Posts Tagged “launches”
Mar
08
2010
 
ITU launches satellite interface standard for mobilesPosted by CompareMobiles.com in Mobile News
The International Telecommunication Union has released a new standard which Read Full Story…
Mar
05
2010
Gov’t launches funding body for next-gen broadbandPosted by CompareMobiles.com in Mobile News
Broadband Delivery UK will allocate funds for the 2Mbps universal service commitment and next-generation broadband
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Mar
05
2010
Picking facts from speculation on iPad launch prices and datesPosted by CompareMobiles.com in Mobile News
Why the collapse in online advertising might be leading you to read pretty much anything about Apple’s new gizmo Hey, have you heard? Apple’s iPad is having production problems! And it’s not having production problems! Also, it’s going to cost £389! Or possibly less, or more. And in the UK the 3G version is going to be exclusively on Vodafone. As well as being on Orange and O2. Also, it’s going to be released in the UK two weeks after the US, where it’s being released on March 26, or actually 29th, except it’s being released at the same time. And it’s going to cost.. OK, enough breathless murmery. Let’s clear the air. There is an astonishing amount of speculation going on about Apple’s iPad. Very little of it seems well-founded – or even grounded in logic. The facts about the iPad: Apple hasn’t given a precise launch date; “60 days” was the best Steve Jobs had on 27 January. It’s not given one for the UK either. It hasn’t said how much the various models will cost in the UK. It hasn’t said whether the 3G mobile-connected models will be available in the UK (though it’s expected) and it hasn’t said which network(s) it will be going with. Which is about par for the course for some Apple products. And of course is enough for ever so many “news” stories. Let’s start with some of the things where people are prepared to put their names to the claims. The Register reports that Vijay Rakesh, an analyst at ThinkEquity analyst, told investors in an advisory note on Thursday that checks with manufacturers suggested “some minor delays” in ramping up production for the tablet. They can only make 200,000 to 250,000 iPads per month at present; production may not hit 800,000 to 1m units per month until at least April. “We believe this is just a minor hiccup in a longer-term entirely new revenue stream and product road map for [Apple],” Rakesh wrote. Earlier this week another US analyst, Peter Misek at Canaccord claimed that “unspecified production problems” will hold initial availability to about 300,000 units – and said Apple may keep the iPad to the US only or delay the launch into April. This was then contradicted by DigiTimes – usually the fount of unspecified vague insights into the Taiwanese and Chinese computer manufacturing insights which turn out to be bang on 50% of the time, and completely off the other 50% – which was told by Foxconn Electronics that everything’s on schedule and that it should be able to ship between 600,000 and 700,000 iPads this month. Apple said.. nothing. Conclusion: they all could be right. The iPad was announced in January, and if Foxconn has been making 200,000 for a couple of months, it’s got a nice stockpile sitting waiting for a container ship. Meanwhile Foxconn could be ramping up production towards that 800K figure. So we conclude: forecasts of a US-only launch unlikely to come true. And “delays into April”? Remember that at the launch (scroll to 7.22pm) Steve Jobs announced that they Wi-Fi only models would go on sale in 60 days, the 3G models in 90 days because they “require approval from carriers”. 90 days from the iPad launch takes you… into April. OK. Assume that it is going to launch in the UK at about the same time as in the US. Two questions: how much will it cost? And which networks will the 3G version be available on? The cost question is interesting. Apple has told us it won’t announce the UK price until it launches at the “end of March”. We’ve done our own calculation (helped by Macworld) which gives us a starting price guess of £424 for the 16GB Wi-Fi only (Macworld suggests £388), ranging up to £705 for the Wi-Fi/3G 64GB model (Macworld: £693). And which operators? No clues. Obviously, we speak to our contacts there; but so far they’ve had little to offer. So what then are we to make of the sudden flurry of emails recently from really small sites (and I do mean really small) which claim to know the launch date and/or chosen carrier? Here’s an example I received recently: “We just got word on Vodafone being the official launch partner of the iPad in the UK, direct from Vodafone. Details in