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  • T-Mobile to take G1 into continental Europe


    Various countries on the European continent are in line to get the HTC G1 following its October launch in the UK and US.

    T-Mobile is continuing the roll-out of the handset – the first to run Google’s Android operating system – with a launch in Germany on 2 February.

    That follows the arrival of the touchscreen device in the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Austria before the end of 30 January.

    It will also hit Poland sometime in February.

    T-Mobile chief executive Hamid Akhavan said the G1 had sold "several hundred thousand" units in the US, where it retails for USD $179 with a two-year contract.

    In Germany the phone will sell from USD €1 on a two-year contract.

    The Android operating system is expected to appear on a number of smartphones in the next 12 months, having won support from major manufacturers such as Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, Huawei and Motorola.

  • Skydeck Syncs Mobiles' Calls, Contacts, and Voicemails With Web Browers


    Skydeck has launched a feature-packed beta that syncs what takes place on cell phones to a web page.

    The mobile startup’s offering lists all contacts, received calls, missed calls, voicemails and text messages.

    So much so that the company is calling the new Skydeck "your cell phone, online".

    Previously, Skydeck’s beta used mobile phone bills to display real social network based on numbers called the most.

    Now users can listen to voicemails from their browsers or read a transcribed version of each voicemail (via SpinVox).

    The online service also allows users to search all voicemails and text messages.

    Replies to messages can be sent from a browser, with all the calls appearing to come from the user’s cell phone number.

    It functions best on Blackberry and Android phones with full support for Windows Mobile coming soon, but most of the features work on nearly any handset.

    Currently only available in the US, the service costs from USD $9.95 a month, with calls through a PC costing USD $0.03 a minute, plus USD $0.20 for each transcribed voicemail.

    For USD $29.95 a month users get unlimited PC phone calls and transcriptions.

  • Final Chance to Nominate Smartphone Person/Product Of The Year


    The new year may well be firmly underway but there’s still plenty of time to submit your nominations and votes for smartphone.biz-news’ 2008 Man and Product of the Year awards.

    We have already received numerous nominations from readers in both award categories.

    On the hardware side, the HTC Touch Pro is a leading contender for product of the year – praised for being "the most versatile device available today for anyone who uses their smartphone as a portable".

    On the application front, various front-runners are emerging, including fring, OnRelay, AmazeGPS and Nimbuzz.

    Fans of OnRelay describe it as "the coolest thing ever", a "new and exciting product" and the "best fixed mobile convergence product on the market by far".

    Comments for fring are equally enthusiastic, with readers labelling it the "most wonderful application" they’d come across and a "simple and easy way to keep in touch".

    AmazeGPS is variously described as the "best free navigation system" and is lauded for "kicking dust" at expensive competitors.

    Finally, Nimbuzz is singled out for its "stability, well thought-out interface and impressive network support".

    For Person of the Year, Ivor Plahte, CEO and co-founder of OnRelay, is the leading nominee.

    Ivor Plahte, CEO, OnRelay

    He is described as being the company’s "driving force" and at the "forefront of mobile telephony".

    Praise indeed but don’t let it stop you putting forward other contenders.

    Please send us your product or person nominations before the end of January.

  • NVIDIA's Ion For AppleTV?


    Reports are circulating about the likely inclusion of NVIDIA’s Ion platform in the next AppleTV.

    It appears that Apple was the first to receive samples of the platform – when other potential users were being supplied with blueprints.

    The Ion platform makes use of the 9600M GPU, which can easily decode full HD video.

    Along with the Ion’s inclusion in AppleTV there is the possibility that it could also be used in the next Mac Mini.

    Since it is also paired with an Intel Atom processor – not the ideal fit for the Mac Mini – the likelihood is that it’s more certain to appear in AppleTV.

    Extremely compact, the inclusion of the Ion in either Apple product is certain to reduce the case size.

