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  • Apple's Cook Strong Stand-in During Steve Jobs' Absence

    Apple COO Tim Cook is take over the company’s day-to-day running after it was announced that Steve Jobs is to take a six month medical leave of absence.

    Having previously stepped into the CEO post when Jobs was treated for pancreatic cancer, there is no doubt about his leadership abilities.

    A veteran employee of large companies in the technology industry, he has an MBA from Duke University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Auburn University.

    Tim Cook, Apple’s COO

    He started his career at IBM – where he went on to head its manufacturing and distribution functions.

    This was followed by a stint as vice president of Corporate Materials for Compaq before he took up his position at Apple in March 1998 as the Chief Operating Officer.

    This has seen him take responsibility for the company’s worldwide sales and operations.

    So, a more than capable stand-in which should ensure Jobs will be able to concentrate on regaining his health without having to worry about Apple’s.

    The following is the email Job’s sent to all Apple employees:

    Team,

    I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.

    In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.

    I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.

    I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.

    Steve

  • Mobile Banking To Flourish – Security Still Issue


    More than 150 million mobile phone subscribers worldwide will carry out banking transactions on their handsets within three years.

    That’s the prediction of a Juniper Research report, which also expects that much of the growth in this area to come from mature markets.

    The analysts believe this will be down to users coming to rely on mobile banking rather than adoption in emerging markets where financial services are lacking.

    However, Howard Wilcox, a Juniper analyst, warns that security will be paramount to the continued success of the service.

    He said user perception will largely dictate whether the service is trusted, regardless of the reality of the strength of the security.

    Wilcox said that mobile banking is currently most advanced in the Far East, but there are growing numbers of mobile banking services being offered in North America and Western Europe.

    The developed nations of the Far East, North America and Western Europe are forecast to account for over 70 per cent of the mobile banking user base by 2011.

    "Transactional or "push" mobile banking is being offered increasingly by banks via downloadable applications or the mobile web, complementing existing SMS messaging services for balance and simple information enquiries," he said.

    "Mobile banking is a key element in banks’ distribution channel strategies as they compete to attract and retain customers."

    The Juniper report said a key element to the service’s growth in mature economies is the extra user convenience afforded.

    With many mature markets approaching, or already having exceeded 100 per cent capacity, mobile banking is an addition to the wide choice of applications and services accessible via the handset to make life easier, especially via smartphones such as the iPhone.

    Do you use your smartphone for banking transactions? We would be interested in hearing your experience of mobile banking services.

  • Dell Smartphone Needs To Shine


    Suggestions that Dell is to launch a smartphone have surfaced again following a research note by Kaufman Brothers analyst, Shaw Wu.

    Wu speculates that the move would be to offset the impact smartphones are having on notebook sales.

    But the analyst warns that Dell would have to make its device truly distinctive to stand any chance of securing a healthy slice of the extremely competitive smartphone market.

    For this reason, Wu suggests Dell would be well advised to consider acquiring a software maker.

    The comments come after investigations within Dell’s supply chain reportedly indicate that lengthy discussions with potential component suppliers are reaching fruition.

    While details such as device specifications and a launch date are unknown, some reports suggest Dell is planning a handset launch as early as next month at 3GSM or the Mobile World Congress.

    Dell has publicly tried to play down rumors of it launching a phone but has stopped short of openly denying the claims.

  • Can Nokia Rise To Apple's challenge?


    Nokia will see its share of the global smartphone market halved from 40 to 20 per cent by 2013, according to Generator Research.

    And who is going to be gobbling up Nokia’s lost business? Why Apple, of course.

    Generator believes Apple’s embryonic mobile business could knock Nokia from the top spot in the smartphone market and transform the mobile services market in the process.

    It predicts Apple could ship as many as 77 million iPhones in 2013 – while Nokia’s share would sit at just 38.5 million based on the analysts’ calculations.

    But is it likely the Finnish company will allow itself to be toppled so dramatically – even given the iPhone’s phenomenal success and Nokia’s continued under-performance in the US?

    Based on Generator’s analysis, the matter may be out of Nokia’s hands.

    Its report suggests that with cash reserves exceeding USD $25 billion, 33 per cent gross margins and the iPhone just about to enter its fastest-growth phase, Apple is extremely well placed.

    The iPhone-maker has the "resources, competencies and motivation" to invest in the mobile sector just at the time when the economic climate is forcing
    many established players in the mobile industry to cut back on product development.

    Generator adds that the impact on some incumbent players is likely to be substantial – not least Nokia’s.

    Andrew Sheehy, head of research at Generator, said the iPhone and App Store constitute a vertical platform for the delivery of advanced mobile services that will be developed in a similar manner to how Apple developed its digital music platform – including the iPod and the iTunes Music Store.

    "Outsiders are rewriting the mobile industry’s rulebook for how to deliver mobile services and the new rule number one is that you need a fully-integrated service development platform that has a rich API which is open to third party developers on favourable commercial terms," he said.

    "Right now, Apple has the best platform and the best-looking forward roadmap."

    Sheehy adds that Apple will use its financial strength and revenue velocity to try to get one or more design cycles ahead of the competition.

    "By that time the iPhone will include a range of different models, each addressing different market segments and the App Store will have developed to
    the point where third party developers have access to network assets that will allow them to write programs that can send messages and establish voice
    calls between different iPhones," he said.

    Fanciful ruminations or worryingly accurate (if you’re Nokia)? We would like to hear your comments.

  • Blockbuster and Sonic Solutions Agree Download Deal


    Sonic Solutions has joined forces with Blockbuster in a deal that will enable consumers to download the movie giant’s content.

