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NOOK Media LLC: the finalization of the strategic joint venture between Barnes & Noble and Microsoft
Look back how the NOOK tablet had been started:
Barnes & Noble NOOK offensive [this same blog, May 25, 2011]
while the whole NOOK effort in terms of devices was as as follows:
Note: only Android has been used so far.
Then here is a recent “internal progress with Microsoft” information:
Barnes & Noble Now Hiring Windows 8 Engineers For New Nook Devices [The Digital Reader, Sept 26, 2012]
Now that B&N has their new Nook gadgetry out for all to see, it looks like they are going to turn their attention to their next set of devices.
Yesterday a friend tipped me to a couple new job postings for B&N. The jobs are located at the Nook facility in Palo Alto, Calif., and at least one is pretty clearly associated with new devices, not apps. That listing mentions the Nook hardware repeatedly, a detail which isn’t included in the job listings for app developers.
There’s little to indicate what the hardware will be, or what it will do, but it is clear that B&N is just beginning to build the team. B&N is looking for a “Director, Engineering Windows 8“, and that’s the only 1 of the 2 listings which mention Windows 8 as well as the Nook. The other new job listing looks to be aimed at someone to manage the app developers for Windows 8. Put the 2 together and they suggest that B&N is going to have the new guys build the teams.
What’s also interesting about the new job listings is that one confirms the rumored integration with MS software and services. The Director of Engineering is responsible for:
delivering on our contractual commitments on Windows 8 applications, Cloud , commerce , content integration with the Microsoft ecosystem and for defining and delivering on product strategy of Nook integration with Microsoft ecosystem including Windows, Office, Bing.
To be honest, this should come as no surprise, given that many bloggers jumped to this conclusion when the B&N/MS deal was announced back in April of this year. But it is still a surprise because Bill Lynch said this wasn’t going to happen. Of course, he did use the word “currently” when he made that statement back in May, so it is more than possible that this was always the next step.
Note that since the new NOOKs are based on TI OMAP 4470 SoCs (see later on) Windows RT may quite easily come for them on October 26 as the TI’s platform had been one the ARM SoCs selected by Microsoft for the development of the Windows RT.
More to come below as:
- The NOOK Media LLC: what is it and what is behind?
- Recent announcements about Barnes & Noble’s NOOK business
- About Liberty Media Corporation
1. The NOOK Media LLC: what is it and what is behind?
Barnes & Noble and Microsoft Complete Strategic Partnership in New Subsidiary: NOOK MEDIA LLC [joint press release, Oct 4, 2012]
Includes Barnes & Noble’s NOOK® Digital and College Businesses as well as Microsoft Investment to Advance Digital Reading Experience
New York, NY and Redmond, WA (October 4, 2012) – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) today announced the completion of their previously announced strategic partnership in NOOK Media LLC, a recently formed Barnes & Noble subsidiary and a leader in the emerging digital reading and digital education markets. Microsoft and Barnes & Noble’s strategic partnership in NOOK Media LLC will enable the companies to advance world-class digital reading experiences to the hundreds of millions of customers they jointly serve.
NOOK Media LLC comprises the digital and College businesses of Barnes & Noble and will continue to have a very close and mutually beneficial relationship with Barnes & Noble’s retail stores. The partnership includes a $300 million investment from Microsoft in NOOK Media LLC.
“As demand for digital content continues to increase, we are focused on bringing ground-breaking reading and learning content and technologies to more people in more formats than ever before, including the imminent launch of our exceptional NOOK reading application for Windows 8,” said William Lynch, CEO of Barnes & Noble. “We look forward to working closely with our new partner Microsoft to add value to their innovative new platform by bringing great reading experiences and one of the world’s preeminent digital bookstores to millions of Windows 8 users.”
“NOOK Media is a leader in developing the next generation of digital reading and we look forward to the company bringing one of the world’s largest digital libraries to Windows 8 devices via their upcoming Windows 8 app,” said Andy Lees, President at Microsoft. “We are also excited by NOOK Media’s product roadmap and expansion into markets around the world as demonstrated by their recent launches in the United Kingdom.”
Microsoft made its $300 million investment in NOOK Media LLC at a post-money valuation of $1.7 billion in exchange for an approximately 17.6% equity stake, with Barnes & Noble owning the remaining shares.
As previously announced, there is no set timetable for Barnes & Noble’s review of strategic options for its investment in NOOK Media LLC. There can be no assurance that the review will result in a strategic separation or the creation of a stand-alone public company. Barnes & Noble does not intend to comment further regarding the review unless and until a decision is made.
About Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, operates 689 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 667 college bookstores serving over 4.6 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through BN.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web’s largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than 3 million titles in its NOOK Bookstore™ (www.bn.com/ebooks). Through Barnes & Noble’s NOOK® eReading product offering, customers can buy and read digital books and content on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK devices, partner company products, and the most popular mobile and computing devices using free NOOK software. Barnes & Noble is proud to be named a J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Customer Service Champion and is one of only 50 U.S. companies so named. Barnes & Noble.com is ranked the number one online retailer in customer satisfaction in the book, music and video category and a Top 10 online retailer overall in customer satisfaction according to ForeSee E-Retail Satisfaction Index (Spring Top 100 Edition).
General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company’s corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com.
To understand the meaning of “digital and College businesses of Barnes & Noble” as parts of the new NOOK Media LLC we should include here the corresponding excerpts from Barnes & Noble Reports Fiscal 2013 First Quarter Financial Results [Aug 21, 2012] with segment numbers specifically inserted here on the sideline:
Note that this actually shows that Barnes & Noble transferred all of its loss making and/or investment hungry businesses into the new NOOK Media LLC.
Retail
The Retail segment, which consists of the Barnes & Noble bookstores and BN.com businesses, had revenues of $1.1 billion for the quarter, increasing 2% over the prior year.
…
College
The College segment, which consists of the Barnes & Noble College bookstores business, had revenues of $221 million during this non-back-to-school rush period.
…
NOOK
The NOOK segment, which consists of the company’s digital business (including Readers, digital content and accessories), had revenues of $192 million for the quarter, essentially flat as compared to last year. Digital content sales increased 46% for the first quarter. Digital content sales are defined to include digital books, digital newsstand, and the apps business. Device sales declined for the quarter due to lower average selling prices and production scaling issues surrounding the popular newly launched GlowLight product resulting in unmet demand.NOOK EBITDA losses increased by $6 million, from a loss of $51 million to a loss of $57 million, as a result of product markdowns on the recently announced NOOK price adjustments, as well as continued investments in the NOOK business.
…
The formation of NOOK Media LLC goes back to Barnes & Noble and Microsoft Form Strategic Partnership to Advance World-Class Digital Reading Experiences for Consumers [joint press release, April 30, 2012]
Newly Formed Subsidiary to Include NOOK® Digital and College Businesses
New York, NY and Redmond, WA (April 30, 2012) – Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) today announced the formation of a strategic partnership in a new Barnes & Noble subsidiary, which will build upon the history of strong innovation in digital reading technologies from both companies. The partnership will accelerate the transition to e-reading, which is revolutionizing the way people consume, create, share and enjoy digital content.
The new subsidiary, referred to in this release as Newco, will bring together the digital and College businesses of Barnes & Noble. Microsoft will make a $300 million investment in Newco at a post-money valuation of $1.7 billion in exchange for an approximately 17.6% equity stake. Barnes & Noble will own approximately 82.4% of the new subsidiary, which will have an ongoing relationship with the company’s retail stores. Barnes & Noble has not yet decided on the name of Newco.
One of the first benefits for customers will be a NOOK application for Windows 8, which will extend the reach of Barnes & Noble’s digital bookstore by providing one of the world’s largest digital catalogues of e-Books, magazines and newspapers to hundreds of millions of Windows customers in the U.S. and internationally.
The inclusion of Barnes & Noble’s College business is an important component of Newco’s strategic vision. Through the newly formed Newco, Barnes & Noble’s industry leading NOOK Study software will provide students and educators the preeminent technology platform for the distribution and management of digital education materials in the market.
“The formation of Newco and our relationship with Microsoft are important parts of our strategy to capitalize on the rapid growth of the NOOK business, and to solidify our position as a leader in the exploding market for digital content in the consumer and education segments,” said William Lynch, CEO of Barnes & Noble. “Microsoft’s investment in Newco, and our exciting collaboration to bring world-class digital reading technologies and content to the Windows platform and its hundreds of millions of users, will allow us to significantly expand the business.”
“The shift to digital is putting the world’s libraries and newsstands in the palm of every person’s hand, and is the beginning of a journey that will impact how people read, interact with, and enjoy new forms of content,” said Andy Lees, President at Microsoft. “Our complementary assets will accelerate e-reading innovation across a broad range of Windows devices, enabling people to not just read stories, but to be part of them. We’re on the cusp of a revolution in reading.”
Barnes & Noble and Microsoft have settled their patent litigation, and moving forward, Barnes & Noble and Newco will have a royalty-bearing license under Microsoft’s patents for its NOOK eReader and Tablet products. This paves the way for both companies to collaborate and reach a broader set of customers.
Newco
On January 5, Barnes & Noble announced that it was exploring the strategic separation of its digital business in order to maximize shareholder value. Barnes & Noble is actively engaged in the formation of Newco, which will include Barnes & Noble’s digital and College businesses. The company intends to explore all alternatives for how a strategic separation of Newco may occur. There can be no assurance that the review will result in a strategic separation or the creation of a stand-alone public company, and there is no set timetable for this review. Barnes & Noble does not intend to comment further regarding the review unless and until a decision is made.
Additional information will be contained in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by Barnes & Noble.
Barnes & Noble and Microsoft will host an investor call and webcast beginning at 8:30 A.M. ET on Monday, April 30, 2012. To join the webcast, please visit: www.barnesandnobleinc.com/webcasts.
Regarding those written cautions please note that:
– Barnes & Noble Board of Directors Announces Proposal from Liberty Media to Acquire Company [press release, May 19, 2011]
– Barnes & Noble Announces Strategic Investment Made by Liberty Media [press release, Aug 18, 2011]
… Liberty purchased preferred stock, convertible into approximately 12 million shares or 16.6% (after giving effect to the issuance) of the Company’s common stock at a price of $17 per share [a $204 million investment in Barnes & Noble by Liberty Media], and with a dividend rate of 7.75% per annum to be paid quarterly. …
Leonard Riggio, Chairman of Barnes & Noble said, “We could not have found a better strategic investor than Liberty Media. Their investment is a strong endorsement of our overall business and the additional capital will further fuel the explosive growth of our digital strategy.”
“We are excited about Barnes & Noble’s prospects as the leading bookseller in the U.S. and its growth opportunities in the digital world,” said Greg Maffei, Liberty Media’s President and CEO. “This investment provides Barnes & Noble with capital to grow its business on terms that are attractive for both parties and allows us to play a meaningful role in shaping their success to generate returns for our shareholders and theirs.” …
– Barnes & Noble Reports Record NOOK® Sales – Announces Decision to Explore Separation of Large and Rapidly Growing NOOK Digital Business – Retail Business Grows During the Holidays [press release, Jan 5, 2012]
New York, NY (January 5, 2012) — Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today reported record holiday sales for its NOOK business, including devices and digital content. During the nine-week holiday period ending December 31, 2011, NOOK unit sales, including NOOK Simple Touch™, NOOK Color™ and the new NOOK Tablet™, increased 70% over the same period last year. Sales of NOOK Tablet exceeded expectations, while sales of NOOK Simple Touch lagged expectations, indicating a stronger customer preference for color devices.
Digital content sales also grew briskly during the same nine-week period, increasing 113% on a comparable basis. Content sales are defined to include digital books, digital newsstand, and the rapidly growing apps business.
The entire line of NOOK products have been acclaimed widely as the best in the marketplace, and validate the Company’s first-class digital organization. While the Company has invested heavily in developing its new platform, including recruiting world-class talent and increasing its advertising and marketing spend, its customer Life-Time-Value (LTV) models continue to indicate these up-front investments will create significant value.
The Company expects fiscal 2012 digital content sales to be approximately $450 million. By fiscal 2012 year-end, based upon forecasted device sales, the Company expects annualized U.S. digital content sales will achieve a run-rate of approximately $700-$750 million.
Due to the increased significance of the NOOK business platform, the Company is evaluating its reporting segments. The evaluation is expected to be complete by the end of this fiscal year, which may result in reporting NOOK as a separate operating segment.
STRATEGIC EXPLORATION OF NOOK DIGITAL BUSINESS
In order to capitalize on the rapid growth of the NOOK digital business, and its favorable leadership position in the expanding market for digital content, the Company has decided to pursue strategic exploratory work to separate the NOOK business.“We see substantial value in what we’ve built with our NOOK business in only two years, and we believe it’s the right time to investigate our options to unlock that value,” said William Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. “In NOOK, we’ve established one of the world’s best retail platforms for the sale of digital copyright content. We have a large and growing installed base of millions of satisfied customers buying digital content from us, and we have a NOOK business that’s growing rapidly year-over-year and should be approximately $1.5 billion in comparable sales this fiscal year. Between continued projected growth in the U.S., and the opportunity for NOOK internationally in the next 12 months, we expect the business to continue to scale rapidly for the foreseeable future.”
The Company also said that it is in discussions with strategic partners including publishers, retailers, and technology companies in international markets that may lead to expansion of the NOOK business abroad.
There can be no assurance that the review of a potential separation of the NOOK digital business will result in a separation. There is no timetable for the review, and the Company does not intend to comment further regarding the review, unless and until a decision is made.
RETAIL HOLIDAY SALES RESULTS
During the nine-week holiday period, Barnes & Noble store (or “Retail”) sales increased 2.5% over the prior year period to $1.2 billion. Comparable store sales increased 3.4%, on top of a 9.7% increase last year. Retail core comparable store sales, defined as the sales of non-digital merchandise, increased 4.5% over last year.
Book sales were strong overall, fueled by strength across multiple categories. Juvenile titles were exceptionally strong, led by The Hunger Games, Cabin Fever (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series #6), Inheritance, and The LEGO Ideas Book. In addition, there was significant crossover between physical and digital book sales, including big movie books like The Help, The Girl With the Dragon Tattooand War Horse among the holiday hits. Physical book sales on a comparable basis increased by 4% at Barnes & Noble stores, exhibiting growth for the first time in five years.
The Company’s continued emphasis on Toys & Games led to 30% growth in that area, on top of a 48% increase last year. Top sellers included LEGO building sets, Harry Potter collectibles and games, Angry Birds games and electronic learning tablets such as LeapFrog® LeapPad™ Explorer and Vtech Innotab Tablet.
Barnes & Noble continues to benefit from a consolidating physical book market. The Company benefitted from the closure of Borders stores during the holiday season and now expects the sales lift to be in a range of $200 million to $230 million in fiscal 2012. The Company reinvested the Borders upside in its digital business.
BN.COM/NOOK HOLIDAY SALES RESULTS
BN.com sales increased 43% over the prior year period to $327 million, with comparable sales increasing 52%, on top of a 78% increase a year ago. This increase was driven by continued growth of the NOOK business, offset by a decline in online physical product sales.The consolidated NOOK business across all of the Company’s segments, including sales of digital content, device hardware and related accessories, increased 43% during the holiday period to $448 million, on a comparable sales basis. A substantial portion of the 70% year-over-year NOOK unit increase was driven by sell-through at third-party retailers as the Company expanded NOOK distribution. This growth in sales with customers at retailers outside of Barnes & Noble stores is indicative of the increasing awareness of the NOOK brand and demand for the product from customers new to Barnes & Noble.
BN.com and NOOK comparable sales reflect the actual selling price for eBooks sold under the agency model rather than solely the commission received. Additionally, it includes all deferred eReader device revenues, and includes device sales to channel partners on a “sell-in” basis net of estimated returns.
UPDATED GUIDANCE
The Company now expects full fiscal year 2012 consolidated sales between $7.0 billion and $7.2 billion. Comparable sales at Barnes & Noble stores are expected to increase 1%, Barnes & Noble College sales are expected to be flat, and sales are expected to increase 40% to 50% at BN.com.
The Company now expects full year earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to be in a range of $150 to $180 million. The change in guidance is due primarily to a shortfall in the expected sales of NOOK Simple Touch, as well as additional investments in growing the NOOK business, such as advertising to support new products and international expansion in the back half of the year. The Company now expects full year losses per share to be in a range of $1.40 to $1.10.
Although Barnes & Noble was the first to the market with a revolutionary color eReader and has since introduced NOOK Tablet, which has exceeded expectations, the Company over-anticipated the growth in consumer demand for single purpose black-and-white reading devices this holiday. Nevertheless, NOOK Simple Touch saw strong sales this holiday, remains the highest rated eReader in the market, and the Company plans to continue to market this successful product for years to come.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. will report third quarter earnings results on or about February 21, 2012.
2. Recent announcements about Barnes & Noble’s NOOK business
Barnes & Noble Introduces NOOK® for Web, Giving Readers Instant Access to NOOK Books™ from any Web Browser – No Sign-In, Download or NOOK Required [July 17, 2012]
Get Started Today with Six FREE Bestsellers Available through July 26
Barnes & Noble Announces Lowest Prices Ever on Award-Winning NOOK Tablet™ and NOOK Color™ [Aug 12, 2012]
Amazing Products at Best Value: NOOK Tablet As Low As $179 and NOOK Color Just $149
Barnes & Noble Announces Partnership with Leading UK Retailer John Lewis to Offer its Award-Winning NOOK® Products and Digital Content [Aug 28, 2012]
First Retail Partner Announced to Bring NOOK Reading Devices to
UK Customers Through John Lewis Stores and Online Beginning This October
Barnes & Noble Continues its NOOK Expansion into the UK, Announces Partnership with Argos, Blackwell’s and Foyles, To Offer Award-Winning NOOK® Products [Aug 30, 2012]
NOOK Reading Devices Available to Millions of Argos, Blackwell’s and Foyles Customers in Stores, Catalogues and Online Beginning in October
Barnes & Noble Partners with Sainsbury’s to Offer Award-Winning NOOK® Products [Sept 25, 2012]
Leading UK Retailer Will Offer NOOK As Exclusive Reading Devices to Millions of Customers
Barnes & Noble Partners with Waitrose to Offer Award-Winning NOOK® Products [Sept 25, 2012]
Leading UK Supermarket to Offer NOOK Reading Experience and Products to Millions of Customers Across the Country in Shops and Online this Autumn
NOOK Video™ to Premiere This Fall [Sept 25, 2012]
Coming Soon: Shop Popular Digital Movies & TV Shows Available for Streaming and Download
Content Licensed From Major Studios Including HBO®, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, STARZ, The Walt Disney Studios, Viacom and Warner Bros. Entertainment to Bring Customers Entertainment Anywhere
NOOK® Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight™ – Best-In-Class E Ink® eReaders – Now on Sale in UK [Sept 26, 2012]
First Time NOOK® Products Are Available to UK Customers
Starting at Only £79, NOOK eReaders Offer High-Quality Touchscreen and Top-Rated Reading Experience at an Amazing Price
Order Today From Leading UK Retailers
NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight™ Now Available for the Incredible New Low Price of Just $119 – Unbeatable Value with No Distracting Ads [Sept 30, 2012]
Award-Winning First E Ink® Reader Designed for Reading in the Dark and in Bright Sunlight, At Lowest Price Ever
Barnes & Noble Celebrates Educator Appreciation Week October 13-21 [Ocf 1, 2012]
Special Offers Include Discounts on NOOK® eReaders & Tablets
Presentations Focus on the Digital Classroom and New Nearpod™ Mobile Learning Platform on NOOK
The latest NOOK Device Specs [The NOOK Developer Program, Sept 26, 2012]:
Tour NOOK HD & NOOK HD+ [nookBN YouTube channel, Sept 26, 2012]
Barnes & Noble Launches NOOK® HD and NOOK HD+, Lightest and Highest-Resolution 7-Inch HD Tablet and World’s Lightest Full HD Tablet [Sept 26, 2012]
Incredible Reading and Entertainment Like Never Seen Before on 7- and 9-Inch Tablets
Designed for Both Personal Use and the Whole Family to Share – Like Having Multiple Devices in One
NOOK HD Offers World’s Highest Resolution Display Ever on a 7-Inch Media Tablet Starting at Only $199
NOOK HD+ is Lightest, Lowest-Priced Full HD Tablet Ever Starting at Only $269
Unbeatable Values for Top Quality Tablets and No Distracting Ads Coming to the US and UK This Fall; Pre-Order Starting Today at NOOK.com and Barnes & Noble Stores
New York, New York – September 26, 2012 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today introduced NOOK HD and NOOK HD+, the lightest HD and full HD tablets. The super-fast and lightweight 7-inch NOOK HD and 9-inch NOOK HD+ feature must-see displays for superior reading and entertainment and an instantly personalized tablet experience for each family member. In fact, NOOK HD boasts the world’s highest-resolution ever on a 7-inch tablet and NOOK HD+ rivals the industry-leading tablet’s display. Starting at the low prices of $199 for NOOK HD and $269 for NOOK HD+, nearly half the cost of the leading large-format tablet, both products deliver an amazing value for customers, with no annoying ads. With more than three million books, a large selection of magazines and apps, and now with newly launched NOOK Video™ and NOOK Catalog™ content, NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ offer virtually endless reading and entertainment at customers’ fingertips. Both are available for pre-order at www.nook.com and Barnes & Noble stores for customers to enjoy beginning in early November.
The fantastic new 7-inch NOOK HD and 9-inch NOOK HD+ are packed with favorite tablet features that the whole family will love:
A Personalized Tablet Experience for Both Individuals and Families
According to research by Barnes & Noble, more than 50 percent of tablet owners share their devices with others in their family every day. Half also say they would never let their child handle their device unattended. Not surprising, given that more than a third of tablet owners report having content on their devices they don’t want anyone else to see. NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ are designed precisely to provide a personalized experience for individuals and their family members, allowing children to freely enjoy all the content they love without happening upon all that mom and dad would rather they didn’t see. New NOOK Profiles™ instantly transform the device in hand to any family member’s very own tablet. With a quick tap on a profile at the top of the screen, the entire experience magically changes into that family member’s personal tablet as their own content – and personalized recommendations – appear on the display. Now mom’s NOOK becomes Billy’s NOOK, becomes dad’s NOOK and so on. In a blink, one device is like four, five or six. Adults can use their personal passwords to easily access their books, magazines, videos, apps and more. Children can dive into their collection of digital picture books, learning apps and kid-friendly videos, while tweens and teens can access their chapter books, magazines, games and favorite TV shows. Enhanced controls with simple settings and password features empower parents to easily manage their children’s access to the Web, content and shopping.
Must-Have Tablet Features
The new NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ are optimized to deliver unparalleled experiences in the areas that company research showed NOOK tablet owners use most: reading, Web, video and email. The reading experience is unmatched, offering beautifully rendered text, magazines in spectacular HD and lightning fast page turns. Thanks to top-end processors, the newly designed Web browser in NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ is super-fast, making it simple and smooth to surf favorite sites with a tap, pinch and zoom. New to the Web, ArticleView™ allows you to customize your online reading experience. Both NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ offer access to a collection of popular movies and TV shows through new NOOK Video. And an all-new built-in email app offers new features in an easy-to-use, clean format that supports a host of popular personal and work-related email services including Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync.
NOOK HD 360° View [nookBN YouTube channel, Sept 25, 2012]
NOOK HD – The Most Exceptional Reading and Entertainment Experience in a 7-Inch Tablet
Best 7-Inch Display: NOOK HD includes a newly invented, brilliant display that delivers the highest quality text, graphics and video experience in a 7-inch media tablet. Packed with pixels, every book read, every movie watched, every game played is rendered in a digital quality never before seen. NOOK HD offers the highest-resolution display ever on a 7-inch tablet at 1440 x 900, with an unprecedented 243 pixels per inch and HD video playback of up to 720p. It’s ultra-sharp with 25 percent more pixels than Kindle Fire HD for a better overall viewing experience. Building on the highly advanced laminated displays first seen in the 7-inch category on previous NOOK LCD products, NOOK HD features the most advanced IPS display coupled with world-class optical bonding technology with no air gap to deliver low-glare and a wide viewing angle for sharing.
Super-Light and a Joy to Hold: Weight matters, and no other leading 7-inch HD tablet is lighter than NOOK HD. By developing a breakthrough design that integrates the display into the device itself, Barnes & Noble eliminated many components to keep NOOK HD super-light, yet durable. At only 11.1 ounces (315 grams) and just 5-inches wide, it’s more than 20 percent lighter and nearly a half-inch narrower than Kindle Fire HD. So, it fits the hand beautifully and is finished with soft-touch paint that makes it comfortable for even a young child to hold. NOOK HD is ergonomically contoured for comfort and slips easily into a men’s suit coat, a woman’s handbag or a child’s backpack.
Lightning Fast: Armed with a dual-core 1.3GHz high-speed processor, NOOK HD is lightning fast, highly responsive and smooth. With its more powerful processor, it’s not surprising that NOOK HD is faster than Kindle Fire HD for a nimble overall experience and 80 percent faster when it comes to graphics processing for smoother, faster animations, renderings, apps experience and more. The 1GB of RAM allows customers to easily zip from one app to another and play movies.
More Choices: The world’s most exceptional 7-inch reading and entertainment tablet is now available for pre-order in two colors, “Snow” and “Smoke.” Starting at just $199 for an 8GB model and only $229 for a 16GB version – both featuring expandable microSD memory storage – customers can pre-order at www.nook.com and at Barnes & Noble stores.
NOOK HD+ 360° View [nookBN YouTube channel, Sept 25, 2012]
NOOK HD+ – The Lightest and Lowest-Priced Full HD Tablet Ever
Spectacular Full HD Display: For those who want to enjoy reading and entertainment on a larger scale, NOOK HD+ offers a must-see full HD 9-inch display with resolution of 1920 x 1280 and 256 pixels per inch for up to 1080p for movies, magazines and more. The fully laminated display reduces glare and provides excellent viewing angles, perfect for personal or shared viewing. This amazing display rivals the “resolutionary” screen of the leading high-resolution large-format tablet, but is offered in a device that’s more than 20 percent less weight and nearly half the price.
Incredibly Light Yet Powerful: Weighing in at only 18.2 ounces (515 grams), NOOK HD+ is big on display, yet lightweight, easy to hold and take anywhere. It is the lightest full HD tablet ever invented. NOOK HD+ is power-packed by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM for a fast, smooth customer experience, whether browsing the Web, reading books and magazines, watching videos, enjoying apps or checking email.
Best Price Ever for Full HD Tablet: The beautifully designed NOOK HD+, offered in the color “Slate,” features expandable memory for even more storage with options of 16GB for $269 and 32GB for $299 – two astoundingly low prices for a brilliant, super-light 9-inch reading and entertainment tablet.
Both NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ will ship in late October and be available in stores in early November.
“With the combination of the highest resolution screen, lightest weight and expansive access to content rendered in a digital quality never before seen, NOOK HD is the world’s best 7-inch media tablet,” said William J. Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. “We designed our larger format tablet NOOK HD+ because we think there’s big demand from customers for a super-light, extremely high quality 9-inch tablet, at half the price of the iPad. Both our 7-inch NOOK HD and 9-inch NOOK HD+ deliver an exceptional customer experience and we enthusiastically encourage customers to go to nook.com and learn more about them.”
Barnes & Noble Nook HD+ to take on Amazon, Apple [computerworld YouTube channel, Sept 26, 2012]
Announcing Even More NOOK Content and Services to Enjoy
As part of the launch of NOOK HD and NOOK HD+, Barnes & Noble also announced significant new additions and advancements to the NOOK content ecosystem:
A Growing and Diverse Digital Catalog: The NOOK Store™ now offers more than 3 million books including bestselling books, new releases, classics and enhanced titles with special content; the world’s largest collection of nearly 3,500 best-loved English-language children’s interactive picture books; a growing collection of comic books and graphic novels; and picture-perfect art, photography, travel guides and cookbook titles.
New – NOOK Video: Launching concurrently with the shipment of the new products in late October, NOOK Video offers customers their favorite standard and HD movies and TV shows for streaming and download to enjoy in spectacular color and stunning definition on NOOK HD and NOOK HD+. From major studios, networks and companies like HBO®, STARZ, The Walt Disney Studios and Warner Brothers Entertainment, the NOOK Video catalog offers something for everyone in the family to enjoy. Customers will find TV favorites such as Game of Thrones®, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead to movie favorites like Disney-Pixar’s Brave, The Dark Knight and Harry Potter movies. Both devices are designed with an HDMI compatible port to allow customers to easily connect to their TVs to watch movies and shows in up to full 1080p. Videos streamed and downloaded from the NOOK Store are stored safely and securely in the NOOK Cloud™, so NOOK Video content can also be viewed on NOOK devices, TVs, smartphones and tablets via a suite of new free NOOK Video apps. Like free NOOK Reading apps, all-new NOOK Video apps automatically sync so customers can pick up watching right where they left off on the compatible device of their choosing.
UltraViolet™ Support: NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ are the first UltraViolet-enabled tablets, so right out of the box they seamlessly integrate a customer’s compatible physical DVD and Blu-ray Disc™ purchases and digital video collection across their devices. Customers will be able to easily link their UltraViolet accounts to the NOOK Cloud allowing them to view their previously and newly purchased UltraViolet-enabled movies and TV shows across NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ devices, NOOK Video apps and third-party applications. In addition to purchasing a digital version via NOOK Video, customers can shop for DVDs and Blu-ray Discs with the UltraViolet logo in Barnes & Noble and other retail stores, add them to their digital collection, and instantly watch compatible titles from the NOOK Cloud to enjoy wherever they go and however they choose.
Magazine 2.0: NOOK Newsstand™ has the largest digital collection of the top 100 bestselling magazines available for both digital subscriptions and single copy sale. With NOOK HD and NOOK HD+, the industry-leading magazine experience just got even better. A new visual table of contents lets customers view thumbnails of the entire magazine and simply tap the article they want to read first. Magazines feature a super-fast, 3D-like page turn and include built-in hot spots for readers to quickly jump to specific articles and go deeper on a subject or story through audio, video and Web linking. NOOK’s innovative ArticleView lets the reader focus only on the text, customized to their needs. The company also introduced a breakthrough NOOK Scrapbook™, where magazine readers can virtually clip pages of interest and save them in customized digital scrapbooks.
All-New Newspaper Experience: Extra! Extra! NOOK Newspapers have an all-new design on NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ that make it even easier and more fun to read newspapers digitally. Customers can view and choose each of the paper’s sections on the left column to tap and read in a snap. The large selection of daily and weekly newspapers are available through subscription or single copies and are automatically downloaded via Wi-Fi® to the device when available for reading with morning coffee, on the commute home or anywhere in between.
New – NOOK Catalog: NOOK Catalog offers a convenient browsing and shopping experience through a selection of colorful, complimentary catalogs from leading retailers including Pottery Barn, L.L.Bean, Frontgate, Garnet Hill and Harry & David – with 100 top catalogs available this holiday. Customers’ catalogs are delivered magically to their devices when published so they can virtually flip through the pages to explore, tap on a product of interest for more information from the retailer’s Web site and make a purchase. The new NOOK Scrapbook feature can also be used to rip and save select pages in a personalized collection along with other chosen pages saved from catalogs and magazines.
Top Apps: The global developer community has quickly been innovating and adding to the catalog of high-quality NOOK Apps™. The number of NOOK Apps has grown 10x in the last year and 100x since launching and includes all the most popular and bestselling top 100 app titles for tablets available anywhere. NOOK Apps features a wide range of titles for the whole family, including the hottest games, as well as lifestyle, productivity, news, entertainment and reading apps. In fact, only the NOOK Store provides helpful age recommendations for parents and lets customers browse by subject area to find the perfect app for their child among the broadest and the most curated app collection of kids’ educational apps on any Android store. With games and activities focused on language, math, puzzles, reading, art and more, NOOK provides families with hours of playful learning that helps kids make the most of their “screen time.”
Newly Revamped NOOK Store – A Better Way to Shop & Find Content: NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ bring a new level of personal shopping service to the device experience. Customers can tap on the Your NOOK Today™ icon on the home screen to reveal fresh content and personalized recommendations each day. This includes their latest newsstand subscriptions delivered virtually, plus cool apps and new titles matched to their profile.
And just like a great bookshop, the revamped NOOK Store is a place of continuous discovery. The new store experience allows customers to easily shop by department or explore new NOOK Channels™, a pioneering recommendation system that combines the unrivaled knowledge of Barnes & Noble booksellers with advanced algorithmic technology to create an unparalleled, curated browsing experience. Targeted by interest and sensibility, each NOOK Channel programs a rich stream of reading – and soon movies and apps – that includes the latest releases as well as backlist gems, bestsellers as well as offbeat treasures. Customers can browse and shop Channels that will expand their passions for the authors and subjects they love, from Paranormal Romance, War Stories, and Books to Talk About to Jane Austen & Heirs, The New Classics, History by Plot and Books Every Kid Should Know.
NOOK Cloud: All NOOK content is delivered via Wi-Fi and safely stored through NOOK Cloud, making NOOK Books, videos, apps and other content accessible across NOOK, personal computing and mobile devices using free NOOK Reading and NOOK Video apps.
Additional NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ Highlights
Battery Life that Lasts: Both devices feature extra-long battery life optimized for extended use. NOOK HD offers up to 10.5 hours of continuous reading and up to 9 hours of video watching, while NOOK HD+ boasts up to 10 hours and up to 9 hours for reading and video, respectively, all with Wi-Fi off.
Expandable Storage: In addition to generous onboard storage, NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ also feature expandable memory using a separate microSD card (up to 64GB) – another feature not offered on Amazon’s tablets. NOOK gives customers an economical and flexible way to carry their personal content, PDFs, music, videos and more anywhere.
A Better Value, Ad-Free: NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ offer brilliant displays so customers can enjoy their favorite content and personal photos, not annoying ads as with Amazon’s tablets. And with low prices starting at $199 and $269 respectively, always ad-free NOOK tablets are a better value than Amazon’s, which charges customers an additional $15 for freedom from advertising offers on their tablet home page.
Ready for Power: Barnes & Noble also knows that customers prefer to charge their tablets quickly with an AC adapter, every new NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ has one included at no extra cost. Amazon charges $20 for their tablets’ adapters sold separately.
Superb Sound: To deliver excellent audio, NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ are designed with customized speakers and utilize SRS TruMedia™* to create a wide sound field, deep bass, clear vocals and strong midrange performance. Whether listening through the device’s speakers, a pair of headphones or on a Bluetooth-enabled speaker, customers will enjoy a rich audio experience watching videos, listening to music, reading children’s picture books or playing games.
A NOOK of One’s Own: Gallery has never been so personal with instant access to cherished memories from popular photo sharing and social networking sites. Customers can add even more photos to the Gallery from their computer or emails. NOOK becomes each family member’s very own when they pick a favorite photo for the home screen and screensaver for each individual profile – instead of annoying ads. NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ also make it easy to share photos via email or in person, by connecting NOOK to a TV.
Easy to Use New Interface: Both new tablets feature an all-new beautiful “paper-like” user interface that gets customers right into the content they want, and allows quick access into core applications: Home, Library, Shop and Web. The new experience is intended to make NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ the easiest tablets on the market to use, empowering customers to take advantage of its extensive functionality and enjoy a reading experience that far surpasses that of any other tablets.
Stay Connected More Easily: The all-new email app on NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ lets customers stay connected with what’s happening at the office through support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. Customers can check business email and sync calendar and contacts, too. NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ also support email, calendar and contacts syncing for popular services like Gmail, Hotmail and Outlook.com, as well other popular POP3/IMAP email services like Yahoo!, AOL and more.
Experience the entire NOOK family of products at www.nook.com or at the NOOK Digital Shops and displays in one of Barnes & Noble’s more than 700 bookstores and other leading retailers including Best Buy, Target and Walmart, which will soon take pre-orders, and many others. Barnes & Noble offers Always Free NOOK Support in all of its neighborhood bookstores, with more than 40,000 NOOKsellers across the country ready to assist customers with setting up their NOOK devices or choosing their next great read.
Pre-orders for NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ will begin next month for customers in the United Kingdom, as the products will be available there through leading retailers and www.nook.co.uk in late November.
2. About Liberty Media Corporation: see also Asset List
- Wikipedia article on Liberty Media
- Wikipedia article on John C. Malone
who owns a majority of the voting shares and worth of US $ 5.1 Billion (2012)
The biggest chunk is 
which they are going to separate from the rest as per the LMC 2012 Annual Meeting presentation slides [Aug 8, 2012]
Starz Entertainment, LLC, is a premium movie and original programming entertainment service provider operating in the United States. The company offers 17 premium channels including the flagship STARZ® and ENCORE®brands with approximately 20.7 million and 34.2 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs in total more than 1,000 movies and original series every month across its pay TV channels. Starz Entertainment is recognized as a pay TV leader in providing HD, On Demand, HD On Demand and online advanced services for it s STARZ, ENCORE and MOVIEPLEX brands. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation.
Starz Media, LLC, is a programming production and distribution company operating worldwide. It includes the Film Roman, Anchor Bay Entertainment, and Manga Entertainment brands. Its units create animated and live-action programming and programming created under contract for other media companies. It distributes that programming, and programming acquired from outside producers, through home video retailers, theaters, broadcasters, ad supported and premium television channels, and Internet and wireless video distributors in the US and internationally. Starz Media (www.starzmedia.com) is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation attributed to the Liberty Capital Group.
– Starz, LLC: 100%
Starz, LLC, is a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. It offers …. and offers advanced services including Starz HD, Encore HD, Starz On Demand, Encore On Demand, MoviePlex On Demand, Starz HD On Demand, Encore HD On Demand, MoviePlex HD On Demand, and Starz Play.
Then come very large companies in which LMC has a controlling share:
– Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: LYV): 26%
Largest live entertainment company in the world, consisting of five segments: concert promotion and venue operations, sponsorship, ticketing solutions, eCommerce and artist management.
– Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS): 17%
The world’s largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates bookstores in 50 states and conducts its online business through BN.com (www.bn.com), one of the internet’s largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than two million titles in its NOOK Bookstore™.
– Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI): 49%
Sirius XM Radio is America’s satellite radio company [in 2011 its revenue exceeded $3 billion]. SiriusXM broadcasts more than 135 channels of commercial-free music, premier sports, live news, talk, comedy, entertainment, traffic and weather to 22.9 million subscribers. We are one of the world’s largest pure-play audio entertainment companies and we are among the largest subscription media companies in the United States. SiriusXM broadcasts to subscribers everywhere they want to listen on more than 800 devices for cars, boats, the home or office, and through a wide range of mobile devices.
SiriusXM offers an impressive array of content that spans virtually all genres and interests, including Howard Stern, Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Laura, Jamie Foxx, Opie & Anthony, Bob Edwards, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, Jimmy Buffett, Elvis,Eminem, The Grateful Dead, B.B. King, Pearl Jam, Willie Nelson, Frank Sinatra, and Tom Petty. SiriusXM is the leader in sports programming as the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the NFL, Major League Baseball®, NASCAR®, NBA, NHL®, and PGA TOUR® and offers major college sports.
SiriusXM has arrangements with every major automaker for installation of satellite radio in their vehicles. SiriusXM products are available through shop.siriusxm.com and at retail locations nationwide. SiriusXM programming is also available atsiriusxm.com/whatson, and on Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, BlackBerry and Android-powered smartphones using the SiriusXM Internet Radio App.
SiriusXM provides premium real-time video, traffic, weather, data and information services for subscribers in cars, trucks, RVs, boats and aircraft through Sirius Backseat TV™, Sirius Travel Link, XM NavTraffic®, Sirius Traffic™, XM Nav Weather™, and Sirius Marine™.
as well as investment companies of the same kind:
– Liberty Associated Partners, L.P.: 29%
Principal investment firm specializing in private equity investments
– Associated Partners, L.P.: 37%
Investment and operating partnership that targets long-term, risk-balanced and tax-efficient returns
then two sizeable investments with full ownership:
– “Atlanta Braves”: Atlanta National League Baseball Club, Inc.: 100%
see: Wikipedia Atlanta Braves article and official Atlanta Braves site
– TruePosition, Inc.: 100%
TruePosition is the leading provider of location determination and intelligence solutions for the safety and national security markets worldwide. TruePosition offers a portfolio of industry-leading location technologies, future-proof platform products, innovative applications, and comprehensive networking and systems services to enable the creation of carrier-grade location solutions for private enterprise and government agencies to protect citizens, combat crime, and save lives.
and a number of smaller holdings (large company but meager share like 1% or smaller company with significant share) according to these logos:
Qualcomm decided to compete with the existing Cortex-A5/Krait-based offerings till the end of 2012
Update: Nvidia Tegra 3 under strong pressure from S4 Pro, say Taiwan makers [DIGITIMES, Dec 7, 2012]
Snapdragon S4 Pro series processors developed by Qualcomm have brought increasing competitive pressure on Nvidia’s Tegra 3 because of its superior overall performance-cost ratio, according to Taiwan-based handset supply chain makers.
Although Nvidia successfully landed orders for Google’s Nexus 7 and Microsoft’s Surface RT in 2012, with Microsoft reportedly planning to adopt Qualcomm’s platform for its next-generation Surface RT, while Tegra-based smartphones have only had average sales performance, Nvidia may find it difficult to continue achieving strong growth in 2013 like in 2012.
In 2012, Nvidia received Tegra orders for smartphones including the HTC One X, LG Electronics Optimus 4X H, ZTE Era, K-Touch Treasure V8 and Fujitsu’s devices.
Qualcomm is expected to start fierce competition against MediaTek and China-based handset chipmakers in China’s mid-range to entry-level smartphone market in the first quarter of 2013, challenging Nvidia’s plans of releasing a solution for CNY1,000 smartphones (US$160), while Qualcomm’s aggressiveness over striving orders from tablet players with its reference design, which is set to release in the first half of 2013, also places strong pressure on Nvidia, the sources noted.
With the new Snapdragon S4 class additions announced three days ago we can make the conclusion that:
– Snapdragon Cortex-A5 based S4 Play smartphones will get quadcore capability only in the first quarter of 2013, so the current S1 and further dual core S4 Play smartphones are to compete till the end of the year.
– Snapdragon Krait-based S4 Plus smartphones will have mid-range LTE (in so called World Mode form) “high-volume“ versions only in the first quarter of 2013, so the current S4 Plus smartphones and similar upcoming ones are to compete till the end of the year.
– No decision was taken for the Cortex-A5 based S4 Play TD-SCDMA smartphone market thus letting Spreadtrum and its competitors to capture the corresponding China Mobile entry market even more.
What does it mean?
For the last, Spreadtrum et al observation it means that Qualcomm cannot do anything yet but stand still as according to my Lowest H2’12 device cost SoCs from Spreadtrum will redefine the entry level smartphone and feature phone markets [July 26 – Aug 16, 2012] post (here on this blog) the entry level TD-SCDMA smartphone market is moving from sub $150 to sub $100 in the H2 2012.
For the other two observations we should first understand what has been delivered so far with Cortex-A5 and Krait based SoCs by the smartphone vendors.
The current Cortex-A5 based Snapdragon S1 UMTS and Krait based S4 Plus UMTS and World Mode SoCs from Qualcomm were adopted by global brands so far as follows:
Source: smartphones in PDAdb.net counted for corresponding SoCs as of Sept 28, 2012
Smartphones based on the new Cortex-A5 SoCs detailed above were introduced
as shown on the chart below:
while the introduction of the new Krait-based smartphones is shown on the above chart
and it was for the UMTS & World mode S4 class Plus tier SoCs detailed below as follows
(i.e. the CDMA/UMTS S4 class Plus tier SoCs were not reflected in the above chart): 
So there were no Adreno 305 based S4 class Plus tier smartphones introduced to the market yet except a single one from HTC for November timeframe, actually with Windows Phone 8. This single fact means, however, that in October and November more such smartphones could be introduced as the HTC case shows the Adreno 305 related SoCs availability for Q4 2012. So powerful by today’s market standards yet sold at mass market prices MSM8x27 based Windows Phone 8 and Android smartphones could be available on the market from November at the latest.
Similarly we can expect mid-tier WP8 and Android smartphones based on MSM8x30 SoCs to become available in October or November at prices which are between the latest premium smartphones like Samsung Galaxy S III or HTC One XL, and the new mass market yet “powerful” ones introduced at the same time. As you could see via the number of new premium models introduced so far (not less than 43 if you will add up the numbers attached to each type of new premium SoCs in the table above), the new premium category is well established already both in price and functionality.
Now the global brands could safely establish the new “mid-range” and “mass-market yet powerful” segments of the smartphone market with Qualcomm capable of delivering the new Krait and UMTS—CDMA/UMTS—World Mode technologies in greater volumes than before. With the decision of postponing the availability of the new higher end LTE (World Mode) mid-range category to the Q1 2013 Qualcomm and its global brand partners are in fact letting the market to sort out in November-December the acceptable pricing below whatever MSM8930 could bring in addition to that in Q1 2013.
Somewhat more interesting and remarkable is the case of entry level smartphones which is covered in Qualcomm’s new segmentation strategy by the S1 class Play tier (see the table above). With the decision of leaving the active formation of the new entry-level segment to competitors like MediaTek and Spreadtrum till the end of the year Qualcomm shows not only the company’s unpreparedness to compete fully in TD-SCDMA market (as was already indicated in the beginning of this post), but also a more general unpreparedness to compete with a broader China based phenomenon currently most visible via MediaTek as it was shown in my earlier:
Core post: Boosting the MediaTek MT6575 success story with the MT6577 announcement – UPDATED with MT6588/83 coming early 2013 in Q42012 and 8-core MT6599 in 2013 [June 27, July 27, Sept 11-13, Sept 26, 2012]. Quoting from that:
… MediaTek 28 nanometer quad-core A7 smartphone chip MTK6588 launch time is expected to advance to the fourth quarter of this year from the first quarter of next year! Because the price is very competitive, only 18 to 20 dollars, not only quadcore smartphone prices in mainland China will immediately fell to less than 150 dollars following that, the company will also have the opportunity to break into [the market of ] first-tier [i.e. global brand] manufacturers such as Samsung. …
Mediatek’s biggest “backer” [in terms of stock market performance] is expected to be the launch of MT6588 (quad-core A7 [with] TD-SCDMA/WCDMA) and MT6599 (8 core of the ARM [with] LTE/TD-SCDMA/WCDMA) smartphone chips in 4th quarter [of this year] and in the next year, respectively.
… we will see in the near future more dual-core 1.7Ghz Krait-based MSM8960A [on one hand], and MSM8974 [on the other], which is same but with quad-core, rather than next to the launch of 8225Q. …
… the fastest possible production of MediaTek quad-core mobile processor chip MTK6588 will start in October this year a small amount, quantity should not be a lot, may be available only to large client proofing purposes. Rumored MediaTek MTK6588 manufacturing cost is even less than dual-core MTK6577. …
MT6588 has a 4-core CPU [Cortex-A7 (!), see on the second slide below] clocked at 1GHz [1.XGHz rather, see the included slides below], supports dual-channel at maximum 1066Mbps, has an integrated multimode modem for WCDMA [+ it is delivering HSPA+ WCDMA performance (!) vs just HSPA with MT6577/75, see the first slide below] and TD (!), that is it can support both Unicom [latest upgrade to HSPA+ service, see the news in the original post materials much below] and China Mobile 3G network, supports an up to 13 MP camera and 1080P video playback. It finally has a GPU upgrade with SGX544, doubles the resolution to 1280×800 HD level, and has 32KB L1 cache and 1MB L2 secondary cache.
Along the MT6588 there is a 28nm dual-core version, MT6583 on the MediaTek 2012 product roadmap. From the chipset parameters it is evident that MT6583 is a scaled down version of MT6588. It has 2 cores less, the camera support is 8MP, the video decoder is of 720P level, and the resolution is down to 854×480.
It is understood that MT6588 and MT6583 will be in production in the first quarter of 2013, early next year the fastest.
Qualcomm’s problems are already immense as follows from another core post of mine stating not less than The low priced, Android based smartphones of China will change the global market [Sept 10-17, 2012], from I will just include this quote:
The best smartphone based on the MediaTek MT6577 both technically and in terms of price is the MT6577-based JiaYu G3 with IPS Gorilla glass 2 sreen of 4.5” etc. for $154 (factory direct) in China and $183 [Sept 13, 2012], which is also the best example of the low priced, Android based smartphones of China will change the global market.
This SoC competitor is also “deadly serious” as MediaTek plans for quad-core chips in budget smartphones by early 2013 [Engadget from China Times (translated) sources, Sept 26, 2012].
Considering also the fact that Spreadtrum’s TD-SCDMA effort will meantime drive the entry level TD-SCDMA smartphone market from sub $150 to sub $100 level in the H2 2012 Qualcomm has to completely redefine its original plans for the upcoming S1 class Play tier by Q1 2013. Especially because its crucial global brand partners are embracing the new Chinese phenomenon as evidenced by the quite new Huawei Ascend G306T (Huawei T8808D) [Sept 14, 2012] example currently sold in China for $183 (Yuan 1,148). Note that here is IPS screen etc. so this is higher than the very entry level.
Note as well that Qualcomm is heavily restricted by the shortage of 28nm foundry capacity which will be lifted only by the end of the year as described in my earlier:
Core post: Qualcomm’s critical reliance on supply constrained 28nm foundry capacity [July 27, 2012]
So for Q1 2013 the company will have plenty of room for effective actions in the competitive space quite unlike this time. It will be interesting to see what happens next!
Related announcements and videos by Qualcomm:
Before the new announcement Qualcomm issued the following “image” video:
How Snapdragon processors stack up against the competition [QUALCOMMVlog YouTube channel, Sept 20, 2012]
Qualcomm Announces New Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8x25Q Processors with Quad-Core CPUs and Reference Design Counterpart for High-Volume Smartphones [Qualcomm press release, Sept 27, 2012]
— Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8x30 Platform to Support LTE -TDD/TD-SCDMA and All Three China Operators
BEIJING – September 27, 2012 – Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced the addition of two new Snapdragon™ S4 mobile processors: the MSM8225Q and MSM8625Q. Both are members of the Snapdragon S4 Play processor tier, optimized specifically for a broad range of smartphone users seeking faster applications and better user experiences. Snapdragon S4 Play processors will now offer OEMs both dual-core and quad-core CPUs and performance for entry-level smartphones, with the more advanced version featuring higher bus bandwidth, larger screen resolution support, HD video and enhanced user experiences. Both processors will be ready for customer sampling by end of 2012 and are expected to be shipping in commercial devices in the first quarter of 2013.
The MSM8225Q and MSM8625Q processors incorporate quad-core CPUs and are the upgraded software compatible variants of the highly successful Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8225 and MSM8625 processors, which both feature dual-core CPUs and dual SIM support. The quad-core variants will support LPDDR2 memory, increasing the bus bandwidth for improved features such as 720p display and 720p video encode and decode. Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8625Q features Qualcomm’s integrated multimode UMTS/CDMA modem, and the MSM8225Q has an integrated UMTS modem. Both processors enable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and FM connectivity using the Qualcomm Atheros AR6005 and WCN2243 chips.
In addition, Qualcomm also announced a single platform, the Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8930, that supports all China operators with UMTS, CDMA and TD-SCDMA. Furthermore, this single platform will support LTE -TDD and TD-SCDMA, targeting mid-tier smartphones for use in China. Announced in February 2011, this processor features dual-core CPUs and as the world’s first single-chip solution with an integrated LTE modem, it is designed to take LTE to high-volume smartphones. Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8930 with LTE-TDD and TD-SCDMA support will be ready for customer sampling by the end of 2012 and is expected to be shipping in commercial devices by the first quarter of 2013.
Qualcomm will also be releasing Qualcomm Reference Design (QRD) versions of all three processors. The QRD program includes comprehensive handset development platforms and an ecosystem program providing access to third-party providers of tested and verified hardware and software components so customers can rapidly deliver differentiated smartphones to budget conscious consumers. The Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and FM connectivity technologies have been pre-validated and tested with the QRD platform to provide reduced time-to-market. There have been more than 50 public QRD-based product launches to date in collaboration with more than 40 OEMs, and there are 100 designs in progress, including QRD-based smartphones enabled by these new Snapdragon S4 Play and Plus processors, which are also expected to be available by the first quarter of 2013.
“Our broad portfolio of Snapdragon S4 mobile processors delivers the optimal balance of features and performance for the high-volume smartphone segment,” said Cristiano Amon, senior vice president and co-president of mobile and computing products. “By offering both dual-core and quad-core CPU versions of the Snapdragon S4 Play processor, we are providing our OEM and operating partners a competitive and differentiated platform.”
The new Snapdragon S4 Play and Plus processors are designed specifically for high-volume smartphones, and they provide device manufacturers the ability to migrate their existing Snapdragon S1-based designs to S4 dual- and quad-core CPU-based designs. This capability is particularly useful for device manufacturers looking to efficiently expand their smartphone product lines with more advanced 3G/LTE smartphone products.