the below blog post. This is from the same guy who provided details that O2 would be the Palm Pre’s UK carrier well before announcement.” And a link to the site. But we’re not going to link it here. I’ll explain why in a moment. Then there was the email from another site which said it had the price for the low-end iPad: “We are pretty confident regarding the pricing, the tip came from a source who works closely with Apple UK, obviously we can’t say much more about this. “We are 99% sure that the base model will be £389, regarding the other prices of the 32GB and 64GB models, our source said that these are likely to be the prices, although he did mention that the prices on the last two aren’t set in stone as yet.” (I should point out that the other site didn’t approach me; I contacted it to ask how sure they were of their sources.) Hmm, so have we missed a trick? Are we getting blown out of the water by dedicated bloggers running niche sites who have contacts in just the right places? Perhaps. But consider another possibility. I spoke to someone who has very good contacts in the mobile phone industry. The reply: “My source at Voda says nothing signed yet but is checking, also it’s kinda weird but [the person quoted in the Vodafone story] left a year ago.” So why the certainty in that story? My contact noted: “There are going to be more and more stories like this as the collapse in online advertising has pushed sites into e-commerce and they need the links from [the Guardian] to push them up the [search] rankings. There are quite a few mobile phone so-called bloggers already in the UK who are actually little more than affiliate channels for the mobile phone operators. That’s often how they get their stories. Watch the links when you click through, it’s often quite instructive. There is, for instance, a very well respected UK mobile phone blogger who gets a lot of very good Orange scoops. Of course he does, my mates at Orange point out, the other half of his business is a retailer for Orange so he finds out about new phones at the same time as the rest of the channel. Is that journalism? Who knows these days.” We conclude: the maths suggests that the iPad will very likely come in around the £389-£399 mark (we like the Macworld number better than ours, which by being above £400 isn’t a marketing-friendly price sticker). Networks? Whichever ones can handle the micro-sims that the iPad uses. Given that Apple is still with only one network in the US, but in the UK has signed up three (O2, Orange and Vodafone; Tesco is a virtual MNO), it’s hard to know whether it will try to be a kingmaker again or prefer to spread the love like butter among them all. Rationally, being on all three (while making them think it’s exclusive until it’s announced) would be better for sales – people could just add an iPad plan to their existing contracts. OK? We hope that puts your minds at rest about prices and operators. As for launch dates… well, Apple traditionally goes with Tuesdays or Fridays. Strictly, 60 days from the iPad announcement puts you on Sunday 28 March, so take your pick: Monday 29th, or Friday 26th? Or might it get pushed further along? As for the 3G version, if there’s a 90-day delay, then you’re not going to see it until April 27 (on the 90-days-from-iPad-ground-zero principle). So even that US analyst could be right. And remind us what you’d be buying an iPad for? We’re interested to hear.
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Host your own BES for nowtBES Express launches today, offering free software for those who want to host their own BlackBerry servers but lack the budget to do so.…
Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing Read Full Story…
Feb
26
2010
It’s not our fault: Decoding Palm’s memo to staffPosted by CompareMobiles.com in Mobile News
It’s been a tough year for Palm. The company is betting everything on its new handsets, the Pre and the Pixi – but with sales not doing as well as expected, the company issued a profit warning yesterday. To explain what was happening, chairman and chief executive Jon Rubinstein sent out a memo to the company’s staff. As is typical with these things, it was largely stuffed with corporate speak and coded messages – so I’ve come up with this handy paragraph-by-paragraph translation that might help explain what Palm thinks is going on.
Hey guys! Whatever I say, don’t forget we’re in this together.
We’re not selling as many phones as we thought we would: sales were flat despite the fact that we started selling handsets with Verizon – America’s second-biggest phone network (with 91m users) – in January. We were expecting sales to go up. They didn’t. This could be awkward.
