Alcatel ONE TOUCH OT-E205C User Manual download pdf

TECHNOLOGY

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO: Jan Koum, an immigrant from

Ukraine, was so poor as a teenager that he used

saved his old Soviet notebooks for school and

queued with his mom for food stamps.

Brian Acton lost a small fortune in the dot-com

bust and was rejected for jobs at Twitter and

Facebook. Now, the friends behind the hot mobile

messaging startup WhatsApp are the newest tech

industry billionaires.

Facebook this week bought WhatsApp in a

stock-and-cash deal worth up to $19 billion and

gave Koum a seat on the social network’s board of

directors. Koum signed the Facebook takeover con-

tract at the unused building where he and his

mother once queued for food stamps in the Silicon

Valley city of Mountain View, where WhatsApp is

located, according to Forbes Magazine.

Koum, who turned 38 on Sunday, has described

growing up as a rebellious Jewish child near Kiev

and having little when he immigrated to California

at with his mother the age of 16 just after the

Soviet Union’s breakup.

His father did not make it to the United States,

where the family sought to escape anti-Semitism

and oppressive tactics of secret police.

Soviet childhood

“Jan’s childhood made him appreciate commu-

nication that was not bugged or taped,” Sequoia

Capital partner Jim Goetz said in an online post.

“When he arrived in the US as a 16-year-old

immigrant living on food stamps, he had the extra

incentive of wanting to stay in touch with his fami-

ly in Russia and the Ukraine.”

Koum’s mother brought with her a cache of

pens and Soviet-issued notebooks to save money

on school supplies, according to Forbes magazine.

A self-described trouble-maker at school, Koum

had a job sweeping the oors in a grocery store.

After his mother was diagnosed with cancer, they

got by on disability payments, Forbes reported.

Koum learned computer networking from man-

uals bought from, and eventually returned to, a

used book store, according to the account. He

enrolled in a state university in Silicon Valley and

was working on the side with a computer security

rm when he met Acton while on assignment at

Yahoo in 1997.

Acton was employee number 44 at the

Sunnyvale, California-based Internet firm and

shared a “no-nonsense” attitude with Koum. Within

a year, Koum was working as an engineer at Yahoo

and the pair were on their way to being close

friends. Koum eventually chose Yahoo over col-

lege. When Koum’s mother died of cancer in 2000,

his mentor Acton stepped in with support. Acton,

meanwhile, reportedly lost millions investing dur-

ing the famous dot-com boom that ended with an

infamous dot-com bust.

Acton and Koum left Yahoo in 2007 and took a

year off, exploring South America and playing the

sport of Ultimate Frisbee, according to Forbes.

They both applied for jobs at Facebook after com-

ing home. Both were rejected. In a Twitter post

from 2009, Acton said that an effort to win a job at

one-to-many messaging service Twitter was

rebuffed.

Koum was living off dwindling savings when

the iPhone and Apple’s online App Store prompt-

ed a certainty that an exciting new frontier was

opening.

He tapped into the local Russian immigrant

community to pursue his idea of a smartphone

messaging service synched to people’s contact

lists. Koum enlisted Acton, who was jobless and

devoting energy to a less promising startup.

Koum and Acton in 2009 founded WhatsApp,

which took its name from a play on the phrase

“What’s Up?”

No Ads, no gimmicks

They devoted themselves to a credo of “No Ads.

No Games. No Gimmicks.” A note stating just that

and signed by Acton remains taped to Koum’s

desk, according to venture capital firm Sequoia,

which invested in the startup early.

The “contrarian approach” of gathering no infor-

mation about users for targeting ads was shaped

by Koum’s aversion to tactics of secret police in

communist countries, Goetz said in an online note.

The formula led to stunning growth to more

than 450 million users, with 50 billion messages

handled daily. The founders jokingly described

themselves at the website as “two guys who spent

a combined 20 years doing geeky stuff at Yahoo!”

Koum describes himself in his Twitter account

profile with a Kanye West quote, “We on a galaxy

the haters cannot visit.” Koum has nearly 12,000

followers at Twitter but follows only “Jesus Christ,

Silicon Valley,” an account devoted to Internet

industry humor.

