PlayStation 3 lifetime sales reach 70 million units worldwide: Sony

Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) has announced that the cumulative sales of the PlayStation 3 have reached a milestone of 70 million units shipped worldwide as of November 4, 2012 – less than six years after the platform was launched in 2006. SCE also announced that sales of the PlayStation Move motion controller surpassed 15 million units worldwide as of November 11.

The PS3 has delivered award-winning entertainment experiences since its launch. Throughout its lifecycle, the PS3 system has evolved with a slimmer design, larger hard disk drive capacity, and new features through software updates. In September 2012, SCE launched the new PS3 system, which has a reduced volume and weight of more than 50 percent compared to the original PS3 model, and of 25 percent and 20 percent respectively compared to the slim PS3 model launched in 2009.

70 million units shipped

Along with the introduction of PS3 in November 2006, SCE launched the PlayStation Network, which now operates in 59 countries and regions around the world. PlayStation Network supports free community-centric online gameplay, exclusive games from independent developers and major publishers, and a broad range of entertainment applications across movies, music, and sports. PS3 owners can access 170,000 downloadable digital content including game content that numbers at 57,000 worldwide from PlayStation Network. In October 2012, SCE redesigned the PlayStation Store, offering a more streamlined and accessible store experience, including a new user interface, simple search, and content discovery.

PlayStation Plus, the subscription service package on PlayStation Store that offers exclusive benefits such as discounts on games or online storage for game saves, started to offer an 'Instant Game Collection' in North America and Europe in July 2012. The Instant Game Collection enables PS Plus members to enjoy popular titles from third party developers and publishers as well as SCE Worldwide Studios at no extra cost. SCE has also enhanced the content offering for PS Plus members in Japan in November.

Introduced in September 2010, the PlayStation Move motion controller that enables users to play games is now supported by a wide range of titles with more than 400 as of November 2012, including Sports Champions 2, Unfinished Swan (Sony Computer Entertainment). Additionally, this month marks the global launch of Wonderbook, a new peripheral that delivers the next evolution of storytelling and a unique experience exclusively on PS3. Wonderbook uses the PlayStation Eye camera to take augmented reality to new places, while drawing players into new worlds and allowing them to interact with stories as they tilt or rotate it, or simply turn the pages.

The PS3 has gained tremendous support from 3rd party developers and publishers worldwide. Cumulative number of software titles for PS3 reached 3,590 with more than 595 million units sold worldwide. In addition, software titles that support the cross platform feature such as LittleBigPlanet 2: Cross Controller Pack, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time are also expected to be released.

iPad mini worth $1.5 mn stolen in US

A total of 3,600 new Apple iPad mini tablet computers worth $1.5 million were stolen from the JFK airport in New York, the New York Post said.

According to lawa's enforcement sources, two people managed to enter the airport territory driving a truck and used one of the airport's own forklifts to load two pallets of the tablet computers into their vehicle.

The price point is higher than expected

They had to leave three more pallets behind when their actions were questioned by an airport worker, who had returned from dinner.

Investigators suspect an inside job and are currently questioning airport employees. The iPads had just arrived from assembly partners in China and were destined for locations around the US.

"Apple is known to be shipping out its first batch of LTE iPad minis this week, so it's possible this shipment was part of that rollout. If so, it's possible that means 3,600 expectant Apple fans are going to be disappointed, but Apple could also very theoretically redirect stock destined for store shelves to make up the difference," TechCrunch said.

Big Brands vs Small Brands – FIGHT! And the winner is… the consumer!

! It’s an insane feeling to walk into a mobile store toting no more than Rs. 10,000 in your pocket and walk out with a handset or tablet that not only resembles a top brand but has features that could give them a run for their money. I say, we need to put our hands together for the Micromaxes and Karbonns of the world who are trying to deliver, and almost delivering, quality low-priced smartdevice technology to the masses. 

Gone are the days when the market was injected with a shot of the Chinese mobile virus where the average Indian consumer was duped with daunting promises of phones that did everything for one third the price of a branded device. This was then followed by the plague of cheap tablet PCs that also made similar vows. Those cheap knock offs that bore shady semblances to high-end devices but performed in no manner akin to the originals served their purpose, in some ways. They succeeded in damaging our ears with unnecessarily loud speakers and even offered triple and quadruple SIM card support. Sure, there were a few here and there that managed to perform reasonably well, but with the boon of the smartphone, the consumers have gotten much smarter and the dumber phones are on their way out.

The age of the budget smartdevice has arrived and the mobile realm is seeing a fresh new logic that determines buying decisions. Don’t get me wrong, we’re still swamped with an unimaginable amount of ultra-cheap Android powered devices, which is both a good thing and a bad thing again. With so many choices, decisions get harder. But in the low budget segment, companies like Karbonn, iBall and the ridiculously named Wicked Leak, to name a few, have carved a comfy little niche for themselves. These manufacturers are able to create, market and develop devices in both the smartphone and tablet spaces that are every bit as capable of doing all that the Samsungs of the world can, with a few minor exceptions. All they need to focus on right now is maintaining a consistency of quality.

