<p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:350px"><div class="image"></div><p class="source">Fox News</p></div>Good morning!</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://thenokiablog.com/2013/05/03/nokia-lumia-928-spotted/">A clever gadget blogger went to a Nokia event and realized it was being filmed with as-of-yet unreleased Nokia gadgets.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2013/05/03/facebooks-latest-sdk-lets-developers-push-targeted-ads-based-on-users-app-preferences-and-purchases/?utm_campaign=social%20media&amp;awesm=tnw.to_i0eT6&amp;utm_source=Twitter&amp;utm_medium=Spreadus">Facebook advertisers can now target users based on the apps they have downloaded to their phones.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gigaom.com/2013/05/02/smart-tv-penetration-tdg-report/">Smart TVs are here. 25% of all broadband-connected households own a TV with an app platform built-in. </a></li>
<li><a href="http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/05/02/horace-dediu/">Horace Dediu says anyone who owns Apple stock should be ready to see it drop 40% at any time.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://thenextweb.com/us/2013/05/03/samsung-galaxy-s4-gets-pentagon-approval-breaking-blackberrys-hold-on-the-us-government/?utm_source=dlvr.it&amp;utm_medium=twitter">The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the first phone since the BlackBerry considered secure enough to use by the US Department of Defense.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/atwork/2013/05/02/yahoo-adds-perks-for-parents/?mod=e2tw">Yahoo gives new parents $500 to spend on baby stuff. (Facebook gives them $4,000).</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/magazine/y-combinator-silicon-valleys-start-up-machine.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0">There is a super long feature about Y Combinator in the New York Times magazine.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/02/martha-stewart-match-profile_n_3203499.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003&amp;ir=Technology">Martha Stewart is on Match.com. This is her profile.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/3/4295826/google-fiber-also-coming-to-shawnee-kansas-following-austin-and-provo">Google Fiber is going to Shawnee, Kansas.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/megyn-kellys-fascinating-demo-of-google-glass-goes-awry-when-she-searches-german-word-for-hot-dog/">Fox News host Megyn Kelly tried out Google Glass on air.</a></li>
</ul>

10 Things You Need To Know This Morning

<p><em><strong>Mobile Insider is a daily newsletter from <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=MI&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile">BI Intelligence</a> delivered first thing every morning exclusively to <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=MI&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile">BI Intelligence</a> subscribers. <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=MI&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile">Sign up for a free trial of BI Intelligence today</a>.</strong></em><span><br /></span></p>

<p><strong>GOOGLE STRIKES DEAL WITH COMSCORE</strong>: Google will soon begin integrating comScore's Validated Campaign Essentials (vCE) measurement into its DoubleClick ad business in order to boost advertisers' ability to track online ad campaigns in real time. This is a multi-year deal that will cover display ads on video and on mobile devices. Google will also be able to share more data and analytics with its advertisers. The hope is to bring bigger brands away from TV and to the digital world. (<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/02/10/google-comscore-advertising-deal/5291189/" target="_blank">USA Today</a>)</p>
<p><strong>MORE AD NEWS</strong>: Ad network InMobi has launched a new interactive video ad platform that is centered on mobile. InMobi hopes to broaden itself from just a pure digital ad network to focus more on the growing opportunity in mobile, as well as personalization. The interactive part of the platform allows advertisers to serve up contextualized and location-specific video ads to mobile users. (<a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/10/inmobi-launches-interactive-video-ad-platform-to-help-advertisers-boost-sales-on-mobile/" target="_blank">TechCrunch</a>)</p>
<p><strong>NOKIA TO MAKE ANDROID PHONE</strong>: Nokia plans to launch an Android-powered phone as early as this month, reports the Wall Street Journal. The company is expected to introduce its new device at the Mobile World Congress trade show on February 24. Nokia and its Symbian-powered phones were one of the strongholds in emerging markets before the real smartphone revolution of the past few years. Now, Android phones have taken over and forced Nokia to reconsider its strategy. Take India, where Nokia once held a majority share of mobile phone sales. Last year, Android powered 93% of phones shipped in India, according to IDC. </p>
<p><strong>This is a bit of a catch-22 for Microsoft</strong> - its newly purchased handset business, Nokia, is now partnering with its toughest competitor in the smartphone platform wars. Nokia had been developing an Android device prior to the Microsoft sale, but Microsoft appears willing to sacrifice some market share to Android in order to kickstart Nokia sales while it refashions the Windows Phone platform to better compete on the global market. Either way, both Nokia's rush to move to Android and Microsoft's acceptance of this strategy illustrate how both have come up short so far in the mobile market. (<a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702304104504579374893734151208-lMyQjAxMTA0MDAwNjEwNDYyWj" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal</a>)</p>
<p><strong>QUOTE OF THE DAY</strong> - "The iTunes 'empire' of content and services would be ranked as number 130 in the <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2013/full_list/index.html?iid=F500_sp_full">Fortune 500</a> ranking of companies (slightly below Alcoa and above Eli Lilly)." - Horace Dediu on iTunes incredible standalone revenues, which are often ignored when judging Apple's overall value. (<a href="http://www.asymco.com/2014/02/10/fortune-130/" target="_blank">Asymco</a>)</p>
<p><strong>FOUR REASONS THE TABLET MARKET IS FAR FROM DEAD</strong>: In response to the Recode piece, "<a href="%20http://recode.net/2014/02/06/our-love-affair-with-the-tablet-is-over/" target="_blank">Our Love Affair With The Tablet Is Over</a>" by Zal Billimoria, who is a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, Kevin Tofel of GigaOm outlines four reasons why Zal's take is overblown and how we shouldn't be too quick to dismiss the tablet's potential. The reasons include disruption later on in the product lifecycle, changing mobile broadbrand prices, an early stage tablet app market, and that phablets' growing popularity is actually a boon for the tablet market and not smartphones. (<a href="http://gigaom.com/2014/02/10/4-reasons-the-tablet-market-is-far-from-dead/" target="_blank">GigaOm</a>)</p>
<p><strong>WIKIPEDIA VS. THE SMALL SCREEN</strong>: Many prominent online media companies have successfully made the jump to mobile, but Wikipedia's lack of a real operating budget has precluded its ability to really hammer down on mobile. Only 20% of Wikipedia's readership comes from mobile, while many large Web properties approach 50% readership on mobile. And the online encyclopedia has even lower editing activity on mobile. (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/10/technology/wikipedia-vs-the-small-screen.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0" target="_blank">New York Times</a>)</p>
<p><strong>YAHOO RESEARCH LAB KEYS IN ON MOBILE:</strong> Marissa Meyer began building back up Yahoo's research group Yahoo Labs when she came on board in 2012, after the group had languished over previous years. The semi-independent research division has pivoted to put a special focus on mobile, which Meyer sees as a major weak point for Yahoo. Technology developed within the research lab has already been used in Yahoo's well-received weather app, which was released last April. (<a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/news/524161/yahoo-expands-research-labs-in-search-of-personalized-mobile-experiences/?utm_campaign=socialsync&amp;utm_medium=social-post&amp;utm_source=twitter">MIT Technology Review</a>)</p>
<p><strong>VIBER UP FOR SALE</strong>: Israeli's prominent business newspaper The Calcalist is reporting that messaging app platform Viber is about to be sold for $300-400 million to a major Asian messaging platform, though details about which platform are still unclear. Viber has over 200 million registered users. (<a href="http://gigaom.com/2014/02/11/major-asian-messaging-firm-in-talks-to-buy-viber-report-claims/" target="_blank">GigaOm</a>)</p>
<p><strong><em>Here's what else BI Intelligence subscribers are reading ...</em></strong><span> </span></p>
<p class="headline"><strong><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/millennials-are-mobile-only-internet-users-2014-2">Nearly One In Five US Millennials Are Mobile-Only Internet Users</a></strong></p>
<p class="headline"><strong><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/social-medias-new-big-data-frontiers--artificial-intelligence-deep-learning-and-predictive-marketing-2014-2">Social Media's New Big Data Frontiers - Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, And Predictive Marketing</a></strong></p>
<p class="headline"><strong><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/the-connected-tv-landscape-why-smart-tvs-and-streaming-gadgets-are-conquering-the-living-room-2014-2">The Connected TV Landscape: Why Smart TVs And Video Streaming Gadgets Are Conquering The Living Room</a></strong></p>

Google Partners With comScore To Give DoubleClick Real-Time Ad Campaign Measurement 

<p><em><strong><keyword id="1738613" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mobile-Insights">Mobile Insights</keyword> is a daily newsletter from <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=MI&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile">BI Intelligence</a> delivered first thing every morning exclusively to <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=MI&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile">BI Intelligence</a> subscribers. <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=MI&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile">Sign up for a free trial of BI Intelligence today</a>.</strong></em><span><br /></span></p>

