in a new chat window to send money to their friends, after they link a Visa or MasterCard debit card issued by a U.S. bank to their accounts. (bit.ly/1xvuNDm)
 
The free feature will roll out over the next few months for users in the United States who access Facebook Messenger through desktop computers or Google Inc's Android and Apple Inc's iOS operating systems on mobile devices.
 
Users can create a PIN or enable Touch ID if they have an iPhone to add a level of security to the payments. 
 
Snapchat had launched a similar service last November, called Snapcash.
 
The mobile messaging company partnered with online payments company Square to allow Snapchat users to link their debit cards to their account and quickly send money to a contact by starting a chat on a smartphone.
 
~ Anya George Tharakan    

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Microsoft's Windows 9: What it has to strategically accomplish

Summary: Windows 9 will be the linchpin in Microsoft's future plans for cloud and mobile. Here's a look at the to-do list on the strategic front. 
 
Microsoft on Tuesday will preview its next operating system---code named Threshold and expected to be Windows 9---and the rollout is critical to make CEO Satya Nadella's master plan a success.
 
As noted previously, Nadella is steering Microsoft around a platform and productivity mantra with a heavy dose of cloud and mobile. Whether Windows 9 turns out to be a game changer for Microsoft or the last of big bang OS releases remains to be seen.
 
Nevertheless, Windows 9 will be a linchpin in Microsoft's plans going forward. Here's a look at what Windows 9 has to accomplish.
 
Be the cloud jump off point. Microsoft is big on platforms and a holistic cloud vision and Windows remains the centerpiece of the company's strategy (even though it isn't the primary cash cow today). Enthusiasm around Windows 9 would keep Microsoft's installed base in the fold and be the on-ramp to the company's cloud products. Should Windows become free Microsoft still could make out if the OS becomes an on-ramp to Office 365 subscriptions at $99 a year or so. Windows could be the key to a recurring revenue stream. Toss in storage and other services and you see that Windows doesn't have to be a cash cow to be critical.
 
Keep Microsoft relevant. Microsoft's enterprise business carries the company, but Windows remains the identity. Microsoft has missed the mobile curve as Apple's iOS and Google's Android moved ahead, but the software giant is one of the cloud leaders. However, Windows is the key to keeping the company from looking like an also-ran. Windows 9 has to drive upgrades, create demand for Microsoft powered tablets and potentially generate some buzz. Microsoft is far from irrelevant, but Windows 9 needs to erase the lackluster rollout of Windows 8.

Where does Windows 9 fit in this equation?

Be the last of Microsoft's big bang releases. Microsoft, like every other software company on the planet, will ultimately revolve around subscriptions. Windows reflects an old model where software vendors revolve around upgrade cycles and big bang releases. Windows 9 should ultimately look like a SaaS service where we pay an annual fee for twice a year feature releases. If Microsoft really does it right the next-gen Windows wouldn't have a number behind it.
 
Entice the enterprise to remain Windows based. Microsoft rocks the enterprise with products and services such as Office, Windows Server and Azure. However, Windows is the front end of Microsoft's enterprise identity and the operating system has taken a few hits. Apple's iOS is everywhere in the enterprise and Microsoft can no longer rely on Windows shops remaining that way forever. Windows 9 has to generate some enthusiasm and maybe even drive tablet and PC upgrades in what's likely to be a growth-challenged environment for years. Enterprises have better things to do than upgrade PCs, tablets and smartphones. Microsoft needs Windows 9 to at least spark some enterprise interest.
 
Advance Microsoft's mobile ambitions. Windows 9 is expected to be a unified platform that can leverage Microsoft's developer base from the PC and application fronts to mobile. Microsoft has tweaked the economics for Windows on key mobile devices to make headway against low-end Android devices. Microsoft needs a unified approach to close the app gap with Apple and Google.
 
