Google hasn’t been known as a hardware vendor in the past. That may soon change thanks to the company’s pending acquisition of Motorola, and recent reports suggest Google is already working on a self-branded home entertainment system and HUD glasses. Through a recent FCC filing, it has now been discovered that Google is also planning a “next generation personal communication device.” Details surrounding the mystery device are few and far between, although the filing does confirm both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are on board. The company has requested to test 102 units near Google office locations throughout the United States. The Mountain View-based company is listed as the manufacturer of the devices and it is described as being “in the prototyping phase and will be modified prior to final compliance testing.”

[Via SlashGear]

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Google is preparing to launch a new cloud storage service that will compete directly with popular start up Dropbox and similar services. The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday evening reported that Google is almost ready to announce the new service, which will be called Google Drive. Similar to Dropbox, which creates a virtual drive containing files that are mirrored on a user’s local hard drive and on cloud servers, Google Drive will allow users to store photos, videos, documents and other files in the cloud, and it will be accessible from computers as well as Android tablets and smartphones. The service will launch in the coming weeks according to the report, and it will be free to most users, though the report does not elaborate on the amount of free storage Google will provide or which customers might be charged.

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The security experts at zVelo have discovered a vulnerability in Google Wallet that allows them to “easily reveal” users’ PINs. If a Google Nexus is rooted, Google Wallet’s PIN verification system can be cracked using a brute force attack. zVelo said on Wednesday that it immediately reported its findings to Google, and the company “agreed to work quickly to resolve it,” although the researchers said Google “ran into obstacles.” To fix the problem, the PIN verification must be moved into the secure element of the NFC chip in a device, however to do so Google must apparently coordinate with banks. Moreover, changing the way a PIN is stored will also change which company is responsible for its security. Read on for more.

If users refrain from rooting their devices, enable a passcode to lock their device, disable USB debugging and enable Full Disk Encryption, they will be better protected from a possible attack. Google released a statement to TheNextWeb and ensures users that the vulnerability only affects rooted devices. “We strongly encourage people to not install Google Wallet on rooted devices and to always set up a screen lock as an additional layer of security for their phone,” said a company spokesperson.

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A public interest group asked a federal judge on Wednesday to block Google from changing its privacy policy, reports Reuters. The lawsuit comes from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which claims the search giant is in violation of a consent agreement made with U.S. regulator last March. The group is asking a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction against Google in the hopes that the Federal Trade Commission will enforce the consent agreement. “The Court must act now to prevent irreparable injury to EPIC and the public,” the group said in its court filing. Read on for more.

Google announced last month that it would combine individual privacy policies from a variety of its products into one main policy. Critics of the change were worried that Google was collecting more data, however the company ensured users that it is “not collecting any new or additional data about users,” a claim EPIC disagrees with. The group states that aggregated data would give advertisers access to information about users that they never had before, such as logged-in users’ YouTube search histories. ”Thus, Google will share new or additional information with third-party advertisers without first obtaining ‘express affirmative consent’ from Google users,” EPIC noted in court documents.

A Google spokesman said the company had not seen the filing and could not comment on the specifics. He did add, however, that “protecting people’s privacy is something we think about all day across the company and we welcome discussions about our approach.”

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Google is developing a home-entertainment system to stream music wirelessly throughout a users’ houses, The Wall Street Journal reports. The device will be Google-branded, marking a first for the search giant which historically develops software it then licenses to outside vendors. The system will most likely be Android-powered and will allow users to download music and stream it to Google-made speakers or other Web-connected devices in a home or office. The system may also be able to stream other digital media beyond just music. Apple, one of Google’s main rivals, has long developed both the hardware and software for its products. With its pending acquisition of Motorola Mobility, Google is looking to make waves in the hardware sector as well, and this new home entertainment solution could be one of the first own-brand devices to launch following the approval of Google’s Motorola buy, which is expected to come next week. The Android-powered entertainment system will reportedly be available later this year.

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Google’s bid to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion is set to gain regulatory approval as soon as next week, multiple reports claim. Google announced last summer that it intended to purchase the struggling smartphone and set-top box maker for $40 per share, and CEO Larry Page explained that Motorola’s patent portfolio was a key draw for the company. Google’s Android partners had fallen under attack from patent predators such as Apple and Microsoft, and the ability to spread Motorola’s patents around as needed could be the only way to save Android. As recent events in Germany have shown, Motorola’s patents could indeed be Android’s best bet. While some regulators apparently remain unconvinced that Google intends to license Motorola’s patents on fair terms, The Wall Street Journal reports that the deal is still on track to gain approval from the Justice Department as early as next week.

