Apple says death at Pegatron unrelated to working conditions

A woman looks at the screen of her mobile phone in front of an Apple logo outside its store in downtown Shanghai September 10, 2013 file photo.

CREDIT: REUTERS/ALY SONG

(Reuters) - The death of a 15-year-old worker was not caused by working conditions at a Pegatron Corp factory, according to medical exports sent to the factory by Apple Inc.

The boy died of pneumonia, the medical delegation said, after he apparently used someone else's ID to get a job at the Shanghai factory, which makes products for Apple.

Apple has taken various measures in response to questions on whether its products are made in what amount to sweatshops. It acted after about a dozen suicides, starting in 2010, at its assembler Foxconn.

The world's most valuable technology company commissioned an investigation of suppliers' Chinese factories last year by the Fair Labor Association (FLA), which in a report on Thursday said working hours at Foxconn now comply with its standard.

"Last month, we sent independent medical experts from the U.S. and China to conduct an investigation of the (Pegatron) factory," Apple said in a statement on Thursday. "While they have found no evidence of any link to working conditions there, we realize that is of little comfort to the families who have lost their loved ones.

"Apple has a long-standing commitment to providing a safe and healthy workplace for every worker in our supply chain, and we have a team working with Pegatron at their facility to ensure that conditions meet our high standards."

The Taiwanese company, which assembles Apple's iPhone and iPad mini, had already concluded the death was not related to work. The employee had only recently joined, and the assembly line environment should not cause pneumonia, Pegatron spokesman Charles Lin said.

The employee used his 21-year-old cousin's identification to apply for the job, so the factory did not know he was underage, Lin also said.

China Labor Watch, a New York-based rights group, said the worker, who died in October, had a pre-employment physical examination on September 4 which showed he was in good health.

"Pegatron has strict measures in place to verify workers' ages before and after they are hired, and we work with health and safety experts to provide a safe working environment for each and every worker," Pegatron said in a statement.

Lin said three other employee deaths this year, in March and April, were caused by various medical conditions unrelated to work at the factory.

OVERTIME

Separately, the FLA said in a report released on Thursday that three Chinese factories operated by Foxconn, Apple's largest contract manufacturer, now limit working hours to 60 per week. Foxconn is the holding company for Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd.

"FLA's expectation is that Apple, working with Foxconn, will continue to rigorously monitor working hours to ensure that they comply with the FLA standard of 60 hours per week but also make progress toward the Chinese legal limit of 49 hours per week," FLA President and Chief Executive Auret van Heerden said in a statement.

Washington-based FLA in March last year set a deadline of July 1 this year to comply with China's weekly limit and 36-hours-per-month overtime cap, but Foxconn said it needed more time.

At that time, the FLA said some of the 170,000 employees at the factories in Longhua, Chengdu and Guanlan worked up to 80 hours of overtime per month. By May this year, the FLA said Foxconn had resolved 98 percent of issues raised in its initial investigation, including cutting working hours and overtime.

Apple said Foxconn had shortened its average work week to 53 hours. "Our suppliers must live up to the toughest standards in the industry if they want to keep doing business with Apple," it said.

Many Foxconn workers - migrants from other parts of China - have said they do not want overtime to be reduced -- they want to make as much money as possible in a short time.

(Reporting by Clare Jim in TAIPEI, Paul Carsten in BEIJING and Poornima Gupta in SAN FRANCISCO; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Larry King)

Apple acquisition, possible China Mobile deal excite investors

Apple (AAPL) stock rose Tuesday on bullish reports about the company's latest acquisition and, separately, on reports the company might be closer to sealing an elusive iPhone distribution deal with China Mobile (CHL), the world's largest wireless carrier by subscribers.

Apple late Monday confirmed that it had purchased social-media analytics firm Topsy Labs, but declined to give further details. Sources told the Wall Street Journal that Apple paid more than $200 million for Topsy, which specializes in analyzing the global conversation on Twitter (TWTR).

Topsy's tools analyze Twitter posts for such things as trending topics and use of specific terms. Its tools also can measure the influence of an advertising campaign and track political subjects.

