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  • Mobile operators say regulatory burden is jeopardising European mobile broadband services





    The GSM Association is claiming that Europe’s mobile industry is cutting back spending on new networks and services as a growing regulatory burden from the European Union puts profitability under pressure.
    The European Commission, however, has asserted that mobile operators are making excessive profits and has imposed retail price caps on the industry.
    This is refuted by the GSMA – using data from management consultancy AT Kearney – which argues that the European mobile industry’s return on capital employed (ROCE) was just 9 per cent in 2006 compared with more than 20 per cent in software, pharmaceuticals and several other sectors.

    In its response to the European Commission’s public consultation on the voice roaming regulation, the GSMA is warning that European mobile operators, on average, are only just covering their weighted cost of capital and some of them are making an economic loss.
    AT Kearney figures estimate that ROCE for the mobile industry in 2007 was equal to or slightly lower than the 2006 figure.
    The GSMA is also saying that the European Commission’s belief that regulated price caps on voice roaming calls introduced last summer would lead to a major increase in usage – and so offset possible revenue losses of operators – has not materialised.
    AT Kearney calculates that voice roaming call volumes have increased by only 11 per cent year-on-year to July 2008 while operators’ voice roaming revenues have decreased by 26 per cent.
    According to the GSMA, heavy capital investment is needed to ensure the widespread availability of advanced 3G networks, which enable mobile users to access the Internet and other multimedia services at broadband speeds.
    The EU mobile industry’s capital spending has slipped from 13 per cent of revenue in 2005 to 12 per cent in 2006 to 11 per cent in 2007.
    The operator’s body says that while the mobile industry’s technology roadmap envisages further dramatic improvements in network performance and capacity, the speed of deployment of new networks may be constrained by the mobile industry’s relatively low level of profitability.
    Tom Phillips, chief government and regulatory affairs officer of the GSMA, said Europe’s mobile industry was in the midst of another major investment cycle to deploy new services, such as mobile broadband, video downloads, mobile television and mobile email.
    “However, it is clear that the high level of investment required to provide these services across Europe won’t happen if regulators continue to distort the market by setting prices,” he said.
    Following recent announcements by individual operators suggesting average prices will continue to fall, the GSMA says there is no need for the European Commission to also introduce price caps on these services.

  • Mobile phone memory card market set for significant growth as more music, images, video and data stored





    There were 592 million slotted phones shipped worldwide in 2007, representing 53 per cent of all mobile phone shipments, according to a survey by Strategy Analytics.
    It reports that, with nearly 57 per cent of slotted phone shipments in 2007, the microSD (including microSDHC) slot format is now more popular than the MMC format.
    The microSD format is expected to hit peak penetration of 86 per cent in 2011, after which it will face competition from other, new, high capacity systems, such as the Universal Flash Storage (UFS).
    Steve Entwistle, vice president of the Strategic Technologies within Strategy Analytics, said penetration of slotted phones was already over 85 per cent in many developed countries.
    He was speaking after the publication of the firm’s Removable Memory Card Forecast.
    “We are now seeing significant growth in emerging markets where demand for music and camera phones is taking off,” he said.
    Stuart Robinson, director of the firm’s Handset Component Technologies service, said demand for high capacity cards to store music, images, video and data will trigger significant growth in the high capacity microSDHC format during 2008 and 2009.
    He said strong growth was also expected in embedded memory over the next few years.
    “But the benefits of being able to upsize your capacity and transfer your data to a new phone make memory card slots an essential requirement for all mid-to-high end phones,” he said.
    An earlier Strategy Analytics report predicted that the average capacity of a removable memory card for the global mobile phone market will grow exponentially over the next five years, at an average 120 per cent per year.
    If correct, this would take memory card capacity from 517 megabytes in 2007 to 26 gigabytes in 2012.
    The report “Cellphone Memory Card”, also revealed that revenue from sales of removable memory cards for mobile phones will grow from US$4.8 billion in 2007 to almost US$11.3 billion in 2012.

