Business News Holding

Category: smartphone

  • IFA 2009: IDAPT Presents Universal Desktop Charger for All Devices

    VIDEO INTERVIEW. At IFA 2009 in Berlin, Biz-News.com reporters interviewed Jacques Giribet, CEO & Founder of IDAPT.

    He showed us the company’s star product – a universal desktop charger that allows to charge several portable devices (such as mobile phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, PDA notebooks, GPS, Bluetooth devices, game consoles, etc.) at the same time, through a system of interchangeable tips. According to the company, it’s compatible with over 3000 devices.

    The IDAPT has been nominated for Plus X Award as one of the most innovative products at IFA 2009.

    IDAPT is the concept of INOITULOS, the high tech start-up company located in Barcelona.

    Introduced to the market in 2006, the Universal Charger is now available in 25 countries on 6 continents in electronics and department stores such as MediaMarkt, Wal-Mart, Carrefour or Orange shops.

    In 2008 IDAPT won “HEC Start-up of the Year” award from HEC Paris. It was also designated an “Innovative Enterprise” by Barcelona Activa during the Mobile World Congress 2009.

  • T-Mobile and Orange Merge to Create the UK's Largest Mobile Carrier

    Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom are planning to merge T-Mobile UK and Orange UK. The companies have entered into exclusive negotiations to combine T-Mobile and Orange in a new 50:50 joint venture company.

    If the negotiations are successfully accomplished (the deal is expected to be completed by the end of October), the new joint venture will create the UK’s leading mobile operator. It will have a combined mobile customer base of around 28 million, representing approximately 37 percent of UK mobile subscribers.

    The companies assure that this combination will result in expanded network coverage and better customer proximity through a larger network of own shops.

    Obviously, the other aim of the new enlarged business is to compete more effectively with the other two large UK operators – O2 and Vodafone.

    “By combining our operations in the UK, we anticipate the long-awaited consolidation in one of Europe’s most competitive markets. This will reinforce fair competition and will provide strong benefits for our customers through improved coverage, quality of service and an enhanced capacity to develop new services and technologies,” said Gervais Pellissier, CFO of France Telecom.

    “Our shareholders will benefit from higher profitability and an immediate cash flow per share accretion without impacting the overall indebtedness of the parent companies.”

    The business will have pro forma 2008 revenues of approximately £7.7 billion. The merger and integration of the operators should generate estimated synergies with a net present value in excess of £3.5 billion, as the companies claim.

    Estimated opex-based synergies should reach an annual run rate of over £445 million from 2014 onwards.

    The operators predict that the key areas for the opex synergies of the joint venture will be network & IT – large-scale site rationalisation leading to savings notably in site rental expenses, network operations and maintenance expenses – and distribution and marketing – higher proportion of sales through own shops, resulting in lower distribution costs and savings in marketing costs primarily post roll-out of a new branding strategy.

    “We will become market leader,” stated Timotheus Höttges, CFO of Deutsche Telekom.

    “Our customers will benefit in many ways, for example from the best mobile broadband offer in Britain. In the second-biggest market in Europe, which is undoubtedly one of the toughest and most competitive, we are giving T-Mobile UK a clear and strong future.”

    The joint venture expects to invest £600 to £800 million in integration costs over the period from 2010 to 2014. Those costs would primarily relate to the decommissioning of mobile sites, the rationalisation of the network of retail stores and the streamlining of operations.

    The Board of the new joint venture company will have balanced representation from both firms. The management team would be led by Tom Alexander, currently CEO of Orange UK, as CEO and Richard Moat, currently CEO of TMobile UK, as COO.

    The T-Mobile UK and Orange UK brands will be maintained separately for 18 months after completion of the transaction.

  • Samsung Develops First Commercial LTE Modem for Mobile Phones


    Samsung announced that it has developed, as it claims, the first Long Term Evolution (LTE) modem that complies with the latest standards of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), which were released in March 2009.

    The modem, branded the Kalmia, supports download speed up to 100Mbps and upload speed of 50Mbps within the 20MHz frequency bandwidth.

    Samsung assures that the users of a mobile device equipped with the LTE chipset can download a high-definition movie file (800MB) in one minute at speeds of 100Mbps, while simultaneously streaming four high-definition movies with no buffering.

    Utilizing Release 8 of the 3GPP, this LTE modem is an upgrade from the previous standard that was released in December 2008.

    The company also announced it has successfully developed a 3G baseband modem based on the Release 7 standard with an HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) Evolution platform.

