Samsung's best way out of the Galaxy Fold screen mess: Suck up to buyers - CNET

The first report of a broken Galaxy Fold screen caused alarm. By the fifth, many onlookers had lost faith in Samsung's brave new foldable phone design. Samsung's one saving grace in the embarrassing, sensationalized debacle is that the issues -- three in all -- were discovered on early production units in reviewers' hands, and Samsung is delaying the Fold's official release to address what went wrong. (CNET's review unit was never affected.) These weren't the devices that Samsung customers had shelled out $1,980 apiece for, and that means the world's largest phone-maker has another shot, perhaps a slim one, to make things right.

By now, Samsung has reclaimed the Galaxy Fold units, defective and whole alike. Returning those units after a 10-day review period was always part of the deal. But there's little doubt that Samsung is also attempting to run damage control on what has become a runaway situation and a black eye for the brand's reputation as an innovator.

There's still a sliver of hope for the Fold after its new shipping date in June. After shoring up problems with the screen and hinge -- which are easily damaged and compromised -- and after finding ways to communicate to future Fold owners that they should never, under any circumstance, remove the protective screen film, there's still one thing the brand must do: give Fold owners a red carpet experience.

Read: What the Galaxy Fold's screen crease, notch and air gap are really like to use

The Galaxy Fold is not your typical phone by a long shot. At twice the cost of the excellent Galaxy S10 Plus, the Fold represents a new category that makes it phone and tablet in one. If Samsung wants to position the Fold as a "luxury" device, it will need to make buyers feel like they're part of an exclusive club with accelerated customer service, free upgrades, gifts and sneak peeks. After all, who doesn't love a good perk?

Buyers of high-end goods and services are already conditioned to expect giveaways, exclusive experiences and personalized attention. Take for example, owners of luxury cars who get a dedicated concierge service or free track instruction; winery members who are invited to private dinner pairings; and frequent fliers with airline status that gets them First Class upgrades and warm-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies.

Galaxy Fold buyers need a little incentive.

Angela Lang/CNET

Samsung, and its carrier partners, should extend a version of that philosophy to bring buyers back on board. The Galaxy Fold has a delicate screen. If it breaks, will Samsung offer an immediate fix or repair and a loaner phone in the meantime? What about a dedicated customer service number to troubleshoot issues? 

Read: Bad as it was, the Galaxy Fold debacle could have been worse

The Galaxy Fold comes with a case and a set of wireless Galaxy Buds in the box, but maybe Fold buyers should also get access to elite wallpapers, a mountain of Samsung Rewards points that can be redeemed for other items, or $20 free Samsung Pay credit.

Now playing: Watch this: Our Galaxy Fold didn't break. Here's what's good and...

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Paying $2,000 for a phone was already a lot to ask even before the Fold's screen issues turned early buyers into guinea pigs for emerging technology. Samsung should want to reduce buyers' skittishness, and work to hook their loyalty, by reducing the risk of ownership while also making it worth people's effort to go out on a limb for a product do-over.

Will perks make buyers come back? Maybe not the on-the-fence observers or industry watchers who prefer to wait for bendable glass screens or cheaper entry prices. 

Read: Sorry, the Galaxy Fold and 5G will make your phone more expensive in 2019

Now playing: Watch this: Will Galaxy Fold screen flap derail the foldable phone...

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But for the bleeding-edge early adopters for whom the Fold may not be an only phone, or those who are still committed to the foldable phone vision, knowing that Samsung is providing both a safety net and a carrot could make enough of a difference to give the Galaxy Fold a second chance.

Samsung did not respond to a request for comment.

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2019-04-30 11:00:06Z
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Garmin revamps entire Forerunner family, new smartwatches start at $199 - Ars Technica

• The new Garmin Forerunner 45 smartwatch.

  Garmin

• The new Garmin Forerunner 45S smartwatch.

  Garmin

• The Forerunner 245 Music is a step up from the Forerunner 45 duo.

