Research firm Gartner said it cut its forecast for cellphone market growth in 2008 to 10-11 percent as a global economic slowdown started to crimp demand in the second quarter.
At end-May Gartner forecasted that 10-15 percent more phones would be sold this year. "In the last month however, the economic environment started to negatively impact emerging markets as well as mature," Carolina Milanesi, head of mobile device research at Gartner, said on Monday.
Shares in Nokia and Ericsson lost most of their earlier gains on the news and were 0.4 percent and 0.6 percent higher respectively by 0910 GMT. "Signals for a weaker-than-expected second quarter have arrived from Sony Ericsson as well as some component manufacturers," Milanesi said.
The world's fifth largest phone maker, Sony Ericsson warned on June 27 it would make no profit in the April-June quarter due to weaker demand for its more expensive phones, and said the market was challenging. "Despite expecting a stronger second half, we feel that the weakness of the first half has pulled the overall year growth down to 10-11 percent," she said.
Earlier on Monday Salcomp, the world's top maker of cellphone chargers, warned its 2008 operating profit would fall from last year's level, citing expectations of weaker volumes during the second half of the year. Shares in Salcomp were 13.9 percent down at 2.84 euros.
Source: www.timesofindia.com
Monday, September 8, 2008
Nokia all the way!
-Contributed by Ankit
With 3G Iphone hogging all the limelight in recent past, one big news which many might have neglected was the acquisition of Symbian by Nokia. Nokia will now create a foundation which will give away Symbian's softwares for free.
Nokia by taking this step has made it clear that they are not going to get bogged down by any American companies( read Apple, Google and Microsoft). Until now Symbian was owned by a consortium comprised of Nokia and other handset companies. Symbian is the most widely used mobile phone platform with 56% of marketshare.
But in recent past, companies like Apple and Google have threatened to eat into Symbian's market share. But with Symbian giving away the softwares free of cost, the tables have seemed to turn in Nokia's favour. With the ever growing market for VAS, Nokia is looking to develop all the applications through in-house development.But one challenge that Nokia faces is, that, they need to provide many more handsets which can deliver these next generation services. Symbian is mostly used in Nokia's high end phones such as the N series and they must look to start using Symbian in less expensive and mass market products.
Nokia has stiff competition from Google who is backing a web friendly software platform called Android and other groups who are promoting Linux for mobile phones. Apple's success story is known to all and they claim to have sold 1 million 3G Iphones within 3 days of its release.To counter competition from such major software giants, Nokia has shrewdly made the Symbian software open and free. This would mean that More people will use the software and also improve it.Besides this, the economics of this deal also makes sense as Nokia has been paying $250 million to Symbian yearly. So, its definitely better to pay $410 million to buy the company once and for all.Their are some concerns though such as the involvement of Motorola with Symbian aswell as Android and LiMO. It is highly unlikely that there will be a monopoly of any one operating system as in the case of PCs where Microsoft is a clear leader. In the case of mobiles, only that operating system which keeps on developing continuously will prevail.
Reference: Businessweek Magazine
With 3G Iphone hogging all the limelight in recent past, one big news which many might have neglected was the acquisition of Symbian by Nokia. Nokia will now create a foundation which will give away Symbian's softwares for free.
Nokia by taking this step has made it clear that they are not going to get bogged down by any American companies( read Apple, Google and Microsoft). Until now Symbian was owned by a consortium comprised of Nokia and other handset companies. Symbian is the most widely used mobile phone platform with 56% of marketshare.
But in recent past, companies like Apple and Google have threatened to eat into Symbian's market share. But with Symbian giving away the softwares free of cost, the tables have seemed to turn in Nokia's favour. With the ever growing market for VAS, Nokia is looking to develop all the applications through in-house development.But one challenge that Nokia faces is, that, they need to provide many more handsets which can deliver these next generation services. Symbian is mostly used in Nokia's high end phones such as the N series and they must look to start using Symbian in less expensive and mass market products.