War of the brands

We’ve come a long way since the Olivepad and Andro A60 devices and we’re looking now at a new era in mobile computing. There’s plenty to choose from that won’t quite hit you in that tender spot (by that, I mean your wallet), making you reel in anguish from paying too much and getting so little. In the battle of the budget segment versus the big players, sparring is on and blows are going back and forth. Nokia, Samsung and now even Sony have started catering to the masses with low budget smartphone offerings. These branded devices, however, are equipped with low-res displays, low megapixel cameras, older OS versions (in some cases), and UIs that aren’t the most user-friendly. In the same segment, Micromax, Karbonn and iBall are managing to dish out handsets with displays almost twice as large, powerful processing speeds, higher resolution cameras and a slew of free apps that can be quite handy. They even avoid messy bloatware with add on UIs and stick to stock ICS. Some are already offering the latest version of Android, i.e. Jelly Bean, while big brands are still scrambling round to provide updates.

Each of the players in this competition have their own space, but it won’t surprise me one bit if the big players end up eating crow in the budget class. Devices like the Wicked Leak Wammy Note and the Micromax Superphone Canvas A110 will make them work real hard to stay on the top of India’s smartdevice list. And as the competition heats up, each player will be forced to bring their A-Game, making things even more interesting.

The game has changed and for the first time, the consumers are the winners.

Android adoption rate 6 times faster than that of iPhone: Research

An unexpected Internet trends report by KPCB partner Mary Meeker highlighted that Android adoption is growing at a rate that is six times faster that of the iPhone. If that wasn’t good enough news for Android users around the world, Meeker shared that the Google-owned platform raced ahead of even Windows to claim the title of the number one OS for Internet-enabled devices in Q1 2012, reports TechCrunch.

The numbers are not surprising if one were to consider the recent activity in the Android domain. Google-owned Android turned five this week. According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Android smartphone shipments worldwide reached 136 million units, accounting for 75 percent of the 181.1 million smartphones shipped in the third quarter of 2012. The 91.5 percent year-over-year growth was nearly double the overall market growth rate of 46.4 percent.

In the stats that Meeker shared, she made it clear that the iPad adoption rate was as much as five times that of the iPhone.

Android adoption 6 times faster than iPhone

Highlighting other parts of her research, Meeker shared that there will be one billion smartphone users by the end of 2012. The number of mobile phone users is projected to reach five billion by the end of 2012, depicting the burgeoning popularity of the phones of a cheaper variety. TechCrunch shares that as per Meeker’s figures in May, there were 953 million smartphone subscriptions and 6.1 billion mobile phone subscriptions, “though those count multiple subscriptions by the same person.”

Elaborating further about the presence of more Internet-enabled Android devices than Windows ones, Meeker shared that in Q1 2012, the former raced ahead of the latter. At the time, Android was at around 90 million units shipped per quarter. Meeker adds that by the end of 2013, there will be 160 million Android devices, 100 million Windows devices, and 80 million iOS devices shipped per quarter. Meeker soon concluded her presentation, but not before adding that by the end of Q2 2013, global smartphone plus tablet install base will be ahead of the install base of the PC.

Going further, the report shared, "Meeker concluded her presentation with a review of how various industries were being redefined, but first took a minute to review Mark Zuckerberg’s thoughts on mobile. Here’s what Zuck said in his letter to potential shareholders as part of Facebook’s S-1 to IPO:

We hope to rewire the way people spread and consume information…We think a more open and connected world will help create a stronger economy with more authentic businesses that build better products and services.

Meeker said the quote by Zuckerberg was a “very arrogant statement, but likely true and certainly a big idea.”"

Samsung: No settlement with Apple

A top Samsung executive said that the South Korean electronics giant had no plans to follow Taiwanese firm HTC in seeking a settlement over its patent disputes with arch-rival Apple.

SEOUL: A top Samsung executive said that the South Korean electronics giant had no plans to follow Taiwanese firm HTC in seeking a settlement over its patent disputes with arch-rival Apple. Samsung and Apple are currently embroiled in patent lawsuits in 10 nations including the United States and Germany, accusing each other of stealing design and technology.
HTC, which had been locked in similar suits with Apple around the world, announced Sunday that the two companies had reached a deal to end all outstanding litigation and sign a 10-year licensing agreement over patents.
"We have no such intention," JK Shin, the head of Samsung Electronics' mobile unit, told reporters when asked if Samsung would seek a similar settlement.
Samsung -- the world's top mobile and smartphone maker -- was ordered by a US jury in August to pay Apple $1.05 billion in damages for illegally copying iPhone and iPad features for its flagship Galaxy S smartphones.
It has appealed the ruling.
Since then, two separate rulings by courts in Japan and the Netherlands have dismissed Apple's claims of patent infringement.
Shin also said Wednesday that Samsung expected fourth-quarter smartphone sales to be as strong as the third quarter, when its newest Galaxy S3 device became the world's top-selling smartphone