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Analysts say Topsy's software and expertise could be useful for Apple's iTunes Store, by recommending songs, movies and TV shows to consumers. Topsy also could reveal trends in Apple's iOS App Store that could be used to promote apps to users.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said Topsy could help improve Apple services such as Siri and Maps to include more real-time relevant suggestions. Topsy could support Apple's iAd advertising service as well, he said in a note Tuesday. Munster rates Apple stock as overweight, with a price target of 640.

In afternoon trading, Apple stock was up 1.6%, near 560, in the stock market today.

Meanwhile, signs indicated that China Mobile is close to offering the iPhone to its customers.

A subsidiary of China Mobile started taking reservations Monday for Apple's iPhone 5S and 5C smartphones, Fortune reported.

"Recent advertisements from China Mobile's Suzhou Life Network Web portal suggest that a reservation system for Apple's iPhone 5S/5C lineup has appeared," RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani said in a note Tuesday. "Notably, the pre-order system is not direct but instead allows customers to reserve an appointment. This adds further credence to recent China news sources (Xinhua News) suggesting a Dec. 18 launch, in line with China Mobile's 4G network launch."

Distribution through China Mobile could add $10 billion in sales and $3 in earnings per share to Apple's annual finances, Daryanani said.

"Notably, the addition should materially impact Apple's March quarter as Chinese New Year sales should be bolstered by the increased demand and market opportunity," he said. Daryanani rates Apple stock as outperform, with a price target of 590.

UBS analyst Steven Milunovich on Tuesday upgraded his rating on Apple stock to buy from neutral and raised his 12-month price target to 650 from 540. He says institutional money will move back into Apple stock in 2014.

Facebook Instagram Debuts Chat-Like Messaging Service

Facebook's (FB) Instagram photo- and video-sharing service on Thursday unveiled a private, chat-like messaging service.

The new Instagram Direct service should help Facebook and Instagram combat Twitter (TWTR), Snapchat and other emerging rivals, analysts said. Privately held Snapchat recently turned out a $3 billion buyout offer from Facebook, it was widely reported.

The new messaging service will be available for both Apple (AAPL) iOS and Google (GOOG) Android devices, Facebook said in a blog .

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Instagram Direct lets users send posts with photos or video to up to 15 people.

The news helped boost Facebook stock, already helped by word late Wednesday that it will be added to the widely tracked Standard & Poor's S&P 500 index, as well as its S&P 100 index, effective Dec. 20.

Facebook stock was up 4.5% in afternoon trading in the stock market today, near 51.60. Facebook, boosted by rising mobile ad revenue, has seen its stock double since July, touching an all-time high of 54.83 in October.

One key to Instagram Direct is that users send photos directly to a selected individual or group rather than sending them publicly to everyone who follows them, said Arvind Bhatia, an analyst at Sterne, Agee, in a research report.

"The new feature will help Instagram to directly compete with Snapchat," wrote Bhatia. After Facebook's recent failure to acquire Snapchat, this latest move is "not surprising," he said.

Apple Ultra-HD 4K TV hinted by lack of new Mac Pro display

When Apple (AAPL) introduced its new Mac Pro computer, it touted the machine's unique design and high-end computing capabilities, including the ability to edit ultra-high definition 4K video. But what it didn't introduce was a new ultra-high definition display to actually view 4K video.

One theory is that Apple didn't want to tip its hand on a rumored television, since a 4K computer display is basically just a 4K TV without a tuner.

When Apple starts selling its radically redesigned Mac Pro desktop later this month, customers likely will have to buy third-party displays to take full advantage of its capabilities. The secretive Apple has given no hint that it plans to upgrade its stand-alone desktop display. It currently sells a 27-inch widescreen HD display, the Apple Thunderbolt Display, which came out in July 2011.

A new Mac Pro sits on display at Apple's developers conference in June. View Enlarged Image

The absence of a new PC display is a head-scratcher. It's a little like selling a car without the tires.

