This week's Technology Observatory brings you the following stories:

●       40% of cell phones come from China

●       Microsoft Store promises 12 days with huge Christmas discounts

●       Amazon launches bike messenger service for one-hour deliveries

●       Uber banned in Spain

●       Instagram now bigger than Twitter

●       Google News in Spain to close Tuesday December 16

●       Tuenti postpones its 4G service

●       Microsoft confirms its Windows 10 event for January 21

●       Arrival of WhatsApp web version closer than ever

 

The Chinese market has done it again: from second-tier player to world power in the Android ecosystem, thanks to the 38.6% market share they're boasting about along the Great Wall.

Once a third-rate player, in a record space of time China has become one of the most successful markets in the Android ecosystem, something which Chinese manufacturers have achieved with considerable effort. Low prices and excellent specifications might have done the trick, but only after the ghost that has traditionally hovered over Chinese manufacturers was finally laid to rest. Now, manufacturers like Lenovo, Huawei, ZTE, Oppo (+OnePlus), Xiaomi and others are reaping the fruits of those efforts, and they couldn't be more promising: China has become one of the largest markets in the world, boasting nearly 40% of the global device market. According to a report in CNET, based on TrendForce data, China currently has 38.6% of the global mobile device market. And they predict that by 2016 its share will have risen to 50%. An optimistic figure, but one that nevertheless largely reflects the present reality of the Android system. Within this market, the three leading brands are Huawei, Lenovo and Xiaomi, whose goal for 2015 is to sell 100 million devices each. What really clinches the matter is when you realize that all of these Chinese brands only export 30% of those earnings. The rest is generated on Chinese soil. With figures like these, it's clear that the Chinese companies have arrived in the West with the intention of staying, and this is only the beginning: unless we see a radical change by the principal market players, the Chinese will end up with a larger and larger share.

More competition is always a good thing, but what would not be so good is an exclusively Chinese market, divided between three giants with not an inch to spare for anyone else. This isn't the end of the story – there are still a few chapters to go – but we can't afford to take our eyes off the plot. Think about the market share if we add South Korea to China. Where would that leave the Western world? And if we exclude the USA?

Black Friday and Cyber Monday might have gone, but as we're still in the festive season it's only normal that Microsoft wants to prolong its sales and boost its revenues. The United States is particularly adventurous in this respect, and has launched "12 Days of Deals" consisting in offering one juicy discount a day until December 19. The first deal was announced yesterday and stocks have already run out: the Toshiba Encore Mini tablet for just $79. Today we have the second special offer: the BLU Win HD unlocked for just $129 ($50 off the usual price), available from 2 pm Spanish time and 10 am in Chile and Argentina. Like all the others, this deal is only offered by the Microsoft Store in the United States, but you can still take advantage of it from outside the USA by using services like Skybox. And stay tuned over the next few days because, like we said, there'll be a different deal every day. Unfortunately, the deals in Spain have been less aggressive, but there are still some very interesting offers out there. One is the Office 365 + Arc Touch Bluetooth Mouse pack for €99 if you order the Home version of Office for five devices, and just €69 if you order the personal version. Both prices represent a saving of €40 on the cost if you were to buy them separately. Also, the Lumia 930, 830, 735 and others will come with a €25 gift card to spend on apps, music, games or movies at the Microsoft Store. There are also discounts of €100 on selected configurations of the Surface Pro 3. The other deals are not quite as attractive, but check them out anyway by clicking here.

