Factbox: Key companies in the phablet space

(Reuters) - Phablets, a cross between a smartphone and a tablet, are gaining popularity globally as consumers opt for bigger screens to perform multimedia functions.
Here are some companies that will likely benefit or feel the impact of the fast-growing phablet market, which analysts expect to quadruple in value to $135 billion in about three years:
WINNERS
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
LG Electronics Inc
Lenovo Group Ltd
Asustek Computer Inc
Google Inc (Android software runs on most of these devices)
Nuance Communications Inc (develops Swype software for keypads, enabling easier text entry on larger screens)
Nvidia Corp (CPU)
Qualcomm Inc (CPU)
POTENTIAL WINNERS
HTC Corp
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Panasonic Corp
Sony Corp
ZTE Corp
RIDING THE WAVE
Chinese manufacturers, and their regional partners, are building a niche for themselves. The main players are:
Byond Tech Electronics Pvt Ltd (India)
http://www.byondtech.com/
Cherry Mobile (Philippines) http://www.cherrymobile.com.ph/
Karbonn Mobiles (India) http://www.karbonnmobiles.com/
Micromax (India) http://www.micromaxinfo.com/
MyPhone (Philippines) http://www.myphone.com.ph/
NXG Labs Pvt Ltd (India) http://www.nxglabs.in/
Oppo (China) http://www.oppo.com/
Zopo Mobile (China) http://en.zopomobile.com/
ON THE SIDELINES
Microsoft Corp (its Windows Phone software is only a handful of large-screen devices)
Nokia Oyj (its largest smartphone, the Lumia 920, has a 4.5-inch screen which puts it outside most definitions of a phablet)
Research In Motion Ltd
Dell Inc

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Laboratorio nuclear EEUU aparta tecnología china por temores de seguridad

LONDRES (Reuters) - Uno de los principales laboratorios de armas nucleares de Estados Unidos halló recientemente que sus sistemas informáticos contenían conmutadores para redes hechos en China y reemplazaron al menos dos componentes debido a preocupaciones de seguridad nacional, muestra un documento.
Una carta del Laboratorio Nacional Los Alamos en Nuevo México, fechada el 5 de noviembre de 2012, declara que el centro de investigaciones había instalado dispositivos fabricados por H3C Technologies Co, con base en Hangzhou, China, según una copia vista por Reuters.
H3C comenzó como un emprendimiento conjunto entre la china Huawei Technologies Co y 3Com Corp, una firma de tecnología de Estados Unidos, y se llamó Huawei-3Com durante un tiempo. Hewlett Packard Co adquirió la firma en 2010.
El hallazgo plantea incógnitas sobre las prácticas de adquisición en departamentos estadounidenses responsables por la seguridad nacional. Las autoridades y el Congreso de ese país plantearon preocupaciones sobre Huawei y sus supuestos lazos con el gobierno y las fuerzas armadas de China.
La compañía, la segunda mayor fabricante mundial de equipos de telecomunicaciones, niega que sus productos planteen riesgos de seguridad o que las fuerzas armadas chinas influyan en sus negocios.
Los conmutadores son usados para administrar el tráfico de datos en redes informáticas. No está claro el número exacto de conmutadores de fabricación china instalados en Los Alamos, ni cómo ni cuándo fueron adquiridos, ni tampoco si fueron usados en sistemas sensibles o plantean riesgos de seguridad.
El laboratorio -donde fue diseñada la primer bomba atómica- es responsable del mantenimiento del arsenal nuclear de Estados Unidos.
Un portavoz del laboratorio Los Alamos derivó preguntas a la Administración Nacional de Seguridad Nuclear del Departamento de Energía, o NNSA según su sigla en inglés, que declinó hacer comentarios.
La carta del 5 de noviembre vista por Reuters fue escrita por el director de información a cargo en el laboratorio Los Alamos y estaba dirigida al subdirector de salvaguardia y seguridad de la NNSA.
Declara que en octubre, un ingeniero informático del laboratorio -que no es identificado en la carta- advirtió a sus superiores que los dispositivos de H3C "estaban comenzando a ser instalados en" sus redes.
La carta dice que un equipo de especialistas, parte de la unidad de contrainteligencia del laboratorio, comenzaron a investigar, "con un enfoque en redes sensibles". El laboratorio "determinó que una pequeña cantidad de los dispositivos instalados en una red eran dispositivos de H3C. Dos dispositivos usados en casos aislados fueron reemplazados rápidamente", declara la nota.