Admittedly, the Mac Pro, which starts at $2,999, is a low-volume, high-end product aimed at creative professionals such as video editors and graphic designers. But not having a new display to go along with it seems like Apple is leaving money on the table.

Meanwhile, other computer companies are launching Ultra HD 4K displays. Last week, Dell introduced 24-inch and 32-inch Ultra HD displays, costing $1,399 and $3,499, respectively. It also plans to release a 28-inch model in early 2014.

Apple briefly posted a 32-inch Sharp 4K computer monitor for sale on its European online stores, then removed it, CNet reported Sunday.

Apple likely will introduce 4K monitors around the same time it introduces its 4K television sets, Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair told IBD.

Apple sees the coming transition from HD to Ultra HD televisions as a "jump ball," he said. "I believe Apple will introduce a television next year and they are going to use the consumer migration from current HD televisions to 4K televisions as a window of opportunity to grab a piece of the market share."

The world will find out about the rumored Apple television, which some have called the iTV, in one of two ways, Blair said.

The media could hear about a large television panel order, perhaps 250,000 to 500,000 units, in the supply chain from a "new, unknown end customer," he said. Or Apple could preannounce the television well in advance of delivery, which is what it did with the original iPhone, since the announcement wouldn't affect sales of any of the company's existing products.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says the lack of a 4K monitor from Apple is quite curious but might not be connected to Apple's aspirations in the TV market.

That's because he doesn't believe the rumored Apple television will be Ultra HD initially, because of retail pricing and production yield concerns.

"It's pretty obvious that (a 4K display) would be something that they would do," Munster told IBD. Apple historically has gotten sizable profit margins on its monitors. "There's something bigger going on," he said, because Apple wouldn't want to miss out on profits from selling new computer monitors.

Facebook’s long road to “mobile best”: HTML5, native apps, and now Home

Facebook has come a long way in its quest to be a mobile force to be reckoned with — but it’s still not there. On Thursday, its CEO Mark Zuckerberg told press and the world that his company had become a ‘mobile first, mobile best’ company with the release of its Android launcher software called ‘Home’. But for all of its efforts, can Zuckerberg claim that Facebook has really reached that goal of a mobile nirvana?
There’s no discounting the fact that Facebook has made a concentrated effort in trying to reach out its more than 1 billion users on every feasible platform — desktop, phone, and tablet. From building HTML5 apps to those that run on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry, to now its evolution — the Facebook phone and Home, just how does Facebook’s standing in the mobile space really measure up?

The rise and stagnation of Facebook’s HTML5 app

Where exactly is Zuckerberg, let alone Facebook, going with its mobile presence? The company says that no matter what kind of phone you’re using, whether it’s an iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone, the social network will be accessible to you.
But the company has been rather wish-washy in what they claim will be the best thing for its users. Last October, Zuckerberg said that more people used the service more on its mobile-targeted website versus on the iPhone and Android combined.

…iPhone is a great platform. There are more people who use Facebook on Android — because Android is just — more people use it, at this point. And the thing that I think a lot of people don’t think about is that there are actually more people in the world using Facebook on mobile Web, right, so not using the apps on iOS or Android, but actually just going to a browser on a phone. There are more people doing that than the iPhone and all of Android phones combined, right? So it’s actually a pretty diverse ecosystem.

By reading that statement, it’s apparent that Zuckerberg really wanted the mobile Web to succeed, and it very well could have — and still might with those lesser advanced phones and for those users who refuse to download the app. But keep in mind that a month prior to Facebook’s CEO making that statement, he appeared on TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco in his first public appearance since the company went public and admitted that it was the company’s “biggest strategic mistake” to go with HTML5 instead of a native app.

Enter the native apps

In August 2012, Facebook released an update to its iOS app that makes it more native to the iPhone and iPad device. People have said the experience using the company’s HTML5-based app with a UIWebView interface was simply terrible: long load times, notifications were intermittent, and the app even crashed quite frequently. Facebook heard these complaints and recognized it needed to change its strategy:

On iOS and Android you can just do so much better by doing native work and we needed to do that.