In a conference call discussing the acquisition,

Facebook chief and founder Mark Zuckerberg

described Koum as being a “valuable thought part-

ner” for several years. WhatsApp is a platform for

sending images, video, audio, or text messages for

free over the Internet using data connections of

smartphones. — AFP

WhatsApp founders swap struggle for billionaire status

Co-founder and CEO of Whatsapp Jan Koum.

BARCELONA: Smartphone giants released eye-

catching new devices as the world’s biggest

mobile fair opened yesterday, ghting for new

ways to prot in a tougher market.

Besides a slew of sleek, new premier smart-

phones, the world’s biggest smartphone maker

Samsung and its rivals unveiled an array of

smart watches and bracelets to unlock new rev-

enues.

The four-day Mobile World Congress in

Barcelona, Spain, opens after a deceptively

buoyant 2013, when sales surged 42.3-percent

to 968 million units.

The growth was powered almost entirely by

developing markets, however, disguising a

slowdown in mature markets such as Western

Europe and the United States, which are the

most protable. Samsung faces other signicant

challengers for potential customers’ wrists both

at home and abroad. Hours after Samsung

launched the Gear 2, rising Chinese smartphone

maker Huawei revealed a connected watch of

its own. Huawei, already a major force in build-

ing mobile networks and the world number

three smartphone maker in 2013, showed o its

TalkBand, to be sold for 99 euros ($136). South

Korean manufacturer LG said on the same day

that it would launch its rst smartwatch in 2014.

Sony revealed its Xperia Z2 smartphone yes-

terday, the rst new edition of its agship

device since it announced this month the sale

of its stagnant PC business to focus instead on

smartphones and tablets.

The waterproof phone, available from March,

has a full high denition 5.2-inch screen and a

20.7 megapixel camera that can take ultra-high

resolution 4K video, along with noise-cancelling

audio. The struggling Japanese group revealed,

too, an Xperia Z2 Tablet, also waterproof, and a

more aordable Xperia M2 smartphone.

But Sony Mobile also entered the fray for

wearable devices, releasing the SmartBand

SWR10, a bracelet that comes with an applica-

tion allowing users to log events and photo-

graphs taken during the day as well as tracking

how far they walk and checking their sleep

cycle. “Our SmartWear experience goes far

beyond health and tness,” Sony Mobile chief

executive Kunisama Suzuki boasted.

Zuckerberg is star speaker

At the same time, the online world is elbow-

ing its way into the mobile market. Facebook’s

29-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg is the star

speaker on the opening day of the fair in

Barcelona, fresh from his $19 billion (14-billion-

euro) takeover of smartphone messenger

WhatsApp.

He has come a long way in the mobile world

in a short time. When Facebook sold its shares

to the public in an initial public oering in May

2012, “it literally had no mobile advertising rev-

enues,” said Eden Zoller, analyst at the research

house Ovum.

“It did actually have a pretty strong mobile

user base at IPO but what it had failed to do at

that time was actually monetise those mobile

users,” she said.

But the social network-boasting more than

1.2 billion members-quickly repaired its strate-

gy. By the end of 2013 mobile devices account-

ed for 53 percent of Facebook’s advertising

revenue, bringing in $1.2 billion in the last

quarter and more than $3 billion over the

whole year. — AFP

Smartphone giants scramble

for profits in tough market

Sony Mobile enters the fray for wearable devices

BARCELONA: A visitor looks at a mobile device at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, on

February 24, 2014. — AFP

BARCELONA: The ‘Zip’ devices by Fitbit are presented at the Mobile World Congress

in Barcelona, yesterday. The Mobile World Congress runs from the 24 to 27 February

where participants and visitors alike can attend conferences, network, discover cut-

ting-edge products and technologies at among the 1,700 exhibitors as well as seek

industry opportunities and make deals. — AFP

BARCELONA: Fresh from a $19-billion (14-

billion-euro) takeover by Facebook, mobile

messaging service WhatsApp said yesterday

it will launch free voice calls by mid-year.

The introduction of free calls, revealed

on the opening day of the four-day World

Mobile Congress in Barcelona, Spain, would

match rival application Viber’s similar oer-

ing. “We are going to introduce voice on

WhatsApp in the second quarter of this

year,” WhatsApp founder Jan Koum said.