This announcement coincided with a new Graphics Benchmarking [QUALCOMMVlog YouTube channel, Sept 26, 2012] published for Qualcomm’s highest Adreno 320 GPU which is also in the MSM8960 SoC of the Pro tier of the S4 class for which no smartphones were introduced yet (probably in Q1 2013 we will see them):
Along with the first “image” video the company also issued another “giving assurance” type video: Vellamo™ Mobile Benchmark Suite: Setting new standards for system-level mobile benchmarking [QUALCOMMVlog YouTube channel, Sept 20, 2012]
Here is worth to remind you about my last year’s post that Qualcomm is very close to getting the HTML5 web apps performance and feature set to rival that of native OS apps [Oct 11, 2011]. Reading that one will understand this whole Velamo effort from both technical and marketing point of view.
Now the latest Qualcomm video about the envisaged market segmentation of its offerings:
Snapdragon Overview [QUALCOMMVlog YouTube channel, Aug 30, 2012]
Qualcomm Launches Tiers for Snapdragon S4 platform [Qualcomm’s OnQ blog, June 6, 2012]
Today, Qualcomm launched distinct tiers for its Snapdragon processor platform, starting with the S4 series. The Snapdragon S4 portfolio of processors now includes four distinct tiers – Prime, Pro, Plus and Play—that will better explain the capabilities of the many chipsets within the S4 class, as well future Snapdragon processors.
You probably became acquainted with the Snapdragon processor brand through smartphones and tablets, but the road ahead for these powerful processors will scale beyond such devices. With the launch of the highly-capable Snapdragon S4, our processors are now destined to appear in new platforms like Windows 8 PCs, SmartTVs and set top boxes. The number of device form factors that can potentially benefit from Snapdragon processors’ balance of power and battery efficiency is endless. Our new system of tiers should make it easier for Qualcomm’s customers and consumers to identify the right processor and its features.
Below is a description of each tier:
Snapdragon S4 Prime designed to bring high performance applications, web browsing and connectivity to TVs and set top boxes. Processors in the S4 Prime tier include: MPQ8064.
Snapdragon S4 Pro designed to bring computing-class processors to PCs, tablets and high-end smartphones. Processors in the S4 Pro tier include: APQ8064 and MSM8960T.
Snapdragon S4 Plus covers a broad range of powerful smartphone and tabletprocessors. Processors in the S4 Plus tier include: MSM8960, APQ8060A, MSM8660A, MSM8260A, APQ8030, MSM8930, MSM8630, MSM8230, MSM8627, and MSM8227.
Snapdragon S4 Play consists of processors for high-volume smartphones. Processors in the S4 Play tier include: MSM8625 and MSM8225.
When you look at the broad range of things that Snapdragon S4 processors can do, you’re more likely than ever to be using one.
Qualcomm Brings Snapdragon S4 Processors to High Volume Smartphones and Expands Qualcomm Reference Design Development Platform and Ecosystem Program [Qualcomm press release, Dec 8, 2011]
Addition of Two New Snapdragon S4 Mobile Processors Compatible with QRD Development Platforms Brings Dual-Core Processing and Integrated 3G Connectivity to High Volume Smartphones
SAN DIEGO – December 08, 2011 – Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced two additions to its Snapdragon® S4 class of mobile processors: the MSM8625 and the MSM8225 chipsets. Both chipsets provide dual core CPUs operating up to 1 GHz, Qualcomm’s Adreno® 203 GPU and an integrated 3G modem. The MSM8625 and MSM8225 chipsets are designed to be hardware and software compatible with the MSM7x27A and MSM7x25A family of chipsets, giving device manufacturers the ability to seamlessly migrate their existing Snapdragon S1-based designs to S4 dual core-based designs. This capability is particularly useful for device manufacturers to efficiently expand their smartphone product lines with more advanced and more capable 3G smartphone products.
To further simplify and improve time-to-launch of cost effective 3G solutions for device manufacturers, Qualcomm also announced the third-generation of its Qualcomm Reference Design (QRD) ecosystem program to enable third party device manufacturers to develop differentiated high volume smartphones with lower development costs and faster time to market. The QRD ecosystem program includes a comprehensive set of software and hardware components that allows third party hardware and software vendors to have their products pre-tested and optimized for the QRD development platform. A pre-tested and optimized platform gives device manufacturers a development platform with the hardware components (memory, sensors, touch panels, cameras, displays, RF, etc.) and software applications and features (browsers, map/navigation, mail, music, instant messaging, fonts and languages, etc.) needed for basic smartphone functionality already in place. This allows device manufacturers to focus their engineering resources on developing value-added features that will help make their high-volume smartphone stand out from the competition. The QRD ecosystem program is designed to help device manufacturers developing products for regions whose networks are evolving from 2G to 3G and high volume smartphones are becoming increasingly popular.
The MSM8625 and MSM8225 chipsets will be available on Qualcomm’s third generation QRD development platform in the first half of 2012, in addition to being available as standalone chipsets. QRD development platforms based on both the MSM7x27A and MSM7x25A chipsets are currently available. Qualcomm has shipped over 100 million MSM7225 and MSM7227 chipsets, and smartphones based on these chipsets are operating on multiple carrier networks worldwide.
“Smartphones present a large business opportunity for many of our customers, which is why we have created the QRD ecosystem program to assist them with developing compelling product designs with competitive differentiation,” said Cristiano Amon, senior vice president of product management at Qualcomm. “The program combines all the elements our customers need to get a new smartphone design to launch quickly and cost effectively, from carrier-ready hardware and software to local technical support resources.”
“As Snapdragon processors power many of today’s most popular smartphones, we are working to port a variety of our core applications to the various QRD platforms,” said Chengmin Liu, senior executive vice president of Tencent, China’s largest integrated internet services provider. “This will offer our customers a strong processing solution to power our applications for future smartphone designs.”
Qualcomm Unveils New Snapdragon Mobile Processors Across All Tiers of Smartphones and Tablets [Qualcomm press release, Nov 16, 2011]
Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) announced today the expansion of its Snapdragon S4 class of next-generation mobile processors and the enhancement of its Snapdragon S1 solutions for entry-level smartphones.
The addition of new Snapdragon S4 processors, which are aimed at lowering design, engineering and inventory costs while bringing leading-edge 3G and 4G Internet connection speeds, will allow OEMs to introduce S4-based devices with next-generation mobile architecture throughout their respective device roadmaps—from basic smartphones to high-end smartphones and tablets. The enhanced S4 processors are also optimized for use with a suite of software solutions available from Qualcomm that help enable OEMs to deliver industry-leading feature sets for multimedia, connectivity, camera, display, security, power management, browsing and natural user interface design.
The Krait CPU is the next generation of Qualcomm’s micro architecture and is purpose-built from the ground up for significant mobile performance and power management advantages leading to enhanced user experience and better battery life. The Krait CPU is an essential part of the Snapdragon S4 class of processors. Today, Qualcomm announced several new S4 chipsets, including the MSM8660A, MSM8260A, MSM8630, MSM8230, MSM8627,MSM8227, APQ8060A and APQ8030. These are additional chipsets to the previously announced MSM8960, MSM8930 and APQ8064. Snapdragon S4 MSM processors include Qualcomm’s leading-edge wireless modem technologies, including EV-DO, HSPA+, TD-SCDMA, LTE FDD, LTE TDD andWi-Fi® standards. Devices based on Snapdragon S4 processors are expected to appear in early 2012.
The Snapdragon S1 product line is driving smartphone growth in all regions, and it offers a significant opportunity for market expansion and migration to 3G. To further this trend, Qualcomm is also announcing an upgrade to four of its existing Snapdragon S1 mobile processors. The MSM7225A, MSM7625A, MSM7227A and MSM7627A have been upgraded to deliver better performance and will enable new mobile experiences for entry-level smartphone users, particularly those transitioning from 2G to 3G.
Qualcomm Announces a Bunch of Krait Based Snapdragon S4 SoCs [Anandtech, Nov 16, 2011]
…
If you want an 8960 without integrated LTE, Qualcomm has an SoC for you: the MSM8x60A. The CPU specs are the same as the 8960, just without LTE support.
Below the 8960 is the MSM8930, a dual-core Krait (up to 1.2GHz) offering with only a single LPDDR2 memory channel (up to 1066MHz data rate). The 8930 will actually use a faster GPU than the 8960, the Adreno 305, although it’ll be more memory bandwidth limited. The 8930 will also debut later than the 8960 partially due to its new GPU.
The 8930 features LTE support, but if you want a version without it there’s the new MSM8x30. Similarly, if you want a version without an integrated baseband altogether there’s the APQ8030. The ISP in the xx30 series supports 1080p video decode and up to a 13.5MP camera (down from 20MP in the xx60 SoCs).
There’s an even even more affordable S4 in the lineup: the MSM8x27. Here you get two Krait cores running at up to 1GHz, a single channel LPDDR2 interface (800MHz max data rate). Video decode is limited to 720p in the 8×27.
[* the numbering change is: MSM8270 –> MSM8x60A]…
MediaTek’s ‘smart-feature phone’ effort with likely Nokia tie-up
With the new generation single-chip GSM/GPRS/EDGE-RX SoC products, MT6255 (in mass production: late Q1CY12) and its lower priced cousin MT6250 (in mass production: late Q2CY12), the Taiwanese MediaTek is strengthening its “smart feature phone” effort started in June 2011 with the launch of MediaTek’s MAUI Runtime Environment (MRE). MRE is a new middleware technology designed for mobile developers to deploy services and content for such “smart feature phones”. MRE was also launched with the simultaneous announcement that Yahoo! Messenger, News, Finance, Weather, and Mail will be the first Internet services on MRE.
Phuket MRE Demo V0 9 [MediaTek100 YouTube channel, June 19, 2012]
MT6255 and MT6250 are significantly reducing the number of external components and have a strong service/software portfolio now. The popular Yahoo! services have been complemented by Facebook and Twitter clients, as well as the Opera Mini mobile browser and Gameloft mobile games available with MRE all free. There is also an MRE specific App Store developed by MoMagic (India). Therefore everything is ready for the launch of market leading “smart feature phone” products by MediaTek partners in the coming months.
Update: MT6250 Introduction Clip [mediateklab YouTube channel, Sept 3, 2012]
Update: MediaTek Launches the 2nd Generation ULC Mobile Phone Single Chip [MediaTek press release, Aug 31, 2012]
MediaTek Inc., a leading fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions announced today the debut of its MT6250, an ultra-low-cost (ULC) single chip solution catered for GSM/GPRS/EDGE Rx multimedia-rich mobile phones that targets the USD$40 entry market segment.
The MediaTek MT6250 features a 64Mb pSRAM with an optimized software pack and fancy, friendly user interface that allows handset makers to pack more fun features into phones, while keeping the design sleek and slim. With MRE enabled, the MT6250 delivers smartphone-like experience to feature phones, providing users with access to Internet content and social network services, such as Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo. Together with the embedded rich multimedia application support, the MT6250 is also touch enabled for those who have either a touch screen or candy bar phone.
According to market studies and forecasts by consultation organization, Strategy Analytics, “300 million ultra low cost mobile phones will be sold worldwide in 2013. Over one half of these will be sold in emerging markets and China and India will be primary markets driving that growth.” Although the overall market continues to be dominated by the smartphone segment, there is still a strong demand for entry-level and ultra-low-cost mobile handsets in emerging markets.
“Mobile handset is becoming the center of one’s of mobile life, users desire to access to content services and enjoy more fun such gaming, video and music any time any where via their devices. “said Ching-Jiang Hsieh, President of MediaTek. “MediaTek understands that consumer habits and consumption patterns are changing, thus, we strive to smarten up mobile phones and bring smartphone-like experiences to feature phones users. The MT6250 is not only designed to provide the best mobile internet experience at a very competitive price, but it also brings together rich multimedia features and touch experience.
The MT6250 has entered mass production and is shipping in commercially launched handsets.
Important to note that Nokia is far ahead of MediaTek along this kind of strategy with its S40 legacy which has been developed into the market leading Asha mobile phones for the last year and a half. The latest Asha Touch phones are true smartphone-like offerings and are on the market since the first half of July. The Asha phones are also technologically superior to the MRE platform as they have much better Internet optimization and UX (user experience). Finally the Nokia Store (ex Ovi Store) has been well established on the market for years. There are no less than 410 Nokia developers with apps which have achieved more than 1 million downloads! India Games and Pico Brothers just passed 100 million each!
Also Nokia will remain competitive with MediaTek partner offerings in the future as well since many sources pointed in the recent months to the likelihood that Nokia will use the new MediaTek SoCs (or derivatives of them) in its Asha product line.
Finally, one should mention a China-specific development along this direction. China Mobile with its homegrown TD-SCDMA 3G network is opening a quite lucrative opportunity for these “smart feature phone” / smartphone-like feature phone efforts as well. MediaTek’s most ambitious competitor, Spreadtrum already delivered an extremely low-cost solution for the so-called EDGE/TD-SCDMA market, but with the latest Android platforms. According to Spreadtrum’s CEO many of its device partners are targeting a new price in the range of RMB500 to RMB700 [US$ 79 – US$ 110] and the company expects to ship more than 10 million smartphone chipsets in the third quarter alone and at least 25 million units for the whole year.
As MediaTek will not have a competitive EDGE/TD-SCDMA offering this year the whole non-Android “smart feature phone” effort of MediaTek and partners will be limited in its very device launch period, and even Nokia’s Asha effort will be affected, in China at least.
Core Supporting Information
J.P. Morgan Equity Research on MediaTek Inc. [July 31, 2012]
Finer product approach helps drive down chipset cost:
Management is now expecting a native TD smartphone solution to ship in volume in 1Q13 and native EDGE solution to ship in 2Q13. Previously, Mediatek was using WCDMA parts to address TD/ EDGE market – such a move would help reduce die size and thus cost structure. This has probably been made possible thanks to the easing engineer shortage.
EDGE shortage & proliferation may open the door for SPRD:
Management confirms EDGE part shortage – this may open the door for Spreadtrum competition. EDGE/ TD smartphones come with a lower entry barrier than WCDMA due to the lack of global field testing challenge – thus an EDGE proliferation is good for Spreadtrumbut may draw tougher future competition for Mediatek.
See: Lowest H2’12 device cost SoCs from Spreadtrum will redefine the entry level smartphone and feature phone markets [July 26 – Aug 10, 2012]
We revise estimates:
Given the rise of smartphone shipment once again, the rise in EDGE portion and EDGE shortage makes us more wary of future pricing competition from Spreadtrum, thus lowering ASP estimate and also expecting slower margin improvement.
We are raising feature phone units assumptions in 2013, as there are increasing signs that Mediatek might break into Nokia feature phone (both 2G and TD) by late 2012/ early 2013.
See: Smartphone-like Asha Touch from Nokia: targeting the next billion users with superior UX created for ultra low-cost and full touch S40 devices [July 20 – Aug 13, 2012]
2Q12 earnings call notes
Handset
New generation of feature phone 6250 integrates Bluetooth/ FM/ 200 MHz
MT6250 |
MT6255 |
Single-Chip GSM/GPRS/EDGE-RX entry-multimedia solution
|
Single-Chip GSM/GPRS/EDGE-RX Smart Feature Phone solution
|
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE-RX Class 12, Quad band
|
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE-RX Class 12, Quad band
|
Sector Report by Capital Securities Corp., Taiwan [June 25, 2012]
Shipment of MediaTek’s mainstream handset chip (2G/2.5G) arrived at 530mn units in FY11, accounting for ~60-70% of the overall market share
worldwide. Nevertheless, revenue generated by 2G/2.5G handset chip is forecasted to decline by ~15-20% YoY in FY12 on account of weak demand and ASP cut.…
[MP = Mass Production]
J.P. Morgan Equity Research on MediaTek Inc. [April 29, 2012]
1Q12 earnings call notes
Feature phone
End market declining at double digit pace, vs. expectation of down 5% previously.
Feature phone pricing down about 25% in last 2 years. This year down probably even more than before.
Mediatek is trying to add more value there – with 400MPx, BT integration. MT6255 already in production – and well received.
MT6250 (for lower price) will go mass production in late 2Q
MediaTek, Spreadtrum reportedly to land large orders for feature phones [DIGITIMES, July 16, 2012]
Despite a slowdown in demand for feature phones, MediaTek and Spreadtrum Communications are expected to land large-volume solution orders for feature phones from international brands soon, according to industry sources.
MediaTek (联发科的) is expected to receive the speculated feature phone solution orders from Nokia, which has announced plans to slash 10,000 jobs worldwide and other cost-reduction measures, the sources noted.
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics is expected to source 2.5G/2.75G handset solutions from Spreadtrum, the sourced added.
Spreadtrum is also expected to roll out 4G and quad-core smartphone solutions before year-end 2012, ramping up the company’s total handset solution shipments in the second half of the year, the sources added.
MediaTek lands 2.5G handset solution orders from Nokia, say sources [DIGITIMES, May 21, 2012]
MediaTek reportedly has landed orders for 2.5G handset solutions from Nokia with shipments to begin in the third quarter of 2012, according to industry sources. MediaTek declined to comment.
Given that global demand for 2.5G handset solutions still reaches one billion units a year, there is room for MediaTek to further expand sales in the segment although the company’s sales of 2.5G solutions have been turning weak recently, indicated the sources. MediaTek shipped 550 million 2.5G solutions in 2011.
Indeed, MediaTek has been working on its new platform for so called ‘smart-feature phones’ during the last two years at least. The essence of it can summarized via the following quotes (these exerpts are from the closing “More Details” section, therefore no links are provided here):
MediaTek:
‘Smart-Feature phone’ refers to a feature phone device with Internet functionality.
July 11, 2012: for the latest Twitter case
MRE (MAUI* Runtime Environment) is MediaTek’s innovative middleware technology designed for mobile developers and application providers to deploy services and content for ‘Smart-Feature phones’ [put it otherwise: MRE is a phone application development platform similar to JVM and Qualcomm Brew]. MRE-enabled devices will enable many users to access leading Internet services, such as Twitter, in an intuitive way.
*MediaTek Feature Phone Software Framework and Platform
With MRE, smart-feature phones will be able to run Twitter on minimal memory and hardware requirements, allowing manufacturers and brands to offer price-friendly devices with value-added mobile internet services. People with smart-feature phones will be able to experience a rich native application experience of Twitter consistent with smartphone applications like Twitter for iPhone or Twitter for Android.
Key internet service and application provider partners for MediaTek:
July 11, 2012:
“Our new partnership with Twitter further reinforces MediaTek’s focus on providing differentiated services and value for handset brands, giving them the means to offer affordable, compelling and differentiated mobile solutions to consumers in key emerging markets ,” said Cheng-Te Chuang, Corporate Vice President of MediaTek.Jana Messerschmidt, Vice President of Business Development at Twitter, said, “The mobile Internet presents a great opportunity for Twitter to reach every person on the planet. Our partnership with MediaTek will help people in emerging markets enjoy the same rich Twitter experience on their mobile devices as more than 140 million others around the world.”
Earlier global partnerships
June, 2011:
According to Ming-Kai Tsai, Chairman of MediaTek, “MediaTek has redefined the mobile landscape through our partnership with Yahoo!. By integrating Yahoo! services into our mobile platform solutions, we are providing our customers and end users with access to the best experience for hugely popular Yahoo! services like Messenger, Mail, News, Weather and much more.”
Rose Tsou, Senior Vice President of Yahoo! Asia Pacific said, “The mobile Internet presents a wealth of opportunity for Yahoo! and our partnership with MediaTek will further connect us with our audiences in growing markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and India where new to Internet users are coming online for the first time through their mobile devices.”
November, 2011:
“Our new partnership with Facebook further reinforces MediaTek’s focus on providing differentiated services and value for handset brands, giving them the means to offer affordable, compelling and differentiated mobile solutions to consumers in key emerging markets such as India,” said Cheng-Te Chuang, Corporate Vice President of MediaTek.Vaughan Smith, Mobile Partnerships and Corporate Development Vice President of Facebook added, “Every phone should be social and we’re excited to be working with MediaTek to bring Facebook to more devices, in more markets around the world and helping users to connect and share anywhere, anytime.”
May, 2012:
Regarding the new partnership, Ching-Jiang Hsieh, President of MediaTek said, “With the rapid development of mobile Internet applications and services, mobile gaming has become one of the leading value-added service and application in the mobile Internet industry today. I see our new partnership with Gameloft as a major breakthrough for the industry: With MediaTek’s strong platform customization and Gameloft’s cutting-edge game development capabilities, together we will be able to bring even more value to mobile phones, thereby increasing the competitive edge of our customers among mobile phone industry.”“We look forward to leveraging MediaTek’s high performance mobile platforms to deliver our exciting selection of games to even more users worldwide. Gameloft has been present on the Chinese market for over 10 years with strong business and creation teams and we are thrilled to increase our presence to propose our games to the billion phone users in China. In sync with Mediatek’s philosophy, Gameloft’s mission is to provide a good experience to the mass market at a very reasonable price. Together we share the vision of leveraging our mutual technology and experience to serve the needs of the public in the broadest way possible,” said Gonzague de Vallois, senior vice president of Gameloft.
Leading local handset brands partnering with MediaTek on that:
November, 2011:
“With MediaTek’s new MRE solution, we are in a position to redefine the mobile landscape and give our users their first mobile browsing and social networking experience on a handset that costs less than US$50,” shared Dilip Modi, Managing Director of Spice Mobility, India.May, 2012:
George Zhu, CEO of TECNO, leading handset brand in Africa also noted regarding the MediaTek-Gameloft partnership, “As one of MediaTek’s strategic partners, the concept of “entertainment” has always been one of the mainstays of the TECNO brand name. We are very excited about the benefits that this strategic partnership will bring to our users. As these two giants combine their strengths, it will allow us to develop even more competitive products which will bring our customers an even better gaming experience.”
Nokia, however, has already been on that route for some time:
What we offer in the current Nokia Asha products is a nice combo of applications, Internet experience and contemporary services. Through our Store, people all over the world are downloading more than 3.5 million apps per day. We have put lot of emphasis on providing locally relevant apps so that you can find what is meaningful in your part of the world.
However, we also have some of the global phenomenons like Angry Birds available on Asha as well. On the Internet experience side we are very proud of the Nokia Browser. It gives people access to the full web yet doing that in a cost-effective way. The browser can compress data traffic by upto 90% ensuring that your phone bill doesn’t explode. And the specific services we offer like Facebook, Twitter, QQ, Foursquare, Maps, email, etc. give people the tools that most of us are using on a regular basis.
Source: Nokia’s next billion: Antti Vasara looks to the future for Series 40 [Conversations by Nokia, Jan 26, 2012]
And Nokia continues with that approach quite parallel to the MediaTek’s recent effort:
The new, free Twitter for Nokiaapp is now available for Series 40 feature phones. …
This new app brings most of the features you’d expect to see from a Twitter client on a smartphone to hundreds of millions of feature phones around the world.
Twitter for Nokia is available for download today wherever Twitter is accessible around the world. Future built Series 40 phones will have the app preinstalled.
Source: Twitter for Nokia now on Series 40 [Conversations by Nokia blog, July 12, 2012]
Nokia aims to
- further develop its Series 40 and Series 30devices, and
- invest in key feature phone technologies like the Nokia Browser, aiming to be the world’s most data efficient mobile browser. Early results of this innovation can be found in Nokia’s latest Asha feature phones which offer a full-touch screen experience at lower prices.
Source: Nokia sharpens strategy and provides updates to its targets and outlook [Nokia press release, June 14, 2012]
In the area of Mobile Phones, we continue to renew our Series 40 portfolio. … We acquired Smarterphone, a Norwegian company that brings new user interface technology and expertiseto Nokia. We’ve increased download rates from feature phones to more than 4 million a day by improving store access and payment schemes and adding new apps like Whatsapp, Foursquare and EA.
We released a new version of Nokia Life, which delivers education, health, agriculture and entertainment services via SMS. And we delivered a new proxy browser, and we’re now bringing the browser and web apps down to super low-end devices.
… the acquisition of Smarterphone in this space to give us more flexibility and speed as it relates to the user interface elements, for example, of that platform. ..
Source: Nokia’s CEO Discusses Q1 2012 Results – Earnings Call Transcript [Seeking Alpha, April 19, 2012]
Nokia has today announced the availability of Nokia Browser 2.0, a major update dedicated to Nokia Series 40 devices. The new version reduces data consumption by up to 90%, meaning that consumers can enjoy faster and cheaper internet access. Web sites load up to three times fasterin comparison to devices without cloud-accelerated browsing and consumers will also benefit from a number of other enhanced capabilities.
The browser includes a revamped, modern user experience that makes it simple to find, install and use interesting web apps that offer a richer, more desktop-like internet experience. Launched in mid-2011, the Nokia Browser is the first browser of its kind to support web apps, and now boasts a catalogue of more than 10,000 of the latest apps. Several publishers have experienced over a million downloads in a matter of months, demonstrating strong consumer demand.
Nokia makes internet access faster and easier with new browser for Series 40 devices [Nokia press release, April 23, 2012]
Nokia Browser, Life Tools and Maps for Series 40 have become hugely popular, with Nokia Browser becoming the fastest growing Nokia service ever and Series 40 products accounting for a third of downloads from the Nokia Store (up from 13% in January 2011)
Source: There’s something about Mary… [Conversations by Nokia, Jan 3, 2012]
More Details
MediaTek Announces Global Partnership to Bring Twitter to ‘Smart-Feature Phones’ [press release, July 11, 2012]
MediaTek Inc., a leading fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions, and leading communications platform Twitter, today announced a global strategic partnership that will see Twitter integrated into MediaTek’s mobile platform solutions, enabling users in emerging markets to access a rich Twitter experience via affordable mobile devices, more easily than ever before.
With this partnership, MediaTek will preload the Twitter application in its MRE middleware as the default feature in its reference design for mobile handsets. Mobile manufacturers and brands can expect to reduce the time-to-market and to develop product differentiation for their consumers. With MRE, smart-feature phones will be able to run Twitter on minimal memory and hardware requirements, allowing manufacturers and brands to offer price-friendly devices with value-added mobile internet services. People with smart-feature phones will be able to experience a rich native application experience of Twitter consistent with smartphone applications like Twitter for iPhone or Twitter for Android.
Mobile internet usage continues to grow every year, more so in emerging markets, innovative products such as the MRE solution helps MediaTek to address the growing demand for mobile internet access. This global partnership underscores the significant potential to present users worldwide with a gateway to access Twitter.
MRE is MediaTek’s innovative middleware technology designed for mobile developers and application providers to deploy services and content for ‘Smart-Feature phones’. The MRE solution provides millions of users in emerging markets with the ability to enjoy rich online experiences previously available only on smartphones. MRE-enabled devices will enable many users to access leading Internet services, such as Twitter, in an intuitive way.
“Our new partnership with Twitter further reinforces MediaTek’s focus on providing differentiated services and value for handset brands, giving them the means to offer affordable, compelling and differentiated mobile solutions to consumers in key emerging markets ,” said Cheng-Te Chuang, Corporate Vice President of MediaTek.
Jana Messerschmidt, Vice President of Business Development at Twitter, said, “The mobile Internet presents a great opportunity for Twitter to reach every person on the planet. Our partnership with MediaTek will help people in emerging markets enjoy the same rich Twitter experience on their mobile devices as more than 140 million others around the world.”
The latest smart-feature phone solution, the MediaTek MT6255, will be the first model to carry Twitter applications. In the near future, twitter service preload will be also expanded to all MediaTek mobile platforms.
Mediatek MT6255 Baseband Chipset Features List [Quazmo blog, Feb 7, 2012]
As you may aware Taiwanese based Mediatek is the top most producer of low cost mobile base band chipset. New to add to their 2G solutions arsenal is the cost down better spec version for MT 6235 platform. Its to be noted that in the recent past Mediatek is facing heavy pressure from Shanghai based Spreadtrum and Taiwan based M-Star also there are speculation that more to come. Let’s have a basic features list review for MT 6255 platform
Mediatek MT 6255 chipset uses ARM9 [1.1 DIMPS/MHz] core processor with clock speed of 416 MHz. Built on System On Chip concept the added specialty is it has both SAW [Surface Acoustic Wave] and RTC [Real-Time Clock] embedded to the chipset which avoids external components. Also they have emphasized on the long battery life which is kind of a common requirement these days. Display can support up to WVGA [800×480] resolution. Cosmos 1.5 UI and Gemini 2.0 for dual sim function are available. Can support both optional 1Gb + 512Mb and 1Gb+256Mb memory options. Support external applications via MRE and Opera Mini v4 is pre installed. Can Play both Mp4 H.264 and H.263 formats at 30 frames per second for both HVGA [480×320] and CIF [352×288]resolutions. On design now, phone running on MT 6255 platform chipset will be available in the market some time around Q2 2012.
From MT6235 Design Notice V2-3 [July 2008]:
MT6235 Main Feature
EDGE Class12, GPRS Class 12
ARM926EJ-S 208MHz with cache
PMU / Touch panel driver integrated
2M / 1.3M / VGA camera (YUV)
Chip UID – 315 bit
FR, EFR, HR, AMR speech codec
Support up to 16.77M color WQVGA LCM
Excellent melody format support
– MIDI, WB AMR, AAC, AAC+, eAAC, digital musicPolyphonic melody, 64-tone wave table, stereo loudspeaker
SBC encoder capability supports BlueTooth A2DP function
Advanced DSP acoustic functionality
– AEC, noise reduction
SD/MMC/MS/MSprocard & SDIO support
USIM support
Built in USB2.0 (High speed/Device), IrDA
QWERTY keypad support
Multi-memory system with more flexibility for phone design
– NOR/pSRAMwith or without AD MUX; burst mode of up to 104 MHz supported
– NAND-boot supported
– NAND data storage supported
– LPSDRAM supported
…
Snapshot of MT6235 Reference Phone
From a MediaTek presentation [June 20, 2011]:
Delivering Value-Added Services (VAS) with MRE now
MRE
MRE (MAUI* Runtime Environment) is a Middleware platform designed for MediaTek’s Feature-phone solution that provides a Content Downloadable Mechanism that enables applications expansion previously reserved for smartphones
*MediaTek Feature Phone Software Framework and Platform
MRE Overview
Seamlessly Integrated into the Software Architecture
Partnership Establishment and MRE Strategy
Partner with key leading service providers and Local Brands to enhance the MRE ecosystem through an integrated platform and open strategy
Open and neutral strategy
- Facilitate and foster the MRE ecosystem with an open attitude to enable more developersto participate in the ecosystem
- Long-term objective: Open MRE SDK to the market
MediaTek as ecosystem facilitator
- We won’t be involved in MRE Service operation
– Still focus on chipset core business
– Won’t compete with Customers/Solution & Content ProvidersEnhance platform value
- Migrate native applications to MRE to reduce maintenance effort & lower cost with more flexibility
- Attract more developersto enrich MRE solutions/contents
- More differentiation possibilities for customers
Integrate key internet services
- Launch MRE applications of key internet services as part of Mediatek solution e.g.: Yahoo, Facebook….
Intensify partnership with local brands
- Provide reliable solutions to local brandsfor VAS business
The Must-Know Mediatek Ecosystem
1. Extreme Price Sensitive:
-Mediatek’s Customers care about every cent..
2. Major Attention Focusing on Emerging Markets
3. Significant Market Size:
-2010 MTK Solution Shipment up to 500M even more than Nokia
4. Low Memory Size/Very Optimized Contents Needed:
-Smartphone development logic/practice not properly applicable to Mediatek’s feature devices
5. A New Blue Ocean Market for VAS:
-Not many well compatible VAS solutions for Mediatek devices especially for non-China emerging marketsWhy Does MRE Matter for Your Biz?
1. An Official Middleware Supported by Mediatek:
> MRE has become a “default component” with the activated status built in MTK feature phone OS/SW architecture
this is a very effective approach to penetrate MRE. As long as our customers take our SW branch (must be needed to operate our chipsets), MRE is as default existing right there.
2. More Strong Stickness/Incentive for Customers to Take
> More original Native MTK apps & Critical Killer Apps will be made by MRE apps in near future….
like fundamental app tools such as Calculator, Clock… Or even some key internet apps will be offered to customers in form of MRE instead of native apps as the default apps on SW branch. Customers must adopt MRE to get those key apps compatible. This strategy will create more strong stickness at our customer side to adopt MRE
3. A Systematic Support Rolling Out….
>“Mediatek Forum” established to promote MRE as key strategic plan since this May
Forum will organize MRE roadshows and technical seminars in SEA and India to joint our identified SP/CPs on launching out MRE solutions. This is the strong commitment made by Mediatek.
4. Mediatek’s Customers Need MRE to Make More Differentiations:
> More flexible & control for customers on developing differentiations
The SW/VAS differentiation for Mediatek’s customers to create is very vital for their survival in homogenous ecosystem. MRE is a technology platform/weapon committed by Mediatek to offer more flexibilities/control for customers to develop the competitive differentiations. SP/CP will take a significant role to facilitate this evolving trend and critical for our customers to rely on
From another MediaTek presentation [June 20, 2011]
Why MRE Rather Than Java?
MRE Competitiveness Summary
- Cost Efficiency:
-Less Memory Required: even MCP 32+32 or 64+32 affordable to run- Higher Performance:
-Light and optimize to perform on Mediatek’s platform- More Flexibility:
-Many possibilities and development room for customers to create the differentiations, which can enhance the attractiveness/ stickiness- More Penetration Space to monetize:
-MRE is able to penetrate to low/mid feature phone segmentations which Java hard to reach, which is a new Ocean Blue market to grasp
-Downloadable:- More Biz Opportunities:
-The emerging markets for VAS/Content demand on feature phone environment have a tremendous space to grow. This is like a Virgin Land for us to cultivate and to benefit
What is MRE? [MRE blog, Jan 21, 2012]
MRE (MAUI Runtime Environment) is a phone application development platform similar to JVM and Brew. On the MRE platform, you can realize solutions for smart feature phones on feature phones. Meanwhile, MediaTek also provides developers and end suppliers with highly efficient development tools (MRE SDK) and compilation environment for applications, allowing developers to develop applications more quickly and effectively.
Use MRE Platform to Easily Construct a Value Chain for Phone Software
All the functions in MRE are designed to reduce the development and deployment cost for application programs. They are the basic for constructing a good environment.
- For phone users, phones with MRE platform allow you to download or install MRE applications and games to experience the fun of smart phones.
- For developers, MRE SDK provides you with high-speed tools and rich APIs, helping you realize various types of applications.
- For end suppliers, the MRE solutions solve the closed-ended [?closedness?] problems of feature phones and provide rich application experiences.
MRE Features
Supports Local Commands:
MRE applications are developed by ANSI C language and support local commands compiled by ADS, RVCT and GCC. The operating speed of applications can reach or approach the speed of static binding commands. DLL is supported to run applications from the external memory card.
Full Package of Development Tools:
The MRE SDK package provides a full set of development tools and documents, including the integrated development environment, simulator, debugger, monitor, API reference files and sample codes.
Bountiful Interfaces:
MRE packages bountiful interfaces from the MAUI platform and provides standard and simple programming concepts which help you develop all kinds of MRE application programs in easier and faster ways.
An Open Platform:
MRE is a platform of full documents open to companies or individuals to develop application programs. You can acquire more development tools and support from this website.
Sandbox and Digital Certification:
The sandbox mechanism protects the phone system and the user’s personal data from being attacked by hackers through MRE API.
The digital certification ensures the completeness of MRE applications and prevents the system from being damaged by hackers through modifying the MRE applications.
MRE Modules
The figure below lilsts the modules in the MRE platform.
MRE is composed of SAL (Software Abstract Layer), Framework and MRE API. SAL and Framework construct a complete operational environment. Framework is established above SAL which realizes the core functions of MRE, e.g. memory management, dynamic link, etc. By MRE API, the MRE applications call the framework API and MTK platform API to achieve various and rich functions.
From arm.com: ADS (ARM Developer Suite)
ADS consists of a suite of applications, together with supporting documentation and examples, that enable you to write and debug applications for the ARM family of RISC processors. You can use ADS to develop, build, and debug C, C++, and ARM assembly language programs.
The ADS toolkit consists of the following major components:
- command-line development tools
- GUI development tools
- utilities
- supporting software.
See Further reading on page ix for a list of the ADS documentation
From arm.com: RVCT (ARM RealView Compilation Tools)
RealView Compilation Tools consists of a suite of applications, together with supporting documentation and examples, that enable you to write applications for the ARM family of processors. You can use RealView Compilation Tools to build C, C++, and ARM assembly language programs.
… If you are new to RealView Compilation Tools, read the RealView Compilation Tools Essentials Guide for an overview of the ARM tools and an introduction to using them as part of your development project. …
From wikipedia: GCC (GNU Compiler Collection)
… The current stable version of GCC is 4.7.1, which was released on June 14, 2012. … The standard compiler release 4.6 includes front ends for C (gcc), C++ (g++), Objective-C (gobjc), Fortran (gfortran), Java(gcj), Ada (GNAT), and Go (gccgo). Also available, but not in standard are Pascal (gpc), Mercury, Modula-2, Modula-3, PL/I, D (gdc), and VHDL (ghdl). A popular parallel language extension, OpenMP, is also supported. …
From answer to “COSMOS platform and Touch Panel phone. Is this two?” question:
COSMOS only support Touch platform. … The COSMOS platform we launched in W11.12MP, full touch platform, the UE, UI design to meet current user needs, giving users a new experience on a feature phone (class smartphone). … COSMOS support from MRE2.0.
MediaTek Gemini solution to open the dual card dual standby new era [press release (Chiese), Jan 16, 2012]
According to the latest report released by the U.S. market research firm Strategy Analytics, in the third quarter of 2011 has surpassed the United States, the world’s largest smart phone market. With the era of 3G smartphones, the freedom to switch between different networks become increasingly important consumers online increasingly urgent demand for voice and data at the same time, all this in mind, Samsung, Nokia, Motorola and other international manufacturers have access to the dual card dual standby market segments, dual card dual standby mobile phone market has great potential.
At present, a lot of dual sim dual standby smart phone terminal market. However, due to frequent 2G/3G gateway into different countries, roaming and load data download service, dual card dual standby mobile phone prone to continued power a short time, dropped calls and download dropped. Part of the program provider is the blind pursuit of multi-card more than to be ignored these consumers are most concerned about the use of the fundamental problems.
As a leading IC design roots in the mobile phone industry for many years, MediaTek has been a user needs as a fundamental starting point, and constantly develop innovative mobile phone solution. MediaTek years ago, leading the industry to launch dual-card dual standby solutions for the Gemini, the solution has been launched by virtue of the high stability of its platform, the industry’s lowest rate of dropped calls, high system integration and industry-unique low-power, in the short within the time had become the standard one of various mobile phone manufacturers to quickly lead the wave of mobile development.
After continuous R & D and innovation, the United Nations Development Technology Gemini solve the program to achieve a cell phone in a set of chips (BB + RF) of the original architecture, almost does not increase any of the BOM cost of the software to achieve more than one SIM card standby function. Users can be more than one SIM card into a mobile phone in the standby mode to answer any one card calls. Continuing escalation of this program to consolidate MediaTek’s leading position in technological innovation, complete solutions (total solutions) is highly integrated and highly optimized mobile phone hardware and software system architecture, the terminal performance not only to the limit, but also the industry’s lowest power consumption level.
MediaTek recently launched a new generation of dual-card dual standby solutions for the Gemini V2, continuation of the advantages of a the MediaTek total solution complete system solutions that can support two SIM cards operate in 2G/3G networks, the solution for mobile households huge demand of the Internet more to do breakthrough software to optimize the industry’s dual card dual standby program to achieve the only one SIM card during data transmission, another SIM card can receive or make calls, while the standby time with the previous performance the same. Other existing dual card dual standby program, data transmission at the same time, another SIM card is completely unable to voice dial-up behavior. MediaTek Technology Gemini V2 to innovative technologies to enhance the ability to support voice and data synchronization, and give full play to the advantages of dual-card users can enjoy download or the Internet, while answering the phone, avoiding the phenomenon of dropped calls, and truly worthy of the name pairs card dual standby.
Years ago, the three operators in China had dual card dual standby become one of the customized standard, the MediaTek launch of the “true dual standby function will greatly operators welcome. Now is able to switch between the GSM, WCDMA network. The user can no longer have to worry about the bobble in the high-speed Internet access when important calls or call application setting, both to ensure call the Internet correct, they do not particularly change, this is a best of both worlds.
The smart phone’s standby time is short, has been plagued by a number of smart phone users, how do low-power enhancements, MediaTek give full play to the advantages of its total solution, Gemini V2 also achieved a major breakthrough in power on hardware, software and system optimization and innovation, its power consumption is half of the other dual card dual standby solutions can be found: when tested with other programs, Gemini V2 mobile phone standby time is twice that of other programs , but not because of the dual-card feature caused by the wear and tear of standby time. Data upload and download speeds, Gemini V2 to achieve the same industry-leading level in the protocol stack to achieve a great deal of optimization, the program’s data upload and download speed of response is about two to three times faster than competing solutions. become the fastest dual card dual standby solution, which can provide users with an excellent online experience.
In addition, MediaTek uphold from the consumers’ experience starting in Gemini V2 dual-card switching, and choice of Internet user interface (UI) has done a lot more intuitive, more user-friendly design, for example, the user can specify which a card for Internet access, so Internet access will give priority to use this card, which help users to achieve tariff optimization, while ensuring the quality of voice and data to achieve the best.
With a high degree of stability and excellent performance, MediaTek dual card dual standby solution has become the leading fashion benchmark, widely recognized by the major operators, handset manufacturers and users. I believe in the future development, together Technologies R & D and introduced more chip products that meet market and consumer needs, work with partners to promote the Chinese mobile phone industry continue to move toward prosperity.
MediaTek Brings Yahoo! Services Around The World [June 1, 2011]
MediaTek Inc, a leading manufacturer of semiconductors for wireless communications and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), the premier digital media company, today announced a global partnership that will embed Yahoo!’s services into MediaTek’s mobile platform solutions. MediaTek is the world’s largest mobile chipset maker and in 2010, the company shipped over 500 million units for assembly into a wide range of mobile phones distributed worldwide.
Yahoo! will be MediaTek’s first global mobile service partner to deliver mobile Internet services including Yahoo! Messenger, News, Finance, Weather, Mail and other Yahoo! popular services on MediaTek’s MAUI Runtime Environment (MRE). MRE is MediaTek’s new middleware technology designed for mobile developers to deploy services and content for ‘Smart-Feature phones.’
With the launch of the MRE technology and the partnership with Yahoo! and MediaTek, the market can expect more ‘Smart-Feature phones’ to be available at an affordable price. This partnership will also allow users of handsets powered by MediaTek’s System on Chips to easily discover and connect with Yahoo! through its best-in-class products, content, tools and services and help them get the most of the digital world. MediaTek has been working closely with leading handset brands such as Cherry Mobile, Spice Group, Spice CSL and Nexian to develop products based on the MRE technology and it is in ongoing discussions with other brands.
According to Ming-Kai Tsai, Chairman of MediaTek, “MediaTek has redefined the mobile landscape through our partnership with Yahoo!. By integrating Yahoo! services into our mobile platform solutions, we are providing our customers and end users with access to the best experience for hugely popular Yahoo! services like Messenger, Mail, News, Weather and much more. ”
“Our collaboration with Yahoo! makes it more convenient for handset manufacturers to accelerate their speed to market and to reduce their deployment cost of those popular services. This is a significant milestone and a win-win for all parties who can now capitalize on the high growth rate of feature phones happening around the world.”
Rose Tsou, Senior Vice President of Yahoo! Asia Pacific said, “The mobile Internet presents a wealth of opportunity for Yahoo! and our partnership with MediaTek will further connect us with our audiences in growing markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and India where new to Internet users are coming online for the first time through their mobile devices.”
The MediaTek and Yahoo! product development roadmap covers MRE, widget capable ‘Smart Feature phones’ and the Android platform. Services included in the roadmap are Yahoo! Messenger, Mail, News, Weather, Finance, Cricket, Flickr and Answers. More services will be added in the future.
Yahoo Licensed MRE Clients [MRE blog, Jan 3, 2012]
With MRE technology, Mediatek mobile device end user can enjoy powerful and high-performance Yahoo services in low-end feature phone. These Yahoo services include Yahoo Messenger, Yahoo News, Yahoo Weather and Yahoo Finance.
Yahoo Messenger
- Y!M (Yahoo Messenger) is Yahoo chat client for MRE (formerly VRE) enabled MTK platform phones.
- This version of Yahoo Messenger supports basic features that enables users to do text chat with friends, manage friends, updating profile status, search, Profile picture display, emotion icons, links in chat etc.
Yahoo Weather
- This is Yahoo Weather mobile client application for MRE (MAUI Runtime Environment) enabled MTK handsets.
- Application provides weather information for cities. Information provided will be either in Celsius or Fahrenheit units. Application provides weather forecast for five days. User can search cities for which he desires to get the weather information or he can also set a city as his favorite by adding it in My locations list. The weather information of favorite cities is displayed in home screen by default.
Yahoo News
- This is Yahoo News mobile client application for MRE (MAUI Runtime Environment) enabled MTK handsets.
- Application helps to fetch news of various countries. User can make any country as his home country after which news categories of that country will get displayed. User can fetch list of headlines for particular selected category and can view summary of news for any listed headline. If user wants to read full news then application will open yahoo news link for that particular news in browser.
Yahoo Finance
- This is Yahoo Finance mobile client application for MRE (MAUI Runtime Environment) enabled MTK handsets.
- Application provides information for stocks of various companies by using ticker symbol or searching company’s stock by name. Yahoo Finance application provides graphical representation of ups and downs of stocks of company for different time periods.
MediaTek Announces Global Partnership to Bring Facebook to ‘Smart-Feature Phones’ [press release, Nov 8, 2011]
MediaTek Inc., a leading fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions, and Facebook today announced a global partnership that will see Facebook embedded into MediaTek’s mobile platform solutions, enabling users in emerging markets to access Facebook, many for the first time, via affordable mobile devices.
MediaTek is the world’s largest mobile chipset platform provider, shipping over 500 million units in 2010, for assembly into a wide range of mobile phones distributed worldwide. This partnership will allow users of handsets powered by MediaTek’s Runtime Environment (MRE), to better connect with their friends, family and coworkers.
MRE is MediaTek’s innovative middleware technology designed for mobile developers and application providers to deploy services and content for ‘Smart-Feature phones’*. The MRE solution provides millions of users in emerging markets with the ability to enjoy rich online experiences previously available only on smartphones. MRE-enabled devices will enable many users to access leading Internet services, such as Facebook, for the first time.
This global partnership underscores the significant potential to present users worldwide with a gateway to access Facebook. Last year, phones powered by MediaTek chipsets represent over 40% of the overall Indian handset market. With the launch of this global partnership, MediaTek is expecting more than half of its customers in India to adopt its MRE solution.
“Our new partnership with Facebook further reinforces MediaTek’s focus on providing differentiated services and value for handset brands, giving them the means to offer affordable, compelling and differentiated mobile solutions to consumers in key emerging markets such as India,” said Cheng-Te Chuang, Corporate Vice President of MediaTek.
Vaughan Smith, Mobile Partnerships and Corporate Development Vice President of Facebook added, “Every phone should be social and we’re excited to be working with MediaTek to bring Facebook to more devices, in more markets around the world and helping users to connect and share anywhere, anytime.”
MediaTek is currently working with leading handset brands, including Spice Group and Micromax in India, Cherry Mobile in the Philippines, and Nexian in Indonesia to roll out their mobile solutions in these key markets.
MediaTek’s chips have been a powerful force behind the worldwide mobile telephony revolution. In emerging markets such as India, the ability to offer features such as color interfaces, cameras, video recorders, QWERTY keypads and dual SIM capability at a compelling price point has driven the uptake of MediaTek-powered ‘Smart-Feature phones’.
“With MediaTek’s new MRE solution, we are in a position to redefine the mobile landscape and give our users their first mobile browsing and social networking experience on a handset that costs less than US$50,” shared Dilip Modi, Managing Director of Spice Mobility.
“This is a true breakthrough for the industry, and we are very proud to be working with a leader in innovation like MediaTek to create unprecedented value for our users across India, many of whom will access popular internet services such as Facebook for the first time via their mobile device,” added Vikas Jain, Business Director of Micromax Mobile.
*‘Smart-Feature phone’ refers to a feature phone device with Internet functionality
MRE Facebook Client [MRE blog, March 8, 2012]
Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life. Now it is available on MRE!
Boost Up Web Browsing On Smart-Feature Phones [Dec 2, 2011]
Opera Mini mobile browsers to ship worldwide on MediaTek’s MRE Platform
Opera Software and MediaTek Inc., a leading fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions, today announced that Opera Mini, the world’s most popular mobile browser, will be included into MediaTek’s Runtime Environment (MRE).
MRE is MediaTek’s innovative middleware technology designed for mobile developers and application providers to deploy services and content for “smart-feature-phones”. The MRE solution provides millions of users in emerging markets with the ability to enjoy rich mobile Internet experiences previously available only on smartphones. This partnership will allow users of handsets powered by MediaTek’s MRE platform to enjoy the best and most affordable Internet experience.
Opera Mini has an impressive user base, with more than 140 million users each month and growing. It offers cloud-assisted browsing, where its renowned compression technology reduces data load by up to 90% before sending it to phones. This results in a much faster page-loading speed on a limited bandwidth connection, as well as lower data costs.
“MediaTek and Opera Software share the same vision. We both want people to access the Web on their own terms,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO of Opera Software. “The MRE solution makes the traditional feature phone smarter and, at the same time, delivers the best user experience. Opera Mini makes the Web an enjoyable experience regardless of bandwidth. We look forward to seeing the next billion people to surf with Opera Mini on MRE-powered phones.”
MediaTek is the world’s largest mobile chipset platform provider, shipping over 500 million units in 2010, for assembly into a wide range of mobile phones distributed worldwide.
MediaTek Announces Global Partnership with Mobile Gaming Giant Gameloft [press release, May 11, 2012]
MediaTek Inc., a leading fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions and mobile gaming giant Gameloft, today jointly announced a global strategic partnership. Through this global partnership, Gameloft is committed to fully support a wide range of gaming applications available on MediaTek’s feature and smartphone platform solutions. Gameloft has also begun to allocate dedicated R&D team and resource for the development of games that will run on MediaTek’s mobile phone platforms.
To meet the rapid growth of the mobile gaming market, MediaTek and Gameloft have come together to offer high quality games supported by MediaTek’s high performance mobile platforms that can meet the increasing demands of gamers regarding speed and multimedia features. MediaTek announced that its newest single chip solution, the MT6255, which will come pre-loaded with Asphalt 6: Adrenaline™, Gameloft’s most popular racing game to date, as well as trial versions of three other best selling games, Block Breaker 3™, Assassin’s Creed Revelations™, and Brain Challenge 3 : Think Again!™—all at no extra cost to manufacturers. Besides, Gameloft has already begun to funnel resources and game development teams in France, Vietnam, and China to create games that will run on MediaTek powered mobile platforms.
According to a recently released market survey carried out by IT research firm SuperData, mobile gaming will be a $7.5 billion market by 2015E, more than triple the $2.7 billion that it is today. The survey also showed that Asia is currently the largest market for mobile gaming, with revenues forecasted to total $3.2 billion by 2015E, accounting for 40% of the total market. Since anywhere between 3.5% and 10% of mobile free-to-play game audiences will convert to paying users, this market segment offers a large potential for growth.
Regarding the new partnership, Ching-Jiang Hsieh, President of MediaTek said, “With the rapid development of mobile Internet applications and services, mobile gaming has become one of the leading value-added service and application in the mobile Internet industry today. I see our new partnership with Gameloft as a major breakthrough for the industry: With MediaTek’s strong platform customization and Gameloft’s cutting-edge game development capabilities, together we will be able to bring even more value to mobile phones, thereby increasing the competitive edge of our customers among mobile phone industry.”
“We look forward to leveraging MediaTek’s high performance mobile platforms to deliver our exciting selection of games to even more users worldwide. Gameloft has been present on the Chinese market for over 10 years with strong business and creation teams and we are thrilled to increase our presence to propose our games to the billion phone users in China. In sync with Mediatek’s philosophy, Gameloft’s mission is to provide a good experience to the mass market at a very reasonable price. Together we share the vision of leveraging our mutual technology and experience to serve the needs of the public in the broadest way possible,” said Gonzague de Vallois, senior vice president of Gameloft.
George Zhu, CEO of TECNO, leading handset brand in Africa also noted, “As one of MediaTek’s strategic partners, the concept of “entertainment” has always been one of the mainstays of the TECNO brand name. We are very excited about the benefits that this strategic partnership will bring to our users. As these two giants combine their strengths, it will allow us to develop even more competitive products which will bring our customers an even better gaming experience.”
MRE Gameloft Games [April 11, 2012]
Gameloft is the leading mobile game provider in the world. Now end user can enjoy the high quality Gameloft games on MRE devices!
Asphalt 6
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Assassin Creed
Block Breaker 3
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Brain Challenge 3
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See also:
– App Review [list of posts on the MRE blog], currently 20
– MRE Eco-System Introduction [MRE blog, Feb 3, 2012]
– MRE Version Number Unveiled [MRE blog, Jan 16, 2012]
MoMagic develops App Store solution on MRE platform for application users [MoMagic press release, March 29, 2012]
MediaTek Inc, a leading fables semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions and MoMagic Technologies which focuses on mobile platform operation and mobile Internet service for India and other emerging markets have tied up for an application development platform called Maui Runtime Environment (MRE).
