An Ignoble Experiment

2. Apple snaps up HopStop as Maps overhaul continues

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has shut down its developer portal following a security breach, and has not ruled out the possibility that developer profile data like names, mailing addresses and email addresses may have been compromised.

"We'll be back soon," Apple promises on its developer website.

The Apple site--which offers development kits, forums and other resources related to the company's iOS and Mac OS platforms--has been offline since Thursday. Apple initially posted a notice stating the site was down to address maintenance issues, but on Sunday sent registered developers an email acknowledging the attack.

"Last Thursday, an intruder attempted to secure personal information of our registered developers from our developer website. Sensitive personal information was encrypted and cannot be accessed, however, we have not been able to rule out the possibility that some developers' names, mailing addresses, and/or email addresses may have been accessed," the email states. "In order to prevent a security threat like this from happening again, we're completely overhauling our developer systems, updating our server software, and rebuilding our entire database. We apologize for the significant inconvenience that our downtime has caused you and we expect to have the developer website up again soon."

Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr told AllThingsD he could not go into additional detail about the vulnerabilities of the developer site or the company's plans to improve security, but said the attack did not compromise customer data. "The website that was breached is not associated with any customer information," Neumayr said. "Additionally, customer information is securely encrypted."

Turkish security researcher Ibrahim Balic has claimed responsibility for the attack, telling The Guardian that his goal was to demonstrate that the Apple site was leaking user information. Balic also posted a YouTube video that appears to depict the site's vulnerabilities. "My intention was not attacking," Balic explained. "In total I found 13 bugs and reported [them] directly one by one to Apple straight away. Just after my reporting [the] dev center got closed. I have not heard anything from them, and they announced that they got attacked. My aim was to report bugs and collect the datas [sic] for the purpose of seeing how deep I can go with it."

For more:
- see this Apple page
- read this AllThingsD article
- read this Guardian article

Read more about: iOS 7, Hackers
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By Jason Ankeny

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3. Facebook for Every Phone users top 100M, mobile ad push underway

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has acquired transit navigation app developer HopStop. An Apple spokesperson confirmed the deal but declined to supply additional details, including the transaction price.

HopStop's free mobile applications offer door-to-door transit, walking, biking and taxi directions spanning more than 300 cities worldwide, complete with real-time alerts and planned service changes. Users may also estimate travel times or taxi costs, identify nearby subway stops and bus stops, find wheelchair accessible and stroller friendly routes, and plan trips with multiple destinations. HopStop remains available for Apple's iOS and Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) rival Android mobile operating system, although AllThingsD notes that a version optimized for Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone disappeared from the Windows Phone Store soon after the acquisition closed.

The HopStop deal enables Apple to integrate mass transit directions into Apple Maps, launched last year in association with its iOS 6 operating system update as a replacement for preloaded Google Maps services. Consumers have been harshly critical of Apple Maps, identifying dozens of inaccuracies, and the outcry even prompted a public apology from Apple CEO Tim Cook, who later said the company is "putting all of our energy into making [Maps] right."

Last week, Apple also acquired crowdsourced location services provider Locationary. Its Saturn platform merges information from more than 250 different feeds and repositories to assemble a real-time database for local business listings, building merchant profiles including details like hours of operation, products, services and rich media efforts. The Saturn platform spans more than 5.6 million data fields and 175 million profiles; Locationary services are offered to data providers and distributors, enterprises, and Web and mobile app publishers.

For more:
- read this Bloomberg article
- read this AllThingsD article

Read more about: Apple Maps, HopStop
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By Jason Ankeny

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4. Analyst: Mobile users are 'content' with Android and iOS duopoly

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) revealed that its streamlined Facebook for Every Phone application has eclipsed the 100 million active user benchmark, corresponding to roughly one out of every eight of the social network's mobile users worldwide.

