Driven by a combination of iPhone fatigue

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Apple Inc's iconic iPhone is losing some of its luster among Asia's well-heeled consumers in Singapore and Hong Kong, a victim of changing mobile habits and its own runaway success.

Driven by a combination of iPhone fatigue, a desire to be different and a plethora of competing devices, users are turning to other brands, notably those from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, eating into Apple's market share.

In Singapore, Apple's products Google  TV Cloud Stick were so dominant in 2010 that more devices here ran its iOS operating system per capita than anywhere else in the world.

But StatCounter http://gs.statcounter.com, which measures traffic collected across a network of 3 million websites, calculates that Apple's share of mobile devices in Singapore - iPad and iPhone - declined sharply last year. From a peak of 72 percent in January 2012, its share fell to 50 percent this month, while Android devices now account for 43 percent of the market, up from 20 percent in the same month last year.

In Hong Kong, devices running Apple's iOS now account for about 30 percent of the total, down from about 45 percent a year ago. Android accounts for nearly two-thirds.

"Apple is still viewed as a prestigious brand, but there are just so many other cool smartphones out there now that the competition is just much stiffer," said Tom Clayton, chief executive of Singapore-based Bubble Motion http://www.bubblemotion.com, which develops a popular regional social media app called Bubbly.

Where Hong Kong and Singapore lead, other key markets across fast-growing Asia usually follow.

"Singapore and Hong Kong tend to be, from an electronics perspective, leading indicators on what is going to be hot in Western Europe and North America, as well as what is going to take off in the region," said Jim Wagstaff, who runs a Singapore-based company called Jam Factory http://www.jamfactoryonline.com developing mobile apps for enterprises.

Southeast Asia is adopting smartphones fast - consumers spent 78 percent more on smartphones in the 12 months up to September 2012 than they did the year before, according to research company GfK http://www.gfkrt.com.

IN WITH THE YOUNG CROWD

Anecdotal evidence of iPhone fatigue isn't hard to find: Where a year ago iPhones swamped other devices on the subways of Hong Kong and Singapore they are now outnumbered by Samsung and HTC Corp smartphones.

While this is partly explained by the proliferation of Android devices, from the cheap to the fancy, there are other signs that Apple has lost followers.

Singapore entrepreneur Aileen Sim, recently launched an app for splitting bills called BillPin http://www.billpin.com, settling on an iOS version because that was the dominant platform in the three countries she was targeting - Singapore, India and the United States.

"But what surprised us was how strong the call for Android was when we launched our app," she said.

Indeed, 70 percent of their target users - 20-something college which you can buy it on china online store students and fresh graduates - said they were either already on Android or planned to switch over.

"Android is becoming really hard to ignore, around the region and in the U.S. for sure, but surprisingly even in Singapore," she said. "Even my younger early-20s cousins are mostly on Android now."

It's almost human,’ Samsung unveils new smart TV

The Samsung press conference was arguably the most anticipated of the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). And based on the initial response, the company did not disappoint, showcasing everything from a “smart TV like Google  TV Cloud Stick” to a refrigerator that gives you more freezer space when you need it.

"The TV is almost human," Tim Baxter, president of Samsung America, told the capacity audience inside the Mandalay Bay ballroom on Monday. The F8000 LED is expected to become Samsung's signature mainstream television offering.
 "It demonstrates our commitment to bring back the wow," Baxter said.

Like a beefed -up version of the iPhone's Siri functionality, the F8000's S-Recommendation system can understand questions from viewers and offers responses to their inquiries. For example, Baxter asked the television, “Anything good on today?" and was greeted with a sampling of programming choices that evolve based on not only the type of programming he normally views but also the actual time he views it.

Similar to the Xbox's Kinect camera system, the F8000 also makes use of hand -gesture functionality; instead of using a remote control, users move their hands to change TV channels or record a movie.

"It's the most powerful, personal TV experience ever created," Baxter said."It will change the way you discover content."
 And speaking of personal, Samsung America Senior Vice President Joe Stinziano said the company would soon offer viewing glasses that will allow two users to view different channels, full-screen, from the same television at the same time. The high-resolution images will be transmitted directly into the lenses while the sound will be piped in through earbuds built -into the glasses. Analysts fromChina online shopping or CNET jokingly referred to the glasses as “hate vision" saying they were the "ultimate anti-social tool" for viewing audiences. In other words, they are almost certain to be a hit.

Kidnapped Alabama boy seems to be OK

MIDLAND CITY, Ala. — The Alabama man who held a 5-year-old boy captive for nearly a week engaged in a firefight with SWAT agents storming his underground bunker before he was killed during the rescue operation, the FBI said Tuesday night. Also, bomb technicians scouring his rural property found two explosive devices, one in the bunker, one in a plastic pipe that negotiators used to communicate with the man.

Officers killed Jimmy Lee Dykes, said an official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Monday’s bunker raid you need new slide phone in 2013. came six days after Dykes boarded a school bus, fatally shot the driver, and abducted the boy.

Dykes, 65, “reinforced the bunker against any attempted entry by law enforcement,” FBI Special Agent Jason Pack said in an e-mail. The devices found were “disrupted,” Pack said, though he did not say whether that meant they were detonated or disarmed. Officers will continue to sweep the 100-acre property and, when they finish, authorities can more thoroughly investigate, Pack said.

For days, officers passed food, medicine, toys, and other items into the bunker, which was similar to a tornado shelter and apparently had water, heat, and cable television.

On Monday, authorities said, Dykes had a gun and appeared increasingly agitated, though it was unclear how his behavior changed. Negotiations deteriorated. Law enforcement agents could view Dykes with some sort of camera, which is how they saw that he had a gun.