  Garmin

• The Forerunner 945 is the most elite runner's watch of the new bunch.

  Garmin

Garmin has been slowly updating its smartwatches and fitness trackers over the past few years, and 2019 appears to be the year of the Forerunner. Today, Garmin announced three new types of Forerunner smartwatches—the Forerunner 45 and 45S, the Forerunner 245 and 245 Music, and the Forerunner 945—that will replace all but one of its existing Forerunner lineup. The remaining device is the $449 Forerunner 645 Music, which came out about one year ago and was the first of Garmin's wearables to have onboard music storage.

The new devices that make up the new lineup have slightly new designs and many new features. However, Garmin's naming system doesn't really help differentiate one smartwatch from another, so we'll break down the devices here. The most affordable of the bunch are the Forerunner 45 and 45S, both of which start at $199. The "S" signifies a smaller case size, so users can choose between the 42mm Forerunner 45 or the 39mm Forerunner 45S.

Garmin says these are designed for newbie runners or those starting a new exercise plan, and that thinking likely led to its affordable price tag and its array of features. Like most Garmin smartwatches, the Forerunner 45 and 45S track all-day activity and sleep, deliver smartphone alerts to your wrist, and are easy on the eyes thanks to an always-on, sunlight-friendly display. Even though the Forerunner 45 watches are the most affordable of the bunch, they still have a heart-rate monitor and built-in GPS, so users can make outdoor runs without the help of a smartphone.

Other workout profiles are available on the watches as well, like elliptical and yoga, and it will calculate Garmin's Body Battery score, which tells you how to plan workouts and rest periods based on your current lifestyle. Both the Forerunner 45 and 45S should last one week on a single charge when in smartwatch mode and up to 13 hours in GPS mode.

If you take everything the Forerunner 45 watches can do and add music storage, pulse ox, and running dynamics tracking, you get the Forerunner 245 and 245 Music (which start at $299 and $349, respectively). This device is designed for runners who have a bit more miles under their belts but aren't training for triathlons yet. The 245 Music can hold up to 500 songs from various partner platforms including Spotify, Pandora, and Deezer, as well as a user's personal tracks. The sensors inside the Forerunner 245 watches will measure VO2 max, aerobic and anaerobic training effects, and pulse ox, or how your body absorbs oxygen into the blood.

It can also connect to external sensors like a running dynamics pod and heart-rate chest straps to capture more running data while you train. The Forerunner 245 watches have the same one-week battery life as the Forerunner 45 watches do when in smartwatch mode, but they'll last up to 24 hours in GPS mode or six hours when using GPS and music playback simultaneously.

• Garmin's new menstrual-tracking features in the Connect mobile app.

  Garmin

• A new widget appears on the Connect homepage, and there are charts to track symptoms over time.

  Garmin

• Garmin smartwatch users can get tracking alerts reminding them to input symptoms in the app.

  Garmin

The $599 Forerunner 945 can do everything the Forerunner 245 Music can do and more. It can hold up to 1,000 songs and will have even more onboard workout profiles to track, including skiing, hiking, golfing, and others. The 945 will also have NFC for Garmin Pay, so users can pay for coffee, groceries, and other things on their way home from a run without having their wallets.

Garmin added a new metric to this watch as well—dubbed training load focus, it will sort your recent activity into different training categories based on the structure and intensity of those activities. In addition to full-color, on-screen maps and trackable metrics that will please triathletes, the Forerunner 945 should last up to two weeks in smartwatch mode, 36 hours in GPS mode, or 10 hours when using GPS and music playback together.

The Forerunner family had six devices before and will continue to have six devices with this revamp, but the new smartwatches have modern designs that will appeal to fans of the Vivoactive series. They also fall more neatly into the categories listed on Garmin's website: teammate, mentor, and expert. It's possible that more runners will want to give the Forerunner series a try now, and more users will consider the series now that it's better designed and that all of Garmin's newest wearable features are represented across the board.