    Under the agreement, Blockbuster will "supply the branded consumer interfaces and Sonic will power content delivery across PC and portable devices".

    What this means is US users of Sonic’s existing CinemaNow products can download content onto their PCs, PMPs, Blu-ray Disc players, PVRs, STBs, mobile phones and Web-connected television sets.

    The material will initially be available on a pay-per-view basis. A subscription model could be implemented in the near future.

    In November, Blockbuster launched a movie rental service via set-top boxes in the US.

    The MediaPoint digital media player is "free" if you pre-pay for 25 movies at the cost of USD $99.

  • Europe To See Presidential Inuguration in HD


    The upcoming US presidential inauguration will be broadcast in Europe in high definition for the first time ever following "unprecedented demand" from broadcasters.

    Eurovision is to offer European broadcasters access to full HDTV coverage of the ceremony, Barack Obama’s speech and motorcade beamed from cameras on location in Washington DC.

    US President-elect Barack Obama

    The company is better known for its eponymous annual pan-European song contest, which now attracts some 120 million viewers thanks to an eastern-led revival.

    Eurovision America’s president, Bill Dunlop, said they were more than trebling the number of circuits provided compared to the same event four years ago.

    "All over Europe, networks are planning special programming to bring this historic day to their viewers live," he said.

    Founded in 1950, Eurovision is a network grouping more than 75 national broadcasters in Europe.

  • Slingbox Founders' Departure Completes Transition


    Various members of Sling Media’s top management, including several founders, have announced their departure from the company.

    The move follows Echostar’s acquisition of Sling for USD $380 million in 2007.

    Among those departing are co-founders Blake and Jason Krikorian, who are leaving their positions as CEO and SVP of business development, respectively.

    Jason Hirschhorn and Ben White will also leave their posts as president and chief creative officer of the Sling Media Entertainment Group.

    Blake Krikorian, departing CEO Sling Media

    The vice president of sales, Greg Wilkes, is also to leave.

    Their departures signal the completion of the transition following Echostar’s acquisition.

    The Slingbox, developed by Sling Media, allows users to stream live or recorded TV from a set-top box to an Internet-connected computer or cellphone.

    Recent announcements include an iPhone app and a new SlingPlayer for Mac HD that allows Slingbox PRO-HD users to stream HD content to a Mac desktop or notebook computer.

    The service works in conjunction with the Sling.com web-based software.

  • New Chip Spells iPhone HD?


    Imagination Technologies has announced a new graphics processor IP core – the PowerVR SGX543.

    The UK-based company is the designer of the PowerVR MBX hardware used in the iPhone and iPod Touch.

    Its new four-pipeline SGX543 is expected to be able to support HD resolution video and graphics output.

    The chip is to be available in both single core and multi-processor solutions.

    The new design improves upon Imagination’s Universal Scalable Shader Engine (USSE) that was first incorporated into earlier PowerVR SGX designs.

    The company said the new technology – dubbed USSE2 – is a multi-threaded GPU shader processing engine that’s incorporated into each of the design’s four pipelines.

    It said USSE2 incorporates a major upgrade of the data path to deliver vastly improved vector processing performance and overall throughput.

    Imagination claims the SGX543 can achieve performance of 35 million polygons per second and a pixel fill rate of one gigapixel per second when running at 200MHz.

    The technology also provides advanced colour space handling and gamma correction to ensure that each of those polygons and pixels are displayed in vivid and accurate color.

    As with all members of the PowerVR SGX line, the SGX543 supports the OpenGL ES 2.0 standard for programmable 3D graphics.

    Last year Apple purchased a 3.6 per cent stake in Imagination for USD $4.8m.

  • Mobile WiMAX Revenues Grow – But Freeze Likely


    Worldwide mobile WiMAX infrastructure revenues nearly quadrupled in the third quarter of 2008 over the third quarter of 2007, according to the latest figures.

    Scott Siegler, senior analyst of Mobile Infrastructure research at Dell’Oro Group, said that with LTE still a couple of years away, WiMAX has become the first next generation technology with commercial service.

    “Mobile WiMAX revenues were very strong in the third quarter of last year, and we anticipate revenue for the fourth quarter to set another record," he said.

    "However, as we look into 2009, we expect the WiMAX market to be hit rather hard by the economic downturn."

    Siegler said building out brand new networks from scratch requires tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars of capital.

    He anticipate many network buildouts will be put on hold or delayed into 2010 as a result of the tightening in the credit markets, the increasing cost of capital and the decrease in demand for broadband data as consumer spending weakens.

    "With initial LTE rollouts coming in the 2010 to 2011 timeframe, these delays will shorten the time to market advantage WiMAX currently has over LTE,” he said.

    The report also shows that the top four Mobile WiMAX vendors in the quarter – Samsung, Motorola, Alcatel-Lucent and Alvarion – represented nearly 90 per cent of the total market.

  • Wehrs Named As New MMA President & CEO


    Former Nuance exececutive Mike Wehrs has been appointed president and CEO of the Mobile Marketing Association.

    The move follows the departure of Laura Marriott.

    Mike Wehrs, CEO MMA

    Wehrs joins the MMA from Nuance Communications, where he was vice president of Industry Affairs and Evangelism.

    He has also served on the board of directors and executive committees for a number of organisations, including the CTIA.

    In the new role Wehrs is to concentrate on promoting the MMA’s charter to "build a sustainable ecosystem for the mobile marketing industry globally, focusing on delivering benefits to MMA members, establishing guidelines and best practices for future growth, and driving mobile adoption worldwide".