IBM Watson Destined To Reign Over Internet of Things

IBM Watson will be the next big thing in the Internet of Things business

International Business Machine Corp.’s Watson- a cognitive computing technology has jeopardizes the market. The technology is assisting doctors in treating the patients along with helping the professionals from the finance sector to refer products to clients as per their needs now has a different purpose.

Watson will now assist the IBM clients in skimming through the massive amount of data that is likely to be generated by the masses since objects connected to the Internet are becoming part and parcel of our everyday lives. The expertise of Watson will now be offered to all those clients that opt for IBM’s IoT Foundation cloud product offering.

The service is likely to make use of an API that will allow the computer to comprehend to the way people communicate, analytics service that is predictive along with machine learning, image and video recognition, analytics of texts that will allow the technology to chalk out the meaning of texts that are unstructured. Moreover clients will be able to design products that have a new interface and distinct features.

The company is also coming up with a new headquarter particularly for the Internet of Things division of Watson that will be located in Munich. This headquarter will house 1,000 IBM employees. The headquarter in Munich will also serve as an “experience center” which can be accessed by the IBM clients so that they can have hands on experience with Watson.

Similar to the announcements made by IBM earlier, the company tends to create a lot of hype about news that is somewhat marginal. Earlier in March, the company made an announcement regarding an investment of $3 billion to establish an Internet of Things segment. Later in September, they made Harriet Green the head if their IoT business unit.

According to Fortune, “And given that IBM says that there are more than 9 billion connected devices operating today, and that those devices will generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of new data every day over the next 15 years, it’s hardly a surprise that IBM would involve Watson and its artificial intelligence capabilities to parse that data.” So now the question arises is that what needs to be the thing that the company will focus on in terms of IoT.

At present the company is operating almost 48 data centers all over the globe along with taking into consideration the fact that the data is stored within the geographical jurisdiction of a country in case the local government requires.

Apple Reduces iPhone 5S Prices In India

Apple has reduced the price of its flagship iPhone 5S by half for Indian market.

Apple Inc. has reduced the price of its flagship iPhone 5S by half for its customer base in the Indian market, as reported by 9to5Mac. The iPhone 5S will now be sold in the Indian market for $340. This initiative has been taken by the company to popularize the penetration of Apple in the Indian market by opting for a low cost strategy. Initially the cost of an iPhone was $665, which was thought to be as extremely expensive, whereas the iPhone 6S was being sold for $950. This had made India one of the most expensive regions to purchase an iPhone from.

The tech giant has been trying its best to position itself in the Indian market since there are several local manufacturers selling their smartphones at a relatively low cost. This encompasses Samsung and Micromax that sell their products for a price below $300. As per a report published by the poplar research firm- IDC, AAPL in India is not a part of the top five spots in the Indian market since the pricing of the device is not affordable to the masses in the region.

The company needs to tweak its approach to make its Apple products popular in the region. Thus the initiative taken is actually a good step to establish its presence amongst the masses. At this point of time, the Apple iPhones are priced heftily since they are not manufactured locally and the company has to adhere to a lot of taxes and duties to ship its products in the region. So now the company is striving hard to grow since the exchange rate has made it quite difficult for the company to lure customers.

The iPhone 5S is said to be a glorified Apple product that has a strong market globally. The initiative taken actually proves that the company badly wants to make a mark in the Indian fraternity. Moreover, rumors have also been circulating that the company will soon be releasing iPhone 6c in FY16. So now the company wants to keep the price tag similar to iPhone 5S.

Apart from this, it has also been reported that Foxconn will establish a production unit in India so that the company can manufacture smartphones locally at a cheaper rate. India is following China and is considered to be the second largest smartphone market. However, the purchasing power of the masses is quite stagnant that is acting like a barrier for Apple to penetrate.

IBM Strengthens Its Cloud Computing Market Through Clearleap Acquisition

IBM's acquisition of Cloudleap will bolster its cloud computing domain.

As an initiative that is likely to bolster the importance of International Business Machine Corp. in the cloud-computing world, the company has announced recently that they have now acquired Clearleap – a cloud-based service provider of videos.

The company will work in collaboration with the cloud-computing platform at IBM so that they can provide the Information Technology giant with an efficient infrastructure to monetize, manage, and evolve their user video experience. This will enable the safe delivery of digital content over mobile and web based devices. So far, it has not revealed the financial aspects of the deal.

IBM has been dealing with a rampant decline in terms of the sales of hardware components. So now it has narrowed down its focus on security, analytics, and cloud computing. Apart from this, it has also acquired Silverpop – a digital marketing automation platform provider – to bolster its cloud computing.

