02.07.14

Android Watch: Android/Linux Endorsed Again by Apple’s Co-founder

Posted in Apple, GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft at 6:59 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Time is running out as Apple’s share slides

Summary: A lot of Android news from the past week, focusing to some degree on the effect on Apple and Microsoft

WOZ (Steve Wozniak), who is best known for his technical role in the early days of Apple (he is not a marketing charlatan like Steve Jobs), has just made headlines [1,2] because he wants an Android phone from Apple. This is not the first time that Wozniak is publicly endorsing Android. Apple must not like it.

It is evident that Android is taking over many areas, some of which Apple really craved (television, watches and so on). Now that there is Android consolidation [3,4] and some old FUD becomes obsolete, there is increased focus on Android at LG [5] (which Apple imitated when it made its first iPhone) and the Nexus 5 runs on LG hardware too [6,7], making a highly affordable phone like much of the Nexus series (subsidised to a degree). At MWC 2014 almost everything was Android based [8] and the growth of Android benefits/improves greatly the presence of Linux on the Web (client side [9]). It’s not just about tablets and smartphones anymore. Android is now growing on desktops and all sorts of devices [10,11], including embedded ones [12]. Replicant is maturing [13], providing a freer and more privacy-respecting version of Android, perhaps obviating the need for a Linux-based Android counterpart [14]. Android has so many powerful apps [15,16] and such a huge developers base that other OSes try to latch onto (Sailfish for sure, maybe even Firefox OS and Tizen). Even Nokia, led by Microsoft, is trying to lean Android’s way [17] (going further than what Wozniak suggested). The reality of the matter is, Android is doing huge financial damage to Apple [18] and to Microsoft’s operating systems monopoly [19].

It oughtn’t be too shocking that Microsoft and Apple increasingly turn to the USPTO and ITC, trying to simply ban Android devices or at least tax them. Recently, a patent troll which Microsoft passed patents to did some serious damage to Google and as TechDirt put it, “Company That Does Nothing May Get Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars From Google” (it should be noted that the one thing this company did was get patents from Microsoft).

To quote the article: “The patent system is completely broken. Towards the end of 2012, we wrote about how a patent troll named Vringo, using some patents (6,314,420 and 6,775,664), had won a lawsuit against Google. Vringo was a failed ringtone company that had bought those highly questionable patents from the failed search engine Lycos and then sued basically everyone who ran a search engine. Microsoft agreed to settle (with a bizarre stipulation promising to pay 5% of whatever Google finally had to pay), while Google agreed to indemnify a bunch of the others that were all using Google’s search under their own. The jury found that Google’s AdWords product infringed, and gave an award much lower than what Vringo had asked for.”

What’s missing from this analysis is the passage of patents from Microsoft to Vringo. There is a world war against Android, which has pretty much taken over the world. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Steve Wozniak wants an Android Phone from Apple

   Now, Wozniak wants Apple to work with Google and make Android iPhones. He says,“We could compete very well. People like the precious looks of stylings and manufacturing that we do in our product compared to the other Android offerings. We could play in two arenas at the same time.”

2. Steve Wozniak thinks Apple should build an Android smartphone

   Yes, folks, this is real life. In an interview with Wired, at the Apps World North America conference, Steve Wozniak revealed his belief that Apple should create a phone using Google’s Android operating system. According to him, “There’s nothing that would keep Apple out of the Android market as a secondary phone market … We could play in two arenas at the same time.” As Wired’s Mat Honan notes, the idea of such a handset wouldn’t be technically impossible, but anyone who’s familiar with the Apple of today knows that the chances of this actually happening are slim to none.

3. Jelly Bean spills onto 60 percent of Android devices

   Analyzing Google Play data from the seven days ending Tuesday, Google’s Android developer dashboard pegged Jelly Bean’s collective reach at about 60.5 percent. Breaking down those beans, 4.1.x held the highest share with 35.5 percent, followed by 4.2.x with 16.3 percent and Android 4.3 with 8.9 percent

4. Android users running old OS versions? Not anymore, say latest stats

   On the contrary, fully 62.5 per cent of all Android devices are now running any of the three “Jelly Bean” iterations or “KitKat,” the brand-new version of the OS that launched last Halloween.

5. Sprint Announces LG G2 OTA Update Enabling Sprint Spark Bands And The Accompanying Spinning Status Bar Icon

   Sprint’s mobile data is typically not the first, or the second, or even the third to come to mind when looking for a zippy connection in the US, but the company is looking to change this impression with its new tri-band LTE network, more memorably known as Sprint Spark. Unfortunately, only a limited number of the carrier’s phones are able to take advantage of this new capability, with some of them requiring an OTA before they’re ready. Today Sprint has announced that the LG G2′s update is on its way.

