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  • China TV Market to Enjoy Solid Growth in 2014

    The China television market, already a dominant force on the world stage, is expected to perform strongly once again in 2010, led by an overall rise in the production of television sets as well as surging demand for LCD-TVs, according to iSuppli.

    As the world’s top TV manufacturer, China will produce an estimated 95.5 million TV sets in 2010, up 11.3 percent from 85.8 million in 2009 when the country accounted for 42 percent of total global TV shipments. This year’s anticipated rise is also a bigger increase than the 5.3 percent gain made during the 2008-2009 period, iSuppli figures show.

    LCD-TV shipments alone this year will increase 40 percent to 80 million—or nearly 84 percent of overall China TV shipments—far outpacing the 13.6 million CRT-TVs and 1.9 million plasma sets to be produced in 2010.

    By 2014, iSuppli forecasts that TV production in China will rise to 128.1 million units, translating into a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 7.6 percent for the forecast period.

    LCD-TVs Take Center Stage
    The strength in China’s TV manufacturing can be attributed to the brisk expansion of LCD-TV production capacity as well as to the growing demand from both the domestic and export markets. In particular, Chinese LCD firms are investing billions of dollars in set-production lines, panel fabs and component factories, becoming more competitive with the global brands in the overall LCD-TV arena.

    Of the total China LCD market in 2009, local Chinese OEMs accounted for three-quarters market share, beating out their foreign-based counterparts that had pulled back on marketing in the country because of the global economic crisis. Chinese OEMs were also helped by their deep penetration in the rural market, along with support from the government’s subsidy program offering rebates to consumers who buy TVs and other consumer goods.

    In addition to the encouraging factors above, China’s LCD-TV market will receive a boost from consumer interest in new flat-panel TV features, such as higher 120/240Hz refresh rates, LED backlighting and Internet-ready capabilities, further cementing the dominance of LCD technology in the world’s most populous country, iSuppli projections show.

  • IDC: Mobile Phone Recovery Continues with Nearly 22% Growth in Q1

    The worldwide mobile phone market grew 21.7% in the first quarter of 2010, a strong rebound from the market contraction in Q1 2009. Growth was fuelled by increased demand for smartphones, and the global economic recovery.

    According to the IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped 294.9 million units in the first quarter of 2010 compared to 242.4 million units in the first quarter of 2009.

    The report shows that growing demand for smartphones helped Research In Motion move into the top 5 vendor rankings for the first time. RIM, which replaced Motorola in the top 5, tied Sony Ericsson for the number 4 position in IDC’s 1Q10 vendor rankings.

    RIM shipped 10.6 million units in the first quarter while Motorola, which had been a top 5 vendor since the inception of IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker in 2004, shipped 8.5 million units.

    Motorola, the number 2 overall vendor in 2004, registered a fifth place finish last year by virtue of its overall strength in the lower-growth traditional mobile phone category. Motorola has steadily lost share since 2004 when the market started its shift toward higher-end feature phones and smartphones.

    "The entrance of RIM into the top 5 underscores the sustained smartphone growth trend that is driving the global mobile phone market recovery," noted Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker.

    "This is also the first time a vendor has dropped out of the top 5 since the second quarter of 2005, when Sony Ericsson grabbed the number 5 spot from BenQ Siemens," he said.

    IDC believes the worldwide mobile phone market rebound will continue in 2010, though not at the same growth rate as the first quarter.

    "It should be noted that the market’s first-quarter growth, while impressive, is relative to one of the worst quarters in mobile phone industry history (1Q09)," noted Restivo.

    He said that the market’s growth should not be taken as a proxy for future quarters nor annual growth. “In fact, the results essentially match our first quarter projections. We are still expecting growth of 11% for 2010," he added.

    Top five mobile phone vendors according to IDC:
    1. Nokia
    2. Samsung
    3. LG Electronics
    4. RIM
    5. Sony Ericsson

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  • Phone.com and Turbobridge Partner to Offer HD Conferencing to Businesses

    Phone.com and TurboBridge are partnering to make a HD telephone audio conferencing service available to Phone.com’s installed user base. This new HD phone service launch comes 3 months after Phone.com introduced its own HD Business Phone service.

    TurboBridge has also launched its own HD audio conferencing service, which is claimed to be “the world’s first High Definition audio conferencing service.” It is powered by the company’s patent-pending TurboSound technology and offers HD audio combined with standard business conferencing features such as call recording, support for up to 250 conference participants, and lecture and Q&A modes.