With this update, the social network company said it rebuilt everything from the ground up and that it became twice as fast as its predecessors when launched on the iOS device.



Several months later, the company released a native Android app. In announcing the release, it said that “we’re moving from a hybrid native/webview to pure native code, allowing us to optimize the Facebook experience for faster loading, new user interfaces, disk cache, and so on.”
The launch of the native apps could be considered to be a major milestone for the company because it’s a good sign that Facebook was beginning to take the mobile experience of its users very seriously. If they hadn’t, would it be subject to a similar fate that other social networks like MySpace (not Myspace) and Friendster?
On stage at TechCrunch Disrupt, Zuckerberg said that over the next three to five years, the performance of his company would “depend on how we do with mobile.”

It’s fundamentally misunderstood how good mobile is on Facebook. There’s more engagement, they’re spending more time. We also think that we’re going to make more money on the time that they spend on mobile.

Mobile is vital to Facebook’s existence

Facebook has a lot riding on being a mobile company. Following its disappointing IPO, its COO Sheryl Sandberg appeared on CNBC and said she supported Zuckerberg’s statement. She also said that to help compensate for its performance, mobile and advertising products would be key to winning the hearts of investors.
Zuckerberg’s point was reiterated following the company’s Q3 2012 earnings report on a call where it was announced that more money was to be made from mobile — an area where people had a 70 percent likelihood of using Facebook daily. “Most people underestimate how fundamentally good the trend towards mobile can be for Facebook,” he said. ”We should be able to reach more people on mobile than on desktops.”
As TNW’s Matthew Panzarino reported, Zuckerberg believed that over the long run, more monetization for time will happen on mobile than on desktop — partially because of the fact that ads need to be built into the mobile apps and made to work like ‘movies’ which will be more likely to engage users.

Owning the experience

Last fall, Facebook revealed that in its pursuit to improve the mobile experience, it had directed its different teams to own their product experience. This is a considerable change in the world’s largest social network. Now, teams are able to “push the envelope” when it comes to their applications and, after soliciting feedback from experts and thought leaders, they can create more thoughtfully-executed experiences across multiple platforms. In addition, these teams will be able to rapidly share any changes with its users without having lengthy internal review times.
Currently, the social network has a few stand-alone applications besides its base service, including Instagram, Messenger, Poke, and Pages. Facebook also has Camera• although it appears not much has been done with it since its launch and the acquisition of Instagram.
Already we’re seeing departments with Facebook launching some new features, including VoIP calling through its Messenger app in Canada, the US, and the UK.

A different way to make money through mobile

After all of this effort, some might wonder whether Facebook has finally broken through the barrier and has found magic bullet to mastering the mobile space. Slowly it looks that way and through native apps. It has even initiated new programs to help developers monetize their products besides the traditional banner ads. Previously, the only way for advertisements to happen on the social network was through the desktop.


Last October, the company announced the release of its mobile app install ads feature — a new advertising service to help drive users to install apps on their smartphones.
Naturally, advertising has been one of the traditional forms of monetization for any company and it’s no different for Facebook. The launch of its advertising platform has made some to compare it to Google, but could it compete? Sandberg thinks so. She says that its advertising programs are strong enough to rival even Google. As we reported then, she says that with great targeting and the fact that people are using the service to reach customers who are real and will truly engage, there can be tremendous value for marketers to “get the bank for their buck that they need”.
Google recently released its Google+ sign in feature, which also now implements the behavior of the mobile app install ads.
For its part, mobile advertising seems to be paying off for Facebook. In Q4 2012, the company revealed that 23 percent of its advertising revenue was made up from its mobile ad platform, worth $305 million. This was a 9 percent increase from the previous quarter.

The journey to Home

It’s clear that Facebook has had much success with its native applications and there appears to be an increase in mobile usage as a result. The company said in its Q3 10-Q filing that it expects more users to come from mobile devices than desktop and that quarter was the first that statement became true. With more than 1.01 billion users, 604 million of them are mobile, perhaps because of its flexibility in being portable.