Moreover, IBM also has Strongloop on their portfolio that offers app development software for businesses through a “JavaScript programming language Node.js.” which is open sourced. Softlayer was also acquired by IBM, which is a cloud computing storage service for almost $2 billion in the fiscal year 2013.

Other than this, the company is also trying its best to promote its cloud infrastructure. In 2014, it stated that it would spend almost $1.2 billion to develop 15 new data centers. It understands that cloud computing is the ‘next big thing’, which is likely to take it to newer heights. 

IBM at this point of time has been investing massively to promote cloud computing at its company, which is only possible through a sound infrastructure that makes it distinct from other big corporations in the Silicon Valley.

IBM is currently not only improving with cloud computing but also trying its best to improve healthcare sector through Watson. The efforts by the company’s executives show that they are destined to grow in the times to come if they continue to offer top-notch services. Moreover, it has also been reported that the organization will increase its operational activities in the Indian market that is poised to grow.

Cloud computing has gained traction in a small span of time. As predicted by IDC – a renowned research company – the cloud infrastructure “will grow by 24.1% to $32.6 billion in 2015.” This makes IBM to position in better shape. However, the intense competition in the tech sector poses a threat to every tech business.

Microsoft Announced Improvements In Its Band Wearable

Microsoft Band offers new features through a software update.

Microsoft Corporation has recently announced about making improvements to its core product offering designed to improve fitness by coming up with Microsoft Band 2 priced at $249. The company launched this Band recently and has been quite particular about consumer feedback and has also made sure to incorporate the needs of consumers through a software update. The recent update offers Exercise Tiles, alerts regarding activities and music control.

The company has introduced the recent music control on their official blog. Microsoft highlighted through this update they will not need their phones to manage music. The name of the song will be displayed on the Band’s colored LCD display. The songs can be paused and played directly from the Band. An option has also been added to forward and repeat the songs as required and the volume levels can also be governed through the Band.

The company has collaborated with Spotify that will allow Microsoft users to connect the music application on their smartphone with Band by making use of Bluetooth. MSFT has also told its users that any app that streams music can be connected to the Band too. The music control of the Band can also be controlled as required.

The company has also come up with notifications offering so that the users are reminded about their appointments and are also active. For instance, You Band can tell you to get up and move. So all those who are stationary and inactive will be asked by their Band to get up and move. The consumers are given the leverage to choose the date and time for the reminder so that it does not become annoying. This is a great feature for all those who are concerned for sitting long on their office chairs and need a reminder to get up. However, you will not be bothered on Sundays if you’ve acknowledged your Band.

The Exercise Tiles have also been improved that allow users to choose the activity that they love the most such as yoga or weights. You can also name your exercise giving it a more personalized touch. Heart rate, calories burned, duration can be tracked through this wearable device while exercising. The stats can then be governed via Microsoft Health app and Web Dashboard. The health stats will be coupled on the basis of the exercise the user is performing so that the results are as precise as they can be making it very useful.

Samsung S7 Spoiler Alerts And Leaked Images

Samsung S7 might have four different versions, some leaked images tell the public about the specs and design in the upcoming smartphone.

Samsung impatiently awaited upcoming phones images have been leaked. The images indicate that the phone is going to be larger than any other previous handsets of the electronics giant. Not only this, but there have been speculations that S7 is going to have four different versions.

The design of the upcoming smartphone is very similar to the organization’s famous Galaxy S6, however the dimensions are expected to vary because S6’s metal built and premium glass were said to be a victim of criticism. The company must have kept the public opinion in mind and made changes to S7 accordingly, the set is going to be called Galaxy S7 Plus.

The Galaxy phone makers S7 is going to be 82mm long and 7.82mm in thickness while its length is going to be 163.4mm, according to what the leaked images of the device showed. It is expected to return to the QUALCOMM chips, which S6 did not have. It consisted of the organizations own made Exynos processor. S7 is also rumored to have USB Type-C for the charging plug in just like many other phones coming next year, such as Lumia 950, Nexus 6P, and many others.

The manufacturer of the best smartphones worldwide is planning to add new camera technology in its upcoming smartphone that is going to include a sensor named Britcell, which enhances low-light snaps and make them better. This sensor is going to be present in the smartphone according to the rumor lately. Not just this, but the convenience of a choice of micro SD slot might be available in this handset, unlike S6, including a removable battery.