Amazon continues its war and expansion.  Needing or wanting something in the shortest possible time is one of the main impediments for purchasing something on Amazon, and indeed is still the refuge and advantage of physical stores in the face of the overwhelming growth of electronic outlets. Jeff Bezos and his team fight to change this every day and steal some of the ground from traditional establishments. The latest experiment is to try and remove that friction for people who want their order practically on the spot by using bike messengers. As reported by the WSJ, the new service, apparently dubbed Amazon Prime Now, is currently being tested in New York City and aims to replicate almost exactly the immediacy of purchasing products at a physical establishment. According to someone familiar with the service, customers anywhere in Manhattan would receive their order in one or two hours at the most. We can assume that the service will be considerably more expensive than the same-day deliveries that the company already offers for $5.99 for Prime members and $8.99 for everyone else. It seems Amazon is not only testing the service but also the bike messengers and delivery companies. According to the WSJ report, during the trials messengers are given an address and have to bike there within an allotted time, take a photo of the building on arrival and then return to "base" (the central building). An interesting method that is reminiscent of teenagers delivering newspapers, except that in the future they could be delivering orders from online stores. Amazon is king of the Internet. Its reputation and satisfaction rating among customers are very high, and it is undoubtedly the most popular online retailer. But they have not been able to satisfy the huge volume of customers who need something on the spot, like batteries, a light bulb or a new shirt. That enormous market which for the moment Amazon cannot satisfy will be the great issue to be resolved in the coming years, and we can already see the efforts being invested with the fast-food deliveries  in Seattle and this Amazon Prime Now service in New York. Every new story about Amazon is yet further evidence that all of its revenues are invested in expanding its empire.

After causing controversy in other countries and arriving in Spain under the same cloud of contention, Uber has been banned from operating in the country by a judge of Commercial Court No. 2 in Madrid for using unlicensed drivers and engaging in "unfair competition", as reported by Europa Press. However, as requested by the Madrid Taxi Association, the ban is temporary, and the company is expected to lodge an appeal within the next 14 days. The ban affects Uber and all of its associated services provided under another name but belonging to the company and using a similar system, such as UberPop. According to the judge, the situation is made even more serious by the fact that the company operates from Delaware (United States), a tax haven that stains its image and, again according to the judge, by a "deliberate lack of transparency in its media presentations". In other words, the judge believes that flouting Spanish and European laws is a premeditated decision, and the temporary ban was therefore issued without talking with Uber first.

The popular social media site for sharing photos, Instagram, has just announced in its blog that it now has more than 300 million registered users. And that means that Instagram is now bigger than Twitter, which has 284 million accounts compared with the website created Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. The application purchased by Facebook in 2012 has now passed its most direct rival, as according to its reports the number of active users has grown by one third in the last nine months. Seventy per cent of Instagram users are located outside the United States, proving the brand's exponential international growth since it was first launched. The upshot? More than 30 billion photos shared on the platform! According to Kevin Systrom, they are working to improve the user experience by optimizing aspects such as web searches and even adding verified badges for the various celebrity accounts found on the social networking site to validate users and discredit possible impostors. As Systrom says, "Instagram is home to creativity in all of its forms, a place where you can find everything from images of the Nile River to the newest look from Herschel Supply." What started out four years ago as a project by two buddies is now a platform with more than 70 million photo and video uploads every day. Furthermore, it has just started generating income, as more and more companies decide to advertise on the site, capitalizing on its potential to reach mass audiences. In fact, Instagram attracts some very exclusive advertisers, such as Levi, Michael Kors and General Electric, which you don't often find on other sites as they tend to favor fashion magazines. Instagram has been adept at harnessing the rise of smartphones and social media sites, adapting the Polaroid philosophy to the digital world. It's a snapshot concept which, as we can see, is still in its infancy and undoubtedly has much more to offer.

Google News in Spain will cease operations next Tuesday December 16 – apparently, it has already notified the principal traditional media – due to the new intellectual property law that will come into force on January 1, 2015. The official announcement was made by Head of Google News Richard Gingras in the blog the company uses for important communications in Europe:

Sadly, as a result of a new Spanish law, we'll shortly have to close Google News in Spain. Let me explain why. This new legislation requires every Spanish publication to charge services like Google News for showing even the smallest snippet from their publications, whether they want to or not. As Google News itself makes no money (we do not show any advertising on the site), this new approach is simply not sustainable. So it's with real sadness that on December 16 (before the new law comes into effect in January) we'll remove Spanish publishers from Google News, and close Google News in Spain.

