This week, the Indra Technology Observatory brings you the following stories:

●       Confirmed: HP announces split into two companies

●       Samsung plummets from record profits to less than half in only one year

●       Microsoft to announce cloud novelties at October 20 event

●       Google reported to be working on a multi-window system for Android tablets

●       Testing Google Play apps before you download them: a viable idea?

●       October 16 Apple event: Macs, iPads, and something else?

 

The rumors that appeared earlier in the week about the HP split have been confirmed. The company has announced that there will be an HP Inc. specializing in PCs and printers, and an HP Enterprise focusing on companies and services, something that senior management proposed three years ago when Meg Whitman took over from former CEO Leo Apotheker. At the time, Whitman didn't seem enthusiastic about the proposition, but she's clearly changed her mind since then as she will now head up the business and services part while Dion Weisler, a manager of HP's PC division, will take the helm at the new company dedicated exclusively to PCs and printers. In her statement, Whitman mentioned the reasons behind the decision that will turn the old HP as we know it into two separate companies. The process is expected to be complete by the end of fiscal year 2015, and according to the current CEO will offer patent advantages:

The decision to separate into two market-leading companies underscores our commitment to the turnaround plan. It will provide each new company with the independence, focus, financial resources and flexibility they need to adapt quickly to market and customer dynamics, while generating long-term value for shareholders.

In 2011 Whitman found a company that was "too complex and too slow", and that had underinvested in the PC market. She claimed at the time that the company might go back to the smartphone market, though this never materialized and the company passed up the opportunity offered by webOS when they bought it from Palm. It's not clear whether this division will channel HP's efforts toward the mobility segment again, where their gamble has been much more timid than one would expect from a giant like this, but there is no doubt that its new engagement with the business world will enable it compete more vigorously with other giants like IBM, which cast off its PC, laptop and server business some time ago to focus on companies. A move which, it has to be said, has certainly paid off. We'll have to wait and see whether HP decides to abandon that market after the split – which some see as a way of creating a more visible showcase in which to sell those businesses – and what it will bring out to address a market in which the slowdown has been relatively minor so far but inevitably seems set to continue.

Samsung has given us a peak at its Q3 financial results for this year, and it's not good news for the company that had hopes of doing better in the second half of this year with the arrival of the Galaxy S5 and the World Cup. After the record quarter that the South Koreans celebrated only a year ago, with profits of nearly 10 billion dollars, in this Q3 2014 they have plummeted to less than half that figure (approximately 3.8 billion dollars). Samsung has revealed total revenues of 40 billion dollars for this quarter, which is 20% less than the same period last year. Strangely enough, the part of the company that earns it the highest profits (60% of the total) – the mobile division – hasn't seen any decline in its revenues. Although Samsung hasn't been specific, analysts are suggesting that this quarter the revenues from its flagship model haven't been as abundant as they'd hoped. According to Bloomberg, Samsung puts the reduction in profits down to greater spending on marketing and selling devices more cheaply. But neither can you ignore the possible damage caused by the arrival of the new iPhones, which are likely to have impacted quite substantially on its high-end revenues, and by events in the Chinese market, where Samsung is experiencing a slowdown as a result of the growth of local brands. Part of the solution proposed by Samsung will apparently be focused on the Galaxy Alpha: having a premium- quality high end to raise the retail price and profits, and simultaneously gaining ground in the entry-level market where Samsung no longer has the presence it once enjoyed.

The Microsoft events for this quarter just keep on rolling. A few days ago there were rumors about an event for developers next November 12, and now we hear that Redmond is sending out invitations to another event for October 20 (barely two weeks away) in San Francisco, where the focus will be the cloud services currently offered by the company. Unlike the Windows 10 presentation, this one will be live streamed on the Internet. The event will start at 11 am Pacific Time, which is 4 pm in Chile and Argentina and 8 pm in Spain. A very interesting thing about this event is that will be hosted by the CEO himself, Satya Nadella, who accompanied by Scott Guthrie, (Executive Vice President of Cloud Computing) will give a type of public account about the state-of-the-art of Redmond's cloud services and will announce important new developments and details about the company's future strategy.

A number of manufacturers have already gone ahead and implemented multi-window systems for their Android devices, and tablets in particular, but applications have never really explored this characteristic for the simple fact that Android doesn't officially support it. Now, all of that looks set to change. It seems that over the last few months Google has been testing a multi-window system that will let you use two applications at once on tablets. Each application would occupy 50% of the display, or you could choose to show one application on 75% of the display and the other on 25%. The application interface would adapt to the size chosen.

From the open applications and recent applications view, you would be able to use gestures to activate the multi-window function, sliding the two apps you wanted to use at the same time to the side. But that's not all: you'll be able to drag elements like images, texts and files from one application to the other, as if performing a quick copy-and-paste function.

It's not clear when Google will implement the multi-window feature in Android, if it actually gets that far, but it could well coincide with the official launch of Android L and the Nexus 9, as the 4:3 display it's rumored to incorporate seems ideal for multi-window tasking.

October is shaping up to be a very interesting month indeed for the Android world. Although nothing has been confirmed as yet, in the coming weeks Google is expected to unveil a number of novelties, including (or so we hope) the new Nexus devices (the tablet in October and the mobile in November) and, at long last, the final version of Android L, now the official final name. Google presented quite a few Android L novelties at the I/O, but that doesn't mean we've seen everything, or that the final version will coincide with the previews. According to The Information, the big G is toying with the idea of facilitating the way in which we use Google Play, the Android content store. Specifically, they're reported to be working on a new feature that will allow users to test apps without downloading the complete version from Play. The idea behind this function is to save users time, battery and data, allowing them to use a limited version of the app to check whether it's what they want and, if so, to download the complete version. It wouldn't be the first time we've looked for an app, found several and then ended up testing and discarding quite a few before hitting on the one we really want. It's not clear how this would work, as you would probably need to download a type of demo version of the application, with limited functions but enough to give you a general idea. As indicated by the source, someone actively involved in the project, it would be particularly useful for developing areas where users don't have access to generous data plans, places which Google has recently been targeting, as evidenced by the birth of Android One. Apparently, Google has been experimenting with this feature for over a year, so it might well be ready for publication and may come with the new version of Android. 

 

Apple has officially announced that it will hold a new event on October 16 at the company's Cupertino headquarters. The invitation ends with the sentence "It's been way too long", accompanied by a brightly colored fragment of its famous apple logo. These invitations confirm the rumors that broke a few days ago, and Apple is expected to use the event to unveil the new iPads – the Air seems certain, we'll have to see what they do with the Mini following the arrival of the iPhone 6 Plus – but also a new range of desktop computers and laptops. The latter are the ones that have aroused the greatest speculation. In fact, the possibilities are endless. The imminent arrival of Broadwell processors is joined by the fact that the first protagonists might be models more geared to laptops. Those Intel Core M processors that we've mentioned in the past seem ideal candidates for the new MacBook Air, but they might also come with the new iMac. In fact, there's been talk of an iMac with a Retina display as well as a MacBook Air with a Retina display. What does seem certain is that they'll be unveiling the final version of OS X 10.10 Yosemite and deeper integration with iOS 8.1 through Continuity and Handoff. Listen up: at 7 pm on October 16 (Central European Time) we have a date in Cupertino, and who knows – Apple just might have "one more thing" up its sleeve.