Is Google TV a failure?

Seems Google's TV venture is paying little dividends. World's top computer mouse maker Logitech's recent rough fourth also mirrored Google TV's dismal sales. Logitech's Revue Google TV set-top box and periphery devices, such as Revue-optimized webcam, managed to generate a measly $5 million in sales in the last quarter.

The number is far below expectations. For, in the previous quarter, Logitech reported Google TV product sales of $22 million, and forecasted to sell another $18 million in the just-announced quarter. The company missed the estimates by more than 70 percent. The plunging Google TV sales are also reflected by a 28 percent rise in inventory as reportedly revealed by Logitech.

Logitech has been a partner of the search giant since it unveiled Google TV in May 2010. The Revue set-top box went on sale in October 2010.

Despite the poor sales, Logitech remains optimist on Google TV. It's CEO Gerald P Quindlen reportedly told investors that he remains "enthusiastic about Google TV." The company also said that it plans to scale back marketing for the Revue set-top box.

According to some, Google has still not delivered on the software that promises to make Google TV interesting, which is its Android SDK for Google TV. The SDK is expected to be launched at the company's forthcoming developer conference in May. However, many believe that it should have accompanied Google TV's launch in October 2010.

Logitech, which also makes speakers, webcams and keyboards, issued a profit warning last month, citing weakness in its retail division in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Quindlen said that he expects sales to rise about 10 percent to $2.6 billion for the year ending in March 2012, less than some analysts were expecting.

The company, based in Switzerland and Fremont, California, called the fourth quarter that ended on March 31 a "disappointing conclusion" to 2010.

Logitech is shifting away from its traditional mouse and keyboard business for PCs to equipment for tablets. 

Resource: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/hardware/Is-Google-TV-a-failure/articleshow/8117997.cms

Google sued over Android data location collection

Two Michigan women are suing Google over location data collected by Android devices, a week after Apple was named in a lawsuit citing privacy violations with the iPhone logging similar data.

The $50 million lawsuit against Google seeks to stop Google from selling phones with software that can track a user's location, the Detroit News reported today.

The lawsuit was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Detroit on behalf of plaintiffs Julie Brown and Kayla Molaski, who are seeking class action status for the suit. Their lawyer, Steven Budaj, argues in the complaint that the tracking of Android owners' location "puts users at serious risk of privacy invasions, including stalking."

Google acknowledged last week that it collects location information--including GPS current location, timestamps, nearby Wi-Fi network addresses, and device IDs--from Android devices but said it was not traceable to a specific individual. Users can disable the GPS feature, but then they won't get as much function out of maps and other location-based services.

Google representatives did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment on the lawsuit this afternoon.

The lawsuit against Apple filed in Florida last week also seeks class action status and accuses Apple of violating privacy laws, as well as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by keeping a log of user locations without offering users a way to disable that.

The matter first came to light last week when two researchers said they had discovered that the iPhone collects and logs current and historical location information without user permission or warning, and stores it unencrypted on the device.

In addition to the lawsuits, the controversy has prompted lawmakers to seek an FTC probe of the issue and questions from attorneys general in Connecticut and Illinois.

After a week of silence, Apple finally spoke up about the matter, explaining in an FAQ that it was collecting the data to get more accurate location data for eventual use in a traffic database and blamed a software bug for storing an excess amount of it on the devices.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20058493-245.html#ixzz1KsKTCZLJ

Steve Jobs: We don't track, Google does

The recent disclosure that Apple's iPhone and Google's Android phones track users locations has attracted a lot of attention.

The issue has even reached US parliament with US Congress and FCC looking into the issue. To garner Apple CEO Steve Jobs take on the issue a MacRumors reader reportedly emailed him seeking clarifications on the issue and at the same time hinting about a switch to Android. Jobs reportedly responded, claiming that Apple does not track users and the information is "false". He, however, said that Android does track users.

Q: Steve, could you please explain the necessity of the passive location-tracking tool embedded in my iPhone? It's kind of unnerving knowing that my exact location is being recorded at all times. Maybe you could shed some light on this for me before I switch to a Droid. They don't track me.

A: Oh yes they do. We don't track anyone. The info circulating around is false.

A pair of British security researchers recently said that the latest version of Apple's operating system for iPhone and iPad is constantly recording the location of the devices and storing the information in a hidden file.

Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden said the position-logging feature is contained in iOS 4. "Ever since iOS 4 arrived, your device has been storing a long list of locations and time stamps," they said in an article posted at the website radar.oreilly.com.

"We're not sure why Apple is gathering this data, but it's clearly intentional," the researchers said, adding that it raises a number of "security and privacy implications." 

Resource: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/telecom/Steve-Jobs-We-dont-track-Google-does/articleshow/8088788.cms