  • RIM now taking BlackBerry Application Store submissions


    RIM’s rival to Apple’s App Store has moved a step closer to fruition.

    The Canadian company has sent a message to all registered BlackBerry developers calling for application submissions for its application storefront.

    RIM tells potential developers that a spring launch is on the cards – so there’s a good chance that come opening day, the "shelves" will be well stocked with software.

    Below is the full note to developers:

    BlackBerry Application Storefront



    Bring us your innovative genius:



    BlackBerry application storefront now accepting submissions



    Be first in line to submit applications you’ve designed for BlackBerry smartphones to the new BlackBerry application storefront. We’re counting down to a spring launch and we’re accepting submissions right now. Find out how to submit an application to the BlackBerry application storefront.



    The storefront will be an ideal spot for developers to bring their applications—whether they are consumer-focused or targeted to business users1.



    Why Submit an Application?



    The market for BlackBerry applications is growing at a phenomenal rate and the application storefront will offer you the exciting opportunity to showcase your applications to millions of BlackBerry smartphone users. It will provide consumers with greater choice, and enhanced application discovery.

    Who Can Submit?



    Developers across the globe are invited to submit their applications for consideration in the BlackBerry application storefront.



    Thank you for considering submitting your application and we look forward to working with you on the launch of the BlackBerry application storefront.



    Learn more about the BlackBerry storefront application submission process.

  • Skype and IBM collaborate on LotusLive


    Skype has announced that it is to integrate Skype functionality with IBM’s LotusLive.

    The new cloud services from IBM are designed to help individuals build communities to work more effectively and efficiently across and beyond their own companies.

    Effectively, Skype’s voice and video calling adds real-time communications capabilities to LotusLive.

    Employees of companies using LotusLive will be able to use Skype to initiate voice and video calls by clicking on their contacts’ Skype names or phone numbers within LotusLive.

    Future possibilities include the ability to import Skype contact information into IBM cloud services to enhance online collaboration.

    Scott Durchslag, Skype’s chief operating officer, said the collaboration showed how serious Skype is about bringing the benefits of ‘anytime, anywhere, any mode’ Internet communications to the enterprise environment.

  • ParaScale CEO Says 2009 To Be Year Cloud Storage Breaks Out


    Cloud computing – including cloud storage – will transform the industry and become the predominant way in which IT is consumed.

    That’s the prediction of Sajai Krishnan, CEO of Silicon Valley start-up ParaScale.

    He said there has been a rapid heightening of interest recently in all things cloud – applications, computing and storage.

    As a result enterprises are increasingly turning to cloud storage as a way to enable flexible computing power over the Internet, according to Krishnan.

    "We believe the impact of cloud technologies will be transformational and cloud will be a major way by which IT is consumed as we move forward," he said.

    Sajai Krishnan, CEO ParaScale

    Krishnan said a company could buy cloud storage – where the company builds a private or internal cloud – or rent it – where the company rents by the GB per month from a public cloud storage service provider.

    Regardless of whichever method was chosen, he said the advantages of cloud storage would soon be as mainstream as the architectures that came before it, including 3-tier web applications, client/server and mainframe.

    But like most emerging technology there had been some initial hesitancy towards adopting it.

    Krishnan said that in 2008, many companies were wary of the risks and vulnerabilities of participating in the cloud computing model.

    So despite the buzz around the technology being high, adoption was feathered.

    “This all changes in 2009 – the economic downturn and the addition of private cloud solutions to complement public offerings are creating an environment that enables incremental adoption of cloud storage on a very broad scale," he said.

    Krishnan said discussions with end users had shown that the overwhelming majority indicate they are considering both public and private cloud storage.