To that end, it probably shouldn’t surprise anyone that last Thursday, Facebook released its first phone, at least technically. Through its Android launcher it’s calling Home, the company says it’s hoping to change the dynamics of the mobile landscape by no longer making the experience about the apps, but rather the people.
If you’re thinking that this is a larger move for Facebook to create an operating system, you’re mistaken. Zuckerberg said that Home isn’t an operating system, nor is it a phone. It’s an integration layer — some might reference it to be akin to your desktop on Microsoft Windows in that it’s all about the customization.
As TNW’s Emil Protalinski said, “a launcher means Facebook can get Android users to install, and Android partners to preload Home as an additional option. It’s a genius move that ensures Facebook’s presence on the world’s most popular operating system becomes even more important.”
Starting with the HTC First, Facebook looks like it wants to build an ecosystem of its supported apps right on a user’s phone. Of course, privacy concerns abound, but the company has said that its system will not track the device’s GPS location, and can be turned off and reverted back to the stock Android OS version. In addition, Facebook says that it will not look at any data from non-supported applications.
Advertisements will not be displayed in Home, but in the future could be added, leading some to believe that much more targeted ads are set to be revealed.
In the end, Facebook has gone from trying to take on the mobile Web to seeing its revival with native apps. Now, it appears to be looking forward to expanding its reach to something more holistic — the entire device. Could this be Facebook’s way to mimic Google’s Chromebook computers, but for the mobile device? We’ll have to wait and see — perhaps the social network company will release some more apps to support its ecosystem to help the phones truly be all about Facebook.
Photo credit: Facebook’s HTML5 app screenshot via Emil Protalinski/ZDNet

Facebook Speeds Up Android App By Ditching HTML5 And Rebuilding It Natively Just Like The iOS Version

Facebook’s HTML5 app nightmare is over. Later today it’s releasing Facebook for Android 2.0, which replaces the hybrid native/webview code with an all-native infrastructure to answer years of complaints by making the app much faster. The push follows August’s speed doubling iOS update that drastically improved user reviews. It’s a fitting end to the year when Facebook truly pivoted into a mobile-first company. Here’s how the HTML5 horror story began. Facebook was looking for a way to reduce strain on its mobile teams. So it changed its native iOS and Android apps to partly become webviews wrapped around its HTML5 mobile site. This let it push code once to update m.facebook.com, and both apps simultaneously. It also let Facebook rapidly deploy small tests to segments of its mobile users without forcing them to download new versions.
That wasn’t a bad idea when the company was a bit smaller and mobile wasn’t as popular. But as smartphone penetration and Facebook’s user count increased, being nimble didn’t matter as much. It needed stability and a top-notch user experience. What it had was devastatingly slow apps with long load times between screens and unresponsive controls. CEO Mark Zuckerberg would later call relying on HTML5 was one of Facebook’s biggest mistakes to date.
So nine months ago it made a tough decision. It would backtrack, rebuild its mobile apps natively and focus on speed. The launch of the iOS update in August was met with rave reviews…or at least not the rabid reviews it had been getting. Its App Store rating shot up from 1.5 stars to 4 stars in 3 weeks. Facebook promised it’d do the same for Android users.
That brings us to today. Facebook for Android 2.0 will be rolling out to the Google Play store over the next few hours. By retooling the app natively, the app launches more quickly; notifications and Timeline load faster; and news feed stories show up sooner and scroll smoother thanks to Facebook’s new custom ListView recycler. You’ll get alerted to newly published stories from friends thanks to a drop-down banner.  Photos now open almost instantly because they’re loaded into a device’s native memory rather than the Java heap.
Facebook explains that the update ”creates a solid foundation for the Facebook for Android app moving forward. The infrastructure in place will continue to let us make the app even faster, smoother, and feature-rich.”
It isn’t abandoning HTML5 entirely. Facebook’s mobile site will still run on HTML5. It will also continue pushing for better HTML5 standards from mobile browser vendors in hopes it can one day do more with the protocol.
Today should feel like a holiday to Facebook’s Android users who’ve spent months suffering (as much as one can suffer from ten second delays to see what your friends around the world are doing). Faster speeds mean less user frustration, leading to longer session times. That equals more content shared and more ads viewed.
The improved quickness will also help Facebook box out lighter-weight apps like Twitter and mobile design masterpieces like Path. Most importantly, though, is that the update will make people happy. Brief free moments spent in line at the cafe or on the bus can now be filled with some Facebook browsing. Though subtle, just knowing you won’t spend those extra seconds staring at a loading screen will get you to open the app more often.
Facebook for Android 2.0 will be available in the Google Play store, either now or in the next few hours depending on how fast it rolls out to you.