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Why 2013 could be the ‘Year of the Phablet’

Few expected Samsung (005930) would spark a global revolution last year when it unleashed its oversized Galaxy Note “phablet.” But now that the Note has proven to be a hit, electronics companies around the world are apparently scrambling to steal Samsung’s thunder by manufacturing their own giant smartphones. Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston tells Reuters that he expects “2013 to be the Year of the Phablet,” with companies such as TCL Communications’ (2618) Alcatel One Touch brand, ZTE and Huawei already bringing their own Note-like devices to the Consumer Electronics Show this week. The big reason that phablets have become so popular, ABI Research analyst Joshua Flood tells Reuters, is that voice calls are simply much less important to users than having a large, attractive screen they can use to read and watch videos. Or as Flood puts it, “smaller was better until phones got smart, became visual.

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Google's Schmidt urges Internet openness in NKorea

BEIJING (AP) — Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said Thursday it's up to North Korea to shed its self-imposed isolation and allow its citizens to use the Internet and connect with the outside world, or risk remaining way behind other countries.
Schmidt was returning from a private trip to North Korea with former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that was not sanctioned by the U.S. government and has been criticized for appearing to boost Pyongyang's profile after its widely condemned rocket launch put a satellite into space last month.
"As the world is becoming increasingly connected," Schmidt said, "their decision to be virtually isolated is very much going to affect their physical world, their economic growth and so forth. It will make it harder for them to catch up economically. We made that alternative very, very clear."
The nine-member delegation, which also included Jared Cohen, director of the company's Google Ideas think tank, was greeted at the Beijing airport by a throng of reporters at the end of their four-day trip.
"The government has to do something," Schmidt said. "It has to make it possible for the people to use the Internet. It is their choice now. It's in my view time for them to start, or else they will remain behind."
During the trip, Richardson said they also urged Pyongyang to halt all missile and nuclear tests, which have incurred U.N. sanctions, and sought fair treatment for an American who has been detained in North Korea.
Schmidt, CEO of the U.S.-based Internet giant until 2011, has been a vocal proponent of Internet freedom and openness around the world. He and Cohen are publishing a book in April about the power of global connectivity in transforming people's lives, policies and politics.
Cohen doesn't typically accompany Schmidt on Google-sanctioned trips, so his inclusion in the delegation may be a sign that the two men may have mainly been interested in gathering material for their book.
In Pyongyang, Schmidt's group visited a university computer lab and met with students and North Korean officials. They toured the frigid brick building in central Pyongyang that is the heart of North Korea's own computer industry, where Schmidt asked pointed questions about a new homegrown tablet computer as well as its Red Star operating system. He briefly donned a pair of 3-D goggles during the tour of the Korea Computer Center.
Many experts see the country as one of the least connected in the world, where few people have any access to computers, and even those who do are typically able to connect only to a domestic intranet that does not connect with the World Wide Web.
Global broadband Internet is available in North Korea, as well as a 3G mobile network that can't currently connect to the Internet. But few have unrestricted access, though "it would be very easy for them to turn that on," Schmidt said.
The State Department has criticized the trip as "unhelpful" at a time when the U.S. is rallying support for additional U.N. Security Council action against Pyongyang. Schmidt advised President Barack Obama during his 2008 campaign and was once considered a potential candidate for a Cabinet-level appointment, though he has repeatedly said that he has no plans to leave Google for a government job.
Richardson said the message about expanding the use of technology in North Korea was very "well received."
He said the delegation strongly urged the government "to proceed with a moratorium on ballistic missiles and a possible nuclear test" and that they had "very frank discussions" with North Korean officials about the current tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Richardson said the North Koreans were encouraged by recent statements by the new South Korean leader, President-elect Park Geun-hye, who has said she will make efforts in her five-year term to boost aid and engage with the North.
Richardson said they also expressed concern about an American detained in North Korea, and were told his health was good and that judicial proceedings would start soon. Pae Jun Ho, who is known as Kenneth Bae in his home state of Washington, is a 44-year-old tour operator of Korean descent who was arrested in November in the northern city of Rajin.
"The delegation's trip to North Korea was productive, was successful," Richardson said at the airport in Beijing, adding that the group was invited to return. "We do expect to go back."
There are no major U.S. firms operating in North Korea, which fought against the United States in the Korean War of the 1950s. The foes signed a truce in 1953 to end the fighting, but never a peace treaty, and the two countries still do not have diplomatic relations.
Even if Schmidt wasn't officially representing Google in North Korea, the company stands to benefit if the country's leadership loosens its Internet restrictions. For years, the Mountain View, California, company has pushed for more accessible and affordable Internet connections and Web-surfing devices on the premise that its business ultimately will make more money if people spend more time online.

