Analysts cut Q2 profit forecasts as the LG G4 under performs
The LG G4 may be an excellent flagship smartphone, but it seems that industry observers are a little concerned about how many units LG will be able to sell. Various analytic and security firms have downgraded their second quarter profit forecasts for LG as sales of its latest flagship may be lower than initially thought.
At launch, the LG G4 had been expected to sell eight million units in 2015, meaning that around 2.6 million G4s would need to be sold in each remaining quarter of the year. However, second quarter shipments are expected to come in at less than 2.5 million units for Q2, meaning that actual sales will be even lower than that. This is a rather poor result for the flagship’s first quarter on the market. Last year’s LG G3 sold 5.9 million units in its first year and LG was hoping to beat this target by 20 at least percent.
There are several possible reasons as to why LG G4 sales may be lower than initially expected. Pricing could be a factor, as could the lack of major differences from last year’s G3. It’s also possible that LG’s promise of another higher-end flagship later this year has resulting in potential customers deferring their purchases.
In addition to under performing sales, LG has also seen its marketing expenditure increase this quarter. The company has been pushing the G4 as a serious competitor to the Galaxy S6 and Apple’s iPhone, but this additional advertising is going to come at the expense of some profits. Combined with lower than expected sales, we can begin to see where the analysts are coming from.
Perhaps there wasn’t a large enough difference between the G3 and G4 to drive early sales?
In terms of figures, Daishin Securities and Korea Investment & Securities have lowered their forecasts for LG’s Mobile Communications Division to 56 billion won ($50.7 million) and 68 billion won ($61 million) from 102 billion won ($92.3 million) and 115 billion won ($104 million) respectively. NH Investment & Securities has dropped its expectations to 64 billion won (US$58 million) from 95 billion won (US$86 million) as well.
More on the LG G4:
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The consensus seems to be that LG’s operating profit will fall somewhere in the region of 60 – 65 billion won, which would be a decline from its first quarter profit of 73 billion won (US$66 million) and Q4 2014 profit of 86 billion won (US$78 million).
However, this isn’t to say that LG’s entire smartphone business is performing poorly. Just yesterday LG said that it would invest a substantial $155 million into India and could even set up production there if the company gains enough market share.
Instead, it looks like LG is suffering from some form of slowdown in its high-end market. Any ideas why?
The Kickstarter-backed world’s thinnest watch project has been shelved
Crowdfunding has given hope to many companies looking to introduce new products to shake up existing markets and while many have gone on to be inherently successful, some just quite haven’t made the cut. Two and a half years ago, a company called Central Standard Timing launched their own Kickstarter project, looking for $200,000 in funding to create the world’s thinnest ever watch.
Prynt smartphone case instantly prints out photos, now on Kickstarter
Sounds great, right? There’s just one slight problem: almost two years after the company’s Kickstarter campaign was successfully funded, there’s still no watch and the company has pretty much given up any hope of ever delivering these watches. The company has canned the CST-01 watch after running into numerous production problems and pretty much running out of money.
Watches in video:
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The company has fallen out of favour with its chosen manufacturer (Flextronics) after apparently deciding the company didn’t know how to work with a small startup, although one of the company’s Kickstarter updates suggests the manufacturer wanted them to sign a contract that prevented them from providing any updates on the production process. Either way, the company hasn’t said it’s given up on the project but an update with its financials shows it has pretty much exhausted all of the money raised from Kickstarter and its own website pre-orders.
The CST-01’s unique design offered a flexible watch (not a smartwatch) with an E-Ink display that was less than 1mm thick but ever since meeting its $200,000 target in just 5 hours and going on to raise over $1 million from Kickstarter, the company has faced numerous problems. From a key battery supplier going bust – and being replaced by a supplier who made poor quality batteries – to numerous parts that were DOA, several redesigns and the damning realisation that the actual product would cost double the amount pledged to actually make, the latest update on Kickstarter pretty much confirms they’ve given up.