Difference Between Apple 5s and 5c

Understanding the exact differences between the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C can be tricky. There's the obvious difference--the colors of the phones--but otherwise basically all the differences are in hardware that you can't see since it's inside the phones. To understand how the models differ from each other, and to help you buy the right model for you, check out these key differences between the 5S and 5C.

1. Processor Speed

 

The iPhone 5S has a faster processor than the 5C. The 5S sports an Apple A7 processor, while the heart of the 5C is a 1Ghz Apple A6. The A7 is a newer, more powerful model than the A6, particularly because it's a 64-bit chip (the first in a smartphone, according to Apple). Because it's 64-bit, the A7 can process twice as much data at the same time as the 32-bit A6. Processor speed isn't as big a factor in smartphones as it is in computers (there are many other things that affect overall performance as much, if not more), and the A6 is very fast (it's the same processor as in the iPhone 5), but the A7 in the iPhone 5S will make that model a bit speedier than the 5C.

2. Motion Co-Processor

The iPhone 5S is the first iPhone to include a motion co-processor. This is a chip that interacts with the iPhone's physical sensors--the accelerometer, compass, and gyroscope--to provide new feedback and options to apps. This could include much more detailed fitness and exercise apps, and the ability to know whether the user is sitting or standing. It's such a new feature that there won't be a lot of apps that use it right away, but it could be a major asset. You'll only find it on the 5S for now.

3. Fingerprint Scanner

One of the iPhone 5S's headline features is the Touch ID fingerprint scanner it has built into its Home button. This scanner lets you tie security of your iPhone to your unique, personal fingerprint, which means that unless it's you (or someone has your finger!), your phone is very secure. Use the fingerprint scanner to unlock your phone and enter passwords. For now, the scanner is only available on the 5S, not the 5C.
Learn how to set up and use Touch ID here

4. Camera

When taken just on the specs, the cameras in the iPhone 5S and 5C don't look very different: they both max out at 8 megapixel still images and 1080p HD video. But what's under the hood makes the 5S's camera really stand out. The camera on the 5S offers dual-flash for truer-to-life colors, the ability to record slow-motion video at 120 frames/second in 720p HD, and a burst mode that captures up to 10 photos per second. The 5C's camera, while very good, offers none of these advanced features.

5. Colors

If you want a colorful iPhone, the 5C is for you. That's because it comes in many colors: yellow, green, blue, pink, and white. The iPhone 5S has more colors than previous models--in addition to the standard slate and gray, it now also has a gold option--but the 5C has the brightest colors and the biggest selection.

6. Storage Capacity

The iPhone 5S has the same maximum amount of storage as last year's iPhone 5: 64GB. This is enough to store tens of thousands of songs, dozens of apps, hundreds of photos, and more. And if your storage needs are really big, this is the choice for you. The 5C matches the 16GB and 32GB models of the 5S, but it stops there--there's no 64GB 5C for capacity-hungry users.

7. Price

The iPhone 5C is Apple's "low-cost" iPhone. Like the 5S, it requires a two-year contract with a phone company, but when you get that, the 5C costs just $99 for the 16GB model (and $199 for the 32GB model). By contrast, the iPhone 5S costs $199 for a 16GB model, $299 for a 32GB model, and $399 for a 64GB model when purchased with a two-year contract.