Samsung: Jefferies Cuts Profit View; Patience Required

Jefferies & Co.’s Hyunwoo Doh today reiterates a Buy rating on shares of Samsung Electronics (005930KS), and a target of  ₩1,800,000, while cutting his operating profit estimate for Q4 ended last month to reflect higher bonus payouts, adjustments to the company’s manufacturing of display panels, and the decline of the U.S. dollar against the Korean Won.

Samsung is likely to miss consensus expectations, he writes, as his own estimate for operating profit, cut from ₩9.9 trillion to ₩9.3 trillion, which is below consensus for ₩10.4 trillion.

He models more than ₩400 billion in “special bonuses” for the 20th anniversary of Samsung’s “new management initiative,” plus ”

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Samsung’s Lee Urges Shift Beyond Hardware in Apple Battle

Samsung Electronics Co. (005930)Chairman Lee Kun Hee urged workers to adopt new ways of thinking and move beyond their focus on hardware as the world’s biggest maker of smartphones and televisions seeks to maintain growth.

“We have to change once again,” Lee said today, according to e-mailed notes from the company. “We must give a bigger push for innovations, including in business structure, so that we can lead industry trends.”

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Nokia Normandy’s Death Has Been “Greatly Exaggerated”

We have recently been seeing several leaks of the Nokia Normandy handset which is supposedly Nokia’s attempts at making an Android device. Back then it was rumored that the handset was merely an experiment by Nokia to see what they could build if they were attempting to make an Android device, and that it most likely will not be released anytime soon, especially in face of Microsoft’s acquisition of the company which is expected to close this year. After all with Microsoft promoting Windows Phone, the last thing they’ll want to do is promote a competitor’s product, right? Not to mention the various “Scroogled” campaigns Microsoft has been running as of late.: http://www.ubergizmo.com/2014/01/nokia-normandys-death-has-been-greatly-exaggerated/

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Nokia Normandy budget Android phone still in development: Report

Nokia's first Android phone, rumoured to be dubbed Normandy, might still be alive and could see light of the day soon, if @evleaks is to be believed.

The popular phone tipster in a bid to put an end to further speculation about Nokia's upcoming Android phone, said that reports saying the Nokia Normandy will not see the light of day are incorrrect. The tweet by @evleaks reads, "The reports of Normandy's death have been greatly exaggerated."

Unfortunately, the tweet by the tipster does not shed much light on the development of the Nokia Normandy phone. It is noteworthy that in the past, @evleaks has come out with fairly accurate information regarding yet-to-be-announced devices and we will not be surprised if he manages to hit the bull's eye even with this leak.

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Nokia bans HTC products in Germany over Bluetooth file sharing via NFC

Things are definitely not looking good for HTC. I know we say that a lot, but things are pretty bad right now. Due to a legal dispute with Nokia, all sales of Android-based HTC devices are banned in Germany. All this is over a patent that covers file sharing over Bluetooth via NFC, better known as Android Beam.

HTC is actually being sued in 7 countries over this patent because so far, it has not paid to license it. And since this is not a standard essential patent, it does not have to be licensed under FRAND terms. This means Nokia can basically do what it wants with the patent.

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HOW THE GOVERNMENT HACKS YOUR IPHONE

MEET “DROPOUT JEEP” — THE NSA’S APPLE INFILTRATION PROGRAM

It sounds like a defective sport utility vehicle, but “Dropout Jeep” is really the code name for a program used by the National Security Agency to access your iPhone.

And no … the new fingerprint security feature on your iPhone 5S won’t save you.

The program – revealed by presenter Jacob Applebaum (@ioerror) at the 30th Chaos Communication Congress – enables the spy agency to remotely monitor, manipulate and steal data from any Apple iPhone.

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NSA can gain complete access to iPhones, but Apple denies it helped install spyware

The National Security Agency can intercept the world’s Internet communications, tap Google’s and Yahoo’s corporate networks, collect revealing data on every phone call in America, and covertly divert new PC shipments to install monitoring software. And now, as newly revealed NSA documents show, we know it can take complete control over virtually anyone’s AppleiPhone.

Apple, for its part, says it knew nothing about the iPhone exploit, and has vowed to protect customers from any “malicious hackers.”

First revealed by security researcher Jacob Appelbaum and Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine, the NSA installs a piece of spyware called DROPOUTJEEP, which enables the agency to intercept SMS text messages; snag voicemail, geolocation data, cell tower location, and contact lists; capture conversations over the iPhone’s microphone; and snap pictures via the camera.

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