Given how sales have gone over so far, we’d probably need to double our sales in the next three months to satisfy our original targets. Let’s be honest, that’s not happening, is it?
People aren’t buying enough of our phones. And networks don’t want to order phones that people aren’t buying.
(Before we go on, I’m going to sugar the pill. Over the past year or two we’ve been burning through our cash reserves like crazy – having some money in the bank buys us some more time. That’s awesome news!)
Yes, it sucks – but the pain you feel today is nothing compared to the pain you would have felt if we’d suddenly announced in a few weeks that we’d missed our targets by 30%.
We’ve been trying to work out what’s gone wrong…
…and we’ve decided it was Verizon’s fault.
In fact, we think they’ve done such a bad job that we’re trying to school them so that they actually know what our products do. Plus, we gave it a cool name that implies we’re taking action!
Not many people know we exist – but when they know we exist, we sell a few more handsets. That’s got to be positive, right?
We need to get better at a few things – largely the “making things” part, and then the “selling things” part. Perhaps some of you haven’t been as focused as you need to be (yeah, I’m talking to you).
I’m not firing anyone… yet.
Give me a few weeks to prepare before asking me anything.
I secretly watch lots of cheerleader movies.
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Feb
16
2010
Mobile World Congress: HTC unveils iPhone rival on Google’s Android platformPosted by CompareMobiles.com in Mobile News
• HTC’s Legend smartphone will come to UK in April HTC has come of age. The Taiwanese mobile phone manufacturer, once known only as the maker of Windows phones under the SPV brand, today unveiled a new phone sporting Google’s Android software which analysts are predicting could steal a march on Apple in the smartphone design wars. The HTC Legend, which runs the latest Android software called Eclair, is made from a single block of aluminium and has a very bright and clear 3.2 inch AMOLED (ultra-bright LED) display. Vodafone has grabbed the handset in Europe, wary of losing out after missing the iPhone in some of the company’s key European markets. The Legend will come to the UK in April and already analysts are predicting that it will be a design classic following its launch at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. “Legend’s clever use of milled aluminium casing could scoop Apple’s direction for the next iPhone design,” said CCS Insight. Despite its body being engineered from a single piece of aluminium, the HTC Legend has a removable battery – something which the iPhone conspicuously lacks – which slides out from a compartment at the bottom of the phone. The back of the battery casing also contains the phone’s antenna so that its metal body does not hinder signal strength. HTC has updated the user face – called HTC Sense – that sits atop Android on the device. Alongside refinements to the phone’s address book, so that contacts can be organised into groups such as business contacts and friends, it pulls information from social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter into a single Friend Stream of updates. The Android platform has been the making of HTC. It created the first phone, the G1, using the software, while the Legend is the new version of another successful Android phone, the Hero. The Legend, however, has a rather less intrusive “chin” at the bottom of the device than the Hero. Alongside it, HTC also unveiled the HTC Desire, which also uses HTC Sense. It had previously been codenamed the HTC Bravo and several UK operators have been vying to get hold of it as it is essentially the same as Google’s own Nexus One device, which HTC also produced. However, it has an optical trackpad rather than a roller ball, and is understood to be cheaper than the Google device. Orange said it will be stocking the HTC Desire from April and it will be free on selected monthly tariffs. It is likely to be priced the same as the iPhone, a policy Vodafone is expected to follow with the Nexus One in the UK when it launches next month. The HTC Desire will also be available in the UK on T-Mobile from 26 March. The Desire has a large 3.7 inch AMOLED screen, like the Nexus One, and contains the 1GHz Snapdragon processor which is also found on the Nexus One. It includes such iPhone staples as pinching to zoom on web pages while it also automatically recalibrates text so that when you zoom into a page, you do not have to scroll left and right to get to the end of a line. Crucially, it also supports Flash, which Apple still resolutely refuses to back. HTC also announced the HTC HD mini, which uses the 6.5 version of Windows Phone rather than the series 7 platform launched by Steve Ballmer yesterday.
