End of Summer Digest

Summer is over, but the tech industry is heating up for a promising Q4 of launches, news and interesting turn of events. On the up we have the TV industry that insists on plugging ever more features, touch less or otherwise, into the old TV set. TechCrunch reports that Cognitive Networks Partners With LG To Bring Interactivity To Smart TVs  , so much so that viewers can ''get discounts, maybe order pizza and other goodies'' while watching their favorite show.

Mobie Industry Review is asking if Nokia Lumia 1020 is finally the phone to redeem Nokia and convert you to the Windows Phone platform. Betting on the camera yet again, the N team promises:
  
''Unlike any smartphone in the market today the Nokia Lumia 1020 reinvents zoom, enabling people to discover more detail than the eye can see. With Nokia’s innovative PureView technology, including optical image stabilization, the device is able to produce some of the sharpest images possible by any digital camera. [...]

 The Nokia Lumia 1020 will arrive first on U.S. shores exclusively with AT&T, with sales expected to start on July 26 at a price of USD 299.99 on a two-year contract. The Nokia Lumia 1020 is then expected to arrive in China and key European markets this quarter. Nokia plans to ship an exclusive variant of the device with Telefonica to select European and Latin American markets. The Nokia Lumia 1020 will be available in yellow, white and black.'' 

The proof is in the pudding and we'll see if Q4 results will confirm the long-awaited wind of change for the Finish company.

Penalty for Apple as China Labor Watch (CLW), a US-based charity, released a report last month, about the working conditions surrounding the production of the new cheap iPhone. ''Apple's unkept promises: Cheap iPhones come at high costs to Chinese workers'' talks about the excessive number of underpaid hours Chinese workers put in to make a living and stresses that the company's statements on tightening control over its outsourced supply chain do not match the reality. Here is also a video accompanying this report:

The not so free Android

As Google now activates 550 000 Android handsets per day with a meteoric speed, not all skies are clear over the open operating system. According to Citi analyst Walter Pritchard, Android is involved in a number of law suits over IP infringement. Already now HTC pays 5$ per each Android handset, followed by Velocity Micro and General Dynamics that each pay to Microsoft a licensing fee. Take a look at the picture below:

Where Google fails, Microsoft succeeds

The FT(5July) reports that Microsoft entered in a deal with the Chinese search engine Baidu to display its Bing generated search results on the engine in an attempt to raise its market share in China. As we all recall Google tried that before, on its own, and when faced with local laws, retreaded to Hong Kong, forced to, amongst other, uphold its integrity. Microsoft, like many more western companies that aim to gain from the rising Asian powers, joint forces with a local, Baidu, that holds "more than three quarters of the market". The morale of the story: the competition for world dominance on the internet is fierce; censorship, human rights and authoritarian ideologies matter less.