<p><keyword id="28808" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="ATT">AT&amp;T</keyword> CEO Randall Stephenson has come out and said that the carrier can no longer afford to absorb costs on premium <keyword id="6354775" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Smartphones">smartphones</keyword> when consumers look to upgrade on the standard two-year cycle. </p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image on-image"><p class="source">AT&amp;T / Facebook</p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p>With smartphone penetration already so high in the U.S. - at <span>62% penetration, </span><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/the-us-has-entered-the-late-stages-of-smartphone-adoption-2013-11" target="_blank">according to comScore</a> - AT&amp;T will only be able to gain an incremental number of new smartphone users in coming quarters. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the wave of new smartphone users over the past two years will inflate the number of customers wanting to upgrade to premium handsets from their old model. This is why Stevenson is likely planning to convince users to use more of the network, while weaning them of the regular upgrade cycle.  </p>
<p>Interestingly, it was the standard two-year contract model from the four largest carriers that helped spur such rapid smartphone uptake in the U.S. in the first place and make top-tier handsets like the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy line widely accessible. </p>
<p>Now, rather than pushing a popular new device to customers at a lower cost, AT&amp;T and most carriers will likely refocus efforts toward improving their network and insuring that customers use more of it. To facilitate this new strategy, the carrier introduced last week a new discounted data pricing plan that would incentivize customers to hang on to their existing devices. Customers can save $15 on their monthly wireless bill. </p>
<p>T-mobile is taking a completely different approach. It now offers users any smartphone <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57576710-94/is-t-mobiles-new-no-contract-plan-really-a-good-deal/" target="_blank">without the burden of a contract</a>, and has recently launched a program where customers have the ability to <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57593060-94/t-mobile-could-intro-anytime-upgrade-club-today/" target="_blank">upgrade to a new device as much as twice per year</a>. (<a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57615114-94/at-t-chief-we-cant-keep-doing-big-subsidies-on-phones/" target="_blank">CNet</a>)</p>
<p><strong><em><em>In other news...</em></em></strong></p>
<p><strong>Nokia</strong>, despite an entire smartphone line fully controlled by <strong>Microsoft</strong> and comprised entirely of Windows Phone 8 devices, is now building an Android smartphone. (<a href="http://allthingsd.com/20131211/why-nokia-is-building-an-android-phone-and-microsoft-might-not-kill-it/" target="_blank">All Things Digital</a>)</p>
<p><strong>NimbleTV</strong> is a new mobile TV streaming service that allows customers to stream live pay TV channels to their mobile devices and connected TV boxes like Apple TV. (<a href="http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/12/nimbletv/?cid=co15553964" target="_blank">Wired</a>) </p>
<p>Upstart Chinese smartphone manufacturer <strong>Xiaomi</strong> is planning to expand to Singapore and Malaysia in its first major expansion outside its home nation. Interestingly, the smartphone market in these two countries is nearing complete saturation. (<a href="http://qz.com/155901/xiaomis-plan-for-expansion-is-to-invade-the-two-most-saturated-smartphone-markets-in-the-world/" target="_blank">Quartz</a>)</p>
<p>Internet content farm <strong>Demand Media</strong> finds itself at a quarter of its peak valuation from when it officially went public just two years ago. (<a href="http://variety.com/2013/biz/news/epic-fail-the-rise-and-fall-of-demand-media-1200914646/" target="_blank">Variety</a>)</p>
<p>Fortune has a special interview with departing <strong>Microsoft</strong> CEO Steve Ballmer as well as some of Microsoft's other top executives to reflect on the work Ballmer has done in his time as the head of the company. (<a href="http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/12/11/for-steve-ballmer-a-lasting-touch-on-microsoft/" target="_blank">Fortune</a>)</p>
<p>Virtual reality company <strong>Vuzix</strong> has developed a direct competitor to <strong>Google Glass</strong> with a new pair of smart glasses that incorporate standard glasses frames. The smart glasses also run on Vuzix's own superior new optics called Waveguide, which was developed in conjunction with Nokia. (<a href="http://venturebeat.com/2013/12/10/vuzix-has-google-glass-like-smart-glasses-but-with-superior-optics/" target="_blank">VentureBeat</a>)</p>
<p><em><strong><em>What you may have missed this week on BI Intelligence…</em></strong></em></p>
<p><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/androids-dominance-of-the-global-computing-platform-market-grows-at-both-windows-and-apples-expenses-2013-12" target="_blank"><em>Android Dominates The Global Computing Platform Market At Windows And Apple's Expense</em></a></p>
<p><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/starbucks-is-a-top-followed-brand-2013-12" target="_blank"><em>Starbucks Does It Again - It's Among The Top Five Brands On Both Facebook And Twitter</em></a></p>
<p><em><br /></em></p>
<p><em><strong><em><br /></em></strong></em></p>

In The US, Smartphone Subsidies May Soon Be A Thing Of The Past

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><keyword id="6632052" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="NEST">Nest</keyword></p><p class="caption">The Nest thermostat.</p></div><p></p></div>Happy Thursday!</p>
<p>Time for some news.</p>
<p><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/25/nest-labs-to-open-up-its-learning-thermostat-to-developers/"><strong>Nest, the company that makes the Web-connected thermostat, will now allow developers to integrate their apps with the device.</strong></a></p>
<p><a href="http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/09/26/be-careful-google-talk-and-hangouts-are-sending-some-messages-to-the-wrong-recipients/"><strong>There's a Google Talk glitch that will send your instant messages to the wrong person.</strong></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/technology/blackberry-cancels-call-to-discuss-its-results.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0"><strong>BlackBerry won't hold a conference call after it announces earnings tomorrow.</strong></a></p>
<p><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/25/apple-turns-apple-tv-into-an-ibeacon-to-enable-touch-to-set-up-with-ios-7-devices/"><strong>You can set up your Apple TV just by tapping your iPhone against it.</strong></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=24833&amp;cdvn=news&amp;newsarticleid=37029&amp;mapcode=consumer|mobile-devices"><strong>Pebble, the smart watch that raised millions on Kickstarter, is now available through AT&amp;T for $150.</strong></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/25/4769190/nokia-october-22-event-plans"><strong>Nokia will announce six new devices on October 22.</strong></a></p>
<p><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052702303342104579097872641302130-lMyQjAxMTAzMDIwNTEyNDUyWj.html"><strong>Twitter reportedly added J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley as bankers for its IPO.</strong></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-surface-mini-not-until-spring-2014-7000021165/"><strong>You might have to wait until spring 2014 to get a "mini" Surface tablet from Microsoft.</strong></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/t-mobile-wont-sell-blackberry-phones-2013-9"><strong>T-Mobile will no longer sell BlackBerry phones in stores.</strong></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/now-you-can-rent-a-tesla-model-s-from-hertz-2013-9"><strong>Now you can rent a Tesla Model S from Hertz.</strong></a></p>

10 Things You Need To Know In Tech This Morning

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Microsoft</span></p><p class="caption">Microsoft Chief Marketing Office Chris Capossela</p></div><p></p></div></div>Apple and Google have long dominated the smartphone market. But Microsoft's CMO Chris Capossela hinted there's one-last chance for his company to steal some marketshare, and Microsoft won't blow it with its next device, the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-windows-10-surface-phone-rumors-2015-9">rumored "Surface Phone."</a> </p><p>"I think we have to do more breakthrough work" to make Apple fans "<span>pause before they buy their 17th iPhone," </span> <span>Capossela said on <a href="https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/445?autostart=false">an episode of the "Windows Weekly" podcast</a>.</span></p><p><span><span>Note: He didn't say Microsoft <em>is </em>building an Apple-rivaling smart phone. But he didn't say it isn't either. And he definitely talked about the rumored device as if it were a real thing that's happening. </span></span></p><p><span><span><span>Whatever form this phone takes, it can't come soon enough: W</span></span></span>hile Microsoft has had success with tablets and now a laptop, the company's smartphone marketshare is a <a href="http://www.softpedia.com/blog/net-applications-windows-phone-now-at-2-6-percent-global-market-share-491171.shtml">piddling 3% globally</a>. The company wrote off billions of dollars from its acquisition of smartphone maker Nokia and phones running Microsoft's Windows operating system have not been huge sellers. </p><p>Basically, <span>Capossela says, the Microsoft Surface Pro tablet line succeeded by merging the laptop and tablet into one device, providing the best of both worlds. Now, it needs to build something with that kind of killer approach to productivity, just on the phone side.</span></p><p><span>"We need some sort of spiritual equivalent on the phone side, that doesn't just feel like a phone for people who love Windows," <span>Capossela says.</span></span></p><p><span><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Microsoft</span></p><p class="caption">The Microsoft Lumia 950</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></span></p><p><span><span>We've already seen some of that: Windows 10 Mobile, the company's latest smartphone operating system, ships with a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-discusses-continuum-on-windows-phone-2015-10">very cool feature called Continuum</a> which lets you hook your phone up to a TV or monitor and use it almost like a PC. </span></span></p><p><span><span>Previously, it had been rumored that Microsoft is giving the theoretical Surface Phone an ability to run full Windows software, not just apps from the Windows Store market. That might be at least a part of what <span>Capossela was hinting at, too. </span></span></span> </p><p><span>Still, while reports suggest it could come in the first half of next year, Capossela seems to indicate this next Microsoft phone could be a little ways off.</span></p><p><span>"To do something that I really think would compete," Capossela says, "we need time to actually go build that." </span> </p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/funny-questions-to-ask-microsoft-cortana-2015-11">20 Easter egg questions you can ask Cortana to get a hilarious response</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="ptN2hveDqChq8i8yIRQHAKJKabK42hnz" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

