Carrier IQ, Samsung, And HTC All Facing Class Action Lawsuits

To say that Carrier IQ has been going through a lot is a bit of an understatement, and it looks like things are only getting worse. PaidContentreports that two class action lawsuits — one from Missouri and the other from Illinois — have been filed against the Mountain View-based company for supposedly violating the Federal Wiretap Act.
They’re not the only ones either: handset manufacturers HTC and Samsung have also been named as defendants in one lawsuit each.
For those that have missed the drama until now, Carrier IQ is a “mobile intelligence” firm that provides logging software for carriers and devices OEMs for use in their devices. Carrier IQ claims that they deliver information “on the performance of mobile devices and networks to help the Operators provide optimal service efficiency,” but Android security researcher Trevor Eckhart discovered that CarrierIQ was capable of tracking data that’s more fine-grained than what would be expected for simple diagnostic feedback.
The lawsuits allege that the defendants “intercepted, recorded and collected information concerning the substance, purport, or meaning of the electronic communications transmitted without the authorization of the parties to those communications.” Carrier IQ (obviously) doesn’t agree with this statement; they issued an updated statement last night that states the software “does not record, store or transmit the contents of SMS messages, email, photographs, audio or video.”
And what is it that the plaintiffs of these class action suits want? Cold hard cash for all users who have Carrier IQ’s logging software installed on their devices. The text of the Missouri suits filing calls for Carrier IQ and HTC to pay statutory and punitive damages that would reach into the millions.
Meanwhile, Carrier IQ continues to deny that they have violated any laws — according to the company’s updated media release, “Carrier IQ is aware of various commentators alleging Carrier IQ has violated wiretap laws and we vigorously disagree with these assertions.”
To wit, one of those commentators was Senator Al Franken (D-MN), who yesterday called on Carrier IQ to answer a number of questions regarding what they are and aren’t able to monitor on users’ devices. It seems like Carrier IQ’s claims of being beholden to the whims of the carriers has struck a chord with the senator, as he also issued the same set of questions to AT&T, Sprint, HTC, and Samsung. Senator Franken has given each company in question until December 14 to issue a response, and we’re looking forward to seeing what they come up with.
Strangely, none of the carriers involved were named in either of the lawsuits, though I expect that will soon change. If you want to find out if you your device has Carrier IQ installed on it, check out our article on how to find it and what to do with it.
Source:http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/02/carrier-iq-samsung-and-htc-all-facing-class-action-lawsuits/

Switched On: HTC goes back to the feature

Motorola's Droid RAZR takes enough pages out of the classic textbook of smartphone differentiation to assemble its own chapter. It sets a new standard for thinness in LTE devices, uses leading-edge display technology, resists flexing, glass breakage and water damage, has a striking design and thoughtfully selected materials, stretches battery life, matches with a bevy of optimized accessories, and enables remote file and media access via Motocast software . Who's it for? Just about any Verizon customer willing to pony up.
Its rival HTC has also long played the one-upsmanship game. It has invested in a software layer designed to have populist appeal. Moreover, it has catered to US carriers' priorities by being first out of the gate to support T-Mobile's 3G network (with the first Android phone, the G1) and Sprint's and Verizon's 4G efforts, as well as one of two to initially support AT&T's LTE network.
And the work has paid off. At its recent introduction of the Rezound, the company crowed that it had been named the best-selling smartphone brand in the US in Q3 and that it was the leader in 4G smartphones. (The NPD Group, my employer, supports the second claim but not the first.) HTC also noted that it had cracked the Interbrand 100 list of best global brands after only five years of brand promotion. The company's "partner" Beats Audio, in which the handset maker has invested hundreds of millions of dollars, also drenched its benefactor in praise. This was followed by expected statements of support from Verizon and Best Buy, which will sell the Rezound.
HTC may thus be losing the battle to be "quietly brilliant." However, one aspect of its marketing campaign on which it seems to be overdelivering on is the focus on "you," a word that merited its own slide early in the Rezound's unveiling. Unlike the tour de force of the Droid RAZR, the Rezound is the second recent HTC smartphone to have a loosely defined yet thoughtfully targeted user or specialty. Whereas the plum-coated HTC Rhyme was aimed toward fashion-forward consumers looking for a lifestyle-management handset, the Rezound -- with its Beats Audio tuning, bundled Beats headphones and high-definition display -- is focusing on a multimedia entertainment experience, one clearly anchored in music.

In some ways, this approach recalls the heyday of feature phones, ironic given that HTC has the least history in those devices among major smartphone OS licensees. In contrast, Sony Ericsson, for example, long emphasized "imaging phones" borrowing the Cyber-shot brand and "music phones" with the Walkman label. Smartphones raised the bar for these and many more tasks, apparently rendering such focus irrelevant since apps could make any smartphone capable jacks-of-many-trades.