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• Phones with the new software will appear at the end of the year
Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer is hoping that 7 will turn out to be a lucky number again. With Windows 7 helping to bury the ghosts of the poorly received Windows Vista in its core PC market, the software group is hoping to repeat the trick with a new version of its software for mobile phones, a device that has refused to yield to the firm’s attentions despite almost a decade of trying. Windows Phone Series 7 is the result of a complete overhaul of Microsoft’s vision of the mobile phone. It has abandoned its attempts to turn mobile phones into mini-PCs, focusing instead on giving users easy access to social networking, music, video and mobile phone applications. Coincidentally Ballmer’s presentation, at the mobile industry’s annual trade show in Barcelona came hours after the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer Nokia revealed a tie-up with chipmaker Intel that is headed in the opposite direction. The two companies have pooled their software development resources to create MeeGo, a free software platform which they reckon will pave the way for the next generation of wireless communications devices. Both companies have Apple, Blackberry and Google, with its Android mobile phone platform, firmly in their sights. Fierce competition has eroded Nokia’s share of the market over the past year, and Microsoft fears that if it cannot get back in the game now, it may never manage it. Ballmer admitted that Microsoft, which has failed to gain any significant share of the mobile phone market, had been forced to “retool and reform” its mobile phone software two years ago. “There is no doubt that the phone market is highly competitive, highly dynamic, super-exciting,” he said. “There was no question in our minds… that we needed and wanted to do something that was out of the box, clearly differentiated from our past and clearly differentiated from other things that are going on in the market.” “We’re taking a big step,” he added. “I hope seven’s our lucky number.” The first phones using the new software will not appear until the end of the year and Microsoft is being very prescriptive about what they should look like, which has raised questions about whether handset manufacturers will be willing to make Windows Phone devices that they will be unable to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack. Manufacturers including HTC, LG and Samsung have, however, signed up, while Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile and Orange are all likely to sell the devices in the UK. The proliferation of so-called open source software platforms – such as Android – has raised the question of whether Microsoft, which still charges hardware manufacturers a licence fee to use its Windows Phone software, should adopt the same model. Refusing, as ever, to actually name Apple, Ballmer spoke about “vertical competitors” – companies that make devices as well as the software that sits on them, such as Apple – saying “their model is really clear, it’s sell devices. We sell software to companies that make devices” and that is not going to change. “My mother used to say to me, if something is free, you should take a look and find out what the real cost is.” Nokia, however, has become a convert to the idea of open source platforms. Having bought out its partners in smartphone software developer Symbian and made that available free to all developers and hardware manufacturers, it announced a tie-up with Intel under which it plans to do the same for the next generation of mobile devices. Nokia was already working on an open source platform for so-called internet tablets, called Maemo, which it used in its recently launched N900 phone. Now it is merging it with a similar programme which Intel ran for laptops, called Moblin, into a new platform called MeeGo. “It is the future of how we think people are going to use computing,” said Renee James, Intel’s head of software and services. “From Intel’s perspective, we see expansive growth which brings new users to computing and at the heart of that has always been software innovation and that happens when there is a stable platform that developers can bet on being there long-term. So I consider this critical to the long term growth initiatives of Intel.” The first MeeGo devices will start appearing in the second half of the year, but Intel already has hardware manufacturers such as Dell, Asus and Samsung making laptops for its existing open source platform and they will all be moved over to MeeGo. “They have understood the only way to beat Microsoft, Google and Apple is to do it through scale – get the platform to more devices,” according to John Strand, owner and head of Strand Consult after the announcements at the Mobile World Congress fair. Immediately dubbed MeeToo by some analysts, MeeGo will create an open source software platform which Nokia reckons will be used in a new generation of wireless devices. Both companies want to attract a wide range of operators, handset manufacturers and software developers. “This is not a closed club,” said Kai Öistämö, Nokia’s head of devices. “We are inviting everyone into this. “MeeGo will create a new strong single platform that will drive the future of mobile computing.” The announcement of MeeGo, however, immediately raised questions about the future of Symbian, but Öistämö stressed: “This is very consistent with Nokia’s software strategy. Symbian is the perfect environment for democratising the smartphone, what MeeGo allows is the future of mobile computing … well beyond what can be done with smartphones today.” The deal may raise some eyebrows at Google, however, as Intel’s chief executive Paul Otellini has sat on the Google board since 2004.