A top Microsoft exec dropped some hints that its next smartphone will be a serious iPhone competitor

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source">Screenshot/YouTube</p><p class="caption">A commercial for <keyword id="10591" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Samsung">Samsung</keyword>'s Galaxy Gear smart watch.</p></div><p></p></div></div>There are only two companies making any real profit in mobile computing: <keyword id="6354427" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Apple">Apple</keyword> and Samsung.</p>
<p>The two rivals have very different philosophies in how they develop products and software, but there's no arguing that they're both massively successful.</p>
<p>At Business Insider's IGNITION Conference, David Eun, the executive vice president of Samsung's Open Innovation Center, addressed how the company has been able to see such great success despite such heavy devotion by Apple fans and customers.</p>
<p>"Samsung is a very entrepreneurial story," Eun said. "The company set large goals for itself and has been bold in its execution."</p>
<p>Eun pointed out that Samsung now sells more TVs (two per second) and more phones than any other electronics company. Even Apple. And all that is done by a massive organization with 70,000 worldwide employees.</p>
<p>"Seven years ago there was no iPhone or Samsung Galaxy phone," Eun said. "It was all about Nokia and Motorola. It takes entrepreneurial ideas and execution. The leaders at Samsung are people who have risen and made their mark by being entrepreneurial."</p>

SAMSUNG: Why We're So Successful Despite The Religious Devotion Of Apple Customers

<keyword id="71696" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Micromax">Micromax</keyword> is developing its own operating system as a suite of services and apps which will run across its phones, tablets, televisions and wearables, as it goes up the value chain to differentiate itself from increasing competition. <br /><br /> Spearheaded by former <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> executive <keyword id="70775" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ashish-Agrawal">Ashish Agrawal</keyword>, who is the new technology head at Micromax, the OS will be a forked Android - a platform developed on <keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword>'s open source mobile OS. The first smartphones with the new OS will be available by the end of this financial year and they will be affordably priced, Micromax cofounder <keyword id="144780" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Vikas-Jain">Vikas Jain</keyword> told ET. <br /><br />

	"We're excellent with partnerships and we don't want to reinvent the wheel," Jain said, while specifying that the company was not breaking away from Android but was working with the globally dominant Android OS to bring a differentiated experience to consumers across all platforms, including wearables.
<br /><br /> Agrawal said the likes of <keyword id="6354427" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Apple">Apple</keyword>, <keyword id="10387" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Microsoft">Microsoft</keyword> and Xiaomi, which have their own OS across platforms, are translating what they have done internationally to India. In contrast, Micromax is closer to the Indian consumer and therefore has a better understanding of the local market and insights based on which it will build the customer experience. <br /><br />

	"Our (Indian) use cases are much different from a US or Chinese customer," he said. As hardware is becoming a commodity, Micromax wants to start investing in software to differentiate itself. However, the company did not want to alienate its set of consumers and developers, majority of who are on Android, by building an operating system from the ground up.
<br /><br />

	The No 2 handset brand in India, which closed fiscal 2015 with Rs 11,000 crore of revenue, sells about 3 million phones a month, two-thirds of which are smartphones, and has a 16.7% share of smartphones and 14.4% share overall devices in the local market as per Counterpoint Research.
<br /><br /> It is No. 3 in the tablet segment with a 9% share for the quarter ended March 2015, according to Cybermedia Research, trailing <keyword id="10591" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Samsung">Samsung</keyword> and Datawind. Jain said Micromax is among the top five players in the Indian television market with an 8% share, selling about 70,000 units a month. Jain said the first 'smart-non-mobile device' from the company stable would hit the retail market by the end of the year. <br /><br />

	Despite its strong performance in the smartphone and other product segments, the company's future growth would have to come from services built on top of its products to ensure customer stickiness and brand loyalty - a difficult feat given Indian users' discerning and value-for-money profile.
<br /><br />

	Over past year, Micromax tied up with Cynogen for using its OS on Yu brand of smartphones through a wholly-owned subsidiary. The company has also begun investing in startups that build services which can be integrated into devices - for instance health start up Healthifyme, online travel portal ixigo and US-based consumer cloud provider MiMedia. The services and apps being developed would also extend to the Yu series.
<br /><br />

	The forked Android OS is being developed by the company's software team in Bengaluru. About 75 people in design teams acquired from Nokia R&amp;D in Beijing and a second one coming up in Shenzen will support this venture, including in building apps ecosystem and partnerships back home.
<br /><br />

	(Image credits: Indiatimes)

