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Friday, November 20, 2009
We got our first glimpse at a computing future filled with low-cost, ARM-based ASUS smartbooks running Android on a 1GHz Snapdragon processor all the way back on June 1st. Since then, however, the pencil-spinning boys in Taiwan have been poo-pooing plans to launch such a device due to what ASUS called an uncertain market opportunity -- or was it pressure from Wintel, we never can tell? Then yesterday, ASUS' Jerry Shen pulled an about-face at an investor meeting in Taipei with talk of launching a $180 smartbook in Q1 of 2010. Bristling with confidence, Shen goes so far as to call it a "secret weapon" in a category offering potential for huge, Eee PC-like growth. Well, with the first big-name smartbooks just starting to ship, even a dozen or so sales could be considered statistically significant.
Source: Engadget.com
Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and Samsung Electronics have successfully achieved interoperability between the world's first commercial LTE device from Samsung and the live network from Ericsson in Stockholm, Sweden - an important milestone in making 4G a reality.
LTE will transform the mobile-broadband user experience, providing the ultra-high data speeds anywhere, anytime. LTE will bring unparalleled services such as Internet TV, mobile video blogging, on-line video games and high speed mobile business environment.
Commercial LTE networks scheduled to offer services to consumers in 2010 will bring data rates far above what is possible in today's mobile broadband networks allowing users to stay connected and enjoy seamless, high-quality, online services even while on the move.
Samsung and Ericsson have together developed necessary procedures to accomplish this end-to-end integration program. Through extensive testing in Stockholm, Samsung LTE dongles (GT-B3710) and Ericsson’s infrastructure have complied with the industry standard for commercial deployment, 3GPP Release 8 March baseline on 2.6 Ghz.
Source: Newswire.co.kr
The entire wireless industry has been congealing around micro-USB as a universal charging standard for a while now, and we've taken yet another important step toward completely ridding the world of bizarre proprietary connectors (you know what we're talking about, Samsung) with ITU ratification this week.
The UN-backed International Telecommunication Union isn't just making the move to make our lives a little less hellish, though -- it's also a strategic environmental move on a couple fronts, since universal chargers mean consumers will be able to hold on to a single charger over the life of several phones and modern chargers are far more power efficient than models that are even just a couple years old.
The ITU move isn't binding or compulsory, but there's enough momentum behind micro-USB at this point that it's pretty much going to happen for any phone you'd ever consider buying going forward, and many of the big players have already hopped on the bandwagon.
It's been a long, long time since Emblaze Mobile and ACCESS engaged in holy cellphone matrimony, and the fruit of that relationship is finally coming to bear. It's called ELSE INTUTION, a Linux-based mobile platform that comes with such a hyperbolic press release that we can't help but think every other mobile manufacturer should just pack up and go home. It's said to match the functionality of "top ranked MP3 players, best-in-class GPS devices, and more, while maintaining an exceptional ease and simplicity of use." Golly. At this point we only have a few images to go by, and though they do look plenty nice, we wouldn't consider our minds blown just yet -- particularly those of us with a left-handed bias. Remember, ACCESS is the company that turned Palm OS into Garnet OS and then failed to win anyone over with its Access Linux Platform, so what could go wrong here? What's it going to be, readers: WebOS or ELSE?
Source: Engadget.com
One of the biggest problems that HTC Hero modders have been coming up against in their quest to create the perfect Hero ROM has been the lack of an available open-source kernel. Without access to the full kernel, there’s only so much that can be hacked/modded. Today, that all changes. HTC has themselves posted up the full HTC Hero kernel (the operating system that runs the Hero) for any developer looking to tweak their own ROM for the Hero.
The release of the Hero kernel should allow the code-monkeys at XDA forums to make more far-reaching modifications to the Hero’s ROM. That means we may soon see the Hero getting more features, more customization (streamlining the Hero’s Sense-based UI) and possibly even more speed through tweaked ROMs. Android devs can get their hands on the HTC Hero kernel – not to mention the HTC Magic, HTC ADP1 and HTC Dream – from HTC’s developer center.
It’s probably only a matter of time before we start seeing some hardcore modded Hero ROMs hitting XDA forums.
Source: HTC Hero kernel
Juniper Research’s latest report titled “Mobile Money Transfer & Remittances: Markets, Forecasts & Strategies 2009-2014? argues that the consumer demand for mobile money transfer services will see users exceed 500 million globally by 2014, most of which will come from the developing countries. The reason is simple – for many people living in such markets, a mobile phone will be their first touch with the banking system.
However, Juniper also points out that many of the mobile money services being announced will face political, regulatory or commercial challenges along the way.
Further findings from the report include:
- Sophisticated mobile financial services such as loans and savings accounts can add to the attractiveness of mobile money services, and help to reduce mobile operator churn;
- Africa & Middle East, Far East & China and the Indian Sub Continent will be the leading regions for national mobile money transfer services in 2014;
More information is available from Juniper Research’s website.