Developed by MediaTek MRE allows developers to realize smart phone solutions for feature phones. MRE provides application developers high speed tools and rich API set to provide users a rich experience. Phones with MRE Platform are closing the gap with smart phones.
MoMagic has developed App Store solution on MRE platform to help application developers an efficient way to distribute and monetize their application. The App Store will be first launched with a large number of MRE Applications in all areas like Utility, SNS, Games, Entertainment and others. Solutions provided are of a wide variety for the huge feature phone customer base.
“MoMagic Technologies is always focused to work on middle and low end of the phone user. The App Store has been developed keeping in mind the feature phone users”, said Mr. Arun Gupta, CEO, MoMagic Technologies.
“The App Store is very easy to use and navigate around. Store allows users to view newest MRE Applications, most downloaded ones, highest rated ones and also the ones downloaded for future reference”, he added.
Using this App Store user can view the Application details like description, user rating, download, etc. A number of Applications and games can be downloaded with the ease of the download manager and one can pause/resume downloads as preferred. All these features seem to take feature phone one step closer to smart phones in terms of application experience.
It seems in a very short span of time the difference between smart and feature phones would fade awayand it’s all because of platforms like MRE and solutions like MoMagic’s App Store.
“For the past few years we have seen multiple new entries in the mobile platform and hence development of Applications and App Store as a result. All this seems great but the development of Applications has been mostly directed towards smart phones and feature phones have been left out. We should not forget that worldwide feature phones market share is close to 70%, and in Asia and Africa it is still close to 80%”, Mr. Arun Gupta further said.
MediaTek Announces Investment into Spice Digital [press release, July 29, 2011]
MediaTek Inc., a leading fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions, today announced that it has invested into Spice Digital Limited, one of the largest Mobile Value Added Services ( mVAS ) player in India with presence in close to 20 countries. In connection with this agreement, MediaTek will invest US$ 20 million.
According to a recent study of Standard Chartered, India is set to become the fastest growing major economy in the world by 2012. It is also estimated to have more than 700M mobile subscribers, with that number still increasing. In addition, market research states that the mVAS (mobile value added service) market in India will enjoy over 100% growth over 5 yearsand will constitute about 10% of total telecom revenue for Indian operators. It is no surprise then that an increasing number of Indian operators are putting attention and resources into mVAS, which represents a huge market potential.
Spice Digital Limited was incorporated in 2000 and has become one of India’s top VAS companies with over 30M subscribers. It offers innovative solutions for telecom operators, enterprises, and government agencies using different mobile connectivity mediums of Voice, IVR, SMS, USSD, WAP, 3G & Mobile Applications. The company is well connected with all major operators in India including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Communication and also enjoys accelerated penetration into Africa and SE Asia.
During the signing ceremony held in MediaTek headquarters this morning, Mr. Ming-Kai Tsai, Chairman of MediaTek said, “The mobile Internet presents a wealth of opportunity for MediaTek and we believe India’s IVR and mVAS market, where Spice Digital’s core business lies, will continue to grow. Through this investment in Spice Digital, we are hoping to capitalize on its market potential and reinforce its strong operator relationship and leading position in India, SEA, Africa and Middle East.”
Dr. Bhupendra Kumar Modi, Chairman of SPICE Global stated, “India is already one of the fastest growing large economies in the world and has the potential to become the world’s largest economy. Mobile Internet can help India achieve double digit GDP growth rate and our businesses continue to lead the country’s move on the digital highway with mobile Internet. MediaTek is well known as a leading Mobile IC solutions provider. We are very excited to have signed this definitive agreement with MediaTek. Through this investment, we can together offer more advanced and innovative services and enrich the digital mobile life of the future.”
Oversea MRE Devices ! [MRE blog, April 6, 2012] [$73, 2.8”, 320×240]
With MRE technology, Mediatek worldwide customers can easily to introduce the local applications for product differentiation. So more and more MRE enabled low-end feature phone devices appear in the market with rich mobile games and mobile internet services today.
Thailand:
GNET G818 GNET G817 i-Mobile U3502 I-Mobile S501T India:
Lava C51 [$42] Micromax MX434I Micromax X55 [$55] Spice M-5225 [$32] Wynncom O-888 Wynncom O-777 Wynncom O-799 Karbonn K55 [$51] LAVA KKT 36 [$64] FLY DS123 FLY E141 TV Micromax X288 [$36] Lemon Duo 339 Super [$45] Spice M-5885 [$60] HT Mobile I9 HT Mobile 404 Micromax X368 [$38] FLY Q100 [$43] Micromax MX151 [$23] iBall i225 [$22] Philippines:
Cherry Mobile W2 Star Mobile T501 Star Mobile B501 Star Mobile B302 Indonesia:
Nexian G963
[$74, 3.5”, 480×320]Nexian G965
[$85, 3.5”, 480×320]Nexian G790
[$58, 2.8”, 320×240]IMO M306 Nexian G855 Nexian G967 Venera AKTIV215 IMO M180 [$45, 2.6”, 320×240] Malaysia:
Spice CSL BB 7500 Spice CSL DS 720 Africa:
Tecno T77 [$54] Tecno HD70 Mi-Fone MI-400 G-PLUS L300 G-PLUS S20 G-PLUS L300 Tecno T50 Tecno T281 iTel E7
[$73, 2.8”, 320×240]LaTAM:
Verykool I605 BLU Deco Pro BLU Deco Other:
MegaGate W750
[$99, 3.5”, 480×320]F-Mobile B8300 [$67, 3.2”, 400×240] Pakistan Vietnam
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Nokia Design direction
Update: Marko Ahtisaari, Head of Design at Nokia on the Lumia 920 & Working with Microsoft [minipcpro YouTube channel, Oct 31, 2012]
People Made: Conversations with Nokia Designers [published on nokia YouTube channel, July 31, 2012] prepared for and shown on “People Made – An Exhibition on Nokia Design” held between June 8 and September 2 in Helsinki (see the background information below)
Views/opinions/answers by Marko Ahtisaari, Executive Vice President, Design; member of the Nokia Leadership Team, leading both the industrial design and user experience design activities in Nokia.
Part 1 – PT1 [7:27] What is the biggest motivation in your role?
… [8:23] I think for me it’s that moment when you see the impact of something that you and the team have been working on, in the hands of people and then inventing ways to use it, or take it further that you haven’t anticipated. And I think that power to cross things that spread imagination and empower people. That’s for me, and recently that’s been with N9 getting feedbacks in how the imagination races when you start using it. And us of course making it better. [8:57] …
Part 2 – PT2 [3:30] Where will Nokia Design have its biggest impact in the future?
… [4:12] Further to what Pete’s said one particular topic of the studio, the scale is what we can do to impact change at extremely affordable price points. And that’s something that our industry as a whole does not get excited about, innovations in that area. They care more about something very expensive parts of the portfolio like get N9 and innovating then. What we can do under 10 Euros, under 5 Euros that changes everything, in a way from bottom up? That’s very unique and exciting. [4:51] …
Regarding the design aspects of N9 see:
– Nokia to enter design pattern competition for 2011 smartphones with MeeGo [this same Experiencing the Cloud, Dec 9, 2010 – Jan 31, 2012]
– Nokia N9 UX [?Swipe?] on MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan [this same Experiencing the Cloud, June 24 – Oct 27, 2011]
[12:40] What are the foundations Nokia Design is laying for the future?
… [13:20] I think if continue on that, real challenges: we make things that are combinations of hardware and software, how do we make the business more sustainable in value in the sense that we can give you a phone and it has a longer life. May be one phone is enough, and then you can upgrade it, even in our industry where the cycle is so fast, and constantly the engines and technologies are changing. How do we get to a path that isn’t built on selling you one every year. [13:47] … [15:01] I think one area where we have huge opportunities: we are just at the beginning. If you look at the physicality of the object, how natural we can make the interaction? I think the N9 shows a bit, it’s like a hint. It’s the first glimpse of how you can make something so direct. Peter and I were last summer in the garden of alvaraldos (??), experimental summer house muratsava (??). In the garden walking with Nato Fukasawa (??), and we were asking “Do you think that your view of just discovering the most natural way that a person relates to an object, is that already applied to software?” He said: “Oh, maybe now with this directness .. I’m coming to see you next year.” [response] “Oh, we have something to show you.” We are just at the beginning, so how do we make common technology to recede to the background, so feel even more natural, it becomes even more invisible? [15:58]
Part 4 – PT4 [8:28] How will our industry change in the next decade?
… [10:29] I think an important angle to that which Peter you raise as we have to develop ways of moving very quickly in five to ten months, not just five to ten years, and catch the small things that change. Couple of the things that are certainly happening: one is this drive to lower and lower cost, then almost anyone can manufacture, and how is that changing? Everything sort of democratization of making things, not only effecting our industry. And then the other one, which is I think good all around us, more democratization of information, so we are getting to a point where there will be a website for that. And this period of having apps as a way to structure our relationship with these devices probably [will end]. It’s difficult to see from the inside, because this is all moving so fast, but I think we’ll see more of the open web again, then we’ll have the Internet back. [11:22] … [12:02] We are very sensitive to small beautiful ideas [12:05]
[15:25] What will the Nokia Design legacy be in the future?
… [16:00] Potential. [16:07]
Important presentation video (you should click on the image to go to a video page):
see at: http://www.dmi.org/dmi/html/conference/europe12/CE12AHT.htm
More information:
– Nokia Lumia (Windows Phone 7) value proposition [this same Experiencing the Cloud, Oct 26 – Nov 2, 2011]
– Designing smarter phones–Marko Ahtisaari (Nokia) and Albert Shum (Microsoft) [this same Experiencing the Cloud, Nov 23, 2011]
– Best practice industrial and user experience design – Nokia and Microsoft [this same Experiencing the Cloud, Dec 17, 2011 – Jan 31, 2012]
– Less focus on feature phones while extending the smartphones effort: further readjustments at Nokia [this same Experiencing the Cloud, June 25, 2012]
Simplifying core use of phones is the focus of innovation at Nokia [The Hindu, July 24, 2012]
Nokia recently launched Lumia 610 in India, adding to the Lumia 800 and 710 ranges it already has in the market. It plans to launch the Lumia 900 here soon.
Marko Ahtisaari, Executive Vice-President (Design) of Nokia, spoke to M. Soundariya Preetha on the “heads up” design principle the company is adopting for its products. The correspondent was at Nokia’s design studio in Helsinki recently at the invitation of the company. Excerpts:
How does Nokia plan to take forward its “heads up” principle in the design of its products?
It is about designing products in a way that allows people to have heads up. It means the user interface is planned simple, is easy to quickly look at and does not demand more of your attention. I am interested in the 50 to 100 everyday things that people do with the phone that can be designed better. It involves combining innovation in hardware and software, an innovation that helps simplify the core use of the phone. One example is what we already have in the market for some time: on the screen of your phone you see the time and some view of what notifications you would have on the screen even when the phone is taking almost no power.
Why is design an important factor in a product?
We are ahead in a trend towards purity and we are focusing the product on essentials. People appreciate attention to detail. Our key challenge and opportunity is how do we apply the same level of attention to detail to all ranges of our products. Another challenge and opportunity is material innovation. We are meaningfully different because of quality and attention to details.
Apart from design, the other key areas that make the difference include photography features, continuous innovation, and features related to location and motionon our products (maps, drive, and public transport).
Can you elaborate on the plans to extend some features of the smart phone to all ranges?
Nokia recently launched Asha touch products, introducing full touch experience at new price points. We can do these kinds of hardware and software combinations, and can innovate in all price points. We cannot restrict innovation to a category of products.
Moving forward, how would you like Nokia products to be?
It is designing phones that feel human yet extremely advanced, phones that feel very organic and beautiful. Design is the soul of a product. It plays a key role in building products better, and it means consequent attention to details.
Design also stands out by re-imagining and improving what people do every day with phone and designing the product is such a way that people can use it heads up. It allows people to be connected to each other.
More information: Smartphone-like Asha Touch from Nokia: targeting the next billion users with superior UX created for ultra low-cost and full touch S40 devices [this same Experiencing the Cloud, July 20, 2012]
‘Heads up’ urges Nokia design chief [Yle News, March 15, April 27, 2012]
Nokia’s Executive Vice President of Design Marko Ahtisaari says in an interview with the Finnish business magazine Optio that he is looking for the next big leap in mobile user interfaces. It is likely to involve a radically different way of using mobiles.
His vision for the mobile phone in 2020 can be summarised in two words: ’heads up’, meaning that users should be able to use their phones without hunching over a screen.
He refused to give further details, beyond saying that it is a breakthrough, and that it involves speech commands.
In a word association exercise, Ahtisaari said that Google’s Android operating system was a ‘business innovation’, and had ‘nothing to do with design’. He also described Apple’s iPad as ‘significant’, and the iPhone as ‘five years old’.
Nokia’s forthcoming Lumia 900, meanwhile, was described as pure, clean-cut and simplified.
Ahtisaari also said that work on developing tablets takes up around a third of his time at Nokia.
On Windows Phone and Nokia’s ability to change its preferred smartphone platform, Ahtisaari told Optio that he believes the premise of the question is wrong.
”First you have to ask, how much Windows Phone should change,” said Ahtisaari. If the operating system is modern and holistic, it is pointless to change it. The most important thing is to get it into the market quickly, because the life cycle of operating systems is not eternal. Evolution always goes in 7-8 year leaps.”
Nokia’s Lumia 800 and 900: Seamlessly Simple [Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), July 10, 2012]
Q & A with Marko Ahtisaari, EVP, Nokia Design
The smartphone market is highly competitive with two operating systems currently taking a large share. With the Lumia project, Nokia set out to establish the Windows Phone operating system as the third ecosystem, building awareness of its superior capabilities and simplicity and to establish Nokia as the leader of this ecosystem. Designed to be singularly beautiful, and as the lead product in Nokia’s brand renewal, the Lumia line also expresses the company’s strategy to stand out in a crowded marketplace.Which came first the device or the OS? Which side (Nokia or Microsoft) initiated this unique collaboration?
The Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 900 were both born out of work that was ongoing at Nokia and Microsoft before the two companies came together.
Early on, we discovered that the design principles that inspired us were closely aligned. These are phones that aspire to be human and advanced and authentically digital. The design approach is one of rich reduction: on-screen and off this required taking away the unnecessary to make a simpler more beautiful phone. It’s a phone that puts your stuff front and center, where you want it and can find it fast. These phones are designed to be unobtrusive when in use, with the boundary between physical and digital interaction blending seamlessly at the curved edge of the screen. The result, we think, is a very natural fit.
Did the Nokia ID team have strong UI competency? What challenges did you face designing within Microsoft’s OS constraints?
Yes, our Lumia team comprises ID and UX designers. One of the biggest challenges was controlling the screen temperature of the colors. Nokia Lumia smartphones are colorful to the core; color is inherent in the polymer of the polycarbonate and central to the digital experience with the live tiles. The bold and simple look of these matching colors belies the amount of work that went in to achieving them, but the results we ultimately achieved on the Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 900 really make the Windows Phone interface pop.
How was research divided among the two teams? Did Nokia focus on materials? How did the Nokia team contribute to user research?
Yes, we started with materials; it’s the material that determines the form and function of the phone. Polycarbonate is RF transparent, so it offers great antennae performance and, as we mentioned, it allowed us to ingrain the color in the monobody. It’s a material that Nokia has mastered, and we continue to innovate with. For the Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 900, we used post-processing techniques more commonly reserved for metals, such as machining to tight tolerances and removing part lines, ensuring there is high definition in every detail to create a premium look and feel for the phone.
What was the biggest obstacle to getting the monobody to flow seamlessly into the glass display?
We had immense challenges in manufacturing and assembly. We had to rethink the entire construction concept and design of the phone from the inside out. We had made the body out of a single piece of polycarbonate, and so we needed to assemble the internals and chassis in sections through the screen aperture, locking them together with a puzzle joint. It was a bit like putting a ship inside a bottle.
We minimized flaws by using as few parts as possible, simple split lines, tight tolerances and relentless attention to detail. All of the openings on the body were machined after the injection moulding and then coated to achieve the most precise geometry possible. In this way we were able to produce the part with a level of craftsmanship normally associated with materials like metal.
How did you arrive at using cyan, light magenta and lime as the colors for the body?
We wanted to create a timeless device, not follow a trend. The colors of our Lumia range are inspired by the CMYK color palette, traditionally used in the print industry. These colors are distinctive modern design icons, people recognize them instantly. As primary colors they contrast with each other, and when you put them together with a black glass screen they produce a bold confident look that really stands out.
This line has a strong heritage including the N9. Which design element was most difficult to leave behind or omit in iterating from the N9 to the Lumia 800 (or Lumia 900)?
The Nokia Lumia 800 was a continuation of the Nokia N9 approach, iterated to get the best of Windows Phone. We brought back the camera key to better integrate the camera experience and utilized 64 pixels of screen real estate to position the soft keys.
With a less but better design attitude, everything has to earn its place. We took the same approach with the inbox accessories. Starting with the USB cable, we designed the USB plugs with aluminium caps to make the plugs as compact as possible. We created the European charger as a pure cylinder, matching the 38mm diameter socket. The high gloss white finish from the tool meant we could avoid the use of protective coatings while allowing tight draft angles and masking visual imperfections.
What do you hope will be the design legacy of these devices?People want phones that look great and work brilliantly. The best legacy for Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 900 would be to continue to give people exactly that.
Background
Helsinki is World Design Capital 2012 [Conversations by Nokia, Jan 5, 2012]
Marko Ahtisaari, Nokia SVP Design, said: “WDC Helsinki 2012 is a natural way for us to talk about our latest design innovations such as the Nokia N9, in which the physical form, materials, user interface and services – such as Nokia Maps – are combined into one seamless whole.”
One of the many activities Nokia will organize during WDC Helsinki 2012 is a design exhibition. The exhibition provides people with a unique chance to learn the stories behind some of the Nokia devices that changed the world. In addition to looking at the past 20 years, the exhibit will also give insights into the future design of mobile products.
People Made: An exhibition designed and curated by Nokia Design [nokia YouTube channel, June 11, 2012]
People Made: Nokia’s role in shaping the industry and changing lives [page on the Nokia website, June 8, 2012]
People Made, an exhibition as part of World Design Capital Helsinki, looks across more than 20 years of Nokia product making, and explores how Nokia has been instrumental in changing the lives of millions of people around the world.
Life-changing design innovations
The exhibition charts some of Nokia’s most significant design innovations, starting with the first mass-market digital handset (Nokia 1011) through to Nokia’s latest game-changing products (Nokia Lumia 800 and 900). The exhibition also offers a compelling human dimension. A new film installation called ‘Changing Lives’ shares personal, and often emotional, perspectives on Nokia and the influence of its products as told by the people who have had their lives changed by mobile technology.
Nokia designers on the future of the mobile industry
A further aspect to the exhibition is a film documenting a series of conversations between Nokia designers on the role they and design have in shaping the future. Taking a speculative look at the coming decade, the designers explore where the industry is headed, the challenges and opportunities that will exist, and they share their thoughts on advancing design and the Nokia legacy.
Innovations in colour
A special addition to the exhibition during its stay in Helsinki is a studio called the Colour Space. The Colour Space explores and celebrates the process of design. At the centre of the space is a permanent showcase of Nokia’s latest innovative experiments with colour.
Showcasing the brilliance of the Finnish design community
The Colour Space will also host ongoing workshops, seminars and ‘live’ projects where experts from the Finnish design community show some of the practices and methods behind the brilliant design work that permeates our lives.People Made — Nokia Products That Changed The World will be at the Cable Factory in Helsinki from June 8.
People Made at WDC Helsinki [Brand Book Nokia blog, June 13, 2012]
People Made, the exhibition which premiered last year at London’s Design Museum, has just re-opened its doors at World Design Capital Helsinki. As part of the Hi Design expo at Kaapeli, People Made looks across more than 20 years of Nokia product making, and explores how Nokia Design has been instrumental in changing the lives of millions of people around the world.
“The exhibition charts some of Nokia’s most significant design innovations, starting with the first mass-market digital handset, the Nokia 1011, through to Nokia’s latest game-changing products such as the Nokia Lumia 800 and 900.” says Stephen White, who curated People Made. “But the exhibition also takes a speculative look forward in a film with Nokia designers discussing their role in shaping the future.”
New elements for this run of the exhibition include a film installation exploring the influence of Nokia and its products as told by Nokia customers. The second new element is a space celebrating the process of design through ongoing workshops and seminars where experts from the Finnish design community share some of the practices and methods behind the brilliant design work that permeates our lives.
People Made – Nokia Products That Changed The World
8 June – 2 September 2012
Merikaapelihalli, Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki
Entrance freeDesign and curation: Nokia Design
Exhibition build: Eastway, Fair Factory
Photography: Angel Gil
Working harder: How industrial design influences Nokia [Nokia Connects, June 30, 2012]
If there’s one thing that practically everyone agrees on when it comes to Nokia phones, it’s that they’re beautifully designed and as hard as nails.
In fact, there’s an entire genre of memes dedicated to their amazingly indestructible nature. While these are loads of fun, what they show is how the principals of industrial design underpin everything Nokia does. But what exactly is industrial design and why has it been so central to Nokia’s evolution, and reputation?
What is industrial design?
Industrial design has its roots in early 20th century Germany. Eager to catch up with the industrial dominance of Great Britain and the USA, the state began to sponsor efforts to integrate traditional craftsmanship with industrial mass production. This eventually led to the creation of the Bauhaus, a school which was a to have a huge effect on not just industrial design, but everything from typography to architecture. Rather a group of like-minded creatives, than an explicit design philosophy, Bauhaus inspired designers embraced the new era of mass production as an opportunity to create art for living. You don’t have to look far to see their influence.
The World Capital of Industrial Design
In fact, if you happen to be anywhere near Helsinki, this year’s World Design Capital, you can just jump on a tram to the Cable Factory. Here you’ll find Hi Design 2012, an exhibition dedicated, to showcasing Finland’s amazing wealth of industrially designed products. Finland, as well as the other Nordic countries, industrialized a lot later than most of Western Europe. As a result, the Nordic countries were better able to preserve their traditions of craftsmanship and integrate them into commercial production. Today, the Finns produce a huge selection of carefully constructed mechanical masterpieces, everything from stunning lifts by Kone to kick ass snowmobiles from BRP Finland. Then, of course, there’s Nokia.
People Made
Nokia helped put Finnish Industrial design craftsmanship on the map, so it’s no surprise an entire floor is dedicated to mobile tech. The exhibition, People Made, which first kicked off at the London Design Museum, looks back over 20 illustrious years. From classics like the first mass-market digital handset, the Nokia 1011, right up to the Nokia Lumia 800 and 900, you get a real sense of Nokia’s design heritage. The beauty of these devices, as well as accessories like the Nokia Play 360 and Nokia Luna, are great examples of how industrial design has evolved over the decades. We’re sure that those early German design pioneers, from almost a century ago, would have approved.
See also: Nokia Products That Changed The World: Stephen White [Nokia Connects, Dec 7, 2011]
Lowest H2’12 device cost SoCs from Spreadtrum will redefine the entry level smartphone and feature phone markets
And this is not a speculation but already a reality as the new Lenovo A288t came to market this month for ¥ 569 in retail [US$ 89] and as low as ¥ 479 in wholesale [US$ 75]. Such a breakthrough was enabled by Spreadtrum’s SC8810 SoC and Lenovo Mobile’s ability to exploit such an opportunity in only 5 months. Lenovo Mobile BTW became #2 behind Samsung on China’s smartphone market in June (just thanks to an earlier Mediatek based opportunity), aiming to become #1 in one or two years. So it is safe to say that with a number of other 1st tier vendors and even a kind of revitalised whitebox ecosystem soon joining the Spreadtrum (展讯处在) SoC opportunity, the H2’12 market in China will radically be redefined, with “earthquake-like” consequences for the global smartphone market as a whole. In this way the process indicated earlier in China becoming the lead market for mobile Internet in 2012/13 [this Experiencing the Cloud blog, Dec 1, 2011] will become even more dramatic.
SIGNIFICANT NEW UPDATE: Yes, indeed the revitalised whitebox ecosystem is doing the job, and in the most wonderful way, see $48 Mogu M0 “peoplephone”, i.e. an Android smartphone for everybody to hit the Chinese market on November 15 [Nov 9, 2012], which is the first “lead post” on my trend tracking blog because of such enormous significance.
Updates: Haier Adopts Spreadtrum’s Smartphone Platform [Spreadtrum press release, Aug 16, 2012]
Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD; “Spreadtrum” or the “Company”), a leading fabless semiconductor provider in China with advanced technology in 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards, today announced that Haier, one of the global leaders in home appliances, has adopted Spreadtrum’s 1GHz TD-SCDMA Android platform, the SC8810. The Haier HT-I617, a smartphone designed to address the needs of the mass-market consumer, has completed China Mobile’s certification testing, paving the way for commercial launch through China Mobile channels.
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Spreadtrum’s SC8810 integrates a 1GHz Cortex A5 processor, 3D/2D Mali graphics accelerator, a 5 megapixel camera sub-system and supports resolution up to WVGA and wireless connectivity including Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS. The SC8810 delivers low power multimode TD-SCDMA/EDGE/GPRS/GSM operations with dual-mode automatic switching and supports TD-HSDPA at 2.8Mbps and TD-HSUPA at 2.2 Mbps. The SC8810 is delivered with turnkey Android and systems software.
Counterfeiters rebrand themselves in China’s smartphone market [Want China Times, Aug 5, 2012]
THL, the new face of a man who once sold counterfeit Samsung phones and decided to starting producing his own brand of smart phone.
After experiencing a major drop-off in sales, the makers of counterfeit cell phones in China, known commonly as “shanzhai” phones, are now breaking back into the market under their own brand names.
Previously reliant on co-opting the names of top leading to sell their bootleg products, the new generation of cell phone manufacturers are focusing on producing budget smartphones under their own brand names.
Stores for these new brands are proliferating in Huaqiangbei, a well-known consumer electronics market in Shenzhen. These new “shanzhai” smartphone producers mostly rely on supplies of chips from MediaTek in Taiwan.
After some initial mishaps, MediaTek belatedly rolled out its first-generation smartphone chip 6513T in the second half of 2011. The move has prompted many shanzhai phone manufacturers to switch to the production of smartphones, some with their own brands.
Shanzhai smartphone makers target mainly the lower and middle end of the market for products priced at around 1,000 yuan (US$156). Huang Jixian, a shanzhai cell phone producer in Shenzhen, opened 210 stores for his new “THL” smartphones throughout China in the first four months of this year. Huang plans to increase the number of his stores to over 300 to bolster the brand image of his products.
In addition to directly owned and franchise stores, Huang has also opened online franchise stores on the platforms Taobao and 360buy. Wang Xuekai, sales manager for THL, says that the different stores play a critical role in the company’s operations, since the shopping and user experience is essential in attracting business. Online sales channels play a supplementary role, Wang said.
Spreadtrum Communications’ CEO Discusses Q2 2012 Results – Earnings Call Transcript [Seeking Alpha, Aug 10, 2012]
Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
In the second quarter of 2012, we achieved revenue of $173.1 million, which is in line with the guidance we gave previously and 7.5% increase over the first quarter. I am very pleased to update you on the progress we have made with our smartphone products.
This quarter we achieved a strong volume ramp-up of our 1 Ghz TD-SCDMA Edge smartphone chipset, shipping more than 1 million units as expected. Customers such as Huawei, Lenovo, [Pryor], Hisense and others have completed China Mobile’s certification test, launched low-cost smartphones based on our products. Many are targeting a new [ratio] price in the range of RMB500 to RMB700 [US$ 79 – US$ 110], which is making TD-SCDMA smartphone even more affordable and attractive for mass market consumers.
We are seeing very strong demand for our smartphone products and are raising our shipment focus. We now expect to ship more than 10 million smartphone chipsets in the third quarter alone. In the high end of TD-SCDMA market, we expanded our business with the first-tier OEMs, growing shipment of our best-in-class TD-SCDMA-based modems. In our customers, our customers use these modems in very high-end smartphone designs.
Our baseband and RF transceivers are shipping in flagship handsets, that is recently launched, including Samsung’s Galaxy S3, HTC One XT and the other devices from first-tier China OEMs.
With the continuing growth in our smartphone chipsets and modem business, we have firmly established our leadership position in TD-SCDMA smartphone market. Our best-in-class modems are designed into top-of-line handsets and our smartphone chipsets are in neighboring 1 Ghz devices at a price of as we low as RMB500 [US$ 79].
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Recently, China Mobile has taken steps to speed up TD-SCDMA handset sales in the second half of this year. At a recent conference, China Mobile discussed a plan or plans to increase their investment in TD-SCDMA. In addition, they also encouraged handset makers to sell their TD-SCDMA product through open market with China Mobile providing support with the quality monitoring.
With the China Mobile’s handset replacement market now approaching 100 million units per year, this shift in distribution model will make the TD-SCDMA devices even more broadly available and help speed up the 3G adoption in China.
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Looking ahead to the remainder of 2012, we have some exciting product introduction on that. We will be introducing our 1.2 Ghz single-core and dual-core smartphone platforms, our new WCDMA and connectivity products. These products will increase our total addressable market in China and overseas regions and position us for continuing business expansion in 2013.
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Randy Abrams – Credit Suisse
Okay. My second question is on your outlook for TD-SCDMA. I think, one, from just a market perspective, volume, maybe what you expect smartphone and feature phones, and how you expect your market share. And I think you did well on recent tenders, maybe how you expect your product positioning. [Marvel] has been talking about a new platform for early next year and with MediaTek and MStar, how you see your market churn positioning and then overall market.
Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
I feel very confident that the TD overall volume for this year, I think what I said before in the last earnings call, is around 80 million to 90 million total units, both including the so-called central procurement, which you mentioned, and open market, which is the non-mentioned. I think the open market in particular next year, I can see a stronger and stronger demand for TD-SCDMA market in China.
So I certainly know for sure or I think next will be well above 100 million units for the total TD demand. So we at the moment, I think we’re about more than 55% market share in TD-SCDMA business. We hope with the technology leadership and also with the business model and then the quality of the products and everything else, we hope that we’ll maintain the leadership position in the future.
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Mike Walkley – Canaccord Genuity
Okay, thanks. One question for Leo. Leo, with the MobilePeak hitting the milestone, can you just update us on your WCDMA progress and how you see the competitive landscape as you’re coming to market with that product later in the year?
Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
Sure. Yeah, they’re making nice progress there. I think it’s mostly [inaudible] type of the milestones for their WCDMA. I think also combine the 40nm technology and some other 2.5G product rolls, EDGE, GPRS and GSM, I think we’re making the progress for both modem and smartphone products towards the end of the year. So I think at this moment all the development are on track, so I’m pretty happy.
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Jack Lu – RBS
Yeah, hi, Leo. One question for you. Can you talk about your 2012 smartphone full-year target? Because I think last call you mentioned a figure of 15 million to 20 million. Now, given that you are shipping more than 10 million alone in Q3, what’s your thought on that number for this year?
Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
This is a kind of — yeah, we usually only predict for the next quarter, which I did, right, around more than 10 million unit smartphones. If you really put me in a corner, so if I have to say anything to that question, I would like to say at least 25 million units for the whole year. So, yeah, it’s up number from 10 million to 15 million, what I said in early Q2.
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Jack Lu – RBS
Okay. One last question if I may, can you talk about expectations for ASPs going to Q3 for both TD feature phones and smartphone products?
Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
Yeah, feature phones, unfortunately the volume dropped sharply. I mean this is unexpected a little bit. The switching from feature phone to smartphone is so quick. It’s quicker than most people expected. But as the pricing there stabilizes, the volume drops very sharply. And at this moment actually for the ASP for smartphones, it’s there quite nicely. We — actually it’s not the pricing pressure issue, rather it’s a whole [inaudible]. There’s a huge demand there. It’s just so strong that it really surprised many of us.
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Andrew Lu – BarCap Research
Thank you. Earlier you also mentioned WCDMA smartphone solution will be introduced next year. Did you say Q1 next year?
Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
Actually we will try to introduce production small customers first. You know that, right? With big customers, takes longer time. So, Q1, maybe it could be the right time, and then Q2, something, yes.
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Donald Lu – Goldman Sachs
Good morning. Leo, can you give us more color on how can China Mobile help the open market? By open market, I mean mobile probably is not going to subsidize, but can mobile help with distribution or marketing or anything like that?
Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
Sure. Recently there are high-level executives went to Shenzhen, the headquarter [inaudible] right, several times. And then recent one is a very high level China executive went there, had meetings with — we don’t call them free market or [inaudible] anymore, we call them a small brand, right? And actually the meeting, the result is very encouraging, because down the road, you know that year over year subsidies will be reduced and reduced, not increased and increased. So the China Mobile very much encouraging the vendors and the makers of the handsets to engage with open market. Like I said, someone asked me the question, and then, some of my customers already shipping their products in open market without any subsidies. So this is encouraging.
But I think the reason it has been now, not only encouraged by China Mobile, also because the quality of the products and the price of the smartphones, more importantly, we are facing the major trend that the smartphone is replacing the features phones in big way, in such a big way in China that we very much encourage open market people to engage.
Donald Lu – Goldman Sachs
I mean, how — I man, can China Mobile really help? Because China Mobile really is the biggest carrier in China, but can — I mean, let’s say, China Unicom and China Mobile all are encouraging open market. I mean —
Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
Remember, China Mobile was not very encouraging, remember. I mean, like last year, it was totally you had to go through, any product go through the central procurement program, passing quality acceptance test and with the subsidies and this and that, and then whatever type of handset has been determined selected by China Mobile. And now actually I think with the leadership change and then with the new kind of a thinking, I think it’s really helpful that China Mobile has this open market engagement. So they are encouraging this to — okay. And also they say that TD-SCDMA over WCDMA, very much over 2.75G for that matter actually is making a lot of sense because, one, it’s cheaper than WCDMA; two, you don’t need to pay the royalties to the WCDMA. I like that, obviously many folks, right? So they are cheaper price, high quality, and the networks are much improved, and the products much more varieties and more attractive, and the pricing obviously much more affordable.
…
Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
… EDGE type of smartphone is important for emerging markets. What you said is true. However, for their shipments of other company, I think the majority unfortunately is still in China, not in emerging markets. For the emerging markets, take India and Africa for example, I think at this moment the huge majority is still the low-end feature phone, not even middle-end feature phones.
So that I agree with the statement that EDGE smartphones are very much needed for emerging market, and even Qualcomm come up with the so-called platform, that means the rest of the [inaudible]. However, the volume ramp-up may not be as high as people expected. Only in China that the smartphone demand is so strong. There are other countries, I’m talking about emerging countries, there’s a demand but not as strong as this. Still majority — even the economic situation in some of the emerging countries, they’re actually deteriorating, it’s not improving. In that regard, actually putting pressure to reduce the high-end handsets actually going towards the low end. And then the demand for smartphones is there but not as strong. And then I think it will be — need maybe a couple of years to see the stronger demand, yeah.
Hao Guo – CICC
Okay, thank you. So if I may, follow up two questions. I heard from the industry that Qualcomm going to launch very low-end 3.5G solution in Q3, maybe Q4. Maybe it’s targeting for MTK and for low-end competition. So do you heard about — something about this? And can you comment on this? …
Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
The first one, I don’t comment on other people’s the product introduction. But the thing is I heard a similar type of thing and that means this EDGE smartphone is kind of important. And then as I said, I think most of that type of things being shipped in China, not necessarily shipped in overseas markets. So I think — but also I said in my opening statement and then in my Q&A that in China I think with the TD-SCDMA, to compete with the 2.5G, 2.75G type of smartphones, at least the TD-SCDMA offers some kind of [inaudible] still offer some kind of better connectivity than 2.75G, compared with WCDMA, yes, it’s cheaper and without paying the royalty, right?
End of updates
Note: MediaTek has definitely something going against Spreadtrum in this newly opening space. See: this very online (www.veryol.com) article of July 17, 2012:
– Cottage “big change in the situation (translation by Google)
– 山寨”大变局 (Chinese original)
For Cheng Rainbow Mobile general manager Wang Zhongcheng, really hard over the past 12 months. As one of the hundreds of small and medium-sized mobile phone manufacturer in Shenzhen, Wang Zhongcheng these eight characters of the “dire straits, lean” to describe his current situation.
…
Wang Zhongcheng company an area of about seventy to eighty square meters, about 10 young people in this office, mostly for sales staff. … Sitting in the office of Wang Zhongcheng, he showed reporters the company’s newly developed intelligent machines. These new MediaTek 6513T chip, more than 800 frequency, 3.5-inch capacitive screen, Android 2.3.5 operating system, ex-factory price of 400 yuan [US$ 63]. The target consumer groups positioned second and third tier cities in the country. …
Spreadtrum strengthening cooperation with Samsung, threatening MediaTek market position [DIGITIMES, July 23, 2012]
China-based handset solution vendor Spreatrum Communications has stepped up its cooperation with Samsung Electronics and may double its shipments by the fourth quarter of 2012, threatening MediaTek’s leading market position in China, according to industry sources.
Spreadtrum, through the cooperation with Samsung, won a number of TD-SCDMA solution orders from China Mobile in the first half of 2012, while MediaTek secured only one order, the sources revealed.
Spreadtrum has expanded its cooperation with Samsung to include 2.5G/2.75G/3G solutions, and Samsung’s handset shipments to China in the fourth quarter of 2012 will nearly all adopt chipset solutions from Spreadtrum, the sources indicated.
Samsung is expected to ship 70 million handsets to China in 2012, the sources estimated.
Meanwhile, Spreadtrum’s development and trial production of quad-core and 4G solutions is also ahead of MediaTek’s by over six months, indicating Spreadtrum’s improving capability, the sources added.
Note that this Spreadtrum’s cooperation with now world #1 Samsung may have an even bigger impact on Windows Phone. According to a latest report Windows Phone shipments in June were just less than 200,000 units in China which accounting for only 1.6% share of the smartphone market there.
See this it.sohu.com article of July 24, 2012:
– Acclimatized! Microsoft Windows Phone Chinese Long Way (translation by Google)
– 微软Windows Phone中国路漫漫 (Chinese original)
Spreadtrum Smartphone Chipset Undercuts MTK by USD 1 [Marbridge Daily, July 5, 2012]
Adopted from National Business Daily article of June 29, 2012:
– Cost of smart phones “counter-attack” the chip manufacturers to bring down program costs to ¥ 300 (translation by Google)
– 智能手机成本“逆袭” 芯片厂商拉低方案成本至300元 (Chinese original)
Chinese baseband chipset vendor Spreadtrum (Nasdaq: SPRD) has announced that its 8810 chipset is priced at USD 7-8, approximately USD 1 less than MediaTek’s 6573 solution, lowering the price of a 3.5-inch smartphone chipset solution to RMB 450-500 [US$ 70-78]. Spreadtrum currently supplies the 8810 to several major brands, including Samsung, HTC, Lenovo (0992.HK), ZTE, Huawei, and Tianyu (K-Touch). Spreadtrum estimates that its smartphone chipset shipments will exceed 20 mln in 2012.
Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek received orders from major brands such as Huawei and ZTE (0763.HK; 000063.SZ) in early 2012. MediaTek aims to capture 50% of mainland China’s smartphone chipset market, and expects 60% of business to come from brand clients, while independent handset design firms will account for the remaining 40%.
Qualcomm senior VP Jeff Lorbeck disclosed that many handset vendors, including Lenovo, TCL, and Longcheer, have begun offering 3.5-inch HVGA smartphones using the Qualcomm Reference Design platform priced at USD 50.
MediaTek and Qualcomm have signed an agreement to offer chipsets at market prices, not below cost, according to an industry source. China’s three major domestic chipmakers produce solutions for entry-level smartphones costing under RMB 300 [US$ 50] to produce and sold at a retail price of RMB 600 [US$ 94].
Indeed a week ago came official information on SC8810-based Lenovo A288t becoming available through online channels and retail stores at 599 RMB [US$ 94] list price:
Lenovo Smartphone Based on Spreadtrum’s 1GHz TD-SCDMA Android Platform Completes China Mobile Certification Testing [Spreadtrum press release, July 19, 2012]
Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD; “Spreadtrum” or the “Company”), a leading fabless semiconductor provider in China with advanced technology in 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards, today announced that the Lenovo A288t, which is a Lenovo TD-SCDMA smartphone based on Spreadtrum’s 1GHz Android smartphone platform, the SC8810, has completed China Mobile’s certification testing and is expected to achieve sales of more than one million units in the third quarter.
China Mobile’s certification test is a required step and important milestone in the operator’s procurement process and is used to confirm the maturity and stability of TD-SCDMA mobile terminal products. Lenovo’s completion of China Mobile’s certification process with its Lenovo A288tsmartphone validates Spreadtrum’s 1GHz low-cost smartphone platform as fully compliant with China Mobile’s commercial requirements.
“China Mobile’s certification testing is a key milestone for manufacturers and a prerequisite for mobile phone purchasing by its provincial offices,” said Dr. Leo Li, Spreadtrum’s president and CEO. “The certification of the Lenovo A288t demonstrates its commercial readiness by China Mobile. China Mobile will kick off the purchase of TD-SCDMA phones after completing its certification testing, and this will build the confidence of handset manufacturers in the open market to design the Spreadtrum SC8810 platform into more low-cost smartphones.”
“Lenovo is committed to promoting China’s 3G terminal development.” said Feng Xing, vice president of Lenovo. “We recently completed China Mobile’s certification testing with the Lenovo A288t, which is based on Spreadtrum’s SC8810, and expect to achieve sales of more than one million units of this model in the third quarter, underscoring the popularity of low-cost smartphone devices. This is a milestone in our strategy of vigorously promoting 3G uptake in China by bringing Chinese consumers cost-effective mobiles that are comparable to the world’s top smartphones. The Lenovo A288t is commercially available to consumers now through online channels and retail stores at 599 RMB [US$ 94].”
Spreadtrum’s SC8810 integrates a 1GHz Cortex A5 processor, 3D/2D Mali graphics accelerator, 5 megapixel camera sub-system and supports resolution up to WVGA and wireless connectivity including Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS. The SC8810 delivers low power multimode TD-SCDMA/EDGE/GPRS/GSM operations with dual-mode automatic switching and supports TD-HSDPA at 2.8Mbps and TD-HSUPA at 2.2 Mbps. The SC8810 is delivered with turnkey Android and systems software that reduces the design time and resources required to deliver new handsets to market.
Currently Lenovo A288t is sold for ¥ 569 in retail [US$ 89/94] and as low as ¥ 479 in wholesale [US$ 75]. It has quite impressive parameters:
- Network type: Mobile TD-SCDMA, GSM
- Designs: straight
- Screen Size: 3.5 inches
- Resolution: (HVGA) 320 x 480 pixels
- Touch ways: capacitive screen (multi-touch)
- Pixels: 3.2 million pixels
- Operating System: Android the OS 2.3
- Memory: 256MB RAM
- Body[?ROM?] size: 512MB
- Type: Lithium battery, 1500mAh
- Weight: 105.0g
- GPS Module: Built-in GPS support A-GPS
Such aggressive exploitation of the SC8810 opportunity is no surprise as today came the report that China market: Lenovo takes up No. 2 in smartphone ranking, says Sino [DIGITIMES, July 26, 2012]:
Lenovo outperformed Huawei, ZTE, and Coolpad to capture the second-rank title in China’s smartphone phone market in June with a 13% share, trailing after only Samsung Electronics which took up a 15-16%share, according data compiled by Sino Market Research.
The launch of low-priced Android-based smartphones and cooperation with the top-three China-based telecom carriers contributed to Lenovo’s success in the smartphone segment, according to industry sources.
Lenovo’s capability to roll out a wide range of smartphone models targeting different price segments is also credited for its prevailing smartphone business, said the sources, adding that Lenovo plans to launch as many as 40 models of its Lephone lineup in 2012.
Following the steps of Lenovo, Acer has recently teamed up with China Mobile and China Unicom to promote its smartphones in China.
Note that Lenovo was probably the most successful vendor to adopt Mediatek’s MT6575 SoC that was leading the H1’12 smartphone market, see the Lenovo A60 related information in Boosting the MediaTek MT6575 success story with the MT6577 announcement [this Experiencing the Cloud blog, June 27, 2012] such as “China Unicom’s top selling handset in the sub-RMB 1000 [sub-US$ 157] smartphone category”. Today’s it.sohu.com article (of July 26, 2012) is providing further interesting details on that:
– Lenovo mobile phone whether a flash in the pan? Liu [Jun] said that sustainable success (translation by Google)
– 联想手机第二是否昙花一现？刘军称可持续成功 (Chinese original)
In 2010, the company launched the “Music Fund”, support for native application development business growth. “Music Fund” first phase of investment of 100 million yuan, managed by Legend Holdings, the company’s professional investment team operations. “Music Fund”, as the angel investors will focus on the development of start-up and early business support in the mobile Internet applications and services.
Liu [Jun, senior vice president of Lenovo Group, MIDH (Lenovo Mobile Internet and Digital Home Business Group) president] said in the dialogue with the Sohu IT, app store has more than 70,000 applications, nearly ten million monthly downloads, the latest data is Lenovo music application store has been downloaded more than 100 million times. Referring to the strategy to build a music store, Liu stressed, Lenovo insisted Android+ strategy on top of the native system in Android, plus Lenovo’s own software.
…
Liu predicted that Lenovo Mobile [climb up to the market] will be completed within a year or two beyond, to become the leader of the domestic market share. “Speed has become the core competitiveness of Lenovo Mobile, one of R & D speed. First, the speed of the supply chain.” Said Liu Jun, “smart phones than traditional mobile phones more like PCs, therefore, the product delivery time became particularly important, who first to enter the market who will have a head start. “
… Introduced, according to Liu Jun, Lenovo’s first best-selling models A60 color using MTK solution, from design to development to market in just five months, in accordance with the normal process, the same configuration of intelligent models often require 9-12 months of preparation time, Lenovo ahead of competitors in three or four months, in order to grab the opportunity, and accounted for the thousand Yuan machine market.
… Liu said Lenovo Mobile is already considering international expansion, and has taken a number of footsteps, such as Lenovo launched a smart phone in the Russian market. Accordance with the planning of the Lenovo Group, Lenovo will take the first emerging markets, after mature market strategy, the focus of this year, Russia, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.
At the end of the interview, Liu stressed that our primary task is to do the domestic market into the international market, Lenovo does not rule out in the interview a mergers and acquisitions strategy.
Previously, Lenovo executives repeatedly claimed that M & A has become the core competitiveness of the Lenovo Group. Look at the history of mergers and acquisitions from Lenovo, Lenovo has successfully completed and the integration of the United States IBM, NEC of Japan and Germany, Medion. Of course, the above integration is built around the PC expanded.
In the First Quarter 2012 Results Presentation[May 4, 2012] from Spreadtrum we could find the following slide:
and in the Q1 2012 Spreadtrum Communications, Inc Earnings Conference Call Transcript [May 4, 2012] (available via) the following remarks by Dr Leo Li – Spreadtrum Communications, Inc – Chairman and CEO: [in]
I just came back from meeting yesterday from China Mobile. … Actually I was told by the Chairman of China Mobile that more than 60 million [will be] centrally procured — actually that’s a minimum number. The actual number will be much higher. So I am very confident my take from China Mobile for recent meetings, executives, yes they are expanded the activities into TD-SCDMA and then they will resume the phase five or phase six type of development, further invested into infrastructure of TD-SCDMA, they will ramp up a much, much higher volume.
Actually next year they — I was told by both China Mobile and other experts in the industry that there will be more than 100 million units expected for TD-SCDMA. This year 80 million to 90 million. So this volume is — I think it’s real and I am very confident that the China Mobile — I was told by China Mobile people, by the way. It’s not that I just say that. It is — TD — it’s here to stay and it will grow very fast.
…
I think for open channel [i.e. whitebox vendors] will be 20 million-ish or 30 million-ish, will be actually more than 50% of smartphones and for centrally procured — according to China Mobile — I mean, today there is 50-50. So smartphones actually is at or more than 50% of the total TD shipment.
…
The reason open market [i.e. whitebox vendors] wants TD-SCDMA, you will understand why they want EDGE but TD is very interesting because remember China Mobile has more than 600 million subscribers and then the TD market actually — if you want to use the smartphones obviously you want to have some kind of connectivity, Internet communication and then you have only two choices.
One is W, the other is TD and then the W[CDMA] is more expensive, TD is cheaper. So that’s why — and also TD has this clear advantage over W[CDMA], is that you do not need to change the SIM card. You only change your hand set. You keep your same 2.5G SIM card and then purchase a TD smartphone or TD feature phone. You can enjoy, utilize TD, the wideband or faster data service.
…
To some extent, even I was told that in the Shenzhen market, maybe it’s kind of like revitalized by the TD-SCDMA or EDGE smartphone type of product, maybe help them to regain so-called strength to engage with the domestic market. Remember in the second half of last year it very rapidly went down — collapsing of (inaudible) market, right. I think I we’ve been asked by many of our Shenzhen customers, asking for both TD products and EDGE smartphone products.
…
I think [in] the second half the ramp up will be very robust. … both through the carriers … and open channels in the second half of the year, in particular third or fourth quarter, maybe more towards fourth quarter for the open market because people are preparing for the design right now.
…
… the 8810 and the 6820, those are our so–called single core. I think by the end of Q3 or early Q4 we will offer the dual core 1.2 GHz type of product and then by the end of this year or early next year we will offer quad core, again 1.5 GHz products both of which will be based on 40–nanometers product.
Also it was mentioned in the previous, Q4 2011 Spreadtrum Communications, Inc Earnings Conference Call Transcript [Feb 29, 2012] (available via) that:
… from what we’ve seen, that the open market segment starts growing in volumes or demand is obviously there. I’ll give you examples. There was the WCDMA type of smartphones, right, in China. However, when we go into detail for the WCDMA users, smartphone users, we’ve found that 70% of them are actually China Mobile users, meaning they actually cannot even use the 3G features, WCDMA features for those smartphones.
So obviously there is a natural demand for TD-SCDMA type of low-end smartphones, because for the same China Mobile users they can enable the 3G high-speed data type of applications. So both for feature phones and for smartphones, we’ve seen — from our customer we’ve seen a demand for TD-SCDMA type of products.
…
… we launched the — I think [in] Q4 of the — excuse me, 600 megahertz type of Android [see: World’s lowest cost, US$40-50 Android smartphones — sub-$100 retail — are enabled by Spreadtrum [in this Experiencing the Cloud blog, Dec 11, 2011 – Feb 27, 2012]]. One thing we didn’t anticipate was the market really don’t — they want the higher frequency one. I think we’ve seen an unusually fast market shift. I can tell you this. November, even October/November last year, even October, right, 600 megahertz type of Android smartphone was selling like hotcake. However, by November and then early December, all of a sudden the market demand for 1 gigahertz type of thing, because you want to have some kind of user experience with smartphones.
…
TD smartphones hasve become very attractive to general consumers and users of the TD type of — the TD market. For our TD-SCDMA 1 gigahertz Android, either Android 2.3 or later 4.0 type of things, ours are highly — maybe the highest level of integration. And like I said, maybe we are lowest cost structure in this segment.
That is Spreadtrum was able readjust its December 2011 strategy for the quickly changed market demand as is clearly visible from the following press releases as well:
Spreadtrum Introduces 1GHz Low-Cost Smartphone Platform For TD-SCDMA & EDGE/WiFi[Spreadtrum press release, Jan 4, 2012]
Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD; “Spreadtrum” or the “Company”), a leading fabless semiconductor provider in China with advanced technology in 2G and 3G wireless communications standards, today introduced a 1GHz Android smartphone platform for TD-SCDMA (SC8810) and EDGE/WiFi (SC6820) and announced that both products are now samplingwith customers. With these two new solutions, Spreadtrum is redefining the performance standard for low-cost smartphones, enabling OEMs to deliver 1GHz performance at US$100 retail prices.
“Our 1GHz Android platform sets a new bar for low-cost smartphone performance,” said Dr. Leo Li, Spreadtrum’s president and CEO. “The graphics and web browsing performance of the SC8810 and SC6820 compares favorably to one of the most popular smartphone models globally, delivering a high performance applications and gaming experience for consumers. This type of experience has previously been available only in mid- to high-end handset models and can now be delivered by OEMs in US$100 smartphone models. This will reshape the definition of and consumer expectations for a low-cost handset.”
Spreadtrum’s 1GHz platform is the most highly integrated, lowest power smartphone platform for the TD-SCDMA market. The solution delivers the lowest chip count with a multimode single-chip RF transceiver supporting TD-SCDMA, EDGE, GPRS and GSM and integrates power management. The platform’s Cortex A5 processor architecture delivers more than 40% lower power consumption compared to ARM11-based products and more than 70% lower power consumption than Cortex A9 products, delivering differentiated standby and talk time performance relative to other smartphone models.
Designed with 40nm CMOS silicon technology, the SC8810 and SC6820 baseband platforms are powered by a Cortex A5 1GHz processor and incorporate an advanced multimedia subsystem which includes a Mali GPU with 3D/2D graphics acceleration and supports high definition video playback, a 5 megapixel camera, a WVGA [800×480] touch panel and connectivity features including Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS. The SC8810 supports TD-SCDMA with HSDPA at 2.8Mbps, HSUPA at 2.2Mbps as well as quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE with dual-mode auto handover, while the SC6820 supports quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM. Both products combine silicon hardware with turnkey Android software that reduce both the design time and design resources required to deliver new handsets to market.