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Apple has edged out IBM to become the top brand of 2011, according to an annual list from marketing strategy firm Davis Brand Capital. The Cupertino-based company ousted IBM, which topped the list in 2009 and 2010. Apple was previously ranked No.12 in 2009 and No.7 in 2010. Davis evaluates the top 25 brands annually using five categories that go beyond traditional marketing functions. “The annual 2011 Davis Brand Capital 25 ranking evaluates companies’ abilities to manage and balance the five key intangible categories that comprise brand capital: brand value; competitive performance; innovation strength; company culture; and social impact,” the company said in a press release. “The ranking does not aim to place a financial value on the brand capital of the companies. Rather, the list reveals the comparative strength and breadth of the companies’ brand capital.” As in previous years, the rankings were dominated by technology companies such as Google, Microsoft, HP, Cisco, Intel and Samsung. Read on for the complete list of Davis Brand Capital top 25.

Davis Names Top-25 Companies with Most Brand Capital in 2011
Top-performing Brand Capital Managers Best S&P 500 in 2011; Apple Takes #1 Spot on List Dominated by Tech Leaders; Toyota Reappears at #20 After Precipitous Fall

ATLANTA, Feb 06, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Davis Brand Capital today released the 2011 Davis Brand Capital 25 ranking, which evaluates brand beyond its traditional marketing function and considers it as a blend of key intangibles. It is the only annual ranking of companies demonstrating comprehensive and balanced approaches to managing the full spectrum of brand capital, which provides an indication of the strength and effectiveness of an entire business.

The top-performing companies on the Davis Brand Capital 25 outpaced the S&P 500 in 2011. A hypothetical stock portfolio consisting of these companies, with holdings proportionately allocated according to each company’s position in the ranking, outperformed the S&P 500 by 9.32 percent.

The annual 2011 Davis Brand Capital 25 ranking evaluates companies’ abilities to manage and balance the five key intangible categories that comprise brand capital: brand value; competitive performance; innovation strength; company culture; and social impact. The ranking does not aim to place a financial value on the brand capital of the companies. Rather, the list reveals the comparative strength and breadth of the companies’ brand capital.

“Brand now functions as the primary container of intangible value. Factors once viewed only internally by company management, such as company culture and innovation strength, are now broadcast to customers regularly through brand,” said Patrick T. Davis, chief executive officer of Davis Brand Capital, based in Atlanta. Studies by the Federal Reserve place yearly investment in intangibles by U.S. companies at more than $1 trillion. “We believe it is increasingly important to track the companies excelling in the management of these intangibles,” said Davis.

Apple (AAPL) tops the list for the first time, moving up from #12 in ’09 and #7 in ’10. The company’s rise in this year’s rankings was driven largely by its competitive performance and added brand value. Customers and investors alike continue to reward Apple for the transformative innovations it brings to the world through its marketing and business prowess.

IBM (IBM) ranks second this year, after holding the top spot for two consecutive years. Google (GOOG) enjoyed a meteoric rise from #11 in ’09 to #4 in this year’s ranking. Rounding out the top five, Microsoft (MSFT) remained at #3 again this year, and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) dropped from the #2 spot in ’10 to #5.

As in prior years, the ranking is dominated by technology leaders, which comprise nearly 30 percent of the ranked companies. Intel (INTC) and Cisco Systems (CSCO) also make the 2011 ranking, placing #8 and #10 respectively.

“Technology is the infrastructure of our daily lives now, and these companies are exceptional at delivering value, building trust and creating culture. They also tend to be more transparent and use their technologies to convey their strengths,” said Davis.

Automakers also are well represented on this year’s rankings. Toyota Motor Corporation (TM) reappears at #20, signifying a rebound in consumer trust and financial performance after a wave of high-profile product recalls and related controversy. Last year, the company dropped from the ’10 ranking entirely, despite having a strong showing in ’09 at #8. BMW (BMW-DE) moves up one position to #11 this year, and Daimler (DAI-DE) debuts on the ranking at #15. Volkswagen (VOW-DE) moves down four spots this year from #21 to #17. Both Ford (F) and Honda (HMC) drop from the ’11 rankings after holding the #23 and #18 spots respectively in ’10.

Coca-Cola continues its steady climb up the rankings, moving from #16 in ’09 to #14 in ’10 and landing at #9 on this year’s ranking. Arch-rival PepsiCo narrows Coca-Cola’s lead in ’11 with its #12 ranking, moving up from #24 in ’09 (not ranked in ’10) and representing the largest two-year gain of any brand on the list.