Facebook, whose 29-year-old billionaire

creator Mark Zuckerberg was the star

speaker on the opening day of the industry

fair, announced a stock and cash purchase

of WhatsApp on Wednesday.

“Five years ago we had no users, no

product,” said Koum. “Today we have 465

million active users,” he said, adding that the

company still had no marketing, relying

mostly on word of mouth to prosper.

WhatsApp had not planned any changes in

the light of the Facebook takeover, Koum

said.

“Mark really understands that for

WhatsApp to stay successful it really needs

to stay independent,” he said. Viber, one of

WhatsApp’s key rivals, oers free voice and

messaging. Japanese online shopping

group Rakuten announced this month it

would buy Viber’s Cyprus-based developer,

Viber Media, for $900 million.

‘A brilliant move’

Facebook’s $19-billion deal for the red-

hot mobile messaging service WhatsApp is

a savvy strategic move by the world’s

biggest social network, even if the price tag

is staggeringly high, analysts say.

The agreement unveiled-seen as the

largest for a venture-backed tech startup-

gives Facebook entry into emerging mar-

kets and importantly keeps the free-mes-

saging app out of the hands of rivals such

as Google.

“Although the deal appears to be

pricey... we think that it has compelling

strategic logic,” Shebly Seyra at FBN

Securities said in a research note Thursday.

While Facebook is paying a high price by

any measure, Seyra said “we see other

benets to the deal,” pointing out

WhatsApp’s big user base in countries such

as Brazil, South Africa and China.

“We think that in addition to the revenue

obtainable from WhatsApp itself, Facebook

will benet from better integration... that

will make Facebook more engaging while

driving further growth internationally and

in mobile,” the analyst said.

Facebook shares shook o early declines

and rose 2.3 percent to close at $69.63,

despite the fact that the company is dilut-

ing its value with the massive cash-and-

stock acquisition. The purchase includes

$12 billion in Facebook shares and $4 billion

cash. It calls for an additional $3 billion in

restricted stock units to be granted to

WhatsApp founders and employees that

will vest over four years.

Analyst Stephen Ju at Credit Suisse said

the move appears to make sense from a

long-term viewpoint. “Looking past the

sticker shock of $19 billion... we view this as

an oensive move to gain additional share

of the consumer’s time spent-which should

engender additional opportunities for mon-

etization,” he said.

Key in emerging economies

Trip Chowdhry at Global Equities

Research called the move a “very smart and

an essential acquisition for Facebook,”

because WhatsApp works on less expensive

“feature phones” still predominant in

emerging economies such as India.

“Most of the developing world still is on

the feature phone, as the majority cannot

aord a smartphone,” Chowdhry said.

“WhatsApp is the only application that runs

equally well on feature phones and on

smartphones.”

Deutsche Bank analyst Ross Sandler said

Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp “solidi-

es its position as the top company in

mobile globally” excluding China, where

Facebook is banned.

Sandler said that even though Facebook

is not planning to deliver ads on WhatsApp

for now, this may change over time. “We

believe that as users become accustomed

to native mobile advertising and as the

quality of the various monetization strate-

gies improve, we expect opportunities to

emerge,” he said in a note to clients.

Victor Anthony at Topeka Capital

Markets said the deal will help diversify

Facebook with a broader set of mobile serv-

ices. “As was the case with PayPal, YouTube

and Instagram, hindsight will be the best

judge of how valuable this acquisition will

be,” Anthony said in a research note.

“The valuation appears reasonable on a

per user basis. From what we see, the acqui-

sition makes strategic sense and the com-

bined company will likely accelerate user

growth of both platforms, similar to what

we see with Instagram.”

Staving o Google threat

Jack Kent at IHS Technology said the

move helps Facebook “neutralize a competi-

tive threat.” “To understand Facebook’s

rationale, the focus must be on the cost of

Facebook not buying WhatsApp rather than

the price Facebook paid for WhatsApp,” Kent

said. “Facebook could not risk WhatsApp’s

450 million monthly and 315 million daily

active users falling into the hands of a com-

petitor such as Google.” Fellow IHS analyst

Eleni Marouli said the deal allows Facebook

to get better data on users worldwide,

which has value in itself.

“WhatsApp’s strong presence in key

emerging markets such as Brazil and India

will provide Facebook with insights in coun-

tries that are still largely under-monetized,”

Marouli said.

