Mobile Minutes: Google?s modular phone; Rakuten?s smartphone service; Fitbit?s new trackers; WhatsApp?s loss
Seth Newburg has a phone. It?s a new phone, just a prototype.
Japanese ecommerce giant Rakuten Inc. said it will offer a cut-rate smartphone service for about a third of the monthly fees charged by the country's three dominant operators, adding to increasing price competition in the sector.
Fitbit Inc., a maker of fitness-tracking wristbands, unveiled three new wearable computing devices as it seeks to woo consumers in the smartwatch market beforeApple Inc. moves in. The Charge, Charge HR and Surge all measure steps, distance and calories burned, track sleep, and include caller ID, the San Francisco-based company said today in a statement.
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg hasn?t been shy about telling investors that, despite paying around $20 billion for WhatsApp, he has no plans to turn the messaging service into a moneymaker any time soon. Not making money is a diplomatic way of referring to WhatsApp.