After improving its ranking from #10 in ’09 to #5 in ’10, discount retailer Wal-Mart (WMT) drops the most of any other company in ’11 both in terms of its two-year and year-over-year performance, ranking #24. Samsung Electronics has the second-largest drop in year-over-year performance, falling from #8 in ’10 to #23 in ’11.

Though still dealing with the aftermath of the global economic crisis and forward-looking financial anxiety, several financial services companies do appear on the ’11 ranking. Citigroup makes its debut on this year’s list at #16. Wells Fargo also debuts on the ’11 rankings at #25, and Goldman Sachs drops two spots from #16 in ’10 to #18. Financial services firms JPMorgan and HSBC drop from this year’s rankings entirely, after holding the #11 and #22 spots respectively in ’10.

This year, the Davis Brand Capital Scores have a much tighter range than previous years’ rankings, indicating collectively stronger performance for the 25 brands included on the list. “More than ever, companies are realizing the importance of proactively managing their collection of intangibles,” said Davis. “The companies listed on the 2011 Davis Brand Capital 25 represent the best-of-the-best globally, and inclusion anywhere on the list is testament to their exceptional power and far-reaching influence.”

Many major consumer and packaged goods brands are notably absent from the list. “Excellence in traditional product brand management alone is no longer enough,” said Davis. “Big consumer brands build great value in the marketplace and with the consumer, but that is only one component of brand capital. And it does not necessarily mean the brands represent companies that excel in managing broader intangibles. A more holistic approach is needed to earn a place among the extraordinary companies on this list.”

The 2011 Davis Brand Capital 25 ranking is based on a study of 10 distinct data sets. It is a compilation and analysis of annual performance rankings published in industry-leading and specialized annual lists, plus Davis Brand Capital’s proprietary processes and analysis. Each of the five key areas of brand capital is given equal importance to achieve an integrated, balanced evaluation.

Prior to the Davis Brand Capital 25, annual brand performance rankings were not evaluated and aggregated to reveal the comparative strength of companies’ brand capital. “It is essential now for senior executives to understand that brand capital reflects a collection of key intangible attributes determining systemic success. Well-managed brand capital signals the overall health and effectiveness of a business today,” said Davis.

The ranking will be updated yearly, with the 2012 Davis Brand Capital 25 released in January, 2013.

Google on Tuesday announced the first beta release of its Chrome Web browser for Android-powered smartphones and tablets. The firm’s native Web browser is certainly among the better mobile Web browsers on the market, but with Chrome, Google is focused on aligning its mobile browsing experience more closely with its desktop browser. “Like the desktop version, Chrome for Android Beta is focused on speed and simplicity, but it also features seamless sign-in and sync so you can take your personalized web browsing experience with you wherever you go, across devices,” Sundar Pichai, Google’s SVP of Chrome and Apps, wrote in a post on the company’s blog. Chrome for Android is available immediately as a free download in the Android Market and it is compatible with smartphones and tablets running Android 4.0 or later. An introductory video from Google follows below.

Google has hired Apple’s former senior director of product integrity for a new secret project, according to a report from VentureBeat. The man in question is Simon Prakash, who worked at Apple for more than eight years. Prakash was responsible for the quality control at Apple, a company that has a long-standing reputation for quality. He will now reportedly be working in Google’s “X lab” on a secret project headed by Google co-founder Sergey Brin. It is speculated that the project could be hardware related, and it may tie in with the company’s pending acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Google and Apple are currently being investigated by the Department of Justice following accusations that the companies upheld an illegal “no poach” agreement along with Intel, Adobe, Intuit, Pixar and Lucasfilm.

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Google has reportedly been hard at work developing glasses with a built-in heads-up display (HUD) on one lens. The glasses reportedly look very similar to Oakley’s Thump sunglasses, which allowed users to load songs onto a small flash drive and listen to tunes through integrated ear buds. According to 9to5Google, the glasses will be equipped with “hardware near the equivalent of a generation-old Android smartphone,” which means we’ll likely see a 1GHz processor and internal storage in the 8GB to 16GB range. The glasses will also be capable of voice input and output according to the report, and they will be able to capture photos using a front-facing camera. A user may even be able to navigate through menu items by tilting his or her head, 9to5Google said. The pilot program for Google’s HUD glasses is expected to launch soon but the devices are reportedly still far from ready for a mass roll out.