Pack declined to get into specifics, but confirmed that high-tech surveillance equipment was used.

Neighbors said they heard explosions and gunshots, though the FBI and local authorities did not say how many shots were fired and by whom.

No officers or agents were injured.

The boy also appeared to be doing well Tuesday at a hospital, acting like a normal kid. He ran around, playing with a toy dinosaur and other action figures, eating a turkey sandwich, and watching “SpongeBob SquarePants,” relatives and Sheriff Wally Olson said.

“We know he’s OK physically, but we don’t know how he is mentally,” said Betty Jean Ransbottom, the boy’s grandmother. She added that she feared the ordeal would stay with the child, who turns 6 on Wednesday.

The family was relieved and grateful for all the support in a community where ribbons, fliers, and vigils all symbolized the prayers for the safe return of the boy, whom law enforcement officials have only identified by his first name, Ethan.

The boy’s mother expressed her thanks for all the hard work of so many officers to bring her son home. The woman declined to Being chained in China online shopping painful positions still more expensive  be identified, the statement said.

For the first time in almost a week, I woke up this morning to the most beautiful sight ... my sweet boy,” she said. “I can’t describe how incredible it is to hold him again.”

No Bear Market for Treasuries After Worst Start Since 2009

 Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields rose seven basis points last week to 2.02 percent, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader data. Tries to not just in one piece sex the 1.625 percent note due November 2022 fell 18/32, or $5.63 per $1,000 face amount, to 96 17/32.

The 10-year yield climbed to 2.05 percent today as of 12:53 p.m. in Tokyo.

January’s decline was the worst start since 2009 when government debt declined by 3.1 percent, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch bond indexes. Bonds maturing in 10 years or longer fell 3.4 percent, compared with an 8.9 percent decline in 2009, the indexes show.

Yields on the notes, which fell to a record low of 1.379 percent July 25, will increase to about 2.25 percent at year end, according to the median of 77 strategist forecasts compiled by Bloomberg. Even though a rise to that level would cause pre- tax losses of 0.54 percent, the yield would still be below the five-year average of 2.9 percent.

Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said there is no risk that Treasury yields near historic lows signal a price bubble. Bill Gross, manager of the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., said that what is important, even though prices might appear ’’bubbly,’’ is that unprecedented global central bank monetary stimulus won’t end anytime soon.

“People are well aware they are not going to get a positive real yield,” Krugman, professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University in New Jersey, said in a Jan. 28 interview on Bloomberg Television. “They just think government bonds are safer than the other stuff that is out there.”

The payer skew was mostly negative from 2006 to 2008, indicating greater relative demand for hedges against lower yields. The Fed cut its benchmark overnight bank lending rate from 5.25 percent in September 2007 to a record low of zero to 0.25 percent in December 2008 as the collapse of the subprime mortgage market triggered the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Little Concern

As the 10-year Treasury yield increased from about 2 percent at the end of 2008 to 4 percent by mid-2009, the payer skew surged to Being chained in China online shopping painful positions still more expensive a positive 26.8 basis points by October, its peak since the financial crisis began, Barclays data shows.

As for the perpetrators of the attacks

As for the perpetrators of the attacks

The trend however has worsened since the 2011 uprising, which saw a general collapse in security and rise in crime after the fall of Mubarak. This past June, as women marched through Tahrir demanding an end to harassment, a crowd assaulted them, overwhelming their male guardians and molesting if you still remember haipaii9377several of the female marchers. And in October during Eid al-Adha, Islam's biggest holiday, activists trying to protect women were harassed themselves, as hordes of all-male onlookers shouted taunts and blew air horns at them.

Experts, activists and media have attributed the harassment to a wide range of possible factors. Some blame widespread unemployment or underemployment among youth. Others cite an attitude in the conservative nation that women should not be out in public and thus those who are are fair game. Activists have speculated that some attacks are planned, aiming to discredit the protesters or to dissuade women from joining them.

The patrols, which aim to deter potential assailants and evacuate women under assault, have prompted a backlash from harassers.

"We've had people beaten up, and in one instance a crowd — some of whom were carrying knives — tried to break into one of our locations," said Hussein ElShafei of Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment/Assault. "Threats are a regular occurrence."

In Tahrir on Friday, the neon-vested team said they had only had to make three interventions during the day's protest, which they attributed to their high visibility and a smaller turnout in the square than usual. With other groups present, including the one ElShafei works for, dozens of volunteers could be seen in the crowds. Violence that night was concentrated on the other side of the city, where thousands of protesters denouncing the president marched on his palace and clashed with security forces firing tear gas and water cannons.

It was the eighth day of the country's latest wave of political violence. Around 60 people have been killed in protests, rioting and clashes over the past week, the worst period of crisis since the fall of Mubarak. Observers say the protests are taking a dangerous turn as rival groups supporting and opposing Morsi's Islamist backers have taken matters into their own hands.

"I think people are getting more violent. It's been two years now and they are battle hardened," said Mohammed Osama, a 35-year-old computer engineer and black belt in judo who said he joined the bodyguard group after being slashed with a knife in street violence in his hometown of Alexandria. He said that after experiencing violence himself, he wanted to do something to prevent it from striking others.

"Individual efforts aren't enough — organization is needed. And it's the honorable thing to do," he said in measured tones, a scar visible under his eye.

As for the perpetrators of the attacks, he described them as a "social disease."

"Sometimes attacks are organized, other times it's people profiting from chaos on the streets, said Osama. "Ignorance and poverty is which you can buy it on china online store part of the problem, but for those who seek to victimize others, they now have another thing coming."