Nokia has stiff competition from Google who is backing a web friendly software platform called Android and other groups who are promoting Linux for mobile phones. Apple's success story is known to all and they claim to have sold 1 million 3G Iphones within 3 days of its release.To counter competition from such major software giants, Nokia has shrewdly made the Symbian software open and free. This would mean that More people will use the software and also improve it.Besides this, the economics of this deal also makes sense as Nokia has been paying $250 million to Symbian yearly. So, its definitely better to pay $410 million to buy the company once and for all.Their are some concerns though such as the involvement of Motorola with Symbian aswell as Android and LiMO. It is highly unlikely that there will be a monopoly of any one operating system as in the case of PCs where Microsoft is a clear leader. In the case of mobiles, only that operating system which keeps on developing continuously will prevail.
Reference: Businessweek Magazine
One Laptop Per Child
Your independent source for news, information, commentary, and discussion of One Laptop Per Child's "$100 laptop" computer, the OLPC Children's Machine XO, developed by MIT Media Lab co-founder Nicholas Negroponte.
Retail Sales of CDMA-connected XO Laptops in
Tucked away in Deepshikha Monga's short article, "OLPC looks to World Bank for
Later this year, the XO laptops are expected to hit the retail stores. Sources say Reliance Communications, which partnered OLPC Foundation to conduct an XO pilot project in
Instead of relying on the slow, arduous, and mostly unsuccessful governmental sales process,
Just look at last year's G1G1 success - OLPC "sold" 165,000 XO laptops in less than 6 weeks by skipping school systems and selling directly to eager American and Canadian buyers. Imagine the demand for an XO that has mesh networkingand CDMA connectivity! I know I'd be first in line for a truly mobile XO.
But before we get geek lust going, I have to echo Marc Valentin's questions:
Which part of it is true ?
- XO laptops will be really available in retail stores in
- It will be bundled with a Reliance CDMA modem?
If this is true, which operating system will be used? Linux or XP? Or maybe dual boot?
Let's be honest though, I'll be wondering these questions as I book a flight to Mumbai for a bit of line squatting.
Source: olpcnews
SMALL WONDER - 3G mobiles were first launched in Japan
Technology Enables Transfer of Data up to 35 times faster than regular Modem
What are 3G phones?
Third generation mobile technology or 3G technology is just one more stage in the transformation of the mobile phone from a simple communication device to a multi-function device. It was launched for the first time in Japan in 2001.
This technology which uses higher bandwidth will enable users to send and receive data at speeds from 114 to 2000 kbps (or 2 Megabits per second) depending on whether the user is stationary or in motion which is way over (6 to 35 times more) the speed offered by any regular landline modem.
Hence a 3G system can be used as a modem for laptops to get access to the internet and it can take on the role of WAN (Wide Area Network) or LAN (Local Area Network). The goals of this new protocol are hi gh quality multi-media and advanced global roaming (in-house, cellular, satellite).
How different were the earlier generation phones?
The first generation phones introduced in the 1980s used analog radio technology. Japan launched the first commercial mobile phone system in 1979. By the early 1990s, the second generation or 2G phones had completely replaced the first generation. The main difference was that 2G phones were digital, which meant that the voice itself during a call is encoded to digital signals whereas in 1G it is only modulated to higher frequency, typically 150MHz and up. The other major advancement was that 2G phones allowed text messaging (SMS). 2G networks were built mainly for voice data and slow transmission.
But with rising user expectations the networks soon moved on to the 2.5G phones with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) that enables mobile phones to access certain websites.However, GPRS can only go up to 144 bits per second compared to 3G’s 2 Megabits per second speed. Coloured screens with camera-featured mobile phones, gaming and MP3 music were also introduced at the 2.5G stage.
What are the new services that 3G promises?
Two main services are M commerce (Mobile Commerce) and global positioning. A 3G user can access, organise and carry out financial transactions, trade stocks, manage payments etc. Global positioning enables the user to know their current location, get information about traffic conditions and get directions to reach a certain place. Live streaming of radio and television to 3G handsets is seen as the future with some companies recently announcing these services.
What is the scenario for 3G in India?
In India, the government is yet to come out with its 3G policy, including spectrum usage and spectrum pricing. Though Indian operators are yet to start 3G services, they seem ready to launch as soon as the government prepares its policy. In fact, a number of handset vendors have already introduced 3G-ready phones in the country.
