The U.S. Ultimatum on Huawei Is Backfiring :UPDATE: Google banning Huawei from Android updates and

[MikelArteta]

I’m on a huawei tablet right now up here in Canada

 

[BaggerofTea]

I’m on a huawei tablet right now up here in Canada

Sell that shyt

Chinese already have your coli login info

 

[loyola llothta]

Huawei overtakes Samsung to become the leading smartphone brand globally in Q2 2020



Jul 30, 2020

Samsung has been dominating the smartphone market worldwide and has been a leader for the past many years. Well, that has now changed, at least for the second quarter of this year. According to the report from Canalys, Huawei has overtaken Samsung to become the leading smartphone brand globally in Q2 2020.

This is an impressive performance from Huawei, which managed to become the world’s leading smartphone brand in terms of shipments, despite being banned in the United States and facing heat in other markets.

The report adds that for the period of April 2020 to June 2020, Huawei shipped 55.8 million units. On the other hand, Samsung managed to ship 53.7 million units. This shows how strong is Huawei’s foothold in its home market.




Huawei’s two-third smartphones are being sold in its home market, China. Also, Huawei, along with its sub-brand Honor, is dominating the Chinese smartphone market, capturing almost half of the market.

The company has around 46 percent of the market share in China, which is more than the combined total of Vivo, OPPO, and Xiaomi in the Chinese market. This is the highest market share for Huawei ever in China.

EDITOR’S PICK: OPPO unveils World’s Fastest 125W Flash Wired Charging and 65W AirVOOC Wireless Charging

Globally, the sales of Huawei devices fell by 5 percent compared to the same period last year, but Samsung registered a 30 percent drop in sales for the same duration. This is likely because of weak demand in markets like the United States, Europe, and Brazil.

Recently, Huawei revealed that its revenue in the first half of this year grew 13.1 percent compared to the same period last year. The company managed to grow, despite the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic and sanctions from the United States.

It remains to be seen if Huawei manages to hold on to this leading smartphone position for the upcoming quarter as well. Samsung has new premium smartphones lined up for launch in the coming days and the company is also releasing mid-ranges devices at regular intervals, as it aims to grow its market share.

Link:
Huawei overtakes Samsung to become the leading smartphone brand globally in Q2 2020 - Gizmochina

 

[loyola llothta]

TikTok Fires Back At President Trump’s Plan To Ban App As Soon As Saturday


By Bruce Haring, Jill Goldsmith

August 1, 2020 10:00am

TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer has a lot going on.

UPDATE, SATURDAY P.M.:

The WSJ has reported that Microsoft has paused the purchase of the U.S. operation of social media, video-sharing app TikTok following Trump’s threat to ban the app on Friday.

The situation seems dicey as the two companies are trying to gather more information on Trump’s course of action.

“The administration has very serious national security concerns over TikTok. We continue to evaluate future policy,” said a White House spokesperson in a statement made Saturday.

UPDATE, SATURDAY A.M.:

TikTok has fired back at President Trump’s plan to shut it down.

A TikTok statement addressed the President’s comments. “These are the facts: 100 million Americans come to TikTok for entertainment and connection, especially during the pandemic. We’ve hired nearly 1,000 people to our US team this year alone, and are proud to be hiring another 10,000 employees into great paying jobs across the US.




“Our $1 billion creator fund supports US creators who are building livelihoods from our platform. TikTok US user data is stored in the US, with strict controls on employee access. TikTok’s biggest investors come from the US. We are committed to protecting our users’ privacy and safety as we continue working to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform.”

Vanessa Pappas, general manager for TikTok US, posted a video reply as well.

UPDATE:

President Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One Friday he will ban Chinese-owned video app TikTok from the United States as soon as tomorrow, NBC News reported.

“As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” Trump said.

Trump did not say whether he will issue an executive order or use some other method.

“Well, I have that authority. I can do it with an executive order or that,” Trump said.

Trump also told reporters that he rejected the reported spin-off deal involving Microsoft buying TikTok, NBC News reported.

Earlier, Trump said his administration was looking at various options on TikTok.

EARLIER: Heat around video-sharing app TikTok racheted up Friday, as President Donald Trump said he’s considering taking steps to ban the service, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, amid reports that Microsoft — yes, Microsoft — is interested in buying it.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has been weighing whether the Trump Administration should force Beijing-based ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said earlier this week he would have a recommendation soon. As tensions with China grow, TikTok has been under pressure for months. It hired former Disney exec Kevin Mayer as CEO and COO of ByteDance, and was said to be looking at setting up new headquarters outside of China. On Tuesday Mayer publicly defended TikTok, saying in a blog post it would do what it had to do to remain “available” and “successful.”

A rep for Microsoft wasn’t immediately available to comment on the reports of its interest. But a move like that by the software giant would dramatically shake up the social media landscape.

