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- Since this story first emerged, Xiaomi has issued a statement regarding its involvement in the proceedings and the ultimate goal here:
Huawei's access to Google's Play Store and its whole world of apps was cut off last year as a result of tensions with the US government. It was rumored that the company was looking for a new app store to call home, and now Reuters is reporting that Huawei is teaming up with Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo in a collaboration to make it easier for third-party developers to submit apps to all of the companies' individual app stores, in an effort called the "Global Developer Service Alliance."
Google will no longer "work with" Turkish business partners on the release of future Android-powered phones, according to a report by Reuters. This change in policy follows a fine and judgment imposed against Google by the Turkish government as a result of perceived anti-competitive behavior. This won't affect any currently-released Android devices, but it may prevent domestic Turkish device makers and companies explicitly targeting the market from including Google's apps and services on future phones.
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- According to Nikkei Asian Review, Huawei's folding Mate X may also skip out on Google apps and services when it goes on sale, expected to happen later this month. The phone has already suffered delays pushing the release from June until September. If it had launched on time, it may have been able to sneak in the release before the Google's ability to license software to the company expired.
According to a report published today by Reuters, Huawei's upcoming Mate 30 series of phones may have to eschew Google's apps as a result of the trade ban imposed by the U.S. government. While the phone should still be able to run Android, given the free and open availability of the software, deeper integration with Google's apps and services like the Play Store and YouTube will be missing if an exemption can't be secured.
Back in April, Google silently shut down its "Mobile Network Insights" service, which provided carriers with data about network performance in different locations as provided by Android handsets. According to an exclusive report from Reuters, Google killed the service as a result of concerns regarding user data privacy, even though the information that was given to carriers was ostensibly stripped of identifying information.
Apparently, Tencent has partnered with Riot Games to bring a version of its hit MOBA League of Legends to mobile, so says three sources with knowledge of the matter as reported by Reuters.
As Google grows, it has increasingly become a target for antitrust lawsuits. The company was ordered to let users choose their preferred search engine in Russia, and European Union citizens are asked to select their favorite browser as a result of fines. According to a report from Reuters, India has now ordered an investigation into antitrust complaints similar to those raised in Europe.
The business world is a harsh place and failures to perform adequately can have painful consequences. This is the unfortunate reality that almost 3,000 ZTE employees are about to face, according to Reuters. Overall, about 5% of ZTE's global workforce will face the axe.
Even as we're swimming in mobile payment systems from such wide poles of the electronics world as Google to WalMart, one has to admit that Samsung Pay's ability to pay for goods and services using most standard card-swipe machines is pretty neat. A recent report from Reuters says that Samsung has even more plans for mobile payments, and it doesn't have much to do with "mobile" at all.
Android has Google Now. iOS has Siri (and Google Now). Windows Phone has Cortana. That's the way the story goes, or at least, that's how it has progressed thus far. According to Reuters, this may soon change. Microsoft apparently plans to bring its Halo-inspired digital assistant to both Android and iOS.
The last two years have not been kind to HTC. Despite garnering critical acclaim from the One series and consistently improving both hardware and software, the Taiwanese company is getting battered on high-end phones by Samsung and Apple, and battered on low-end phones by Samsung and just about every Chinese company out there. According to a report from Reuters, HTC will try to shift its strategy in 2014 to give more attention to mid-range devices, which it has been ignoring somewhat for the last few product cycles.
Hope you're not tired of hearing about the Google Drive! As the rumors about Google's Totally Not Dropbox service leak out in ever-increasing droves, it gets safer and safer to assume the launch is imminent. According to Reuters, Google may be launching the service as soon as Tuesday. Or, as they're calling it across the pond, "today."
Analytics firm Canalys is reporting that global smartphone market share for Google’s Android OS platform is at a colossal 48%, with an overall lead in 35 out of the 56 countries tracked by Canalys. According to the report, the total global smartphone market has grown by 73% year-on-year with a total of 107.7 million devices shipped in Q2 2011. Android-based devices are the main culprit behind this astounding growth with an increase in shipments of 379% from over a year ago totalling 51.9 million units shipped in Q2 2011. Android sales in the Asia-Pacific region are particularly impressive, especially in South Korea and Taiwan where Android holds 85% and 71% market share, respectively.