Could YotaPhone, Russia’s First Smartphone, Become a Major Player?

The YotaPhone, developed by privately-owned Russian tech startup Yota Devices, is quite unique – it is a dual-screen device using an Android operating system.

It features a traditional LCD-color display on one side and an electronic-paper display similar to the Amazon Kindle on the other. Its 4.3-inch 1280 HD display is slightly larger than the iPhone 5 and smaller than the 5-inch Galaxy S4.

It will be sold for $675 in Europe and $600 in Russia, which is slightly cheaper than the Apple iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S4.

According to Vladislav Martynov, CEO of Yota Devices, the introduction of dual screens was “a revolution in telephone architecture”. He points out that before the YotaPhone, the back of smartphones had never been used before. YotaPhone’s electronic-ink display on the back displays information, including feeds from Facebook and Twitter, even when the phone is not used.

The first mock-up of the dual-screen phone was demonstrated in 2010 by Sergei Chemezov, the head of Rostekhnologii (currently Rostec, a government company that produces and exports high-tech equipment), to President Dmitri A. Medvedev, who is known to be a fan of Apple products.

Yota Devices wants to join search engine Yandex and antivirus company Kaspersky Lab as a global player. The company made a good start - the YotapPhone won a CNET Best of CES Award for “Hottest Mobile Device” at the CES in Las Vegas.

The latest version of the YotaPhone (the YotaPhone 2?) will be introduced on February 24, 2014 at the Mobile World Conference.

YotaPhone is currently being launched in Russia, Austria, France, Spain and Germany. More countries are expected to follow in 2014.

Google’s French Faux Pas

Google got on the wrong side of the French authorities. The Commissions Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) investigated Google’s privacy policy change from 2012. About two years ago, Google bundled all its services (Google+, Gmail, Blogger, YouTube etc.) into one. This also changed the privacy policies of the separate accounts that users managed separately.

The CNIL came to the conclusion that Google’s new privacy policy didn't give users enough control over their private information. Furthermore, the agency also found that Google did not explain properly what it would do with the user data.

The ruling of the CNIL is quite interesting. Google was forced to pay a fine of €150,000 which is peanuts for the multinational. That’s why the CNIL added some interesting conditions to its ruling.

Google was forced to post a notice about its misconduct on its homepage. Once accessing google.fr, the following message (translated into English, for the original text go to google.fr) features under the search field:

“Statement: The sanctions committee of the Commision Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés has ordered Google to pay a €150,000 fine for violations of the ‘Data-Processing and Freedoms’ law. Decision available at the following address: http:www.cnil.fr/linstitution/missions/sanctionner/Google/”.

Not underestimating the cleverness of Google, the CNIL also dictated the text of the notice. To avoid the age-old legal trick to use a small font and bury the text as much as possible in order to deter readers, the CNIL also dictated the size of the font and the colors to be used as well as the position of the notification on the Google.fr homepage.

Google was not happy to say the least. It promptly turned to a French court to petition suspension of the ruling. It argued that posting the CNIL’s notification would do "irreparable damage" to its reputation. The French court was not convinced and rejected the petition, ordering Google to comply with the order.

It’s not the first time Google ran into trouble in Europe; it recently came to an agreement with the European Commission to pay a $5 billion fine following a three-year-long antitrust investigation.

France is the first European country to order Google to post such a notice. It will be interesting to see if more European countries will follow suit.

Google Makes a Brave Statement with Its Olympic Doodle

As always, search engine Google commemorated the event with a doodle. It depicts the popular winter sports such as skiing, ice hockey, curling, bobsleigh, and ice skating and snowboarding.

Under the doodle, Google cited part of section 6 of the Olympic handbook:

"The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play."

However, this time the doodle also made a political statement. The doodle incorporates the rainbow colors to promote the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBT).

Google is making a brave statement – Russia is known for its anti-gay stance. In June 2013, Vladimir Putin passed a law stigmatizing gay people and banning "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations." It is part of Putin’s efforts to promote traditional Russian ideals and values. Russia believes that Western liberties will corrupt Russia’s youth.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned discrimination against homosexuals during a speech to the International Olympic Committee. He said that “many professional athletes, gay and straight, are speaking out against prejudice.”

Official sponsors such as Coca-Cola, Visa, Samsung, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, Omega, General Electric and Dow Chemical preferred to remain silent on the issue.