The company is still trying to find a way to bring the product to market but with over $1 million needing to be raised just to fulfil the pledges and pre-orders and investors seemingly unwilling to provide this, it seems unlikely you’ll ever get your watch. The company is also considering whether to sell all of its assets and inventory to (partially) refund backers or alternatively, make the project open-sourced so you can make the watch yourself (if you have the means and knowledge to do so).
When Kickstarter & Indiegogo funding go wrong
Whatever happens to the company now, it’s an unfortunate lesson for almost 8,000 people who backed the project on Kickstarter and while a few people have actually received their watches, thousands will be left without anything to show. This project was an early indication of the power of crowdfunding but while others have been extremely successful – the Pebble Time and 3Doodler are great examples of this – the CST-01 will forever be a reminder that you’re backing someone’s dream and there’s no guarantee you’ll get your reward.
No Samsung Galaxy Note Edge will be announced this year, Galaxy S6 Edge Plus to blame?
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Due to the success of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and its dual-curved cousin, the Galaxy S6 Edge, we had assumed that Samsung would be releasing a similarly dual-curved display device at IFA 2015 alongside the inevitable release of the Samsung Galaxy Note 5. However, a rumour has come out today to say that no Samsung Galaxy Note Edge will be announced this year, which is surprising indeed if true.
That said, the absence of a Note Edge variant in September could very well have to do with the release of the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, which has yet to be officially announced by Samsung, but with its rumoured release coming in a matter of weeks, its presence would be a logical reason why a Note Edge variant doesn’t make much sense. For those wondering, the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus is rumoured to be a 5.7-inch version of the Galaxy S6 Edge. Of course, we have to take this news with the ever-present grain of rice, but really we won’t know what is actually up until September.
What do you think about no Samsung Galaxy Note Edge being announced this year? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
The post No Samsung Galaxy Note Edge will be announced this year, Galaxy S6 Edge Plus to blame? appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Epson’s smart glasses are for tech-loving mechanics
For the mall-pounding public, smart glasses are a hard sell. The combo of dorky looks and, well, lack of actual need has strangled the few attempts to commercialize them. Epson (of printer fame) thinks trade and industry is where the market/money is, and is adding another smart headset to its professional-friendly range. The Moverio Pro BT-2000 (yah, really) is based on Epson’s existing BT-200 model, with a more rugged design and a juicier specification. This time around, Epson is tempting engineers with a 5-megapixel stereo/3D camera with depth sensing, head tracking and support for augmented reality, like if Dickies made HoloLens.
Factories and workplaces of the near future, at least those with the BT-2000, would have engineers sharing what they are doing, beaming images directly to other headsets for remote viewing — be it for training or remote support (thanks to WiFi and Bluetooth conenctivity). Or, working on a tricky motor, with the schematics or next step right there in your peripheral vision. The Android-based software also adds scope for custom applications, plus there’s support for voice control. There’s no word on price, so we can’t say if there’s scope for consumers to consider them as an industrial-strength alternative to Google Glass (stranger things have happened). We’ll also have to wait until the autumn release to see if the big world of business bites too.
Filed under: Wearables
Elephone P9000 may be the first 10 CPU core smartphone
Mumblings from China are suggesting that the first 10 CPU core smartphone could be the as yet unannounced Elephone P9000. According to the source, the handset will feature MediaTek’s Helio X20 SoC and is rumored to have a launch date scheduled for this October.
Back in May, MediaTek officially announced its deca-core Helio X20 chip for mobile, which features a tri-cluster CPU configuration of two heavy duty ARM Cortex-A72 cores clocked at 2.5GHz, a medium performance quad-core Cortex-A53 group clocked at 2.0GHz, and a further power efficient quad-core A53 group clocked at just 1.4GHz.
The Helio X20 caused a bit of a stir after its launch, with many questioning the performance, energy consumption and even the theoretical multi-core use cases of MediaTek’s latest design choice. Anyone still unsure on the subject should have a read of our latest dissection of the octa-core Exynos 7420. The more sceptical also wondered if this is just a marketing gimmick by MediaTek and we’ll have to wait and see if the chip can live up to its promises.
