Motorola pulls out of China, leaves locals behind till of Android shop

Google's hardware arm has shuttered its Chinese Android store, one of the few which lets punters pay for apps, saying its work is done and the competition is too fierce.
SHOP4APPS was set up by Motorola in 2010, providing an Android marketplace in a region where Google Play still fears to tread, but Google's absence combined with the success of Android has spawned a plethora of competing app stores in China - forcing Motorola to hand over SHOP4APPS to a local partner.

The handover means applications will still work, and developers can still submit their apps, but they'll be vetted and sold by Crossmo Technology without the backing of Google-owned Motorola.
"Our goal was to accelerate consumer demand for Android products," says the statement from Motorola China supplied to Tech in Asia. "Chinese consumers now have many mobile app store alternatives where they can access an extensive inventory of local and international Android apps. For these reasons, Motorola Mobility will be closing SHOP4APPS on December 26, 2012."
Tech In Asia also rates Motorola's pitch into the Chinese market, pointing out that the company has done well to modify designs to local tastes and tried hard to localise services, but that work has been undermined by cheaper alternatives - leaving Samsung as the only foreigner capable of competing.
It also leaves China as one of the few markets where Android's promise of competitive app stores has been realised. Elsewhere it's Google Play or Amazon, with GetJar hanging onto the sides, but China has a truly open Android ecosystem, allowing us to see just how much malware and piracy such an ecosystem permits.

Report: Apple, Intel Working on Smartwatch for 2013

The year 2012 was another one in which Apple defied market skeptics and delivered an unlikely hit, the iPad mini , in the face of stiff competition.
But it wouldn't be a normal Apple year without at least one last rumor to send us scratching our heads into the new year, anxiously wondering what the company has up its sleeve next. The latest rumor isn't necessarily earthshaking, but it is nevertheless surprising: Sources based in China claim that Apple is working on releasing a smartwatch.
According to a report on China's TGbus.com, the Bluetooth-enabled smartwatch will feature a 1.5-inch touchscreen display and work directly with the iPhone, allowing users to make phone calls and perform other operations from their wrists. First spotted by tech site TheNextWeb, the watch is supposedly a joint project between Apple and Intel.

This new talk of a smart watch might seem outlandish on its face, that is, until you begin to examine some of Apple's recent moves.
Earlier this year, Apple decided to update the iPod nano with a totally new design, one that instantly rendered obsolete iPod nano accessories that essentially turn the device into a kind of smartwatch. Kickstarter projects like the TikTok and LunaTik iPod nano watch straps had raised just shy of $1 million, proving that a healthy market exists for iPod nano owners who want to turn the music device into a kind of smartwatch.

So months later, when Apple inexplicably changed the design of the iPod nano to a form factor that many agree is something of a step backward, market speculation immediately focused on the notion that Apple might be attempting to displace would-be smartwatch competitors, and thus clear the table for its own, forthcoming smartwatch.
And then there's the much-anticipated Pebble smartwatch. The upstart smartwatch company is famously listed as the most successful Kickstarter project ever, raising over $10 million during its brief fund-raising period.
One other piece of related Apple news to consider is the company's recent deal with the Swiss Federal Railway. After the launch of iOS 6, the Swiss organization claimed that Apple had included its watch face design in the updated iPad operating system, thus violating the organization's trademark. The two parties soon came to an agreement that allowed Apple to license the iconic watch face design. Although terms of the agreement were not confirmed by either company, one Swiss news source claimed that Apple paid about $21 million for the license.
The notion that Apple would pay such a high price for the use of a simple watch face design inside iOS 6 that could have easily been changed raised quite a few eyebrows. But that move also serves as yet another hint that Apple may have bigger plans for that watch face design beyond using it as a mere component of iOS 6.
Apple itself has offered no direct indication that it's developing a smartwatch, but it would be a good idea to watch this space for more as it develops.

Continue to expect Internet restrictions in China

With the Chinese, Gregorian and Mayan calendars all ending in the span of three months, this is the time of year for new resolutions. If you're RIM, perhaps your resolution is to keep Blackberry 10 from failing? If you're the Chinese government, you probably want to reinforce your Internet restriction policy?
It seems that's just what the government aims to do. 2012 saw surprising acts of leniency by the government. Witness the number of affairs by Chinese government officials splashed across Weibo or how previously unsearchable controversial posts became accessible this month (though perhaps with some delays).
The Chinese government is now proposing a new bill requiring people to use their real names when online. Under the Chinese system, bills like the one proposed are almost always put into law.

Online enforcement wouldn't stop there. Foreign companies may soon be prevented from publishing on the Chinese Internet, which would suck for guys like me. Such rules are already in place, however regulators have been reluctant to enforce them until now. In all likelihood they may come down on serious offenders while leaving most publishers alone.
In the meantime Apple has provided a censorship loophole in the form of https--emphasis on the "s". Apple recently adopted the protocol, which creates a secure connection between its customers and its iTunes servers. China's Web regulators currently track information selectively using http format. Therefore you should move fast to download any iTunes apps you've been craving before regulators close this loophole for good.
It seems clear that the Chinese government is reexamining its policies on censorship. Signs of leniency should not be mistaken for weakness. Instead, the government is likely being more judicious in its efforts so that it can marshal resources on topics that are really important to national stability. A wise resolution to adopt for China's new leadership.