Micromax to have its own OS soon

<p><div class="image-container float_right"><div class="image"><p class="source">AP</p><p class="caption">Former Qualcomm CEO Dr. Paul Jacobs delivering the CES 2013 opening keynote.</p></div></div>The annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is the event that's supposed to set the tone in technology for the oncoming year. </p>
<p>Things have changed in recent years though. Technology has become less about whiz-bang gadgets and more about the Internet-powered apps and services we use. Twitter. Instagram. Snapchat. Dropbox. And so on. You don't really need 2 million square feet in the Las Vegas Convention Center to show off a bunch of apps.</p>
<p>Last year, Microsoft famously pulled out of CES, and it was the first time in recent memory that its CEO (either Bill Gates or Steve Ballmer) didn't deliver the opening keynote. Instead, we got a very <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/8/3850056/qualcomms-insane-ces-2013-keynote-pictures-tweets">bizarre presentation</a> from then-Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs that included a cameo by Big Bird and a lip syncing Adam Levine.</p>
<p>Also missing last year? We didn't get a single blockbuster product announcement from one of the major tech companies. Instead, companies like Samsung, HTC, and Nokia waited to hold <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s4-announcement-event-2013-3">their own events</a> to announce new flagship products later in the year.</p>
<p>So what did happen at CES last year if there weren't any big breakthrough products? There was still a lot going on. But one of the problems with CES in recent years is it hasn't been a good indicator of what the next year in tech would look like. In fact, most of the big themes of CES 2013 were either barely mentioned again following the show or turned out to be major duds.</p>
<p>Let's take a look back at some of the biggest themes of CES 2013 and see where we are now.</p>
<h2>4K TVs</h2>
<p>4K TVs, also known as Ultra HD TVs, were the biggest storyline of CES 2013. These sets represent the next evolution in picture quality because they have nearly double the amount of pixels as normal HD sets today. The downside? They're very expensive. 4K TVs can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Samsung just announced a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-110-inch-tv-2013-12">110-inch set that'll go for about $150,000</a>. Plus, you can't take advantage of a 4K TV set unless the video was shot at that resolution. Today, most content is still shot in normal HD.</p>
<p>Even though 4K TVs are a few years away from being affordable, every tech company from Samsung to Panasonic made a big push in the space at last year's CES. Sharp even one-upped its competitors with a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sharp-8k-tv-ces-2013-1">prototype 8K TV set</a>.</p>
<p>We'll probably see more of the same at this year's CES, but don't expect to have one of these sets in your home for another few years.</p>
<h2>Smart TVs</h2>
<p>As a piggyback to the whole 4K thing, many of the new sets introduced at CES last year were Internet-connected Smart TVs. That doesn't just mean they came with a bunch of built-in streaming apps like Netflix, Pandora, and HBO GO. They also had new interfaces and recommendation engines to help you find new stuff to watch.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-smart-tv-technology-2013-1">Samsung probably had the most advanced Smart TVs</a> with built in cameras and motion/voice controls. Still, you could tell it was the early days of such technology. It's clunky and not entirely accurate. TV may be ripe for disruption, but no one has nailed it yet.</p>
<p>That's not going to stop tech companies from trying again though. Samsung has already said it <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-smart-tv-2013-12">plans to update its Smart TV line with new software improvements</a>. LG is reportedly going to show off a <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57616454-93/lgs-webos-tv-purportedly-pops-up-in-leaked-image/">TV powered by WebOS</a>, the mobile operating system Palm developed before HP bought the company. WebOS is now an open source operating system just like Google's Android, so it can run on just about any device.</p>
<h2>Smart Appliances</h2>
<p>From washing machines that send you a notification when your laundry is finished to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/smart-stuff-2013-1">refrigerators with built-in Evernote integration</a>, tech companies tried really hard to make "smart" everything happen last year.</p>
<p>While you probably didn't buy a smartfridge last year, these appliances did touch on a growing trend in tech called "The Internet of Things." <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">That refers to connecting everyday objects like lights and thermostats to the Internet so they can operate more efficiently and let you have a deeper level of control. There are already a bunch of companies developing stuff in the space like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/smartthings-raises-12-million-2013-11">SmartThings</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/review-the-nest-thermostat-2013-11">Nest</a>, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ciscos-john-chambers-has-found-a-new-14-trillion-market-2013-5">even Cisco</a>. Expect to see even more "smart" stuff at CES this year.</span></p>
<h2>BlackBerry 10</h2>
<p>While BlackBerry didn't have an official presence at CES 2013, it did show off its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackberry-10-demo-photos-2013-1">new mobile operating system BlackBerry 10</a> to a bunch of journalists behind closed doors. At the time, BlackBerry 10 was just a few weeks from launch. It was the product that was supposed to save the company.</p>
<p>But the BlackBerry 10 hype was short-lived. BlackBerry had a tough time selling its new BB10-powered phones like the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10. Last fall, the company failed to go private in a $4.7 billion offer from private equity firm Fairfax Financial. Instead, its CEO Thorsten Heins resigned. Several other top executives have also left the company. BlackBerry is now run by an interim CEO named John S. Chen who plans to make a bigger push in enterprise and emerging markets like Indonesia. The BlackBerry we knew a year ago is all but dead.</p>
<h2>Intel Mobile</h2>
<p>Intel is a giant in traditional desktop computing, but has struggled in recent years to adapt to the smartphone/tablet revolution. At last year's CES, Intel spent a lot of time talking about the mobile processors it planned to put in cheaper smartphones in emerging markets. </p>
<p>The problem? Intel's mobile chips weren't going to start shipping until the end of 2013, nearly a full year after they were announced. It's still unclear how many manufacturers chose those Intel chips over the more traditional ARM processors used in most mobile devices. And that's not a good sign. Traditional <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gartner-pc-sales-2013-7">PC sales are tanking</a>. While Intel makes really good processors for laptops and desktops, its mobile plans remain fuzzy. (However, there has been a bigger push lately in those two-in-one laptop/tablet hybrids running Windows 8.)</p>
<p>Intel's new CEO Brian Krzanich will give the opening <keyword id="1997485" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="CES-2014">CES 2014</keyword> keynote on Monday night, so we're expecting to learn more about how Intel plans to tackle mobile.</p>
<h2>Wearable Gadgets</h2>
<p>If CES is supposed to be an indicator of what the next hot thing in tech is, then 2013's show almost completely missed the trend of wearable gadgets like Google's face-computer Google Glass, fitness trackers like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/fitbit-force-review-2013-10">the FitBit Force</a>, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/galaxy-gear-review-2013-10">smart watches like the Samsung Galaxy Gear</a>. <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">One notable exception: the Pebble smart watch. Pebble began as Kickstarter project in 2012 and formally launched at CES in 2013. It's probably the best device in the category you can buy today, although the competition is pretty dim right now. </span></p>
<p>Early CES 2014 rumors suggest that we'll see a ton of new wearables from companies like LG, Archos, and a bunch of hardware startups trying to make their name in the space. Expect wearables to be the big theme of this year's show. Still, don't be surprised if these gadgets are half-baked like Samsung's Galaxy Gear was. The space is still too young and we have yet to see a product that truly breaks through.</p>

The Biggest Electronics Show In The World Is A Pretty Bad Indicator Of The Year Ahead In Tech

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Samsung is a company that hates to fail.</p><p>That may seem obvious (who actually revels in failure?), but most companies don't react to setbacks the way Samsung does.</p><p>The best example? That famous story from 1995 where the company's chairman set 150,000 defective phones ablaze in a giant bonfire in front of Samsung's factory in Gumi, South Korea with thousands of employees watching.</p><p>The demonstration doubled as a dire warning: Don't let it happen again.</p><p>Two decades later, with Samsung reeling from the damage of its defective Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, employees are bracing for another bonfire.</p><p>Only this time insiders expect Samsung to burn a lot more than faulty electronic devices. </p><p>It's almost certain that the playbook that transformed Samsung into a consumer electronics powerhouse will get substantial revisions. </p><p>And as Samsung prepares for its annual executive reorganization - a yearly purging of the top ranks that's coming up in a few weeks - it's likely we'll see a lot of heads roll, especially at the top. This wasn't just any screwup. It was one that erased billions from Samsung's market cap and gave Apple and Google an opportunity to reap the rewards from those fed up with the Samsung brand.</p><h2>Lockdown</h2><p>Internally, Samsung is on lockdown. Even people I normally talk to within the company have been unusually tight lipped as the investigation continues into what exactly caused the Galaxy Note 7 to explode. The theory among those I have spoken to seems to be that Samsung is withholding all the information it can until the annual reorganization happens. Then the healing can begin.</p><p>To recap: <span>After weeks of reports that the Note 7 devices overheated or exploded, causing dozens of injuries and the evacuation of a Southwest Airlines flight, Samsung made the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-halts-galaxy-note-7-production-2016-10">decision last month</a> to recall the phone and cancel the Note 7 line for good. A separate product recall <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-samsung-to-recall-28-mln-washing-machines-in-the-united-states-2016-11">involving washing machines</a> that have injured consumers when the lids flew off has further tarnished Samsung's reputation. </span></p><p>One person close to Samsung told me the company's electronics group is currently reevaluating everything from marketing to design to engineering to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. That means changes in leadership as well as in culture. </p><p>Samsung built its brand by being first to market with the coolest and newest technologies, from smartphones to televisions. The company released 6 smart watches in the year before Apple released the Apple Watch, and Samsung is regularly among the first to showcase slick new breeds of televisions like curved OLED displays.</p><p>But that strategy now looks like a liability.</p><p><span>As </span><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-18/samsung-crisis-began-in-rush-to-capitalize-on-uninspiring-iphone">Bloomberg reported</a><span>, Samsung's rush to beat Apple's iPhone 7 could've been one of the reasons why the Note 7 turned out to be defective.</span></p><p><span></span>Normally, Samsung would've solved the Note 7 problem and moved on by now, this person told me. But in this case, the company is slowing down and evaluating everything in its product development cycle. </p><p><span>Given the urgency under which Samsung has operated for so long, this deliberate pace investigating the matter may well represent the first sign of a major culture shift. </span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p><p class="caption">A Samsung Galaxy Note 7 that exploded.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>If we don't change, we don't survive</h2><p>The stakes couldn't be higher. Samsung appears to be aware that it could suffer the same fate as other former industry leaders like Nokia and BlackBerry unless things drastically change. People I've spoken were optimistic that the Note 7 crisis could be the catalyst the company needed to change how things work at the company.</p><p>"If we don't change, we don't survive," another person close to Samsung told me. And, for the first time, insiders are getting the sense that things actually are changing.</p><p>Part of that change, it seems, is to make sure products are fully baked before releasing them to the public. Moving quickly is admirable, especially in the tech world, but not at the expense of making a product that's safe to use. Samsung learned a hard lesson. Now it's getting ready for a change.</p><p>The change won't be easy. The culture of urgency is deeply entrenched in the company and broadly diffused across disparate operations that include everything from the production of semiconductors to batteries.</p><p>It's especially important going into 2017. Before the Note 7 turned out to be a dud, Samsung was gearing up for its next major flagship device that should launch early next year. Unfortunately, those plans have been tainted by the Note 7, and Samsung will have to rethink how it pitches the phone to the public. The device is said to be another radical transformation in design, according to early rumors, and I've been told to expect some impressive new products throughout the year. (Sorry, I wish I had more details than that.)</p><p>But if Samsung wants those devices to be successful, it'll have to prove that it's learned its lesson and has the processes in place to make sure all future products are safe.</p><p><em>Do you know anything about what's happening at Samsung following the Galaxy Note 7 debacle? Email me at skovach@businessinsider.com. (I'm discreet!)</em></p>     <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/2016-best-smartphone-camera-iphone-google-pixel-samsung-galaxy-2016-11">Here's the best smartphone camera you can buy</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="IwMml5NjE6hro7DMfJ1lfnixZM2460YL" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Samsung's culture needs to change if it wants to survive