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Zune, Xbox combined into all-new smartphone platformMWC Windows Mobile, farewell. Welcome, Windows Phone 7 Series.…
Offloading malware protection to the cloud Read Full Story…
Apple says it will not reveal UK pricing for iPad until its launch at the end of March Apple has surprised would-be buyers of its new iPad touchscreen computer, saying it will not announce UK prices before it launches at the end of March. Although it announced US prices for all six versions of the touchscreen “tablet” device with and without 3G connectivity at the launch on Wednesday night by Apple’s chief executive Steve Jobs, the UK office said today that there will be no UK prices offered until the launch, expected in 60 days’ time – or 90 days for the 3G versions. However, the MacWorld magazine website takes an “educated guess” at UK pricing for the iPad, which it predicts will range from £388 to £591 for the Wi-Fi model, and £490 to £693 for the Wi-FI and 3G model. The iPad is a 9.7in tablet computer with a virtual keyboard which can surf the web, do email, display ebooks and play video. US prices start at $499 for a basic version with Wi-Fi wireless networking but no 3G connectivity, rising to $829 for a 3G version with 64 gigabytes of storage. However iPad users in the US will have to pay separately for 3G data plans being sold separately by Apple’s exclusive mobile partner there, AT&T, which already supplies the iPhone there. Mobile phone companies in the UK – O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone – are looking to strike similar deals in Europe ahead of a launch later in the year. The Guardian understands from multiple source that no choice has been made. Apple initially sold the iPhone through exclusive partners in the US, UK, France and Germany, but for the iPad the British mobile phone networks are not expecting Apple to offer exclusivity. None was willing to comment on the iPad. Andrew Harrison, UK chief executive of the Carphone Warehouse, Europe’s largest independent mobile phone retailer, commented: “To me, the really interesting thing is what we are seeing is devices designed with how the consumer uses the internet very much in mind, rather than just a computer that was made for business use trying to fit the consumer.” Bloggers and commentators had mixed reactions to the device. It cannot run Adobe’s Flash software, used by many advertisers and games companies online to create eye-catching motion on web pages, which some see as essential to web browsing. Many women were dismayed by the name: the San Francisco Examiner pointed out that “for North American women the word ‘pad’ means but one thing, a sanitary napkin”. But Nick Carr, author of The Big Switch, about the move towards cloud computing, described the launch as “the day the PC died”, saying that Apple “wants to deliver the killer device for the cloud era, a machine that will define computing’s new age in the way that the Windows PC defined the old age.” Without a price ahead of the launch it may be difficult for retailers to judge the public’s interest – and so whether the device will sell in large or small numbers. Amazon’s Kindle, which includes mobile networking in the price, only launched recently in the UK, and Amazon has never disclosed sales numbers, though it is reckoned to have sold only about 500,000 to the end of last year. The decision to keep the UK price under wraps is unusual for Apple, which usually announces UK pricing simultaneously with any launch, and could either indicate concern about exchange rate fluctuations, or a desire to keep people intrigued about the device, or that non-US networks are seeking to sell it with some sort of subsidy. Already several UK mobile phone companies subsidise the cost of laptops to persuade customers to sign up for long-term mobile broadband contracts. Anyone signing up to a two-year mobile broadband deal with T-Mobile at £40 a month, for instance, gets a free Sony Vaio laptop worth £499. However, Apple has forced AT&T to give up persuading customers to sign long-term contracts in order to subsidise the iPad; instead, it will effectively be available on what in Europe would be seen as a 30-day rolling Sim-only contract such as those offered by O2 and Vodafone. “It does not look as though it has the traditional subsidy model,” said Harrison. “If you put Wi-Fi and 3G in it, it is actually more expensive not less expensive.” In a note relating AT&T’s financial prospects following the news, Jonathan Schildkraut, analyst at Jefferies & Co investment bank said the tariffs are “in line with the current data add-on options available with voice packages, and well below the roughly $60 plans currently offered by wireless carriers for a laptop card. The prepaid plan can be activated directly from the iPad and, because there