Spreadtrum’s expansion of its smartphone platform coincides with rapidly increasing demand in China for smartphone products. Industry analysts expect the smartphone market in China to exceed 100 million units in 2012, leading global demand for smartphone products.
Spreadtrum Announces Commercial Availability of its 1GHz TD-SCDMA and EDGE Android 2.3/4.0 Platforms [Spreadtrum press release, April 26, 2012]
More than 200 Smartphone Design Wins Lay Foundation for Second Quarter Volume Shipment
SHANGHAI, April 26, 2012 — Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD; “Spreadtrum” or the “Company”), a leading fabless semiconductor provider in China with advanced technology in 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards, today announced the commercial availability of the SC8810, Spreadtrum’s 1GHz TD-SCDMA Android platform, and the SC6820, Spreadtrum’s 1GHz EDGE/Wifi Android platform. Both the SC8810 and the SC6820 support Android 2.3 and Android 4.0 designs.
“We have now secured more than 200 design wins for our 1GHz TD-SCDMA and EDGE/WiFi Android platforms, and we are expecting to see volume shipments of more than one million units during the second quarter,” said Dr. Leo Li, president and CEO of Spreadtrum Communications. “With these designs, our customers are targeting a $50-100 retailsegment, unsubsidized.”
The SC8810 and SC6820 have been adopted by China and global OEMs on large scale to address the growing demand for low-cost smartphones in China and emerging markets. Both products support both Android 2.3 and Android 4.0 platforms, deliver best-in-class power consumption and demonstrate graphics/web performance on par with globally popular premium smartphone models, while supporting sub-$100 unsubsidized retail price points. The solutions are designed into handsets that are expected to launch commercially starting in May.
The company was also quick to rearrange its 2.5 offering for the feature phone market as there were quick changes as well:
Spreadtrum launches industry’s first 40nm 2.5G baseband [April 26, 2012]
SHANGHAI, CHINA: Spreadtrum Communications Inc. announced commercial availability of the SC6530, the industry’s first 2.5G baseband designed in 40nm CMOS silicon.
“The SC6530 is an industry first for the 2.5G market,” said Dr. Leo Li, president and CEO of Spreadtrum. “By leveraging the most advanced process node in the 2.5G segment, we are able to achieve higher performance at lower cost relative to competitive alternatives.”
The SC6530, in addition to its 40nm design, is the first 2.5G product from Spreadtrum to integrate its leading-edge baseband and RF transceiver technology into a single-chip, simplifying design and reducing overall solution footprint. The chip incorporates an ARM9 processor for high performance on a low-cost platform, and supports quad-band GSM/GPRS, triple-SIM function, HVGA display, H.264 decode and integrates an audio PA. The SC6530 couples its advances in performance, cost and integration with Spreadtrum’s mature, proven turnkey software.
The SC6530 is commercially available now. Spreadtrum expects to achieve volume shipments in May.
Spreadtrum’s three leading SoCs for the second half of 2012 products have the following parameters:
Source: the following Spreadtrum product pages
– SC8810 TD-HSPA/TD-SCDMA/EDGE/GPRS/GSM 1GHz Low-Cost Smartphone Platform
– SC6820 EDGE/GPRS/GSM 1GHz Low-Cost Smartphone Platform
– SC6530 GSM/GPRS Single-Chip Baseband/RF Transceiver for Multimedia Feature Phones
Notes:
1. WiFi and location technologies for SC8810 and SC6820 are according to Spreadtrum selects CSR connectivity and Location for Smartphone reference designs [CSR press release, Feb 27, 2012]. This is particularly relevant for SC6820-based EDGE/WiFi smartphones.
2. The ARM Cortex-A5 core has 1.57 DMIPS/MHz performance, while the ARM9EJ-S core 1.1 DMIPS/MHz performance. The former can be used in multicore SoCs as well with upto 4 Cortex-A5 cores (which Spreadtrum will exploit in its upcoming SoCs as well).
3. Dual-SIM Dual Standby solution became available as an option on Spreadtrum’s SC88xx series of TD-SCDMA basebands as well as future products, beginning in 4Q11. See: Spreadtrum Introduces First TD-Dual-SIM Dual-Standby Solution for TD-SCDMA [Spreadtrum press release, Oct 11, 2011]
Just this week came also the announcement of the – probably – highest end smartphone built on SC8810: Spreadtrum Powers Dual-SIM Dual-active TD-SCDMA Smartphone from Huawei [Spreadtrum press release, July 23, 2012]
Huawei T8808D completes China Mobile certification testing
Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD; “Spreadtrum” or the “Company”), a leading fabless semiconductor provider in China with advanced technology in 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards, today announced that Spreadtrum’s SC8810 1GHz TD-SCDMA smartphone platform is powering the Huawei T8808D, a dual-SIM dual-active smartphone for China Mobile consumers.
Huawei’s dual-SIM dual-activefeature provides consumers with maximum flexibility in how they manage operator service fees. The dual-SIM function allows consumers to choose the SIM that offers the lowest rate or the best network coverage given their location to make or receive calls, send text messages, or use data. Dual-active capability allows both SIMs to be used at the same time, enabling users to switch back and forth between two calls and use voice and data functions simultaneously.
Mr. Wang Weijun, Huawei Device’s president of its Chinese division, said, “T8808D, as Huawei’s first dual-SIM dual-active mobile phone, delivers experience innovation to China’s 3G TD-SCDMA market. In collaboration with Spreadtrum, Huawei will continue to promote popularization and development of smartphones to meet the diverse needs of Chinese consumers with a variety of high quality terminal products.”
“Spreadtrum is driving technology innovation with 2.5G/3G single-chip dual-card dual-standby technology,” said Dr. Leo Li, Spreadtrum’s president and CEO. “In cooperation with Huawei, we have enabled the first TD-SCDMA device based on Spreadtrum’s SC8810 smartphone platform with dual-SIM dual-active capability. This feature will enable consumers to select attractive 3G services while maintaining their original operator service packages. We believe that this flexibility provided to the consumer will help further promote the rapid development of China’s TD-SCDMA market.”
Note that Spreadtrum’s early December 2011 flagship SoCs were clearly inferior to its current flagships:
Additional source: the following Spreadtrum product pages
– SC8805G TD-HSPA/TD-SCDMA/EDGE/GPRS/GSM 600MHz Entry-Level Smartphone Platform
– SC6810 EDGE/GPRS/GSM 600MHz Entry-Level Smartphone Platform
Spreadtrum is also investigating alternative software platforms as shown by:
Spreadtrum Low-Cost Smartphone with HTML5 Operating System Demonstrated at Mobile Asia Congress 2012 [Spreadtrum press release, July 16, 2012]
Mozilla showcases Spreadtrum smartphone running Firefox OS, highlighting potential of HTML5 on low-cost smartphones
Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD; “Spreadtrum” or the “Company”), a leading fabless semiconductor provider in China with advanced technology in 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards, today announced that Spreadtrum’s SC8810 smartphone platform was selected by Mozilla to showcase its HTML5 operating system, Firefox OS, running on low-cost smartphone devices. Mozilla demonstrated the handset, based on Spreadtrum’s 1GHz SC8810 smartphone chip and running Mozilla’s Firefox OS, at its booth during Mobile Asia Congress 2012 held last month in Shanghai, China.
Firefox OS for mobile devices is built on Mozilla’s “Boot to Gecko project” which allows HTML5 applications to access the underlying capabilities of a phone, previously only available to native applications. “Firefox OS is another major step at Mozilla to bring its core values — openness, innovation and opportunity on the web — to users and developers on smartphone platforms,” said Dr. Li Gong, CEO of Mozilla Online Ltd and Mozilla Taiwan. “Our collaboration with Spreadtrum will help enable the power of this truly-open operating system to reach the billions of consumers in emerging markets who will be coming online as first-time smartphone users as well as existing smartphone users who are looking for greater value at lower cost.”
“We have been closely tracking the progress of the “Boot to Gecko project” since its inception and are very excited about Firefox OS as a concrete realization,” said Mr. Yi Kang, vice president of marketing at Spreadtrum Communications. “This type of solution has generated a lot of interest from operators, as the open-source HTML5 platform can provide them with complete control over the handset experience. We expect that the appeal of this platform to our customers will grow as the HTML5 application ecosystem expands.”
This is leading to speculations like: The Feature phone rises (again?) [EE Times, July 24, 2012]
…
Is it plausible? You bet. I already see signs that make such plots believable.
First is the emergence of Firefox OS. While the jury’s still out on yet another new mobile OS, this HTML5-based mobile operating system may have enough power to stir the debate.
$40 smartphone
Second, there is mounting market pressure (from handset vendors and operators alike) for low, low-cost smartphones. In an interview with EE Times in early June, Spreadtrum’s CEO Leo Li was on the record by saying that “our customers are ready to roll out $40 ‘real’ smartphones this year.”Every chip company and handset vendor is in the market for a solution that makes all levels of smartphones possible at low cost.Third, operators are hatching a plot to retain full control of the billing relationship with subscribers. “Currently, operator billing is available for Android for only a handful of operators, all in developed countries,” according to Daniel Gleeson, an analyst on Mobile at IHS Screen Digest. “Otherwise payments for apps, games etc. go through credit card companies. Obviously operators would prefer that this goes through them as they would get a small slice of that pie as well.”
Fourth, as legal wrangling escalates on Apple iOS vs. Google’s Android IP front, handset vendors are surreptitiously looking for an alternative system – possibly something available for free.
Fifth, let’s not forget about a huge global market — beyond the United States and Europe — that hasn’t embraced smartphones yet. This creates big openings for developers of new technologies and new players on the mobile market.
Above all, I’m convinced that feature phones (OK, “entry-level smartphones”) are not going away, largely because the definition of smartphones vs. feature phones, in my opinion, is fundamentally phony. At best, it’s based on a self-serving marketing pitch by smartphone proponents.
…
Smartphone-like Asha Touch from Nokia: targeting the next billion users with superior UX created for ultra low-cost and full touch S40 devices
Updates: Nokia Asha 310 debuts with Dual SIM and Wi-Fi [Nokia press release, Feb 12, 2013]
Nokia Asha 310: $102 (list) – a dual SIM enhanced version of the Asha 309: $99 (list)
+ Both Asha 309 and 310 are WiFi enabled, EGPRS and GPRS based versions with modest camera (2 MP), video (176 x 144 pixels H.263 only recording at 13 fps, playback at 15 fps) and processing power (800 MHz as indicated in India) capabilities. The top Asha 311 ($115 list price in India) is a 3.5G phone with 3MP camera, 640 x 480 pixels H.263 and MPEG-4 recording at 25 fps, playback at 30 fps, and a 1 GHz ARM11 processor. The best retail price on the major Asha market, India: Asha 309 is Rs. 4349 [$US 80.5] and Asha 311 is Rs. 5349 [$US 99]. You can download a detailed comparison of these top Asha devices from here (PDF).
…
Swap SIM cards to suit your lifestyle
With Nokia’s built-in Easy Swap Dual SIM technology, consumers can use the external slot on the Nokia Asha 310 to insert a secondary SIM card, while keeping their principal SIM card in place behind the battery. The Nokia Asha 310 puts the user in control, with the ability to shift between SIM cards for personal or work use without turning off the phone. They can also swap SIM cards while on-the-go, to get the best available tariffs when commuting. Nokia Easy Swap Dual SIM makes it possible to assign and store unique profiles for up to five SIM cards. Users can designate SIM cards for text, voice and data and switch between them at their convenience.
Freedom to do more online with Wi-Fi
The addition of Wi-Fi in the Nokia Asha 310 gives users a fast and easy way to enjoy more online, including streaming videos from YouTube or downloading the 40 free EA Games from Nokia Store. The ability to connect to free Wi-Fi hotspots whether at home or on the go means users aren’t constrained by their data plan.
The Nokia Asha 310 comes pre-loaded with Nokia Xpress Browser, which delivers a fast and fluid browsing experience and support for thousands of web apps. Nokia Xpress Browser compresses Internet data by up to 90%, saving consumers money.
…
“The Nokia Asha 310 is the first-ever Nokia smartphone to offer both Easy Swap Dual SIM and Wi-Fi in the same device. It gives consumers the best of both worlds, allowing them to separate work and play, or speak with friends on other mobile networks more affordably,” said Timo Toikkanen, executive vice president, Mobile Phones, Nokia. “The addition of Wi-Fi support gives users the freedom to enjoy much more of the Internet compared to competitive devices at this price point.”
The newest addition to the Asha Touch family of smartphones, the Nokia Asha 310 features a 3″ scratch-proof, capacitive touchscreen that complements the sophisticated design. It features a 2 megapixel camera and comes with a 4GB* memory card included, with support for a further 32GB of external memory.
The Nokia Asha 310 will be available to purchase in Asia, India, the Middle East, Africa and Brazil starting Q1 2013. Suggested pricing is 102 USD before taxes and subsidies. Available colors include black, white and golden light.
*In Brazil, The Nokia Asha 310 will have a 2GB memory card included
How Asha got smart [Nokia Conversations, Jan 24, 2013]
… We talked to Jussi Nevanlinna, VP product marketing, to find out more. …
Nokia Xpress Browser – More browsing, less waiting [nokia YouTube channel, Jan 15, 2013]
…
Sometimes particular components in the Asha range are actually ahead of the curve. Take battery life, for example. People who use a smartphone have been taught not to expect a particularly great battery life – a day or two, perhaps. So a phone like the Nokia Asha 309 comes as a real revelation to them. This phone has a standby time of 42 days. You could leave it on the kitchen table, go off sailing round the world for a month, come back and still have several days’ work left in it.
…
And lastly, how is the Series 40 operating system holding up into the 21st Century?
Pretty well, we think. Again, we have to base this on what our customers tell us. The OS has an extremely high Net Promoter score – that’s a measure of how likely people are to recommend something to other people. They describe the user experience as “rich” and say that it “performs quickly”.
And, of course, while Series 40 was first conceived quite some time ago, it’s in a continual process of evolution. When we moved to touch, that demanded a whole host of technical improvements and redesigns for the interface and user experience.
Asha Touch devices are actually the leading smartphones in a number of markets. In China and Indonesia, the Nokia Asha 305 is the top-selling smartphone in its price band. In India and Pakistan, in fact, across the IMEA (India, Middle-East and Asia) region, it’s the top-selling smartphone overall.
One reason for this is the way we go about creating them. We don’t just take an expensive design and then shrink it down or chop things off until it hits the price point. Some of our competitors do this, and it can lead to phones that feel ‘cheap’. Our phones are built from the ground-up to deliver a particular set of user experiences. They are purpose-built, not cut-down.
Diwali Offer with Nokia Asha Smartphones TVC [NokiaIndiaOfficial YouTube channel, Oct 16, 2012], remark from Wikipedia: Diwali … known as the “festival of lights,” … observed by Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs …
The Story of my Nokia Asha – Aditya in Jakarta [Sept 26, 2012]
Nokia Corporation Q3 2012 Interim Report [press release, Oct 18, 2012]
… Mobile Phones Q3 volumes increased quarter-on-quarter to 77 million units; strong sales start for new Asha full touch smartphones, with volumes of 6.5 million units. …
…
Commenting on the Q3 results, Stephen Elop, Nokia CEO, said:
… In our mobile phones business, the positive consumer response to our new Asha full touch smartphones translated into strong sales. And in Q3, our mobile phones business delivered a solid quarter with sequential sales growth and improved contribution margin. …
…
Mobile Phones
Q3/2012
Q3/2011
YoY
ChangeQ2/2012
QoQ
Changevolume(mn units)
76.6
89.8
-15%
73.5
4%
ASP
31
32
-3%
31
0%
… On a year-on-year basis, the decrease in our Mobile Phones volumes in the third quarter 2012 was primarily due to the decline in volumes of our lower priced devices that we sell to our customers for below EUR 30. Volumes of our higher priced devices also declined, partially offset by volumes of our newly launched Asha full touch smartphones.
On a sequential basis, the increase in our Mobile Phones volumes in the third quarter 2012 was primarily due to volumes of our Asha full touch smartphones. In addition, volumes of our devices that we sell to our customers for below EUR 30 increased sequentially, whereas volumes of our QWERTY devices declined sequentially.
… On a sequential basis, our Mobile Phones ASP was approximately flat in the third quarter 2012 as higher sales of our lower priced devices that we sell to our customers for below EUR 30 were offset by higher sales of our Asha full touch smartphones which carry higher ASPs.
…
THIRD QUARTER 2012 OPERATING HIGHLIGHT
…
– Nokia announced the Nokia Asha 308 and Asha 309, new additions to the Asha Touch family. The dual SIM Nokia Asha 308 and single SIM Nokia Asha 309 give consumers fast web access at low cost. Nokia also released a new version of Nokia Xpress Browser, which enables up to 90% more efficient mobile browsing and faster access to rich web applications compared to conventional browsers. The Asha 308 and Asha 309 offer a fluid ‘swipe’ user interface and an open environment for third-party application development, characteristics that have earned the complete Asha Touch range full smartphone classification from global market research companies and analysts such as GfK.
– Nokia unveiled Nokia Life+, the latest evolution of its widely-used Nokia Life service. Nokia Life+ is a Web application, which will provide millions of people with valuable information on education, health and “infotainment” topics. Nokia Life+ will be supported by the Nokia Asha 308 and Nokia Asha 309 smartphones alongside a wide range of Nokia mobile phones.
…
Nokia Asha 308 – Ready for everything [nokia YouTube channel, Sept 27, 2012]
Nokia expands Asha Touch range to offer consumers smarter Internet experiences [press release, Sept 22, 2012]
… Nokia estimates the retail price for the Nokia Asha 308 and Nokia Asha 309 to be about USD 99, excluding taxes and subsidies, with shipping expected to start in the fourth quarter 2012. …
… In addition … Nokia introduced a new web-based tool that makes it even easier to build new applications. With Nokia Xpress Web App Builder, publishers can create appealing web apps for Asha Touch devices, and even novices can turn their web content into a fun and sophisticated web app for Nokia consumers. … Xpress Web App Builder is available at xpresswebapps.nokia.com
Introducing the Nokia Asha 309 [nokia YouTube channel, Sept 24, 2012]
Major improvements over the previous Asha Touch 305 and 306 as per the detailed specifications comparison:
- Capacitive Multipoint-Touch vs Resistive Multipoint-Touch
- 64 MB RAM / 128 MB ROM vs. 32 MB RAM / 64 MB ROM
allowing max user storage of 20 MB vs. 10 MB - Camera focus range of 60 cm to infinity vs. 100 cm to infinity
- Video recording frame rate of 13 fps vs. 10 fps
- Bluetooth 3.0 +A2DP vs. Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR
while in some specification offering less, the most important one is:
- GSM talk time is up to 9 hours vs. 14 hours
(with the same BL-4U 3.7V 1110 mAh battery)
Came to India: Nokia Launches Asha 308 And 309; Prices Start From Rs 6200 [US$ 116] [TechTree, Oct 18, 2012]
Asha positioning vs. Lumia and Android, see: The BGR Show – Nokia’s Smartphones Guru [iamOTHER YouTube channel, Aug 9, 2012]:
[3:19] First of all what we’re working on with Windows Phone is to take it as low end price point as we possibly can. Having said that, the Nokia Asha devices have really been developed with the emerging market consumer in mind. We’ve brought a lot of smartphone like features to the user interface, as well as investing in making access to the Internet possible for consumers who have real affordability constraints, for data compression in our browser etc. We are working to continue to invest there so that Asha is a relevant competitor to the lowest end Android devices. [4:05]
Nokia Feature Phone To Dominate While Smart Phone To Fade: India Key [analysis by Seeking Alpha, Aug 12, 2012]
With the second largest population of any country in the world and the fastest growing mobile device market over the last year; India provides a vast amount of opportunities for Nokia (NOK). While The Microsoft (MSFT) partnership and its subsequent offspring, the Lumina smart-phone, keep garnering all the headlines, the “feature-phone,” will lead this stock out of the abyss!
…
First a little historical background; facing international pressure to liberalize the country’s telecom industry, the Indian government passed the National Telecom Policy of 1994. This resulted in the country being divided into 20 (There are currently 23) telecommunication circles for basic telephony and 18 circles for mobile services; each circle represented a geographic region in which a particular telecom operator would provide service. An auction was held to determine which telecom operator would receive a spectrum license for each circle; the license gave them the exclusive right to provide service for that spectrum within the specified area. A similar spectrum auction has been held each time a new wireless spectrum (2G/3G/4G) was introduced over the past two decades. To this end, on May 2010, an auction was held for 3G spectrum licenses and resulted in exorbitant prices being paid by a majority of the country’s largest operators, “The Indian 3G spectrum auctions ended after 34 days, 183 rounds and prices close to $15 billion.”
…
Having spent such a significant amount for the licenses, these 7 operators were left with little additional capital to invest in 3G infrastructures; instead the majority focused their efforts on extracting revenue from the established 3G circles. As a result, many of the largest towns and significant pockets of the largest cities are still void of 3G coverage and this spotty service is greatly hindering the willingness of people to adopt 3G technology.
…
In a country with a very low per capita income and arguably the most cost-conscious consumers in the world, most are unwilling to pay significantly more for 3G services.
Nokia Asha 305 Price in India 2012 14th August valid in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai,Mumbai and Delhi: Best Price: Rs. 4350 [US$ 78]
The Asha 305 was recently compared (Nokia’s masquerade [BGR, Aug 13, 2012]) to S Mobility’s (Spice Mobility’s) entry-level Android phone Mi355 “Stellar Craze” because of:
Spice is one of the new crop of Nokia’s lethal rivals in Asia, a nimble Indian upstart vendor that blindsided Nokia with its broad selection of dual-SIM phones in 2011 when Nokia still relied on a single-SIM product range.
Stellar Craze Asha 305 Weight 120g 98g Thickness 13mm 13mm 3G support Yes No Camera 5 Mp 2 Mp Display size 3.5″ 3″ Pixel count 480×800 240×400 Pixel density 266 155 Screen type Capacitive Resistant Dual-SIM Yes Yes Price in India Rs 6,600 [US$ 119] Rs 4,600
Nokia’s Asha 305 is in most ways far cruder device than the Stellar Craze. But it weighs less, looks sleek and has a snappy new UI. And in most parts of India, the lack of 3G support is not a problem.
Over the next four quarters, Nokia’s battle for survival is going to be waged in the streets of Rio De Janeiro and Mumbai, where blue-collar consumers will compare the Asha 305 to devices like Stellar Craze. Will they accept a sleek feature phone with a 3-inch screen and a low price that represents a big improvement in display and software quality over the previous budget phones? Or will they spend 40% more to reach for an Android device like the Stellar Craze, with four times the pixel count, 3.5G support and a fancy 5-megapixel camera?
S Mobility Q4 & FY12 Investor/Analyst Conference Call Transcript [May 16, 2012] is providing more insight into the entry-level Android smartphone market in India:
Pranav Kshatriya, Brics Securities, India
Big players like Samsung and LG are focusing lower end of smart phones pricing their Android phone in the Rs. 6,000 and Rs. 7000 [US$ 108 and US$ 126] category and is it really possible to give good quality handsets at a price which is lesser than that? Or how do you see the valid proposition for your smart phone as against the multinationals that are collaborating with Google and then launching their handset?
Sanjeev Mahajan, CEO of Spice retail
I think we can answer this in 2 parts, one we can try and give a retail perspective to it. I ask my colleagues to add their perspective from a Spice Mobile point of view.
The market is moving towards the price point that you talked about. So now you have a wide series of offerings for android phones in the range of Rs. 5,500 to Rs.6000 [US$ 99 to US$ 108]. In India, if value is at the bottom of the pyramid, over time you will find the shift on the smart phone category towards a lower price point. Now having said that, I don’t think there will be a drastic change. You would find smart phones at Rs.6,000 or so but in my assessment you will not find smart phones at about Rs.
More about that:
– Spice Mobility Launches Stellar, Stellar Horizon and Stellar Craze, Ice Cream Sandwich to boot [June 7, 2012]
– Spice to Launch India’s First ‘Secure Android’ Handset Range [May 16, 2012]
End of updates
This quite remarkable achievement is coming amongst the deepest drop in Nokia devices quarterly performance, as well illustrated by the diagram below. Compare the YoY numbers over the last two years, and read the official Nokia explanations given for the last Q2 quarter (shown in red):
Source: Nokia Corporation, Quartely results as of July 19, 2012
Source: YCharts as of July 23, 2012
The related financial higlights for the last Q2 quarter (reported on July 19, 2012) were as follows:
– Net sales were 4.0 billion Euro, down 5 percent sequentially and 26 percent year over year
– Non-IFRS gross margin in Q2 was 18.1 percent, down 630 basis points sequentially primarily due to the recognition of approximately 220 million EURO of inventoryrelated allowances* in Smart Devices
– Non-IFRS OPEX was 1.1 billion Euro, down 3 percent on a sequential basis and 14 percent year over year
– Non-IFRS operating margin was negative 9.1 percent in Q2 down sequentially from a negative 3.0 percent in Q1
* Nokia: “In Q2, we recognized approximately EUR 220 million of allowances in Smart Devices related to excess component inventory, future purchase commitments and an inventory revaluation. These allowances relate to our Smart Devices product, that is, Lumia, Symbian as well as MeeGo. Because our internal sales outlook is now lower, we believe we will not be able to use some of the components which we already have on our books, as well as components we have committed to purchase. In addition, we have reduced the carrying value of some of our inventory.”
Note: There is a simultaneous substantial reduction in the Mobile Device segment. The whole next gen operating system effort, code-named Meltemi has been killed. See: Nokia scraps phone software to conserve cash: sources [Reuters, July 26, 2012]. It goes as far as Nokia Beijing Institute began layoffs [First Financial Daily, Shanghai, July 26, 2011]. But it is an important remark in that article, that “layoffs mainly involved in the forward-looking technology departments and R & D personnel, and is not responsible for the outside world said S30 and S40 mobile phone R & D and assume Windows Phone Handset R & D tasks of R & D center in China.”
Regarding Nokia’s long-term competitiveness Stephen A. Elop, Nokia CEO made the following remarks to the analysts [July 19, 2012]:
During the second quarter, we demonstrated stability in our feature phone business. Our Mobile Phones Q2 volumes of more than 73 million were up quarter-on-quarter. During the quarter, we introduced new innovations to our feature phones such as Mail for Exchange, low-end full touch devices and very affordable multi-SIM devices. The feature phone market remains an attractive market, and we plan to improve our competitiveness and profitability in this space by further developing Series 40 and Series 30 devices.
In our Smart Devices business, we continue to see increased consumer support for Lumia and the Windows Phone ecosystem. Last week, a Nielsen survey confirmed how satisfied Nokia Lumia 900 owners in the U.S. are with their devices. The Lumia 900 earned a Net Promoter Score of 63 with 96% of owners extremely or somewhat satisfied and 95% willing to recommend the device to others. Through all of this, we are learning about new feature requirements that we plan to bring the market to improve our global consumer satisfaction. These results are no doubt enhanced by the progress that developers are making with applications. We were pleased to announce that the Windows Phone ecosystem has exceeded 100,000 applications.
Most importantly, we are seeing progress in our Lumia numbers. We sold 4 million Lumia devices in Q2, which is up from about 2 million in Q1, with growth driven by the expanded availability of the Lumia 900 and the Lumia 610 across markets. As we look ahead, we expect the launch of Windows 8 for PCs and tablets, plus the launch of Windows Phone 8, to be a catalyst for Lumia. Windows Phone 8 will share the same Metro user experience and the core operating system technologies as Windows 8, providing a similar platform for developer applications across devices. As Microsoft shared, the look and feel of the Lumia interface is to become familiar to millions of people through PCs, tablets and Xbox consoles. Plus, we anticipate that Microsoft will launch a bold and aggressive marketing campaign for Windows 8, which we believe will have a halo effect for Lumia. And as the lead mobile partner for Microsoft, we plan to deliver competitive smartphones with Windows Phone. We intend to broaden the price point range of Lumia devices to price points both higher for better gross margins and lower for volume. Additionally, we are investing in new materials, new technologies and location-based services for a great consumer experience.
For existing Lumia devices, we have already started the pattern of updates including WiFi tethering, flip to silence, media content streaming and exclusive applications like some from Zynga. As we anticipate the upcoming release of Windows Phone 8, we have worked with Microsoft on a release for existing devices. We are planning for all 4 Lumia devices to receive an update with some Windows Phone 8 features like the new start screen, like core camera experiences and updates to Nokia Drive, Nokia Transport and Nokia Music. This is one example of our continued commitment to enhance the existing Lumia products over time even after Windows Phone 8 ships.
However, to prepare developers for the new Windows Phone platform, Microsoft announced the Windows Phone 8 platform in June. As a result, we anticipate some impact to our Lumia business in Q3, although Lumia activations have been flat to up in the weeks following the announcement of Windows Phone 8. Thus, leading up to the introduction of the Windows Phone 8 products, we plan to introduce tactical measures and promotional campaigns. As we do throughout any product life cycle, we plan to pursue traditional marketing and promotional activities to encourage the adoption of Lumia devices.
We are committed to Windows Phone as our primary smartphone strategy. We have learned that it takes tremendous amount of work to break through as the third ecosystem, and we are viewing the launch of Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 as an important moment in this journey.
These remarks show clearly (look even at the difference in the amount of remarks that are devoted to Asha vs Lumia in the above) that there is change now, with Less focus on feature phones while extending the smartphones effort: further readjustments at Nokia[on this Experiencing the Cloud blog, June 25, 2012] which had the following topics discussed:
- Speculations about Nokia
- Nokia and the Windows Phone Summit
- Nokia Q&A conference for financial analysts and investors, June 14, 2012
- Nokia announcements, June 14, 2012
- Scalado acquisition
- Asha Touch family of mobile devices
The last one gave detailed information about the new Asha Touch products from which I will highlight the following here:
These latest phones have been designed to provide an incredibly rich, smartphone-like experience to consumers who want to be set free from excessive data consumption costs and short battery life.
…
The new devices take full advantage of the Nokia Browser 2.0, a major recent update which uses Nokia’s cloud technology to reduce data consumption by up to 90%, meaning that consumers can enjoy faster and cheaper internet access. Web sites load up to three times faster in comparison to devices without cloud-accelerated browsing, making it simple for users to find and select from more than 10,000 web apps available for download. They deliver a richer and more interactive consumer experience whilst using less data than a stand-alone internet connected app.
Consumers can easily stay connected with friends and family at the touch of a button as well as share files and links across their social networks. Furthermore, the Nokia Browser’s Download Manager feature helps consumers to manage external content easily, saving music, video or pictures on a memory card, while surfing the internet.
The Asha family is also getting positive support from developers and consumers. Nokia Store has just broken the 5 billion downloads landmark. From January to April, 42% of all content downloaded from Nokia Store was delivered to Asha and other Nokia devices based on the Java ecosystem. Just one year ago, that number was 10%. Also, there are 410 Nokia developers with apps which have achieved more than 1 million downloads. India Games and Pico Brothers just passed 100 million [each].
As well as providing a great, social online experience, the Nokia Asha 305, Asha 306 and Asha 311 have been created with entertainment in mind. All users will receive an exclusive gift of 40 EA games to download for free* and keep forever. These games range across action, arcade and sports, and include titles such as Tetris®, Bejeweled®, Need for Speed(TM) The Run and EA SPORTS(TM) FIFA 12. The Nokia Asha 311 also comes with 15 levels of Angry Birds pre-loaded onto the phone, perfect for making the most of the touchscreen and 1GHz processor.
*Data costs may apply.
…
The estimated retail price for Nokia Asha 305 is EUR 63 [US$ 79] and it’s expected to start shipping in the second quarter of 2012. The estimated retail price for Nokia Asha 306 is EUR 68 [US$ 85]. The Nokia Asha 311 has an estimated retail price of EUR 92 [US$ 115]. Both devices are expected to start shipping in the third quarter of 2012. Above mentioned prices exclude taxes and subsidies.
From this should be quite obvious that the Less focus on feature phones while extending the smartphones effort: further readjustments at Nokia [on this Experiencing the Cloud blog, June 25, 2012] statement in the title of that previous post should not be interpreted in a kind of simplistic way. Let’s quote Elop on that from the analyst call yesterday:
Sandeep Deshpande – JP Morgan Chase & Co, Research Division
Could you possibly talk about the products that you plan and when the new products will be launched for this, the low end market, which is where you’re seeing some of the problems in China for instance? And how do you see yourself positioning in that market? Is it on price? Or is it the difference with Windows Phone 8that you’re going to position yourself on?
Stephen A. Elop
So thanks. I can’t give you comments on specific products and announcement dates and so forth. But we have signaled very clearly that it is our intention to introduce products at lower and lower price points, and the plans are well advanced in that direction.
In terms of positioning in those lower-priced markets, it is the case that Windows Phone itself, as well as what we contribute as Nokia, are the principal source of differentiation. We do intend to present them as a different experience that we believe is superior, particularly on some of the topics that are of interest, not only all over the world but very heavily an emerging markets, things like social networking. And that doesn’t necessarily mean Facebook in a number of these markets. There’s a number of other environments or social environments that people are using. And clearly, we’ve demonstrated some of that with the early launch of products into countries like China, but you’ll see a lot more of that going forward.
The other thing I’d highlight as well here is on the Mobile Phones side, it is the case that just at the end of Q2, we introduced a new family of Asha full touch products. Too early to call sales results because they’re just moving into channels and so forth, just beginning the sales process. But for a number of people in those emerging markets, at the right price point, which may be below what a smartphone is selling for traditionally, they’re getting smartphone-like capability including Internet access, social networking access and a variety of other capabilities like our proxy browser [see explanation for that further down, related to the MWL topic], all designed to reduce total cost of ownership for those devices.
So it’s partially about Lumia devices coming down but also recognizing in what we traditionally call the feature phones space smartphone-like capability being introduced more and more.
… [much later, in response to a question about “too much and ‘asymetric’ reliance on Microsoft”] … as it relates to shaping our own destiny, we have substantial ability to shape what we’re doing, what devices, what incremental software we build in and around Windows Phone, as well as other platforms, including our Mobile Phones platform, including our location-based assets and so forth. …
And indeed as early as in the first half of July the first Asha Touch device, Asha 305 came to the market: second week of July to Pakistan, third week to India etc. (also available almost everywhere now, including Europe). The market of crucial importance for Nokia now is obviously India, where the brand new product is sold already as low as US$ 72 (INR 3,967) while on Nokia India on-line shop it is advertised for US$ 85 (INR 4668) vs. US$ 91 (INR 5,029) of list price. This is showing clearly that Nokia has quite a big price elasticity potential for the new Asha Touch products!
Stephen Elop made it quite obvious in his remarks yesterday that:
For Q3, with limited near-term visibility, we are providing guidance that has a conservatively broad range. We believe there are several drivers that could move us into the upper part of the expected range. As noted in our press release today, these include: continued improvements in Mobile Phones including strong sales of our Asha full touch products, which were just introduced to market at the end of Q2; lesser impact on Lumia sales during the transition to Windows Phone 8, which would lead to more normal demand for products; and better-than-expected progress against our structural cost savings actions.
On the cost side of the new Asha Touch devices I will further elaborate in a companion post (specifically investigating the “ultra low, manufacturing cost” aspect of them), and will only go through the “superior” User Experience (UX) question in detail here. For that let’s see first a video demonstration:
Nokia Asha 311 touchscreen phone [TheBestOfUppropfdr YouTube channel, July 12, 2012]
Then is the first detailed review from Pakistan as well. This is worth to watch because also showing that people used to review Android smartphones could quite underestimate the power of this new user experience: Nokia Asha 305 – Full Review (Most Indepth) [DrTech0logy YouTube channel, July 12, 2012]
What this reviewer is right:
Nokia Asha 305 and 306 are not worth buying, the touch screen is awful, as it is a resistive touch screen, Nokia X2 is the best in this price.
Referring to the question put on her facebook site:
Can you tell me which is a good phone in the price 8,000 to 8,500???
She is also noting in the same thread that:
… we can’t play youtube videos we can only download them …
how’s the video quality and max length of video you can shoot? Wait for Nokia Asha 311 to come out..
[Indeed, before making premature product conclusions wait for the significantly better in those, and even other respects Asha 311 with a capacitive touch screen, Gorilla glass, 1 GHz processor, 3.5G instead of 2.75G of the 305/306, VGA video etc.!]
These are also told in her review video, where the general conclusion, nevertheless, is that this entry Asha Touch device is a good one for that price. [Plus consider the quite large price elasticity aspect (mentioned earlier) Nokia built into as well!] Nowhere, however, she is reviewing the device from the overall user experience point of view.
So let’s examine that in more detail, first with another video from the next to the previous source which is clearly evaluating the UX aspect aspect as well:
Nokia Asha 311 [TheBestOfUppropfdr YouTube channel, July 12, 2012]
It is worth to add to that some technical documentation evidence:
UX overview [a section in the Essentials part of Series 40 Full Touch Design Guidelines, June 8, 2012]
Series 40 Full Touch UI
- Intuitive, fast, and enjoyable to use.
- Flexible and relevant personalisation to fit your style; have your favourite apps on My page.
- Visually appealing; clear and eye-catching graphics and transitions in compact size.
- Familiar and trustworthy UI, building on Series 40 UI heritage.
The lock [or title] screen is the topmost layer of the UI that people first see when the screen has been waken up. Lock screen is visible when the phone is in locked mode. Its main purpose is to prevent any accidental interactions with the phone while it’s not being used. A swipe gesture from any edge of the screen unlocks the phone and moves to the screen that was active before the phone was locked. On lock screen, people see the current time and date, the status of the phone, and notifications about incoming events at a glance. Lock screen is only displayed in portrait mode.
Figure 1. Unlocking the screenHome screens
There are three home screens: My page, App launcher, and My app. People can swap between home screens by swiping or flicking horizontally.
Figure 2. Home screens: My page, App launcher,
and My app (in this case, dialler)My page:
- Can be personalised by the user.
- Contains favourite contacts and shortcuts to apps.
- Editing the content can be triggered with a long press on the screen.
- Time and date is always visible on My page.
- Tapping on the time opens Alarm clock.
- Tapping on the date opens the Calendar.
- My page can be scrolled vertically.
App launcher:
- Shown at the end of the start-up process.
- Shown when the user has exited an app by pressing end key.
- Contains all phone apps, on one single page.
- Also downloaded apps are placed here.
- The user can reorder the icons by pressing and holding the screen to activate the edit mode.
My app:
- Three possible apps to have here; dialler, music player, or radio.
Opening and closing apps
On home screen, apps can be simply tapped to open.
The notification baris accessible throughout the UI, but only in portrait orientation. The notification bar is a dynamic zone from which people can always access shortcuts, core functions, ongoing events and missed events. Any new notification takes the top position of the list as the most recent one. When open, the bar accommodates 3 rows of information with notifications and direct links to apps.
Figure 3. Notification bar with new activity, notification bar
after time-out, and open notification barApps are closed with the back navigation path, or by pressing the endkey.
Figure 4. Open an app with a tap. Close it from the Back icon.
Return to the home screen where you opened it from.
More information:
other sections in the Essentials part of Series 40 Full Touch Design Guidelines:
|
other parts of Series 40 Full Touch Design Guidelines:
|
Series 40 UI Component Demos [Nokia Developer project summary, July 20, 2012]
This simple example application demonstrates the basic use of LCDUI [Limited Connected Device User Interface] components. The example is meant for both designers and developers: designers get an impression of how the components actually look on the device and developers learn how to use the LCDUI UI components. The application does not have an engine or further meaning. The texts are “lorem ipsum” and icons are simple thumbnails or images.
Please check the Series 40 Full Touch Design Guidelinesfor more information.
Considering Metro UI or Panorama Style on Series 40 Full touch devices for designing UI [wiki article of a Nokia Developer project, started on July 16, 2012, not finished as of July 20]
Introduction
Above picture shows an abstract panorama page. I guess you all used panorama applications on Windows Phone, Nokia Lumia. We use the same concept, but we need to consider the limitations of device like memory, processing power and optimization should be kept in mind.
Designing
UI Components
You need to create all these UI components in canvas on your own, using images and drawing on them. How about painting button on mobile, doesn’t sounds good.LCDUI Canvas
You can think of an instance of canvas as an artist’s canvas on which you draw images that might include text.
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Nothing is Impossible with S40 Full touch UI API
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Get Inspired and Start Working
UI components [a section in the Essentials part of Series 40 Full Touch Design Guidelines, June 12, 2012]
The UI components listed below are the Java components available with full touch styling. Please read the LCDUI Overviewfor a structural overview of the offering.
UI stencils
Series 40 full touch visual design stencils are a collection of realistic user interface views and components. The stencils can be used to create mockups which are close to the final visual result. With this set you can create more refined concepts for presentations to stakeholders. The set contains Nokia fonts and drawing files representing the Java components for Series 40 full touch. The visual design stencils are available for Adobe Illustrator CS5, Adobe Fireworks CS5, and Inkscape version 0.48 or above.
DOWNLOAD: Series 40 full touch visual design stencils
When creating icons for your application, please see theicon creation guidelines and the Nokia icon toolkit.
Java UI components
With such a superior UX design foundation comes an advanced SDK and a full fledged IDE for Java developers:
Introduction to the Nokia SDK 2.0 for Java [nokiadevforum YoTube channel, June 25, 2011]
Introduction to the Nokia IDE (Beta) for Java ME [nokiadevforum YoTube channel, June 25, 2011]
New tools unleash the potential of Nokia Asha Touch phones [Nokia Developer News, June 25, 2012]
Beta releases of Nokia SDK 2.0 for Java and Nokia Web Tools 2.0 are now available. These new Series 40 development tools are your route to realising the extended Series 40 opportunity created by the introduction of the Asha Touch phones.
Nokia SDK 2.0 for Java
In addition to the usual tools — documentation, APIs, and an emulator — the Nokia SDK 2.0 for Java contains our first full featured, customised IDE. Based on the Eclipse platform, Nokia IDE for Java will streamline your development activities, with features such as the Device SDK Manager, Nokia specific JAD attribute editor, and a range of code templates.Listening to user feedback we know that in the past developers have been frustrated with trying to find the right SDK for Series 40 development. With Nokia SDK 2.0 for Java, we are introducing the Nokia SDK Manager. From within the Nokia IDE for Java you can now specify a phone, screen size, form factor, or feature and instantly get a list of the SDKs supporting your choice. The SDK or SDKs can then be installed immediately, right from within the IDE.
Among the code templates you will find one with everything you need to implement an app with in-app purchasing capabilitiesand the JAR attribute editor makes targeting you app package at Series 40 phones simple and straightforward.
Finally, there are a number of updates to the SDK that are designed to take advantage of new features being introduced in Series 40 Touch. There is an updated Nokia UI API that gives you features such as multi-point touch and an implementation of the Mobile Sensor API (JSR-234). The emulator has been updated too with an orientation simulator, the integration of Nokia Mapsinto the location simulator, and useful links built into the emulators menu.
Nokia Web Tools 2.0
Series 40 web apps are the best way to deliver great experiences to Series 40 users that leverage your existing web assets. With the release of Nokia Web Tools 2.0 you now have the ability to enhance those experiences with features such as file upload and download, password management, and the addition of in-app advertising to your web apps. In addition, there are several improvements in HTML and CSS support, enabling you to deliver richer UIs.Nokia Web Tools 2.0 enables you to code web apps that take full advantage of these features, and test them on your computer — Nokia Web Tools 2.0 is available for Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X and Ubuntu Linux. The Web App Simulator offers support for the full-touch screen resolution and has been updated to provide a more phone-accurate rendering of web apps.
Within the Web Developer Environment there have been a range of improvements such as enhanced validation — which is now tailored to Series 40 supported HTML, CSS, and JavaScript APIs. There is also a wider range of templates, examples, and code snippets to get you started with common web app content layouts and interaction paradigms, such as sharing on social networks and file transfers. While small, improvements such as keyboard shortcuts and incremental uploads will help speed up your development.
Series 40 represents the single largest opportunity for you to deliver Java and web apps to mobile consumers worldwide. The introduction of Nokia Asha Touch phones delivers these users a near smartphone experience and the updated tools enable you to take full advantage of this in your apps. With accelerating download rates, there has never been a better time to target Series 40.
Indiagames, Psiloc and Liverpool FC have already used these tools to create apps for the new Asha Touch phones and share their experiences in this video:
This video provides an insight into how developers from around the world are taking advantages of the Java and web apps technology in the Nokia Asha Touch phones to deliver great experiences to their users. Hear Indiagames, Psiloc, and Liverpool FC and InfoMedia explain the benefits of developing for the Series 40 Developer Platform and the success they have achieved. Also discover how the latest tools — Nokia SDK 2.0 for Java and Nokia Web Tools 2.0 — have aided with development. Create your Java and web apps for Asha Touch phones:http://www.developer.nokia.com/series40
Psiloc create World Traveler for Asha Touch using the latest Java tools from Nokia Developer [nokiadevforum YoTube channel, June 25, 2011]
In addition to the support given to the Java developers the opportunity is a great now to web developers as well. They can develop rich and responsive, true smartphone-like web applications for the new Asha Touch devices:
MinesFinder [wiki article of a Nokia Developer project, July 19, 2012]
This article explains how to write a highly responsive Series40 WebApp. It uses a Minesweeper clone as example.
Note: This is an entry in the Asha Touch Competition 2012Q3
Introduction
If you are writing a Series 40 Web App, you are prepared to cater for the low end of mobile phones. Knowing that the devices which will run your app are very basic should not stop you from trying to deliver a high-end user experience. It is more the other way around, knowing that those phones have limited capabilities should encourage you to use every trick to provide your user with a premium feeling.
In my eyes user experience (UX) has three big topics:
- Function – what does the app do, how bug-free is it, etc…
- Design – how does the app, and the UI, look
- Responsiveness – how does it feel using the app, how fast is it
Of course, there fields have no 100% hard borders. They affect each other and you have to think about all aspects, but I will concentrate on number 3, the responsiveness. And within this part, I concentrate on the speed of the application. To be even more concrete, I’ll talk about reducing these so called “browser round-trips”.
Reducing those round-trips has the highest priority if you try to speed up your app. A round-trip takes almost as much time as opening the app. If the user has to wait 2-3 seconds after every single click the does, he won’t be very satisfied with the experience. In addition, every round-trip is a possible point of error. If the user has a bad internet connection, a round-trip can break the app.
To make sure that this is not only gray theory, I created a Minesweeper clone, MinesFinder. You can find the source in the Nokia Project . I try to get it into the Nokia Store. Until then you can visit [[1]] with your Nokia Browser to play it.
You can play the game without a single round-trip. You can flag fields, dig for mines, get a “You Loose” message if you hit a mine and a “You Win” message if you have flagged all mines correctly. In addition there is a counter, showing how many flags you have already planted.
1. Use MWL [Mobile Web Library, explanation see below] where ever you can.
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2. Use JavaScript like a server-side scripting language.
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3. Use CSS instead of program logic.
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Summary
The Nokia Web Tools, the Mobile Web Library and the Nokia Browser are highly capable tools which enable you to create very responsive apps for a very big audience. But you have to master MWL and you have to think sometimes outside of the box.Using MWL where ever you can, using JavaScript like a server-side scripting language and moving on-demand logic into CSS and the app start will reduce your server round-trips and increase the responsiveness of your application.
Gallery
Main game view.
Settings and info screen.
Cheat mode activated.
You loose.
You win.
Overview – Web Developer’s Library [Nokia Developer library page, June 19, 2012]
This topic contains the information you need to develop web applications on the Series 40 platform. Web apps for Series 40 run on mobile phones that lack the processing power and memory to run a conventional browser directly on the device. Therefore, the web browser for Series 40 devices, known as the Nokia Browser for Series 40, has two parts: the web app client and the proxy server.
Developers can create interactive applications using web standards such as XHTML, cascading style sheets (CSS), W3C widgets, and the JavaScript™ programming language. You can easily make rich, interactive pages that run well even on devices with limited resources.
Nokia Browser for Series 40 is a distributed (or proxy-based) web browser that supports full web page rendering on devices with limited processing power and memory, such as some Series 40 devices. On the phone, there is a small browser called the Nokia Browser for Series 40 Client. On a Nokia server, a larger browser application (called the Nokia Browser for Series 40 Proxy server, or simply the server) processes browsed web pages and runs web apps. The server does most of the processing for the handset client, and it communicates with websites on behalf of the client. The server sends the client optimised web page data, reduced in size to be easier to transmit to and process on the phone. The client has a JavaScript library called MWL (Mobile Web Library), which contains code to support application-like interaction on the device. MWL processing should normally be the only JavaScript that executes on the handset.
The following figure shows the Nokia Browser for Series 40 environment.
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Liverpool FC Match & News Centre app: web apps for Asha Touch [nokiadevforum YoTube channel, June 25, 2011]
This is really showing that Nokia’s strategy for “the next billion” based on software and web optimization with super low-cost 2.5/2.75G SoCs [this Experiencing the Cloud post, Feb 14 – April 23, 2012] had already been technically implemented with these Asha Touch devices. A couple of relevant excerpts from that post showing clearly the company’s new direction which have already been in works during the last 17 months:
Historically, feature phones have been primarily used for calling and text messaging, while smartphones – with the aid of their more capable operating systems and greater computing power – have provided opportunities to access the Internet, navigate, record high-definition video, take high-resolution photographs, share media, play video games and more. Today, however, the distinction between these two classes of products is blurring. Increasingly, basic feature phone models, supported by innovations in both hardware and software, are also providing people with the opportunity to access the Internet and applications and, on the whole, offering them a more smartphone-like experience.
… some competitors’ offerings based on Android are available for purchase by consumers for below EUR 100, excluding taxes and subsidies, and thus address a portion of the market which has been traditionally dominated by feature phone offerings, including those offered by Nokia. Accordingly, lower-priced smartphones are increasingly reducing the addressable market and lowering the price points for feature phone.
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In Mobile Phones, we have renewed our strategy to focus on capturing volume and value growth by leveraging our innovation and strength in growth markets to provide people with an affordable Internet experience on their mobile device – in many cases, their first ever Internet experience with any computing device. Almost 90% of the world’s population lives within range of a mobile signal, yet there are around three billion people who do not own a mobile device. Of those who do own a mobile device, fewer than half use it to access the Internet for a number of reasons ranging from personal choice and affordability to the lack of an available Internet connection. We recognize that there is a significant opportunity to bring people everywhere affordable mobile products which enable simple and efficient web browsing, as well as give access to maps and other applications and innovations.
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We acquired Smarterphone, a Norwegian company that brings new user interface technology and expertise to Nokia. We’ve increased download rates from feature phones to more than 4 million a day by improving store access and payment schemes and adding new apps like Whatsapp, Foursquare and EA. … And we delivered a new proxy browser, and we’re now bringing the browser and web apps down to super low-end devices.
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Cavaiani is talking about technology Nokia bought from his former firm, Novarra, and is now using in the browsers of the company’s four new Series 40 (S40) Asha phones. The new S40 browser, like Silk and Opera Mini, is a proxy browser: it uses servers around the world to download content and compress it before the content gets sent to your phone.
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Nokia’s approach is a bit different from both Opera’s and Amazon’s. Opera’s servers ingest entire Web pages and send them to phones as static documents in Opera’s own markup language, OBML.v
From what we know of Amazon Silk, the browser on Amazon’s as-yet-unreleased Kindle Fire tablet, it combines a full browser on the Fire with algorithms that pre-fetch pages on Amazon’s cloud servers, and also compresses images and stores them at Amazon.
Nokia’s new browser starts with a basic HTML browser on the Series 40 phones. Nokia’s servers look at desktop Web pages and boil down or remove more complex content, for instance parsing and executing JavaScript and resolving CSS into more basic HTML, Cavaiani said. They also reduce the quality (and the size) of images. There’s no Flash support.
The browser is able to handle dynamic pages that only reload part of the page at a time when the user presses a button. The browser also has deep access to the phone’s hardware, which is different from Opera Mini.
“We can also inject services into the browser. The latest browser introduces a geo-location API, so now that’s open to developers to create geo-location apps,” he said.
The browser even supports widgets, dynamic overlays that can perform actions on Web pages like sharing them on Twitter or translating them into a different language.
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”Traditionally, proxy-based browsing has offered users a very limited experience, because such browsers typically do nothing more than paint content provided by a proxy. This has changed, with Nokia Browser for Series 40 support for Series 40 web apps. Using Mobile Web Library, the Nokia Browser for Series 40 client can execute JavaScript code in web apps. This code makes it possible to create interactive user interfaces and graphical transitions to deliver users beautiful web experiences. Now web designers and developers can deliver compelling application experiences to users at low cost — both in terms of development effort and user data charges.
With the latest version of the Series 40 browser, Series 40 web apps can now go even further by offering users location aware web apps and the ability to send SMS messages. Location features leverage the network-based location capabilities of Series 40 phones for accurate and timely location information. In addition, performance has been enhanced further with images embedded in a web app now cached on the user’s phone for faster page loads and refreshes. ”
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Web apps are small games and applications that you can purchase, or download for free using Ovi Store on your mobile phone. With web apps you can access content from well-known global brands, or the local brands you know and love. Once downloaded, apps are permanently saved within Nokia Browser, so they’re always easy to find and super fast to load. And because web apps are specially optimised for your phone, they provide a beautifully clear and simple way to access your favourite content.