But like all retro phenomena, the nod to the past does not exactly recapture it. HTC's approach is not as strictly defined by features. Even the music-centric Rezound has continued an emphasis on higher-quality imaging features recently extolled by Apple and Nokia. The targeted smartphone is more about persuasion than purpose, with HTC's crafted customers a hybrid of specific demographics, behaviors and personality.

HTC's tailoring may not be noticed or appreciated by its intended audience and, in any case, two phones do not a strategy make. Yet, as smartphone saturation continues to grow in the US and app libraries clear a baseline of selection and quality, many of these devices have become rungs of specifications in manufacturers' chosen ladders of operating systems. In an age when more people than ever can afford a smartphone, new opportunities may lie in recognizing that it's no longer just about how much smartphone one can afford.

Source:http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/27/switched-on-htc-goes-back-to-the-future/

China Beats U.S. In Q3, Becomes Largest Smartphone Market By Volume

While smartphone adoption continues to pick up steam here in the U.S., new research from Strategy Analytics shows that China is hungrier for smartphones than we are. For the first time ever, China has pulled ahead of the United States in terms of the number of smartphones shipped.
Those expecting a huge blowout may be a bit disappointed by the results: while 23 million smartphones were shipped in the United States during Q3 2011, China squeeked by with nearly 24 million units sold. With that, China has become the world’s largest smartphone market by volume. Given that China has the most cell phone users in the world, it may not come as a huge shock, but companies looking to break into the mobile space have yet another reason to consider China carefully.
Strategy Analytics also took a look at the manufacturer break down, and for the most part the winners are who you would expect. The two top vendors in the United States are HTC and Apple, who together account for almost half of all smartphones sold in the country during Q3. Meanwhile in China, Nokia and Samsung take the top two spots, with each company accounting for 28.5% and 17.6% of the market respectively.
Nokia in particular had a good quarter in China, as they shipped more units (6.8 million) than anyone else. The big question for Nokia is whether or not that momentum will continue once they complete their transition to Windows Phone. Microsoft has been eyeing the Chinese market for a while now, and their forthcoming Tango version of Windows Phone is reportedly meant to break into China and other emerging markets.
China’s smartphone boom also helps explain why their app downloads have gone through the roof; recent data from Flurry indicates that China is also experiencing a huge uptick in the number of apps downloaded, although the existence of multiple independent app stores certainly doesn’t hurt.
Manufacturer market share is great, but what I’d really like to see is a breakdown of mobile OS usage. Strategy Analytics Director Tom Kang notes that the Chinese smartphone surge is thanks in large part to “the aggressive subsidizing by operators of high-end models like the Apple iPhone, and an emerging wave of low-cost Android models from local Chinese brands such as ZTE.” I would imagine that those low-end Android devices are beginning to supplant the feature phone as the device of choice for first-time users, but Apple’s smartphones enjoys considerable popularity (even if many of them are being used unofficially).
Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/23/china-beats-u-s-in-q3-becomes-largest-smartphone-market-by-volume/

China Beats U.S. In Q3, Becomes Largest Smartphone Market By Volume

While smartphone adoption continues to pick up steam here in the U.S., new research from Strategy Analytics shows that China is hungrier for smartphones than we are. For the first time ever, China has pulled ahead of the United States in terms of the number of smartphones shipped.
Those expecting a huge blowout may be a bit disappointed by the results: while 23 million smartphones were shipped in the United States during Q3 2011, China squeeked by with nearly 24 million units sold. With that, China has become the world’s largest smartphone market by volume. Given that China has the most cell phone users in the world, it may not come as a huge shock, but companies looking to break into the mobile space have yet another reason to consider China carefully.
Strategy Analytics also took a look at the manufacturer break down, and for the most part the winners are who you would expect. The two top vendors in the United States are HTC and Apple, who together account for almost half of all smartphones sold in the country during Q3. Meanwhile in China, Nokia and Samsung take the top two spots, with each company accounting for 28.5% and 17.6% of the market respectively.
Nokia in particular had a good quarter in China, as they shipped more units (6.8 million) than anyone else. The big question for Nokia is whether or not that momentum will continue once they complete their transition to Windows Phone. Microsoft has been eyeing the Chinese market for a while now, and their forthcoming Tango version of Windows Phone is reportedly meant to break into China and other emerging markets.
China’s smartphone boom also helps explain why their app downloads have gone through the roof; recent data from Flurry indicates that China is also experiencing a huge uptick in the number of apps downloaded, although the existence of multiple independent app stores certainly doesn’t hurt.
Manufacturer market share is great, but what I’d really like to see is a breakdown of mobile OS usage. Strategy Analytics Director Tom Kang notes that the Chinese smartphone surge is thanks in large part to “the aggressive subsidizing by operators of high-end models like the Apple iPhone, and an emerging wave of low-cost Android models from local Chinese brands such as ZTE.” I would imagine that those low-end Android devices are beginning to supplant the feature phone as the device of choice for first-time users, but Apple’s smartphones enjoys considerable popularity (even if many of them are being used unofficially).
Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/23/china-beats-u-s-in-q3-becomes-largest-smartphone-market-by-volume/