6. The Red Nexus 5 is here in all its glory (Edited)

   In a released a statement, LG stated; “The Nexus line has always been about doing things differently and consumers who share this philosophy have been among our most loyal fans,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “We’re carrying this thinking over to the red Nexus 5, which we think will catch the eye of consumers who want to make an even bolder statement.”

7. Google Nexus 5 vs. Apple iPhone 5s

   The Nexus line, which evolved from a developer’s device to a premium phone, is now a serious threat to iPhone. But, the consumers don’t care about the smartphone wars as much as we do. For them, it’s a lingering question as to which phone to invest their hard-earned money into given that both devices offer spectacular features. So, if you’re confused as to which smartphone to buy, here’s a quick comparison between the two giants.

8. MWC 2014: What gadgets to expect at this year’s show

   After launching the super slim Huawei Ascend P6 all the way back in June 2013, the Chinese company may use MWC to showcase the Ascend P6S.

9. Cambodia Is Rapidly Freeing Itself From Wintel

   Cambodia is an emerging market and that other OS is sinking into oblivion pretty rapidly. “8″ is already swamped by Android/Linux, XP too, and “7″ is sliding rapidly. There is just no way for Wintel to keep up with sales of small cheap computers. In January 2013, the entire share of page-views counting desktops, notebooks, tablets and smartphones was 64.4% Wintel. Now, it’s 51.7%. That’s a 20% per annum decline. The tax is too prohibitive. Bundling the OS with the hardware doesn’t hide anything when there’s competitive hardware and software in the market. The positive feedback that locked the world into Wintel is now pushing the world away from M$. A similar pattern is emerging in Malaysia, Indonesia, India, and many other regions although less dramatic. It’s all good.

10. MOTA smartwatch goes on sale for $50 at Groupon

    Next week, the price of the MOTA returns to $80, which, considering the prices of other smart watches, is still a steal of a deal. At the moment, the MOTA does not support third party apps like the Pebble or the Gear but it will pair with your Android or iOS device over bluetooth, which is more than we can say for the Gear (the Gear only pairs with certain Samsung devices at the moment). The watch vibrates to notify users of incoming calls and can display the caller’s ID or the incoming number. As is expected, one may control media playback on a phone or tablet using the watch.

11. Streaming speaker has built-in Android touchscreen

    Auris, which already sells an $80 “Skye” WiFi music receiver and a $50 “FreeDa” Bluetooth receiver, is now prepping an Android 4.2.2-based portable combination speaker and media-streamer called Wily. The Wily device is launching today on Kickstarter with pledges set at $149 for the 8GB version and $168 for the 16GB model, and will eventually move to a retail price of $239 and $269, respectively, once the funding round is over. The devices are set to ship in June.

12. Can Android Challenge Embedded Linux?

    A line should be drawn between true embedded Linux distros and Android’s solitary distro adapted for embedded consumer functions, said Suse’s Matthias Eckermann. He does not see Android going into enterprise areas involving integrated systems. “With flexibility, Android is one stack and one purpose. That is not the case with a full-fledged embedded Linux used for multiple purposes.”

13. Fully Free Android ROM Replicant Advances to Jelly Bean

    The Replicant project, which builds open source Android ROMs, has reached a major milestone in releasing its first Android 4.2 (“Jelly Bean”) version. Replicant 4.2 adds support for the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and improves security, among other enhancements. Replicant is part of a larger movement to develop more open source smartphones, including the SHR mobile Linux OS project and the Fairphone and Neo900 hardware/software projects.

14. Will Android lose market share to other versions of mobile Linux?

15. Keep Tabs on Income and Expenses with My Expenses for Android

    There are several traits that set My Expenses apart from the myriad of other expense tracking apps for Android. Firstly, My Expenses is an open source app, and it’s available on both Google Play Store and F-Droid. More importantly, though, the app strikes a perfect balance between functionality and ease-of-use.

16. 10 cool Android apps to start the year

17. Nokia X (Normandy) specifications reveal entry-level Android phone

    We have been hearing rumours about an alleged Android-powered Nokia device for a long while. Until now we just had few random pics of the device codenamed Nokia Normandy. Our trusted source @evleaks has however managed to provide us with some idea about the internal specifications we can expect.

18. Apple Results Q4 – Wow this was far worse than I thought…

    Ok then we have Apple (Samsung released Q4 numbers on Friday but as usual, they didnt’ give us their smartphone number other than the total smartphone shipments were up.. I am projecting over 90M but lets see what the big analyst houses count for our number in early February)

19. Will Android PCs finally destroy Windows on the desktop?

    Android is going to become popular with home and SOHO users. It’s going to enable all those users who love Android on their tablets and smartphones to enjoy the same apps on their desktops.

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