Posts Tagged ‘SmartPhone’
Nokia has announced the launch of its latest flagship smartphone, the N8 (pictured), which will be the first ever device based on the new Symbian version 3 (S^3) platform. Nokia – the world’s largest handset vendor – announced today that the new device will be available in selected markets in the third quarter of the year, slightly later than planned according to earlier reports. It is priced at EUR370 before applicable taxes or subsidies. Among the highlight features on the N8 is a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash and a large sensor that claims to rival those found in compact digital cameras. It also offers the ability to make and edit HD-quality videos and is compatible with home theatre systems. Web TV services and social networking features are also prominent, including the ability to have live feeds from Facebook and Twitter in a single app directly on the home screen. Nokia’s free turn-by-turn navigation service – Ovi Maps – is also included. Given Nokia’s recent troubles with its smartphone portfolio, the N8 will be carefully watched.
In a separate statement, Symbian described the launch as marking its first major platform release following its transition to a fully open source model in February this year. “S^3 enables an unparalleled set of options for device creators and app developers to extend the usefulness of Symbian products and services,” said Lee Williams, executive director at Symbian. The N8 is Nokia’s first device to be integrated with Qt, a software development environment that aims to make it possible to build applications once and deploy across Symbian and other software platforms. The vendor has made a beta version of the Qt SDK available for developers.
Source: GSMA Daily
Japan provides some fascinating pointers as to how tech-savvy mobile operators are trying to contend with the growing strategic importance of handset operating systems that lie beyond their control. In Japan, this shift in the balance of power is an entirely new phenomena – Japan’s mobile operators have traditionally controlled handset development, setting out detailed specifications for both software and hardware.
Detailed story is at the below link:
Japans Operators Sharpen their Smartphone Strategies.
I personally like DoComo’s approach of creating a “global” platform that would make “write once, use everywhere” (symbian, linux, android etc.) a reality for developers.
- In: Competition | Global Trend | Mobile Device | Telecom
- 2 Comments
Gartner predicts that worldwide sales of smartphones will grow by 29 percent year-on-year to reach 180 million units in 2009, overtaking notebooks in total unit terms. The research firm adds that it expects smartphone sales revenue to reach US$191 million by 2012, higher than end user spending on mobile PCs, which is forecast to reach US$152 million by the same point. Currently smartphones account for 14 percent of overall mobile device sales, but Gartner expects by 2012 they will make up around 37 percent of global handset sales. However, it adds that the PC vendors’ cumulative share (Apple excluded) of the smartphone market has remained static at around 1 percent and is unlikely to rise above 2 percent during the next three years, highlighting the challenges faced by PC vendors looking to tap into smartphones.
“PC vendors will find it difficult to simply use existing supply chains and channels to expand their presence in the smartphone market,” said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner. “The smartphone and notebook markets are governed by different rules when it comes to successfully marketing and selling products.” Gartner notes that PC vendors have traditionally introduced smartphones based on the Windows Mobile platform, which have mainly attracted business users. But it adds that PC vendors will face extreme challenges in having to adapt and base their smartphone offerings on a consumer-focused value proposition based on short life cycles, fashion design, hardware and software platform diversity.
Will the Palm Pre be the last in a storied line of products, or will it mark the beginning of a new era for the once and former Palm, Inc.?
Being a fan of palm’s handheld PDA (those mono-chrome ones), I always thought they would lead when it comes to making a great PDA phone/ smart phone. Looks like they have missed the boat along the way and never actually made that great effort until when they tried to revive the glory through “Pre”. “Pre” had created great pre-launch buzz in the industry and many dubbed the device as “iPhone killer”. But reality has been far from it. Lets look at the sales number.
According to Ed Snyder, co-founder and wireless industry analyst at Charter Equity Research, Palm sold 300,000 of the new smartphones in June, and another 75,000 in late May. Neither Palm nor sole-carrier Sprint have yet disclosed numbers, and some analysts put the June sales figure at 150,000. Snyder estimates that Palm will deliver about 1 million units during the first full quarter of manufacturing.
Apple’s new iPhone 3GS, with the 3.0 operating system, sold that many in its opening weekend. I guess the argument ends there.
Came across a great slide show “From Palm Pilot to Palm Pre: A Brief History of Palm’s Handhelds” @ network world paying tirbute. May be bit nostalgic for old fanboys of Palm PDA users.