Daniel Ives, an analyst at FBR noted:

The next version of Windows will target a more unified approach (e-commerce, developer platforms), a positive as Microsoft attempts to drive a more consistent platform experience and attract an increased number of developers/apps for its mobile offerings and devices, in our view.

~ Larry Dignan

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Apple iPhones allow extraction of deep personal data, researcher finds

The exploded view of the home button which doubles as a fingerprint sensor is seen on an image of the new iPhone 5S at Apple Inc's media event in Cupertino, California September 10, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Stephen Lam

 
(Reuters) - Personal data including text messages, contact lists and photos can be extracted from iPhones through previously unpublicized techniques by Apple Inc employees, the company acknowledged this week.

The same techniques to circumvent backup encryption could be used by law enforcement or others with access to the "trusted" computers to which the devices have been connected, according to the security expert who prompted Apple's admission.
 
In a conference presentation this week, researcher Jonathan Zdziarski showed how the services take a surprising amount of data for what Apple now says are diagnostic services meant to help engineers.
 
Users are not notified that the services are running and cannot disable them, Zdziarski said. There is no way for iPhone users to know what computers have previously been granted trusted status via the backup process or block future connections.
 
“There’s no way to `unpair' except to wipe your phone,” he said in a video demonstration he posted Friday showing what he could extract from an unlocked phone through a trusted computer.
 
As word spread about Zdziarski’s initial presentation at the Hackers on Planet Earth conference, some cited it as evidence of Apple collaboration with the National Security Agency.
 
Apple denied creating any “back doors” for intelligence agencies.
 
“We have designed iOS so that its diagnostic functions do not compromise user privacy and security, but still provides needed information to enterprise IT departments, developers and Apple for troubleshooting technical issues,” Apple said. “A user must have unlocked their device and agreed to trust another computer before that computer is able to access this limited diagnostic data.”
 
But Apple also posted its first descriptions of the tools on its own website, and Zdziarski and others who spoke with the company said they expected it to make at least some changes to the programs in the future.
 
Zdziarski said he did not believe that the services were aimed at spies. But he said that they extracted much more information than was needed, with too little disclosure.
 
Security industry analyst Rich Mogull said Zdziarski’s work was overhyped but technically accurate.
 
“They are collecting more than they should be, and the only way to get it is to compromise security,” said Mogull, chief executive officer of Securosis.
 
Mogull also agreed with Zdziarski that since the tools exist, law enforcement will use them in cases where the desktop computers of targeted individuals can be confiscated, hacked or reached via their employers.
 
“They’ll take advantage of every legal tool that they have and maybe more,” Mogull said of government investigators. 
 
Asked if Apple had used the tools to fulfill law enforcement requests, Apple did not immediately respond.
 
For all the attention to the previously unknown tools and other occasional bugs, Apple’s phones are widely considered more secure than those using Google Inc's rival Android operating system, in part because Google does not have the power to send software fixes directly to those devices.              
 
~ Joseph Menn

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Android privacy flaw leaks location details over Wi-Fi -- even when Wi-Fi is off

 

Google Android smartphones and tablets have a major privacy flaw that broadcasts private location data over Wi-Fi even when the connectivity is switched off and it will take some time for Google to fix the error.
 
Research by the Electronic Frontier Foundation [EFF] found that devices produced in the past three years transmit location history to anyone within Wi-Fi range whilst the screen is off and the device isn’t connected to a Wi-Fi network.
 
The leaked data comes in the form of the names of wireless networks that the phone or tablet has previously connected to including homes, workplaces, travel destinations and anywhere else that wireless Internet via Wi-Fi has been accessed, and includes up to 15 stored network names.
 
"This data is arguably more dangerous than that leaked in previous location data scandals because it clearly denotes in human language places that you've spent enough time to use the Wi-Fi," EFF’s Peter Eckersley and Jeremy Gillula explained in a blog post. "Normally eavesdroppers would need to spend some effort extracting this sort of information from the latitude/longitude history typically discussed in location privacy analysis. But even when networks seem less identifiable, there are ways to look them up".
 
