Mobility Techzone Week in Review

This week brought us some news on the general tablet front. First, though it may seem hard to believe it appears that there may be a slowing down by consumers to buy tablets. This comes to us by way of a new Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) report, “CEA’s Consumer Outlook on Tablets: Q3 2013,” which looks at consumer tablet behavior from April to June 2013. CEA claims that tablets faced a relatively stagnant second quarter in 2013, after several quarters of strong growth. This may be true but our own perspective is that most consumers are now simply waiting for the next generation of models to appear - especially the new iPads from Apple.

Meanwhile, IDC points out that mobile access is quickly growing on a global basis. Make of that what you will. Strategy Analytics, meanwhile, has released new research that shows Android as the overall tablet market leader relative to shipments for Q2 2013. Specifically, Android accounted for 67 percent of worldwide shipments in Q2, with iOS tablets - including the full-sized iPad and the iPad Mini - declining to 28.3 percent from 47.2 percent a year ago. What the report fails to take into consideration is that the Android devices don't make their manufacturers very much money - Samsung is nowhere to be seen relative to how profitable iPads are for Apple - it's not about generic marketshare - it is about maximizing revenue and profit that matters.

This week Hewlett-Packard did something a bit strange - it released a new Android tablet, another in its slate models, the SlateBook x2 - but contrary to any sane marketing practices HP has decided to refer to its new SlateBook as a "PC." The new device is not unlike Microsoft's Surface tablets - it features a detachable keyboard. The very odd thing here is that HP has added the PC moniker - we're not sure why it would do such a thing. It isn't a Windows machine (though of course that isn't a perquisite for calling something a PC) and has no real PC attributes. You have to wonder about HP - with PCs in decline and generally having a negative connotation why would they not simply call it an Android tablet?

Keeping in mind all these Android tablets that are now shipping, we also still need to keep in mind that Android malware continues to pose a significant threat to its many users. For example, hackers have uncovered a new "master key" exploit in Android.  The exploit was actually first discovered and reported by Bluebox, which notes that it is possible to change an app’s code without changing its signature! Normally this should not actually be possible. The flaw that hackers have managed to take advantage of has allowed them to install the virus that is being known as Android.Skullkey. User beware!

Appthority, meanwhile, is a company we rely on to give us a good overall sense of the secyrty and privacy of mobile environments. It has now issued its "Summer 2013 App Reputation Report" and the news, generally speaking, is not good. Not only is the Android ecosystem still rife with security issues but Appthority has also uncovered that a lot of iOS apps are also designed to potentially exploit users. Nor does it matter if users download free or paid apps - the dangers exist within both. User beware!

A new report from IDC's Manufacturing Insights group finds that enterprisers are looking to ensure that their own apps are as secure as possible. To do this more and more businesses are turning to the use of their own internal App Stores for workforce use. It's a good idea!

The week was not without "gadget" news. A new teardown of the new Google Nexus 7 tablet demonstrates that there is a lot of good news for potential buyers. Among them, the tablet has wireless charging - which is not a feature most tablets boast yet. And the tablet is apparently designed in a manner that makes repairs easy. We've yet to ever need to send a mobile device of any sort in for repair (in our case dating back to 1993!) but if you are accident prone, the Google Nexus 7 may be the right machine for you.

Some folks who like to dig around the innards of operating systems, meanwhile, have come across some code inside of iOS7 that clearly supports biometric devices and offers the ability to take advantage of biometric capabilities. Some among us have jumped the gun here and are now suggesting that this is proof positive that the next iPhone will have a fingerprint scanner. We're not convinced. Unless Apple has some awesome new way to do fingerprint scanning by way of the display screen itself, is anyone aware of any leaked information that shows any sort of fingerprint scanning hardware capability? We're still hedging our bets - we just don't think the capability will show up this year - though perhaps Apple has managed to renew its ability ti misdirect us on hardware leaks.

Finally, Google and Motorola Mobility have at long last delivered on the new, "designed and built in America" Moto X super smartphone. It is customizable to the max and offers some nifty features - but will it be a market success? Hard to say, but likely it won't bother Samsung or Apple on the sales front. Google, meanwhile, is said to be working on an Android universal translator, which will likely find its way to the Moto X. No doubt Google will also push it out to the general Android community, which would make Samsung's universal translator either a competitor or simply dead wood going forward. We'll see.