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Nokia Browser 2.0 makes use of cloud-based servers which adapt standard web pages so that they perform better on Nokia Series 40 devices. Since web pages are compressed and cached in the cloud, end users can access web sites in a manner which is faster and requires significantly less data to be sent over their mobile network. For pay-per-use contracts this will result in more cost-effective browsing, while users on an operator data plan will be able to do more web surfing without exceeding their monthly usage limits.
The new version reduces data consumption by up to 90%, meaning that consumers can enjoy faster and cheaper internet access. Web sites load up to three times faster in comparison to devices without cloud-accelerated browsing and consumers will also benefit from a number of other enhanced capabilities.
From the first look, consumers are easily able to discover new web content and enjoy one-click access to top, local sites via the Nokia Browser’s inviting and intuitive start page. We have optimized the browser to enable users to easily stay connected with friends and family at the touch of a button as well as to share files and links across social networks. The new and improved Download Manager helps consumers to manage external content easily, saving music, video or pictures on a memory card, while surfing the internet.
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The browser includes a revamped, modern user experience that makes it simple to find, install and use interesting web apps that offer a richer, more desktop-like internet experience. Launched in mid-2011, the Nokia Browser is the first browser of its kind to support web apps, and now boasts a catalogue of more than 10,000 of the latest apps. Several publishers have experienced over a million downloads in a matter of months, demonstrating strong consumer demand.
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Last year, while media attention focused on the launch of the new Nokia Lumia phones, McDowell was laying the groundwork for the expansion of Nokia’s next billion strategy.
A major part of McDowell’s strategy has been moving away from the idea that Series 40 devices were a “low-end business cash cow” towards smarter, aspirational, phones for everyone:
“We’ve planted the seeds for Series 40. These are not the dumb phones…they are as smart as possible. In reality, the distinction between a smart phone and a feature phone is fairly technical, and when a consumer thinks about a smart phone they think about accessing the internet, downloading apps, anice display… and these are all things we can, and do, deliver with Series 40,” says McDowell.
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“In Europe and the US we download data without thinking very much about the cost, but in growing economies it is a huge issue. With the Nokia Browser you can get a full internet experience, with very clever cloud compression technology to make that experience affordable.”
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Nokia is celebrating selling 1.5 billion phones by looking to the future. … “What we are trying to do is a radical thing. We sometimes forget that half the world’s population does not have a phone. So, celebrating 1.5 billion is great, but it’s backward looking. What we want to say is – we are only half way to where we are going.”
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“For a lot of people Series 40 is the first time they’ve ever had access to the internet or a computer. And the story of connecting those people is a huge story, because it will change the world.”
Series 40 began in the late 1990s in flagship devices [first was the Nokia 7110, developed in 1999], sold at fairly high prices to western customers, Vasara said. That has now been transformed into a range that is now selling in huge numbers in high growth economies, at a fraction of the cost.
“The people who buy these phones – and who will be buying these phones – are ambitious, and very aware of technology. They’re young, urban and what we call ‘hyper-social’. In other words, they know what the best of the best is – and we have to deliver a product that is state of the art and affordable.”
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The future of Series 40 will be more about the services that you want in your “neighbourhood” – in your own language, delivering information that “feels very local.” Part of that will be working with developers to develop more Series 40 apps.
With all that Nokia had been turbocharging the aging S40 platform for developers in terms of expressiveness, power and development efficiency. The company had already indicated the strategic importance of it in Nokia 2011 fiscal year report [looong PDF, March 8, 2012] in the following way:
In the Mobile Phones business … we plan to drive third party innovation through working with our partners to engage in building strong, local ecosystems. [p. 90, as part of the strategy for the trend: Increasing Importance of Competing on an Ecosystem to Ecosystem Basis]
In support of our Mobile Phones business, we also plan to drive third party innovation through working with our partners to engage in building strong, local ecosystems. [p. 91, as part of the strategy for the trend: Increased Pervasiveness of Smartphones and Smartphone-like Experiences Across the Price Spectrum]
In the Mobile Phones business, we believe our competitive advantages – including our scale, brand, quality, manufacturing and logistics, strategic sourcing and partnering, distribution, research and development andsoftware platforms and intellectual property – continue to be important to our competitive position. Additionally, we plan to extend our Mobile Phones offerings and capabilities during 2012 in order to bring a modern mobile experience – software, services and applications – to aspirational consumersin key growth markets as part of our strategy to bring the Internet and information to the next billion people. At the same time, we plan to drive third party innovation through working with our partners to engage in building strong, local ecosystems. [p. 91, as part of the strategy for the trend: Increasing Challenges of Achieving Sustained Differentiation and Impact on Overall Industry Gross Margin Trends]
By … focusing on driving operator data plan adoption in lower price points with our feature phone offering, we believe we will be able to create a greater balance for operators and provide attractive opportunities to share the economic benefits from services and applications sales compared to other competing ecosystems, thereby improving our long-standing relationships with operators around the world. [p. 93, as part of the strategy for the trends in: Supply Chain, Distribution and Operator Relationships]
Creating a winning ecosystem around our Location & Commerce’s services offering will be critical for the success of this business. The longer-term success of the Location & Commerce business will be determined by our ability to attract strategic partners and developers to support our ecosystem. Location & Commerce is aiming to support its ecosystem by enabling strategic partners and independent developers to foster innovation on top of their location platform. We believe that making it possible for other vendors to innovate on top of Location & Commerce’s high quality location-based assets will further strengthen the overall experience and make our offering stronger and more attractive. [p. 97, as part of the strategy for the trend: Increasing Importance of Creating an Ecosystem around Location-Based Services Offering]
Therefore, such a local partnering strategy had already been in the works some time and quite successfully, as proven by the testimony from probably the largest and most successful local S40 development partner (with 800 million subscribers, mostly in India):
Indiagames talks about their experience developing Java games for Asha Touch [nokiadevforum YoTube channel, June 25, 2012]
And quoting Gondal:
[2:46] The one piece of advice I can give developers is that content and platforms are very-very local. And while there might be certain pieces of content which may suddenly be global hits, it’s very important for you to look at each market individually, and design and develop for that content. [3:05]
Such an advice is well supported by the strategies and achievements of the company:
Indiagames achieve 100 Million Downloads on Nokia Store with games content focused on India [nokiadevforum YoTube channel, June 25, 2012]
More information on leading Nokia developers:
– Pico Brothers, an only two-people Finish company, are the second developers to achieve 100,000,000 downloads, reaching the milestone just two weeks after UTV Indiagames. The company’s strategy for success has involved delivering simple, clever apps that provide short bursts of entertainment. Apps like ‘Milk the Cow’, ‘Talking Hamster’ and ‘Flashlight Extreme’ are Pico Brothers apps that deliver instant fun and utility. They mostly monetize their applications in UK, France and Germany. See: Pico Brothers join the 100 million club [Nokia Developer News, May 4, 2012]
– Inode Entertainment, a 10 people Mexican company, is the third developer to achieve the one hundred million download milestone via Nokia Store. It was one of the first publishers in the Nokia Store, has been developing games since 2006, and its portfolio spans Symbian, Series 40, S60, and Symbian 3 (and soon Windows Phone). Most of Inode’s apps are free, but if it feels it needs to price them, it aims for the 99-cent mark. It is developing for several markets exploiting the potential for that in the Nokia Store. See: Gaming for the Masses: Inode Entertainment Joins the One Hundred Million Download Club [Nokia Developer News, June 25, 2012] as well as Inode Entertainment passes 100 million downloads in Nokia Store [Nokia Conversations, June 26, 2012] and Inode Marketing Videos [inodeEntertainment YouTube channel, May 6, 2011]:
Recently Inode began targeting the latest Asha Touch phones as well [nokiadevforum YouTube channel, July 23, 2012]:
Current (June 28, 2012) Nokia Store Data (note that Lumia apps are in the Windows Phone Marketplace):
– Globally, there more than 120 million registered Nokia Store customers
– Nokia Store offers more than 120,000 apps, and currently drives more than 15 million download requests per day
– Nokia Store has over 100,000 content items available for Series 40 devices, and nearly 25,000 content items targeting Nokia Asha devices specifically, which take advantage of Asha’s more advanced features.
– To date, Nokia Store has driven more than 5 billion cumulative downloads (Series 40 devices accounted for 13% of the first billion, and 42% of the last billion)
– Nokia Store offers operator billing supported by 145 operators, across 52 markets
– 80% of Nokia Store traffic converts to a download
– Apps are No. 1 among paid-for and free downloads
– Nokia Store available in 190+ countries, of which 90% in local language
– 411 developers have achieved more than 1M downloads through Nokia Store, while 63 have achieved 10M or more, 28 with 25M or more, 9 with 50M or more, and 3 developers have now passed the 100M downloads milestone – namely UTV IndiaGames (IN), Pico Brothers (FL) and Inode (MX)
– See: Nokia Developer – Global reach statistics
Apple’s Consumer Computing System: 5 years of “revolutionary” iPhone and “magical” iPad
Updates: The real threat that Samsung poses to Apple [ASYMCO, Dec 7, 2012]
– iPhone 3GS Prices Lowered Down To Rs 9,999 [US$ 179] in India [iPhone Help, July 20, 2012]
– Fighting Android, The Apple iPhone Strategy [Only Gizmos, July 21, 2012]
There was a 5 years anniversary of iPhone on June 29. This product and the adjacent iPad (called “revolutionary” and “magical”, subsequently, by the vendor itself) skyrocketed Apple to previously unbelievable heights in company valuations by the stock market:
Apple Stock Price Reaches All-Time High [NewsyHub YouTube channel, April 12, 2012]
Transcript by http://www.newsy.comBY VICTORIA CRAIGANCHOR JIM FLINKAll three major stock indeces fell triple digits by the end of Tuesday’s trading day. But one individual stock price surged — reaching a mark only one other stock has managed to do…ever. Phoenix’s KNXV has the details.“The world’s most valuable company is now worth even more. Apple computers’ value is now more than $600 billion based on its stock price. Its shares are up almost 60% since the beginning of the year.”Apple’s price hit a daytime high of $644 in the morning. PC Advisor explains why this mark is nearly unprecedented.“The stock price rose to $644 in the morning, and then fell back to $629 by midday. Only one other company has reached the $600 billion value: Microsoft on Dec. 30, 1999, was valued at $619 billion. Today, its value is $260 billion..”Adjusting for inflation, Microsoft’s 1999 total would be today’s equivalent of about $800 billion. In total, Apple stock has risen 58 percent on the year…and it didn’t take long for the stock to cross the threshold from $500 billion to $600 billion. The Wall Street Journal explains the stock’s journey to the top and what it means for the NASDAQ. |
“To put the rally in perspective, it took Apple only 28 trading days to add $100 billion in value as Apple first crossed $500 billion on Feb. 29. In comparison, only 24 members of the S&P 500 have market capitalizations above $100 billion.”So what’s the reason behind the rally? A writer for Pad Gadget.com explains it’s more than just it’s mobile devices, citing…“… Apple’s intentions to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program starting later this year plus the usual anticipation over potential new products. Most consumers and investors alike are waiting on the edg[e] of their seats to see what television-related product Apple has waiting in the wings, with the expectations all quite high that it will be equal parts amazing and marketable.”Nifty new gadgets aside, what’s next for Apple? Will it continue its climb or fall back…retracing the steps of its biggest competitor? A contributor for CNBC says Apple’s stock is overbought and growth from here will likely slow. But another analyst disagrees and speculates big movement for the stock.“Some of the analysts are saying that we could see a trillion dollar market cap figure in a calendar year 2014. I think we might actually see that a little earlier. For me, I think there are still some very positive catalysts around this stock. Expecting the iPhone 5 during the summer.”Early in the trading day Wednesday, Apple’s stock price was up almost 7 points, reaching a value of $635. |
There were several articles about that fundamental change, most importantly:
Business Insider articles:
– Apple Stock vs Google Stock Since The Launch Of The iPhone [June 30, 2012]
– 9 Fascinating Facts About Apple’s Stock [May 21, 2012]
– THE EXPERTS SPEAK: Here’s What People Predicted Would Happen When The iPhone Came Out… [June 29, 2012]
– 10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Birth Of The iPhone [June 27, 2012]
– Yes, You Should Be Astonished By Apple … [April 25, 2012]
Other noteworthy articles:
– The Untold Story: How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry [Wired Magazine, Jan 9, 2008]
– Apple’s stock is getting creamed by Verizon and AT&T [CNNMoney, May 9, 2012]
– I declare independence from Apple [BetaNews, July 4, 2012]
– Apple’s injunction stopping Galaxy Nexus sales is shameful [BetaNews, June 29, 2012]
– Appeals court delays Galaxy Nexus ban [Android Central, July 6, 2012]
– Nine Reasons You Should Boycott Apple [David Amerland, July 7, 2012]
– Android vs. iOS: A Developer’s Perspective [July 5, 2012]: The architecture of Android is just plain BETTER. They don’t restrict what you can do and there always seems to be a good tutorial to follow telling you exactly how to do the exact crazy thing that you want to do. As far as the languages go, I don’t really have a preference for Obj-C vs. Java. They both do the job pretty well. I still don’t quite have my head wrapped around ARC, but that’s a post for another day.
– China’s smartphone market grows 164%, Apple’s iOS takes 17.3% share [Apple Insider, July 9, 2012]: Even without availability on China’s largest mobile provider, the iPhone’s market share in China has grown form 9.9 percent a year ago to 17.3 percent in the June quarter. … stems from the launch of the iPhone on China Telecom this year. … the company has yet to forge a partnership with China Mobile, the largest wireless provider in the world with more than 650 million subscribers. Reports have suggested that Apple’s next iPhone will add compatibility with China Mobile’s proprietary wireless network. Apple’s 17.3 percent share in China was well behind Google’s Android platform, which dominated with 69.5 percent of smartphones sold in the country. Apple took second place, while Nokia finished in third with an 11.2 percent share.
– Building and dismantling the Windows advantage [the Asymco blog, July 2, 2012]
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If we consider all the devices Apple sells, the whittling becomes even more significant and the multiple drops to below 2. Seen this way, Post-PC devices wiped out of leverage faster than it was originally built. They not only reversed the advantage but cancelled it altogether.Considering the near future, it’s safe to expect a “parity” of iOS+OS X vs. Windows within one or two years. The install base may remain larger for some time longer but the sales rate of alternatives will swamp it in due course.
The consequences are dire for Microsoft. The wiping out of any platform advantage around Windows will render it vulnerable to direct competition. This is not something it had to worry about before. Windows will have to compete not only for users, but for developer talent, investment by enterprises and the implicit goodwill it has had for more than a decade.
It will, most importantly, have a psychological effect. Realizing that Windows is not a hegemony will unleash market forces that nobody can predict.
Now let’s see how that has come about in terms of market volume and technological improvements:
– 6/29/2007: iPhone, iPod touch (ARM 1176JZ(F)-S @412 MHz, 128MB, PowerVR MBX Lite, GPRS/EDGE 2.5G for iPhone, 3.5” display of 480 × 320 pixels, 2MP)
– 7/11/2008: iPhone 3G (the same except 3.6 Mbps UMTS/HSDPA) & App Store
– 6/19/2009: iPhone 3GS (the same except ARM Cortex-A8 @600 MHz, 256MB, PowerVR SGX535, 7.2 Mbps UMTS HSDPA, 3MP camera)
– 4/03/2010: iPad (ARM Cortex-A8 @1 GHz, 256MB, PowerVR SGX535, 9.7” display of 1024×768 pixels, WiFi [+3G])
Currently marketed devices (all use iOS 5.x which cannot be used on earlier iPhone and iPhone 3G, so those are not iCloud capable), in addition to iPhone 3GS ($330+ unlocked in US, but $179+ in India since July 20, 2012) which is also marketed:
– 6/24/2010: iPhone 4 (ARM Cortex-A8 @800 MHz, 512MB, PowerVR SGX535, 3.5G 5.76 Mbps HSUPA, 3.5” Retina display of 960 x 640 pixels, 5MP camera), $550+ unlocked
– 3/25/2011: iPad 2 (ARM Cortex-A9 @1 GHz, 512MB, PowerVR SGX543MP2, 9.7” display of 1024 x 768 pixels, WiFi [+3.5G HSUPA]), $350+
– 10/24/2011: iPhone 4S (dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 @800 MHz, 512MB, PowerVR SGX543MP2, 4G LTE, 3.5” Retina display of 960 x 640 pixels, 8MP camera), IOS 5 (Notification Center, iMessage and Newsstand … 1,500 new APIs) & iCloud (store music, photos, apps, contacts, calendars, documents and more in the cloud, keeping them up to date across all your devices via the cloud), $790+ unlocked
– 3/16/2012: New, 3d generation iPad (dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 @1 GHz, 1GB, PowerVR SGX543MP4, WiFi [+4G LTE], 9.7” Retina display of 2048 × 1536 pixels), $500+
Note that in April 2012 the under $200 (unlocked) Android smartphones came quite close to the capabilities of the iPhone 4S thanks to Boosting the MediaTek MT6575 success story with the MT6577 announcement [June 27, 2012]. Only the SGX531 GPU of MT6577 is a significant deficiency against that of SGX543MP2 used in the iPhone 4S. As a consumer computing system Google was also able to match Apple with the Nexus 7: Google wanted it in 4 months for $199/$245, ASUS delivered + Nexus Q (of Google’s own design and manufacturing) added for social streaming from Google Play to speakers and screen in home under Android device control [June 28, 2012].
Wikipedia is the best source of detailed technical and other information (by far), except that of iCloud currently (so find a better source of information on that given in sections of this post):
List of iOS devices |
iPhone |
iPad |
iPod touch |
iOS |
iCloud |
iTunes |
iTunes Store |
iBooks |
iTunes Ping |
AirPlay |
AirPort |
Apple TV |
App Store (iOS) |
FairPlay |
Book:Apple Inc. |
iLife |
iWork |
Safari |
History of the iPhone |
In addition I compiled a 5 years of “revolutionary” iPhone and “magical” iPad [June 29, 2012] PDF document from all related Apple press releases for that period. In it there are the following sections:
– Product ramp-up and momentum
– The strongly related iTunes Store momentum during these 5 years
– Essential Device Announcements
– All related Apple press releases
In addition there are document bookmarks included everywhere for easy navigation around the whole 129 pages long compound document.
Note: Official specifications for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple TV you can find under the URLs just given.
Finally I have further information in this blogpost specifically compiled in order to represent the Apple iOS based consumer computing solution as a system since, in my view, that is one of the most important aspects of this 5 years anniversary which is not represented anywhere else at the moment:
1. Overall picture at the moment (video-based)
2. Current iPhone and iPad products (video-based)
3. Earlier products (video-based)
4. iCloud
5. iTunes
6. App Store
1. Overall picture at the moment:
Apple — Special Event — June 11, 2012 [Apple YouTube channel, June 30, 2012]
2. Current iPhone and iPad products:
Apple – iPhone 4S – TV Ad – Joke [Apple YouTube channel, May 23, 2012]
Apple – Introducing iPhone 4S [Apple YouTube channel, Oct 6, 2011]
Apple – Introducing iOS 5 [Apple YouTube channel, June 6, 2011]
Apple – The new iPad – TV Ad – Do It All [Apple YouTube channel, June 18, 2012]
Apple – Introducing the new iPad [Apple YouTube channel, March 8, 2012]
Apple – Introducing the iPad Smart Cover [Apple YouTube channel, March 2, 2011]
3. Earlier products:
Official Apple iPhone 4 Video [June 7, 2010]
iPhone 3GS ads all in one. Official Apple Commercials spots HQ [Glarand YouTube channel, Sept 29, 2011]
HQ Apple WWDC 2009 Keynote – NEW iPhone 3GS [MicrositeSolutions YouTube channel]
Talking Tech: Apple’s new iPhone 3GS [USATODAY, June 17, 2009]
ALL iPhone 3G official Ads… Collected&Edited in One Video HQ [hsmmgg YouTube channel, March 21, 2009]
WWDC 2008 News: iPhone 3G makes its debut [CNETTV YouTube channel, June 9, 2008]
[HD] Steve Jobs – 2007 iPhone Presentation ( Part 1 of 2 ) [UG3Genki YouTube Channel]
[HD] Steve Jobs – 2007 iPhone Presentation ( Part 2 of 2 ) [UG3Genki YouTube Channel]
iPad 2 Official Introduction Video [March 2, 2011]
Apple iPad: First TV Commercial [March 8, 2010]
Apple iPad Official Video [1080p HD] [Jan 27, 2010]
4. iCloud [Apple microsite, June 6, 2011]:
It’s the easiest way to manage your content. Because now you don’t have to.
Apple – Introducing iCloud [Apple YouTube channel, Oct 4, 2011]
iTunes in the CloudYour music, movies, and TV shows. Wherever you want them.You never know when you’ll suddenly be in the mood to listen to a favorite song, rewatch a classic movie, or share that hilarious sitcom episode with a friend. With iCloud, you can have iTunes automatically download new music purchases to all your devices the moment you tap Buy. You can also access past music, movie, and TV show purchases from any of your devices — wirelessly and without syncing.1Learn more about iTunes in the Cloud1.Automatic downloads and downloading previous purchases require iOS 4.3.3 or later on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), or iPad; iOS 5 on iPhone 4 (CDMA model); or a Mac or PC with iTunes 10.3.1 or later. Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer in the iTunes Store, App Store, or iBookstore. Downloading previous movie purchases requires iTunes 10.6, iOS 5 or later, or Apple TV software 4.3 or later. Not all previously purchased movies are available for downloading to your other devices. Download iTunes 10.6 free.iTunes MatchIf you want the benefits of iTunes in the Cloud for music you haven’t purchased from iTunes, iTunes Match is the perfect solution. It lets you store your entire collection, including music you’ve imported from CDs. For just $24.99 a year.2Learn more about iTunes Match2.iTunes Match requires iOS 5.0.1 on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), or iPad, or a Mac or PC with iTunes 10.5.1. Limit 25,000 songs. iTunes purchases do not count against limit. Access to some services is limited to 10 devices. |
Photo StreamSnap. And it’s everywhere.With Photo Stream, you can take a photo on one iOS device and it automatically appears on all your other devices, including your Mac or PC. Import new pictures to your computer from a digital camera, and iCloud sends copies over Wi-Fi to your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. You can even view recent photos on your big-screen TV via Apple TV. There’s no syncing, no email attachments, no file transfers. Your pictures are just there — on whichever device you happen to have handy.Learn more about Photo StreamDocuments in the CloudStart here. Finish there.You can create amazing documents and presentations on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. And now with iCloud, you can keep your work up to date across all your iOS devices. You don’t have to save your work or transfer any files. Your documents — with all your latest edits — automatically appear everywhere. iCloud is already built into Apple iOS apps like Keynote, Pages, and Numbers. It can also work with other iCloud-enabled apps. So you can do things like create a spreadsheet on your iPad and make edits to it on your iPhone. Or start sketching on your iPod touch and add the finishing touches on your iPad at home.Learn more about Documents in the Cloud |
AppsAll your apps. Always at hand.If you have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you have apps. And you probably download new ones all the time. iCloud lets you automatically download new app purchases to all your devices at once. So the app you need is always right where you need it. If an app you bought previously isn’t on one of your devices, not to worry. You can download it again from your purchase history — at no additional charge.1Learn more about apps |
iBooksAll your devices are on the same page.Buy a new book from the iBookstore, and iCloud makes sure it appears everywhere — your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. So if you have to put it down, you can pick it back up on another device, in exactly the same place. In addition to the best seller you’re glued to at the moment, the iBooks app keeps a list of titles you’ve read before. And just like with apps, you can download them again to any of your devices.1 |
Calendar, Mail, and ContactsUp-to-date everything.iCloud stores all the stuff you can’t live without — your calendars, email, and contacts — and keeps it up to date across all your devices. Say you delete an email, add a calendar event, or change some settings. iCloud makes all your changes everywhere. Same with your notes, reminders, and Safari bookmarks.Learn more about Calendar, Contacts, and Mail |
BackupiCloud saves the day.iCloud backs up your iOS device daily over Wi-Fi when it’s connected to a power source. From your Camera Roll and messages to your device settings and ringtones, everything is backed up quickly and efficiently. And since iCloud is built into iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, you can restore your personal data on a new iOS device or one you already have without using a single cable.3iCloud does it all for you over Wi-Fi. |
Find My FriendsFriend-spotting.For finding your way to the party, keeping track of family at a crowded amusement park, or getting picked up at the airport, Find My Friends is your app.4 You can give friends and family permission to see your whereabouts. And vice versa. When you don’t want to be found, a single switch takes you off the grid. Simple as that.Learn more about Find My Friends |
Find My iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and MacLost. And found.If checking all the usual spots hasn’t turned up your missing iOS device, Find My iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac can help.4Just sign in at icloud.com or use the Find My iPhone app on another device to locate yours on a map, display a message on its screen, remotely set a passcode lock, or initiate a remote wipe to delete your data.Learn more about Find My iPad |
3. Backup of purchased music is not available in all countries. Previous purchases may not be restored if they are no longer in the iTunes Store, App Store, or iBookstore. |
4.Find My Friends and Find My iPhone enable you to locate iOS devices only when they are on and connected to a registered Wi-Fi network or have an active data plan. |
iCloud requires iOS 5 on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), or iPad; a Mac computer with OS X Lion; or a PC with Windows Vista or Windows 7 (Outlook 2007 or 2010 or an up-to-date browser is required for accessing email, contacts, and calendars). Some features require a Wi-Fi connection. Some features are not available in all countries. Access to some services is limited to 10 devices. Map data © 2012 Google. © 2012 Google. Map data © 2012 Google.
Apple – iCloud – Coming Soon [page on the iCloud microsite, June 11., 2012]:
iCloud is about to get even better. With the launch of Mountain Lion this July and iOS 6 in the fall, iCloud gets brand-new features for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and PC.
Safari. Keeps tabs on your web pages.
iCloud Tabs show the web pages you have open on all your other devices, so you can see all your pages on your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and Mac, and pick up browsing wherever you left off. Safari now saves web pages — not just links — in your Reading List. So you can get caught up on any device, even when you can’t connect to the Internet. 11. Offline Reading List will be available on iPhone 4 or later and iPad 2 or later.2. Shared Photo Streams requires iOS 6 on iPhone 4 or later or iPad 2 or later, or a Mac computer with OS X Mountain Lion. An up-to-date browser is required for accessing shared photo streams on the web. |
Shared Photo Streams. Share select photos with a select audience.
Now you can share just the photos you want, with just the people you choose. Simply select photos from the Photos app, tap the Share button, choose who you want to share your photos with, and they’re on their way. Friends using iCloud on an iOS 6 device or a Mac running Mountain Lion get the photos delivered immediately in the Photos app or iPhoto. You can even view shared photo streams on Apple TV. If the folks you’re sharing with aren’t using an Apple device, they can view your photos on the web. People can like individual photos and make comments. And you can share as much as you want: Your shared photo streams don’t count against your iCloud storage, and they work over Wi-Fi and cellular.2 |
Find My Phone. Stay on the trail of your iPhone.
It happens. You misplace your iPhone, or your iPad, or your iPod touch. Luckily, iOS 6 and iCloud now offer Lost mode, making it even easier to use Find My iPhone to locate and protect a missing device. Immediately lock your missing device with a four-digit passcode and send it a message displaying a contact number. That way a good Samaritan can call you right from your Lock screen without accessing the rest of the information on your device. And while in Lost mode, your device will keep track of where it’s been and report back to you any time you check in with the Find My iPhone app.3 |
Find My Friends. Good friends aren’t hard to find.
Find My Friends is a great way to share your location with people who are important to you. Family and friends who share their locations with you appear on a map so you can quickly see where they are and what they’re up to. And with iOS 6, you can get location-based alerts — like when your kids leave school or arrive home. Find My Friends can also notify others about your location, so you can stay connected or keep track of the ones you love.3.Find My iPhone and Find My Friends enable you to locate iOS devices only when they are on and connected to a registered Wi-Fi network or have an active data plan. |
5. iTunes [Apple microsite, Oct 4, 2011]:
Apple – iTunes – Your media on your Mac, PC, iPod, iPhone, and iPad.
Apple iPhone 4 TV Ad iPod + iTunes [Apple YouTube channel, Aug 2, 2011]
[iTunes app]Play, buy, and end enjoy your music, movies, TV shows, apps, and more. Everywhere.iTunes is a free application for your Mac or PC. It lets you organize and play digital music and video on your computer. It can automatically download new music, app, and book purchases across all your devices and computers. And it’s a store that has everything you need to be entertained. Anywhere. Anytime. |
iTunes PlayerWhere listening, watching, and playing start.iTunes lets you enjoy all your music, movies, videos, and TV shows on your Mac or PC. When you want to watch or listen to something, you no longer have to look through your CDs or flip through channels — just go to your computer and open iTunes. With your entire media collection in your iTunes library, you can browse everything faster, organize it all more easily, and play anything whenever the mood strikes.Learn more about the iTunes player |
iTunes StoreThe world’s #1 music store. And more.Music is just the beginning. You can also rent or buy blockbuster movies, buy HD episodes of your favorite TV shows, shop for books, and download apps for your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. Subscribe to free podcasts about anything and everything. For further enlightenment, visit iTunes U and download free lectures, discussions, and lessons from universities and cultural institutions around the globe. You’ll find thousands of hours of entertainment on the iTunes Store.Learn more about the iTunes Store |
iTunes EverywhereiTunes in the Cloud.With iTunes in the Cloud, you can wirelessly download your content to all your devices, regardless of which device you used to purchase it. Your new music, apps, and books just appear — automatically. And you can view your purchase history to choose the TV shows you want to download.1 Effortlessly. Learn more1. Automatic downloads and downloading previous purchases require iOS 4.3.3 or later on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), iPad, or iPad 2; iOS 5 on iPhone 4 (CDMA model); or a Mac or PC with iTunes 10.3.1 or later. Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer in the iTunes Store, App Store, or iBookstore. Download iTunes 10.6 free. |
Learn more about iTunes everywhereA match made in iCloud.With iTunes Match, you can store your music collection in iCloud, including songs you’ve imported from CDs. And you can play them on any iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, Mac, or PC — all for just $24.99 a year.2 Learn more2. iTunes Match requires iOS 5.0.1 on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), iPad, or iPad 2, or a Mac or PC with iTunes 10.5.1. Limit 25,000 songs. iTunes purchases do not count against limit. Access to some services is limited to 10 devices. |
Music’s in the house.AirPlay lets you stream music throughout your whole house — wirelessly. AirPlay wireless technology is integrated into many speaker docks, AV receivers, and stereo systems. So you can enjoy your entire iTunes library. Every song and every playlist. In any room, anytime. [Learn more][Remote is a free, fun, and easy-to-use app that turns your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch into a remote control. So wherever you are in your house, you can control your computer’s iTunes library and your Apple TV with a tap or flick of a finger. Learn more] |
Features are subject to change. Access to some services is limited to 10 devices. See www.apple.com/legal/itunes/ww/ for more information.
The iTunes Store is available only to persons age 13 or older in the U.S. Requires compatible hardware and software and Internet access (fees may apply). Terms apply. See www.apple.com/itunes/what-is/store.html for more information.
Available on iTunes. Title availability is subject to change.
More information:
– iTunes Match puts your whole music library in iCloud. [Apple’s Inside iTunes blog, Jan 16, 2012]
– Get Books On iTunes, the iBookstore, and the App Store [Apple’s Inside iTunes blog, April 18, 2011]
– iTunes 10.3 Now Includes iBookstore [Apple’s Inside iTunes blog, June 8, 2011]
– iBooks 2 brings new Multi-Touch textbooks to iPad [Apple’s Inside iTunes blog, Jan 30, 2012]
– New features in iBooks 2.1. [Apple’s Inside iTunes blog, March 26, 2012]
– New iTunes U app delivers online courses to mobile devices. [Apple’s Inside iTunes blog, Feb 6, 2012]
– Movies now available on iCloud. [Apple’s Inside iTunes blog, March 19, 2012]
– New Categories make browsing Newsstand’s offerings easier. [Apple’s Inside iTunes blog, May 25, 2012]
Apple – iPhone 4S – Keep yourself entertained at the iTunes Store. [Apple product page, Oct 3, 2011]
iTunes
Millions of ways to stay entertainedYou’re in a coffee shop and you hear a song you just have to have. Or you’re at the airport, wishing you had a good movie to watch. Just go to iTunes. Find all the new music, movies, TV shows, and podcasts you want. Then download it all wirelessly, right to your iPhone. Wherever you happen to be. |
Explore the store.Browse New Releases, Top Tens, and Genres. If you know exactly what you’re looking for, type in a quick search. Play a preview of any song or video, then tap to buy it.1 With millions of songs and thousands of movies, TV episodes, and music videos in the iTunes Store — and a huge selection in HD — you’re sure to find something you’ll love.1. Downloads over 50MB require a Wi-Fi connection. |
The Tone Store.
|
iTunes Ping. Stay in the know.Follow friends to find out what music they’re listening to, buying, and recommending. Catch up with your favorite artists and see if they’re playing near you. That way, you’ll never miss another show. You can even see which of your friends are planning on going, too.Learn more about Ping |
iTunes in the Cloud.When you buy music from iTunes, iCloud automatically downloads it to all your devices over Wi-Fi or a cellular network. So everything new appears everywhere — on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. You can also browse your purchase history and choose specific songs, albums, movies, or TV shows to download again at no additional cost.2 Sign up for iTunes Match and you can access all your other music from iCloud — including music you’ve imported from CDs. For just $24.99 a year.32. Automatic downloads and downloading previous purchases require iOS 4.3.3 or later on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), or iPad; iOS 5 on iPhone 4 (CDMA model); or a Mac or PC with iTunes 10.3.1 or later. Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer in the iTunes Store, App Store, or iBookstore. Downloading previous movie purchases requires iTunes 10.6, iOS 5 or later, or Apple TV software 4.3 or later. Not all previously purchased movies are available for downloading to your other devices. Download iTunes 10.6 free.3. iTunes Match requires iOS 5.0.1 or later on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), or iPad, or a Mac or PC with iTunes 10.5.1 or later. Limit 25,000 songs. iTunes purchases do not count against limit. Access to some services is limited to 10 devices. |
Apple – iPod touch – Browse and buy anytime you want with iTunes.[Apple product page, Oct 3, 2011]
iTunes
Your DJ-slash-cineplex-slash-TV and more.You could be anywhere — in line for your “fixes everything” fruit smoothie or just lounging in the quad — when it hits you. There’s a song you need by a band you love, a TV show you missed, or a movie you just have to see, right then and there. Enter iTunes on iPod touch. |
Get your entertainment fix on the fly.Access the iTunes Store over Wi-Fi and you can discover new music from millions of songs. Buy or rent movies. Buy TV shows. Or find free podcasts. Browse New Releases, Top Tens, and Genres. If you know exactly what you’re looking for, type in a quick search. Play a preview of any song or video, then tap to buy it. It downloads right to your iPod touch, making you the master of long waits. |
iTunes in the Cloud.When you buy music from iTunes, iCloud automatically downloads it to your other devices over Wi-Fi or a cellular network. So everything new appears everywhere — on your iPod touch, iPhone, iPad, Mac, or PC. You can also browse your purchase history and choose songs, albums, movies, or TV shows to download again at no additional cost.1 Sign up for iTunes Match and you can access all your other music from iCloud — including music you’ve imported from CDs. For just $24.99 a year.2 Learn more about iCloud |
1. Automatic downloads and downloading previous purchases require iOS 4.3.3 or later on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), or iPad; iOS 5 on iPhone 4 (CDMA model); or a Mac or PC with iTunes 10.3.1 or later. Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer in the iTunes Store, App Store, or iBookstore. Downloading previous movie purchases requires iTunes 10.6, iOS 5 or later, or Apple TV software 4.3 or later. Not all previously purchased movies are available for downloading to your other devices. Download iTunes 10.6 free.2. iTunes Match requires iOS 5.0.1 or later on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), or iPad, or a Mac or PC with iTunes 10.5.1 or later. Limit 25,000 songs. iTunes purchases do not count against limit. Access to some services is limited to 10 devices. |
Now you have a following.Ping your friends and follow each other to find out what music everyone loves, buys, and recommends. You can even follow your favorite artists and see who they follow. And when they’re playing a show near you, Ping tells you which friends are up for going. |
iTunes U hones your know-it-all skills.Discover iTunes U on your iPod touch and download some knowledge. You’ll find lectures, discussions, language lessons, audiobooks, podcasts, and more from top universities, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. |
Genius recommends.With millions of songs and thousands of movies, TV episodes, and music videos in the iTunes Store — and a huge selection in HD — you might need some help finding new favorites. Genius keeps track of what you love and recommends more of the same. |
Shop the new Tone Store.You hear an alert go off — like a new text message or Facebook update — and think, “Is that me?” You check your iPod touch, and it turns out it’s not. It’s the guy with the iPhone across from you. Now you can make your alerts a lot more individual thanks to the Tone Store and iOS 5. Part of the iTunes Store, the Tone Store is where you can download alert tones for just 99¢. Here’s to your supreme uniqueness. |
iCloud requires iOS 5 on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), or iPad; a Mac computer with OS X Lion; or a PC with Windows Vista or Windows 7 (Outlook 2007 or 2010 or an up-to-date browser is required for accessing email, contacts, and calendars). Some features require a Wi-Fi connection. Some features are not available in all countries. Access to some services is limited to 10 devices.
The iTunes Store is available only to persons age 13 or older in the U.S. and many other countries; see www.apple.com/support/itunes/ww for a list of countries. Requires iTunes, compatible hardware and software, and Internet access; broadband recommended (fees may apply). See www.apple.com/itunes/whats-on/ for more information. Terms apply.
Apple – The new iPad – Amazing iPad apps, built right in. [Apple product page, March 7, 2012]
…
iTunes
Open the iTunes app to shop for thousands of HD movies and TV shows (up to 1080p HD, to be exact) 24/7/365.5 While you’re there, pick up a song or two. There are over 20 million to choose from. And iCloud lets you access your iTunes purchases from every device you use — iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, or PC.1
…
1. Automatic downloads and downloading previous purchases require iOS 4.3.3 or later on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), or iPad; iOS 5 on iPhone 4 (CDMA model); or a Mac or PC with iTunes 10.3.1 or later. Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer in the iTunes Store, App Store, or iBookstore. Downloading previous movie purchases requires iTunes 10.6, iOS 5 or later, or Apple TV software 4.3 or later. Not all previously purchased movies are available for downloading to your other devices.Download iTunes 10.6 free.
…
5. Not all purchased movies are available in 1080p HD.
That is for iPad there is no product specific iTunes page!
6. App Store
Apple Answers the FCC’s Questions [Apple, Aug 21, 2009]
We are pleased to respond to the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau’s inquiry dated July 31, 2009, requesting information regarding Apple’s App Store and its application approval process. In order to give the Bureau some context for our responses, we begin with some background information about the iPhone and the App Store.
Apple’s goal is to provide our customers with the best possible user experience. We have been able to do this by designing the hardware and software in our products to work together seamlessly. The iPhone is a great example of this. It has established a new standard for what a mobile device can be—an integrated device with a phone, a full web browser, HTML email, an iPod, and more, all delivered with Apple’s revolutionary multi-touch user interface.
Apple then introduced something altogether new—the App Store—to give consumers additional functionality and benefits from the iPhone’s revolutionary technology. The App Store has been more successful than anyone could have ever imagined. Today, just over a year since opening, the App Store offers over 65,000 iPhone applications, and customers have downloaded over 1.5 billion applications.
The App Store provides a frictionless distribution network that levels the playing field for individual and large developers of mobile applications. We provide every developer with the same software that we use to create our own iPhone applications. The App Store offers an innovative business model that allows developers to set their own price and keep more (far more in most cases) of the revenue than traditional business models. In little more than a year, we have raised the bar for consumers’ rich mobile experience beyond what we or anyone else ever imagined in both scale and quality. Apple’s innovation has also fostered competition as other companies (e.g., Nokia, Microsoft, RIM, Palm and Verizon) seek to develop their own mobile platforms and launch their own application stores.
Apple works with network providers around the world so that iPhone users have access to a cellular network. In the United States, we struck a groundbreaking deal with AT&T in 2006 that gives Apple the freedom to decide which software to make available for the iPhone. This was an industry first.
We created an approval process that reviews every application submitted to Apple for the App Store in order to protect consumer privacy, safeguard children from inappropriate content, and avoid applications that degrade the core experience of the iPhone. Some types of content such as pornography are rejected outright from the App Store, while others such as graphic combat scenes in action games may be approved but with an appropriate age rating. Most rejections are based on bugs found in the applications. When there is an issue, we try to provide the developer with helpful feedback so they can modify the application in order for us to approve it. 95% of applications are approved within 14 days of their submission.
We’re covering new ground and doing things that had never been done before. Many of the issues we face are difficult and new, and while we may make occasional mistakes, we try to learn from them and continually improve.
<then answers to the specific questions>
… Question 5. What other applications have been rejected for use on the iPhone and for what reasons? Is there a list of prohibited applications or of categories of applications that is provided to potential vendors/developers?
If so, is this posted on the iTunes website or otherwise disclosed to consumers?In a little more than a year, the App Store has grown to become the world’s largest wireless applications store, with over 65,000 applications. We’ve rejected applications for a variety of reasons. Most rejections are based on the application containing quality issues or software bugs, while other rejections involve protecting consumer privacy, safeguarding children from inappropriate content, and avoiding applications that degrade the core experience of the iPhone. Given the volume and variety of technical issues, most of the review process is consumed with quality issues and software bugs, and providing feedback to developers so they can fix applications. Applications that are fixed and resubmitted are approved.
The following is a list of representative applications that have been rejected as originally submitted and their current status:
- Twittelator, by Stone Design Corp., was initially rejected because it crashed during loading, but the developer subsequently fixed the application and it has been approved;
- iLoveWiFi!, by iCloseBy LLC, was rejected because it used undocumented application protocols (it has not been resubmitted as of the date of this letter);
- SlingPlayer Mobile, by Sling Media, was initially rejected because redirecting a TV signal to an iPhone using AT&T’s cellular network is prohibited by AT&T’s customer Terms of Service, but the developer subsequently fixed the application to use WiFi only and it has been approved; and
- Lingerie Fantasy Video (Lite), by On The Go Girls, LLC, was initially rejected because it displayed nudity and explicit sexual content, but the developer subsequently fixed the application and it has been approved with the use of a 17+ age rating.
Apple provides explicit language in its agreement with iPhone developers regarding prohibited categories of applications, for example:
- “Applications may be rejected if they contain content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, sounds, etc.) that in Apple’s reasonable judgment may be found objectionable, for example, materials that may be considered obscene, pornographic, or defamatory; and
- Applications must not contain any malware, malicious or harmful code, program, or other internal component (e.g. computer viruses, trojan horses, ‘backdoors’) which could damage, destroy, or adversely affect other software, firmware, hardware, data, systems, services, or networks.”
And we also provide a reference library that can be accessed by members of the iPhone Developer Program that lists helpful information such as Best Practices and How To Get Started.
Question 6. What are the standards for considering and approving iPhone applications? What is the approval process for such applications (timing, reasons for rejection, appeal process, etc.)? What is the percentage of applications that are rejected? What are the major reasons for rejecting an application?
As discussed in the response to Question 5, Apple provides guidelines to developers in our developer agreement as well as on its web site regarding prohibited categories of applications. These materials also contain numerous other provisions regarding technical and legal requirements that applications must comply with, and Apple uses these standards in considering whether or not to approve applications.
Apple developed a comprehensive review process that looks at every iPhone application that is submitted to Apple. Applications and marketing text are submitted through a web interface. Submitted applications undergo a rigorous review process that tests for vulnerabilities such as software bugs, instability on the iPhone platform, and the use of unauthorized protocols. Applications are also reviewed to try to prevent privacy issues, safeguard children from exposure to inappropriate content, and avoid applications that degrade the core experience of the iPhone. There are more than 40 full-time trained reviewers, and at least two different reviewers study each application so that the review process is applied uniformly. Apple also established an App Store executive review board that determines procedures and sets policy for the review process, as well as reviews applications that are escalated to the board because they raise new or complex issues. The review board meets weekly and is comprised of senior management with responsibilities for the App Store. 95% of applications are approved within 14 days of being submitted.
If we find that an application has a problem, for example, a software bug that crashes the application, we send the developer a note describing the reason why the application will not be approved as submitted. In many cases we are able to provide specific guidance about how the developer can fix the application. We also let them know they can contact the app review team or technical support, or they can write to us for further guidance.
Apple generally spends most of the review period making sure that the applications function properly, and working with developers to fix quality issues and software bugs in applications. We receive about 8,500 new applications and updates every week, and roughly 20% of them are not approved as originally submitted. In little more than a year, we have reviewed more than 250,000 applications and updates.
[Visit the App Store] App Store Downloads on iTunes [Apple microsite, Jan 4, 2011]
See also: Apple – iTunes – iTunes Store – Charts [Apple microsite, Sept 1, 2005]
iTunes Store Charts
Music Charts
Choose and Album Chart Choose a Song Chart Top 10 Albums
Top 10 Alternative Albums
Top 10 Blues Albums
Top 10 Classical Albums
Top 10 Children’s Albums
Top 10 Comedy Albums
Top 10 Country Albums
Top 10 Dance Albums
Top 10 Electronic Albums
Top 10 Folk Albums
Top 10 Hip-Hop Albums
Top 10 Jazz Albums
Top 10 New Age Albums
[Top 10 Opera Albums]
Top 10 Pop Albums
Top 10 Reggae Albums
Top 10 Rock Albums
Top 10 R&B/Soul Albums
Top 10 Soundtrack Albums
Top 10 Vocal Albums
Top 10 World AlbumsTop 10 Songs
Top 10 Alternative Songs
Top 10 Blues Songs
Top 10 Classical Songs
Top 10 Children’s Songs
Top 10 Comedy Songs
Top 10 Country Songs
Top 10 Dance Songs
Top 10 Electronic Songs
Top 10 Folk Songs
Top 10 Hip-Hop Songs
Top 10 Jazz Songs
Top 10 New Age Songs
Top 10 Pop Songs
Top 10 Reggae Songs
Top 10 Rock Songs
Top 10 R&B/Soul Songs
Top 10 Soundtrack Songs
Top 10 Vocal Songs
Top 10 World SongsApp Store Charts [Dec 27, 2008]
Choose an App Store Chart Top 10 Apps – Paid
Top 10 Apps – Free
Top 10 Apps – New
Top 10 Apps – Books
Top 10 Apps – Business
Top 10 Apps – Education
Top 10 Apps – Entertainment
Top 10 Apps – Finance
Top 10 Apps – Games
Top 10 Apps – Healthcare & Fitness
Top 10 Apps – Lifestyle
Top 10 Apps – Medical
Top 10 Apps – Music
Top 10 Apps – Navigation
Top 10 Apps – News
Top 10 Apps – Photography
Top 10 Apps – Productivity
Top 10 Apps – Reference
Top 10 Apps – Social Networking
Top 10 Apps – Sports
Top 10 Apps – Travel
Top 10 Apps – Utilities
Top 10 Apps – WeatherAudiobooks Charts [Dec 26, 2008]
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Movies Charts
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TV Shows Charts
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Podcasts Charts [Jan 25, 2007 for Health; July 4, 2009 for others]
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Note that there is a separate microsite for Apple – Web apps – All Categories [Oct 10, 2007 – Dec 3, 2010] where there are only 5106 apps, and the most recent one is dated back to Dec 3, 2010. These apps are described as:
Apple – Web apps [Jan 15, 2008]
Part fun. Part function
Flick through movie time. Tap on a train route. Scroll thropugh sports scores. Web apps and Multi-Touch make it possible.
The Internet meets Multi-Touch
Web applications — or web apps — combine the power of the Internet with the simplicity of Multi-Touch technology, all on a 3.5-inch screen. iPhone and iPod touch let you easily flick through news on Digg, play Sudoku or Bejeweled with a finger tap, and quickly check movie times, train schedules, and favorite blogs.
Browsing web apps is easy. Just visit www.apple.com/webapps on your iPhone or iPod touch. You’ll find a growing list of over 1700 web apps to flick and scroll through. Browse now
One tap web apps.
When you find a web app you like, you can put it front and center on your Home screen. Just open the web app on your iPhone or iPod touch, tap the plus sign, and then tap “Add to Home screen.” A Web Clip will be added to your Home screen automatically for easy, one-tap access. You have up to nine Home screen pages for all your Web Clips and you can organize them however you like.
[Learn more about apps on iPhone] Apple – iPhone 4S – See apps and games from the App Store. [Apple product page, Oct 4, 2011]
Over 500,000 apps.
For work, play, and everything in between.The apps that come with your iPhone are just the beginning. Browse the App Store to find hundreds of thousands more. The more apps you download, the more you realize there’s almost no limit to what your iPhone can do.
Learn more about the App Store
Apps by Apple
Create and send letterpress cards. Shoot and edit HD movies. Make presentations and spreadsheets.
Learn moreBusiness
Follow the market, pay your bills, and track everything from your time to your gas mileage.
Learn moreTravel
Book that overdue vacation and find the best spots to see before you get there.
Learn moreSports & Fitness
Tone those muscles, drop those extra pounds, and get fit with the help of these apps.
Learn moreSocial Networking
Update your status, share photos and video, and let the world know what you’re up to.
Learn moreNews
Stay in the know as you tap into weather forecasts and breaking news from all over the planet.
Learn moreLifestyle
Find great deals in your neighborhood, cook up the perfect dish, and control everything in your house with iPhone. Learn more
Games
Soar through the air, take the checkered flag, and save the universe from aliens. It’s all in a day’s work.
Learn moreEntertainment
Catch a good movie or shoot one of your own — these apps offer endless hours of satisfaction.
Learn moreEducation
See the world. See the universe. And make it back in time to get your homework done. Learn more
Family & Kids
Read along together, complete puzzles, and make every night family night.
Learn moreMusic
Discover new music, make your own, and turn iPhone into your mobile recording studio.
Learn moreTop iPhone Apps Visit the App Store
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[Learn more about the App Store] Apple – iPhone 4S – Find over 500,000 apps on the App Store. [Apple product page, Oct 3, 2011]
Every app you download from the App Store makes your iPhone do even more. And with hundreds of thousands of apps to choose from, we mean a whole lot more.
Browse, buy, and
even give apps.Enter the App Store to shop for amazing apps in almost every category: games, lifestyle, social networking, and education, for starters. Many apps are even free. If you’re just browsing, the App Store makes it easy. You can see what’s new in Featured, check out the Top 25, and flick through a few screenshots. Find apps by doing a quick search, then download them from wherever you are.1 Or purchase apps to send as gifts to friends and family. Just use the same Apple ID on the App Store that you use to buy anything on iTunes. It’s that easy. And it’s always safe and secure.
Learn more about apps on iPhoneYour apps in iCloud.
When you buy and download apps from the App Store, you always have access to them, no matter which device you’re using. Because the App Store keeps them in the cloud. So if you bought an app on your iPhone, it can automatically download straight to your iPad over Wi-Fi or 3G and vice versa.2 And if you delete an app from your device, you can always download it again.
Stay up to date.
Developers are constantly improving their apps. When you visit the App Store, the Update icon shows you when an update is available for an app you have. With a tap, you can download the updates either one at a time or all at once. Then you’ll always have the latest versions.
Get recommendations.
With so many apps available, you need an easy way to find new ones to enjoy. That’s where Genius comes in. With just a tap, Genius gives you personalized recommendations for apps you might like based on apps you and others have downloaded. You can also read reviews from other app users and see their ratings, and even add your own.
iCloud keeps the stuff you use every day up to date on all your devices. Like all the amazing apps you download from the App Store. Learn more about iCloud
Camera
HD Video Recording
FaceTime
Messages
Reminders
Phone
Safari
Music
Videos
Photos
App Store
iTunes
Maps + Compass
Game Center
Calendar
Contacts
Find My
iPhoneMore
Built-in Apps
Apple – The new iPad– Explore a world of apps made just for iPad. [Apple product page, Dec 8, 2011]
An app made for iPad is an app like no other. That’s because apps for iPad are designed specifically to take advantage of all the technology built into iPad. And with over 225,000 apps to choose from, there’s no telling where the next tap will take you.
Apps by Apple
Incredible apps designed by the people who designed iPad. Learn more
Business
Manage projects, tap into industry news, and get real-time market quotes. Learn more
Productivity
Stay productive with powerful apps that get the job done in style. Learn more
Education
From learning math to understanding science, iPad apps offer fun, interactive ways to learn. Learn more
Entertainment
Discover great movies and TV shows or create art with a few swipes of your finger. Learn more
Music
Turn iPad into a mobile recording studio or rock any party, anytime. Learn more
Games
Rule the skies, explore worlds unknown, or kick back and solve a puzzle. Learn more
Social Networking
Update your status, share photos and video, and let the world know what you’re up to. Learn more
News
Interact with breaking news from around the world through iPad apps that keep you current. Learn more
Sports
Improve your game, track your team, and discover new ways to stay fit. Learn more
Travel
Find the best deals wherever you’re going. And know the best sights to see before you arrive. Learn more
Newsstand
Enjoy your favorite subscriptions — newspapers, magazines, and more — like never before. Learn more
Lifestyle
Get interior design tips, find new recipes, and get even more out of your favorite hobbies. Learn more
Top iPad Apps Visit the App Store
Top Paid Apps Top Free Apps Top Grossing Apps 1. …
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Apple – iPod touch – See games and apps from the App Store. [Apple product page, Oct 4, 2011]
The App Store features over 500,000 apps, many of which are free. That includes over 100,000 game and entertainment titles — more than any other platform. And you can go head-to-head with millions of other gamers on Game Center. No wonder iPod touch is the world’s most popular portable game player. You’ll wish you had more fingers.