Regardless, the X20 chip isn’t just about squeezing more CPU cores into small gadgets. It also comes with a GPU from ARM’s latest high-end Mali-T880 generation, supports Category 6 LTE data speeds, and can manage dual image sensors or a single sensor up to 34MP. According to the rumor, Elephone will be making use of many of these high end features for the P9000. The X20 is to be built on a 20nm manufacturing node, meaning that it will be smaller and more efficient than MediaTek’s previous 28nm designs.
The Elephone P9000 smartphone is expected to arrive with a 5.5-inch 1080p display, 4GB of RAM, a 20.7MP front facing camera and 8MP rear camera. The handset is also rumored to feature a 3,100mAh battery, 32GB of internal storage with microSD card slot, and dual-SIM compatibility with 4G, making it a competitive high-end design.
The P9000 could cost around $500 upon release and is expected to launch in various regions on October 20th. What do you think about this rumor?
Sony Xperia C4 arrives in the US via Amazon
Back near the beginning of June, Sony began shipping out its new Xperia C4 smartphone to various countries around the world, but the US was sadly left off of the launch scheduled. Fortunately, the international version of the handset just has shown up on Amazon US.
Much like the HTC One E9 and M9+ just last week, third party retailers have set-up shop at Amazon to import the Xperia C4 into the US. The smartphone can be purchased for $379 in your choice of white or black.
The Sony Xperia C4 features quite reasonable specifications, including a 5.5-inch 1080p display, octa-core MT6752 SoC, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal memory with microSD support, and a 2,600mAh battery. The smartphone is touted as the “world best selfie phone” and comes with a 5 MP front camera with a wide-angle lens and soft LED flash, alongside a more standard 13 MP main camera on the back. There’s also Android Lollipop on board by default.
Again though, the big drawback is that these imported smartphones won’t work with 4G LTE in the US, regardless of the carrier, because of the modem. The C4 should still work just fine on GSM networks in the US, including as AT&T and T-Mobile, but it would be best to double check your carrier against the bands below.
- 2G bands GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
- 3G bands HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
Is anyone out there planning to pick one up, or is the lack of LTE support a deal breaker?
Asteroid Day seeks to find a way to protect our planet
NASA has recently teamed up with the National Nuclear Security Administration to look into the possibility of using nukes to save the Earth from serious asteroid threats. Both organizations have been studying the option for quite some time — they ran computer simulations in the past, and NASA has even designed a nuke-equipped interceptor years ago — but now they’re exploring the possibility together. They’re particularly concerned about huge “dinosaur killers” measuring 164 to 492 feet in diameter and will most likely deploy weapons only if humanity’s threatened by rocks that big. To put that in perspective, when a 60-feet, 7,000 ton asteroid crashed in Russia in 2013, it burned and blinded people despite being relatively small. The agencies’ deal was closed just in time for the first Asteroid Day on June 30th.
The event was founded in December and supported by Richard Dawkins, Bill Nye, Chris Hadfield and Brian May (an astrophysicist whom you might know better as Queen’s guitarist), among many other scientists. It aims to raise awareness about asteroids and to bring brilliant minds together, in order to conjure up ideas on how we can protect our planet in case an asteroid heads our way. After all, sending deep-sea oil drillers to space will likely only work in a Hollywood movie. Some scientists want to send an asteroid-monitoring observatory to space called Sentinel, others are developing different methods, such as using sunlight to obliterate parts of a particularly huge rock.
NASA’s and NNSA’s plan to send nukes to deflect asteroids is another possibility, but we’re sure some scientists like Purdue University’s H. Jay Melosh would “like to see it as a last-ditch option.” Several locations in the US, Canada, the UK and other places around the world are holding events for Asteroid Day. Make sure to check the official website if you want to participate in any of them.
[Image credit: Elenarts/Getty]
Filed under: Science
Via: PopSci
Source: The New York Times, Asteroid Day
Humble Bundle has over $50 on Android games supporting charity
Humble Bundle has released their BulkyPix Mobile Bundle. For a limited time you can bulk up and save big time on some great games by leading app developer BulkyPix. You can also feel good knowing that you’re supporting charity.