  • Delta to begin volume shipments of HD projectors with positive outlook for remainder of 2008














    Delta Electronics will soon begin volume shipments of full HD projectors, according to company CEO Yancey Hai.
    He expects its business outlook for the second half of 2008 to remain “guided positive”.
    Hai said orders for Delta’s power supply products from segments such as desktops, notebooks and LCD TVs have remained strong, with order visibility extending at least three months.
    The CEO said Delta had recently begun production of full HD projectors and the company is now in talks with a number of brand vendors for ODM orders.
    Delta’s projector will deliver a full HP 1080P resolution and brightness of 6,000 lumens.





  • Gas released from HDTVs potentially far worse for climate change than CO2










    A gas used in the production of flat-panel displays for HDTVs is 17,200 times better at trapping heat in the atmosphere over a hundred-year period than carbon dioxide, the gas most associated with global warming.
    Michael Prather, of the University of California at Irvine, has completed a study into nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), which he describes as the “missing greenhouse gas”.
    Yet the synthetic chemical produced in industrial quantities is not included in the Kyoto Protocol’s basket of greenhouse gases or in national reporting under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
    Concerns have led Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology to avoid using the gas, although Air Products, which produces it for the electronics industry, said very little NF3 is released into the atmosphere.
    Prather argues that as the gas is not controlled in the same way as other greenhouse gases, companies may be careless with it.
    The scientist, whose findings are reported in the latest issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters, is calling for NF3 emissions to be monitored.
    It wasn’t included in the Kyoto agreement when it was signed by 181 countries in 1997 because the compound’s manufacture at the time was miniscule.
    But increased use of NF3 in flat-panel display production means that’s no longer the case.
    NF3’s global-warming potential is second only to sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), the worst-rated greenhouse gas on the Kyoto list.
    Prather notes that the increased production of NF3 means that emission levels of the gas could potentially increase.
    “With 2008 production equivalent to 67 million metric tons of CO2, NF3 has a potential greenhouse impact larger than that of the industrialised nations’ emissions of PFCs or SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride), or even that of the world’s largest coal-fired power plants,” writes Prather.
    “If released, annual production would increase the lower atmospheric abundance by 0.4 ppt, and it is urgent to document NF3 emissions through atmospheric observations.”



  • Samsung launches programme to ensure compatability of HDMI-enabled products






    The Korean electronics giant has begun a pilot programme of Simplay HD testing and verification at its facilities.
    The scheme aims to ensure customers can simply “plug-and-play” any new device without the frustration of getting home and finding it isn’t compatable with existing equipment.
    The testing ensures interoperability between electronic components such as set-top boxes (STBs), high def televisions (HDTVs), digital video disk (DVD) players, cables and audio/video (AV) receivers.
    By taking the guesswork out of shopping for HDMI-enabled components it’s hoped that consumer satisfaction will be boosted and return rates reduced.
    The pilot programme of Simplay HD testing and verification will be administered by both companies.
    In what is described as the first-of-its-kind self-testing initiative, the scheme will expand Samsung’s participation in the Simplay HD Testing Program by increasing product through-put, extending the range of products tested and accelerating time to market.
    Once assessed, components bear the Simplay HD logo, which signals that they have passed a rigorous HD interoperability and performance-testing regimen and will work together.
    ChanHo Youn, assistant manager of the Customer Satisfaction Management Centre at Samsung Electronics, said the company understood the importance of delivering fully interoperable products with optimised performance to retailers and customers.
    He said the best way to ensure this was by utilising the expertise of Simplay Labs and its HD testing programme.
    “Samsung has used Simplay Labs testing extensively on a variety of consumer electronics devices and, as we expand our Simplay HD participation, the self-testing programme will help streamline the process,” he said.
    The pilot program will include on-site Simplay testing equipment installation, technician training and certification, quality control, collaborative test specification reviews and integration with product development and supply chain processes.
    Joseph Lias, president of California-based Simplay Labs, said he was thrilled to expand a longstanding relationship with Samsung by rolling out the self-testing pilot program.
    “Working closely with Samsung in defining the parameters of the Simplay HD Testing Program continues to provide consumers with the peace of mind that their HD components will work together to deliver a great HD experience,” he said.

