europe

iPhone loses market share in Europe as Android surges

Apple lost market share to Android in Western Europe, according to market researcher IDC.

Market trends in Western Europe are not looking good for Apple's iPhone. "Apple's iOS continues to lose ground as market share declined to 20% from 25% in 1Q12 [first quarter 2012]," IDC said Tuesday.

Android, meanwhile, is gaining operating system market share, up 14 percent year-to-year in the first quarter. "Android continues to dominate the smartphone landscape," according to IDC.

In the quarter, Google's OS shipped 21.9 million units and market share increased to 69 percent in the … Read more

Mobile carriers snap back at European roaming reform

A consortium representing mobile network operators didn't like what it heard last week when a top European Commission official called for an end to the roaming fees consumers must pay to use their mobile phones outside their home countries.

Neelie Kroes, the vice president of the EC leading the digital agenda, said she wanted an end to roaming fees by Easter 2014. "I want you to be able to go back to your constituents and say that you were able to end mobile roaming costs," Kroes told members of a European Parliament committee in a speech on … Read more

EC leader calls for unified European mobile networks

International barriers in the telecommunications industry such as roaming fees are hurting consumers and should be eliminated within a year, a top European Commission official said today.

"I want you to be able to go back to your constituents and say that you were able to end mobile roaming costs," said Neelie Kroes, the EC vice president in charge of its digital agenda, in a speech to members of a European Parliament committee on Thursday. "Whether they need it for travel, for trade, or for transactions -- our people need this reform."

With roaming fees, the … Read more

Google Maps rolls out bike routes in six European countries

Google announced Monday that it is rolling out extensive bike directions on Google Maps in several European countries, including Germany, France, Poland, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein.

If only this had existed six years ago, I could have avoided my best friend wanting to ring my neck.

When we decided to ride our bikes on a 500-mile tour around the south of France in 2007, my one job was to map our route. I got a paper map, highlighted a loop adjoining several country roads, and off we went. Easy.

Actually, not so much.

While our ride started out pleasant, we … Read more

More PC woes: AMD tanks, Windows 8 misfires in Europe

Maybe the PC isn't dead, but it's definitely showing signs of old age.

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices were off more than 12 percent Thursday on a downgrade from Goldman Sachs. And the PC market in Europe saw a sharp decline in the first quarter, according to Gartner.

Goldman downgraded AMD's stock from "neutral" to "sell," saying that AMD's upside in gaming devices, like Sony's upcoming PlaySation 4, "only partially offsets the continued...challenges in the company's core PC business." AMD is the second-largest maker of processors for … Read more

France Telecom CEO: iPhone too pricey for Europeans

There may be a reason why Android devices are more popular in Europe than Apple's iPhone: they're cheaper.

The CEO of one of Europe's largest wireless carriers said today that European customers are becoming increasingly more pennywise, which is putting a damper on sales of costlier mobile phones. Hence, this should sound as a warning call to Apple.

"Customers are more focused on price," France Telecom CEO Stephane Richard told Bloomberg. "Except for a few hundred thousand people who will buy the latest iPhone -- except for that category of people -- the majority … Read more

Tech firms may balk at California push for citizen data access

The European Union has long championed its citizens' right to submit requests for data that companies hold on them in order to ensure the information is up to date and correct. In recent years, an Austrian law student brought this "habeas data" right into the public spotlight by demanding his Facebook data from the social network.

Americans don't have this right -- and generally, relative to the EU, they have little legal protection from the state or federal government against data theft, unauthorized disclosures, and other privacy-related matters.

Though the EU and the U.S. have never … Read more

Portuguese media outlets demand Google pay for links, news leads

With Portugal's economy in an increasingly parlous state and Europe's banking system suffering through yet another crisis, this Reuters headline out of Lisbon ought not to shock anyone: "Portugal media demands Google pays for news.' Specifically, it wants Google to offer financial compensation for using article links and snippets of lead paragraphs in Google News.

By now, this is turning into the never-ending story. European media organizations have long argued that Google ought to share more of its wealth with them for the right to use their material. For instance, Belgian papers sued Google more than $6.… Read more

EU votes to reject 'porn ban' proposals

European citizens can breathe a sigh of relief after a vote in the European Parliament has rejected proposals to ban "all forms of pornography" -- including on the Web -- in the region.

Today, 625 members of the European Parliament voted 368-159 in favor of passing a report aimed at stamping out gender stereotypes in the region, with 98 abstaining. However, the controversial "porn ban" section of the proposal was rejected.

This vote forms a majority opinion based on Europe's voting politicians, from which the European Commission can form legislation. Such a law would again … Read more