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Category: smartphone

  • Acer and ASUS Planning Smartphones


    It’s done a good job in conquering the PC, laptop and netbook markets, now the Taiwanese electronics giant seems intent on entering the smartphone realm.

    Gianfranco Lanci, Acer’s CEO, said the company plans to launch a smartphone under its own brand at the beginning of 2009.

    Speaking in an interview with German financial magazine Capital Investor, Lanci said the Acer smartphone will be UMTS enabled, with a touch pad similar to the iPhone’s, and would cost around EUR 500.

    Lanci also said that with Acer’s netbook manufacturring capability approaching 6 million, he expects the company to leave all competitors in that market in its wake.

    For the German market, Acer will launch its netbooks bundled with mobile internet services from a German mobile operator, although Lanchi wouldn’t discuss details.

    Meanwhile, following on from its P552w touchscreen phone, another Taiwanese computer giant is said to be preparing to enter the smartphone market.

    Engadget says Asus is planning an Omnia-esque device that will feature a large touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera, a trackball for non-touch navigation, and the predictable 3G radios / WiFi.

    The smartphone from Asus, which is understood to produce smartphones for other well-known tech companies, is due to appear in November 2008.

  • Smartphones Confuse a Fifth of New Users


    The US telecoms giant Sprint is to offer free, in-store smartphone training in an effort to reduce the number of phones returned to it by confused customers.

    This could be a reflection on the technical competence of the average purchaser of today’s function-packed smartphones.

    Or it could be that retailers and manufacturers aren’t doing enough to explain how new handsets operate.

    Whichever it is, the fact that 21 per cent of Sprint’s smartphone buyers come back to the store to return the phone or to seek help in setting it up and learning to use it, is a mite worrying.

    In response, employees at the US’s number three mobile carrier will be able to provide training.

    Initially the program is only in Sprint-owned stores but it is to be rolled out to selected independent stores as well.

    Sprint has hired extra employees for every store to handle the workload.

  • iPhone challenge spurs on RIM

    Blackberry adds “lifestyle” apps as RIM looks to increase its appeal to consumer market

    For many, Research in Motion’s Blackberry has been seen simply as a corporate favorite with little appeal beyond email-hungry executives.

    Yet the Canadian handset-maker is showing there’s more to it than that – and seems to be succeeding in broadening its consumer appeal.

    Worldwide figures for the second quarter of 2008 have revealed that the BlackBerry OS has surpassed Windows Mobile market share for the first time.

    RIM captured a 17.4 per cent market share, almost double the 8.9 per cent it registered for the same period last year, while WM took 12 per cent.

    And with the 3G Blackberry Bold expected to be released in the US any day now, the prospects for further rises – at least in the near future – are excellent.

    RIM success in the ongoing mobile OS market share wars

    RIM has been making a great effort to expand the Blackberry’s appeal beyond its traditional corporate base .

    It has just announced a partnership with TiVo, initially giving subscribers to the digital video recorder (DVR) service access to program guides and scheduling functionality on their BlackBerry – but promising much more.

    If some swift work can be done with the technology then it can’t be long before they are offering TiVo streamed to a BlackBerry.

    The partnership announcement from the two companies mentions future collaboration that “will focus on software applications that further simplify mobile access to video content”.

    RIM has also announced new apps for the BlackBerry lineup, including Slacker Radio, MySpace and Microsoft Live Search.

    Ticketmaster has also partnered with RIM to bring mobile ticket purchasing to the BlackBerry, allowing the smartphone users to browse, search, and purchase tickets to live entertainment while on the go.

    The launch of the 3G iPhone and threat of Apple eying RIM’s corporate market may have played a part in this trend towards multimedia functions like audio and video content.

    But whatever the motivation, it appears to be paying off.

