The iPhone 6 may not be as “durable” as its predecessors, said uBreakiFix, a CE repair company that subjected the new phone to a series of drop tests. The same company recently did drop tests on the durability of sapphire cover glass on the growing speculation that the iPhone 6 would contain it, which it ultimately did not. The iPhone 6 has what Apple calls “ion-strengthened glass” on the front touch surface, uBreakiFix said. Whether that makes the glass on the iPhone 6 stronger than that of its predecessors “has been the source of much debate” since Apple unveiled the phone on Sept. 9, it said. To put the debate to rest, uBreakiFix used a steel-ball drop test to determine the phone’s impact resistance compared with earlier iPhones, it said. “In this test, the phone was placed on the ground, face up, while a steel ball was dropped on the display,” it said. “After establishing a baseline with the iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, and Samsung Galaxy S4, uBreakiFix tested the iPhone 6.” The results “were surprising,” as the iPhone 6 broke at a drop height of 3 feet, while the iPhone 4 and 5 withstood drop heights well over 4 feet, and the Galaxy S4 withstood a drop height of 4 feet, it said. “One notable display feature on the iPhone 6 is the rounded edges. This creates a glass surface that protrudes out from the phone chassis, meaning a face down drop impacts glass first. This fact combined with the result of our steel ball drop test lead us to believe that the iPhone 6 may be more prone to damage than prior Apple devices.” The company’s key takeaway: “Though we are impressed by the style of the iPhone 6, we would recommend a protective case with a front facing lip to protect the glass on the phone.” Representatives of uBreakiFix didn’t immediately comment on the weight of the steel ball used in the drop tests.
Several parties that urged the FCC to reject the Comcast/Time Warner Cable deal support the AT&T/DirecTV deal with conditions, said a Guggenheim Partners analyst. Analysts expect both mergers to be approved, but the AT&T/DirecTV comments may suggest a more manageable approval path for that merger than for the Comcast/Time Warner Cable buy, said analyst Paul Gallant. Dish Network, Public Knowledge and Netflix took a more even-handed position on the AT&T transaction than they did the Comcast deal, he said Friday in a research note. “This is noteworthy and suggests to us that AT&T/DirecTV is likely to face less strident opposition than Comcast/TWC.” Those entities will probably be among the “leading voices” at the FCC and Department of Justice on both deals, he said. Their moderate tone on AT&T/DirecTV “is incrementally positive for that merger and introduces an additional note of caution on Comcast/TWC,” he said. Initial comments in the AT&T/DirecTV proceeding were due last week.
Lawmakers introduced bicameral legislation to overhaul the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board Thursday. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Tom Udall, D-N.M., introduced S-2903, and Reps. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, and Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., introduced HR-5595. Both longer titles say the legislation is “to reform the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, and for other purposes.” Text for the legislation was not online.
Both chambers of Congress have now approved the E-Label Act, which has received industry praise. The Senate unanimously approved S-2583 Thursday before breaking for recess. It had cleared the Commerce Committee the day before and the House approved a companion bill in July. It would let manufacturers display electronic approval labeling digitally rather than physically on a device.
U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale temporarily suspended business operations of what the FTC alleged is an online fraud scheme to sell fake high school diplomas, the commission said in a Friday news release (http://1.usa.gov/Xvxsks). The agency filed a complaint against the companies -- operating under the names Diversified Educational Resources and Motivational Management & Development Services -- trying to freeze their assets and obtain a refund for defrauded consumers. The commission said the operators have illegally grossed over $11 million, offering “accredited” diplomas for $200 to $300. “A high school diploma is necessary for entry into college, the military, and many jobs,” said FTC Consumer Protection Bureau Director Jessica Rich. “These defendants took students’ money but only provided a worthless credential that won’t help their future plans.” The defendants could not be reached for comment.
Six years ago, when Qualcomm collaborated with Google on the first Android smartphones, “I remember people telling us, ‘This will never be successful,'” Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said Thursday in a keynote webcast on the Qualcomm website (http://bit.ly/1wwRXcX) from his company’s Uplinq 2014 developers conference in San Francisco. Fast forward to 2014, Mollenkopf said, and more than a billion smartphones cumulatively have been shipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon processors built in. “So it’s really been an incredible, incredible thing, and it’s just the beginning,” he said. “If you look at the scale of what we're working on today, last year, calendar year 2013, we shipped a little bit shy of 750 million chipsets. That’s more than twice the number of worldwide PCs. It’s incredible scale that happens in mobile.” Qualcomm estimates there are more that 1,350 models of Snapdragon-equipped devices announced or commercially available throughout the world, Mollenkopf said. “But what we're excited about is that scale is actually going to go into a number of adjacent markets and adjacent categories. We look at every area of consumer electronics, and it’s leveraging all the scale and technology that we're developing and others are developing in mobile.” For example, Qualcomm views tablets as “a scaled-up smartphone,” Mollenkopf said. “They use the same ecosystems. It’s not a secret as to why they use the same chipsets and the same technology.” As for computing, it’s “definitely about mobile computing today,” and “it’s going to be about wearable computing and pervasive computing in the future,” he said. In cars, they're “really all about trying to get connected now,” he said. “You have people that are trying to decide when to buy their car based on what type of modem is actually going to be included in the car. It’s incredible.” If one looks at the Internet today, “the really interesting things” are no longer happening “on your desk,” he said. They're happening “in your pocket through the phone, and where they're really going is that all these different devices are going to be connected together.” Qualcomm predicts that more than 8 billion new smartphones will ship globally in the next five years, he said. “And in the developed world, many of those smartphones are going to be connected to a sea of many other devices, and those devices are not only going to be connected to the smartphone, but connected to each other.” As a result, Qualcomm sees “an enormous amount of innovation and experimentation that comes [into] play when people start to innovate at the edge of the network,” he said.