How popular are 3G phones?
3G networks worldwide had 295 million subscribers by the end of 2007, which is about 9% of the worldwide subscriber base. The 3G telecom services generated over $120 billion dollars in revenues during 2007.
In many markets, the majority of new phones activated were 3G phones. Second generation phones have been almost completely phased out in Japan and South Korea. Many mobile phone users are switching to 3G phones saying it is no more just a phone or an advanced communication system but like a mobile personal computer.
What is the next anticipated development of mobile phones?
Work has already started on the next generation 4G phones, which it is claimed will be 50 times faster than 3G phones and this enhanced capacity is expected to enable three dimensional renderings and other virtual experiences on the mobile phone.
This phone, which is expected to be out by 2010, is expected to be able to receive data at 100 Mb per second on the move and up to 1 GB per second while static. An entire DVD could be downloaded within a minute! The technology being worked on is supposed to increase download speeds by using multiple radio frequencies to the send the same data stream.
Source: Times of India - July 14th 2008
What are 3G phones?
Third generation mobile technology or 3G technology is just one more stage in the transformation of the mobile phone from a simple communication device to a multi-function device. It was launched for the first time in Japan in 2001.
This technology which uses higher bandwidth will enable users to send and receive data at speeds from 114 to 2000 kbps (or 2 Megabits per second) depending on whether the user is stationary or in motion which is way over (6 to 35 times more) the speed offered by any regular landline modem.
Hence a 3G system can be used as a modem for laptops to get access to the internet and it can take on the role of WAN (Wide Area Network) or LAN (Local Area Network). The goals of this new protocol are hi gh quality multi-media and advanced global roaming (in-house, cellular, satellite).
How different were the earlier generation phones?
The first generation phones introduced in the 1980s used analog radio technology. Japan launched the first commercial mobile phone system in 1979. By the early 1990s, the second generation or 2G phones had completely replaced the first generation. The main difference was that 2G phones were digital, which meant that the voice itself during a call is encoded to digital signals whereas in 1G it is only modulated to higher frequency, typically 150MHz and up. The other major advancement was that 2G phones allowed text messaging (SMS). 2G networks were built mainly for voice data and slow transmission.
But with rising user expectations the networks soon moved on to the 2.5G phones with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) that enables mobile phones to access certain websites.However, GPRS can only go up to 144 bits per second compared to 3G’s 2 Megabits per second speed. Coloured screens with camera-featured mobile phones, gaming and MP3 music were also introduced at the 2.5G stage.
What are the new services that 3G promises?
Two main services are M commerce (Mobile Commerce) and global positioning. A 3G user can access, organise and carry out financial transactions, trade stocks, manage payments etc. Global positioning enables the user to know their current location, get information about traffic conditions and get directions to reach a certain place. Live streaming of radio and television to 3G handsets is seen as the future with some companies recently announcing these services.
What is the scenario for 3G in India?
In India, the government is yet to come out with its 3G policy, including spectrum usage and spectrum pricing. Though Indian operators are yet to start 3G services, they seem ready to launch as soon as the government prepares its policy. In fact, a number of handset vendors have already introduced 3G-ready phones in the country.
How popular are 3G phones?
3G networks worldwide had 295 million subscribers by the end of 2007, which is about 9% of the worldwide subscriber base. The 3G telecom services generated over $120 billion dollars in revenues during 2007.
In many markets, the majority of new phones activated were 3G phones. Second generation phones have been almost completely phased out in Japan and South Korea. Many mobile phone users are switching to 3G phones saying it is no more just a phone or an advanced communication system but like a mobile personal computer.
What is the next anticipated development of mobile phones?
Work has already started on the next generation 4G phones, which it is claimed will be 50 times faster than 3G phones and this enhanced capacity is expected to enable three dimensional renderings and other virtual experiences on the mobile phone.
This phone, which is expected to be out by 2010, is expected to be able to receive data at 100 Mb per second on the move and up to 1 GB per second while static. An entire DVD could be downloaded within a minute! The technology being worked on is supposed to increase download speeds by using multiple radio frequencies to the send the same data stream.