    This modem, branded the Broom, allows download speeds of up to 28Mbps and upload speeds of 11.5 Mbps. This makes the Release 7 more than twice as fast as the Release 6 HSPA Service, which had a maximum download speed of 14.4Mbps.

    Because the LTE and all other HSPA evolution models share the same platform, the new LTE modem is fully compatible with earlier standards.

    Through this technology, a mobile communications service provider can upgrade to HSPA service or evolve into a LTE network simultaneously in order to convert their existing networks to broadband.

    In the future, this flexibility will be crucial as wireless mobile service providers will require compatibility with pre-existing systems, in order to offer LTE in urban areas while still supporting 3G in suburban or rural areas, as Samsung claims.

    JongKyun Shin, Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics said that the company is partnering with LTE developers preparing for a LTE service launch in 2010 and will unveil a variety of LTE devices of different types and with diverse features and options, including memory cards, handheld devices and MID.

    Separately, Samsung has developed the mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e) modem chip, a product that is already resonating in the mobile market. The company has already adopted the modem into commercial WiBro handsets in Korea.

    They have also demonstrated a full lineup of modems from 2G/3G to modems for the next generation of mobile telecommunication systems with its HSDPA Evolution modems.

    Samsung is strengthening its position in mobile telecommunication system standards. The campany currently holds the most chairman seats within the IEEE 802.16 Working Group, a WiMAX standardization association, and also chairs the WiMAX Forum, an affiliate organization.

  • Nokia Launches X6 ‘Comes With Music’ Device

    NOKIA WORLD 09. Nokia announced the launch of the new Nokia X6, the latest edition to the company’s Xseries touch-screen device portfolio.

    Nokia calls X6 a ‘Comes With Music’ device, as it provides unlimited access to the Nokia Music Store, 35 hours of music playback, comes with built-in FM radio, 3D stereo ringing tones, a new Bluetooth headset, that looks like a cool, sporty headband and dedicated pocket-size battery-powered mini speaker.

    This very slim (14mm) handset features stroke-sensitive, 3.2 inch 16:9 widescreen nHD, that enables to fit 20 shortcuts onto a home screen, 32GB internal memory, 5 megapixels with Carl-Zeiss optics and dual LED flash, built-in features to edit videos, show them on TV or online, built-in GPS with Assisted GPS (A-GPS) support, compass and Nokia Ovi Maps.

    It packs high speed MicroUSB connector, WLAN (China WAPI), Bluetooth 2.0, WCDMA, GPRS/EDGE, HSDPA connectivity and full web browser (OSS) v7.0 with Macromedia Flash Lite 3.0

    The Nokia X6 is expected to ship in the fourth quarter of 2009 for an estimated retail price of EUR459.

  • Windows Mobile 6.5 Phones Coming October 6th

    The new phones will be the first to feature Windows Mobile 6.5, the latest version of Microsoft’s mobile phone software.

    The company didn’t unveil any new details, they just promised “easy-to-use user interface”, “better browsing capabilities” and “access to valuable services”, which will be Windows Marketplace for Mobile (the company’s app store) and Microsoft My Phone (backup cloud service), that are also set to launch on October 6.

    “Windows phones bring together the best of the Web, the PC and the phone so you can connect instantly to the experiences you care about, no matter where you are,” said Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO at Mobile World Congress 2009 in February this year, when the company revealed the new series of smartphones.

    In North America mobile operators like AT&T, Bell Mobility, Sprint, TELUS and Verizon Wireless, and phone manufacturers like HP, HTC, LG, Samsung and Toshiba are committed to updating or expanding their portfolios to include phones with Windows Mobile 6.5

    Also AT&T has informed that starting on September 14th, customers with Wi-Fi-enabled Windows Mobile smartphones and unlimited/other qualifying data plans will receive unlimited access to AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots nationwide.

  • Harris Stratex Networks Introduces New Backhaul Timing Solution

    Harris Stratex Networks introduces a synchronization feature for its Eclipse Packet Node high-speed IP wireless backhaul platform.

    This new feature enables mobile operators to cross the ‘sync divide’ by providing a key component for the efficient migration of existing TDM infrastructure to an all-IP transport network.

    The patent-pending Distributed Sync will be supported by a new plug-in network sync module for the Eclipse Packet Node intelligent nodal indoor unit.