TikTok is hugely popular. Facebook recently offered cash incentives to lure creators from the platform to a competing service called Reels. In comment to a congressional committee this week, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg called his company uniquely American. Mayer blaster the Facebook chief for cloaking his business in a patriotic mantle in order to defang a much larger rival.

“We’re looking at TikTok. We may be banning TikTok. We may be doing some other things. There are a couple of options, but a lot of things are happening. So, we’ll see what happens, but we are looking at a lot of alternatives with respect to TikTok,” Tump told reporters today on the South Lawn of the White House on the way to his helicopter.

Several large US investment funds were also said to be discussing the possibility of taking TikTok off ByteDance’s hands in a transaction that would value it at about $50 billion.

A TikTok spokesperson said: “While we do not comment on rumors or speculation, we are confident in the long-term success of TikTok. Hundreds of millions of people come to TikTok for entertainment and connection, including our community of creators and artists who are building livelihoods from the platform. We’re motivated by their passion and creativity, and committed to protecting their privacy and safety as we continue working to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform.”

TikTok’s US business was launched in 2018, when ByteDance acquired US social media start-up Musical.ly and merged it with the Chinese version of the app, which is still called Douyin in China.

TikTok was recently banned in India on security concerns.

Tiktok doesn’t releases user data. In late April, tracking firm Sensor Tower said the app had 165 million installs in the U.S.

Link:

TikTok Fires Back At President Trump’s Plans To Ban App – Deadline

 

[loyola llothta]

 

[loyola llothta]

 

[Lesfilles]

This isn't surprising, majority of the world is poor, Huawei phones are cheap -- most of the networks in the countries where it's popular can't even support anything else. Iphone is for the well to do or rich in those countries. No doubt at the economies grow, Huawei will be left behind. Right now it's a 'poor people' phone, which isn't a diss, but just reality. Every time I've gone to Zambia, people have been telling me they want an iphone and the few that do have them, are those who make good money in government or industry. Otherwise it's Samsung or Huawei.

 

[Oldschooler]

This isn't surprising, majority of the world is poor, Huawei phones are cheap -- most of the networks in the countries where it's popular can't even support anything else. Iphone is for the well to do or rich in those countries. No doubt at the economies grow, Huawei will be left behind. Right now it's a 'poor people' phone, which isn't a diss, but just reality. Every time I've gone to Zambia, people have been telling me they want an iphone and the few that do have them, are those who make good money in government or industry. Otherwise it's Samsung or Huawei.

That's their business model because China is the world's manufacturing hub. They control all labor and are also backed by the CCP. You seriously think that Samsung or Apple don't want to dominate the low tier phone market? Obviously they do but they can't compete with a giant like Huawei. Huawei has the capability to make similar or better phones than samsung/apple.

 

[Lesfilles]

That's their business model because China is the world's manufacturing hub. They control all labor and are also backed by the CCP. You seriously think that Samsung or Apple don't want to dominate the low tier phone market? Obviously they do but they can't compete with a giant like Huawei. Huawei has the capability to make similar or better phones than samsung/apple.

I would argue that apple's business model does not look at price barrier economics. iphones are inelastic, they don't really care about catering to the 'low-tier' market. Samsung is elastic overall though they've tried to create inelastic phones... overall, the goal is to have poor people put the money up for the iphone regardless of their economic situation. Apple could, 100% make cheaper phones if they want to, but that's not what they want to do... over the years, prices have risen, not fallen. Huawei right now simply represents digital accessibility, overall I think the cheapest phone will always remain the most popular. But I'd look to a shift in Huawei demographics in developing economies as they grow.

 

[loyola llothta]

With Microsoft Purchase of TikTok, US Tightens Grip Over International Media


Even as the government attempts to frame the debate over the banning of Chinese companies like TikTok and Huawei over privacy concerns, it continues to try to ban the encryption of data and communications at home.

by Alan Macleod

Following Donald Trump’s Friday announcement that he would ban the popular Chinese-owned video platform, Microsoft has today swooped in to hoover up TikTok after it received “personal assurances” from the president himself that he would back such a move. Trump has given the two parties up to 45 days to hash out a deal. ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, values its U.S. operations at $50 billion, but it is not at all certain they will receive fair compensation, given their predicament. The platform is by far the most downloaded app in Apple’s app store, with over 800 million active users worldwide, including over 100 million in the United States, primarily members of Generation Z.

The move comes amid growing American aggression towards Beijing, ostensibly over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, its treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang province and demonstrators in Hong Kong, and, above all, its uneasiness at its growing economic power. Early last month the Trump administration began floating the idea of a TikTok ban, citing potential national security issues. When asked by Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham if Americans should use the app, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded: “only if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.” TikTok has strenuously denied that it works with the Chinese government, noting that American users’ data is stored in the U.S., with strict controls on employee access.

