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Oonagh Reidy

Google Light: SolarCity Here We Come!

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Captain Planet: Internet powerhouse is turning into a green power machine.”Imagine sitting on your patio watching the sun’s rays pass overhead, knowing that they power your home with clean energy,” declares Google.

The search giant is investing $280 million to help fund SolarCity projects, a third party company which encourages use of solar energy to power their homes and buildings.

But far be it for Google to stay on the sidelines and it has ” launched a partnership to offer SolarCity services to Googlers at a discount,” it said yesterday.

 “This is our largest clean energy project investment to date and brings our total invested in the clean energy sector to more than $680 million.”

And tear up your power bills, Googlers as this will “cost less than what you would have paid using just the grid,” it added.

SolarCity’s “innovative” financing model covers installation and maintenance of the system over the life of the lease, “prepay, or pay nothing upfront after which requires monthly solar lease payments.

The search engine has already invested in several large-scale renewable energy projects, announcing multimillion investments in wind farms in the US states of California and Oregan already this year.

“We think “distributed” renewable energy (generated and used right at home) is a smart way to use solar photovoltaic (PV) technology to improve our power system since it helps avoid or alleviate distribution constraints on the traditional electricity grid.”

 

Google engineer Michael Flaster has been using the solar system at his Menlo Park, Calif. since March of this year.

Red Alert: LG Stumbles $366M As Smartphones Flop

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Don’t call us, we’ll call you is what consumers appears to be saying as LG falls into loss making territory in Q3 with extreme failure to garner momentum in the smartphone sphere. The South Korean giant posted net losses of 414 billion Korean won or US$366 million, blamed on its crumbling phone business, although display business also recorded losses.


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This compared to $8bn loss just a year ago for the third largest phone maker in the world. The figure also marks the first loss of the year under new vice chairman Koo Bon-joon, appointed in October last year.

Operating loss of 31.9 billion won or US $28.18 million were also reported by LG, yesterday.

Q3 sales for 3D TV maker were US $11.4bn on the back of poor  display sales and consumer electronics due to the poor global economy dampening demand.

Average selling prices also dropped. 

And despite LG being among the top Aussie TV brands, LG’s Display as well as Electronics and Inotech divisions all closed to losses this quarter.

Recently, LG announced a powerful dual core 1.5GHz processor  4.5″ Optimus LTE in its native Korea although many analysts feel it is too little too late in a world dominated by other Android carriers like Samsung, HTC as well as the iOS iPhone. 

As an Android carrier, LG sits as a midrange handset but failed to keep apace with the success of its rivals, despite the droid’s 550K new add-on users a day.

Its mobile communication unit  saw operating losses slip further and the cumulative deficit incurred by LG smartphones was 991.3 billion won (876 million dollars).

4G Ahoy

LG are now putting all their eggs into the next generation 4G LTE technology and 3D smartphones, believing “the situation will turn in our favor once the market for 4G LTE phones matures. We are ahead of our rivals in LTE patents and technology.”

It released its 3D Optimus here in last August.

LG CEO Koo Bon Joon says his company will also push 3D and smart televisions a swell as its Optimus smartphones in the fourth quarter and expects heavy discounting to be a common theme among vendors over the holiday season.

Some analysts appear to think LTE could lead the way for the Optimus maker: “The problem was the delayed release of mid-price smartphones following Optimus One. If LG succeeds with its Optimus Net and premium long-term evolution (LTE) phones, its earnings can jump immediately,”Lee Sun-hak, an analyst at Mirae Asset, said.

 

However, others are less convinced, blaming their lack of swift response to competitors like Apple and Samsung, in particular this quarter when Apple’s iPhone 4S was released was a fatal mistake.

“LG was slow to embrace the smartphone market, and they are still having a hard time correcting the mistake,” said Lim Han Eui, a telecommunications consultant at ROA Consulting in Seoul.

“There has been nothing particularly special about their phones. They need to develop their own colour and identity.”

HP Slumps Q1 In ‘Post-PC’ Era

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HP licks its wounds after yet another sluggish quarter as its PC, software and enterprise businesses slump, although it beats analyst expectations. 
Hewlett Packard first quarter to Jan. 31, 2013. net revenue fell 6% to $28.4 billion (down 4% when adjusted for currency effects), although the results beat analyst expectations.

The No. 1 PC maker’s net income fell 16 percent to $1.23 billion, earnings also fell 12% to $1.6bn.

Revenue in its Personal Systems division, which includes its desktop and notebook business, was down 8%. PCs were down 5%, overall Notebooks slumped 14%, although Desktops did rise 10%.

Whitman admitted “there’s still a lot of work to do to generate the kind of growth we want to see, our turnaround is starting to gain traction as a result of the actions we took in 2012 ” which included cost cutting and laying off staff.

And lets not forget troubled HP was quick to throw a dig at rival Dell who last month went private warning:

“Dell has a very tough road ahead,” and “with a significant debt load, Dell’s ability to invest in new products and services will be extremely limited,” HP said.