  • High definition broadcast of 4th of July fireworks from US capital promises to be a spectacular affair


    It’s billed as America’s biggest birthday party and one that even those not able to attend in person will be able to enjoy on HDTV.
    Demand from viewers has led to coverage of this year’s Capitol Fourth celebrations from Washington DC being given extended coverage on the US public broadcast network PBS.
    The Independence Day fireworks will be captured live by 18 cameras positioned around the capital as national landmarks such as the US Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials are silhouetted on the skyline.
    An estimated 100 million homes in the US own HDTVs – around 41 per cent of TV owners.
    Jerry Colbert, executive producer of Capital Concerts, said that if you couldn’t be in Washington, DC for the event, watching it on HDTV would be the next best thing.
    “We heard from our viewers that they’d like to see more of the most amazing fireworks display in the nation,” he said.
    “We are pleased to respond to our viewers’ requests, not only with extended coverage of this year’s fireworks, but we’ve also added more TV cameras that will capture these dazzling and colourful pyrotechnics in high definition from virtually every panorama.”
    The event will be broadcast on PBS Friday, July 4, 2008 from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m. ET.
    Capping off the show will be a rousing rendition of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” complete with live cannon fire provided by the United States Army Presidential Salute Battery.
    Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning film, theatre and television actor Jimmy Smits will host the 28th annual broadcast of the concert, featuring musical performances from some of the country’s best known and award-winning artists.
    Grammy winners Huey Lewis and the News, American Idol winner Taylor Hicks, rock ‘n’ roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis, Broadway star Brian Stokes Mitchell, classical superstar Hayley Westenra and soprano Harolyn Blackwell will perform a selection of music with the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of top pops conductor Erich Kunzel.
    Olympic Gold Medal winner Scott Hamilton will lead a tribute to Team USA members competing in Bejing.

     

  • Former backer of Toshiba's "defeated" HD DVD format to release first Blu-ray Disk player










    Onkyo, the A/V manufacturer that backed the high def DVD format and sold around 2,000 players, is to launch its first BD player later this year.
    The company had flagged up its intention to let bygones be bygones and join the other “side” shortly after Toshiba announced that it would concede the format war last February.
    It discontinued production of its HD DVD players, while assuring existing customers they would continue to receive full product support and service.
    A company statement also said it’s R&D team had “maintained a parallel development programme for the competing Blu-ray technology”.
    The results of that effort are an as-yet un-named Blu-ray player which has been designed to be partnered with the company’s high-definition A/V receivers that come equipped with 1080p HDMI processing and Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding.
    Product and pricing details will be announced in advance of the product’s official entrance into the market.



  • Payments made via mobile phone for goods and services will exceed US$300bn globally by 2013






    The value of payments made using mobile phones for everything from music, tickets and games to gifts will increase five-fold over the next five years.
    This is one of the forecasts made by Juniper Research in a region by region analysis which explores how the mobile phone is developing into a payment tool that will be used by more and more people, more and more often in future.
    Not surprisingly, the report concludes that there is a significant opportunity for mobile payment services, systems, software and supporting services to underpin the processing of the spiralling value of payment transactions by 2013.
    Howard Wilcox , the report’s author, noted that retailers need to move quickly to exploit the opportunity presented, and ensure that they maintain ease of use for their customers who are already familiar with web shopping from their PCs.
    “Merchants in North America and Western Europe are just starting to realise the potential of a mobile web presence as a fourth channel to market,” he added.
    “Retailers should be evaluating the benefits of the mobile web, and be mindful of the success of regular ecommerce sites in generating sales.”
    The findings come as the GSMA, the mobile industry’s global trade body, and the European Payments Council, which represents 8,000 banks, announce plans to work together to accelerate the deployment of services that enable consumers to pay for goods and services using their mobile phones.
    Other highlights from the Juniper Research report include:
    * The ticketing segment will be driven by consumer usage on rail, air and bus networks as well as sports and entertainment events. This will represent over 40 per cent of the global transaction value by 2013
    * The top 2 regions (Far East and W. Europe) will represent over 60 per cent of the US$300bn pa global mobile payment gross transaction value by 2013 for digital and physical goods