Google is aware of the issue and an employee has already submitted a patch to wpa_supplicant that fixes the issue and explained that it is working out whether it needs to make changes to Android to make it more secure.
 
"We take the security of our users' location data very seriously and we're always happy to be made aware of potential issues ahead of time. Since changes to this behavior would potentially affect user connectivity to hidden access points, we are still investigating what changes are appropriate for a future release,” read a statement from the company.
 
In the meantime, which could take a while, the EFF has advised Android device owners to turn off the "Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep" mode even though it leads to an increase in both data usage and power consumption.
 
Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.
 
~ Jamie Hinks

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Smartphone wars shift from gadgetry to price

New Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphones are seen on a display at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona February 23, 2014.

 
(Reuters) - The mobile phone industry is now looking to the fast-growing demand for smartphones priced at $100 or below as the market for fancier high-end devices has become saturated, but not all handset makers are able or willing to trade down.
 
Much of the talk this week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the industry's biggest annual trade fair, has turned from the latest big screen, premium-priced devices to the new, entry-level smartphones that analysts say now overwhelmingly represent the industry's best hope for growth.
  
"All the phones now look the same," said industry analyst Ben Wood of CCS Insight after surveying the eight vast halls of phones and other mobile gadgets on show.
 
"The ability of top brands like Samsung, Apple and Nokia to differentiate themselves is getting harder," he said.
 
Growth in global smartphone shipments will fall sharply this year and keep slowing through 2018, with average prices dropping significantly as the demand shifts to China and other developing countries, market research firm IDC said earlier on Wednesday.
 
So now phone makers are touting new, low-cost devices which are intended to retail at near $100 or below. This class of device has some but not all the features of the current top end smartphones, which sell for several hundreds of dollars and until this year drew nearly all the media attention and marketing spend at Barcelona.
 
Early leaders in this new market are Chinese players, some with global brand names and others who remain virtually unknown outside China, who have made huge strides in acquiring the technical and design expertise that enables them to now drive down the costs without necessarily sacrificing quality.
 
The biggest winners so far look to be Huawei , Lenovo, TCL Communications and still unfamiliar upstarts like Gionee, Oppo and CorePad that are poised to become big international names in the coming years, said Wood.
 
All benefit from having a home field advantage in China, the world's largest phone market.
 
NOKIA X
 
This shifting landscape has already forced Nokia, the former mobile world-beater now struggling to stay relevant, to adopt Google's Android software to gain entry to the low-end smartphone market, despite Android being an arch rival of Nokia's new-owner-to-be Microsoft. 
 
Launching the 89-euro ($120) Nokia X, Stephen Elop, chief executive of the Finnish group, called the sub-$100 range, "a massive opportunity" with that segment of the smartphone market now growing four times faster than the rest of the market.
 
Wood said Nokia's move spoke volumes about the pressures the whole industry was feeling.
 
"The cheaper end of the smartphone market has become such a big opportunity that, eventually, Nokia had to go to a rival software system -- Google's Android," he said, describing the move as "hugely controversial, but necessary".
 
The cheap stripped-down smartphones, which often sacrifice big screens, memory, and camera quality and have fewer novelty features such as fingerprint recognition, are designed to reach potentially billions of new consumers in emerging markets.
 
Smartphone sales last year overtook for the first time sales of so-called basic 'feature' phones, which focus on just calls and texts with a pared down Internet access, according to market tracking firm Strategy Analytics.
 
And IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo said smartphone sales in the sub-$100 category alone more than tripled to hit 159 million last year from 45.4 million in 2012. Sub-$50 smartphones grew even faster, up from just 900,000 in 2012 to 19.5 million last year.
 
COMPONENT SUPPLIES
 
However, this growth in demand is pushing up the cost of components, a surprising twist in an industry more familiar with falling material prices as technology evolves.
 
China's ZTE Corp, whose mobile business is aiming for 50 percent growth in shipments to 60 million phones this year, has seen the component supply crunch.
 