is no contract, can be canceled at anytime.” Meanwhile anyone who already has a wireless broadband “dongle” under a long-term contract and is thinking about installing its SIM card into an iPad will be disappointed. The iPad is the first mass-market mobile device to use micro-Sim cards, which are smaller than the current range of Sim cards and were designed for small consumer gadgets such as Birmingham-based Lok8u’s range of wireless-enabled wrist watches. The iPad is also likely to prove a major headache for makers of similar devices, especially Taiwan’s Asus which recently announced plans for its own tablet, and Nokia which last year unveiled a “booklet” computer with built-in 3G. There are also understood to be several tablet computers running Google’s Android software in the works, with France’s Archos rumoured to be planning to release one in March.
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The company has begun its rollout of fibre-based broadband services, which will include services running up to 100Mbps by 2012
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The world’s biggest phone maker takes fight to Apple and Google with free apps Nokia is taking the dramatic step of making its satellite navigation software free to all current and future owners of its smartphones as the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer intensifies its fight against Apple’s iPhone and handsets using Google’s Android platform. The Finnish company, which makes roughly four out of every 10 phones sold worldwide, spent €6.5bn (£5.6bn) on map firm Navteq in 2007, but from today will let anyone with a GPS-enabled Nokia device – such as its N95 or N97 handsets – download its navigation service and maps for free from its Ovi mobile application store. To date, Nokia has sold more than 80m compatible handsets worldwide. Full satnav direction services – for both road users and pedestrians – will be available across 70 countries from today, with extensive maps available in more than 100 others. The move is likely to infuriate satnav companies such as Garmin and TomTom, which charge up to £100 for in-car satellite navigation systems and will see their market effectively undercut by Nokia. It will also threaten companies that currently charge for downloadable satnav mobile phone applications – such as US-based ALK Technologies, whose CoPilot UK product currently costs £26.99 for iPhone users. Nokia executive vice president Anssi Vanjoki denied that the decision to give its satnav service away for free is a defensive move against companies such as Google, which are increasingly encroaching on the company’s turf. “It is a very offensive move if you will,” he said. “We are not talking one product for one country, we are talking map coverage in 183 countries, launching simultaneously globally in 76 countries with 46 languages and with millions of devices already out there, plus with all of our new products being equipped with this. So it does not sound too much like defence to me.” But giving away sophisticated turn-by-turn car and pedestrian satnav direction services to entice customers to choose one of its smartphones over devices such as the iPhone and Google’s Nexus One is symptomatic of Nokia’s desperation to get back into the high-end mobile phone market. The company has seen its share of the lucrative smartphone market come under sustained attack. It was slow to create a viable touchscreen rival to the iPhone while bitter rival Rim has successfully moved its BlackBerry line of mobile devices from the boardroom to the classroom, enticing a new generation of younger users. There have also been successful touchscreen launches by Samsung, which has already overtaken Nokia in the UK market. After more than two years of development, Google’s Android platform is starting to become a major force in the mobile market. Google recently unveiled its first own-branded Android device, the Nexus One, to rave reviews. The internet company already has an extensive maps business and offers turn-by-turn directions in the US. Outside North America it relies upon mapping data from Tele Atlas, owned by TomTom, and is not able to give full satnav services. But it is rumoured to be building up its own maps database outside the US with a view to launching turn-by-turn direction services at some point. Vanjoki also denied that the dramatic volte-face suggests that the company know things Navteq is worthless. “Quite the contrary,” he said. “Right now, what is happening is we are unleashing all this power based on the Navteq acquisition which will help Nokia in three different ways: first of all this becomes a tremendous average sales price defender for our products because it will be completely unique – there is nothing similar available from anyone else; secondly this will be a demonstration of the