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Report: Asia-Pacific is home to 1.7 billion mobile subscribers, half of the world’s total

Jun09
by on June 9, 2014 at 9:02 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Asia, Insider

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The mobile revolution in Asia-Pacific isn’t showing signs of slowing down. The GSM Association released a report today that reveals the region is home to half of the world’s mobile subscribers, and will continue to be one of the world’s fastest growing mobile markets through 2020 and even beyond. According to the report, there were 1.7 billion unique mobile subscribers in the Asia-Pacific region as of the end of 2013, out of a total global subscriber base of 3.4 billion. China, India, Japan and Indonesia had the largest number of subscribers, ranked according to their sizes. In a nod to the…

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Microsoft begins selling the Xbox One without Kinect for $399.99

Jun09
by on June 9, 2014 at 8:45 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Gadgets

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As promised, Microsoft is now offering a version of its Xbox One console without Kinect. The new bundle is available for $399.99/ £349.99 from Microsoft’s website and a similar configuration is expected to be sold in other markets later today. Microsoft’s decision to make its next-generation Kinect – a high-resolution camera that can track the player’s body and identify voice commands – an optional part of the system is quite controversial. Unbundling the two means the console is now the same price as Sony’s PlayStation 4 – a system that has gained a sizeable sales lead over Microsoft’s offering. But taking…

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Telenor says Thailand’s recent Facebook outage was ordered by the government

Jun09
by on June 9, 2014 at 7:44 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Asia, censorship, dtac, telenor, Thailand

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There was widespread panic in Thailand last month when access to Facebook was cut via the country’s major ISPs and mobile operators for 40 minutes. Despite repeated threats to clamp down on social media due to critical messages, Thailand’s military government described the outage as a “technical issue,” but that appears at odds with comment from one operator. Telenor, the Norwegian telecoms company which runs Thai operator DTAC, acknowledged in a statement provided to TNW that a government request forced it to shut down access to Facebook: Telenor Group can confirm that on Wednesday 28 May dtac received a notification at 15:00 local…

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Motorola’s ‘Try Then Buy’ deal lets anyone in the US test a Moto X for 2 weeks for $0.01

Jun09
by on June 9, 2014 at 6:44 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Mobile, motorola

Motorola’s latest effort to woo the US public into buying its Moto X device is a ‘try before you buy deal.’ There was much speculation over the deal this weekend, but it has now gone live, as Android Police spotted. The company is asking for just $0.01 upfront, in exchange for which interested customers are given a no-contract phone which they are free to try out for up to two weeks. Those taking part can personalize their device using the Moto Maker site as if they were buying the Moto X outright. When the two-week trial is finished, those wanting to keep the phone can pay the remainder…

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