"All vendors face the challenge of the cost of key hardware components such as screen displays, memory and keyboards," said Qian Hao Lv, head of ZTE's device strategy. "These are crucial to differentiate one model from the next."
 
Nonetheless, Kan Yulun, another ZTE executive, said that the company was working on new technologies to drive the cost of smartphones down to $50 or below without compromising on quality.
 
"We will find tech solutions to reach the $50 price target by the end of this year," Yulun said. 
 
He said he often hears from telecom operators in Africa, who still sell lots of feature phones, that they were now hungry for smartphones but need prices to come down to below $50.
 
The head of the pack in the sub-$100 race is the Alcatel Onetouch brand owned by TCL. Its brightly-colored Idol family of phones have already proven a hit in Latin America and Europe and the firm launched two new phones for under $100 at the Mobile World Congress this week that can run on 4G mobile networks being rolled out in China, Brazil, and elsewhere.
 
But while many players are now chasing the lower end of the market not all are, fearing that stripped-down hardware features can only lead to a commoditized market where no one can differentiate and maintain a worthwhile profit margin.
 
Huawei, the world's third-biggest phone maker, prefers to aim higher by increasing the proportion of its phones that sell for 300 euros ($400) or more as opposed to the low-end it defines as under 150 euros.
 
"We are not interested in the sale volume of those low-end, low-priced phones," said Chief Executive Eric Xu.
 
($1=0.7317 euros)
 
~ Leila Abboud                          

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PC makers to rebel against Microsoft Windows at Consumer Electronics Show

 
Microsoft could find itself in a precarious position at the Consumer Electronics Show early next month in Las Vegas. That’s because a number of computer manufacturers are expected to unveil systems that can simultaneously run Windows and Google’s Android mobile platform according to two different analysts as reported by Computerworld.
 
Tentatively known as PC Plus, these machines will run Windows 8.1 as well as Android apps. Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies said the initiative would take place through software emulation and was being backed by Intel. He wasn’t sure what kind of performance could be expected but it is their way to try and bring more touch-based apps to the Windows ecosystem.
 
Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, independently said there were three possible implementations that could be used including dual-boot, software emulation or some type of virtualization-based solution. Either way, it would certainly make buzz at CES as OEMs will be trumpeting it.
 
It’s a desperate move by OEMs but as the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures. Manufacturers have seen the PC business shrink in size over the last couple of years as sales of smartphones and tablets have cannibalized the once-thriving industry.
 
If true, it’ll certainly be interesting to see how the initiative plays out. One scenario could see manufacturers move away from Windows for mobile devices like notebooks, instead opting for a true mobile OS. It’s no secret that Microsoft is working to further optimize Windows 8 to better meet the demands of all users but there’s still a lot of work left to be done.
 
~ Shawn Knight

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Apple unveils iPad Air, new Macs for holidays

Apple makes ripple, not splash (2:21)
 
Oct. 22 - Apple unveiled its new lineup of products for the holidays - including a new slimmer and faster tablet called the iPad Air. 
 
~ Bobbi Rebell

(Reuters) - Apple Inc on Tuesday offered free upgrades for life on its operating system and business software, and unveiled thinner iPads and faster Mac computers ahead of a competitive holiday shopping season.

The debut of the one-pound iPad Air and MacBook Pro with sharper 'retina' display repeats a pattern of recent launches with improvements in existing lines rather than totally new products, and Apple shares fell 0.3 percent for the day. 
 
Apple said upgrades to its Mac operating system and iWork software suite, which compete with Microsoft Corp's Excel, Word and other applications, will now be offered for all MacBooks and Mac computers.
 
That brings Apple's model of free system software upgrades on phones and tablets to the computer market, where Apple is still the underdog to Microsoft's Windows.
 
Apple may be trying to safeguard its grip on mobile software as Microsoft revs up its Windows-powered Surface Pro, which runs applications, such as Word or Excel, that are the standard for business customers, analysts said.
 