    He identifies several considerations driving the adoption of storage clouds. These include:

    • Building storage clouds is becoming as simple as installing a new application on your laptop. This is enabling service providers and the enterprise to embrace this technology with minimal effort.
    • Cloud storage can start small and scale-up as needed. Organizations are no longer over-building to address the potential for rapid growth. Instead the drive is to put in place an architecture that is extremely flexible and that can scale on demand using commodity hardware and standard client access.
    • Clouds are designed to be self-managing and don’t require heavy IT manpower. Storage tiering, provisioning, and data movement are
    • time consuming tasks that are automated in cloud storage.
    • Storage clouds can be tuned for specific uses or applications. For example, clouds can be tuned for archival very cost-effectively, or
    • for streaming media performance.

  • Campbell Joins Hitachi Global Storage Technologies


    Hitachi Global Storage Technologies has appointed Steven Campbell as Chief Technology Officer.

    Campbell will have global responsibility for all aspects of the company’s product development and technical vision.

    As the top technology executive for Hitachi GST, he will play a strategic role in the company’s future direction and business growth.

    With 30 years of experience in the electronics and data storage industry, he served in senior executive roles at Western Digital Corporation and technology management roles at Quantum and Hewlett-Packard.

    Most recently he was Chief Executive Officer of Singapore listed Innotek Limited and Innotek’s subsidiary Magnecomp Precision Technology, a strategic component supplier to major hard drive companies.

    His experience at Western Digital included serving as General Manager of the Desktop Solutions Line of Business, Senior Vice President of Engineering, Vice President of New Product Introduction and Chief Quality Officer.

    He will be based at Hitachi’s San Jose, California headquarters.

  • SanDisk and LG Offer Flash Storage Services for Mobile Networks


    SanDisk Corporation and LG Electronics have demonstrated a new technology for mobile phones that offers multimedia-rich services using removable flash memory cards.

    It enables mobile network operators (MNOs) to distribute preloaded and downloaded content on removable memory cards, while restricting the accessibility of such premium content to their network subscribers.

    The content protection service is made possible by enabling memory cards to authenticate user credentials via data on the SIM card.

    SanDisk and LG Electronics demonstrated the technology using the new LG KC910 Renoir.

    It ensures that content preloaded in the cards can only be used in approved handsets.

    The two companies have worked closely to implement this new technology.

    SanDisk’s technology brings flexible storage-based services to network operators by allowing IP connectivity to the memory card in the handset.

    The memory card serves as a network node that is remotely manageable by the operator using industry-standard TCP/IP and OMA Smart Card Web Server.

    Amir Lehr, senior director of business development at SanDisk, said the technology would allow handset manufacturers and MNOs to meet the increasingly sophisticated demands of consumers who want easy access to premium content on their mobile devices.

    He said it marks the beginning of a new era in mobile phone service and content distribution.

    LG Electronics’ adoption of new technologies like the OMA SmartCard Web Server (SCWS) standard, allows the subscriber’s SIM card to be used as an authorization server.

  • Troubled Seagate Offers Free Firmware Upgrade


    Seagate is to provide a free firmware upgrade for customers whose 1TB Barracuda drives have failed.

    The storage company said it has isolated a "potential firmware issue" that is believed to be responsible for a high rate of drive failure globally.

    A free data recover serviceis also to be offered to those affected.

    Seagate said in a statement that the firmware problem affects "some" Barracuda 7200.11 hard drives and "related drive families based on this product platform".

    It notes that "in some circumstances, the data on the hard drives may become inaccessible to the user when the host system is powered on".

    Consumers are being advised to contact Seagate’s support site, its call center or to send an email.

    While the company insists the firmware problem should not cause data loss it is offering to help in the event that it has been.

    "There is no data loss associated with this issue, and the data still resides on the drive," said the statement.

    "But if you are unable to access your data due to this issue, Seagate will provide free data recovery services."

    Last week Seagate announced that it was laying off 10 per cent of its worldwide staff and that long-serving chief executive, Bill Watkins, had resigned.

    Company chairman, Stephen Luczo, is to replace Watkins as CEO.

    Seagate is to report its results on 21 January.