News of the imminent purchase excited the stock market, with Microsoft shares surging by five percent on their Friday totals. Given that the company is worth over $1 trillion, the news added $77 billion to Bill Gates’ company’s value, suggesting that traders believe they are receiving the deal of a lifetime. “Microsoft appreciates the U.S. Government’s and President Trump’s personal involvement as it continues to develop strong security protections for the country,” the tech giant said in a statement today.

The company is already a preferred partner of the administration and has a lot to be thankful to Trump for. In November it received a lucrative $10 billion contract to partner with the Pentagon to develop a cloud computing network that sees it instantly become one of the world’s largest military contractors. The decision to award Microsoft (and not Amazon) the deal was allegedly made on the behest of Trump himself, who disliked how he was being treated by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post. Microsoft also has a long history of intimate collusion with government agencies, enabling them to spy on U.S. citizens. Documents leaked by Edward Snowden revealed that it worked with the FBI and NSA to allow them to circumvent their own encryption methods to gather information on hundreds of millions of worldwide users of its platforms, such as Skype and Outlook. Today, Microsoft said it is “committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security review and providing proper economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury.”

The Internet is the new battlefield

“What Lockheed Martin was to the twentieth century, technology and cyber-security companies will be to the twenty-first,” wrote Google executives Eric Schmidt and Larry Cohen, suggesting that the Internet is the new battlefield and offering their company’s services to the White House.

Although giant new social media companies are thought of as transnational entities, most are, in fact, very much American corporations. While billions of people around the world rely on them for their news and entertainment, they are subject to strict American laws. In January, for instance, Facebook and its subsidiary platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp banned all positive mentions of General Qassem Soleimani, an Iranian leader assassinated in a U.S. drone strike. This was because the Trump administration deemed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an official extension of Iran’s military, a terrorist organization. “We operate under U.S. sanctions laws, including those related to the U.S. government’s designation of the IRGC and its leadership,” Facebook explained. This is particularly problematic as Soleimani was Iran’s most popular living figure, with an over 80 percent approval rating, meaning that Iranians were banned from sharing a majority opinion online with other Iranians in Iran, speaking in Farsi, because what Trump had decided from the other side of the planet.

In its drive against fake news, Facebook also partnered with the Atlantic Council to decide what news to promote and what to censor and remove. The Atlantic Council was born out of NATO and has a board of directors including high government officials like Henry Kissinger, Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell, ex-Generals like Wesley Clark and David Petraeus, and CIA chiefs like Leon Panetta, Michael Hayden, and Robert Gates. Similarly, Reddit’s Director of Policy is a former Atlantic Council deputy director, ensuring the popular website aligns with Western foreign policy goals. Meanwhile, a senior Twitter executive is an officer in the British Army’s 77th Brigade, a unit dedicated to information warfare and online psychological operations. U.S. government-funded think tanks also advise Twitter and other platforms on which websites to blacklist and which accounts to delete, leading to a huge reduction in traffic for alternative media and hundreds of thousands of critical voices silenced. Effectively then, the U.S. government is in control over much of what America — and the rest of the world — see online, creating something coming to resemble a global state-controlled media apparatus.

Even as the government attempts to frame the debate over the banning of Chinese companies like TikTok and Huawei over privacy concerns, it continues to try to ban the encryption of data and communications at home. This would essentially end even the pretense of online privacy, giving state agencies virtually unfettered access to any data it wished to see. Thus, it is possible that the forced transfer of TikTok to Microsoft may have far more to do with control over the means of world communication than genuine worries about our own civil liberties.

Link:

With Microsoft Purchase of TikTok, US Tightens Grip Over Int'l Media

 

[loyola llothta]

 

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[loyola llothta]

US ignores ultimatum, China dispatches fighter jets over Taiwan (Full show)

Published on Sep 18, 2020

The US ban on TikTok and WeChat is set to take effect on Sunday, part of the increasing hostility between Washington and Beijing.

US and Chinese forces alike are increasing their presence in the Pacific, and Republicans in Congress have introduced legislation to formally abolish Washington’s long-standing “One China” policy and grant diplomatic recognition to Taiwan.

China does not recognize Taiwanese independence. Rick Sanchez examines the increasingly fraught relations between the US and China and the central role played by the question of Taiwan. Then Alex Mihailovich reports the details.

Later, former UK MP George Galloway shares his analysis of the situation. One of the largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeletons ever discovered is up for auction in New York City. RT America’s Trinity Chavez reports. A new genomic study reveals that the fierce, seafaring Vikings of the Iron Age looked considerably different from how the popular imagination envisions them. RT America’s John Huddy has the details. RT America’s Faran Fronczak gives us a crash course in the history of third parties in the US political system. Plus, RT America’s Steve Christakos joins for “Jock Talk.”