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Bill Richardson says didn't meet detained American on North Korea trip

BEIJING (Reuters) - Former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson and Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt failed to secure the release of a Korean-American held in North Korea during a controversial trip to the secretive state that ended on Thursday.
Richardson told a media briefing at Beijing's airport he was unable to meet Korean-American Kenneth Bae, a 44-year-old tourist who was detained late last year and has been charged with unspecified crimes against the state.
Richardson said he was told that judicial proceedings against Bae would start soon, although he gave no details. North Korean authorities assured him of Bae's good health, he said.
"That is encouraging," Richardson said of Bae's condition, adding he was also given permission to "proceed with a letter from his son, and that will happen shortly".
It was unclear if Richardson had left such a letter with North Korean authorities or if it would be sent later. Bae is being held in a location far from Pyongyang, Richardson said.
The timing of the trip by Schmidt and Richardson was criticized by the U.S. State Department. It came after North Korea carried out a long-range rocket launch last month, which Washington considers a provocative test of ballistic missile technology.
Schmidt said his visit to Pyongyang was private and was to talk about a free and open Internet.
"As the world becomes increasingly connected, their decision to be virtually isolated is very much going to affect their physical world, their economic growth and so forth", Schmidt said in brief remarks.
"The technology in North Korea is very limited," Schmidt said, with a 3G cellphone network for about a million phones run by Egypt's Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding SAE that does not support the Internet.
Access to the Internet is available to the government, the military and to universities but not the general public and users are supervised, he said.
"The government has to do something. They have to make it possible for people to use the Internet", he said. "It's their choice now, and time, in my view, for them to start or they will remain behind."
"They showed up and listened to us and asked us a lot of questions", he said.
"NOT PRODUCTIVE"
There was no immediate comment from North Korea about the visit by Richardson and Schmidt other than a report on the official KCNA news agency to say the delegation had left. The trip was met with skepticism across the border in South Korea.
"It wasn't productive on humanitarian grounds", said Chang Yong-seok, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University.
The trip came as the United States, South Korea, Japan and their European allies were pushing at the United Nations to expand long-standing U.N. Security Council sanctions on North Korea after the North's December 12 rocket launch.
Richardson said the North Koreans he met, including a vice foreign minister and other foreign ministry officials, maintained their missile activity was scientific and peaceful.
"I must say I personally disagree", said Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. "I don't think it is science-based, and it is a violation of the United Nations moratorium."
Pyongyang, according to satellite imagery, is continuing work on its nuclear testing facilities, potentially paving the way for a third nuclear bomb test.
Chang said North Korea would not be budged easily.
"It is possible North Korea will take action after watching to see if the United States changes its policy", Chang said. "It tells us that North Korea is confident and not in a rush; it is going on its own way unyieldingly."
Tensions on the tinderbox Korean peninsula could be reduced following the election of new leaders in South Korea, Japan, and a new secretary of state in the United States, Richardson said.
"The North Koreans were encouraged by the recent statements of the new south Korean president", he said, referring to President-elect Park Gyeun-hye.