"We are turning the industry on its ear, but this is not why we're doing it," Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook told media and technology executives at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center.
 
"We want our customers to have our latest software."
 
The market is awash in inexpensive tablets running Google Inc's Android software, but the company may be focused on fending off a threat from the high end.
 
"In the tablet PC market, they do think Microsoft is a bigger threat than Android," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi. "The iPad Air will compete with Surface Pro, not some rinky-dink Android tablet."
 
Gartner estimates that Apple's share of the global tablet market will slip to 47.2 percent in 2014, with Android-based tablets just overtaking Apple's this year. The IT research outfit expects Microsoft tablets to grab 3.4 percent of the market this year, double the 1.7 percent forecast for 2013.
 
PRESSURE
 
Microsoft gets 65 percent of its Windows revenue, which totaled $19.2 billion last fiscal year, from PC manufacturers which put the system on its machines, and 35 percent from other sources, chiefly people and businesses buying its software separately to install themselves.
 
The latest version of Windows, when bought separately to install on an old computer, starts at $120 for a home version and goes up to $200 for the full ‘Pro' version. The latest Windows 8.1 upgrade was free for customers running Windows 8.
 
Apple's product launches on Tuesday were evolutionary, with the new iPads equipped with faster processors and better screens. Cook, at an industry conference in May, had hinted at "several more game changers" from Apple which could include wearable computers, but had not given a time frame.
 
"As always with Apple, expectations on systematic breakthrough hardware innovations are irrational," said Forrester analyst Thomas Husson said. "Apple is good at inventing new products and at maximizing profitability of its product range over time through software innovations and clever marketing."
 
Apple's new iPad Air - its full-size tablet - is about 20 percent thinner than the previous generation of tablets, weighs one pound and starts at $499. It will go on sale on November 1.
 
The iPad mini now has a "retina" high-resolution screen and starts at $399, compared with $329 for the previous mini model. The two new tablets would face stiff competition, with Microsoft, Nokia and Amazon.com Inc all plugging rival devices in coming months.
 
Apple also showed off a new Mac Pro, a premium and high-powered cylindrical desktop computer that will be assembled in United States. It had shown the computer at a previously event.
 
For the first, Apple will launch the new iPads simultaneously in the United States and China, its biggest market, which is also a key growth region.
 
Apple, which jumpstarted the tablet computing market in 2010 with the first iPad, has already come under increasing pressure from cheaper devices ranging from Amazon's Kindle Fire to Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's Note.
 
But while Apple is ceding market share to rivals, its superior library of apps and content should safeguard its lead for years to come, analysts say.
 
Longer term however, investors hope to see real device innovation from a company that has not unveiled a new breakthrough product in years.
 
Cook on Tuesday dismissed the competition as directionless. 
 
"Our competition is different: they're confused," he said. "Now they're trying to make PCs into tablets and tablets into PCs. Who knows what they'll do next?"
 
"We have a very clear direction and a very ambitious goal. We still believe deeply in this category and we're not slowing down on our innovation."
 
~ Poornima Gupta and Edwin Chan                       

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Samsung's Galaxy S4 emerges to do battle on Apple's home turf

(Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co premiered its latest flagship phone, the Galaxy S4, which sports a bigger display and unconventional features such as gesture controls, as the South Korean titan challenges Apple Inc on its home turf.

The phone, the first in the highly successful Galaxy S-series to make its global debut on U.S. soil, was unwrapped at Manhattan's iconic Radio City Music Hall on Thursday evening. Some industry watchers were clearly dazzled by its features, setting a high bar for Apple to surpass.

The S4 can stop and start videos depending on whether someone is looking at the screen, flip between songs and photos at the wave of a hand, and record sound to run alongside snapped still pictures. But other industry watchers said the phone would not upturn an industry that lives and dies by innovation.