The PC giant pledged “plans to take full advantage” of the changes at Dell, and poach its customers.

HP Printing revenue declined 5% year over year, software was down 2% year over year

First quarter non-GAAP diluted earnings per share slumped 11% to  $0.82, down 11% from the prior year, but was above forecasted $0.68 – $0.71, which was due to” improved execution, improvement in our channel and go-to-market efforts”

 

“Our primary focus is to deliver on the full year outlook, and I feel good about the rest of the year,” said HP CEO Meg Whitman.

“We’ll be bringing a number of new programs and disruptive innovations to market in the coming quarters,” she promised.

“For HP, it’s a multi-year journey and this is just one step,” Forrester analyst Frank Gillett told Reuters “They have a long road ahead.”

Company shares rose 5% after the news.

Telstra’s Slap On Wrists After Privacy Leak

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Watchdog gives telco a slap on the wrists after it leaked over 500,000 BigPond customer details online.


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Telstra has been ordered to comply with the privacy clause in the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code after a privacy breach of 734,000 Big Pond customers personal details in 2011.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (AMCA) direction, handed down today, is the first given to a telco under the new Telco Code, after the watchdog found Telstra failed to protect the privacy of thousands customers’ personal details after a database was accidently leaked online.

The Australian Privacy Commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim, found that Telstra failed to protect the personal information of users in his damning report, published in June last.

Telstra “failed to protect the privacy of its customers’ personal information” by leaking usernames, passwords, and in some cases, addresses, drivers licence numbers and dates of birth online, the Privacy Commissioner’s reports found. 

The telco also breached the Privacy Act 1988 and “did not take reasonable steps to protect customers’ personal information from unauthorised access and disclosure.”

Big Pond users personal info was stored on Telstra’s web-based database Visibility Tool, which tracks orders for bundled products, and was publically available for almost 9 months from 29 March to 9 December 2011.

The link to the database was first discovered by a Whirlpool forum user in December last.

 

“Given Telstra has pro-actively taken steps to remedy its processes with a view to preventing such an incident from happening again, a direction with respect to the specific code provision is the appropriate measure,” said ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman.

Telstra must now comply with clause 4.6.3 of the Telco Code, and failure to do so may result in the ACMA taking Federal Court action and a hefty fine.

Under 4.3.3 of the Telco Consumer Protections Code, a service provider must protect the privacy and storage of Customer’s personal information from unauthorised use or disclosure. 

Happy Birthday iPhone! Cult Is 5

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5 years ago no one heard of an iPhone, Androids were robots and everyone was still clinging to Nokia’s.


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Today, “iPhone” the device with a cult following (cue crazy queues, midnight vigils and general hysteria for new device), is owned by millions around the globe.

“This revolutionary device set the stage for explosive growth in the smartphone market, drastically changing the complexion of the mobile industry and,the entire digital landscape in just a few short years, ” said analysts comScore marking the 5th anniversary of the launch of the first GSM iPhone back in June 29, 2007.

In July ’07, barely 9 million Americans owned a smartphone – today nearly 110 million claim ownership to one and by the end of the year  will become the new mobile majority and most likely the same for most developed countries.

Marketing savvy Apple has sold over 100 million iPhones since that fateful day back in ’07, when it was released to the masses having been unveiled by CEO Steve Jobs the previous January.

Soon after, Google owned Android followed suit after with its answer to Cupertino’s smart mobile technology and everyone from Samsung to HTC and even Nokia realised the future was smartphones.

Its last few quarter to April has seen Apple break all living records selling a massive 35.1 m devices -an 88% jump and sold 37 m the prior period, one of its biggest numbers yet

Read: Apple V Android: “Two Horse Race” STILL On

The original iPhone released accounts for just 2% of current iOS smartphones, with new generations making the original “virtually obsolete”, says comScore’s and has introduced five different versions of  the cult device, since then.

Nearly 3 in every 4 Apple iOS uses are on iPhone 4, which accounts for the largest share at nearly 40%, and the newest model 4S, released in October.

“As the iPhone reached critical mass and gained wider consumer adoption ….iPhone owners, too, have evolved,” says comScore analyst Sarah Radwanick in a blog.

So who are iPhone owners in 2012?


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Image: comscore

In 2007, over 60% were owned by young males and were an elite bunch (almost half had incomes of $100,000 or greater).

But this is changing as now ownership between men and women is almost equal – 53% v 47%.

The biggest ownership by age is still 25-34 category at 46%, but the youngest and oldest age groups also lay claim to many an Apple phone and users aren’t even that wealthy anymore (despite iPhone often hefty pricetag attached).


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iPhone owners earning $50,000-$75,000 represent the fastest growing income segment, and now account for nearly 1 in every 5 owners.

 

Today, iOS ranks as the No. 2 smartphone platform in the U.S. after Android, commanding 31.9 percent share of the market with its 35.1 m iPhone owners in May.