Looks like Obopay isn’t the only parter Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is going to be working with on providing mobile payments. Today Nokia signed a 5 year agreement with TANLA, an Indian company, to provide a “mobile payment service to enable on device transactions”. Tanla’s service works in 160 countries and can use both operator billing and credit card billing.
“This agreement further highlights our strong track record in processing secure transactions on the handset and our position as a trusted supplier of mobile payment services. Through a single integration with Tanla, application developers can monetize their services in 160 countries through operator and credit card billing.” — Uday Reddy, Chairman & Managing Director, Tanla Solutions
Source: Nokia Press Release
TIM Brazil announced a multi-platform app store, powered by Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM)’s Plaza Retail. Simply called TIM App Store, it supports a range of platforms including Java, Brew, Flash and Android; and it is also planed to add support for Windows Mobile , Palm (NSDQ: PALM), Symbian and LiMo.
The launch is planned for the first quarter of 2010, when interested users will be able to access it, no matter which TIM phone they happen to use. The store will be accessible either using a dedicated application or through mobile website.
Finally in an effort to spur the application development, the two companies will offer a series of workshops for developers in November throughout Brazil, at which they will present the new business model and the benefits offered by the TIM App Store.
Source: Intomobile.com
Acer, the personal computer firm who purchased E-Ten a little over a year ago, has set some ambitious targets for themselves according to an internal estimate that was leaked to Digitimes. By the end of this year Acer hopes to ship between 400,000 and 500,000 smartphones, while in 2010 they think they can do better with 1.5 to 2 million units. If they pump out attractive Android devices, like the A1, then there is nothing stopping them, but if they stick to Windows Mobile … the future really isn’t so certain. The source who leaked the internal estimate also says that Acer has some deals lined up with Taiwanese operator Far EasTone Telecommunications, CSL of Hong Kong, SFR and Bouygues of France, Wind of Italy, and a yet to be determined American operator in 2010.
Source: Intomobile.com
The metaphorical ink on the just-leaked Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Motus spy pic hasn’t yet dried and were already hearing rumors that the Android handset will sport some really unique features. If you thought the form factor was a bit odd, you’re going to want to sit down for this. Word has it that the Moto Motus will feature a “reverse flip keyboard,” and (as if that isn’t crazy enough) something called a “rear directional touchpad.” Of course, the Motus is also rumored to be packing the usual assortment of smartphone features.
All this is completely unconfirmed at the moment, but Android And Me are saying that the Motus will feature a 3.1-inch touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera (with LED flash), 3G data, WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth 2.0. Android 1.5 OS should be running the show with Motorola’s social network-savvy Motoblur UI skinned atop. As for the geeky specs, were expecting a 528 MHz Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) MSM7201A CPU, 512 MB ROM / 256 MB RAM, quad band (850/900/1800/1900Mhz) GSM radio, and a never-been-done-before quintuple (yes, thats five bands) WCDMA radio pulling down 3G service on the 850Mhz, 900Mhz, 1700Mhz, 1900Mhz, and 2100Mhz bands! For those of you keeping score, that would mean the Motus can hop on any 3G network in the world (even T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) USAs wonky 1700Mhz 3G network) and work as the mobile gods intended.
The “reverse flip keyboard” kinda, sorta, makes sense, given the quirky looking keyboard in the spy pic. That “rear directional touchpad,” however, is just plain confusing. A touchpad on the backside of the touchscreen? Your guess is as good as ours. Whatever it turns out to be, we’re hoping it changes the way we think about interacting with touchscreens.
Source: MobileCrunch
Rhomobile announced that its Rhodes smartphone app framework now supports Android 2.0, allowing interested companies to utilize their HTML and Ruby skills and create native applications for the Android platform. As a result, using the company’s RhoHub, development costs can be reduced by up to five times.
Among the RhoHub features we highlight:
- Support for multiple platforms — including iPhone, BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM), Windows Mobile, Symbian and Android
- Developers can write apps in HTML and simultaneously build for all smartphones
- Generate UIs and sync source adapters from a high level object description
- Collaborate with other users by sharing projects
- Hosting of synchronization server for backend app integration and availability of offline data
As for the availability information, RhoHub comes in three “flavors”: the Free tier is for public apps with 3-runtime users and 50MB disk space; the Basic service allows for 3 private apps, 3 private collaborators with 100-runtime users and 2GB disk space; and RhoHub’s Premium service which offers 100 private apps, 100 private collaborators with 1000-runtime users and 20GB disk space… Additional information is available from Rhomobile’s website.
Source: Intomobile.com
Bill Perry, Senior Services Marketing Manager for Forum Nokia (NYSE: NOK), posted some statistics from the Ovi Store which has now been open for 5 months. The Ovi Store is available on over 100 devices, with users from over 180 different countries, and developers from 65 countries. There are 8 countries that have an Ovi Store in their native language and support operator billing: UK, Spain, France, Germany, Singapore, Australia, Italy and Russia. By the end of Q1 2010, that number should rise to over 20 countries. The top 10 countries accessing the Ovi Store are Egypt, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Russia and the UK. In most of those countries the top 2 devices used to get to the Ovi Store are either the Nokia 5800 or N97. Each registered user downloads an average of 8 pieces of content, and the number of downloads in October compared to September is up by 70%.