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Lowered UK flag sparks Protestant fury in Belfast

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — At Belfast City Hall, the flagpole is bare — and the streets are filled with nighttime fear and fury.
These are dangerous times in Northern Ireland, a long-divided corner of the United Kingdom that is supposed to be at peace after decades of unrest thanks to its hard-won cease-fires and a Catholic-Protestant government. But the lowering of a single Union Jack has exposed a society still split between two competing identities.
Last month, Catholics who narrowly outnumber Protestants on the council voted to reduce the flying of the flag to just 18 official days a year, ending a century when the British national symbol favored by Protestants flew uninterrupted year-round.
Catholics billed the move as a compromise, since they wanted the flag removed completely. On Wednesday, the flag fluttered for the first time since the vote to mark the 31st birthday of Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, but was taken down again at sunset.
Protestant hard-liners have responded with nightly illegal street blockades that often have degenerated into street battles between riot police and masked protesters armed with everything from sledgehammers to snooker balls. Police say 66 officers have been wounded, including six this week, and more than 100 rioters arrested.
Nobody seems to know how, or when, the strife will end. While Northern Ireland suffers intercommunal conflict each summer because of traditional Protestant marches, this is the first time that Northern Ireland has suffered a month straight of angry civil disturbances in the winter.
Some analysts, reflecting on how past Northern Ireland crises have unfolded, suspect that the extremists won't stop until someone is killed.
"The quickest end looks like it would be in an atrocity. I fear that," said Duncan Morrow, a University of Ulster lecturer and former chief of Northern Ireland's Community Relations Council, a group that tries to bridge the persistent divide between Irish Catholics and British Protestants.
At the heart of the resumed conflict is the rapid change in Northern Ireland's population balance and political system.
Northern Ireland was created as a Protestant-majority state in the U.K. shortly before the overwhelmingly Catholic rest of Ireland won independence in 1922. But the days of Protestant domination of politics and the police are distant memories.
The latest census published last month shows Catholics in the majority in Belfast and gaining throughout Northern Ireland. The peace process has produced a new system in which a former Irish Republican Army commander now jointly leads the government, and a decade of preferential Catholic recruitment has produced a more Irish-oriented police force that Protestant militants increasingly view as the enemy.
For many Protestants, the change has overwhelmed the senses. Stripping "their" flag from City Hall has brought their central fear into focus — that they could become the minority in a land that eventually could fly the green, white and orange flag of the neighboring Republic of Ireland.
"The vote on the flag was a touchstone. It transformed Protestant and unionist frustration into outright anger," said Mike Nesbitt, leader of the No. 2 Protestant-backed party, the Ulster Unionists. "Even if you put the flag back up 365 days a year — and I accept it's not going to happen — that would not fix the anger on the streets."
Many shop and restaurant owners in downtown Belfast are fuming, too — about scared-off customers, bills they can't pay and a political culture that wreaks economic havoc over matters of symbolism. They blame Catholic politicians for picking a needless fight right before Christmas, and blame Protestants for inflaming mobs with no ability to rein them back in.
But Peter Robinson, the Protestant first minister of the government who still backs the protests so long as they remain peaceful, insists he's done all he can.

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Soccer-Benitez says time almost over for Chelsea "legends"

LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Chelsea interim coach Rafael Benitez has heralded a changing of the guard at the Premier League club by saying that new players are needed for them to carry on winning.
The Londoners' joint-second top scorer of all time, Frank Lampard, looks unlikely to be offered a new deal with the 34-year-old's contract expiring at the end of the season, his agent says.
Media reports have said other fan favourites Ashley Cole and captain John Terry could also be sacrificed in the next two years after Chelsea showed they mean business by letting Champions League-winning hero Didier Drogba leave in May.
"I think it's always easy to talk about the legends and you have to have a lot of respect for them," Benitez told British newspapers ahead of Wednesday's Capital One (League) Cup semi-final first leg against Swansea City.
"What they've achieved for this club has been fantastic. But you have to have new players and carry on winning games. That's what the fans are expecting."
The European champions, fourth in the Premier League, also have an eye on big wage earners given the onset of UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules where they have to break even or risk exclusion from European competition.
"Everyone knows the legends who have been here and what they have achieved. That is the good thing about English football, you have good memories and respect people who achieve something for the club, which is very positive," the Spaniard added.