“Building good mobile data on con-

sumers in these markets is essential as they

are not only mobile-rst in their use of the

Internet, but often mobile-only.”

Youssef Squali at Cantor Fitzgerald point-

ed out that Facebook may be able to use

WhatsApp to create a new kind of telecom

service which has not existed so far. “While

WhatsApp is currently a cross-platform

mobile messaging service, it is likely to

morph into a gateway for global calling and

video solutions over time, dramatically

expanding its revenue potential,” the ana-

lyst said. — AFP

WhatsApp to allow free

voice calls by mid-year

BARCELONA: Firefox OS, an upstart smartphone

operating system aimed a challenging the Apple

and Google duopoly, will power a new category

of $25 smartphones for developing countries,

the California-based nonprot Mozilla

Foundation said Sunday.

Mozilla sought to show o the success of its

system, launched a year ago to prise open a mar-

ket in which Google’s Android was at the heart of

78.4 percent of all smartphones sold last year

and Apple’s iOS in another 15.6 percent, accord-

ing to gures from technology research house

Gartner Inc.On the eve of the opening on

Monday of the four-day Mobile World Congress

in Barcelona, Spain, Mozilla announced the com-

mercial launch of seven new devices using

Firefox OS including Chinese handset maker

ZTE’s smartphones Open C and Open II, as well as

a range of Alcatel OneTouch tablets. “We are also

enabling a whole new category of smartphone,

priced around $25 (18 euros), that will bring even

more people around the world online,” said

Mozilla chief operating ocer Jay Sullivan.

The entry-level smartphone would rely on

integrated circuits made by Chinese electronics

manufacturer Spreadtrum, he said.”Firefox OS is

o to an amazing start. We launched our rst

smartphones in July, and have since expanded

into 15 markets,” Sullivan said. People in Latin

America and Eastern Europe had upgraded from

simple “feature phones” to Firefox OS smart-

phones with downloadable applications and

Internet access, he added.

“Sales have far exceeded our targets. But 2013

was just the beginning. In 2014, we are dierenti-

ating our user experience and our partners are

growing the portfolio of devices.”

In 2014, Spanish giant Telefonica will sell

Firefox OS-based devices in another seven coun-

tries, mostly in South America, Sullivan said.

Mozilla did not say how many Firefox-powered

smartphones have been sold since the system’s

launch last July.

The foundation did say, however, that it

expected Firefox OS to spread to other devices

including smart televisions. —AFP

Firefox to power $25 smartphone

BARCELONA: A device with the new Firefox OS is presented at the Mobile World Congress in

Barcelona, yesterday. — AFP

SEOUL: LG will launch its rst smartwatch in

2014, the head of its mobile unit said yesterday,

tapping into the nascent market for wearable

devices seen as the mobile industry’s new source

of growth.

The announcement from the South Korean

smartphone maker came after industry leader

Samsung on Sunday launched the second gen-

eration of its own Internet-enabled smartwatch,

the Gear 2. “We are working on the develop-

ment of wearable device... more specically in

the form of a watch,” Park Jong-Seok, the CEO of

LG Electronics’ mobile unit, told reporters. “(It)

will come out this year,” he said, adding the

watch would be remotely linked to smart-

phones. “We’re working hard to put on the table

something that other companies have not

oered yet,” Park said, without elaborating fur-

ther. LG-the world’s fourth-largest smartphone

maker-has not yet entered the market for wear-

able devices currently dominated by rms like

Samsung, Sony and Pebble.

Rising Chinese smartphone maker Huawei

also unveiled Sunday a connected watch called

TalkBand to rival Gear 2, on the eve of the world’s

biggest mobile fair in Barcelona, Spain.

A typical smartwatch allows users to make

calls, receive texts and emails, take photos and

access apps. So far, few companies have man-

aged to generate large consumer excitement or

sales in the market, also eyed by rms like Apple

and Google. —AFP

LG to launch new smartwatch

Smartphone giants scramble 1

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Page 1 - Smartphone giants scramble

TECHNOLOGYTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2014SAN FRANCISCO: Jan Koum, an immigrant fromUkraine, was so poor as a teenager that he usedsaved his old Soviet not

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