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><a href="http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/everpix2.png">Flickr via TechCrunch Disrupt</a></p><p class="caption">The Everpix team just made the tough decision to shut down their startup.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Good morning!</p>
<p>Here's what's happening in tech:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/06/us-microsoft-ceo-idUSBRE9A500A20131106">Microsoft has narrowed down its list of CEO candidates to about five people, Reuters reports.</a></strong> Ford Motors CEO Alan Mulally and former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop are still in the running. So are internal candidates Tony Bates and Satya Nadella.</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/5/5039216/everpix-life-and-death-inside-the-worlds-best-photo-startup">After an acquisition offer from Path fell through, photo startup Everpix is shutting down.</a></strong> Here's how "the world's best photo startup" died. </li>
<li><strong><a href="http://blog.everpix.com/post/66102960115/we-gave-it-our-all">Here's the announcement Everpix made about shutting down.</a></strong> It's titled, "We Gave it our All."</li>
<li><a href="http://www.knocktounlock.com/"><strong>There's a cool new technology called Knock that lets you tap your iPhone twice to unlock your Mac.</strong></a> It can be used in place of a typed password.</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://allthingsd.com/20131105/yahoos-mayer-now-chit-chatting-with-ryan-seacrest-about-content-ideas/">Yahoo's Marissa Mayer and television personality Ryan Seacrest are swapping content ideas.</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="http://jessicalessin.com/2013/11/05/by-4-to-1-early-adopters-pick-wearable-watches-over-glasses/">A simple survey found early adopters are much more excited about smart watches than glasses.</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="http://mashable.com/2013/11/05/internet-ipo-investment/">Here's how much money you would have made if you had invested $1,000 in Amazon, eBay, Yahoo and other consumer technology companies on the day of their IPOs. </a> </strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/11/aol-crunchbase-cc-flap/">AOL is demanding a startup, Pro Populi, to stop using Crunchbase data for its app.</a></strong> But all of Crunchbase's data is published under a Creative Commons license, so Pro Populi may have legal rights to continue using the content.</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://allthingsd.com/20131105/startup-has-an-awesome-idea-that-will-get-crushed-by-big-media/">Streamnation wants to help people borrow and stream their friends' digital DVDs.</a></strong> It's a great idea in theory but Hollywood is sure to crush it. </li>
<li><strong><a href="http://allthingsd.com/20131105/amazons-first-employee-disses-mackenzie-bezos-review-that-disses-new-book-about-amazon/">Jeff Bezos' wife MacKenzie might not like Brad Stone's book about her husband, but Amazon's first employee, Shel Kaphan, does.</a></strong> He gave it a four-star review and said he found it "by and large...to be accurate."</li>
</ol>

10 Tech Things You Need To Know This Morning

<p><div class="image-container" style="width:620px"><div class="image"></div><p class="source"><a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&amp;search_source=search_form&amp;version=llv1&amp;anyorall=all&amp;safesearch=1&amp;searchterm=bull+rider&amp;search_group=#id=122994598&amp;src=D3BEFB32-8477-11E2-BA08-65BF37D0D1A0-1-6">Shutterstock, Business Insider</a></p></div></p>
<p><br />Wall Street has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apples-stock-hits-a-new-low-2013-4">basically given up on Apple</a>.</p>
<p>The stock has tanked more than 40% from a peak of $702 last September to a new low of about ~$406 this morning.</p>
<p>The stock is also now trading at a price/earnings ratio of 9X.</p>
<p>That P/E ratio is well below the market average, which is about 15X.  It is also a valuation so low that it is generally awarded only to companies that Wall Street thinks are permanently screwed. (Think Dell, BlackBerry, or Hewlett Packard).</p>
<p><keyword id="6354427" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Apple">Apple</keyword> also has ~$150 billion of cash and no debt, which means that the market's assessment of Apple's actual <em>business</em> is even more pessimistic. (If you buy the stock, you get the $150 billion of cash along with the company). Apple is also already paying a dividend of 2.5% — and this dividend is expected to increase going forward.</p>
<p>To put this in the most direct terms: <em>Apple is now trading at a lower valuation than Dell.</em></p>
<p>That is a seriously low valuation! And it's one that suggests that there may be a compelling risk/reward for those brave enough to buy the collapsing stock at this level.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">To be sure, much of the pessimism around Apple is justified. The case against the company is very easy to make right now:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>The company's growth has vanished:</strong> Earnings are expected to shrink this year.</li>
<li><strong>The company's critical product, the iPhone, has lost its edge</strong>, and the product cycle that drove Apple's mind-boggling profitability over the last several years (premium smartphone growth) is nearing its end.</li>
<li><strong>Apple's profit margin is dropping</strong>, as its main products get commoditized.</li>
<li><strong>The CEO of the company is not a product visionary</strong>, and has not articulated a vision of where he wants to take Apple going forward.</li>
<li><strong>Apple's internal management may be in turmoil or at least in flux</strong>, and employees are reportedly more willing to leave than they have been before</li>
<li><strong>No one knows if Apple has any truly great new products in the pipeline.</strong> </li>
<li><strong>Apple has cash coming out of its ears, but no clue what do with it.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Apple's first quarter results (coming next week) are likely to be disappointing, and the company's outlook will likely force Wall Street to slash its future estimates.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>All of those points are legitimate. And it's possible that Apple is indeed in the early stages of a long-term decline.</p>
<p>(Such declines happen frequently in the tech industry — think Nokia, BlackBerry, Microsoft, Digital Equipment Corporation, Yahoo, and Apple in the 1990s, to name just a few. To think that this can't happen to Apple would be the height of reality distortion.)</p>
<p>But ...</p>
<p>Buried in this heap of terrible news is some good news: Wall Street has now become so pessimistic about Apple that it's possible that investors will be positively surprised going forward.</p>
<p>At this valuation, Apple really <em>does</em> have to be in the early stages of an inexorable long-term decline for the stock not to provide a reasonable return.</p>
<p>How do we know?</p>
<p>Because, in the last fiscal year (ending in September), Apple generated more than $40 billion of cash.</p>
<p>At that rate of cash generation, it would take Apple only six years to earn enough cash to equal the value that Wall Street is currently placing on its entire business ($240 billion).</p>
<p>In other words, if you were able to buy all of Apple today for the current market price of ~$390 billion, you would be able to pocket the company's $150 billion of cash. Then, if the company's cash generation remained the same, you would only have to wait six years before you got back ALL of the cash you used to buy the company. Then you would own Apple's business free and clear, for nothing.</p>
<p>What this tells you is that, at the current stock price, Wall Street is assuming that Apple won't generate anywhere near $40 billion of cash a year going forward. (If Wall Street did assume this, then every Warren Buffett-like "value" manager in the world would be loading up on the stock.)</p>
<p>The stock's current price, in fact, suggests that Wall Street thinks that Apple's cash generation will collapse going forward.</p>
<p>And it very well might.</p>
<p>Thanks to the competitive dynamics in the global hardware business, and Apple's need to both reduce prices on its current products and launch lower-priced products, Apple's profit margin will likely drop sharply in the future.</p>
<p>But ...</p>
<p>The markets that Apple is selling into — global smartphones and tablets — should continue to grow on a unit basis. <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">So, if Apple does launch lower-priced products to remain competitive, Apple's overall revenue should continue to grow.</span></p>
<p>And here's the key point: <em>Even if Apple's profit margin gets cut in half</em>, and <em>even if the company's revenue never grows again</em>, Apple will still generate enough cash to pay back investors in 12-13 years for buying the business today.</p>
<p>That's how cheap the stock has gotten.</p>
<p>Even if Apple's cash generation falls to $20 billion a year from $40 billion, which would be close to a disaster, Apple should still generate $250 billion of cash over the next dozen years. Add that to the $150 billion of cash the company already has, and the investment will have entirely paid for itself within 10-15 years.</p>
<p>In other words, to believe that Apple's stock is worth even less than the current market price, you basically have to think that the company is becoming Nokia.</p>
<p>Before you laugh at that idea, please understand that Apple <em>might be</em> becoming Nokia. No one knows how the Apple story will turn out, including the folks at Apple. The folks at Nokia a few years ago certainly didn't think they were becoming today's Nokia. And Nokia investors didn't think that world-beating Nokia was becoming burning-platform Nokia, either. That's how it goes in the hardware business.</p>
<p>But the optimistic point here is that there is a distinct possibility that Apple might NOT be becoming today's Nokia. There is a possibility that Apple might actually stabilize and remain a good if not mind-bogglingly amazing company.</p>
<p>That's the bull case for the stock at these levels.</p>
<p>The bull case is that Wall Street has gotten so remarkably pessimistic about Apple that it might not actually be hard for Apple to positively surprise investors in the future — especially once we get past next week's earnings and the presumably lousy first half of this year.</p>
<p>To support this bull case, here are some positive aspects of the Apple story that Wall Street is currently ignoring:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>The stock is cheap</strong> (as illustrated above).</li>
<li><strong>We are nearing the end of the new-product blackout that began last fall.</strong> (In relatively short order, excitement should begin to build about the iPhone 5S, the new iPad Mini, and other product refreshes, even if Apple doesn't have anything truly new up its sleeves.)</li>
<li><strong><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">While</span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> Apple's management team without Steve Jobs in charge is unproven, it's not stupid. </span></strong><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Almost all of the folks who produced and sold Apple's great products over the past five years are still on the team.</span></li>
<li><strong><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Apple appears to be working on a cheaper iPhone, which suggests it is finally willing to trade profit margin for growth. </span></strong><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">This is critical for the company's long-term survival, and it's something Apple should have done a couple of years ago, when it was still the industry leader. But better late than never.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>A disastrous first quarter and second-quarter outlook should radically reduce Wall Street's expectations for Apple — thus setting the bar lower.</strong> This will make it easier for Apple to positively surprise investors in the future.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>It is still possible that Apple is working on a revolutionary new product like a TV or smartwatch that will suddenly get people jazzed about the company again.</strong> Yes, as time goes by, this possibility seems more remote. But it's not zero.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>Most importantly, Apple is still well-positioned strategically, and it still makes excellent products.</strong> We are not talking about a company like Dell or HP, which are in businesses that are dying (PCs). And we're not talking about a company whose products have gone to crap. We're just talking about a company that has lost its product edge and clung too long to its super-premium pricing strategy instead of using its phenomenal profit margin and financial resources to remain both the quality leader AND the price leader. The global smartphone and tablet industries are going to continue grow rapidly over the next several years. Assuming Apple makes smart decisions on the pricing side, Apple should grow with them.</span></li>
</ul>
<p>Last summer, Apple was priced at such a high level that everything had to go right for the stock to continue to do well.</p>
<p>Now, however, the stock is priced at such a low level that almost everything has to go <em>wrong</em> for the stock to continue its collapse.</p>
<p>Yes, everything may well go wrong.</p>
<p>But there is a distinct possibility that it may not go wrong. And if it doesn't go wrong, Apple's stock should provide a good return from this level. And it could even provide a great one.</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> The day after we published this article, Apple stock crashed all the way to $390, and I (Henry Blodget) decided enough was enough. I think stock-picking is an idiotic strategy for individual investors, and I invest almost entirely in low-cost, tax efficient index funds. But, sometimes, I just have to put my money where my mouth is. So <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/i-just-bought-apple-stock-2013-4">I bought some Apple stock</a>. If Apple really is becoming Nokia, the stock could drop to $250. If Apple merely does okay over the next several years, however, the stock should do okay. In the meantime, I'll collect the dividend...</p>