    It offers a smooth synchronization migration path for operators planning to evolve their transport network to all-IP, enabling them to introduce all-packet transport, while at the same time maintaining the reliability and security of their proven TDM-based synchronization.

    Distributed Sync complements standards-based solutions such as Synchronous Ethernet or IEEE 1588v2, and enables operators to delay moving to these IP-based schemes until after their network migration to IP transport is well progressed or complete.

    It offers a standard, primary reference clock traceable for 2.048/1.544 MHz clock output at the base station over a multi-hop, nodal backhaul network without having to use valuable payload capacity, even in an all-IP environment where no TDM transport capability is available.

    According to Paul Kennard, Harris Stratex chief technology officer, this new distributed timing capability will be of significant interest to operators who are looking for a solution to their network synchronization challenges as they start to introduce Ethernet transport in the backhaul.

    “Unlike other solutions currently being considered, Distributed Sync will enable operators to take a low-risk evolutionary approach to network timing,” he said.

    The company’s Eclipse Packet Node solution, featuring the new Distributed Sync feature, will be part of the multi-vendor Carrier Ethernet Interoperability test being conducted by the European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC) in Berlin from Aug. 24 – Sept. 4, 2009.

    It also will be part of the Multi-Vendor Interoperability showcase at the IIR Carrier Ethernet World Congress in Berlin, Sept. 22–24, 2009.

    Harris Stratex introduced the Eclipse Packet Node product earlier this year Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The solution provides an evolutionary path for operators to introduce packet-based Ethernet/IP transport into their network, with a smooth and low-risk migration to all-IP.

    The platform supports a compelling set of features, including comprehensive nodal networking, ultra-high link speeds up to 2 Gbit/s, advanced adaptive coding and modulation with XPIC, and full native multi-service support for TDM and Ethernet/IP traffic.

  • Q2: Nokia Retains Lead but Apple and RIM Are Rising Fast

    “Smart phones continue to shine as one of the brightest spots of the technology industry, with shipments growing despite the global recession,” says the recent Canalys’ report on the Q2 key smartphone market trends.

    “Innovation in interfaces, design, applications and promotion continue to excite consumers, which, in contrast to the PC industry, is helping to keep average selling prices stable. The rise in data traffic seen by mobile network operators is finally generating a return on their investment in broadband capacity and will drive further infrastructure expenditure,” the autors predict.

    According to the report, Apple has established industry leadership in terms of industrial design, ease of use and application availability, offering one of the most desirable devices on the market and setting a standard that rivals are striving to emulate. It reinforced its position during the quarter by launching the iPhone 3GS.

    Pete Cunningham, Canalys senior analyst, said, “Apple has revolutionised the smart phone sector, leapfrogging more experienced rivals. The competition must move much faster to close the gap in terms of functionality and design and at the same time try to target Apple’s weak spots. These are primarily related to its business model, which requires premium upfront pricing, high cost of ownership and, in many countries, a restricted operator line-up.”

    The research shows that the competition is building in a number of different forms. RIM has successfully expanded its product portfolio to include a wide selection of devices and interfaces that appeal to a range of customers at different price points. This includes 2.5G models that are smaller, lighter, lower cost and have better battery life than most of its 3G rivals. Palm has received widespread acclaim following the launch of the Pre in the US during Q2.

    Chris Jones, Canalys VP and principal analyst, added, “As a relatively small company, Palm has shown what creative leadership and focused investment can achieve. By going back to its roots and developing its own operating system, it has produced an innovative and differentiated product. Investors have responded to this, with its share price growing over 70% this year. Palm still has plenty of challenges ahead – it must find the resources to launch the Pre on the global stage, while continuing to fund development of its product pipeline.”

    Another emerging trend is the rise of the Google-led Android OS, which is already taking 3% of the smart phone market. Success so far has been driven through HTC, but with many other vendors, including Samsung, joining the fray, volumes are expected to increase substantially. The free licence model, tight integration with Google applications and the potential for a high degree of vendor and operator customisation are all benefits attracting industry participants.

    Jones continued, “It is noteworthy how differently the smart phone business is developing compared to the PC industry. PCs are a highly standardised, commoditised platform, where one model is often largely indistinguishable from another. Consequently, PC price points are incredibly low, which is good for customers, but the industry lacks excitement. Smart phones are different – Nokia, Apple, RIM and Palm have all achieved success by developing their own operating systems and delivering distinct devices and interfaces. Android customisation will further add to this diverse mix. As a result, new smart phones are front page news around the world."