Apps by Apple
Get one-tap access to podcasts. Create and send letterpress cards. Shoot and edit HD movies. And more. Learn more
Music
Make your own radio station, create your own beats, and turn iPod touch into your personal recording studio. Learn more
Games for Gamers
Explore fantasy worlds, battle fierce competition, or take your team to the championship game. Learn more
Casual Games
Kick back and relax as you slice through fruit, launch an airborne attack, and rule your own island. Learn more
Strategy Games
Test your skills by safely landing aircraft, maneuvering through enemy territory, and outsmarting the opposition. Learn more
Action Games
Conduct secret missions, fight your way to the finish line, or take to the skies for intense aerial combat. Learn more
Sports Games
Run the table, rule the ring, and control the court. You were born to perform with these games. Learn more
Lifestyle
Buy and sell on the go, discover new recipes, and find the best deals on everything from fashion to travel. Learn more
Entertainment
See what movies are playing tonight, watch trailers, read reviews, or stay home and make your own mini-movies. Learn more
Social Networking
Update your status, share photos and video, and let the world know what you’re up to. Learn more
Education
Organize homework assignments, learn a new language, and study up with iPod touch. Learn more
Family & Kids
Read along together, complete puzzles, and make every night family night. Learn more
Top iPod touch Apps Visit the App Store
Top Games Top Paid Apps Top Free Apps 1. …
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Apple – Business – App Store Volume Purchasing for Business [June 12, 2012]
Unleash the App Store to your entire workforce.
Whether you’re providing apps to ten employees or ten thousand, the Volume Purchase Program makes it simple to find, buy, and distribute the apps your business needs.
The Volume Purchase Program also provides a way to get custom B2B apps built by third-party developers to meet the unique needs of your business.
The Volume Purchase Program is currently available in the US only.
Get started. Enroll in the US Program
Learn more. Download the Guide
Coming Soon. The App Store Volume Purchase Program is expanding to the following countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, and United Kingdom.
Buy apps in volume.
Streamline your purchasing process and put more power and productivity in the hands of your workforce. Every paid app in the App Store is available for businesses to buy in volume through the program website. Simply search for the apps you need, enter the quantity you want to buy, and complete the transaction with your corporate credit card. Apps are available for purchase at the same price listed in the App Store.
Discover great apps for business: iPad | iPhone
Get custom B2B apps.
Custom B2B apps are built just for you by third-party developers and business partners to address a specific business process, integrate with a unique back-office environment, or deliver a custom interface for your users. Using the Volume Purchase Program you can securely and privately download custom B2B apps that make your business even more effective. Pricing for custom B2B apps is set by the developer and can be either free or paid.
If you are a developer who is enrolled in the iOS Developer program you can create custom B2B apps for customers who are enrolled in the Volume Purchase Program.
Learn more about developing custom B2B apps
Easily distribute apps.
The Volume Purchase Program makes it easy to distribute apps within your organization. When you buy apps in volume or custom B2B apps, you will receive redemption codes for each app. You can control who gets the apps by providing these codes to users via email or an internal website. You can also use third-party Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions or Apple Configurator for OS X to centrally manage redemption codes.
Learn more about Mobile Device Management
Learn more about Apple Configurator for OS X
Open for business.
Any business in the US can participate in the Volume Purchasing Program. To start buying apps in volume for your business, you’ll need to enroll and create a volume purchasing account with Apple. Enrolling in the program is simple. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Basic contact information to verify your business
- Dun & Bradstreet number (D-U-N-S)
- Corporate credit card or PCard to purchase apps
Get started. Enroll in the US Program
Learn more. Download the Guide
@Work Collection
Discover great apps for your business at the App Store. There you’ll find apps across a range of categories for your business.
View in iTunes: iPad | iPhone
iPad and iPhone Apps for Business
Put iPad and iPhone to work for your business. Visit the iPad in Business or iPhone in Business websites to explore how to transform business activities you do everyday. iPad | iPhone
Getting Started Guide
Choose great apps to purchase for your employees and help them get started with this self-paced discovery guide of business apps from the App Store. Download the Guide
Apple – Education – Volume Purchase Program [Jan 19, 2012]
The Volume Purchase Program allows educational institutions to purchase iOS apps and books in volume and distribute them to students, teachers, administrators, and employees.*
How to Enroll
It’s quick and easy to set up your organization for volume purchasing. First, designate yourself or someone else in your organization as the Program Manager. Then you can sign up Program Facilitators, which will allow them to make purchases.
If your institution is tax exempt, you will not be charged sales tax. The program also allows app developers to offer special pricing for purchases of 20 apps or more.
Enroll Now Frequently Asked Questions
*Subject to Apple Volume Purchase Program terms and conditions. Any K-12 institution or district or any accredited, degree-granting higher education institution in the U.S. is eligible to participate. Note: Apple reserves the right to determine eligibility. Campus bookstores and other retail institutions are not eligible. Volume Vouchers cannot be resold.
Coming Soon. The Apple Volume Purchase Program is expanding to the following countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, and United Kingdom.
How It Works
Buy apps and books
Through the Volume Purchase Program Education Store, your institution’s Program Facilitators can purchase apps and books in volume, using a credit card, PCard, or Apple Volume Vouchers.
- Shop for K-12
- Shop for higher education
- Or call 1-800-800-2775 .
Get and distribute codes
After making a purchase, Program Facilitators receive a unique code for each app or book. Codes can then be distributed to students, teachers, administrators, or anyone at the institution who will be using the apps or books.
Visit the Volume Purchase Program
Education Store
Redeem codes
Once they have their codes, end users go to the iTunes Store to redeem them. They just enter the code and download the apps or books to their devices.
Apple Education Pricing
Faculty, staff, and students or their parents can get special pricing on Mac computers and more. And institutions can get in touch with an Apple representative to learn more about volume purchasing.
How to buy
Nexus 7: Google wanted it in 4 months for $199/$245, ASUS delivered + Nexus Q (of Google’s own design and manufacturing) added for social streaming from Google Play to speakers and screen in home under Android device control
+ the whole Android-centric story is getting even more interesting when Chrome, Google Drive, Chrome OS and the apps related to that are added. So the latest updates on that are included here as well (in fact from the Day 2 of the Google I/O). Pretty impressive alltogether.
Introducing Nexus 7 [Google Nexus channel on YouTube, June 27, 2012]
Milestones leading to the Nexus 7:
- November 5, 2007: Google launches Android, an Open Mobile Platform
- November 12, 2007: “early look” Android SDK releases (with Android version m3-rc20a)
- August 28, 2008: Android Market announced
- September 23, 2008: Android makes its debut in the T-Mobile (US) G1 smartphone (HTC Dream)with Android 1.0. This came next to UK (in November), as well as to Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and the Netherlands (in Q1 2009).
- This was based on a brand new, 2008 class Qualcomm MSM 7201a SoC (528 MHz single ARM1136EJ-S core of just 1.06 DMIPS/MHz, Adreno 130 GPU, HSPA etc.), had 192MB RAM and 256MB Flash, and came with a 3.2″ 320×480 resolution screen.
- September 23, 2008: Announcing the Android 1.0 SDK, release 1
- October 22, 2008: the Android Market is available for users
- February 13, 2009: Support for priced applications introduced on the Android Market (US and UK developers only)
- April 30, 2009: Android 1.5 (Cupcake), the next version after 1.0, released for Android-powered handsets
(The history of early Android releases upto version 1.6, Donut is provided by Google here.) - January 5, 2010: Nexus One (HTC Passion), the newest Android-powered phone running the latest Android 2.1 (Eclair) software introduced (dogfooding was in Dec 2009)
- This was based on Qualcomm’s next-generation Qualcomm QSD8250 SoC (1 GHz single Scorpion ARM core of 2.1 DMIPS/MHz — essentially of Cortex-A8 class but architectured and designed by Qualcomm, Adreno 200 GPU, HSPA etc.), had 512MB RAM and 512MB ROM, was expandable with a microSD card, and came with a 3.7″ 480×800 resolution AMOLED screen. Note that HTC was working with Qualcomm on that at least since November 2007 when the QSD8250 was announced.
- September 30, 2010: Support for paid application sales expanded to developers in 29 countries + users from 32 countries could buy apps from the Android Market
- December 6, 2010: Google eBookstore launched
- Dec 6, 2010: Introducing Nexus S with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).
- It was co-developed with Samsung. The hallmarks here were Samsung’s own 1 GHz Hummingbird processor (used by Apple as well, and later becoming Exynos), 16GB of memory and a 4″ state-of-the-art AMOLED screen. The starting point for this device was the Samsung Galaxy S, released 4 months earlier with Android 2.1 (see also the Galaxy S: A New Era in AMOLED Technology article from Samsung). AT&T had the first announcement of a Galaxy S class device under the name of Samsung Captivate in the summer.
- Detailed information about Hummingbird and the SoCs of that time are provided in the Marvell ARMADA beats Qualcomm Snapdragon, NVIDIA Tegra and Samsung/Apple Hummingbird in the SoC market [again] [Sept 23, 2010 – Jan 17, 2011] post on this blog.
- February 22, 2011: Final Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) Platform and Updated SDK Tools
- The Motorola XOOM tablet device, developed an designed for 3.0, was announced earlier on Jan 5 as a 3G/Wi-Fi-enabled device in Q1 2011 with an upgrade to 4G LTE in Q2.
- Due to closeness of 2.3 and 3.0 releases detailed information about them was provided in the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and 3.0 (Honeycomb) [Dec 30, 2010 – Feb 4, 2011] post on this blog.
- October 18, 2011: Android 4.0, “Ice Cream Sandwich” (ICS) announced
- October 19, 2011: Samsung and Google introduce GALAXY Nexus
- Detailed information about that is provided in the TI’s OMAP4460 in Samsung GALAXY Nexus with Android 4.0 [Oct 21, 2011 – Feb 7, 2012] post on this blog. That will show very meticulously the current SoC state-of-the-art relative to the Qualcomm SoCs used in earlier G1 and Nexus smartphones.
- November 16, 2011: Google Music with a music store introduced
- March 6, 2012: Google Play digital entertainment distribution service in the cloud introduced for Android phones and tablets announced. Android Market, Google Music and the Google eBookstore became part of Google Play. So music, books, magazines, movies, TV shows, apps, and games are all become available from a single destinationon the web.
- April 12, 2012: Czech Republic, Israel, Poland, and Mexico are added to the 29 seller countries in Google Play.
400 million Android activations! [GoogleMobile YouTube channel, June 27, 2012]
2012 Google I/O Keynote – Google Nexus 7 Tablet Announcement (HD, June 27th, 2012) [Hexydes YouTube channel, June 27, 2012]
#1 of Android @ I/O: the playground is open [on Official Google Blog by Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content, June 27, 2012]
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Google Play: more entertainment
Google Play is your digital entertainment destination, with more than 600,000 apps and games plus music, movies and books. It’s entirely cloud-based, which means all of your content is always available across all of your devices. Today our store is expanding to include magazines. We’ve been working with leading publishers Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith and more to offer magazines like House Beautiful, Men’s Health, Shape and WIRED.Now, you can also purchase movies in addition to renting them. And we’re adding television shows on Google Play—in fact, we’re adding thousands of episodes of broadcast and cable TV shows, like “Revenge,” “Parks & Recreation” and “Breaking Bad,” from some of the top studios, like ABC Studios, NBCUniversal and Sony Pictures. You can play back movies and TV shows on all your Android devices, through Google Play on the web, and on YouTube, and soon we’ll bring the experience to Google TV devices.
Movie purchases, TV shows and magazines are available today on play.google.com, and will roll out to Google Play on devices over the coming days.
Nexus 7: powerful, portable and designed for Google Play
All of this great Google Play content comes to life on Nexus 7, a powerful new tablet with a vibrant, 7” 1280×800 HD display. The Tegra-3 chipset, with a quad-core CPU and 12-core GPU, makes everything, including games, extremely fast. And best of all, it’s only 340 grams, lighter than most tablets out there. Nexus 7 was built to bring you the best of Google in the palm of your hand. Hang out with up to 10 friends on Google+ using the front-facing camera, browse the web blazingly fast with Chrome and, of course, crank through your emails with Gmail.Nexus 7 comes preloaded with some great entertainment, including the movie “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” the book “The Bourne Dominion,” magazines likeCondé Nast Traveler and Popular Science, and songs from bands like Coldplay and the Rolling Stones. We’ve also included a $25 credit to purchase your favorite movies, books and more from Google Play, for a limited time. Nexus 7 is available for preorder today from Google Play in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, and starts at $199 in the U.S. It will start shipping mid-July.
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Google I/O 2012 – Google Play Developers : Live from the Sandbox [GoogleDevelopers YouTube channel, June 27, 2012]
Exclusive: Google’s Andy Rubin and Asus’ Jonney Shih on How They Cooked Up the Nexus 7 [AllThingsD, June 27, 2012]
Building the Nexus 7 tablet was no easy task, says Asus Chairman Jonney Shih.
First off, Google gave the company only four months to build the product. Then there was the task of building a high-end tablet that could sell for just $200. Plus, he said, Google can be kind of demanding.
“Our engineers told me it is like torture,” Shih said
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Rubin admits that he was upset a year ago that Android tablets just weren’t selling. After looking into some of the reasons, Rubin learned that while hardware really matters on phones, consumers are buying into a content ecosystem with tablets. Or, in Google’s case, not buying into an ecosystem.
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On the hardware side, Shih and Rubin feel they have something that can serve as a full-fledged tablet computer while competing on price with the Kindle Fire. Despite its bargain-basement price, Shih notes that the device packs a high-end laminated display, quad-core chip and other high-end features.
One way the companies managed that is through razor-thin margins. Google is selling the device through its Google Play store, essentially at cost, and also absorbing the marketing costs associated with the device.
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Google to unveil Nexus 7 at Google I/O 2012, say sources [DIGITIMES, June 28, 2012]
… Market sources indicate that Google will outsource production of the Nexus 7 to Asustek Computer, and purchase LCD panels for the model from Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT).
The displays will have a resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels with CPT serving as the primary supplier, the sources indicated.
Buoyed by the new orders, CPT has ramped up its tablet panels to 700,000-800,000 units a month and may further push output to one million units in the third quarter, the sources estimated.
CPT is currently also shipping 10,000-20,000 panels a month for notebooks, added the sources.
Amazon to start shipping new Kindle Fire in August, sources claim [DIGITIMES, June 28, 2012]
Amazon’s new 7.85-inch Kindle Fire is reported to have an August release date this year at a price of US$199, according to upstream industry sources.
The new Kindle Fire will be thinner than the current version because it adopts full lamination to get rid of the air gap between the LCD and touch panels, the sources said.
But the sources said that as the full lamination process will add an extra US$10 in production cost, it will be a great challenge for the device maker’s cost control if Amazon keeps the new Kindle Fire’s price at US$199.
Amazon hopes to maintain competitive pricing as it has seen major declines in shipments for the Kindle Fire. Market observers have noted that the company shipped only 750,000 units of the tablet in the first quarter this year, down from 4.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Amazon reportedly may drop 7-inch Kindle Fire price to welcome new models [DIGITIMES, June 15, 2012]
As Amazon is said to be considering launching new e-book readers and 7-inch tablet PC products at the beginning of the third quarter, the company is expected to have a chance to reduce its existing 7-inch Kindle Fire pricing to US$149 to help transition to the upcoming new tablet PC products, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.
To expand its market share, the sources believe that Amazon has a high chance of adopting a similar product strategy to Apple, in addition to a new iPad product, Apple continues to sell its previous model at a cheaper price to expand market share into the lower-end segment.
Therefore, the sources expect Amazon to release a new 7-inch tablet PC with a screen resolution of 1280 by 800 and a price of US$199, in the third quarter, targeting the higher-end segment, while releasing another 7-inch model with similar specifications as the existing Kindle Fire, featuring a screen resolution of 1024 by 600 and a price of US$149. This model will be mainly pushed into the entry-level segment to expand the company’s market share, noted the sources.
Kindle Fire’s consumer-friendly price and functions allowed Amazon to achieve sales of 4.5-5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011; however, because the device is mainly targeted at the US market, sales quickly dropped to only 700,000-800,000 units in the first quarter of 2012.
In addition to 7-inch tablet PCs, Amazon is also said planning 8.9-inch and 10.1-inch models; however, the latest information shows that the company has already halted the development of the 8.9-inch model with the 10.1-inch set to be released in the fourth quarter of 2012 or the first quarter of 2013.
As for e-book readers, Amazon is currently developing a 6-inch backlight-unit-module-integrated model that is set to launch in the third quarter at the earliest, noted the sources, adding that Amazon will also release e-book readers with other sizes in the second half of the year.
E Ink expected to ship 12 million display panels in 2H12 [DIGITIMES, June 26, 2012]
E Ink Holdings, a Taiwan-based maker of e-paper displays, is expected to ship 12 million display panels in the second half of 2012, decreasing by 14.3-20% from 2011, according to industry sources in Taiwan.
The company declined to comment on the news.
The sources indicated E Ink has obtained orders from Amazon for display panels used in 6.0 million Kindle Fire tablet PCs, with shipments to begin in the second half of 2012. In addition, E Ink has landed orders for FFS (fringe field switching) panels for use in 3.0 million Google tablet PCs expected to be unveiled at the 2012 Google I/O during June 27-29.
E Ink will also start shipments of e-paper displays for use in Amazon and Barnes & Noble e-book readers in the third quarter of 2012, the sources noted.
E Ink’s wholly owned subsidiary maker of TFT-LCD panels and e-paper modules Transcend Optronics has set up several affiliated makers in a self-use industrial park of over 50 hectares (123.6 acres) in land area located in Yangzhou, eastern China, the sources indicated.
Fast & Smooth – Android 4.1, Jelly Bean [GoogleMobile YouTube channel, June 27, 2012]
SCREEN
7” 1280×800 HD display (216 ppi)
Back-lit IPS display
Scratch-resistant Corning glass
1.2MP front-facing camera
WEIGHT
340 grams
MEMORY
8 or 16 GB internal storage
1 GB RAM
BATTERY
4325 mAh (Up to 8 hours of active use)
CPU
Quad-core Tegra 3 processor
SIZE
198.5 x 120 x 10.45mm
WIRELESS
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth
USB
Micro USB
OS
Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
FEATURES
Microphone
NFC (Android Beam)
Accelerometer
GPS
Magnetometer
Gyroscope
#2 of Android @ I/O: the playground is open [on Official Google Blog by Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content, June 27, 2012]
…
Jelly Bean: simple, beautiful and beyond smart
Jelly Bean builds on top of Ice Cream Sandwich. It makes everything smoother, faster and more fluid. For example, notifications are now more dynamic: if you’re late for a meeting or missed a call, you can email or call directly from notifications. The keyboard is smarter and more accurate, and can predict your next word. And voice typing is faster, working even when you don’t have a data connection.We’ve redesigned search from the ground up in Jelly Bean, with a new user interface and faster, more natural Voice Search. You can type your query or simply ask Google a question. Google can speak back to you, delivering a precise answer, powered by the Knowledge Graph, if it knows one, in addition to a list of search results.
Today’s smart devices still rely on you to do pretty much everything—that is, until now. Google Now is a new feature that gets you just the right information at just the right time. It tells you today’s weather before you start your day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work, or your favorite team’s score as they’re playing. There’s no digging required: cards appear at the moment you need them most.
Introducing Google Now [GoogleMobile YouTube channel, June 27, 2012]
Google I/O 2012 – What’s New in Android? [GoogleDevelopers YouTube channel, June 27, 2012]
Introducing Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) preview platform, and more [Android Developers blog, June 27, 2012]
At Google I/O today we announced the latest version of the Android platform, Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). With Jelly Bean, we’ve made the great things about Android even better with improved system performance and enhanced user features.
Improvements include a smoother and more responsive UI across the system, a home screen that automatically adapts to fit your content, a powerful predictive keyboard, richer and more interactive notifications, larger payload sizes for Android Beam sharing and much more. For a lowdown on what’s new, head over to the Jelly Bean platform highlights.
Of course, Jelly Bean wouldn’t be complete without a healthy serving of new APIs for app developers. Here are some of the new APIs that Jelly Bean introduces:
Expandable notifications
: Android 4.1 brings a major update to the Android notifications framework. Apps can now display larger, richer notifications to users that can be expanded and collapsed with a pinch. Users can now take actions directly from the notification shade, and notifications support new types of content, including photos.
Android Beam
: In Android 4.1, Android Beam makes it easier to share images, videos, or other payloads by leveraging Bluetooth for the data transfer.
Bi-directional text support
: Android 4.1 helps you to reach more users through support for for bi-directional text in TextView and EditText elements.
Gesture mode
: New APIs for accessibility services let you handle gestures and manage accessibility focus. Now you can traverse any element on the screen using gestures, accessories, you name it.
Media codec access
: Provides low-level access to platform hardware and software codecs.
Wi-Fi Direct service discoverability
: New API provides pre-associated service discovery letting apps get more information from nearby devices about the services they support, before they attempt to connect.
Network bandwidth management
: New API provides ability to detect metered networks, including tethering to a mobile hotspot.
For a complete overview of new APIs in Jelly Bean, please read the API highlights document. Note that this is a preview of the Jelly Bean platform. While we’re still finalizing the API implementations we wanted to give developers a look at the new API to begin planning app updates. We’ll be releasing a final platform in a few weeks that you should use to build and publish applications for Android 4.1.
For Android devices with the Google Play, we launched the following at Google I/O today:
Smart app updates
: For Android 2.3, Gingerbread devices and up,
when there is a new version of an app in Google Play, only the parts of the app that changed are downloaded to users’ devices
. On average, a smart app update is a third the size of a full apk update. This means your users save bandwidth and battery and the best part? You don’t have to do a thing. This is automatically enabled for all apps downloaded from Google Play.
App encryption
: From Jelly Bean and forward,
paid apps in Google Play are encrypted with a device-specific key
before they are delivered and stored on the device. We know you work hard building your apps. We work hard to protect your investment.
Google Cloud Messaging for Android
: This is the next version of C2DM and goes back to Froyo. Getting started is easy and has a whole bunch of new APIs than C2DM has to offer. If you sign-up for GCM, you will be able to see C2DM and GCM stats in the Android developer console. Most importantly, the service is free and there are no quotas. [
Learn more.]Starting from today, over 20 Android sessions at Google I/O will deep-dive in many of these areas. Join us in-person or follow us live.
#3 of Android @ I/O: the playground is open [on Official Google Blog by Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content, June 27, 2012]
…
Nexus Q: It’s a sphere!
It’s great to be able to take your entertainment with you wherever you go, but sometimes you want to ditch the headphones and enjoy music with friends and family. So we’re introducing Nexus Q, which combines the power of Android and Google Play to easily stream music and video in your home—all controlled by an Android phone or tablet. Designed and engineered by Google [the first such device as mentioned in the Google I/O 2012 – Google Play Developers : Live from the Sandbox video embedded above], Nexus Q is a small sphere that plugs into the best speakers and TV in your house. It’s the first-ever social streaming device—like a cloud-connected jukebox where everyone brings their own music to the party. Available first in the U.S., you can preorder Nexus Q today from Google Play for $299, and it will ship mid-July.
Introducing Nexus Q [Google Nexus channel on YouTube, June 27, 2012]
SIZE
Diameter: 4.6 inches (116mm)
WEIGHT
2 pounds (923 grams)
FINISH
Die-cast, precision machined zinc bottom housing
Injection-molded, interactive balanced top dome with precision bearing and satin touch coating
HARDWARE CONTROLS
Rotating top dome volume control
Capacitive touch sensor for mute
LIGHTING
32 RGB perimeter LEDs
1 RGB LED for mute indicator
CPU SoC
OMAP4460 (dual ARM Cortex-A9 CPUs and SGX540 GPU)
MEMORY
1GB LPDDR RAM
16GB NAND flash memory
OS
Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
SUPPORTING APPLICATIONS
Google Play Music
Google Play Movies and TV
YouTube
CONNECTORS AND PORTS
Micro HDMI (Type D)
TOSLink Optical audio (S/PDIF)
10/100BASE-T Ethernet (RJ45)
Micro AB USB (for service and support)
Banana jack speaker outputs
WIRELESS
Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n
Bluetooth
NFC
AMPLIFIER
25W class D (12.5 watt per channel)
POWER
Integrated 35W switching power supply
World-ready 50/60Hz 85-265V AC input
Automatic shutdown for audio amp supply when not in use
How Nexus Q Works [Google Nexus channel on YouTube, June 27, 2012]
Google Tries Something Retro: Made in the U.S.A. – Page 2[The New York Times, June 27, 2012]
The Nexus Q, which links a TV or home sound system to the Internet cloud to play video and audio content, contains almost all American-made parts. The engineers who led the effort to build the device, which is based on the same microprocessor used in Android smartphones [see: TI’s OMAP4460 in Samsung GALAXY Nexus with Android 4.0 [this Experiencing the Cloud blog, Oct 21, 2011 – Feb 7, 2012]] and contains seven printed circuit boards, found the maker of the zinc metal base in the Midwest and a supplier for the molded plastic components in Southern California.
Semiconductor chips are more of a challenge. In some cases, the chips are made in the United States and shipped to Asia to be packaged with other electronic components.
Google did not take the easy route and encase the Q in a black box. The dome of the Magic-8-ball-shaped case is the volume control — the user twists it — a feature that required painstaking engineering and a prolonged hunt for just the right bearing, said Matt Hershenson, an engineer who helped design the Q.
At $299, the device costs significantly more than competing systems from companies like Apple and Roku. Google says this is in part because of the higher costs of manufacturing in the United States, but the company expects to bring the price down as it increases volume. The company is hoping that consumers will be willing to pay more, though it is unlikely that the “Made in America” lineage will be part of any marketing campaign.
Google uses a contract manufacturer to make the Q. Last week it was being assembled in a large factory 15 minutes from Google headquarters. The company declined to say how many people were employed at the plant, which can run as many as three shifts each day. However, during a brief tour, made with the understanding that the exact location would not be disclosed, it was clear that hundreds of workers were involved in making the Q.
It is the kind of building that was once common across Silicon Valley during the 1980s and even the 1990s. More recently, former semiconductor fabrication and assembly factories have given way to large office campuses that house the programmers who design software and support Web sites.
Chrome & Apps @ Google I/O: Your web, everywhere [on Official Google Blog by Sundar Pichai, SVP, Chrome & Apps, June 28, 2012]
This morning we kicked off day 2 at I/O to talk about the open web—one of the most amazing platforms we have seen. To put things in perspective, today there are more than 2.3 billion users on the web—a staggering number, but it only represents one-third of the world’s population. There’s still a lot of opportunity for growth.
Chrome, which we built from the ground up as a browser for the modern web, has seen tremendous adoption. Thanks to many of you, Chrome has nearly doubled since last year’s I/O—from 160 million to 310 million active users around the world. As more and more of you live your lives online, we want to to help make it easy for you to live in the cloud…seamlessly.
A better web to your web
One of the most exciting shifts is the explosion of the mobile web. When Chrome first launched, many people were tethered to a single computer. Today most people use multiple computers, smartphones and tablets. With that trend in mind, our goal is to offer you a consistent, personalized web experience across all devices. In February, we released Chrome for Android, which exited beta this week and is the standard browser on Nexus 7, a powerful new tablet.Starting today, Chrome is also available for your iPhone and iPad. That means you can enjoy the same speedy and simple Chrome experience across your devices. Also, by signing in to Chrome, you can easily move from your desktop, laptop, smartphone and tablet and have all of your stuff with you.
Sign-in and seamlessly experience your personalized web across desktops, phones, and tablets with Chrome for Mobile.Living in the cloud
A modern browser is just one ingredient of living online seamlessly. We continue to invest in building cloud apps, which many people rely on daily. Gmail, which launched in 2004, has evolved from a simple email service to the primary mode of communication for more than 425 million active users globally. We’ve also built a suite of apps to help users live in the cloud, including Google Documents, Spreadsheets, Calendar and more.At the hub of this cloud experience is Google Drive—a place where you can create, share, collaborate and keep all your stuff. Ten weeks ago we launched Drive and in 10 weeks, more than 10 million users have signed up. Today we introduced more capabilities, including offline editing for Google documents and a Drive app for your iPhone and iPad. Drive is also seamlessly integrated into Chrome OS. With Drive available across Mac, Windows, Chrome OS, Android and iOS, it’s even easier to get things done in the cloud from anywhere.
Going Google
With the help of Chrome and and the growth of Google apps, people are discovering new ways to get things done faster, connect with others, and access their information no matter what device they’re using. This is what we call “going Google.” And it’s not just individual people. Schools, government institutions and businesses—big and small—are also “going Google.” Sixty-six of the top 100 universities in the U.S., government institutions in 45 out of 50 U.S. states, and a total of 5 million business are using Google Apps to live and work in the cloud.It’s an exciting time to be living online. To celebrate this ongoing journey, here’s a quick look back at the evolution of Chrome:
Chrome launched in September 2008, and its journey has been filled with inspiring & beautiful achievements of developers using the modern web. We’re just getting started though, and we can’t wait to see where you take things next!
[signing in to Chrome]
Get your personal Chrome experience on all your devices [on Google Chrome blog by Tim Steele, Software Engineer, Dec 13, 2011]
If you’ve used Chrome for awhile, you know that it fits you better and better over time—it just wouldn’t be yourChrome without your favorite bookmarks, apps, extensions, history, and other settings.
Signing in to Chrome lets you take your Chrome stuff with you, so you can always have your personal Chrome experience on all of your devices.
Signing in to Chrome brings your bookmarks, history, and settings to all of your devices. Just go to the Wrench menu and select “Sign in to Chrome.” Learn more at http://www.google.com/chrome/signinginWhen you’re signed in to Chrome, changing something on one device instantly changes it on all your other devices. For example, add a bookmark on your laptop, and it automatically appears on your desktop, so you can always pick up right where you left off.
Signing in to Chrome is also helpful if you only have one computer, because it securely backs up your Chrome stuff online. That way, your Chrome stuff is safe, even if a truck runs over your laptop.
To sign in to Chrome, just go to the Wrench menu and select “Sign in to Chrome.”
But what if you share a computer with other people? You don’t want your bookmarks, apps, and extensions getting mixed up with everyone else’s, and you don’t want your Chrome stuff syncing to all their devices.With today’s Stable channel release, you can now add new users to Chrome. Adding new users lets you each have your own personal Chrome experience, and lets you each sign in to Chrome to sync your stuff. To add a new user to Chrome, go to Options (Preferences on a Mac), click “Personal Stuff,” and click “Add new user.” Check out our latest Beta blog post for a few quick tips.
Keep in mind that adding new users to Chrome isn’t intended to secure your data against other people using your computer, since it just takes a few clicks to switch between users. We’re providing this functionality as a quick and simple user interface convenience for people who are already sharing Chrome on the same computer today. To truly protect your data from being seen by others, please use the built-in user accounts on your operating system of choice.
That wraps up our last Stable channel release for the year. If you haven’t taken Chrome for a spin yet, try it out and see what you think!
Update: You can learn more about signing in to Chrome at google.com/chrome/signingin.
[Google Drive]
Introducing Google Drive… yes, really [on Official Google Blog by Sundar Pichai, SVP, Chrome & Apps, April 24, 2012]
Just like the Loch Ness Monster, you may have heard the rumors about Google Drive. It turns out, one of the two actually does exist.
Today, we’re introducing Google Drive—a place where you can create, share, collaborate, and keep all of your stuff. Whether you’re working with a friend on a joint research project, planning a wedding with your fiancé or tracking a budget with roommates, you can do it in Drive. You can upload and access all of your files, including videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs and beyond.
With Google Drive, you can:
- Create and collaborate. Google Docs is built right into Google Drive, so you can work with others in real time on documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Once you choose to share content with others, you can add and reply to comments on anything(PDF, image, video file, etc.) and receive notifications when other people comment on shared items.
- Store everything safely and access it anywhere (especially while on the go). All your stuff is just… there. You can access your stuff from anywhere—on the web, in your home, at the office, while running errands and from all of your devices. You can install Drive on your Mac or PC and can download the Drive appto your Android phone or tablet. We’re also working hard on a Drive app for your iOS devices. And regardless of platform, blind users can access Drive with a screen reader.
- Search everything. Search by keyword and filter by file type, owner and more. Drive can even recognize text in scanned documents using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. Let’s say you upload a scanned image of an old newspaper clipping. You can search for a word from the text of the actual article. We also use image recognition so that if you drag and drop photos from your Grand Canyon trip into Drive, you can later search for [grand canyon] and photos of its gorges should pop up. This technology is still in its early stages, and we expect it to get better over time.
You can get started with 5GB of storage for free—that’s enough to store the high-res photos of your trip to the Mt. Everest, scanned copies of your grandparents’ love letters or a career’s worth of business proposals, and still have space for the novel you’re working on. You can choose to upgrade to 25GB for $2.49/month, 100GB for $4.99/month or even 1TB for $49.99/month. When you upgrade to a paid account, your Gmail account storage will also expand to 25GB.
Introducing the all-new Google Drive. Now access your files, even the big ones, from wherever you are. Share them with whomever you want, and edit them together in real time. Learn more at http://drive.google.com/startDrive is built to work seamlessly with your overall Google experience. You can attach photos from Drive to posts in Google+, and soon you’ll be able to attach stuff from Drive directly to emails in Gmail. Drive is also an open platform, so we’re working with many third-party developers so you can do things like send faxes, edit videos and create website mockups directly from Drive. To install these apps, visit the Chrome Web Store—and look out for even more useful apps in the future.
This is just the beginning for Google Drive; there’s a lot more to come.
Get started with Drive today at drive.google.com/start—and keep looking for Nessie…
[Today we introduced more capabilities]
Announcing your two most requested features: offline document editing and Drive for iOS [on Google Docs blog by Clay Bavor, Product Management Director, June 28, 2012]
In April, we introduced Google Drive, a place where you can create, share, and keep all your stuff. Today at the Google I/O conference we announced two new ways to get things done in the cloud: offline editing for Google documents and a Drive app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
Offline document editing
No internet connection? No big deal. With offline editing, you can create and edit Google documents and leave comments. Any changes you make will be automatically synced when you get back online.You can enable offline editing from the gear icon in Google Drive and find more detailed instructions for getting set up in the Help Center. Note that you’ll need the latest versions ofChrome or ChromeOS to edit offline. We’re also working hard to make offline editing for spreadsheets and presentations available in the future.
Google Drive for iOS
We launched the Drive app for Android phones and tablets a few weeks ago, and starting today, Google Drive is available for your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
With the Drive app, you can open PDFs, photos, videos, documents and anything else stored in your Drive while you’re on the go. You can also search all your files, add collaborators to documents, and make files available offline to view them even without an internet connection. For blind and low-vision users, the app also works great in VoiceOver mode. Learn more about what you can do with the app in our Help Center.
Get Drive in the App Store for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 5.0+ and visit the Play Store to get the latest on your Android phone or tablet.
To learn more about Google Drive, visit drive.google.com/start.
[Chrome OS]
Next step in the Chrome OS journey [on Official Google Blog by Linus Upson, Vice President, Engineering and Caesar Sengupta, Director of Product Management, May 29, 2012]
All of you haiku fans (like many of us on the Chrome team) can stop here; the rest can read on for more details.
A year ago we introduced a new model of computing with the launch of Chromebooks. We’ve heard from many of you who’ve enjoyed the speed, simplicity and security of your Chromebooks at home, at school or at work. (Thanks for all the wonderful feedback and stories!) Today, we wanted to share some developments with you—new hardware, a major software update and many more robust apps—as we continue on our journey to make computers much better.
Next-generation devices
Our partner Samsung has just announced a new Chromebook and the industry’s first Chromebox. Like its predecessor, the newest Chromebook is a fast and portable laptop for everyday users. The Chromebox is a compact, powerful and versatile desktop perfect for the home or office.
Speed
Speed is integral to the Chrome experience. The new Chromebook and Chromebox, based on Intel Core processors, are nearly three times as fast as the first-generation Chromebooks. And support for hardware-accelerated graphics, a built-from-scratch multi-touch trackpad and an open-source firmware stack provide a much faster and more responsive computing experience. The new Chromebook boots in less than seven seconds and resumes instantly. With the Chromebox, you can be on a video conference while continuing to play your favorite role-playing game on the side.An app-centric user interface
With the new user interface you can easily find and launch apps, and use them alongside your browser or other apps. You can pin commonly-used apps for quick access, display multiple windows side-by-side or experience your favorite apps in full-screen mode without any distractions.
Be much more productive…or not
- Get more stuff done, online or offline: With the built-in ability to view Microsoft Office files and dozens of the most common file formats, you can access all your content without the hassle of installing additional software. Google Drive makes it easy to create, store and share with just one click. Drive will be seamlessly integrated with the File Manager and support offline access with the next release of Chrome OS in six weeks. With Google Docs offline support (rolling out over the next few weeks), you can keep working on your documents even when offline and seamlessly sync back up when you re-connect. In addition, there are hundreds of offline-capable web apps in the Chrome Web Store.
- Have more fun: The revamped media player and a built-in photo editor and uploader enable you to easily play and manage your personal media collections. Through the Chrome Web Store, you can access entertainment apps such as Google Play, Netflix, Kindle Cloud Reader and Pandora, and thousands of games including popular games like Angry Birds and console titles such as Bastion.
- Carry your other computers…inside your Chromebook: With Chrome Remote Desktop Beta, you can now securely connect to your PC or Mac from your Chromebook or Chromebox. With the underlying VP8 technology, it’s almost like you’re in front of your other computers in real time.
The (always) new computer
We’ve released eight stable updates over the past year, adding a number of major features and hundreds of improvements to all Chromebooks through our seamless auto-update mechanism. There’s a lot more on the way, so all you need to do is sit back and enjoy the benefits of the (always) new computer.For those who want to try the Chromebook and Chromebox first-hand, we’re expanding the Chrome Zone experience centers. In the U.S., Chromebooks will be available to try out in select Best Buy stores in the coming weeks. In the U.K., they’re now available in a growing list of PC World and Currys stores.
Starting today, you can get the new Chromebook and Chromebox from our online retail partners in the U.S. and U.K., and in other select countries over the coming weeks.
The Chromebook is a new, faster computer that starts in seconds, offers thousands of apps, and keeps getting better and better with free, automatic updates. Learn more at http://www.google.com/chromebook.
[the next release of Chrome OS in six weeks]
Yet another Chrome release [on Google Chrome Blog by Dharani Govindan, Technical Program Manager, June 28, 2012]
We know you’re probably tired of hearing about new Chrome releases every six weeks. Well, the good news is you don’t have to worry about updating—we’ll take care of that with automatic updates. Please enjoy the hundreds of bug fixes we’ve batched up in this release. OK, OK, that’s all. Carry on.
Boosting the MediaTek MT6575 success story with the MT6577 announcement — UPDATED with MT6588/83 coming in Q4 2012 and 8-core MT6599 in 2013
Follow-up: MediaTek MT6589 quad-core Cortex-A7 SoC with HSPA+ and TD-SCDMA is available for Android smartphones and tablets of Q1 delivery [Dec 12, 2012]
The MT6588 was recently renamed MT6589.
Update: Sold 70 million in the first three quarters, MediaTek smart chip dominates China [The Liberty Times, Taiwan, Oct 2, 2012] translated by Google/Bing with additional manual edits of my own 6588
Qualcomm (Qualcomm) last week launched a lower-priced smart phone chip against rival MediaTek (2,454), but according to the the recent shipment situation MediaTek shipped in China more than 70 million smartphone chips in the first three quarters, 10 million more than Qualcomm there, and become a smart-phone chip superpower in China. Merrill Lynch is bullish on MediaTek outlook because for Qualcomm’s “MSM8225Q” to shake up MediaTek’s leadership still will not be easy.
…
Barclays Capital analyst Lu Hang increased MediaTek smartphone chip shipments in the next two years to 180 million and 290 million, respectively.
…
Chinese mobile phone distributors circle recently the hottest topic number the high pass last week, low-cost quad-core mobile phone chip “MSM8225Q/MSM8625Q “, estimated price falls to $ 25, the market worry renewed price war, the impact MediaTek Maori. However, the latest released Merrill Lynch research report pointed out that the dual-core MediaTek chips and the two Qualcomm quad-core chips compared to each other competitively, plus “8225Q” mass production may be in March next year, by about one quarter behind the MediaTek quad-core chip “MT6589″ (formerly known as MT 6588), the cost of which is expected to be cheaper than the dual-core version, meaning MediaTek is still dominant.
…
Update: Taiwan chip designer MediaTek downgraded amid competitive pressure [WantChinaTimes.com, Oct 2, 2012]
… In a report dated Sept. 27, [independent financial services group] CLSA [Asia-Pacific Markets] said the market was optimistic about MediaTek’s gross margin in the second half of 2012 and in 2013 after the company forecasted a gross margin expansion for the third quarter of this year, ending 11 consecutive quarters of contraction.
However, MediaTek’s management told the press on Sept. 25 that the company’s quarterly gross margin growth is likely to remain flat in the fourth quarter of this year and will not expand until the second half of 2013, the report said. …
… One of the reasons investors were optimistic about MediaTek’s 2013 margin was that they thought its new quad-core MT6588 chip had no competition, as Qualcomm made only very high-end quad-core ICs, [CK] Cheng [a Taipei-based analyst at CLSA] said.
But the launch of the MSM8225Q will change that perception, Cheng said, noting that Qualcomm is aiming to release the chip for customer sampling by the end of 2012 and ship in volume in the first quarter of 2013.
Although the Qualcomm chip is scheduled to be launched a month or two later than MediaTek’s, Qualcomm’s price is likely to be 5% cheaper because of lower specifications, he said.
While MediaTek is believed to have superior products and better low-end smartphone ICs than Qualcomm, price does matter to Chinese handset makers, Cheng added.
“This is the main reason why MediaTek has been struggling to lift its average selling price and improve its margin since the third quarter of 2011, although it continues to offer faster processors and multi-core solutions,” he said.
“We don’t think MediaTek’s quad-core solution can reverse this trend,” Cheng said.
As for Chinese competitors, the increased production of RDA Microelectronics’s connectivity combo chip and Spreadtrum Communications’ 2G smartphone ICs will also weigh further on MediaTek’s margins and average selling price, Cheng said.
CLSA raised its forecast for MediaTek’s earnings per share by 3% for 2012 and by 8% for 2013, factoring in the company’s acquisition of its smaller rival MStar Semiconductor, but the brokerage maintained its target price of NT$250 (US$8.53) on the stock.
As of 10:26am Monday, MediaTek shares had dropped 4.62% to NT$310 (US$10.59) in Taipei.
Regarding actual Cortex-A5 and Krait-related information see on this blog the actual:
Core post: Qualcomm decided to compete with the existing Cortex-A5/Krait-based offerings till the end of 2012 [Sept 30, 2012]
Update: Mediatek [联发科] target price by Barclays is [NT$] 395 [Taiwan’s Commercial Times News, Sept 26, 2012] as translated by Google/Bing with additional manual edits of my own
Lu Hang [陆行] [principal analyst of semiconductors for Asia-Pacific at] Barclays Capital Securities [巴克莱资本证券 Taiwan Limited, 11F, 106 Xin-Yi Road, Sec. 5, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. << from] yesterday (25) revealed, that MediaTek 28 nanometer quad-core A7 smartphone chip MTK6588 launch time is expected to advance to the fourth quarter of this year from the first quarter of next year! Because the price is very competitive, only 18 to 20 dollars, not only quadcore smartphone prices in mainland China will immediately fell to less than 150 dollars following that, the company will also have the opportunity to break into [the market of ] first-tier [i.e. global brand] manufacturers such as Samsung.
…
Lu Hang said that Mediatek’s biggest “backer” [in terms of stock market performance] is expected to be the launch of MT6588 (quad-core A7 [with] TD-SCDMA/WCDMA) and MT6599 (8 core of the ARM [with] LTE/TD-SCDMA/WCDMA) smartphone chips in 4th quarter [of this year] and in the next year, respectively.
Lu Hang believes that there are 5 items which will affect the profits of the overall market with MediaTek MT6588:
– First, the quad-core smartphone prices in mainland China can immediately be reduced from the current US$ 320 to US$ 150.
– Second, we will see in the near future more dual-core 1.7Ghz Krait-based MSM8960A [on one hand], and MSM8974 [on the other], which is same but with quad-core, rather than next to the launch of 8225Q.
– Third, in the fourth quarter of next year the estimated proportion of MT6583/MT6588 [shipments] within the total smartphone chip shipments will reach 50%, even the year after the fourth quarter launched MT6599 will also have 50% level, thus raised its shipment forecast value.
– Fourth, MT6588 will help to maintain the overall ASP at a level of more than $ 10, and customers can be [serviced via a] unified system design.
– Fifth, with the help of 13 million pixels CMOS the sensing power amplifier manufacturers will focus on mainland China and other emerging markets.
Important remark from Barclays Hires New Taiwan Investment Banking Head [The Wall Street Journal, Aug 19, 2012]:
Barclays … is … an advisor to chip design firm MediaTek Inc. on its proposed acquisition of a minority stake in MStar Semiconductor Inc. worth around $3.8 billion, announced in June, according to Dealogic.
Update: MediaTek will produce small amounts of MTK6588 in October [MTK mobile phone network, Sept 10, 2012] as translated by Google/Bing
Recently MediaTek message there are two who are more concerned about one thing, according to Taiwan media reports, the fastest possible production of MediaTek quad-core mobile processor chip MTK6588 will start in October this year a small amount, quantity should not be a lot, may be available only to large client proofing purposes. Rumored MediaTek MTK6588 manufacturing cost is even less than dual-core MTK6577. Quad-core MTK6588 is using 28 nm technology process to support tens of millions of pixels of camera, support for TD/WCDMA dual-mode network, support 1080P playback and recording, and is equipped with a PowerVR SGX 544 graphics processor.
According to show learned about MTK6588 before, Quad MT6588 or will before the end of trial production, mass production quantities listed in the first quarter of next year.
Update: Lenovo Selects MediaTek to Power New LePad Android Tablet [MediaTek press release, Sept 13, 2012], note: “The MT6577 is pin-to-pin compatible with the previously released MT6575” source: the MT6577 launch release
MediaTek Inc., a leading fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions, today announced that Lenovo has selected its highly integrated Android mobile platform for the new LePad A2107, dual-SIM 3G/HSPA tablet, which is shipping to customers globally.
The LePad A2107 provides high-speed cellular data and wireless connectivity and is designed for tablet users who want to be “connected always”. The A2107 uses MediaTek’s proven Android mobile platform consisting of the MT6575 and the MT6620 SoCs. The MediaTek MT6575 incorporates a 1GHz ARM® CortexTM A9 processor, a PowerVR™ Series5 SGX GPU (graphics processing unit) from Imagination Technologies, a 3G/HSPA modem and built‐in support for 3D displays and DTV‐grade multimedia capabilities by leveraging the company’s world‐leading DTV platform technologies. The MT6620 4-in-1 connectivity combo integrates an 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0+HS, GPS, and FM transmitter/receiver into a single chip with the world’s smallest footprint and leading low-power consumption. The MediaTek mobile platform is ideally suited to enable mobile device manufacturers like Lenovo, helping them to address the mid and entry‐level tablet market that demands global connectivity for today and tomorrow.
“Consumers are increasingly using tablets as a companion device to the PC and mobile phone to access media and information. We forecast that the tablet market will increase from 119 million in 2012 to 494 million by 2016(*),” said Mr. Mark Hung, Research Director at Gartner. “A company that has capabilities and technologies across different multi-screen platforms, from smartphones to DTV, should be well positioned to benefit from participating in the growing tablet market.”
*Source: Forecast: Media Tablets by Operating System, Worldwide, 2010-2016, 2Q12 Update, 4 July 2012, by Gartner
Update: the best smartphone based on the MediaTek MT6577 both technically and in terms of price is the MT6577-based JiaYu G3 with IPS Gorilla glass 2 sreen of 4.5” etc. for $154 (factory direct) in China and $183 [Sept 13, 2012], which is also the best example of The low priced, Android based smartphones of China will change the global market [this same ‘Experiencing the Cloud blog, Sept 10, 2012]
Update: MediaTek MT6577 Performance Review [mediateklab YouTube channel, Sept 3, 2012]
Update: New MediaTek chip efficiency: catching up with iPhone4s [MTK mobile phone network, Sept 6, 2012]
2012 International Semiconductor exhibition yesterday (5) days in Taipei debut, over the years, the first IC design Forum yesterday morning talk show, presenter mediatek Vice President Lu Guohong home 3G smart mobile phone chip specification level, noted that MediaTek MT6577 of the latest dual-core Smartphone chip efficiency, comparable with iPhone4s. By the show’s brief is not difficult to see, MediaTek, engaged global Smartphone chip leader Qualcomm momentum is high.
IPhone4s core processor for Apple A5, the design was based on Cortex-A9 dual core 1GHZ frequency of ARM architecture processors, Lu Guohong comparison list noted that mediatek MT6577 newest 3G Smartphone dual-core chips are used by An Mou with iPhone4s A9 dual core architecture, AP mobile core chips, baseband chip, RF chips and GPU architecture level par with iPhone4s.
Update: MediaTek Launches “Cool 3D”: A Comprehensive Suite of 3D Solutions for Smartphone Platforms [MediaTek press release, Sept 11, 2012]
MediaTek Inc., a leading fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions announced today the availability of “Cool 3D”, the world’s most complete 3D suite of solutions, for its smartphone platforms. Consumers continue to look for new features in smartphones, such as 3D capabilities, and a report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc, predicts that the global market for 3D enabled smartphones is projected to register 994 million units in annual shipments by the year 2018. Demand for this innovation will be driven by the increased availability of 3D content, such as games, videos and full length movies.
The “Cool 3D” suite for MediaTek smartphone platforms includes support for stereo 3D cameras and displays, real-time 2D-to-3D conversion and an optimal 3D user interface that is designed to provide consumers with a stunning 3D experience. Two distinguishing features are “3D Cool Shot” and “3D Cool Show”. MediaTek’s “3D Cool Shot” solution supports a cost-effective 5 MP, dual-lens camera, which achieves 1080P, 24 FPS 3D images, giving users a high-definition visual experience. The MediaTek smartphone platforms are the first of their kind in the industry to integrate the functionality of the dual-lens bridge devices into the main smartphone platform, reducing system cost and saving precious board area. The “3D Cool Show” technology substantially improves the stereo 3D effect with anti-fatigue capabilities, and real-time transformation between 2D/3D modes, allowing for convenient switching between the 2D and 3D displays. These solutions, which leverage MediaTek’s established 3D technologies from the DTV and Digital Home markets, are aimed at creating an optimal stereo 3D display with a custom-tailored 3D interface.
“One consequence of the rapid developments in the smartphone market is product homogenization or the ‘all smartphones look alike’ phenomena. Creating product differentiation has become one of the biggest challenges for the mobile phone industry “said Ching-Jiang Hsieh, President of MediaTek. “From Dual-SIM to 3D capabilities, MediaTek has always pushed technological innovation in our platforms, enabling rich and compelling devices and solutions. By working together with our customers, we hope our industry-leading, ”Cool 3D” suite of solutions can lead the wave of 3D smartphone popularity, allowing even more consumers to enjoy an extraordinary 3D experience.”
The “Cool 3D” suite of capabilities is already enabled on MediaTek’s shipping MT6575 single-core and MT6577 dual-core platforms. All future launches of MediaTek smartphone solutions will support these 3D capabilities.
Updates: Shares of MediaTek jump on positive shipment target revision [Focus Taiwan, Aug 1, 2012]
… As of 11:15 a.m., shares of MediaTek had added 6.67 percent to NT$272.00 (US$9.07), off an early high of NT$272.50, with 23.82 million shares changing hands. … MediaTek announced Tuesday at an investor conference that it had raised its target for smartphone chip shipments to 95 million units, from a previous estimate of 75 million units, mainly because of strong demand from China.
In the second quarter, the IC designer shipped 21 million smartphone chips, higher than the 18 million to 20 million previously forecast. The company said it would ship at least 30 million smartphone chips in the third quarter.
… MediaTek said it expects its gross margin will improve to 41-43 percent for the third quarter from 40.8 percent in the second quarter. …
MediaTek hikes 2012 target smartphone chip shipments [DIGITIMES, Aug 1, 2012]
… The company expects its MT6575 and MT6577 chips to account for 60% of total smartphone chips sales in the third quarter and 80% in the fourth. …
MediaTek eyes Q3 double-digit revenue growth [Taipei Times, Aug 1, 2012]
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s largest handset chip designer, said yesterday revenue in the third quarter of this year is projected to grow between 13 percent and 18 percent from the second quarter, following the launch of new products and strong demand for smartphone chips.