THE BULL CASE FOR APPLE

<p><em><span class="s1">This news note comes from <strong><a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/4fb9aa5690658cce4ac2130esu3q.huw/T-zRKPEdBDM6QCNoBcf84https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=CES&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile" target="_blank">BI Intelligence</a></strong>, a new research and and analysis service focused on <keyword id="6354485" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="mobile">mobile</keyword> computing and the Internet. The <em>charts and data featured here are available for download in the <strong><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=ND&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobilehttp://e.businessinsider.com/4fb9aa5690658cce4ac2130esu3q.huw/T-zRKPEdBDM6QCNoBcf84https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=CES&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobilehttp://e.businessinsider.com/4fb9aa5690658cce4ac2130esu3q.huw/T-zRKPEdBDM6QCNoBcf84https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=CES&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile"><span class="s1">BI Intelligence</span></a></strong> library. </em><a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/4fb9aa5690658cce4ac2130esu3q.huw/T-zRKPEdBDM6QCNoBcf84https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=CES&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile"><strong>Please sign up up for a free trial here.</strong></a></span></em></p>
<p>The Consumer Electronics Show extravaganza is over. To hear tech journalists tell it, CES is overrated and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-i-go-to-ces-2012-1">not as important to the future of technology as it once was</a>.</p>
<p></p>
<p>However, it's still the world's largest stage for new gadgets.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/4fb9aa5690658cce4ac2130esu3q.huw/T-zRKPEdBDM6QCNoBcf84https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=CES&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile">BI Intelligence</a></strong> combed the tech press and polled our own sources to put together a list of the most interesting mobile-linked products and trends that generated buzz at the show. We've linked to the original sources where relevant. </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Smartwatches, connected <keyword id="46505" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Cameras">cameras</keyword>, <keyword id="6355645" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="android">Android</keyword> TVs:</strong> The <keyword id="1659938" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Pebble">Pebble</keyword> watch was arguably the show's star. The Verge elected the Pebble the <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/11/3865786/verge-awards-ces-2013">best watch</a>, and noted how it works like a smartphone without adding too many unnecessary features. The Pebble allows users to see the time, and who's texted them, without the hassle of reaching into a pocket for handsets. <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Brian Klug </span><a href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/6651/brians-concluding-thoughts-on-ces-2013-the-premwc-show%20">argues</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> Samsung's connected Galaxy Camera dominated the CES showfloor even though it wasn't officially a showcased product. The camera "seemed to be everywhere," he </span><a href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/6651/brians-concluding-thoughts-on-ces-2013-the-premwc-show%20">writes</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">, as tech journalists used it to take high quality photos, tweet them and upload to Dropbox. The camera </span><a href="http://www.samsung.com/in/promotions/galaxycamera/">runs Android Jelly Bean's OS</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">, but it remains to be seen whether it's an isolated success or Android and iOS will successfully migrate to cameras, watches and </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/lenovo-ideatab-smartphone-smart-tv-2012-1">TVs</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">. </span></li>
<li><strong>Mobile retreat?:</strong> Many CES veterans noted 2012 marked a retreat from the mobile frenzy of the 2011 show. Ross Rubin <a href="https://www.npdgroupblog.com/ces-2012-the-empires-strike-back/">notes</a> that there were smartphone and tablet launches this year, but nothing like the hyped handsets and "wall's worth of tablets" on display last year. It may be that most mobile initiatives are awaiting the <a href="http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/">Mobile World Congress</a> in February to beat the drums, but it may also be a sign of a certain maturity in mobile. Perhaps future innovation won't come from dressing up tablets and phones with new bells and whistles.</li>
<li><strong>Marketer frustration:</strong> "[Marketers] simply can't figure out how to do anything compelling with tiny screens," writes Dan Lyons, the editor-in-chief of ReadWrite. <a href="http://readwrite.com/2013/01/14/what-i-learned-at-ces">He attended meeting after meeting at CES at which marketers expressed their frustrations with mobile</a>. Lyons' advice? Marketers should stop looking at mobile devices as tiny TV screens through which to push messages, and begin using them as portals through which to initiate a dialogue with consumers and listen to their needs. </li>
<li><strong><keyword id="6357456" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Huawei">Huawei</keyword>'s monster</strong>: The Ascend Mate, "truly blurs the line between a phone and a tablet," <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hawei-6-1-inch-smartphone-2013-1">writes</a> <keyword id="56002" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SAI">SAI</keyword>'s Kevin Smith. The 6.1-inch HD screen Huawei smartphone is larger than the 5.55-inch Samsung Galaxy Note II. One <a href="http://www.techinasia.com/huawei-ascend-mate-giant-phone-dumb/">detractor</a> called the Huawei handset a "monster." The tech press has dubbed these large-screen <keyword id="6354775" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Smartphones">smartphones</keyword> "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-completely-whiffed-on-the-phablets-market-which-is-turning-out-to-be-huge-2013-1">phablets</a>." One obvious attraction is that they're perfect for watching <keyword id="21654" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="video">video</keyword>. </li>
<li><strong>HD <keyword id="1583722" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="mobile-video">mobile video</keyword></strong>: In fact, HD is becoming standard issue as smartphone screens grow in size. The Ascend Mate and Sony's <a href="http://www.sonymobile.com/us/products/phones/xperia-z/">Xperia Z</a> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sony-xperia-z-2013-1">water-resistant phone</a> unveiled at CES are both HD. It makes sense to bet on video, since consumers have a tendency to watch as much video as is feasible on their devices, <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/mobile-video-growth-from-faster-networks-2012-10">driving a global surge in mobile video usage</a> and traffic. (See chart, above right.)</li>
<li><strong>Keyboard attachment:</strong> This one is for the annals of the war between the desktop PC and the tablet. Several manufacturers — Microsoft with the Surface, ASUS with the Transformer Prime, and now, Lenovo — are betting their tablets can compete against netbooks and make gains with desktop-centric business users if they're dockable or attachable to a physical keyboard. Lenovo <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/lenovo-ideatab-smartphone-smart-tv-2012-1">unveiled</a> the<a href="http://blogs.computerworld.com/19537/ces_lenovo_shows_2012_ideatabs_beat_2010_ipad"> IdeaTab S2</a> at CES. This trend raises the question: Just how attached to keyboards are we?</li>
<li><strong>The rise of software</strong>: This is an important trend for mobile developers. As gadgets proliferate, it may seem as if futuristic devices like <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57561525-93/google-glass-development-charges-ahead/">Google Glass</a> and smart <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/nest-second-generation/">thermostats</a> get all the attention. However, venture capitalist Tomasz Tunguz argues that it will be the <a href="http://tomtunguz.com/the-hardware-ma-market-will-be-vibrant-in-2013/">software</a> under the hood of these gadgets that will ultimately make or break them in the market. </li>
<li><strong>More mobile platforms:</strong><span> SAI's Steve Kovach </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/best-and-worst-of-ces-2012-1#winner-nokia-stole-everyones-hearts-with-the-lumia-900-3">writes</a><span> that Nokia's Windows-powered phone, the Lumia 900, "stole everyone's hearts." The phone runs the new Windows Phone operating system. </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ubuntu-os-hands-on-ces-2013-1">Ubuntu is a Linux-based mobile operating system</a> that would also like to position itself as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ubuntu-introduces-smartphone-operating-system-2013-1">a polished alternative</a> to iOS and Android. <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/third-platform-2012-11">We've written about how the race to become the third mobile platform</a> is likely to <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/our-favorite-mobile-predictions-2013-1">end in a draw</a> between multiple contenders. But developers and publishers should keep an eye on Windows Phone, <keyword id="353838" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ubuntu">Ubuntu</keyword>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/samsungs-plan-to-ditch-google-and-apple-2012-12">Tizen</a>, Firefox, and the rest. </li>
<li><strong>Super <keyword id="47655" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Wi-Fi">Wi-Fi</keyword></strong>: It's easy to forget that Wi-Fi connections, and not fickle cell signals, <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/its-still-a-wi-fi-world-2012-11">account for most of consumers' smartphone-based data usage</a> (63 percent in the United States). With tablets, it's even more lopsided in favor of Wi-Fi. It's true that 4G LTE cell networks are ultra-fast, but their data costs are rising, and even LTE-connected mobile consumers may turn to Wi-Fi for untiered usage. If Wi-Fi gets even faster — <a href="http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/01/fastest-wi-fi-ever-is-almost-ready-for-real-world-use/">as merchants promised at CES</a> — then it'll be a long time, if ever, before consumers go completely Wi-Fi free. (See chart, below.)</li>
</ul>
<p></p>