    “The main loser has been Microsoft’s highly standardised Windows Mobile platform. Its smart phone market share has now fallen below 10% and the trend is likely to continue as many of its OEM partners, including HTC, Motorola and Palm, are focusing investment on other platforms,” he conclude.

    In addition to smart phones, netbooks are the other hot area within the technology industry in this difficult year. The competition and opportunities created between these platforms will be discussed at the Canalys Mobility Forum, taking place on November 17, near London’s Heathrow Airport.

  • IFA 2009: the World’s Leading Trade Fair for Consumer Electronics is Coming

    IFA 2009 – the business event no. 1 for consumer electronics – will take place in Berlin from September 4-9.

    IFA 2009 will be the second time that the leading brands in consumer electronics and in the household appliance industry have been displayed together.

    This year over one thousand companies will be occupying 200,000 square metres of display space!

    For one week international media interest will be concentrated on IFA. Also the Biz-News journalists will be reporting directly from Berlin covering the latest in CE products.

    Apart from providing the hot news, we’ll be video interviewing the representatives of all the major and interesting companies, which will demonstrate us their newest products and share with as their opinions and expectations related to the CE market.

    In 2009 the main industry topics at IFA will be devoted to HDTV & wireless communications, innovative audio and smart interfaces, as well as ecology and lifestyle.

    Traditionally a large number of new technologies and products make their debut at IFA.

    Here are the expected CE highlights for IFA 2009:

    • A new sat nav from Falk
    The new F12 high-end sat nav from Falk features a larger storage capacity, high-speed processor, realistic building images, the ability to input special destinations by voice command or clicking on the screen, and is due to become the new flagship of Falk’s sat nav range.

    • T-Mobile – second-generation Android Smartphone, more mobile TV and mobile navigation
    T-Mobile is presenting impressive mobile communication, information and entertainment innovations at IFA. These include the T-Mobile G2 Touch, the second-generation Android-based mobile phone, which can be customised to a virtually unlimited degree. Android Market™ applications allow users to add numerous functions of their choice.

    • The Navigon MobileNavigator for iPhone
    The long list of technical specifications includes Reality View Pro, a lane assistant (Pro), a speed assistant, daytime and night-time operating modes, and an option for displaying POIs en route, thus setting the MobileNavigator apart from its competitors.

    • VideoWeb S500 – a world first for the first hybrid HDTV satellite receiver
    VideoWeb is presenting the first receiver to combine HDTV broadcasting, internet TV and numerous internet applications in a single unit. The VideoWeb S500 is a high-performance HDTV computer which is constantly updated over the internet with the latest applications and product additions.

    • LG entire screen LED backlighting
    At this year’s IFA LG is presenting its new Slim Direct LED technology which guarantees outstanding picture quality on new LCD TV sets, despite extremely slim lines. Covering the entire rear surface of the screen, the advantage of these LEDs over conventional Edge LED technology is that that they can be partially dimmed. So-called local dimming increases the contrast and reduces power consumption. LG’s new LH9500 will be one of the highlights at IFA displaying this technology.

    • New TV stars from Philips
    The 9700 series once again sets standards in terms of picture definition, contrast and image dynamics. Featuring a characteristic design and brushed aluminium front they look good in every size (40, 46, and 52 inches). All models have a hybrid tuner for receiving analogue cable, DVB-T and DVB-C with CI+ broadcasts. Picture quality is outstanding with the Full HD screen (1920x1080p), while 200 Hertz Clear LCD technology and the Perfect Pixel HD Engine ensure images are detailed, clear and razor sharp.
    .
    • SV series from Toshiba – fully automatic high-end TV sets
    With its SV models, Toshiba is introducing its first television sets with LED backlighting, which, by combining picture quality, ease of operation and eco-friendliness ensure that viewers can enjoy a premium viewing experience.

    • HD+ Ready receivers from Humax
    Digital equipment specialists and HDTV pioneers Humax are eager for scheduled new HDTV transmissions from SES Astra and private broadcasters to begin. When HD+ is launched in late 2009 Humax will naturally be supplying innovative und easy-to-operate new sets.

    • New TV sets from Sharp
    With Sharp, compared with the alternative method of installing LEDs on the sides, the LEDs covering the rear surface of the LCD provide an even lighting effect and more intense colour. However, LED backlighting technology is not the reason why the two new AQUOS series have received the accolade of “best picture”.