People are expecting this rumor to be true, because they want this facility, unlike Apple iOS, which does not allow users to increase storage. Rumor has it that the display screen of S7 might be pressure sensitive, which is very similar to the 3-D display of iPhone 6S plus and 6S. There have also been rumors that the handset will come in four different versions. Galaxy S7, being the first, expected to be released in the beginning of January. It will be followed by S7 Edge, S7 Edge Plus, and even Galaxy S7 Plus.

While S7s measurements are expected to be 143.37x70.8x6.94MM, S7 Plus measurements will be 163.4x82x7.82. It is not yet clear as to whether the plus version of the smartphone will be released along with the normal series. One thing can be said without doubt that these upcoming phones are definitely going to be in the market next year.

Samsung stock closed at $1,100.00 on November 5. 

Amazon To Launch Fire Tablet In China

Amazon will partner with Baidu to launch its Fire tablet in China

Amazon Inc. single-handedly dominated the online holiday shopping season this year. It was accountable for at least 36.1 percent of overall sales on Cyber Monday whereas no other big or medium sized business could contributed this much. As of yet, the company has not revealed the total sales but it was the only platform to generate such numbers in a day. The online retailer also banned the sales of Apple TV and other such devices in order to promote its own Fire product line sales on the platform. It is noted that the Fire sales have tripled since Thanksgiving Day.

As the company received overwhelming response for its Fire Tablet since Thanksgiving Day, it decided to continue the same momentum in the coming times as well. For that matter, the online retailing giant has turned towards Baidu, one of the biggest Chinese tech companies, to assist in selling Fire Tablet. It is believed that Amazon has asked China’s top search company to power its Fire tablet and launch it in the country in the near future. This is the best deal for Amazon as Google and its services are not accessible in China due to restrictions.

Fire Tablet was first launched exclusively in the United States but is now expanded and is available for purchase in China as well, all thanks to Baidu. Currently, the device is priced at around $80 (499 RMB to be precise).

In return, Amazon will make Baidu as the default search engine on Fire tablet. Tech Crunch reported, “A spokesperson for Baidu confirmed that the Chinese firm is also providing apps via 91Wireless — the Android app store it bought for $1.9 billion in 2013 — and online video via its iQiyi service, which is China’s second-largest YouTube-like site behind only Alibaba-owned Youku Tudou.”

Currently, China’s tablet market is massive as there are millions of devices available from various international and domestic brands. Many of them are much cheaper than Amazon’s Fire Tablet whereas others are more glamorous including Xiaomi’s Mi Pad 2. It cannot be predicted of as to how the Fire tablet would work in the country but its partnership would help a lot in achieving the target in the coming times.

According to a source, “Amazon’s own commerce business in China is well behind Alibaba, JD.com and others, giving it less of a launch platform than it enjoys in the U.S. and other parts of the world.” Amazon looks forward to working with Baidu in China.  

Netflix Almost Launched A Streaming TV Hardware

Netflix decided to build and launch a set top box in 2007.

Netflix Inc. is currently leading the entertainment industry with its unlimited offerings to a massive viewer base.  With time, the company has increase the portability option due to which people can now use Netflix not only on their televisions but laptops, tablets, gaming consoles, and smartphone as well. In short, the services can be accessed on various platforms ‘including but not limited to streaming TV hardware’. According to sources, it is believed that the streaming giant wanted to work and build its own TV set top box as well a few years ago.

By seeing the situation now, no one can assume that Netflix ever wanted to build a set top box or even think about it. It was the year of 2007 when the company started to work on a set top box. It was so deeply focused to be successful that the streaming service provider also ended up with shooting various promotional videos for its own streaming TV hardware. The set top boxes promotional videos were expected to appear on the company’s website however things went the other way and Netflix kept its set top box desire a secret forever.

It was all going well but at the end moment Netflix decided to shelf the project for no apparent reason. This news came from the ex director of global marketing at Netflix, Barry Enderwick. He further added that the company spent heavily as well as gave a lot of time in developing a set top box but then decided to scrap it. By that year, the vision of the company was becoming greater hence it wanted to do something wondrous in the market.

A source cited, “Instead of trying to expand its service by becoming its own major hardware vendor Netflix’s strategy became to have its service on every device capable of connecting to the Internet. For that reason it would have to convince giants like Microsoft, Samsung and Sony to bring Netflix to their devices like Blu-ray players, gaming consoles and streaming devices.”

Netflix would have easily convinced these big name players in the market had it successfully made and launched a set top box that would be worth investing in. Sources suggest that these companies would have considered Netflix as a potential competitor as well for a product that they were already selling at that moment.

One cannot say that the unreleased set top box was not good enough to be launched. Netflix decided that its better to not expand into different business categories and focus on its main business only.