“With consumer adoption on the rise and the continued integration of new, innovative technologies, we can only imagine what the next five years will bring,” says Radwanick

“But despite how quickly leadership positions can change in this market, something tells me that iPhone will still be blazing new trails into the future…”

And she’s probably right. But who knows what iPhone 5 will bring….

Telstra + SAP Deal With Accenture

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SAP will now be ran from Telstra’s cloud
Telstra and SAP have announced a new deal with Accenture,to provide a suite of hosted solutions to enterprise and government.

As part of the agreement, Telstra will provide SAP licensing, network, and storage infrastructure, while Accenture will manage system integration, migration, maintenance and help desk services.

Telstra have already had a partnership deal with SAP in play.

The locally hosted SAP solutions can be delivered to Telstra customers from its cloud infrastructure.

The alliance allow customers access expanded capability and is delivered through a single, integrated, end-to-end service model from a secure cloud environment, Telstra said today.

Enterprises and government agencies that want to achieve business agility and cost management through the cloud, will be able to migrate their existing on-premise SAP environments to Telstra or build new SAP systems into a fully managed private cloud.

State of the art mobility and analytics functionality are being jointly developed through this alliance, Telstra said.

Mark Pratley, General Manager Cloud Services, Telstra Enterprise & Government, noted that the partnership was part of Telstra’s $800m investment in cloud services.

“These new solutions will provide the ability for customers to move SAP into the cloud in a simpler, secure and scalable manner from a single, reliable source.

“Both Telstra and Accenture will continue to innovate and develop more hosted SAP solutions that will significantly reduce the cost of ownership and a new way to deliver business applications.”

 

“SAP’s cloud strategy is fundamentally centered around helping companies of all sizes to effectively leverage cloud computing according to their needs,” said Jeremy Goddard, Head of Business Solutions and Cloud, SAP Australia and New Zealand

“This agreement with Telstra will provide customers with the options they need when choosing to move to a cloud environment by delivering flexible cloud offerings.”

Samsung Plan Rough ‘N Tough “Galaxy S4”

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Its a toughie: After releasing a nice shiny version, Samsung Galaxy 4 is getting tough.

The phone king is rumoured to be producing rugged “Galaxy S 4 Active”, that will be dustproof and waterproof, reports WSJ. 
However, it wont be as slim as the 5″ Galaxy S 4, dubbed “life companion” launched in Australia last week, and will be bulkier and primed for hard knocks. 

The phone maker, which now accounts for one in three phones shipped globally, is also said to be planning a “Galaxy S 4 Mini” with a  4.3″ display and an 8″ Galaxy Tab, to be launched this year. 

Tab Uprising: Microsoft To Unveil Samsung Windows 8 Tab Next Week – Reports

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Look out Android and iOS, there’s a new tab player in town. But how big a player Microsoft Windows for tablets is, codenamed W ‘8’, will be revealed by Windows President Steven Sinofsky to developers next week.

But the big surprise, is the fledgling OS will be demoed on a Samsung tablet, no less. 

The Korea Economic Daily reports Windows 8 have partnered up with Android darling Samsung to run its tab on the platform, citing ‘sources.’  

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The Korean giant is no stranger to the Microsoft OS and already runs a smartphone on Windows Phone 7, although for the most part is an Android devotee. 

“This new product manufactured by Samsung will be the company’s first collaboration with Microsoft in its hardware devices,” AFP reports citing sources. 
Samsung have declined to comment although this break-away from Google’s platform began last week, when it announced several new handsets running its home grown Bada platform. 
And Sinofsky will be looking to get this gamble on tabs right – Windows 8 will have much catching up to do with already ubiquitous iOS which runs top selling iPad, and Android Honeycomb, which Samsung, Asus and Toshiba tabs all operate.
Windows 8 for tablets will be related to the Windows Phone 7 software, characterised by the tile interface that ties in all of communication tools on the user interface, with regular updates. 
But although a late entrant, the software king may not have missed the boat on tablets, still a growing category and Microsoft definitely has a large enough user base, particularly among business users – one of the main consumers of the portable PC. 
“Windows 8 is about reimagining Windows, so we took on the challenge to improve the most widely used desktop tool (except maybe for Solitaire) in Windows,” wrote Microsoft in a recent blog posting. 
Read Microsoft Windows 8 Tablet To Steal iPad Sales From Apple Here
 “Fast, fluid and dynamic, the experience has been transformed while keeping the power, flexibility and connectivity of Windows intact,” is how head of Windows Experience, Julie Larson-Green charachterised the upcoming OS. 
 

There is no other news about other possible carriers jumping into bed with Microsoft, although we have heard it may launch its own branded slate. 


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But with just 30,000 applications compared to Android 250K and Apple 400K-odd, Microsoft will be looking to seriously impress developers with its tile brainchild and lure them to the platform. 

All will be revealed at Microsoft BUILD annual conference which kicks off next Tuesday 13-16 September.