In addition to new devices, Garmin announced a big change coming to the Garmin Connect mobile app—female health tracking. Now, female users can input menstrual cycle and symptom information into a dedicated section of the Connect mobile app to track their cycles. I haven't gotten a chance to test out the new features yet, but screenshots provided by Garmin show a menstrual-cycle tracker similar to Fitbit's and that of dedicated female health-tracking apps. Garmin's technology will also provide training and nutritional suggestions based on the information users provide, and those with a Garmin wearable can get cycle information and tracking reminder alerts on their wrists if they please.

Fitbit introduced female health tracking into its mobile app last year—while Fitbit's app has always been more user-friendly than Garmin Connect, the addition of female health tracking made it that much more inclusive. Now that Garmin has a similar feature, female users have more options when it comes to smartwatches and fitness trackers that have companion apps in which they can track all different aspects of their health.

Menstrual-cycle tracking will be available in the Garmin Connect app soon via an update. The Forerunner 45 and 45S will be available in May, while the Forerunner 245, Forerunner 245 Music, and the Forerunner 945 are available today on Garmin's website. Keep an eye out on Ars for Forerunner smartwatch reviews in the coming weeks.

Note: Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

Listing image by Garmin

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2019-04-30 11:00:00Z
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Energizer’s 18,000mAh phone-battery monster is an Indiegogo flop - The Verge

The Energizer name figured prominently at Mobile World Congress this year, courtesy of a prototype Android smartphone that was about an inch thick, consisting mostly of a giant battery. The 18,000mAh Energizer Power Max P18K Pop was a preview of something Avenir Telecom, the company licensing the battery brand’s name for use on phones, wanted to mass-produce and bring to the market by this summer. After that successful MWC debut, the P18K Pop turned up on Indiegogo with an early-bird price of $549, a promised delivery window of October 2019, and an optimistic goal of $1.2 million in total funding.

Today, Avenir’s Indiegogo campaign for the Energizer battery-with-a-phone-in-it concluded with a whimper, having accumulated a scant $15,005 in pledged support. Since the campaign fell 99 percent short of achieving its original goal, and all funding was conditional on it being fully funded, the entire exercise seems to have been for naught. Then again, given how many companies use crowdfunding platforms primarily as marketing levers, there’s a reasonable argument to be made that Avenir Telecom maybe never really believed it would be able to go beyond the prototype stage with its P18K Pop.

The calculus for the company can be read as simply as “let’s do something to grab people’s attention, throw it on Indiegogo with an unlikely funding goal, and only in the event that people go wild over it should we build anything.” People did find the Energizer-branded brick-phone-battery hybrid fun and exciting to gawk at, but when it came time to put money toward turning it into a real product, enthusiasm was evidently far less abundant.

Ah well, at least now we know there are limits to our desires for ever bigger batteries.

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2019-04-30 08:01:03Z
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Apple, Enough With the Slow-Ass Chargers - Gizmodo

Photo: Gizmodo

You may not know it, but your iPhone—if an iPhone 8 or later—is capable of much faster charging. The only problem is, Apple doesn’t give you the stuff necessary for it. But a new rumor claims that could be changing, and it should.

Apple’s phones are currently shipped with a standard 5W charging cube. If you’ve purchased an iPhone in the last few years, you know what this looks like. But Apple states that iPhone 8 or later can be fast-charged with a USB-C to Lightning cable and any one of the following power adapters: 18W, 29W, 30W, 61W, or 87W USB-C Power Adapter. But these will cost you extra, and that’s frustrating! (However, it is standard for Apple.)

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According to a report from the Japanese site Mac Otakara, however, Apple will include the goods necessary for fast charging—a USB-C to Lightning cable and the USB-C 18W adapter—with its next series of iPhones. To this I say: Give us the dang juice, Apple!