The decision comes after Google and the Pro-Internet Coalition have spent months campaigning and negotiating with the group of traditional media belonging to the Spanish News Publishers Association (AEDE) to stop pressurizing the Spanish government to pass a law that will not only create an unsustainable fee for every link but will cause immense damage. The closure of Google News in Spain could have a profound impact on the traffic of the digital versions of the traditional media. For example, in Germany Google introduced a far-reaching measure and the media affected that initially wanted to charge an aggregation tax had to do an about-turn and ask for the service to be re-activated due to the loss in certain cases of up to 80% of visits.

More than 18 months after traditional operators started rolling out their 4G networks, last week saw various MVNOs announce its imminent availability in a race (which at this stage of the game has more or less lost its point) to become the first mobile virtual network operator to offer 4G, with  Tuenti seeming set to win the medal. Now that may no longer be the case. Or so it would seem from the change on the Tuenti website, where the initial announcement about the availability of 4G as from December 15 has been replaced by another message that leaves the date wide open, claiming that they are still running the necessary tests and will offer a quality service as soon as possible. In fact, Tuenti has changed its version at least three times, on the second occasion suggesting that the arrival of 4G could be accompanied by new rates, but that has changed as well because the latest announcement makes no reference to any such deals. Here are the three releases for you to see for yourselves how the story has evolved so far:

A few weeks ago there was talk about a Windows 10 event possibly taking place toward the end of January 2015. That event was confirmed today, when Microsoft started sending the press invitations to an event on Wednesday January 21. The title of the invitations is "Windows 10: The next chapter”, which leaves little doubt about the subject matter. Earlier rumors speculated about the event focusing on the novelties in the system for the consumer market, as opposed to the distinctly business-oriented focus of the one held last September to present the Windows 10 Technical Preview. It now seems certain that on January 21 Microsoft will unveil a new version of the system called January Technical Preview (JTP), which would represent the second key public milestone in the development of the system, and it could come with long-awaited functions like Continuum and Cortana. The lineup of executives for the event is another clue to the importance of the occasion, as Terry Myerson and Joe Belfiore will be accompanied by Phil Spencer and Satya Nadella himself.

In ZDNet, Mary Jo Foley also speculates on the possibility of Microsoft presenting a first version of Windows 10 for mobile devices and ARM processors. That version, which wouldn't include desktop and would only work for Modern UI applications, is being tested internally and is still on the agenda for the event, but it could end up being reserved for later on. Whatever happens, January 21 is sure to bring major novelties about Windows 10 and its future. The event will be held at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, and unlike the previous one will be broadcast live, so get the popcorn out!

In spite of everything, WhatsApp is currently the most widely used mobile messaging service in general, even though the device on which you use it needs a SIM card, which means that you're always tied to a specific device and can't use it on any alternative ones, and certainly not on a desktop computer, something which is possible with rival mobile messaging services like Telegram, Line and Viber. True, in recent months WhatsApp has taken a series of steps to try and match certain aspects of Telegram, although other aspects, such as access to the service from desktop computers, remain pending. Now, though, it seems there may be changes afoot, at least based on the discovery made by the publication AndroidWorld.nl in the WhatsApp APK code for Android, where various strings refer to WhatsApp Web. Removed in recent updates, these strings indicated session login and shutdown from PCs, status tracking and the last activity in the web session. The strings seem to point to user verification via QR codes rather than text messages, and it's thought that the web version would be under the URL web.whatsapp.com, which is currently a private subdomain with a Google account. At this point there are several things to take into account, not least the fact that for now there is no official information whatsoever, so the possible arrival of a web version of WhatsApp must be treated with caution. Another thing to bear in mind is that lately WhatsApp has been adding features already present in Telegram, coupled with the fact, as Telegram founder Pavel Durov recently noted in an interview, that WhatsApp tried to hire the developer of the Telegram web version. In any case, the arrival of a WhatsApp web version does seem likely, and it would certainly make the service more convenient for users and less dependent on mobile devices with a SIM card. All that remains now is for the possibility to become a reality, but for that we'll have to wait for official announcements and facts, and hope that they don't take too long to come.