The Java-based Facebook for Every Phone, launched in early 2011, targets feature phone owners in developing nations, delivering a pared-down user experience optimized for reduced data consumption. The app supports more than 3,000 phone models, some priced as cheap as $20. The New York Times notes that most Facebook for Every Phone users pay little or nothing to access the service, with mobile operators and device makers subsidizing data costs.

Facebook has only recently started selling ads to Facebook for Every Phone users, so it generates no revenue from the app at this time. During the first quarter of 2013, only 24 percent of Facebook's $1.5 billion in revenue originated outside of the United States, Canada and Europe--at the same time, its mobile ad efforts contributed 30 percent of the company's overall global ad revenue.

Facebook will report its second-quarter financial results on Wednesday, and analysts anticipate that developed markets will remain its primary revenue driver for the foreseeable future. But analysts also note that Facebook is in position to win the long-term loyalty of millions of users in emerging markets by letting them access the Web on virtually any device: "In a lot of foreign markets, people think that the Internet is Facebook," said eMarketer Vice President Clark Fredricksen. Facebook hopes those users will become more appealing to advertisers as their incomes grow and their access to the Web expands.

Facebook developed the Every Phone service in partnership with mobile application platform provider Snaptu, which it acquired for a rumored $70 million in March 2011. Javier Olivan, who leads Facebook's growth team, said that the development of Every Phone--which is five to 10 times more efficient than the company's smartphone apps--has helped the company improve the rest of its software. "We're working on bringing a lot of the ideas into smartphone apps," Olivan said.

Facebook's total mobile monthly active users eclipsed desktop users earlier this year and reached 751 million in the first quarter of 2013, a year-over-year increase of 54 percent. Facebook's mobile-only MAUs also increased to 189 million, up from 157 million in the previous quarter.

For more:
- see this Facebook post
- read this New York Times article

By Jason Ankeny

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5. Mozilla pledges quarterly Firefox OS feature releases

Nokia's (NYSE:NOK) disappointing second-quarter financial results indicate that consumers are "content" with a mobile ecosystem dominated by Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android and Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS, according to an investor note released by Needham & Company Analyst Charlie Wolf.

Wolf downgraded Nokia's stock rating from a "buy" to a "hold" after the manufacturer failed to match analyst expectations during the previous quarter. He said that limited consumer interest in Nokia Lumia smartphones running Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone 8 is a sign that users are "content with just two platforms," blaming Nokia's struggles on a smaller app library, ineffective marketing and the company's previous loyalty to the "antiquated" Symbian operating system. (Nokia is halting shipments of Symbian phones this summer.)

Vendors shipped 7 million Windows Phone units worldwide during the first quarter of 2013, up 133 percent from 3 million during the first three months of 2012 and increasing the platform's global market share from 2 percent to 3.2 percent, research firm IDC reported in May. While Windows Phone shipments now outpace BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY), which fell to 6.3 million during the first quarter from 9.7 million during the year-ago period, both operating systems trail far behind Android and iOS, which combined to power 92.3 percent of all smartphone shipments during the first three months of this year.

"It appears that the market is reaching the now-or-never moment for the Windows [Phone] 8/Nokia duo," Wolf wrote. "We expect Microsoft to throw enormous resources behind Windows [Phone] 8 to prevent its demise. But with a single digit market share, the challenge will be enormous."

Nokia shipped 7.4 million smartphones in the second quarter, almost all of which were Lumia devices, up 32 percent from the first quarter but missing the 8.1 million units that analysts had expected, according to a Reuters poll. Nokia shipped 500,000 devices in the North American market, down from 600,000 devices in the year-ago quarter but up slightly from the 400,000 the manufacturer shipped in the first quarter of this year.

Nokia's North American sales figures are notable considering Nokia has made a concerted push to increase sales and exposure in the U.S. market, specifically through new Lumia devices available through AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T), T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS), Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) and others. "Despite completely new Windows phone line and support from new partners, Nokia's US smartphone vol dropped YoY. It is over," tweeted industry observer Tero Kuittinen.

For more:
- read this AppleInsider article

Read more about: iOS, Windows Phone
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By Jason Ankeny

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