The Top Mobile Stories To Come Out Of CES 

<p>Apple has retained its position as the world's most valuable brand, according to <a href="http://www.bestglobalbrands.com/2014/ranking/">brand management firm Interbrand's annual rankings</a>.</p>
<p>Apple usurped Coca-Cola from the top spot, which had held the position for 13 years, in last year's list. This year Apple has increased its brand value by 21% to $118.9 billion.</p>
<p>Tech brands dominated the rankings, with 13 entrants. Google once again was the second most valuable in the world, increasing its brand value by 15% to $107.4 billion. Elsewhere in Interbrand's top 100, Facebook and Amazon were among the top risers.</p>
<p>To conduct its annual study, Interbrand measures companies' financial performance, the role that brand plays in influencing customer choice and the strength the brand has to command a premium price or secure earnings for the company.</p>

<h3>20. Honda<br>Brand value: $21.7bn<br>Last year's rank: 20<br>Change in value: +17%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Honda has been plagued by recalls in 2014 but its announcement that it was returning to Formula 1 as an engine supplier for McLaren, after a break of more than 20 years, is helping the brand grow and more clearly differentiate itself from competitors.</p>
<p>Honda has also been partnering with with tech companies like Google and Apple to work on programs like telematics and driverless cars - although Interbrand says this is far from unique in the category.</p>
<h3>19. Louis Vuitton<br>Brand value: $22.5bn<br>Last year's rank: 17<br>Change in value: -9%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Interbrand says Louis Vuitton is affected by fluctuating exchange rates in the global economy and the impact of political and economic climates on key customers, such as Russian and Chinese travelers.</p>
<p>Louis Vuitton must push its core strengths in "extraordinary design, technical innovation, style and authenticity" if it is to retain strong brand loyalty with global consumers, Interbrand says. That might be achieved during the fall season with the launch new collection of Marc Jacobs' successor, Nicolas Guesquière, hitting stores for the first time.</p>
<h3>18. Gillette<br>Brand value: $22.8bn <br>Last year's rank: 16<br>Change in value: -9%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Gillette is maintaining its lead by staying true to its "The Best a Man Can Get" brand promise, offering a broad range of products. While sales growth is slowing as more men adopt facial hair, Gillette is responding with the introduction of new products like the Gillette Body razor and the Gillette Fusion ProGlide which uses the brand's proprietary "Flexball" technology.</p>
<p>But the brand remains under threat from cheaper alternatives such as the Dollar Shave Club, 800Razors.com and general disposable razors.</p>
<h3>17. HP<br>Brand value: $23.8bn<br>Last year's rank: 15<br>Change in value: -8%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>HP hit the headlines this month when it announced it would be splitting into two companies, one devoted to business technology and the other concentrating on personal computing. Interbrand says the year ahead for HP will be a "pivotal one".</p>
<p>In recent months the company placed strategic bets on mobility, security, big data and cloud technologies which have led to new product launches like the Slate VoiceTab phablet range for India, plans to invest in 3D printing and the launch of a new converged infrastructure platform.</p>
<h3>16. Oracle<br>Brand value: $25.9bn<br>Last year's rank: 18<br>Change in value: +8%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Oracle is a complex business, having spent 10 years acquiring more than 100 companies to build its back office solutions suite. Its challenge now is to define the Oracle brand as a whole, not just a sum of these complex parts.</p>
<p>Oracle's marketing of late has all been around "simplicity" as it looks to increase understanding about its business. Interbrand says with more effective storytelling about how the business is evolving and where it is headed, Oracle can transition smoothly into the next stage of its development.</p>
<h3>15. Amazon<br>Brand value: $29.5bn<br>Last year's rank: 19<br>Change in value: 25%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Amazon was the "top riser" in Interbrand's list this year. In 2013 the company expanded from its core retail roots by entering into a content licensing agreement with HBO, growing its AmazonFresh grocery delivery service and launching its Fire TV service for users to access Netflix, Prime Instant Video and Hulu all in one place.</p>
<p>Looking ahead Interbrand says Amazon's brand value may lift even higher if it gains approval from the Federal Aviation Authority to launch its Amazon Prime Air delivery service and as it continues to invest in customer personalization.</p>
<h3>14. Cisco<br>Brand value: $30.9bn<br>Last year's rank: 13<br>Change in value: 6%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Last year Cisco launched its "Internet of Everything" marketing campaign, which is still running today, telling the story of how the company is connecting the previously unconnected - a move that is expanding its presence in the global marketplace.</p>
<p>Interbrand says Cisco is now in a thought leadership position in terms of how technology is transforming the world. Aside from marketing, Cisco is also improving the value of its brand by increasing its speed to market from 3 to 5 years to 12-18 months.</p>
<h3>13. Disney<br>Brand value: $32.2bn<br>Last year's rank: 14<br>Change in value: 14%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The box office super hit that was Frozen helped revitalize Disney as a global powerhouse last year. Also key to Disney's brand strength is its use of technology and data to understand what customers want and personalize their experiences.</p>
<p>Big news such as its partnership with Marvel to create programming for Netflix, the launch of the Disney Infinity gaming platform and Disney's acquisition of YouTube network Maker studios were all announced in recent months. Interbrand says that by continuing to grow its reputation for top family entertainment and increasing its focus on next generation media and technology, Disney is ready to "thrive."</p>
<h3>12. Intel<br>Brand value: $34.2bn<br>Last year's rank: 9<br>Change in value: -8%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Intel is facing an uphill challenge as global PC sales are experiencing a 4.4% year-on-year decline. In response, Intel is moving into new markets including cloud computing, the "internet of things" and wearables, demonstrated by its partnership with fashion designers Opening Ceremony to create a smart bracelet.</p>
<p>These are all moves in the right direction but Intel, the brand built around power and performance, is finding it hard to differentiate itself - particularly as the tablet and smartphone markets are dominated by competitors ARM and Qualcomm.</p>
<p>Interbrand advises Intel to reignite growth through innovation, revitalize its identity and generate awareness through marketing to build upon its heritage as a brand that transforms life through technology.</p>
<h3>11. BMW<br>Brand value: $34.2bn<br>Last year's rank: 12<br>Change in value: +7%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>BMW has managed to increase its relevance with models like the i3 emission-free car for driving around cities and the i8 progressive sports car and its "Born Electric" marketing campaign. The push has brought BMW's mobility ideals to life, proving the brand is "Fueled by Innovation," Interbrand says.</p>
<p>Over the past few years BMW has refined its brand strategy, internal communications clarity and external brand consistency to build the value of its brand. Record sales in China and an "enviable" profit margin per vehicle have also been credit for BMW's success last year.</p>
<h3>10. Mercedes-Benz<br>Brand value: $34.3bn<br>Last year's rank: 11<br>Change in value: +8%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>German automaker Mercedes-Benz reported a record 14% increase in sales last year, having revitalized itself with new models and "fresh expressions of its brand" which includes making contributions to clean mobility.</p>
<p>Interbrand says Mercedes-Benz owes much of its recent success to continual innovation and its commitment to debuting new products and services.</p>
