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

●       Telefónica pulling out all the stops for 2015: symmetric connections at 1000 mbps

●       Apple sells 10 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus units in the first weekend

●       Uber puts pressure on Madrid with the arrival of its UberPOP service

●       Samsung abandons the laptop market in Europe

●       Google balloons almost ready for rollout next year

●       It's official: you're finally going to be able to use your cell on aircraft in non-airplane mode

●       The next version of Windows free for Windows 8 users?

Little by little fiber is gaining ground and the battle between the three big telecommunications operators in Spain is getting fiercer and fiercer. Following the acquisition of Ono by Vodafone and (save a few minor details) of Jazztel by Orange, Telefónica was left with no option but to put its own cards on the table and according to Expansión it could be gearing up to a big move next year. In the coming weeks the company led by César Alierta is likely to announce the deployment of the first symmetric connections at 1000 mega bits per second. That's ten times the speed they currently offer, although they're about to launch connections at 200 mbps. However, you'll still have to wait a while as the service won't be available until 2015. The technology behind these types of connections is being provided by Huawei in what they call NGPON 1, or next generation passive optical networks. This combination of new technologies will be integrated with existing technologies in operators' networks to offer speeds like those that Telefónica has just announced. The increased speed is clearly aimed at reinforcing streaming services and their quality. In fact, they're talking about using this new line and bandwidth to offer live broadcasts with greater resolution and multi-camera services for sports events. For the moment Telefónica is not giving anything else away, so it's not clear when the company will start marketing the service or whether the new connections will form part of a wider package. The price and geographic availability are another two aspects that are yet to be clarified.

Last year, during the first weekend that the iPhone 5s and 5c went on sale in the first batch of countries, Apple sold 9 million terminals all together, with a clear majority for the 5s. Now. As reported in The Verge, it's beaten its own record again by raising the bar to a total of 10 million units sold, between iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. During the first weekend the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus reached stores in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the United Kingdom. On Friday September 26 they will reach the second wave of countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and, last but not least, Spain.

It was a well-known secret and now it's been confirmed: in spite of the controversy of recent months, Uber has announced its arrival in Madrid. As in Barcelona, it comes armed with its uberPOP service, which lets individual drivers use their car to transport clients who request the service via an application. The company has also taken the opportunity to confirm a 25% reduction in prices in Barcelona. The news comes just when Uber's future in Spain is hanging in the balance. Over the last few months the taxi sector has  criticized the service bitterly on the grounds that a license is required to transport passengers in the way proposed by Uber. The Ministry of Development has even weighed in and threatened Uber with fines not only for the application but also for its drivers and the clients who use the service. Other countries in Europe have experienced similar controversies following Uber's arrival. In Germany a judge went as far as banning Uber, although the ban has since been lifted until the final ruling on the case. All of this controversy has meant that everyone's been talking about Uber, and in the case of Spain in particular the service has received a significant amount of free publicity. Despite the critics, Uber has made quite a few friends during its short presence in this country. For example, the national competitions and markets authority CNMC has spoken up on its behalf. At the European level, it has found one of its staunchest defenders in Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission.  Today she was joined by Eric Schmidt (Google) with an article on how Europe should welcome these innovations if it's serious about solving unemployment. However, the last word lies with the authorities and it's still uncertain what will happen with Uber in Spain. For now, the service is up and running but the threats from the Ministry of Development do not leave much room for speculation about the position likely to be adopted by the government.

South Korean giant Samsung is to withdraw from the laptop market in Europe as part of a strategic restructuring operation after analyzing the market and its demands. At least that's what they've told PC Advisor, so they will no doubt make it official and issue a press release very soon. For now the decision is limited to Europe, which means that they'll continue to sell laptops in America and Asia but will no longer be present in this market, not even with their Chromebooks, in Spain or any other country on the old continent. Could this be the latest victim to fall foul of the evil known as the "post-PC era"? After all, the interest in laptops is certainly waning in light of the rise of what (to a certain extent) might be described as their replacements: tablets and smartphones.  True, a tablet doesn't really lend itself to every task and profession, but there's no getting away from the fact that only a few years ago most people bought a laptop or notebook for the sole purpose of browsing the Internet and social media or watching videos and multimedia content. Today, all of this can be done perfectly on a tablet or smartphone. We saw it when Sony withdrew from the laptop market after selling its VAIO division. We also saw it a week ago when Toshiba withdrew from certain markets. And now it's Samsung that has halted its participation in the European laptop market following IFA 2014, where the fact that it didn't unveil any devices of this type gave us more than inkling about its new strategy. We don't know if the decision is final, but bearing in mind the success of its smartphones and tablets and the enormous decline in sales of its laptops, including Chromebooks, we think it will be some time before we see Samsung active again in this field in Europe.