Couple that data above with the information Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo gave during the Q3 2009 financial results conference call held on the 15th of October, where he said:
We grew our active users from 46 million to 61 million.
61 million users x average of 8 pieces of content per user = 488 million downloads?
Why isn’t Bill Perry providing any figures such as number of applications? The media would take that number and compare it to the massive 100,000+ applications in Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s App Store and claim Nokia is failing.
Why isn’t Bill Perry providing any figures for the number of downloads? Same reason as above.
[Via: All About Symbian]
Sunday, November 01, 2009
As digital TV replaces our old analogue TV, four-fifths of the airwaves that used to carry TV broadcasts to our homes will be freed up. This means that they can be used for new, innovative services that use radio spectrum, from wireless internet and more advanced mobile phones to new interactive and high-definition TV channels. Remote regions could be big winners from this as wireless broadband could use the new spectrum to deliver high-speed internet to areas not yet reached by landlines. The Commission today set out plans for a coordinated distribution of spectrum that encourages investment and competition in these potential new services. If the allocation of the newly freed airwaves – the "digital dividend" – to new services is coordinated across Europe it could give the economy a boost of €20 to €50 billion. The plan for the realisation of the digital dividend's full potential involves the European Parliament and EU countries, reflecting the major part they have to play.
"The digital dividend is a once in a lifetime opportunity to make 'broadband for all' a reality all over Europe and boost some of the most innovative sectors of our economy. Europe will only make the most of the digital dividend if we work together on a common plan. The Commission cooperated closely with EU countries, the European Parliament, industry and consumers' representatives to prepare such a plan," said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "I call on EU countries to speed up the move to digital TV and to make it happen by 1 January 2012. I also urge national authorities to use the digital dividend in a pro-competitive way to open up the market for new operators and new services, maximising the impact on the economy. Only this will ensure the digital dividend is used to bring wireless broadband to parts of the EU where high-speed internet cannot be provided efficiently by other technologies."
The digital dividend proposals adopted by the Commission today ask EU Member States to speed up the switch-off of analogue TV and to complete it by 1 January 2012. Five countries (Finland, Germany, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Sweden) and the US have already shown that analogue switch-off can be done quickly ( IP/09/266 ).
The proposals also seek to realise the potential €20 to 50 billion economic impact of effective European coordination of the digital dividend (over 15 years compared to EU countries acting alone). To do this, they set out how one part of the freed-up spectrum, namely the 790-862 MHz sub-band (the spectrum that travels far and through buildings), can be set aside to support the emergence of new wireless services (such as 3G and 4G mobile phone services ( IP/09/1238 ) that allow video streaming, full web browsing and fast downloads on a mobile handset. This will contribute to achieving the target of high-speed broadband coverage of 100% of the EU population by the end of 2013 ( IP/08/1771 , MEMO/08/735 ).
Source: Europa.eu | |
Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s announcement of turn-by-turn GPS navigation this morning was big. Verizon (NYSE: VZ)’s Motorola Droid announcement was bigger. Combine those two into an orgy of Android 2.0 and Droid goodness, and you’ve got the makings of a truly impressive smartphone. Just how good is Google Maps Navigation? Why don’t take a video tour of the new turn-by-turn GPS navigation feature from Google, by way of the first Android 2.0 phone to support Google Maps Navigation, and find out?
What you’ll see in the video below is Google’s solution to serve up turn-by-turn directions to your smartphone, even if it lacks a digital compass. As a bonus, Google Maps Navigation will show you your route in Google Maps’ satellite view or street view. Judging by our initial experience, Google Maps Navigation might be just the thing to finally unseat dedicated GPS navigation devices.
Source: Intomobile.com
Orange announced a deal with Google (NSDQ: GOOG) to bring the Goole Mobile App to its customers in Europe. The multi-year agreement is made to make mobile search and geo-location services easier to use by the carrier’s customers, while at the same time helping Google become ever more powerful player in the mobile industry. This, of course, is not to say Orange won’t benefit from the deal, as well.
Orange plans to bundle Google’s mobile app in its Signature phones, starting with those running Android. And in the UK and France, Google mobile search results will also include content from Orange’s own mobile portal.
In addition, Orange’s Android devices — including LG Eve, HTC Tatto and HTC Hero — will feature specially designed services like the Orange Email Wizard in one easy-to-manage place.
Once the “Android phase” is over, the two companies will bring Google Mobile App as well as other Google services to Symbian S60, BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) and Windows Mobile devices…
In a nutshell, Google is one step closer to ruling the world. Next in line are Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) and Telefonica (NYSE: TEF), after which we can say the search giant dominates the western hemisphere.