  • Nokia dominates global smartphone ad traffic

    Nokia may lead the world in smartphone mobile ad traffic rankings but iPhone fastest growing device

    Smartphones accounted for 25.8 per cent of worldwide mobile ad traffic in August, up 3.4 per cent since May 2008, according to AdMob’s August 2008 Mobile Metrics Report.

    Nokia dominates globally, with a 62.4 per cent slice of the traffic in August and more than 50 per cent in every region except North America. In the US, where Nokia does not have a top 20 ranked smartphone, RIM rules the roost.

    The Canadian company has 31.2 per cent of US smartphone traffic and manufactures three of the top 10 devices.

    According to the report, the Apple iPhone was the fastest growing device in the world last month and ended August with more than 2.9 million ad requests per day.

    AdMob stores and analyzes data from every ad request, impression and click and uses this information to optimize ad matching.
    In the latest report, AdMob has highlighted the rapid and global growth of smartphone usage.

    The anticipated launch of new smartphones in the coming months, including the first of Google’s Android phones, the RIM Bold, and the Nokia N96, is a strong indication that this growth is likely to continue throughout the year.

    According to the report, the iPhone ended August with more than 2.9 million requests per day.

    The top five smartphones in the US – the BlackBerry Pearl, Palm Centro, BlackBerry Curve, Apple iPhone, and Samsung Instinct – generated 12.9 per cent of all US traffic in August, a 2.4 per cent increase over July.

    Other highlights from the August 2008 report:

    * RIM is in second place worldwide with 10.8 per cent of smartphone traffic with the large majority of that coming from North America.

    * Motorola and SonyEriccson have a large share of overall mobile traffic, but neither has a smartphone ranked in the top 20 worldwide.

    * Smartphones continue to increase marketshare in the US, accounting for 23.7 per cent of traffic in August, up 3.5 percent since May 2008.

  • Symbian Foundation support continues to grow


    A further nine companies have thrown their weight behind the planned Symbian Foundation.

    Last week Nokia announced it had reached an agreement with Samsung to buy the remaining share in Symbian, clearing the way for the completion of the plans outlined in June.

    The new companies are Acrodea, Brycen, HI Corporation, Ixonos, KTF, Opera Software, Sharp, TapRoot Systems and UIQ.

    As well as comprising some well known Symbian names, the newcomers represent device manufacturers (in the form of Sharp and KTF) and a strong showing of software engineering and middleware companies.

    Since June, 40 companies have confirmed commitment to the initiative, including the ten initial board members: AT&T, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Samsung Electronics, Sony Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone.

    Mats Lindoff, Sony Ericsson’s chief technology officer, said: “We are happy to see that so many developers and partners in the industry have expressed their support for the plans for the Symbian Foundation, as this will help drive the next level of innovation needed to deliver new user experiences on mobile phones."

    Bob Bicksler, CEO of TapRoot Systems, said: “We’re excited about the plans for the Symbian Foundation and believe it will increase the proliferation of innovative products and services to mobile consumers.”

  • Market for mobile touch screen worth US$5bn in 2009


    Apple’s iPhone has done much to thrust touch screens firmly into the public’s consciousness – a place they seem certain to increasingly inhabit.

    A report from ABI Research forecasts that revenue from the global touch screen market for smartphones and other handheld devices such as MIDs, UMPCs, and PNDs will reach USD $5 billion in 2009.

    Shipments of touch screen-based mobile devices increased 91 per cent in 2007 compared to the previous year.

    Yet according to Kevin Burden, research director at ABI, said nearly all mobile handset manufacturers were getting into touch screens to a greater or lesser extent.

    But he added that there were strong regional differences in the uptake of touch screens.

    The Asia/Pacific market, where more than 80 per cent of the world’s touch screen-based mobile phone production was consumed over the past year, has been a major driver in the rising demand.

    “The acceptance of touch screens to date has varied by geographic region, which has been a significant factor in determining the success of individual handset vendors,” he said.

    Samsung and Motorola have been the most successful, commanding 33 per cent and 30 per cent shares of the touch screen mobile phone market respectively.