For $1 get the following games:
- Type:Rider
- Meltdown – Premium
- iPollute
- Pretentious Game – Lovers Edition
If you pay more than the Humble Bundle average you will also get:
- Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf
- Corto Maltese
- Twin Blades
- Dark Lands – Premium
- Aby Escape – Deluxe
- Orborun
- Jazz: Trump’s Journey – Premium
As with all of their bundles, proceeds can be divided up between Humble Bundle, the developer, and charity. You decide who gets how much. The supported charity in this bundle is the Prevent Cancer Foundation. To date they have raised over $60 million for various charities.
Should you chose to purchase this bundle, you can download the apks directly from their website or by using their mobile app. All games in this bundle are available DRM-free exclusively for Android. Some games may have minimum device requirements in order to run properly. For more information, please check the full system requirements here.
So if you want to save some serious money and support charity, then make sure and click the link below.
Humble Bundle BulkyPix Mobile Bundle
Founded in 2008 and with offices near Paris and San Francisco, BulkyPix is a leading developer and publisher of video games and apps.
The post Humble Bundle has over $50 on Android games supporting charity appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Facebook will recognize you in photos where your face is not showing
Facebook’s facial recognition blows me away every single time I see it at work. Some of us love it, as it makes it an easy task to tag all your friends and get on with your life. On the other hand, some people hate that Facebook knows so much about them. Well, get your tin foil hats ready, guys, because things are about to get a lot more interesting. Soon Facebook will no longer need to see your face in order to recognize you in images uploaded to their servers.
Facebook’s artificial intelligence lab has put together an algorithm that can scan a photograph and look for many other physical clues, hence being able to know who you are even when you are not showing your facial features.
“There are a lot of cues we use. People have characteristic aspects, even if you look at them from the back. For example, you can recognise Mark Zuckerberg very easily, because he always wears a gray T-shirt.” -Yann LeCun, head of artificial intelligence at Facebook
Facebook tested this with almost 40,000 images taken from Flickr. These photos showed some people’s faces, but many other subjects had their faces turned away. This algorithm is impressive, to say the least. The system was able to recognize people with an 83% accuracy, which is simply stunning.
It makes complete sense for Facebook to improve their recognition technology in this manner. After all, it’s something us humans do all the time. I can recognize most of my friends even when they have their backs completely turned to me. The algorithm will probably take into account body features, hair, clothing and other factors.
The social network is also currently pushing Facebook Moments into the market. This photo-sharing service revolves around Facebook’s power to recognize you and your friends. The app scans your phone for photos and allows you to easily share them with your friends (those the app recognizes in your images). It’s Facebook’s easy way to take care of image sharing, and odds are it will also adopt Facebook’s new algorithm at some point.
I can’t deny this all sounds a little freaky, but I am not really trying to hide from the internet. This will offer very convenient features for Facebook users. What do you think, though? Are you comfortable with Facebook implementing such extreme identity recognition practices? Let us know in the comments below!
Time Warner Cable faces net neutrality complaint
Time Warner Cable has made history by being one of the first (if not the first) broadband providers hit with a net neutrality complaint. Virtual server and streaming media provider Commercial Network Services (CNS) has submitted its grievances against TWC to the FCC, claiming the company is violating net neutrality’s “no paid prioritization” and “no throttling” sections. In its complaint, the company said TWC only gives it access to congested traffic routes and refuses to deliver its content through low-latency connections — that is, unless it pays up.
TWC told The Register and The Washington Post that it does have free arrangements with operators “who exchange high volumes of traffic at multiple locations and where there is a mutual exchange of value,” but unfortunately, CNS doesn’t quality for the same deal. CNS has only filed an informal complaint for now, but it might file a formal one in the future. TWC, on the other hand, remains confident that the FCC will take its side. A spokesperson told The Register:
TWC’s interconnection practices are not only ‘just and reasonable’ as required by the FCC, but consistent with the practices of all major ISPs and well-established industry standards. We are confident that the FCC will reject any complaint that is premised on the notion that every edge provider around the globe is entitled to enter into a settlement-free peering arrangement.
You can read the full complaint right here to decide for yourself.
Filed under: Misc
Via: Broadcasting & Cable
Source: FCC (Scribd)
AIVAnet 