LCD TV panel makers this month have been increasing prices on sizes that are in tight supply, particularly 32-, 40- 48- and 50-inch screen sizes, DisplaySearch said Friday in its “PriceWise” spreadsheet panel shipment update (http://bit.ly/1BUBwtW). Larger sizes like 55-inch also “are in short supply for some top brands,” it said. “Some leading TV brands are aggressively pursuing market share by lowering prices, and this is putting pressure on TV profit margins industry-wide. That pressure is expected to get even tougher during the upcoming promotional season, so TV makers are negotiating prices that are flat or only slightly higher.” The traditional peak in TV panel production August-October “has caused most TV makers, in particular the Korean brands and Chinese makers, to refill panel inventory,” it said. “The top Korean brands are aggressively building up production and demanding panel allocations. As a result, the panel supply constraint has become a continual issue for other TV makers.” As for smartphone displays, September demand has been increasing in preparation for the holiday selling season, “but not as strong as expected,” DisplaySearch said. “Orders for the developing regions improved, but there is more focus on displays with lower specifications, like those for feature phones,” it said. “In China’s domestic market, the end of smartphone set subsidies by telecom carriers is still having a major impact” by suppressing demand, it said. Moreover, “uncertainty surrounding when Apple will launch iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus in China may have an impact on open market demand in October,” it said. In tablets, “most brands are aggressively pushing” tablet panel shipments “to meet the schedule for upcoming holiday promotional sales in Q4,” DisplaySearch said. “White-box makers are planning to refill inventory for Q4 promotions,” but chipset supplies remain tight “due to rising demand for larger-size smartphones,” it said. Tablet panel prices “will trend downward due to lower specifications” from the higher mix of lower-priced, entry-level products, “but they will become more stable than before,” it said.
Time Warner Cable’s responses to FCC information requests about its planned purchase by Comcast were posted in docket 14-57 Friday (http://bit.ly/1wOdj8B). Heavily redacted under a joint protective order, the responses don’t yet include all the information requested by the commission, TWC said. “All non-privileged documents requested in the Commission’s Request for Information will be submitted shortly following adjustments to reflect ongoing clarification discussions with Commission staff,” several responses read. Some responses, such as a request for a list of program access disputes with multichannel video programming distributors, are wholly redacted. Other items contain brief paragraphs of explanation above long columns of redacted information.
Broadcast Music Inc. had $977 million revenue, an all-time BMI record, for the year ended June 30, it said in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1yjB4qV). BMI distributed $840 million in royalties, also a record, in FY 2014 it said. “The largest category of the Company’s domestic revenue was delivered by the steady-growth sectors of cable and satellite distributed entertainment,” said BMI. “Licensing income from digital services, international sources and from businesses such as bars, hotels, fitness facilities and restaurants all posted significant gains.” BMI has sought reforms to the consent decree process -- currently under review by the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division (WID June 5 p1) -- in favor of direct negotiations between music publishers and broadcasters (WID June 10 p10).
The FCC and U.S. would be better served by net neutrality rules based on Communications Act Section 706 rather than Title II, said NCTA in a blog post Friday (http://bit.ly/1ujKL2b). Title II doesn’t provide a “bright line” standard for what would be reasonable under open Internet rules, said NCTA. Such decisions are “rarely simple or straightforward and they are never quick,” the association said. NCTA also disputed the idea that Title II regulation would cost less. Imposing new Title II regulations on the Internet “will involve significant legal, regulatory, and administrative work” even under the mildest form of Title II regulation, NCTA said. Forbearance provisions won’t make being regulated under Title II any easier, NCTA said. “The idea that it will be easy for the Commission to decide whether to forbear with respect to dozens of Title II provisions for hundreds of companies defies all logic and experience.” The American “light touch regulatory regime” is more successful at attracting broadband investment than European models, said the association, which has been sparring with groups that want Title II in comments on the net neutrality NPRM. “Imposing Title II regulation on broadband providers and services introduces a risk of stagnation that should be of significant concern to the Commission."