    “Samsung and Motorola lead the market for touch screen phones primarily because of their scale and significant presence in the Asian markets,” said Burden.

    “Because it’s difficult to represent even a fraction of the common Asian characters on a QWERTY-style keyboard, touch screen devices on which characters can be written with a stylus are immensely popular.”

    At 24 per cent, Sony Ericsson has the third-largest market share, while all the other handset vendors – including Apple – are essentially niche players.

    The ABI report said that a number of factors are driving further adoption of touch screen-based mobile devices.

    *Consumers are looking for more intuitive user interfaces and personalization options as device functionality increases.

    *Prices for touch components and panels continue to decrease and are falling on an average of nearly 10 per cent per annum.

  • AOL messaging comes to Blackberry

    RIM partners with AOL to bring AOL Mail, AIM and ICQ to the Blackberry

    AOL’s email and instant messaging applications, AIM and ICQ, are to be embedded in Blackberry smartphones.

    While all three of the AOL features will only be available in the US initially, they are to be expanded to other markets shortly.

    RIM and AOL have developed native BlackBerry applications for both of the IM clients to ensure they work effectively on the Canadian-made handsets.

    AOL Mail for BlackBerry is built on the “push e-mail” architecture that RIM’s smartphones are already equipped with.

    Once installed on a BlackBerry device, AOL Mail will offer the same features as the desktop version, synchronizing data and content with the users’ online account.

    For those with BlackBerry OS 4.5 or later, emails can be viewed in HTML format and Microsoft Office attachments downloaded.

    Kevin Conroy, executive vice president at AOL, said he was thrilled to be collaborating with RIM.

    “By integrating our AOL Mail, AIM and ICQ services with the BlackBerry platform, users will have an exceptional mobile communications experience anytime, anywhere,” he said.

    Mark Guibert, vice president, corporate marketing at Research In Motion, said the BlackBerry platform offered unparalleled email and messaging capabilities for mobile customers.

    “We are very pleased to be working with AOL to enable a rich mobile experience on BlackBerry smartphones for the tens of millions of people who use AOL Mail, AIM and ICQ.”

    BlackBerry users can download both AIM and ICQ from the BlackBerry official website.

    Meanwhile, Nokia is looking at RIM’s business appeal by expanding the number of devices automatically capable of accessing Microsoft corporate e-mail.

    The Finnish company has said it will embed Microsoft Exchange Activesync on all Nokia phones that use the S60 Symbian operating system.

    This will mean 43 different models of Nokia phones will have easy access to Microsoft corporate email.

    Nokia will also add the Microsoft Exchange support to all new N-Series and E-Series phones that hit the market in the future.
    Prior to this announcement Nokia offered Microsoft email support as a download for only a handful of devices.

    But the feature wasn’t well publicized, and it was somewhat difficult to download.

    The enhancement is significant, especially in the US, where Nokia has not made inroads in a smartphone market dominated by BlackBerry devices.

  • Date announced for Xperia X1 release

    Sony Ericsson announces firm date for first countries to receive the XPERIA X1

    The UK, Germany and Sweden will be the inaugural launch sites for Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X1 when it is released on 30 September.

    The Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone will then be rolled out around the world with 32 more countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America expected to get the handset by the fourth quarter of the year.

    North America, China, Australia, and Russia are also listed as committed launch regions, though dates for those are still to be announced.

    There is to be a “live global webcast” hosted by Sony Ericsson on 15 September to demonstrate the Xperia X1 “in-depth”.

    This will be followed by the first of the nine episodes from the Johnny X reality thriller. A Q&A session will also be held on Sony Ericsson’s Premiere website.

    Rikko Sakaguchi, senior VP and head of creation and development at Sony Ericsson, said the in-depth demonstration on the web cast would showcase how the handset was “truly unique”.