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Soccer-Australia's Rogic to train with Celtic

SYDNEY, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Promising young Australian midfielder Tom Rogic will take part in a training camp with Scottish club Glasgow Celtic but no offer has been tabled for the 20-year-old, his Central Coast Mariners club said on Wednesday.
Rogic won his first international cap in a friendly against South Korea last November and is rated is one of the most exciting young talents in the A-League.
A three-match suspension for a rash tackle in an A-League match last month will allow him to travel to Spain to join the Scottish champions in mid-season.
"This is a great opportunity for Tomas to train with Celtic's first team squad," said Mariners general manager of football Lawrie McKinna.
"Celtic are in their mid-season break and are busy preparing for their Champions League matches against Juventus in February, so Tom will undoubtedly learn a lot from the experience."
Rogic earned his call-up for the Socceroos after scoring twice in an A-League match against Sydney FC in early November.
"Technically he is very sound but he has that element of creativity, he does the unexpected, which can decide a game and can give a certain flavour to a game," Australia coach Holger Osiek said at the time.
"That is what I like, he is not an average player. Physically he has to mature, his endurance capacity has to improve and his mobility in tight areas needs to get better.

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Soccer-Man City send back 'expensive' tickets for Arsenal clash

Jan 9 (Reuters) - While Manchester City's wealthy Dubai owners continue to bankroll the club, the Premier League champions' supporters look to be adopting a more frugal approach.
According to local media reports, City have sent back 912 of the 3,000 tickets they were allocated for Sunday's league clash at Arsenal, with travelling fans unhappy at the 62 pounds ($100) cost for a seat at the Emirates.
"It's the most expensive amount I can ever remember paying for a ticket in my life," Kevin Parker, the general secretary of the Manchester City Supporters Club, was quoted as saying by British media on Tuesday.
"It just shows that football clubs are out of touch with reality. If City supporters are travelling on a supporters' club coach it will cost 30 pounds per person. That's 92 pounds before they have even done anything. Add in a programme, food, drink and you are looking at 125-130 pounds per person."
Widely regarded as one of the richest clubs in the world after they were bought by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 2008, they have forked out millions to sign the likes of Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Mario Balotelli in recent seasons.
Despite the massive outlay, the most expensive ticket prices at the Etihad Stadium are 58 pounds with the cheapest at 26 pounds, according to an October survey by the BBC.
Arsenal sold the Premier League's most expensive match day ticket at 126 pounds and, like City, also one of the cheapest available at 26 pounds.
"Some people cannot afford the price, especially as it is just after Christmas, and there are some who just refuse to pay 62 pounds," Parker said of the Arsenal cost.
"This is also the first time in a long while that I remember City fans saying to me they could pay the money but are refusing to do so.
"That is a brave decision to take. Soon, though, fans will vote more strongly with their feet and clubs like Arsenal will have to decide what to do about ticket prices."

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Existing home sales rise to fastest pace in three years

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Home resales rose sharply in November to their fastest pace in three years, a sign the recovery in the housing market is gaining steam.
The National Association of Realtors said on Thursday that existing home sales climbed 5.9 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million units.
That was the fastest since November 2009, when a federal tax credit for home buyers was due to expire. Sales were well above the median forecast of a 4.87 million-unit rate in a Reuters poll.
The U.S. housing market tanked on the eve of the 2007-09 recession and has yet to fully recover, but steady job creation has helped the housing sector this year, when it is expected to add to economic growth for the first time since 2005.
NAR economist Lawrence Yun said superstorm Sandy, which slammed in the U.S. East Coast in late October and disrupted the regional economy for weeks, had only a slight negative impact on home resales.
The NAR expects some purchases delayed by the storm to add a slight boost to resales over the next few months, Yun said.
Nationwide, the median price for a home resale was $180,600 in November, up 10.1 percent from a year earlier as fewer people sold their homes under distressed conditions compared to the same period in 2011. Distressed sales include foreclosures.
The nation's inventory of existing homes for sale fell 3.8 percent during the month to 2.03 million, the lowest level since December 2001.
At the current pace of sales, inventories would be exhausted in 4.8 months, the lowest rate since September 2005.
Distressed sales fell to 22 percent of total sales from 29 percent a year ago.
The share of distressed sales, which also include those where the sales price was below the amount owed on the home, was also down from 24 percent in October.

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