After completing their first circumnavigation of the globe, the Google balloons that will be used to deliver Internet accessibility to the remotest and most mountainous parts of the planet are now ready to occupy the entire Southern Hemisphere. The head of the company's relevant department, Astro Teller, is confident that by next year there will be a stable fleet of balloons circling the Southern Hemisphere. If there are enough of them, the populations in the areas below the balloon route will have continuous Internet access. The balloons fly at an approximate altitude of 18,000 meters and can stay aloft for around 100 days, powered by the energy produced by their in-built solar panels. And keep watching the sky because solar drones are hot on the heels of the balloons.

Traveling by air can still be quite inconvenient, not to say off-putting when everything is so meticulous and rigid. With the advent and proliferation of cellphones, airlines and aviation authorities added yet another drawback by prohibiting the use of these devices on aircraft for any form of communication. It's not that users couldn't bear the thought of not being able to make a call (after all, there isn't usually any signal at such altitudes); it was just annoying having to switch off all electronic devices and refrain from using them during take-off. Which is how "Airplane Mode" came about, as a means of simply disabling all wireless connections on the devices. Now, according to a report by eldiario.es, the European Aviation Safety Agency is to allow the use of cellphones for in-flight communications. Although it will be necessary to adapt and fulfill certain conditions, the EASA authorization is a historic move for the sector and for users. Yes, recently we have seen considerable progress in this matter. EASA has allowed the use of cellphones on board aircraft since December 2013, as long as the aforementioned airplane mode was enabled. In Spain, the possibility of using your cellphone during take-off and landing came into force last January, a few months after the United States had done the same. In any case, the crew will have the last word as the priority is and always will be safety. As we've seen in the past, these types of restrictions always conceal some form of hypocrisy, because the fact is that cellphones have been using airline networks for quite some time. We'll have to wait and see how they take it now and what system of external networks is implemented (and how that will affect roaming and charges). For example, airlines like Iberia sell the use of their networks as a premium service, so these latest developments could mean that they lose potential clients.

It's an option that's been in the offing ever since the next version of Windows was first mentioned: that it would be free for users who had already installed Windows 8. Microsoft has never said anything, but several rumors have insisted on the possibility and they might well be on the right track. Redmond doesn't want anyone falling behind and the best way to prevent that is to facilitate upgrades to new versions. BGR is the latest to insist on the idea of a new free Windows for anyone upgrading from Windows 8. The blog reports a story published last Thursday in an Indonesian newspaper in which the CEO of Microsoft Indonesia is quoted as confirming that Windows 9 will have no additional cost for current users of Windows 8. In any case, let's not count our chickens before they're hatched. Better to take the news with a pinch of salt. Although some declarations coincide with earlier rumors, for now the only source is the Indonesian newspaper Detik, and it could well have been a slip of the tongue by the CEO. Windows 9 won't be officially released for several months yet (the event on Tuesday is about its preview) and Redmond still has to iron out a lot of details about the distribution of the next Windows. What does seem clear is that Microsoft is keen to make upgrades to new versions of Windows much easier. The Redmond guys don't want another case like Windows XP on their hands, which 13 years after it was launched still accounts for more than a third of the market share. And neither do they want Windows 8 users to feel abandoned at the first hurdle, which is precisely what happened with Windows Phone 7. Improving the distribution of Windows, with regular updates and easy-to-install new versions, seems to be one path that the next version of the Microsoft operating system might choose to take. And if there were a free option for those with Windows 8, that would be a way of compensating and rewarding the most loyal users.