<p>Its researchers say the brand has also raised the bar when it comes to delivering premium customer experiences with its "Mercedes me" initiative, which bundles benefits and services like "Move me," "Connect me," and "Assist me" on one digital platform.</p>
<h3>9. McDonald's<br>Brand value: $42.3bn<br>Last year's rank: 7<br>Change in value: +1%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>McDonald's global sales have been under pressure but the brand is working hard to respond to consumer demand for healthier meals and expand its operations globally.</p>
<p>High profile sponsorships of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2014 Winter Olympics and major <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword> campaigns have helped McDonald's maintain awareness and promote new launches, such as its revamp of its fries packaging which allowed customers to play an augmented reality soccer game.</p>
<p>The brand is now on a journey to rebrand itself as "not online a cheap food destination, but an appealing and high-quality one as well."</p>
<h3>8. Toyota<br>Brand value: $45.4bn<br>Last year's rank 10<br>Change in value: +20%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Toyota is the most valuable automotive brand on this year's ranking, despite a huge vehicle recall and being fined $1.2bn by the US Justice Department in March.</p>
<p>The company has evolved its marketing with campaigns like "Let's go places" and "Go Fun Yourself" to add a more playful dimension to it communications. Elsewhere, Toyota has also made efforts to increase diversity within the company and collaborated with brands such as BMW on projects such as electric drivetrains and fuel cell engineering.</p>
<p>By prioritizing collaboration, investing in mobility and putting sustainability and innovation at the top of its agenda, Toyota is well positioned for the future, Interbrand says.</p>
<h3>7. Samsung<br>Brand value: $45.5bn<br>Last year's rank: 8<br>Change in value: 15%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Samsung continues to lead the competitive global smartphone market in terms of volume and doubled its presence in tablets last year. The company has also made sustained investments in R&amp;D to bring out technologies such as curbed TVs and a virtual reality headset.</p>
<p>In 2013 Samsung tripled its marketing spend to $14bn - the equivalent of Iceland's GDP and more than triple Microsoft and Apple's combined marketing spend last year - to drive perceptions of the company as an aspirational brand.</p>
<h3>6. General Electric<br>Brand value: $45.5bn<br>Last year's rank: 6<br>Change in value: -3%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>General Electric is in the process of reinventing itself by harnessing big data to make its heavy industrial machines smarter.</p>
<p>Over the past 12 months GE has divested its retail finance division and it was announced that Electrolux would buy GE's appliance business for $3.3bn, indicating how the company is transitioning away from consumer businesses and focusing more intently on industrials. But despite the shift, GE's marketing and relationships with customers remains very personal, having produced ads such as "What Would Happen" and "Childlike Imagination,"</p>
<p>Interbrand says initiatives such as its Garages global road show which showcases innovations in manufacturing demonstrate how "GE is not just imagining what's next, but is actually doing it."</p>
<h3>5. Microsoft<br>Brand value: $61.2bn<br>Last year's rank: 5<br>Change in brand value: +3%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The past 12 months have been transformational for Microsoft, with new CEO Satya Nadella now firmly in place and leading the company's move towards a new "cloud and mobile first" era.</p>
<p>To demonstrate this new vision, Microsoft has completed its purchase of Nokia's devices and services division, released the Cortana personal voice assistant, acquired the parent company of Minecraft and rebranded its cloud computing enterprise Windows Azure to Microsoft Azure and made it compete on price with Amazon Web services.</p>
<h3>4. IBM<br>Brand value: $72.2bn<br>Last year's rank: 4<br>Change in brand value: -8%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>IBM is in the process of shifting from its five-year old "Smarter Planet" strategy to a stronger focus on big data, cloud computing and analytics, following year on year declines in both revenue and profit.</p>
<p>The challenge is differentiation: all its competitors are also focused on all the same areas. IBM will be hoping its b2b computing partnership with Apple, announced in July, will enrich its analytics offering with the input of billions of data points from iOS devices.</p>
<p>The company has made multi-million dollar investments in acquisitions, net capital expenditures and R&amp;D, earning it the most US patents for the 21st straight year in 2013. In early 2014 IBM formed the IBM Watson Group which aims to work out how to make decisions based on all the data that exists in the world as it looks to set itself apart from the rest of its competitors as the leader in the big data space.</p>
<h3>3. Coca-Cola<br>Brand value: $81.6bn<br>Last year's rank: 3<br>Change in brand value: +3%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Coca-Cola has seen declining sales growth in North America, its biggest market, as demand for its products wanes among increasingly health conscious consumers.</p>
<p>To help combat this, the company has been rolling out mid-calorie "green" cola Coca-Cola Life. Elsewhere it has also partnered with brands including Nike, P&amp;G, Ford and Heinz to accelerate the development of products made from plants as it looks to respond to concerns around sustainability.</p>
<p>Interbrand says Coca-Cola's opportunity ahead lies in continuing to strengthen the brand's connections with Millennials and addressing the shift away from sweet, carbonated beverages to high energy and health-conscious ones, especially in North America and Western Europe.</p>
<h3>2. Google<br>Brand value: $107.4bn<br>Last year's rank: 2<br>Change in brand value: +15%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Google continued its quest this year to be leaders in far more than search alone. Recent ambitious projects - known internally as "moon shots" - include self driving cars, the roll out of Google Glass, Project Loon (its global network of high altitude balloons that provide internet access to people in remote areas) and an investment in a biotech company that is working to slow human aging.</p>
<p>Interbrand says that with its extensive reach in search, advertising, Android, apps and Google+, Google has the capabilities and resources to continue to deliver on its vision to provide more personalized experiences.</p>
<h3>1. Apple<br>Brand value: $118.9bn<br>Last year's rank: 1<br>Change in brand value: 21%</br></br></br></h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Apple maintained its position at the head of the rankings by continuing to be bold, Interbrand says. Recent examples of boldness have included the launch of Apple Pay, the long-anticipated Apple Watch, two new iPhones and software such as CarPlay and HomeKit.</p>
<p>Intebrand says the real breakthrough, though, is how the products now work together to make everything in your life work that bit better.</p></hr>

You Searched For "nokia smart tvs" and got 15 results

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Google Partners With comScore To Give DoubleClick Real-Time Ad Campaign Measurement

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10 Things You Need To Know In Tech This Morning

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A top Microsoft exec dropped some hints that its next smartphone will be a serious iPhone competitor

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SAMSUNG: Why We're So Successful Despite The Religious Devotion Of Apple Customers

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Micromax to have its own OS soon

BI India Bureau

The Biggest Electronics Show In The World Is A Pretty Bad Indicator Of The Year Ahead In Tech

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Samsung's culture needs to change if it wants to survive

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THE BULL CASE FOR APPLE

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The Top Mobile Stories To Come Out Of CES

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The 20 Most Valuable Brands In The World

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Microsoft's CEO Just Sent Out A Giant Manifesto To Employees About The Future Of The Company

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LISA EADICICCO