  • Brightpoint to implement cost-cutting in Europe after predicting slowdown in handset sales






    The mobile phone distributor, Brightpoint, is to take cost-cutting measures across its global operations over fears of a slowdown in handset sales.
    The company said it now expects the global handset market to reach 1.25-1.30 billion units this year, down from a previous estimate of 1.25-1.35 billion.
    Second-quarter sell-in units are expected to be “flat to slightly up” compared to the first three months of the year.
    This contrasts with a previous forecast for 3-5 per cent growth by the distributor.
    The cost-cutting will come mainly in Europe, at the former Dangaard operations.
    Brightpoint is cutting 50-75 jobs at its European head office in Denmark, and eliminating another 225-250 positions across its other European operations.
    This is expected to result in annual cost savings of US$25-30 million.
    Brightpoint is implementing other cost reduction initiatives in its Americas and Asia Pacific divisions as well as within its corporate and global information technology organisations.
    The company has simultaneously begun the evaluation and design phases of a European shared service facility and warehouse consolidation and automation projects.
    These measures are expected to contribute “significant additional cost synergies” as they are implemented over the next 6-24 months.
    Brightpoint also announced the resignation of Dangaard founder Steen Pedersen, currently president of Brightpoint Europe, from 19 November.
    Michael Koehn Milland, currently co-COO and president of international operations at Brightpoint, will take the new role of president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
    Milland will be responsible for global business development with the objective of increasing Brightpoint’s market share worldwide.
    Mark Howell, the other co-COO, will take up the position of president Americas and also oversee all global logistics operations.

  • Apple's earnings from iPhone could be higher than first estimated






    As pricing details continue to emerge about the new iPhone, one analyst estimates that Apple stands to make more from each device than previously thought.
    Gene Munster, of investment bank Piper Jaffray, said that AT&T’s complete official pricing for iPhone 3G units suggests Apple is making more from the reportedly abundant iPhone stock than estimated in the past.
    Although the US$199 starting price is much lower for the customers themselves, the US$599 pay-as-you-go price suggests that the carrier subsidy cuts much deeper.
    If so, then this hides potentially greater profits for Apple, which could be asking US$500 for each iPhone versus an earlier estimate of US$425.
    “This discrepancy leads us to believe our [average selling price] is conservative,” said Munster.
    The analyst said that a change of this level would boost Apple’s revenue for 2009 by eight per cent.
    Reitzes also points out that steep drops in the prices of NAND flash memory could further help Apple’s bottom line by reducing the manufacturing costs of each iPhone.
    However, such is the iPhone’s hunger for flash chips – Apple is understood to have ordered 50 million of Samsung’s eight gigabit (one gigabyte) – that Samsung’s supply is reportedly being put under pressure.
    Each iPhone typically uses multiple stacked chips.
    Some of Samsung’s smaller customers are apparently being told that their own orders are being reduced to keep Apple in healthy supply.
    The situation has been compounded by Samsung reducing production in April and May to prevent an oversupply later in the year, while Apple also reportedly ordered half as many NAND chips in June.
    Meanwhile, Toni Sacconaghi, research analyst with Bernstein Research, said he now expects Apple to sell 8.5 million iPhones for the rest of the calendar year, bringing his forecasted total for all of 2008 to 11 million units.
    The analyst expects 19.5 million units to be sold in 2009.
    Sacconaghi thinks the company can take 15 per cent of the post-paid US handset market in calendar 2009, and 6 per cent share of the post-paid market outside the US.
    “These are impressive numbers given the iPhone remains positioned at the very high end of the mobile handset market,” he said.
    Outside the US, Sacconaghi notes that the significant increase in the number of countries in which Apple will sell the phone should lead to much higher non-US sales than for the first generation phone – he expects the penetration rate will be 2.5 times higher.