Google: Indian government made 2,319 requests to modify content

Google on Tuesday said the number of government requests to hand over data from users or to take down web content rose in the first six months of 2012, extending a trend of recent years.
"This is the sixth time we've released this data, and one trend has become clear: government surveillance is on the rise," Google senior policy analyst Dorothy Chou said.
In the first half of 2012, Google received 20,938 requests for data from government entities around the world related to 34,614 accounts, according to the US tech giant's semiannual Transparency Report.
The number was up nearly 15 percent from the prior six-month period.
The largest number came from the United States, with a total of 7,969 data requests, Google said, adding that it complied in 90 percent of those cases.
Second on the list was India with 2,319 requests, with Google complying in 64 percent of the cases. The other top data requesters were Brazil (1,566), France (1,546), Germany (1,533) and Britain (1,425).
Google said official requests to remove content from Google pages spiked to 1,791 in the first six months of 2012, from 1,048 in the prior six months.
The figure includes court orders as well as requests from officials or police, Google said. The largest number of requests related to defamation, followed by privacy and security.
Other reasons for removal included impersonation, pornography, hate speech, copyright or national security.
Google said it complied with 52 percent of the requests in the latest six-month period.
Google also said that in some cases it received fake court orders for content removal and that each case requires an examination of "the legitimacy of the documents."
Google began the report in 2010, updating every six months as part of its effort to highlight censorship and promote openness on the Internet.
"We think it's important to shine a light on how government actions could affect our users," Chou said in a blog posting.
"When we first launched the Transparency Report in early 2010, there wasn't much data out there about how governments sometimes hamper the free flow of information on the Web."
Chou said the report "is only an isolated sliver showing how governments interact with the internet, since for the most part we don't know what requests are made of other technology or telecommunications companies."
"But we're heartened that in the past year, more companies like Dropbox, LinkedIn, Sonic.net and Twitter have begun to share their statistics too," Chou added.
"Our hope is that over time, more data will bolster public debate about how we can best keep the internet free and open."

Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7

The latest version of Microsoft's web browser, named Internet Explorer 10, is now available for personal computers running on the Windows 7 operating system.
The redesigned browser made its debut last month when Microsoft released Windows 8, which makes dramatic changes to an operating system that has been powering PCs for decades.
Internet Explorer 10 initially is being introduced on Tuesday to Windows 7 users in a "preview," or test, mode. The new browser isn't compatible with XP, Vista and any other older Windows version.
Although Microsoft is staking its future on Windows 8, far more PCs rely on Windows 7. Microsoft says more than 670 million licenses for Windows 7 have been sold since its release in 2009. Windows 8 is unlikely to approach that level of usage until at least 2014, based on analyst forecasts.
Desktops, laptops and tablet computers running on Windows 8 are sold with Internet Explorer 10 already installed. Those with older Windows versions will have to download and install the new browser separately.
Although Internet Explorer 10 is supposed to process web pages more quickly and smoothly than its predecessors, it may have limited appeal to Windows 7 users.
That's because Microsoft primarily designed Internet Explorer 10 for tablet computers and other devices, including a new breed of PCs that have touchscreen displays. Relatively few Windows 7 PCs can be controlled with fingers on a display screen.
Microsoft is hoping many website developers will download and install Internet Explorer 10 on their Windows 7 machines and see the browser's potential for making online services more compelling and dynamic. If that happens, more websites may include features that take advantage of Internet Explorer 10's full capabilities on the bevy of Windows 8 machines expected to be sold during the next year, said Ryan Gavin, Microsoft's general manager for the browser.
Internet Explorer 10's main purpose is to make viewing websites as enjoyable and convenient as using applications tailor-made for specific mobile devices.
For instance, when reading an article on a news site, users of Internet Explorer 10 can just swipe across the screen to continue reading the next page instead of having to scroll down to click on a link, as most browsers require. Microsoft also says games such as "Contre Jour" played on Internet Explorer 10 will work as well, or even better, than those packaged in applications.
Achieving that goal is crucial to Microsoft as it tries to make a bigger splash in the smartphone and tablet markets. It probably will take years before mobile devices running on Windows 8 boast as many applications as their competitors, giving Microsoft an added incentive to build a superior web browser. The mobile operating systems designed by Apple and Google each boast of more than 700,000 applications.
Microsoft also hopes Internet Explorer 10 can reverse recent trends in the web browser market. By some estimates, Google's Chrome browser has supplanted Internet Explorer as the world's most popular browser. Other research firms still assert that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used, although all measures show it has been losing market share to Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox and Apple's Safari.