Vodafone Smartphone Domino Machine

Now Google Android caught in EU antitrust crosshairs

European Union regulators are in preparations to challenge Google's Android mobile operating system after an investigation of the company's Internet search practices, which lasted for almost four years.

Reuters cited two sources that said the case being prepared will focus on whether Google's Android is abusing its 80 percent market share for the promotion of its own services over those from the company's competitors.

Any company that manufactures mobile devices is allowed to use Android for their products. However, mobile phone makers that seek to use the latest version of the mobile operating system are required to pre-install a minimum number of services by Google on the devices.

The European Commission has accelerated its investigation on the case recently, with questionnaires being sent to participating companies that are looking for more details compared to the past questionnaires sent in 2011 and 2013.

The said questionnaires asked the respondent companies whether Google requires that there will be no pre-installed apps or services on mobile devices that are in direct competition with Google apps or services such as the company's search engine, maps and app store.

Respondent companies are also requested to submit all e-mail messages, faxes, letters, phone call and meeting transcripts, and presentations related to such agreements with Google to as far back as the year 2007, suggesting that the Commission is seeking to learn if Google's actions have been long-term. 

Respondent companies are given until early September to accomplish the questionnaire and submit all requirements.

A spokesman for outgoing competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia said that the commission is searching for evidence relating to "undue restrictions to competition."

"Our preliminary investigation concerning the Android ecosystem is ongoing. We continue to gather information. We are looking into whether there are undue restrictions to competition in this area," the spokesman said. 

The upcoming challenge on Android will add to the regulatory issues that the company is facing in Europe, which accounts for over $30 billion in digital advertising expenditures in 2013.

The Commission will likely begin its formal probe on Android once the investigation on whether Google ranks its own services at a higher position compared to services of rivals in search results is completed.

Google is also involved in the implementation of the "right to be forgotten" ruling enforced by the European Commission, which allows people to request Google and other search engines to put down links for content that the people don't want to be found when searching online.

Ocean Tales Android GamePlay Trailer (HD)

Easier Ways to Make Payments With Smartphones

AT this point, smartphones are practically permanent attachments to our hands. But that quickly changes the moment you need to pay for something at a store and you take out a credit card.

The idea of using your phone as your wallet — for storing payment methods and even swiping, scanning or tapping it to pay at the checkout register — is a long-promised future that has been surprisingly slow in coming. Multiple technologies exist for mobile payments, but there is no clear winner and a lot of chaos.

“Mobile payments, it’s been the next big thing for three or four rounds of next big thing,” said James Wester, the director of global payments research at IDC Financial Insights. “I would say we’re probably still three to maybe five years away from seeing mobile payments really common, with most of us using it.”

But recently, several new products and services have been released that could make mobile payments more convenient and worth trying. Before you dive in, though, it’s best to have a map of this complicated landscape.

Amazon introduced an experimental app this month that lets people store gift cards and loyalty cards from a variety of retailers and check some balances on Android phones and Amazon devices. You can display the gift cards as a bar code or QR code (that odd checkered square on many products now) so that it can be scanned at a register.

So far, you can’t store credit or debit card information on the app. But Amazon already has a payment platform that lets you pay individuals or check out at some online stores, so the app could be a short hop away from being a full-fledged mobile payment service.

PayPal, the online payment giant, has also released new payment options, with an updated app for iOS, Android and Windows Phone that lets you store loyalty cards (like those used at grocery stores or pharmacies) in addition to your regular PayPal sources.

Some new partnerships PayPal has reached with some stores, restaurants and services, including Uber and Jamba Juice, also provide interesting payment twists.

People using the new app can order ahead from a participating restaurant and pay with their phones. Or if you are dining out, you can pay your bill on your phone instead of waiting for the check (and waiting for a server to retrieve your credit card, swipe it and bring it back). Many of those stores and restaurants also offer coupons or discounts as an added enticement.

At Home Depot, a partnership with PayPal lets you check out by choosing PayPal instead of credit or debit at the store’s payment terminals. Then, instead of entering a debit PIN, you enter your phone number and a PIN you previously set up on the PayPal app. No wallet or phone required.

And then there are the persistent rumors that Apple will introduce a mobile payments service tied to iTunes accounts, perhaps based on the existing Passbook app. Apple recently added a feature called iTunes Pass that lets users load money into their accounts (although this must be done in person at an Apple store) to make purchases. The company also allows users to load and organize gift cards through Passbook; like Amazon, it could potentially tie Passbook to credit cards stored in iTunes to allow purchases elsewhere, too.

But so far, the company that has had the most success at creating popular, usable mobile payments is Starbucks. The Starbucks mobile app lets you pay for items with your smartphone at the company’s coffeehouses and also accumulate rewards like free food or drinks.