When Gizmodo tested the charging capabilities offered by the various power adapters that aren’t included with an iPhone for which you could be paying close to a grand, the difference was clear. Anything above a 12-watt charger delivered far faster charging for an iPhone 8 or later, though the results varied slightly for later models.

Here’s how Apple’s chargers stacked against one another (keeping in mind that its 18-watt option wasn’t available in late 2017 when we ran the tests):

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No one wants to spend upwards of $50 for the accompanying tools necessary to make their iPhone do the thing that the company says it can do—particularly because we’re already asked to do that with other arguably necessary accessories. Plus, as the Verge noted, Apple shipping with these upgraded charging accessories would also allow users to plug their iPhones directly into their laptops without needing a separate cord.

Apple did not immediately return a request for comment, but we’ll update this article if we hear back.

Apple is one of the most innovative companies on the planet. It’s time to let its technology speak for itself without requiring its customers to purchase a bunch of add-ons necessary to let a phone perform the way its meant to.

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2019-04-29 21:59:00Z
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Spotify Hits 100 Million Subscribers and Still Isn’t Making Money - Rolling Stone

On the near-anniversary of its first quarterly earnings report as a public company in 2018, Spotify has good news to share. In its earnings report for the first quarter of 2019 Monday, the company said that it reached 217 million monthly active users around the world — 100 million of whom are paying for the premium subscription tier.

Those numbers are a relief for investors as well as music-industry executives who’d doubted that Spotify could significantly increase consumer interest in its $9.99/month premium tier; its free ad-supported tier, they worried, would deter growth in the more money-making subscription arena.

But Spotify’s Q1 2019 figures show 26 percent year-over-year growth in monthly active users and 32 percent year-over-year growth in paying subscribers, suggesting that more users are willing to pay a monthly fee for music. Across the board, results “were largely positive with most metrics outperforming our expectations,” the company said in its note to shareholders.

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Spotify has gone to great lengths over the past year to ramp up both its premium tier and overall popularity. Among a myriad of expansion efforts, the Swedish music-streaming service has teamed up with Samsung, the biggest smartphone maker in the world; launched in India with a budding user base of around 2 million there; and amplified its partnership with Hulu to offer free video-streaming from the service to all Spotify Premium users. Its new 100 million figure far outpaces Apple Music’s reported 50 million paying subscribers.

Spotify also spent a significant portion of its earnings report discussing its podcasting ambitions, noting it’s working on a new podcast advertising model. While still unprofitable because of the high royalty rates it pays out to rights-holders, Spotify lost €142 million ($160 million) in Q1 2019 as opposed to €169 million ($190 million) in Q1 2018. It expects to end the year with between 222 million and 228 million total users, 107 million to 110 million of them on the premium tier.

Spotify financial update – April 29, 2019

In This Article: music industry, music streaming, music subscription, Spotify

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2019-04-29 14:58:00Z
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Spotify Tops Estimates With 100 Million Paid Users - Yahoo Finance

Spotify Tops Estimates With 100 Million Paid Users

(Bloomberg) -- Spotify has reached 100 million paid subscribers, a first for any online music service, adding more customers in the latest quarter than analysts expected and boosting confidence the company has lots of room to grow.

Spotify Technology SA took on 4 million customers in the quarter, compared with the 3.3 million forecast by analysts. But its first-quarter loss was 79 cents a share, wider than the 41-cent loss analysts expected. After a brief rise, the stock fell as much as 2 percent to $135.50 in New York trading.

Competition from Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and YouTube has done little to slow Spotify’s growth around the world, and the company has relied on its independence from some of the world’s largest companies to its advantage. It has boosted its customer base through promotional deals with Hulu, Samsung and even Alphabet Inc.’s Google (YouTube’s parent company).

“The music industry market is way bigger than most people realized,” Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek said on a call with analysts.

The company forecast it would add a further 7 million to 10 million subscribers in the current quarter. While Spotify has amassed its current user base thanks to music, the company has acquired three podcasting companies in the past few months to drive subscriber growth through other mediums.