capabilities and precision of the Navteq maps, so their business will be improved; and thirdly, there are all these developers that are developing applications based on the quality of the maps and then we can distribute those through Ovi store which is another business opportunity for us.” Nokia is also making its maps available to any third party developer that wishes to build applications on top of them. These applications will be sold through the Ovi store and already Nokia is offering its customers free Lonely Planet and Michelin Guide information on its maps. “It becomes a giant environment for mash-ups,” Vanjoki said. “Where people can deliver new applications and immediately they will have a huge customer base available to them”. Nokia’s maps service also allows people to share their location with friends on Facebook, adding pictures and status updates. Its maps also include information about local attractions and events within walking distance of a user’s location through a deal with San Francisco-based local information aggregator Wcities, which has data for over 350 cities worldwide. Nokia will still allow other satnav companies to use Navteq’s data for their services. Navteq’s maps, for instance, are used by Garmin.
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Lotusphere 2010: Research in Motion today launched new BlackBerry software Read Full Story…
RIM has launched two new unified communications applications for Lotus enterprise users Read Full Story…
Jan
15
2010
Kodak launches lawsuit against iPhone and BlackBerryPosted by CompareMobiles.com in Mobile News
Kodak has launched lawsuits alleging that the iPhone and BlackBerry – two of the world’s most popular mobile phones – infringe its patents. The photographic pioneer said on Thursday that it had filed a case in the Western District of New York against Apple and Canadian handset manufacturer Research in Motion, as well as an extra one against Apple, amid claims that they that were unfairly using technology patented by Kodak Eastman. “We have invested hundreds of millions of dollars creating our industry-leading patent portfolio,” said Laura Quatela, the chief intellectual property officer of Eastman Kodak. The dispute revolves around a system for displaying previews of images that have been taken with a digital camera, which Kodak says it has patented. The second Apple case, meanwhile, involves the interaction between a camera and the software on a computer. Kodak said that it did not want to block sales of the iPhone or BlackBerry – which are among the most profitable and lucrative handsets in the mobile market – but instead sought “fair compensation”. “We’ve had discussions for years with both companies in an attempt to resolve this issue amicably, and we have not been able to reach a satisfactory agreement,” said Quatela. “In light of that, we are taking this action to ensure that we protect the interests of our shareholders and the existing licensees of our technology… Those devices use Kodak technology, and we are merely seeking compensation for the use of our technology in their products.” The company did not put a value on the damages it was seeking, but said it would enjoin the two companies – which could prevent in Apple and RIM But the case – filed in Rochester, New York – is not the first time that Kodak has launched a legal action to protect its intellectual property. A long-running case against Sun Microsystems, first started in 2002, was finally settled in 2004. More recently, Kodak won a case against Samsung for infringements by the Korean manufacturer’s mobile phones. The Kodak case is just the latest in a series of patent disputes surrounding the iPhone, most notably a bitter tit-for-tat conflict between Apple and the world’s largest mobile phone company, Nokia. In October, Nokia launched a legal attack on the Californian technology company, alleging that the iPhone infringed 10 of its “fundamental” patents relating to wireless technologies. Apple countered with its own lawsuit in December, accusing Nokia – which has lost significant market share in recent years – of copying its technology. “Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours,” said Bruce Sewell, Apple’s general counsel and senior vice president, at the time. Since then Nokia has launched further legal actions, including one that claims that “virtually all” of Apple’s products infringe one or other of its rival’s patents. Kodak – which pioneered popular photography in the – has struggled in recent years as the rapid transition from film cameras to digital cameras to cameraphones has taken place. Five years ago it began a reinvention of its business – which started with 15,000 job losses – to try and remain relevant in the digital age, but a year ago it announced that 4,500 more jobs would go worldwide as losses mounted.