    The company claim that its service offers more access methods than any other conferencing service in the world, providing features such as direct connectivity for IP PBX’s and IP telephone handsets via a public SIP URI. The service can be accessed through any IP method (Skype, SIP or TurboPhone).

    Phone.com and TurboBridge say they are partnering to give Phone.com customers their own dedicated conference access number as well as speed dial access from their Phone.com Virtual Office telephone handsets to their own dedicated conference bridges.

    In addition, the companies assure that those Phone.com customers who have the new HD Voice Polycom HD phones will be able to enjoy their conference calls in “crystal clear HD quality audio.”

    Phone.com will initially offer the enhanced TurboBridge conferencing service to its customers free of charge, further reinforcing its “all included” philosophy when it comes to bundling and selling services.

  • VoIP Helps HBBs Survive

    In the current economic environment, home-based businesses (HBBs) in the U.S. are increasingly turning to the web to boost business. According to a report from AMI-Partners, VoIP is playing an increasingly prominent role in the survival of the HBB.

    The implementation of VoIP communication system is among the areas that improve efficiency and reduces cost of HBBs. The report finds that the number of U.S. HBBs using VoIP technology has increased by 48% in 2009. The need for HBBs to cut costs thereby maintaining an adequate cash flow has directly hit the areas of telecommunications and business travel.

    “VoIP providers such as Time Warner, Optimum Lightpath, Verizon, to name a few, are offering very attractive bundled VoIP and broadband internet access packages. Current penetration of VoIP technology is still incipient, but strong interests by U.S. HBBs suggests a vast opportunity for VoIP providers in 2010,” said Yuki Uehara, Research Analyst at AMI-Partners.

    “On the business travel front, video capability over instant messaging (Skype, AOL’s AIM, and Yahoo’s Messenger) and web conferencing (MS Live Meeting, WebEx, etc.) will continue to help defray the cost of staying in contact with clients and vendors in the HBB market in 2010,” he added.

    According to analysts, HBBs are realizing the advantages of investing in technology that improves their business and brings tangible results in the short run. For IT vendors and service providers, it is vital to pin-point the needs of U.S. HBBs and target the HBBs that are proactively investing in those technologies.

    “In the past HBBs had focused on more improving internal efficiency such as IT security, data backup & management (back-office functions). Presently we are seeing a shift to reaching out to clients and prospects and communication (front-office functions) to keep baseline revenue and/or catching every possible sales opportunity,” said Uehara.

  • Motorola: TD-LTE is Now a Commercial Reality

    Motorola has successfully deployed the world’s first indoor over-the-air (OTA) TD-LTE showcase network at the Expo Center at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Together with China Mobile, Motorola is demonstrating end-to-end TD-LTE solutions at the Information and Communication Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo.

    Delegates are able to experience the real-life performance of TD-LTE via USB dongles, including video streaming, remote monitoring, video stream session and high-speed internet browsing.

    According to Motorola, a single TD-LTE USB dongle can stream 24 simultaneous video streams while supporting very high-speed internet browsing applications, at a total data rate of 20Mbps.

    A TD-LTE carrier in 20MHz can support transmission of a few hundred video streams simultaneously. Motorola claims that in the near future, TD-LTE subscribers will then be able to access a collection of high-bandwidth and low-latency internet applications including mobile TV, on-demand videos and video blogging anywhere.

    At the show, a two-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicle carrying a camera and a laptop showcases real-time TD-LTE performance on the move. Live video captured by the moving camera can be viewed on other laptops and the main screen within the demonstration area via a TD-LTE USB dongle. Visitors are able to set up a video stream session between the laptop on the vehicle and the laptops within the demonstration area.

    The company informed that they will also integrate and launch the TD-LTE USB dongle that supports 2.3GHz at the event.

    According to Motorola, interest in TD-LTE continues to grow due to several key factors:

    • The tremendous growth of data use while mobile falling prices, more variety and improved ease of use in end user devices
    • Additional spectrum is necessary for serving more users
    • TDD spectrum traditionally auctioned for lower cost/radio frequency/population
    • Global and local roaming between FDD and TDD networks, allowing both networks to be used in the same geographic area.

    In effect, this ability to roam between FDD LTE and TD-LTE means operators can use TD-LTE networks to augment their FDD LTE network for more capacity or other applications such as video broadcasting, while operators choosing to use TD-LTE as their "main" network can still offer their subscribers the ability to roam to other operators’ FDD LTE networks in different countries.