Spotify spent about $400 million to buy Gimlet Media Inc., Anchor and Parcast, hoping that podcasting will turn the company into the world’s top audio platform and reduce its reliance on music. Record labels collect the majority of its annual sales.

Label Payments

Payments to labels are a big reason the Swedish company is still losing a lot of money. Spotify attributed the first-quarter loss largely to higher costs for stock options and restricted stock units, thanks to its share-price gains. Gross margin was 24.7 percent, above the high end of the company’s guidance range.

Spotify is in the midst of negotiations with the world’s three largest music companies -- Universal, Sony and Warner. Executives have cautioned investors not to expect those deals to reduce its costs, but still sounded enthusiastic about concluding talks. “We’re feeling good about the progress we’re making,” Chief Financial Officer Barry McCarthy said in an interview.

Though Spotify’s premium subscribers topped expectations, monthly active users fell just short at 217 million. Spotify was projected to report about 218.3 million total users and 99.3 million premium subscribers, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg News.

Expansion into new territories, such as India, will sustain growth in free users for years to come, the company said. Spotify has added 2 million customers since expanding to India earlier this year, and McCarthy said Latin America and Asia are growing quickly. Spotify offers a free service with advertisements and limited use, selling a full buffet of on-demand songs and playlists without ads for a fee.

Its growth in recent years has buoyed the entire music industry. Record sales have climbed four years in a row, and surpassed $19 billion in 2018. Shares of the music streaming service have rallied 22 percent so far this year, compared with a 17 percent gain in the S&P 500.

--With assistance from Karen Lin.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lucas Shaw in Los Angeles at lshaw31@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, John J. Edwards III, David Welch

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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2019-04-29 14:12:00Z
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Apple accused of anti-competitive practices after removing rival apps - CNBC

Apple chief design officer Jony Ive (L) and Apple CEO Tim Cook inspect the new iPhone XR during an Apple special event at the Steve Jobs Theatre on September 12, 2018 in Cupertino, California.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Apple said on Sunday that it removed several parental control apps from its App Store platform because they put user privacy and security at risk.

The removed apps, according to Apple, were abusing a kind of technology intended for company-owned work phones called Mobile Device Management (MDM), which can give an app developer access to information including user location, browsing history and what photos and videos have been taken with the camera.

The statement was made in response to a New York Times story that suggested Apple had pulled the apps for anti-competitive reasons.

The response, published on Apple's website, is another example of how the company is walking a tightrope given its control of the App Store and its safety and security priorities along with new accusations from politicians and rivals that Apple uses its power over the software distribution platform to favor its own apps.

Apple said in its statement that it "is incredibly risky—and a clear violation of App Store policies—for a private, consumer-focused app business to install MDM control over a customer's device."

Most of the apps highlighted by the Times report enabled parents to limit the amount of the time they and their children spent on their iPhones and Android devices, and two developers have filed a complaint with the European Union's competition office.

Apple continued: "Contrary to what The New York Times reported over the weekend, this isn't a matter of competition. It's a matter of security."

One of Apple's App Store guidelines says that "Apps should use APIs and frameworks for their intended purposes and indicate that integration in their app description." Using MDM to track and limit phone use isn't the intended purpose of MDM, Apple says.

Apple released software in 2018 called Screen Time that enables users to track which apps they use the most and restrict access to distracting apps. It's installed by default on iPhones. "I think it has become clear to all of us that some of us are spending too much time on our devices," Apple CEO Tim Cook said last summer.

In the weeks after Screen Time was released, 11 of the 17 most-downloaded screen-time and parental control apps were removed and restricted, according to the Times.

Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren said earlier this year that the fact that some apps Apple develops competes with developers on the App Store is possibly anticompetitive. Spotify, which competes with Apple Music, has also accused Apple of anticompetitive practices.

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2019-04-29 13:17:31Z
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