That would mean a quarterly revenue of between NT$26.50 billion (US$883.33 million) and NT$27.70 billion, compared with NT$23.44 billion in the second quarter.
…
MediaTek said second-quarter revenue rose 19.5 percent sequentially and 11.7 percent from the same period last year, primarily driven by the fast-growing smartphone demand in China.
However, gross margin for the quarter was 40.8 percent, down 1.3 percent and 5.1 percentage points from the previous quarter and the same period of last year respectively. The company attributed that fall to fierce price competition in the market.
…
Total smartphone chip shipments are likely to reach 95 million units this year, of which between 50 percent and 60 percent will be 3G chips and the remainder 2G chips …
MediaTek a product roadmap leaked: Quad-core code-named MT6588 [MTK Smartphones Network (MTK手机网), July 27, 2012]
From a recently obtained electronic forum information abroad we see that the MT6585 code communicated earlier for the quad-core MediaTek smartphone chipset is wrong. The true model code is MT6588. It is built on the 28nm process in order achieve higher performance level than the dual-core MT6577 technology.
MT6588 has a 4-core CPU [Cortex-A7 (!), see on the second slide below] clocked at 1GHz [1.XGHz rather, see the included slides below], supports dual-channel at maximum 1066Mbps, has an integrated multimode modem for WCDMA [+ it is delivering HSPA+ WCDMA performance (!) vs just HSPA with MT6577/75, see the first slide below] and TD (!), that is it can support both Unicom [latest upgrade to HSPA+ service, see the news in the original post materials much below] and China Mobile 3G network, supports an up to 13 MP camera and 1080P video playback. It finally has a GPU upgrade with SGX544, doubles the resolution to 1280×800 HD level, and has 32KB L1 cache and 1MB L2 secondary cache.
Along the MT6588 there is a 28nm dual-core version, MT6583 on the MediaTek 2012 product roadmap. From the chipset parameters it is evident that MT6583 is a scaled down version of MT6588. It has 2 cores less, the camera support is 8MP, the video decoder is of 720P level, and the resolution is down to 854×480.
It is understood that MT6588 and MT6583 will be in production in the first quarter of 2013, early next year the fastest.
Note: No search reveals the source for the above information.
MediaTek to launch quad-core smartphone solutions in 1Q13, says paper [DIGITIMES, Aug 6, 2012]
MediaTek is expected to launch its first quad-core smartphone solution, the MT6588, in the first quarter of 2013, according to a Chinese-language Liberty Times report. The MT6588 features a quad-core 1.5GHz or 1.7GHzCortex-A7 CPU, supporting WCDMA and TD-SCDMA technologies.
The MT6588, which features a 13-megapixel camera, also supports 1080p video playback and a display resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels. The chip will be built using a 28nm process, the paper said.
Additionally, MediaTek will also roll out a 28nm dual-core solution, the MT6583, during the same quarter. While the dual-core CPU of the MT6853 will also run at 1.5GHz or 1.7GHz, the chip will support a resolution of 854 by 480 pixels targeting a segment different from that of the MT6588, the paper indicated.
End of updates
The original content:
- About the just four months old MT6575-based market
- MediaTek provided general MT6575 information
- Some history leading to MT6575
- Turmoil on the H1CY12 market in China:
International and local brands, as well as white-box vendors are repositioning for the most lucrative CNY500 (US$79) to CNY1,000 (US$157) smartphone market of H2CY12 and on
Note: the PowerVR SGX Series 5 GPU used for MT6577 is said to be by 3d parties SGX531, See: SoC list on Imagineers blog, or Lenovo (indirect).
Greater China mobile solutions – From silicon to software [DIGITIMES Research, June 8, 2012]
Abstract
The China mobile market has developed rapidly, with smartphone shipments reaching 69 million units in 2011 and tablet shipments soaring from around one million in 2010 to some 10 million in 2011, and potentially exceeding 20 million units in 2012. As consumer spending power increases, local vendors are focusing on more market tiers and makers have begun to make a play for the high-end market.
Updates: China market: Nearly 195 million handsets shipped in 1H12 [DIGITIMES, July 10, 2012]
There were 194.913 million handsets shipped in the China market during the first half of 2012, consisting of 106.874 million (54.83%) 3G handsets in 801 models and 88.039 million (45.17%) 2G handsets in 1,298 models, according to statistics published by the China Academy of Telecommunication Research (CATR) under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
Of the shipment volume, 94.855 million or 48.67% were smartphones in 822 models of which 801 models or 97.44% were based on Android. China-based vendors accounted for 75.16% of the half-year shipment volume, and international vendors 24.84%.
The monthly shipment volume of smartphones exceeded that of feature phones for the first time in April 2012, with the corresponding proportion increasing to 56.9% in June.
China market: Breakdown of total handset shipment volume, 1H12 Generation Technology standard
Number of models
Shipment volume (m handsets)
3G WCDMA (China Unicom)
476
53.099
CDMA2000 (China Telecom)
174
28.197
TD-SCDMA (China Mobile)
151
25.578
2G GSM
1,272
81.915
CDMA1x
26
6.076
Source: CATR under MIIT, compiled by Digitimes, July 2012
– China smartphone market 2012: Trends and analysis [DIGITIMES Research, July 3, 2012]
Abstract
The China handset market has exhibited strong growth, with the total number of mobile users in the country reaching 980 million people according to figures from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), an increase of 130 million over the 2010 figure. Digitimes Research estimates that mobile user numbers could top 1.13 billion in 2012.
Digitimes Research estimates that the China handset market reached some 390 million units in 2011, representing 16% growth on 2010; the market is likely to grow to 430 million units in 2012, representing further growth of 9%. Thanks to the expansion of 3G service coverage and further falls in budget smartphone prices, the share of the handset market accounted for by smartphones is likely to reach 32% or around 143 million units, 70% of which will be Android handsets.
Digitimes Research believes that market share rankings for the China smartphone market will change significantly during 2012. Samsung and Apple will take the top two places, while the big four China-based brands – Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo and Coolpad – will take third to sixth places, while Nokia will drop to seventh; these seven firms will collectively account for 85% of shipments.
In other words, the many other brands hoping to seize a share of the market will essentially be confined to competing for a potential market of just 15% of overall shipments or around 21 million handsets. Given such a situation, Digitimes Research projects that many of China’s best known smaller brands such as Xiaomi, TCL, Gionee, Tianyu, Oppo and BBK will see shipments of no more than a few million handsets.
End of updates
China-based white-box vendors expected to ship 200 million smartphones [DIGITIMES, April 17, 2012]
China-based white-box vendors, mainly due to the availability of inexpensive new chip solutions, have been increasing the production of smartphones, with the total shipment volume expected to reach 200 million units in 2012, according to industry sources in Taiwan.
Taiwan-based MediaTek is offering the makers its MT6575 a chip solution for use in entry-level smartphones in the first quarter of 2012 and will offer the MT6577, a solution for high-level smartphones, in the middle of the third quarter of 2012, the sources indicated. MediaTek will ship 50-70 million chips to China-based white-box vendors to account for nearly 30% of smartphones to be shipped by these vendors in 2012.
In addition, Qualcomm has strengthened its marketing in the China market by offering turn-key solutions to white-box vendors, with prices for a chips lowered to US$6, the sources cited eMedia Asia as indicating.
China-based white-box vendors sell more than 60% of their smartphone output to overseas markets, including 2.5G models for markets where deployment of 3G networks is not mature yet, the sources indicated. White-box vendors are expected to see larger market demand if their production costs for entry-, medium- and high-level smartphones drop to US$60, US$85 and US$130 respectively, the sources pointed out.
Huawei adopts MediaTek dual-core chip for smartphones, says report [DIGITIMES, June 27, 2011]
MediaTek’s new MT6577, which uses a dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex A9 CPU, has been adopted by China-based Huawei for as many as four of its upcoming smartphone devices, according to a Chinese-languageCommercial Timesreport.
The new MediaTek MT6577 solution is scheduled to enter volume production starting July, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN)reported last week (June 22). The chip is built using 40nm process technology.
MediaTek previously upward revised the prediction for its total smartphone-IC shipments in 2012. The firm now expects to ship about 75 million smartphone chips this year, compared to the 50 million estimated initially.
From:
MediaTek Launches Dual-Core MT6577 Smartphone Platform [MediaTek press release, June 27, 2012]
MediaTek Inc., a leading fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions, today announced the availability of the MT6577, a dual-core platform developed specifically for sub-$200 smartphones, the fastest growing segment of the global smartphone market. The MediaTek MT6577 features a dual 1GHz Cortex™-A9 application processor from ARM, a PowerVR™ Series5 SGX GPU (graphics processing unit) from Imagination Technologies, MediaTek’s proven 3G/HSPA modem, and runs the latest Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” operating system. By integrating a dual-core application processor architecture widely deployed in the majority of today’s premium smartphones, the MT6577 boosts application and browser performance by up to 40% compared to single-core platforms, bringing unprecedented levels of user experience to mid- and entry-level smartphones.
“MediaTek’s existing HSPA smartphone platforms – the MT6573 and MT6575 – have been extremely well-received by customers and consumers worldwide, and are currently shipping with major international brands such as Lenovo, TCL/Alcatel, and other top tier Chinese OEMs,”said Ching-Jiang Hsieh, President of MediaTek. “The MT6577 adds the next level of performance and enhanced user experience to the MediaTek smartphone family, delivering enhanced user interactivity, mobile connectivity and rich multi-media experience previously only available on high-end devices. Consumers everywhere will now benefit from the affordable, high-performance devices enabled by the MT6577. MediaTek is proud to be in the vanguard of companies enabling the democratization of smartphones.”
“Dual-core processors account for over 20% of current smartphone processor shipments, with these devices being mostly in the premium segment and addressed by standalone application processors. MediaTek’s new MT6577, with integrated dual-core processors and 3G/HSPA modem is well suited to bringing similar user experiences to the fast-growing mid and entry smartphone segment which is forecast to grow from under 200 Mu in 2012 to over 500 Mu in 2016” said Stuart Robinson, Director, Handset Component Technologies service at Strategy Analytics.
The MT6577 is designed to deliver rich multimedia experiences, with an 8MP camera, support for up-to high-definition 1080p video playback and the ability to support high-resolution displays up to HD720 (1280×720) resolution. The platform also pre-integrates MediaTek’s leading 4-in-1 connectivity combo that provides support for dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, BT4.0, GPS and FM. The MT6577 is pin-to-pin compatible with the previously released MT6575, allowing handset manufacturers to easily produce multiple tiers of devices leveraging a single PCBA hardware development effort.
The MT6577 dual-core platform is currently being incorporated into smartphone devices by MediaTek’s leading global customers, and the first smartphone models based on this new chipset are expected to ship commercially in Q3 2012.
MediaTek MT6577 [MediaTek100 YouTube channel, July 19, 2012]
MediaTek expects increase in smartphone chip sales [Taipei Times, June 14, 2012]
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) chairman Tsai Ming-kai (蔡明介) said yesterday that he still expects an increase in demand for smartphone chips in the second half of this year, despite a slowing global economy.
…
Last year, faced with competition that was fiercer than ever, MediaTek posted NT$13.62 billion (US$454 million) in net profit, or NT$12.35 earnings per share (EPS), down sharply from the NT$30.94 billion in net profit, or NT$28.44 EPS recorded in 2010.
Tsai said the worst phase was almost over for the IC designer and the company was gearing up to broaden its product portfolio and win orders to strengthen its profitability.
On the back of robust demand for smartphones, MediaTek has forecast smartphone chip shipments in the second quarter would range between 18 million and 20 million units, up sharply from the 10 million recorded in the first quarter.
For all of this year, the IC designer anticipates smartphone chip shipments to touch 75 million units from rising demand from China and other emerging markets.
MediaTek president Hsieh Ching-jiang (謝清江) said at the shareholders’ meeting that the company would not focus just on the Chinese market, but also target global demand, while operating a total of 23 offices worldwide.
About the just four months old MT6575-based market
ZOPO ZP200 3D Movie Playing [AndroidSale YouTube channel, March 22, 2012]
Source: MTK6575 Cpu Andorid >> on fastcardtech.com
Note that even for global wholesale there are much more products of the above kind, as you could see from the table below (the ones which are also on the above diagram are highlighted in yellow). Click here for a PDF version in case you want to click on the links:
There are a couple of recent Chinese startups capitalising on the MT6575 opportunity. The most successfull among them is probably ZOPO Mobile Communications-equipment Ltd. in Shenzhen, China, introducing itself as:
ZOPO Company is founded in 2012, which engages in research, development, produce, marketing and service of mobile intelligent terminal products. The ZOPO ZP200 model as” The China‘s first Glasses-Free 3D dual sim smart mobile phone ” has been a hot Star in China mainland.
Zopo ZP100 MT6575 4.3″ qHD $174 street price [ARMdevices.net YouTube channel, April 9, 2012]
I’m back in Shenzhen! Here getting ICS installed on my Zopo ZP100 MT6575 [ARMdevices.net YouTube channel, April 9, 2012]
The author of the above videos (Nicolas Charbonnier, aka Charbax, see also a recent interview with him about his videoblogging) went through quite a tour about the new MT6575-based entries in the first half of April:
– $158 5″ WVGA MT6575 Cortex-A9 Smartphone presented by www.yooe.com.cn
– Zhenai A900 waterproof MT6575 smartphone
– $79 3.5″ MT6575 Orient Smart Development Ltd
– MT6575 phone shown by Quality Industrial Co Ltd
– $142 Galaxy Nexus clone, runs ICS on MT6575, with 4.65″ LCD
– Hyundai Brilliant H950, 5.2″ MT6575 phone runs Ice Cream Sandwich at the HKTDC Electronics Fair
– $140 5.2″ MT6575 Android phone by Daza Electronics at the HKTDC Electronics Fair
– ICS on 5″ MediaTek MT6575 Dolphin A80 phone [from Yooe] (note that this is represented on both the above diagram and the table)
– Shenzhen Factory Entrance (note that this is also where Yooe is manufacturing, quite likely)
– The Shenzhen Speakers Factory (the same factory was manufacturing speakers during the visit)
Then he returned in the end of May with these video reports:
– Yooe MT6575 phone now selling
– MT6575 Cutepad 5″ phone
He was showing off some of the latest gadgets that he found in Shenzhen in this video as well: Interview with Nicolas Charbonnier at Linaro Connect, Hong Kong [jasonderose YouTube channel, June 4, 2012]
MediaTek provided general MT6575 information
MT6575 [MediaTek product page, March 29, 2012]
Dual-SIM smartphone platform for the mainstream mid and entry level market
MT6575 is MediaTek’s new dual-SIM smartphone platform for the mainstream mid- and entry-level smartphone markets. Enabling browsing, gaming and multimedia features that will delight consumers, support the latest Android releases and the industry’s best dual-SIM performance for voice and data calls, the MT6575 is MediaTek’s most advanced and competitive smartphone platform to date.The MT6575 combines a software and hardware reference design solution to enable dramatically faster time to market at a highly competitive price point. The MT6575 is set to redefine the performance of mainstream smartphones.
Features
- 1GHz ARM CortexTM-A9 CPU allows for outstanding web browsing and application performance
- High-performance 3D gaming and UIfeatures enabled by PowerVRTM SGX Series5 GPU
- High-definition 720p videoplayback and record
- Per-packet Rx antenna diversity
- 8 MP camerawith enhanced image processing capabilities
- Up to high-resolution qHD (960×540) displays
- Supports both portrait and landscape display modes by built-in dedicated HW
- Features stereo 3D video playback and advanced 2D-to-3D image/video conversion
- No lost calls on either SIM – even with active data transmission on either SIM
- Better Power Efficiency – Up to 500 hours of standby and over 8 hours of talk-time on 3G, 45 hours of audio playback and 6 hours of 3D gaming.
MediaTek – MT6575 [a featured product page, July 5, 2012]
Redefining performance of mid/entry smartphones in 2012
Overview
MT6575 is MediaTek’s new dual-SIM smartphone platform for the mainstream mid- and entry-level smartphone markets. Enabling browsing, gaming and multimedia features that will delight consumers, support the latest Android releases and the industry’s best dual-SIM performance for voice and data calls, MT6575 is MediaTek’s most advanced and competitive smartphone platform to date.
Key Features
The MT6575 platform offers a 1GHz ARM® CortexTM-A9 processer for outstanding web browsing and application performance, a proven 3G/HSPA modem and runs the latest “Ice-Cream Sandwich” Android 4.0 release. Other key features include:
♦ Superior CPU, GPU, and System Performance
– High-performance 3D gaming and UI features enabled by PowerVRTM SGX Series5 GPU♦ Richest Multimedia Features
– High-definition 720p video playback and record
– 8 MP camera with enhanced image processing capabilities♦ World-First Integration Of Stereo 3D Display Controller And 3D Video Processing
– Features stereo 3D video playback and advanced 2D-to-3D image/video conversion♦ Best Display Picture Quality
– Brings the same level of LCD-TV picture quality to mobile devices♦ Leading Dual-SIM Features and Performance
– No lost calls on either SIM♦ Lowest BOM costs
– Highly integrated platform includes the world’s smallest 4-in-1 connectivity combo (MT6620) that allows for small size and lower BOM costs♦ Better Power Efficiency
– Up to 500 hours of standby and over 8 hours of talk-time on 3G
– Up to 45 hours of audio playback and 6 hours of 3D gamingThe MT6575 is currently being incorporated into the latest smartphone offerings by many of MediaTek’s leading customers and the first smartphone models based on this new platform have already hit the market in the first quarter of 2012.
MediaTek – MT6620 [a featured product page, Sept 21, 2011]
Highly Integrated 4-in-1 WLAN/Bluetooth/GPS/FM Combo Solution
Overview
MediaTek MT6620 integrates WLAN, Bluetooth, GNSS and FM, to provide the best performance and most convenient single chip. MT6620 implements advanced and sophisticated Radio Coexistence algorithms and hardware mechanisms. MT6620 also supports a single shared antenna (2.4 GHz antenna for Bluetooth and WLAN, 5 GHz for WLAN and 1.575 GHz for GPS).
Enhanced overall quality for simultaneous voice, data and audio/video transmission on mobile phone and tablet PC can be achieved. The small size with low power consumption reduces PCB layout area. The software package “Symphony” comes with many advanced features.
Key Features
Low power, small size and high performance
WLAN/Bluetooth/GPS/FM solution WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n dual band single stream (20/40MHz) with dual band LNA and 2.4GHz PA integration
Bluetooth 3.0+HS and V4.0 Low Energy support with LNA and PA integration
Support GPS/Galileo/QZSS/SBAS with -165dBm tracking sensitivity FM Tx/Rx with RDS/RBDS support
Support Wi-Fi Direct and WAPI hardware encryption
Support FM over Bluetooth
PLC (Packet Loss Concealment) technology for superior audio quality
Advanced AlwaysLocateTM location awareness technology with ultra low power consumption
Flexible host interfaces support include single SDIO interface for all wireless functions
MediaTek Launches MT6575 Android Platform [MediaTek press release, Feb 13, 2012]
MediaTek Inc., a leading fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions, today announced the availability of the MT6575, its 3rd generation platform for mid and entry‐level Android smartphones. The MT6575 platform offers a 1GHz ARM® CortexTM‐A9 processer, a proven 3G/HSPA modem and runs the latest “Ice‐Cream Sandwich” Android 4.0 release.
“We expect significant growth in entry and mid‐level smartphones, with wholesale prices under US$190, over the coming years. We forecast that this segment will almost triple in size from 191 million shipments in 2012 to 551 million by 2016. At that time, we also expect approximately 75% of those entry and mid‐level smartphones to ship to emerging markets” said Neil Mawston, Executive Director, Global Wireless Practice, at Strategy Analytics. The MediaTek MT6575 platform is ideally suited to cater to a wide range of smartphone devices that target this growing segment in multiple markets around the world.
“Leveraging the energy‐efficient, high‐performance Cortex‐A9 processor in Android smartphone applications is an extremely compelling proposition and a great proof point for the scalability of the ARM architecture. During 2011 the Cortex‐A9 processor has powered many of the most up‐to‐date and highest performance smartphones. The proliferation of Cortex‐A Series processors into lower cost, mainstream mobile devices will deliver a significant uplift in the user experience,” said Laurence Bryant, Director of Mobile, ARM.
For mid‐range smartphones, the MT6575 platform supports 720p high‐definition video playback and recording with an 8MP camera and qHD (960×540) high‐resolution displays via a PowerVRTM SGX Series5 GPU (graphics processing unit) from Imagination Technologies. In industry‐standard benchmark testing, the MT6575 offered over 35% improvement for browser applications and over 20% improvement in graphics capabilities for gaming when compared to competitors’ best offerings in these segments.
Additionally, the MT6575 platform provides built‐in support for advanced features such as integrated capabilities to drive 3D displays and proprietary algorithms for mobile display picture processing. In sum, the MT6575 provides DTV‐grade picture quality on a smartphone by leveraging MediaTek’s proven technology as a world‐leading DTV platform provider.
The MT6575 platform also supports entry‐level smartphones with smaller display sizes, lower resolution, less memory and reduced multimedia requirements. In addition, the MT6575 boasts the world’s lowest power consumption and most comprehensive integration of hot swap dual‐SIM capability compatible with the Android platform. With the MT6575 dual‐SIM solution, consumers will no longer have to worry about dropped calls while active data transfer is happening on either SIM card, and will experience automatic resumption of data exchange once calls on the other SIM card have ended, in addition, with the hot swap feature enabled, the SIM card can be inserted without switching off the mobile.
The 3G/HSPA modem integrated in the MT6575 platform has been qualified at major 3G operators world‐wide.
The MT6575, delivered in 40nm CMOS technology, builds on the proven track record of the 2nd generation MT6573 platform – i.e., the platform that powers the Lenovo A60, China Unicom’s top selling handset in the sub‐RMB 1000 (approx. $160 USD) smartphone category.
“We are very excited by the prospects of the MT6575 platform. It combines MediaTek’s innovative chipset technology with our proven reference design and complete software solution model. We believe this platform is ideally suited to enable our customers to address mid and entry‐level smartphone cost and performance needs on a global basis – today and tomorrow,” said Ching‐Jiang Hsieh, President of MediaTek.
The MT6575 is currently being incorporated into the latest smartphone offerings by many of MediaTek’s leading customers and the first smartphone models based on this new platform will hit the market in the first quarter of 2012.
MediaTek’s Full Line of 3G Platforms Aims to Address Mid to Entry-Level Smartphone Market [MediaTek press release, Feb 27, 2012]
MediaTek Inc., a leading fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions today announced the availability of the MT6515, its next generation TD smartphone solution for China sub-RMB 1000 (approx. $160 USD) smartphone market. The MT6515 TD smartphone platform solution integrates a powerful 1GHz ARM CortexTM-A9 processor, 3D hardware, and runs the latest “Ice-Cream Sandwich” Android 4.0 release. MediaTek’s latest foray into the 3G smartphone market enables high system performance with low power consumption and high cost-performance ratio that raises the bar for what consumers will come to expect from a TD-SCDMA smartphone experience.
According to a recent report released by the market research firm, Strategy Analytics, in the 3rd quarter of 2011, China overtook the US as the world’s biggest smartphone market. Sub-RMB 1000 smartphones were one the fastest growing segments of this market, due in large part to multiple purchases of these models by China’s three major operators in response to consumer needs. As a result, China has seen a sharp rise in smartphone sales starting in the beginning of 2011. MediaTek, with its years of experience serving the industry, attention to continuous innovation, and recent investments in the arena of 3G technologies, has been perfectly poised to meet the growing needs of this new market. With its cost effective, yet high performance smartphone platforms, MediaTek, along with industry partners (i.e. mobile device manufactures and operators), has emerged as a leader in the recent explosion of popularity of mid and entry-level smartphones.
As a member of China’s TD Industry Alliance (TDiA), MediaTek has invested heavily in the R&D of TD chipsets following the initial release of the TD-SCDMA standard. MediaTek’s signature high integration, yet low power consumption platforms have been introduced into TD operators’ handset customization strategies, and MediaTek currently offers a TD mobile device platform series uniquely customized to meet the needs of the Chinese market. As such, it is little surprise that among the mobile devices included in China Mobile’s multiple terminal procurement lists, one finds a variety of end user products that run on MediaTek-driven TD platforms.
Today, MediaTek announced the availability of the MT6515, its next generation TD smartphone platform for the sub-RMB 1000 smartphone market. The platform offers a powerful 1GHz ARM CortexTM-A9 processor, 3D hardware, and runs the latest “Ice-Cream Sandwich” Android 4.0 release. Multi-media applications and Internet speed have also been optimized. Additionally, the MT6515 TD-SCDMA offers a complete China Mobile 3G package, thus helping increase the speed in which manufacturers can get their products to end-users.
In the field of WCDMA and 3rd generation wireless standards, MediaTek has continued to build upon its proven track record of offering complete mobile device solutions. Worthy of note is the MT6573, MediaTek’s 3.75G smartphone platform released last year. This platform powered the Lenovo A60, China Unicom’s top selling handset in the sub-RMB 1000 smartphone category, and an important factor in the uptick of popularity in phones within this market segment.
Building on the success of the MT6573, MediaTek has released the MT6575, which is designed to run on the latest Android driven platforms. The MT6575 offers a 1GHz ARM® CortexTM-A9 processor and runs the latest “Ice-Cream Sandwich” Android 4.0 release. The platform supports dual-SIM solutions, and its web performance, power consumption rates, and multimedia features all meet or exceed industry-leading benchmarks, thus guaranteeing that the MT6575 will deliver a significant uplift in the smoothness of user experience. The MT6575 is currently being incorporated into the latest smartphone offerings by many of MediaTek’s leading customers and the first smartphone models based on this new platform will hit the market at the end of this month.
“Using innovative products to help our customers accurately reflect the needs of the market has always been one of MediaTek’s greatest strengths, and we have continued with this tradition of excellence as we expand into the growing smartphone market. MediaTek’s innovative chipset technology, with our proven reference design and complete software solution models, will ensure that our customers find a place in the growing mid and entry-level smartphone market of tomorrow where, along with power and functionality, cost effectiveness has become a must-have feature,” said Ching-Jiang Hsieh, President of MediaTek.
MediaTek Announces World’s Smallest 4-in-1 Combo Chip Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/GPS/FM Solution [press release, July 21, 2011]
MediaTek Inc., a leading fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions, today announced its most advanced wireless combo chip designed to enrich multimedia experience with small footprint and long battery life for smartphones, tablets and portable devices. The MediaTek MT6620 integrates 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0+HS, GPS, and FM transmitter/receiver on a single chip with superior size and power benefits, making it the best solution for smartphones, tablets, and portable devices.
Bringing connectivity features to mainstream products such as smartphones, tablets, portable media players (PMPs), gaming devices, and personal navigation devices (PNDs), the MediaTek MT6620 integrates Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and FM, to provide superior performance and rich features. The MT6620 implements advanced and sophisticated radio coexistence algorithms and hardware mechanisms to enhanced overall quality for simultaneous voice, data, and audio/video transmissions. Its small size significantly reduces PCB layout area and simplifies design efforts. In addition, the MediaTek Symphony™ software package supports all advanced wireless features on the Android operation system. BlueAngel™ Bluetooth software currently can support up to 15 profiles to fulfill most user scenario and bring customer product differentiation.
The MT6620 supports all the leading standards: dual band 2.4GHz and 5GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi with WiFi Direct and Hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0+HS for simultaneous dual mode Bluetooth BR/EDR/HS and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) operations, GPS with Galileo/SBAS/QZSS and patent pending AlwaysLocate™ technology, FM radio with both transmitter and receiver, making the MT6620 ideal solution for portable devices that require superior performance and long battery life. The MT6620 passes 802.11n WiFi certificate including WPS2.0, WAPI and Bluetooth 4.0+HS on both the controller and MediaTek BlueAngle™ host software.
SR Tsai, General Manager of the Wireless Connectivity Business Unit at MediaTek said, “MediaTek is one of few in the industry to offer 4-in-1 SoC solution for a wide range of mobile applications. As a result of this attention to mobile device manufacturers’ needs, the MT6620 was designed to meet strict requirements, such as low power modes to conserve battery life, a reduced footprint to fit into small, sleek handset designs, and low cost to enable mass market mobile Wi-Fi enabled handsets. We believe that the MT6620 is optimized for mobile devices at the hardware, firmware, and driver levels to speed time to market of innovative designs.”
The MT6620 has entered mass production and is shipping to lead customers in sizable quantities now.
MT6620 Product Highlights:
– Low power, small size and high performance Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/GPS/FM solution
– Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n dual band single stream (20/40MHz) with dual band LNA and 2.4GHz PA integration
– Bluetooth 4.0+HS support with PA integration
– Supports GPS/Galileo/QZSS/SBAS with -165dBm tracking sensitivity
– FM Tx/Rx with RDS/RBDS support
– Supports Wi-Fi Direct and WAPI hardware encryption
– Supports FM over Bluetooth
– PLC (Packet Loss Concealment) technology for superior audio quality
– Advanced AlwaysLocateTM location awareness technology with ultra-low power consumption
– Flexible host interfaces including single SDIO for all wireless functions
Some history leading to MT6575
Stephen Elop’s (Nokia CEO) “Burning Platform” memo leaked by Engadget [Feb 8, 2011]:
In 2008, MediaTek supplied complete reference designs for phone chipsets, which enabled manufacturers in the Shenzhen region of China to produce phones at an unbelievable pace. By some accounts, this ecosystem now produces more than one third of the phones sold globally – taking share from us in emerging markets.
White-box handset makers gearing up smartphone and 3G handset production, MediaTek to benefit [DIGITIMES, Dec 3, 2010]:
White-box handset makers in China are gearing up their production of in-house designed smartphones and 3G handsets, a trend which will benefit Taiwan-based IC design house MediaTek. China’s white-box handset industry in 2010, has begun to place more emphasis on upgrading specifications and added value to enter the high-end segment, and has allocated more resources on development of intellectual property.
Even the China government has voiced its support for the white-box industry. Yang Xueshan, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), recently said that the government will support the white-box business model as long as there is no infringement of IP.
Yang pointed out that from imitation to innovation is a process white-box handset makers have to go through, citing China-based telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies as a success story. Huawei’s foray into the handset sector began with low-cost products and the company now has research and development capability, he said.
Supporting the white-box business model, given that no patents are infringed, is a good way to protect intellectual property rights as well as provide the most cost-effective products to consumers, Yang added.
More information: MediaTek as the catalyst of the white-board ecosystem
section within Be aware of ZTE et al. and white-box (Shanzhai) vendors: Wake up call now for Nokia, soon for Microsoft, Intel, RIM and even Apple! [Experiencing the Cloud, Feb 21, 2011]
Look at the MTK History :MTK6575 Heading Toward 1Ghz smartphone for below $200? [Lady Panda, April 14, 2012]
…
Let’s look at the MTK History:
They first created chipsets for general phone such as MT6225, MT6235 based on their own MTK RTOS. MTK RTOS is known for fast, features rich and very customizable interface with most features support such as Dual SIM Dual Standby, Dual Camera(Front/Rear), ,MicroSD-HC up to 16-32GB, WiFi, Bluetooth (A2DP/Stereo and most other profiles), Very good J2ME support, Analog/digital DVB, FM Radio. A lot of features rich and very affordable handsets become to appear on marketfor prices below $100.
Then they were one of the first to create a dual SIM WCDMA chipset MT6268 which had even better J2ME support and also 3g features such as WCDMA data and 3G Video calls support. A lot of Dual SIM 3G handsets started to appear for about $150. They all were fully unlocked by default and without any contracts. It provided handsets with a lot of features for a very low price.
Then back in 2009 they have decided to enter the smartphones market with the new MT6516 chipset which provided a solution for fully featured yet low price Windows Mobile 6.5 and Android 2.2. handset with a price tag of below $150 while maintaing the popular Dual SIM Dual Standby Quad Band GSM feature, TV, FM, Bluetooth,GPS/AGPS, HQ Youtube playback, Capacitive Multi-touch screen, Dual Camera with flashlight,Android Market, Voice Search. This chipset was not a high performance gaming chipset, But it’s performancewas surprisingly well and exceeded even a lot of high end expensive chipsets.
Then in 2011 they have released the new MT6573 chipset. Now the MT6573 Android 2.3.4 phone cost $150-$210 and they still maintain the Dual SIM Dual Standby with Quad Band GSM and WCDMA/HSPA support. This chipset, Which main ArmV6 core is clocked at 600-650Mhz, integrate the PowerVR Series 5 GPU so it can run fluently games like Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, Asphalt 5 and many more games. Most of them have 5-8MP back camera with HD video shoting and flashlight supported, HD Videos decoding. Still maintain the analog tv, Capacitive Multi-touch screen, FM Radio, 32GB MicroSD Slot,Bluetooth, GPS/AGPS, WiFi, Voice search and a lot of other advanced smartphonefeatures. The performance is very impressive for such a low price.
…
Turmoil on the H1CY12 market in China:
International and local brands, as well as white-box vendors are repositioning for the most lucrative CNY500 (US$79) to CNY1,000 (US$157) smartphone market of H2CY12 and on
Digitimes Research: Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo and Coolpad to take 40% of China smartphone market in 2012 [June 27, 2012]
The development of China’s smartphone market has drawn much attention, particularly in 2012, during which the local brands Huawei Device and ZTE will make it to the global top-10 smartphone vendor list. Digitimes Research expects two other brands, Lenovo and China Wireless Technologies (Coolpad), to see their smartphone shipments surpass the 10 million mark in 2012.
In the domestic market, Huawei and ZTE both have been trying to expand their share in the mid-range to high-end segments, resulting in a decline in shipments of low-priced models. While smartphone shipments by Huawei and ZTE will continue increasing in 2012, the two vendors are expected to see the ratios of their shipments to total smartphone shipments in China decline to 12% and 9%, respectively in 2012 from 16% and 11% of a year earlier.
Lenovo, which has been maintaining a close relation with chipset solution vendor MediaTek and has been focusing on the entry-level segment, is expected to ship 12 million smartphones in 2012, Digitimes Research estimates.
Coolpad is migrating to the smartphone sector rapidly and is likely to ship 11.1 million smartphones this year, accounting for 70% of its total handset shipments.
Digitimes Research predicts that shipments of smartphones in China will top 140 million units in 2012, with Samsung and Apple accounting for a combined 40% share. Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo and Coolpad are expected to together take up another 40%, limiting the development potential of other brands.
Taiwan IC designers looking to orders from China-based white-box smartphone vendors [DIGITIMES, June 20, 2012]
Taiwan-based IC design houses have rekindled their hope that they can cooperate once again with China-based white-box handset makers to make a strong presence in China’s smartphone market thanks to the offering of inexpensive chipset solutions from MediaTek and MStar Semiconductor and the rising popularity of smartphone models priced at around CNY1,000 (US$158), according to industry sources.
The availability of the mature and inexpensive chipset solutions and reference designs has lowered the barriers for white-box makers to also jump into the smartphone segment, the sources indicated.
Taiwan-based IC design houses which made a fortune previously by supplying related 2.5G ICs to the white-box manufacturing sector, have begun building up their inventory to meet anticipated demand from China-based white-box makers, noted the sources.
Given that international handset brands have a tendency to cooperate with a limited number of IC vendors, shipments to white-box handset makers in China will serve as a growth driverfor Taiwan-based IC vendors in the second half of 2012, said the sources.
Taiwan-based LCD driver IC vendors Novatek Microelectronics, ILi Techonology (Ilitek), Sitronix Technology, Orise Technology, and controller IC vendors Elan Microelectronics, Egalax-empia Technology (EETI), as well as analog IC makers Richtek Technology, Global Mixed-code Technology and Anpec Electronics will bebenfit from the re-rise of white-box handset makers, commented the sources.
China market: Small-scale makers and retail channels to stage comeback in smartphone segment [DIGITIMES, June 15, 2012]
Small-scale handset makers as well as retail handset channels in China may stage a comeback in the smartphone segment optimizing the availability of low-priced models, according to industry sources.
Under the aggressive marketing strategy and heavy subsidies launched by telecom carriers, sales of smartphones have been strong in the replacement market, said the sources, but added that the top carriers have been dominating the market with their customized models, affecting sales in retail channels, said the sources.
However, the availability of reference designs for the production of smartphones has enabled a large number of small- and medium-size handset makers in China to also jump into the segment, triggering a sharp decline in prices of smartphones, noted the sources.
Prices of unlocked smartphones are expected to drop to below CNY500 (US$79) soon, making it affordable for consumers to pick up smartphones at retail shops without signing subscription contracts with carriers, the sources commented.
China market: Qualcomm pushing sales of 3G solutions to small- to medium-sized handset makers [DIGITIMES, June 12, 2012]
Qualcomm has geared up efforts to push sales of its smartphone solutions to small- to medium-sized handset makers in China, attracting a number of vendors shifting away from the comparable solutions offered by Taiwan-based MediaTek, according to industry sources.
To counter Qualcomm’s strategy, MediaTek has also stepped up sales of its 3G solutions to first-tier handset makers in Chinainstead of its previous focus on small- and medium-sized vendors, the sources indicated.
In addition to Qualcomm and MediaTek, other chipset vendors including ST-Ericsson, Intel, Spreadtrum Communications and MStar Semiconductor, are exerting all-out efforts to grab the handset solution market in China, said the sources, adding that competition between Qualcomm and MediaTek is the fiercest.
But a large number of branded and white-box handset makers in China still prefer Android- and 3.5G-enabled solutions as well as dual-core solutions from MediaTek, since they have established mature business relationships with MediaTek, the sources commented.
Digitimes Research: Smartphones to take 32% of China handset market in 2012 [June 8, 2012]
Digitimes Research estimates that China handset shipments will grow to 430 million units in 2012, with smartphones likely to take 32% of the market, equivalent to 143 million handsets. Given that China already accounted for 22% of global handset shipments in 2011 and the country’s mobile user base is projected to hit 1.13 billion people in 2012, the potential of the country’s smartphone market is staggering.
The boom in China’s smartphone market that began in 2011 was sparked by the expansion of 3G service coverage and falling budget smartphone prices. Carriers have driven this change in an attempt to bolster flagging ARPUs, which stood at just CNY37 (US$6) per month for 2G users of China Unicom in 2011; the ARPU for the carrier’s 3G subscribers was a much more respectable CNY110, according to an upcoming Digitimes Research Special Report on China’s smartphone market.
Carriers have been able to entice China’s price-conscious consumers to make the 3G switch chiefly by offering extremely cheap smartphones priced at around CNY1,000, a figure which could yet fall as low as CNY599 in 2012. This concentration in the low end of the market is a major contributing factor to the dominance of Android in China.
However, consumers in this sector are not willing to spend heavily on profitable 3G services and ARPU for 3G users is already falling steeply. At the current rate of decline, the 3G ARPU will fall to an estimated CNY82 during 2013. China’s smartphone switchover may therefore not prove to be quite as lucrative as the country’s carriers had hoped.
Android 4.0 in entry-level to mid-range smartphones to rise in 2H12 [DIGITIMES, June 7, 2012]
While Android 2.x versions take up about 90% of Android-based smartphones, Qualcomm and MediaTek have begun to offer Android 4.0 common chip solutionsfor smartphone vendors and therefore version 4.0 is expected to be widely adopted for entry-level to mid-range smartphones in the second half of 2012, according to industry sources.
Because Samsung Electronics, HTC, LG Electronics and other vendors have launched Android 4.0 smartphones, and have offered upgrades for older models in the second quarter of 2012, the penetration rate of Android 4.0 has risen from 2.9% in April to 7.1% currently, the sources indicated.
China market: Entry-level smartphones to feature dual-core CPUs in 2H12 [DIGITIMES, June 5, 2012]
Smartphones featuring dual-core CPUs are expected to begin penetrating into the CNY1,000 (US$157) smartphone segment in China in the second half of 2012 thanks to dual-core reference designs offered by MediaTek and Qualcomm, according to industry sources.
Other chipset solution vendors such as ST-Ericsson are also expected to enter the dual-core segment soon, indicated the sources.
Dual-core smartphones may even become the mainstream white-box models in the second half which will squeeze market share from single-core models, and hence triggering a price war, the sources said.
In addition to pushing the clock speeds of CPUs from 1GHz to 1.2GHz, China-based handset makers will also adopt 4.3-inch displays for mainstream entry-level and mid-range modelsinstead of the prevailing 4-inch screens, added the sources.
Prices of single-core smartphones in China are likely to fall below CNY500 in the second half, which may result in a dumping of entry-level and mid-range smartphones by China-based handset makers in the global market, the source commented.
Qualcomm scores points in promoting QRD in China [DIGITIMES, June 4, 2012]
Qualcomm began to offer Qualcomm Reference Design (QRD), a platform for developing smartphone components including memory, sensors, touch screens, cameras and RD devices as well as application software, for vendors and makers in China two years ago and has made significant achievements in boosting inexpensive smartphones by helping its China-based partners, according to company senior vice president and Greater China president, Wang Xiang.
QRD aims to reduce input of resources in development and time to market for China-based smartphone vendors and makers, Wang said. 28 models of smartphones have been launched by 17 vendors under QRD, and more than 100 models are being developed for launch in 2012, Wang indicated.
Qualcomm has set up four China branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xi’an and two R&D centers in Beijing and Shanghai, according to company senior vice president and QRD director, Jeff Lorbeck.
Qualcomm will focus promotion of QRD in China to reduce component costs in 2012 and plans to help China-based partners tap emerging markets in India, Latin America and Southeast Asia through providing technical support in 2013, Wang said.
Lenovo aims to triple smartphone shipments in 2012 [DIGITIMES, June 4, 2012]
Lenovo plans to launch as many as 40 new models of smartphones in 2012, aiming to ramp up its smartphone shipments to 18 million unitsin the year compared to six million units shipped in 2011, according to the company.
Lenovo aims to roll out a lineup of smartphones with different price tags to meet demand from all segments of customers, the company said. Smartphone models priced below CNY1,000 (US$157) currently account for 30% of smartphones sold in China, models priced at CNY1,000-1,499 take another 30%, and those priced above CNY1,500 make up the remaining 40%, Lenovo indicated.
Lenovo saw its smartphone shipments in China grow 21-fold on year in the first quarter of 2012, enabling the company to take up a 10% share in the quarter compared to just 1% a year earlier. The vendor also captured the fourth-rank position in the smartphone segment in China in Aprilwith a 10.21% share, said China-based Sino Marketing Research.
WCDMA models account for 49% of all smartphones sold by Lenovo currently, followed by CDMA EV-DO models at 26% and TD-SCDMA models at 18%, the company noted.
Lenovo also plans to roll out dual-core models in the second half of 2012, using MediaTek’s MT6577 solutions and Qualcomm’s QRD 8×25 and 8×26 solutions, according to industry sources.
Lenovo’s handset OEM partners, including Foxconn International Holdings (FIH), Compal Communications and Wistron NeWeb, are expected to benefit from increasing shipments by Lenovo, the sources indicated.
China market: China Unicom gearing up for sub-CNY800 WCDMA smartphones [DIGITIMES, June 4, 2012]
China United Network Communications (China Unicom), the only WCDMA mobile telecom carrier in China, will promote sale of WCDMA smartphone models priced at below CNY800 (US$127) to attract 2G subscribers to shift to WCDMAin the China market, according to the company.
Of handsets sold at CNY599 or below in the China market in April 2012, TD-SCDMA models took up 24%, CDMA2000 EV-DO models 15% and WCDMA models 1%, according to China-based Sino Market Research. Of handsets sold at CNY600-799, TD-SCDMA, CDMA2000 EV-DO and WCDMA accounted for 20%, 10% and 6% respectively, Sino indicated.
The demand for smartphones in the China market in 2012 is forecast at 200 million units and 44% of which, that is, 88 million units, will be sold at below CNY800, meaning big opportunities for China Unicom, the company said.
In addition to inexpensive smartphones, China Unicom has cooperated with international vendors including LG Electronics, Nokia, HTC, Motorola Mobility as well as China-based vendors K-Touch and Xiaomi Technology to launch mid- to high-level models in the China market for market segmentation, the company noted.
China Unicom has been upgrading HSPA+ service and has deployed 21Mbps HSPA+ networks in 56 cities in China, the company said. While there have been 245 models of HSPA+-enabled terminal devices around the world, China Unicom plans to launch price-competitive models of such devices, the company indicated.
China market: First-tier local brands shifting focus to CNY1,000-1,500 smartphones [DIGITIMES, June 1, 2012]
First-tier local brand handset vendors in China have begun adjusting their strategy to focus on marketing mid-range smartphoneswith prices ranging CNY1,000-1,500 (US$157-236) instead of the previous focus on sub-CNY1,000 models, according to industry sources.
The launch of sub-CNY1,000 smartphones by the top-3 telecom carriers as well as the roll-out of CNY500 models by second-tier handset makersin China has induced top-tier vendors to shift their focus, said the sources.
The second-tier handset makers have been engaged in cut-throat competitionin order to win open bids released by the top-3 telecom service companies, noted the sources, adding that China Mobile has even launched a sub-CNY200 model.
Top-tier vendors, including Coolpad, ZTE, Huawei and Lenovo, are expected to reduce the number of their the sub-CNY1,000 smartphones and will be more active to participate in bidding for CNY1,000-1,500 models, said the sources.
The move by China-based top smartphone brands to the mid-range segment will see them take on some international players including Samsung Electronics, HTC, Nokia, Motorola Mobility which have ventured into the CNY1,000-2,000 segment, the sources commented.
Rumor: China’s Smartphone Prices to Drop to RMB 600 [Marbridge Daily]
Southern Daily, 5/31/12
Industry sources claim that China’s smartphone prices could drop to RMB 600 in H2 2012 due to increasing availability of low-priced smartphone chips. Smartphones featuring Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company MediaTek’s (MTK) MT6573 processor are available on B2C e-commerce sites such as Taobao and Paipai for RMB 800 and below. MediaTek’s MT6575 chipset, released in March, has already appeared in handsets from domestic handset vendors such as Lenovo (0992.HK), Gionee, ZTE (0763.HK; 000063.SZ), and Yulong (Coolpad), as well as foreign brands such as Motorola. The MT6575 is currently available for between RMB 1,000 to RMB 1,500. Taiwanese chipmaker MStar Semiconductor plans to release its first dual-core chipset solution for RMB 1,000 smartphones next week.
According to a source within Lenovo Mobile, ST-Ericsson released its U8500 dual-core chipset platform in Q1 2012, and handset models using the platform are available from overseas brands at prices no higher than RMB 2,000. Domestic brand handset models featuring the chipset are expected to reach the market in Q2 and Q3 priced at approximately RMB 1,500. Chinese internet company Shanda Interactive will soon release its own branded smartphone using the U8500 priced at RMB 1,199. In addition, Qualcomm will launch its MSM7x27A and MSM7x25A low-priced chipset platforms this year, which will feature in a number of RMB 1,000 smartphones from domestic handset manufacturers.
China-based smartphone vendors to compete with big players with ultra-thin models [DIGITIMES, May 29, 2012]
China-based handset vendors have ventured into the production of ultra-thin smartphones, enhancing their strength to compete with international brands in the global market, according to industry sources.
China-based vendor Oppohas highlighted this manufacturing trend in China by releasing the Finder recently. The Android 4.0-based Finder has a thickness of only 6.65mm.
The Finder also features a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB ROM, a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen, an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 1.3-megapixel front camera, for a suggested retail price of about CNY3,500 (US$555)in China.
Oppo, one of the top-10 local brandsin China, focuses on the production of smartphones priced above CNY2,000 instead of the prevailing sub-CNY1,000 models, the sources noted.
Thickness of ultra-thin models by brands
Vendor
Model
Thickness
OS
Oppo
Finder
6.65mm
Android 4.0
Huawei
Ascend P1 S
6.68mm
Android 4.0
Motorola
Razr XT910
7.1mm
Android 2.3
HTC
HTC One S
7.95mm
Android 4.0
LG Electronics
Prada 3.0
8.5mm
Android 2.3
Samsung
Galaxy S III
8.6mm
Android 4.0
Apple
iPhone 4S
9.3mm
iOS5
ST-Ericsson seeking cooperation with China-based low-cost smartphone vendors, says paper [DIGITIMES, May 28, 2012]
ST-Ericsson has won adoption of its U8500 chip solution by China-based Shanda which will launch a smartphone for sale at about CNY1,000 (US$158) in the China market on June 6, according to China-based 21st Century Business Herald.
ST-Ericsson is seeking adoption of its chip solutions by more China-based vendors looking to launch smartphones priced at CNY1,000-2,000, the paper indicated. Smartphones for sale at CNY1,000-2,000 accounted for about 50% of all smartphones sold in the China market in 2010 and 2011, with ZTE, Huawei, and Coolpad the leading vendors, the paper said.
China market: 4 local vendors amid top-5 in 3G smartphone market in April [DIGITIMES, May 25, 2012]
In the China market, Samsung Electronics recorded the largest market share of 22.75% for 3G smartphones in April 2012, followed by four China-based vendors — Coolpad with 11.17%, Huawei with 10.92%, Lenovo with 10.21% and ZTE with 9.28%, China Economic Netcited China-based Sino Market Research as indicating.
Other international vendors’ market shares were 8.52% for Apple, 4.14% for Motorola Mobility, 3.95% for Nokia and 2.82% for HTC, the report indicated.
The increased market occupation by China-based vendors was mainly due to selling of their entry- to mid-level 3G smartphone models through contract-bundled sales by China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, the report said.
MediaTek lands 2.5G handset solution orders from Nokia, say sources [DIGITIMES, May 21, 2012]
MediaTek reportedly has landed orders for 2.5G handset solutions from Nokia with shipments to begin in the third quarter of 2012, according to industry sources. MediaTek declined to comment.
Given that global demand for 2.5G handset solutions still reaches one billion units a year, there is room for MediaTek to further expand sales in the segment although the company’s sales of 2.5G solutions have been turning weak recently, indicated the sources. MediaTek shipped 550 million 2.5G solutions in 2011.
With a revised goal of shipping 75 million 3G solutions in 2012, mostly to first-tier handset makers in China, MediaTek is expected to post strong revenue growth in the second half of the year, the sources noted.
Smartphone vendors considering other chip sources due to short supply of Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 [May 15, 2012]
Qualcomm has seen supply of its Snapdragon S4 processors fall short of increasing demand and the situation has pushed international smartphone vendors, including Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, HTC and Sony Mobile Communications, to consider other suppliers, according to Taiwan-based handset supply chain makers.
The short supply of Snapdragon S4 is because Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s 28nm foundry capacity is not sufficient and/or the yield rate of the process is not high enough, the sources pointed out.
MediaTek looks to ship 75 million 3G solutions in 2012 [DIGITIMES, May 9, 2012]
MediaTek is expected to ship 75 million 3G handset solutions in 2012, a 50% increase from 50 million units it projected earlier, according to industry sources.
Insufficient capacity of the 28nm process at Qualcomm has forced China-based Huawei Device and ZTE, in addition to existing client Lenovo, to source 3G solutions from MediaTek, contributing to a sharp increase in orders for the IC design house, indicated the sources.
Huawei’s and ZTE’s 3G smartphones built based on MediaTek’s MT6575 solutions are expected to hit the market at the end of the second quarter or early in the third quarter of 2012, said the sources, adding that the new M6575 models from Huawei and ZTE will directly take on Lenovo’s comparable model, the A750, in the China market.
Meanwhile, MediaTek has reported consolidated revenues of NT$7.942 billion (US$269 million) for April, decreasing 3.48% on month but increasing 4.19% on year. For the January-April period of 2012, consolidated revenues amounted to NT$27.557 billion, up 0.25% on year, said MediaTek.
China-based white-box vendors expected to ship 200 million smartphones [DIGITIMES, April 17, 2012]
China-based white-box vendors, mainly due to the availability of inexpensive new chip solutions, have been increasing the production of smartphones, with the total shipment volume expected to reach 200 million units in 2012, according to industry sources in Taiwan.
Taiwan-based MediaTek is offering the makers its MT6575 a chip solution for use in entry-level smartphones in the first quarter of 2012 and will offer the MT6577, a solution for high-level smartphones, in the middle of the third quarter of 2012, the sources indicated. MediaTek will ship 50-70 million chips to China-based white-box vendorsto account for nearly 30% of smartphones to be shipped by these vendors in 2012.
In addition, Qualcomm has strengthened its marketing in the China market by offering turn-key solutions to white-box vendors, with prices for a chips lowered to US$6, the sources cited eMedia Asia as indicating.
China-based white-box vendors sell more than 60% of their smartphone output to overseas markets, including 2.5G models for markets where deployment of 3G networks is not mature yet, the sources indicated. White-box vendors are expected to see larger market demand if their production costs for entry-, medium– and high-level smartphones drop to US$60, US$85 and US$130 respectively, the sources pointed out.
China market: Motorola moving into CNY1,000 smartphone segment, says paper [DIGITIMES, April 13, 2012]
Motorola Mobility has ventured into the CNY1,000 (US$159) smartphone segment in China with the launch of its XT390 smartphone in cooperation with China Unicom, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Timesreport.
The XT390 is also the first Android-enabled smartphone rolled out by Motorola using MediaTek’s 6575 chipset solution, indicated the paper.
Motorola has outsourced the production of the XT390 to Arima Communications and may place orders for up to one million smartphones with the Taiwan-based handset ODM in the second quarter of 2012, said the paper.