Source: Times of India - July 14th 2008
Mobile banking
Individuals today have an array of options to transact with their banks. Physical branch, ATM and the Internet are some of the common routes used. Now, mobile banking will make its presence felt across the country.
On the Move Banking
The Reserve Bank of India has issued guidelines for mobile banking and banks that meet the guidelines will be able to offer this facility for its customers. This is a leap forward because most people own a mobile phone in India, and can attend to their bankrelated activity even on the move.
Convenient Option
The customer, after keying in the necessary password, can transact with his bank. In addition to being convenient, the service saves a lot of time and effort spent on going to the bank or having to have Internet access.
Flip Side
At the same time the customer also has to understand the risks that come along with mobile banking. This will require due diligence and care on their part and hence they must understand the process and its operation clearly.
Source: The Hindustan Times
On the Move Banking
The Reserve Bank of India has issued guidelines for mobile banking and banks that meet the guidelines will be able to offer this facility for its customers. This is a leap forward because most people own a mobile phone in India, and can attend to their bankrelated activity even on the move.
Convenient Option
The customer, after keying in the necessary password, can transact with his bank. In addition to being convenient, the service saves a lot of time and effort spent on going to the bank or having to have Internet access.
Flip Side
At the same time the customer also has to understand the risks that come along with mobile banking. This will require due diligence and care on their part and hence they must understand the process and its operation clearly.
Source: The Hindustan Times
HP's Personal Touch
The all-in-one TouchSmart computer lets your fingers pick up where the mouse leaves off
A couple of decades ago, all the big personal computer makers except Apple (AAPL) ceded the development of software to Microsoft (MSFT). The inevitable result was that PCs became commodities, running identical programs on nearly identical hardware. Manufacturers are now fighting this trend, none more so than Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). Its ad slogan asserts that "the computer is personal again." The TouchSmart IQ506 shows HP means business.
The TouchSmart is an all-in-one computer like Apple's iMac, with a 22-inch touch-sensitive display. I was not terribly impressed by the first TouchSmart when it came out early last year. But the new model is better looking, about $500 cheaper at $1,299, and perhaps most important, has considerably better touch software.
Actually, there are two sets of programs available: the standard Windows environment and HP's touch-control applications. To get to the latter, you tap a "TouchSmart" icon on your desktop, which calls up two rows of "tiles." The large ones in the top row are for touch-controlled applications HP thinks you will use frequently, including media players, a picture manager, a novel family bulletin board, and a calendar. The lower row is mostly standard Windows applications, but you can edit the list to add or remove programs or move them between rows by dragging them.
A common mistake in the design of touch interfaces is to treat the human finger as though it were some sort of mouse. HP's TouchSmart programs are different. They dispense with cursors and scroll bars —when you can put your finger directly on the screen you don't need a cursor to tell you where you are pointing. To move an object, you touch it with a finger and drag it to its new location. Sliding your finger up and down or sideways smoothly scrolls the display, while a quick flick of the finger results in a fast scroll. Alas, the resemblance to Apple's iPhone stops short of the ability to resize images by pinching or stretching them.
As long as you're using HP's TouchSmart applications, this computer delivers on its promises. The music player displays your albums either in a rectangular grid or a circular arrangement, and you browse through them by swiping a finger across the screen. Tapping an album cover shows its contents, and you create play lists by dragging and dropping tracks. But there's no integrated music store, and if you switch to Apple's iTunes, you lose the special touchscreen features.
The photo application automatically gathers all the pictures on your hard drive. (Oddly, that included the album cover art from my music collection.) The program includes some very basic editing tools and, of course, the opportunity to upload pictures to HP's Snapfish print service.
HP assumes the TouchSmart will be a shared family computer. So it provides a handy "notes" application based on a Post-it Notes metaphor. You can share typed, handwritten, or even voice notes, which you create simply by speaking within range of the TouchSmart's microphone.
Once you leave the special TouchSmart programs, you are back in the world of ordinary applications for the Windows desktop, where touch becomes just a mouse substitute. The effect is vaguely disconcerting, though HP does include a touch-enhanced version of Internet Explorer with extra-large scroll bars and buttons. It also provides a wireless mouse and keyboard for when you're working in Windows mode.