    "We see the growing interest in TD-LTE as the technology delivers increased capacity and a lower cost per bit. Motorola is the leader in TD-LTE through trials and engagements with various operators around the world. The selection by China Mobile today once again demonstrates the reliability and maturity of our TD-LTE solution," said Dr. Mohammad Akhtar, corporate vice president and general manager, Motorola Networks business in Asia Pacific.

    “TD-LTE is now a commercial reality, making LTE a truly encompassing global technology standard,” he added.

  • No More Phone Numbers: Interview with Micha Benoliel, CEO of Digitrad

    “This is the future, this is the next big thing: save money on international calls and merging online social places with voice on your cell phone. You will never use your cell phone the same way!,” says Micha Benoliel, CEO of Digitrad, when asked by Smartphone.Biz-News.com about CallbyName, the company’s flagship product.

    Digitrad is the provider of consolidated communications platforms bringing together IM, voice, social networks and online directories. They started in 2000 as a web agency specialized in dynamic websites integrations.

    No More Phone Numbers
    “In 2003 we did our first voice app. After this successful first experience, we realized there was a wonderful opportunity by merging web interface with voice applications to create a real Swiss knife tool to help you build voice services in a record time.

    Micha Benoliel

    “CallbyName combines our unified communications features such as mobile voice to voice web, voice to email and voice to SMS with a social address book. Your real name becomes your single point of contact for all your communications.

    “Some people use multiple social networks with the same people and want to sync all their info under a single profile. Just one and same place to gather all your communications info. With all these contacts spread out across different places and applications, we need a service that helps us to reach someone fast, simply and in a way convenient for the caller and the receiver,” says Micha.

    “Almost free calling”
    The service also lets you call the world “almost for free” from the mobile phone. “Amost for free”? Micha explains how it works: “When you decide to call a friend in US from UK for example, instead of calling the US number CallbyName will assign you a temporary local English phone number. When you dial that number which is included within your plan or cost as a local call, you will hear an 8 second audio ad that sponsors the call and it will ring on the US number you wanted to dial originally.”

    CallByName mobile app, currently available on Android and iPhone, uses your local phonebook and offers to call up to 50 international destinations for the cost of a local call from your mobile. You can also leave voicemails directly delivered by email as an attachment. It’s available in the US, UK France and soon in 21 more countries

    “From the user feedback we have a good retention rate and they like the user experience very close from the one of any address book on any phone. But this is really a start as the version 2 is the one really getting the traction with the connectors to social networks and the presence feature that allows you to call your friends from the mobile to the Facebook page.”

    The version 2 will include the connectors with social networks and online addressbook like Facebook, Twitter, Google contacts, LinkedIn.

    Digital ID for all your communications
    Another product from Digitrad is yes.tel. In 2009, they became registrar for the .tel domain which is the first domain dedicated to communications. It is now between the top 25 registrars of .tel in the world. Instead of linking a name to a website, .tel links a name to contacts information.

    “For an individual, it could be called your home or your place on the web. For businesses it is a way to enter the first real-time global directory,” explains Micha.

    When asked what is next for mobile integrated communication systems, he says: “Our team of passionate and talented people works to integrate CallbyName within the everyday mobile and web user experience. It means that you will no longer have to search for the best way to communicate with someone. You will have a seamless call experience that will always reach and connect the other party even if you don’t know its phone number.”

    He believes the VoIP market has a great potential. According to him, the question is how are the telco infrastructures going to handle this technology very demanding in terms of bandwidth and quality of service.

    “We believe that for the time being a temporary local phone number to reach the cloud and connect anywhere for the cost of a local call is the right combination,” he says.

    Micha says the main goal for Digitrad in 2010 is “to show the world that using your real name as a single point of contact for all your communications is not a dream anymore.”

  • ERCOM Launches Secure SMS

    ERCOM, a secure communication solutions provider, announced that it has upgraded Cryptosmart Mobile Suite with secure SMS feature.

    Launched in 2008, Cryptosmart Mobile Suite is a patent based and certified solution for mobile communications that protects both voice and data transmission, encrypts data stored on the device, and blocks MMS, SMS and internet attacks.

    It is dedicated to governments and corporations to help them communicate in a confident manner.

    New Secure SMS brings three major security attributes:
    • Confidentiality : SMS are encrypted
    • Integrity : users are sure that the SMS has not been modified
    • Authenticity : the sender identification cannot be falsified

    “Secure SMS is complementary to secure data. Indeed, professional users continue to use SMS for some of their communications. There is no need to have any email address. Moreover, there are some cases where users do not have access to data networks (poor mobile coverage, lack of data roaming agreement, etc.),” according to the company.