    • New headphones from Sennheiser
    The heart of the HD 800 is a completely new sound transducer and an innovative headphone design. The looks of the HD 800 are the perfect match for its outstanding sound quality. Uncluttered styling and a black and silver finish make this a genuine designer object.

    • Mitsubishi Electric’s new full HD beamer
    Mitsubishi Electric is presenting two new home cinema beamers at IFA, the HC6800 and HC3800. Both of these newly developed products offer Full HD viewing quality, and with their high light intensity are suitable for use not only in dark a projection room but also in the living room.

    • Loewe Reference Home Entertainment System
    Even before the start of IFA journalists were rating the new Loewe Reference Home Entertainment System as the ultimate in design. The Loewe Reference 52 Full HD+ 200 flat-screen TV exceeds all expectations. Featuring a massive 52-inch screen and measuring barely 60 millimetres in depth its sheer presence is impressive.

    …and many more.

    Be with us at IFA 2009 from September 4th!

  • Nokia Unveils N900 – The New Company’s Flagship Handset

    Nokia has finally launched the N900 – running on the new Maemo 5 latest company’s smartphone, which has evolved from Nokia’s previous generation of internet tablets.

    “The open source, Linux-based Maemo software delivers a PC-like experience on a handset-sized device” says the company’s announcement.

    Nokia N900 packs an ARM Cortex-A8 600 MHz processor, up to 1GB of application memory and 3D graphics accelerator with OpenGL ES 2.0 support. The result is, as the company promises, “PC-like multitasking, allowing many applications to run simultaneously.”

    New Nokia comes with a 3.5-inch 800×480 pixel touchscreen, the full physical slide-out QWERTY, internet connectivity with 10/2 HSPA and WLAN, Wi-Fi 54Mbps data transfer, Mozilla-based browser and full Adobe Flash 9.4 support.

    To get the most out of the 5MP camera, Carl Zeiss optics, dual LED flash and 800 × 480 resolution video recording, Maemo software and the N900 come with a new tag cloud user interface.

    The device also features GPS with pre-installed Ovi Maps, Bluetooth 2.1, FM transmitter, TV-out and 1320mAh battery.

    The panoramic homescreen can be fully personalized with shortcuts, widgets and applications. Maemo software updates happen automatically over the internet.

    N900 has 32GB of storage, which is expandable up to 48GB via a microSD card.

    "The Nokia N900 shows where we are going with Maemo and we’ll continue to work with the community to push the software forward. What we have with Maemo is something that is fusing the power of the computer, the internet and the mobile phone, and it is great to see that it is evolving in exciting ways," said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President of Nokia.

    Nokia N900 will be available in select markets from October 2009 with an estimated retail price of EUR 500 and will be displayed at Nokia World, Stuttgart, on September 2.

  • Save the Date for Motorola’s Android Sholes and Morrison

    With the giants of the mobile phone industry battling it out at the top, little has been said about the struggling Android platform that was rumored to be a unique way users could interface with their phones. While not entirely without its merit Motorola has suffered with the few struggling Windows Mobile platform phone it’s tried to release, making little impact in the cellular market.

    It’s unfortunate that the power players in the mobile market have literally ousted some of the more well known brand names in the industry, specifically Motorola, which does not even rank in the top ten of most used phones. Will they be relegated to focus on the less expensive consumer market or is there room for them to still make a splash?

    Mark your calendars friends, because September 10th will see a huge announcement regarding Motorola’s unveiling of their own Android phone line. This announcement is the planned cornerstone for the rebirth of Motorola.

    The event which will take place in San Francisco, CA has had little information released on just what the announcements will be. Still, rumors say that the announcement of the Sholes and the Morrison phones will be the first out of the gate.

    The first, Sholes, will be a high end phone focusing on the professional power user focusing on high processing speeds and a 5 megapixel camera. The second, Morrison, will be a more economically based Android phone which will end up on the T-Mobile network and support 3G.

    These phones are just the first in what is expected to be a long line of phones on various networks in order to regain some of the market share lost to the bigger brand names in play.

    Motorola looks to increase excitement with their innovation and the possibility of a glimpse into Android 2.0 which could very well power these new phones and offer such extras as entire phone search, multi-gesture shortcuts and multi-touch.

    For now, it’s stated that the phones will come activated with the Blur interface which looks to tie every social aspect of the individual into a unique experience with the OS. This would definitely attract a vast majority of mobile users as connectivity through various networks has been on the rise, and would be a high selling point if the platform is able to show ease of use.