Apple yesterday took the wraps off a new and improved iPhone model, whilst halving the price of its entry-level device to US$99. The Cupertino, California-based vendor used its Worldwide Developers Conference to unveil the iPhone 3G S (pictured, left), which sports a number of upgrades from its predecessors, including a doubled memory capacity of 32GB, a digital compass, 3MP camera, voice control, longer-lasting battery, and the ability to record videos. It also includes the latest iPhone operating system (version 3.0). This upgrade of software also means that now the iPhone will have capabilities such as cut, copy and paste which was ma complete miss from numerous end-user’s perspective. Apple said the device will support HSDPA networks offering theoretical peak download speeds of 7.2 Mb/s, with the ‘S’ in iPhone 3G S standing for ‘speed.’ A 16GB model will retail for US$199 and the 32GB model for US$299.
See the new iPhone 3GS ads > HERE and watch the new iPhone 3GS > Guided Tour
US operator AT&T and O2 in the UK will be among the first operators to begin selling the iPhone 3G S on 19 June. Telenor will launch the device in Norway on 9 July. In a statement, Apple said the device will also be available “in more than 80 countries in the coming weeks.” Meanwhile, the vendor also dropped the price of its year-old 8GB iPhone 3G model to US$99 in an effort to push the smartphone to a wider audience. Reuters reported that Morgan Stanley estimates the halving in price could double existing sales. The news agency also noted that Apple CEO Steve Jobs did not put in a much speculated-about appearance. Despite Jobs’ no-show, Apple’s event has arguably overshadowed the launch of Palm’s ‘iPhone rival,’ the Pre, last weekend. The high-profile Pre reportedly experienced strong demand at store opening on Saturday (with between 50,000-100,000 units sold) but analysts are now concerned Palm will not be able to ramp up production supplies quick enough.
Based on U.S. consumer sales of smartphone handsets in NPD’s “Smartphone Market Update” report, the first-quarter 2009 ranking of the top-five best-selling smartphones is as follows:
- RIM BlackBerry Curve (all 83XX models)
- Apple iPhone 3G (all models)
- RIM BlackBerry Storm
- RIM BlackBerry Pearl (all models, except flip)
- T-Mobile G1
Two factors that contributed strongly in moving BlackBerry Curve to top spot and capturing 3 positions among top 5 are:
- “Verizon Wireless’s aggressive marketing of the BlackBerry Storm and its buy-one-get-one BlackBerry promotion
- its broader availability on the four major U.S. national carriers (in comparison to iPhone exclusivity of AT&T)
The above study also pointed out that RIM’s share of the smartphone market rose a solid 15 percent to a full 50 percent, while both Apple and Palm both saw their shares fall 10 percent. Could this be because consumers are waiting for the new models (in the horizon are iPhone’s version 3 and Palm’s Pre) from them to be available?
BlackBerry handsets have become a staple of executives, lawyers, politicians and other professionals who use them to send wireless e-mail securely. However, printing from the device was not dreamt of until now. Now on BlackBerry users will be empowered to even print e-mails, photos, documents, and web pages from the very same device to a printer of their convenience. This is made possible by HP’s CloudPrint for BlackBerry smartphones, a web based technology (to be demonstrated in Wireless Enterprise Symposium in Orlando, later this week) that is “printer-agnostic and driverless” and only requires simple Internet access. This service is likely to available to BlackBerry Internet Service subscribers as well as BlackBerry Enterprise Server customers.
This service was announced as a start of “strategic relationship” between Research In Motion (RIM) and HP, two stalwarts in their respective fields, to offer “a portfolio of solution for businesses”. I would expect more such tie-up to follow in the near future to enhance value for enterprises customers. This tie-up looks like a win-win for both partners as enterprise mobility has garnered great momentum in the recent years where enterprises focus has been on efficiency and convenience.
- Rolling out innovative applications relevant to enterprises’ changing needs will continue to maintain BlackBerry’s upper hand in the enterprise mobility even though Apple’s iPhone is surely making its presence felt.
- HP Operations Manager for BlackBerry Enterprise Server, also released on the same day, is designed to enable companies to monitor and manage their BlackBerry enterprise environment. Managed BlackBerry Services, part of EDS Mobile Workplace Services that helps enterprises to outsource the management of BlackBerry deployment, gains further credibility and likely to fuel its base of managed BlackBerry device from its current 500,000.
“RIM and HP are working together to deliver solutions to customers that weave mobility into their daily operations–from innovative new services in the cloud to managed mobile services for the enterprise,” Jim Balsillie, co-chief executive officer of Research In Motion, said in a statement. “Through our collaboration with HP, businesses will have access to an expanded set of applications and services for their BlackBerry smartphone deployments.”
Krishna Baidya's Random Musings 