China market: Top-4 local vendors to keep entry-level smartphone prices around CNY1,000 in 2012 [DIGITIMES, March 30, 2012]
The top-4 China-based branded handset vendors – Huawei Device, ZTE, Lenovo and Coolpad – will continue to develop the CYN1,000 (US$159) smartphone segment in China in 2012 and will prevent their channel operators from engaging in price-cutting competition with white-box vendors, according to industry sources.
More newcomers have entered the smartphone sector in China, propelled by the launch of related reference designs for smartphones by MediaTek, MStar Semiconductor, Qualcomm and Spreadtrum Communications, raising the possibility that prices of the entry-level smartphones may drill downward to a range of CNY400-700 compared to the prevailing prices of around CNY1,000, the sources noted.
Despite increasing pricing competition from white-box handset makers as well as international brands including Nokia and Samsung Electronics, the top-4 local brand vendors are unlikely to lower their prices further until makers in the handset component supply chain are able to reduce their quotes substantially, said the sources.
To maintain competitiveness and brand images, the top-4 vendors are expected to roll out models with higher hardware specifications for the CNY1,000 segment, the sources commented.
Shipments of smartphones in China are expected to grow 40-60% on year in 2012, the sources estimated.
China-based white-box handset players may face bankruptcy [DIGITIMES, March 29, 2012]
China-based white-box handset players are suffering as larger local players ZTE, Lenovo and Huawei are aggressively entering the CNY1,000 (US$159) smartphone segment, while first-tier smartphone brands such as Samsung Electronics and Nokia are also reducing their prices. White-box players are expected to see a 30% drop in their overall sales in 2012 with several hundred expected to go bankrupt, reshuffling China’s handset industry, according to sources from smartphone players.
As consumers in China have increasing demand for Internet connectivity, while their recognition of brand names is also rising, the white-box handset market in China, which is mainly focused on low price and design flexibility, is shrinking rapidly.
Since China-based telecom carriers are aggressively providing subsidies to ZTE, Huawei and Lenovo to allow these players to lower their smartphone prices, while white-box players are losing their advantages in price as they are unable to acquire cheap components due to their shipment scale, it has helped larger smartphone players to narrow the price gap with white-box handsets.
With more brand vendors pushing into the mid-range and entry-level smartphone market, the average price of entry-level smartphones is expected to reach CNY700 (US$100), a level almost the same as cost. In addition, white-box players’ advantages in design flexibility is also no longer attracting consumers as the size of the touch screen has already become the major criteria for consumers.
China market: Chip vendor competition heating up for 1GHz processors used in inexpensive smartphones [DIGITIMES, Jan 17, 2012]
As China Mobile, China Telecom and China United Network Communications will procure large volumes of inexpensive smartphones equipped with 1GHz processors, there is increasing competition among handset chip vendors Qualcomm, Taiwan-based MedaTek, Broadcom and China-based Spreadtrum Communications, according to Taiwan-based handset makers.
While the four vendors and others have offered 1GHz chip solutions supporting 3.5G, Android, multimedia and dual-mode functions, the Qualcomm-developed MSM7227A [Cortex-A5 based @ upto 1GHz]solution has gained the upper hand, followed by MediaTek-developed MT6575, the sources indicated. In contrast, Spreadtrum and Broadcom are competing for orders by virtue of differentiation in function, with the former focusing on TD-SCDMA, a China-developed 3G standard, solutions and the latter’s solutions featuring integration of NFC (near field communication), Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11n and GNSS (global navigation satellite system) functions, the sources pointed out.
In the China market, Nokia, Samsung Electronics, Motorola Mobility, Sony, HTC as well as China-based vendors Huawei Device, ZTE, Lenovo, TCL, Haier and Hisense will launch inexpensive entry-level smartphones equipped with 1GHz processor in 2012, the sources noted. China-based vendors are expected to release ODM or EMS orders to Taiwan-based makers, the sources indicated.
Less focus on feature phones while extending the smartphones effort: further readjustments at Nokia
Update as of Aug 9, 2012: … Lumia direction … camera direction …
… Asha positioning vs. Lumia and Android:
[3:19] First of all what we’re working on with Windows Phone is to take it as low end price point as we possibly can. Having said that, the Nokia Asha devices have really been developed with the emerging market consumer in mind. We’ve brought a lot of smartphone like features to the user interface, as well as investing in making access to the Internet possible for consumers who have real affordability constraints, for data compression in our browser etc. We are working to continue to invest there so that Asha is a relevant competitor to the lowest end Android devices. [4:05]
see: The BGR Show – Nokia’s Smartphones Guru [iamOTHER YouTube channel, Aug 9, 2012]
- Speculations about Nokia
- Nokia and the Windows Phone Summit
- Nokia Q&A conference for financial analysts and investors, June 14, 2012
- Nokia announcements, June 14, 2012
- Scalado acquisition
- Asha Touch family of mobile devices
Closely related information:
– Windows Phone 8 software architecture vs. that of Windows Phone 7, 7.5 and the upcoming 7.8 [June 22, 2012]
– The new, high-volume market in China is ready to define the 2012 smartphone war [Jan 6 – Feb 17, 2012]
– Tech investment banking expertise to strengthen the unique value focus of growing the HTC brand and to achieve high growth again [April 18 – 25, 2012]
Other related information:
– The Where Platform from Nokia: a company move to taking data as a raw material to build products [April 7, 2012]
– Nokia under transition (as reported by the company) [March 11-30, 2012]
– Nokia’s strategy for “the next billion” based on software and web optimization with super low-cost 2.5/2.75G SoCs [Feb 14 – April 23, 2012]
– Nokia trying the first Lumia month in China with China Telecom exclusive [March 28, 2012]
– MWC 2012 day 1 news [Feb 27, 2012]: Samsung and Nokia [Feb 28 – March 1, 2012]
– China-based second-tier and white-boxed handset makers targeting the emerging markets [Feb 13, 2012]
–Nokia CEO: salespeople to deliver true WP7 retail experience supported by improved product management, marketing and accelerated global coverage with a full breadth of products [Jan 29, 2012]
– Nokia’s Lumia strategy is capitalizing on platform enhancement opportunities with location-based services, better photographic experience etc. [Jan 12 – April 27, 2012]
– Smarterphone end-to-end software solution for “the next billion” Nokia users [Jan 9, 2012]
– The precursor of 2012 smartphone war: Nokia Lumia vs. Samsung Omnia W in India [Jan 3 – 23, 2012]
– Be aware of ZTE et al. and white-box (Shanzhai) vendors: Wake up call now for Nokia, soon for Microsoft, Intel, RIM and even Apple! [Feb 21 – March 25, 2011 ]
Speculations about Nokia
A “short-term surprise” technology speculation: Nokia Air [s60betalabs YouTube channel, June 24, 2012]
A “short-term” investors’ speculation: Nokia Takeover Seen As Collapsing Shares Signal Bottom: Real M&A [Bloomberg, June 15, 2012]
… Nokia plunged 18 percent yesterday after forecasting a wider second-quarter operating loss from handsets and saying it will cut as many as 10,000 jobs as it cedes market share to Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone and Samsung Electronics Co. devices. After wiping out about $100 billion in market value, Espoo, Finland- based Nokia trades at a 38 percent discount to its net assets, the least expensive on record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg dating back to 1995.
…
Nokia started out as a wood-pulp and paper company in 1865 before expanding into rubber, electronics and eventually telecommunications. The company’s market capitalization, which was more than 300 billion euros in 2000, has tumbled more than 90 percent since the iPhone was introduced five years ago, valuing it at 6.8 billion euros ($8.6 billion) as of yesterday.
…
Nokia had $12.4 billion in cash and short-term investments as of March 31, topping its market value of $8.6 billion yesterday, the data show. After accounting for debt, Nokia’s net cash position of $5.9 billion is still the equivalent of 68 percent of its market capitalization.
“Close to half of the market cap is cash — that’s cheap no matter what’s going on,” Falcon Point’s Mahoney said. For private-equity firms, “it’s cheap enough. When you are at this type of level, you don’t even need to cut costs that much to get value out of the transaction.”
…
“Who would buy them at this point?” Lars Soederfjell, a Stockholm-based analyst with Bank of Aaland, said in a telephone interview. “You need to stabilize the business. There’s too much uncertainty. It’s more like buying a lottery ticket than anything else.”
Still, industry analysts at Gartner and Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC say they expect the Windows Phone platform will make inroads as Microsoft develops it further.
Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Gartner, said the firm forecasts Windows Phone will be the second-biggest smartphone ecosystem after Android in 2015. IDC expects Windows Phone to pass Apple’s iOS in 2016.
…
Nokia seen to be running out of money and time [Helsingin Sanomat, June 15, 2012]
A result warning and the decision to cut 10,000 jobs by the end of next year is a stark indication of how badly Nokia’s business activities and financial position have weakened this year. Furthermore, there are no indications of improvement any time soon.
The Finnish mobile telephone manufacturer expects its operating loss to increase in April-June, and the complicated turns of phrase in the result warning suggest that the spiral will not end in the third quarter either.
…
Nokia is cutting 3,700 jobs in Finland. A mobile phone factory in Salo, which employs 850 people, is to be shut down, and the research and development unit in Oulu is to be scaled back. In addition, a research and development unit in the German city of Ulm, which has 730 employees, is to be shut down.
Job cuts are also likely to affect locations in Finland other than Salo and Oulu, but Nokia gave no further details on the matter on Thursday.
The aim is to reduce the operational costs of the mobile phones unit to EUR 3 billion by the end of next year. In 2010 the costs were EUR 5.4 billion.…
By the end of March Nokia’s net assets (liquid assets minus debts with interest) had declined by more than EUR 2.1 billion. In the present quarter this trend has probably accelerated.
The depletion of assets and the significant reduction in sales could eventually lead to insolvency and possibly even bankruptcy. To avoid this, costs need to be reduced to better correspond to shrunken business activities.
After the reductions in jobs, Nokia has about 44,000 employees at work around the world [sans Nokia-Siemens obviously]. The last time that the company had such a small work force was in 1998. The serious problems are attributed to miscalculations by the management and the board of directors that have been made since 2005.
The company lost competitiveness because it held on too long to the antiquated Symbian operating system.
Nokia and the Windows Phone Summit
Closely related information:
– Windows Phone 8 software architecture vs. that of Windows Phone 7, 7.5 and the upcoming 7.8 [June 22, 2012]
Nokia at Windows Phone 8 Microsoft Dev Summit 2012 [Camb078 YouTube channel, June 21, 2012]
Nokia at the Windows Phone 8 unveiling [Nokia Conversations, June 20, 2012]
Today, Nokia’s Kevin Shields – who leads product development for Lumia smartphones – joined Microsoft representatives on stage at the Windows Phone Summit in San Francisco to outline how we’re working together to build a winning Windows Phone ecosystem and bring new experiences to Lumia phones.
Microsoft’s Terry Myerson, Kevin Gallo and Joe Belfiore started the morning by previewing Windows Phone 8, which will come out later this year, and unveiled new hardware specs like NFC, multi-core processors and improved screen resolutions.
With years of experience building NFC experiences on Symbian, the Nokia N9 and most recently the Nokia Lumia 610 NFC with Orange, we’re excited about what we can do with NFC across the whole of Windows Phone. Just take another lookat the Nokia Play360 NFC speakers if you have any doubts.
Microsoft also revealed that Nokia would continue bringing unique innovations to Windows Phone 8 through our hardware, services and apps.
Nokia Lumia owners to get new Windows Phone 8 experience
But the news doesn’t stop there. For those who already have Lumia devices with Windows Phone 7.5, you’ll be able to update your phones with some of the new Windows Phone 8 features like the start screenand download new apps from companies like Zynga, whose Words with Friends and Draw Something will be available in Autumn.
Microsoft also announced today that the Windows Phone Marketplace has reached 100,000 apps, and with Windows Phone 8 sharing the Windows 8 core, millions of Windows developers will also be able to develop for Windows Phone ecosystem. Lumia customers can expect thousands more apps to be introduced across Windows Phone platform.
The announcements underline the progress Nokia is making with the Lumia family of smartphones and in building a winning ecosystem with Microsoft. It shows how the Windows Phone experience continues to evolve at a faster pace than the competition and how Nokia’s continued investments in great location-based services benefit partners, developers and consumers.
New apps and functionality for Lumia owners
Finally, Kevin revealed that Nokia will deliver existing Lumia customers exclusive new Marketplace apps like digital Camera Extras to bring new possibilities to your Lumia including panorama shots, a self-timer, Action Shot for capturing movement and Smart Group Shot for creating the perfect group shot from several different images; new features for Nokia Drive and Nokia Transport; and also distributing a pattern of updates like WiFi tethering and flip-to-silence.
To learn more about those updates and when you can expect to see the new apps in Marketplace, check out this dedicated post. There’s a lot of exciting new stuff coming to Lumia now and in the future and we’ll keep you posted.
Camera Extras for Nokia Lumia — More Options for Capturing Great Pictures [Nokia YouTube channel, June 20, 2012]
Nokia Drive for all Windows Phone 8 smartphones [Nokia Conversations, June 20, 2012]
Location-based services, as Nokia announced last week, are becoming more and more core to our strategy. We’re focusing on location-based services, not just at Nokia, but bring our extending our services across many industries.
Today, we are making Nokia Drive available to other Windows Phone 8 partners to offer a turn-by-turn navigation experience for people in over 110 countries. Nokia Driveis one of the key experiences on Nokia Lumia smartphones, thanks to its ease of use and the experience that has gone into developing our location-based services. With Nokia Drive on Windows Phone 8, we will make drive navigation effortless.
Nokia Drive is one of the major apps that on Nokia’s location platform. Today, we are also making this platform and its unrivalled quality of data and richness of features available on Windows Phone 8 for all partners. This means that Nokia’s Location platform will be central to the Windows Phone 8 experience, with the intention of developing smartphones that bring advanced location experiences. Windows Phone 8 partners and developers will be able to use our location assets to build location-based apps and experiences of superior quality.
Nokia has more quality location data than any smartphone manufacturer in the market. Our platform is the most advanced mobile location platform in the world because it offers true offline functionality (for the past six years), fast client-side map rendering (50 fps) and only requires 10 per cent of the bandwidth when compared to traditional server-side map platforms.
The Nokia location platform is the biggest in the world:
We have maps data for more than 190 countries in more than 50 languages and navigation in more than 110 countries
We collect information from Nokia Drive users and local authorities to provide traffic alerts in 26 countries, and also allow dynamic rerouting
We have venue maps in over 5,000 shopping malls, train stations, airport, sports venues, etc. in 35 countries
We support multi-modal routing: by car, on foot (including footpaths, shortcuts, etc. in over 400 cities) and by public transportation (over 100 cities)
Also, Nokia’s location data is not confined to smartphones and computers. Our data already powers four out of five cars with in-car navigation and our customer list includes top brands in the tech and auto industries: Bing, Yahoo!, BMW and Ford.
All of these elements are coming together to form the ultimateWhere experience, connecting individuals with the world around them. At Nokia, we are working on constantly improving that experience, and striving to deliver novel and meaningful customer interactions with our location platform, content and apps.
*Image credits: Samsung and HTC respectively. This is a mockup of what Nokia Drive might look like on different Windows Phone 8 devices.
Nokia Q&A conference for financial analysts and investors, June 14, 2012
Nokia’s Elop: Lumia price cuts will help us take on Android in retail war [ZDNet, June 14, 2012]
Consumers do actually like Nokia’s Windows Phone Lumia device, but retailers are proving harder nut to crack, according to Nokia chief exec Steven Elop – as he set the scene for a price war with Android.
For the relatively small number of consumers the Lumia has reached in its short existence, the phone has been “well received”, Elop told analysts on a conference call Thursday.
…
With “specific support from Microsoft”Nokia will aim to increase its appeal by pushing the price of the Lumia line below the entry level Lumia 610 as part of its “low end price point war” with Android.
The real challenge, Elop said, is convincing retailers to bring the device out of the shadows.
“How do you get a preferred position on a shelf, how do you make sure the lights on your device are brighter than the ones from down the road?” asked Elop.
While the aim is to get more Lumia devices into the hands of consumers, Nokia will in fact narrow its direct sales and marketing efforts to select markets, palming off less significant ones to distributors to be managed through a central hub.
The US, UK, China and “certain” Asian and European nations would remain in focus with more effort placed on carrier partnerships, said Elop.
“We’re deliberately going through a cycle of concentrating on some markets at the expense of others.”
…
While mapping and navigation have become commoditised, Elop said, Nokia’s location-based services would give it an edge over rivals, pointing to Nokia City Lens, its augmented reality application, and its public transport mappingsystem.
Elop blamed Nokia’s inability to differentiate the Nokia experience on Windows Phone to date on its late entry on the platform but added that Windows Phone 8 (Apollo) and Windows 8, both expected to be released by the end of summer or thereabouts, will be “key milestones” for Nokia.
Nokia to End “Meltemi” Effort for Low-End Smartphones [AllThingsD, June 14, 2012]
One of the casualties of Nokia’s latest cuts is Meltemi, the company’s effort to create a new Linux-based operating system for low-end smartphones.
…
Nokia never officially confirmed the existence of Meltemi, so it likewise isn’t confirming its demise. However, sources tell AllThingsD that the project has been shelved, though elements of it may live on in other efforts.
…
Asked about Meltemi on a conference call Thursday, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said that he had never talked publicly about a development project by that name, but noted that Nokia was ending some development projects.
In its press release, Nokia also took pains to note its continued focus on its current low-end smartphone platforms, known as Series 30 and Series 40. Last week, the company announced new all-touch phones in its Series 40-based Asha line.
…
Richard Kerris, who helps lead Nokia’s efforts with developers, said that Thursday’s moves, while difficult, should allow the company to put more resources into its key projects.
“We have awesome products in the pipeline, and our developers are going to love them,” Kerris said.
Nokia is also exploring alternatives for another of its development environments, known as Qt, which today is used largely in embedded devices.
“We’re fans of Qt, and we’ll continue to support it in the near term, but are being open about looking for opportunities which may be best for this developer framework,” Kerris said.
More information:
– Nokia Meltemi survivors suggest axed OS was nearly ready [SlashGear, June 21, 2012]
– No Meltemi, what about Smarterphone? What is there beyond S40? What of Qt? [My Nokia Blog]:
According to TheRegister, the Smarterphone team will work on S40 instead.
– MediaTek lands 2.5G handset solution orders from Nokia, say sources [DIGITIMES, May 21, 2012]
MediaTek reportedly has landed orders for 2.5G handset solutions from Nokia with shipments to begin in the third quarter of 2012, according to industry sources. MediaTek declined to comment.
Given that global demand for 2.5G handset solutions still reaches one billion units a year, there is room for MediaTek to further expand sales in the segment although the company’s sales of 2.5G solutions have been turning weak recently, indicated the sources. MediaTek shipped 550 million 2.5G solutions in 2011.
With a revised goal of shipping 75 million 3G solutions in 2012, mostly to first-tier handset makers in China, MediaTek is expected to post strong revenue growth in the second half of the year, the sources noted.
Nokia announcements, June 14, 2012
- Nokia sharpens strategy and provides updates to its targets and outlook [Nokia press release, June 14, 2012]
- Nokia announces executive changes; renews Leadership Team [Nokia press release, June 14, 2012]
Nokia’s own diagnosis:
During the second quarter 2012, competitive industry dynamics are negatively affecting the Smart Devices business unit to a somewhat greater extent than previously expected. Furthermore, while visibility remains limited, Nokia expects competitive industry dynamics to continue to negatively impact Devices & Services in the third quarter 2012. Nokia now expects its non-IFRS Devices & Services operating margin in the second quarter 2012 to be below the first quarter 2012 level of negative 3.0%. This compares to the previous outlook of similar to or below the first quarter level of negative 3.0%.
Nokia’s strategic changes:
Nokia plans to:
- Invest strongly in products and experiences that make Lumia smartphones stand out and available to more consumers;
- Invest in location-based services as an area of competitive differentiation for Nokia products and extend its location-based platform to new industries; and
- Improve the competitiveness and profitability of its feature phone business.
Nokia City Lens for Nokia Lumia: Augmented Reality Browser (Beta) [Nokia YouTube channel, May 8, 2012]
In Smart Devices:
Nokia plans to extend its strategy by
- broadening the price range of Lumia; and
- continuing to differentiate with:
– the Windows Phone platform,
– new materials,
– new technologies and
– location-based services, including navigation and visual search applications such as the recently announced Nokia City Lens- acquisition of assets from Sweden-based Scalado, which currently has imaging technology on more than 1 billion devices. This acquisition is aimed at strengthening Nokia’s imaging assets.
Scalado’s Vision [ScaladoInc YouTube channel, June 1, 2012]
In Mobile Phones:
Nokia aims to
- further develop its Series 40 and Series 30 devices, and
- invest in key feature phone technologies like the Nokia Browser, aiming to be the world’s most data efficient mobile browser. Early results of this innovation can be found in Nokia’s latest Asha feature phones which offer a full-touch screen experience at lower prices.
Additional reductions in Devices & Services:
Nokia plans to pursue a range of planned measures including:
- Reductions within certain research and development projects, resulting in the planned closure of its facilities in Ulm, Germany and Burnaby, Canada;
- Consolidation of certain manufacturing operations, resulting in the planned closure of its manufacturing facility in Salo, Finland. Research and Development efforts in Salo to continue;
- Focusing of marketing and sales activities, including prioritizing key markets;
- Streamlining of IT, corporate and support functions; and
- Reductions related to non-core assets, including possible divestments.
Nokia plans to reduce up to 10,000 positions globally by the end of 2013.
Taking into account these planned measures the company now targets to reduce its Devices & Services non-IFRS operating expenses to an annualized run rate of approximately EUR 3.0 billion by the end of 2013. This is an update to Nokia’s target to reduce Devices & Services non-IFRS operating expenses by more than EUR 1.0 billion for the full year 2013, compared to the full year 2010 Devices & Services non-IFRS operating expenses of EUR 5.35 billion. This means that in addition to the already achieved annualized run rate saving of approximately EUR 700 million at the end of first quarter 2012, the company targets to implement approximately EUR 1.6 billion of additional cost reductions by the end of 2013.
Joining the Nokia Leadership Team effective July 1, 2012:
- Juha Putkiranta as executive vice president of operations
In place of Niklas Savander, executive vice president of Markets who led Nokia’s sales, marketing, supply chain, manufacturing operations and information technology teams
Formerly, Putkiranta was senior vice president, supply chain. “Juha has demonstrated exceptionally strong leadership in leading our supply chain operations,” said Stephen Elop. “His breadth of experience at Nokia will help with our focus.”
- Timo Toikkanen as executive vice president of Mobile Phones
In place of Mary McDowell, executive vice president of Mobile Phones, who is leaving to pursue other opportunities outside of Nokia
Formerly, Toikkanen was vice president, business development, programs and special projects. “Timo is well known as an engaging leader with valuable business acumen and keen insights into delivering customer satisfaction,” said Stephen Elop. “These attributes will be key as we progress through our transformation.”
- Chris Weber as executive vice president of sales and marketing
In place of:
– Jerri DeVard, executive vice president and chief marketing officer [joining Nokia just in January 2011] who led Nokia’s marketing and brand management as a member of the Nokia Leadership Team, and who is leaving to pursue other opportunities outside of Nokia
– Niklas Savander, executive vice president of Markets who led Nokia’s sales, marketing, supply chain, manufacturing operations and information technology teams [Note that Savander had sales duties just for the last two months, taking over from the long-term Nokia veteran Colin Giles who decided “to leave the company to be closer to his family”]Formerly, Weber was senior vice president Markets, Americas. “Chris has made tremendous strides in kick starting our re-entry into the US and his track record of driving results will serve Nokia well,” said Stephen Elop.
In addition to that there were two additional new appointments:
Tuula Rytila as senior vice president and chief marketing officer
In place of Jerri DeVard, executive vice president and chief marketing officer [joining Nokia just in January 2011] who is leaving to pursue other opportunities outside of Nokia. Rytila, who will report to Weber, was formerly senior vice president of portfolio and business management.
Susan Sheehan as senior vice president of communications
Sheehan, who reports to Elop, was formerly vice president of communications.
There were new single word expressions of the executives’ views on the second day of a meeting considering the options, according to Helsingin Sanomat:
Exhausting week for Nokia CEO
Difficult decisions made late Wednesday…
- love – “Love for design and love for future products”: Marko Ahtisaari, Design
- passion: Henri Tirri, Chief Technology Officer
- purpose: Michael Halbherr, Location and Commerce
- consumer: Chris Weber, Sales and Marketing
- consumer: Tuula Rytilä, Chief Marketing Officer
- commitment: Jo Harlow, Smartphones
- result: Timo Toikkanen, Mobile Phones
- result: Juha Äkräs, Human Resources
- success: Stephen Elop
Scalado acquisition
Scalado Remove – Capture a clear view [ScaladoInc YouTube channel, Feb 13, 2012]
Nokia to acquire developers, technologies and intellectual property for imaging from Scalado [Nokia press release, June 14, 2012]
Acquisition aimed at enhancing imaging experiences for Nokia Lumia devices
Espoo, Finland and Lund, Sweden: Nokia is announcing plans to acquire world-class imaging specialists as well as all technologies and intellectual property from Scalado AB.
“Nokia has been working with Scalado for more than ten years and they’ve contributed to many of our leading imaging applications,” said Jo Harlow, executive vice president, Smart Devices at Nokia. “This transaction would enable us to combine our leadership in camera devices with their expertise in imaging, helping people move beyond taking pictures to capturing moments and emotions and then reliving them in many different ways.”
The Lund site is planned to become a key site for Nokia’s imaging software for smartphones, in addition to Nokia’s existing locations in Espoo and Tampere, Finland.
“This is a great opportunity for many of our people to show their leadership in imaging and to continue to build its future,” said Håkan Persson, chief executive officer of Scalado AB. “Doing this as part of Nokia, already a leader in mobile imaging, will reinforce the strength of the technologies and competences developed at Scalado. We are very excited about this opportunity, which is a natural next step in our longstanding relationship with Nokia.”
The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close during the third quarter of 2012. The terms of the transaction are confidential.
Scalado Rewind – The perfect group shot 3 [ScaladoInc YouTube channel, July 15, 2011]
Nokia to acquire developers, technologies and intellectual property for imaging from Scalado [Sacalado press release, June 14, 2012]
Lund, Sweden: Scalado is announcing plans under which Nokia would acquire world-class imaging specialists as well as all technologies and intellectual property from Scalado
“This is a great opportunity for many of our people to show their leadership in imaging and to continue to build its future,” said Håkan Persson, chief executive officer of Scalado AB. “Doing this as part of Nokia, already a leader in mobile imaging, will reinforce the strength of the technologies and competences developed at Scalado. We are very excited about this opportunity, which is a natural next step in our longstanding relationship with Nokia.”
The Lund site is planned to become a key site for Nokia’s imaging software for smartphones.
Scalado AB will continue to exist. All present customer agreements and obligations will remain with Scalado AB. The main task of Scalado AB will be to continue to work with our customers honoring our delivery and support obligations and fulfill any and all obligations in relation to its existing customers.
“We are very pleased to have signed an agreement with Nokia” said Anders Lidbeck, Chairman of the Board of Scalado AB. “We believe that this not only creates value for Scalado employees and shareholders but also ensures the future development and use of the Scalado heritage and technology”
The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close during the third quarter of 2012. The terms of the transaction are confidential.
Home /ABOUT US
Scalado is a world leader in the mobile imaging industry, with a long history of developing innovative platform-independent imaging solutions. Based on Scalado’s unique Random Access JPEG and more than 50 patent and patent pending technologies, these innovations are currently being used by the world’s leading global telecom and platform players in over 1 billion mobile devices, a figure that is growing with over 500 million devices each year.
Since the start, the company’s mission has been to help camera and mobile phone manufacturers to significantly improve their imaging solutions in order to deliver an optimal end-user experience. Scalado helps companies shorten their time-to-market and differentiate their products through imaging solutions that offer top of the line advantages in editing, enhancing, viewing and sending images.
Scalado’s technology has gained worldwide recognition by all of the major players in the IT industry. The company already licenses its solutions to the top five tier 1 mobile phone manufacturers, top 10 ISP/Sensor companies, and most leading platform providers. As a result, when someone is using a camera phone, it’s very likely that Scalado’s patented imaging platform is onboard.
Through the years, the company has received several awards for innovation and excellence in export. In 2010, Scalado was bestowed the Hermes Export Award by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce on World Trade Day, and listed as one of the fastest growing companies in EMEA.
Scalado has offices in Sweden (HQ), Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore and the United States. The company employs around 110 people, most of them working at its Swedish HQ in Lund. Scalado has been doubling its revenues year on year since 2007.
Introducing PhotoBeamer [ScaladoInc YouTube channel, May 29, 2012]
The first product from Scalado was the imaging web tool Scalado™ ImageZoom™. Today we still work with imaging but have changed our focus to benefit the telecom industry and hand held devices.
2012
- Scalado™ now included in more than 1 billion mobile devices (over 500 million/year)
- Scalado™ Remove showcased live at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona
- Scalado™ will co-host 6Sight, Future of Imaging Conference, in June in New York City
2011
- Scalado™ now included in more than 900 million camera phones
- Scalado™ releases Camera & Album application
- Scalado™ expands into China and Singapore
- Scalado™ is one of the fastest growing companies in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) according to Deloitte
2010
- Scalado™ is awarded with the prestigious prize “Export Hermes”
- Scalado™ now included in more than 500 million camera phones
- Scalado™ relocates to new and larger head office
- Scalado™ employs a new CEO, Håkan Persson
- Scalado™ changes logotype and graphic profile
- Scalado™ expands into Japan and Taiwan
- Scalado™ starts collaboration with Qualcomm Incorporated
- Scalado™ opens regional office in USA
- Scalado™ nominated for the Great Export Prize 2010 (Sweden)
- Scalado is nominated at the “Mobile Gala” for “Innovative Technology of the Year”
2009
- Scalado™ shows its financial strength with highly-prized “triple-A” credit rating
- Scalado™ now included in more than 400 million camera phones
- Scalado™ featured in the 100 million club (published by Vision Mobile)
- Scalado™ nominated in GSMA’s Mobile Innovation Grand Prix EMEA Tournament
- Scalado™ expands into North America
- Red Herring names Scalado™ as winner in the Europe 100 awards
- Scalado™ and Kodak join forces to enhance next-generation imaging solutions
- Scalado™ optimizes new imaging solution for Windows Mobile® 6.5
- Scalado™ SpeedTags™ technology in Fujitsu Microelectronics’s products
2008
- Scalado™ launch the Scalado™ PhotoFlow™ application plug-in
- Scalado™ registers several patents for Scalado™ PhotoFlow™
- Scalado™ launch Camera Solution including Scalado™ SpeedTags™
- Scalado™ registers Scalado™ SpeedView™ as registered trademark
- Scalado™ signs a Scalado™ CAPS™ licensing agreement with Symbian
2007
- Scalado™ signs major agreement on Scalado™ CAPS™ with Sony Ericsson and Motorola
- Scalado™ launch Scalado™ SpeedView™ and registers patents for its technology
- Scalado™ signs agreements with LG and HTC
2006
- Scalado™ signs a strategic agreement with Teleca Mobile for global sales and customer services
- Scalado™ launches a new release of its Camera Phone Solution, CAPS™ 3.1
- Scalado™ signs a global agreement with a Korean Mobile Phone manufacturer licensing Scalado™ CAPS™
- Scalado™ opens regional office in Korea
- Scalado™ signs an agreement with a leading Taiwan Mobile Phone manufacturer licensing Scalado™ CAPS™
2005
- Scalado™ celebrates its 5th Anniversary
- Scalado™ attracts a new investor: the Danish VC firm, IVS A/S
- Scalado™ delivers imaging solutions to several tier1 manufacturers of camera phones
- Anders Cedervall becomes chairman of the board of directors
- Scalado™ wins the Series 60 Challenge Awards with PhotoTwister™
2004
- Scalado™ licenses mobile imaging technology to Sony Ericsson
- Launch of imaging application Scalado™ PhotoTwister™
- Scalado™ attracts new investors
- Scalado™ gains access to advanced Nokia technical and marketing support
- Scalado™ changes strategy, and focuses only on imaging solutions for the telecom industry
- Scalado™ launches Scalado™ CAPS™: an enhanced imaging software platform for mobile phones
2003
- Launch of Scalado™ ImageZoom™ Generator
- Scalado™ signs OEM agreement with Axis Communications
- Scalado™ signs of license agreement with CNN.com
- Scalado™ signs of exclusive distribution agreement with Macromedia for ImagePilot™
- Launch of first camera phone application, AutoRama™
- Scalado™ enters partnership with Symbian
- Scalado™ signs of license agreement with Sony Ericsson
- Awarded Prize for Scalado ImageZoom™ by the European IST
Prize evaluation group2002
- Launch of ImageZoom™ 1.0
- Registration of the Scalado™ ImageZoom™ patent
2001
- Development of the web tool Scalado™ ImageZoom™
2000
- Scalado™ is founded by Fadi Abbas, Maziar Jahanshahi, Sami Niemi and Pierre Elzouki
Scalado SpeedTags Camera Solution Latest Version [scal99 YouTube channel, May 29, 2009]
Home /ABOUT US /Innovations
Over the years Scalado has developed a wide range of imaging technology solutions, all with the aim of making imaging fun, fast, and efficient. A selection of Scalado’s innovative technology is presented below.
Scalado Remove solves common photographic problems with unwanted objects in captured images, such as people getting in the way of our camera shot. Remove detects and selects the unwanted object and simply removes them automatically or by touching the selections on the screen after capturing the image.
Scalado has continued its research around effective image capturing, and has lately released the Scalado Camera Framework, which makes it both effective and simple to achieve the same performance as SpeedTags on any platform.
This technology deals with a problem that photographers have been struggling with since the first group picture was taken: to get everyone to look their best at the same time. With Rewind, users can take the best facial expressions from several shots and combine them in the same picture.
TimeWarp takes a bust of images, where the capturing starts even before the user presses the button! The user can then decide which picture to use, by browsing back and forth in time.
2008–1st zero shutter lag capturing device
Zero Shutter Lag is the only software-based innovation that enables the user to capture photos instantly. Zero Shutter Lag is the first of many innovations based on the SpeedTags-technology. Its follow-on products include Rewind, Shot-to-shot, Burst, HDR and several others.
2007–SpeedTags: Revolutionizing capturing
SpeedTags is one of the innovations that really make a difference in the mobile camera industry. Its introduction changed the way images are captured on a mobile device, and greatly enhanced the user experience and quality of a digital imaging. The top 10 world players in the Sensor/ISP industries already integrate SpeedTags in their devices, and the technology is now available in 450 million new sensors and SOC’s (System-on-a chip) every year.
2005–The 1st super-fast album viewing for mobile phones
Image viewing technology has never been easy, but in 2005 Scalado introduced a technology that made it faster and easier to view, search and organize images. The market was impressed and inclined to ask the question that Scalado is frequently asked – how can you do this on a mobile device? This early technology has been further developed and more advanced solutions have been released through the years.
2004–The 1st advanced mobile editor
This product is unique; not only because it was the first advanced image editor on a mobile phone, but also because it was the first time that a mobile handset manufacturer used imaging in its marketing campaigns. During the campaign for N90, Nokia marketed the phone and the image editor using the sentence: “Editing on-the-fly? I could not believe it either”.
2004–CAPS™–Making imaging faster and more efficient
CAPS™ is Scalado’s flagship product and with its unique features, it has made imaging in mobile devices faster and more efficient since its launch in 2004. CAPS™ is a software development kit that enables developers to produce imaging solutions that are extremely CPU and memory efficient and that drastically decrease processing time when managing multi-megapixel images.
2003–The 1st panoramic images on a phone
Scalado created the first imaging technology in the world for capturing and viewing panoramic images on a mobile phone. It is based on the random access technology and Scalado managed to integrate this tool in Sony Ericsson’s T610.
Scalado has several patents for random access technology. The best known is Random Access JPEG (RAJPEG), which is a very effective way to process images. RAJPEG saves a huge amount of working memory and increases performance significantly. It enables an astonishing user experience on any device, independent of the existing memory and CPU performance.
This was Scalado’s first innovation. Regardless of the size of the image, ImageZoom makes it possible for the user to access – using any internet connection – and zoom into a specific part (or parts) of a megapixel image, without having to download the entire image.
Asha Touch family of mobile devices
Nokia Asha 311: fun, fast and always connected [Nokia YouTube chnnel, June 5, 2012]
Nokia accelerates the journey to mobile internet with the introduction of Asha Touch device range [Nokia press release, June 6, 2012] [3″ WQVGA, i.e. 240×400]
Fun, colorful range of touch screen phones will bring fast mobile web browsing, social networks and gaming to millions
Bangkok, Thailand – Nokia has today taken another step towards connecting the next billion consumers by unveiling the Asha Touch family of mobile devices, taking the full touch experience to new price points. The three new phone models – the Nokia Asha 305, Nokia Asha 306 and Nokia Asha 311– further expand the successful Asha family, first introduced in October 2011. Today, there are 10 Asha devices available in more than 130 markets, providing young, social consumers with a choice of phones to match their own lifestyle.
These latest phones have been designed to provide an incredibly rich, smartphone-like experience to consumers who want to be set free from excessive data consumption costs and short battery life. The Nokia Asha 305, Asha 306 and Asha 311offer a new, fully re-designed touch user interface, combining the proven ease-of-use from Nokia’s heritage with digital design innovations specifically fit for the purpose.
The beautifully crafted Nokia Asha 311 is a fast and fluid 3.5G capacitive touchscreen [3″ WQVGA, i.e. 240×400] device, powered by a 1GHz processor to provide a great internet experience. The bright and edgy Nokia Asha 305 is a fun and affordable phone, featuring the exclusive Easy Swap dual SIM. Its sister, the Nokia Asha 306, is a single SIM model, and becomes Nokia’s most affordable Wi-Fi handset to date.
“By introducing the Asha Touch phones to the market, we’re accelerating our commitment to connect the next billion consumers,” said Mary T. McDowell, Nokia’s executive vice president for Mobile Phones. “These phones deliver on what young, urban people value most — a great-looking device; and an intuitive and affordable experience for connecting to the internet, to their friends, and to a world of entertainment, web apps and content.”
Great for fast, affordable mobile internet and gaming entertainment
The new devices take full advantage of the Nokia Browser 2.0, a major recent updatewhich uses Nokia’s cloud technology to reduce data consumption by up to 90%, meaning that consumers can enjoy faster and cheaper internet access. Web sites load up to three times faster in comparison to devices without cloud-accelerated browsing, making it simple for users to find and select from more than 10,000 web apps available for download. They deliver a richer and more interactive consumer experience whilst using less data than a stand-alone internet connected app.
Consumers can easily stay connected with friends and family at the touch of a button as well as share files and links across their social networks. Furthermore, the Nokia Browser’s Download Manager feature helps consumers to manage external content easily, saving music, video or pictures on a memory card, while surfing the internet.
The Asha family is also getting positive support from developers and consumers. Nokia Store has just broken the 5 billion downloads landmark. From January to April, 42% of all content downloaded from Nokia Store was delivered to Asha and other Nokia devices based on the Java ecosystem. Just one year ago, that number was 10%. Also, there are 410 Nokia developers with apps which have achieved more than 1 million downloads. India Games and Pico Brothers just passed 100 million.
As well as providing a great, social online experience, the Nokia Asha 305, Asha 306 and Asha 311 have been created with entertainment in mind. All users will receive an exclusive gift of 40 EA games to download for free* and keep forever. These games range across action, arcade and sports, and include titles such as Tetris®, Bejeweled®, Need for Speed(TM) The Run and EA SPORTS(TM) FIFA 12. The Nokia Asha 311also comes with 15 levels of Angry Birds pre-loaded onto the phone, perfect for making the most of the touchscreen and 1GHz processor.
“Nokia is taking another interesting step forward in connecting consumers to the Internet, seeking to improve their experience through a new touch user-interface that is allowing the company to compete in new mass-market price bands. The mass-market is a competitive segment, but we believe Nokia’s upgraded Asha portfolio has included an attractive package that can enable consumers to have lower running costs, taking advantage of things like its compressed browser and a long-life battery”, says Neil Mawston, Executive Director of devices research at Strategy Analytics. “It is also interesting to see how Nokia is promoting its Asha strategy with global launches taking place in important high-growth markets such as Asia. Nokia resonates well there and the response from local consumers is likely to be positive”.
Product details
The Nokia Asha 311 is a colourful, compact touch screen device that comes
with all the features you’d expect for a fun and easy mobile experience. It boasts a bright and colourful, scratch resistant capacitive glass screen with polarization filters ensuring users get the best experience from the unique and visually entertaining user interface. The Nokia Asha 311also features a 3.2MP camera and pre-installed Nokia Maps, in addition to the 15 level pre-bundled version of Angry Birds.
The pre-loaded social client makes accessing Facebook, Twitter and many other global social networks simple while Nokia Browser makes using mobile internet fast and affordable. It also includes the most popular messaging services. “WhatsApp has a clear vision of creating a reliable and easy to use cross-platform messaging application that enables people to stay in touch with their family and friends from all around the world,” said, Brian Acton, Co-Founder of WhatsApp Inc. “By partnering with Nokia whose worldwide reach in mobile is well established, WhatsApp becoming available for the Asha Touch devices will enable us to further realize our core mission”.
The Nokia Asha 305 is a fun and entertaining Easy Swap dual SIM phone, helping users make the most of their phone while retaining control of their costs. The phone features a bright and colorful 3″ WQVGA resistivetouch screen along with Bluetooth and Dual Band connectivity. Forty EA games are available for download with every phone as well as a 2MP camera, Nokia Maps and the revolutionary Nokia Browser which helps significantly lower data costs.
The Nokia Asha 306 is the sister device to the Nokia Asha 305. Along with all
the great features that come with its sister, such as bright and colorful, 3″ WQVGA resistive touch screen and 40 EA games for download – a Nokia exclusive offer, the Nokia Asha 306 also provides WLAN, enabling users to stay connected while on the move. It also supports video streamingthrough both GPRS and WLAN, meaning this handset truly is a fun way to stay in touch.
The estimated retail price for Nokia Asha 305 is EUR 63 [US$ 79] and it’s expected to start shipping in the second quarter of 2012. The estimated retail price for Nokia Asha 306 is EUR 68 [US$ 85]. The Nokia Asha 311 has an estimated retail price of EUR 92 [US$ 115]. Both devices are expected to start shipping in the third quarter of 2012. Above mentioned prices exclude taxes and subsidies.
The new devices images are available at Nokia.com/press.
*Data costs may apply.
Nokia Asha 306: discover a fun way to stay in touch [Nokia YouTube chnnel, June 5, 2012]
Have a Touch: Nokia’s new Asha phones [Nokia Conversations blog, June 6, 2012]
A great new touch screen experience, fast web browsing, games and social networks lie at the heart of three new mobiles phones being launched today by Nokia.
The Nokia Asha 305, Nokia Asha 306 and Nokia Asha 311are a colourful range of mobile phones designed for young, urban and social people to get online faster, better and cheaper.
The devices will run on Asha Touch, which is a new, fun and playful touch screen interface that builds on Nokia’s swipe heritage.
Asha Touch will provide aspirational young people a first ‘smartphone-like’ experience, for example, through the notification bar and the 10,000 web applications that are available. This is on top of more than 25,000 regular apps already in the Nokia Store.
Nokia Browser 2.0
All the phones also feature a major update of the Nokia Browser, which uses cloud technology to reduce data usage by up to 90%. The benefits are numerous: web pages will load faster, battery life is improved and mobile Internet access becomes much more affordable.
Keeping in touch with friends on social networks is also central to the three new members of Nokia’s Asha family. They all come pre-loaded with applications for Facebook and Twitter, and there is also email and instant messaging.
People who want great games will not be disappointed either. Each phone will come with a gift of 40 free games from EA to download and keep forever. The games will include Tetris®, Bejeweled®, Need for Speed™ The Run and EA SPORTS™FIFA 12.
So, now we know that the Nokia Asha 305, Nokia Asha 306 andNokia Asha 311come with great features and dozens of free games.
What are the differences between the phones themselves?
The Nokia Asha 305 and the Nokia Asha 306:
- 3.0” WQVGA resistive touch screen
- 2 MP camera
- Music player and FM radio
- Built-in speaker
- Plug and Play, easy PC connection and file transfer
- GPRS/EDGE connectivity
- Nokia Mapsand Nokia Life (in selected markets)
- Colours: Silver White, Red, Mid Blue and Dark Grey (varies by market)
In addition, the Nokia Asha 305will benefit from Nokia’s Easy Swap Dual SIM technology, which allows SIM cards to be swapped without opening up or turning the phone off. This is useful for storing different numbers on your SIMs and for taking advantage of different operator rates.
The unique feature of the Nokia Asha 306is its Wi-Fi capability. Indeed, it is set to be Nokia’s most affordable Wi-Fi handset device.
The Nokia Asha 311
- 3.0” scratch resistant, capacitive glass screen
- Polarised display filters for better usability in direct sunlight
- WLAN
- 3.2 MP camera
- 1GHz processor
- Music Player, FM Radio and Internet Radio
- Plug and Play, easy PC connection and file transfer
- HSPA connectivity
- Nokia Mapsand Nokia Life (in selected markets)
- Colours: Dark Grey, Rose Red, Blue, Brown and Sand White (colours will vary by market)
The Nokia Asha 311 … is a 3.5G mobile phone powered by 1GHz processor to make for a speedy online and gaming experience. As well as the 40 free EA games, the Nokia Asha 311 will also include 15 preloaded levels of Angry Birdsfor you to enjoy.
Taken together, these new mobile phones, the Nokia Asha 305,Nokia Asha 306 and the Nokia Asha 311are another big step in the quest to connect the next billion.
For approximate costs, before local taxes or operator subsidies:
Nokia Asha 305 – 63 euros / 85 USD, available in Q2 2012
Nokia Asha 306 – 68 euros / 93 USD, available in Q3 2012
Nokia Asha 311 – 92 euros / 121 USD, available in Q3 2012Nokia Asha 305 will be available in the second quarter of 2012. Nokia Asha 306 and Nokia Asha 311 are arriving in the third quarter of 2012.
Infographic: How Nokia Browser saves you time and money [Nokia Conversations blog, June 7, 2012]
Searching for content on the Internet from your mobile phone is now faster and cheaper, with the Nokia Browser.
It uses Nokia’s unique compression technology, which means the pages that you visit are reduced by up to 90%, making surfing the Web faster, and more importantly, cheaper.
Check out our Nokia Browser infographic for more reasons as to why you should all be using Nokia Browser.
Initially, Nokia Browser was created to help the next billion internet users connect for the first time to the Netwithout compromises.
While it’s still vitally important for people in emerging markets to have a great, affordable browsing experience, Nokia Browser is also great for everybody else, too, proving to be up to three times faster then other browsers.
As you can see by the infographic, this means that when you use your Nokia Browser, you would be saving a day every year. This has to be good news for everyone.
To save yourself some money, and browsing time, be sure to check out the latest Nokia Browser 2.0 which is already preloaded on your Asha phones as the recently launched Nokia Asha 305, Asha 306 and Asha 311. Nokia Browser is available in 87 languages and in 250 countries.
If you have a Series 40 phone you can update to the latest version of the Browser. Check it out!
Nokia Browser 2.0 update available now [Nokia Conversations blog, April 23, 2012]
Getting online fast, and affordably, is crucial for Internet users everywhere. Now that experience is about to get even faster and easier with an update for all existing Nokia Browser users, covering phones across the Nokia Asha range and Series 40 devices.
We know Nokia Browser is often the first, and main, way of accessing the Internet for millions of you in dynamic fast-growing parts of the world. Since the Browser launched last yearyou’ve been able to access all the information you need, without the headache of worrying about your data bill.
Nokia Browser condenses data by up to 90%. That makes loading web sites faster, and cheaper – in fact, our cloud-accelerated browsing makes loading web sites up to three times faster. If you’re on a pay-per-use contract you’ll enjoy cheaper browsing, or if you’re on an operator data plan you’ll be able to do more web surfing without exceeding your monthly usage limits.
Download Manager
As well as needing less data to show the same web pages you also want to do different things at the time. We know you are busy. Using the new Download Manager you can save music, video or pictures on a memory card, while you’re surfing the Internet.
The update also includes a host of new features to make searching, discovering and sharing content even easier…
Better searching and sharing
The Browser now has a new, more intuitive, user interface with one-click access to top local sites from the start page. A new feature enables multitasking while browsing, meaning that you can switch between text messages and the web.
Nokia Browser 2.0 makes it even easier to share content across social media: You can post any page URL via Facebook or Twitter from within the browser, including a comment directly from the options menu. If you’re in China, you’ll be able to do the same for Sina Weibo and RenRen.
The Browser makes it simple to find, install and use Web Apps, which provide you with a more desktop-like internet experience. Launched in mid-2011, the Nokia Browser is the first browser of its kind to support Web Apps, and now boasts a catalogue of more than 10,000 apps. Nokia Series 40 users have downloaded more than 35 million Web Apps in total, with the most-downloaded app – ‘Free Wi-Fi Locator’ – having been downloaded more than 2 million times alone.
The update supports all forms of Nokia Series 40: Touch, QWERTY and Non-Touch, including the Nokia Asha range, as well as popular devices such as the Nokia C3-00, Nokia C2-03 and Nokia X3-02. The update will be pre-loaded on some current and all future Nokia Series 40 devices, while for existing users the update arrives as a free, optional over-the-air download. New users can download it from the Nokia Store.
image credit: webwizzard
Nokia makes internet access faster and easier with new browser for Series 40 devices [Nokia press release, April 23, 2012]
– Nokia Browser 2.0 delivers enhanced speeds and a new user interface for a faster, better way to explore the web
– Powered by cloud-based servers, it delivers accelerated browsing and reduces data consumption by up to 90%, without compromising the internet experience
– Web apps from the expanding catalog are easier than ever to explore and install right in the browserEspoo, Finland – Nokia has today announced the availability of Nokia Browser 2.0, a major update dedicated to Nokia Series 40 devices. The new version reduces data consumption by up to 90%, meaning that consumers can enjoy faster and cheaper internet access. Web sites load up to three times fasterin comparison to devices without cloud-accelerated browsing and consumers will also benefit from a number of other enhanced capabilities.
From the first look, consumers are easily able to discover new web content and enjoy one-click access to top, local sites via the Nokia Browser’s inviting and intuitive start page. We have optimized the browser to enable users to easily stay connected with friends and family at the touch of a button as well as to share files and links across social networks. The new and improved Download Manager helps consumers to manage external content easily, saving music, video or pictures on a memory card, while surfing the internet.
Free Wi-Fi Locator – Smartphone-like web app on an Asha device – consumer don’t have to compromise
An app that showcases many features of the platform is this Movie Review app.
The browser includes a revamped, modern user experience that makes it simple to find, install and use interesting web apps that offer a richer, more desktop-like internet experience. Launched in mid-2011, the Nokia Browser is the first browser of its kind to support web apps, and now boasts a catalogue of more than 10,000 of the latest apps. Several publishers have experienced over a million downloads in a matter of months, demonstrating strong consumer demand.
With this update, developers will find new monetization capabilities, more extensive user interface options for their web apps and productivity improvements for Nokia Web Tools so they can continue delivering engaging, connected experiences to the ‘Next Billion’ consumers.
The update supports all forms of Series 40: Touch, QWERTY and Non-Touch, including the Nokia Asha range, as well as popular devices such as the Nokia C3-00, Nokia C2-03 and Nokia X3-02. The update will be pre-loaded on some current and all future Nokia Series 40 devices, while for existing users the update arrives as a free, optional over-the-air download. New users can download it from the Nokia Store. The browser is available in 87 languages in over 200 countries and territories.
Nokia Browser 2.0 makes use of cloud-based servers which adapt standard web pages so that they perform better on Nokia Series 40 devices. Since web pages are compressed and cached in the cloud, end users can access web sites in a manner which is faster and requires significantly less data to be sent over their mobile network. For pay-per-use contracts this will result in more cost-effective browsing, while users on an operator data plan will be able to do more web surfing without exceeding their monthly usage limits.
“With our new version, we’ve created a newer, faster, better browsing experience. As many consumers around the world will experience the internet for the first time through a mobile phone, this is a great step towards our goal to connect the ‘Next Billion’,” explains Dieter May, senior vice president of mobile phones services, Nokia.
New in the Nokia Browser 2.0
- Faster browsing with speed improvements throughout the experience.
- Easier access to new and popular Web apps to enable a richer and more engaging internet experience.
- New, intuitive user interface offers one click access to search, most popular content and most valuable features.
- Media handling enhancements provide an easier way to enjoy video, audio and images. Users can download in background mode while continuing to browse the web or queue downloads for later when performance or rates are better. Downloads can be saved to memory cards or phone memory for later offline viewing or listening.
- One-click share on Social Networks by remembering Facebook and/or Twitter login to easily share any page URL and comments from your browser.
Developers can find out more about how the updated browser will enable them to build rich standards-based web apps at: http://www.developer.nokia.com/Develop/Series_40/Series_40_web_apps/.
Consumers can download the Nokia Browser 2.0 at: http://store.nokia.com/content/51924
