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MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS: The 2014 Mobile World Congress opened up Monday and there have already been several exciting announcements and events. Here is a run down of what's happened so far:
- SAMSUNG: The Korean manufacturing giant will launch its new flagship phone, the Galaxy S5, in April and will have three new wearable devices hit the market this spring: the Gear 2, Gear Neo, and Gear Fit. (New York Times)
- ZUCKERBERG: Facebook's founder and CEO delivered a keynote address to the crowd at MWC. The main topic of discussion was the WhatsApp deal, and Zuckerberg went on to claim that the messaging app and its audience is worth more than the massive $19 billion price tag Facebook paid to acquire it. (TechCrunch)
- MICROSOFT: Microsoft gave a rundown of all the company's MWC happenings on the official blog. The post discusses Windows Phone's strong growth in 2013, new Windows Phone hardware partners, and potential updates to the Windows 8 computing platform. (Microsoft)
- BUDGET PHONES: Samsung may have announced its newest flagship device, but budget handsets are stealing the show. First we heard of Mozilla's $25 phone, but now Sony, Huawei, and Lenovo have announced new entry-level smartphones. (Tech Radar)
- CHEAPER BLACKBERRY: Blackberry is also adding its own budget smartphone to the mix, though not at nearly the price point of some of these other device manufacturers. The sputtering company has unveiled a smartphone that will be priced under $200 and first sold in Indonesia. (Business Insider)
- 64-BIT ANDROID: Intel showcased a 64-bit processor running Android on a smartphone device. Intel previously showcased 64-bit running on Android tablets. However, no 64-bit Android phones were officially announced, though experts think some will hit the market by the third quarter. (PC World)
- FITNESS TRACKER AND HEADSET? Huawei has entered the wearables market with a new, unique device. The TalkBand B1 is a smart wristwear fitness tracker. Like FitBit Force, it also includes a Bluetooth headset to make voice calls. It will retail at $136. (CNet)
QUOTE OF THE DAY— "Beacons and geofencing try to achieve a similar goal. They both want to identify a user's proximity to a particular location. These two technologies compliment rather than conflict with each other. If you're building a location aware app, you can pinpoint your users down to the inch"— iOS engineer Andrew Frederick breaking down the differences between Beacons and geofencing, and how each can compliment each other in a mobile marketing strategy. (Mashable)
WHATSAPP VOICE CALLS: Messaging giant and new Facebook acquisition WhatsApp will finally debut a voice call feature for the first time in the app's history. Other popular messaging apps like Viber, Kakao Talk, and BBM already feature voice calls. CEO Jan Koum also added in his MWC address that WhatsApp has 465 million monthly active users and 330 million daily active users. (TechCrunch)
NEW KANTAR DATA: Kantar Worldpanel released a flurry of new data in two areas of focus: Europe's platform wars, and the growing affinity for phablets among Chinese consumers. In Europe, Android jumped up over three percentage points in market share during the fourth quarter to grab 70% of the entire market. In China, almost one-third of all smartphone sales were devices with 5-inch screens or larger. (Kantar Worldpanel)
ACER'S BIG PLANS: Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Acer shipped about 1.5 million smartphones in 2013, and had initial plans to ship five million handsets in 2014. Now, Acer has debuted three new entry-level smartphones and has increased its 2014 target to 10 million, which would equate to 667% growth over 2013. (Digitimes)
FITNESS-FOCUSED: Samsung's new Gear Fit wearable fitness tracker comes just days after the company announced its new smartwatches, the Gear 2 and Gear Neo. The Gear Fit may be Samsung hedging its own bet on the smartwatch market with a more accessible fitness-oriented device. Trackers like the FitBit Force and Nike FuelBand have proven to be popular among consumers. (Recode)
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