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T-Mobile UK and Innovative Converged Devices (ICD) unveil portable family hub, to be made available in the UK later this year Read Full Story…
Jan
05
2010
The revolution will be televised in high definition 3DPosted by CompareMobiles.com in Mobile News
On eve of Las Vegas consumer electronics showcase, expectations grow for internet TVs and the tablet computer Televisions enhanced with direct internet access and 3D displays will be among the most anticipated products unveiled when the world’s biggest annual technology showcase kicks off in Las Vegas on Thursday. This year could see a revolution in televisions on high street sale as they converge with the web, allowing viewers to watch services such as the BBC’s iPlayer and YouTube more conveniently. Manufacturers including Sony, Panasonic and LG are expected to launch sets with a broad range of new capabilities at the Consumer Electronics Show, including High Definition TV (HDTV) screens with the internet telephony service Skype built in, so people can use their TVs for video chats with friends and family anywhere in the world. The BBC launched a limited trial last month of the iPlayer on some high definition Freesat boxes – the free-to-air satellite service is increasingly integrated into TVs – and is anticipating even more viewers being online when the next generation of sets emerges. There is a scramble to profit on the hype surrounding 3D after cinema hits Avatar and Up. A number of companies will be debuting their attempts at high-quality 3D screens. The Discovery Channel could even announce plans to launch a 3D TV channel next year. The Las Vegas show is where the world’s most powerful electronics brands fight for top billing: launches in the past include the DVD, the Xbox games console and the puzzle game Tetris. Last night’s launch of the Nexus One phone – Google’s rival to Apple’s iPhone – sought to upstage the start of CES and the next big moment will come tomorrow night with a keynote speech from Microsoft’s forceful chief executive, Steve Ballmer. The company has opened CES in the past by outlining a vision of where Microsoft believes the future is headed. Two years ago billionaire founder Bill Gates demonstrated a table with a built-in touch sensitive computer, the Surface, while last year Ballmer showed off Windows 7. Announcements likely this year include new mobile phones, concepts for home entertainment – perhaps even a launch date for Project Natal, the motion-sensitive video gaming system unveiled last summer. Whatever Ballmer has up his sleeve, he will have to compete with announcements from rivals such as Sony, Samsung, and Google. Microsoft is not alone in looking for wow factor. Others include Nokia, the beleaguered mobile phone maker whose chief executive, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, will attempt to excite Friday’s crowds with a new slate of gadgets. Alan Mulally, boss of car maker Ford, is expected to show off hi-tech concepts aimed at changing the future of driving. “We expect them to say something fairly significant,” said Gary Shapiro, head of the Consumer Electronics Association, which organises the show. “They are positioning themselves as a tech company rather than a car company.” It is on the show’s extensive floors that most surprises are likely. With more than 2,500 exhibitors and acres of floor space, weird and wonderful ideas have plenty of room to thrive. Exploding on the scene this year are tablet computers – touchscreen devices pitched between a laptop and a mobile phone. With Apple – which is not at CES itself – set to make an announcement later this month, rivals are hoping they can break into the market. Among these is Freescale, a US company which has announceda machine combining tablet and smartbook features. “We believe the tablet will emerge as a popular form factor for the next generation of smartbooks,” said Henri Richard of Freescale.
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The service will be available on some HDTVs as well as PCs, but it requires broadband uplink speeds that are more that twice the UK average
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