Howard D. Schultz, Starbucks’ chief executive, told investors in July that mobile payments made up about 15 percent of its sales transactions in the United States and even hinted that the company would try to share its payment system with other retailers.

If all these efforts by so many companies still sound like a messy playing field, you are right, and those examples are just scratching the surface. Part of the reason so many different apps and mobile wallets exist is that the previous attempts at mobile payments — based on tap-to-pay or contactless payments — took so long to get moving.

But now, there’s interesting movement in those technologies, too. The trouble is, many standards have not yet been worked out.

Contactless payments work using a technology called N.F.C., which stands for near-field communication. It’s kind of like short-range radio. When you pay for something at one of these contactless terminals, you tap or wave your phone in front of it, enter a PIN, and you’re done.

Your phone must have an N.F.C. chip in it for this to work. Most new Android phones and some Nokia Lumia Windows Phones have N.F.C., but iPhones do not.

Contactless payments have had a checkered history. At the moment, the two major mobile payment systems that use N.F.C. are Google Wallet and the Isis mobile wallet app, which was a joint creation of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. (Isis mobile wallet is in the process of changing its name to avoid confusion with the violent militant group wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria.)

In the past, N.F.C. payments required actual hardware: a so-called secure element within a SIM card, the card that identifies you as a carrier subscriber when you insert it into your phone. When you install the Isis mobile app, you can order the enhanced card free or pick it up from your carrier. Newer phones will have this type of card by default, Isis said. But most existing phones do not.

Worrying about a new card is a hassle. Worse, the card also puts the carriers in charge of the mobile payments world, and the companies have tried to keep out competitors. The carriers often blocked Google Wallet from being downloaded onto devices on their networks, though that practice has mostly stopped. (I was able to download the app on a Samsung Galaxy S5 and LG G3.) An Isis spokesman wouldn’t say whether blocking of the app might continue.

But other companies aren’t going to sit on their hands and accept Isis. Already, new technology built into the latest version of Android, technology that already existed in BlackBerry phones, makes the extra security unnecessary. The technology, called host card emulation, or H.C.E., lets apps like Google Wallet retrieve stored credit card information from the cloud.

Visa and MasterCard have approved use of their cards with H.C.E. — basically, the Google Wallet app has permission to act just like a credit card. And potentially, many apps will soon be able to let you make contactless payments, not just Isis or Google Wallet.

One other note, of course, is that contactless payments cannot happen without payment terminals in stores that can read the signals. Not every merchant has those terminals or wants to upgrade.

But those upgrades look like they will be coming. Most American credit card companies are migrating from cards that use a magnetic stripe to those that use a microchip to store information. Those microchips work with contactless payment terminals, so the credit card migration could also help out N.F.C.-based mobile payment methods.

It is unclear exactly how the iPhone will fit into this, because it can’t make contactless payments using N.F.C. Now, if you want to use Isis mobile wallet with your iPhone, you’ll have to buy a special case that includes the N.F.C. antenna. There are few options, and they cost about $70. And it’s unclear whether they will work with an N.F.C. payment app like Google Wallet.

See? There is still a lot yet to be solved before mobile payments are as popular as credit cards.

But the new options popping up are exciting, and once you get the hang of them, they can actually make paying a little easier. I, for one, am hooked on my Starbucks app. But it’s easy to forget that many people still are not comfortable shopping online and are far from storing credit card numbers on a phone app and paying that way.

LG not working on Nexus 6, Android Silver device

It's very likely that the next Nexus smartphone won't be made by LG. 

A report by Motoring Crunch claims that the South Korean giant is not working on any Google projects at the moment. It quotes LG's global communications director, Ken Hong, as saying that LG was not aware of the status of the Nexus program and the Android Silver program. Hong told the publication that Google has not partnered with LG for new Nexus devices. 

Hong's statement is contrary to a report by TheInformation.com which suggested that Google had already roped in LG and Motorola to produce the first Android Silver devices. 

Earlier this year, Google's Dave Burke, head of Android engineering and Nexus program, had dismissed reports that it was dumping the Nexus program in favour of Android Silver, a new project under which manufacturers and wireless carriers will reportedly be paid to produce and sell high-end devices that closely adhere to Google specifications. He had refused to comment on the existence of the Android Silver program. 

"Android Silver is not something that we are commenting on right now. But the prospect of Silver doesn't mean that Nexus is going away," he had said. 

Google sells Nexus devices in a number of countries through its Play Store and physical retailers. These devices, made in collaboration with Google's partner OEMs come with stock Android software without any added applications or software features. Android updates are pushed faster on Nexus devices compared to other Android devices. 

It's worth pointing out that Google had partnered with LG for making the last two Nexus smartphones, namely Nexus 4 and Nexus 5.

Upcoming smartphones in 2014: Xperia Z3, Galaxy Note 4, Nexus 8 and more | The Phone Show

Las Vegas launches new free app for Android users