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- Qualcomm, Huawei in talks to settle patent dispute
- Windows 10S will become 'S Mode' next year
- Games console market has had its best year since 2011 thanks to Nintendo's 'record-breaking comeback'
| Qualcomm, Huawei in talks to settle patent dispute Posted: 07 Mar 2018 02:33 AM PST By: Reuters | Published: March 7, 2018 4:02 pm  The negotiations between Qualcomm and Huawei are well along, according to the report. (File Photo)Chipmaker Qualcomm Inc is in talks to settle a patent dispute with China's Huawei Technologies Co and could reach an agreement in the coming weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The negotiations between Qualcomm and Huawei are well along, according to the report. Qualcomm declined to comment, while Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Qualcomm is fending off a $117 billion hostile takeover bid from Broadcom Ltd. Broadcom has said it would smooth Qualcomm's rocky relations with customers if it took over the San Diego-based mobile chipmaker, which has prompted Qualcomm to try to pre-empt those efforts by patching up customer disputes on its own. Qualcomm has been in a dispute with two major patent license customers: Apple Inc and an unnamed licensee that stopped paying royalties in April 2017. Analysts believed that licensee was Huawei. That belief grew stronger in January when Qualcomm announced it had reached a set of agreements licensing and research agreements with Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. That ruled out the South Korean Android handset maker as the mystery non-paying customer. During a January earnings call with investors, Qualcomm general counsel Don Rosenberg said the company was still in talks with the mystery customer, as it had been since the dispute was first disclosed. "So, on the unnamed licensee, our practice is: it's productive to continue with negotiations and that we don't name the licensee in the dispute. It's only when we get to the point where we feel like we've exhausted all practical activities there (that Qualcomm would name the customer), and so you should take that as we're still negotiating to see if we can resolve the dispute," Rosenberg told investors. For all the latest Technology News, download Indian Express App |
| Windows 10S will become 'S Mode' next year Posted: 07 Mar 2018 07:01 AM PST  Windows 10S is, in the simplest terms, Microsoft's Chrome OS competitor. A spiritual successor to RT, the operating system is a slimmed down version of Windows 10 with added security (by way of locked down app installs) and lower hardware requirements designed to be run on sub-$300 systems that can be purchased in bulk by schools. The messaging on the software was always a bit messy, though, and the company didn't really do itself any favors by launching it on the high-end Surface Laptop. This morning, however, VP Joe Belfiore confirmed via Twitter the company's plans to streamline the offering, essentially reinventing 10S as a "S Mode," a option baked into the larger Windows 10 operating system. The tweet was response to a question about branding confusion, with regard to the education-focused version of the operating system's market share. Understandably, it's been a bit difficult to determine how to classify what's essentially functioned as a forked version of the company's broader OS. Belfiore didn't specify precisely how S Mode will function within the broader operating system when it arrives at some point next year, so we mostly have some leaked info from last month to go on here. The upgrade structure is still kind of confusing according to the earlier info, with the price to upgrade a system either being $0 or $49, depending on which version of the operating system is installed on the hardware. Hopefully the company will offer more insight into how, precisely, such an upgrade will work, because in its current form, it doesn't sound like it's going to do much to alleviate consumer conduction around the operating system. What seems likely here is the the company will sell systems to schools and businesses who can then opt to upgrade (or not) on a case by case basis. |
| Posted: 07 Mar 2018 04:38 AM PST  Consumers spent more on games consoles and related services last year than at any time since 2011, according to a report. This was largely thanks to "Nintendo's record-breaking comeback," although Sony remained the dominant player, an IHS Markit note released Wednesday said. In 2017, $41 billion was spent on hardware, games content and services, representing an 18 percent year-on-year rise, the study showed. This was the highest figure since 2011, when spending on the games console market hit $46 billion. Spending on hardware specifically was up 33 percent in 2017 following the launch of the Nintendo Switch, Sony's PlayStation 4 Pro at the end of 2016, and Microsoft's Xbox One X, which had higher price tags than existing consoles. Content spending reached $23.6 billion and represented the largest segment of the market. Subscriptions to gaming platforms such as Xbox Live Gold and PlayStation Plus grew 11 percent year-on-year to $3 billion. Consumers pay a yearly or monthly fee to join these subscriptions services, which offer free games and the ability to play online against gamers worldwide. The increasing importance of subscriptions to gaming, and users downloading titles rather than purchasing physical copies, shows the shifting sands in the industry. "We are now approaching a tipping point in consumer behavior, where the digital share of full game sales has started to accelerate away from the transitional norms," Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games research at IHS, said in the report. "This accelerating picture and the rapid shift to games-as-a-service monetization models is fueling growth in content spending." Japanese gaming giant Nintendo has been on a turnaround path since 2016, pushing into mobile and launching the Switch with some of its most well-known franchises. And the strategy appears to be paying off. Nintendo's share of the gaming market jumped 9 percent to 22 percent in 2017. Microsoft, meanwhile, saw its share decline to 25 percent from 31 percent in 2016. "The hybrid nature of Nintendo's Switch has allowed it to flex to the buying needs of consumers in different regions, thus making it a globally attractive and relevant product," Harding-Rolls said. "Nintendo's content release slate was also exceptional in 2017, acting as the catalyst for rapid adoption of the console." Sony remained the largest gaming console vendor. In 2018, IHS forecasts Nintendo's share of the console market to overtake Microsoft's share. Spending across hardware, content and services for both Sony and Microsoft is expected to fall next year as their consoles enter the "later stages of their life-cycles." Sony will continue to be the number one games console player by market share, IHS said. |
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