Google resumes Glass sales in U.S.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Google Inc. is once again selling its Internet-connected eyewear to anyone in the United States as the company fine-tunes a device that has sparked intrigue and disdain for its potential to change the way people interact with technology.
The latest release of Google Glass comes a month after a one-day sale gave U.S. residents their first chance to buy the hottest accessory in geek fashion.
Google isn't setting a time limit for people to buy Glass this time, although the company is emphasizing that the product remains in its test, or "Explorer," phase.
As has been the case since Google began selling Glass to a select group in 2012, the device costs $1,500. It's only available on Google's website for now.
Glass, which comes in five different colors, looks like a pair of spectacles, except the Explorer edition doesn't contain any actual glass in the frame. Instead, the device has a thumbnail-sized screen attached above the right eye so a user can check email, see Twitter posts or get directions without having to grope for a phone.
Google is offering an option to add a titanium frame that can be fitted with prescription lenses or sunglasses from Maui Jim or Zeal Optics that can be clipped on. Google isn't charging extra for the titanium frame or sunglasses.
Google is planning to release a more polished version of Glass by the end of this year that may sell for less than the price of the Explorer version. Analysts believe the cost will have to come down dramatically if Glass is to become anything more than a novelty worn by gadget lovers and wealthy consumers trying to impress their friends.
The company hasn't provided a timetable for a mass-market release of Glass. More details could be announced next month at the company's annual conference for developers in San Francisco.
About 10,000 sets of the Explorer edition were initially sold to computer programmers, contest winners and other invitees. Google hasn't revealed how many more sets were sold in last month's one-day sale.
Big-screen smartphone shipments soar
LOS ANGELES -- When it comes to smartphones, these days bigger seems to be better.
Worldwide shipments of smartphones with screens measuring 5 inches or more soared 369 percent in the first quarter of 2014 compared with a year earlier, a growth rate substantially faster than that of the overall market. Worldwide, big-screen devices represented 34 percent of smartphone shipments, according to market research firm Canalys.
All told, worldwide shipments of smartphones totaled 279.4 million in the first quarter, up 29 percent from a year earlier. Android devices accounted for 81 percent of the total, followed by iOS (16 percent) and Windows Phone (3 percent).
Among smartphone brands, Samsung was the leader with 31 percent of the market, ahead of Apple at 16 percent.
China was the world's largest smartphone market, accounting for 35 percent of shipments. The United States had 12 percent.
"The trend is unmistakably toward larger-screen handsets at the high end of the market," Canalys analyst Jessica Kwee said. She noted that Samsung had a 44 percent share of devices with displays of 5 inches or more.
"Consumers now expect high-end devices to have large displays, and Apple's absence in this market will clearly not last long," she said. "Apple plainly needs a larger-screen smartphone to remain competitive, and it will look to address this in the coming months."
Microsoft to sell Xbox without Kinect
SEATTLE -- A few months ago, Microsoft talked about Kinect, the motion- and voice-controlled sensor for the Xbox, as an integral part of the company's video game plans.
The sensor has just become a lot less essential. Last week, Microsoft said it would introduce a new entry-level Xbox One console without the Kinect, at $100 less than the current version that includes the sensor.
The less-expensive console, to be released in June for $399, will match the price of Sony's PlayStation 4, which has been beating the Xbox One in sales since the two devices went on sale in November.
The move appears to be an acknowledgment by Microsoft that its original vision for Xbox One was too ambitious for many gamers. With Kinect, Microsoft could boast that dance games on its system could be controlled with footwork and a swishing of the hips. A microphone in the sensor let people change television channels with voice commands.
Many gamers deemed those features superfluous, though, especially at a $100 premium over Sony's system. The vast majority of games are played with the more conventional controller that also comes with the Xbox One.
The company said more than 80 percent of its Xbox One customers were actively using Kinect, using an average of 120 voice commands every month to operate each console.
Even without Kinect, Mehdi said, the Xbox One would still have a technological edge over the PlayStation in many regards. People can still plug a cable television box into the console so that the Xbox One can be used to control a television. Rather than voice commands, people without Kinect will have to use the joysticks and buttons on their Xbox One controllers, or a remote sold separately.