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The record sales managed by both Apple and Samsung during the holiday quarter last year sent smartphone market growth soaring in late 2011. Market research firm IDC on Monday released data from a new report that suggests smartphone shipments grew 54.7% in the fourth quarter last year. Driven by Apple’s iPhone 4S and Samsung’s Galaxy S II handsets, vendors shipped 157.8 million smartphones globally last quarter according to IDC. ”By the end of the quarter, one out of every three mobiles phones shipped worldwide was a smartphone,” IDC analyst Ramon Llamas said in a statement. “The launch of Apple’s iPhone 4S played a key role in smartphone growth to capture pent-up demand, and smartphone launches from other vendors also provided a broad selection to meet varying preferences and budgets.” The firm notes that full-year smartphone shipments totaled 491.4 million units in 2011, up 61.3% over the prior year. IDC’s full press release follows below.

Smartphone Market Hits All-Time Quarterly High Due To Seasonal Strength and Wider Variety of Offerings, According to IDC 

06 Feb 2012

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. February 6, 2012 – The worldwide smartphone market grew 54.7% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2011 (4Q11), as Apple unleashed its iPhone 4S on an eager marketplace. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped 157.8 million units in 4Q11 compared to 102.0 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010. The 54.7% year-over-year growth was higher than IDC’s forecast of 40.0% for the quarter, and higher than the 49.2% growth in 3Q11.

On a full-year basis, total smartphone shipment volumes reached 491.4 million units in 2011, up a strong 61.3% from the 304.7 million units in 2010. This was higher than IDC’s full year estimate of 54.7% for the year, but still below 2010′s year-over-year growth of 75.7%. Although this marks a slowdown from 2010, IDC still fully expects continued double-digit growth for the foreseeable future.

Smartphones continued to be one of the hottest consumer electronics products in the market, and was helped along by the launch of key devices. “By the end of the quarter, one out of every three mobiles phones shipped worldwide was a smartphone,” said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Phone Technology and Trends team. “The launch of Apple’s iPhone 4S played a key role in smartphone growth to capture pent-up demand, and smartphone launches from other vendors also provided a broad selection to meet varying preferences and budgets.”

The variety of offerings have become more nuanced as smartphone makers try to grow their respective user bases in emerging and developed markets alike.

“So-called ‘hero’ devices, such as Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus and Apple’s iPhone 4S, garner the bulk of the attention heaped on the device type,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker program. “But a growing number of sub-$250 device offerings, based on the Android operating system, have allowed Google’s hardware partners to grow smartphone volumes and expand the market concurrently.”

Vendor Highlights

Apple climbed back into the market leadership position with the launch of its iPhone 4S worldwide, and in the process it reached a new shipment volume record for itself and for the entire industry for a single quarter. Although the iPhone 4S disappointed some detractors by lacking 4G LTE connectivity or a different size screen, demand was high for the device. In addition, the combination of holiday seasonality, the delay in product launch from 3Q to 4Q, and the addition of multiple mobile operators helped drive volumes higher.

Samsung marked a series of milestones for the quarter: breaking the 30 million units mark for the first time, posting the largest year-over-year increase among the top vendors, and finishing 2011 as the overall smartphone market leader. Its series of Galaxy smartphones continued to expand, with attention to both the high-end (Galaxy S II, Galaxy Nexus) and mass market (Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Y), while the company updated its Omnia and Focus smartphones with Windows Phone Mango.

Nokia posted the largest year-over-year decrease among the top vendors, but its smartphone strategy took another step forward with the release of its first Windows Phone smartphones, the Lumia 710 and the Lumia 800. Company CEO Steve Elop claims that the company shipped ‘well over a million units’ in its debut quarter, and is using early feedback to adjust its marketing and sales strategy. At the same time, demand for its Symbian-powered smartphones appears to have waned, and smaller volumes are expected in 2012.

Research In Motion finished the quarter with a mixed bag of results. Its new BB OS 7-powered BlackBerry smartphones reached additional markets, and total volumes for the quarter staved off a fourth consecutive quarter of sequential decline. Still, overshadowing these results was the global network outage in October, followed by announcements that its first BB 10-powered smartphones will not arrive to market until late 2012. Such a delay gives the competition opportunity to attack RIM’s strongholds. With new Chairperson and CEO Heins in place as of January, RIM assures that change is coming both internally and externally.

HTC maintained a strong pace of device releases during the quarter, with the launch of the Windows Phone-powered Titan and Radar models, the Beats-influenced Rezound, and the LTE-enabled Vivid in addition to multiple other Android-powered smartphones. As has been HTC’s approach all year long, these device launches kept the company’s product portfolio well attuned to both operator and end-user tastes. Despite the many high-profile launches during the quarter, however, the Taiwanese vendor still shipped lower volumes compared to the previous quarter.

Top Five Mobile Phone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Q4 2011 (Units in Millions) 

Source: IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, February 6, 2012

Note: Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.