The user interface based on mice, windows, and icons has been with us for a quarter century, and while it has served us well, technologies such as touch are creating new possibilities. There is only so much that computer manufacturers dependent on Windows can do, but it's good to see a company such as HP getting back into the game and trying out innovations where Microsoft fails to tread.
Source: Businessweek
Linux going mainstream
-contributed by Ankit
Linux for many years has been trying to eat into the market share of Microsoft windows, the undisputed number one PC operating system. But still, it captures only 1% market share. There are many reasons why, still more than 90% people prefer windows over linux. The most important being the learnability of the linux. The initial versions of Linux were not the typical GUIs and it involved a lot of textual input as in the case of DOS. Now most of the Linux based OS have windows type GUIs and are easy to use. But, still Linux is considered to be difficult to use and even more diffcult to manage, which definitely is not true. But the tag of the "unfriendly" OS has somehow stuck.
I personally am a huge fan of Linux and have used a number of Linux operating systems ranging from Fedora to Ubuntu.Initially it was difficult to find softwares for the linux platform, but in last couple of years, most softwares are available for linux. Linux is supposed to be open source and free to use, and this definitely is its biggest selling point. But still, it never has been able to give serious challenge to Microsoft Windows because of easy availability of Windows' pirated version. Most computer vendors load the pirated version of the windows before selling a system which infact came with pre loaded Linux. But still Linux has a large number of followers and definitely "open source" is the order of the day.
Linux OS in mobiles will surely be a much bigger success story because of a lot of reasons. It will bring down the cost of the mobile phones hugely. Secondly, being an open source platform, developers around the world will be encouraged to add more and more user friendly features and services. These services will also help the Mobile phone operators in increasing the ARPU. In case of mobile phones, unlike the PCs, it is difficult to change the original OS, so there wont be any cases where users change their OS from a preloaded linux to some other platform.
In mobile phone industry, there is no clear leader in the Operating Systems. A lot of R&D is going into developing Linux as the standard platform for all mobile phones. Organisations such as LiMo are making huge efforts to come up with an answer to Nokia's move of making Symbian an open software. And with Google also going aggressive on launching Android, it seems like an open war for control of the Mobile OS market, which for long has been ruled by Symbian.
Linux for many years has been trying to eat into the market share of Microsoft windows, the undisputed number one PC operating system. But still, it captures only 1% market share. There are many reasons why, still more than 90% people prefer windows over linux. The most important being the learnability of the linux. The initial versions of Linux were not the typical GUIs and it involved a lot of textual input as in the case of DOS. Now most of the Linux based OS have windows type GUIs and are easy to use. But, still Linux is considered to be difficult to use and even more diffcult to manage, which definitely is not true. But the tag of the "unfriendly" OS has somehow stuck.
I personally am a huge fan of Linux and have used a number of Linux operating systems ranging from Fedora to Ubuntu.Initially it was difficult to find softwares for the linux platform, but in last couple of years, most softwares are available for linux. Linux is supposed to be open source and free to use, and this definitely is its biggest selling point. But still, it never has been able to give serious challenge to Microsoft Windows because of easy availability of Windows' pirated version. Most computer vendors load the pirated version of the windows before selling a system which infact came with pre loaded Linux. But still Linux has a large number of followers and definitely "open source" is the order of the day.
Linux OS in mobiles will surely be a much bigger success story because of a lot of reasons. It will bring down the cost of the mobile phones hugely. Secondly, being an open source platform, developers around the world will be encouraged to add more and more user friendly features and services. These services will also help the Mobile phone operators in increasing the ARPU. In case of mobile phones, unlike the PCs, it is difficult to change the original OS, so there wont be any cases where users change their OS from a preloaded linux to some other platform.
In mobile phone industry, there is no clear leader in the Operating Systems. A lot of R&D is going into developing Linux as the standard platform for all mobile phones. Organisations such as LiMo are making huge efforts to come up with an answer to Nokia's move of making Symbian an open software. And with Google also going aggressive on launching Android, it seems like an open war for control of the Mobile OS market, which for long has been ruled by Symbian.
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