Sony says it has sold more than 7 million PlayStation 4s to consumers. Microsoft says it has sold 5 million Xbox Ones into retail channels.
-- The New York Times
U.K. satellite firm offers to track planes
LONDON -- Inmarsat Plc, a provider of global mobile satellite communications services, said it will offer free basic tracking services for planes flying over oceans in the hope of preventing another event like the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
The British company said last week that the service is being offered to all 11,000 commercial passenger aircraft already equipped with an Inmarsat satellite connection -- most of the world's long-haul commercial fleet.
"This offer responsibly, quickly, and at little or no cost to the industry addresses in part the problem brought to light by the recent tragic events around MH370," Inmarsat CEO Rupert Pearce said.
The Boeing 777 with 239 people on board was en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8 when it disappeared. The plane automatically sent signals to a satellite belonging to Inmarsat after the plane's transponder and its communication systems had shut down -- but researchers were unable to find the plane before the batteries in the black box flight recorder shut down.
Inmarsat Plc, which made its offer ahead of a conference in Canada on aircraft tracking, said it anticipated the adoption of further safety measures following the loss of MH370. The International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN agency, held a special meeting Monday in Montreal to look at the global tracking of airline flights. ICAO was expected to come up with a number of recommendations by the end of its meeting Tuesday.
Inmarsat Plc customers now include airlines, broadcast media, oil and gas companies and aid agencies who use hand-held satellite phones, laptop size Internet devices and antennas linked to the company's 10 satellites to communicate.
Report: Apple to add split screen to iOS 8
LOS ANGELES -- Multitaskers, rejoice: Apple is reportedly planning on adding a split-screen feature to the iPad that will allow the tablet to run two apps at the same time.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based tech company will introduce the feature in iOS 8, the next version of its mobile operating system that is expected to be announced at next month's Worldwide Developers Conference, a report states.
The split-screen feature was reported by 9to5Mac, a technology news site known for frequently and accurately reporting on upcoming Apple products and features before the tech giant officially announces them.
With the multitasking feature, Apple iPad users would be able to run two apps at the same time while holding their tablet in the horizontal, landscape mode. The feature would work on the large 9.7-inch iPad, but it is unclear if it would also be functional on the smaller iPad mini, according to 9to5Mac.
Apple could not be reached for comment to confirm the split-screen feature, but if the company does introduce the ability to run multiple apps on the same screen, it will be following the footsteps of rivals Microsoft and Samsung.
Both Microsoft and Samsung have pitched their tablets' multitasking features to professionals, telling customers that the ability to run more than one app at the same time allows them to be more productive. For example, on these tablets, customers can copy and paste content from one app, such as a Web browser, into another, such as an email app.
Apple may be hoping to do the same with its own split-screen feature.
-- Los Angeles Times
Apple boosts share in Japan markets
Apple Inc. boosted its share of the Japan mobile-phone market to more than a third after the country's largest wireless carrier started selling the iPhone.
Apple boosted iPhone shipments in Japan to a 36.6 percent share of the market in the year that ended in March, up from 25.5 percent a year earlier, according to Tokyo-based MM Research Institute Ltd. The Cupertino, Calif.-based smartphone maker shipped 14.43 million phones in Japan the past fiscal year, the researcher said.
Apple, which struck a deal in January with China Mobile Ltd. to sell iPhones in the world's largest market, is trying to recapture customers from Samsung Electronics Co., which has boosted global market share over the last four years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. NTT Docomo Inc., Japan's largest wireless carrier by subscribers, began offering iPhones in September as it seeks to stem losses to competitors including SoftBank Corp.
Total Japan mobile-phone shipments will decrease 4.3 percent to 37.7 million units for year starting April, according to MM Research Institute.
After Apple, Sharp Corp. shipped 5.14 million mobile phones for 13 percent share, and Sony delivered 4.84 million handsets for a 12.3 percent share of the Japan market, according to the researcher. Samsung was No. 6 with a 5.7 percent share, the researcher said.
Monday Business on 05/19/2014