    The Cryptosmart is compliant with all existing networks such as mobile networks (2G, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSUPA, LTE), satellite networks (Inmarsat, Thuraya, Eutelssat), and wireless IP networks (Wifi, Wimax). It is based on EAL2+ and common criteria technology.

  • Combined VoIP and CRM for Small Businesses

    Ringio, a new company founded by a group of long-time SaaS and Telephony Executives, has launched a new service for small and mid-sized businesses that brings them a combination of CRM and telephony functionality that until now has been available only through call centers and enterprise-level telephony systems.

    Ringio’s Rich Calling service presents calls together with their contextual details, either through the service’s desktop client or through its mobile version (available for Android phones).

    The Ringio team developed Rich Calling as a SaaS with an emphasis on affordability and ease of setup. The company assures that it can be set up in minutes and works with users’ current phones, including mobile devices, with no additional hardware or software required.

    According to Ringio Co-founder and Chairman Michael Zirngibl, Ringio defines ‘rich calling’ as ‘bringing a telephone call and relevant information about the caller together at the same time to enrich communication and information sharing, and – most important — to accelerate speed-to-satisfaction.’

    “By tapping into the cloud for customer data, we bring everything that’s important about the caller to the top of your mind – in real time,” he said.

    “As you take or make a call, you can draw upon the collective notes of everyone in your organization who has dealt with this person. This helps you to connect with customers much more efficiently, professionally and meaningfully than SMBs typically are able to do.”

    Ringio’s call-routing technology, also part of the service, helps direct the caller to the right employee in the organization at the start. If he or she needs to transfer the caller to a colleague, the person handling the call can tell whether that co-worker is available at that moment.

    “This kind of real-time visibility also known as ‘presence’ resolves issues quickly, avoids dumping customers into what they call ‘voice mail jail,’ and produces well-informed, coordinated responses that close the sale or solve the caller’s problem,” Zirngibl added.

    Ringio is launching the service’s own integrated call-control and screen-pop client for the PC, Mac desktop or Linux. Through the client, users view and add to a company store of customer information about contacts as they handle calls. Ringio also automatically retrieves and synchronizes records built using Google’s Contacts database. They also plan to integrate Ringio with Salesforce.com.

    ‘Rich Calling’ details
    Users can accept or redirect incoming calls as they appear on the screen; Ringio then completes the call to the user’s desired 10-digit phone number or sends it to voice mail. If users are not logged into the system, they can still receive calls on the Ringio number; in that case, an audio caller ID gives them the same screening options.

  • HP to Acquire Palm for $1.2 Billion

    Although a week ago Palm’s CEO Jon Rubinstein still believed that “Palm can survive as an independent company” (FT), Palm was already up for sale and it was pretty obvious they would quickly find a buyer.

    And they did. The company announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with HP, under which HP will purchase Palm at an enterprise value of approximately $1.2 billion.

    The transaction has been approved by the HP and Palm boards of directors.

    “The combination of HP’s global scale and financial strength with Palm’s unparalleled webOS platform will enhance HP’s ability to participate more aggressively in the fast-growing, highly profitable smartphone and connected mobile device markets,” according to the press release.

    The companies claim that Palm’s webOS will allow HP to take advantage of features such as “true multitasking” and “always up-to-date information sharing across applications.”

    Under the terms of the merger agreement, Palm stockholders will receive $5.70 in cash for each share of Palm common stock that they hold at the closing of the merger.

    The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of domestic and foreign regulatory approvals and the approval of Palm’s stockholders. The companies informed that the transaction is expected to close during HP’s third fiscal quarter ending July 31, 2010.

    Palm’s current chairman and CEO, Jon Rubinstein, is expected to remain with the company.

    According to HP’s executive vice president Todd Bradley, Palm’s OS provides an ideal platform to expand HP’s mobility strategy and create a “unique” HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices.”

    “And, Palm possesses significant IP assets and has a highly skilled team. The smartphone market is large, profitable and rapidly growing, and companies that can provide an integrated device and experience command a higher share. Advances in mobility are offering significant opportunities, and HP intends to be a leader in this market,” he said.

    Jon Rubinstein said: “We’re thrilled by HP’s vote of confidence in Palm’s technological leadership, which delivered Palm webOS and iconic products such as the Palm Pre. HP’s longstanding culture of innovation, scale and global operating resources make it the perfect partner to rapidly accelerate the growth of webOS.”