The plethora of new features "are good steps in this direction, but they can be seen as gimmicks rather than game changers. At this point, Samsung appears to be trying to kill the competition with sheer volume of new features," said Jan Dawson, chief telecom analyst at IT research outfit Ovum.

"For now, Samsung can likely rely on its vastly superior marketing budget and the relatively weak efforts of its competitors in software to keep it ahead."

The success or failure of Samsung's latest flagship phone - the fourth in a brand launched in 2010 - will be pivotal in the world's biggest smartphone maker's battle against Apple and smaller, and key to that struggle will be phone differentiation.

Apple may already be feeling the heat.

Just a day before, marketing chief Phil Schiller blasted Samsung and the Google Android software in rare interviews given to Reuters and other select media, underscoring the pressure that the iPhone maker is feeling from its Korean mobile-phone nemesis.

The S4, which Samsung preceded with a marketing blitz that drummed up industry speculation reminiscent of some of Apple's past launches, will be available by the end of April and rolled out to 327 carriers in 155 countries, including U.S. service providers Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA.

"Samsung has fulfilled the promise of their marketing that they are the tech innovators. It remains to be seen whether it's overload for customers, whether they can really take advantage of all these features," said Forrester analyst Charles Golvin.

The S4 will use either Samsung's own applications processor or Qualcomm Inc's Snapdragon central processing chip, depending on the country. But the Korean company kept mum on exact dates and prices.

SAMSUNG HITS BROADWAY

Samsung took a slightly different tack with the S4's launch, using actors and a full live orchestra to present the smartphone's various features via a series of skits - as perhaps befitted its theatrical platform.

That marked a departure of sorts from the usual slick, high-wattage shows favored by rivals such as Apple.

Investors largely shrugged off the launch. Shares in Samsung were down 1.1 percent in a steady market in early Seoul trading on Friday.

The stock has stood little changed so far this year, while Apple's shares have tumbled 20 percent as disappointing sales of iPhones raised fears that its dominance may be slipping.

Apple's U.S. sales outstripped Samsung's for the first time in the quarter ending in December, even after Samsung spent a record $400 million on phone advertisements here last year.

While the global smartphone market's growth rate is tapering off, Samsung still derives the majority of its annual profits from Galaxy phones.

Samsung said the Galaxy S4 will sport a bigger 5-inch display than the S3's 4.8 inches. But because the new display will cover more of the phone's surface area, the device itself will be the same length and slightly narrower, thinner and lighter than the previous generation.

The newest features involve different options for navigation. For example, if the phone senses someone is looking at the screen, the user can tilt it forward or backwards to scroll up and down a Web page.

That feature falls slightly short of what some consumers may have expected after the New York Times reported that the phone would be able to scroll automatically by tracking readers' eyes.

But what it can do is sense when it has someone's attention. When a video is playing, for instance, the stream will automatically pause if the person glances away and it will restart when the eyes refocus on the screen.

This is an update on an existing Galaxy feature, which powers down the display if it senses no one's looking at it, conserving battery power.

The latest phone also has a sensor that lets users move their hands to the left or right to scroll between different websites they have opened or through songs or photos in an album without having to touch the phone.

The idea is to make it easier to change the song playing without having to pick up the phone while driving or to avoid putting sticky fingers on the touch-screen display while scrolling through a Web page at mealtimes.

The phone will also allow users to hover a finger over an email inbox or a photo gallery to get a glimpse of more details of what's in the email or which photos are in an album.

Another feature includes the option to automatically put a copy of details from a photograph of a business card into the phone's contacts database or call a number in the business card.

Samsung is also promising an instant translation between 10 different languages for certain applications, as well as a separate translation application on the device.

The device also has a 13-megapixel camera, compared with the S3's 8-megapixel camera.

"They kind of cherry-picked features that other competitors had, and then packed them up all together into one device," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.

"The story though is more about who Samsung is and where they want to be. It is clear today that they want to play in an ecosystem game, their own ecosystem. The word Android didn't come up once."

~ Sinead Carew and Miyoung Kim

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