    He said the nine panel eco-system put the user in total control of the primary experiences available on the phone and allowed consumers to personalize the panel interface to suit their needs and lifestyle.

    “The Xperia X1 has the highest quality screen on the market, four-way navigation keys and optical joy stick to give a stress-less browsing experience and, with its super fast processor and network speed the Xperia X1 really bridges the gap between personal, entertainment and work mobile needs,” he said.

    The first device from Sony Ericsson’s Xperia sub-brand, the X1 has many high-end features, including: a 3 inch TFT touchscreen display with accelerometer and a wide 800 x 480 pixel resolution, a panel-based interface to work with Windows Mobile 6.1, global GSM and HSDPA connectivity, a full QWERTY keyboard, internal GPS and A-GPS, Wi-Fi and full HTML browser, a 3.2 MP auto focus camera with flash and video recording, lots of multimedia-oriented goodies and 400MB of expandable memory.

    Before the actual availability of the new handset, Sony Ericsson will showcase it at Tent London, between September 18 and September 21, during the London Design Week. No price has yet been released for the Xperia X1.

    A full list of the countries earmarked for Xperia X1 release in 2008:

    – Europe: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland

    – Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam

    – The Middle East: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE

    – Latin America: Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay

    – Africa: South Africa.

  • iPhone rivals beef up camera offerings


    The launch by Samsung in the UK this week of what it claims is Europe’s first 8 megapixel camera phone is being seen as an attempt to highlight shortcomings in the iPhone.

    A number of other handset vendors are preparing to launch similar high-end camera phones in time for the Christmas period.

    Sony Ericsson is expected to launch the 8.1 megapixel C905 in the fall, while Nokia and LG are reported to be planning similar moves.
    The fact Apple’s 3G iPhone only packs a 2 megapixel camera is regarded as one of its key weakness.

    Samsung’s i8510 will be available in the UK through Carphone Warehouse and free on a £35 a month contract with Orange UK.
    The smartphone is being positioned as a genuine alternative to digital cameras.

    Mark Mitchinson, vice president for Samsung, said the cell phone industry was playing catch-up, selling only 4 and 5 megapixel camera phones.

    “But the 8 megapixel is a new milestone, I think the vast majority of consumers will see it as a credible alternative,” he said.
    “For the first time ever you will not need to carry a camera as well as a phone on your holidays.”

    The i8510 is based on Symbian’s Series 60 platform and includes HSPA connectivity, Wi-Fi, GPS and FM radio functionality.

  • Mobile Operators Must Improve Pricing Transparency


    Europe’s telcoms commissioner, Viviane Reding, has told the European Parliament to back proposed changes to telecoms regulation across Europe.

    She called for quicker data portability, compulsory data breach laws if private information is lost, more transparent pricing structures to make life easier for consumers, and more wireless broadband services to improve net access for rural types.

    Reding said there was no reason for lengthy delays in moving your number from one mobile operator to another.
    "If it can happen in Australia in two hours, then one day should be entirely feasible in Europe," she said

    But Reding said she found it harder to understand why the Parliament had watered down proposals on data breach notification.

    “What I find more difficult therefore to understand in Parliament’s changes, is why subscribers are not similarly empowered and informed, when it comes to the privacy of their personal data?

    “I know that Parliament takes the protection of citizens’ fundamental rights very seriously, so I am surprised that the breach notification requirements in the Commission’s proposals are diluted by the changes now on the table.”

    Reding said the default position should be that subscribers know of a breach of security concerning their personal data, so that the appropriate precautions can be taken.

    “It cannot be left to the service provider to determine whether such a breach is likely to cause the subscriber harm,” she said.

    The Commission also wants a more effective common emergency number across Europe – including better caller location information from some VoIP providers and better access to mobile devices and phones for disabled people.

    The next stage is a vote in the European Parliament on 23 September. This could be followed by an agreement by Telecoms Ministers at a meeting on 27 November under the French presidency.