This chart is intended for public use in online news articles and social media. Instructions on how to embed this graphic are available by clicking here.

Top Five Mobile Phone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share Calendar Year 2011 (Units in Millions) 

Source: IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, February 6, 2012

Note: Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.

Google unveiled its new “Solve for X” website early Monday morning, and it looks as if the Mountain View-based company is planning a TED-like think tank to encourage problem solving and teamwork. “Solve for X is a place where the curious can go to hear and discuss radical technology ideas for solving global problems,” reads the Solve for X website. “Radical in the sense that the solutions could help billions of people. Radical in the sense that the audaciousness of the proposals makes them sound like science fiction. And radical in the sense that there is some real technology breakthrough on the horizon to give us all hope that these ideas could really be brought to life.” One of Google X’s chief scientists, Richard DeVaul, revealed via his Google+ page that the “Solve for X’ conference had discussed ways of “transforming eduction, 5x improvements in agriculture through better decision support, synthetic biology, and carbon-negative biofuels.” DeVaul also announced that the “We Solve for X” YouTube page and website will be updated to include video’s of the presentations for all to see. Google’s video follows below.

Read [WeSolveForX] Read [Youtube] Read [Google+]

Though Hewlett-Packard was unable to produce webOS devices that consumers were interested in buying — at a positive margin, at least — CEO Meg Whitman still thinks the beleaguered platform has legs. After unsuccessfully trying to sell or license webOS, HP decided late last year to donate its $1.2 billion platform to the open source community. The firm still plans to launch new webOS devices in the future, however, and Meg Whitman explained HP’s position while speaking with CRN. Read on for more.

“There is a clear vision of what we’re trying to accomplish,” Whitman said in an interview. “There will be some people who will not love that vision, and then there are people who are very excited about this vision, and what it can mean for an alternative, open-source operating system that has some real strengths to it.”

Despite the overwhelming failure of the TouchPad — HP discontinued the slate a mere two months after it launched — the CEO stressed the fact that HP is not done with tablets. WebOS is seemingly no longer a part of HP’s core tablet strategy, however, having been replaced by Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 platform.

“We have to have a tablet offering,” Whitman said. “We will be back in that business. We’re coming back into the market with a Windows 8 tablet, first on an x86 chip and then maybe on an ARM chip.” She also stated that security would be HP’s “sweet spot,” noting that security on tablets is a big concern for small, medium-sized and large businesses. WebOS will still play a role at HP it seems, though it remains unclear what exactly that role will be.

When asked if Whitman was concerned that a number of high-level executives formerly on the webOS team were fleeing, the executive was optimistic. “We’re going to build a new business together,” she told CRN. ”We’re going to build another operating system that has huge advantages, in my view, over iOS, which is a closed system, [and] Android, which is incredibly fragmented and may ultimately be more closed with [Google's] acquisition of Motorola Mobility.”

Whether or not being more open than iOS and less fragmented than Android will translate into webOS device sales remains to be seen.

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Regulators with the European Union have asked Google to stop rolling out new privacy changes that the company originally introduced earlier this month. “Given the wide range of services you offer, and the popularity of these services, changes in your privacy policy may affect many citizens in most or all of the EU member states,” the European wrote in a letter to Google’s CEO Larry Page. “We wish to check the possible consequences for the protection of the personal data of these citizens in a coordinated way. In light of the above, we call for a pause in the interests of ensuring that there can be no misunderstanding about Google’s commitments to information rights of their users and EU citizens, until we have completed our analysis.” Google said it was introducing the new privacy changes, which go into effect on March 1, to provide a “more intuitive Google experience” for its users, but several groups, including the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, have accused Google of collecting more data than ever before. Google told BGR in a statement that it is “not collecting any new or additional data about users.”

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Google has been ordered to pay €500,000 to Bottin Cartographes, a French company that filed a lawsuit against Google France after it began providing its free Google Maps services to customers. Google is also responsible for paying an additional €15,000 in fees. The court found Google “guilty of abusing the dominant position of its Google Maps application,” Economic Times said Thursday. ”We proved the illegality of [Google's] strategy to remove its competitors… the court recognized the unfair and abusive character of the methods used and allocated Bottin Cartographes all it claimed,” Botton Cartographes lawyer Jean-David Scemmama said. “This is the first time Google has been convicted for its Google Maps application.” Google said it will appeal the decision. “We remain convinced that a free high-quality mapping tool is beneficial for both Internet users and websites,” a Google spokesperson said. “There remains competition in this sector for us, both in France and internationally.” Google was also fined €100,000 in France last year after a court found it guilty of collecting private information for the Street View feature of Google Maps.

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